The Great Sword is not the Main Body!
Chapter 4 – Special Request (3)

“I’m sorry. I got too… worked up.”

As I emerged from the kitchen with the coffee, Aileen bowed slightly, apologizing to me.

No, no, Aileen doesn’t have anything to apologize for…

“Uh, no. Aileen, why would you be… sorry…?”

“No, Miss Noah. This was my fault.”

“Ah, well… okay… but could you please lift your head…?”

After a brief silence, Aileen raised her head and smiled softly.

“If anything makes you uncomfortable or you don’t like something I do, please let me know. Okay?”

“Yes… and you should feel free to tell me, too.”

“Good. In that case, let me be honest. The coffee you made is terrible.”

“W-what…?”

How can coffee taste bad when it’s supposed to be bitter?
It’s just bitter, right? What could taste bad about it?

Even though I didn’t invest in any crafting stats, surely making coffee should be simple enough! What nonsense.

“It’s not just about being bitter. There’s more to it than that.”

Oh, is that so…?

Wait, how did she know what I was thinking?

Does she have mind-reading powers?

This woman is terrifying…!

“How did I know, you ask?”

“Uh, w-what… how…?”

“It’s a secret. Hehe…”

Ugh, she’s so annoying. So smug…

“Anyway, this is how we should communicate with each other. Got it?”

Stop changing the subject! Just tell me how you knew!

“Y-yes…”

“Good. Now, let’s go over the route again. This time, I’ll explain it verbally. Come, sit down.”

I nodded and took a seat next to her.

“Wait, no—across from me. That’s right, just sit and listen. Now, the village we’re in is Alrba, part of the Orca Empire. To the east is the Karahan Mountain Range, and to the south flows the Suar River.”

Her gentle voice tickled my ears.

Listening to her up close… it almost feels like I’ve heard her voice somewhere before…
Hmm… something about it is familiar.

“Our destination, Cartia Village, is to the northeast of Alrba.”

Just from that short explanation, a map started forming in my mind.

As expected from an 8-year veteran of Black Sun.

I’m basically a genius in the 21st century—or rather, I guess now I’m a genius girl.
Anyway, I’m amazing.

“We’ll need to cross the Karahan Mountains. To do that, we’ll first pass through the Eastern Ruins.”

“Oh… the Eastern Ruins…”

That’s where the red wolf boss resides. It’s the first raid encounter for beginners.

I remember how many times I died to that wolf when I was a noob… Ugh.

I tried to solo it, not realizing you needed at least a party of four to take it down.

The thrill of finally defeating it… even now, the thought sends shivers down my spine. It’s what made me fall in love with Black Sun in the first place.

As I reminisced, Aileen’s voice turned cold.

“Miss Noah. Are you listening?”

“Ah! Y-yes, of course!”

I wasn’t listening at all. I’m in trouble…

“What part were you listening to?”

“Um… We pass through the Eastern Ruins and…”

“And then?”

I mentally retraced the map in my head.

After the Eastern Ruins… there’s the Halvion Plains, right?

“And then we reach the Halvion Plains…?”

“You weren’t listening.”

“Hehe… where do we go next…?”

Aileen sighed deeply as I tilted my head in confusion.

“Haa… You suddenly started smiling to yourself, so I stopped talking. What were you thinking about?”

“Ah… uh, just… some old memories. Sorry. I’ll focus now.”

“Old memories… I see. Alright, let’s continue. We’ll be entering the ruins first.”

Her voice had a hint of chill again.
She’s probably annoyed that I wasn’t paying attention earlier.
She’s going out of her way to explain the route verbally since I can’t read maps, and here I am, spacing out! How pathetic, Shin Noah!

Now I’m going to focus, 100%.

“Yes…!”

I straightened my posture and adjusted myself in the chair.

“We’ll avoid the monsters as much as possible, but we won’t be able to avoid all of them. When we do engage in combat, you’ll take the front line, and I’ll cover the rear.”

Huh?

She doesn’t seem like an archer… is she a mage?
But I don’t sense any magic from her.
Is she secretly some powerful master hiding all her magic?

“Um, Aileen… are you a mage?”

“No. I’m not a mage. I can manage some healing and basic support, though. Just remember, you take the front, and I’ll cover the rear.”

Oh! She’s a healer?
A walking potion!—No, that’s too harsh. She’s a priest!

In the game, healers were like royalty. No one wanted to play them because it was boring, but if you leveled up as one, everyone would beg to have you in their party.
I rarely partied with healers myself since most of them stuck with the wealthier, stronger guilds.

But hey, I’ll be saving on potions now. Sweet!

“Understood…!”

“Good. There’s one monster we have to be especially cautious of in the ruins. Its name is…”

If it’s something to watch out for, it must be that wolf.

“Carpeng…?”

“Oh… so you know. Yes, we must be extremely careful with the red wolf.”

Oh, they call it a wolf here, not a dog.
In the game’s community, we all called it “puppy.”

If this were the game, I’d crush it without mercy, but in real life…
I shuddered at the thought.

I imagined Carpeng with its red fur, deadly fangs, and massive body.

Ugh. Ugh…

I’m terrified just thinking about it.

“Y-yes… I’ll be extra careful…!”

I don’t want to encounter it.
I’d probably pee myself if I did.

“Don’t worry. Carpeng tends to stay in the deeper parts of the ruins, so we shouldn’t have to deal with it.”

I nodded.

“After passing through the ruins, we’ll enter the Halvion Plains, as you mentioned. And from there… well, I’ll stop the explanation here for now.”

“Huh? Why?”

I was really getting into it! I wanted to follow along with the map in my head!

Aileen hesitated for a moment before speaking carefully.

“…Hearing information verbally can be hard to retain. I’m not sure about you, but that’s my experience.”

“Oh…”

She’s so considerate of me…

You’re an angel, aren’t you?

Wait, Hermilla is the angel, so Aileen will be Angel No. 2!

“We’ll have plenty of time to go over the rest later.”

“Th-thank you…!”

“There’s no need to thank me for that… Anyway, now that we’ve covered the basics, shall we head out? You’ve prepared everything, right?”

I nodded enthusiastically.

Thanks to Hermilla’s list, I had everything ready in no time.

“Now we just need to get two healthy horses.”

Horses…? Not a carriage…?

“H-horses…?”

“Yes. You weren’t planning on using a carriage, were you?”

Of course, I thought we’d be using a carriage!
For such a long journey, wouldn’t a carriage be the natural choice?
It’s romantic! It’s ideal!

“C-carriage…”

“If we use a carriage, we’ll have to take a much longer route, which will take too much time. And it’ll attract unwanted attention. We’ll be traveling on horseback. I hope you can understand.”

Well, that makes sense…

I get it, but… that’s not the issue here.

“Um… the thing is… I’ve never ridden a horse before… I don’t know how! I’m sorry!”

I’ve never ridden a horse in my life!

“What? But you’re an adventurer.”

“Well… yes?”

I mean, I’m a silver-ranked adventurer!
I’ve passed the apprentice stage and even the bronze stage. I’m in the silver rank!

“Then how do you go hunting?”

“I walk…”

Aileen facepalmed.

“How far have you walked?”

The furthest I’ve gone was when I hunted those orcs in the Elain Forest.

“I-I went to hunt orcs… in the Elain Forest…”

“This is driving me crazy…”

“I’m sorry…”

Just as I was about to apologize again, Aileen raised her hand to stop me.

“Please, stop apologizing. Now, how do we solve this…?”

“I-I can still do it…!”

“How?”

“I’ll… run?”

A loud cracking noise filled the room as Aileen gritted her teeth… or more like ground them to pieces.

“R-running…? You’ll… run?”

“Um… well, yes?”

“Run? Really??”

I nodded hesitantly.

Bang—

“Eek—!”

Aileen slammed her fist on the table, shaking it violently.

“Wow… just… wow. Are you messing with me, Miss Noah?”

“I-I’m sorry…”

“If you say sorry one more time… I swear I’ll shut that mouth of yours for good!”

“Oh…oh no… I’m s-sorry—hic!”

Great. Now I’m so startled, I’m hiccuping!

Stop scaring me!!

I already struggle with social interaction! You’re making me even more nervous!!

Also, this body of mine!!

“Haa… Is there a difference between ‘sorry’ and ‘I’m sorry’? Whatever. How much do you weigh?”

“I-I’ve never checked…”

I glanced down at my body.
Aileen looked at me, too.

I’m about 146 cm tall, so…
I don’t think I weigh more than 40 kilos.

As I released the greatsword and poked my soft belly…

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Aileen’s hand touched my arm.

Then.

“W-wha—?! What are you…?!”

Her hand moved from my arm to my shoulder, then traced along my neck to my waist.

“H-hold on… wait! It tickles…!”

She continued down to my thigh and knee.

“Stay still for a second.”

“B-but… it really tickles…!”

Her hand climbed back up my leg and stopped at my spine.

“About 35 kilos? Maybe even less. Alright, we’ll ride together.”

Aileen spoke casually, as if nothing had happened, while I felt like electricity was shooting through my body. How could she be so calm?!

“T-together…?”

“Yes. Most adventurers weigh around 80 kilos, so the two of us combined should be fine.”

“O-okay… I understand.”

Hearing my response, Aileen began gathering her things.

“Alright, let’s head out for real this time.”

Nodding, I slung my packed bag over my shoulder.

“What’s in that big bag, anyway?”

Aileen tilted her head in confusion.

“Supplies…?”

I tilted my head, too.
But Aileen’s expression looked a bit off.

Did I make a mistake…?

“…Did I do something wrong?”

“Hold on, mind if I take a look?”

I opened the bag and showed her the contents.

Inside the oversized bag were preserved food, camping gear, and everything you’d need for a long journey by carriage.

“What… is all this?”

“It’s my gear… Hermilla told me to pack it…”

“Are you sure? That doesn’t sound like something she’d say… Where’s the list she gave you?”

I pulled the crumpled list from my pocket and handed it to her.

“Hm… Ah, so this is how she marked it so you could read it. But this isn’t the issue.”

Aileen inspected the paper closely.

There’s no way Hermilla would have tricked me…

“Oh, here it is. The list says these items are for carriage travel, and if you’re going on horseback, she’ll make you a new one.”

“Huh…?”

That’s right. We’re traveling on horseback, not by carriage…

“Aileen, what should I do with all this…?”

My money… all my hard-earned money!

I spent so much on these supplies! Now I’m left with only 20 silver!!

I could feel tears welling up.

“Haa… Let’s try selling what we can. I’ll help you.”

“H-hic… Really…? Do you think we can sell it…?”

Aileen, looking resolute, pulled her hood over her head and stood up.

“We’ll try our best.”

“Y-yes…”

As I stood up, I watched her from behind.
I might be cool, but right now…

“Wow… she’s really cool…”

At this moment, Aileen was even cooler than me.