The long-awaited cart ride turned out to be more pleasant than expected.
At least, it must have been so for Kikel and Bolton.
“Did she say her name was Hilde? The woman at the Request Office told me she’s a bronze rank, but her skills are definitely guaranteed.”
Of course, I was the exception.
Maybe it was because she was bored sitting in the cart, but for some reason, Amy had been pestering me with questions.
Kikel and Bolton were just left there like screens, and it was only me she bothered.
Well, I could understand.
Talking to Kikel, who had a bizarre way of speaking, was a headache, and Bolton, the priest, looked utterly boring and uninteresting.
Besides, unlike Kikel or Bolton, I was a woman in her prime, so it must have been less burdensome.
Of course, that was just Amy’s misunderstanding. Inside this body was a guy who had lived over twenty years with three legs, but…
Well, nobody would know unless I told them.
Anyway, for that reason, Amy kept holding onto me and rambling on about all kinds of casual conversations.
She threw all sorts of questions my way, as well as her own personal history that I didn’t really care about.
“How old are you? Since you’re a bronze-ranked warrior, you must be in your early twenties or so?”
…Honestly, it was a real pain.
“Age…”
Still, I diligently continued the conversation with her, even if with short answers.
After all, she was the client for this request and a wizard from the mage tower, someone I wouldn’t meet often at the bronze adventurer level.
In fact, just looking at how she treated Kikel, she had a good personality for a wizard, so it wouldn’t hurt to be nice to her.
“I’m probably twenty.”
My soul was twenty-two, but I remembered that the original owner of this body, Brunhilde, was around twenty years old.
So saying I was twenty was fine.
Being younger than the average rank was proof of being a talented individual in itself.
“…Probably? That’s a peculiar answer.”
Amy tilted her head.
“Well, having a two-year difference means we can almost consider ourselves the same age, right?”
“That’s right…?”
It was a statement whose intent was hard to decipher.
From the content, it sounded like she was saying that since there was only a two-year gap, she’d treat me as an equal—no, like an older sister!
But was there really a need to state it like that? What a cliché.
Having started with informal speech right off the bat, now she was suddenly all formal about it.
“Then there’s no need to be that formal. Just speak comfortably.”
Amy lightly suggested that I drop the formalities.
To be precise, she ordered me to drop them.
It was an astonishingly casual and informal attitude. Almost touching.
If she wasn’t actually two years… no, four years younger than me, I would have been moved.
What kind of younger person dares to say—‘Hey, it’s fine to speak informally to someone four years older’? If this were Korea, I’d have been slapped right on the crown!
“Even if you say that…”
I trailed off, feeling awkward at such remarks.
Since before I was reincarnated into this world, I had always spoken politely to anyone I met in a work-related situation, regardless of whether they were older or younger.
It’s only natural. Isn’t it basic business etiquette?
Any fool or downright human wreck should naturally understand this basic decorum between people.
“Honestly, that polite speech feels strangely uncomfortable—like you’re trying to set boundaries so you won’t get involved. So, I’d appreciate it if you could stop.”
“Well, if that’s the case… well, I’ll just call you Amy, then?”
Of course, if the other party says they don’t want to, the situation changes. So I immediately dropped the formal speech.
Continuing to speak formally after she said that would have been much ruder than just speaking informally.
“…Yeah, I’d rather that. Much better than before.”
Amy seemed a little surprised at my rapid change in tone but soon chuckled and nodded.
That’s how we dropped the formality.
“Hey, Hilde, aren’t you cold?”
Did she take the fact that I dropped the formal speech as a sign of a genuine friendship?
Amy opened her mouth wide and began to chatter away, far more talkative than I expected.
“I feel freezing as soon as night falls. Can you really be okay with just that thin cloak?”
“Not really? Moving around keeps you warm fairly quickly.”
Brunhilde’s body was quite resistant to cold. It wasn’t just that she didn’t feel cold; it was to the extent that she could somewhat negate the effects of ice-based magic.
“I envy human women! I can’t wear iron armor! I’m freezing!”
Kikel trembled and butt in, sounding genuinely envious.
It was ridiculous to say he couldn’t wear iron armor because he was cold; that’s something a loser would say!
He might be able to wear bronze or even iron armor later but couldn’t ever reach silver.
If a silver-ranked warrior was just wearing a robe, who would take that guy in? After taking even a single hit, he’d be on the brink of death.
No, hold on, being a lizardman means he could probably tank two hits, right? But does it even matter?
“Hey, about that armor you’re wearing. I’ve been curious since earlier—where did a bronze-ranked warrior get such armor? It doesn’t seem cheap.”
Amy showed interest in my armor.
“Were you a knight or something? Or maybe you had a lot of money at home?”
No, I suppose it was about my identity, huh?
It was intriguing enough, to be fair.
The pauldrons, breastplate, gauntlets, and greaves, all made from forged steel.
I wasn’t fully wrapped up like a heavy knight, but this was a considerable amount of protection for a below-bronze-level adventurer.
“Well, before I became an adventurer, I had earned some money doing other work. As for my family… I don’t really know since they passed away long ago.”
I just skirted the truth.
It wasn’t a lie, just not sharing all the details.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Did she unintentionally touch a sore spot? Amy lowered her head, looking a little flustered.
So she could apologize. That was an amazing discovery.
I reassured her that it was nothing, as it really wasn’t anything.
I didn’t even know the names of Brunhilde’s parents. They had never appeared in the novel.
“…Why do you keep wearing the helmet? Doesn’t it feel suffocating? You could just take it off when you’re not fighting, right?”
“Because there was a time I almost got an arrow in my head.”
A plausible excuse. The real reason was to conceal my identity.
Even though I had escaped to Hervor beyond the borders, if I went around without my helmet, someone might recognize me.
The fact that the runaway knight, Brunhilde, who had fled from heroic parties twice, was here had to stay a complete secret.
If I ended up entangled with the main characters in the novel… my future would turn into a real headache.
No, I probably wouldn’t even have a future to speak of.
The word ‘future’ is something you can only use for a person’s life. Once captured by the main characters of the original work, my life would no longer be a life but just a living hell.
I’d completely lose my mind and be muttering, “Brunhilde is a bitch…” and how could that be called living? It felt more like livestock.
That’s why I decided to completely conceal my identity.
Thanks to that, I was treated like a non-citizen, unable to secure a normal job or own land or a home.
But that was fine, once I committed to being an adventurer, there was no need to worry about that.
Bronze-level adventurers were allowed to rent land or homes, and once I reached silver, I’d gain citizenship in that nation.
That was my goal.
To remain hidden in the shadows and become an adventurer named Hilde, gaining citizenship in Hervor.
Once I received citizenship, purchasing land or a home would be allowed, and after that, with the money I’d saved up, I could live a leisurely life.
Returning to my original world would eliminate the need for that, but… honestly, there was no promise, nor even a small clue about that, so I had half-given up.
◆◆
So we passed the time chatting. A full four hours without a break.
Thanks to that, I learned quite a bit about Amy.
Her future plan was to become an adventurer and support her mage tower tuition, and she had one younger brother and two younger sisters.
Her food preferences, her hometown’s specialties, and aspirations to achieve remarkable accomplishments as an adventurer, just like the legendary hero parties.
“When it comes to hero parties… speaking of which, I hear this generation’s heroes are all exceptionally talented, except for the hero from the Kingdom of Rhine.”
Was it because the topic of hero parties was brought up? Bolton, who had been quietly reciting prayer, joined the conversation.
After all, with a topic about heroes, how could a priest of the Goddess Church just sit by idly?
The term Hero referred to the four champions bestowed with the ‘Blessing of the Hero’ from the sky goddess Elianel, who became the owners of the ‘Holy Sword’ rigorously guarded by each kingdom.
With the power of the Holy Sword and their own skills, they became mankind’s spearhead, breaking through deep dungeons and annihilating the demon lord lurking beyond. That was what heroes were.
In terms of the settings of the game that formed the background of the novel I read, known as ‘NTRPG’.
“Rhine? Oh, that ‘inept hero’? I heard he couldn’t even make it through mid-tier dungeons… is that even possible?”
Of course, that setting was merely a setting. There was a vast discrepancy from reality.
All four heroes in the novel—Gunther, Friet, Heid, and Atly—were overflowing with faults and dysfunctionality.
Friet, the pitiful hero, was far too weak.
Gunther, who snatched all of Friet’s original party members to train them.
Heid, who was almost as terrible in character as Gunther, and Atly, who emitted a suspicious aura almost to the point of becoming an unwanted plot twist.
A trio of personality trash and one performance trash. It was truly impressive how they managed to pick such rejects.
Elianel must be blind. Or perhaps she’s a sadist who enjoys seeing people suffer.
“That’s hard to believe, but it seems it was true. Apparently, even a party member assigned by the kingdom abandoned the hero and switched to another party.”
“Wow. No matter how inept, to just run away like that? Is that really allowed?”
Amy gasped, covering her mouth as she asked.
“Of course that’s not allowed. The accomplishments of the hero party are considered the kingdom’s. To take all the support of being a member of a hero party and then run off to another country would make them no different from a traitor.”
Bolton sharply criticized Friet’s party members.
With the kind of factual hitting talk befitting a priest, it sounded like he wouldn’t hold back even against a thief.
“Kachak! Humans have it rough! We have no betrayal. We’re all buried in the marsh!”
“…….”
I felt a twinge of guilt and remained silent.
If I revealed myself as Brunhilde here, Bolton’s spearhead would surely come flying my way.
Even if it wouldn’t stab me, this request would undoubtedly turn chaotic, along with my reputation being buried at the bottom level.
“Wow, that’s amazing…. The Kingdom of Rhine must have been in an uproar, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. And, apparently, not long after a party member left, the hero also went missing. Because of that, various confusions arose.”
Bolton answered while making a small sign of the cross.
“The hero went missing…?”
I tilted my head in curiosity at this newly heard information.
“Yeah. It seems our church has sent search parties, but they haven’t found any leads yet.”
The disappearance of the hero of the Rhine Kingdom, Friet. A very intriguing piece of information. I swallowed my dry saliva without realizing it.
…Has he made a move?
While the people here would take Friet’s disappearance as simply “a disheartened hero hiding away,” I knew very well what it truly meant.
How could I not know?
That is the early story of the novel I read, “I Became the Protagonist of the NTR Game.”
In other words, it meant that the protagonist of the novel had finally begun to move.
A man who played the 19+ RPG game ‘Nibelungen Tragödie’ and had been reincarnated into the body of the inept hero, Friet.
The “disappearance” was merely conjecture from those who didn’t know the situation.
He was probably even now wandering around trying to locate some hidden pieces, just as the early plot of the novel dictated, to elevate the inept hero’s abilities to match or surpass his fellow heroes.
And what would come next…?
A warmth, akin to relief, swept through my chest. I was glad I had fled to Hervor.
Whether this world was truly the world of the novel or based on the game’s universe was a dilemma I had pondered, but seeing Kim Seung-woo made me realize it was indeed the world of the novel.
If so, then running away was the right answer.
If the story continues in line with the original novel, those who despised Friet and those who betrayed him would meet a pitiful end at the hands of Kim Seung-woo, who has taken over Friet’s body.
And that would be the same fate for Brunhilde as well.
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