The Uncomfortable Ride

The Prince watched my actions in disbelief, staring at the horse that acted as if it understood human speech.

I understand him. In both this game and that game, horses are just horses; there is no such thing as a horse that understands human language.

“Calm down, my little pony… let’s just stay calm, stay calm. Good boy. Relax, I also like it best when you are pure white.”

To pacify the unicorn, I had to hand over not just carrots, but five Fairy Sugar Cubes—a premium paid item.

“First of all…, Prince. This guy is a summon, not a typical horse, so things like rubbing dirt on him won’t work. I will just send him back. If I change my class to one with speed-buffing skills, I won’t fall behind even without a mount.”

The unicorn let out a cheer and, before I could even cast the dismissal skill, vanished with a happy huff.

Even for an AI, he has such a strong sense of self that I feel a headache coming on every time something happens.

This is why so few people reach max level as a Summoner….

“Riding a summoned creature? I have never heard such a story.”

“Ah…. In the place where I live, it is not that rare an occurrence.”

I spun a casual lie. It is rare, but who cares? Azrael won’t know anyway.

“I see. The place you lived was truly different from here.”

Azrael lowered his eyes as if deep in thought, then climbed onto his horse and reached out his hand to me.

“Even so, it is quite far to the capital. I am not comfortable making you walk the whole way, so why not ride with me?”

I hesitated over whether it was okay to take his hand.

Even if it’s just an AI, I could handle the horse’s welfare by casting buffs or meticulously restoring its stamina, but I wasn’t sure if my heart would be okay.

I don’t know why Azrael is a character who attacks other people’s hearts so effectively.

Is it just my obsession? It probably is, but does this character usually offer rides to others?

My character was customized to be quite handsome since I poured money into him, but he is clearly a male character, and my personality doesn’t exactly cause gender confusion or feel particularly youthful.

After a brief moment of delusional interpretation—like I was analyzing a character in a dating sim—I remembered the bitter reality I had forgotten and clasped Azrael’s hand.

Azrael has a fiancé who is an NPC.

Unlike high-freedom general NPCs who might switch to a romance mode if you build enough affinity, he was a ‘fixed’ NPC whose affinity could not go beyond ‘Best Friend.’

I am free to attribute meaning to his actions, but I shouldn’t sincerely expect him to one day feel something more than friendship for me.

That would truly end as nothing more than a simple delusion.

Once I put on the dark gray cloak Azrael gave me over my short-length healer robes, I looked less conspicuous than the knights had feared.

I sat behind Azrael, trying hard not to sniff too obviously the scent of deep wood characteristic of him that drifted from the cloak.

Azrael insisted several times that since there were no safety tools to protect me while on the horse, it would be better for him to sit in the back while holding the reins, but I strongly argued that it would look better if I sat in the back.

It was for the sake of my heart. The knights also agreed with my opinion.

“I am glad you have come here, but it is a pity I cannot be purely happy about it.”

About ten minutes after we departed, Azrael spoke to me once the distance between us and the other mounted knights had widened appropriately.

Azrael was still wearing his helmet and I was sitting behind his back, so I couldn’t see his face, but his voice was quite low.

“Right now, this country is at war. The war against humans is one thing, but the threat of monsters is becoming impossible to ignore with each passing day. I am not someone who can enjoy a peaceful life like the one you once let me experience.”

“Well, the Prince is just working hard for his country, so it can’t be helped. If I complained without understanding such grave circumstances, I couldn’t really call myself a friend, could I?”

Seeing how he spoke in a long, roundabout way, it seemed the Prince—despite being an NPC—was quite reluctant to give me a quest.

It’s nice of him to care this much, but since a lack of quests is just boring and tedious for me, I just shrugged.

“If there is anything I can do to help, just say the word. Killing people is… impossible, but I can handle monsters with my eyes closed.”

The Prince let out a small laugh. Is my confidence funny?

“I am indeed glad you came here, Andrealphus.”

“I’m glad to be here too.”

I answered lightly.

By the way, why is logging out still not working?

Even if I am a total gaming addict who spends most of the day in-game, spending several hours just traveling is still boring.

Generally, in cases where I have to travel like this, I would use the system functions to set the character to an auto-move state and then step out of the gaming device.

Then I would watch TV or browse community sites until a notification sounded that I had reached my destination.

It wasn’t just me; other users did the same.

Of course, you can’t use that method in high-level fields where there’s a chance the character might die, but on maps where it’s okay to take a few hits, you could just cast a continuous health recovery skill and log out, and you’d arrive at your destination without issue.

Since I had successfully received the collaboration event quest, it should be about time for the logout to be activated, but the logout function remained inactive as if it were mocking me.

And so, I sat on the horse for over an hour, swaying the whole way to the nearest village without even being able to log out.

By the time we arrived at the nearby village, I was exhausted, leaning against Azrael’s back.

This was… not a problem of stamina, but a problem of the mind.

No matter how much it was my favorite character’s back, he was wearing thick steel armor; forget feeling any subtle body heat, I couldn’t see anything at all, to the point where no one would notice if the person inside had been swapped for something else mid-journey.

Azrael didn’t seem to find me heavy, but I felt a fair amount of guilt.

He was already wearing heavy armor, and I had made him bear my weight on top of that.

Anyway……. the new village was quite a bit larger than I had expected.

Unlike the previous village, the design of the buildings looked more like a city.

True to a game set during war, it was novel to see all the soldiers in outfits entirely covered from head to toe in steel armor.

Soldiers in The Hunters only wore light leather armor with the mark of the nation or village over their everyday clothes.

Since it’s a fantasy world, no matter how much of the body is actually covered, the attack damage itself would be adjusted according to the item’s stats, yet they designed it in a very interesting direction.

I unconsciously looked around at the unfamiliar scenery, then felt embarrassed when I made eye contact with a few villagers staring curiously at this group of black-clad knights, so I quietly looked straight ahead.

Ah, well, it probably is curious…. Even I would find it strange if six people in black armor passed through the middle of the street.

“Your Highness, do you plan to travel via the teleportation magic circle?”

“There is no need to take a long detour.”

“However….”

One of Azrael’s knights, seemingly displeased with me constantly looking around, stared intently at me with eyes full of dissatisfaction.

At this point, the expression ‘glaring’ might be more appropriate than ‘staring.’ He’s going to burn a hole in my face.

“My friend would never betray me, so there is nothing to worry about.”

The Prince cut him off firmly.

Hmm, even though I’ve raised the affinity to the ‘Friend’ level, being trusted this much is somehow even more embarrassing.

I might be a true Azrael hardcore otaku who is sincere about him right now, but honestly, up until the point I was working on Azrael’s affinity, I hadn’t done it with such pure intentions, so there’s no need to trust me this much….

“I also agree with Sir Levi’s opinion.”

No, but there’s no need for everyone to oppose it like this either.

What’s such a big deal about using a teleport? Is it really worth talking about it this much?

“This is not a general teleportation circle; the teleportation circle here is linked to those used by the royal family. Even if the Knight Commander vouches for his identity, we cannot allow someone who has actually proven nothing to use it. What will you do if he remembers the location and leaks it to a spy from another country?”

It was worth talking about.

I felt incredibly uncomfortable in this situation where I just had to sit and listen without being able to say anything, like a useless sack of grain.

Please calm down, everyone.

Since Azrael is taking my side, I want to say something that could help him, but if a suspicious guy says with his own mouth that he’s trustworthy, who’s going to believe him? So my mouth wouldn’t open.

Isn’t it a situation where I’d be lucky if I wasn’t accused of tricking Azrael with my silver tongue if I opened my mouth poorly?