I had a dream.
I can't remember what it was, but while I was dreaming, I felt a part of me missing and my heart ached.
Maybe it wasn't a good dream.
Little by little, I heard.
The sound of horseshoes hitting the ground.
And my body shaking slightly with the beat.
Is this why I woke up?
Then who is supporting my body that's leaning forward?
I could feel the hard metal touch on my cheeks, feels like someone who is wearing an armor.
I opened my eyes slowly.
To see silky red hair and a pure white nape.
When I raised my brows, I could see a familiar beauty with a cold impression.
“Frillite?”
“Huh?!”
Perhaps she was surprised when I called out her name suddenly, Frillite pulled the horse's bridle in shock.
Her horse, with it's head pulled, raised it's upper body and neighed. I tightened my legs around it's torso and held onto Frillite's waist tightly to keep myself from falling off the horse's back.
No, it looks like I had been holding her waist tightly since I was asleep in the first place.
When I woke up, my arms were already wrapped around her waist.
The horse that was neighing calmed down and lowered its forelegs. At that moment, Frillite let out a sigh of relief. She narrowed her brow and looked at me.
“Why did you suddenly startle me? What if we both had fallen down?”
“You call that startling you? I just opened my eyes and saw you, so I called your name. How do I know you would get so shocked?”
“Imagine that, someone you thought was sleeping suddenly whispers in your ears. How can you not be surprised? And when you wake up, show that you are alive. If you had, I wouldn't have been startled."
“I don’t even know what’s going on, and how to show that I'm awake? All right, all right. Let's just pretend it's my fault."
“Sigh… you still sulk at this age, huh?”
“Come on, when did I? Rather, explain what's the situation right now. Where are we going, and why am I sitting behind you?”
“Frilite-sama! We are in a hurry!”
“And what's with that guy rushing you?”
“I’ll tell you the details as we move.”
Frillite pulled the reins and made the horse, which was standing, pick up the speed again.
She opened her mouth when the horse began to gallop faster.
"An Ogre appeared," she said.
“Ogre? Why all of a sudden?”
Ogres are level 60 mid-lvl boss monsters.
As it is a mid-lvl boss, the specs are so high that it cannot be compared with normal monsters of the same level.
In addition, the Ogres have a troublesome characteristic of 50% immunity to physical damage, so it is difficult to bash it unless you are a wizard.
It's short—Ogres are hard bones to chew.
“I don’t know why it appeared. However, according to that cavalryman, the forest where the Ogre appeared has an environment were Ogres cannot live in the first place. So I'm guessing that someone with ill will intentionally released that Ogre into the forest."
"Ho… If that guess is correct, someone's pretty crazy. So, what does that have to do with me accompanying you? You don't want a weak person like me to fight against an Ogre, do you?"
“You really don’t remember anything?”
"Remember what?"
“You really don’t seem to remember…”
She took a deep breath and shook her head.
“When I heard that an Ogre had appeared, I was planning to leave you at the tavern. Because it's a risk that you can't handle. But I couldn't. Do you know why?”
“Why?”
"Because by the end of the cavalryman's report, you staggered to your feet and insisted on going with us."
“Did I?”
"Yeah, you did. No matter how hard I tried, you didn't listen. Time was running out, so I had no other choice but to bring you along with me.”
“Um… really?”
I made a choice after listening to the situation while I was drunk.
It's very much possible.
If I met an assassin in a drunk state and can't fight, wouldn't that be a game over for me?
I can't remember, but maybe I heard the word ‘Ogre' at that time and thought of the glyph.
The reason I insisted on following her must have been to absorb the Ogre's karma and to acquire the Ogre's glyph.
Well, it was a reasonable choice.
But.
‘In the end, it's my fault, isn’t it?’
I glanced at Frilite's eyes.
As expected, it was those eyes, the eyes that wanted to nag.
‘If she starts nagging right now, I think it will last until we arrive…’
That's terrible and just as horrible.
I quickly realized that the course of the subject needs to be changed.
What would it be…
What kind of conversation can I start to make Frillite forget her nagging session?
I turned my head taut.
Then, fortunately, I was able to open my mouth before she started nagging me again.
“But, are you okay with it?”
"With what?"
“The thing that I'm stuck with you like this. Even though it's just riding a horse, we are too close, right? Wouldn't your fiancé feel offended if he finds out, um?"
I found a joke that would make Frillite feel difficult.
If she panics and spits out some strange words, I can grab her initiative and take control of the conversation.
Frillite, who missed her nag timing, will eventually give up on nagging.
"Fiancé? I have no such thing.”
But overshadowing the operation, she remained unperturbed.
No, more than that, what did she say?
“You don’t have a fiancé? Why not? Aren't you the daughter of a well-off noble family?"
“It's a well-off noble family… Well, you are not wrong… but like I said before, I don’t have a fiancé. I have heard that there were many nobles who wanted to arrange an engagement with our family, but I have heard that my father refused to them all. And I have no complaints with that decision. Rather, I am quite satisfied.”
"Satisfied… Doesn't that mean you don't want to get married?"
“Right now it's so. It's because time is just so tight on my side with just training myself and saving the people. I have no time for meaningless things like engagement or marriage.”
“Then what about after defeating the Demon King? Will you change your mind then?”
“It must be so, when the Demon King falls and the appearance of monsters decreases and the continent enters a period of stability. As the heir, I have the obligation to inherit the family.”
Frillite answered with a bitter smile. An awkward silence ensued.
‘Man.'
Why is the atmosphere suddenly dull?
Why aren't we talking again?
…if we go on like this, we're going to spend hours in this awkward atmosphere.
It didn't seem like much, so I decided to spit out a little brazen joke.
Before that, I laid some iron plates on my face…
When I was ready, I opened my mouth.