Inside An Ad*lt Game As A Former Hero - Chapter 27

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.

In 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?”

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“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.

“You don’t seem to like the idea of having an arranged marriage. All right, then I’ll be kind for once and give you the benefit of taking me as your family’s son-in-law.”

“W, What?”

Presumably surprised by my ‘sincerity’, Frillite was genuinely surprised.

It’s the kind of expression presented on seeing some serious bullshit all of a sudden.

It’s also the first time I have seen an expression like that.

I decided to come out a little more brazenly.

“Hey, what’s wrong with your reaction, isn’t such a free benefit nice?”

“Benefit? You sure that’s a benefit?”

“Of course it’s a benefit. Hey, to be honest, my character is good enough for you, my personality is not that angular, and since I am also a Hero, I can compare in status with you. No matter where you look throughout the continent, you won’t find a better groom than me.”

The çock is 3cm tall, but I’ll fix it soon, so let’s leave that out of the discussion for now.

“…you can say such things with your own mouth, don’t you usually shy?”

“Why should I? It’s all true. And it’s not bad for you either. Isn’t it better to be with someone you know than with someone you don’t know? Not only that, I’m confident I won’t touch you at all.”

“Won’t touch me… that’s not possible. In order to carry on the family line, I have to bear children.”

“We’ll adopt.”

“…are you sane?”

“I am dead serious.”

Frillite looked at my face with an absurd expression.

In the meantime, I continued to appeal my strengths like a freshman interviewing for the first job.

“And I may not even care what you do and don’t. I’m not really interested in power, add that as a plus. As long as you give me three times of delicious meals, I will gladly stay in the corner of the room.”

I folded my arms and nodded confidently. The appeal is over. Now all that remains is to wait for the boss to declare the result.

“…didn’t you ask me to be your friend just a few hours ago?”

“Umu, I did.”

“And now you are proposing? Do you have any idea of how many immediate steps you have skipped in the middle?”

“Isn’t it more attractive because it’s manly?”

“Crazy.”

Saying that, Frillite didn’t look annoyed. Rather, she was smiling broadly as if she was enjoying the fun of it.

Yeah, she was giggling.

She’s the first friend I have made in this new world. Wouldn’t it be better to live with a smile if possible?

“Really… when I first saw you, I never thought you would be like this. How the hell did you hide that cleverness?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Welp, was a bit hard. So what is your answer, my lady?”

“I am grateful, but I will politely decline. In the first place, my marriage is not something that I can decide on my own.”

“Oh, that’s unfortunate. Hash, it was a great opportunity to change my status quo, missed, tsk, tsk.”

“Don’t be too sad. I’m going to make that suggestion to my father. We don’t really know, maybe he will select you as his future son-in-law, huh?”

“Sadly, by then, I will be out of stock already. It’s a body that the precious daughter of the Perdiac family cannot find once it’s sold.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. If I can’t find you, I will make you come to me.”

“Oh? How?”

Frillite said with an uncharacteristically warm smile.

“If you are married, why not just make that marriage a thing that never happened?Fortunately, I have that level of power.”

“Hey, that’s a funny joke.”

“…”

“…you are kidding, right?”

Frillite didn’t answer. She just looked at me with her smiling face.

As cold shivering sensations were about to climb upto my spine, she burst into giggles.

“Of course it’s a joke. Did you really believed that?”

I nodded my head.

“I hope you better not make such jokes in the future.”

“Why not?”

“Depending on the listener, I think he might seriously consider suicide.”

She took it as a joke, but unfortunately I was serious.

You really can’t joke around lightly, nowadays world is very serious with things.

* * *

Maybe it was because the poor horse was made to gallop the whole night, we were able to meet the lord of the territory before the lord’s army collided with the Ogre.

“Hero-sama! Thank you for coming at such a short notice!”

The old lord, who had been wandering here and there with a dark expression until before, saw Frillite and ran over to her with all his remorses.

“I’m just fulfilling my duty as a Hero. So where is the Ogre?”

Frillite treated the lord lightly as if it was very natural, even though he is one of the oldest nobles and a Count of the Empire. Even so, the lord didn’t lose his smile throughout the whole conversation and treated Frillite with respect.

Does he really not care, or is he being patient even though he cares?

I didn’t know what he was thinking in his head, but one thing was certain for sure.

‘There is a distant class wall between Frillite and an ordinary count of the Empire.’

It was a new situation, but I realized it for once again that Frillite’s class level was very high.

…I’ll have to make sure she was really joking.

While I was thinking about it, the count explained the situation to Frillite.

“Most of the content will be omitted since Miss Frillite has already heard it from Alex. It’s been about four days since we found that Ogre, we don’t know exactly when it entered the forest. According to the scout’s report, that Ogre is currently lodging beside a lake inside the forest.”

“A lake in the forest. I got it. I’ll go right away.”

“Yeah, then… Yes? Miss Frillite, I’m sorry, but this old man has a bad hearing due to old age. What did you just say?”

“I said I would go alone. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to deal with that Ogre. I’ll have to ask Count Lykel to take care of the monsters who might escape during my fight with that Ogre, otherwise the aftermath will be more difficult to handle.”

Leaving her words that was more close to an instruction, Frillite left the barracks.

I walked after her.

“Cloud, there’s no need for you to accompany me. Honestly, it’s too dangerous for you.”

“Before that, let me ask you one thing. Can you really kill an Ogre by yourself? Aren’t you the one trying to be stubborn in that case?”

As she said, if she can kill the Ogre alone, that’s the best ending.

Because it can end without anyone dying.

However, that was only when she was able to deal with the Ogre by herself.

I looked around at the Count’s soldiers. There were elite soldiers and knights wearing good quality armor and holding sharp weapons, but most of the others were conscripts who didn’t have a piece of proper armament.

For example, the farmers who don’t even know how to fight.

If they collide with the Ogre in this state, they will take quite a good deal of damage. A lot of people will die and more will get hurt.

Frillite was surely concerned about that, so she may have said that she would go alone.

To a priest, it might be considered a noble behavior, but to me, it was plain stupid.

At my question, she stopped, she turned and looked at me, and asked.

“What if I said I can’t?”

“What then? We will go together and bash that monster together.”

A startled expression appeared on her face as I spoke without hesitation.

“I thought you would stop me, but I was wrong.”

“What if I do? Are you even going to listen to me? Hah, even if I grab hold of your legs, you’re going to drag me in that state.”

“That’s true.”

Frillite broke into giggles. Then, she expressed in a serious voice soon after.

“Don’t worry, I’m not as reckless as you see. I’m going because I can.”

“You can deal with an Ogre by yourself? What level are you?”

How much is she in saying she can subdue an Ogre by herself?

“60.”

“?”

Damn?