Well.

Apparently there's no getting any answers from Elara now. Nor can I just ignore her bursting into laughter and pretend I don't notice.

And really, I do want to eat.

It's not my fault the dumb charisma buff turned a serious morning conversation into...I don't know. Some kind of joke.

Elara clearly finds it hilarious, at any rate.

...Not that I know what she thought was so funny, in the first place.

The rest of the camp is awakened with the sound of her laughter, and everyone comes out to meet with a generally disgruntled appearance, although not on the level of mine.

It is still the asscrack of dawn, after all.

And judging by Elara being awake, the others probably didn;'t get as solid sleep as me.

I could feel bad about that.

I could.

I choose not to.

Meera, for some reason, looks the least disgruntled.

Which is weird, because one would think the cat on her face would have messed up her sleep the most.

Well, that and I just naturally assume she'll be the least put together person in this party at any given time.

I haven't known her long, but I still feel pretty confident in assuming this.

Even though. Apparently. I'm incorrect on this occasion.

Eh.

Unless I see further instances of this, I'm going to salvage my pride by assuming this is the exception that proves my rule.

Regardless, as it turns out, Elara has made enough breakfast for everyone. Even though I was the only one awake a few minutes ago.

Maybe there's some reason she knew to make it? An internal clock of some sort that most people in this world have? After all, these others were woken up by her laughter - probably, anyway - but I woke up about the same time on my own.

It's entirely possible that's what happens, after all, I wouldn't know.

"Elara was simply bored, Master."

Ah.

Well then.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

I guess not.

Even if it was made out of boredom, though, the eggs and bacon - not actually recognizable bacon strips, but I know the taste of bacon anywhere - tastes good. And it's moderately filling, too.

Not as much as that stew, but then again, I'm not two days into a world without having eaten anything this time, so I don't need a whole bowl of extremely filling - and possibly drugged, thinking about it - stew.

When it's time to get us mounted on our horses, I decide not to take any chances. This area is way more rough than the town, and I don't feel like going on some kind of weird mini-quest looking for Meera if she gets launched by her horse again.

Thus, I help her get up onto her horse this time. She accomplishes it with some difficulty, but what is important is that she succeeds.

...And when I'm mounted on mine, she's staring at me with those sparkling eyes again.

I pretend I can't see them and urge the horse forward.

Once more we continue to travel, slowly growing more accustomed to the discomfort of the journey.

In my case, I won't be fully adjusted to it for some time, I can tell, as this body has no tolerance for the ride.

One might expect that if I'm going to be put in a world for adventuring, I wouldn't be in a body meant for streaming.

But...

Well, firstly, I'm not going to complain about getting to keep my familiar body and features. If I start complaining about that kind of thing I'll end up in a world where I'm a petite but busty red-haired woman.

I don't even make my game characters look that way.

I'm not particularly keen on the idea of getting used to a whole new body.

But also, arguably more important than that now: I'll take any challenge I can get.

I might instantly master any weapon I hold, take no damage from almost anything and regenerate when I do manage to take damage, but at least I'm noodley armed and saddle-sore.

Which is. A strange series of thoughts to have.

"Master, you have a lot more abilities than those three, you know."

That is not helping at all.

That just makes it worse!

If I could have that kind of strength from the start then where's the fun? What's the purpose of playing in this world?

I could just fast travel to the boss fight and defeat it.

Where would be the enjoyment in that?

"Don't worry, Master! Even though you can't 'fast travel' yet-"

No!

I don't want to know!

Keep that away from me!

The road narrows and the canopy overhead thickens until it's all but dark, as we press deeper and deeper into the woods. It feels like we're going to just run into a dead end at this point.

That shouldn't be possible in a forest, short of some kind of sheer cliffs when we don't have climbing equipment, but I imagine horses can only handle rough terrain up to a certain point before they won't be able to keep going.

Kael clicks his tongue. "The forest elves have been working overtime on these woods."

"Have you been here before?" Meera tilts her head curiously, swaying slightly back and forth as she continues riding on the road.

"...No. Not these specific roads." Kael admits after a moment's thought.

I'm about to ask how he'd know then, if he'd seen these specific roads somewhere, but Elara is a little faster to respond.

"That means you have been in the Elven Woods. I'm surprised. I thought any human who made their way in there was killed or taken captive?"

Kael shrugs one shoulder, one hand resting on his sword hilt as the other loosely grips the reins. "You're the one making that assumption."

Elara makes an annoyed face at Kael. "And how else would you have witnessed the work of elves? Don't try to get out of it now, you're the one who just suggested you saw it somewhere!"

"...Had an elf girlfriend once." Kael's tiny, sardonic smirk makes me think that might not be the truth.

I have no idea why it wouldn't be, though, or what the truth might be.

I lack any context for...

Any of this conversation.

"...Why did you say this was the work of elves?" I say, finally, steering this away from whatever old flames Kael did or didn't have.

He glances at me, then back ahead. "Unnatural overgrowth. Plus...this forest should have ended in the town of Stilense before nightfall yesterday."