The first stop after we arrived in Rocky Ridges was the market, and there were a lot of people around. Since it’s early in the morning, all of the town’s housewives are here for their daily grocery shopping. It’s very… lively… a bit too much in fact. Every few steps we take, we overhear a heated haggling match between a feisty woman and a troubled shopkeeper. It’s like we’re in the middle of a battlefield with shots constantly flying over our heads.

Cleaning up the mess caused by Ririna’s alchemy led to a large quantity of overgrown crops entering Rocky Ridges’s economy. Everything is being hastily harvested by the soldiers and population to clean things up as soon as possible, leading to a lot of damaged produce. But these housewives love it. Every little defect is a reason to drive the price down, and there are a lot of defects.

I prepared food and plenty of supplies for my trip to the capital. However, I didn’t prepare them with Carol in mind, so we had to make a stop here before heading anywhere else. It’s been hard… We’re like fish out of water here. I’m not great around big crowds, and Carol literally knows nothing about this world.

“Is this normal here? How can anyone do business when every single person is trying to haggle?” Carol has been acting like a complete tourist. Head constantly swinging from left to right, getting distracted every couple seconds, non-stop questions.

“I don’t know how any of this works either!” I was walking ahead, but I had to turn around and wave my hand in front of her face to grab her attention. “But it doesn’t matter to us, does it?”

“What are we doing here anyway? Weren’t we going to another city?”

“Yeah, but we first need to buy food and other stuff for you since I only packed for myself. Or should we go back to the other world to get more stuff?”

“No, we can’t go back now! Let me take a look at what you have. We’ll find a way to make it work.” I handed Carol the bag I prepared, and she crouched down to take a look. “I think you’ve got enough for the two of us for three days. How far away is that other city?”

“Sorry, I have no clue… I think it’s reasonable to walk there.” In Ririna’s letter, she mentioned us going together by foot. Maybe it’s less than a day? Two days? I’ve just now realized how poorly prepared I was.

“Hmm… What’s up with this tacky pouch? What’s in here?” Carol pulled out the red pouch I got as a prize the other day from inside the bag.

“That’s for potions. I put some potions I had leftover in there.” Ririna lent them to us when we were rescuing Carol. It’s all simple and inexpensive stuff, so I might as well put it to good use.

“Okay, I got. Let’s take a look around. Katja had me learn how to survive in the wilderness, so I know what we’ll need the most.” Carol said confidently, and I decided to let her take the lead.

We roamed the shopping street, and, with her help, we were able to buy the stuff necessary to travel for as long as we wanted. At least if we were willing to forage and hunt, but we were both hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

“Wow, Carol… I would have been completely lost without you.”

“Pretty much. Can’t believe Katja’s survival training actually came in handy. She always wants us to learn the weirdest things.” Carol complained with a nostalgic smile on her face.

“Like how to shoot guns?” I flashed her my pistol with a small grin.

“No way! She already gave you one?! Since when?”

“It was just yesterday. I barely know how to shoot, so it’s pretty much only for show.”

“I see…” Carol crossed her arms and gave a nod of approval. “Well, your sword works better anyway. We got everything we need, so it’s time to get going, right?”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Actually, I don’t really know in which direction we’re supposed to go.”

“What!? Are you kidding me? How are we getting anywhere then?”

“I think there’s someone I can ask…” Ririna should be back in the capital, and Sarasa disappeared at around the same time. They probably went back together. Flanne is the only one who stayed behind, and she should be able to help me if I can find her. If she’s still around, where would she be…? “Come with me, Carol. I know where we should go.”

With some luck, we should find her in the Gathering of Flowers, sipping some tea. I explained where we were going to Carol, and we set off.

“A coffee shop? Here? In this world? Isn’t it supposed to be tavern?” Carol knows a bit about the cliches of fantasy worlds, and she noticed it was strange.

“It should be, but the people who made the game decided to mix things up. Don’t ask me why, I have no clue. They’re probably just crazy.” I shrugged, and Carol shook her head in response. I peeked in through a nearby window, hoping we’d get lucky. “Oh? She’s there! Let’s go in.” I opened the door, and we went inside.

“Hmm?” Flanne was sitting on the same table as always. She was by herself, placing the teacup down elegantly just as we approached. “Iroha, it’s been a while.” She gestured for us to sit with a gentle smile.

“Hi there, I’ve been a bit busy…” I took up Flanne’s offer and sat down. Carol followed my lead and did the same.

“Oh, and you’re the girl from the other day, aren’t you? I’m happy to see you’ve recovered.” Flanne is nice and approachable, but she’s also the kind of person to be wearing a chest plate even in a peaceful place like this. Carol noticed the weirdness and looked a bit troubled when Flanne spoke to her.

“Yeah, I’m fine now, thanks to your help.” It’s not strictly the first time they’ve met, but it’s the first time they’re talking to each other. Carol usually takes a hostile stance with strangers, but she’s being surprisingly polite with Flanne. How cute…

“Don’t mention it. Helping those in need is my duty.” Flanne flashed a smile, and Carol forced a smile in response. “What brings you here, Iroha? Were you looking for me?”

“That’s right. I really needed to talk to you. Uhmm… Have you seen Ririna around?”

“No… As far as I know, she hasn’t come to Rocky Ridges for a few days now. Why?”

“Well, we had some vague plans to meet up, but she never came back…” I was disappointed to learn that Flanne hadn’t seen her, but that’s not gonna stop me. “We were supposed to meet in the capital if we didn’t run into each other, so I have another favor to ask you. Can you tell me how to go to the capital? Without fast-travel.”

“Sure! That’s an easy one. You know the mountain off in the distance shaped like a ring? If you stay on the path that passes through there, you’ll get to the capital after a hilly area.”

“Oh, cool!” A lot of the mountains nearby have weird shapes, but only one of them is shaped like a ring. I know exactly which one she’s talking about. “I guess we know where to go now!” I stood up in a hurry and exchanged glances with Carol.

“Are you planning on leaving right away? How are you getting there?” Flanne wasn’t done and signaled with her hand like she was asking me to wait.

“We were planning on leaving right away.” I sat back down before continuing. “We’re going by foot, by the way. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I got a proposal for you. I was wondering if you’d like to join our convoy? Since the soldiers have gathered here already, we’ve decided to do Rocky Ridges’s trip to the capital earlier this year. We’d welcome you two as additional guards.”

“Eh? Traditional trip? What?” I’ve never heard of that before. Carol looked just as confused as me.

“You don’t know?” Flanne tilted her head. “Perhaps it had another name where you’re from. This is an event similar to a pilgrimage where the army escorts people of various towns and cities to the capital. This is an event mainly targeted at children to open the capital as a fast-travel location for them, but other people are allowed to join. Being able to fast-travel to the capital will help them as they turn into adults. Having a high portion of people with a variety of fast-travel locations available to them will make Ebrilyon more prosperous.”

Oh, wow… I’ve never heard of that before… Is this one of those things that’s different from the game? It has to be. It’s because fast-travel didn’t exist in the game for regular people.

“We’ll be using carriages for the trip, so it will be a lot faster than going by foot. Not to mention safer.” Flanne continued. “So? Are you interested in joining us? We’ll even pay you if any monsters show up.” She finished with that and gracefully rested her chin on her hands.

Sounds pretty good… I’m not really opposed to it. Carol’s giving me a look like she doesn’t care either way. A nonchalant ‘you decide’ is the message I’m getting. It’s unanimous. “I think we’ll accept your offer, Flanne. When exactly are you leaving? We’re in a bit of a rush, so we can’t wait too long.”

“You came at just the right time then. We’ll be leaving tomorrow morning. Can you wait that long?” That would be a whole day down the drain. But a faster pace will make up for any losses. I gave Flanne a short response, telling her we’d wait. “Good. Come to the barracks first thing in the morning tomorrow. We’ll be waiting for you two.”

With all the preparations complete, me and Carol left the Gathering of Flowers, and we went to the town center. “Looks like we have a lot of time to kill now, Carol. Should we go back to the dorm…?”

“No way! I already called them, saying we’d be gone for a few days. Can you imagine how embarrassing it’d be for us to show up there now? ‘Oops, turns out we’re only leaving tomorrow haha!’ Fucking ridiculous.” Carol was quick to shut down my suggestion, but I agree. It’d be weird for us to go back now.

“I guess we’ll have to rent some rooms at an inn then.”

“Do you even have money for that? A- are we going to have to share a- a room!?” Carol protested with a red face.

“Nah… Inns are ridiculously cheap in this world. With the fast-travel Flanne was talking about, the people of this world can teleport between cities at any time. No one needs an inn when they can just teleport home, so they rent them for dirt cheap.”

“Why did they build inns if no one’s gonna use them in the first place? How does anyone in this world turn profit?” Carol shook her head in disbelief.

“I’m telling you, they’re all crazy! But honestly, I think the inns exist because they existed in the game. I don’t really get it, but it works out for us. The smallest currency I have right now can probably get us two rooms for three days.”

“Is that so…?” Carol crossed her arms and thought to herself. “Fine, let’s go with that. We’ll have to find a way to kill some time, and we’ll have to stay overnight, but we’re not off to a bad start, huh?”

“Right?” I totally agree with her. If I hadn’t made up my mind yesterday to head to the capital as soon as possible, we would have probably missed Flanne. What a close call…