So this is what it’s like to travel by carriage… It’s awful!

On the outside, there’s the constant sound of wooden wheels being pulled forward by horses. On the inside, motion sickness. It’s a bit cloudy today, which also lowers our spirits. And having nothing to do makes it really hard to take our minds off this pain.

Carol’s sitting next to me with a face just as bad as mine. I think it’s safe to say neither of us is enjoying this experience that much.

“Never realized how good we had it with cars.” We weren’t the only people in the carriage, so I had to whisper to Carol. Together with us were a couple kids and their parents who were accompanying them. Flanne’s out in the front driving, so it’s just me and Carol here in the back.

“Yeah… This is awf-” Carol stopped midsentence, covering her mouth with her hands in a hurry. Whew… And we’re going to have to endure three days of this? I hope it gets better soon. It’s only gonna get worse if I keep thinking about this…

Me and Carol killed some time yesterday by exploring Rocky Ridges together. I knew the place better than her, so I acted as a sort of guide for her. We had fun, but we ended up going to bed early. We set our alarms for 5 a.m. and went to the barracks to meet with Flanne. The carriages were all ready to go when we got there, and Flanne briefly introduced us to the soldiers we’d be working with.

Everything was fine so far. Everyone was looking at us indifferently, but Flanne just had to go ruin everything. “I see you’ve forgotten her face already. Iroha here is the one responsible for clearing the horde from a while ago. Try not to upset, okay?” I swear she did it just to mess with me! After that, they all got weirdly fired up, and it was really embarrassing…

I subconsciously turned my head to the right, and there was a man in light armor riding behind our carriage on a horse. He noticed my gaze and immediately bowed his head with a dumb smile on his face. This is the second problem. They all formed some kind of weird respect for me, and I have no idea how to respond. “Ahaha…” I waved my hand and quickly looked away.

“Iroha… I don’t think I’m gonna make it…” Carol’s voice was so raspy that I almost couldn’t hear her over the sound of the carriage and the children nearby. “Help…”

“What do you want me to do? We’re on the same boat here. Want some water?”

“I don’t think I can even handle water right now. Just talk about something. I need something to distract myself… What was that thing with you and a horde?”

“Oh, that? I got into a situation where I had to fight a lot of monsters together with Ririna. That’s what Flanne was talking about.” I went on to explain the full story to Carol.

The conversation let both of us forget nausea, and her face was looking far better than before. “I don’t believe it. More than a thousand monsters? All by yourself?”

“Not by myself. I had Ririna with me.” I brought my face closer to her so I could whisper the rest. “I also have a skill that gives me a burst of strength every time I kill a monster. The monsters were individually weak. I managed to snowball that strength, and that’s how I managed…” Carol opened her mouth and responded with a quiet ‘ehh…’

“I knew it! You’re the one who defeated the horde, aren’t you? I can’t believe I get to travel in the same carriage as you.” A girl across from us suddenly spoke up. “Ah! Sorry, I didn’t mean to overhear your conversation. I just got curious after I heard some soldiers talking about it.”

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“It’s alright…” This is awkward… I never expected someone to recognize me like that. Am I some kind of celebrity now? I don’t need this at all. “But it’s not like I defeated the horde on my own. It’s not as impressive as what you’re imagining.” I don’t know what exactly people are saying, but I tried to clear up any misunderstandings that the girl may have heard. She didn’t seem to care and continued looking at me with an enthusiastic face.

“Really? Oh, my name is Bea, by the way. It’s nice to meet you!” She introduced herself with a bright and innocent smile. Bea was wearing a simple green and brown dress. She should be one of the ‘kids’ we’re escorting to the capital, but she’s much older than the other kids. She’s a bit on the short side, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she was mine or Carol’s age. Her eyes were green and her hair was blonde—kinda like my own, but very different. Her hair was normal yellow, while mine’s golden yellow. Completely different colors whose only similarity is the name.

Her hair was particularly glossy. It’s kinda impressive for an average town girl like her to have such a brilliant color. She must take really good care of it. I can’t imagine that it’d be easy… or cheap.

“I’m Iroha. And this is Carol. It’s nice to meet you too.” I answered her introduction with an introduction of my own, and Carol played along with a small nod.

“It’s still impressive even if you weren’t alone. Wasn’t it an alchemist that was with you? Everyone knows alchemists can’t fight very well, so you still had to do most of the work, right?” The girl continued asking questions to satisfy her curiosity. “How did you do it? Was it a skill? What kind of skills do you have?”

“Uhmm…” Bea looked at me with an honest look in her eyes, and I have no idea how to answer now. How much can I reveal to people of this world without it being weird? People clearly talk about it, but how much is too much? “I guess you could say it was a skill… It was just very suitable for the situation, but it’s a secret technique, so I can’t go into too much detail.”

“Wow… Adventurers really are cool…” Turns out acting all secretive backfired… She’s looking at me like the soldiers do now. I’m not an adventurer, though. “They say you fought just like the Violence Witch. Are you the Violence Witch?”

What? Me? A Violence Witch? What even is that? Ririna explained a little when she told me about the Torn Violence Potion, but I still have no clue what that is. “Ahahaha… No, I’m not a Violence Witch. I’m just a normal girl.”

The girl tilted her head to the side. “But wasn’t the Violence Witch a normal girl too in the legend?”

Was she? What legend is she talking about? Is that common sense in this world? It’s not something from the game, so I don’t know anything about it. “I don’t know what to tell you then… I- I don’t think I’m the Violence Witch.”

“So… What’s a Violence Witch?” Carol had been listening the whole time, resting her face on her hand with a bored expression.

“What?! You don’t know!?” Bea was completely surprised by Carol’s question. I was right. The thing about the Violence Witch is common sense in this world. You can’t just come out and ask about it! What’s Carol gonna do now?

“Nope… I don’t know anything about it. Tell me everything you know so I don’t get bored, okay?” She played into it… Hmm…

“I can’t believe there’s someone who doesn’t know about the Violence Witch… Alright, I’ll tell you what I know.” Looks like Bea took the bait… Well done, Carol! Maybe now I’ll finally understand what that’s all about. “The Violence Witch appeared because of the war a thousand years ago. The various human nations united to defend against the humans who had settled in the Endless Silver. The remote villages on the border between Ebrilyon and the Endless Silver got caught in the fight, and a lot of people died. Then one day the Violence Witch showed up on the battlefield and mercilessly slaughtered both sides. They say she was a girl from one of the villages who lost everything and went insane, but what’s certain is that she was unstoppable. Apparently, she consumed the souls of everyone she killed, so she could fight forever, and she became stronger after each kill.” Bea gestured dramatically as she explained.

“It finally ended when the people of the Endless Silver stopped attacking, and the human alliance sent the hero of the time who finally managed to put an end to her life.” Bea finished her story, and both me and Carol had no idea what to say.

“H- had you heard about this before?!” Carol suddenly turned my way and whispered in my ear. It’s an interesting legend, that’s for sure.

“N- no…”

“Didn’t you say you played this world when it was a game?”

“I did, but this wasn’t in the game. It’s all news to me.” Bea looked at us while we whispered to each other, then wrapped up things.

“Well, according to the legend, the Violence Witch was crazy, and you don’t look crazy to me. Guess you’re not actually the Violence Witch.”

“Yeah… Of course I’m not… Ahahaha…” A girl that went crazy and started rampaging on the battlefield? What part of that is supposed to be me?

We talked for a while longer, and eventually the conversation died down and it was back to us struggling to endure the motion sickness.

It did leave me thinking, though… The Violence Witch, the Torn Violence Potion, the Violence skill tree, and the Violence Impulse skill… It all has to be connected somehow… The Violence Witch grew stronger with each kill? Isn’t that what Violence Impulse does? It’s just a temporary boost, but there’s no way that it’s a coincidence, is there? What’s the connection? Did she have it as one of her skills? Why would the VISS Driver give me that skill? Answers always lead to more questions, huh? And Bea, just who is she? She asked some really interesting questions, didn’t she? She’s pretty clever…