Reincarnation in Another World – [TS] – Chapter 15

Chapter15: The Journey
As it grew dark, we entered the forest near Kwando to rest. Of course, we didn’t go deep into the forest, but rested at the edge.
“Ugh… I’m so tired…”
Having walked all day, Emily collapsed onto the grass as if falling.
She lay in the field, gazing at the stars, and suddenly muttered,
“Shouldn’t we buy horses and ride them?”
“No, that’s impossible.”
With a total of 1000 rads, it’s hard to buy even a donkey, let alone a horse. If you don’t have money, you have to walk, just like in the other world.
I watched Emily tapping the ground with her foot as she lay down and asked her,
“Aren’t your parents worried?”
“Probably not? They told me to get out quickly because I was wasting food at home.”
That “get out” probably doesn’t mean running away from home.
Emily probably doesn’t mean it either, so I just nodded.
“It worked out well. My family was making a fuss about marrying Karl, so I don’t have to listen to their nagging anymore.”
She didn’t seem to miss them much, let alone worry about them.
Well, if you’re the third of eight siblings in this world, the housework must have been terrible. It’s different from modern Earth in many ways.
“But who are you really? Maybe Yoo Min-joo? Kim Ah-ram?”
“I’ll tell you when I find all the others.”
Emily looked dumbfounded at my words.
“There are thirty of them, when are you going to find them all?”
I wonder if that includes the bus driver and the teacher.
It’s better to think that they’re doing well. My case is a bit special.
Emily seemed to be living well as an ordinary farmer’s daughter, and if I hadn’t been there… no, I can only imagine her being tricked and sold into slavery.
“We’ll find them one by one. We’ve already found one.”
“Really? Who is it?”
When she asked with a bright expression, I stared at Emily.
Emily seemed to realize the meaning of my gaze and muttered in a small voice.
“Oh, it’s me…”
//
I was wondering if we should set up a night watch, but we decided to just sleep.
Of course, sleeping at the edge of the forest without a night watch is extremely dangerous. I’m okay, but Emily isn’t.
“Crunch, crunch.”
But since the person in question is sleeping so soundly, I don’t really want to wake her up. Well, I don’t think anything will happen…

-Growl.

…I thought, but then a wolf appeared.
Five of them.
I quickly got up and kicked Emily.
“Gah!?”
“Wake up.”
“What are you doing!?”
Emily jumped up and shouted at me in a sharp voice, then her face hardened as she saw the wolves coming out of the forest.
“…That’s.”
She picked up a wooden stick next to her, and I took out a dagger from my pocket and straightened my posture.
“Stay close to me. I’ll attack, so you just focus on driving them away.”
“O-okay.”
Emily’s voice was trembling slightly. Seeing that reaction, I realized that this was her first time in a real fight.
The wolves attacked first.
One wolf ran like the wind and jumped at my neck.
I guess I was the target because I was smaller.

-Thwack.

The wolf’s sharp teeth touched my neck, but thanks to the Ironclad Armor, their attack couldn’t hurt me. Even though they’re just beasts, wolves are intelligent animals.
I could feel the wolf’s bewilderment through the vibration of its fangs against my skin.

-Stab.

I quickly stabbed the dagger into the wolf’s neck.
Then I slashed down with force.

-Swish!

With a spurt of blood, the wolf quickly backed away, but it couldn’t escape death because its artery had been cut. It staggered even after retreating, and soon collapsed.

-Thump!

“Argh!”
At the same time, I heard a dull sound from behind.
I glanced back and saw Emily trembling slightly. Beyond her, the wolf that had been rolling on the ground quickly got up.
“H-hey! Come on, bring it on!”
Good confidence.
At least it’s better than being scared and trembling.
…No, she is scared and trembling.
But she’s still doing what she needs to do, so it’s okay.

-Thump. Thump.

“Argh!”

-Thump!

“Yelp!”
“Hey, Lyla?”
“What?”
“It feels like the wolves are only attacking me…?”
It’s not an illusion.
Whether they learned from the scene just now, they were stubbornly targeting only Emily. And whenever I tried to attack, they would immediately retreat, which seemed quite cunning.
But fortunately, after I dealt with the wolf that attacked my ankle, the remaining three wolves glared at us for a while and then returned to the forest. Two of the five wolves had died, so they must have decided that we were too strong.
It was fortunate for us.
“H-haah… I thought I was going to die…”
Emily was quite scared, and she sat down and sighed in relief.
“Why are those things wandering around…”
“Well… because this is a fantasy world?”
When I answered, Emily looked impressed.
“That’s right! That’s right. This is a fantasy world. I forgot because I’ve been doing housework all day.”
Somehow, she seemed to have experienced a similar life to mine, but in a different direction.
//
Despite the wolf attack, Emily fell asleep again. That’s a skill in itself.
She doesn’t have Ironclad Armor like me, but she has great confidence.
I sighed softly as I looked at Emily and leaned against my backpack.
I can’t sleep much, but I can at least doze off for a while.
When I was living on the streets in the slums as a child, I was so sensitive that I would wake up at the sound of footsteps, but I forgot that sense while living comfortably as a prostitute, which is a problem.
I closed my eyes like that,
And when I opened my eyes again a little later, the sun was up.
…Huh?
Looking around, I saw the two dead wolves and Emily sprawled out in the field.
Fortunately, she’s alive and well.
I got up and woke Emily up again.
//
After walking all day again, we arrived at a village called Jayne around sunset. As expected of a village marked on the map, there was an inn in the center of the village.
We left the wolves’ corpses in the field.
I thought about skinning them, but I didn’t feel the need to do so.
And my luggage is a bit heavy.
When we went to the counter, unlike the village of Artoon, a voluptuous landlady was sitting and scribbling something.
“One room and dinner for two.”
“Okay, I see… Oh? Are you travelers?”
The landlady answered without much thought, but then looked surprised when she saw us. Emily looks a bit older, but I still have a lot of baby fat. I’ve had too much experience with men for that, but that’s beside the point.
“Yes! We came from Artoon Village!”
It was Emily who answered.
She answered cheerfully and smiled brightly. Then the landlady smiled as if she thought she was cute, and after folding her fingers a few times, she opened her mouth.
“Then it’s 40 rads in total. There’s only one dish, is that okay?”
“Yes, that’s fine.”
We only ate jerky and dried food on the way, so both Emily and I were craving something freshly cooked. By the way, 40 rads is almost my old price.
As I was taking out my pouch without much thought, someone blocked me.

-Clack.

“Beautiful ladies. Please, allow me to pay for you.”
When I turned my head, I saw a man with a greasy look.
He wasn’t armed, so he didn’t seem to be a mercenary or an ordinary traveler. He seemed to be a villager or a merchant who hired mercenaries to travel.
By the way, did the Kingdom of Kilkird designate these actions by law?
In the sense that you must flirt with a woman you meet for the first time.
“Tom, get lost with your flirting.”
“No, lady, butt out. I’m just trying to have a conversation.”
When we looked at him as if we were dumbfounded, the landlady scolded him.
Judging from her friendly attitude, the man named Tom seemed to be a villager.
“We’ll pass.”
“Hey, don’t be like that…”
“Just get lost. I’m not interested.”
When I spoke strongly, Tom looked dejected and retreated.
I would have enjoyed it as much as possible if I had been alone, but with Emily around, it seemed better to refrain from it.
But I’ll have to sell my body if I run out of money.
After eating and washing, we went to the inn room.
It was a little less shabby than the last time in Artoon Village, but it was still old.
Emily looked at the inn room and muttered as if she was impressed.
“Wow, it’s worse than my house.”
“Really? It was worse than this in Artoon.”
“Oh? Ah, it’s Calvin’s Inn. They focus on the taste of the alcohol there.”
Oh, was that so.
No wonder the alcohol tasted so good.
“But why did you only get one room?”
“We have to save money.”
“Hmm, that’s true.”
Actually, the real reason was that Emily might attack me in the middle of the night if we slept separately. But I couldn’t say that directly.
It’s not a sure thing, and I’d be in trouble if she was shocked.
“So, we’re sleeping in the same bed?”
Emily’s expression looked a bit lewd as she said that.
Come to think of it, she still said she liked women. I felt like she was subtly sticking to me when we were walking together, and it wasn’t just my imagination.
Still, that look seemed a bit pathetic.
I’m not naive enough to be flustered by Emily, who is a virgin.
I chuckled and put my coat on the bed as I answered.
“Yeah. Of course, we have to.”
“Ooh, can I take that as a declaration of surrender, that you’re going to let me have your body?”
As expected, she was lewd because she was a man inside.
But if you like women, shouldn’t you just touch yourself? Emily is taller and more developed than me.
And I want to correct her that a declaration of surrender isn’t used in that way.
“Can you do it?”
“Ooh! Full of confidence! I like women like that.”
As soon as Emily finished speaking, I took off the top I was wearing and put it on the table.
When my white naked body was revealed under the lamp, Emily was impressed.
“Wow, more daring than I thought… huh?”
Then I took off my pants and put them on top of my top.
Thanks to my experience in Lakers, I was used to sleeping naked, so this was more comfortable. I also felt a cool sense of liberation.
In fact, I was naked more often in Lakers. That’s what I did, and even if I wore something, it was usually just a coat or a cloak. Or a prostitute’s linen dress.
Besides, thanks to the Ironclad Armor, I don’t really need clothes.
I can even wear a bikini armor, which is nonsense in reality.
Oh, of course, I said that bikini armor exists in this world too.
“U-um… Lyla?”
“What?”
When I turned to look at Emily, she had a flustered expression on her face.
She slowly raised her finger and pointed at my chest.
More precisely, she was pointing at the piercings on my nipples.
“W-what’s that?”
“Ah, this?”
I chuckled again and answered as I looked at Emily.
“My ex-boyfriend put them on for me. How is it, pretty?”
“….”
“Why? Do you want me to put one on you too?”
“Eek!”
That night, Emily didn’t come up to the bed and fell asleep on the floor.
//
After buying the necessary items in Jayne Village, we walked towards Karaldin again.
It was easy to find the direction with the map and compass.
We walked together and continued to talk.
“I think you should be more modest.”

“To think you’re being modest with just a piercing, you’re more innocent than I thought. Are you really Lee Sung-cheol?”
“I, I am! I’m the real man, Lee Sung-cheol!”
Emily (seemingly 16, with red hair) looked exactly like a peasant girl as she said that.
“Hmm, I don’t really believe it. Especially since you’re surprised by just a ring on my chest.”
“W-w-well… no, isn’t it normal to be surprised?!”
“Really? Around our age, everyone knows everything, and everyone watches AVs.”
“Ahem, that’s true. I used to watch them a lot too…”
After saying that, Emily stared into the distance for a moment, with a wistful look in her eyes.
“Now, I don’t remember the plots anymore… Is it because I do too much housework… I don’t want to do laundry anymore…”
“You can just look at your own body.”
“Well, I’ve been looking at it for 16 years, so it’s kind of familiar… I don’t really feel anything when I see it…”
I guess it would be funny to get horny looking at your own body.
Does that mean she only likes women in words?
“Then what about me?”
“Huh? Of course, you’re the best… Ah, sorry. Please don’t wear that scary earring.”
I didn’t do anything, but Emily was preemptively flustered.
Emily wasn’t a bad travel companion. Energetic, talkative, and able to protect herself to some extent.
The problem was that she wasn’t very useful.
To pass through the gates of Karaldin, you needed a token proving your identity or a pass. And neither of us had one.
Like Lakers, climbing those high walls was out of the question, and the only way was to sneak in by joining a merchant group.
Once we got in and registered as adventurers, we could come and go freely after that.
//
We kept walking, passing through two villages along the way, and finally, we were able to get close to Karaldin. It would have been different if I was alone, but this time, because of Emily, I had to reject all the men’s advances.
And, luckily, we were able to find a merchant group heading to Karaldin.
It was a fairly large group, so it would be hard to notice if we joined in.
The problem, of course, was the negotiation.
“600 Rads. No less.”
The merchant leader, looking dignified, opened his mouth in a firm voice.
“Huh!? That’s all our money!”
“Oh, is that so? Then that’s good. That means you can pay, right?”
Emily exclaimed in shock, and the merchant leader gave a meaningful smile.
Emily really isn’t very helpful.
I wanted to keep at least 100 Rads.
We need to solve our food and lodging after we get in.
I sighed, but there was no other way.
If we had met them further away from Karaldin, I would have used my charm, but because we met them near the city, we didn’t have the time or the leeway.
I glanced at the sun and pondered.
Entering Karaldin penniless was dangerous, but it was still daytime. There was still some time before nightfall, so if I could seduce a leisurely-looking gentleman and sell my body, I might be able to get a night’s lodging.
Hmm, but being penniless is a bit much.
“We don’t want to sleep on the streets of Karaldin either, could you give us a discount?”
“Heh heh, that’s your problem.”
I tried to act as cute as possible, but the merchant leader’s expression didn’t change much.
I guess it won’t work without something in return.
“That measly 600 Rads is nothing compared to the value of the trust that the Karabute Merchant Group has built up over the years. If you think about the losses we would incur if you were caught, 600 Rads is actually a ridiculously cheap price.”
“Ugh…”
Emily seemed convinced by the merchant leader’s words and was making a crying face.
I patted her on the shoulder and opened my mouth.
“Emily.”
“Yeah?”
“Can you step outside for a moment?”
“Why?”
“I’m going to haggle.”
“Huh? Haggle? Then I want to watch and learn!”
I didn’t think she would leave so easily, but I didn’t expect her to react like this.
Well, I don’t care.
I took my eyes off Emily and approached the merchant leader.
Then, I placed my hand on his chest and asked again in the most seductive voice possible.
“Perhaps, could you give us a discount, even just a little?”
“L-Layla?”
I could see Emily panicking behind me, but I didn’t care.
I was going to tell her later anyway.
But he didn’t bat an eye and replied.
“No.”
Oh. I failed then.
To reject me so firmly, it’s a bit shocking.
———= Author’s Notes ———=
Firm rejection