Rena's Perspective
"——huff, huff!" (Hannes)
I was riding slowly down a dark road, lit by torches provided by Hanako-san and Takeo-san, when I heard the sound of someone already exhausted and out of breath beside me. I could see my first destination, a town called Rephyl Third Military District in Shiba Military State ahead of me. There were no more obstacles or gimmicks that I had to overcome on the way to the town, so I thought it'd be fine—but I was concerned about the fact that I was sweating profusely even though I couldn't even use my skills.
"Are you OK?" (Rena)
"Whose... uuh... fault is this! ...Haa, haa... you think that...!!" (Hannes)
Hannes got angry at me as he took out an MP potion from his pocket and gulped it down— Well, I won't deny that I was a little excited. I had a lot of fun that way, so I had no regrets, and it was Hannes who was trying to get in my way, so it was his own fault. I was not to blame.
"I never thought such a bold move would result in zero fatalities." (Rena)
"Heheh...serves you right...!!" (Hannes)
Of course he was hindering me, but I never expected him to heal and revive them as widely as their MP and recovery items would allow. Furthermore, when it came to resurrection, if you cast it in advance, you would be instantly revived upon death. So he was using a lot of abilities that consume a lot of MP, something that would normally be used before a crucial battle. Considering his original purpose, just because the person I killed had been resurrected, I couldn't just stop and kill them again... You could say this was a result of special conditions.
"Anyway, Hannes, you won this time... What do you want to do? Shall I give you a kiss on the cheek?" (Rena)
"Uh, shut up! Look forward!" (Hannes)
I tilted my head slightly, not understanding Hannes' reaction...I thought Yuu-san and Maria-san would have been happy to accept this kind of reward. I was told that I have to keep these promises, but what should I do? Can I just fulfill them later?
"Hmm...more importantly, do you know what we're going to do in the next town?" (Hannes)
"Well, I think we're going to get some cold weather gear, right?" (Rena)
From here onwards, the area was apparently some of the harshest and coldest in the northern part of the continent, so it looked like we would need some special equipment. I think these aspects of this game were really elaborate, right...? They hadn't forgotten about game elements and systems, and yet they seemed to have paid thorough attention to maintaining a realistic feel.
"Ah, that's right... you conquered that underwater temple the other day, right? This is something like that swimsuit." (Hannes)
"I see, if you don't wear cold weather gear, you'll get the bad status effect of frostbite, right?" (Rena)
"At worst, you'll freeze to death." (Hannes)
I see, it looks like Inoue-san will once again not have a role to play, huh... If it's so cold that you could freeze to death, perhaps it would be better to refrain from wearing metal armor. Well, shall I think about that later...? Maybe wearing fur or something on the contact areas could solve the problem.
"Especially since you have your belly button sticking out, be careful." (Hannes)
After Hannes saying this, I looked down at my own stomach, where he was pointing. It was true that my current outfit had my stomach completely exposed, and my navel was visible...it was not something I would normally wear, especially in real life. I hadn't really thought about it much until now because the game was fun and convenient to play, but it did feel a bit embarrassing when someone pointed it out.
"...pervert." (Rena)
"—Huh?!?!?!" (Hannes)
I muttered to myself in a somewhat venting manner and move on... but there's no point in worrying about it now, so maybe it was best to just accept that this was just a game.
"Wh, what... why is kissing the cheek okay but not the navel...? Isn't that just a fashion thing...?" (Hannes)
Suddenly, Hannes started muttering to himself, leaving me puzzled at his strange behavior, but it was nearly time to go to bed so I increased the speed of my horse. But, it certainly does feel cold around here, huh...The sky is overcast and you can't see the moon or stars.
"Come on, Hannes, I know you're tired but we're almost there." (Rena)
"...Haa, I guess there's no point in worrying about your strange standards of judgment, huh" (Hannes)
"What are you talking about?" (Rena)
Even though I had kindly let him know that we were nearly at our destination, the response I got from Hannes was something unclear.
"It's nothing... I should say, Shiba Military State is a military nation and the military and military police have a lot of authority, so please don't cause too much trouble." (Hannes)
"? I won't cause any trouble." (Rena)
"I think I may have raised a flag..." (Hannes)
Thinking that Hannes' strange behavior might be a regular occurrence, as he seemed to be troubled by something else again, I decided to ignore it. He and I had never really had any experience partying together for long, so maybe this was Hannes' side that I didn't know about. For now, I would just make a mental note that "Hannes sometimes behaves strangely for no apparent reason."
"...I feel like I've been given some kind of dishonorable note." (Hannes)
"Another thing I don't understand... It seems my reading was correct." (Rena)
"Huh?" (Hannes)
"It's nothing." (Rena)
I never thought that after writing down the note, it would come true so soon...I guess my observation of people has reached quite a high level, right? If I continued at this pace, I would likely be able to perfectly mimic the real world, a feat that many people had pointed out as flawed.
"For now, I'll just get into town and log out for today." (Rena)
"Yes, yes." (Hannes)
Although I found it slightly amusing that Hannes had a sulky look on his face, we continued riding our horse towards the new and unknown city.
Author's Note (Preface)
Until the release date of volume 3 —— no! After volume 3 is released, I'll keep updating every day for at least a week!
Author's Note
Hannes: (This guy's strange behavior just started now...)
Rena: (This person's strange behavior may not be something that just started recently.)
▼Rena's standards
・Kiss on the cheek → My mom used to do that to me so it's not dirty
・Showing one's navel → My mother was watching an anime character showing their navel and said, "That's pervert..." so I thought it was pervert