[Kingdom of Camelot around 7000 miles away from here] I knew it was not the exact numbers, since the system approximated it. But seeing such a number made my brain numbed and frenzied.
"SEVEN THOUSAND MILES?!" I blurted out, unaware out loud my voice became from the people surrounding me.
Merleen even got startled and threw his crane into the sky, hitting me eventually as soon as it reached my face. After a blaring crash sound, my body fell to the ground from exhaustion and pain.
The uncomfortableness came from the bump on my forehead, while the weariness came from thinking about the distance. I thought Camelot was around the corner. But hell no, it wasn't! I could even bet that the distance of the school from my house before had less roads than this!
"Why did I even want to become a hero?" Regret came flowing down to me like a river, washing all my motivations away.
"D-Don't worry, Arthur! Wherever you go, Merleen will follow you!" the wizard girl cheered, while giggling behind.
Merleen did not mock me or anything. She just found my demeanour humorous to her taste, but not mockingly. If I remembered correctly, that girl mentioned something like, "Merleen finally saw a different side of you!"
It was arduous for me to refute, but Merleen was not wrong.
And the worst part of our journey was our lack of automobiles. I knew that this Renaissance-like world did not have any pieces of machinery or cars roaming around their roads. Instead, horses and their carriages would be the transportation that we would like to have on our way towards Camelot.
"We need a ride," I exclaimed, as if I was a cowboy running down the desert.
Well, instead of a dessert, Merleen and I were in the middle of nowhere. We had a map, but the distance was far too wide for us to handle. Even if we walked towards our destination on foot, it would take us around 400 hours to arrive there. That number was fewer than my game time, but it was such a great deal for us right now.
Since we were in a quest to hunt down the holy sword, Excalibur, and the demon lord, we needed to reach the Kingdom of Camelot within a quicker time.
"A ride? What do you mean, Arthur? Merleen doesn't get where you're getting at?" the wizard girl beside me asked, as she followed close to me.
Merleen acted like an ignorant kid who knew nothing about this crazy world. However, that was one of her charms. And there was also a fascinating statement about having a virgin mind.
"Not knowing anything is a blissful life!" That was the phrase that I had in mind.
"You don't have to know," I answered, and continued blindlessly walking along the dull road.
As we traversed the bumpy road, the ground had an eerie aura of evil intentions. Those thoughts sent shivers down my spine, making my legs move sluggishly like a snail and wavy like noodles.
However, despite this weight pressing down on me, Merleen did not feel the overwhelming presence. Now that I realised it, Merleen was a mage. Thanks to her overpowered status power, she might have the intelligence of over ten court magicians… or even more from this world.
"We should take a brief break from here, Merleen… Can't you sense anything weird around here?" I asked, while instructing Merleen to stay put for now.
Since we were travelling into unknown territory, monsters would swarm from our vicinity, waiting for a chance to attack. As soon as I gazed below, the ground had mysterious footprints that did not belong to a human.
"Hmmm… Dire wolves? I thought we escaped those hounds?" I mumbled to myself and followed the trail with my eyes.
Merleen butted in and exclaimed, "T-This place is actually near my village! M-Merleen came from here towards the lake. Since Merleen doesn't know where Merleen is going, Merleen got lost and… sorry."
"No. It's fine. That piece of information might save our lives. Thank you, Merleen," I interposed, and patted the adorable Merleen on her head.
It might be the first time Merleen received a compliment, considering it was all written on her face. Her eyes curved upwards, and her back wiggled as if the little wizard had a tail. If I blinked a few times, I might have imagined her being a dog wanting me to pet her head.
Despite my peculiar imaginations, I continued brushing Merleen's hair while looking for more clues. Looking at those directions also came from the game's features. However, all those contents only included texts that explained the footprints, not their destination.
Whoever created this world increased the difficulty into hell mode! I, who barely knew about these things, got challenged straight-on by looking for our enemies. If there were instructions for hunting our prey, now would be the perfect time to appear!
Even after shouting those words, my system fell silent and continued mocking me from afar. If that thing could talk, my system could have thrown cruel words at me even from before I battled Uruk-hai.
Just as I thought about something, howls coming from elsewhere resounded from the forest. After a few seconds, dozens of screams that came from humans echoed afterwards.
"Did you hear that too?" I asked Merleen.
She gave me a nod as her answer. However, within a few seconds, Merleen unconsciously walked backwards. Even though my eyes were looking in front, my vision glimpsed at my side and Merleen.
As I turned behind, Merleen's body quivered as if electrified by a shock. It did not look like she had medical conditions that would make her have a seizure, but her actions were not something I could shrug off.
I went to her fore and caressed her shoulders, thinking of a way to stop her shaking. Words of encouragement escaped from my mouth, but I knew that would work little against her frightening thoughts.
"T-Those dire wolves… might have killed… Merleen's village…," Merleen mumbled.
She fell to the ground with her gaze still glued in front of the sea of trees. Merleen never broke her stare as she kept crawling away from the scenes.
"Does that mean that the demonic wolf we saw from before was not the one who… destroyed the village? Were the dire wolves more of them from what we saw?" I asked, with my voice shaking in despair.
If the monsters we faced earlier were far from the horde Merleen knew, that would become a terrible problem.
"N-No! M-Merleen doesn't want to die… M-Merleen found a place to stay… Merleen d-doesn't want to die…"
Merleen kept repeating her sentence until she lost her energy from crying. Luck was on our side, since the two of us were beside a lake. Although we needed to purify the water to make it potable, I did not mind the trivial matters for now.
"Here, drink up… and regain your strength," I suggested, and nursed the terrified Merleen.
I couldn't blame her for what she was feeling right now, considering the situation I also experienced before. The monsters also attacked the village. But thanks to Aferous' sacrifice, we defeated Uruk-hai.
But we only defended the place thanks to my instructions. If I had not shared the power of my system with Afenos and Rain, the entire village would fall into peril. Even though I felt scared back then, I still found a good use for my powers.
Merleen was alone when the attack happened. And she was the only one who escaped the terrors of the town. She ran away and left behind everything, despite having overpowered abilities.
Even with those skills, Merleen couldn't do a thing. Her body and mind could still recall the remnants of her fallen parents… from that same power she possessed. It was an accurate weapon with the double-edged sword title.
"L-Let's run awa-." Before I could even continue my sentence, the terrorising screams became louder than before.
I did not know where the sound came from, but it did not look good. I knew that running away to safety was the best course of action, but… how could I when I had these powers coursing through my veins…
My body became a statue of sand, forcing me to stay put on the ground. I did not have full control over my body. It was as if my heart and brain collided at once, together with my appendages, battling my morality.
"I'm afraid…," I murmured. The words rang in my mind. "I don't want to die too…"
It was what Merleen had mentioned before. Nobody wanted the idea of dying without experiencing the fun in life, especially for a teenager like me. However, the responsibility kicked inside my brain.
Suddenly, my legs sprinted onwards.
"Merleen, stay right here and wait for me! I will help those people in need!" I commanded, and ran towards the battlefield.
If the old me knew my actions, he would have punched me in the face. But I did not care at all.
"If something bad happens and I have this power… but I do nothing… it would happen because of me."
(Author's Note: I took my inspiration from Spiderman's recruitment scene from Marvel Cinematic Universe)