Chapter 19 - Flavor Text

Horses.

I still don't feel entirely comfortable around them.

They're big.

They're unpredictable.

They could turn a man's chest from convex to concave in about one second if they feel like kicking at the wrong time.

Of all the overpowered junk and garbage stuck in my stat sheets, however, none of them are a car.

I eye the chestnut beast between my legs.

It hasn't given me any trouble so far. Not on the ride to that dungeon, not on the way back, and not since we've left the town.

But I still.

Don't trust him.

Meera has been...well. Meera.

When she first attempted to climb on her mare she did so in a manner which was wrong.

I don't know exactly what that means, or how one climbs on a horse wrong - my first attempt was a flawless success - but I know this to be true.

I know it because the mare immediately panicked and bolted forward, out of Elara's hands, racing with the screaming Meera haphazardly slung over its back horizontally, clinging to the saddlebag for dear life and kicking wildly.

It's only a good thing Meera's cat had been nosing around in Arin's bag at that point, as the feline might have been harmed if she'd still been on the woman's head.

I happened to be on my horse at the time, and was able to race up to hers and re-grab its reins, calming it down.

Actually.

Grabbing its reins caused it to buck upward and send Meera flying.

But it did result in the horse stopping.

Fortunately, whatever armor Meera wore protected her from harm, and her second attempt at climbing on the horse was more successful.

She shifts now and then on her silver horse as if she's sore, though. Not that I can blame her. She got some pretty decent air time from that.

Her red eyes keep staring at me.

It's not that I can feel them on me - I've never been that observant - but I can just literally see her staring at me, fully in my line of sight.

I glance toward her.

She looks away as soon as I do that.

...This is a problem.

If she's going to keep looking at me I won't be able to relax.

I hate it when people stare at me.

Admittedly, this is something of a paradox, because when I was streaming I had two thousand-some odd people staring at me every day for hours on end.

But the reality is to me it was just a single camera lens pointed at my face. I never had to look at all those people staring at me.

Some people get unnerved by cameras. I'm not one of those.

But someone actually just staring at me?

Especially Meera who keeps looking like she's going to say something but then not saying anything, and then pretending she's not looking at me all the time every time I glance at her?

It's highly distracting.

I don't have anything more important to think about right now, granted. We're just riding on well maintained roads leading out of the city. There's almost no chance anything of import or interest will happen for a while yet.

But it's still...disruptive. To my thoughts.

And not in the good 'shut up the system helper' way, either.

I don't like it at all.

Suddenly, Elara speaks. "Meera, you know...he's not going to bite if you speak to him?"

"More likely to do it if you don't, given that expression." Kael adds.

And!

Why is that man reading my expression so much?!

It's a violation of my privacy!

Meera makes a face at both of them and shakes her head. "It's not like that. I was just wondering what kind of story Ryo has. What was his life like before coming her?"

I press my lips together. "I don't think you'd understand."

...That does make me sound like some kind of broody teenage love interest guy, dammit.

But it's true.

On a technical, literal level, I can't imagine anyone here would understand anything about what it means to be a streamer, much less what a hardcore game is or why it's important. Or what I was doing.

I can't think of any aspect of my past life that they'd understand at all.

Thus, it's easiest just not to explain anything beyond the fact that I come from another world entirely.

Although, now that I say that, it's possible I didn't even mention that part to Meera yet.

Oh well. Elara and Kael seem more than happy to talk for me to her, so why would I bother?

As expected, Kael immediately answers for me. "Ryo claims to come from some other world. Don't know if it's true, but if it is it explains his complete lack of understanding of...everything, so far."

Elara coughs. "Why don't you tell us more about that, Ryo?"

"I don't know. What would you want to hear?" I sigh, exasperated. "Everything here is so...different. I don't know where I could even start to explain the differences between our worlds."

Meera speaks up, immediately urging her horse closer to me at a speed I can't help but find alarming. "How did you get here?"

I sigh and look forward, not meeting her eager gaze, and hoping that she'll fall off or get pulled backward if she attempts to continue the conversation.

Unfortunately, my luck is not that good.

She matches my pace perfectly, leaning a little over toward me as if trying to read more of my expressions than just the front of my head.

"Is it a secret?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Ah! A mystery. So mysterious!"

No.

It's just weird and embarrassing.

I have no desire to discuss how I arrived in this world.

"Well, that's fine. I wouldn't want to pry, or hurt my new companion's feelings! Hmhm~." She smiles, tapping her fingers together. "Well, in that case...can you tell me about yourself instead?"

"...Like what."

I am not about to bare my soul to her.

"Whatever you like!" She waves a hand as she says that. "Like...if you have a family! Do you have brothers, or sisters? Are you an only child?"

...We're in another world now, so the answer to all that is 'no'.

But.

"The only person in my family that's left is my father. He's old."

I feel a bit of...

I guess it's sadness.

There's no going back to that world, and there's no seeing him again, is there? I suppose not.

But I'll probably run into him in a future world. If I got picked for world transfer, I'm sure he will, too.

...Wait, will he even be in that body?

Shit.

Well, I kept mine. He should recognize me even if I don't recognize him.

But-

Ah, this is a waste of time. None of that is important right now.

I squint at her. "Asking about my family isn't even about me."

Meera crosses her arms. "Of course it is!"

How.

How is it.

It's literally not me.

Not that I really want to talk about the things I like with her, given it's all just video games and junk food she won't recognize.

I shudder at that thought.

Junk food...

In this world...is there even anything good to eat?

I hate fruit and vegetables. I hate a lot of meat products too. I also hate water.

There's definitely no soda in this world. Maybe I'll become an alcoholic and pretend.

Or something.

Ugh.

I shake my head and scowl.

That's an ability I would have chosen: the ability to bring food from my world to this one.

"Don't worry, Master!" System Helper chirps. "You'll definitely be able to get the magic to make food after you beat the Demon King."

After, huh.

Well.

Now I'm even more dedicated to defeating him as soon as possible.