Chapter 138: Towards the Mahl Republic・Departure

「That being said, I’m counting on you, Hind!」(Yumir)

「I’ll be relieved if Hind-san is the one holding the money.」(Riizu)

「When it comes to dodging, Hind-dono is at the same level as me, a ninja, it’ll be fine!」(Tobi)

「Eh…I think you’ll do fine? Hind-kun is a rearguard and I can trust your judgement.」(Selene)

「「「We are counting on you」」」(Baby Bird members)

「Heavy…the responsibility is too much…」(Hind)

The funds we have prepared between Migratory Bird and Baby Bird this time is 10 million G.

For some reason, all of it ended in my inventory.

9 million are from Migratory Bird, Baby Bird contributed 1 million.

Baby Bird sold the pillow in the auction for a high price and they bought a plot of land in the agricultural area next to us and they started cultivating there.

While we do help them out, Baby Bird has a high income and they have quite a lot of money even though they don’t have many members.

After withdrawing money from the bank in the Royal Capital of Waaha, we headed towards the stables since it was about time we set off.

Maybe because the other players were busy preparing themselves, we could see a lot of activity in the shops on our way there.

「Even though it would be fine if Cineraria-chan was the one to hold the money from Baby Bird.」(Hind)

「I’m sorry. But, I also feel safer if Hind-senpai is the one holding the money instead of me…」(Sai)

「Stop whining already, Hind! If the time comes, you just have to ride on top of the Grado Turk and run away!」(Yumir)

「That’s true but…」(Hind)

「They are really fast after all. The horses senpais’ have!」(Lyco)

I think no other player would have a mount that would be able to catch up to me once I got on top of the Grado Turk.

That being said, we decided that I would be riding one of the Grado Turks.

Yumir will be riding the other one and it was decided that the rest would be renting theirs.

「Now that I think about it, what happens to the mount you have when you are incapacited?」(Hind)

「Seems like it’s teleported to the closest town’s stable. It’s like the player’s respawn」(Riizu)

「Ooh, before we noticed, Riizu’dono has become knowledgeable about the game.」(Tobi)

「I’ve taken a look at quite a few walkthrough sites after all. Have I been useful?」(Riizu)

「Thanks, Riizu. In other words, if the time comes, we don’t have to worry about our mounts.」(Hind)

I wouldn’t be able to endure it if the Grado Turk was to be stolen after all.

If we are not careful, they could even be worth more than 10 million G after all…There are no Fine horses in the market so I can’t really compare prices.

Having reached the stable in Waaha, we rented 5 horses for 250k and our preparations were complete.

We took the reins in our hands and walked towards the town’s exit.

「Seeing them walk side by side like this, you can really tell how huge the Grado Turks are.」(Tobi)

「Senpai, the horses be borrowed are getting frightened, what do we do?」(Sai)

「I guess we have no choice but to let some time pass and have them get used to it. They even made unneeded things like this realistic, jeez. Fine! Make it even more realistic!」(Hind)

「H-Hind-kun, are you OK? Are you perhaps still a bit stressed out?」(Selene)

Maybe she found my outburst a bit weird, like Selene-san said, walking around with so much money on me was stressing me out.

Regarding the Grado Turks, while you couldn’t call it twice its size, it was easily 1.5 times the size of a normal horse.

First we should let the horses get used to the Grado Turk…

Furthermore, we let the members of Baby Bird, who had never ridden a horse practice a bit. Shortly after that…

「Well then, let’s set off!」(Yumir)

With Yumir’s order, we set off from the Royal Capital of Waaha.

Our destination was the Mahl Republic’s Sepia Water Area.

Forming appropriate parties with our eight members, we headed eastward while kicking up the desert’s sand.

The 1st party’s composition was Yumir, Selene-san and me.

In order to support Baby Bird, whose members were a few levels behind, were Tobi and Riizu making it a 5 man party.

However, I don’t think we’ll get into any fights for now with this party.

From our current position, we’ll leave Oasis town Maija and head towards Town in the wastelands Baska.

「This is so boring…」(Tobi)

「I don’t care if they are some bandits, won’t anything show up? Hind.」(Yumir)

They are saying dangerous stuff.

We’ll become busy once we enter the Mahl Republic, so it should be fine for us to take it easy in the meantime.

「No no, why do you guys think we purposefully took a route that goes through the Grado Empire? It was because if we went through an area we had already gone through we could just ignore Area Bosses and small fry right?」(Hind)

The route we are going through right now is one where you have to pass through Heathrow Town in the middle of the Grado Empire and go south.

If we circled around the continent we would have to beat the Area Bosses while proceeding.

Besides, if we found a boss that would be hard to beat at our current level, we would have to find a way to avoid them and that would be a big time loss.

「Considering the time until the event starts, I think other players would take a similar route.」(Hind)

「In that case, I wonder if Heathrow is crowded with players again?」(Riizu)

Riizu said that while skillfully controlling the reins with one hand and fixing her hat with the other.

From the information I got from the BBS, horse riding in-game should be easier than it is in real life. However, Riizu is especially skillful at it compared to the other members.

You’d think wearing a blackish pointed hat in the desert would be hot, but Riizu hardly ever takes it off.

「To begin with, you would usually split in the four directions from Heathrow after all. That being the case, I don’t think it would be weird. Ah, that’s right. Yumir, make sure to wear the mantle you used in the tournament before we enter the village.」(Hind)

「Eh…that’s such a pain…I’d prefer to just boldly walk in.」(Yumir)

While we were having such a conversation, Siesta-chan, who was swaying left and right unsteadily on top of her horse came over.

She was riding at really dangerous angles at times but she was somehow able to not fall down.

It looked as if she was doing some acrobatics.

「You seem to be excluding yourself as if it was a matter of fact, it’ll be no good if senpai doesn’t wear a mantle too you know?」(Siesta)

「Huh? Why?」(Hind)

「Why you say…muh, it’ll be a pain to explain. Sai, I’ll leave the rest to you…」(Siesta)

Leaving after saying that, she reached Lycoris-chan’s side in the blink of an eye.

Being left behind, Cineraria-chan looked dumbfounded.

「…Eh!? Jeez! …Hind-senpai, you are more well known among players than you think, so I think that you should properly cover your face and name too. Most likely, I believe Si is trying to say that.」(Sai)

「Is that so?…Ah, I guess you might have a point.」(Hind)

It’s been about two weeks since that tournament.

Even in the replay video, the vanguards are the ones that usually appear more. When the subject comes up in the BBS, Yumir tends to be the one that’s brought up way more too.

However, there seems to be threads about me too.

「It would be problematic if we were to get involved with other players in the village and lose time. That being the case, I’ll be wearing a mantle too.」(Hind)

「If we stand out there’s the chance that PKs will go after us too, it’s better to be safe than sorry. It’s even more important for people that participate in events often, it wouldn’t be weird for them to think that we carry a lot of money on ourselves.」(Tobi)

「In reality that’s the case at the moment after all. I know we are being a bit too self-conscious but got it.」(Hind)

「That’s right, Hind! In fact, you should be like me and stand out more! Stand out more! You plain member!」(Yumir)

「You are being noisy!」(Hind)

What does she even mean by plain member!

Besides, we are having a conversation about trying to stand out less. I don’t understand why she’s saying that I should stand out more!

「Isn’t it wonderful how Nii-san looks plain at first glance!? Yumir-san, you don’t understand at all!」(Riizu)

「Riizu, please stop! It’s going to become even more complicated…even though your follow up was questionable, thanks.」(Hind)

On the contrary, I took even more damage by being called plain a second time.

Don’t just go further on your own and laugh, Tobi!

「A-Ahaha…we’ll also wear a hood and mantle so you don’t feel left out, let’s just calmly go into the village. After that, in order for the Grado Turks to not stand out, we should quickly go towards the stable and then we’ll be fine.」(Selene)

「T-That’s right! That’s a good idea!」(Hind)

As expected of Selene-san, when it comes down to techniques for not standing out, she’s first class.

Other than that, I cannot help but contain my tears from her kindness to try to change the topic.

The only places you can recover the horses’ stamina is the stable in each village or town. So it’s not like we can avoid passing through it.

Most stables are close to the entrance to the towns so if we go to them directly, we probably won’t get noticed.

There’s the option of skipping Heathrow and going to Altrowa, but since that’s the starting village, the amount of players there should be about the same.

After that, I don’t know how far the next village or town is, so…at the end of the day, we can’t avoid Heathrow.

「It’s just that we probably won’t need the mantles anymore after we leave Heathrow. After that, everyone will be worrying about themselves.」(Hind)

「All the other famous players will start gathering after all! The Albert father and daughter pair, Herrschaft, Richt and his followers and the like. All of them probably will stand out more than us!」(Yumir)

「I don’t believe there’s someone that uses an avatar that stands out more than you though…」(Hind)

A character that’s surrounded by an aura made of lightning….there’s no one with something like that.

Thinking like that, if they don’t reward the 『Hero’s Aura』 again, finding the player called Yumir in this game will become the easiest thing to do.

「Well, if you mean in the sense that the attention will be divided between us you are correct. If that’s the case, let’s just be careful in Heathrow?」(Hind)

「「「Yeah…」」」

Everyone gave uninterested replies.

It’s true that traveling in this game can be a bit boring…I’m getting sleepy.

As long as we don’t do it often, I don’t mind enjoying the scenery like this though.

Eventually the desert disappeared and we were surrounded by the wastelands.