In the Name of the Goddess 3
While the others climbed the stairs with the easy familiarity of a second visit, picking out rooms for the night, Katie Wellesley quietly tugged my sleeve and led me into the bushes beside the building.
"How much did you overhear, Roland?"
Her tone and voice were softer than usual. If I'd closed my eyes, I might not have believed it was Kayden speaking at all.
True to a magical artifact issued by the royal family, she seemed to have changed some setting right under my nose, yet there wasn't so much as a ripple of mana. It might not have been designed for observing the common folk at all — more likely for concealing royal bloodlines.
The kind of tool that lets you disguise yourself as a servant and flee when the kingdom is in danger or assassins come calling. Using something that rare and powerful just to run away cross-dressing… I was starting to understand why Arthur Wellesley kept sighing.
"Arthur Wellesley's daughter, Katie Wellesley. The unfilial daughter who, right after her coming-of-age ceremony, said she wanted a look around the family vault, then stole a magical artifact and her ancestor's armor and ran away… something like that?"
"Ahem. Unfilial daughter? Did Father put it that way?"
"Not in so many words. But watching a man sigh with his face full of worry, wouldn't anyone think the same?"
"Haa… Father, really…"
She pouted as if something about that rankled, then swept her hair back. Again, not a single wave of mana — yet right before my eyes her appearance began to change. The handsome young man with brown curly hair vanished, and standing in his place was a classic northern beauty.
Silvery hair cascaded down her back like a northern ice waterfall, and her ordinary eyes transformed into something pure and brilliant, like a blue lake or a sapphire. A sharp-featured beauty who wouldn't look the least bit out of place with the title "princess knight" attached.
"If you know that much, you've basically heard everything. So — what are you going to do now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Hanna may be the party leader on paper, but you're the one who sets our direction. Are you going to kick me out for hiding my identity?"
"Of course not. Whether it's Kayden from a mercenary company or Katie Wellesley, daughter of the Northern Grand Duke — you're just an excellent swordsman who fills the gaps in our party."
Kick a 4★ melee DPS out of the party? Not unless a 5★ melee DPS suddenly dropped into our laps.
Still, hearing I had no intention of throwing her out, the chill in her voice began to thaw. She wasn't fretting about being caught cross-dressing or having her hidden identity exposed — only about the adventure itself.
Well, she was serious enough about adventuring to steal family treasures and run away. She'd even come all the way from the northern reaches of the continent, through the central regions, down to the southeast.
"Right? And since I heard the Goddess's voice, my sister won't be able to keep being stubborn either."
Katie's expression as she said it was pure sunshine. She'd run away just for the sake of adventure, and during that adventure she'd heard the Goddess's voice — of course the corners of her mouth wouldn't stay still. The feud between the two fire-attribute northern sisters who'd been burning their father's insides out could safely be called the younger sister's victory.
But wait — then there was no reason to keep hiding her identity from the party, was there?
She was a silver-haired, blue-eyed beauty; it wasn't as if showing her face would be embarrassing. And dropping the male disguise wouldn't suddenly give her heavy chest armor that interfered with swordsmanship. If Grace and Irene had the figures of gravure idols, Katie Wellesley had the slender build of a fashion model.
"So, what's the plan?"
"For now, since I haven't accomplished much yet, I'm thinking of climbing the Tower first. I heard the Goddess's voice, and I intend to show my sister clearly just how outstanding my performance as an adventurer can be. That should be more persuasive than claiming I heard Her with no evidence."
"No — that's not what I meant. I'm asking whether you're going to keep cross-dressing in front of the party."
"Ah…"
Whether or not I was having slightly rude thoughts, Katie rattled off her story at machine-gun speed, face flushed with excitement. Just how badly did she not want to inherit the Grand Duke's seat? Realizing she'd gotten a bit ahead of herself, she cleared her throat with a polite little cough.
Would she tell the party about the cross-dressing and live as a female adventurer, or keep the male disguise and continue as she was? Contrary to what I'd expected, she chose the latter.
"Hmm. If Roland keeps my secret, I'd like to stay as I am."
"You insist on adventuring while cross-dressing… why?"
There was no answer. She simply smiled softly and shifted back from Katie to Kayden. She might have thought that gave her some mysterious charm, but to someone with modern culture drilled deep into his brain, it just felt… different.
Is she just a chuunibyou who wants to roleplay a concept…?
After filling up on the stew Irene and Grace had prepared, I headed up to the bedroom. Being a waystation owned by the knight order, there wasn't a single other guest — so I could enjoy the internet in peace.
"Aargh, damn it! These orc warriors are freaking terrifying! Seriously!"
After several rounds of web surfing, the video that would make my day was a stream by internet broadcaster Kim Seok-hyeon. On screen, a streamer looking every bit the classic sword-and-shield warrior was rolling around on the forest floor, entertaining his viewers.
Looks like they already killed the boss monster, and he's fighting orcs continuously for growth. His swordsmanship has definitely improved compared to when he was fighting horned wolves.
As I recalled, all three of his party members were 4★ with no 5★ among them — a talented streamer hot on Han Se-ah's heels. Proving that holding world ranking #2 in progress wasn't luck but skill, the sword swinging through the chaotic melee was razor-sharp.
If he'd been born in the past instead of modern society — or entered the game the way I had — he might well have made a name for himself in the kingdom.
To the viewers watching, rolling on the ground, flinging dirt, and shrieking so only the audience could hear probably looked pretty ridiculous. But nobody seemed to notice that he was dodging every single enraged axe swing from the orc warriors while slipping in a stab or two between them.
What were the odds that a modern person raised in peacetime, armed with sword and shield and wearing armor, could hold out while surrounded by eight orcs? Getting into that situation as the party's tank was a minus — but fully holding aggro and still being alive was closer to a plus.
If I had to rate him… petit Rebecca? A 3.5★ budget version of her, basically.
That might sound harsh, but considering this Kim Seok-hyeon had nearly caught up to Katie Wellesley — who'd been formally trained in swordsmanship by her family — it was actually a pretty high evaluation.
"Damn it! When's that magic going to be ready?!"
"Just a little longer, hang on!"
If Han Se-ah's stream was an isekai overpowered-protagonist show starring beauties, Kim Seok-hyeon's was closer to a classic fantasy action story built from the ground up. Of course, with three 4★ companions, you couldn't really call it "from the ground up."
The reason viewers laughed at Kim Seok-hyeon thrashing on the ground with pebbles jammed between his armor plates was probably jealousy more than anything else.
"Burn and explode—!"
"Do you have to shout that every time?!"
A fireball whooshed over the tumbling Kim Seok-hyeon's head. Compared to Han Se-ah's Spark or Magic Missile spam skills, this was a proper blaze that punched into the orcs and detonated in a massive explosion. Kim Seok-hyeon covered in dirt, and Mana Stones raining down onto the ground.
After watching that, I casually scrolled through the other stream listings.
Virtual reality games drew interest from people east and west alike, so the sheer number of streamers was enormous. There were tons of no-name broadcasters with fewer than ten viewers — and it felt like those no-names themselves had multiplied dozens of times over.
"Aww, oppas! How am I supposed to take down this giant wolf?!"
Even people who were clearly just camgirls had their donation totals floating in the corner of the screen while cooing at their "oppas" in the chat — that said everything. I'd never even considered slashing open a cheap mage robe to show cleavage and side slits.
The further I scrolled down the stream list, the more every kind of person showed up. Gamers who turned on their stream and recorded whether anyone was watching or not, just for combat footage. Bratty streamers dumping every word they could think of on their handful of viewers. Former camgirls complaining that their robes or armor weren't cute enough.
All kinds of things were happening out there because of Heroes Chronicle. I kept wandering the internet with that thought, and before I knew it, sunlight was streaming through the window.