Not Quite a Companion
“Kana. You should eat.”
“....”
Journey spoke gently, stopping Kana just as she was about to open the box of chocolates.
After a moment’s hesitation, Kana quietly set the box back down.
Journey had to swallow a laugh as she watched Kana glance longingly at the chocolates, even while she herself was taking food out of her inventory. No one was going to steal them from her. If she’d just wait a little, that should’ve been fine—but seeing her like this made Journey think, no matter how strong she was, she really was still just a kid.
“Today’s breakfast is... drumroll please... ta-da, jambon-beurre! And this is a sweet fresh-fruit juice to go with it.”
Jambon meant ham. Beurre meant butter.
True to its simple name, a jambon-beurre wasn’t hard to make at all. If you just bought ham, butter, and bread, anyone could put one together without much trouble.
And the jambon-beurre Journey was holding right now was something she had made herself.
For a brief second, she thought that “assembled” was a better word than “made,” and then the thought vanished just as quickly.
Who cared, as long as it tasted good?
“This one’s Kana’s. Lady Yuki, you can have one too.”
“....”
“Thank you.”
Journey picked the jambon-beurre with the most ham in it and handed it to Kana.
Kids had to eat plenty and grow up big and strong.
That said, it wasn’t as if she’d been stingy with the ham in the others.
In virtual reality, what you ate and how much of it had no effect on your real body, so she didn’t have to worry about calories.
Of course, there was still a feeling of fullness in Silia, so you couldn’t literally eat until your stomach burst—but being able to gorge yourself on food that tasted great, even if it wasn’t all that healthy, was definitely a plus.
Biting deeply into the ham-stuffed sandwich, Journey smiled in bliss.
“Ahh... this is the life. If I ate like this in real life, I’d get fat as hell and never be able to enjoy it. How many hours on the treadmill would I need to burn off one of these...?”
“Yeah, it is pretty expensive. The stuff you buy at cafés is seriously so overpriced I can’t even bring myself to order it. Even if you make it yourself, the ingredients still cost a fortune... Bread’s expensive, ham’s expensive, butter’s expensive. Nothing’s cheap.”
Silia’s ham tasted a little different from the ham Journey was used to, but not by much.
Well, ham is a preserved food, after all.
It was salted and dried to keep it from spoiling, so of course there wouldn’t be a huge difference.
Journey nodded to herself, thinking it through and then accepting it entirely on her own.
Still...
This time, her eyes drifted somewhere else.
A pink-haired girl sat quietly, biting into her jambon-beurre.
She wasn’t noisy, wasn’t putting on any silly act—just chewing in small, tidy bites, one after another.
Maybe because Journey knew her true identity now, but even though Kana wasn’t eating with a knife and fork in some elegant, refined way, there was something strangely dignified about her.
Who would’ve thought Kana was the kingdom’s captain of the knights.
At that age?
Looking at her face alone, it didn’t make sense. But once Journey thought of the power hidden beneath that mild expression, it became one of those things that made perfect sense with a shrug: sure, why not?
If Journey had to bet, the single most popular figure in Silia Online right now was Kana, without question.
First, there was the discovery of a new raid boss. Then came the name Kana and that soft, almost fragile voice. Finally, there was the reveal of her appearance and overwhelming power.
Every time a spark landed, the communities flared up. And each time, news about Kana spread not only through game-related forums, but even into communities that had nothing to do with games at all.
Silia Online was hugely popular, after all, so there were simply a lot of users. On top of that, the culture of those communities was to discuss anything and everything, no matter how trivial or random it might be.
And because the game didn’t provide a system that pointed players toward objectives, like a main quest or a guide, plenty of people logged into the communities just to gather information.
Thanks to those three separate firestorms, not just players of Silia Online but even people who didn’t play it knew the NPC named Kana.
And the ripple effect that followed was bigger than Journey had expected.
Some people, like Journey, became interested in Granic and started learning it. Others grew curious about the history of the kingdom that had vanished in ruin and began digging into it, which gradually brought buried information back to light.
The story of the most prestigious knight order in Grasis, the Crimson Flame Knights, was one of those things.
Fragments of information had been unearthed: the existence of the order, the title of Grasis passed down to each captain through generations, the name of the previous captain.
Information about the last captain was oddly difficult to find, but that much alone was enough to infer Kana’s identity.
Once Journey learned that, she could understand the attitude of the imperial knights who had called Kana a criminal.
“Huh? You’re already done? ...Wait, don’t tell me it wasn’t good?”
Journey asked as she watched Kana set down the jambon-beurre, nearly half of it still left.
Could it really have tasted bad?
As Journey asked anxiously, Kana shook her head from side to side.
“I’m full.”
With that flat answer, Kana wrapped the half-eaten sandwich back up in its paper and carefully set it off to the side.
So she really wasn’t just saying that.
Whether Journey felt relieved or not, Kana picked up the chocolate box, opened the lid without hesitation, and popped a piece into her mouth.
Munch, munch.
“Puh-hah...”
It was strange. Her expression hadn’t changed at all, and yet somehow she looked different from a moment ago.
Journey even wondered if Kana had only taken a small bite on purpose because she wanted to eat the chocolate faster.
“This is peaceful.”
If she said that to Yuki, she’d probably get a baffled stare, but Journey loved this kind of peace.
That was why, when she traveled, she deliberately sought out quiet places, and why she often enjoyed gentle, low-key camping trips.
She wished days like this could last forever, but...
That’s probably impossible.
Journey’s eyes flicked toward the chat.
Seventy percent of the chat was in sync with Journey, twenty percent was asking questions or demanding things, and five percent was clearly there just to entertain everyone else.
And the remaining five percent was just assorted chatter and complaints.
“Only” five percent might have sounded small, but considering how many viewers there were, it was anything but.
At first there hadn’t been this many, but the numbers kept growing day by day until they’d finally reached this point.
Honestly, they lasted a long time.
No matter how beautiful a view might be, if you stare at it long enough, it starts to lose its shine.
Thanks to Kana, Journey had managed to hold out for quite a while, but watching more and more people start voicing boredom made her realize it was about time to move on.
As long as she was streaming, she couldn’t completely ignore public sentiment.
There were still plenty of people who wanted to see Kana—mostly foreigners—but that wouldn’t last forever.
Let’s make this place our base and travel around the surrounding area. Under the theme of exploring Grasis territory.
If not right away, then sometime soon she’d have to start traveling again.
Making plans for the future, Journey stuffed the last remaining piece into her mouth.
Thwack!
Yuki, who had finished eating before Journey did, couldn’t hold herself back and lunged in, only to get smacked by a sword and flop flat on the floor.
Whether the bribe had worked or not, Kana didn’t seem particularly displeased after knocking Yuki down.
Without a spot of blood on it, Kana habitually flicked her sword once and slid it back into its scabbard before sitting down in her chair.
“Are you okay?”
“...Hihihi.”
“Oh, man.”
Journey shuddered at the eerie laughter that came in answer instead of words.
How could she be so happy about something like this when she couldn’t even last a single exchange in a real fight?
For someone like Journey, who hated pain, it was an emotion she simply couldn’t understand.
Then Kana, who had been staring down at Yuki as she twitched on the floor, suddenly spoke.
“Don’t come anymore.”
“Eh?”
The sudden, icy dismissal made not only Journey but also the chat stir with confusion.
Yuki herself didn’t seem to understand it, because she didn’t react at all.
Journey had never once heard Kana speak so decisively since the day they met, all the way up to now.
She’d said plenty with her sword, sure, but she had never actually issued a verbal expulsion like that.
Though, of course, maybe she hadn’t said it before simply because Journey hadn’t understood.
“B-but Yuki isn’t a bad person—”
Journey moved to defend her, but Kana’s gaze landed on her.
“You too.”
“Huh? M-me too?”
Nod, nod.
Thrown off by the arrow suddenly shot at her, Journey asked again, but Kana’s answer did not change.
“W-why?!”
I’ve treated you so well—how can you toss me aside like yesterday’s trash...!
As if reciting a line from some novel she’d once read, Journey asked in the voice of someone who was practically vomiting blood.
Kana answered in short, simple words that Journey could understand.
“I’m leaving here.”
“...You’re leaving?”
Journey had been about to ask, Where to? but she couldn’t, because she couldn’t remember the Granic word for destination.
Instead, her eyes gleamed as she cried out,
“I-I’m coming too!”
“...Huh?”
“I want to go with you!”
It was a chance that came once in a blue moon, and Journey practically shouted with joy.
Just when she’d been thinking it was about time to leave, Kana herself had said she was leaving—wasn’t that the perfect timing, as if she’d read Journey’s mind?
...Of course, it only counted if Kana agreed.
Journey, who had been swallowing her own wishful thinking by the bowlful, suddenly came back to reality and, with unease creeping in, nibbled at her lip while watching Kana’s reaction.
She didn’t look annoyed. But she didn’t look pleased either.
The same mild expression as always.
Journey also knew there wasn’t really any benefit for Kana in accepting her offer.
As a companion, Journey was far too useless.
And since she was a native of Silia, Kana didn’t really need a guide. She couldn’t even bring food to the table anymore, at least not like this.
Desperately turning the problem over in her head, Journey finally remembered her one and only value.
“Translation! Kana, you don’t know Arkish, right?”
“....”
“I can translate for you! Otherwise it’s frustrating when people can’t talk!”
If they could communicate, she would’ve been able to plead her case a lot better.
Journey spoke with more sincerity than she’d ever used in her life.
What’s with her all of a sudden?
As if that were what Kana was saying, she blinked several times in silence, and Journey waited anxiously for her answer.
After what felt like three autumns’ worth of dozens of seconds, Kana finally spoke.
“...Do whatever you want.”
“R-really?”
Nod.
“Yessss!!”
Startled by Journey’s sudden shout, Kana’s eyes widened, but Journey’s own eyes were too full of delight to notice.
Everything she’d worried about just a moment ago suddenly became meaningless...
“Who cares! I get to travel with Kana!”
Ta-da! Kana has joined the party!
Journey burst into laughter, half-convinced she could almost see a message like that flashing before her eyes.
And she didn’t even notice Kana looking at her as though she were some kind of deranged person.