Thirin Feels an Overwhelming Threat in This World for the First Time (1)
The next day, Klaus spent the morning combing through the back alleys exactly as Thirin had ordered before returning to the inn. His mood wasn’t bad at all.
“Hik! That crazy decurion’s back again! Scatter!”
Though he hated admitting it, dispersing the local thugs was actually pretty entertaining. And then—
“Oh my, my lord! Thanks to you, sir, I’ll be able to sleep soundly tonight. I’m truly grateful!”
—receiving the residents’ heartfelt thanks somehow tickled a corner of Klaus’s chest. It was an uncomfortable sensation, yet not entirely unpleasant. Klaus was successfully fulfilling his role as a human stick, and he was even beginning to feel a sense of fulfillment. This was the moment Thirin’s human rehabilitation project truly shone.
She had gone so far as to provide him with a special “peninsular soldier experience” service on top of it. Through it, Klaus indirectly learned what it felt like for a soldier on leave to knock on his own family’s door only to discover they had moved away.
“That damn woman……”
When he returned to their hideout, Thirin was already gone. The only thing waiting for him was a crumpled scrap of old paper tossed carelessly onto the messy bedding.
Found them.
Following.
The handwriting was so atrocious it was practically bragging about its lack of refinement. Klaus’s hand trembled as he gripped the note.
When had she left? By herself? That reckless, impulsive woman!
Klaus took a deep breath. Yeah, when he thought about it, it was only natural. There was no reason for her to wait around when they had no idea where the carriage was headed. Even so, he couldn’t help feeling a very subtle emotion. If he were to translate it into modern terms, it was similar to the feeling of not being invited to the birthday party of an elementary school classmate you’d thought was your friend.
“……”
Klaus shook his head. It felt like nonexistent memories were flooding in because of that bizarre woman. He had things he needed to do right now; he didn’t have time to drown in strange delusions. Swallowing his curses, Klaus headed for the security office. There was no time to waste.
He recalled the manual. The fundamentals of any tracking operation: information analysis and thorough preparation. A pursuit driven by emotion would guarantee failure.
Klaus pulled out a large military-issue bag. First, map and compass. She was heading east, but there was no telling how far that “east” extended. He slipped the Imperial Survey Department’s map of the eastern frontier colonies into the bag.
Second, portable rations, canteen, and standard ignition device. Hard but calorie-dense military hardtack and jerky. The metal canteen was filled to the brim; once empty, he could gather local water and boil it. The basics for a pursuit that could last days.
Third, signal smoke flares and illumination flares. Essential for requesting reinforcements in emergencies or securing vision in darkness. Two each of red, green, and white. He also packed medical bandages and antidotes.
Once preparations were complete, Klaus mounted up and sped through the checkpoint. As he galloped along the highway, a familiar silhouette appeared in the distance.
Found her. That damn…
Klaus spurred his horse faster. The instant he closed the distance, Thirin glanced back.
Her reaction was something Klaus could never have predicted.
A scream as desperate as a maiden being molested tore across the highway.
“It’s a stalker! That pervert stalker in uniform is chasing me!!! Somebody help!!!!”
The moment their eyes met, Thirin pointed straight at him and shrieked at the top of her lungs.
“……What?”
Klaus doubted his own ears. The gazes of every peddler and traveler on the road snapped toward him at once. A uniformed imperial officer and a robed woman fleeing from him while screaming. The picture was painfully clear.
“L-look at that… An imperial soldier and a woman…”
“Tsk tsk, can’t live up to that face, huh?”
Klaus wasn’t as sharp-eared as Thirin, but he could still sense the murmurs spreading around him.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Pervert! A pervert’s here! The pervert’s after me!”
Even as she screamed, Thirin looked positively delighted, hopping away from the highway with glee.
“……”
Klaus finally understood what it meant to be utterly speechless while feeling one’s blood rush in reverse. Still, the only thing he could do was follow her. When your superior abused their power, a subordinate’s options were this pathetically limited.
In an empty clearing some distance from the highway, Thirin stood with a perfectly calm expression, as if she hadn’t just been screaming her lungs out. Klaus felt like he was about to explode.
“Bounty hunter. Just what the hell—”
“You brain-dead stalker.”
Thirin cut him off first. In situations like this, seizing the initiative was crucial.
“Running down the highway like a madman on horseback while wearing that flashy security force uniform is basically advertising ‘Hey, there’s an imperial officer right here.’ What are you going to do if the criminals notice they’re being chased?”
“……”
Klaus, who had been about to protest, froze. Now that she mentioned it, she had a point. A carriage’s purpose lay in its cargo capacity, not its speed. At standard imperial marching speed, he could easily catch up. He had simply been too impatient.
His brain, without even considering a rebuttal, automatically agreed with Thirin’s logic. Gaslighting really was a terrifying thing.
Noticing his hesitation, Thirin pressed her advantage.
“I turned you into a pathetic stalker chasing after a woman. That way the criminals will think, ‘Oh, that officer isn’t working, he’s just out here chasing tail,’ and let their guard down. Pretty perfect, right?”
Klaus almost nodded in agreement.
“Indeed, that… is that really the only reason?”
“……Yeah. Totally.”
Thirin answered shamelessly. While there was some truth to what she said, it had been heavily seasoned. She had simply been testing how the sandbag would react.
This much is usable.
“……”
Under Klaus’s suspicious gaze, Thirin’s conscience pricked her for about 0.1 seconds before she decided it was fine. She didn’t have one anyway.
“Anyway, put this on.”
She pulled another shabby robe from her pack and held it out. The one Klaus hadn’t managed to bring.
“Excuse me, I’ll just—”
“Don’t smell it.”
“……”
Klaus looked up at the sky. There was literally not a single moment he could let his guard down around this woman.
And so their bizarre journey together began once more. Klaus wore the robe over his uniform, dismounted, and walked silently beside Thirin while holding the horse’s reins. Thirin, completely ignoring any consideration for his feelings, hummed cheerfully as she followed the carriage wheel tracks.
Klaus walked beside her in silence, reins in hand. He felt restless. In etiquette class he had been taught that making a lady walk while a horse was available was something only barbarians did. Of course, whether the woman in front of him qualified as a “lady” required serious philosophical debate, but he could only act according to what he had learned.
“Bounty hunter.”
In the end, he broke the silence first.
“Ride the horse. It will be faster.”
“No.”
Thirin’s answer was razor-sharp.
“Why? We should conserve your stamina—”
“You stalker bastard. You want me to ride with you so you can sniff me? Hah, as if I don’t know what you’re thinking. Not a chance.”
“……”
Klaus looked up at the sky again. O heavenly hall, why have you given me such a trial? While he debated whether he should visit the temple again, Thirin spoke while examining the tracks.
“I’ve identified their carriage and wheel patterns. There’s no need to close the distance on purpose yet. They’d get suspicious. The best approach is to stay just barely within sight.”
Klaus couldn’t understand how she could distinguish carriage wheel tracks so easily. So he decided to ask a question within the range of what he could comprehend.
“Bounty hunter.”
“What is it, Mr. Human-Stick Stalker?”
“………”
Klaus ignored the new title. Reacting to every little thing this woman said seemed like a losing strategy. Without realizing it, he was already adapting to her.
“Where do you think they’re headed?”
“No idea.”
Her answer was simple. Klaus was dumbfounded.
“No idea? You’re just following them without a plan?”
“I’ve never been to the east before.”
After falling into this world, Thirin had only traveled south toward the imperial capital of Aquila. She had mostly stuck to villages and cities. She had almost never ventured beyond them.
Klaus was at a loss for words. Just how reckless was this woman?
He sighed and explained.
“Listen. Lutetia is quite close to the eastern border. If we keep going this way, there are only a few pioneer villages. And beyond them lies nothing but the vast Sea of Trees—a literal ocean of forest.”
The pioneer villages existed to clear the Sea of Trees and expand the empire’s territory. In other words, there was nothing beyond them.
Thirin’s eyes gleamed.
“Where are they taking the kids? Are they trying to sell them in the pioneer villages?”
“That’s impossible. Slavery is forbidden by imperial law, and the villages have security detachments. If a large number of unidentified children suddenly appeared, they would be investigated.”
“Hmm.”
Thirin nodded. Even the remote village where she had first fallen had a detachment, though they hadn’t exactly done their jobs properly.
“Then what do you think, Mr. Pinpoint Stalker?”
Klaus fell silent. Into the Sea of Trees? For what possible reason?
“……”
He couldn’t answer. Beyond the Sea of Trees was unknown territory. No one knew what lay there.
“……”
“……”
While they organized their thoughts in silence, it soon became time to eat. Regular meals were important—especially during a pursuit where the situation could turn urgent at any moment. Klaus took a piece of hard military hardtack from the bag hanging on his horse and offered it to Thirin. Providing food to someone who was technically your debtor was the bare minimum of human decency, even before noble etiquette.
“……”
Surprisingly, Thirin accepted it without complaint. She lifted her mask slightly above her nose and began nibbling at the hardtack through the narrow gap. Even then, whenever she chewed, she lowered the mask again to completely cover her face. The mask never once fully revealed Thirin’s features.
Klaus stared at her intently.
…How rude.
It wasn’t even a matter of noble etiquette anymore. No matter where you were, that was clearly a breach of courtesy. Of course, Thirin had her own reasons. Falling into another world had severely damaged her social skills. To her, everything was purely transactional. That was why she neither offered nor accepted shared meals.
Thirin was Swedish, after all.
Anyway, when she put up such an iron wall, Klaus couldn’t help but grow curious.
What on earth is under that mask that she hides it so thoroughly? Does she have a scar on her nose or something?
Klaus watched her in silence.
Yes, she must have some flaw she can’t show others. That’s why she only reveals the parts she’s confident in. If she didn’t cover up, even the soldiers would have been enchanted.
That was what Klaus believed. A crazy woman like her would need that kind of reason.