New Bread
New Bread
The forest was boring, stifling, and inconvenient.
This was the word of a man who had lived in the forest for twelve years, so it would not be easy to refute.
The reason Yor had all sorts of strange hobbies like sewing, tanning, and grinding was also because he'd developed them to shake off the boredom.
Of course, the scenery was nice, but seeing it year after year for twelve years was too much.
He could eat meat often, but there was a limit to cooking it himself.
There was simply nothing to do for fun in this forest.
In a way, it was only natural that he felt stifled.
"What?"
At first, Ha-neul expressed worry.
"Is it really okay to go outside? If you get caught, it'll be a disaster."
Illusion Sight could deceive the eyes, but it wasn't invincible.
There was a risk of being discovered, and the risk that came with being discovered was far too excessive.
"Don't worry. I'll be as careful as I can."
Of course, it wasn't as if Yor hadn't considered that.
Going outside the forest was an act of grabbing a risk he didn't need to grab.
But a person can't always live rationally, can they?
Just once, he wanted to have an adventure.
And he also wanted to see how the world had changed over the past few years.
Of course, Chae-rin brought him information regularly, but... there was a difference between hearing something and seeing it.
No, honestly, setting all of that aside, Yor simply wanted to go out and see.
He'd been stuck in the forest for twelve years, so didn't he deserve a bit of city sightseeing at least once?
He wanted to go people-watch a little, eat some bread, and do things like that.
Fortunately, Ha-neul didn't object strongly either.
She was a little worried, but altering his appearance with Illusion Sight wasn't very difficult.
"Wait. I'll expand the skill range a bit then."
She said that and then drew up a little more mana.
She planned to change his outward appearance as well, not just the mark, naturally.
Despite how he looked, Yor was a celebrity of sorts, after all.
Seeing how his picture occasionally circulated in the community, everyone clearly knew his face. Obviously, it would be a problem if a crowd gathered.
As the magic began, Yor's appearance gradually transformed.
His black hair changed to an utterly common brown, and his shining amber eyes turned to an inconspicuous blue.
Since this was a western-style world, blue eyes were common here.
Besides that, she slightly altered the proportions of his nose and face.
In a way that made them as plain as possible.
It was a little regretful to hide that handsome face... but as long as she alone knew about it, it was fine.
"Oh."
With his appearance altered like that, Yor's original look was indeed almost gone.
He couldn't become a completely different person, of course, since his basic physique remained. But at the very least, no one would be able to deduce who he was from this appearance.
Looking at his changed reflection, Yor smiled with satisfaction and said,
"Good. Let's go."
And so they stepped outside the forest.
*
Perhaps because they had visited in the early morning, the sun was still bright when they came out of the forest.
The weather was splendid. The clouds embedded like a picture in the sky—ha-neul—only enhanced the atmosphere.
Yor had changed his outfit somewhat to go outside.
After all, he could hardly go to a crowded downtown area wearing only a tank top.
In the Middle Ages, doing that might get you arrested for public indecency.
Because of that, to stand out as little as possible, he wore long pants, a short-sleeved shirt, and a brown cloak on top of that.
This would be slightly hot, but at least it wouldn't draw attention.
The first thing he saw after leaving the forest was a vast plain stretching to the horizon.
Even though there was a big city nearby, they'd have to walk at least an hour to get there.
For Im Ha-neul, it could be called a pleasantly awkward stretch of time.
Yoo Chae-rin could chatter away cheerfully for an hour, but for the unsociable Ha-neul, conversation was quite a burdensome task. And even Yor was a loner who had barely met anyone for twelve years. This could be called a spectacular party of unsociable outcasts.
Still, they somehow managed to muster the energy and keep up small talk.
'...Wait a moment.'
Walking for a while, she suddenly realized one enormous fact.
'Come to think of it, isn't this a date...?'
A man and a woman were going out to have fun together somewhere. Within the bounds of her common sense, at least, this was a date. On top of that, the "man," him, had made the date request first. For a Confucian girl like her, this was an exceedingly progressive situation.
Good heavens, she'd never even had a proper blind date in real life, and now suddenly a date with the opposite sex!
'Let's calm down. The other party is an NPC... This is virtual reality...'
First, she soothed herself to regain her composure.
Because no matter what, it was a little sad to get flustered over virtual reality...
Ugh, she'd been the one who told Chae-rin to keep emotional distance.
At this rate, she was going to become a modern-day Pygmalion.
"Hm? Are you hot? Your face is a little red."
"Huh? Ah, no..."
Still, in any case, they walked diligently and arrived at the city.
"Alright. Pass!"
Creaaak!
With a casual inspection, the guard opened the gate.
Indeed, perhaps thanks to the Illusion Magic, there were no major issues.
Once inside the city, Yor looked around and said,
"Good lord, this is the first time I've come in through the main gate since I was ten."
"..."
At those pitiable words, Ha-neul couldn't decide whether she should smile or be sad.
*
To be honest, I didn't have many good memories of cities.
The place I lived was a small orphanage on the outskirts, and as an orphanage, we hadn't lived in plenty.
Still, I'd lived my life looking at the child slaves in the back alleys and thinking my situation was way better than theirs.
Ironically, even that kind of life was completely destroyed when my Demon's Blood manifested at age ten.
A major criminal at age ten. That's no easy achievement, let me tell you.
Anyway, because of that, a city was bound to be a fairly painful memory for me.
But coming back to a city after so long, I had to admit what had to be admitted.
As expected, things to enjoy existed overwhelmingly more where there was civilization.
"Wow..."
Everywhere you looked, it was overflowing with people.
Otherworlders and Gaians strolled the streets in harmony.
Perhaps influenced by the Otherworlders, a few buildings constructed in a fairly modern style were visible, too.
On top of that, a lady with big boobs was right next to me.
Thanks to that, I walked around the streets with Ha-neul, my heart fluttering.
"Holy shit, there's pizza bread?"
Walking around, I also saw something extremely shocking. In this medieval era, there was, amazingly, pizza bread!
I remembered occasionally buying and eating it in my previous life, but I never imagined I'd see it again in this world.
When I stared with a surprised look, Im Ha-neul answered me.
"Ah, this? It's been on sale for a while now. Some of the Otherworlders must have shared the recipe, it seems... but how did you know it was pizza bread?"
"Ah, um... I heard about it from Yoo Chae-rin."
I offered a pretty flimsy excuse and then continued my admiration.
This was truly fucking incredible progress. Indeed, was this the benevolent influence of the Otherworlders?
At this rate, the day might come when I could eat chicken pizza here someday.
I prayed that day would come soon. And getting a little greedy, it would be nice if I could return to civilization, too.
Naturally, I bought and ate the pizza bread. The price was a bit more of a rip-off compared to my previous life, but I couldn't pass up such a huge opportunity.
Perhaps just out of the oven, a warm and chewy texture greeted me. The taste, needless to say, was a pass.
Couldn't I say that my city adventure was fully worth it for this alone?
I was walking down the street in a good mood like that when it happened.
"Halt! Please stop for a moment."
Someone suddenly blocked our path.
Thin chain armor and a slim spear in one hand. It was a city guard.
In an instant, my heart sank. Now as ever, guards were not a very welcome sight to me.
'Had I been found out?'
Feeling a faint unease, I fiddled with the dagger at my back. If things went south, I planned to cause a ruckus and run away at least.
"What's the matter?"
Before I could step forward, Im Ha-neul asked.
At her wary reaction, the guard gave a hearty laugh and said,
"Haha, you don't need to be so on guard. It's just a periodic investigation. They say that Lemegeton or whatever has been running wild lately."
"Ah..."
Phew, I let out a sigh of relief inside.
So that was what was going on. Come to think of it, the kingdom would be hell-bent on catching those guys too. It made sense that security was being tightened.
The problem was that it had to happen right when I came to have fun.
Still, for now, I pretended to be calm and asked them,
"...So what kind of investigation are you going to do?"
"Whoa, hey there, sir, you have a really nice voice. It's simple. You just need to show us your Identity Plaque."
"Ah..."
An Identity Plaque, huh. It was simple.
Because it was normal for an ordinary person living in a city to carry an Identity Plaque. I just had to show them something—an Adventurer's Card, a Merchant Card, or whatever.
'But I don't have that kind of thing?'
The problem, however, was that I was a genuine credit delinquent.
Would a person who received treatment worse than back-alley brats have something like that?
'I'm fucked.'
It was kind of funny that they were checking now when they hadn't even checked it when we passed through the gate. Were these bastards even doing their jobs properly?
Should I just make a run for it now?
My face was disguised anyway, so even if I ran, there wouldn't be much of a blow to me. Of course, Im Ha-neul would suffer a little trouble... but her identity was solid, so couldn't she just talk her way out of it?
As I was agonizing over how to slip out of this, a voice came from beside me.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you taking it out?"
It wasn't the guard's voice. It was Im Ha-neul's.
I asked her with my eyes. How on earth am I supposed to take it out when I don't have one?
"What do you mean? You brought it with you when we left. Isn't it in your back pocket?"
"Hm?"
Only then did I realize she was cooking something up.
"Ah, oh. Right, I did, didn't I."
For now, I decided to play along with her act.
I rummaged through my pockets for nothing and checked where the plaque might be.
Of course, an Identity Plaque that didn't exist wasn't about to appear just because I searched for it.
"Ah, shit, I can't see it. Where'd it go?"
I was continuing that clumsy act when it happened. Im Ha-neul, who had been staring at me as if I were hopeless, started to move.
"...Wait. I'll look for it."
Her expression was filled with determination.
Sliiide!
And so her hand reached into my pocket.