The Loner Who Conquers the Other World-Novel

Day 63 – Evening, Murimuri Castle.

As we came back to the Murimuri Castle after beating two more dungeons, thinking that we’d ask Haruka-kun to check them for hidden rooms, he apparently already left in great haste to get himself handed over to the First Prince?

I wonder why he is so casually hurrying to get himself handed over to the enemy. An idea from that Royal Prince definitely won’t lead to anything good, and that person that is going to be handed over is up to far greater no good as well! After all, he is a Pandora’s Box (Hope Not Included) of 100% unadulterated calamity, a condensed no good of ultra high concentration. The one that wants to hand him over, the one that wants to have him handed over, and the one that really wants to get handed over, make for a dangerous trio of components that absolutely shouldn’t be mixed, a recipe for disaster.

「Is it going to be alright~? Well, it definitely won’t be, but still.」

「To have himself handed to the enemies… Poor enemies… Hm?」

That Royal Prince definitely can’t do any good, how could he even think of handing Haruka-kun to the enemies! That definitely will lead to something terrible. I wish he would consider how troubling it can get for us or the enemies. There is no way talks can be had after handing over such a thing. There is no way enemies will have a leisure of discussing anything after being given such a thing. That’s setting up your negotiations for a failure at the planning stage. The very possibility that they will live long enough to talk is slim to none.

「A message from Haruka-sama, 『Tell the Pres and others to gather at the Capital, the first 30 get the new tsubuan manju as present? I guess? Relay it to them? Sort of like that?』, is what he wanted to tell.」 [1]

Meriel-sama seems to have gotten the details from the Aide-san. He is heading for the Capital? Why is he heading for the Capital, where the Second Prince is, despite being handed over to the First Prince? And the latter half of the message was totally unnecessary, wasn’t it? Why did the Aide-san diligently remember that part and relayed it as well? What a puzzling message.

「We have to go, don’t we~? We won’t get what it all means unless we go, and tsubuan is waiting?」

「Yeah, rather than worrying, let’s go there! For the Capital’s tsubuan!」

「If asked why we are going? Because tsubuan is there!」[2]

Looks like no one has any objections to going. Because tsubuan is there it seems. But I’m pretty sure it’s quite unusual for a plan in wartime to be decided by a bean paste. The Princess Duo is completely stunned, you know? But they seem to be on board with new manju. They never heard of tsubuan, so they were merely bewildered by everyone’s excitement.

「According to the map, if we head straight to the Capital we’ll have to pass the site of Haruka-kun’s handover? Want to go straight or make a detour around the crime scene? 」

Haruka-kun took with himself only Royal Guards capable of fast movement. There is a high probability that the incident is already over. That’s why it would be better to hurry for the Capital (tsubuan). If we move as fast as we can in the shortest distance we should be able to make it by tomorrow night. And the local forces have already departed, we might miss out on the first 30 campaign!

We hurriedly eat dinner, jump into the bath, and go for a nap, we will depart four hours later, late at night. In terms of safety it might’ve been better to depart early in the morning, but we are a group of over level 100, and as the difference is only that we will either have to leave during the night or run through the night, we decided to leave as soon as we can since it’s pretty much the same thing. The Princesses seem to be interested in going as well, so they seem to be in the middle of heated talks for that.

「Meal, meal, meal, meal, meal, bath, bath, bath, bath, midnight snacks?」

No, snacks would be overeating. There is no boot camp today, you know? There is no point in rushing, but we feel uneasy without Haruka-kun around. He saw us off when we were leaving, but he didn’t welcome us when we came back, this is nothing short of dereliction of duty!

「Will you be sending the advance party? In which one am I? I’m not yielding the spot on the first 30!」

We are not familiar with the lands in the direction of the Capital, while there are likely no monsters or troops waiting in ambush, I’d still like to be careful.

「We are better to periodically send out an advance party for scouting, but generally, we will travel in one group without splitting up! There is less than 30 of us so it will be fine!」

「「「「Yeeeah!」」」」

Everyone is fired up and excited. We should be sleeping by now though?

「Our goal is the Capital of this Kingdom, Tsubuan!」

「「「「Yeeeeah!」」」」

You got it wrong, okay? While we indeed are going for tsubuan, people will be angry if you change the name of the Capital on your own, the Princess seems to be coming too.

Since we went to bed in such excitement we didn’t get enough sleep, but in this world, levels can make the body stronger. I even heard that level 100 won’t have an issue not sleeping for more than a week. It sounds like it’s bad for the skin, and is also tiresome, so I’m not going to try it, but you’d only feel sleepy, without serious difficulties otherwise.

Leaving Murimuri Castle while it’s still dark, we run. We could borrow horses or carriages, but if it’s just a day trip, then running is faster. The travel speed of level 100 is overwhelming. For some reason we are lagging behind a person of level 21, but that is a weird one, we are legitimately fast! Probably?

There are 23 people with the Princess Duo and the Maid. The Princess Duo, although not level 100, is still faster than those with backline jobs. Their levels should be pretty high.

So let’s hurry, because they are waiting there, our tsubuan manju!

A single party goes out to scout ahead in turns, but we haven’t met any monsters or enemy troops along the road. The destination is pretty far, well, our starting point is the furthermost Frontier after all.

「Reporting~, no signs of the enemy ahead~. There were quite a few towns and villages, but looks like there is no issues.」

「Roger, we will scout ahead after regrouping. I’ll leave the command to Librarian-chan or the Princess.」

The sky lit up with the break of dawn, and the Sun began its steady ascend. It’s going smoother than expected, I wonder if we maybe can make it before the night?

Haruka-kun added『Acceleration』and『SpE Up』to everyone’s equipment, so the travel is surprisingly fast. Well, Haruka-kun considers escape and protection to be the main points when making equipment, so everyone is pretty quick. Anklets also have speed-type effects, and the Princesses seem to be wearing them too.

「All clear ahead. Can Shimazaki-san’s group scout ahead next?」

「Sure. We are about to enter the Capital’s sphere of influence, are you sure we don’t need wide-area reconnaissance?」

The nobles’ domains are going to become more common from here on. Even if we are discovered, as long as we pass through I think there is zero chance of them catching up with us, but… Let’s keep going.

「Just check what lies in front. Even if you are discovered or pursued it’s fine to ignore it. Let’s move.」

「Roger. We’ll be off.」

The tamed group went. In the morning we had hamburgers, that Haruka-kun prepared, while traveling, but what are we going to do about lunch? High-speed mobile Girls-only meeting was called. Rice balls and deep-fried stuff can be eaten while running, but why Haruka-kun had to make beef bowls for the road? Eating that on the run sounds like a serious danger to our girl power. Could it be that Haruka-kun considers a beef bowl a portable food? Well, beef bowl is indeed fast food too, but the meaning is different.

The result of the girls-only meeting, we are dashing ahead while stuffing our cheeks on the way. No one is watching so our Girls Power (femininity) shouldn’t be in threat, although I do feel it’s questionable behavior for young ladies. Eating a beef bowl while standing might’ve been borderline alright, but we are running? At high speed?

「The Capital is right ahead~, it’s visible only because it’s so huge~, so there is still quite a way to go though~, wanna search for Haruka-kun’s presence~? 」

As the dark fell and the night was growing late, we finally caught the sight of the Capital in the distance. After all, rather than camping in tents, it definitely would be more comfortable to stay at Haruka-kun’s place. Not only does he have that tent that can freely change size, but also carries furniture in his item bag, basically staying in the constant readiness to change residence. I mean, he is even carrying bathtubs? Three different varieties of them.

「No signs of him nearby! Want to split?」

「It’s fine even if it takes longer, so let’s go in one group without scattering too much, and make a big circle around the Capital?」

「「「Roger.」」」

Everyone is getting excited when it comes to Haruka-kun. He has a firm grasp on comfortable life, delicious food, lovely clothing, and necessities. At this rate we soon might really get Tamed!

And behind the Capital was standing a fortress『Souvenir Store, Capital Outskirts Branch, Kind of?』, the culprit is right there! Yup, no doubt about that.

And the girls that probed inside with Detect Presence are dropping one after another with steam coming out of their heads. Aah, it’s in the middle of the night, so it’s risky, you know? Good girls, don’t try this at home? Well, not like it’s possible.

「Like, welcome, welcome? Or rather, aren’t you crazy fast? To make the trip in one day your average speed had to be over 100km per hour? Youth running wild? Sort of? But please don’t break the windows of my store? Anyway, come inside~.」

Inside, we were welcomed by Angelica-san… Who while seemed utterly exhausted, had a blissful, bewitching, and even somewhat obscene smile on her face. Looks like she was enjoying the afterglow. Today she is wearing a see-through black minidress, naturally, very lewd!

Angelica-san is beckoning us to come over, but that area emits danger for maidens, so we aren’t going anywhere near? I mean, there is nothing in that room except for a giant bed? The entire floor is one huge bed, getting onto that bed means stepping into Maidenhood Kill Zone, so please don’t call us there? It’s off limits for maidens!

[TL Notes:

[1] Tsubuan (粒あん) – Coarse sweet red bean paste.

[2] George Mallory is famously quoted as having replied to the question, “Why did you want to climb Mount Everest?” with the retort, “Because it’s there”, which has been called “the most famous three words in mountaineering”.