Chapter 10: On the Carriage
Inside the forest that continued from Silver Horn to the Lunatic Lake capital, one carriage dashed on a paved public road while letting out the sound of wheels and horseshoes.
The carriage had two swift horses. It was called the Express Carriage1 because it was for the exclusive use of VIP in urgent cases. It was not originally a thing used for pickup, but King Solomon wanted to meet Mira early.
While being jolted in such a carriage, Mira looked at the scenery flowing outside the window.
「I say this is amazingly fast.」
She was enjoying her first experience on a horse-drawn carriage.
Occasionally in-game, she used the Floating Continent to move long distances. She couldn’t open the menu to use it now though. This was because the command to use the Floating Continent disappeared from the menu column of the system.
「However, it is doubtful whether the Floating Continent would be usable in the current world.」
Like the present situation she herself found herself in, she considered it more realistic and was not troubled by it. She decided to enjoy her current state as a girl.
A little less than two hours after leaving Silver Horn, Mira was not able to calm down and her eyes were swimming. The cause was due to the physiological phenomenon she faced the other night.
The short and quick vibration of the carriage, in particular, continued to give a further sense of crisis in her abdomen. For that reason, Mira was unable to bear it and she poked her head out to the coachman.
「Excuse me, is there a privy near here?」
「Kawa shop huh? I have not heard of such a thing. What kind of items does it sell? I will buy it soon if you are willing to tell me because we are going to reach Silver Wand in the mountain district soon.」
「No, it is not a shop…….. Well, I dare say it’s a pheasant ……」
「Pheasant, is it like chicken? Incidentally, that reminds me that I haven’t had breakfast yet. I understand, we are slightly late, but when we arrive at Silver Wand, let’s have breakfast.」
「Ah, that was a joke just now! Privy then privy.」
「Uh huh……….I’m sorry, there is no such shop like that in Silver Wand.」
「Listen! Toilet, restroom, bathroom, things like that! Ah…… geez. It’s fine here, stop! I’ll just finish up under the shade of that tree!」
「Eh…..Ah…..Ahh! So it was that sort of thing!」
She would have been able to hold it in longer if it had been the body she had in the past. However, she was rapidly approaching the limit of the body that had now become female, Mira instinctively felt it. As it was now, she would wet herself.
She poked the back of the coachman several times in impatience to urge him to stop while pointing at a suitable place in the forest.
Mira jumped off before the two horses had stopped completely and she walked slowly and carefully over to the tree. She tucked the skirt of the robe up under the shade of a suitable tree.
And now, she stopped moving to see the underwear that concealed the lower half of her body. However, her hands froze but both legs were still shaking like a newborn deer as they continued to stomp the ground restlessly.
(How do I take these off????)
Contrary to her feelings of impatience, the undergarment Mira was forced to wear for the first time was tied in place with rubber. Although it was well-deserved, it prevented Mira from lowering it by force as it was stuck on her hip bone. It occurred to her to just tear the thing off, but at the last moment, she reconsidered. As one would expect, she was not able to tear a borrowed item. However, any more and she would wet the borrowed plum blossom silk fabric. That caused her fretting to accelerate.
Mira failed to pull it off sideways by using her fingers to try to stretch it at her waist.
While feeling the urine starting to pour out from inside her body, she caught sight of a thin string. She then smiled wryly at her panicked state which had kept her from noticing such a natural thing.
The string was laced in a bow knot in the vicinity of her waist. She would have been able to understand at once if she had been calm. It was no wonder however, the processing in her brain had slowed down because she had not grown accustomed to her new body and it was the first time she had been in such a situation.
It was not a big deal if she understood it, but she had finally understood it just before she reached the critical point. She hastened to unfasten it from her knees and squatted. At the same time, she was filled with a sense of liberation. Mira was greatly relieved.
Having done the act a second time, Mira was under the impression that she had perfectly mastered this body. However, she was made to notice the difference in a hurry. When she finished her business, she was about to stand and wear the undergarments, when she recalled that girls had to wipe that part beforehand.
(What should I do?)
In her carelessness, she had not prepared paper, not to mention anything that could replace it. She opened the item box just to make sure, but it only held food. There were only some refining crystals and material items included.
When she shut the menu, she began looking for something that could be used as a substitute. Within the forest, small creatures emitted some soft sounds from the treetops. Grass grew in abundance, and various multicolored flowers peeked their heads through the underbrush.
Mira looked briefly and plucked a fairly large white petal and used it as a substitute for paper.
「She hasn’t finished yet, I have to wait.」
While paying attention to the area Mira had plunged into, the coachman was not able to compose himself. It was then the girl emerged from behind the man.
He was somewhat startled by Mira’s voice, his body stiffened with a guilty conscience.
「I am sorry.」 His apology carried two different meanings.
「Errr… For the time being, let’s go have breakfast at Silver Wand.」
「Well then, let’s go.」
Apparently, Mira had not noticed. The man believed this and ran the carriage again while feigning tranquility.
It was approximately one hour from the restroom uproar. The journey was going well and the carriage was about to arrive in Silver Wand soon. However, it was only the journey that had gone so favorably, as for Mira, she had faced an unimaginable adversity.
(Oh god, is that what I think it is? That flower………)
Inside the carriage, Mira writhed atop the seat in pain that she had never experienced before. She was in agony from the burning pain inside her private parts.
When she had begun to feel discomfort, she thought it was something peculiar to that female-specific place. However, the sense of discomfort gradually became too awful to endure and she confirmed the source of the pain. She then realized the cause of the pain.
She arrived at the answer, that single petal. Rather, Mira thought that was the only thing that could have caused it. She could not imagine that it was caused by woman-specific symptoms.
She guessed this and opened the item column to confirm whether she could do something about this. And then, one medicine was taken out from among the items in reserve.
It was a treatment medicine called 『Versatile Ointment Medicine』 that recovers abnormal status and heals some wounds.
When Mira stooped down to curl up in the corner of the seat, she felt some resistance on doing it. However, she applied the ointment and waited for the effects to appear.
The guess was proved right after a short time, the symptoms due to the poison of the petal recovered from the detoxification of the ointment.
Mira —with a feeling of relief— fell down on the seat and murmured to herself. 「Please, no more~」
It was approximately ten minutes from the petal disturbance. When the carriage gradually stopped, the coachman peeped his face out from the driver’s box.
「Miss Mira, we have arrived at Silver Wand. Will you go to a dining room? Or, shall I buy anything?」
Mira thought for a bit.
「Well then, I shall trouble you and go to a dining room.」
As usual, she answered promptly.
In the first place, she had been living a life where most things were satisfied in virtual reality. It was unusual to walk under the sky. It was an age where everything was delivered to your home, not to mention shopping, even work was done in VR.
But now, this world is different. She walked through the woods in person and was jolted in a carriage. You could say for sure that these were real first experiences. It was overwhelmingly inconvenient compared with conventional life. However, Mira was now starting to feel that all of this was fun.
Mira felt that people’s minds were narrowed too much by the conveniences. Thinking that she wanted to experience many things, she got off from the carriage under the blue sky.
Silver Wand.
It was located in a valley in the mountain range located between Lunatic Lake and Silver Horn. It was known as a town that had people whose occupations were agriculture, forestry, and mining.
Because it was a juncture between the capital and the country’s greatest military strength, the trade had made it a prosperous large town.
The place Mira was now at was a parking lot in the commercial area of the town. Several carriages were stopping on the grounds of the wide lawn and they queued up for the stables. Accordingly, they performed horse care and feeding.
The parking lots were naturally charged. They charge every hour. Because the district where the Express Wagon stopped was a parking lot for the the exclusive use enclosed by a hedge, it didn’t cost anything. In other words, it was a carriage for a VIP related to the imperial family or noble.
Therefore, It was impossible to not be the focus of people in the vicinity of the parking lot.
A man who worked as the manager of this place took notice of the girl and the man in a military uniform and was in turn speechless. This was because he knew the man who guarded the girl, Garret Astor, well. It was not only the manager of the parking lot who knew this man in the military uniform. There was no one in this town that did not know of this tank corps vice-leader.
That kind of big shot, would not work as a bodyguard for a common girl. If it was an aristocrat, at most it could be an aristocrat with blood ties to the royal family.
Needless to say, everyone’s attention was focused on the girl who was with the big shot of the kingdom’s forces. Mira had white skin and fascinating silver hair, strong-willed eyes and clad in a robe full of ribbons. It was an appearance that made everyone at a loss of words. Rather, mere words could not begin to describe the girl. Everyone’s sight was snatched away and they could only gaze at the girl silently.
The town of Silver Wand was surrounded by mountain scenery. Mira looked up into the sky while greatly stretching to loosen up her body.
While chasing a bird that flew across her vision with her eyes, she transferred her gaze to a bird that flew out from the woods and chased it further. Her body naturally spun around, but the person in question didn’t notice at all.
Time returned to the manager of the parking lot when he heard the voice of Garrett asking him to take care of the horses somehow. Garret noticed the glances from all around and scowled to turn them away.
Mira was convinced that they were jeering at her and when she was thinking of trying to escape their gazes, Garret returned from his conversation.
「I am sorry to have kept you waiting. Does Miss Mira have anything in particular she wants to eat?」
To Garret’s inquiry, Mira responded 「Whatever you recommend is fine.」while hiding herself in the shadow of his large body. At any rate, she poked his back to make him leave this place faster.
「Well then, let me guide you to my favorite haunts.」
The appearance of the girl pressing Garret impatiently overflowed with the warmth of a parent and a child. At the same time, people viewing that scene began wondering who on earth the girl was to be escorted by the vice-leader of the tank corps. However, they all came to the same recognition, this lady must surely be high-class. Up until now, they had never encountered such a beautiful girl before.
Mira and Garret left the parking lot and entered the main street using a small path. They arrived in front of a diner that also served as an inn.
「This way please. It is a small place, but the taste is guaranteed.」
Mira looked up at the wooden building. The name of the shop was written in large letters, 『Twilight Street Pavilion』. As often as it was seen in the Western movie, one was able to perceive the interior with the saloon-style door. With Mira’s height, she was unable to see the interior and could only see the ceiling.
「You decide to show up after so long and you go and call it small. Being quite rude, are we?」
When the two looked back at the sudden voice of a woman from behind, they saw a woman in her 20s with a shopping basket in both hands scowling at Garret. She was a simple but beautiful woman who had shoulder length chestnut brown hair which peeked out from her bandanna. She had a white and blue apron dress which was embroidered with 『Twilight Street Pavilion』. She was a helper in this shop.
「Oh, Sherry. Long time no see.」
「Geez, seriously, you really should show up a little more……wait, who’s that adorable child over there!?」
Sherry placed the shopping basket aside as she looked at Mira, who was looking up at Garret and in a natural flow, placed her hand on her head and stroked it.
「You, stop this!」
Mira brushed off Sherry’s hand and judged that she was the type of female who would treat her like a child. She substituted Garret for a shield and hid herself.
「Kyaa——~! She’s so cute—–~!」
Hiding behind Garret, Mira showed a vigilant look. She was like a small animal and this awakened Sherry’s motherly instincts.
「This person is Mira.」
「Hee–~, lil’ Mira he says. Adorable~. Lil’ Mir~a.」
Sherry’s expression loosened even more as she sidled up to Mira.
「Sherry. Mira dislikes this, please leave and go over there.」
「That’s right, that’s right.」
Mira continued speaking as she hid in the shadows. Her appearance had only accelerated the outburst, but Sherry controlled herself trying her best to not be hated.
「Hey, hey Garret. Tell me honestly, what are you doing with Mira?」
「I am in the middle of sending her to Lunatic Lake, but we did not have breakfast.」
「So we stopped here to get a nice meal.」
When Sherry recovered her shopping basket, she opened the swinging door and guided the two people in.
「Hey, let’s wait until the counter seat becomes vacant. ……..Is Mira still angry?」
Sherry stared at Mira who was hidden in Garret’s shadow with a slightly sorry look. She had yet to drop her vigilance.
「I do not think that Miss Mira would get angry at this sort of thing.」
Garret was right, Mira wasn’t angry. She was only ashamed that she was treated like a child.
However, the woman’s face looked lonely so Mira came out from Garret’s shadow against her will.
「Do not treat me like a child.」
She only conveyed these few words. However, to Sherry, she saw a girl trying to act like an adult. She was driven by an impulse to hug her with all her might, but she shook it off in a moment.
「Lil’ Mira is adorable!」
Right after Sherry uttered these words, she threw down the shopping basket and jumped with vigor. Mira was hugged tightly. Because it was a direct expression of love, she could not forcibly shake it off. Mixed with a sigh she murmured, 「This was the result of making my avatar like this……」