Chapter 10: Please record your message after the beep.

Beep.

"Nyah-huh-huh-huh, looks like there aren’t any monsters to worry about after all, nya. At this rate, we should reach Grasport in no time, nya. And honestly, traveling by carriage is way more comfortable than I expected, nya. Nyah-huh-huh-huh."

"Don’t you have even a little… I don’t know, something to think about…?"

Ririka lounged in high spirits, her cat ears twitching as she casually snacked on the fruit that had been presented to her. She wasn’t wearing her maid outfit today. Instead, she was dressed in a frilly pink dress covered in ribbons and ruffles. She looked completely at ease, as if she’d become a noble—or even royalty.

After that, the three of us were given an almost over-the-top welcome by the fortress soldiers. In particular, Ririka—who, according to the heavily embellished story, had summoned a golem through an elaborate farce and defeated a dragon—was praised nonstop as a lifesaver, a great archmage, even a savior. She soaked it all in and fully bought into the role. For the record, Natsumi, the crossdressing shota elf, was cast as Ririka’s disciple, while I, Clarice, was labeled as the sacrificial offering and general lackey who provided life force whenever magic was used. Still, since I was technically treated as the great archmage’s property and received fairly decent treatment, I couldn’t really complain.

After being assigned rooms at the fortress and spending the night there, we were escorted by carriage to our destination: the city of Grasport. This arrangement was made through the kindness of Evangelin, the princess knight who had been commanding the fortress—someone of royal blood and knightly rank, yet dressed like an unabashed exhibitionist. She had begged us to come to the royal capital instead, and we nearly ended up being sent all the way back to the starting city, but Ririka stubbornly refused. Apparently, since the fortress didn’t even have a proper bath, she wanted to soak in hot springs as soon as possible.

Given that this world had monsters rampaging everywhere, there was no guarantee that Grasport itself was safe. For the moment, though, we hadn’t encountered a single monster along the road.

And so, at present, we were riding in a swaying carriage through the mountains, heading toward Grasport. Evangelin—the so-called princess knight and shameless exhibitionist—was traveling alongside us, riding her horse with several other knights at the front of the carriage.

"What is it, nya? You’re still worrying about it, nya? You’re more righteous—or maybe more sensitive—than I expected, nya."

As she continued to gorge herself on fruit, Ririka directed that question at me.

"I didn’t think I was the type to care this much either, but when I think that maybe those soldiers wouldn’t have died if I’d decided to fight the monsters sooner… it just doesn’t sit right with me."

"Clarice-nyan did good, nya. If Ririka and the others hadn’t been there, that fortress might’ve been wiped out, nya. Compared to that, this is way better, nya."

"It was definitely a shock seeing people die like that right in front of us, but… we don’t even know what’s going on in this world yet. And Clarice-san doesn’t even remember how it was when it was still a game, so it can’t be helped. Before worrying about saving others, we need to sort ourselves out first."

Even Natsumi—the one who had snapped first and gone berserk when she saw the soldiers dying—was saying things like that now. Ririka grinned smugly at her, and honestly, she was probably right. Understanding what was happening to us, and to this world, had to come first.

"Even the most famous overpowered comic-book hero suffers because he can’t save starving refugees, nya. I feel bad for the soldiers who died, but it couldn’t be helped, nya. There are probably people dying somewhere in this world even right now, nya. Don’t talk about saving everyone until you can pull off some ridiculous cheat like reversing the Earth’s rotation and rewinding time, nya."

"You know some surprisingly specific stuff… Oh right, you were an old guy, weren’t you?"

"No, nya! I just got hooked after watching the movies, nya! The actor’s cool, nya!"

"He’s stepping down, so the next installment’s basically hopeless."

"Nyaaah!? I didn’t want to know that, nyaaa!"

"I’m more of an MCU fan myself, and it was a shame even after they finally got a team movie together… Wait, if we can’t go back to our world, we won’t be able to see the sequel either! It ends on such a huge cliffhanger!?"

"That’s really not what we should be worrying about right now…"

I’d been feeling serious, but with companions like a goofy cat-eared girl and a perverted crossdressing elf, there was no way the mood could stay heavy for long. Still, maybe this was their way of trying to cheer me up.

"Excuse me, Lady Ririka. Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but the city of Grasport is now in sight. It appears to be safe."

From outside the carriage window, Evangelin called out to us from horseback. It seemed we were finally arriving at our destination.

"It’s really safe, nya!? Thank goodness, nya! I can finally take a bath, nyaaa!"

Ririka leaned far out of the carriage window in excitement, so Natsumi and I followed her gaze. On the mountainside ahead, a city spread out with steam rising from all over.

"Hey, there’s smoke everywhere. Is that really safe?"

"That’s hot spring steam, nya. Even back when it was a game, you could see the steam from outside the town, nya. I can’t wait, nya."

Once we arrived in Grasport, we disembarked from the carriage and entered the city. Rather than sitting at the base of the mountains, the city was built along a slope at a slightly higher elevation, with long stone stairways and hot spring steam rising everywhere. Most of the buildings were stone and Western in style, yet somehow the place still reminded me of a Japanese hot spring town—a strangely mixed cityscape.

"There are a lot of people here, nya. They don’t look like players, nya, but there shouldn’t have been this many NPCs placed in this town, nya."

Indeed, the streets were crowded, with people sitting and resting all over the place.

"I am not familiar with the distinction you call players or NPCs, Lady Ririka, but it seems the residents of nearby villages have fled here."

Evangelin explained kindly. Her outfit might have been outrageous, but she seemed earnest at heart—a genuinely good person.

"Well, that’s interesting, nya. Back when it was a game, there weren’t any villages nearby, nya."

"In the game, you could only move around within limited areas, remember? There were places you couldn’t climb, invisible walls, and restricted zones. I doubt that was the entirety of the world."

"True. A world couldn’t function with just city hubs like PPG and nothing else. Maybe things like toilets and NPC daily behavior were filled in too."

"When you think about it that way, it really is strange. It doesn’t feel like we just entered the game world."

"Putting that aside, though—if villagers from nearby places are taking refuge here, doesn’t that mean monsters came around here too, nya?"

"According to reports from the men I sent ahead, skilled adventurers who happened to be staying in this city protected it. Fortunately, no overwhelmingly powerful monsters like dragons appeared."

Right after Evangelin answered Ririka’s question, as if on cue, four figures who looked like players emerged from a side street in front of us.

"Yeah, yeah, that’s right. We’re the ones who protected this city of Grasport from those monsters."

"You guys here for the baths too? If so, you should be thanking us. If we hadn’t shown up, this place would be a ruin by now."

"Oh? A party of three girls? No matter what the original players were like, that’s not bad at all. With that lineup, I wouldn’t mind getting paid with your bodies instead."

"Man, you’re such a pervert. You’re in a woman’s body yourself now."

"Heh-heh-heh, I never thought having sex with a woman while in a woman’s body would feel that good."

They were two men and two women, clearly veterans judging by their lavish equipment. One of the women, it seemed, had had her gender changed upon coming to this world, just like me. Faces that had probably been carefully crafted to be attractive during character creation were now twisted into vulgar, leering grins. One look was enough to make my skin crawl. I didn’t like these people.

"These three—Lady Ririka and her companions—are benefactors who saved Dora Fortress when it was attacked by a massive horde of monsters and a giant dragon! Even if you did protect this city, mind your manners!"

Ririka, Natsumi, and I could only frown at the group’s appalling attitude, but Evangelin—the princess knight traveling with us—stepped forward angrily. However, after openly staring at her near-indecent outfit, the two men and one of the women burst out laughing.

"Gyahahahahaha! What the hell is this pervert!? A princess knight!? She was bad enough in the game, but seeing it in real life is on another level! This is seriously messed up!"

"Uhihihihihi! Telling us to ‘watch our manners’ while dressed like that!? Uhihihihi! Your outfit’s the rude part!"

"Still, that body’s pretty sexy. Wanna force ourselves on her? Do princess knights say ‘kill me if you must’ and stuff like that!? Hihihihihi!"

It was unbearable to listen to. Evangelin’s face was flushed red—probably with anger—but there was nothing to gain by engaging with people like that.

"Let’s go, Evangelin-san. I want to find an inn and rest as soon as possible."

"Y-yeah, nya. We need to get to the baths fast, nya!"

"B-but, being spoken to like that… as a knight—"

We pulled the still-protesting Evangelin along and left the group behind. As we passed through the street and turned down a side road, their mocking gazes lingering on our backs, Ririka let out a large sigh.

"That was close, nya. There’s no telling what would’ve happened if we’d gotten tangled up with them, nya."

"I had a feeling, but… were they high-level players?"

"They were all level 230, nya. The one who looked like the leader was named Schneider, nya. They’re probably a party from the hardcore min-maxing guild Black Guilty, nya."

"I’ve heard of them too. Apparently you have to pass some insane trials just to join that guild."

"They’re a bunch of total no-lifers, nya. I heard they were obsessed with defeating the Demon King during that event to keep the game running, nya. But if they’re still here, I guess they didn’t make it in time, nya."

"So there really were people who took the management’s lip service seriously."

"But it’d be dangerous if we got into a fight, nya. Back when it was a game, you couldn’t PK, but now there’s no telling what could happen, nya."

"Yeah. Let’s avoid getting involved with them as much as possible."

Evangelin looked completely lost throughout the exchange, clearly not understanding what we were talking about. Deciding to keep our distance from that group, we entered a nearby inn that looked decent enough.

"There are lots of inns in this city, nya. If we’re careful, we probably won’t run into people like that again so easily, nya."

"This really does feel like a hot spring resort town."

"It’s also a tourist destination with a bit of an entertainment district vibe. According to the setting, it’s an autonomous zone that doesn’t belong to either the Granshield Kingdom in the starting area or the northern Laurentia Kingdom, so visitors come from both."

"A hot spring town in the middle of the mountains being an autonomous zone… that’s kind of weird."

"The developers probably didn’t think it through that much, nya. Even this inn is basically a Japanese-style hot spring ryokan inside, nya. It’s a shame there’s no game arcade, nya."

Ririka was right. The room we were shown had tatami flooring, a low table with floor chairs and cushions, and even a small table and chairs near the window. In every sense, it was exactly like a Japanese hot spring ryokan.

For the record, the three of us were sharing the same room. On our first day in this world, we’d gone out of our way to get separate rooms at an inn, but maybe we’d grown accustomed to things. Ririka hadn’t said a word and had naturally booked a room for three. Perhaps the old man inside her had simply gotten tired of caring.

The princess knight and her subordinate knights took separate rooms at the same inn. I found myself idly wondering whether the knight order would really be wearing yukata and sleeping on futons here.

Thanks to the relaxing, Japan-like atmosphere of the room, Ririka, Natsumi, and I were soon sprawled lazily across the tatami.

The scent of fresh igusa rush grass filled the air. I couldn’t help but wonder where they even sourced it from.

As I was thinking that, Ririka spoke up.

"Come to think of it, Erika-nyan’s been awfully quiet today, nya. Did something happen, nya?"

"Ah, that…"

I detached the communications device from my waist, set it on the table, and pressed the switch.

"This is Erika, MCSF Space Fleet Operations Support AI of the Galactic Federation Space Force. I am currently unable to respond. If you have business, please record a message after the beep."

A few seconds later, a sharp electronic beep echoed through the room.

"Voicemail, nya?"

"Looks like voicemail…"

"It’s been like this ever since I had her recover the Crusader and the weapon container after yesterday’s fight."

"Did you do something to make her mad, nya?"

"I ignored her warnings and went into close combat… and I broke the Crusader’s head. That never happened in the game, but… maybe she’s sulking…"

"Clarice-nyan, you’re totally helpless without Erika-nyan, nya, you know? You should really apologize properly, nya."

"If you can’t have weapons delivered when fighting monsters, that’s a serious problem. You’ll have to apologize sincerely. When apologizing to a girl, sincerity matters most. And gifts, too."

Easy for them to say. Still, they were right. If something happened and I didn’t have Erika’s support, I’d be finished in an instant.

"Well then, Ririka’s going to take a bath now, nya. Clarice-nyan, you’re absolutely not allowed to go in until I come back, nya, okay?"

"Ah—me too! I’m heading to the bath! The men’s bath! Going into the men’s bath with a boy’s body is like a dream come true!"

With that, Ririka and Natsumi got ready and left the room, leaving me alone to figure out how I might possibly get back in Erika’s good graces.

I thought about it, but nothing came to mind. After Ririka returned with a blissfully satisfied expression—and after some time had passed—I decided to change my mood and head to the bath myself.

That old man… sounds like he enjoyed the women’s bath quite a bit.

Right now, I was in the body of a blonde, beautiful girl, so entering the women’s bath posed no problem. Even so, I felt a little nervous about whether someone else might already be inside. But when I stepped into the bathing area, it was completely empty—reserved just for me—and I felt slightly let down.

Still, night had already fallen, and the open-air bath, softly illuminated by lantern-like lights, had an indescribably serene charm. In high spirits, I sank into the hot spring.

So this is the women’s bath, huh. Once you actually get in, it’s no big deal at all… well, no one’s here, though!

My thoughts drifted into those of a softhearted guy who felt like he’d just overcome some great trial. It couldn’t be helped—I felt so refreshed I almost wanted to sing.

It was in the middle of those completely incoherent thoughts, as I relaxed in the hot spring, that I sensed someone entering the bathing area.

Oh crap, someone came. What do I do?

"Oh? Aren’t you the girl who serves Lady Ririka? So you were bathing at this hour."

Through the rising steam stood Princess Evangelin—the so-called princess knight, the exhibitionist deviant representing this body-fantasy world—completely naked, legs spread confidently, looking down at me in the bath with an imposing stance.