NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27
“Kana, it’s time to eat.”
….
Joanie gently stopped Kana, who was trying to open a box of chocolates.
After a moment’s hesitation, Kana placed the box back down obediently.
As Joanie took out food from her inventory, she suppressed a smile at the sight of Kana stealing glances at the chocolates with an unsatisfied expression.
It’s not like someone was going to steal it, so she just needed to wait a little longer, but seeing Kana act like that made Joanie think, “No matter how strong she is, she’s still just a kid.”
“Today’s breakfast is… drumroll please… Ta-da! Jambon-beurre! And this is a delicious fresh fruit juice to go with it.”
With ‘jambon’ meaning ham and ‘beurre’ meaning butter.
It wasn’t too difficult to make a jambon-beurre, given that it simply required ham, butter, and bread.
Assuming you bought all three ingredients, anyone could easily make it.
In fact, the jambon-beurre Joanie was holding right now was made by her own hands.
For a moment, Joanie thought the word ‘assemble’ suited it better than ‘make,’ but that thought quickly vanished.
As long as you eat it deliciously, isn’t that what matters?
“This one’s for Kana. Yuki, you can have one too.”
“….”
“Thank you.”
Joanie picked the jambon-beurre with the most ham and handed it to Kana.
Kids need to eat a lot to grow up strong.
But it didn’t mean that other sandwiches had less ham in them.
Since what you eat in virtual reality doesn’t affect your real body, she didn’t have to worry about calories at all.
Of course, there is a sense of fullness in Silia, so you couldn’t really eat until your stomach burst, but the ability to eat delicious yet unhealthy food as much as you wanted was definitely a major advantage.
Taking a big bite of her ham-filled jambon-beurre, Joanie smiled happily.
“Ah… This is life. If I ate like this in reality, I’d gain weight like crazy. How many hours would I have to run on the treadmill to burn this off?”
– The host is on the skinny side, so it should be fine
– Huh? I eat like that every day
– I used to eat that much, but these days I can’t digest it anymore…
– If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your age…?
– Agreed
– If you put that much ham in, it’s too expensive to eat
“Ah, it is definitely expensive. Buying it at a café is just way too pricey; I can’t even think about it. Even if I make it myself, the ingredient costs are tough… Bread is expensive, ham is expensive, butter is expensive. Nothing is cheap.”
Silia’s ham tasted a bit different from the ham Joanie knew, but it wasn’t that far off.
“Well, ham is a type of preserved food, after all.”
It makes sense that it wouldn’t be vastly different since it’s salted and dried for preservation.
Joanie nodded to herself as she thought.
‘By the way…’
This time her eyes wandered somewhere else.
The pink-haired girl was quietly sitting there, taking bites of her jambon-beurre.
Not fidgeting or making a mess, just quietly munching away.
Now that she knew the girl’s identity, she wasn’t using a knife and fork to eat stylishly, but there was still a strangely dignified air about her.
‘Could it be that Kana was the commander of the kingdom’s knights?’
At that age?
Looking only at her appearance didn’t make sense, but considering the hidden strength behind her gentle demeanor, Joanie felt it might be possible.
From what Joanie was sure of, Kana was by far the most popular character in Silia Online right now.
Once for discovering a new raid boss, twice for the name ‘Kana’ and her gentle voice, and finally thrice for her appearance and overwhelming power.
Each time there was a blaze, the communities lit up passionately, and not just in gaming communities, but even in unrelated ones, news of Kana was posted.
Silia Online was popular enough with a high user count, and with the communities discussing all sorts of trivial things, it was inevitable.
Since there was no system to present objectives like main quests or guides, a lot of people visited the community to gather information.
Thanks to those three fiery events, even people who didn’t play Silia Online were now aware of the NPC named Kana.
And the resulting impact was greater than one might think.
Some people, like Joanie, were taking an interest in Grasis and learning, while others focused on uncovering the history of the fallen kingdom, revealing buried information piece by piece.
One narrative among them was that of the most prestigious knight order in Grasis, the Crimson Aegis.
The existence of the order, the fortress of Grasis granted to the commanders through generations, fragments of information like the names of the past commanders.
While it was strangely hard to find information on the last commander, just that amount was enough to speculate about Kana’s true identity.
Once Joanie realized this, she understood the attitude of the imperial knights that labeled Kana as a criminal.
“Huh? Did you already finish it? …Was it not tasty?”
Seeing Kana place down her jambon-beurre that was still nearly half full, Joanie asked.
Was it really not to her taste?
Tentatively inquiring, Kana shook her head side to side.
“I’m full.”
Kana, flatly answering, carefully wrapped her half-eaten jambon-beurre back in the packaging and set it aside.
Thankfully, it wasn’t just empty words.
Whether she sighed in relief internally or not, Kana picked up the box without hesitation, opened the lid, and popped a chocolate in her mouth.
Chew chew.
“Pfft…”
For some reason, Joanie felt like Kana had a slightly different expression than before, even though her face hadn’t changed.
She wondered if Kana was munching slowly on purpose to finish the chocolate quickly.
“It’s peaceful.”
If Joanie told Yuki, she would probably respond with disbelief, but she liked this tranquility.
That was why, during her travels, she often sought out quiet places and enjoyed serene camping experiences.
She wished such days would continue forever.
‘But that seems tough.’
Joanie’s eyes glance over at the chat window.
70% of the chat resonated with her thoughts, 20% were asking questions or demanding things, 5% were trying to make others laugh.
Then there was the remaining 5% composed of random chatter or complaints.
-I keep seeing the same scene
-I’m so bored I could die
-When are we going to a different place, Host?
-Is this person perhaps a wandering spirit?
‘Only’ 5% could be considered low, but given the number of viewers, it was hardly a small figure.
At first, there weren’t so many, but as the days went by, the number steadily grew to this point.
‘In fact, they’ve endured quite a while.’
No matter how beautiful the scenery, it gets tiresome to keep looking at it.
Thanks to Kana, they lasted longer, but seeing people beginning to show signs of boredom made Joanie feel that it was time to move on.
As long as she was streaming, she couldn’t completely ignore public sentiment.
There were still many who wanted to see Kana—mostly foreigners—but that wouldn’t last forever.
‘Let’s use this as a base to explore around. A journey through the lands of Grasis, as a theme.’
Though not right now, she would need to start traveling again soon.
With that plan in mind, Joanie popped the last piece into her mouth.
Crunch!
Yuki, who had finished eating before Joanie, couldn’t hold back and rushed in, only to be knocked to the floor by Kana’s sword.
Whether it was due to the bribery working or not, Kana didn’t seem particularly displeased.
Even though there was no blood, Kana instinctively spun her sword once before she sheathed it and sat back down.
“Are you okay?”
“…Ugh.”
“Ugh.”
Joanie trembled, responding to the eerie laughter that filled the air.
What was so funny to her when she couldn’t even last a single hit in a proper fight?
As someone who disliked pain, Joanie couldn’t comprehend that feeling.
At that moment, Kana, who had been watching Yuki squirm on the floor, suddenly opened her mouth.
“Don’t come over anymore.”
“Eh?”
The sudden chilly declaration sent ripples through Joanie and the chat.
Yuki, not realizing what was happening, remained unresponsive, but Joanie had never heard Kana speak so firmly since she met her.
Even though her sword spoke, she hadn’t outright declared it verbally.
Of course, Joanie might not have understood, but—
“Yuki isn’t a bad person—”
– No, said Joanie, trying to defend her when Kana’s gaze landed on her.
“You’re the same.”
“W-What? Me too?”
Nodding.
Surprised by the arrow that suddenly flew towards her, Joanie asked in return, but Kana’s answer remained unchanged.
“Why, why?!”
How could she ditch someone who had treated her so well like a worn-out shoe…!
Recalling words from characters in a novel she had read once, Joanie questioned with a heavy heart.
Kana answered her in brief words she could understand.
“I’m leaving here.”
“…Leaving?”
Where to? Joanie wanted to ask, but she couldn’t recall the word for destination related to Granic.
Instead, Joanie’s eyes lit up as she exclaimed.
“I’ll go too!”
“…Huh?”
“I want to go with you!”
Joanie cheered at the miraculous opportunity.
Just when she was thinking about leaving, Kana had said she needed to leave, which meant a perfect timing as if she had read her mind.
‘…Of course, the conversation only holds if Kana agrees.’
Realizing her unrealistic excitement, Joanie bit her lip nervously and glanced at Kana.
She didn’t seem displeased but wasn’t exactly thrilled either.
Her face remained as gentle as always.
Even Joanie thought it didn’t make sense for Kana to accept her proposal since there didn’t seem to be any benefits from it.
Calling her a companion seemed unreasonable given Joanie’s pathetic skills.
Being a native of Silia, she didn’t particularly need a guide, nor could she deliver food like now.
Desperately racking her brain, Joanie finally recalled her one redeeming value.
“Interpretation! Kana, you don’t know Arkish, do you?”
“…”
“I’ll translate for you! It’s frustrating when you can’t talk!”
If they could communicate better, she might be able to persuade her more effectively.
Joanie spoke with utmost sincerity.
What was going on with Kana all of a sudden?
Kana blinked a few times silently, and Joanie waited anxiously for her answer.
After what felt like an eternity, Kana finally spoke.
“…Do as you please.”
“Re-really?”
Nodding.
“Yay!!”
Joanie’s sudden shout startled Kana, whose eyes widened, but in her joy, Joanie didn’t notice.
What she had worried about became insignificant now….
“Who cares! I’m going on a journey with Kana!”
Whoosh! Kana has joined the party!
Joanie let out a loud laugh, feeling as if she could see that message flashing before her eyes, oblivious to the bewildered expression on Kana’s face.