Chapter 1: The New Beginning
The gentle breeze blew across the grassland, drawing a beautiful scenery with the broad blue sky and white clouds.
Several carriages were moving forward on this road at a measured pace. At this moment, a plump-looking businessman leaned out the window to take a deep breath of the fresh air, with an intoxicated expression on his face.
"Look, how can such beautiful scenery be as scary as those bastards said!" The businessman complained to the mercenary men guarding below, "Fortunately, I didn't listen to them. The price! Those bastards who ask for prices don't know how hard it is to make money!"
The mercenary man in leather armor just looked around worriedly, he always felt that his heart was not particularly at ease.
"But Mr. Rodrigo, although traversing this path can save a lot of time, the rumor around still makes me worried..."
The businessman's mustache twitched angrily when he heard this.
"Is it just a rat plague?! Open your eyes will ya! you can't even see a tail of a mouse! Besides, aren't there your guards here? I don't believe that bullshit. I've paid a lot of money to hire you and you're scared of a few little mice!"
He slammed the carriage window hard to vent his dissatisfaction, and then looked at the other carriage behind.
"By the way, what happened to the person we picked up on the way?"
"Claudia has treated her wound immediately and fortunately her current condition is relatively stable. It is still unknown when she will wake up, though."
"That's okay. From her fine appearance, I guess she might be coming from some noble family in the capital or big city. It would be very unlucky if she is to die in the carriage!" The businessman stroked his proud and sexy mustache with satisfaction, "But it's really scary. It's the first time I've seen such a horrible wound. It's as if she was attacked by some huge monster. Was it the giant's cub? It doesn't seem to be the case either. By the way, are there any rumors of giant monster activities in our area?"
The mercenary man shook his head at this. If there were any giant monsters' activities, they must have been registered in the reward column in the Mercenary Association.
At this time, Auror, no, Aurora in the carriage opened her eyes.
"Huh?" a perplexed voice came out from her small mouth. Although her eyes had already opened, what she saw made her baffled. "Where is this place?"
She looked blankly at the strange ceiling in front of her while she could faintly feel her whole body shaking as if she was carried away while sleeping.
The last thing that she remembered before she fainted was that she successfully kill the Dragon Empress Astrea in the corridor of the abyss just now. And indeed, she had received a striking reminder from the system that the kill has been successful and she has won the first kill in the whole server.
But what was this situation? Why did she wake up, not in her hospital room but in this unfamiliar place? Was she dreaming now? Or did she still log in Legend Online?
No. The sensation she perceived with her five senses was absurdly close to the real world. Even Legend Online, the most immersive VR game in the market currently wouldn't be able to simulate the environment to a such terrifying degree. Furthermore, she was certain that her current body was her original female body rather than the male body of "Auror" in the game.
She was neither in the game nor in her room. So where the hell was she now?!
"What the fuck! Did someone kidnap me outside while I was playing a game?"
Considering her pedigree, it was quite odd when a "proper lady" like her spoke in a such crude manner. If not for the abundant hours she spent on the online games with her friends, she wouldn't be able to use such a crass word. Of course, by this time, it had already been second nature to her.
Aurora immediately tried to sit up when she was nervous, but in the next second her face twisted instantly as an excruciating pain suddenly came from her chest.
"Ah! Damn it! It hurts!"
She took a big gulp of air and waited for the pain to subside a little before she slowly lifted the blanket covering her body. Only at this time did she realize that she was covered in bandages from her neck to her waist, especially on her rather moderate cleavage where the blood seeping out could be clearly seen.
She became more at a loss when she saw lustrous goldilocks hairs drape over her shoulder almost touching her breasts. How did she get her hair back? After several rounds of chemos, her head had already as bald as a monk's. So where did this beautiful hair come from?
"What the hell is going on..."
Aurora felt that her brain hurt as she attempted to understand her current situation. Just when she was puzzled, the carriage door was opened.
A silver-haired girl in a soft robe came in with a medicine box on her back, and she covered her mouth in surprise when she saw Aurora who had awakened.
"You're awake! That's great!" The silver-haired girl quickly walked to her side and motioned her to lie down properly, "Don't move around now, your injury is really serious." She took a closer look at the bandages on Aurora's body and breathed a sigh of relief. "Fortunately, the wound didn't open."
"Where is this place? Who are you?" Aurora looked at the unfamiliar woman with vigilance. Her slender hand hugged the blanket tightly, covering her chest.
"Hey, hey. I'm not a bad person."
The silver-haired girl waved her hands hurriedly to comfort Aurora. She wasn't offended by Aurora's vigilance as she understood how terrifying it must've been for a woman, especially as gorgeous as Aurora, to end up in this kind of situation.
At the same time, however, the light blue eyes of the silver-haired girl revealed doubts as she inadvertently raised the hair next to her ears, revealing the white and tender ears that were as transparent as cicada's wings.
"Yesterday we found you on the side of the road when we were escorting Lord Rodrigo's entourage into the Halberry Prairie. Although we don't know what danger you've encountered, your chest was almost smashed. I thought you were dead when we first pick you up."
Aurora looked down at her wound again, and it seemed that at the last moment, she was indeed slapped firmly by the claws of that bloody dragon. But isn't that a game? Why did the wound really appear on her body now?
"Wait... Halberry Prairie? Isn't that one of the starting areas in the Legend Online?"
Aurora immediately noticed that the clothes worn by the silver-haired girl did match the NPC settings in the game. But, if it was a game, even injured players would not be able to feel the pain, at most there would be a flashing red frame in sight and a series of warnings and reminders such as reducing the moving speed.
Was this a game or reality?
She was temporarily in chaos, but soon she calmed down. As one of the top players in the Legend Online, her five-year gaming career and adventures have already raised her psychological quality to the peak.
"I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Claudia, and I am a member of the Chiming Bell Mercenary Corps escorting Lord Rodrigo's entourage. I am a priest in training. Nice to meet you!" The silver-haired girl smiled slightly. Her eyes crescent softly like the moon in the night sky. It was very cute.
"My name is Aurora Silverburg, and I am... a wanderer. Just call me Aurora."
Aurora, who wasn't sure of her situation yet, could only report her identity as such.
"You have a family name. Are you a noble?" Claudia suddenly gasped and quickly changed her manner of speaking to be more polite. "Pardon my rudeness. I didn't know that I spoke to your excellency."
Aurora, who immediately realized this bubbly girl had a misunderstanding about her somehow, let out a small chuckle and said in a joking manner, "Have you ever heard about a noble becoming a wanderer? I'm just a commoner with some circumstances."
Claudia was stunned for a moment at the sight of Aurora's enchanting smile before a faint of blush smeared her lovely cheek as she realized that she had been staring at the goldilocks-haired girl for a long time.
"Sorry, it's rare to see a female wanderer and it's the first time I meet a commoner with a last name." Claudia quickly offered an explanation while hiding her embarrassment.
"It's okay," Aurora replied lightly. "I get that a lot."
"Isn't it?"
"Indeed."
Aurora and Claudia were giggling at each other answer. The atmosphere between them eased up somewhat.
If her acquaintances in the real world witness the current scene, they might be so surprised that their jaws dropped to the ground knowing that the Iceberg Princess Aurora could display such a casual expression.
"Can you tell me? What exactly did you encounter? Why did you receive such a serious injury? There has never been any news of giant monsters moving around here."
Claudia asked Aurora like a curious baby, her big eyes were full of curiosity.
Aurora closed her eyes and pretended to be trying hard to remember. It was impossible for her to directly say that she suffered such a serious injury because she fought against the Dragon Empress Astrea. Even she herself might find it hard to believe such an explanation, most likely other people would think there was something wrong in her head.
"It was too dark that night. I was walking alone on the grassland looking for a place to stay overnight. Even though I was attacked from behind, it was too dark to see what it was. Their figures seemed to be surrounded by clouds of black mist wrapping it up."
"I see, it may be a follower of the Demon Race. It seems that I have to report the situation to the church at that time."
Aurora had an idea and used such a roundabout answer to successfully shift the focus, but this figure wrapped in black mist also made Claudia feel something. After figuring everything out, she opened the medicine box and helped Aurora deal with the wound again before she breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed that the wound had slowly recovered, and the scab had basically stabilized.
"Now you must be hungry, I'll get you some food. Take a good rest, I also have to report the news of your awakening to the leader and Lord Rodrigo, presumably they will also be glad knowing that you've woken up."
Saying that Claudia nodded slightly to Aurora, and was about to open the door and get out of the car.
"Please wait."
Just as she was about to get out of the carriage, Aurora stopped her.
"Because I just woke up and I'm a little confused, I want to ask what date is it now?"
"Oh, now is the first lunar of autumn of the 135th year of Astraea, don't forget it."
The setting in Legend Online didn't have a clear nomenclature for the month but signed in appropriation to the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and every season was divided into four lunar cycles. Only the year was defined precisely.
After telling Claudia a few more words, she turned and got out of the car, and Aurora relaxed after she left.
Sorting out her situation, she learned several things about herself and this world.