Horses. I still don't feel entirely comfortable around them. They're big. They're unpredictable. They could turn a man's chest from convex to concave in about one second if they feel like kicking at the wrong time. Of all the overpowered junk and garbage stuck in my stat sheets, however, none of them are a car. It's either a horse or walking what is apparently an incredibly long distance across the world.
I eye the chestnut beast between my legs. It hasn't given me any trouble so far. Not on the ride to that dungeon, not on the way back, and not since we've left the town. But I still. Don't trust him.
Meera has been...well. Meera. When she first attempted to climb on her mare she did so in a manner which was wrong. I don't know exactly what that means, or how one climbs on a horse wrong - my first attempt was a flawless success - but I know this to be true. I know it because the mare immediately panicked and bolted forward, out of Elara's hands, racing with the screaming Meera haphazardly slung over its back horizontally, clinging to the saddlebag for dear life and kicking wildly.
It's only a good thing Meera's cat had been nosing around in Arin's bag at that point, as the feline might have been harmed if she'd still been on the woman's head.
I happened to be on my horse at the time, and was able to race up to hers and grab its reins, to calm it down. Grabbing its reins caused it to buck upward and send Meera flying. But it did result in the horse stopping. Fortunately, whatever armor Meera wore protected her from harm, and her second attempt at climbing on the horse was more successful. She even did so with surprising pluck and cheer, for having been humiliated in front of everyone and narrowly surviving an assassination attempt by her horse.
As it is now, she shifts a little on her silver horse as if she's sore, despite that perpetually cheerful expression of hers. Not that I can blame her. She got some pretty decent air time. I'm a little surprised that Arin didn't rush over to heal her when it happened.
Her red eyes are staring at me.
It's not that I can feel them on me - I've never been that observant - but I can just literally see her staring at me, fully in my line of sight. I turn my head toward her. She looks away as soon as I do that. This is a problem. If she's going to keep looking at me I won't be able to relax. I hate it when people stare at me. Admittedly, this is something of a paradox, because when I was streaming I had two thousand-some odd people staring at me every day for hours on end. But the reality is to me it was just a single camera lens pointed at my face. I never had to look at all those people staring at me.
Some people get unnerved by cameras. I'm not one of those. But someone actually just staring at me? Especially Meera who keeps looking like she's going to say something but then not saying anything, and then pretending she's not looking at me all the time every time I glance at her? It's highly distracting.
I don't have anything more important to think about right now, granted. We're just riding on well maintained roads leading out of the city. There's almost no chance anything of import or interest will happen for a while yet. But it's still...disruptive. To my thoughts. And not in the good 'shut up the system helper' way, either. I don't like it at all.
Suddenly, Elara speaks. "Meera, you know...he's not going to bite if you speak to him?"
"More likely to do it if you don't, given that expression." Kael adds.
And! Why is that man reading my expression so much?! It's a violation of my privacy!
Meera makes a face at both of them and shakes her head. "It's not like that. I was just wondering what kind of story Ryo has. What was his life like before coming her?"
I press my lips together. "I don't think you'd understand."
Upon saying that, I realize. That sounds exactly like some kind of broody teenage love interest. But it's true. On a technical, literal level, I can't imagine anyone here would understand anything about what it means to be a streamer, much less what a hardcore game is or why it's important. Or what I was doing. I can't think of any aspect of my past life that they'd understand at all. Thus, it's easiest just not to explain anything beyond the fact that I come from another world entirely. Even if it makes me sound like some moody love interest guy.
Granted, I don't think I really...fully explained even that to Meera. But Elara and Kael seem more than happy to talk for me to her, so why would I bother? It's much better if people aren't trying to pry information out of me, anyway.
Indeed, as expected, Kael immediately decides to augment my answer for me. "Ryo claims to come from some other world. Don't know if it's true, but if it is it explains his complete lack of understanding of...everything, so far."
Elara coughs and speaks up before Meera can say anything. "Why don't you tell us more about that, Ryo?"
If this is her attempt to keep me involved in the conversation, I appreciate the sentiment. But I'd rather it be implemented when it matters. Like deciding who gets to travel with me to the demon king.
"I don't know. What would you want to hear? Everything here is so...different. I don't know where I could even start to explain the differences between our worlds."
Meera speaks up, immediately urging her horse closer to me at a speed I can't help but find alarming. "How did you get here?"
I sigh and look forward, not meeting her eager gaze, and hoping that she'll fall off or get pulled backward if she attempts to continue the conversation. Unfortunately, my luck is not that good, and none of the rest of the party seem inclined to rescue me from Meera's personal space invasion. She matches my pace perfectly, leaning a little over toward me as if she can read more of my thoughts if she can stare deeply into my eyes face to face.
It's unnerving. I lean away from her, as well as my horse allows.
"Is it a secret?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Ah! A mystery. So mysterious!"
No. It's just weird and embarrassing. I have no desire to discuss how I arrived in this world.
"Well, that's fine. I wouldn't want to pry, or hurt my new companion's feelings! Hmhm~." She smiles, tapping her fingers together. "Well, in that case...can you tell me about yourself instead?"
"...Like what." I am not about to bare my soul to her. Not the least of which because I don't know how to explain myself outside of trying to explain the concept of video games to a person who's never seen electricity.
"Whatever you like!" She waves a hand as she says that. "Like...if you have a family! Do you have brothers, or sisters? Are you an only child?"
...We're in another world now, so the answer to basically all that is 'no'. But. "The only person in my family that's left is my father. He's old."
I feel a bit...I guess it's sad. There's no going back to that world, and there's no seeing him again, is there? I suppose not. But I'll probably run into him in a future world. If I got picked for world transfer, I'm sure he will, too. Will he even be in that body, though? I kept mine, I suppose, so he should recognize me even if I don't recognize him. Assuming we end up in the same world at the same time, we can cross paths again one day. So I shouldn't be sad.
But-
...This is a waste of time. None of that is important right now. "Asking about my family isn't even about me."
Meera crosses her arms. "Of course it is!"
How. How is it. It's literally not me. Not that I really want to talk about the things I like with her, given it's all just video games and junk food she won't recognize.
Which makes me think. Junk food...this world won't have that, I suppose. In this world...is there even anything good to eat? I hate fruit and vegetables. I hate a lot of meat products too. I also hate water. Still, there's definitely no soda in this world. Maybe I'll become an alcoholic and pretend. Or something.
Ugh.
I shake my head and scowl. That's an ability I would have chosen: the ability to bring food from my world to this one.
"Don't worry, Master!" System Helper chirps. "You'll definitely be able to get the magic to make food after you beat the Demon King."
After, huh. Well. Now I'm even more dedicated to defeating him as soon as possible.
"What is it?" Meera gasps, cutting into my thoughts. "Did you have a happy memory? I wanna know! Ryooo~!"
...I urge my horse forward. Just a little more enthusiastically than necessary. It breaks into a gallop, and I hear Meera yelp in confusion somewhere behind me. Which is just fine with me.