I had something to discuss with Frennila, so I stopped by her barracks.
However,
‘Why is there a gal here?’
A girl who looked like she was straight out of the image of a gal from Japan, a country I had only seen in the media before my possession, with a touch of ethnic flair.
Her slightly tanned skin harmonized with her brown hair.
Add to that some makeup and bold fashion, and she was a style that caught everyone’s attention.
Upon hearing her name, it seemed she was Frennila’s close friend, a girl from the Axe Tribe called Werhe.
Her gaze was intense.
From the moment we first met, she had been glaring at me.
Why? It was our first meeting, so I couldn’t have done anything wrong to her.
Unintentionally, memories from my past life surfaced.
Memories of being in a classroom where the bullies, seemingly in a bad mood that day, used the accidental eye contact as an excuse to glare at me, saying, “What are you looking at?”
The gal girl, triggering my school-day PTSD, was someone I instinctively avoided, albeit for different reasons than Frennila.
‘Still, I should try to get along with her.’
The issue of the infected wasn’t something that could be resolved in a day or two.
Since I had decided to help, I intended to do so properly, not knowing how long I would be staying here.
Once again, though not perfectly, I managed to greet Werhe in the tribal language.
“Nice to meet you, Werhe. I’ve heard a lot about you from Frennila. I’m Kenneth from the Empire. Pleased to meet you.”
“What? You can speak the tribal language? …Hmm, plus 40 points.”
“Eh, plus… what did you say? Wait, you can speak the Empire’s language?”
“Not just the Empire’s language. I’ve translated foreign romance novels, …ahem, I mean books, into several languages. Kingdom’s language? The language of Law? Name it. It’s all a piece of cake.”
“Wow, translating books too, that’s really impressive! I must not be very smart, but people who can speak multiple languages always seem amazing to me.”
“Huh, a prince being humble? Plus 20 points for the gap.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind, don’t worry about it.”
Like Svioha, this girl occasionally spouts incomprehensible things.
Is this some ethnic-specific way of speaking?
By the way, I suddenly became curious.
In the memories of my numerous regressions, Frennila always appeared before my eyes.
But I don’t remember any other characters.
Erka, Svioha, Werhe.
I haven’t met the Shield Tribe’s chief yet, but even so, these representatives of each tribe never appeared in any of my previous cycles.
Even though Frennila’s relationship with them doesn’t seem bad, the reason they never appeared is probably because they died before the Empire’s invasion.
This time, I hope Frennila doesn’t have to experience the loss of everyone around her and survive alone.
That’s why I’m here.
*
Werhe began scoring the prince in her mind.
A prince? So what?
Werhe had long since lost her illusions about princes and emperors after her trip to the Tritan Kingdom.
Romance novels and reality are different.
Before romance, one must become a person worthy of it.
In that sense, she decided to thoroughly evaluate whether this person was suitable to be around her close friend Frennila.
If not, she would firmly block their relationship.
For the sake of her long-time friend and her own mental health!
And the man who introduced himself as Kenneth to her, who had been wearing a sullen expression, greeted her in the tribal language with a friendly face.
Hmm, an outgoing personality?
Plus 15 points.
‘What, he can speak the tribal language too?’
At this point, she began to suspect if the world she was living in was a novel’s world.
The common standard language of this world is the Empire’s language.
The prince, being from the Empire, would typically learn the Law’s language or the Istian language if he were to learn a foreign language.
Because it’s practical.
From the tribe people’s perspective, it’s unpleasant, but that’s the reality.
Learning the tribal language, which is generally considered useless, is something only explorers of the north or eccentric scholars obsessed with languages would do.
But a prince who can speak the tribal language?
It’s so rare it’s hard to believe.
‘Isn’t this too much of a convenience for the author’s plot?’
What are the odds?
They went to the Empire for help, and the Empire’s prince came all the way to this harsh land, and he can speak the tribal language, and he’s good-looking… no, handsome.
If this isn’t a novel’s setting, it’s hard to accept.
Total score: 430 out of 100. She’s so angry, her stomach hurts.
Whoosh.
The wind of the Northern Great Plains slaps her cheeks.
Sniff.
It’s cold and painful.
The howling wind, as if telling her no matter how much she denies it, this is reality, blows fiercely.
So, is she just friend A of the heroine?
“It’s sad, so sad.”
Though her body was tired, her mind was clear, making her want to train even more today.
Grabbing the practice axe lying in a corner of her assigned barracks, she headed to the nearest training ground.
“Werhe, it’s almost midnight. Are you training?”
“I’m in a bad mood, so don’t talk to me.”
“Yes.”
She swings her axe, as big as herself, freely, trying to clear her mind.
Whoosh, whoosh!
The axe, swung with tremendous force, could smash anything in reality, but it couldn’t shatter the thoughts in her head.
And finally,
“…Take me to the Empire too!”
Ahhh, she couldn’t hold it in and finally blurted out her true feelings.
Between the Empire and the Kingdom, a single choice can change one’s life.
She remembered her father lamenting his fate whenever her mother scolded him. Oh, my fate.
To cool this anger, she thought she might need to swing her axe a hundred more times.
*
After swinging her axe about five hundred more times, she finally managed to fall asleep last night.
But just as she had calmed her anger, her friend Frennila was adding fuel to the fire within seconds.
“Oh my head, my blood pressure. Argh! This frustrating girl!”
What? It’s been almost a month since she met the prince, and she still hasn’t even held his hand?
To anyone, it’s a fateful encounter.
If it were me, I would have done more than just hold hands; I might have sneaked in at night to settle matters.
“It’s just, I don’t know, I’ve been so flustered.”
Flustered? That’s funny.
There’s no such thing as being flustered in love.
This lucky girl doesn’t realize how fortunate she is and is letting it all go to waste.
Progress in love isn’t made; it’s created.
Frennila tries to cover it up by saying they’re both shy, but Werhe finds it hard to accept.
“Wait, now that I think about it, I saw the prince passing by earlier, and that creepy guy with the staff, there was something off about the distance between him and the prince.”
Suddenly, a scene that had been bothering her came to mind.
Well, he hasn’t done anything strange yet, but Svioha keeps clinging to the prince, and the prince seems to be struggling.
“….”
“Hmm?”
As soon as Svioha’s name was mentioned, Frennila visibly wilted.
There’s something there.
“Nila, don’t hide anything. Tell me everything.”
“…Ehi, what should I do?”
Only then did Frennila confess the inside story.
The touching story of the prince and her from yesterday was just the first part.
Out of nowhere, Svioha, the troublemaker, appeared.
He immediately stole a kiss from the prince and now constantly interferes with their time together.
‘I knew he was creepy, but he’s a complete nine-tailed fox, isn’t he?’
Of course, she should hear both sides, but her naive friend wouldn’t lie.
It’s definitely that creepy guy’s fault.
Frennila, the brave and strong archer of the Arrow Tribe, uncharacteristically had tears welling up in her eyes, expressing her grievances and sorrows.
Oh dear, it must have been hard, Werhe thought as she hugged Frennila.
Well, since I’m in the position of friend A of the heroine, I might as well play the role properly.
“Trust me. I’ll help you.”
At those words, Frennila hugged her gratefully.
Oh, this frustrating girl.
I knew I couldn’t do without you.
Cough, cough.
But hey, ease up a bit.
Frennila’s strong hug, fueled by her pent-up emotions, momentarily took Werhe’s breath away.
Huff, huff.
But don’t worry anymore.
Werhe was confident about two things.
One was her skill in wielding an axe, and the other was,
‘The art of love, Dr. Werhe.’
She had read over a hundred romance novels since she was a child.
Some works she translated from the Empire’s language to the tribal language, dreaming and hallucinating over them for days.
Truly a sign of obsession!
Werhe believed she had every right to call herself a love doctor.
“Let’s start with holding hands!”
Start with the basics!
She poured out the wisdom and knowledge she had gained from books to Frennila.
Listening with sparkling eyes, Frennila engraved every word in her mind, saying she would try!
But Werhe didn’t know.
Viewing the world through the lens of novels creates a gap with reality.
Especially for those who don’t know the prince’s past.
After Frennila, having absorbed Werhe’s crash course, attempted to initiate skin contact with the prince in his barracks, within just five minutes,
“Pri… Prince!”
“Gasp, gasp. Huff!”
The prince, looking pale and gasping for breath, and Frennila, unsure of what to do, watching him.
“What on earth happened?”
Her ethnic dialect, which she usually avoided because it seemed uncool, slipped out involuntarily, leaving Werhe no choice but to be bewildered.