Han Se-ah approached slowly, making no effort to hide her presence. Her face was set with determination, like someone tasked with comforting a VIP for a photo op.
"Ah, shit. What should I say?" she muttered.
-Hey, watch your words. One wrong move and we might lose our tank
-?? But with the Goddess''s blessing, he can''t leave the party, right?
-Forget leaving, if you piss off the tank, the DPS is screwed
-A man with a sad past, takes women like he''s like the protagonist of an otome game :)
-Considering Han''s hellfire mouth and social skills, there''s a high chance this''ll be provocation rather than comfort ??
As expected, it seems my family''s story came up in front of all the viewers.
Ironically, while I didn''t harbor any resentment towards the Empire or longing for my parents, everyone was looking at me with sad eyes. I couldn''t exactly complain that my parents were living healthily and enjoying their hobbies on Earth 1, not Earth 4.
With that in mind, as I watched Han Se-ah slowly approach, she gulped nervously while looking at me. Ah, don''t stare too long into the abyss, lest the abyss stare back at you.
Just as I was about to chuckle at the random quote that popped into my head, Han Se-ah plopped down next to me. Her demeanor was so solemn that it felt like she was about to make a major announcement. If you didn''t know the context and just looked at her face, you''d think she was about to declare her retirement from streaming.
The suspicious movements of the hero and the holy sword''s owner with his unfortunate past history. As we sat side by side, people''s gazes naturally gathered.
"Um, well," she began.
"What''s the matter?" I asked.
Pretending not to know anything, I glanced around subtly and noticed quite a few gazes on us. Olek was too stupid to understand anything, while Alisa seemed to know about my past, acting like an external brain. Meanwhile, about half of the remaining 19 knights appeared to know something about me as well.
It seems my story has spread more than I expected in the Empire. Well, I guess it''d be hard for the tale of an ill-fated genius Imperial knight becoming the Kingdom''s chosen holy sword wielder not to spread.
Though I''d spent ten years doing nothing much, I had been wandering around the Kingdom trying to earn gold coins. Just as the princess who originally didn''t exist came into being with a backstory, additional settings might have been tacked onto my past when the Empire was created.
It''s my story, but I''m the only one who doesn''t know it, goddammit!
"I wanted to talk about going to the 56th floor," Han Se-ah said.
-Don''t run away! Face it head on!Don''t run away! Face it head on!Don''t run away! Face it head on!Don''t run away! Face it head on!Don''t run away! Face it head on!
-Scared so you''re changing the subject? Can''t do anything?Scared so you''re changing the subject? Can''t do anything?Scared so you''re changing the subject? Can''t do anything?
-You''ve been ranked 0th on Forbes'' list of streamers with the stupidest sense
-?? She really reeks of social awkwardness when it''s her turn to speak proactively, it''s heartbreaking
-Being so focused on gaming might lead to poor social language skills, which is mostly understandable but a bit sad :(
"Sir Roland, have you decided which direction we should head?" a knight asked.
"Hmm, I think that''s something the pathfinders should discuss among themselves," I replied.
"Ah, I see. Then I''ll speak with Grace and let you know."
While Han Se-ah suffered through all sorts of nonsense for failing her mission, the exploration continued smoothly. The knights moved efficiently, conducting the search quite capably, even as Grace, Katie, or Irene took turns hovering near me in an extreme display of comforting behavior.
Although the knight order was impressive, they couldn''t just run wild through the vast tower, so it seemed they had their own exploration experts.
Dealing with monster waves isn''t just about defending against incoming monsters; it''s also about finding their lairs and exterminating even their offspring. So the knight order probably had people specially trained in tracking.
Of course, being primarily swordsmen, they weren''t as skilled as professional archers or rogues, but they could at least find traces. If not, they would have gotten lost somewhere in the prairie before meeting us, their bodies becoming food and their souls processed into purple crystals.
"Direction? Well, I was thinking northeast. Is there an issue?" Grace asked.
"We need to contact the merchant group via magitech device, so we need to know the schedule," the knight replied. "To receive food supplies for twenty-one people on time, we need to coordinate the schedule each time."
"Ah, I see. That makes sense without inventory magic."
Just looking at the knight talking with Grace now proved the point. The knights in charge of exploration and supplies were chatting with Grace while fiddling with magitech devices from their pockets. They seemed to be making contact to ensure smooth supplies while also recording the coordinates they''d mapped out.
A group of 21 high-ranking knights who could easily handle goblins and orcs was efficiently managing supplies and even recording coordinates as they explored. Of course, it wasn''t much help to Han Se-ah with her minimap cheat, but the fact that they thought of and recorded this information themselves was proof of their competence.
At this point, aside from the captain Olek being gullible enough to believe all sorts of baseless rumors, there wasn''t much to fault them for.
"Roland, should we head northeast or southwest?" Grace asked.
"Those are completely opposite directions. Any reason?" I asked.
"According to information from the merchant group dealing with the Ice Cross Knights, there''s a mercenary band that requested food delivery to the east of where we are.
The west is the direction we came from, and the east is where another mercenary band headed, so we''re thinking of going either north or south."
"Is that so? ...Let''s go southwest then. It''d be annoying to get too far from the gate."
On top of everything else, these noble young masters had even managed to get information from the merchant group.
If only the captain didn''t genuinely believe all sorts of nonsense like the 3m Roland theory, the Han Se-ah witch theory, the Grace Zhuge Liang theory, and the Katie ice Poke?mon theory, they''d be an almost perfect group to the point of jealousy. If they were a mercenary band or adventurer party instead of a knight order, I bet even respectable noble families would be offering bags of gold coins for exclusive contracts.
As I pondered this, Grace had somehow made her way to my side and naturally linked arms with me.
...The comforting isn''t over yet, huh?
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