I Reincarnated as a Noble Bastard, So I'm Seducing All the Villainess-Chapter 111: You Can’t Have A Proper Conversation With An Orc

I understand that Victorian's route is supposed to be safer and all, that could explain why we haven't even encountered people around, but it doesn't explain why there are zero monsters. Walking outside the cities, you'd expect at least some little son of a bitch giving you trouble, but at no point has anything like that happened. We also traveled far enough for the temperature to suddenly plummet and snow to cover the environment. What was once a bunch of green plains has given way to a snowy field and a permanently gray sky. I have no idea when that happened.

"Victorian, how much further?"

"We are close, Master Darius. The path has been quieter than I imagined, actually..."

Yeah, apparently he has the same suspicion I do. I was expecting to run into a goblin, and now I don't really know how to react if the journey continues to be tranquil. The occasional tremors Ragna causes bother me, and you can even see a jet of snow shooting up into the sky with her leaps.

"By the way, if we're close, we better warn that Orc to stop so two people can follow the path on foot. I'll do it to make up for it."

"Honey, are you really going to walk the rest of the way with that Orc?" Elizia asks me, raising an eyebrow. "Since when are you so romantic?"

"It's not about being romantic. One of us needs to keep an eye on Ragna so no shit happens, like her turning a normal person into ground meat or getting involved with a random soldier from the war. I'm going to do this because I can flaunt the Moonlight house and get away with it."

Elizia was a bit disappointed with my extremely logical answer. What? Did she really think I was going to talk nonsense now? I'm maturing, woman, cut me some slack.

We continue along the path, with me looking over my shoulder every now and then to see one of those jets of snow exploding, as if there were a monster crawling under the earth and occasionally poking its head out to get a sense of the territory.

Of course, we are in a snowy environment, that kind of aberration should only appear in deserts.

"From here on, you should have no problem, Master Darius" Victorian advises, pulling the horse's reins and pointing forward. "We will go through the woods as it is less winding for the horses, while you should go through the hills. If you want, you can still follow another path, but follow this direction and you should soon find a settlement. It is a small and humble place, that is the spot I think is best for us to settle."

"Go through the hills, got it..."

I dismount my chestnut friend and stretch my arms above my head, handing the animal over to Victorian. I don't like having to walk, being in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nothing but white is not the best feeling in the world. Phew, I hope I don't run into a Yeti amidst all this...

I rub my gloves together and release a cold curtain of breath from my mouth, finally seeing the explosive pillars decrease in size in the distance. Ragna must be controlling the force with which she jumps to avoid landing on top of us, that has been a useful exercise lately, where she first waits for us to cross a certain distance before catching up.

The Orcish sense of smell also helps with this. She can smell us from far away, so she always ends up finding us in the end. In the blink of an eye, a new geyser of snow rises in front of us, and at the epicenter of the explosion is Ragna, dusting off her shoulders... wait, why is she still wearing the same clothes as before? Doesn't she get cold?

"Why did you stop?"

"Daria will accompany you for the rest of the way, since we are close" explains my blonde muse, waving her gloved hand. "We don't want to scare the locals, so she insisted on staying by your side so no one would bother you."

"I can simply blow their heads off."

"No, you can't" I counter, crossing my arms in a cocky pose.

"But..."

"No. Blowing. Heads. Off."

With that last sentence, Ragna lowers her head, disappointed. She is strangely more submissive than I thought, obeying any order Daria Montclair gives. Could it be the power of love or the cute side of the character showing up? Whatever the reason, it made everything easy as pie.

"Alright, we're going now. Master Darius, be careful."

"Who needs enemies when you have an eight-foot-tall Orc?"

I wait for Elizia and Victorian to disappear among the trees to finally let out the air from my lungs. You know, I don't like being dumped in the middle of nowhere, I feel like I was abandoned by two responsible parents in the hands of an aunt who has no idea how to take care of children. The things that happen to me.

"Well... now we just walk. Let's go" I say, trying to sound all enthusiastic and heroic, despite the cold wind creeping under my clothes.

Ragna tilts her head toward me, looking like some kind of polar bear wanting to wrap up her cub so it won't feel cold.

"Wouldn't you prefer I carry you in my arms?"

My soul leaves my body, does three somersaults, packs its own luggage, and attempts to abandon the planet. I pull it back at the last minute, bring it back to my chest, and bite the tip of my tongue.

Damn it, is this shit turning into Post-Traumatic Stress? I've never felt so unwell just hearing a word!

"NO."

Ah, Ragna ended up taking a jump back in surprise. My bad, I got carried away.

"Ahem, don't suggest that again, alright? I don't like others carrying me, I prefer to feel the ground with my own feet."

She looks slightly confused at first, then nods positively, having understood that perhaps it's better to at most hold my arm or hand. Last time, that Orc was grabbing my hand, hair, and even sniffing the back of my neck, so it's better to put a little distance and prevent her from getting dangerously close.

Ragna follows right behind me with heavy steps that only don't make the ground tremble because the snow absorbs part of the impact. Now, without Elizia to keep the conversation going, the world becomes silent to the point where I can hear my own thoughts, which is never a good thing, because I only think nonsense.

I sigh.

"Hey, Ragna..." I start, regretting it halfway. "Why were you controlling that slum in Mastan, huh? Where did that idea come from?"

"Because I wanted to."

She answers without mincing words, the explanation is direct, so... Orcish, that the mood immediately dies. I stare at the snow and think about life, destiny, and why the hell I ask questions.

Fine. I need to fix this, it was my fault that the atmosphere had a luxury funeral all of a sudden.

How about a story? It can be anything stupid, as long as it matches the invented personality of Daria Montclair, the very one Ragna apparently believes in with more faith than in any deity.

I won't be fooling anyone if it's somewhat clearly fiction... but you know, there's the danger of her wanting to punch me if I reveal that I'm actually Darius Moonlight and not this Daria, so let's take it easy.

"You know, when I was younger" I begin, adjusting my fake aristocratic princess posture, "my fencing instructor used to complain that I was 'delicately uncontrollable'. I would climb the furniture in the training room to escape the boring lessons. Then he'd try to catch me and end up getting hit with a broom by the maids because I'd invade corridors I shouldn't have, so in the end, I always escaped unscathed."

Okay, I got her attention. It's something half-fake, half-true. Yes, when I was younger, I really did skip out on any professor the Duke threw at me, but honestly, I hated them all equally.

"In the end, they decided it was better to pretend I progressed in my studies so they wouldn't have to admit defeat to a brat."

Ragna listens to everything with a gentle gleam in her eyes, as if she were hearing about the childhood of a lost princess. The innocence of this damned mountain of muscle disarms me in a way that impresses me. How could you have turned into that tyrant of Mastan with such a light demeanor?

"You really were... like that?" she asks with strange admiration.

"Yes. A pest, my stepmother used to say I was beyond remedy, that the right thing would be for me to surrender myself to a consort if I continued with that personality. Time passed, I've at least improved a little."

We continue moving forward. The wind pushes snowflakes against my face, and for a moment I feel like laughing at Ragna's face, who seems to have listened to some kind of heroic story, but it's just me creating a hybrid past that both happened and didn't happen.

The white landscape stretches endlessly, only interrupted by a distant row of hills, cut against the sky by wisps of smoke rising in continuous columns from several chimneys, painting the gray sky with dark, wavy paths.

The settlement. It took much less time than I thought.

"Aha. Looks like we found the place."

Behind me, the ground gives a small tremble, only for me to glance back and see that Ragna has apparently accelerated her pace to keep up with me. She's kind of silly, frankly, I like this more than the brutal criminal from before, it even makes me smile a little and remember a good time in my life.

I pull up the collar of my coat, hiding part of my delicate little face.