Once again, I was in the carriage, but this time I was cold and sleepy. It was raining outside with the sky dark with black clouds. The sun completely hidden; one wouldn’t think it was actually morning.

‘It’s not even light out yet… Why the fuck are we leaving so fast…’

To my sensible question, Dorota’s very refined answer was we’d be late. In truth I already learned from Sandy that the journey itself which would normally take 48 hours was now only 16 hours long because of the routes she had picked. The ball wasn’t even going to start until the night of the day after tomorrow. Why Dorota was in a rush, I had no idea. Would she listen to me if I said I wanted to stay until it was light out? Absolutely not.

I would be sleeping now, but considering we weren’t on actual roads. The bumps would wake me even if I tried.

‘Well, not like it made a difference on actual roads either…’

The carriage we were riding in was ordinary and a bit rundown. It was painted in black, nearing a greyish brown because of the aging. The inside of the carriage was basically just wood. Hard wood with zero comfort, frankly it was cramped and uncomfortable even with only me and Dorota inside. It was more of a small chicken coop on wheels than a carriage. I was seriously regretting my decision.

In normal circumstance Richard would’ve been riding a magnificent white and purple carriage. With the Wild Thorn Insignia on its door. A purple sword with a white glow surrounded by black rose vines with a faint purple aura. Probably would’ve had cushions for my sore ass too. But this was an equivalent of a bright red dot, signaling to everyone a Wild Thorn was here.

Wild Thorn was feared and revered in the entire Archean continent. Most people would avoid any confrontation with a member of the Wild Thorn family. Even if it was a drunk like Richard. Because, they feared Jan’s wrath. But what about those who would dare go against a Wild Thorn openly? They would without a doubt be absurdly crazy or powerful. I simply didn’t want that kind of attention. Being on short notice I couldn’t just get a carriage ready made for a covert journey to the capital. So, I left things to Dorota, which led to getting this thing.

‘I can only blame myself… Should’ve gone with her when she went to buy it…’

I could feel the soft breathing from Dorota coming from my left shoulder. The reason I was able to calmly think by myself this entire time, was simply because Dorota was asleep.

An awkward position where I could feel the softness of a woman. Looking at Dorota who was leaning onto my shoulder as she slept. Her long eyelashes would flutter occasionally as she breathed out. I couldn’t deny it, she was cute. This was probably a scene where the male protagonist would be flustered or blushing while thinking of lewd thoughts.

Personally, I was too old to be blushing in this position.  Being a 30-year-old virgin, doesn’t mean I didn’t have self-control. And something didn’t sit right with me when it came to Dorota. I couldn’t specifically pin point what was wrong. But for now, If I had a choice, I rather not get tangled with her.

‘Not like I have a choice…’

We were already pretty entangled, more one sided by Dorota herself, for whatever reason. As annoying as she was, deep down I was thankful she was around. Her nuisance of an existence, has kept my thoughts from wandering. The haziness I felt on the day I woke in this world was still there. Every time I’m around Dorota, the fog seems to slowly dissipate. Maybe once the fog clears completely, I would be able to finally accept this world.

But for now, my mind was to say the least uneasy, at most ready to explode. With the conflicting emotions of whether my previous life had ended or not. Since I had no clue if I actually died, I just woke up here in a different body. Whether the real Richard was wreaking havoc in my world or I’m actually truly dead and there is no way for me to go back in the first place. The fact that the more I learn about this world, the more I felt like an ant.

‘At least ants have their hives…’

‘More like a squirrel on life support, one plug away from death…’

“mmh… young master… phh…”

My thoughts were once again thwarted by the evil hag next to me. Looking to my left, it seemed a strand of hair had gotten loose from her neatly tied bun, and was currently attacking her nose.

‘Making weird ass erotic noises…’

Moving the hair strand away from her face, I couldn’t help but gently grasp her cheeks.

‘Well… In a way… I guess Dorota is my life support from these damn depressing thoughts…’

Maybe I was clinging to the closest person to me at the moment because of the stressful situation I was in. But if Dorota’s annoying antics weren’t there I would be lost in my head thinking. I can only ‘think’ because there’s nothing else, I could possibly do. In most cases, my thinking just gets derailed and end up being less than fruitful. Nothing good has come out of it, other than being scared even more and increasing the number of questions I had to think about.

Seeing Dorota’s interruption as a signal, I tried to stop thinking. Closing my eyes to focus on the sound of rain droplets hitting the roof of the carriage. I could feel the warmth on my left, and her breathing mixing with the rain creating a soothing rhythm.

Since coming to this world, I felt a sense of calm for the first time as I slowly started to drift off to sleep.

----

“Wake up young master”

“We’re nearing the bridge!”

With a yawn, I sat up straight on my seat to look out the glass window. The rain had stopped, from the dense trees and hazy fog that remained, I could make out the silhouette of a bridge in the distance. My ass was currently numb and even more sore than before. An after effect of sleeping inside the carriage.

We were stopped at the foot of the bridge by the guards stationed there. As I got out of the carriage rubbing my sore ass, and a cheerful Dorota in tow. I could feel the curious gazes of two of the mercenaries we had hired.  Ignoring them, I looked around my surroundings. Two guards were stationed at the bridge, while three were keeping an eye on us and another two were currently inspecting and searching our carriage.

This was just one inspection of two we would have to go through before entering through city walls. Since we weren’t carrying anything but clothes in the carriage, I wasn’t worried in the slightest. Looking across the bridge I could make out the silhouettes of large walls, and a towering castle. Even from a distance the city gave of an intimidating feeling.

As I looked to my right, the reason for that intimidating feeling could be seen. In the dense forest from above the tall trees, you could make out a mountain in a humanoid shape covered by clouds. You could see what seems to be a sword embedded into the ground as it kneeled with its hands tightly gripped onto the handle, and its head with two horns lowered in defeat.

‘Khurta’ Khal’

The last giant. You could feel the resentment it had towards the city it could not reach. From the books I’ve read, Arul was once the world of giants, before the other races were exiled here. Now the last monument to their existence was here in front of the capital of the human kingdom. Not much is known about the giants, the reason for the eradication of giants and how they were eradicated is completely lost in the history books. Or I didn’t have the authority to access them.

If one stood still in the city or near its borders, you could feel silent tremors going through the earth. Legends say that each tremor was the beating of its heart, unwilling to die until it could avenge its fallen brothers.

‘Should I be scared of the humans of this world…? How did they even defeat that thing…?’

‘I thought Bartha was large… If that’s how big real giants are, there’s no way half breed giants exist in this world…’

‘Or maybe… it was like giantess porn… where they crawl in…’

If Khurta’ Khal new what I was thinking, I might be squashed in an instant. I shuddered at the thought. The inspection had finished while my mind was going through these perverted ideas. I had enough of being cooped up in that tiny carriage. Looking around, I sought out Bartha. I didn’t care if I was princess carried or carried on her shoulders like a rag. I didn’t want to go back in the carriage again. But I couldn’t find her anywhere.

“Hey… Hag? Where’s Bartha?”

“Oh, I sent Bartha on a little errand young master. She’ll join us later once we’re at our estate in the capital.”

“I see…”

It wasn’t that far to the gates of the city.

‘I can probably make that distance…’

Thinking so, I decided to walk for the last stretch of our journey. I decision I would once again regret.

----

“My Lord, a letter has arrived.”

A bright room, the suns light coming through the stained-glass windows colored the bookshelves and dark wood floors in a rainbow hue. A desk lined with piles of documents and papers. Sitting behind the desk was a man in a white suit with blonde hair. A perfect jawline and sculpted white face, yet his eyes were a lifeless grey.

In front of him kneeled a figure in white clerical robes, with their hands raised holding an envelope. With a simple gesture from the man with grey eyes the envelope floated to his hands.  Unraveling itself in his hands to reveal a letter. Dismissing the attendant, he started reading.

As he read the letter, you could see light start to appear in his lifeless eyes. he couldn’t help but smile. A small chuckle escaped his lips as he talked to himself,

“The drunkard finally returns…”