Mally swung astride Rat and settled down in their seat as Edwin helped Artesia into the carriage.

 

“Are you sure you don’t need an escort?” Edwin asked with a suspicious glance at Mally. “We can travel together.”

 

“No, that’s alright!” Artesia replied, her voice high and nervous. “I’ve got my paladins, and an adventurer with me!”

 

“It’s the adventurer I’m worried about,” Edwin muttered under his breath, and Artesia gave him a tight smile.

 

“Mally is perfectly qualified,” she cooed, even though she knew absolutely none of their qualifications and had quite frankly hired them on a whim. Zero street smarts, this girl. But, then again, she hadn’t exactly been a plotter in the original manhwa.

 

“I’m going to scout ahead,” Mally called and spurred Rat on.

 

“No, no! Stay with me!” Artesia said, a little desperately, and goddamn, she was going to be in for a shock when she eventually figured out Georgina was dead.

 

Even so, Mally had to listen to her.

 

“Yes, my lady,” they said, and looked around as Edwin frowned at them.

 

“Keep her safe,” he said, and Mally hummed. “She’s precious cargo.”

 

“I’ll do my best,” Mally promised. They had no idea how long they would have to travel before the bandits set upon them, and they weren’t looking forward to this.

 

“We’ll be heading out about twenty minutes from now, so we’ll be close,” Edwin promised, and Artesia smiled at him.

 

“Thank you, my lord,” she said, and Mally just wanted to get a move on. Dear gods. They would be traveling for two days before they reached a town, which meant Mally was going to be sleeping rough for a bit. They didn’t mind that, though it paled in comparison to the soft beds they had come from. The DeVille manor had been expansive, and rich, and they had never slept so good in their life.

 

Well. That was a lie. They actually slept rather fitfully, given the people they were living with. But, whatever. The bed in their room had been nice.

 

“Alright,” Artesia said and pulled the door shut. “Thank you, my lord, for your careful attention to me.”

 

“Of course, my lady,” Edwin said, ever the picture of professionalism, or chivalry, or whatever it was called.

 

“Let’s go ahead and leave now!” Artesia called, and Mally let their horse fall in step next to the carriage, which had the window down so Artesia could speak to them. “Have you ever been to the capital before, Mally?”

 

“No, my lady,” they replied as they scanned the horizon.

 

“What are you planning on doing there?” she asked, and Mally hummed.

 

“Pick up jobs,” they replied. “I don’t plan on much sightseeing. I’ll be primarily working.”

 

“The life of an adventurer must be hard…” Artesia said, and Mally rolled out their shoulders.

 

“It’s not so bad. You get to travel,” they replied. “Just follow where the money goes. It’s fun.”

 

“How long have you been an adventurer?” Artesia asked, and Mally hummed.

 

“About six months? Not long, my lady. I intend to register at the guild in the capital and settle down there,” they replied, and Artesia shifted in her seat.

 

“Did you travel until now?” she asked, and Mally nodded.

 

“I did, yes,” they replied, and thought about slitting their own throat. That had been a lot. It had only been a few days, and they didn’t feel fantastic about it. Sure, Georgina had been a dull, lifeless body at that point, not even alive without a soul inhabiting it, but it had been traumatic. Slitting her throat to cover up their crime, because they were pretty sure what they had done was a crime, was… Well. It was a lot.

 

They would have to kill a lot more people as an adventurer. They weren’t looking forward to that.

 

Gone was their previous life as a data entry technician, where they never had to worry about death, blood, and guts. It was uncomfortable, but true. They didn’t have cell phones anymore, didn’t have a laptop or fanfiction to read under the covers into the dead of the night. They didn’t have anything.

 

But, they had their magic. They did, in fact, have their magic, and they would honestly trade all of that for their magic. It was a give and take kind of relationship. Magic was wonderful. They had learned so much in their time here. They had no idea where they were at in terms of magic, but they had a feeling they were pretty advanced. Fairly advanced. They didn’t know.

 

They crossed their leg over the pommel of their saddle as they rode, and Artesia glanced at them.

 

“You ride a horse very well,” she said, and they looked over at her.

 

“Thanks. I practiced a lot,” they said, and thought back to their father staring at them with hard eyes as they trained in the yard with the knights. They had started at the age of five, and he had always been rather hands off with them, but they could tell how much of a ‘tomboy’ they were bothered him. He wanted a lady, but they knew better than to fit his expectations of him. He would have kept a closer eye on them if they were everything he thought they should be. And what they did required him to turn a blind eye to them.

 

“I always wanted to learn…” Artesia said wistfully, and Mally tilted their head.

 

“Surely, there should be opportunities to learn in the temple?” they asked, and Artesia sighed dreamily.

 

“No. It’s all training in holy magic,” she said ruefully, and Mally wondered if she could cure contaminated land yet.

 

A Saint’s Life was confusing. Currently, Mally was inside an isekai. It was a dual isekai, and it was very, very confusing. In the original book, The Count’s Daughter, the main character was the daughter of a poor countryside count, traveling to the capital for her debutante. She fell in love with the ML, the son of the duke, and they spent years exchanging letters when they met again when they were eighteen. By that time, he was head over heels for the saint. Artesia had poisoned him with a love potion, supplied to her by Georgina DeVille, and yes, A Saint’s Life poked fun at the name, and the count’s daughter had to undo it. It came out that Georgina was in love with the duke at that time, and had decided to set the saint up to take the fall and rescue him from the love potion herself to gain his hand in marriage.

 

A Saint’s Life was the isekai of that. The lead character, Hye-Su, was transmigrated into the book and endeavored to avoid all of the flags, only succeeding in making a mess of things. The hallmark of her character was that she was dumb as shit, and it led to a lot of people rage quitting the manhwa and light novel, the latter of which Mally never read. But, Mally enjoyed manhwas where the MC was dumb as hell, so they read it to the end. Georgina tried to kill the saint on multiple occasions after the ML fell for her, and eventually was tried and executed, along with her whole family.

 

Now, Mally was Mally. Georgina DeVille was already dead, and really, Artesia was stressing over absolutely nothing. It was fine. After the ball, she would find out Georgina was dead, and then she would just have smooth sailing until the end. She would fall in love with the duke, and everything would be fine.

 

… Right?

 

All Mally really had to do was avoid their father for the foreseeable future. He had never loved them, anyway, so he would get over the death relatively quickly. There were no leads. Mally made sure of that. They used a transfiguration potion to buy all their books and supplies, and there was no way he would connect the persona of Hilde Bueregarde to Georgina DeVille and then Mally Mack. So, it was fine. They were in the clear.

 

The only connection he could possibly make was Hilde buying the identity of Mally Mack, but Hilde had gone in double-disguise and given a double-fake name for that. It was airtight. Mostly.

 

No, he couldn’t possibly connect the dots. There was no way. All of their research had burned, and they made sure to light each individual book and burn the body. Everything was fine.

 

“You seem to be deep in thought,” Artesia said teasingly. “What are you thinking about so hard?”

 

“Oh… Home,” Mally replied awkwardly, and Artesia tilted her head.

 

“What’s home like?” she asked, and Mally wondered if she was homesick at this point. They had gotten over that relatively quickly. It took about a month before they stopped crying themself to sleep, in despair of the situation they had found themself in. Then, they had decided to act.

 

And act they did. Goddamn. They really got away with faking their own death, didn’t they? Whew.

 

“It’s full of terrible people,” Mally replied wryly. “You wouldn’t like them.”

 

“What, were you raised by bandits?” Artesia asked in a whisper, her eyes wide and full of shock, and Mally laughed.

 

“Nah. Just bad people,” they replied and stretched. “They have no idea where I am now, though, so it’s fine.”

 

“Did you run away?” Artesia asked in shock, and Mally winked at her.

 

“Sure did,” they replied, and Artesia’s mouth formed an ‘o’.

 

“What was that like?”

 

“Terrifying,” they drawled, and Artesia sat back.

 

“Sometimes, I think about running away…” she said wistfully, and Mally tilted their head.

 

“What, church doesn’t cut it for you?” they asked as the paladins riding their horses glanced at them, and Artesia smiled.

 

“I was never really a religious person,” she replied, and Mally hummed.

 

“Neither was I. It kind of felt like God abandoned me, sometimes,” Mally said, and then paused. In this world, they worshiped the Goddess of Life. Not God. They wondered if she would catch the slip up. Probably not. The defining hallmark of her character was that she was dumb.

 

“I don’t feel abandoned. More suffocated than anything else,” Artesia said, and Mally wondered if she missed kimchi as much as they missed burgers. She had only been here for a year. They had been here far, far longer.

 

Oh, well. At least there were still pickles.

 

They could both content themselves with pickles.

 

“Sounds like you’re pretty important,” Mally said, and she turned to them.

 

“Can I tell you a secret?” she asked, and Mally frowned at her.

 

“No,” they said, because she was not going to tell them she was the saint right now.

 

“Why not?” she asked with a pout, and Mally sniffed.

 

“I should not be privy to the secrets of those above my station,” they said firmly, and Artesia frowned at them.

 

“I don’t think I’m above your station,” she said, and Mally idly wondered if she counted as a character or a real person. They weren’t a character, so they assumed she was a real person, too. In fact, it was probably better to assume everyone here was a real person. They might have a mental breakdown if they didn’t.

 

“Well, you can think that all you want, my lady, but you still are,” Mally said, and Artesia sighed and murmured something in Korean under her breath. Mally opted to ignore that. It wasn’t like they were going to speak English around her. Really, she was way too obvious.

 

“Well, fine then. Be like that, Mally,” she said with a pout, and Mally smiled despite themself.

 

“Yes, my lady,” they replied, and then they spurred their horse on. “Now that we’re a safe distance away, perhaps I should check the front?”

 

“A safe distance away?” Artesia echoed, and Mally rolled their eyes.

 

“Please, my lady. It was obvious you were avoiding that gentleman,” they said, and she turned bright red.

 

“I---!”

 

“It’s fine,” Mally teased. “He was a very attractive young man.”

 

“He wasn’t,” Artesia said firmly, and Mally rolled their eyes.

 

“Anyway, I’m going to scout ahead,” they said and nudged their heels into Rat’s sides. The horse cantered forward, and they outstripped the paladins to make up the front of the entourage.

Really, she wasn’t slick at all. It was almost tragic.