Sophia

Upon hearing that voice call out to us, all I felt was confusion. But when I turned to look at her, I felt my blood freeze.

It was Sophia, the heroine you could only meet by the hidden condition.

She had long green hair that seemed to faintly shimmer. Her eyes were a light blue, and her frame was dainty. However, she was also more than six feet tall. Even if we were standing up, we would have to look up to see her face, and right now we were sitting. Her clothes were a plain green, but that was to remain camouflaged among the forest.

Though, the most discernible trait out of everything was definitely her pointy ears.

In other words, she was an elf.

Nathan and I both complained about the fact that she had green hair, but honestly, it didn't matter that much. After all, we didn't really care about this character.

"Why do you need to know why we are here?"

That much was clear from how Nathan responded to her question. He was definitely needlessly hostile. However, the expression on her face didn't change. Wait, no, the corners of her lips had turned up ever so slightly.

"Oh, I suppose there is no need. Please excuse my manners, as I am similarly an adventurer just like you."

That was a lie.

"You see, I feel like our kind should stick together! It's quite dangerous to be roaming around the wild when there are beasts around. I only wished to get closer to one another as it would be mutually beneficial!"

Nathan began rubbing the side of his head with the base of his palm.

"There are other people you can get close with. We have our own business to tend to."

She placed her palms together and laughed amicably.

"Ah, of course. If you have business to tend to, then naturally that means you could use some help. Why don't I come along with you?"

I glanced over at Nathan, but it was hard to tell his expression considering that there was a mask on his face. It seemed that he had forgotten Sophia's ultimate strength was shamelessness.

I turned to her and spoke flatly.

"There isn't anything particularly wrong with you following us, but it isn't as though we are going anywhere special. We just wanted to cross the forest to take a look at the other side."

Sophia put a finger on her chin and tilted her head to the side. There was a bright smile on her face.

"Ah, if that's the case, then I should definitely come along! I know how to navigate the forests pretty well with my experience."

I tried to make her lose interest by making it sound less interesting, but that didn't seem to work. Her interest had already been piqued and wouldn't settle until a little while later. Ordinarily, guys wouldn't find anything wrong with a girl coming along as well, but we were planning on working on things that had to be kept secret.

It wasn't as though there was any problem with Sophia in particular, other than being annoying. However, we planned on dealing with the dual body problem while we were on our own.

Another person coming along would ruin all of that.

With one more weak attempt, I let out an awkward chuckle.

"There's no need. It would be needlessly bothersome and unnecessary."

Sophia simply laughed in response.

"Don't worry! It isn't bothersome for me at all!"

No, no. You don't understand, it's bothersome for us.

"Are you sure? It sounds as though the reason why you want to join is not to help, but rather something else."

She raised an eyebrow.

"What could you possibly mean? My only intentions are to help another person out."

I blinked a few times.

"You said before that you were an adventurer just like us. However, one thing you should know is that our kind is prone to be opportunistic at the cost of others. Considering this is the first time that we have met, it is difficult to trust you to come along as well."

Sophia stared back without speaking for a few minutes. She was still smiling like she always was, but because her expression hadn't moved for quite a while, it looked a little creepy.

Then out of nowhere, she spoke.

"I suppose that is true. It can't be helped then."

Despite the fact that she said that, I felt a bit dazed. She definitely wasn't the kind of person to give up that easily. Of course, it may seem a little stupid to be arguing with her despite knowing that fact. However, this really wasn't something we could just let go without that much thought.

Yet, while wondering what had made her give up so easily, I came to realize that she was still standing around. Wait, no, she just sat down not too far from us as well. Nathan cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Didn't you say that you weren't coming with us? Why are you still here?"

Sophia waved her hand dismissively.

"Oh, I'm not tagging along or anything like that. I am simply sitting down because I am a bit tired."

My eyelid twitched.

"You won't just so happen to be going with us after we start to leave, will you?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, that would never be my intention, but if the paths we wish to take just so happen to line up, then there's no helping it, is there?"

Ah.

Of course.

Why did I think she actually gave up?

What kind of dogshit luck is it to encounter this heroine now? Not to mention she's supposed to be really hard to encounter in the first place.

My mind spun for a few minutes before I tried to come up with a way to get her away.

"Just so we can be sure it's not a coincidence then, may you tell us where you intend to go after you finish your break?"

She tilted her head to the side.

"Oh, I'm just wandering around a bit, so it could be anywhere."

...

This fucking...

No, I should calm down. After taking a deep breath, I drew out my sword slowly before pointing at her.

"Seriously, we don't want anybody following along with us, alright?"

She held up both her hands while putting on a shocked expression.

"Ah, what are you talking about? I don't want any trouble, I just want to take a rest!"

I sucked in a cold breath.

"Come on, we both know that's not true. While we have no intention to stir up any trouble, we still can't have someone suspicious following us around. Naturally, we will take drastic measures if necessary."

A smile formed on her face. She stood up and deftly pulled out a rapier, pointing it at me just like how I was.

"Then how about this? We could have a duel. If you draw blood on me first, then I will leave without another word. However, if I draw blood on you first, then I can tag along and the two of you won't make it difficult for me."

Fine, fucking bi-

Wait. No, I'm being dragged along with her pace.

"There is no reason for us to accept this proposition."

Sophia casually shrugged her shoulders.

"If you don't, then I can just do what I can to stick around anyway."

A mild aneurysm gradually began forming in my head. Although I was pretty confident with talking my way around people, she had driven me into a complete corner through logic. Shameless logic, but logic nonetheless. I can't even remember the last time something like this happened to me.

With how Nathan was looking at me, he seemed to realize that I had no more to say, and was baffled by it as well.

After scratching the side of my head, I turned to her and responded.

"...Is it completely necessary that I am the one that takes you on?"

She shook her head.

"No, it could be either of you, I don't mind. However, I would appreciate it if the other doesn't interfere. If I believe that you won in that fashion, then I will just follow you from a distance anyway."

My eyelid twitched. She was still stating conditions? From there, I turned to look at Nathan.

"So... what do you think?"

It was hard to get a grasp over how good Sophia was at fighting, but she definitely wasn't weak in the story. At the very least, she was on par with the protagonist after a few years in.

Considering that right now was about a year and a half before it was possible to meet her, that made it even harder. While being as objective as I could be, I had no idea whether or not I would be able to win against her.

Chances are, it was the same for Nathan.

Seeing our hesitation, her smile had only gotten brighter.

"Come on, don't be afraid of little ol' me! I'm just a girl, surely a strong man like you could easily defeat me."

Even if you want to use the male stereotype to egg us on, it sounds even more like a trap if you use it while being a girl yourself. But then again... it seems the options were limited.

After thinking for a little while, I thought of something.

"Instead, we could do a duel where the two of us fight against you."

It was a bit shameless, but I honestly wasn't sure if we could beat her even then. Sophia promptly laughed after hearing that. That made me think it was a good sign, but-

"No."

Though still smiling, her expression became flat.

"How can it be called a duel if multiple people are participating?"

I blinked a few times.

"Well, it doesn't have to be a du-"

"Yes, it does."

She cut me off before I could finish my sentence. To be honest, I don't remember her being this battle hungry in the story before. But then again, whether or not she wanted to, with the development of this shitty game, that was guaranteed to happen.

Once again, I looked at Nathan, who looked back at me. He gestured by pointing his chin toward my sword. I think he was trying to say that I would have a better chance against the rapier with a sword, though I personally thought a spear would have a bigger advantage because of the reach.

I mean, they were kinda the same weapon, but one was longer, right?

But then again, Nathan knew more about cold weapons than me, so I decided to trust him.

"Fine, I guess I can fight against you."

She smiled.

"That's what I like to hear."

With that, I stood up, with my sword at my side. By the way, it still had traces of blood over it, since the only cleaning I did was wiping it on other things. That made it fairly clear that even if I didn't kill people, something that could bleed was slashed through with this sword.

But... that hardly bothered her.

I took a couple of steps back, just in case she was actually really fast and could catch me off guard with an attack. After gaining several meters of distance, I felt comfortable enough to start.

"I guess we can just start then?"

Sophia's smile grew a little wider as she suddenly bolted forth. It was faster than I expected, but still not too much for me. Her rapier was pulled back all the way. She was definitely going for a full lunge right off the bat.

Right when I processed all of that, I threw myself to the right. Frankly, parrying a rapier looked like it was really difficult with how small the damn thing was.

Yet, against my expectations she did some strange ass footwork that twisted her momentum to the side, rendering my actions pointless as the sharp tip of a rapier barreled towards me once again.

I then decided to parry with my sword, to get the toothpick away from me. I imagined that she would be aiming for my body, since the main goal was just to draw blood and the body was the biggest target. With that in mind, I swung my sword from underneath her rapier.

She didn't do anything much against it, letting me shift the blade upwards.

But then, she lifted her hand up high, letting it point down toward me. In a flash, the blade of the rapier disappeared. No, it didn't disappear, rather, it shot right toward my eye.

What the-

Without thinking too much more about it, I turned my head. The point of the rapier slammed into the side of my mask, leaving a thin sharp mark on the side of it.

Damn, is this how Nathan felt?

Well, whatever the case, I underestimated how seriously this girl was taking this.