Pig-headed Teamates

A week is a long time.

Back on earth, the lost travel time I had was six hours. Riding in a plane, I crossed multiple countries in the span of just a few hours.

But here?

I had to travel for two weeks just to get to the capital.

"Sil… is it really going to take two weeks to get to Vos'ai?"

Two weeks just to move between cities. It just didn't make sense. How could it be a two week journey to the nearest city, when this was a small country? Looking at maps, this continent didn't seem that large. If it really was a two week journey to the capital, then just this continent must be larger than earth!

'Yes, definitely.'

"Oh well, I guess that's that, then. Hmm… Maybe something interesting will happen while we travel? I'm the main character, so shouldn't there be some kind of bandit event? I save a family of merchants from bandits, earning their love and respect?"

'You're acting up again, Drav. Grab the lav- oh look, there's a carriage up ahead!'

As if summoned by Drav's expectations, a carriage was stopped up ahead. A few people were gathered around it, and it seemed like an altercation was about to break out.

"Ha! Told you, Sil! Time to save the day!"

I rode up, trying to look as gallant as possible.

"What's the matter, men?"

On closer inspection, this wasn't a bandit attack.

Heck, it wasn't an altercation at all.

The carriage's wheel had fallen into a rut, twisting the axel and halting the carriage. Another traveler had already arrived, and was trying to help pull the carriage out of the rut.

The owner of the carriage walked up, smiling.

"Hey there kid! Can you help us pull my carriage out? With four horses pulling, it shouldn't be too hard."

'Hmm.. doesn't seem like the bandit attack you predicted.'

As the future hero, there was no way I could turn down someone in need!

I joined the other traveler, grabbing on to a rope attached to the carriage. All four horses also began pulling, and the carriage slowly pulled up… then fell back down.

A look of confusion overcame the carriage owner's face, but I already knew what the problem was.

"Appa, stop being an ass. Pull the carriage, or no apples for you for the rest of the week."

No reaction. It was like she went deaf, completely oblivious to my words.

'Looks like the appaloosa is even smarter than you.'

Sil might not be wrong. Appa knew she had the upper hand. I needed her help, not the other way around.

"Fine. Greedy horse."

Try two at pulling the carriage out, and this time it came out easily! While it might have helped the carriage's owner, it certainly wasn't a good thing for me.

I was practically just Appa's apple supplier now. She was the one in charge in our relationship, not me… and she knew it.

The look in her eyes foretold the future, a future of her extorting me for apples any time she was asked for anything.

The carriage was heading the opposite direction from me, but the traveler was also heading to Vos'ai.

"This must be my first party member! Awesome!"

I walked over to the traveler, examining his gear.

The middle aged man wore a rough deerskin jacket over a dull shirt, along with pants comparable to earth's cargo pants.

The pants even had pockets, something that mine didn't.

In all my time in this world, it was my first time seeing clothes with pockets!

"Hey kid, what's your name? You look pretty young to be out here alone."

After a short introduction, I learned a bit about my new companion. He was a messenger from a small town like me. There was no internet in the world, so written messages had to be carried by hand. Traveling around delivering letters didn't pay well, but Yol, my new friend, loved the job.

Traveling around the world, seeing a new sky every day… I guess it isn't the worst way to live.

On a side note…

"So you're headed to Vos'ai too? Two weeks… It's a long journey, but I'm ready for it!"

Yol looked at me like I was an idiot.

"Two weeks? What, are you crawling there? On horseback, it's two days tops!"

Laughter rang out within my head. If I could I would punch Sil right now, but given that he was just a voice in my head, I couldn't.

"Damn system is a troll now, I guess."

Yol is a rather quiet guy, and after our introductions, he just rode on in silence.

Normally, I would have backed off and let him have some space, so as to not make it awkward. Appa, however, didn't seem to agree with this. She had a good nose, and could smell a delectable scent emanating from Yol's food bags.

"No you dumb horse! That's his food, not yours."

Of course, she ignored me. I was left with two options: let this dumb horse try to steal Yol's food, or give up yet another apple.

"Sil, please help. Whenever this horse is plotting something, tell me before it's too late. I'd say you're the only one I can trust, but I'm not even sure about that now."

Just a few hours into my journey, I had already been betrayed by all my companions.

Perhaps the main antagonist of this story wouldn't be some big baddie, but instead my own trolling companions!