2

After seeing Natalie attack the variant goblins, McClain began to reevaluate her.

Since she had initially claimed to possess skills that put her on the verge of reaching the seventh circle, rather than reevaluation, it would be more accurate to say he had set aside his unwillingness to believe her.

He felt the same while watching her devotedly treat the injured throughout the afternoon after the goblin extermination. That perhaps it would be alright to trust her a little. That he shouldn’t act so skeptically and sideways.

That he should control the other men who seemed to lose their senses whenever they saw her, not the competent woman herself.

He had intended to tell her that she had worked hard today and that they should continue to work well together.

Until he saw the woman gulping down the strong liquor the headman was giving her by the cupful.

Ten-year-aged snake wine? It was clearly hard liquor—what was she thinking, fearlessly accepting and drinking it?

He barely managed to snatch away the third cup as she was about to take it with eyes half-focused.

He wasn’t normally the type with an overflowing personality who volunteered to be a dark knight, but today was clearly an exceptional situation.

However, he never dreamed that his exceptional consideration would come back to him in this way.

“Bad guy. Ruining my ending and preventing me from getting a status window. My romance, my status window, my snake wine…”

In that short time, her intoxication seemed to have increased as she began to pour out complaints against him.

“A status window from just a few cups of snake wine? Ridiculous.”

She was more eccentric than he had expected. He wondered if she was looking for another escape route since her planned ending had been derailed by his uncooperative attitude.

He had suspected that her desperate attempts to join his expedition were to look for opportunities to make advances, but perhaps she was trying to change it into a game-like ending with him.

Of course, that didn’t mean he would completely trust her.

Unlike her who was considering changing genres, he had a clear goal of “maxing out as a hero,” and that was obviously the only solution to escape this place and return to his original world.

Lost in thought, McClain was startled when he felt something small and soft touch his cheek.

He had already flinched when the woman leaned her head on his shoulder earlier, but now she was grabbing both his cheeks as if extremely annoyed.

“H-hey, Pereira…”

The woman was definitely drunk. Her slurred voice that was barely understandable, her unfocused eyes, and her expression that, unlike usual, revealed all her emotions—everything indicated that she was completely intoxicated.

“You’re really too much—”

The problem was that he himself was also starting to feel the effects after downing five cups of snake wine in succession.

When the woman brought her face so close that their noses almost touched, he was momentarily dumbfounded, not even thinking to avoid it. His gaze was captured by her hazel eyes, unable to turn away.

His gaze slowly descended, lingering briefly on her flushed cheeks before following the bridge of her nose downward. It eventually reached her lips, which had become slightly swollen from constantly chewing on them. The woman’s lips were red and plump.

“D*mn it.”

Just as he finally shook his head to break free from his entranced gaze—

The woman, unable to control her intoxication after pouring out her resentment, crashed into his chest face-first. He reflexively caught and held her, but remained frozen as if electrocuted.

This wasn’t good. It wasn’t the time for other members to be grumbling about this and that.

Perhaps the person who needed to keep their wits about them the most was himself.

※※※

Fortunately, the hangover took away most of Natalie’s memories.

She didn’t remember making a scene demanding her status window from the man, nor twisting and pulling his cheeks, nor falling asleep with her face buried in his chest.

All she remembered was the man’s expression as he snatched and drank her last cup of snake wine with a vile smile, and his cold voice mocking that a status window couldn’t be obtained that way.

Her mind wasn’t completely formatted, as a strange sense of shame remained. However, since no specific situation that required an apology to the man came to mind, Natalie decided to gloss over it.

Of course, despite her determination to feign ignorance, it was difficult to completely shake off the uneasy feeling. After all, having a blackout in front of that man was embarrassing enough.

But the man seemed equally uncomfortable facing her.

McClain was the last to appear at the breakfast table—or was it a feast?—prepared by all the villagers who had rushed to help.

Natalie was the first to notice the man entering through the door.

“I was really that mischievous when I was young.”

“Ahaha, what’s this, Orlando? You were quite the rascal, weren’t you?”

“But now I’m more mature than anyone, haha.”

She had just burst into laughter while listening to stories from Orlando’s childhood. When her eyes met the man’s, Natalie momentarily struggled with what expression to make.

Should she continue smiling nonchalantly, look away pretending not to see him, or greet him respectfully?

However, after staring blankly at her for a moment, the man suddenly frowned, causing Natalie to turn away. It made her anxious about the time her memories had vanished.

What’s making him so displeased first thing in the morning? Did I make some huge mistake yesterday?

Before her transmigration, she had always been the type to simply fall asleep when drunk. But since she had never drunk alcohol after coming to this world, it was hard to guarantee she had behaved properly without creating any embarrassing moments.

As she chewed her lip trying to piece together her fragmented memories, Munash, who had been waiting for an opportunity to join from across the table, continued the interrupted conversation.

“Rascal? What’s that? I like frogs too.”

“Brother Munash, not frogs, rascals. You’re not a rascal, you’re more of a troublemaker.”

“Oh my, Muki, you must be studying the imperial language very hard.”

While pretending to listen to Muki’s words, she kept an eye on McClain. Seeing the man’s expression grow even more severe than before made Natalie increasingly anxious.

“I’ve always had a talent for learning foreign languages.”

“But I’m better at fighting.”

Amidst all this, everyone was striking up conversations with her, making it extremely difficult to maintain her composure. Even the usually taciturn Jorel stepped forward to offer her a bellflower dish.

“Pereira, please try some of this bellflower too. The aroma is excellent.”

“Oh, you’re right. The mountainous terrain around here seems to make the herbs and mushrooms particularly fragrant. The headman mentioned he would give me some fever-reducing herbs and medicinal plants before we depart, and asked me to come to the village common storehouse.”

“Is that so? Then I’ll go with you and load them onto the carriage.”

“I only plan to get a small amount for emergency supplies, so I can quickly go by myself.”

“Still, it would be better if I carried them for you rather than you going alone.”

“I can carry them too. I’m the strongest among us.”

“Then I’ll come along as well…”

But the commotion didn’t last long.

McClain warned them in a cold voice as he roughly set down his food bowl.

“Enough with the idle chatter. We’d better finish eating and get moving.”

“Ah, yes, Commander.”

The previously cheerful atmosphere instantly turned chilly due to the man with the severe expression taking his seat.

“Um, Commander. Do you perhaps have a hangover?”

“I don’t have anything like a hangover.”

“Then is there some problem…”

Orlando, who had been quietly observing the situation, carefully asked on behalf of everyone who was wondering, but what came back was a retort that was not only unfriendly but even mixed with rebuke.

“The problem would be that if we delay any longer, it will be difficult to reach the erosion zone by the scheduled date.”

“Ah, the departure preparations are all complete. We can leave as soon as we finish eating.”

“Right. Camaraderie is important, but being too relaxed isn’t good either.”

“We’ll correct that.”

Natalie felt uneasy, suspecting she was largely responsible for his anger.

She was so distracted by him that she could barely tell whether the food was going into her mouth or her nose.

Had nothing really happened last night?

Could some massive embarrassment be lurking beyond her missing memories?

As she struggled to piece together her memories, McClain’s cold voice continued.

“Since they mentioned having something for me too, I’ll accompany you to the village storehouse.”

His voice somehow sounded like a warning.

As if dealing with his awkwardness wasn’t bad enough, now she had to go with him.

She desperately wanted to ask if he couldn’t just pick up her items while he was there.

But Natalie couldn’t bring herself to speak. Judging by the ominous atmosphere surrounding him, she was certain she must have made some major mistake with him yesterday.