Seeing the members all dressed in what were clearly new clothes, all dolled up and stealing glances at each other, irritation bubbled up in his throat.

Even the Munash and Muki brothers, who usually went around practically n*ked like barbarians, were properly dressed now—that said it all.

This was exactly why he hadn’t wanted to accept female members in the party. Men who acted normally when alone would start behaving like idiots as soon as a woman joined.

And now that Natalie woman would probably show up in a flowing robe, completely unsuitable for an expedition member.

However, unexpectedly, the woman in question entered the meeting room in quite a simple outfit.

Click. As she entered, the men’s gazes, which had been wandering here and there, all converged on her at once.

She wore a loose linen shirt topped with a moderately fitting leather vest, and pants that looked comfortable for movement.

It was an outfit that made his hasty disparagement seem foolish—better than expected. In fact, it could be said she was dressed most appropriately for an expedition among all those gathered to depart.

Natalie greeted the other members with a hint of confusion in her voice as she observed their shiny outfits.

“Um, are the other members coming from some event? You all look… handsome.”

The gap between ‘you all’ and ‘handsome’ was quite long. Some rather negative adverb must have been omitted.

Perhaps ‘excessively’ or ‘unlike before’ or ‘unnecessarily.’

McClain’s brows instinctively furrowed as he felt a vicarious embarrassment.

Unaware of his feelings, Munash answered with a goofy face.

“No event. Just wanted to look good for you, Miss.”

“Oh my, you all already look too handsome, so there was no need for that.”

“I know, Miss.”

McClain’s eyes narrowed at Munash’s excessively raised shoulders.

Unaware that his superior was looking at him that way, Munash couldn’t close his gaping mouth until his brother Muki reproached him.

“Not Miss. It’s Pereira, brother Munash.”

“I know, Pereira.”

McClain finally let out a small scoff as he watched Munash elegantly wave his hand and bow his head as if asking for a dance at a banquet hall.

They’re just playing around.

The woman accepted his greeting with a smile as if accustomed to such behavior, then asked the members surrounding her with an innocent face.

“By the way, was I supposed to bring a horse? I noticed six war horses outside, but they’re all loaded with luggage. I wasn’t told I needed to prepare a horse, so I just loaded my belongings on the carriage…”

“Ah, you can ride in the carriage. We needed to bring one carriage anyway because we have so much luggage. We’ve planned for mages to use the carriage since they’re often not accustomed to riding horses for long periods.”

“Oh, that’s fortunate then. Actually, I’ve never ridden a horse for a long time, so I was worried I might fall behind.”

“Goodness, why worry about such things… How could we possibly leave behind such a beautiful mage? We’d never allow it!”

“That’s right. If necessary, we’d carry you ourselves! Haha!”

“Right. I could carry you with one hand. Hahahaha!”

McClain felt increasingly irritated as the atmosphere seemed to involve everyone laughing except him. His furrowed brows were difficult to relax. Just as he was about to speak up and say they should depart if preparations were complete, he accidentally made eye contact with the woman.

“Ah… the Commander is indeed… dressed like an expedition expert.”

Was it his imagination?

The woman’s awkwardly upturned smile and the oddly halting rhythm of her speech seemed to say, ‘Your outfit is the shabbiest,’ which made McClain’s expression contort even further.

“Expert? Are you now…”

Just as he was about to ask if she was mocking him, Natalie cut him off with a bright smile.

“I was slightly worried I’d dressed too casually. Seeing the Commander’s outfit puts me at ease.”

With her hand placed on her chest as if truly relieved, her smiling face made it impossible for him to say, ‘No, actually, I want to say I’m the only one who dressed too casually, right?’

Why on earth did every single word from this woman put him so on edge?

Although he had reluctantly allowed her into the expedition, it wasn’t because he believed Natalie’s claim that she would help achieve the game ending.

In fact, he still doubted the woman’s intentions. She surely had some scheme.

Like subtly approaching him and attempting romance.

She had said she was transmigrated into a romance fantasy, hadn’t she? While there might be elements of adventure or growth, those were merely seasonings—the main story would naturally focus on romance between a man and woman. She would obviously try to achieve an ending befitting that genre.

In a situation where he was already busy enough solving quests and following the main scenario, he couldn’t allow the atmosphere to be disrupted by something like romance. He intended to keep a vigilant eye on her at all times.

“Orlando, please explain the stopover points and schedule to Pereira before we depart.”

“Oh, Commander! Understood.”

Orlando’s delighted voice was strangely irritating.

McClain waved his hand at Orlando as if telling him to get started quickly, then glanced at the word ‘hero’ firmly positioned in the occupation section of his status window.

Hero, not swordsman.

It might seem like an impressive word at first glance, but in reality, it wasn’t.

The game 〈How to Take the Hero of the Century as Your Husband〉 featured heroes with all sorts of occupations, as the title suggested. Among them, the occupation that showed the fastest growth in the early stages was precisely ‘hero.’

Due to early buffs and efficiency, many players unknowingly chose to become heroes during the game’s initial launch. However, as it became clear that the higher the level, the harder it was to even level up as a hero, let alone reach the final quest, it became an unpopular occupation.

This was because the characteristics associated with the occupation, such as chivalry and self-sacrifice, frequently entangled players in various unnecessary quests, and ignoring them often resulted in penalties.

At this point, it seemed like a design flaw—were players who had already become heroes supposed to delete their accounts? After enduring all sorts of complaints, he, as the developer, had finally decided to try clearing the final quest as a hero himself, which led to his transmigration into this d*mn game.

So he had no time to play along with that woman’s obvious scheme. He needed to quickly level up, clear the final quest, return to reality, and salvage his company, which must be in a state of panic due to his absence.

Suddenly, his adjutant’s sweet voice—one he’d never heard since his transmigration—broke into his thoughts and shattered his contemplation.

“Lady, what an honor it is for me to guide you through the schedule like this…”

“Oh my, it’s truly an honor for me too that Adjutant Orlando is personally guiding me…”

McClain frowned as he watched Orlando and Natalie exchanging lengthy pleasantries without even starting the schedule briefing they were supposed to be doing.

He swallowed a sigh that was about to escape and said in a cold voice.

“That’s enough, Orlando. I’ll share it with all members again, also as a confirmation.”

“We already know the schedule inside and out…”

Cleanly ignoring Orlando’s protest, McClain began explaining in a rigid voice.

“As you all know, since the erosion zone is expanding rapidly, we need to move as swiftly as possible to the northern Matela territory. We plan to alternate between camping outdoors one night and staying at nearby territories the next to replenish necessary supplies. Are there any issues with moving continuously and camping outdoors every other day?”

“No, sir!”

McClain’s gaze, which had been scanning the members who answered half-heartedly, stopped on Natalie.

In truth, the other members were accustomed to camping outdoors for days. She was practically the only one who might have issues.

“Not a problem at all.”

The woman answered spiritedly, but McClain inwardly scoffed.

Though she was a mage, there was no way she wouldn’t have problems with that frail body that seemed to have never experienced hardship.

And just as he had worried, the problem occurred before they had even traveled half a day after departure.

※※※

“Hoo–, hoooooo–.”

Natalie struggled to suppress the rising nausea.

She knew she wasn’t of a healthy constitution, but how could she be in such a state after riding in the carriage for such a short time?

With her tailbone feeling like it might shatter from the bumpy carriage, she had tried using a light vibration absorption spell and cushions, imagining a car’s suspension, but that was insufficient to calm her motion sickness.

Yet she couldn’t just fly ahead to the unknown camping site using flight magic either.

She couldn’t use up all her magical power for travel when unexpected situations might arise, and besides, it would be like advertising, ‘Actually, I’m so weak I can’t even ride in a carriage for long.’

“Urgh!”

Eating a hearty breakfast that morning for strength had been the root of the problem.

The undigested food was mixing and churning in her stomach, constantly threatening to burst out of her mouth.

She briefly considered setting up a small barrier and vomiting inside the carriage, but that didn’t seem like it would solve anything. To make matters worse, McClain kept approaching the carriage window as if monitoring whether she was adapting well, asking after her while she was barely holding back the rising nausea.

Just like now.

“Are you really okay?”

I’d be fine if you’d just stop asking, you jerk.

Natalie barely managed to nod as she gritted her teeth and swallowed the acidic fluid that was rising to her throat.

“Are you sure you’re really okay?”

“Re…ally, I’m… fine, please go ahead.”

Go. Please, go away.