She even waved her hand, desperately wanting him to leave, afraid she might spew something terribly embarrassing onto his face if she couldn’t control the urge to expel.

At this, McClain clicked his tongue briefly as if something was extremely displeasing, then quickly rode his horse away toward the front.

Natalie exhaled in relief, only to cover her mouth with her hand as nausea rose again.

Her ears felt numb, and her consciousness seemed to be growing hazy.

This won’t work. I just need to throw up now.

If she kept enduring, she felt she might even lose the strength to cast a barrier spell. Just as she was raising her trembling hands to form the hand sign for the barrier magic—

Someone shouted from the front of the carriage, and the carriage began to slow down gradually.

What’s going on? We couldn’t have arrived already. Are we stopping for lunch perhaps?

That couldn’t be. Hadn’t they been given dried bread and jerky pieces to eat simply in the carriage, being told they needed to move swiftly?

Whatever the reason, as the carriage stopped, her spinning vision returned to normal, and the nausea subsided a bit. It seemed safe now to exhale roughly.

Just as she was carefully poking her head out the carriage window to get some fresh air, hoping it would further calm her churning insides—

“We’ll eat lunch and take a short break! Take an hour for maintenance and be ready to depart again in top condition!”

Natalie unconsciously let out a sigh of relief at McClain’s resonant shout. Then, noticing his indifferent—or more precisely, slightly annoyed—gaze still directed toward her carriage, she quickly pulled her head back inside.

Could it be they decided to take a break because of her? Had he somehow caught her dry heaving, or had her struggle with motion sickness been obvious?

That couldn’t be. It couldn’t be because of her. He couldn’t have caught her dry heaving or noticed her poor complexion. He wasn’t the type to observe her condition so meticulously or show such consideration in the first place.

A man obsessed with leveling up and quests, with no interest in other things, wouldn’t do something so inefficient.

Someone probably just needed to relieve themselves urgently.

“Heal.”

Natalie shook her head briefly and quietly recited a healing spell to quickly restore her condition.

The nausea that had persisted despite her healing spells gradually subsided.

It seemed her vision, which had been spinning, had returned to normal now that the carriage had stopped.

Forcing strength into her wobbling legs and pretending to be fine as she got out, she saw Adjutant Orlando and Bertel lighting a small campfire to boil water.

“Pereira, please come this way.”

Orlando called her in a courteous voice. Natalie smiled slightly, saying, “Ah, yes,” and went to sit beside the Munash and Muki brothers, who were tearing into jerky around the campfire.

She felt more comfortable with the uninhibited Munash brothers than with the other members.

As she approached and sat down, Muki brightened and offered her the jerky he was eating.

“It’s hard to keep going when you’re hungry. Miss, no—Miss Pereira, eat some jerky quickly.”

“This is a special sauce from the Eastern Continent. Eat.”

Munash handed her a thick, black sauce with a strangely sour yet spicy aroma. It smelled somewhat nauseating but also like a chemical, similar to the coriander in hot pot or pho from before her transmigration.

Natalie, who always insisted on removing coriander from her food, waved her hands vigorously and declined the sauce.

“No, thank you for the thought, but I think I’ll be fine with just the jerky…”

“It tastes good if you eat it with the jerky. I don’t give this to just anyone—this is especially for you, miss.”

Reluctantly, she accepted the sauce bottle he offered and sprinkled a little on the jerky. Munash and Muki gestured that she could use more, but she feared the nausea she had barely suppressed would return if she added any more.

As she was chewing the jerky with a barely concealed reluctant expression, Orlando, who had been poking at the campfire, approached with a radiant smile.

“This food must be unfamiliar to your palate! Here, this tea will help a bit when taken together.”

“What’s this?”

“It’s a tea that aids digestion. When we’re on expeditions, we constantly eat dried foods, which can be hard to digest.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Taking a sip of the fragrant tea, she felt the rising nausea subside a bit. Orlando, watching her sip the tea with satisfaction, lowered his voice and spoke while nodding toward McClain, who was chewing jerky with an expressionless face beside the Munash brothers.

“Despite appearances, the Commander seems quite concerned about you, Pereira.”

Natalie’s gaze unconsciously shifted to McClain. Making accidental eye contact with him, she reflexively turned her head away.

“That can’t be.”

“It’s true. When it’s just us traveling, there’s absolutely no rest. We often eat our meals by chewing jerky on horseback. That’s why this white herb has become essential for me.”

“Ah.”

“But taking a break before we’ve even traveled half a day is a first since I joined the Commander’s service. Actually, the Commander prefers camping outdoors to staying at territory inns. Even the plan to use lodgings in territories every other day seems to me like a considerable accommodation for Pereira.”

Natalie finally nodded reluctantly, fearing the atmosphere might turn cold if she kept denying it.

“If that’s true, I’m really grateful. But preferring camping over inns? Isn’t staying at an inn much more comfortable than camping outdoors? When camping, not just meals but washing and sleeping are far more inconvenient. Is there some reason? Perhaps you think men should rough it to be more manly.”

“Haha, it’s not that. Strangely, whenever we stay at inns with the Commander, we tend to get entangled in troublesome matters.”

“Troublesome matters?”

“Well, like an assassin infiltrating the lord’s residence and we’re asked to track them down. Or someone goes missing and we receive a request to find them.”

“Ah, I understand what you mean.”

Natalie truly understood McClain’s circumstances perfectly. Getting entangled in strange matters or receiving requests—it seemed quests would pop up.

He must be exhausted. Whenever he tries to do something, quests appear and disrupt his plans.

In the end, even his resistance to getting involved with her must have been overcome by the urging or pressure of quests.

No wonder he prefers camping.

Just as the previously annoying man was starting to seem a bit pitiful—

As if to support her deduction, Jorel, the gray-haired scout who had gone out reconnoitering, returned with a skinny child.

“Commander! While scouting the area, I found this child…”

“P-please help us, knights! Our village is under attack by a goblin horde!”

The child pleaded with a half-hoarse voice, face smeared with tears and snot.

His clothes were torn in various places, and there were scratches all over the body, as if they had taken a bad fall while escaping.

McClain narrowed his brows, briefly fixing his gaze somewhere in the air before sighing and ruffling his hair as he muttered.

“D*mn it, this is why I wanted to keep moving without stopping.”

It seemed they had received an unexpected quest because they took a break midway.

For someone with the reputation as the Empire’s greatest hero, surely he wouldn’t ignore this poor child.

Natalie felt sorry for both the child seeking help and McClain who had become entangled in troublesome business. She was watching McClain with an anxious heart when—

McClain clicked his tongue briefly, then approached the child and asked in a gruff voice.

“Can you guide us to your village?”

After hearing the village’s location from the child, McClain looked around at his men as if about to issue immediate deployment orders when his eyes met Natalie’s.

His expression seemed somewhat distrustful.

Understandably so. Though she had claimed she could use combat magic, in reality she had no practical experience.

Fearing she might receive orders to just turn back because she kept getting in the way, Natalie nodded as if to say there was no problem.

McClain, still looking dubious, immediately turned to his adjutant.

“Orlando!”

“Yes!”

“You stay here with Pereira and—”

“Yes, understood!”

Orlando responded enthusiastically before McClain could finish his order to guard Natalie. McClain’s brows furrowed as he shook his head briefly, reversing his decision.

“No, Bertel! You wait here with Pereira. The rest of us will go with the child to the village and deal with the goblin horde.”

“Yes! Understood!”

At his words—essentially saying he would leave one combat unit behind because of her—Natalie’s brows furrowed this time.

Of course, she hadn’t expected to fight monsters on the very first day of departure, and she wasn’t accustomed to combat. However, unlike the other members who worked well together, being excluded from the start made her feel uncomfortable.

Finally, Natalie bit her lip and called out to McClain as he was about to leave.

“Excuse me, Commander! Just a moment. Could I perhaps come along and wait nearby?”

“There’s no need to get involved in dangerous situations so soon—”

Seeing his slightly twisted mouth shape, it was clear a firm rejection was coming, so Natalie hurriedly added a more convincing excuse.

“I promise I won’t get in the way. Since we’ll be traveling together from now on, I think it would be good for me to see how everyone fights. I could even support with ranged magic if necessary. If you’re worried, Orlando could stay by my side in a support fire position since he uses a bow. It seems more efficient for everyone to move together so we can depart immediately after finishing the job.”

“That’s right, Commander. I’ll safely escort Pereira by her side.”

As Orlando chimed in eagerly, McClain’s eyebrows twitched again. Making a sound like “hmm” as if still displeased, he finally nodded reluctantly.