I Refuse to be a Named Character

Part 2

"I'll come along for the second task only. After that you and your plot are on your own." My voice sounded tired as I finally answered her.

Chloe jumped up, excited "THANK YOU..."

"On two conditions." I interrupted with a grim smile. "First, I want your word that after this, you will never try to involve me in this madness again."

"Of course!" Chloe promised without hesitation. "What's the second condition?"

"Forget my name from our previous world. In this place, in this life, I'm not someone important enough to have a name."

"Really?" She looked shocked. "Do you really think that by not having a name you'll be safe? That's pretty silly..."

"Silly or not, it's my choice. I'm not a main character, Chloe. I'm the nameless woods guide who will help your group for a chapter. After that I fade from the story, never to be heard from again. Got it?"

"Got it."

I watched her agree with a smug grin, feeling sad.

I already regret this.

It's just a short interaction with the plot, right? ... What could go wrong?

I groaned at my own thoughts, leaving to pack my bags.

_____________________________

I sat down next to the campfire, feeling tired, although more emotionally than physically. The long day of riding on horses was tough, but nothing I hadn't experienced before while searching for game. In fact, that had ended up being the least of my worries. The problem was the stupid hero of this story, who wouldn't leave me alone.

Graham was annoying.

Despite his initial happiness at my agreement to help out their group, he seemed dissatisfied with my desire to not be too close to them. Which led to him trying to get me to open up.

It was giving me a headache.

At first he kept trying to have "heart to heart" talks, asking personal questions, trying to guess my feelings and motivations. When that didn't work he began dropping "private" details about himself, acting as if I was his only confidant. (Which wasn't very interesting, as I knew most of the things he spoke of from the book already). When I continued to ignore him he began challenging me to contests of skill, from knife throwing to archery to even smaller things like cooking. Perhaps he thought that if he could develop a rivalry with me, we would become friends?

At first I beat him quickly, trying to shut him up, but that only seemed to make him want to challenge me again. The last few times I lost on purpose, hoping he'd lose interest, but now he seemed to want to spend time "teaching me" about the skill I'd lost in. There was no way to win, so I'd gone back to ignoring his challenges.

I poked at the fire, imaging his smiling face instead of the charred wood, feeling bitter.

Doesn't he have a whole harem to manage? Why does the hero have so much free time to bother with a nameless side character?

"We arrive at the desert tomorrow."

Speak of the devil.

I looked up at Graham who had sat across from me, and frowned. "Should we expect trouble?"

"Perhaps. I'm not the only Prince after all." He shook his head. "The King passed on six personal tokens to his various women, so there will potentially be five other opponents besides us in the desert."

"How many Tarifs are there?" I tried to remember what I had read in the book, but couldn't.

"Three. So only half of us will go the Western City to face the final test."