Mally tied up Rat outside the inn and made their way inside, the rain pattering on their waterproofed cloak. They had made it to Tremblay, in the opposing territory to their father's, and everything was going well so far. No one had stopped them, and they were doing great, minus the rain.
Tremblay wasn't as well off as Darven. That was a pity, because the inn was not as well kept as the inns in Darven. But, the town, because it couldn't really be considered a city, was also considerably smaller. Mally was traveling to the capital, where adventuring was most lucrative, but they had to figure out how much money they had left first. Which they would not do out here.
Mally walked up to the innkeeper, and she smiled at them as they pushed down their hood.
"Hello, dearie!" she said with a glance to the sword on their hip. "What can I do for you?"
"Hello," Mally greeted her politely. "Can I have a room for one night, dinner, and food and board for my horse outside?"
"Of course!" the innkeeper replied. "That'll be three coppers."
Cheap, but Mally would take it. They took out their regular coin purse they were using to hide their wealth and counted out three coppers. They handed it to the woman, and she tucked it all into the apron around her belly.
"If you want to take your horse around back to the stable, I'll get something dished up for you!" she said, and Mally nodded and walked back outside, flicking up their hood and untethering Rat from his place at the post. They led him around back towards the stable and found a clean, dry stall for him. There was hay he could munch on, and water, and they set to the task of taking off all his tack. He was wet, but it was warm and dry in here, so he should be fine. Swinging the saddle bags over their shoulder, they closed the gate on his stall and headed back out into the rain.
There were two carriages in front of the inn when they arrived, and they blinked at them and the men milling around outside, but then they dismissed it as they came inside out of the rain.
"Ah, there you are, dearie!" the innkeeper said, and Mally waved. She was standing with two people with their backs to them, and Mally eyed them. Both were wearing extravagant cloaks, but it was debutante season, so they were probably traveling to the capital soon. "I'll get that food for you in just a moment, just take a seat!"
Mally obediently sat down at a random table as more people poured into the inn, and the innkeeper smiled at the noble lady and noble man facing her.
"Unfortunately, since there's two of you, with entourage, I don't think I'll be able to house all of you," she said, and rapped her nails on the counter. "I think I can do double upped rooms, but one of your men will have to share with that young man over there, if he agrees."
Mally looked up, and the two nobility turned to them.
It was about then that Mally's eyes bugged out of their skull, and they realized a problem.
They read a manhwa. That was a Korean webcomic, and it wasn't as often explained where people went as in actual physical locations. What was more, Mally read the damn webcomic three weeks before they died, and by then, the details had already become hazy, on account of an astounding case of ADHD. The rain should have tipped them off, but, really, they didn't think rain was a big deal.
The teenaged boy had white hair and red eyes. He looked as though he had sprang from the pages of the manhwa itself, and Mally recognized him in an instant. He was the heir apparent to the Dukedom of the North, Edwin Harwith. And the teenage girl beside him...
She was tall, and Mally didn't know she was supposed to be tall. Her hair was falling down in perfectly curled sheafs, with big golden eyes, and Mally's heart was hammering in their chest. She was in robes, with a cloak around her shoulders, and they probably should have recognized that white cloak as belonging to the church, but in their defense, their family didn't go to church often, though they did make hefty donations.
They probably should have recognized the livery outside, too.
It was the goddamn FL and ML.
Fuck.
The saint approached their table, and they bit their lower lip hard.
"Hello," she said, her voice like a breath of sweet spring air, and Mally glanced at the duke, or, rather, the duke's son, as his father hadn't died yet. "I apologize for the imprudence, but would you mind sharing your room with one of my men? We don't entirely want to pitch our tents in this rain."
"That's fine," Mally replied, as cool and collected and calm as they could possibly be, because at least they weren't sharing a room with one of them. 'And there was only one bed', their ass. They were not about to be shipped by cosmic interference with the damn ML.
... Though now that they thought about it, they had always thought he was a little fruity.
"Wonderful!" Artesia said and clapped her hands together with a big smile, and Mally internally cringed.
"Yeah, great," they said, and Artesia practically skipped back to the counter, all sunshine and rainbows.
"The young man agreed!" she said cheerfully. "May we pay you now?"
Edwin was staring at Mally, and they felt sweat under their collar at his direct attention on them. They didn't like this.
"You agreed rather easily," he said suspiciously, and Mally rolled out their shoulders.
"What, you thought I was going to argue about it?" they asked, and he frowned at them.
"Yes," he replied, and Mally laughed.
"I share rooms all the time. It's the pains of traveling," they replied, and Edwin blinked.
"So, you travel often?" he asked, and Mally nodded.
"I'm an adventurer. Of course I travel often," they replied, and Edwin's eyes narrowed.
"An adventurer? At your age?"
"I'm older than I look," Mally replied cryptically, and his eyes narrowed even more.
"Huh," he said, and then he turned aside. "Well, thank you for your kindness. I would hate for one of my men to sleep in the stable."
Crisis averted. Mally just had to act cool and composed until this storm passed, and then they would be home free and never have to interact with these people again.
... Come to think of it, should they be heading to the capital? It was... Well, it was where everything in canon happened. Even so, if Mally ran, they may run into even more issues. What if the plot got derailed to a dangerous degree? What would they do then? If they were far away from it, and couldn't keep an eye on it, then they might be waking up to a nasty surprise. No, it would be better to be in the capital, just to keep an eye on the plot.
Self assured of themself, they sat back in their chair as the matronly innkeeper brought them a steaming bowl of stew and some bread.
"Thank you," they said gratefully, because they had been eating jerky and cheese and bread all day. A hot stew would set them right to sorts.
"You're welcome!" she said cheerfully, and they dunked their bread into the steaming hot soup and soaked up the thick broth. They took a bite, and suddenly, the saint herself was sitting down at their table.
"Where are you traveling?" she asked, with a glance in the direction of the duke, and he swallowed down his bite of bread. Oh, so she was avoiding him. Wise choice, based on the original plot, though ultimately futile. She had been here for what, a year? They'd been here since they were four.
"The capital," they replied, and she brightened up.
"Oh, so are we!" she said. "You should travel with us!"
"Ah, I'm just a commoner, my lady," they replied. "That wouldn't be appropriate."
"Oh, we're just the church!" she said. "No nobility here!"
There very much was nobility there, second and third sons with holy magic joined the ranks of the church all the time, and in the original The Saint's Life, she was supposed to end up traveling with the duke after they got waylaid by brigands on the way to the capital and he came in for the rescue.
They would much rather not get involved in that subplot.
"No, that's alright," they replied. "My horse likes to take the scenic route, so I'm afraid I would only slow you down."
"Oh, no, I insist!" she said, likely thinking about that same exact subplot that landed her in the throes of love to begin with. Mally gave her a tight smile, because they got it. They did. But, they weren't about to be a buffer between the ML and the FL. With Georgiana out of the picture, they would have smooth sailing, anyway. It was probably going to be a shock to reach the capital and discover she was dead.
"Oh, no, my lady, I couldn't possibly intrude," Mally said, and Artesia smiled tightly. She really was desperate, dear gods.
"I must confess, it's kind of boring," she said. "I only have my maid for company. I can imagine that it would be very difficult with just a horse for company."
"Rat is a great conversationalist," Mally deadpanned, and Artesia blinked before she laughed, a bit shocked.
"You named your horse Rat?"
"I did, yeah," they replied, and she grinned.
"That's a great name for a horse," she said, and Mally nodded.
"Thanks," they replied, and Artesia smiled and tilted her head.
"What's your name?" she asked, and Mally took a bite of stew and swallowed it down.
"Mally Mack," they replied, and Artesia blinked.
"That's a really cute name," she said, and Mally nodded.
"Thanks, I picked it myself," they replied, and Artesia blinked again.
"You did?" she asked, and Mally paused.
"Well, it only seemed right," they said, awkwardly. "I mean, I just..."
They didn't know how to explain themself, and this was awkward. This was supremely awkward, and they stuttered over their next words before they hushed.
"It was a gender thing," they said, lamely, and Artesia stared at them.
"Oh," she said faintly. "I didn't realize that was a thing here."
It was a slip of the tongue, but Mally tilted their head nonetheless, not sure of how else to proceed except by confusion.
"A thing?" they echoed, and Artesia flushed.
"Oh, don't mind me," she said, her voice high and a little grating. "Are you alright to sleep with a man in your room? You can--- I mean, you can sleep with me and my handmaiden."
"No, that's fine," Mally replied, because absolutely not, they would not be doing the 'and there was only one bed' thing. "I'll sleep with a man. I've done it plenty of times."
That was a lie. That was a bold faced lie, but they were sure they would survive.
Artesia was staring at them, startled, and then they realized how that could be interpreted.
"I mean---" they cut themself off, flushing drastically. "Not like that, I just---I'm an adventurer, we just---"
"Oh, I---I'm not that sort of church person," Artesia said. "Clergy, I mean. I don't---I don't judge, it's okay---"
"No, I mean, really, I'm a virgin---"
"Oh!" Artesia said, looking startled. "Oh, okay."
They fell into awkward silence at that, and Mally felt sweat slip down the back of their neck. This was a trainwreck. This was a total trainwreck.
"Well, uhm, I'm Artesia," Artesia said, and Mally felt more sweat slip down their neck.
"Hello," they said. "Are you a priest?"
"Uh... Something like that," Artesia replied, and Mally nodded. It was at the ball that she would be officially introduced to the world as the Saint. So far, no one knew that the Saint had been found, as of a year ago. That was about when she was isekaied in.
"Well, that's great! I have no holy power, but my mother always wanted me to be a cleric," Mally lied. "They get paid the best in adventuring parties."
"Do you have... any magic?" Artesia asked, and Mally hesitated, because they weren't sure they were going to use their magic or just rely on their swordsmanship.
"I, uhm," they stammered, and Artesia smiled at them.
"Ah, sore topic. My apologies," she said, and Mally flushed.
"No harm done, my lady," they said, and she frowned at them.
"Stop calling me 'my lady'. It's weird."
"But..." Mally trailed off. "Are you not nobility?"
"I..." Artesia trailed off, because her story was that she was a commoner found and renamed by the temple, and it was a bit more complicated than that, because as Saint, she automatically held more power than most nobility, and could be considered higher than them in status. "Ah, no, I'm not."
"But, you're so pretty!" Mally said, and Artesia flushed. "Surely, you must be noble."
"I'm not," she said sweetly. "Not a drop."
"Oh, that---" Mally trailed off and deliberately looked at the embroidery on her robes, thin golden and red lines. It was intricate and clearly spoke to someone of higher class.
"Surprising, right?" Artesia asked, and Mally nodded. "I suppose you can say I have more holy magic than the average person. That's why."
"Ah, okay," Mally said, and wondered when this conversation was going to end, because their stew was growing cold. A paladin was approaching them with a basket, and Mally assumed that meant it was time for the conversation to end. "Well, I'd better eat this and head to bed."
"Oh, of course, I'm keeping you," Artesia said with a smile. "Still, you should join our entourage. You're an adventurer, yes?"
"Ah, yes, I am."
"I can pay you for your company," she said, and wow, she really was desperate. "And time."
Mally hesitated. As a red blooded adventurer, they would raise flags if they turned her down again. It would make no fucking sense. They were traveling to the same destination, and they had no reason to turn her down. At this point, it would start to get suspicious.
"I assume my duties would be to protect you?" Mally asked, and she nodded with a beaming smile.
"Yes, please!"
Oh, gods. Fuck. Mally was trapped.
"Alright, then," they agreed, because it would be too many red flags if they said no, and Artesia clapped her hands together as the paladin put the basket on the table.
"Wonderful!" she said. "Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome, my lady," Mally forced out. Gods. They were in for it, weren't they? The goddamn bandits were coming, and they would have to save the saint before the duke did.
Well, they did feel a small amount of solidarity with her. They were both stuck in this damn story, and they knew she was Korean and they were American, but...
They could save her from the death flags. Fuck it. Just once, and then they would never have to meet her again.