Chapter 9

As the situation continued to worsen, more and more people began complaining or simply sitting down and giving up. Compared to them, Vanessa’s reaction was actually fairly normal.

I barely managed to get Vanessa to her feet and led her outside the tent. The cold dawn air hit my face. The other tents were also beginning to open one by one.

From a little farther away, I could hear people shouting as they trained.

There were people working this hard, and these nobles couldn’t even do that! If you don’t have muscles, then at least you have to put in the effort!

I had only one goal.

To make Vanessa capable of running away on her own two legs.

“Run, Vanessa. You ran for ten minutes yesterday, so today we’re doing fifteen!”

“Waaaaah, Rosana.”

I lightly patted Vanessa on the back. She started moving her arms and legs awkwardly.

It had only been two days since she had finally learned to at least make an attempt at running.

Sigh.

It wasn’t easy to make someone run when they could barely even walk properly.

It was like making a baby who had only just learned the ABCs write an English sentence.

But what could I do?

If she wanted to survive, she had to run.

“Swing your arms harder, Vanessa! Lift your legs higher!”

“I’ve never walked this much in my entire life, let alone run. At home, we always traveled by carriage…”

“There are no carriages here. We have to walk with our own feet.”

Even if they were impoverished lower-ranking nobles, they still insisted on using carriages.

That was because they believed carriages were a symbol of nobility.

At my words, which reminded her of reality once again, Vanessa began whining.

Even so, she obediently lifted her legs higher and moved her arms harder, just as I told her.

She really looked like a baby taking its first steps.

“Vanessa, control your breathing. If you breathe too quickly, you’ll get tired right away.”

“Haa, haa… yes…”

About five minutes passed.

Vanessa was already struggling.

“Huff, huff.”

Actually, she looked like she was dying.

No, seriously. Her stamina was ridiculously bad.

What was I supposed to do with this?

At this rate, she really would get torn apart by a monster’s teeth.

I let out a deep sigh.

“Rosana… how are you so good at running? Even after walking all day…”

“I practiced hard. For a month before we left. I exercised a lot, too.”

“A whole month?”

Vanessa stared at me with wide eyes.

“If you want to live, you have to do whatever it takes.”

One by one, people who had begun waking up were watching us curiously.

I was used to those looks by now. Everyone had looked at me like that when I trained by myself.

They had also watched me strangely when Vanessa first started running after me.

“Everyone… is looking at me…”

“Pretend the monsters are watching you. Then you’ll be able to run faster.”

Vanessa made a disgusted expression.

At least she had enough energy now to react like that.

After ten minutes, Vanessa began staggering.

“Lady Rosana… just for a moment… can we rest…?”

“Rest for one minute. Then we’ll run lightly for another ten minutes.”

“Waaaaaah!”

Vanessa collapsed on the spot.

“I think I’m going to die…”

“You’re not dead yet. Hang in there, Vanessa.”

“Five minutes is too long… And we have to walk all day again later…”

“Then think of it this way. Imagine you need to buy a limited-edition dress, but the shop is closing in five minutes.”

“Ah!”

Vanessa’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“What would you do?”

“I’d tell my maid to run there for me. Luckily, my maid is a good runner!”

She’s hopeless.

I stared at her with completely dead eyes.

Vanessa burst out laughing.

It was better than seeing her cry all day, but honestly, she was still hopeless.

Good grief. How am I supposed to turn this noble lady into a proper human being?

After laughing for a while, Vanessa carefully asked,

“Rosana, do you really think… something scary will happen in Greystone?”

“Even if it’s not in Greystone, it will definitely happen somewhere. Monsters really exist, and we’re currently sticking our heads right into their mouths.”

Vanessa immediately looked depressed.

I patted her shoulder.

“Vanessa, a week ago, you couldn’t even walk for an hour. Now you can walk all day, and you can run for fifteen minutes in the morning. Do you realize how amazing that progress is?”

Vanessa looked at me with teary eyes.

She cries even when she’s laughing.

“If you keep this up, you’ll be able to run in front of a monster like a sturdy deer.”

Vanessa looked at me with trembling eyes.

“Starting tomorrow, we shouldn’t just practice running. We should practice jumping, too.”

Maybe it was better to keep her so busy that she wouldn’t even have time to cry.

Vanessa looked horrified.

“Jump like a grasshopper? Without any dignity?”

“You’ll be able to escape better if you can get over obstacles. Who says you’ll only be running on flat ground?”

Vanessa muttered with a sigh,

“I suppose I’ll have to figure out how to jump with dignity…”

Her expression as she seriously considered it was hilarious.

Is that still what’s important to you?

I patted Vanessa on the shoulder and encouraged her.

“All right, get up. One minute is already over.”

“Waaaaah…”

I pulled the sluggish Vanessa back to her feet.

For the sake of Vanessa’s dignified sprinting.

The other young noblewomen who had been watching us finally came to me after Vanessa became capable of running for much longer than before, following several days of intense marching.

“L-Lady Rosana.”

One young lady, who was still wearing a worn-out dress and couldn’t bring herself to give up her shoes, nervously moved her lips.

“Do you remember me? I’m Herod.”

I gave her a short nod.

“…I heard what you were saying to Lady Vanessa. Are we really going to have to fight monsters?”

“We’re going to Greystone.”

Herod bit her lip anxiously.

The young ladies behind her looked just as frightened.

“B-But the Saintess is traveling with us. Won’t she protect us?”

In this world, the Saintess was only ten years old.

“…I think you’re a little too grown-up to hide behind a child.”

I said it with a deep sigh.

Herod’s face turned red.

Then, with tears welling up in her eyes, she asked,

“T-Then what are we supposed to do?”

All of them were looking at me with faces that seemed ready to cry.

They didn’t even know what they should do.

I looked at them one by one before speaking.

“You can still change starting now. Take off your dresses and put on comfortable clothes. Instead of shoes like those, wear something you can run in.”

“B-But how can a noble…”

“I actually came here to meet His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Me too.”

Voices of agreement came from all around.

There was a reason they refused to give up even though their makeup was melting away from the sunlight and sweat.

Well, even the Duke of Ardena had sent me here for that very purpose.

There was no reason to think the others didn’t have the same idea.

“You might die before you even get the chance to have a single conversation with the Crown Prince.”

Herod blinked at my words.

“Are you really willing to risk your life for an uncertain hope like that? Isn’t that a terrible trade-off?”

A lot of people had died during the first attack by the Spider Clan.

If things continued like this, these girls would definitely die in that attack.

One of the young ladies standing behind Herod whispered in a tiny voice,

“P-Please help us. Please help us, Lady Rosana.”

“Y-Yes. Please help us. Help us like you helped Lady Vanessa…”

Every one of them had gone bright red in the face.

There was a good reason for that.

They had never gotten along with Rosana.

Rosana had always acted as though she alone was superior and deliberately ignored them.

She had to behave that way, or the mask she was wearing would have fallen off.

And they had also been jealous of Rosana.

After all, Rosana had once been engaged to the Crown Prince, so they believed she was the woman closest to him.

For them to swallow their pride and approach me like this was already a huge step forward.

Yeah. Is pride going to feed you?

“Good choice.”

I dusted off my hands.

“Let’s start by figuring out your shoes! If you’ve managed to walk all the way here wearing those, then you must have patience and endurance. That means you have potential!”