Chapter 10: How to Interfere in the Main Story (3)
On a quiet country road with nothing much to see, a single girl was walking alone.
The red-haired girl, Ria, brushed back her windblown hair and grumbled.
Her large wolf ears twitched atop her head.
“A delivery out of nowhere… what kind of bad luck is this?”
Ria had been working part-time at a tavern when a sudden delivery order forced her to walk a long distance with no cart.
Usually part-timers weren’t made to do this.
But everyone else was busy, and this troublesome order came at the worst time.
Since it was her first day and she didn’t want to make a bad impression, Ria had no choice but to accept.
At least the load was light.
Only one bottle of liquor.
“Why does a rural village even need such expensive alcohol?”
It was a famous liquor from Deklen territory and well regarded among nobles.
But to a girl who knew nothing about fine alcohol…
It looked like meaningless luxury.
She felt pitiful, walking all this way to a village she’d never visited just to deliver a bottle.
“Sigh… just hurry. If the sun sets, I’m the one losing money.”
For walking half a day there and back, she would earn two silver coins.
A miserable amount for the effort.
And if she had to stay overnight at an inn, even that would be cut in half.
She absolutely wanted to avoid that.
Despite her delicate appearance, Ria had the strength typical of beastkin.
Each powerful step launched her forward like an arrow.
“Huh? What’s that?”
Running freely with no one in her path, she spotted something glittering ahead.
As she drew closer…
It was a large carriage covered in lavish decorations.
“Wow… people really ride things like this?”
Even in the town where she worked, such a luxurious carriage was rare.
Anyone who could afford this was almost certainly a wealthy noble.
“Tourists, maybe? There’s nothing to see in a place like this.”
Frisia village.
A noble’s extravagant carriage.
As she tried linking the two, she suddenly realized why she had been sent here.
“Oh… those old men at the tavern wanted to score points with some noble, huh. So transparent.”
Ria didn’t believe one bottle of local liquor would impress someone this rich.
A noble who could waste money decorating a carriage like this wouldn’t be satisfied by village specialty goods.
“Well, as long as I get paid.”
She pulled out a note and checked the delivery address again.
“West orange roof in Frisia? What kind of address is this?”
Grumbling about the vague directions, she scanned the village.
“Let’s see… orange roof… orange roof…”
She stopped when a bright orange-red entered her vision.
But it wasn’t a roof.
It was a giant fireball falling from the sky.
BOOM!
The fireball slammed into the barrier, causing a massive explosion that shook the village.
“W-What was that?!”
“What’s happening?!”
The villagers turned toward the blast in shock.
Scaled skin.
Sharp teeth.
A long whip-like tail.
A creature like a dragon…
But with no forelegs and only a pair of wings.
“A wyvern…”
Ria nearly dropped the liquor bottle.
“Why is a wyvern here?!”
Wyverns, also called flying dragons, were monsters found in the northern mountain ranges.
People from the south could live their whole lives without seeing one.
No one understood why one had appeared in Frisia.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
The wyvern shrieked so sharply it felt like it would tear eardrums.
Some villagers collapsed in fear.
“We’re all going to die!”
“Run!”
As panic spread, the village chief shouted loudly.
“Calm yourselves! We have the barrier!”
As long as the barrier stood, monsters could not attack the village.
In all his seventy years, that rule had never once been broken.
He believed it would hold now too.
But as if mocking that faith…
The wyvern breathed fire again.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Not once.
Again and again.
Its fire kept striking the same point in the barrier.
Then at the third hit—
Something changed.
“I-Is that… cracking?”
Just as someone said—
A visible crack spread across the dome-like barrier.
Like a spiderweb, it expanded rapidly.
Covering most of it.
The wyvern didn’t miss the moment.
It inhaled deeply—
Then unleashed its breath.
KRAAAASH!!
The barrier shattered like glass hit by a stone.
“No way…”
With the village’s protection gone…
The wyvern inhaled again.
Seeing its swelling belly, villagers screamed and ran.
“AAAAAH!”
“Help!”
Ria stared at the wyvern for a moment.
Then turned and ran with everyone else.
Not because she was a coward.
But because she knew her limits.
She trained with a sword every day.
But she could handle only small monsters at best.
Charging something beyond her ability wasn’t courage.
It was stupidity.
“T-There are monsters here too!”
The person running in front suddenly stopped.
Everyone behind halted.
“Were they waiting for this?”
As if expecting the barrier to fall…
Dozens of kobolds blocked the road out of the village.
“Damn it! What do we do?”
Only three or four men among the villagers could fight.
Most were weak elderly people.
And they had no proper weapons.
Escape was blocked both ways.
They were trapped.
“I’ll open a path.”
Ria stepped forward past the villagers.
She handed the liquor bottle to an old man.
Then drew the sword at her waist.
Looking at its short blade…
She sighed inwardly.
‘If I knew this would happen, I’d have brought proper gear.’
She had only brought a self-defense sword, thinking the worst she’d meet on country roads were petty bandits.
Regretting that choice, she slowly approached the kobolds.
‘Honestly… I’m not confident.’
Escaping alone?
She could do that.
Saving everyone?
That was almost impossible.
‘I have to break through while the wyvern is busy burning the village.’
Many enemies.
Little time.
Poor equipment.
So this was a real crisis.
“Haa…”
Even deep breaths couldn’t stop her hands from trembling.
The more afraid she became…
The stronger the urge to run.
But she held her ground.
Better to die proudly than live as a coward.
Still…
Her courage fell just slightly short.
Even knowing time was running out—
Her body wouldn’t move.
If only someone would shove her forward.
Just as she wished that—
Someone shouted behind her.
“Stop freezing and charge!”
Ria’s body stiffened.
And before she reacted—
Someone ran past her.
A young man with dark navy hair.
***
If the village wasn’t burning from bandits or ordinary fire…
There was only one possibility.
‘Did the main quest start? Why now?’
If this really was the sign of the main quest…
The timing made no sense.
Why stay quiet while I was in the village…
And only start after I entered the forest?
I couldn’t understand the trigger at all.
“Young Master! Shouldn’t we hurry back?!”
Chloe’s words snapped me out of it.
Right.
Speculating could wait.
Confirming came first.
“Let’s move.”
I nodded and ran back through the forest as fast as possible.
“Y-Young Master! Slow down!”
“Don’t force yourself to keep up! Hide if you have to!”
The moment we emerged—
I saw it.
A wyvern breathing fire from the sky.
And kobolds swarming at the village entrance.
‘So that’s where they all went.’
That explained why the forest was nearly empty.
All the monsters had gathered there.
With the forest empty, Chloe would be safer hiding nearby.
So I stopped worrying about her and ran for the village.
The barrier was already broken.
The wyvern burning houses made that obvious.
“I’m not too late… am I?”
Suppressing rising anxiety, I rushed in.
Most kobolds were concentrated at the front.
Breaking through from the side wasn’t difficult.
Only five or six in sight.
Easy.
–Combination Success–
–Warrior Basic Skill ‘Smash’ activated–
Power flooded both hands.
I swung.
My sword cut through the clustered kobolds.
Three heads fell in one strike.
Seeing three comrades die instantly, the rest fled.
No reason to waste time chasing them.
I went looking for villagers.
“Where did everyone go?”
I wanted survivors.
Wanted to ask why the village had been attacked.
But there was no one.
No corpses either.
“So they escaped somewhere?”
Then I remembered the kobolds blocking the entrance.
If they weren’t there randomly…
They were cutting off retreat.
Meaning survivors were probably gathered there.
“…Found them.”
I ran to the entrance.
And as expected—
The villagers were there.
But they weren’t what I meant.
What caught all my attention…
Was the red-haired beastkin woman at the front facing the kobolds.
Even from behind—
I recognized her instantly.
“You’re the protagonist!”
In Survival Fantasy, when choosing a female character, this was the default appearance.
The woman before me matched it perfectly.
And if she were only a lookalike…
The main quest wouldn’t suddenly start.
No.
She was the playable character.
The protagonist.
And the key that might help me escape this world.
