Volumes 1 - 3 of TETDRG is available uncensored on ko-fi!

※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Part I. Edith on the Run

That day, with the game system’s help, Edith changed her appearance and escaped the capital. Before she knew it, she had arrived near the border region between the Empire and the southern kingdom.

“It really is hot down south.”

Despite it being early autumn at the Empire’s southernmost tip, the weather was still warm. Wiping the beaded sweat from her brow, she looked around. It was a village with an incredibly beautiful, large lake.

This was a place where merchants traveling between the southern kingdom and the Empire stayed most frequently. Thanks to trade, it was quite developed for a village.

When she first escaped, she didn’t even have jewels or money on hand. With no funds for immediate food or lodging, Edith had taken odd jobs while slowly making her way south, which took a lot of time to get this far.

At first, she carried luggage for travelers. But they hardly wanted to hire someone with her small frame, and it was too strenuous.

Then, the food they provided was so tasteless that she put her skills from her past life to use. The reaction was decent, and from then on, she ended up preparing meals.

She followed travelers south, and when their paths diverged, she used the small amount of money she’d earned to cover lodging and food until she found the next group of travelers. But…

“Haa… I’ve somehow made it to a southern village, but to truly leave the Empire, I need to cross the border. There are no travelers heading to the southern kingdom who aren’t merchants. What do I do?”

She had safely made it to a border village, but the big problem was the lack of travelers. Merchants traveled in groups, each person having their own role, leaving no opening for Edith.

First, she submitted a request to the information guild. Since she was staying anyway, she thought she might as well look around the southern village.

“Ow, sorry.”

A young boy wearing a beige baker boy cap got swept up in the crowd and bumped into her. Telling the apologetic boy it was fine, Edith looked around the street.

Perhaps because it was a trade hub, the village, which could even be called a city, had many stalls set up as if it were a year-round festival.

With so many stalls and a bustling street full of people, she frequently bumped into others.

“Icy chilled slush! Try it now~”

Watching someone selling a drink that looked unmistakably like a slushy, she felt a sense of oddity.

If this game itself was just a guise for the goddess’s herald to find a soul compatible with Edith’s body, and it wasn’t even a game made by a Korean, why on earth did such foods exist?

As if reading her mind, the game system window popped up abruptly and informed her.

[It’s a byproduct created during the process of summoning you to this world. A mixture of your world and memories.]

Ever since she learned the truth of the game system window that day, the goddess’s herald had begun indiscriminately offering unasked-for information.

It explained that before Edith learned the truth, a vow of causality bound it, allowing only minimal information. Now that the vow seemed lifted, it didn’t give detailed secrets, but it felt free to share information it deemed acceptable.

‘It’s surprisingly chatty…’

Anyway, the weather was scorching, and that sky-blue slushy that looked like papaya flavor was too tempting. Thinking she’d just buy one, Edith pulled out the wallet containing the money she’d earned through sweat and toil.

“Huh? My wallet…”

The coin pouch that should have been in this pocket wasn’t there. Thinking she might have put it in the other pocket, she checked all of them, but the wallet was nowhere to be found, likely dropped somewhere.

“This is bad. Forget meals, what am I going to do about lodging tonight…?!”

That money was her emergency fund, not knowing when she’d find more travelers. Edith retraced her steps, carefully scanning the ground, but with so many people passing by, someone had surely picked up her wallet by now.

Facing the prospect of sleeping on the streets, Edith slumped onto a stone ornament, sighing deeply in despair.

“Miss, did you perhaps lose your wallet?”

Just then, two suspicious-looking men wearing deep-hooded robes approached her and spoke.

On guard because of their dubious appearance, Edith answered.

“Why do you ask that all of a sudden?”

“We saw a pickpocket, who stole our wallet, bump into you earlier. We caught him, and he had one more besides ours.”

A fine hand with skin the deep brown of wet beach sand held out a clumsily made pouch-like wallet with a floral pattern.

“Ah! That’s it, my wallet! Thank you!!”

“That’s a relief. It was a kid in a baker boy cap. He was quite quick-handed.”

They seemed to be talking about the little boy who had bumped into her and apologized when she first entered the street.

It seemed minor crimes were common in such a crowded village.

Overwhelmed with gratitude, Edith bowed her head repeatedly in thanks. As she looked up, she noticed their attire didn’t look like that of simple residents or merchants.