"The others already ate. Are you fine with continuing on?" Haruto inquired. "Fine by me," she responded, glancing back. "Are you hungry?" she directed at him. "No, I'm fine," he replied.Hopping onto the horse, she extended her hand for him to grab. Hopping on right behind her, he settled down. The others started moving, and she followed last. Sitting there without her hands on the horse, he queried, "Don't you need to hold on?"

"I'm fine," she assured before seizing the horse's leash to catch up. The way to the capital was two days long, so they would arrive later today since they woke up early.

Upon arriving at the capital, they dismounted. "So are we going to part ways here?" Haruto asked. "I suppose so. Would you be able to tell me where a good place to stay is?" she inquired."Are you not staying with your friend?" he wondered. Glancing back before answering, she replied, "I won't be in the capital much. I'm just here to get some things done."

"I see. Well, I recommend this and that," he suggested, continuing to provide suggestions.After he left, she turned towards him. "Do you need someone to take you to your home or...?" she offered.

"It's fine. I can go alone from here on," he assured. Just then, she heard two men talking about elves. "Those creatures... Just because of their longer lives and good magic attributes, they're so loved by the royal family."

"How about I bring you there after all?" she proposed."No, it's fine," he declined.

"It wasn't really supposed to be a question," she remarked before she started walking. "Say, from where exactly are you?" she inquired."I live in the castle," he disclosed."Lucky me, encountering someone from the royal family on my first day in the capital," she mused.

Upon arriving at the castle gates, the guards stopped them. "Who do you think you are to enter the castle?" the guard questioned. Taking off his hood, he calmly stated, "Daiki Nakamura.""Sir Nakamura, our apologies for not having noticed it was you sooner," the guards apologized with a bow. This was like a dramatic 'how don't you know I'm the prince' scene from an anime, she thought.

As the guards opened the gate, he started to walk inside. He turned around. "Are you not coming?" he asked."I doubt a commoner like me should enter the castle just like this," she stated."Don't worry, you're here on my invite," he reassured."I have other things to do today, so this will be my farewell," she declared."I see. It was nice meeting you," he responded.

As the castle gates closed, Yueting walked off. "System, do you have some kind of map?" she asked.

⌞System message: Of course! I have prepared a special map just for you, master.⌝

With that, a system-like window popped up in front of Yueting, displaying a map of the entire city. She could see other cities too, but it was zoomed in on this one, probably because she was in this city right now.

The following day, Yueting went to an adventurer guild. It wasn't because only high-class adventurers could join that one. He really was someone of high status in denial, Yueting thought.

The guild didn't just accept her but also informed her about the "entrance" exam and its date. Before that, she still had time to figure out what exactly the system meant by sending the king a letter. Sitting down, Yueting asked, "System, what exactly did you mean when you sent the king a letter?"

⌞System message: Oh right! I sent the royal family a letter announcing the arrival of the hero.⌝

"Hero?"

⌞System message: Correct, you are this world's hero.⌝

I see. So Kyo was right in saying the system can alter reality. "How so?"

⌞System message: I prepared scrolls announcing your arrival in advance.⌝

"What scrolls?"

⌞receiting letter: 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑜

 𝒜 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝓂𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒷𝑒 𝒷𝑜𝓇𝓃 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝓇 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓈, 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓇𝓊𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃, 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝒸𝓊𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑜𝓎𝒶𝓁 𝒻𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓎 𝒾𝓃 𝒹𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝒻𝓎 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝓂𝒾𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓈. 𝐵𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝓇𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒶 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒾𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝓁𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓃𝓃𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑜'𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔.⌝

Ah... so the system prepared a scroll. How many years in advance? Damn, she thought."Then does he expect me to come visit him and give him a smooch or something?" she asked jokingly.

⌞System message: I doubt the king would accept a smooch, but indeed he does expect you to come visit, master.⌝

"It was a joke. Anyways, how would I be able to enter the castle without the guards knowing me?" she asked.

⌞System message: In two days, the gates of the castle will open for you to enter.⌝

Why does the system always have to make things difficult? she thought.The entry exam for the guild was still a few days away, so she would have no trouble giving the king a visit. When the day arrived, she readied herself. The capital was quite big, but she couldn't just go around with her horse, so she walked to the castle. How funny. At the gates, there was not one guard, no one.

Entering the gates, arrows popped up, like in a video game, showing her the way. Following the arrows, she ended up inside the castle in front of a huge door. This must be the hall, she thought. Slowly pushing the doors open, she entered the hall. It was filled with noble-looking people on one side, guards on the other. Exactly ten mages on both sides of the king, the king and the queen sitting on their throne along with a few people next to them, possibly the rest of the royal family. The hall was quite big yet completely filled.

All eyes were on Yueting; not one looked elsewhere. Slowly walking down the hall towards the king and queen, Yueting thought, Do they expect me to bow? The king and queen are people of quite high status compared to me.

Getting closer, Yueting noticed someone she recognized amongst the crowd, it was daiki. Standing still in front of the king, Yueting kept quiet.

⌞System message: I see you have quite the confidence, master. Perhaps try giving them a polite bow, no?⌝

Yueting glanced at the message window before giving the king a bow. She had no idea how women bowed because most anime MCs are male, so she just bowed the way she knew.

"Raise your head, hero," the king said. "We are glad you've finally arrived," the queen added. With that, Yueting raised her head back to her normal stance. "You must know why you're here, mighty hero." Why are they talking like I'm some goddess? Yueting thought. "No clue," Yueting answered. The king's eyes twitched before he replied, "For the past few weeks, people have been dying mysteriously, and we need your help! We believe the end is near," the king said. "Murdered or died out of sickness?" Yueting asked. "We believe it's a curse," the queen said. That's absurd, Yueting thought, After all, it might be possible considering this is a fantasy world, she thought to herself.

"I see," Yueting said. "Would Your Majesty be able to tell me more?" Yueting asked. "Every target gets a red circle somewhere on their body shortly before they die, and after that, they live for three more days before meeting their end," the queen said. "This might be a curse or simply murderers targeting the people they plan to murder," Yueting said. A few in the room began to whisper amongst themselves. "Silence," the king said. "I won't be able to know for sure without seeing the victims. Even then, I can't promise to find out the reason people are dying since I barely have knowledge about curses or sicknesses," Yueting said. "I see. We will provide the best doctors, and you, the Xing mages, will be at your command, hero," the king said. Again, that word, Yueting thought.

The king gestured for the other nobles and people to leave the room, leaving only Yueting, the royal family, and the Xing mages. "Since you've just arrived, we shall offer you a room and a maid to stay at your command at all times," the king says.

"There's no need. I'm staying at an inn in the city," Yueting answers.

"But that's-!" the queen starts to say.

"We understand, but no savior should live amongst commoners, so you shall stay in the castle," the king interrupts.

"Fine," Yueting answers. She had noticed earlier that one of the people in front of her looked awfully similar.

"My daughter and two of our maids shall be helping you around during your stay," the king says. Not similar to just anyone, but to her previous girlfriend. She had promised to meet her in every universe, every life after this. Was the universe trying to trick her into getting her life ruined by her ex-girlfriend once again? Yueting smiled softly; the universe really liked to play tricks on her.

❝In a world of arrows pointing the way, she forged her own path.❝