CHAPTER 42: CH:42 TELEPORTATION, RUMORS, AND A WEDDING BELL NIGHTMARE

Dila stepped out from behind a tree, now dressed in her usual standard adventurer’s outfit—comfortable, sleek, and definitely not the oversized, royal princess gown she normally wore. She casually dusted off her sleeves and made her way to the far side of the castle grounds, toward the darker, shaded corner where barely anyone passed through.

There, leaning against the stone wall, was Sarios.

He looked up, startled. "Oh—about that, Dila... sorry. I forgot to tell you where I’d be. My bad."

Dila just smiled. "It’s okay."

Sarios tilted his head, confused. "But wait... how’d you even find me here?"

Dila simply smirked. "Easy. I used a passive skill. One only I can use."

"Really?" Sarios raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Really," she said, deadpan. "What did you expect?"

Sarios stared at her, then chuckled quietly. "You’re something else, until now you know that?"

Dila squinted. "What’s so funny?"

He quickly looked away, brushing a hand through his hair. "Oh, nothing."

But the smile on his face said otherwise.

Dila just sighed, crossing her arms with mock offense. "Next time, I’ll eavesdrop on your thoughts too."

Sarios laughed. "Don’t. You might hear how weird I think you are."

"Too late," Dila muttered, still smirking.

Sarios blinked. "Wait... you can do that?"

Dila held a straight face for a solid two seconds—then broke into a small laugh. "Haha—no. I’m joking. I have zero ability to read minds. That’d be terrifying."

Sarios sighed, pressing a hand to his chest. "Please don’t joke like that... I nearly panicked."

Dila smirked. "Why? Got something guilty in there, Hero?"

"Absolutely not!" Sarios said—just a little too fast.

Dila narrowed her eyes. "Suspicious."

Sarios groaned. "You are exhausting sometimes."

"Only sometimes?" Dila raised an eyebrow. "I’m clearly slacking."

And than Sarios held up a thumb-sized rune stone glowing faintly green. "Alright. I’m gonna use this to teleport us out of the castle grounds."

Dila leaned in, eyes narrowing suspiciously. "That tiny rock is going to get us out of here?"

Sarios smirked. "Simple. I just visualize the place we’re going. But since I’m not a mage, I don’t have enough mana to fuel it."

"Let me guess," Dila deadpanned. "This is one of those ’only one person at a time’ deals because you’re low on juice."

"Exactly," Sarios nodded.

Dila rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Wow. So dependable."

Sarios looked at her with playful suspicion. "You sound unreliable saying that."

She smirked and tapped her temple. "Well, lucky for you, I’m a mage. I’ll transfer some of my mana into the stone."

Sarios raised a brow. "You sure about that? What if you overcharge it and we end up teleporting into a lake?"

Dila cackled. "Then bring your floaties, Hero."

He smiled and sighed. "Alright, fine. Just touch the stone while I focus. You handle the magic juice, I’ll handle the map in my head."

Dila placed a hand on the rune, her fingertips glowing faintly as mana flowed into it. The stone pulsed brighter.

Sarios closed his eyes. "Alright. I’m visualizing it... almost there..."

Suddenly, the space around them began glowing with a soft green shimmer. Leaves nearby rustled from the surge of magic.

Dila blinked. "Whoa. Sparkles. Not bad."

Sarios opened one eye. "Don’t distract the driver."

And in a burst of light—

■••••

They vanished.

Suddenly, near the bustling village just outside Exonory Castle, a swirling green glow shimmered in the air. Wind kicked up in a circle, rustling skirts and flapping cloaks as curious villagers turned their heads.

"Huh? What’s that?" someone said, shielding their eyes.

With a soft bamf, two figures popped into existence. Dila landed square on her backside in the middle of the cobblestone road.

"Ow—my butt...!" she groaned, glaring at the street like it had personally offended her.

Sarios landed next, dropping down on one knee in a much cooler pose—though his cloak flapped over his head for a second.

"Sorry about that," he said, brushing it off with an awkward grin. "Still a little rough using this rune stone."

Dila deadpanned, rubbing her back. "Yeah, not funny."

He glanced over nervously, covering part of his face as he muttered sideways, "Please forgive me, Princess... I was kinda worried that might happen."

Before she could reply, Sarios scooped her up into a light carry, dusting her off. Instantly, a ripple of gasps spread through the crowd.

"Isn’t that... the Hero?!"

"And he’s carrying an elf girl?!"

"They must be... lovers!"

"It must be his wife!!"

One girl nearly fainted. "So dreamy..."

Dila’s ears twitched violently. Her eye twitched too.

"Wife, my butt," she muttered under her breath with her usual icy stare.

But Sarios, unfortunately, heard it.

Still smiling, he closed his eyes. "Y-Yeahhh, awkward, isn’t it?" he said, laughing weakly as the villagers around them whispered louder.

Meanwhile, a nearby fruit seller leaned toward her neighbor. "Should we throw confetti or start wedding bells?"

As soon as Dila heard a nearby vendor whisper,

"Should we throw confetti or start wedding bells?"

Her eye twitched harder than her ear.

She pointed a single finger toward the sky.

"Run, hero."

Sarios blinked. "...Huh?"

"RUN!" Dila repeated, this time with the force of a thunderbolt.

Without even asking where or why, Sarios instinctively took off—still carrying her in his arms like a runaway bride.

Villagers gasped. Bread was dropped. A child spilled his juice.

"THEY’RE ELOPING!" someone screamed dramatically.

Sarios ran past a bakery, a fruit stand, and accidentally headbutted a laundry line, wearing a sock like a battle helmet.

"Where are we running to?!" he asked, voice bouncing as he zigzagged.

"I don’t know!! Anywhere but here!!" Dila replied, covering her red face with both hands.

Behind them, a marching band started up.

"JUST MARRIED!" someone yelled.

A guy popped a party cracker in confusion.

Meanwhile, Dila muttered under her breath, "This world is broken..."

And Nari chirped in her mind:

☆ Master, do you want me to book a chapel just in case? ☆

"NARI NO!!"

Sarios kept running, still with no idea where to go—just that he better not stop unless he wanted to be caught in the middle of a fantasy fairytale wedding.

As they finally stumbled into a secluded back alley behind a bakery, Sarios collapsed against the side of a village house, gasping like he’d just run a marathon chased by wild chickens.

"Hhhaaaa... hhhhaaaa... haaaaa... I... can’t breathe..." he wheezed, sliding halfway down the wall.

Dila, meanwhile, dropped to her knees beside a stack of empty crates, both hands covering her face. Her ears twitched furiously.

"It’s too awkward... I can’t... I just can’t..." she groaned.

Nari’s voice echoed sweetly in her mind.

☆ Calm down, master. There is nothing to be afraid of anymore. You’re safe. ☆

("Nothing?!") Dila thought, eyes still hidden behind her fingers. ("There’s everything to be afraid of! The rumors, the villagers, the wedding bells—there’s no coming back from this, Nari! We’re officially part of a rom-com side quest!")

☆ Sounds like a character development arc to me. ☆ Nari giggled innocently.

Sarios leaned his head back and muttered, "I’m never using that teleport rune again... ever. I think I just lost ten years off my life... and my dignity."

Dila peeked through her fingers, still red as a tomato. "I hate this village."

Sarios raised a finger. "To be fair, I think they love you."

And somewhere off in the distance... ding-ding-ding! A tiny bell chimed from a wedding shop’s wind chime.

Dila flopped face-first into the ground.

"Kill me..."

After all the chaos, drama, accidental public shipping, and emotional damage, they finally came back to their senses.

The back alley was quiet now, save for the soft clattering of a loose shutter and the distant sounds of merchants yelling about fish discounts.

Dila stood up slowly, brushing imaginary dust from her clothes, her ears still twitching slightly from emotional aftershock.

She crossed her arms, looked around like a detective about to interrogate a suspect, and muttered, "Alright... now that we’re done being the main characters of an accidental romance novel—"

She turned to Sarios with dead-serious eyes.

"Where’s the Guild Bar of that greedy bastard you mentioned?"

Sarios choked on a laugh before fully letting it out.

"Pffft—! I swear... that line never gets old!" he said, holding his sides. "You say it like the guildmaster’s an actual monster class."

"Isn’t he?" Dila deadpanned.

Sarios shrugged. "Depends. If gold counts as his health bar, then yeah—Class S+ Dragon-type Capitalist."

Dila sighed, rubbing her temple. "Great. I’m walking into a dungeon of overpriced paperwork and sarcastic staff."

Sarios just grinned, gesturing toward a nearby narrow road leading toward a slightly run-down building with a crooked wooden sign.

"Welcome to the Exonory Adventurer’s Guild," he said dramatically, "Home of overpriced potions, unpaid rookies, and a man whose soul is made of tax documents."

Dila stared at it, unimpressed.

"I already want to uninstall this side quest."