The Runaway Heroine is Too Good at Escaping

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

# Chapter 27: The True Heroine Drives Us Crazy

 

 

 

 

Despite a frightening incident caused by Simone in the middle, we finally made it out of Trevelora train station.

 

“Ah, so this is…”

 

The buildings in Trevelora were much larger and cleaner than those in the capital, Pérez.

 

Tall buildings with enormous windows and elaborate statues in front of them caught the eye. The park in the city center had a cozy and comfortable atmosphere.

 

I had heard that many wealthy people live in Trevelora.

 

I looked at the buildings with an unfamiliar expression.

 

As we looked around the square outside the train station, Raffaelo smiled broadly.

 

“Aurora, that girl, must have come to Trevelora to perform.”

 

“I didn’t expect it, but it seems like she really wanted to take on that role.”

 

“What could that performance mean to her…?”

 

“Achieving the myth of oneself is the only duty imposed on everyone in this world.” *

 

* Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

 

For Aurora, perhaps standing on stage is her self-fulfillment.

 

In that respect, I somewhat respected Aurora.

 

 

“What I truly want doesn’t matter. What matters is the reality I face.”

 

Before coming to this world, I ignored my self and only chased money….

 

Of course, one shouldn’t steal others’ money to realize their self!

 

“Anyway, we can catch Aurora at the performance venue.”

 

“The performance is tomorrow, so she’s probably somewhere in this town now.”

 

“Should we stay hidden then?”

 

“No need for that.”

 

Arkhangelo interjected confidently.

 

“No matter how bold Aurora is, she will take care of herself the day before the performance. So, she won’t come out of her lodging today. We just need to wait for tomorrow.”

 

“Oh, I see.”

 

“But Seraphina….”

 

Raffaelo looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked,

 

“Why are you staying so far away from Simone?”

 

“Please don’t mention it! Pretend you don’t know!”

 

I scolded Raffaelo, furrowing my brows.

 

Since getting off the train, I had been staying far from Simone, trailing behind Raffaelo and Arkhangelo.

 

Anyone could see I was openly avoiding Simone.

 

“Well, I think we can spend today leisurely exploring this city, hmm…”

 

Raffaelo’s worried eyes turned to me.

 

“Seraphina, are you okay? I’m sure that guy did something wrong.”

 

“Haha, of course, Raffaelo is right that Simone scared me, but it’s hard to say exactly what happened.”

 

“Simone! Cut it out already!”

 

Arkhangelo scolded Simone in an annoyed voice.

 

“You’re even worse than me! You must have said something terrifying again!”

 

“Well, I really don’t know.”

 

Simone replied with a soft smile that could almost make me feel unjustly accused.

 

“I didn’t do anything.”

 

“Ugh, there he goes again.”

 

Raffaelo shook his head, then raised his hand to stop a passing car. It seemed to be a taxi.

 

“Now that you mention it, there are cars here?”

 

Until the capital, most of the roads were occupied by steam carriages, but here only cars filled the roads.

 

Seeing my puzzled look, Raffaelo explained,

 

“The capital’s roads are not yet well-developed, but Trevelora recently completed its road construction. So, many people here use cars. Most of the citizens are wealthy too.”

 

“Ah, I see.”

 

Well, it would be stranger if there were no cars in a place with airships.

 

As I nodded in agreement, Raffaelo spoke to the taxi driver.

 

“To the central square, please.”

 

“Yes, please get in.”

 

I thought we would drop off our luggage at the inn first, so why were we suddenly heading to the central square?

 

Just as I was bewildered, Raffaelo approached me.

 

“Excuse me.”

 

“Ah!”

 

In an instant, he lightly guided me and got me into the car.

 

“Hey, I’ll show Seraphina around Trevelora and be back by dinner. See you at the Green Inn later.”

 

Without waiting for any responses, Raffaelo signaled the driver to start. In an instant, the other group members were far behind us.

 

As I rode in the car with Raffaelo, I asked with a surprised look,

 

“Where are we going?”

 

“Just trying to get you away from Simone for a bit.”

 

Raffaello replied cheerfully.

 

“I thought you could use some time to clear your head!”

 

“That’s true, but aren’t you curious why I’m avoiding Simone?”

 

“It’s alright, he’s always been a bit shady.”

 

It seemed the other guys were also well aware of Simone’s character. Damn, I thought Arkhangelo had the worst personality, but the real trouble was Simone….

 

In my previous world, I could distinguish students by ‘fake madness’ and ‘real madness.’

 

– Fake Madness: Skips cram school because they don’t want to study.

– Real Madness: Sneaks into the cram school during Chuseok holidays because they are sad they can’t study, and then gets caught by the security system.

 

These were examples of actual students I encountered, indeed….

 

Similarly, this distinction applied to Arkhangelo and Simone.

 

– Fake Personality: Always irritable.

– Real Personality: Constantly observes and records suspicious behavior. It’s unclear if he even sees others as equal humans. It feels like being a bean in a bean observation journal.

 

Damn, Simone’s personality hasn’t changed from the original. He’s just observing others’ anxieties with a cold gaze….

 

Lost in thought, I turned to look outside the car window.

 

After driving for a while, the three male leads became mere dots in the distance.

 

Seeing that we had gained enough distance, Raffaelo stopped the taxi, paid the fare, and started walking slowly next to me.

 

“Trevelora is quite a nice place. It’s a well-developed city.”

 

“Indeed, it seems more sophisticated than the capital.”

 

“The capital has many old relics, so it’s harder to develop.”

 

I immediately understood what he meant. It’s like finding artifacts every time you dig the ground. Hence, the roads aren’t fully developed yet.

 

“Princess Eva recently planned to develop a floating city over the capital. Since they can’t develop the ground, they’re aiming to develop the sky.”

 

“A floating city? Is that even possible?”

 

“With Princess Eva’s technology, it’s not impossible. There are rumors she controls the release of her advanced technology to avoid shocking the world.”

 

“Um… right. Are there no rumors about her capturing aliens and torturing them?”

 

“What kind of absurd story is that?”

 

Damn, Princess Eva’s stories come up everywhere, don’t they? Her abilities are excessively amazing!

 

What kind of incredible invention did she create that made the original Seraphina so astonished she ran away?

 

That question lingered in my mind.

 

“Do you want some gelato?”

 

“Yes!”

 

At that moment, Raffaelo pointed to a street gelato shop and asked.

 

I answered in a much brighter voice.

 

Although a shop assistant took the orders, the gelato was scooped by a robotic arm.

 

‘There are no kiosks here yet…’

 

It seems that while automaton technology is far more advanced than in my world, display screens are less developed.

 

The robotic arm steadily handed me the gelato. Holding a cone filled with watermelon gelato made me feel a bit more at ease.

 

“This is really delicious.”

 

“Gelato from the Trevelora region is quite good.”

 

“I thought the gelato in the capital was delicious too.”

 

“Well, gelato is like our national pride. Every region claims their gelato is the best.”

 

“I understand.”

 

It’s like in my previous world, where every online lecture company claimed their lecturer was the best.

 

Megalodon Study: The only answer for math! Teacher Kim!

Etoos School: The Royal Road to a Perfect Score! Teacher Lee Mibun!

Daekimansung MyMac: The Bible of Mathematics! Teacher Park Hamsu!

 

It’s pretty much like this.

 

After finishing our gelato, we headed to the central square of Trevelora.

 

The first thing that caught my eye upon entering the square was a man playing the guitar in the center. In front of him was a container filled with coins, people were leisurely watching him, and tourists were admiring the massive cathedral on the opposite side of the square.

 

“There are quite a few tourists in Trevelora.”

 

“When people travel to the Boleno Kingdom, they start from Trevelora and head south.”

 

I quite liked the atmosphere of Trevelora. The streets were clean, the people seemed relaxed, and the buildings were beautiful.

 

“As grand and splendid as this city is, there are just as many places to hide our sins, and with so many people, everyone’s sins mix together, making them indistinguishable.”*

 

*Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

 

“What are you suddenly talking about?”

 

“It means Trevelora is a good city for Aurora to hide in.”

 

“Oh, I see… Sometimes I really don’t get you.”

 

“Anyway, it’s a wonderful city. Personally, I like it more than the capital.”

 

“It has also been ranked as the best city to live in domestically.”

 

“Indeed, it seems like a great place to live.”

 

Humming along with the guitar music, Raffaelo pointed towards the cathedral this time.

 

“Do you want to look around the cathedral? The exterior walls are quite beautiful.”

 

“Sure.”

 

Following Raffaelo’s suggestion, we circled the cathedral.

 

The cathedral’s exterior walls depicted the creation process of this world.

 

According to this world’s mythology, a giant hand descended from the sky and molded this world.

 

There were various versions of the myth’s ending, including one where the god who created this world lived among us in human form and one day would judge the world.

 

‘Hmm, could the god of this world be the author of the novel?’

 

Then, are we worshiping the author of <Try to Run Away for Once> as a god?

 

What was the author’s name again… It sounded quite religious..

 

Lost in thought as we circled the cathedral, I noticed something behind the building and stopped.

 

“Is this a slum?”

 

“Seems so? There didn’t used to be anything like this.”

 

In a neglected corner of the cathedral’s exterior, people in shabby clothing were sitting weakly on the ground.

 

It was a sight that did not fit with the prosperous image of Trevelora I had seen earlier.

 

‘Well, there are poor people everywhere…’

 

What particularly bothered me was that I hadn’t seen any signs of poverty in other parts of Trevelora.

 

Come to think of it, in most cities, you can find beggars or street vendors, but I hadn’t seen any in Trevelora.

 

Yet here, in a secluded spot, there were many impoverished people gathered. How could I not be concerned?

 

Seeing my puzzled expression, Raffaelo seemed equally curious and approached the people.

 

“I have a question.”

 

As Raffaelo spoke and handed a coin to a lying man, his eyes opened wide.

 

“Thank you, sir.”

 

“Why are you all gathered here? It must be hard to beg in such a remote place.”

 

“…You don’t know?”

 

The man replied with a desolate expression.

 

“We are forbidden to go to prominent tourist spots. If we try to move to such places, security automatons drag us away.”

 

“What?”

 

“The best place we can find, where tourists occasionally pass by, is this alley. So we gather here to beg.”

 

“Controlling the poor…”

 

From the mayor of Trevelora’s perspective, hiding the poor to attract tourists might make sense, but this is too much. Not allowing them in crowded places seems inhumane.

 

Hearing their story darkened my expression.

 

“How long have you been living like this?”

 

“Since the automatons took our jobs.”

 

The man continued in a bitter tone.

 

“Many people in Trevelora used to work in tourism, but automatons replaced all the jobs. We were driven to the streets.”