The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Mana City was a border city in the Gryffin Kingdom.
Meanwhile, Holl City was the kingdom's capital, and it was situated in the center of the kingdom.
Thus, the two cities were considerably far apart, and Alice needed to take the train if she wanted to reach the royal capital within a reasonable time.

The railway train was a concept brought up by a middle-aged man roughly 300 years ago.
Unfortunately, this middle-aged man passed away shortly after inventing the railway train.

Evidently, the middle-aged man was one of the other transmigrators the Loli Goddess had spoken about.
However, unlike Alice, the middle-aged man was an unlucky bloke who did not have a special ability like Alice and failed to catch the Loli Goddess's attention.
Thus, shortly after transmigrating to this world, the middle-aged man died due to the hidden injuries he suffered.

Because the railway train's inventor was a transmigrator from Earth, the railway train of this world was mostly similar to the trains found on Earth.
The only difference to speak of would be the power source.
Instead of relying on electricity to move, the trains here relied on mana.

Although I am starting to get used to it already, seeing a train in this world of magic still feels kind of strange…

With a backpack on her back and a rolling luggage in her hand, Alice boarded the white train headed for Holl City.
When she saw the train's sleek and modern design, though, she couldn't help but voice a complaint in her mind.
In her mind, a world of magic should be filled with old and antique designs.
So, when she saw both old and modern designs coexisting in this world, she couldn't help but find it a little strange.

Shaking her head, Alice dismissed the useless thoughts in her head and continued pulling her luggage into the train.

Fortunately, as this world's magicians would sometimes bring along existences like magical familiars with them, the train did not prohibit passengers from bringing pets onto the train.
Thus, Alice had no trouble bringing the Milu Rabbit with her.
She wouldn't have to worry about the Milu Rabbit causing a scene, either.
After all, apart from eating and defecating, the Milu Rabbit spent most of its time unconscious.

Each car had nine rows of seats, with each row having two seats on the left, two seats on the right, and an aisle running down the middle.
It was a layout Alice was familiar with, so she quickly located her seat—it was the leftmost window seat in the second row of the car.

After placing her luggage in the designated compartment, Alice sat down and rested the Milu Rabbit on her lap.
If not for the Milu Rabbit's chest expanding and contracting as it breathed, anyone would've assumed that it was a doll instead of a living animal.

Alice's arrival did not attract the attention of the other passengers.
Although some people glanced at her because of her cute appearance, they didn't place much heed on her.
They simply treated her as a wealthy young lady on an outing by herself.
The Gryffin Kingdom had good public security and a low crime rate, so seeing wealthy young ladies travel without bodyguards wasn't strange.

Alice had boarded the train early, so the car was relatively quiet when she first arrived.
However, as time passed and the number of passengers in the car increased, the car became a little noisy.

Having anticipated this, Alice took out the earphones in her bag and plugged the headphone jack into her phone.
Although the railway train relied on mana to move, the nature of the mana it used was different from that of the mana used by mobile phones.
Thus, there was no need to worry about interference between the two objects.

This was a much more convenient feature than the airplanes in Alice's memory.

When Alice was plugging her headphone into her phone, someone walked up to her.
The seat beside her was still vacant, so upon noticing that someone was approaching, Alice stopped her hands and looked up at the figure standing beside her.

Standing beside Alice was a girl dressed in a maid costume.
The girl had long silver hair that stretched down to her waist and a pair of crimson eyes that seemingly contained no emotions.
Judging by the girl's sickly pale skin, she was probably someone who rarely got in the sun.

With just a glance, Alice got the feeling that this supposed maid was not the friendly type of person.

I didn't think someone like this would sit next to me…
It does feel pretty good sitting next to a block of ice like her in the hot summer, though.

Alice inwardly sighed.
Although she hadn't planned to talk to other passengers on this trip, she still couldn't help but feel a little awkward when sitting beside such an icy-cold maid.

As for the silver-haired maid, she simply took a glance at Alice before retracting her gaze.
Her only luggage was an ordinary carry bag, so after stuffing it under her seat, she sat down and stared at the seat in front of her with an indifferent expression.
In Alice's opinion, the maid's expression was even more frightening than Aird's.

Although Aird also constantly wore an indifferent expression, she still gave off an approachable feeling at the very least.
However, in the case of this silver-haired maid, Alice felt that anything she said to the other party would simply be ignored.
Thus, she dismissed all thoughts of striking up a conversation with the maid.

But a maid, huh? I don't think I've seen any in Mana City before.

Despite having decided not to talk to the maid, Alice still couldn't help herself from sneaking a few glances at the other party.
As Mana City was a border city, there were hardly any nobles living there.
Thus, maids were a rare sight in the city as well.
This was the first time Alice had seen an orthodox maid since coming to this world.

Alice had to admit that the silver-haired maid was extremely beautiful.
However, she couldn't help but wonder if it was alright for a maid to serve people with such a cold expression.

I'll probably freeze to death if I have to live with such an expressionless maid every day.

While having such nonsensical thoughts in her mind, Alice sighed one last time before she removed her attention from the silver-haired maid.
They were only travelers heading in the same direction.
They would no longer see each other again once they arrived in Holl City.

After putting on her earphones, Alice opened up this world's music streaming application and played some local songs.
She had yet to familiarize herself with this world's culture, she wasn't worried that this world's music wouldn't suit her taste.
After all, due to the influence of the many transmigrators in the past, many of this world's cultures resembled the modern cultures found back on Earth.

Meanwhile, after the silver-haired maid noticed Alice putting on her earphones and closing her eyes, she turned to look at the Milu Rabbit resting on Alice's lap, a confused expression appearing on her face.
This was the first time she had seen someone carry a cooking ingredient on their person.