F Volume 1 Chapter 3

Tepid darkness. The atmosphere clung to my body as if I was floating in water.

I suddenly found it hard to breathe, so I raised my head and slowly opened my eyes.

I heard a beastly coo fawning over me close by. I had apparently fallen unconscious on top of Eru, who had steel-colored fur. At first, I could only see the darkness, but my surroundings eventually became clearer.

The scene reflected before my eyes——was a ruined, lifeless world colored by an unsettling faint darkness. A fog, stagnated in a different way than the fog in heaven had been, hung over the area.

"……Where are we?"

My foolish-sounding voice, free from any hint of caution, was swallowed by the faint darkness without leaving any echoes behind.

"Eru……do you know where we are?"

I was so perturbed by the strangeness of the world before my eyes that I could not help but subconsciously ask the beast who could not talk. Eru looked back at me for a bit and twitched his lion-like nose, and I felt that he was troubled and did not know what to do with me even as I was riding on his back.

"Is this Evelier, by any chance?"

I dropped word after word into the darkness as I talked to myself. I couldn't stand the anxiety if I didn't.

Thank goodness that Eru was with me, even if he couldn't speak. If I had been left behind in his ominous place all alone, I might have gone crazy from fear.

Eru growled quietly from time to time and fidgeted cautiously, likely because he was stimulated by the ominous air around us. He looked back multiple times and shook his slightly stiff fur as if he wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. I guessed that Eru was anxious too, after having been separated from his master, Olin.

Since I, the person accompanying him, was not only unreliable but was actually more of a burden, it was no wonder that he was scared.

Still, Eru seemed like he was an intelligent and loyal beast and did not try to move before I instructed him to. It was probably best to trust his b.e.s.t.i.a.l instincts and move away from here as fast as possible. After I made my decision, I lightly pat Eru on the back and signaled him onward. Eru obeyed, noticeably relieved.

I let Eru, who seemed to be able to sense the danger in the air, decide on where to go and devoted myself to observing my surroundings. There was probably no doubt that this was Evelier.

"Olin brought me down to the surface before he was caught by the silver cage……"

That would mean that, just like Silvai, Olin had infringed upon the covenant between the G.o.ds. He had refused to tell me what kind of terrifying punishment awaited them no matter how much I had begged. Was the penalty so cruel that he couldn't tell me?

My entire body stiffened under the weight of the responsibility that had been bestowed to me.

Two G.o.ds had sacrificed themselves in order to pour their power into me. I had to answer to their expectations, no matter what.

Eru and I were apparently in a thicket. A dull, greyish moon floated in the sky, but it's light was so sorrowfully weak that I couldn't see into the depths of the woods.

The dusty stars that studded the night sky, too, only gave a weak shine as if they were on the verge of death. If I strained my eyes, I could just barely make out an outline of the area around me. That was how weak the light was.

"It's too quiet……"

The air was heavy. It was as if the sky, the trees, and the earth had gone silent from fear of the despair and death that spread across the world. There was no wind to carry over a cool breeze, and, apart from Eru's surrept.i.tious footsteps echoing as we moved on, only silence prevailed.

"The world is rotting away,"

I subconsciously whispered. The world was so broken down that it would be difficult to save. The trunks of the trees scattered around us were thin and dry. The leaves that feebly hung limp from their branches had already withered.

A grave of trees. A stupid idea came into my head.

"I wonder if other places are desolated like this too?"

——Could I really save this place?

My feelings suddenly plummeted. I felt like this job was too much for me.

——……This might be impossible, Olin.

To think that the world was this dark. No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't believe that I had the power to return this ruined world back to its true form.

Sensing that I had lost my nerve, Eru turned around and growled softly to cheer me up.

"……This isn't the time to be a coward."

I encouraged myself my taking repet.i.tive deep breaths. If I threw the towel here, there would have been no point to Silvai and Olin breaking their covenant. I didn't want to do anything that would disappoint the two G.o.ds who had entrusted me with their wishes and had granted me power. If I was going to give up, I could do it when I truly had no more cards left to play.

"But, I at least wish I had a bit more detailed information about this world……"

My real feelings leaked out a little. In all honestly, I had basically zero knowledge about Evelier.

In any case, according to Olin had said, I just had to cut down the revenants with this sword……but I didn't know how to wield the all-important sword in question. It was probably going to be different from preparing fish.

"Besides, will I be able to tell if something's a revenant just by looking at it?"

If I couldn't figure out where in Evelier I was right now, then I'd have no idea where I was supposed to go from here on out. My anxiety increased with the mysteries I faced. Just as I was about to lose heart and bury my head in my hands, Eru went on guard and lowered his posture. He was preparing to dash. I grabbed on to Eru's mane in a panic.

"Eru?"

Eru didn't let out a single growl as he readied himself to move at any moment's notice. What should I do; should I grab my sword and prepare to face danger?

Still nervous, I ran my gaze down to the long sword that was fastened to the luggage behind me.

"Is someone there?"

There was no way there was. There were only supposed to be revenants left in this world.

Besides, what do revenants even look like to begin with? ……Like slimes?

Just as I had tilted my head to the side, unable to imagine what revenants looked like.

I abruptly sat up straighter and looked all around me. There's something here!

A black shadow squirmed next to the skinny tree that was to the left and in front of me.

"Eru."

The intelligent beast sprinted vigorously as if he had understood when I quietly called out his name. I desperately grabbed on to Eru's mane so that I wouldn't get thrown to the ground. I would be hit by the wind resistance if I sat up straight. I realized this along the way and pushed my upper body forward. I somehow still managed to kept my head up so that I could check on our surroundings.

I heard the sound of multiple footsteps kicking away the dried wild gra.s.s. We were being chased.

When I looked back, I saw p.r.o.nounced shadows crossing over to us from between the scattered trees.

I grew even more nervous as my heart began to beat furiously. Round golden lights floated in the darkness. They blinked like fireflies. They weren't revenants. They were probably wild dogs or wolves or something like that.

——We're being attacked.

The black shadows had closed in the distance between us and were in line with Eru by the time that I clearly discerned this.

Eru ran even faster. I burned the image of the black shadows firmly in my eyes when we dodged them as they drew closer, searching for an opening to jump us. They weren't regular wild dogs.

They were creatures with limbs that I had never seen before. They were quadruped monsters with hideous faces at the end of their long necks. They had mouths that were cut open all the way to their long, rabbit-like ears. They looked like they were sneering at us.

They cried jarring, metallic threats as they chased after Eru.

Eru was at the absolute disadvantage since he had to carry me, extra baggage, with him. All of the monsters were starved. I felt their intense drive p.r.i.c.kling on my skin as they refused to lose their prey……us.

"What do we do……?!"

——I didn't know that it would be this dangerous!

"Eru, run!"

I felt unwanted sweat on my palms, forehead, and down my back. The monsters' breathing was ragged. We had no other choice but to turn our backs and flee. It would be the end of the road if they caught up to us. This wasn't some kind of game where I could just reload and try again.

Eru lived up to his t.i.tle as Olin's beast and knew precisely what he had to do even in a tense situation like this. We were going so fast that my hair was flowing horizontal in one clump, but unlike a horse, he wasn't swaying in the slightest.

He ran as if we were literally sliding across the ground. There was no hesitation in his footsteps when he kicked against the earth as he could apparently see well in the dark. He jumped left and right, changing directions constantly while trying to throw off the monsters behind us. The monsters could evidently see in the dark as well, but they apparently weren't as intelligent as Eru was. Eru toyed with them marvelously by changing course in irregular directions. We grew farther away from the monsters thanks to his efforts. I looked back multiple times to peek at the monsters running behind us.

"Good job, Eru!"

I called out to Eru before I knew it. Eru didn't slow down even though we had put enough distance between us and the monsters that I didn't think they'd chase after us anymore.

It was when we arrived at a clearing in the thicket that I felt a presence that was different from that of the monsters. Even I found it strange that I could perceive it.

It might have been the power that Olin and Silvai blessed me with at work.

"Wait."

Eru was obviously hesitant when I told him to stop. Considering that he shook his mane and continued running, he probably thought that it was best to keep putting more distance between us and the monsters.

But still……there, just now, I most definitely heard a beast's death cry from somewhere else.

"Eru, did you hear that voice just now?"

Eru shook his head and growled. His urgent cry seemed to be saying, we don't have time to care about that!

"——Go to where the voice came from."

Eru balked quite a bit at my unreasonable order. Still, he gave up and turned around once he realized that I was stubbornly refusing to back down.

He seemed somewhat desperate, or maybe he was mad at me……no, he was probably disappointed in me. He was running in a somewhat rough manner that was clearly different from before.

He probably thought that going back when we had finally managed to safely get away from the swarm of monsters was suicidal, and it made all of the effort that Eru had put to run this far to waste.

But if, just maybe if, my instincts were right.

Indeed, I had heard the monsters' unnatural death cries before.

That's what I decided to bet on.

***

"It smells like blood."

The thick scent of blood smelled like rusted iron. Eru, whom I was riding on, probably noticed it too.

Eru continued to run in a straight line through the stifling faint darkness.

"Wait, Eru, over there."

A beast's fierce cry, fierce enough to make the trees shake, echoed from in front of us. It was close.

Eru didn't stop moving as he followed my instructions, but he did let out a small, bitter growl. He was probably complaining about how we were purposefully going back into danger.

"Oh! Over there!"

The place where I pointed Eru to veered sharply off to the right from where we had been earlier.

There were a few more trees that laid their roots in the ground here. Eru deftly slipped through the trees and dashed to where the noise was coming from.

Before long, we saw the black figure of a beast that towered like a huge rock in the pale darkness. The beast howled violently enough to make the atmosphere tremble and attacked something else. Eru slowed down and crept closer to the giant beast that continued to roar.

I squinted and observed the other shadow as it held back the ferocious beast.

——It's a person!

I know that person. I subconsciously made a fist.

It was the man whom I had met once before in the forest. He was fighting the violent howling beast.

His large sword drew an arc underneath the feeble light of the dull moon. Its cutting edge was unsteady, as if to indicate the waning stamina of its wielder.

At this rate, the beast would push it aside and it would fall to the ground.

The gigantic monster that was attacking the man had extremities that didn't exist in my world. Its face looked like a bear's and its arms and legs were long like a spider's. The way it lowered itself to the ground, as if to gather up strength, and sprang up to attack was eerie. Its movements weren't particularly clever, but its arms whipped through the air as it swung them in an attempt to defeat the man and just one swing was strong enough to cut down the trees in its path.

The man, who had been fending off the beast's persistent attacks with his sword, finally became unable to beat it back and staggered painfully. He fell to the ground on his knee.

Upon closer inspection, the beast was wounded and the man looked dreadfully tired. Numerous beast corpses littered the ground around them. Had he defeated them all on his own?

"Eru, let's help him."

Eru lowered his body to the ground as if he was about to pounce on his prey as I rode on his back.

The ferocious beast re-oriented itself and brought up its long arm with a ragged breath. The man was unable to brace himself properly for its visually simple attack.

"Go!"

Eru leapt the moment I shouted. He landed forcefully in between the beast and the man.

Both parties were surprised by the sudden intrusion and stopped moving in such perfect sync that it was like they had arranged it in advance.

The man's golden eyes that looked like they had sealed the moonlight within them were opened wide in shock.

"Get on!"

The man abruptly got up and moved as if on reflex.

The beast grasped the situation the moment that the man jumped on behind me and closed in on us in a panic.

Eru nimbly moved away and circled around the monster as it brandished its long and tough arm at us. The man, seated behind me, failed to react in time to Eru's sudden movements and nearly fell off.

"Hold on!"

Eru changed directions before the irritated beast could and vigorously ran forward. But then, he suddenly stopped and warily braced himself.

——The beasts from before caught up to us!

Appearing between the trees before us was the swarm of monsters will dull gold eyes. Behind us was the wounded ferocious beast. Eru turned around without hesitation and ran back to where the gigantic beast was waiting for us, but I didn't know why.

The monsters that had finally caught up to us drew closer to where Eru was——in other words, to where the giant beast was waiting——as if they were being drawn in.

"You're gonna make them fight each other!"

I was impressed once I realized what Eru had meant to do. Eru, you're amazing!

Apparently, the monsters had decided that it was a better idea to go after the wounded beast, which was in a similar condition as them, than it was to chase after the smart and quick Eru. Likewise, the gigantic beast reacted more strongly to the monsters that were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with the intent to kill than it did to us, especially when we had already proved that we were hard to bring down.

Eru didn't slow down in the slightest even though he carried both the man and me on his back and kept sprinting farther away from the monsters.

The hideous howls of their fight reverberated after us.

Eru continued to run in silence. He kept running until we could no longer hear the monsters' howls and I could no longer see the thicket.

***

Eru finally stopped running when we were deep inside a basin far away from the thicket.

We stopped right next to an old tree that had lost all of its leaves. Its branches were spread out nicely, making it possible to hide ourselves from the monsters' prying eyes if we sat on its roots.

I jumped off from Eru's back thinking that it was the perfect place to rest.

"Thank you, Eru. Good work."

I caressed Eru's face as if I was trying to console him. I was worried that he was still mad at me, but Eru narrowed his eyes and purred, and then he nuzzled his lion-like nose against my shoulder.

I think he understood that I made us go back to save the man. It looked like I had regained some of his trust.

"You should come down too,"

I said to the hesitant man as I pat Eru's ears.

He obediently climbed down to the ground with his moon-colored eyes glued on me.

"Wanna sit?"

I beckoned to the upright man after I unfastened the luggage from Eru and sat down on the roots of the old tree. Eru laid down next to me as if it was the natural thing to do.

It was like he was guarding me. Truth be told, Eru looked just as ferocious as the monsters, but I strangely found him cute now that he'd cozied up to me.

"Over here."

I pat at the dried earth next to me. The man approached me in a daze and sat down with his sword still in his hand. Yeah, he really is pretty big. Putting Olin aside, he was probably had the best body out of all of the people I'd ever known. But he was now covered in more wounds than he had been when we first met.

"Let's get you patched up."

I thought that he couldn't understand what I was saying, so I reached out for my bag without waiting for him to reply.

"——Who are you?"

"Huh?"

I thought that Eru had spoken for a moment.

But that wasn't possible. My hand stopped moving as I turned to look at the man's face.

——Why can I understand what you're saying?

But I couldn't before!

He blinked, similarly baffled.

I remembered how Olin had kissed me in the middle of my confusion at this inexplicable situation. Was I suddenly able to understand what he was saying because of that kiss?

The man stared at me blankly as I suspiciously went pale and then bright red.

"Uh, umm, can you really understand what I'm saying?"

The man nodded slowly as his bewildered gaze wavered.

"Who are you?"

he asked again in a gentle low voice. I was strangely impressed about how nice his voice was.

"Erm, we've met once before?"

Did he remember?

"Yeah——in the Forest of Warz."

Warz? I'd never heard of it before, but I ignored it for now.

I composed myself and looked back at him.

"Are you……the last person of this country?"

He abruptly straightened up as if he'd been shot at when I asked.

Deep solitude exuded from his eyes. The flames of craving lit them from within. The torturous flames of deprivation burned so brightly that I was afraid that they would hurt him. I felt like the story of the suffering he had endured all alone were written in his eyes.

I was rendered speechless. It was the first time I'd ever seen such crazed eyes.

"……You…"

he whispered hoa.r.s.ely. Marked anguish was visible on his mien as he worried if I was an illusion, but desperately wanted to believe otherwise.

——He really was alone all this time.

I crawled closer to him as he furrowed his brows in pain.

"It's okay."

He stiffened up cautiously. I wanted him to relax, so I touched his large hand that was still tightly gripping his sword. His shoulders jerked. He wasn't calming down at all.

"I'm alive. And I'm right here."

I was lost at what I could say to get him to trust me. He had probably devoted himself to fighting monsters, piling up one cruel experience after another, while watching the revenants, who had once been human, in his loneliness. It was my turn to take up that role now.

I silenced the alarm bells in my heart and smiled. I think I might have stiffened up a bit.

"I'm not an illusion. I'm human, just like you."

The look in his eyes changed with what was almost an audible click. An intense emotion welled up from within him——like a dried fountain that had been turned on once more. His face twisted and he let out a small groan. He trembled slightly once and turned away as if he was ashamed of himself.

"It's okay; it hurt……to be alone all this time, right?"

I found it troubling that I was about to cry too for some reason. I felt a painfully profound sorrow from him.

I felt like I'd fall deep into solitude just by brushing upon it. I squeezed the man's hand.

His large and warm hand, which was covered in wounds and moist with blood.

The man slowly raised his head. His face was filled with fear and agony. Transparent drops of liquid suddenly covered his moon-colored eyes. Tear after tear flowed down his tanned skin. He groaned once again while biting his lip.

I got up to my knees in a panic and placed a hand on his moistened cheek.

"Don't cry. Please, don't cry."

I felt like my heart would get crushed just by watching him cry while clenching his teeth.

The man let of his sword, which he had been tightly holding on to, and held me as if he was clinging to me. His embrace was so strong that I almost couldn't breathe. His loneliness slowly permeated into me. But, I was sure that he was hurting more.

"Oh, um…"

He was warm enough that I was worried he might have a fever. I ended up clinging to his hard chest, and I found myself strangely fl.u.s.tered despite the situation.

It was like someone who was drowning was clinging onto me. The man continued to weep silently. He pressed his cheek against my head and caressed my shoulders and back over and over again as if he was making sure of what he was feeling. ……I understand why you're doing it, I really do, but if you keep touching me like that…!

But I couldn't do something as cold as pushing away someone who was crying. I endured it despite my panic and let him do as he wanted. Eventually, I lost the ability to tell if it was my heart that was beating so furiously or if it was the man who was trembling. It was all so crazy that I felt like my breathing would grow ragged any minute now.

It was Eru who saved me when I began to grow dizzy.

The man noticed Eru clawing at the earth and growling in displeasure and abruptly looked up.

"Uh, umm…"

I said quietly with my eyes still closed. I really wasn't in the state of mind to look up at him.

"Oh, um……I'm sorry."

The man returned to his senses and released me in a hurry. I felt a little lonely as his warmth gently disappeared.

"Huh? Eru!?"

I was pulled backward all of a sudden. When I turned around, I saw that Eru had bitten onto my sleeve and was frantically pulling me back closer to him.

"What's wrong?"

Eru only released my sleeve after he had dragged me a decent distance away from the man.

I guess that my loyal bodyguard didn't like the man very much. After glaring at him in obvious intimidation he nuzzled against my knee like he wanted to be spoiled. Yeah, I mean it's cute, but still…….

"Oh, right. Let me treat your wounds."

I wanted to give Eru, who had played the star role in getting us away from the monsters, some water too.

The man casually wiped away his tears with his fingertips and smiled a faint wry smile. Eru kept his eyes glued on him.

"Eru, stop, don't threaten him like that."

Eru sourly looked away in a huff when I cautioned him. Yeah……

I checked through the contents of my bag although I was still worried about Eru. Olin had said that he had prepared everything I'd need, so I was curious about what was inside.

"Oh, thank goodness."

My water bottle had been refilled. I opened the lid, placed my hand in front of Eru, and slowly poured water into it. Eru peeked up at me once and licked the water up.

He looked like he'd had enough after just a few mouthfuls. Did he not need that much water to begin with? Or maybe he was just holding back?

I gave up trying to get Eru to drink more water after hesitation for a little while and offered my water bottle to the man. I laughed as he tilted his head to the side in confusion and urged him to drink. He politely gave me his thanks and accepted it. I checked through the rest of the luggage while he drank. Olin had prepared more things apart from what was in my bag. Let's see, a change of clothes? Or something that looked like it, at least. I had to admire Olin's level of preparation after seeing that there were clothes that were too big for me too for some reason. Had Olin predicted that this would happen?

Otherwise, there was also a sack of bread, a small package, and a leather waterskin. To be honest, most of it was stuff I didn't know how to use. Perhaps the man would know if I asked him?

I wondered if the leaf-like package had medicine inside of it. It smelled a bit like traditional Chinese herbal medicine.

"I wonder if this'll work for external wounds……, take this."

I gave the man a change of clothes, something that looked like a towel, and the package too for good measure.

"……You don't mind?"

He looked down at the things I handed him before modestly looking back up again.

"I don't. Besides, I don't really know how to use it."

He hesitantly opened the small package. Then, he immediately looked back at me in surprise.

"Isn't this Furon powder?"

Yeah, I have no idea.

"It's a valuable herb that's not easy to get ahold of."

Oh, so I was right —it was medicine.

"Well, use it."

He looked back at me with a complicated expression that betrayed his amazement at my light-hearted reply.

"Just who are……no, may I please inquire as to who you are?"

he asked, correcting both his facial expression and his tone of voice.

I decided to treat his wounds first before answering his question.

Evidently, you used the powdered herb called Furon powder by mixing it with water. We didn't have a suitable container to mix the medicine in, so he used a st.u.r.dy-looking leaf that we found instead.

After mixing a pinch of the dark green powder with water on top of the leaf, it turned into something with the viscosity of potato starch and increased in volume. The medicine became all the more pungent, perhaps because it had absorbed the water, causing me to subconsciously scrunch up my face.

It would stop the bleeding if your applied enough of the paste on your wounds. The man taught me how efficacious the medicine was and that it would even cure deeper wounds in only a few days.

I applied the medicine on him despite that he had tried to hold back at first and wrapped cloth around his wounds in the lieu of bandages.

"You have so many scars……"

I gasped. He was covered in several large scars that patterned his st.u.r.dy body like a clumsily embroidered handkerchief. Old scars and new ones. Both his body and his soul were covered in countless inerasable scars. My mood naturally dropped as the thought occurred to me.

"……I hope these robes fit you."

I had him change clothes after I finished treating his wounds. The clothes that he had been wearing were so worn that I didn't know what to do with them and smelled horrible because they had been drenched in blood.

The man looked calmer to a degree, as if he was feeling refreshed, after changing. And, though I hadn't put it to words, I was honestly starting to feel hungry. When was the last time I had eaten? I couldn't get a sense for the pa.s.sage of time.

We fried the bread-like food that was hard and light in color from Olin over the fire. It puffed up like mochi and increased in volume.

It was a little lacking to only eat that, so we also had something that looked like raisins on the side.

……Actually, I disliked raisins and dried persimmons. Which was why I only had one and gave the rest of my share to Eru, while I only ate the bread. Eru seemed to like it.

We finished our simple meal and shared a short moment of peace around the fire.

The man, who was sitting a little away from me, looked at me with a serious face that told me that he had a mountain of questions he wanted to ask. I, too, had a lot of things that I had to learn about this world from him.

But, for some reason, I felt more awkward than I had when we had first met.

It was because he was being weirdly formal.

"You know, I'd be happier if you acted normally around me like you did before……"

I should be the one who was polite toward him instead. He was older than me no matter how I looked at it. I wonder how old he is? He had a mature air about him, but he looked quite young when he smiled.

"May I ask you for your name?"

The man asked with inquisitive eyes as he upheld his courteous att.i.tude.

"It's Hibiki. Hibiki Mishima."

He fell silent with a strange look on his face. I'm sure my name sounded unusual to someone from this world.

"Er, so what's your name?"

"My name is Louie Marvell."

It looked like he was on his guard again. It was a little depressing.

"Excuse me, but you have quite the unusual name…… Where do you hail from?"

"I'm not telling you."

The man……Louie was rendered speechless when I answered while purposefully looking away. I continued,

"I'm not gonna talk until you start acting and talking normally."

Sorry, but I wouldn't be able to handle it psychologically if the stiff formalities continued.

——I won't be able to be open with you that way, Louie.

The thought whispered itself in my heart.

"But……are you not a princess of high social standing?"

Louie looked around hesitantly and drew in a leg closer to himself.

"A princess!?"

I was completely taken aback by his unexpected image of me. Just how had he come to that conclusion?

I wondered if he simply had extremely poor eyesight before it dawned on me.

"……Is it because of my clothes?"

I looked down at myself in a hurry. The clothes that I had been changed into in heaven were certainly eye-catchingly gorgeous. But there was a simple reason as for why I hadn't notice it until now.

The garments that Olin and Silvai had worn were much more flamboyant. And they had also been wearing so many ornamentations that you could hear it when they walked.

Now that I had taken another look at myself, I realized that my clothes might look a little too extravagant for a world on the brink of destruction like Evelier.

I had a delicate, sand-colored ornament on my ear and I was even wearing a pendant that was strung together with little jewels.

I also had a bracelet with a complex pattern to it. Its fretwork design, too, was inlaid with jewels. Even I, with my untrained eyes, could tell that it was expensive. I finally began to panic. Just how much was all of this worth?

My actual clothes consisted of a tunic made of smooth fabric. It was the type of tunic that was held together by an obi sash, like a j.a.panese kimono. Its long sleeves didn't bother me because they were comfortably light.

The men's clothes that I had given Louie weren't that different from mine. The only real difference was that his didn't have the sleeves.

"Do I look like a princess to you? That's one scary misunderstanding."

Did this world really have princesses that wore dresses and princes and n.o.bility?

"However, I cannot say that you look like the average village girl……well…"

Louie grew fl.u.s.tered because I had glared at him a little. I mean, he was still talking all formally and everything.

"I don't have any social standing, you know."

"You don't……?"

"I'm not a princess or a village girl; I'm just a normal girl."

Louie looked a little confused by my flat refusal.

"Do you mean to say that you are a commoner? However, is your appearance not closer to that of royalty?"

I shut my mouth and kept my silence. Louie finally let out a soft sigh after I outlasted him in our short-lived staring contest. This time, he asked,

"can you explain what you meant?"

Yep, much better.

I flashed him a grin and told him the story that I had made up hurriedly on the spot. I couldn't just tell him everything as it was. Besides, if I told him that I came from a far-off land called j.a.pan from another dimension and that I was here in this world because I'd met two literal G.o.ds, he'd probably think that there was something wrong with me.

I felt a little guilty about lying, but I turned a blind to it because there wasn't anything else I could do about it.

I told him that I was from a really, really far away country that was closed off to the rest of the world. I couldn't tell him what country it was because of certain reasons ——actually, I just couldn't think up of a name—— and I was here to investigate how the world had begun to break down after a natural disaster had occurred on the orders of some important n.o.ble. I used to travel with an attendant, but I had unfortunately been separated from them and was currently in a pickle because of it.

——Argh, I'm so bad at lying!

Louie looked obviously suspicious. I guess it was a stretch to think he'd buy such an inconsistent story to begin with.

"And so, there's no real distinction between social ranks in my country. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they don't exist."

"There are no social ranks?"

Louie said in amazement as he looked increasingly more suspicious.