Chapter 1:
The Granddaughter's Isekai Redemption
Not like I read that much of them, but I'm feeling a little envious of protagonists in modern isekai stories that had a goddess explaining how the world works and gave them some cheat class powers.
Because all I got….
“AAAAAAHHHHH!”
….was screaming as I'm falling down the sky while crystallized in a stone and unable to move, like a meteor would. Oh well, at least I'm not buck naked or something. That would be embarrassing. Yet, I also noticed that I don't wear my suit that I last remembered wearing before I got transported to this meteor pod thing. I couldn't move from below the neck, so it's not like I could confirm my suspicions, but it looks like I have much longer hair than my usual shoulder-length black hair put in a bun.
Is there no God or anything in this world…? I pondered like a random atheist awakening to questions, as I hoped at least this frozen rock would keep me safe when I touched the ground.
Except it broke into pieces right when I could see the end of the fall, a forest of tall, foreign trees. In exchange for gaining the freedom of my limbs, I would be freefalling to my death, or so I thought as I flapped around my arms in a desperate attempt to awaken the ability to fly.
And so, I crashed to a nearby tree, screaming even louder than the sounds of crashing. I expected myself to break a limb or two, but as my clothes held me, hanging from the branch as if I was a silly comedic American cartoon character, I realized one thing.
“Huh? It didn’t hurt at all….”
I blinked in confusion as I observed my own self. As expected, long curly strawberry blonde hair spouted from my hair instead of my natural black one. Now that I have the leeway to notice, my outfit was one of a white fantasy robe with accents of pastel pink and gold.
It feels like I’ve seen such an outfit before arriving in this world. Not like I am a cosplayer who has cosplayed this kind of outfit, though I have been interested in it once or twice– putting aside my desire to conform to normalcy, I gave up going for it as a hobby immediately upon realizing how pricey it could’ve been.
“Where have I seen this….” I pondered, but suddenly, I could hear a loud curse word I couldn’t quite explain in my own language from a young boy-like voice.
“What the heck?!” At least, the next words yelled by the voice is something I could comprehend.
I turned around to the source of the voice, and saw a blonde man with pointy, long elf ears. He’s tall and his hair is short, but his face is so feminine that I’d believe he’s a girl if only it wasn’t for his hair and flat chest. The man was holding a leash that led to a big, fluffy calico cat that seemingly is carrying his luggage.
Wait, big fluffy calico cat?!
“I want to pet that cat!” I blurted out without thinking, reaching my hands to the calico cat. Or at least, attempting to, but instead I kicked the man on the face. The man screamed another swear word I didn’t notice that I couldn’t tell was a curse word if it weren’t for the tone he spoke it, before he seemingly materialized a magic staff from his bare hands and poked the me that was hanging from the tree with said stick.
“Who are you and why are you in the forbidden part of the forest?!” He yelled, and to be honest, I don’t have any answer for that. Should I just go with my old name? Or is that the role I’m playing in this fantasy world has a name of its own? I tried to dig my memory deep for an answer, and suddenly I blurted out a name.
“Angelica….”
While I couldn’t remember much aside from that name, I seemingly could recall hearing the name from somewhere in my past life. Wait, is it still considered a past life if I didn’t die first to get to this world?
“Huh. Like you’re allowed to name yourself that if you aren’t having the qualification of a Mage Hero, liar.”
“Alright, just call me Arika then.” I sighed. I let myself be the adult compared to this seemingly immature, swearing elf boy. “Before that, could you help get me down first? There’s a giant kitty needing my pat”
“Don’t tell me you’re here just to chase my Cheshire…”
“Oh, is that what you called that big fluffy cat there? So wonderland-ish.”
“I don’t get what you're talking about…”
Swear words and giant cat aside, it seems like my usual language could be understood well by the denizens of this world.
“Well, I’ll explain later, so please help me?”
I did my best with my sparkling eyes. He’s still a boy anyway, especially if he’s really an elf– they have different kinds of lifespan than humans, which means there’s a huge chance he’s still immature in elven terms compared to me, who had been living on my whole 28 years of humanity. I don’t know about myself in this world, but at least I am still mentally 28.
The elf sighed heavily.
“Fine.” He finally agreed, as he pointed his staff towards the branch. I thought he’s going to use some kind of levitation magic and put me off the ground that way, but instead—
“Wait, that’s—”
“Clench your teeth!”
—He weaved his magic to form a fireball, pointing it to destroy the branch where I was hanging from. I screamed as I fell from the tree, face down. It didn’t hurt as falling from the sky didn't before, but I was still surprised enough to complain.
“Is that even the right way to get someone off the tree in this world?!”
“Look. I have no other choices.” The elven boy huffed proudly as if he was patting himself in the back. “Now that you’re down, explain yourself— Hey!”
It was too annoying and stressful to deal with him, so I ran to the giant kitty and patted it. It purrs adorably with my pat, as it snuggles itself to meet my palm. I squealed so hard in happiness that I didn’t care when the elf boy screamed an unknown swear word again.
“Kitty, kitty~ You’re so big but you’re still a kitty to me~” I hummed happily, caressing the fluffiness with my whole body. It has been months or even years since I feel this sort of bliss that I could’ve just fallen asleep right on the fluffiness. If I knew going to an Isekai meant I could pet such a big, friendly cat, I would’ve searched for ways to go there since the beginning….
“Ack! Rui, why do you even act friendly to her?! You’re a proud Cheshire, you’re not usually like this—” The elf boy gasped as if he noticed something. “...Your wounds… It’s closing down fast…”
“Eh, I have wounds?”
“You didn’t even notice?! Wait, don’t tell me…”
The elf boy gasped as he pulled my hands away from the fluffiness all of sudden, causing me to blush a little in surprise as well as frowning in being separated from the fluffiness. I would've protested if it wasn’t for the fact that his expression grew pale in disbelief. He once again said that local swear word, though in a totally different, deeper tone than yelling at me before, and stared at me with his fierce pair of blue eyes.
“Um… what’s wrong?”
“Did you come from the sky?” He asked, pointing at the skies above as he threw back my hands that he took. His fierce stare still bothered me, but there’s no harm in answering him truthfully.
“Yes…. sort of?”
I mean, I did fall from being trapped in a meteor kind of thing just before. Didn’t he even hear that going on before he found me? I thought elves had strong hearing with how long their ears could be, and I was being pretty loud….
“So that loud sound is… It can’t be….”
Oh, he did hear me fall, after all. I nodded, just wanting to get this over with and fluff that fluffy large cat he called Rui just now. But it doesn’t seem like he would let me go that easily, because the boy once again swore under his breath as he pointed his staff at me who was trying to sneak a fluff at Rui.
“Eek! Sorry, I won’t be fluffing your cat without permission!” is what I blurted out at him, one that made the elf boy raise his eyebrows confusedly. I don’t understand which one of my words confused him, but he waved his staff away to nothingness as he sighed.
“Whatever. Seems like as long as Rui’s here, it doesn't look like you’d get away.”
“Rui is this big cat’s name, right? It got a nice ring to it….”
I couldn’t really see my own face, but I’m sure my eyes were sparkling as I once again patted Rui. The existence of a big cat that is friendly enough to me seemingly cured my own anxieties and confusion of being sent to an unknown world— in fact, I have forgotten that I’m really sent to another world for a moment just now.
“It’s a Cheshire. What’s a ‘cat’?”
“Huh, you don’t know cats?! They’re just like your Cheshire, but smaller ....”
While I’m sure the elf boy’s confusion is essential to learning the nature of this world, I ignored asking more of it for a while in favor of Rui’s fluff and the boy seemingly accepted that fact rather easily as long as I didn’t run away until he finally spoke of his name.
“Anyways, name’s Rama.” Rama gently pulled the leash that kept Rui’s collar in check to make sure Rui would follow through with his command of letting him speak with me as he rolled his eyes at me making a frown upon Rui not coddling me. “Angelica… was it?”
…That’s some change of attitude. Despite rolling his eyes on me, he actually looked a little more polite in his choice of gestures now. He even extended his hands to me, and most importantly—
“Arika’s just fine. You didn’t seem to respond well to me naming myself Angelica just now, and it’s much easier to say.”
“Well, that was when I thought you were a trespasser. Now that I found out you’re not—”
“Ah, found you, Rama! Did you find out what’s beyond that sound? The Elder is worried and now they’re blaming me for sending you!”
Another elf, this time a beautiful lady with long bluish hair, popped out from behind the trees without us noticing at all until she called out for Rama. It made me wonder if she’s using some form of stealth magic to get through our notice, as I didn’t even hear any footsteps.
“Rana! Hear me out, this girl–”
“It’s Elder Sister. I won yesterday’s game, so I’m the older twin this week.”
I don’t know anything about Rana at the moment aside from the possibility that she’s Rama’s twin sister, but I do know as Rana smiled and spoke those words gently, her eyes weren’t laughing. I saw a lot of those expressions when I messed up on work in my previous world that it gave me a shiver down my skin, regardless of context.
“Elder Sister Rana, fine.” Looks like Rama isn’t giving up the ‘Rana’ bit at least, which made me admire his bravery. Rama pointed at me with his thumb and continued on, “That sound came up from her. It’s been a thousand years, but we got another meteor fall moment.”
“Oh?”
Rana tilted her head, as she curiously observed me from head to toe. It feels more than awkward that I would’ve rather run away and hide behind the huge cat— no, Cheshire— Rui, but Rana’s hands were fast enough to capture my arm with her hand, not allowing any escape moment to spare.
“Also, her name’s Angelica. But she would rather have us call her Arika.”
“Angelica? That can’t be…” Rana’s mouth was open in awe as she once again stared at me, before turning her back to talk to Rama. “....Hmm. This’ll be big. Should we really tell the town Elder about this? I mean, she’s a Blessed One who shares the same name as a Legendary Mage, there’ll be chaos…”
“You’re now asking me, Rana? After letting me become Elder’s lackey just because I lost our silly little game?”
“Elder Sister.”
“Okay, Elder Sister Rana. What do you think we should do about her, then?”
“Let’s see…”
Putting aside their sibling squabble, from their talk alone, I’m sure now that I could not have one of those ‘cozy Isekai travel’ versions of an adventure where I just abandon any responsibility or politics pushed towards me. Or at least, if I’m not careful. I probably should just sneak away from these rowdy twins, or so I thought, but as I tried to make my step back, Rui meowed loudly but I couldn’t even bear to scold the critter for its deed as I just put my pointing finger in front of my mouth.
“Hey, don’t just run away, you—” Rama said another unrecognizable swear word that caused Rana to irk as she pinched her brother’s elven ears as if telling him to mind his language.
“Elder Sister did not teach you to swear, especially to a Blessed One!”
“Ugh, shut up, Rana! If I won yesterday’s game, you’d be the younger sister anyway! Besides, are you sure my ears are the one you should be holding on?! That Blessed One’s running away at this rate!”
He may have said that, but I have no idea where or how to run away. I witnessed Rama’s magic firsthand, his fireball magic has a certain destructive power to it that would cripple me away had I not been careful. I clasped my hands in a form of giving up— if this world wanted me to have heroic responsibility, then so be it.
“Okay, okay. I won’t run away, so will you…. Twins? Calm down and explain to me what’s going on?” I said as I sighed at the sight of the childish elven twins, confusion clearly forming in my tone of words. “I honestly just got… summoned? To this world by falling down a meteor without any exposition or a Goddess to explain how this world works at all.”
The twin elves then took a glance at each other.
“Oh wow. It’s been a while since another ‘Blessed One’ arrived even within our long lifespan, I don’t think I can explain it well. You should go with it, Rama, since you’re the one who found her.”
“You’re just pushing responsibilities to me! I wasn’t one to explain stuff to a Blessed One that just arrived— I’m a fighter, an Elf with Destructive Magic! Even when it doesn’t mean much at this time of peace!”
Every word they say during their squabble just confused me even further, that I rather retreated to the back of my mind. Somewhat, what they said felt familiar to me, yet distant.
Falling down from a meteor as I start.
Blessed One.
Elves.
Destructive Magic.
It was as if I heard such a choice of setting before, even when I’m not directly familiar with it– and the fact that they didn’t have creatures like ‘Cheshire’ in it as much as I could remember. In fact, I mumbled the name once I remembered.
“...Elven’s Trailblaze Online…”
It didn’t look like the twins heard me either as they still bickered with each other, so I dig back to what I have from my memories to remember what I knew from my Grandmother’s favorite online game.
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