I'm in another world?

“…”

I’m trembling.

What do I do?

Why… why did I have to give him the sword!?

I thought handing it to him so he could kill that monster was the right thing to do, but… I forgot that guy could be a bandit! He could attack me now that he has a weapon!

And not just that! He’s way too strong!

Is it even possible for a human to throw someone like that!? I could even hear the bones of that thing snapping when he struck it!

I take it back. He’s way too dangerous, even without a weapon!

I’m dead! I’m definitely dead!

No, wait. He’s been standing there, staring at nothing for a while now, probably lost in thought. If I’m quiet enough, I might be able to slip away…

“Hey.”

“Eek!” I squealed.

No! No! No! He’s coming this way!

What do I do!? What do I do!?

Tap

Tap

With each step he takes, I feel the temperature in my body drop further and further. I try to stand up, but my legs won’t respond at all.

Lui, I’m sorry, but this is the end for me. Forgive me for leaving you alone.

The man stopped right in front of me. Seeing him up close made him look even more intimidating.

He was tall, with slightly curly black hair, gray eyes, and pale skin. Looking closely, he was actually a handsome man, but the faint lighting that reached his face made him look more frightening than anything.

His clothes were strange, too. A gray hooded jacket, a plain white T-shirt, black pants, and some odd-looking white shoes. He was covered in blood, and combined with the sword in his hand—also stained red—it gave him an even more unsettling aura.

It was like standing before a serial killer.

The man raised the arm holding the sword and brought it closer to me. I simply shut my eyes, bracing for the worst.

Goodbye, Lui.

***

Sigh

I won’t get anywhere if I just stand here waiting. I need to figure out where I am and why the hell I’m here, and the only one who can help me right now is that girl from before.

“Hey,” I called.

“Eek!”

She seems a bit scared. I guess that monster earlier was too much for her. She was even close to being attacked when she saved me.

Yeah, she doesn’t seem like a bad person, or even a kidnapper. It should be fine to talk to her.

I approached, but as I did, I noticed her skin tone gradually turning paler.

Could it be she’s scared another monster might show up? Well, I’d be scared too if I had been defenseless against that thing.

Anyway, once I was close enough to her, I tried to hand her the sword, but…

“Here… huh?”

The girl, who had been sitting on the ground, had her eyes closed while covering her head with her hands.

She opened her eyes slightly, glanced at me, then opened them fully with a somewhat puzzled look. The silence returned to the area, so I had to be the one to break it.

“Here, your sword. You want it back, right?”

No one would want to lose such a well-maintained sword just like that.

“A-ah! Y-yes! Thank you so much…” the girl said as she took the sword from my hands.

She still looked a bit unsettled, but she seemed calmer now. Good.

I offered her my hand to help her up, and after looking at me for a few moments, she accepted it.

“What… was that?” the girl asked.

What should I even tell her? I don’t even understand what the hell is going on here. I just appeared out of nowhere, fought a monster, and somehow turned into some kind of superhuman with incredible strength.

Is it even possible to explain that!?

“I—”

“N-no! Sorry! That was rude of me… let me introduce myself,” she added. “My name is Liz, I’m a novice adventurer. Nice to meet you!”

An adventurer? Like in the novels and anime I used to watch every now and then?

“Is that… some kind of role-play or something?” I asked without thinking.

“Role-play?” she asked back, raising an eyebrow.

“No, nothing,” I replied. “My name’s Naoya Fujimoto, I’m just a college student.”

“Nice to meet you, Naoya! And thanks again for helping me earlier.”

“No, no, I should be thanking you. Anyway, Liz, do you know where we are?”

I was growing more confused as time went on and things got stranger and stranger. The sooner I know where I am, the better.

“Ah, yes. As far as I know, we’re in the ruins of an old castle that was destroyed in a war about a hundred years ago,” she answered. “I came here for a mission that required certain plants from the area, and I also wanted to take the chance to look for treasure.”

A war a hundred years ago? A destroyed castle? Is this girl still role-playing?

“Ah! Excuse me a moment!” Liz said before running over to the monster’s corpse.

She began rummaging through its robe while it was still slowly fading away. What on earth is wrong with this girl?

Although, if I think about it carefully…

A monster in ancient-looking clothes disappearing into thin air. A ruined castle from some supposed war. A sword-wielding girl claiming to be an adventurer. A strange change in my physical abilities.

Even if most of it could be explained with real ruins, some kind of role-play, and the adrenaline of the moment… that monster was clearly real, and there’s no way to justify that.

Could it be that I was…?

No, it’s still too soon to jump to that conclusion.

Sigh

Just then, I heard Liz let out a sigh.

“Nothing…” she said with a dejected look. Seems her search turned up empty.

She stood up from the ground and came over to me again.

“By the way, earlier you said you didn’t know why you were here, right?”

“Yeah. I just… appeared here after going to sleep,” I replied.

At my answer, Liz nodded slightly and made me an offer.

“Then, how about coming to my place to rest?” she asked with a small smile.

“No! No! That’s too much! You also helped me, so we’re even now,” I replied quickly.

Being invited to a girl’s house like that… it’s way too sudden! I don’t even know her!

“I insist. Besides, I also threatened you and pointed my sword at you, so think of it as an apology…”

Liz’s expression gradually shifted to one of guilt and slight embarrassment. It reminded me of myself when I was younger and broke something at my parents’ house… Looking back, maybe I really was kind of a problem child.

“…Alright,” I agreed.

It wouldn’t hurt to have a place to rest after all these surprises. I might even get the chance to call someone to come pick me up… if I’m even still in the same country.

“Great!” Liz exclaimed, picking up a small backpack she had. “Come on, the exit’s this way.”

Liz dashed off energetically toward the exit. Hard to believe that just a few minutes ago she was so scared she couldn’t even stand.

I tried to keep up with her, but…

Clink

Something on the ground caught my eye. A golden pendant.

The design was rather elegant, with a sort of emblem as its main detail. It looked a bit dirty, but nothing a little cleaning couldn’t fix.

Wait a second.

“…Wasn’t this what that zombie dropped earlier?”

When I was fighting the monster, after I landed that powerful blow to its chest, something had fallen. I didn’t pay much attention at the time since I was in the middle of a fight, but I guess I could at least keep it. Maybe it’d be worth something if I sold it.

“Come on! Don’t fall behind!” Liz shouted.

“Yeah, yeah! I’m coming!” I called back as I slipped the pendant into my hoodie pocket.

I’ll figure out what to do with it later.

For now, I continued toward the ruins’ exit. The sunlight outside was so bright I could barely see anything from inside.

As I got closer to the entrance, things slowly came into view. But the moment I finally stepped outside, my mind went completely blank.

Before me stood the ruins of what seemed to have been a vast city, filled with enormous trees and yellowish vegetation covering much of the weathered buildings.

There were also animals, which would have been normal in a place like this—if they weren’t completely unlike anything I’d ever seen. It was as if creatures from fantasy had taken physical form in the real world.

Wherever I looked, whether on the ground or in the sky, there were beings anyone could easily label as myths from any culture.

“Hey, you okay?” Liz asked.

“…What is… all this?”

My mind was still blank, but little by little, one thought began to take shape.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Luckily, I still had it.

I checked, but there was no signal at all.

“Am I…?”

I had thought of it before but dismissed it quickly for lack of proof. Now there was no doubt about it.

These surreal landscapes. These never-before-seen creatures. The existence of monsters like the one I fought earlier.

Yes. It’s a fact.

I’ve been transported to another world.