Morning

My first night at this new world was… rather unpleasant, honestly. Naturally there were no modern conveniences in this village. Beds were straw mats in a smelly hut, it was humid and the mosquitoes feasted on me.

I woke with sunrise, feeling as if I hadn’t slept at all, my body still numb with yesterday’s efforts. Even so the place was already a hub of activities, with all the women residents out and about.

According to our talk yesterday, we were probably going to set out pretty soon, but I kind of hoped we’d have some time to rest a bit more.

I put on some clothes I’d received from the villagers—frankly not so different from those I’d already programmed in, but at least better made—and headed outside. Since I woke up alone, I figured that the other two were already awake.

…They couldn’t have left without me or anything, right? Surely not.

Some of the women noticed my appearance and turned to look at me. I tried waving to them with a smile only to be met with silence.

What’s up with that? I was one of the prophesied three warriors.

After looking around a bit, I could hear Kai’s voice from nearby. He was standing near one of the houses with his back to me.

“No, it’s nothing,” he said. I realized he was talking to a person I couldn’t see at the moment, hidden by the angle.

“It’s not nothing. I would’ve died if you hadn’t arrived. I really can’t thank you enough.”

I approached them just as a familiar face—Diane’s—appeared right next to Kai and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Seriously?

“If you make it back… please come and see me again,” she said, giggling, then turned away. With her leg still injured she wasn’t too quick, but Kai remained glued to the spot, putting a hand on his cheek and thinking.

Did… did Kai actually score already when it hadn’t been even 24 hours since our arrival in this world?

I tried holding back my anger and jealousy as I approached him.

“Oh, good morning, C. Slept well?” he greeted me with a smile as he noticed me. He looked to be in a great mood, the bastard.

“Meh,” I answered. “Let’s go find Saga and get out of here.”

“What’s the rush? Weren’t you excited about all the women here before?” he teased me.

It took every bit of willpower I had to not slap or zap him on the spot.

“Shut up. We have a world to save or something,” I said, hastening my pace.

Saga was not hard to find; she stood leaned against a tree, her gaze directed toward the forest beyond the village.

She was wearing a cloak tied around her body, making me wonder whether underneath she was dressed more like the other villagers, a thought that gave me some comfort after what just happened.

“Hah, finally up?” Saga greeted us upon noticing our presence.

Near her, several villagers were arranging various supplies. In fact, those looked to be some rather hefty bags… were we expected to carry all of that? Yikes.

“Mister Kai,” said one of the older women, “we have arranged a new bow for you.” She presented it to him.

To me it looked just like his previous bow, except not dirty. I doubted even he could see the difference, but he still said, “Oh, nice. Thank you so much.” I hoped he wasn’t expecting any of us to carry his arrows and whatnot in addition to our present supplies.

“I assume you don’t require any weaponry?” asked another amazon, eyeing Saga’s blade that remained in her hands as always.

“Hah. Yes, I’m fine.”

“Don’t I get anything?” I asked aloud. “Like a fancy wand or something?”

It definitely wasn’t my imagination—everyone’s eyes there seemed to grow cold upon me mentioning that. “You are a… spellcaster, right?”

“Yeah.”

“We have no knowledge about magic,” one of the women said and left it at that. All of them turned away to continue preparations.

I frowned. “What the heck…”

Kai had the nerve to chuckle at this. “You’re outta luck, C. They’re kinda superstitious about that sort of thing,” he said quietly, tapping my shoulder.

“Huh?”

“I’ve been talking to Diane a bit.” Was this an indirect form of bragging? “They’re in awe of magic, but… it’s not in a good way. They think it’s tied to the Purge of Men and all that, you see.”

I clicked my tongue. “That’s ridiculous. It’s just another power,” I countered. “Besides, our summoner must have used some sort of magic too!”

“They don’t know anything about her, remember?” Kai countered. “Anyway, they view the summoning itself as something different. Now that you mention it, though… is Mana actually real?”

“What?”

Kai shrugged. “We only found out about her from that strange voice, didn’t we? I mean, who was that, even?”

That was… actually a good question. With everything that happened since then I completely forgot about it, but that distorted voice was the one who first explained everything and led us into this world.

Were we right to just blindly trust in it?

“You’re right… I guess the only thing we know right now is that we need to defeat the Three Warriors.”

“Yeah, so let’s focus on that. And don’t take it too hard that they don’t like your magic,” said Kai, tapping my shoulder again.

“Hah, not like it’s impressive or anything,” offered Saga, who until now was silent. “At least Kai can actually fight.”

Sometimes she was just detached and mature-looking, while at other times… she was actually kind of childish. I could almost imagine her sulking over this, which brought a smile to my face despite her barbs and my mood.

A short while later, figure approached us, barely able to walk—the village Elder. He looked even more fragile out here in the sun, an impression strengthened by one of the women holding his arm to help him walk.

“Three warriors… I have some information you might find relevant.”

I perked up. “Oh?”

“There were reports of a stranger loitering in the area—an unfamiliar woman who did not seem to be part of any tribe,” he explained. “She was last seen dragged away by some beasts.”

I immediately glanced at Kai, who returned my glance. “Mana?”

“Hmm, might be.”

“I can neither confirm or deny her identity, but if these reports are true, One must be holding her now—if she is still alive, that is,” the Elder said gravely.

Well, it was a start, anyway. Especially when thinking about Kai’s earlier doubts.

“If true, you have not a moment to spare. The three heroes—this is where we send you away and pray for your success.”

“I’m sure we’ll manage somehow,” said Kai, not sounding quite so confident.

“We’ll kill them all,” Saga said. I wasn’t sure whether to count her detached tone as confident.

As for me…

“I won’t let this chance go to waste. I’ll save this world,” I simply said.