The "Guide"

“It was an honor to be acquainted with you, Goddess.”

“Nice to meet you too, I’m— Eh?”

My face was literally a question mark when I heard what the child just said.

Like, huh??

What is he saying?

I don’t understand.

Me? A goddess?

Is this some kind of sick joke that this child is trying to pull on me?

I tried to probe more by staring at him and looking for any indication that he’s pulling a prank on me but he just remained smiling with a gentle look on his face. His innocence was child-like, exactly how a child of his age should act.

But even so, what’s with the goddess title?

“Wait, Ollie, why are you calling me goddess?”

“Because that’s what you are, a goddess!”

I put a hand on my head, then looked at him again. This kid really thinks that I am a goddess.

“I think you’re wrong, Ollie-kun. I’m not a goddess, you can just call me Ruri.”

“No! I won’t do that. How could I call the goddess by name? I’ll just call you goddess,” the boy said with a pout.

I can’t force the child to drop the title. He’s really set on calling me goddess.

I don’t understand him at all no matter how hard I try to connect the dots. It just doesn’t make sense, why was I called a goddess after dying?

Hmm, is this child maybe that… you know, that kind of thing with middle schoolers where they think they are fallen angels or something and got really carried away with roleplaying.

If it’s like that, then let’s just not think about it too much. It’s just a phase– this is coming from someone who also moved on from the said phase.

“Alright, since you’re so set on calling me that way, I won’t stop you. But just so you know, the name of this older sister is Ruri,” I patiently said to him.

“Got it! Goddess has such a pretty name~”

“How could someone so young like you have a silver tongue? Hm?”

I moved closer to him and pinched his cheeks playfully.

“Ah, Goddess, pwease let go…”

I let him go.

“Sorry, I couldn’t stop myself. Ollie-kun is just so cute.” I beamed at him. “By the way, are you alright talking to a stranger like me? Did your parents not teach you not to talk to strangers carelessly?”

“But the Goddess is not a stranger at all! This Ollie is going to be your guide!”

The child proudly huffed with an air of absolute confidence.

I just chuckled at him.

It’s strange, but I really am comfortable with this child for some reason.

“Then, you’re not the one trying to scam me are you?”

“No! How could I dare to deceive the goddess like that?!” the child firmly said.

“Alright, I’m just joking. What are we going to do now?”

“Let’s go to town! This Ollie will show the Goddess around! Rest assured, I am the best guide for the Goddess so leave everything to me,” Ollie said enthusiastically.

“Lead the way then, Ollie.”

___

Along the way, Ollie told me about the nameless town. No one knows why this town is nameless, or if it had a name before that was just forgotten. Despite the mystery surrounding the name of the town, the villagers don't seem to mind.

“There are a lot of nameless towns in this nation after all, it wasn’t that special.”

But if you ask me, it’s more strange that a place with people living in it doesn’t have a name.

From what I learned from Ollie, this town is under the rule of a kingdom. I wonder why the higher-ups didn’t bother to give it a name.

“It’s just like that, we don’t know the name of the towns, but somehow it’s just normal.”

“How is it normal?” I raised my brow in confusion.

“Uhm… I dunno how to explain this to the goddess, but things have always been like that here,” Ollie said with a worried look.

I put my hand on my chin.

That doesn’t give us much to work on.

“Say, Ollie. I was slightly disoriented earlier, but this isn’t heaven, right? What exactly is this place?”

“Eh…” Ollie scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Goddess, you’re supposed to know that more than anyone.”

Ouch. I genuinely feel ashamed of myself after hearing that.

Right, this kid thinks of me as a goddess. What kind of goddess am I if I don’t know anything about this place? To him, I must be a disappointment.

Yes, I shouldn’t try to get intel from a kid.

I am a proper adult. Ruri, have some patience.

I can ask others once we arrive in town.

Okay, let’s do that.

After finding a new resolve, I just realized that we passed by a small pond.

“This pond is said to be a wish granting pond,” Ollie said, “but of course, Goddess has no need for that kind of thing.”

A wish granting pond… that sounds magical. It was as if this was another world…

…

…

Ah.

“This is another world, isn’t it?” I muttered to myself, mostly out of shame.

“Another world…? Hmm, I guess this world is different from the place where Goddess came from so this is indeed another world to you,” Ollie mumbled.

I covered my face with my hands.

I want to cry again, this time, out of embarrassment.

My last memory was dying so I assumed that this place is heaven, but to think that I just woke up in another world… Why am I so slow to realize it?

“Goddess? Is everything okay?” Ollie worriedly asked.

“Y-yes…” I mumbled in response.

I peered at the pond just in case. This is supposedly a magical pond, truly a setting from a fantasy world.

Then, I saw my reflection on the water.

“Huh…?”

“Goddess, what is it?”

“My reflection… it’s different from what I know…” I muttered in confusion.

H-how could this be? I look nothing like how I used to, it felt like a different person was staring back at me when I saw my reflection.

That wasn’t how I look! At least not as far as I remember.

Wait, this is another world… I may have reincarnated as someone else.

I stared at the reflection once again.

Blue hair like a deep ocean, eyes that shine like gold… my face somehow still resembled my facial features from before aside from the color changes of my eyes and hair, and the disappearance of dark circles under my eyes that I got from three years of running myself to the ground.

“Ollie, what is the color of my hair?”

“It’s blue!”

“My eyes?”

“It’s yellow!”

“Very good, Ollie. Looks like you know your colors~”

I patted his head while praising him. He chuckled in delight when I did that.

It wasn’t my imagination, I indeed look different now.

This really is another world, and as much as I wanted to deny it, this world appears to be my new reality now.

Seeing myself so different from how I used to look is kind of unnerving, it feels like anything that I was before… anything that Ruri Nanashi was, it was all but a distant dream.

No, I can’t think like that. I am still myself.

Waking up in another world, it is too good to be true. I still have a lot to know about this world, and more than anything… There is no way that I just woke up here without a purpose.

I don’t know what that purpose is, but something is telling me that Ollie is going to be the key for it.

Now, if someone were to reincarnate in another world, it is normal to have some kind of purpose. Even those novels who claim to be all about ‘slow life’ somehow ended up having grand stories of saving the world or something on a similar scale.

It was to be expected.

Another world is a genre of limitless possibilities after all.

Whether you reincarnate into your favorite novel or game and claim to know everything about the story, nothing will ever go as planned.

Whether you become a hero or a villain in the story is almost always unpredictable.

“Goddess, is everything okay?”

Ollie’s voice snapped me back to reality.

“Yes, let’s go to town now,” I said as I smiled at him.

______

The town wasn’t that far from the meadow where I first woke up.

Thanks to Ollie’s guidance, we arrived safely in the nameless town.

As soon as we passed by the pond, we arrived in the commercial area where stalls were lined up on the streets showcasing various goods from foods to items.

I was in awe when I saw the place.

I was indeed in another world. Everything resembled the medieval times from my previous world. Houses are made of stone and wood, the villager’s clothes are modest and conservative, yet there is still something unique with their fashion that combines both aesthetic and comfort that is different from the historical account of my previous world.

This is another world after all, it doesn’t have to be an exact replica of what I know from my past life.

“Goddess, there is a bazaar today! Let’s go have a look!” Ollie said, full of excitement and even slightly jumping in delight.

“Alright, let’s look around. What are your recommendations, Ollie-kun?”

Ollie grabbed my hand and pulled me to where he wanted to go.

“Here, here! You have to try this, goddess!”

Ollie pointed at a stall with bright-colored ribbons and flowers. The one manning the stall is a little girl, slightly taller than Ollie.

“Welcome to our stall, would you like to try our Flower Candies?” the girl asked.

Sweets?

That word alone made my eyes sparkle. But… ahem, let’s calm down. I am a proper adult, Ollie might have recommended this because he likes sweets.

“Goddess, let’s try this…”

Ollie stared at me with an expectant look while pointing at the candies. He’s like a puppy begging for food and I can’t bring myself to deny him.

Uuu… I guess I really have a weakness for cuteness.

“Uhm… Little miss, how much is it?” I asked the little girl.

“Three copper coins for one, but just for you I’ll give every two candies for just five copper coins~” the little girl playfully said with a wink.

Look at this little girl, how could someone so young know how to do sales talk like this? What exactly are they teaching to kids in this world?

I was willing to buy some, but then I realized one important thing that I failed to acknowledge….

I have no money.

“Uwaah! That’s so cheap!” Ollie cheered. “We’ll take ten!”

As he said that, he slammed two silver coins and five bronze coins in front of the girl.

The girl didn’t take offense, in fact, she’s even happy about it.

“Waaah! Thank you for your patronage, here you go!” The girl swiftly packed the candies and gave it to Ollie. “Please come again!”

“Sure!”

Ollie opened the package and gave one candied flower to me.

“Here, Goddess!”

“Oh, uh… I’ll take it. Sorry for making you pay, this older sister forgot that she doesn’t have any money at all.”

“Don’t mind it. It’s my treat after all~” Ollie beamed at me.

I took the Flower Candy from him and stared at it intently.

“Try it, try it~”

Ollie encouraged me to try it, but I think it was kind of a waste.

It’s so pretty! It’s like glass art but with sugar instead. I can tell that it’s a flower coated with sugar, but the flower is something that I haven’t seen before, it has transparent petals that can only be seen if you squint intently.

The transparent flower perfectly coated with melted sugar made it look like a flower made of glass. I don’t think I can eat this, it’s too pretty to be eaten!

“Goddess, you don’t like it?” Ollie worriedly asked.

“Ah, no… it’s just… it’s too pretty, I think it’s kind of a waste,” I responded.

“Hmm…”

Ollie turned to the little girl and spoke, “Miss, can we have twenty more?”

“Aaah! Stop that, Ollie-kun! Don’t waste money!” I reprimanded him. “I’ll eat it! I’ll eat it now, so don’t buy more than necessary!”

Ollie looked satisfied with what I said so he cancelled his order. The girl just agreed with it without a fuss.

Why do I feel that these kids are ganging up on me even though they’re just trying to make me eat sweets?

I hesitantly took a bite on the flower.

My eyes widened after tasting it.

It has a sweet and refreshing taste, having a perfect balance of flavors from sugar and flower. I don’t know what kind of flower this is, but it has a fruity flavor like that of mandarin oranges.

“Well, did you like it?” Ollie asked curiously.

“Un! I like it very much!”

I mean it, I really like it.

Also, I can’t even imagine myself eating something like this in my past life. While I do like sweets at heart, I haven’t eaten them for a long time because I can’t spare money to buy some for myself.

Moreover, if I eat sweets when I need to do overtime at work, it will be a disaster for me. Sweets can make me sleepy after all.

“Hehe, I’m glad you like it! Come on, let’s look at other stalls!”

Ollie continued showing me around, mostly to the food and drink stalls.

I was skeptical to try them at first but at some point, I just look forward to trying the delicacies of this world. There are various flavors that resemble the tastes of foods from my past life, or at least how I remember it from how it was supposed to taste.

I actually never tasted these flavors before, like the taste of seafood, desserts, or even any kind of fruit juice. I never knew what it tasted like, or maybe I knew, but just forgot because it’s been a while since I last ate properly.

To be honest, I haven’t really moved on from the fact that I just died and reincarnated to another world.

But, even just for this moment, I was glad to have the chance to experience this little happiness.

This is an unknown place, with unfamiliar people and culture. Everything is different from what I know, but I really feel at ease being here. It was as if I was coming back to a place that I knew very well, something similar to a homecoming, if you know what I mean.

A stall at the end of the commercial street was selling books. We arrived here and decided to look around.

“Mister, do you have any novels?” Ollie asked.

“Novels?” he looked clueless at first, then somehow seemed like he had a clue. “Ah, those fancy books that ladies of higher nobility are getting into lately. Sadly, I don’t have them. Entertainment books like that are almost always monopolized by nobility.”

“Oh, that’s a shame… I want Goddess to read it to me.” Ollie pouted in disappointment.

“Goddess, huh… Little boy, are you roleplaying with your older sister?” the stall owner asked.

“No! Goddess is Goddess! Ollie thinks so!” Ollie retorted.

“Ah, please excuse him, mister. He’s just really into it,” I awkwardly apologized to the owner.

“Haha, no worries. Say, lady, I don’t have any novels in stock but if you’re interested in any book in my display, please tell me. I’ll give you a discount.”

The mister gave us a warm smile.

I wonder why people in this town like to give discounts. It’s not like they are not selling well, based on what I saw earlier, a lot of people came here to buy goods. Yet all of them are offering discounts even if it doesn’t really give any advantages to their business.

“Goddess, that book! Let’s buy it!”

Ollie pointed at one of the displayed books with a worn out cover.

“This one?”

“Yes!”

I picked it up and read the title of the book.

“History of Arcenciel Kingdom.”

“Hoh. You have a good eye! That book is one of the first edition history books of our kingdom. It wasn’t written in the common language now, but to think that someone can still read the ancient language. I’m impressed!”

“Huh?” I raised my eyebrow. “What do you mean ancient language, it’s just—”

It’s just a language that I know from my former world— is what I would like to say, but decided not to.

The second time that I stared at the title of the book, it wasn’t letters that I am familiar with… but I can still read it.

Come to think of it, the language of this world… it wasn’t a language that I am familiar with at all. But I can still understand it without problems, and I am even speaking it by default.

Is this because this is another world? Or is it an innate ability?

Another thing that caught my attention was the name of the kingdom.

Arcenciel…

“Do you get it now, Goddess?”

Ollie stared at me meaningfully.

I froze once I was hit by a huge realization.

This world is… no way…