Arika, Communication First, okay?

“Oh, you’re finally awake.”

What greeted me when I finally woke up was Rama, obviously. He poked his head on the bottom side of the bunk bed where I was sleeping, seemingly waking up before I did.

That was when I got reminded again of what I experienced in my dream— for exactly what my Grandma was misunderstanding about Rama, that I got so embarrassed that I ended up bumping my head to the upper side of the bunk bed as I raised myself up carelessly. I screamed as I did.

“Ow-ouch!”

“...You okay, Arika?!”

“I– I’ll be fine. I’m not used to bunk beds, that’s all. Hahaha…”

I forced an awkward smile that I’m sure Rama could’ve just read through, judging from how he raised his eyebrows. That was the moment when Rana barged into the room upon hearing my scream with very strong steps that could’ve been heard from inside the room.

“Lady Arika! Are you okay?! Did my useless little brother force himself on you at last?!”

“Who’s an useless little brother, you—” Rama stopped himself before he got forced to Rana’s rhythm. He matured a little, it somehow makes me proud! “It’s fine, just that Arika’s finally awake. Is breakfast ready?”

I could feel my stomach grumbling over the words ‘breakfast’. I guess I really haven’t eaten much. Too many things are going on at the same time, anyway.

“Sorry,” I mentioned, face red as I’m covering myself with the blanket they must’ve provided for me. Let alone the whole ordeal with Grandma mistaking Rama as my boyfriend in the dream space, now I’m going to embarrass myself in a whole other way, as I turned my eyes away from the twins.

Rana giggled sweetly. It seems like Rama knew better not to comment on it.

“No worries, Lady Arika! Of course you’re hungry! Let’s go ahead and eat before we talk about anything else~”

~*~*~*~

Breakfast was so casual— food was quite nice and not that far from what I knew as western kind of breakfast in my own world by the way— that I started to forget the thing I was determined to do yesterday. I wondered if it was a part of Elder’s plan, or if he just wanted me to have a taste of everyday life in this world.

Apparently, Dellney would help the Elder fix the roof– is it also thanks to her protection magic that last night rain didn’t fall over us. I didn’t even notice it was raining, somehow. That is, after we’re taking her hostage first for the Rui rescue mission— if it still would be happening. At the very least, I’m sure that Rama and Dellney would join in with us.

“So, about rescuing Rui…” I bit my lips, as I reminded myself of what Grandma said about it being potentially dangerous. Especially when Elder raised his eyebrows in disapproval once I mentioned that once again. Yet, I also reminded myself of how Grandma also entrusted me with my own choices as I found the bravery to continue. “I might have a plan.”

“....And that plan is?” Elder spoke up, as expected. His cold way of saying those words still hurts me, who used to have a small crush thanks to his looks, but it’ll be fine.

“It might be hard to believe, but I enlisted the help of someone else last night. I can’t mention who, but Rama knows. He met her.” I took a glance at Rama who was eating his bread— and choking it at the moment I mentioned it. “And if it still won’t work, I found a method to escape somehow and do as you told us to. Laying low, and not letting us get found until the rumors around the Temple calmed down.”

Elder sighed loudly as he stared at me coldly.

“...And you still planned to bring Rama and Rana to it, Arika?”
“If they are willing to. If not, I’ll go alone— nope, with Dellney at the very least, since she agreed to help me.”

“I’ll be there for you, my client, Miss Arika!” said Dellney, a little hard to decipher at first with all the salad she’s shoving to her mouth. With her horned headband choice, she kind of looked like a hungry part-goat part-human instead of an elf at that moment.

“Elder, I also—”

“Ssh, Rana. I’m talking to Arika— no, Angelica here.”

Rana tried to speak up, but Elder stopped her from mentioning anything further by a flick of his finger. I’m not sure Elder’s using his magic or not, but it sure looks like it if I didn’t want to think further.

“Listen, Elder.” I bowed to him and refused to raise my head up even when Rana told me to. “First of all, I apologize for dragging you and your family— the twins, to my own problems. I shouldn’t have, especially that I’m just a stranger from another world.”

“Wait, another world?! What do you mean by that?! I haven’t heard about that!”

“Shut the ___ up and eat, Dellney. Here’s more salad for you, as green as your hair color.”

“Mmghgf?!”

It seems like Rama is shoving some lettuce-like vegetables into Dellney's mouth as I bow. I totally forgot I haven’t told Dellney about my situation, but whatever…. What’s important is Elder’s reaction to this rather than hers.

I heard a low, deep-voiced sigh that definitely belonged to Elder, but as I tried to raise my own head, that sigh turned into laughter. A laughter I never saw of him before, that I panicked and didn’t know what to say. At least, until Elder spoke up again with a smile so bright.

“You humans— especially Blessed Ones are always like this, no matter what time. Very interesting.” Elder said with a bright smile that it’s hard to believe he was seriously judging me a while ago. “Elves, especially older elves like me, are just a bunch of bored creatures that ended up being the only sentient species that lived in this world by our lifespan. It’s a shame, since most interesting things came from humans…. such as this level of respect for us you shouldn’t have.”

“W— What does that even mean…?”

I gulped, not quite catching much of Elder’s intention. He smiled, so maybe he agreed on the mission?

“It means,” Elder smiled gently as he pats both Rana and Rama’s head at the same time with two of his hands. “I’ll leave these troublesome twins to you. I doubt they’d listen to me if I told them anything else, at any case.”

“Hooray! You’re the best, Elder!” Rana’s eyes sparkled as she hugged Elder in excitement. “This sounds so exciting, that I have to join in! I seriously would try sneaking out on my own if you said no!”

“See? She said it herself. That would’ve been bad for my heart more than letting her go.” Elder took a glance at me and I couldn’t help but chuckle. Rama, meanwhile, sighs loudly.

“It’s troublesome, but Rui is my Cheshire. I can’t let Arika take all the credit for getting him back.” said Rama rolling his eyes. “Arika surely sounded like she would pamper Rui all the time without restriction and make him fat enough to not move if she adopted him.”

“Hey, I won’t do that— I think?”

“You think?”

“Actually, I’m not sure. I think I will, given the circumstances.”

….I’m not entirely sure either since I never really kept a cat on my own in my previous world— just feeding neighborhood cats is enough since I was so busy with my job, but that sounds like a trouble I would bring myself into that I couldn’t help but agree with. Rama snorted as he listened to my agreement.

In between our breakfast laughter and chit-chats, unrelated to our main topic or not, suddenly Dellney spoke up after she seemingly finished eating her salad again. Her plates are empty.

“Okay, soooo… That’s some good display of platonic trust and affection, but I need to know what exactly we are doing with the rescue mission?” Dellney tilted her head curiously as she raised her hands. “Miss Arika, what did you use that big stone from my collection yesterday? Yeah, you paid me for it so I don’t mind whatever happened to it, but I just wanna know….”

I sighed. There’s no use hiding anything from Dellney now, she already knew too much. I waved my hand to stop Rama from shoving more veggies to Dellney’s mouth to distract her.

“I’m able to use it to meet my Grandma in my dreams. The real one behind Legendary Mage Hero Angelica that I am here right now as.” I declared as I raised myself up from the dining chair. “It’s hard to explain, but my Grandma sent me, Arika, to this world as her for some reason.”

“...Are you sure telling us, especially with Dellney here, was a good idea?” Elder raised his eyebrows curiously. His concerns are justified. But he should know much better than I am that there is only one of Dellney’s motivation, and that’s—

“Don’t worry. I paid her well enough for her to shut up.” I crossed my arms. “If she does betray us, I found a way to pursue and punish her.”

“P—Punish me?!” Dellney shrieks, seemingly in fear, before she coughed out so loud as if choking herself out of all those vegetables she ate— it really made her look pathetic…. “I… I won’t betray you guys, okay?! The front payment is already that much, I can’t back off now! Besides, if Miss Arika is right about her Gramma contacting her in her dream…”

“....That means she has become some sort of deity in our world.” Rana continued calmly before Dellney could finish her sentence. “My, how exciting. We’re the one on the side of the Goddesses now. Fufu, no wonder she has that much money and strong magic.… So much power in our hand as long as we’re by Lady Arika’s side… fufufu….”

…Rana scares me sometimes, and this is one of those moments. Looks like Rama had the same thought as his face pales and he visibly shivered. Thankfully, Elder interrupted her before anything else could be said from Rana’s rambling mouth.

“I got it. So… With the real Angelica’s divine help, you are going to get Rui, I assume?”

I nodded.

“Those stones Dellney collected as a part of the cult… Those are magic stones my Grandma let fall to this world and contain parts of her powers in this world.” I explained, carefully instructing Dellney to get the box of collection ready. “...Last time, when Dellney throws one of them in frustration, it teleported the three of us to Marconne, where I assume where some other pieces was hosted. I’m not sure if the same thing would happen again, but it’s worth trying.”

“Especially when we already had an audience with Lady Angelica last night.” Rama followed up. Rana stared at him suspiciously as if wanting to say more teasingly, but we both decided to ignore.

“Ah, the box shines! One of the stones must’ve been reacting once Miss Arika got closer— that was faster than expected!” Dellney mentioned in a panic as she opened the box. “It doesn’t happen for too long! We should hurry!”

I took a deep breath as I held both Rama and Rana’s hand before we called out for Elder.

“Okay, we’re going, Elder! I promise we’ll be back safely!”

I opened the box, picked the one shining, as I threw it up to the repairing-in-progress house, thinking of getting to Rui with Dellney, her Cheshire I somewhat learned is named Kay and the twins— Rama and Rana.

Grandma, please do help us out here—!