A New Beginning - part 2

Just a moment ago. I- Yusof Harim, lost consciousness to my exhaustion after fighting against a tiger shaped dark beast. No- I don't think it was much of a 'fight', it was more a beatdown. To describe it, I was utterly defeated, got a bad injury and I would've been dead if those 2 girls didn't come and kill that thing before it got me.

So I can say I got really lucky this time.

What was that thing anyway?

Putting that aside, where am I? I'm very sure that I'm unconscious which means I should be sleeping. However it seems that I regained consciousness in this dark space, I can't see anything at all.

Is this a vision or something? I'm not too sure about it myself.

I'm me, I am still wearing the clothes from before. Except my body is dry and I don't feel pain on my left arm, I touched it to feel the wound and It's gone, that's weird. I also did not feel tired at all.

I observed my surroundings, I couldn't see anything. It's dark in all directions, even downwards.

I'm standing on some kind of surface. However I can't see anything so I don't know what this floor is made of.

I tried to move my right leg forward. It moved. It seems movement isn't restricted in this place. I proceeded to walk forward.

After a while of walking, it's safe to say that the expanse of darkness is never ending because I haven't made any discovery up to this point.

I continued walking for what could possibly be hours when I finally saw a small light in the distance.

I got so excited to have finally made progress that I started to run.

I ran as fast as I could and the light at the end of my sights became bigger and bigger.

I was able to see something behind the light. It seems to have a human body

"Hello! Hello? Where am I? Who are you?" I tried to call out to the thing behind the light, hoping it was a living being.

However, something bizarre happened before I was able to get a reply or arrive at my destination.

The small light in the distance turned into a blinding light that filled my vision. It was so bright that my eyes were hit with a painful sting and I had to close my eyes.

"Wait! Please?"

I was trying to force myself through the light. I don't know what is this is place, why is it a huge dark space, why is there a light in the distance of the expanse, why is there someone behind the light, why this blinding light suddenly appeared and most importantly.

How and Why I ended up here.

"Please! Answer Me!" I called out one last time, in hopes for some sort of answer. I was starting to lose myself in that light, something was going to happen to me shortly after.

That's when I heard a voice. A voice of a middle aged man.

"We will properly meet soon. Yusof Harim."

It was a voice that wasn't in my memory,  but it was a voice that sounded so familiar.

"Wait, Who are you-?" Right after I asked that question, the light fully consumed me and I couldn't feel anything again.

It was just like if I fell asleep.

____________

Hot.

It feels like direct sunlight hitting my skin and face.

The sound of some bugs become the only sound my eardrums are able to catch.

"Ci..cadas?" I spoke in a low volume.

I was laying down on the dirt in the middle of the forest. The only thing I heard was the cicadas. I feel really good right now because all my exhaustion is gone.

My body was still a bit wet, but it's mostly dry right now.

Well, I did sleep. Which means right now I am fully rested.

The entire time I was laying down here I haven't made any movements. I tried to stand up by first trying to move to my left without touching my left arm in order to evade the pain.

But I saw the injury in my left hand has already gone. I tried raising my left hand and moved it around. I'm sure the beast's attack severed some of my tendons and made me unable to feel my hand.

Now, I can feel my hand. All the serious injuries before might as well have been a lie because my arm is as good as new.

I then remembered something the girl named Luno said.

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"His arm! He's injured! Mira, I'll carry him! We have to bring him somewhere safe so you can heal him."

________

So the smaller girl named Mira healed me. This is really impressive, she healed me from an injury that would usually require months of medication.

I stood up and looked around.

I don't hear any stream of water, more specifically, a waterfall, which means I have moved from the location that I passed out from.

There is no one around me, and I'm in an unfamiliar location. I don't think going myself would be a good idea because I'll just get lost.

Then I might get attacked again and actually die.

I'm alone again. I was thinking of thanking the 2 girls but they're not here. I don't know if they're coming back but I hope they do so because if not I could die from many unknown things.

I looked around once again. I didn't want to take the risk of getting lost so I just sat down at the place I woke up.

"I'm just going to wait here patiently until they come." I said to myself.

It was a bad decision really because being a sitting duck in the middle of the forest is just asking to be killed. But the result would be the same if I just went on by myself too.

At least this method has a chance of them coming back.

I sat down in a cross-legged position.

I recall the moments before I collapsed.

I was in pain, I thought I could die at any time, but those two came and saved me. I'm indebted to them.

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"Sir, Hold on! We'll get you somewhere safer"

________

I remember Luno said that to me right before I collapsed, Mira also looked troubled, what sweet girls. Why are they in the forest fighting beasts anyway? I don't know.

As I was relaxing, I recall a bit about my life before I died.

____________

"Good Morning."

"Good Morning Boss." Me and Yusuke exchanged greetings, he looks a little annoyed though.

"How many times have I told you not to call me boss. It feels weird after so long."

"But you're still my boss? Why is that so wrong? Hahaha." I laughed while I joked around with Yusuke. He is still visibly annoyed.

He scratched his hair as he proceeded with another topic.

"Hnng.. Anyway, tonight our client is treating us to a drink for doing such a great job." He told me about the results from the job we did the other day.

"I think it was actually pretty sloppy."

It was actually really sloppy. Although we at least fulfilled the client's request, there were a lot of insecurities in the program.

Yusuke shook his head while he sighed. He took out a paper which looks like a handwritten note from his pocket and he handed it to me. He also opened his phone to show me the review section of our firm.

"Don't say that. I might be lazy but I put in 110 percent when I work!"

"Wow! This review is really good!"

Indeed, the review was 5 stars, the client stated that the program was flawless and easy to use. Yusuke probably did something in the last few hours before the deadline.

"Told you! Hehehe! Now, after we wrap it up for today, we'll go to the Shogun's Corner for a drink."

"Huhu.. if my boss is the one asking me out, I can't say no." I sighed in defeat and agreed to his invitation.

"I told you to stop calling me boss!" He was teary eyed now. I should really stop teasing him.

"Hahahaha. Sorry." I laughed wholeheartedly while and shortly after I feel down from laughing too much.

"Ouch.." it hurts.

"Hahahahah serves you!" Yusuke's expression from being teary eyed became a laughing one as he pointed at me while laughing.

"Ugh.. hahahahah." It's from my own clumsiness that this happened, I also shared a wholehearted laugh with Yusuke.

After work, we went to get the drink promised to us. We drank until we were really drunk and ended up waking up the next day behind the bar with a hangover. We didn't open the firm on that day.

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I laughed to myself as I recalled that memory. However, my happy expression quickly became sadness.

A tear fell from my eye.

It's because I died. I left him.

It's no use to think about him. He's not here, he's in the other world probably mourning my loss but ultimately, continuing to live a normal life.

Yusuke, my friend, I'm sorry I died and left you alone.

I'm here now, in another world, surreal right? I promised myself I'll live a better life. The only reason I was able to do that was because of you.

As I was thinking about Yusuke, I heard footsteps and voices.

"That beast was really heavy.... My back.. uuun."

"It's for the pay, Luno. It looked like it had fine quality. Old Man Mikra would love that, he might even reward us handsomely."

"Handsome reward!.. Hehehe! I'll have enough money to buy some bread later."

"Mhmm.. and I'll buy something I wanted to buy for a while, hehehe."

"Mira-chan.. you're thinking of buying bad things again right?"

"What? N-Nothing of the sort! I was definitely not thinking about using the money to buy weird potions! Nope! Definitely not!"

"Remember last time. When you bought a suspicious green potion.."

"Yes.. it was a disaster.. Aaaah, it was so expensive too.."

It was Luno and Mira. Luno is the tall girl with long black hair tied in a ponytail reaching halfway her back and Mira is the shorter girl with blue crystal reaching only her shoulders, she was also wearing 2 yellow hairpins. They were having a conversation. By how they interact, I can tell that they are really close with each other, like sisters.

It reminds me of one person I was close like that with too.

The way Luno talks is really cute and Mira talks more maturely, somewhat unfitting of her appearance .

I stood up and turned my body to their direction, revealing myself.

"Oh, Hello! You're awake." Luno noticed me sitting down and greeted me cheerfully.

"Oh.. Hello." Mira greeted me normally. Though, it feels like she was a bit hesitant. Is she shy?

Talking to girls has never been something I'm good at. However since these girls are my saviors, I have to muster up my courage to talk.

I have to at least greet them.

"..Hello"

You are as awkward as always, Yusof.

I should at least try and thank them properly.

"Uh.. Thank you for saving me. If you both hadn't come, I would've died." I thanked them while bowing my head. I truly am grateful.

"No problem. We just found you next to that beast and you were injured pretty badly." Luno replied while smiling.

"Yeah, this person urged me and I can't do anything against her.. hehe" Mira stated her reaction when Luno made her to save me and made a bitter smile.

I made a wry smile myself and leaked out a small laugh. Oh, I forgot something very important.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I should introduce myself."

I extended out my hand and introduced myself.

"My name is Yusof Harim. Nice to meet you. I am thankful that you both saved me."

"I'm Luno. Nice to meet you too."

"My name is Mira. Nice to meet you."

They both extended their hands and I shook them. I was taking a guess on how greetings worked on this world. I guess shaking hands is the correct one.

Well, I knew their names already because they spoke each other's name while they were having conversations.

They both are in directly in front of me, I observed their heights. Luno was taller than I thought, she was around my nose height. And Mira was shorter than I thought. She was just around my chest height.

I thought of something rude. I hope they didn't see through me.

The atmosphere remained normal. Phew.. it seems they didn't notice what I was thinking.

It was quiet for a while until Mira broke the silence.

"Anyway, we're here to fetch you." Mira spoke to me while observing my arm.

".. Fetch me?" I was a little confused

Mira extended both her hands and held my left arm.

I jumped in surprise from her sudden touch.

"I'm just examining your injury. Don't think about anything weird, pervert." Mira had an annoyed look on her face as she told me what he was actually doing.

"S-sorry.. It was just too sudden." I replied to her as I was looking a bit embarrassed.

"Whatever." She shrugged.

Mira continued to hold my arm and placed her right hand on my injury. She looked a bit hesitant, but she finally spoke.

"Reveal Weakness"

I felt some sort of sensation on my arm.

My arm- more specifically the exact location of my injury turned black and a black aura seeped out of it.

"Wh-What is this?" I asked in surprise.

My confusions kept piling up since I arrived here. What is this? The beast's scratch on me left this black remains leaking out a dark aura. It looks dangerous. Though I cannot feel anything.

I stared at my arm, even though I don't feel pain and I can move my hand. Anything that looks like this is definitely not something good.

"You don't know about this.. No wonder you were abnormally calm." Mira replied to my question. It seems that in this world, something like this is general knowledge.

"I'll explain later, first we need to treat this."

I had a worried look on my face. She lifted her head to look at my face and made a smile to comfort me.

"This injury is not really an extremely serious one, but it will be troublesome if we leave it like this. Don't worry. We'll treat it"

She lifted her hand and the black residue disappeared. So those things won't show unless someone did what she did.

This world is getting weirder the longer I stay here. I'll need to know more about this world if I want to survive.

"Are you both done?" Luno was already ahead as she called at us.

"Yes. We should go back." Mira calmly spoke as she walked towards Luno.

"Follow us. We'll heal you completely in the tavern." Mira looked back at me one last time as she told me to follow them.

"O..okay." I replied as I followed them out through the forest. So they were serious about healing my injury.

I don't think they needed to go that far. I'm still grateful though.

I started to walk in the direction Luno and Mira are heading.

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We've been together for quite a while and there hasn't been any sort of conversation. I wonder if it's because I'm here.

If it is then I am deeply hurt.

It is evening now. The sky is slowly getting dark. Very soon, it would be my first night in this world.

I observed my surroundings, there is literally no change to it. It's never ending trees.

My clothes are dry now, I've been walking in the heat and the threads of my clothes are pretty thin.

I was getting a little tired from all this walking. Hopefully we'll arrive at the place Luno and Mira told me about soon.

"We're almost there." Mira broke the silence to inform us we're almost at our destination.

I silently let out a breath of relief. I got tired from walking this long. I can finally rest again.

Shortly after she said that. I can see the trees around us reaching an end. It seems we are reaching the exit of the forest.

As I reached the exit of the forest. There is a single paved road to my left and right. On the other side of the road is more forest.

We took a right turn and kept walking. Further ahead, I saw the back of a cart, I can only assume it belonged to them.

"We'll be riding that to go to the kingdom. Come on, let's go." Luno told me. Ah, so it did belong to them.

As we approached it closer, I felt uneasy, like a dangerous aura. I however disregarded it as I thought it was my imagination. Not long after, we arrived at the cart.

"I'll get to the front of the cart and wake up Aner. You both get on." Luno said in a positive tone as she walked towards the front of the cart.

"Climb on, Yusof." Mira said as she climbed on the cart first.

I started to climb on the cart. It wasn't hard to climb on since there are places where I can step.

However as soon as the insides of the cart entered my vision, I was so surprised I fell down from the steps of the cart from shock.

"W-W-Why is that thing in your cart?" I blurted out my question while sitting down on the ground.

It's because the inside of the cart is the corpse of the black beast I had fought with.

"Hmm? You mean that beast?" Mira replied to me as if it was normal.

"Yes! I thought that thing was dangerous!"

"It is dangerous.. if it's alive and lands a hit on you. If its dead it can't really do much."

"What are you going to do with it?"

"Selling it, obviously."

"Eh.."

I was really shocked at how normal Mira was dealing with bringing the corpse of that beast back with them on the cart. It probably works like how hunters kill animals and sell them for money.

They seem too used to this though. This thought made me feel uneasy. However, I recall that before I collapsed, Luno and Mira did talk about how the beast would fetch a fine price.

Why are these two young girls fighting monsters in the wilderness for money?

Is this how this world works?

I don't know about their situation but having to deal with something that can kill them like this is just cruel.

I shook my head to regain myself. Mira said that if I don't properly treat my injury it would be troublesome, so I'll ask about that later.

I regained myself and climbed on the cart, I saw Mira sitting on the left side of then cart. I glanced at the corpse of the beast for a second and looked at the seat opposite to where Mira is sitting and went over there to sit down.

I turned to look at the beast again and I observed how scary it looked. I'm impressed with myself that I could survive against this.

A little while after I climbed onto the cart. Luno came into sight in front of the cart while hugging a small boar.

"Aner! Good boy! You stayed put like how we told you to! That's a good boar." Luno was getting affectionate with the boar.

"Haaa... I don't know how you can play around with that boar without feeling anything." Mira sighed as she commented on Luno's behavior.

"Ehh? Aner is just so cute! Also, if we didn't have Aner, most of our jobs would be impossible." Luno replied.

I stared at the boar and I can't help but think that the boar looked awfully familiar.

Maybe it was my imagination.

"Heh... You're right on that." Mira sighed in defeat.

"Umu. Aner, we're going back. Please help us." Luno nodded while ordering the small boar to help her..

Immediately after Luno said that, the boar named Aner leaped from Luno's arms and went into the place where animals would pull the cart. Does this boar have super strength or something?

"Grow!"

As Luno spoke some sort of chant, Aner grew into the size of a horse. He became big enough to drag the cart. I was dumbfounded and gasped a little. Luno looked at me for a moment and smiled, leaking a small laugh.

"Let's go!"

Luno ordered Aner and he started to move. This is how Luno and Mira travel.

*Yawn*

After walking for that long, my body that was in bad shape was already exhausted. I want to sleep, but before I sleep I should at least tell them.

"I'm going to sleep for a while.. my body isn't used to walking long distances"

"For someone who looks much older than us, you sure are weak." Mira scoffed.

Well I can't disagree.

I made a laying down position and I slowly drifted away as the cart kept moving.

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It has been 20 minutes since Yusof Harim fell asleep. He is sleeping comfortably and doesn't look like he is going to wake up anytime soon. There were a total of 3 people in the cart. 

Luno and Mira are the two girls who are still awake in the cart. This morning on the way back to the kingdom. Their boar Aner, who was the animal dragging the cart, suddenly panicked and ran off into the forest. They are unable to continue their journey without him so they commenced their search for Aner.

After a while of searching, they found Aner. He was running towards their direction, much to their surprise and joy. They were unsure what was going on with Aner, but they found him and that's what is most important. Just as they were about to head back, they heard demonic roars in a distance and they assumed battle stance.

They headed to the direction of the roar and saw the creature that made those sounds. After slaughtering the creature, they examined it and made the discovery that it was a creature not native to these parts of the continent, thus being able to sell for a fine price. As they were talking about the beast, they saw a man who was lying down injured, presumably attacked by the beast.

That man was Yusof Harim.

They immediately helped the man out of panic. He seems to be in a stable condition although his left arm has a serious injury.

However, during the healing process. These two girls found out something strange about the man. 

Now that Yusof is asleep in the cart. Mira who had a worried look on her face, spoke to Luno.

"Hey Luno."

"Yes?"

"Do you think it is a coincidence.. that we found this man."

"I don't know either Mira-chan. He also appeared next to a Dark Beast. We can't say that's a coincidence." Mira also had a worried look on her face.

They both stayed silent for a while. Indeed, they knew since they healed Yusof. 

They knew that he was different.

"Is this man.. really.." Mira was still baffled.

It was silent between the two for a few seconds

"I still can't forget that feeling." Mira said as she held her right hand with her left.

Luno was unable to reply anymore because she was just as surprised as Mira

Mira ceased view from her hand and looked at the sleeping Yusof.

Mira opened her mouth in hesitation and spoke.

"This man.. Has the power of the god that went silent."

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