Mejikuhibiniu

The sheer curtain billowed by the wind, dancing above his head. In the distance, he heard footsteps running against the snowy path beyond the wooden walls, followed by giggles of children. Aromatic smells of herbs and flowers: lavender, jasmine, and rosemary filled the claustrophobic room.

“W-where am I?” whispered Leonard, putting his hand on his forehead. Last time, he remembered he was still in the forest.

“The bear!?” He jolted from his sleep, but a sudden pain pulsated all over his body, especially his right leg, as if a knife had stabbed him several times. He tried to scream, but his throat felt dry, almost tearing up. His right leg hung from the supporter attached to the wooden ceiling, and a plaster cast covered his legs up to his knees. He looked at his arms, bandages rolled over him left and right.

“It hurts as hell.” He took a long deep breath and tried to regain his composure while holding on to the bed frame.

“Ah… Right, I fell from the cliff.”

Two days had passed since he reincarnated into this world—two days of hell. It felt more like a never ending fever dream. Even after he accepted himself as Leonard, he knew he couldn’t lie to himself, his heart still longed for home. Only a matter of time until those feelings soon to be forgotten, but for now it still burned inside him and only grew stronger with each passing day.

Trip to Kyoto seemed to be a life changing trip. He was hoping it would rekindle his passion for drawing, but instead he got reincarnated. Why did he even care about it? He felt like the whole universe conspired to only laughing at him—as if this was some kind of joke.

In these last two days, he had seen unimaginable things that he thought only existed in game or fantasy—things he never thought he would ever encounter in his lifetime.

When he was younger, he used to play a lot of games, especially RPG games. A classic staple genre in which a brave hero with their companions went on an adventure in a fantasy world. Shut in himself off from the outside world to explore the unknown world. Whenever he booted up the game, a sense of adventure fired up within him, hands ready at the controller as he embarked on never-ending quests. He grinded all the skills and collected all the equipment all night. For hours, he looked at the screen until his father barged in and confiscated his console. Which led only to being allowed to play during the weekend.

One time he dreamed about it; a dream as if he was the hero of the game. It was surreal. Dopamine surged within him as he finally could wield the legendary sword for the first time. However, the morning caught him faster than he could ever hope for. He remembered telling Nozomi, his friend, about his dream. Well, Nozomi wasn't the kind of person that easily impressed by something trivial such as that. But at least he could share his dream with him; a dream that was not real and never would be. Something he was glad to experience for once, even if it just was a dream.

Never did he think he would experience it firsthand. He realized his life now was far from anything he could ever imagine. A nightmare, perhaps a correct word for it. Unlike his childhood dream, ever since he arrived here, everytime he closed his eyes, he longed for that morning to come, hoping this was just a dream.

He went back to sit upright while trying to endure the pain. His eyes darted around, and all he saw was assorted herbs, flowers and bottles of various sizes stored in the shelves to his left and right with a big round pot in the corner near the door.

“A witch hut?”

Leonard noticed the boy sleeping on a chair while his arms and head rested on the bed’s sheet. Mark of blood was still visible on his face and a bandage wrapped over his left arm. The battle must have drained both his physical and mental. He couldn’t imagine the horror on his face when Leonard fell unconscious.

“How did I survive from that fall anyway?”

Leonard soon realized the absent presence of the fairy. He checked his bag but Lilieflour wasn’t there. “Where is she up to? Did she just leave?” Not that he cared about her or anything. If that's what she wanted, then, so be it. He had no authority to dictate her, but the thought of her just leaving on her own was a bit worrying for him.

A statue stood on the nightstand to his left. A figurine of a woman with a scarf veiled over her head and holding a staff by both hands. It was delicately colored with bright colors, saved by the light from the windows.

It’s probably the deity that they worship in this world…

Now that I think about it, why did no deity come to me after I died? Like “I’m sorry Kazuya for your untimely death bla… bla… bla…, as our apology we will grant you wishes for your new life in the new world.” something like that would’ve been comforting. Instead I just instantly reincarnated as a kid, I don't even know if this a reincarnation or just I just snatched a random kid's life.

A gentle knock tapped against the wooden door followed by a sweet voice—a girl. “Echupare.” The door creaked loud as she opened it. It's the girl from the forest.

“Daig!” She waved her hand accompanied with a pleasant smile. “Ah… [You] eindent wakierte?” Unlike before, she wore an all-black robe with a red sash wrapped around her waist. She also wore an oversized red beret—too big for her head, to be honest—on her blonde, curly hair. A clear glass canister was hanging on her sash, containing a stone similar to that red gem that he used before albeit in different color.

She truly looks like a witch. Now that I think about it. If she were on Earth, she’d look more like a cosplayer in an anime expo.

She laid her backpack down on the table near Leonard’s bed. A mortar, a pestle, and a bunch of herbs were laid out on the table, ready to use. She brewed the water using the pot. Leonard could barely see what kind of herb it was. The earthy herb aroma filled up the surrounding air, it had a funky smell to it. Reminded him of the boy’s mushroom tea. Again.

Maybe she’s also a doctor… but isn’t she too young for it? Eh, what the heck this is a fantasy world anyway.

“Coeh [are you]?” she asked, turning her gaze at Leonard. “Coeh [your] piereen?” Leonard titled his head, not knowing how to respond. I feel like I heard that before— Argh… fell unconscious made me forget some of the words I learned before.

Confusion etched on her face. “Warde [is my] hanier,” she chuckled a bit. “[My] noma [is] Edel.

Did she just say her name? He coughed, clearing his throat, “Fin n-noma es Leon,” he imitated the way she spoke.

“Boedent, Leoni,” she replied.

HUH LEONI? We just met and you already gave me a nickname?

“Ah… [I heard that you are the one] redora oso,” said the girl. “[Thank you.]”

Leonard still didn’t understand what she said, but he just nodded and replied as if he understood what its meaning was.

“Dache [you] vinte alsie [I] anrat [your] porente?”

“Uh, huh.”

She touched his forehead, checking on his temperature and back on her worktable. The girl reached into her bag and pulled out a rectangle object. Upon closer look, Leonard assumed it was a book. Out of curiosity, he leaned toward the girl, peeking at her “book”. The girl took notice of his antics. She glanced at him but his eyes fixed on the wooden book. It looked like a tablet; a modern tablet, it even had a stylus to write on it.

If I could get one, I could write on it and learn this world language.

“Ah? [You] nieuse cet dest?” Leonard nodded a little, unsure about it but he was more interested in the object that she held.

Edel reached her hand to her bag again, a rustling noise ringing to his ears. She pulled a smaller tablet like a pocket notebook and gave it to Leonard. As he opened it, a playful smirk etched from his face. His eyes lit up with sparkles as he gazed down upon the tablet. A wooden tablet, or more precisely, a wax tablet.

T-this is similar to a book.

He clutched it to his chest, away from the girl’s sight. He grabbed the stylus with his right hand, observed it for a moment. It was just a stick made of wood in the shape of a pen. He wrote his name “一” as in one and “也” as in to be, but immediately erased it with the flat back of the stylus. That’s not my name anymore. Instead he wrote his name with the Latin alphabet “Leonard” but then he erased the last three letters to “Leon”.

I like the name more that way.

It was his first time writing something on a wax tablet, it felt like he held a phone tablet or a drawing tablet.

“Puekan [you] iskripe?” she raised her brows, a surprise looking at Leon passionately with the tablet. But Leon shut his mouth as his eyes remained fixed on it, writing something.

I wonder if i could draw on this, it's prolly a bit stiff compared to paper.

“[So, How are you]? [It’s okay, you can write it]." Once again she asked that question. Now he understood what she meant. He drew his leg on the tablet and added a big X on it.

I hope she will understand what I meant. He turned over his tablet to the girl.

She sighed. “Stedavi duin, tei?”

Leon nodded hard. “[Yes]!” He clenched both hands and his eyes filled with determination. Yes, my leg still hurts, it is almost unbearable! I wanted to say that!

Edel stared at him and let out a little sigh. With her, she brought a book. From the look of it appeared quite weighty and ornate, probably older than herself. A spellbook. She rested the book on the bed and as she opened the book, the dust from the book caught the light from the windows. It floated aimlessly. The book had quite a tint of musty smell coming out of it.

“Zidat stileta,” said the girl calmly as she hovered her hand over the broken leg. “[This won’t hurt.]” Leon gazed at her hand, it was shivering.

She closed her eyes, formed words that foreign to him, different from the everyday’s language. Leon looked at her; it seemed she could barely remember the incantation, and every once in a while she glanced at the grimoire for guidance.

“[OK,]” she whispered, striking his hand against each other. She pulled out some kind of small rod from her bag—a scepter. The tip of the scepter was embellished with a rounded glass like gem, enclosed within its guard on its sides fluttering out like a butterfly’s wing, and a small spike installed on top of the gem. As she shook the scepter, it slid open on both ends and extended itself into a staff. Leon's eyes glimmered in astonishment.

It's her staff from before. So she could transform it into a polearm and a scepter.

After a few tries, she finally voiced aloud her incantation. A melodious, and yet subtle chant filled the entire room—like a lullaby that could put a baby to sleep. The canister on her hips emitted a faint white glow, answering her call. Sparkling light from the surrounding slowly emerged in her hand as one. Leon couldn't believe what he was about to see. It was the first time he had ever seen someone perform a magical spell.

As the light had gathered, she tapped her staff to the floor creating a magic circle beneath them. Leon bit his lips and clenched his hand to the girl's robe. It took aback the girl, but she just brushed it off with a smile.

Leon closed his eyes expecting pain. A tingling sensation flowed through him; it reminded him of standing near a warm fireplace. It was quite breezy too even though there was no wind. Leon opened his eyes, he couldn’t believe what just happened to him. His leg felt numb, but he preferred it that way. No pain like he had before.

“[How you feel now?]”

With a big smile etched on his face, though he couldn't find the appropriate word for it, he only replied, “[I-I ok!]”

That experience alone left him an everlasting impression. Wondering if he could learn something like it.