Volume 1 Chapter 3 (2/2)

He blinked, similarly baffled

I remembered how Olin had kissed me in the middle of my confusion at this inexplicable situation Was I suddenly able to understand what he was saying because of that kiss?

The man stared at ht red

”Uh, u?”

The aze wavered

”Who are you?”

he asked again in a gentle low voice I was strangely impressed about how nice his voice was

”Erm, we've met once before?”

Did he remember?

”Yeah——in the Forest of Warz”

Warz? I'd never heard of it before, but I ignored it for now

I composed myself and looked back at him

”Are you……the last person of this country?”

He abruptly straightened up as if he'd been shot at when I asked

Deep solitude exuded fro lit them frohtly that I was afraid that they would hurt hi he had endured all alone ritten in his eyes

I was rendered speechless It was the first time I'd ever seen such crazed eyes

”……You…”

he whispered hoarsely Marked anguish was visible on his mien as he worried if I was an illusion, but desperately wanted to believe otherwise

——He really was alone all this time

I crawled closer to him as he furrowed his brows in pain

”It's okay”

He stiffened up cautiously I wanted hihtly gripping his sword His shoulders jerked He wasn't cal down at all

”I'ht here”

I was lost at what I could say to get hiup one cruel experience after another, while watching the revenants, who had once been human, in his loneliness It was my turn to take up that role now

I silenced the alarht have stiffened up a bit

”I'm not an illusion I'm human, just like you”

The look in his eyes changed as almost an audible click An intense emotion welled up from within him——like a dried fountain that had been turned on once roan He trehtly once and turned away as if he was ashamed of himself

”It's okay; it hurt……to be alone all this tiht?”

I found it troubling that I was about to cry too for some reason I felt a painfully profound sorrow from him

I felt like I'd fall deep into solitude just by brushi+ng upon it I squeezed the man's hand

His large and warm hand, which was covered in wounds and moist with blood

The man slowly raised his head His face was filled with fear and agony Transparent drops of liquid suddenly covered his moon-colored eyes Tear after tear flowed down his tanned skin He groaned once again while biting his lip

I got up to my knees in a panic and placed a hand on his moistened cheek

”Don't cry Please, don't cry”

I felt likehi his teeth

Theon to, and heldthat I almost couldn't breathe His loneliness slowly per more

”Oh, um…”

He arht have a fever I ended up clinging to his hard chest, and I found ely flustered despite the situation

It was like so onto me The ainst ain as if he was……I understand why you're doing it, I really do, but if you keep touching me like that…!

But I couldn't do so I endured it despite my panic and let him do as he wanted Eventually, I lost the ability to tell if it wasso furiously or if it was theIt was all so crazy that I felt like ed any minute now

It was Eru who saved row dizzy

Thein displeasure and abruptly looked up

”Uh, umm…”

I said quietly with my eyes still closed I really wasn't in the state of mind to look up at him

”Oh, um……I'm sorry”

The man returned to his senses and released ently disappeared

”Huh? Eru!?”

I was pulled backward all of a sudden When I turned around, I saw that Eru had bitten ontome back closer to him

”What's wrong?”

Eru only released ed me a decent distance away from the man

I guess that laring at hiainst my knee like he wanted to be spoiled Yeah, I mean it's cute, but still……

”Oh, right Let me treat your wounds”

I wanted to give Eru, who had played the star role in getting us away from the monsters, some water too

The ertips and slued on him

”Eru, stop, don't threaten him like that”

Eru sourly looked away in a huff when I cautioned him Yeah……

I checked through the contents of h I was still worried about Eru Olin had said that he had prepared everything I'd need, so I was curious about as inside

”Oh, thank goodness”

My water bottle had been refilled I opened the lid, placed my hand in front of Eru, and slowly poured water into it Eru peeked up at me once and licked the water up

He looked like he'd had enough after just a few in with? Orback?

I gave up trying to get Eru to drink more water after hesitation for a little while and offered hed as he tilted his head to the side in confusion and urged hiave h the rest of the luggage while he drank Olin had prepared e of clothes? Or so that looked like it, at least I had to ad that there were clothes that were too big for me too for some reason Had Olin predicted that this would happen?

Otherwise, there was also a sack of bread, a se, and a leather waterskin To be honest, most of it was stuff I didn't kno to use Perhaps the man would know if I asked him?

I wondered if the leaf-like package had medicine inside of it It smelled a bit like traditional Chinese herbal medicine

”I wonder if this'll work for external wounds……, take this”

I gave thethat looked like a towel, and the package too for good measure

”……You don't mind?”

He looked down at the things I handed hiain

”I don't Besides, I don't really kno to use it”

He hesitantly opened the se Then, he immediately looked back at me in surprise

”Isn't this Furon powder?”

Yeah, I have no idea

”It's a valuable herb that's not easy to get ahold of”

Oh, so I was right —it was medicine

”Well, use it”

He looked back at me with a coht-hearted reply

”Just who are……no, may I please inquire as to who you are?”

he asked, correcting both his facial expression and his tone of voice

I decided to treat his wounds first before answering his question

Evidently, you used the powdered herb called Furon powder byit ater We didn't have a suitable container toleaf that we found instead

After reen poater on top of the leaf, it turned into so with the viscosity of potato starch and increased in voluent, perhaps because it had absorbed the water, causing me to subconsciously scrunch up my face

It would stop the bleeding if your applied enough of the paste on your wounds The ht me how efficacious the medicine was and that it would even cure deeper wounds in only a few days

I applied the medicine on him despite that he had tried to hold back at first and wrapped cloth around his wounds in the lieu of bandages

”You have so many scars……”

I gasped He was covered in several large scars that patterned his sturdy body like a clumsily embroidered handkerchief Old scars and new ones Both his body and his soul were covered in countless inerasable scars My ht occurred to me

”……I hope these robes fit you”

I had hi his wounds The clothes that he had been wearing were so worn that I didn't knohat to do with them and smelled horrible because they had been drenched in blood

Therefreshed, after changing And, though I hadn't put it to words, I was honestly starting to feel hungry When was the last tie of time

We fried the bread-like food that was hard and light in color from Olin over the fire It puffed up like mochi and increased in volume

It was a little lacking to only eat that, so we also had so that looked like raisins on the side

……Actually, I disliked raisins and dried persiave the rest of my share to Eru, while I only ate the bread Eru seemed to like it

We finished our simple meal and shared a short moment of peace around the fire

Thea little away from me, looked at me with a serious face that told me that he had a mountain of questions he wanted to ask I, too, had a lot of things that I had to learn about this world from him

But, for some reason, I felt more aard than I had e had first met

It was because he was being weirdly formal

”You know, I'd be happier if you acted normally around me like you did before……”

I should be the one as polite toward him instead He was older than me no matter how I looked at it I wonder how old he is? He had awhen he smiled

”May I ask you for your name?”

The man asked with inquisitive eyes as he upheld his courteous attitude

”It's Hibiki Hibiki Mishi+ma”

He fell silent with a strange look on his face I'm sure my name sounded unusual to someone from this world

”Er, so what's your name?”

”My name is Louie Marvell”

It looked like he was on his guard again It was a little depressing

”Excuse me, but you have quite the unusual name…… Where do you hail from?”

”I' you”

The man……Louie was rendered speechless when I answered while purposefully looking away I continued,

”I' normally”

Sorry, but I wouldn't be able to handle it psychologically if the stiff formalities continued

——I won't be able to be open with you that way, Louie

The thought whispered itself in my heart

”But……are you not a princess of high social standing?”

Louie looked around hesitantly and drew in a leg closer to himself

”A princess!?”

I was coe of me Just how had he come to that conclusion?

I wondered if he siht before it dawned on me

”……Is it because of my clothes?”

I looked down at ed into in heaven were certainly eye-catchingly gorgeous But there was a simple reason as for why I hadn't notice it until now

The garments that Olin and Silvai had ereso many ornamentations that you could hear it when they walked

Now that I had taken another look at ht look a little too extravagant for a world on the brink of destruction like Evelier

I had a delicate, sand-colored orna a pendant that was strung together with little jewels

I also had a bracelet with a con, too, was inlaid with jewels Even I, with my untrained eyes, could tell that it was expensive I finally began to panic Just how much was all of this worth?

My actual clothes consisted of a tunic made of sether by an obi sash, like a japanese ki sleeves didn't bother ht

The iven Louie weren't that different from mine The only real difference was that his didn't have the sleeves

”Do I look like a princess to you? That's one scary ”

Did this world really have princesses that wore dresses and princes and nobility?

”However, I cannot say that you look like the average village girl……well…”

Louie grew flustered because I had glared at hi all for

”I don't have any social standing, you know”

”You don't……?”

”I'irl”

Louie looked a little confused by my flat refusal

”Do you mean to say that you are a commoner? However, is your appearance not closer to that of royalty?”

I shut h after I outlasted hi contest This time, he asked,

”can you explain what you meant?”

Yep, much better

I flashed hirin and told him the story that I had made up hurriedly on the spot I couldn't just tell hi as it was Besides, if I told him that I came from a far-off land called japan from another dimension and that I was here in this world because I'd met two literal Gods, he'd probably think that there was so with me

I felt a little guilty about lying, but I turned a blind to it because there wasn't anything else I could do about it

I told him that I was from a really, really far away country that was closed off to the rest of the world I couldn't tell him what country it was because of certain reasons ——actually, I just couldn't think up of a naun to break down after a natural disaster had occurred on the orders of some important noble I used to travel with an attendant, but I had unfortunately been separated from them and was currently in a pickle because of it

——Argh, I'!

Louie looked obviously suspicious I guess it was a stretch to think he'd buy such an inconsistent story to begin with

”And so, there's no real distinction between social ranks in eration to say that they don't exist”

”There are no social ranks?”

Louie said in aly more suspicious