Lila

The girl's eyes went wide as she backpedaled even faster, her mouth opening in an ear-piercing scream.

Roger, panicking, realized he was still holding the sword and gracelessly dropped it. It hit the ground with a thud, and he raised his hands placatingly. 

"Woah, don't be scared! I'm not going to hurt you!"

'Unless you turn out to be another beast…'

The girl seemed to take everything in at once, her gaze darting from Roger to the sword to her new clothes.

Her cheeks turned red as she noticed that she was not wearing what she went to sleep in.

Roger seemed to come to a similar conclusion, and he tried to defuse the situation.

"Don't worry, I didn't touch you! As far as I can tell, everyone who comes to Avar wears those new clothes! They swap in the transportation process."

Roger didn't actually know if everyone who moved between worlds changed clothes, but he figured it was better to give her a straightforward reason.

She seemed to still be unsure of everything around her, and Roger prayed the Administrator would appear. He could use the old man's knowledge right now.

Hoping to inspire more confidence, he slowly unbuckled his belt to let his other sword fall to the ground, but the action just seemed to make the girl more afraid.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? I'll fight back you know!"

Her words tried to be intimidating, but they fell flat on Roger.

'Is she trying to confuse me? Is that what women do to make their prey lower their guard?'

Erring on the side of caution, he kept his hands raised right after.

"I don't know what you think I'm doing but I'm just as confused as you are. I only arrived here two days ago and went to sleep in this glade. When I woke up, you were right next to me!"

His words seemed to calm her a little, but her guard never lessened.

She kept a large distance between them but stopped moving backward. 

It was some progress at least, and Roger would take what he could get right now.

Giving what he assumed was a friendly smile, he tried to make some small talk.

"So, I've already said who I am, so why don't you tell me your name?"

That seemingly innocent question caused her to grow even more worried, and she took another step back.

Considering her options, however, she eventually relented.

"My name is Lila. You said we are on Avar?"

'Lila? That's a pretty name.'

"Yes, we are. Have you heard of it? I know I hadn't until I arrived here, so it's okay if you don't either."

She cocked an eyebrow, causing Roger's heart to skip a beat.

"Of course I have, who hasn't heard of the magical world?"

Roger's eye twitched at the hidden insult.

'Someone who has been locked up for years you idiot!'

Outwardly, he just tried to keep things cordial.

"I wasn't in a place to learn all that much before being pulled here. It's good that you have, though. Do you know how things work here?"

She smirked at that.

"Where did you live? The factories? And I do know how things work here, everyone worth their credits does."

'The factories!? Who does she think I am, a low-born laborer?'

It took Roger a moment to realize the truth was arguably even worse.

'I guess in this situation it would be wrong of me to look down on the cornerstone of the economy. There is nothing wrong with an honest day's work, even if it is in cramped, dirty, factories!'

"Yeah, you could say that. I worked mostly on metal sorting."

She gave him a look that told him exactly what she thought about someone doing such menial labor.

"I had thought that task was relegated to the prisons? It must be from a very impoverished region to have worked on sorting."

Her eyes darted to the side and seemed to read something invisible in the air.

"As I thought, it will take at least a day for my System to finish initializing. You said you've been here for two days already? What element and ability did you receive?"

Unsure how much to reveal, he nodded once.

"I did about a day ago. It lets me copy the abilities of dead animals."

That drew a new reaction from her; wonder.

"An ability that lets you copy others? I have not heard about one like that. Is it related to the necromantic arts? I have heard great stories of powerful magi from Avar summoning hordes of undead and using them to mass-produce weapons on Vulcan. I am curious if yours belongs to a similar elemental family?"

Roger understood maybe half of what she said, being entirely oblivious about things such as necromancy or elemental families.

"I guess? I don't really know anything about magic."

Her words seemed to douse her excitement, and she collected herself.

"Well, even if that is the case, it should be quite useful once we manage to find a nearby town and be assigned to a hunting party."

Roger cringed as he realized now would be the moment of truth.

"Well, there aren't any nearby towns, so we will have to build a shelter here. It's too dangerous to risk the forests right now, so we will have to wait until we get stronger. If we even want to find other people, that is."

She took a step forward but still seemed guarded.

"What do you mean there are no nearby towns? Is there someone else around here who told you that? They could be lying."

'Someone else? Does she not know about the introduction? Speaking of introduction, shouldn't it have happened by now?'

"No, there isn't anyone else. The Administrator told me. Have you not heard of him?"

She seemed confused by his explanation. 

"Administrator? Who is that?"

'So that isn't common knowledge after all. I wonder why? Did no one think it was important enough to tell people? Unless he doesn't usually appear? Maybe he told me because I am so far from anyone else, and he wanted to make things more fair?'

Struggling to put his thoughts into words, Roger stumbled over himself.

"Well, he is like an old man, but like a very well-dressed one. He appeared when I first came here and told me that there were no nearby settlements and that it would be dangerous here so I should prepare myself."

To Rogers's disappointment, she stopped approaching, still being a few meters away.

"I have never about anything like that. Are you sure you didn't imagine him?"

That caused Roger to chuckle a little, hoping the reaction would calm her nerves.

"Unless I secretly knew a lot more about Avar than I remembered, then I am pretty sure. I wouldn't know about abilities or the System without him."

His heart fluttered as she tilted her head in thought, her beautiful golden hair falling to the side with the gesture.

"That's odd, it must have been the System trying to balance things out by warning you off of going too far from this clearing until you were strong enough. It's not entirely unheard of for it to intervene in such matters, but I have never heard of it taking a human form, or giving itself a different name."

She suddenly smiled, her eyes locking onto Roger.

"You must be special for the System to do that, and I like special things. It means we are going to see some very exciting things, and that means the System will give us better rewards. So, what are we going to do first?"

Roger inwardly crowed at the compliment, and he realized he would do anything to feel her do so again.

'At this point, I don't even care if it is some kind of mind magic! Women are just too amazing!'

He blushed a little at her words and pointed behind her at the corpse of the tiger.

"Well, I planned to cook yesterday's kill. I haven't eaten in days, you see. Then I was going to read some of the books the System gave me."

She looked confused as she turned, muttering under her breath.

"Yesterday's kill?"

An indignified yip left her mouth as she saw the bloody corpse. She stumbled back away from it, her hand covering her chest.

"What the gods above is that!?"

Roger approached her fallen figure, hoping to stop her fall, but he was too far to do so.

"Oh, what creature is it? The System called it a spike-tailed tiger. What about it, is its body poisonous or something?"

Lila's gaze moved between Roger and the corpse multiple times as she struggled to respond.

"How… How is it dead? What killed it?"

Roger grinned at that, standing up a little straighter. Although it wasn't a direct compliment, he still took it as one.

"Why, I did of course! Who else could have in this god-forsaken forest?"