Chapter 3: Monsters and Village

     Without looking back, Soru starts walking in the direction where the twig pointed. Reika suddenly realized his actions.

     D-Did he just use the stick as a guide on which direction we should head to!?

     Reika looked back at the burnt body of the Wyvern. Afraid that another monster might show up, she has no choice but to follow him.

     The forest was dark, with little to no light reaching its bottom because there were thick, large leaves and branches covering the sunlight. The trees, however, are taller compared to the trees they saw around them before. Deep in the forest, you can hear some crittering sounds made by bugs, the fluttering of leaves, and some faint, screeching noises. But despite all of that, Soru ignored them and continued to move forward, with Reika following him from behind.

     While following behind Soru, a puzzled Reika tries to calm her mind. She's recalling the entire situation, which is completely absurd.

     Monsters, strange creatures, magic, and such... Is this what they call another world?

     Reika looked around the deep forest. Everything is still similar to what she saw on Earth. But the monsters she saw before, including the strange flame emerging from a monster's mouth, which she assumed were sorcery or magic that could only exist in a world that defied natural logic and rules, were real and do exist in this world.

     I thought this thing was just a fantasy, a piece of fiction for otaku or fiction lovers to enjoy. I never imagined those things were real, and they do exist...

     Dang it...! If I knew that I'd arrive in this strange world, I should've read those kind of mangas so that I wouldn't be ignorant!

      Reika took a glance at Soru.

      Given his calm demeanor, I bet he read those mangas like any other boys in our school. That's why all of this strangeness wasn't completely new to him...

     While both of them continued to walk, Reika heard leaves fluttering behind her. The noise went louder as the seconds went by, which made her anxious. She tried to get closer to Soru, but got surprised when a huge blur of shadow appeared on their left side and immediately pounced on Soru.

     "Eek!" Reika screamed out of surprise.

     She stepped back immediately and tripped her feet, which made her fall to the ground. Reika jolted when the strange shadow gazed at her with its glowing red eyes. Reika realized that it was the wolf-like creature she saw before, the Rabid Wolf. 

     T-That's the wolf from earlier!

     Reika's eyes were shaking upon seeing that the Rabid Wolf bit Soru's upper body. She immediately gasped and covered her mouth.

     Suddenly, the Rabid Wolf's lower body collapsed to the ground. It was severed from its upper body, which slid on Soru's unscathed body and fell to the ground later on.

      Reika was shocked upon seeing that Soru was completely fine. She initially thought that there would be blood or guts coming out of his body, but he was still intact, as if his body were entirely made of hard materials immune to such a strong biting force. On top of that, his clothes don't have any bloodstains from the Rabid Wolf, and they weren't tattered at all. 

     Reika stood up and walked towards the dead monster. Fearing that the monster might still be alive, she remains vigilant around the corpse.

     She noticed that the wound it received looked like it had been bitten by something. What's more confusing was that she didn't see any monster that possibly attacked the monster, and only canine creatures would inflict this kind of injury.

     Reika felt disgusted when she saw the guts starting to gush out of the Rabid Wolf's torn body along with its purple blood. She stepped back when the foul stench entered her nose.

     Trying to prevent herself from puking, she looked away. On her left, she saw Soru tidying up his uniform. After he fixed his uniform, Soru continued walking like it was nothing.

     How was he unbothered by that? He almost died, yet he's not even puzzled at all!

     Reika scratched her head and followed him. She couldn't understand what was happening anymore, and tried to wrack her brains to come up with an answer.

     Remembering the time when they fell from the sky, she noticed that Soru remained calm and composed without the slightest change in his expression. Even after they managed to survive the fall with no injuries, he wasn't bothered by such a peculiar situation.

     The way he stared at those creatures who died, he was totally unfazed, despite the fact that those creatures don't exist on Earth...

     Reika remembers the time when the Wyvern attacked both of them. The fiery flames should have killed them. Instead, the wyvern was burned to death in their place, even though the flames came from the wyvern's mouth. Despite all of those, as confusing as they may be, Soru still didn't even wonder or question why they managed to survive. His expression remained the same.

     Did he anticipate that all of those things were bound to happen? Even at the time when he should've been bitten in half by that wolf-like creature. Instead, the wolf died in his place, as if it had been bitten in half by a canine creature...!

     Reika gazed at Soru. Her eyes were filled with doubt and confusion.

     Shin-kun... Don't tell me he knew something about it?

     Reika noticed several creatures similar to the Rabid Wolf from earlier lying around the ground. They share the same situation as the ones that were killed before, which is also being bitten in half and died on the spot.

     Judging from his strange behavior, I think he knew something and was hiding it from me. But blatantly assuming it isn't good, especially since I don't have any solid evidence that he had any involvement in it...

     Reika walked faster in order to catch up to Soru's pace.

     Argh! It's better if I ask him directly!

     "Ah, Shin—Oww!"

     Reika hadn't finished her question when she bumped her head on Soru's shoulder.

     Hey! Why did he stopped all of a sudden!

     "Here we are. "

     Reika wondered what Soru was referring to. Still holding her forehead, she moved around and stood beside him in order to see the place. After being exposed to the dark environment for a long time, the bright light that welcomed her was too much for her eyes. She immediately covered it with her right hand in order to block the light.

     After a while, her eyes finally adjusted to the lighting. As her vision became clear, a spectacular scene welcomed her. Reika was mesmerized and slowly dropped her hand. In front of them was a vast plain covered with wheat fields.

     The sky was light blue, and few clouds were seen above. There was a narrow path in front of them, leading to a gate. She saw smoke rising from inside the tall and sturdy wooden fences. It was a village situated between a vast field.

     While Reika was in a daze as she continued to appreciate the beautiful scenery, Soru quietly walked towards the village he had seen from afar.

     On his way, Soru was looking around the area, curious about the strange, new world in which he was now situated. He saw the golden wheat fields lying around and touched some of the ripe stalks of wheat as he walked towards the village. Reika, still savoring the gentle breeze as it passed over her face, noticed that Soru wasn't by her side anymore.

     "Shin-kun...?"

     She looked around, searching for Soru's whereabouts. When she turned her head toward the golden wheat field, she saw Soru walking on the narrow path.

     That bastard already left me..?

     "Hey, wait for meeee!"

     Reika ran towards him. Soru heard her, but he didn't turn around and just walked quietly while he followed the path to the village entrance.

     As she passed between the wheat fields, she looked back to the forest. She was astonished at how big the entire forest was. The forest, from left to right, stretched as far as her eyes could see, to the edge of the horizon. 

     How huge that forest was! Luckily, we managed to get out of it easily. If we didn't, we would have spent our night in the forest, with no food or shelter to settle on...

     Looking back to the village's entrance, she saw Soru talking to someone.

     Somehow, we managed to stumble upon this village. Maybe we could rest here for some time...

     ...

     From afar, Soru noticed there was a person standing near the village's entrance. Without hesitation, he calmly walked towards the person whom he believed was the one who guarded the entrance.

     The guard noticed someone walking towards the entrance. Due to his unusual clothes and a face unfamiliar to him, the guard concluded that Soru was a foreign man and did not belong to the village people. He moved forward and tried to confront him by blocking the pathway.

     Soru thought that the man was trying to convey something by blocking his path, so he stopped and stared at the man for a brief moment. He gave his name to him afterwards, thinking that the man was trying to identify his identity.

     "Wa ta shi wa, So ru - kun de su - "

     After he heard Soru, the guard gave him a confused look and raised one of his eyebrows.

     "ų̴͇͝?̶̩̂a̸͙̤̓̓o̸̡͓͠è̶͚̺t̴͙͚̐̒g̵͕͝ỉ̷̼̰ ̴̻͐͘n̴̖̓͘a̸̮̥̒a̶̢̙͋̊w̶̦̱͋o̵̓͝ͅb̷̨̤̉̈́ṱ̴̼̇̚ ̷̭͘t̴̮̭̚u̴͔̎y̶̨̦͘h̷̤̰͗̄ļ̷̯͗r̵͈̉̌k̷̰̀̎? "

     Soru didn't understand the words spoken by the guard and tried to speak for the second time. Reika watched them with a disappointed look.

     What a fool. Of course, this is another world. What are you expecting—that they had the same tongue as us? They didn't even know Japanese at all!

     The guard suddenly raised his hatchet, pointing in his direction. The tip of the blade shone brightly under the afternoon sun.

     "h̶̰͖̄̏ý̷͎?̴̫̿ŕ̷ͅȍ̵͙̚u̸̪̝̍ ̶̘͐ǎ̸̫̜e̴̜̅͜ŵ̶͚̫̚o̷̮̫̓"

     Soru felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Reika standing beside him.

     "Let me do the talking."

     Reika moved forward and confronted the guard with confidence. Even though the tip of the blade was still pointing at them, Reika didn't back out. Soru distanced himself as Reika tried to interrogate the guard.

     Reika raised both of her arms and randomly waved her hands in the air.

     "What are you doing?" Soru told her as he watched Reika doing some random movements.

     "I'm trying to communicate with the guard using gestures."

     Reika continued her weird gestures. She raised both of her hands in the air, followed by some fiddling with her fingers and constantly pointing in the direction of the forest. The guard was even more confused than before.

     "We.Are.Lost.We.Came.From.Deep.Forest". 

     A confused guard tightened his grip on the hatchet and pointed at her once more. Reika raised her hands and distanced herself from the blade.

     "It's no use." Soru told Reika.

     Reika sighed and lowered her hands. She was about to turn away when she heard a hoarse voice uttering words that she could understand clearly.

     "Oho, so you can speak Japanese as well, huh..." 

     Reika was shocked as she heard someone talking in Japanese.

     "H-how did yo- "

     Reika noticed an old man behind the guard. The old man was short and shaking, with both of his hands on his back. He was bald, and his eyebrows were colored white. He had a long, white mustache between his nose and mouth. 

     The guard turned around and noticed him. He was surprised at first, but he bowed his head to the old man afterwards.

     "ḏ̸̐ȃ̷̩c̸̭̏g̵̮̀ ̴͕̐ḻ̶̃!̸̨̌ ̴̱̎ḛ̵͒o̴͍̽o̶̹̊ ̷̤̈́ḍ̶̎i̸̝̒f̵̹̍a̵̩͌v̸̛͎é̵̱ǵ̶̦l̸̳̊h̷͈̀y̶̮̓ī̸͎ " 

     The old man smiled at the guarda and nodded his head.

     "ḏ̸̐ȃ̷̩c̸̭̏g̵̮̀ ̴͕̐ḻ̶̃!̸̨̌ ̴̱̎ḛ̵͒ "

     The old man glanced at Reika and looked back to the guard.

     "l̶͖̑a̷̫̔t̴̘̽i̶̜̚f̵̼͐a̸̳̓ ̸͍͒'̷̩̿ḷ̸͝ĕ̸̺k̸̼͌h̷̯̓.̸̲̓e̵͘͜ ̷̖̄ŝ̶̩o̵͓͒r̷͔̽ ̴͙͒t̵̩̒i̵̙̋c̴̙̽ "

     The guard nodded to the old man and slowly left his post. The old man stood in front of Reika.

     "Welcome, guests from afar. I'm the chief of this humble village. "

     Reika was dumbfounded as to why an old man from another world could speak Japanese so well. The old man noticed her and laughed.

     "Are you surprised that I could speak Japanese well?" The old man asked.

     Reika snapped back to her senses after hearing the old man's words.

     "How... can you speak Japanese? Does it exist on this world?" Reika asked.

     The old man scratched his beard.

     "Well, that dialect doesn't exist in this world. Only a few people knew that language and mastered it."

     "May I ask where did you learn it from?" Reika asked him.

     "It learned it thanks to my son's guidance."

     Reika was confused by his answer and asked him again.

     "What do you mean 'from your son'?"

     The old man walked past her and stared at the wheat fields in front of him.

     "You see, my son was born in a pretty normal way, but her mother and I felt that he was special. He is an active baby, though surprisingly, he wasn't crying at all. Unlike a normal baby does, he was quiet and always staring at us while we fed him."

     "Upon reaching the age of three, he uttered his first word with a word we couldn't understand. Even though we taught him how to read and write, we sometimes caught him talking to himself, repeating those unfamiliar words over and over again."

     "One night, we tried to reach him out, trying to understand his unusual behavior. Finally, he told us that he can speak 'Japanese' , a dialect or language we had never heard of. He could also see visions that he didn't know and even learned from us or from the books he was reading."

     The old man paused for a second, and continued talking.

     "One time, I asked him to teach me the language out of curiosity. After he heard my strange request, he gently smiled and told me that he was willing to teach me how to speak and even write Japanese."

     "How many days or months did you learn it?" Reika asked him.

     Upon hearing her question, the old man laughed at her.

     "Days? Months? Ohohoho!"

     "It took me two... to three years to master it. It was hard at first, but it gets easier if you master the basics. Although I'm not as proficient as him, it is pretty understandable."

     Reika glanced at Soru. She saw Soru staring straight at the man without a change of expression. She looked back and asked the old man.

     "Where is your son now? Is he here?"

     The old man lowered his head and turned around. He walked away and stared at the rice field.

     "Fumeirō... He's in the kingdom's capital now; he has some business to attend to."

     Reika fell silent upon hearing the old man's answer. The old man lowered his head and turned around. He walked away and stared at the rice field.

     After some time, someone uttered a word, thus breaking the silence between them.

     "Can we stay here tonight?" 

     Reika was surprised and noticed that the voice was familiar to her. It was Soru who asked the old man.

     This idiot can't read the mood at all!

     The old man heard Soru and turned around. He smiled a little and walked slowly towards the village.

     "Follow me. "