Chapter 138 138: Another Another World

Before the plummeting voices crashed into me like a ballistic missile, I ran. In one direction, with the descent of sundry screams echoing right behind me, I ran. Until I believed myself to be out of the impact zone―or rather, until I heard an abrupt shout from somewhere I couldn't pick out amidst the coinciding wails. "Ful, Esen del Magna...!" Snapping my head around as that firm voice pierced my ears, I noticed someone standing on the ground who wasn't there previously―a breathtaking woman with peculiar features that didn't suit a human body, extending her arm towards the falling entity. In the subsequent moments, they who were falling... "...!" The atmosphere glistened and danced around them, twisting, turning, contorting every split-second until a tremendous translucent bubble was coaxed out of seemingly thin air to surround them. As that magical bubble enveloped them, all screams were silenced as if muted to my ears, and it made its gradual descent towards the ground, its downward velocity slowing more and more as it dropped. And, at the moment that it reached inches before the ground, the bubble 'popped', dematerialising instantly back into the surrounding atmosphere, leaving whoever had somehow made a safe landing to sink to the floor. Gazing at that spectacle from start to finish, I was struck speechless. "You fools! Always causing such trouble; I ought to have let you fall for this mess!" The woman who presumably saved the group proceeded to chastise them, blatantly furious. "..." Now that the situation had seemingly resolved itself, I could get a better look at all of them, and as I thought, they weren't all human, or at least it didn't appear to be the case. The aforementioned 'saviour'―a tall lady with dull, straight purple hair that reached down to her hips, and oddly-enough, wearing an extravagant gown of a similarly noble colour to my own Christina-Rasa servant wear. As her look was one that sort of matched my own, at least in the past, it caught me by surprise for a second, but upon realising the rest of her, that sense of affinity was swiftly washed away. ―For adorning the tip of her head were two ridged, girthy horns that curved into themselves so that they could be described as annulus, like a spiral. I guess the closest resemblance they bore was to those of a ram, but rather than growing out to the adjacent sides, that woman's protruded right out the top of her head, extending upwards and presenting a much more baleful air. Furthermore, from the backside of her body, a long, thick tail extended, padded with hard scales of the same dull purple, of which several patches also covered certain areas of her skin. Purely from the fierceness of the tone and expression that accompanied her, I felt in an instant a sense of extreme incongruence. Just feeling the powerful presence she commanded that assaulted my natural senses, it took considerable effort to lower my guard―all that resounded within my mind around her was an alarm that screamed danger, and I found it almost impossible to tear my gaze away. Instinctively, I realised one thing. '――That thing doesn't belong in 2-star Difficulty.' But as my heart was almost stopped by that menacing beauty, the others went on, seemingly unnoticing my presence. "Ohhh, but but-- but Leilaaa, I-I was only trying to protect Master, really, I really was...! F-Fefe is the one who injured herself and fell! Not me! Promise, I promise!" Of the four that fell from the sky, the first one to respond to the first woman was a girl with features that reminded me immediately of a golden retriever; calling out in a whiny tone to the first woman, who I could only assume was something like a dragon, I couldn't yet tell if she was also dangerous or not. I suppose, for someone like me who doesn't have that sort of battle-hardened experience, being able to recognise someone as a threat with but a glance is something that shouldn't happen under ordinary circumstances. Alas, that notion only brought along a greater sense of foreboding. "Whaaaaaat!? Again, it's 'Feanya', and don't blame me, ya mangy-- Ow-ow-owieee! S-someone help meee, it huuurts...! Masterrr...!" Responding to the dog girl, the individual corrected as 'Feanya' cried. She appeared to be a girl with wings in place of arms, feet that were closer to the talons of a bird than anything else, and a great many feathers that covered certain areas of her body. That person, a creature I in fact did recognise, was quickly identified as a harpy. Aside from those three, there was one more girl, the features of a cat adorning her body and with long, silver hair. For whatever reason, she remained silent, albeit with a deep scowl on her face. Finally, there was a boy, someone probably a few years younger than myself judging purely by appearances, with black hair and eyes. 'Found him.' Thinking it might be risky to suddenly approach out of nowhere as a stranger, I decided to stand still and wait until they noticed me, watching as the guy who was obviously the Protagonist got up and rubbed the back of his head exaggeratedly. "E-everyone, are you okay? That was quite a fall, huh...?" "M-masterrrr...! Please help me..." "Feanya?! Oh no, what's wrong?!" "Fefe's hurt, Master! It wasn't me, see! Not me! Look!" Seemingly hellbent on proving her own innocence, the blonde dog girl made a sad look and lifted one of the harpy girl's wings. "Owowowowowow...!" "See!" "C-Cassie, drop it! Please don't touch her when it hurts!" "Okay!" I almost couldn't help but facepalm when I watched that scene, more like a comedy skit than anything else. Eventually, even though I waited, it didn't seem like any meaningful progress would be made, so with a sigh, I walked forward. "Excuse me..." "...!" "Stranger!" Seeing the cat and dog girls be the first to draw their attention towards me, I gave them a quick smile and a nod before continuing my approach... "―Pause." But not for long before I was abruptly blocked in my way by the dragon girl, her arms crossed. "Human. State your business." "..." Even though she wasn't taller than me, her presence was undeniably intimidating, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. "Ryoko, calm down! We're not in the mountains anymore, you don't have to be so on guard..." Thinking desperately for an excuse before she did anything, my time was cut short, and thankfully, before I had to come up with something to say, the Protagonist had me covered. Glancing back at him briefly before returning her menacing gaze to me, she slowly spoke as if wanting to argue. "But if a strange human suddenly comes out of nowhere and approaches us, is it wrong to question them?" "Didn't you promise to put the effort in to at least give other people a chance? I'm human too, remember. And we're already not far from the city, so it isn't strange to meet someone here. Are you going to act like this whenever we meet anyone new outside the city?" "...No. Hmph. Fine then." Pouting, the girl called Ryoko gave me a scary final glance before whipping around and walking off to the side. "Phew... Hey, sorry about that. Ryoko's only just left her home for the first time, so she can get very wary of strangers, haha!" Observing the Protagonist's face as he then started talking to me, I shook my head and put on a smile. "No, don't worry about it. I heard you have someone who's injured?" "Oh, that's right! I-I'm sorry to bother you, but is there anything you can do to help? I swear, we'll do everything to pay you back." Casting a glance behind him at the harpy girl, still whining on the ground next to the dog girl, an idea popped into my head. "Actually, I think there might be something I can do." Saying that, I could feel the smile plastered on my face grow just a bit wider.