CHAPTER 6
T-t-this has to be a mistake. Y-yeah, it's a mistake. I-I'm misunderstanding things. Why? Because it's impossible for those two to be here, in this world! It has to be a mistake!
I-I admit I was shocked, nervous, and in disbelief seeing Sonia and Cris. What the hell are they doing here?!
Am I hallucinating?! I want to believe this is just a mistake and some wizard or whatever cast an illusion spell to trick me, but this feels too real! Arghhh! My head hurts! I don't understand any of this!
"A-are you really them?!"
"Dani!" Sonia says, excited… with the same expression she always used to greet me.
Sonia jumps on me and hugs me.
I hate her so much, I don't want her touching me. I don't know if you're the real Sonia, but I think you are. If you were an illusion, whoever read my memories to create this would know I hate Sonia with all my heart. What would they gain from this?
I don't know.
"I thought you were dead!"
"Hey, get off me."
I push her gently, because she's still a girl, and even though she cheated on me, it doesn't mean I should treat her badly. My respect for women is still in me and will stay until I die.
"Huh? W-what?"
"Don't touch me… Ugh, right, you're here… Arghhh! I don't understand anything!"
I step back from her quickly. This is too weird; my heart can barely handle it.
Are they really them?! Am I not being attacked by illusion spells?! Arghhh! God, I don't understand what's happening at all!
"Why are you here?!"
"W-we don't know. We went into your house to look for you, saw the rope hanging in your room, touched it, but for some reason, it shocked us, and a light came from the rope. When the light disappeared, we appeared in a forest," Cris says.
N-no, no, no, no, no, no, no. N-no… Please, no. Let him be lying. N-no, please no. Please, God, not this!
I ruined my stay in this Kingdom by defying the King, putting Sara and Alex's lives in danger! I messed everything up!
I have to escape this Kingdom while being chased by the King's guards, maybe even adventurers, and I can't, mustn't, and don't want to kill them. They're just doing their job; the only one responsible is the King, forcing them to do it.
So many problems are chasing me, and two more just got added! Arghhh! Cris, you're my best friend, but I hate your sister! I know she was my first love and my first and only girlfriend, but every time I see her, I feel nauseous and want to vomit because I can't get the image of Sonia kissing that idiot out of my head.
And they've probably already had sex, considering how many times Sonia offered her body to me, and I always rejected her.
At first, I felt guilty about it, thinking that if I'd had sex with her, she wouldn't have cheated on me, but I reflected and realized it wasn't normal for her to offer her body so many times, considering I always rejected her and explained my reasons.
In other words, Sonia offered her body because she felt guilty, and she felt guilty because… she was cheating on me!
Arghhh! Damn it! She wanted me to have sex with her after she'd had sex with him to feel less guilty, but she never cared that I'd be having sex using the same damn hole that idiot used before! I absolutely refuse to be someone's second option!
"D-Daniel, I…"
Sonia tried to take my hand, but I stepped back again.
"I told you not to touch me. Never touch me again."
"Daniel…"
I don't care if your eyes fill with tears, and it's not even worth holding a grudge against you. It's not worth living a life full of hatred, so I'll just ignore the issue and pretend you don't exist, at least for a while… Time… Arghhh! I can't waste any more time!
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" I say nervously.
God, please, I need your help!
"I need answers…! Huh?"
I-I get a call. S-someone's calling me… Please, God, help me.
"Thank you!"
I pull out my phone and answer. Thank you for hearing my pleas, God!
"They ended up in that world because a small portal connecting your world to this one is still open. The portal will disappear in a few days, but they can't go back. Don't tell them what's happening; make up an excuse. And I won't give your friends magic; I can't help you anymore. Goodbye."
"But, sorry for saying this, but it's your fault! You left the portal open!"
"It wasn't me, Daniel; someone else did it. I just found out. I'll investigate. Goodbye."
He hangs up, and I get more nervous than before. What do you mean someone else did it?! Is some evil God trying to screw up my life?! Trying to delay my plans?! Arghhh! More problems in my life! My adventure's just starting; don't be so harsh on me!
"Shit, I'm screwed! Arghhh!"
"Tell us what's going on, Daniel! Where are we?!" Cris says.
"Daniel, they're coming!!" Sara shouts.
Sara arrives with the carriage, and Treis is pulling it.
"Let's go, the King's guards are on their way!" Sara says.
"Damn it!"
I can't waste any more time; I'll deal with them later!
I go into the house for the box and whisper to my grandma.
"We can't tell them the truth; don't say you're my grandma."
"What are they doing here?"
"I'll explain later."
I grab the box and put it in the carriage.
Ugh… Goodbye, house; I'll always remember you as the first property I bought with my own money.
Goodbye, village; thank you for welcoming me. Thanks to you, I met Sara, and thanks to her, I got a ton of spells on my first day in this world.
But now I have to leave, and I don't know when I'll be back. The King's crazy; he's lucky I'm a good person and didn't kill him! How dare he challenge an adventurer who can kill a demon in one hit?! You're definitely an idiot, King! One day I'll come for you! For now, I'd rather avoid putting my grandma in danger. I'll deal with you personally later and handle the problem at its root.
"Is that a unicorn?!" Sonia says, shocked.
Sonia's shout snaps me back to reality, and I sigh. We need to go now; I can't waste more time in my thoughts.
My grandma and Rem get into the carriage, and I take Cris's hand.
Sonia disgusts me; I won't hold her hand.
"You'll have to come with me; I'll explain what's going on!"
"Yes!" Sonia says.
"This makes no logical sense!" Cris says, scared.
You're telling me?! A God or some kind of monster capable of traveling between worlds is trying to ruin my life! I'm the most scared one here!
I slap myself. Come on, Daniel, stop wasting time!
"Dani?"
"It's nothing."
Sorry for worrying you, grandma, but I needed a bit of pain to calm down.
We get into the carriage… Alright, we're ready.
"Let's go, Treis! As fast as you can, please! I'd appreciate it!"
Treis starts running, and I hold on to avoid getting knocked around. The carriage shakes and jumps a lot from the speed, but we have to endure it for a few minutes at least, until we're far from this place.
And if they chase us, I'll go out and face them myself while you escape. I'm faster than Treis flying, or so I think, so I'll catch up after defeating them… Huh?
I look down… Sonia put her hand on my arm… She's touching me again…
"Tell us what's going on!" Sonia says.
I remove her hand from my arm.
"Sonia, this is the last time I'll ask, and I'm begging you. Please, please, don't touch me again… I'm begging you…"
… Huh? W-what?
I look down… The liquid I felt on my hand is… my tears? Am I crying?
I'm… crying… Crying.
I-I thought I could handle it, act tough, but it wasn't enough to forget what she did to me.
So many years of friendship and love, thrown away because of her damn lust.
D-damn it… Damn it! Why did you do that to me, Sonia?!
"Dani!!"
Sorry, grandma.
"I know you're mad at her, but don't hit yourself! It's not worth it!"
Sorry, grandma… I was about to lose control and hit her; that's why I hit myself in the face, to stay in control and not let anger take over.
Sorry for that, grandma… I'm sorry.
… My nose is bleeding.
"That was very immature of you, Dani," my grandma says, starting to clean my nose with a handkerchief.
"Sorry."
I know the mature thing is to forget Sonia and not make a big deal out of it, but grandma, it's hard for me to get over her so quickly.
We've known each other practically our whole lives. She was my first love. My first kiss. My first date… She was the love of my life, the third woman I loved most, after you and my mom, who died giving birth to me.
Sonia always put a smile on my face with her presence, her kisses, her touches, her words… With her being.
But she cheated on me… The woman I loved so much cheated on me… She cheated…
"She cheated on me…"
"I…"
Cris covers Sonia's mouth to stop her from talking to me. Thanks, Cris; I don't want to hear her excuses.
"Sister, please, shut up! Daniel, please, first explain the situation; we'll deal with the cheating issue later. The most important thing is knowing why we're in this place!"
Yeah, I know. You deserve an explanation, an explanation I can't give 100% because God forbade me!
I think up a story for a few seconds… It needs to be convincing… Hmm… Oh… Hmm… Maybe yeah… Yeah, it could work, at least temporarily… Got it.
"The Daniel you knew was one of my alternate or parallel selves. When he tried to kill himself, I made the rope work as a portal, and his body merged with mine, becoming one body, I guess you get it. A fusion. When you touched the rope, the portal was still active, and that's why you're here."
I-it doesn't make much sense, but I think it'll do.
"S-so you're not Daniel?" Cris says.
"Yes and no. I'm Daniel, and at the same time, I'm the Daniel of this world. From now on, I'll take care of you."
"A-another world?" Rem says.
Ugh, now I'll have to answer more questions.
I turn to them. Rem and Sara look shocked, their bodies trembling with excitement, and they get way too close to me.
"Amazing, you're from another world! That explains a lot! It makes sense!" Sara says.
"What's your world like?!"
"That's why I don't know anything about this world. My memory was replaced with the other Daniel's, and I only remember telling the other Daniel what I did, then we merged, and I forgot my whole life. Now I only have the memories of the Daniel from the other world."
"What is this world?" Sonia says, pulling Cris's hand off her mouth.
I still hold some resentment toward her; it'll fade with time, so I need to be patient. Even though I hate her, Sonia deserves answers, especially since it's my fault they're here.
… My fault?! They broke into my house without permission, so they're partly to blame too! 50/50 blame!
Ugh… My head hurts from all this stress.
"I'll explain later; we need to escape."
"From who?" Cris says.
"The King."
Damn you, King, you just ruined my peaceful life in this world. If I'm right, the demi-humans aren't the bad guys, but I'll find out what's going on first. Besides, why waste time fighting them when our enemies are the demons? Idiot, you'll just be wasting lives if you keep pushing for war! Our enemy is the demons, idiot!
… What if the King is a demon in disguise? The possibility's pretty high…
"Alex!!"
Uwaaah! Sara, don't scream so suddenly! You almost gave me a heart attack!
Sara grabs my right arm.
"We forgot Alex! If they find her, they might kill her!" Sara says.
You're right, Alex isn't here! I completely forgot about her because I was wasting time thinking about my problems! Arghhh! I'm an idiot!
"Shit, keep going; I'll be back!"
I prepare to leave. Alex, I'm sorry. I hope I make it in time.
"What are you doing?" Sonia says.
I don't have time to explain.
"Arches Nexus!"
I fly off at full speed.
Please, God, I hope I'm not too late.
•
•
Seeing Daniel fly off, the siblings had completely different reactions.
"He can fly?!" Sonia says, scared.
"Amazing!" Cris says, eyes sparkling.
Daniel's grandma watches Sonia for a few seconds and then sighs, deeply disappointed.
"Why did you do it, Sonia?" she thinks.
•
•
(POV - Daniel)
I got nervous flying, with everything happening to me, but I took a deep breath and sighed to calm down.
Daniel, you need to relax. Everything will be fine; just have faith.
You defeated Sandro, the best adventurer in the guild. If you could do that as a newbie, you won't have problems with the rest. Just don't let your guard down.
"My story makes no sense, but they bought it."
I got lucky… But my story doesn't make any sense… I need to come up with a better one or improve the one I have.
Or I could just say it's a private matter I can't talk about because some God would kill me… Yeah, that could work too.
… Alex… Hmm… Should I involve her…? Yeah… The King could use her to hurt me… I need to get her.
I'm so sorry for dragging you into this, Alex; I never imagined the King would be stupid enough to make an enemy of me! Arghhh! How can someone so stupid hold such an important position?!
•
•
Minutes later, I arrive at the poor village where Alex lives.
"Where is she?"
I look for Alex and find her saying goodbye to her family.
Her family's in danger too… But…
I look to my left. Hundreds… I'd even say thousands of people are gathering at the castle.
And I see the men from this place saying goodbye to their families.
Did the King order the Kingdom's people to gather to capture me that fast? Wow, wow. How did they get to the castle so quickly? Is there a teleportation platform or a similar spell? I'll find out later.
Anyway. Alex's dad is probably going to look for me too.
If I leave them here, they could be killed for being the family of Alex, one of my companions, but… what if I kidnap her? I can't leave without Alex; they'd definitely use her to lure me, but… what if I pretend to kidnap her?
If Alex kicks and screams, the people in the village might think I kidnapped her, and that rumor will spread until it reaches the King's ears. I doubt he'd do anything to her family, as they'd have no importance to me, only Alex.
I don't know if it'll work, but it's the best option. I can't take them with me; it'd be too much weight and slow me down, giving archers an advantage. And if I fly too high, it'd be dangerous—if one of them falls, I wouldn't be able to catch them due to the weight on my body, and if it takes too long to reach and catch them, their body would take damage and die… Die…
That's right, I can use the spell to revive people! If Alex's family gets killed, I can revive them after dealing with the King!
I'd kill them myself to avoid them being brutally murdered, but I don't want to risk it. I can only revive people once, and the war against demons will get more intense in the future. They could die later, so it's better to save that spell for the future.
The main problem is me, Daniel, not Alex, and the King doesn't know she's my companion…
Ugh. Sorry, Alex, I'm putting your family in danger, but it's the best option… for me.
A selfish decision, I know, but necessary.
"I'll visit you often!"
I land in front of her.
"There's a problem; we need to leave the Kingdom and get as far away as possible!"
"Why?!" Alex says, confused and a bit scared.
"I pissed off the King! Are you coming with us?! You'll be safe with me!"
"Of course!"
Her family looks at me in awe, and I turn to them. Sorry for not taking you with me, but I hope you understand my situation. It's an entire Kingdom against me; I can't guarantee you'd survive if you come with me.
"Don't worry, I'll take good care of her!"
"Help me with my stuff."
I grab a box of clothes with my hands, and Alex climbs onto my back.
"Bye!" Alex says, waving to her family.
"The King doesn't know Alex is my companion, but he might find out soon. If you're in danger, say you're under the protection of Miss Rose and the adventurer Daniel. I'm sure no one wants to make an enemy of Miss Rose or me. Warn them they'll die in the worst way possible if they try to kill you. Sorry! Arches Nexus!"
I fly off. I don't know if Alex's family will be okay, but I can only worry about our safety for now.
It hurts to abandon them, but I can't risk the safety of my friends and my grandma.
"What did you do to make him mad?"
"For some reason, he doesn't want me to go to the country of Soular. He's hiding something; I don't trust him."
"We're going to the demi-human country?! It's too dangerous!"
"Maybe, but not yet."
There are still a lot of things we need to sort out first.
King, enjoy the time you have on your throne, because soon there'll be a new King. It won't be me; I don't have time, but I'll find a better option for that position, and if you refuse to give up power… I'll kill you. I won't lock you in prison; I'll kill you. Why? Because I'm sure you're working for the demons. You're a demon, or you're just too stupid. There can't be someone that stupid… Or so I think.
•
•
A few minutes later.
I see the carriage… Treis covered a lot of ground… He's a huge help. I was so lucky to get that spell. He's really strong and fast. The guards won't catch us.
"We're here!"
I descend and fly alongside Treis.
"You can stop."
Treis stops, and I land. Ugh, my back hurts.
Alex gets off my back and climbs into the carriage.
"Alright, let's go."
I can tell without looking directly that Sonia and Cris are staring at me; I feel their eyes on me.
I turn to them. Their looks are weird… Sonia's scared of me, and Cris admires me.
"You can fly?" Sonia says, scared, while Cris says it excitedly.
Cris is a fantasy fan. I should show him more of this world. It's a good chance to be his friend again, since officially, I'm a different Daniel to them.
"There's magic in this world; I can use flight spells."
"Amazing!" Sonia says, stepping closer to me.
I hate her… And I love her… Shit… I think I still love her… But I won't forgive her… I don't like NTR. I hate NTR… I hate cheating… And I hate her.
"I'm basically the Daniel you know, and the Daniel you know is still mad at you."
"Come on, I just kissed Erick; it's not a big deal. It was a dare; I lost a bet. Please, you have to believe me."
… I'm 100% sure it wasn't just a kiss… But I don't want to know more.
"To me, that's cheating. Never touch me again."
"But…"
"Please, shut up. I don't want to hear your excuses. And if it was just a kiss, I don't care; it's still cheating to me. The moment you pressed your lips against his, we were done. Got it?"
"Daniel, I…"
"I'll say it one last time. Got it?"
"… I… I didn't mean to hurt you."
"… Yeah… I definitely don't want you to touch me ever again in your life."
You disgust me.
Cris steps closer to me.
"Daniel… What's going to happen to us?"
"You can't go back to your world. You'll stay with me, or you can leave if you want. I warn you, this world is very dangerous."
"We'll stay with you!" they both say.
… Ugh… More dead weight… Sorry for calling them that, but it's true… They'll just slow me down… Well, Cris is my best friend; it'll be fun to have adventures with him… But Sonia… Ugh… That girl's going to be a pain… It hurts to see her… She cheated on me… And I can't forgive her.
I pull out my phone and turn to Sara.
"Do the kingdoms help each other?"
"Only when it's about planning army attacks; otherwise, no."
"Is there a good kingdom around here? A trustworthy one? Or do we need to escape the country?"
"There's one that doesn't fight against the demi-humans."
Hmm. I see. Wow, wow. Maybe that King's a pacifist. It's worth a shot.
"What's it called?"
"It's the Kingdom of King Finder. He's the kindest King I've heard of… Though, honestly, I've never seen him; I've only heard good things about him. But it's too calm and peaceful compared to other kingdoms, so it's a boring place."
… I guess people in this world love battles. A warrior race, huh?
I look up King Finder's Kingdom on the map… Hmm. Here it is. It's really far… But with Treis's speed, I think we'll get there in no time… One or two days of travel.
"I found it, but it's far. Hope you're ready for a long trip. We'll only stop for bathroom breaks or to sleep."
Treis starts talking.
"I know the way; we'll get there by dawn."
Wow, wow… It won't take that long. I thought it'd take a week.
"Wow, wow. It'll take a whole day to get there?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
Treis is a living being; he needs rest too.
"Don't push yourself too hard; we'll rest at nightfall."
"Thank you so much."
"No, thank you."
Sonia and Cris look scared, trembling with fear. Fufu. Surprised to hear a unicorn talk?
"The unicorn talked?!"
They're really going to be a problem.
I have to protect them… My workload just increased.
God, my head hurts so much.
So many problems in one day. Everything got complicated.