Standing before me was a very pretty woman with electric golden and lush silky hair, cascading down to waist level without anything to tie it up.

Her face looked androgynous in a favourable way, as if she came out of a fashion magazine. Having that pinkish eyeshadow above her lush eyelids accentuated her viridian green and astigmatic-looking eyes on her porcelain white skin. Her aristocratic eyebrows made her womanly charm rise up even higher.

She seemed to be wearing a green garb made from advanced forestry, but the fact that the leaves had not covered her ample breasts on her chest, made me a gulp my saliva unconsciously.

Her sharp and pointy ears on her sides were a telltale sign that she was indeed someone who looked like an elf...

...Cosplay?

...was I just sexually frustrated? What the hell was I doing describing her so definitively on my own...

It must have been that woman earlier, she made me feel a little itchy without having an outlet to expend that frustration...!

She wasn't particularly displeased with me staring at her breasts all the time, but she smiled gently instead and held my hand softly with both of hers.

"My name is Trisha, an elf residing inside of this forest.

But I'll leave the more detailed self-introductions for later. It's not safe here, you should come with us for now. We have accommodations back in our village."

She led me slowly away from the riverbank, as I allowed myself to tag along without any resistance.

We? Is there more than one elf? Village?

Walking while being led around the forest for about 5 minutes, Trisha suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Walk through here while holding your breath and my hand. You're about to pass the invisible barrier of our village. If you don't do it right, you can't go through the barrier."

A barrier? That sounds like magic~ This place, ... have I really stumbled into a fantasy world?

I nodded cautiously and shut my eyes, while going past the barrier.

"You can open your eyes now, we've passed through successfully. You've entered the domain of the elves in the Shmizula Forest.

"T-this place..."

I opened my eyes to a whole new scenery.

It was truly picturesque, as if I've stepped into a vivid painting of nature.

The ethereal sight of colourful flora and fauna encapsulated within the barrier made it seem like this place was a beautiful glass dome that did not interfere with the outside world.

There were various plant and animal species that I could not recognize just from their beauty, but there were some that I could occasionally recognize.

There were some antelopes with crystal blue antlers hopping about, and some spectacled bears with white fur doing their own thing. Some people in the distance were combing the fur of one of them, giving me the impression that many of these animals were tame.

A few owls were seen perched onto some of the nearby tree branches, staring peacefully at us.

The plants and trees as well... looks like they were very well maintained, judging from the intricate trimmings on them.

There was a Banyan tree in the middle of the settlement. It looked like the settlement's gathering area. I could see some people walking around in that open area below the tree. It was a very big and majestic tree akin to a World Tree; Various glittering roots were drooped down from the top of the tree like ropes. Looks like it isn't an ordinary Banyan tree either, it has differently and brightly colored gem-looking objects embedded within the entirety of its tree trunk. It gave off a very colourful glitter, even within this beautiful dome of nature.

There were some weirdly-shaped plants as well, but they fit the overall aesthetics of this place. The levels of forestry the elves had put into their residence filled me with genuine respect.

Some rows of Amla plants that bore fruits which I didn't recognize, were situated near each hut.

Heh, they grow their own food too...

It looks like people live here, in those small wooden huts with straw roofs.

I stared at the co-existence of living people and nature together, and was extremely amazed.

The serene environment slowly made me close my eyes to enjoy the feeling of nature.

I feel like I wouldn't mind living my days away in this place...

"Do you like what you see?"

Snapping out of it, I looked back at Trisha nervously and looked downwards while replying.

"Y-yes... it is... a very beautiful pl-place..."

"That's good to hear~"

I was mesmerized by Trisha's smile, as her hair bounced around as she nodded happily.

"B-but, first thing's first. Where are we right now? Do you have a map or a compass?"

"Cam...passu?"

"Eh?"

"?"

She doesn't know what a compass is? Uhhh...

"T-then... do you have a map of this place?"

"We don't have one, because paper is expensive. But I can tell you where we are situated at. We are located at the west side of the continent, at the border between the Betruvian Empire at the left and the Luna Empire on the right. This is the Crystal Dome that we live in. Beautiful isn't it, our place of residence. We've built everything ourselves~"

Yep, doesn't seem like Earth.

"Y-yes... it's pretty..." I replied unenthusiastically at my future prospects of this seemingly different world.

...

"You're pretty."

"?!"

...Eh? My thoughts wandered too much... ...Ahhh!!! My thoughts leaked out of my mouth!!!

She's gonna call me a creep now definitely!

...

?

"Oh you, you're good at making jokes. Coming from a man as dashing as you, couldn't be any more superficial... We are... extremely ugly beings... That said, even though I know you're joking, you shouldn't say that in front of me again or I'm not going to be held responsible for my resulting actions! Same goes for the villager girls here, you should keep that in moderation okay?"

It..it was brushed off as a joke? I-I'm dashing? She's ugly?! Who's joking now...

Nevertheless, I am in someone else's territory now. I need to act like them to avoid causing trouble. I just need to stay here until I have figured things out around here. Having offered a roof above my head really helps out alot, I shouldn't be too unreserved when the residents request me to do something for my freeloading.

Confused, I nodded my head at Trisha's words.

Trisha smiled, with a tint of blush remaining on her cheeks. It seemed that my earlier and unexpected compliment had still left a deep impression on her.

Am I just unexpectedly good with women?

...No, there's no way... not a chance in hell.

No one even approached me in school, that's how unpopular I was.

What was I even remotely thinking about... something like a harem full of elf girls...

That sounds too good to be true.

As Trisha led me further in with our hands connected constantly, I could begin to make out the details of the settlements and the environment. There were much more farms now.

Looking even closer, the plants and trees appear even more vibrant and abloom. There seemed to be a common aesthetic that most of these plants and trees had gems embedded within them, or growing out of them.

Were they precious gems?

The animals were on the other hand, more fiercer looking than I had expected.

Uwaaahhh... I'm not really good with animals...

We had just past by a farm-looking area, with another elf girl dressed similarly to Trisha. She was tending to a number of gem-studded sheep which were grazing on colourful grass when she noticed her friend.

As Trisha acknowledged the greeting from the girl when she waved enthusiastically at Trisha, the girl noticed that I was tagging along silently behind her.

Noticing my gaze, she accidentally dropped the Shepherd's crook in her hand and covered her mouth while blushing with a look of disbelief.

The sudden metal clang that came from the metal stick with a hook hitting the ground, suddenly caused the sheep to go in a state of panic.

Ah, she looks troubled... Shouldn't she be fully focused and taking care of that right now, why is she still glancing at me while she's working? ...

Just as I instinctively wanted to go over and help the shepherd girl, Trisha immediately tightened her grip on my wrist.

"L-let's get a move on? Remember when I said moderation?"

"But... but... it's technically my f-"

"How many times would you expect to stop after this instance? You're my esteemed guest for now, and things like that will occur very frequently with you around so don't think too much about it okay?"

"Ah... alright then..."

We passed by the farms and some shabbily made huts, and came across elves who continued to stare at me with interest, sometimes becoming too absent-minded that they messed up with what they were doing at that time.

There were some elves that followed after us but Trisha chased them away quickly.

Seems like Trisha calls the shots around here. She must be very high up in position among the elves huh... Her attire is also somewhat more dignified-looking that the others...

But I sensed a discrepancy in this village.

Where were the males? No matter where I look, there's only female elves around here?

We soon arrived before a very gorgeous and big cottage. Although it wasn't anything incredible compared to the modern world I lived in, it still felt like a luxurious place to live in as compared to the rest of the cheaply-made huts around.

The large cottage was colored in white, probably made of marble from the shine of it. In fact, almost everything except the roof, which was made of a greyish-colored wood, were made with marble.

Marble walls, windows, chimney, stairs...

Ah, the door is made of dark-brown wood...

The opulent look of the marble-made stairs that led to the large oakwood door made me feel like royalty.

Standing at the side of the bottom of the small flight of stairs, was another two female elves that looked like they were around 17 to 20 years old.

Wait... Do elves even have the same age concept as humans in this world? Is that another thing that follows closely to the roots of Isekai* novels?

They had entirely identical features with nothing to tell them apart, which made me feel strongly that these two were undoubtedly twins. They had narrow and sunglow eyes which seemed to stare right into my soul.

It wasn't like their facial features were creepy or anything, in fact they looked just as good as any other androgynous-looking elf around here.

That was just the only thing that I felt a little uncomfortable about, having people stare at me this much. I hated that kind of feeling, as if I was being judged for something like my appearance.

I was still unconvinced by Trisha's earlier statement that I looked dashing.

They had white hair in a bob cut, with their fringes pulled to the left and right respectively around their foreheads. They had the same pointy ears as Trisha and the other elves.

They were dressed in a similar garb like Trisha, but there were some gems covering some parts of it, as if it was a makeshift armor plate.

The twin on the left was wielding a battle axe with a long pole while the other on the right had a shiny rapier on her waist.

They seem to be the guards of Trisha.

Maybe the fringe direction and weapon choice were the only ways to identify them... superficially.

As I ascended with Trisha and entered the premises, the twins followed closely behind.

...

I could feel their burning gaze from my back...

"Moderately."

When Trisha had reminded the twins that, the stare seemed to lighten but it wasn't entirely gone.

We had entered the cottage. It was more spacious than I had imagined.

There was another flight of wide stairs leading up to the second floor. It diverged to the left and right in the middle.

Looks like the place extends horizontally, the first floor is like that as well.

There were various antique-looking and seemingly expensive furniture all around me, which made me feel out of place. The cottage was lighted up with a yellowish-orange hue from some light source on the walls and the chandelier on top of the first floor.

I looked out of the window, and could see that the sky was turning dark.

The glass sphere that segregated the elves' domain from the rest of the forest did not obstruct the view from the inside, but only from the outside. Thus I could see the weather and the general time as well.

Trisha turned around and faced me.

"We've arrived at my residence. You can take a break inside of the guestroom on your right where my familars will be taking care of you. I'll be personally taking... a quick bath to clean off... the sweat, before we head out and visit the night market around here...

...Y-you wanna ...joi-join me?"

Trisha just spouted some incredulous and daring words!!!

"I'm...I'm fine... ahaha... Is there another place where I can bathe without ...anyone else?"

Trisha seemed very disappointed, as she muttered something unintelligible under her breath.

"I-I knew it was a lie previously... but I held some expectations... As expected, I'm not good enough..."

"...? Did you say something?"

"A-ah, nothing much... Well then, I'll head in first. Syriel, Syviel. Assist this gentleman please,

...and moderately."

Ordering the two female elves that were named Syriel and Syviel, she quickly went up the set of stairs up to the second level with a droopy look on her face.

W-What's up with her?

"""Then, dear esteemed guest, we shall be escorting you to the guestroom, which is located right behind the bathhouse for guests.""

The two elves explained in sync and did a curtsy and returned to stare at me.