Last night, I was preparing my things and put them inside my luggage. This is because I’m supposed to move out to Tokyo for college today.

I would like to tell you the reason why I’m ‘Supposed’ to go to Tokyo for college, but it’s not part of what I’m going to tell you next.

While I was doing some jogging on my treadmill, my eyes suddenly hurt like it was gouged out from my eye sockets. I fell off the treadmill and got knocked-out because of that. Since Ka-chan heard what happened to me from downstairs and immediately helped me. For some reason, she didn’t bring me to the hospital despite my screams and yells. I thought for a moment that she was a sadist since I saw a glimpse of her smiling while looking at me.

I just woke up hours after the incident.

“Oh, Ao-kun, is the pain still there?”

Mom suddenly called out to me while doing the dishes in the kitchen. So I slept in the living room huh.

“Not anymore. By the way, Ka-chan, did something good happen? You’re smiling awfully today.”

“Really? Iyaaa, how do I say this properly?”

Mom’s really happy today. I wonder what happened during my sleep.

Mom finished washing the dishes then came and sat in front of me.

“Before I start explaining, don’t be shocked in what I’m going to show you.”

What is she talking about?

“Okay. Let it rip.”

Mom held the silver pendant she’s wearing and closed her eyes. Suddenly, she started speaking words that I do not know or heard of before. I’m pretty sure it’s not English.

“--#### > (Kaze no Kekkai)”

--Okay, the last part was in Japanese.

Suddenly, the air around us became violent and rotated around us. For some reason, I can see some green sparks with the air.

What the heck is happening!?

“Do not panic. This is a perfectly normal response according to your father. Since I don’t quite understand how humans of Earth respond to it, I’m not sure.”

“P-please make it stop!”

With a single snap, the air finally returned back to normal and the green sparks slowly disappears.

“W-what was that!? Was that some kind of superpowers?”

“Okay, okay, I know you’re surprised but I need you to calm down so that I can explain things properly to you.”

I sat back on the chair and forced myself to calm down. Who would calm down after being shown something supernatural?!

Mother pulled out her pocket mirror and gave it to me.

“First of all, look at your left eye.”

I followed her words. To my surprise, the iris of me left eye disappeared and is replaced with silver “X”.

“It’s slightly different from your father’s but, it’s still the same thing. It’s called a [Mana Eye], a trait of a Dark Elf.”

Dark elf, is this some kind of a joke? Wait no, Ka-chan’s face looks serious.

“Dark elf, so are you saying that I’m not human?”

“You are human!”

There’s no need to slam the table Ka-chan…

“I’m sorry. I just did it on impulse.”

It seems to be a very sensitive topic for Ka-chan.

“There’s no need to apologize Ka-chan.”

She sat back again and fell silent. After breathing in and out for a few seconds, she continued talking.

“You are human, but your father has the blood of a Dark Elf. I don’t know much about them, but your father might be able to explain more if he’s here. Too bad, you [Awakened] while he’s abroad. And about you, you’re half-Dark Elf. It means that you are beyond human, a special magician.”

Our talk lasted for almost three hours. It was actually Ka-chan explaining the whole time actually.

She told me about what a magician is, what I can become, what I am, and what should I do from now on. Although, I was slightly surprised to know that my age in Marzenthura is 16. After all, I’m 19 in this world.

“So I need to go to Marzenthura. Why?”

Ka-chan seemed a little happy when I asked her.

“Yes, you need to. Although I wasn’t quite sure in sending you there at first, now I’m sure that you’ll be fine when you go there as an awakened magician. Lady Cherlaine would probably be fine now including Duke Chardelier.”

“Who are Lady Cherlaine and Duke Chardelier to you Ka-chan?”

Ka-chan’s cheeks slightly redden after listening to my question.

“Well, you see Ao-kun. If it weren’t for them, your father might not be alive right now. Especially Duke Chardelier, I’m very indebted to him. If it weren’t for him, it would not be possible for me to marry your father.”

Then after that, Ka-chan put a black wooden box on the table. Where did she get it?

“What I’m going to show you is something of your father’s. Before he left, he told me that if ever you awakened without him around, I will need to give you this and immediately send you there.”

After unlocking the box, Ka-chan slowly raised the lid.

When opened, a black two-bladed dagger with a space in between is there. The dagger’s blade almost looked like it would absorb light from the depth of its darkness. Under it, a folded paper with a golden wax seal was there. There are letters which is neither Japanese nor English. I think it’s better to think that it’s not of this world.

“This dagger was made by your father. It’s called [Blind Man’s Dagger]; a dagger that allows you to manipulate shadow magic easier if you’re magic is [Darkus Base].”

--Cool! I didn’t expect my old man to have something as awesome as this hidden. Where did he hide it anyway?

“This is letter, what does it say?”

Ka-chan suddenly giggled after that, very suspicious.

“Your father did not say anything about the letter. Although I have my suspicions, but I won’t say it since it would be presumptuous of me.”

“That’s a lie!”

***

Ka-chan made me get my luggage into the living room. She closed the doors, windows, and pulled down the curtains of the living room. This is because she told me that she will do a teleportation magic. She doesn’t want the neighbours to see or hear what we’re going to do.

Currently, Ka-chan is standing in front of me while holding some kind of wooden rod.

“Remember this Ao-kun; the letter will serve as your ID in that world, so you better be careful in handling it. If you meet a suspicious person in that world, do not show him the dagger or the letter, because there’s a possibility that it will become a problem.”

“Okay Ka-chan.”

“And one last thing; the catalyst I have is from Chardelier Dukedom, so you’ll be teleported there. Also, since this is my first time using teleportation magic, there’s a slight chance that you might get teleported outside the city. But rest assured, the people there are good folks.”

-that doesn’t sound anywhere near assuring, Ka-chan.

“Okay then, let’s start!”

Ka-chan started spinning the wooden rod in the air. After that, random colored silver sparks slowly approaches and surround us.

“A-amazing. What is this silver light, Ka-chan?”

“This is what you call, Mana Essence. Even though I’m a magician, I had a hard time seeing the true form of Mana Essence. I’m quite envious of you and your father since you can see them normally.”

After spinning the wooden rod in the air several times, she tapped the one end on the floor making a sound similar to a chime. Then suddenly, a large magic circle appeared on the floor beneath me. The so-called [Mana Essence] filled the linings of the magic circle and it shone brighter than before in random colors. I was so attracted by the light that I didn’t notice Ka-chan finishing her chant.

“--### >”

She then smiled at me and gave me her parting words.

“Always remember this: your real name is Aozora Viuqstl Flordist.”

In an instant, the magic circle became a huge hole and I fell into it along with my luggage.

***

“Okay now… she only told me that it’s only a ‘Slight’ chance, but shit happens huh.”

A few moments after I landed from the sky, I immediately noticed that I’m in the middle of a forest. The only good thing that happened was that I only descended 6 meters from the ground and didn’t get a single scratch.

“Ka-chan said that there are people living outside the city.”

--but I really can’t tell if this is the outskirts of a city because of the height of these trees. Are there even people living inside this forest?

I started to walk aimlessly while pulling my luggage. Since there’s nothing here, might as well start moving and if lucky, find some people and ask for directions. I don’t really believe in luck, but that’s probably the reason why I’m so unlucky right now.

I don’t know how long I’ve been walking inside this forest now, but it seems to me that there’s no end to these trees. It feels like I’m just circling the same tree over and over again.

“I could really use some luck right now.”

I continued walking inside the forest. Although I’m not quite sure if I’m going straight to the city or the other way around, I just continued walking.

After a few minutes, I finally see a new landmark. Even though I called it a land mark, it’s just a flowing river.

“If what I’m thinking is correct, there should be a village connected with this river.”

-But where should I go, upstream or downstream?

I pulled out a 100 yen coin from my pocket. I flexibly looked around since I’m holding money.

“Head up, tail down.”

After flinging the coin into the air, I then catch it and hit it on my wrist. It’s Heads.

“I guess I’m going up.”

Just when I was about to walk up the river, a small explosion suddenly was audible downstream. Wait, that’s not right, it was more like a loud ‘Poof!’ rather than calling it explosion.

“Someone’s there?”

I immediately go downstream in full speed in panic. After tearing down several bushes from my path, I finally arrived where the sound came from.

And then suddenly—

“**** ***** *** ***!”

--a cute voice of a girl resounded on an open area beside the river. I can’t understand what she’s saying, because of that, I hesitated on whether to proceed or stay hidden behind the bush. Although I honestly think that meeting a girl in a forest is a good thing, I can’t brush off the feeling that this might be a trap. Who knows? This is a fantasy world after all.

I slowly peeked behind the bush to see this girl in person. There, a petite girl with a golden braided hair is holding up a flask while coughing. Even from a distance, I can clearly see and say that she’s genuinely a beauty.

--Damn, she’s my type.

I continued peeking on the girl while hiding behind the bushes. Although a part of my brain is saying that I should not, my gut is not agreeing with him.

A few seconds later, I suddenly smelled a slight stench in the air. It’s slightly similar to a dog. After that, I suddenly heard a growl from behind me.

I have a bad feeling that this thing behind would likely kill me if I run.

Even though I don’t want to, I slowly turned my head like an unoiled knob behind me to see what this thing behind me really is.

“Oh fuck.”

There, a giant silver furred wolf is standing behind and is showing his huge fangs to me.

“N-n-n-nice doggy…”

The huge wolf showed even more of its teeth and it’s growling increased more. I’m going to die.

I slowly started stepping back away and touched the bush behind me to see if I have a clear path to run away. And hopefully survive also.

The giant wolf also started making steps as it also approaches me.

Then—

“Fuck it!”

I immediately ran to the river. Good thing that there’s a tree blocking the wolf’s path and delayed him for a second.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Why did mom send me to such a dangerous place?”

Moreover, without any means of protection!

The wolf ran fast. Thankfully, I’m used to running. I was once one of my school’s aces in the track and field club so I have confidence in my running speed. However, it isn’t enough to outrun a Wolf who has the same size as a bear.

I finally reached the river, so I went upstream.

I didn’t take the path downstream since there’s a girl there. I don’t want to wind her up in this trouble.

I kept on running upstream. The adrenalin kept on kicking in my head and I’m still not feeling the tiredness of my body due to it.

Then, a tall wall suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of me so I came into stop.

The Wolf also finally reached me, but it didn’t immediately attack. It just kept on glaring and growling at me. It is really going to attack me, or just scaring me away? Either way, both matters make me want to shit myself.

“N-n-nice Dog-gy….”

Then, the giant dog suddenly pounced towards me, bearing its claw and showing his fangs.

This is it, I’m going to die.

…

…

…

…

…

Am I dead? Everything is too quiet.

I slowly opened my eyes and put down my arms that covered my face.

There, in front of me, the giant hound was stopped mid-air by a huge semi-transparent hand that has blue glittering lights on it.

“*** *** *******?”

There, a goddess-like voice (or I’m just feeling exalted), called out to me.

When I turned my gaze to her, she was standing behind the giant wolf with her right hand extended into the air towards the wolf.

“*** *** *******?”

I think she’s asking me something? I just can’t understand her words. But it’s probably not a good idea to just stand and listen to her.

“T-thank you for saving me, I almost died back there.”

The girl titled her head cutely after hearing my words. After a few seconds, she slowly stepped back and suddenly, hid behind a bush.

“***’** * ***?!”

--I just can’t understand her.

“I’m sorry, but I really can’t understand what you’re saying.”

--and I’m not going to ask you if you can speak Japanese obviously.

While shaking, she extended out her left hand and made a short chant.

“--## ### # >”

A wave of white glittering light suddenly surrounded me. And within the second, stick to me and entered my body.

“C-can you understand me now?”

--huh?!

“Wha… can you say that again please?”

The girl hid her body even more after I asked her.

“What did you do to me? How did I just start understanding your words?”

“I-I used a > spell on you since you look like someone who isn’t from here.”

--What a convenient magic.

“M-more importantly, who are you? What are you doing here in the forest? How did you get past Silver just now? Did someone sent you to kidnap me?!”

She suddenly started barraging me with questions. The last one was a dangerous one so I immediately rejected it.

“I just arrived here a while ago, I was supposed to get teleported to Chardelier Dukedom, but I ended up getting teleported in this forest. In short, I’m just a lost person.”

“Chardelier Dukedom, I know where it is. I could send you there.”

After listening to my explanation, she looked slightly relieved. But she isn’t getting out of the bush though.

“It might be very late to say this but, can you please get this giant wolf off my face? He looks very scary to me.”

When I mentioned that, she looked at the wolf in front of me and spun her hands in the air. At the same time, the wolf rotated towards her direction. What happened next really surprised me.

“Silver, bad dog! Didn’t I tell you not to attack strangers when we’re inside the forest!? Mother’s going to get angry with you if she finds out you know!”

Yes, as you can see, she’s scolding a scary wolf that has the same size as a bear. And in addition, the wolf looks like it’s cowering from her scolding and made a face of guilt.

“As punishment to your blunder: No steaks for dinner, only chicken.”

After saying that, the wolf made a surprised face and became gloomy. Where did the intimidating aura go?

“Now, apologize to the stranger.”

After commanding that, the giant hand that is holding the wolf suddenly disappeared and dropped the heavy body.

The wolf turned towards me again. This time, the murderous intent had disappeared and is replaced with a sad gloomy one. After closing the distance, it dropped on the ground in front of me like its sulking.

I slowly stretched out my hand and touch the giant wolf’s head gently. Now that I can feel it, his fur is really fluffy. I can feel that it’s pretty well maintained.

“I’m sorry. It was my fault in the first place. Don’t worry. I’ll try to persuade her about the punishment.”

The giant wolf raised its head happily towards me after listening to my words. Then it licked my face whole with its giant tongue like its saying thank you. This wolf’s really intelligent.

After reconciling with the giant wolf, I turned my gaze to the girl again.

“He’s already apologized, thanks for saving me again.”

***

A few moments after that, she told me that she will guide me to the city, in exchange for keeping quiet about the fact that I almost got killed by the wolf named Silver.

When we started walking, she kept her distance from me by hiding on the other side of Silver. Is she afraid of me?

“Where did you come from?”

Out of nowhere, she suddenly started to ask me questions.

“I came from Japan, a country from Earth.”

“What’s that thing you’re pulling?”

“My luggage, my things are stored in here.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m 19 years old, but my mother said that I’m 16 in this world.”

“What’s your name?”

“Yamato Aozora, but my name here is Ao… I forgot.”

“Did you get amnesia?!”

“What, no! I just didn’t remember it since I just knew all about it a couple of hours ago.”

“Then, are the people of earth Dark Elves?”

--huh… that’s an odd question.

“No, why’d you ask?”

She suddenly pointed my left eye.

Oh! That’s right. I have [Mana Eye]. No wonder she’s so afraid of me.

“I was told that my father was a half Dark Elf. Just a few hours ago, my left eye suddenly awakened. It was due to the fact that I have the blood of a Dark Elf.”

“Is that so?”

And with perfect timing, we finally arrived at the edge of the forest. But why was it only a short walk?

“That’s crazy, I’m pretty sure I went to this direction.”

Then the girl suddenly answered my confused brain that’s trying to make sense of reality.

“If you’re thinking why you were lost inside the forest, that was my magic >. Anyone who enters the forest aside from the ones allowed will get lost and goes right back out. It’s has the reverse effect from the inside.”

So that’s the reason why I feel like I’ve been going round and round inside the forest. Damn…

“I sincerely apologize for what happened. Aside from bringing you here, is there anything you wish to ask me? I’ll do anything just for you to forgive me.”

I’m not entirely mad or upset about what happened, but she looks like she won’t take no for an answer. The ‘I’ll do anything’ part is slightly tempting, but I’m not going to ask for anything weird.

“Well… There is one thing I want to know.”

“Is it something within my power?”

“I think so. I’m just going to ask for your name, can I?”

The girl was taken aback by my wish. She thought for a moment and then finally showed herself whole. Now that I have taken a good look at it, she has some good pair of hills. Damn it! Where am I looking at?

As a side note; Silver is sneezing because some bugs are flying on his nose.

“My name is Cherry. I am not allowed to say my full name since my parents said that it would be dangerous if I did.”

While saying her name, she lifted her dress a little bit and bowed to me elegantly. Her name is quite perfect for her cute nature actually.

Inadvertently, I laid out my right hand like I’m asking for a handshake. It’s not like I want to touch her or anything, I just want to be friendly.

She looked at my hand with a surprised face. I guess she didn’t expect that.

“Again, my name is Yamato Aozora. You can just call me Ao if you want.”

She hesitantly grabbed my hand and after that, she smiled and relaxed. Was she really nervous about me?

Then out of nowhere, Silver blew out a strong sneeze accompanied by a strong thunder behind Cherry and blew us away. My head hurts when it struck the ground, but it’s just a trivial matter. Because the moment I landed on the ground, since I was still holding Cherry, I grip her arm hard and pull her towards me to kill her momentum with my body. However, when she landed, her lips… touched mine.

After that, her golden hair glowed like a morning star in front of me.

Her face turned red when she departed my lips.

“N-no way…”

“It was just an accident! I didn’t mean to kiss you!”

“I-I know that, but still… no…”

She looked blankly at me with a reddened face while touching her lips. Then she peeled off the white glove on her left hand in a hurry. There, I can see a black ring tattoo on her ring finger. Cool.

Moments later, her eyes became watery with tears like she’s about to burst into tears. Oh no! I made a girl cry!

“I’m not exactly sure on what’s happening, but I’m really, really sorry.”

When I tried to approach her, she suddenly started running towards the end of the Forest while screaming with her mouth covered. Silver only dumbly look at her running beside me.

“Wait!”

I ran after her since she’s running while covering her mouth. It’s very dangerous to run without swinging your hands you know!

“H-hey! Really! I’m really sorry! I don’t know what just happened, but please stop running!”

I kept on chasing Cherry with Silver. Even though she’s a girl, she has quite the speed.

When she noticed me chasing her, her speed increased more for some reason. On the other hand, my left eye can see that her legs are glittering in red. Is it magic?

“Don’t come near me! Waaa!!!”

She kept on increasing her speed without losing her breath. And I on the other hand, am getting more and more tired.

Suddenly, Silver bit the back of my collar raising me and increased his running speed. I can see his body getting clad in silvery-blue glitters.

“Thanks Silver.”

I’m gaining some speed with Silver carrying me by his mouth. Although his saliva is sticking on my shirt, I don’t mind since I owe him this.

“Please stop running!”

While chasing after her, I noticed that there are random colored sparks gathering around her with my left eye. This one looks dangerously familiar.

“No, wai-”

“>”

--Like I guessed.

Suddenly, her appearance disappeared in front of me just like a Television that has been turned off.

Silver immediately stopped running and put me down.

“Sorry I made your master leave you.”

However, Silver looked like he didn’t mind. In fact, he suddenly licked my face and started smelling me again.

Then, I noticed a similar phenomenon that’s happening to Silver that happened to Cherry a while ago. And in an instant, he suddenly teleported and disappeared.

“I take back what I said.”

Damn it! Now, I’m all alone here again. Although I can see the city from here now, it’s going to be quite a long walk.

“What was it called again? Ah! That’s right, Chardelier Dukedom.”

-End of One Shot-