"Surprises stop being surprising if there is a surprising amount of surprising things."

Elaine and Alice had only spent a few hours with each other. But from the lively fairy’s words, she made it sound like it was some of the best moments in her recent memory. How was that possible? Fairies were ageless, right? Elaine somehow did not doubt that Alice was extremely aged. She had that kind of gravitas and pressure during the very scarce times she let it show.

But the sight of her looking up at a cave’s dreary ceiling – it was a kind of loneliness Elaine couldn’t even imagine.

It would be a lie to say that she wasn’t curious about it. But at the same time it would also be a lie to say that Elaine truly cared. Alice was a goal, a longing, her current objective in life. Yet the warmth of the marble in her hand told her that Alice thought of her as more than that.

“... Are you going to take it from me...?”

Blanc had a motherly smile as she heard Elaine’s words. She bent down and gently placed her hand over the burnt patch of flesh on Elaine’s face. Her touch was cold, soothing, and unreal; like medicine in the form of a human body.

“Goodness, no. Don’t worry. Chin up, dear.”

Fyrn grunted smoke from his nostrils and explained.

“We wouldn’t even if we wanted to. Fairy Hearts cannot be taken away from someone by force. That’s if the legends aren’t shitting, anyway. Great misfortune will occur to those around the Heart until it finds its way back to the person it was entrusted to. It might be a load of bull, but there’s no way I’m risking my ass for an experiment.”

“Oh...”

Alice entrusted her soul to her? Elaine still couldn’t believe it. Somewhere inside she hoped that the minotaur was only making a mistake. But if he wasn’t, then... It was an entirely foreign feeling for her. What did Alice hope to achieve by doing that? And what did that mean?

“’I hope with all my heart we’ll see each other again,’ huh...”

“What was that?”

… She didn’t know what to feel about it.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah… I think…”

“Oh. Well, if you have any problems don’t be afraid to tell Sister Blanc, alright sweetie?”

Blanc placed her hands on her hips, right above the part where it connected with the arachnid body. She looked quite confident, a strange sentiment towards a human maybe. Elaine wanted to thank her but couldn’t feel the words form in her mouth. The arachne stared at her with a gentle expression, yet her eyes betrayed her detachment. It was creepy.

“Oi. Don’t forget what we came here for.”

“Ah! Goodness me, I almost forgot. Our little child here just looked so distressed. She looked so cute I almost ate her right up.”

“What?”

“Never mind me. Anyway, business. If we’re to be honest with you, dear, believing your story is still hard for us to do. They’ve been gone from this world for thousands of years. But if we’re to go with Fyrn’s words, then whatever you have there with you is indeed something worth looking into.”

“Doubt my abilities, woman?”

“Yes, I do,” she said without hesitating. Fyrn grunted with displeasure.

“Regardless, child, he does insist. And for him, of all people, to do so on such a dubious matter, well, I don’t know about those idiots under that leather roof but it raised at least a couple of eyebrows, including mine.”

“So what does that mean?”

“It means we’re going on a little trip. We’d like you to guide us to where you met your friend, little one.”

“Huh???”

Those words certainly snapped Elaine out of her stupor. What kind of idea was that?! Surely they knew what was inside given what she told them earlier?

“Are you crazy? What about those things inside?! There are hundreds of them! Thousands! Probably… But still!”

“You don’t have a choice, dear. It’s the least you could do for us for trespassing on our territory, no? Why, it looks like you don’t even have any citizenship papers on you. And oh, don’t you worry your pretty little head, child. We have someone to deal with those.”

Her eyes looked dead serious. Though she spoke sweetly, her red eyes told her that her participation was already set in stone. Elaine had no choice but to agree.

Then Blanc gestured behind her. The black hooded figure stepped forward as it was beckoned.

“Greetings, human. I am called Tehr. At your service.”

He moved his hood back and revealed—

“A SKELET—mmmm?!”

“Hush! We’re not exactly here on everybody’s demand. So please, calm yourself.”

“Mmm. Mmmm.”

It took more than just a few short moments for Elaine to calm down. She was not used to seeing walking skeletons, after all. Zombies were less shocking because they were basically walking corpses, but skeletons?

Oh right, fantasy world.

For some reason Elaine made an OK sign with her hand despite not knowing whether the gesture was used in that world or not. Blanc’s hold on her head and mouth was so strong that she couldn’t move her head to nod at all. The large half-spider did realize what she meant, and Elaine eventually managed to breathe again.

“I get that a lot, so it doesn’t bother me anymore. Don’t worry.”

Tehr’s voice was very deep and hollow like his voice was echoed inside a container. That may have been apt, since his skull was technically hollow, right? The only body parts his robes revealed were his white, bony hands and skull which lacked a jawbone. His eye sockets contained glowing orbs of light that she recognized from the command tent; he was one of the three people there who weren’t laughing at her back then, which was quite a good first impression to make. But of course, first impression was a different thing altogether.

Also, she wouldn’t even know if he was laughing or not, with his lack of a jaw and all.

“He’s been a part of the country since the founding. We can trust him, dear.”

“But isn’t he…”

“Undead? Yes. But unlike most of my brethren, I prefer learning instead of slaughter.”

“… I don’t understand.”

“Ah indeed, I suppose we’re quite a mystery to you humans. Nevertheless, I can assure you that I mean no ill will. Rather, I’m here to offer a solution to your conundrum.”

“To those leech things?”

“They’re called Scourge Crawlers, dear,” Blanc interjected.

“… Yeah those.”

The points of light inside Tehr’s eyesockets dimmed. It was as if he had narrowed his eyes, if he had any. It was extremely difficult to ascertain his expression without any face to read.

“Of course. It’s a simple matter so long as that is all there is. And even if it wasn’t, then that is not my problem.”

Was he hinting that it was going to be hers?

“That’s where I come in.”

“Huh?”

Elaine stared at the ten feet tall arachne, wondering what she was on about.

“I’m going to come with you.”

““What?!””

Even Fyrn looked shocked.

.

When was the last time Elaine had a good sleep? She didn’t know exactly but it must have been quite a long time ago. It’s only been slightly more than a couple of days since she had arrived in that world. Was it normal to still not have a place to call her own? Who knew? She’d been on the move ever since she’d arrived and never once had she been able to truly hunker down and make a home.

She wondered if that day would ever come, or if she’d even live to see it happen.

Eh, one can only hope.

Also, she was really hungry.

“… Uuu…”

“Are you not comfortable?”

“Honestly? Not really.”

“I apologize for that.”

“No it’s fine. Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that.”

“Huhu, you’re quite adorable like that, you know?”

“Uuuuuuu…”

She was travelling back to the mountain in a way she never thought she’d ever do – at the thorax of a giant spider. To make the experience as comfortable to both of them as possible, a cushion was placed between them. However, it wasn’t the ride that made Elaine uncomfortable—

It was because her legs couldn’t help but brush against Blanc’s hairy spider appendages whenever they moved.

To add to her burden, the way Blanc talked to her felt like she was always trying to flirt. Was that her usual way of speaking? Or was it just an excessive show of concern?

But of course she wasn’t going to tell Blanc about it. Dying from poison was one thing, but she likely won’t even get past the bite part.

At the very least that uncomfortable feeling in her gut gradually disappeared the farther they went from the camp. She felt that place was really bad, but couldn’t understand or remember why. When she heard that time was of the essence so they were going to leave immediately, she was as much relieved as she was in despair.

Behind them, attached to the Blanc’s gigantic spider abdomen by chains, was a wagon containing the arachne’s personal equipment and a large coffin-shaped object given to them by Tehr. It was supposed to be the ‘solution’ to their problems. She had to wonder though; Tehr asked her for a strand of hair. What was up with that?

Everything that had happened in just the span of less than three days, while technically almost a week already in terms of her own world, was a roller coaster of surprises. That much she had already acknowledged before. At that point Elaine was already sure that there will come a time when she would become numb to it all.

“She doesn’t usually talk like that, Miss Elaine. You might have caught her attention; for better or worse.”

“Now I feel even more confused.”

“Don’t be. She cares. That’s enough, I think.”

“… I guess you’re right, Ss’zsl.”

Yes, her snake ‘friend’ was there with them, though not completely. The only one able to accompany them was the main, golden serpent. Everything else of him were too injured to move.

Elaine paid him a visit, guided by Kog, at the camp while Tehr and Blanc prepared themselves. Luckily, or perhaps unfortunately, Ss’zsl was awake at that time, and when Elaine accidentally mentioned what they were going to do with a stupid slip of the tongue, the former insisted on coming with them despite his state.

“I mean no offense, Miss Elaine, but I think you need someone to advise you on the road,” he said.

Was he still caught up with when she just ate a mushroom a slime gave her? Well… he had a point. She probably survived all that time thanks to some string of incredible luck. But what if that luck ran out? Either way, she couldn’t dissuade him from coming. She also appreciated the sentiment.

It was probably a bad idea, but Elaine had never been one to make good decisions by herself anyway.

“How is it that you could leave the camp in secret, Sister Blanc? Wouldn’t everyone look for you?”

The arachne insisted on being called ‘Sister’ as well. Considering it didn’t harm anybody other than Elaine’s mental health, she decided that it would be better to just agree.

“Oh? I? Well, you see, that won’t really be an issue even in the most trying of times, dear.”

She said so in a very dismissive, lighthearted manner. Ss’zsl couldn’t contain his exasperation.

“Miss Elaine. Captain Blanc here is known to require a small catastrophe in order to call, and an equally troublesome effort to stop her from disappearing. Quite frankly, and I mean no disrespect, Captain, but it’s a wonder how you were able to achieve such a position despite your strength.”

“Thank you for the compliment, soldier.”

Anyone could probably determine that Ss’zsl’s words didn’t actually form a compliment. But that at least cleared some of the fog up. Fyrn and Tehr were both also present in the command tent, and didn’t look like they had troublesome personalities like the arachne did. That was very likely why they couldn’t come themselves, being high profile individuals and all.

Even though Fyrn made quite a commotion about it.

But really, an undead? As a commander? And he’s not one to ‘hate all of the living’ like the stories usually made them out to be? Very strange.

“Tehr? I do appreciate your eagerness to learn about those of us from the country of monsters, but I would much rather enjoy talking about myself. Regardless, maybe some other time when we’re in a much more personal setting, no?”

Talking to her was quite a chore.

“To answer your question, yes most undead do despise the living. That includes fellow monsters such as us. And when an undead reaches a certain stage in their development, any feelings and desire they might still possess in their hollow heads becomes the only thing there; that usually means their aggression. However, Tehr is different. He desires knowledge more than anything. That is why he’s harmless so long as he’s satisfied.”

“So that’s possible, huh?”

“Extremely rarely. But yes, dear.”

Elaine remembered the zombie bear she encountered earlier. It certainly looked dead both literally and figuratively, and the way it moved made it obvious that it wasn’t capable of any higher level of thought. It was easy to see that they’d be regarded as the enemies of all the living, and vice versa.

She then remembered Ss’zsl’s story. Tehr did look like he would be welcomed by their ‘King’, who sounded as eccentric as the former.

“Your country is full of surprises, huh?”

“Oh you haven’t seen anything yet, dear. But never mind my words; we’re here.”

They arrived faster than she thought they would. It was still slower than Kog’s blistering pace, yet it was fast enough to surprise her.

The sight of the already familiar mountain resulted in some mixed emotions in her.

“Get down now, I need to prepare.”

Elaine hopped off of Blanc’s thorax, almost losing her footing in the process. She was tired, and lacked sleep. Even for an ‘epic gamer’ like herself, going for almost twenty hours of physical labor with the psychological assault she was subjected to in the middle of a camp of monsters wasn’t a joke.

Gamers aren’t meant for physical labor. Rather, shut-ins aren’t. Was she a shut in? Close enough.

“Be careful, Miss Elaine.”

“Yeah I’m fine. Yeah.”

The load on her body wasn’t just because of accumulated fatigue; because Ss’zsl was technically only a shiny serpent in his state, Elaine was forced to carry him around on her shoulders. The idea of asking Blanc to carry him crossed her mind at one point but it didn’t look like she viewed him favorably enough to do so.

Was it a race thing, or because of the difference in their positions?

It was then that she noticed what Blanc had stored in her box. Her eyes gaped wide.

“Really…? I really am living in a different world huh?”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

It was a pure white scythe. And it was massive; the shaft was slightly taller than Blanc’s standing height, and the blade was a bit over two meters long. And she brandished it with one hand easily. Elaine could only imagine how much it weighed.

The only saving grace to it was that it looked extremely plain; it was just a long, undecorated blade attached to a straight shaft.

Wait, that was right! They had to defend themselves! She suddenly felt as naked as the day she was born despite having clothes on.

“Umm… do I get a weapon?”

“My, my, a weapon you say? I don’t believe that to be necessary, dear, not if my hunch is correct about Tehr’s gift.”

Ah…

She used her scythe to pry open the other box. It took her but one motion to snap the stout-looking nails that sealed the container shut.

If the sight of a literal scythe shocked Elaine, then the contents of Tehr’s box utterly flabbergasted her.

It rose out of the box in with stiff movements. The smell of it made her retch. Whatever food she had left in her stomach threatened to evacuate itself through her mouth.

“UuuuUUUuuuuaaAAaaaAAAAhhhhhhhhh—“

“… What is that?”

“It’s obviously a zombie, Miss Elaine.”

“…… Of a human girl?”

“Indeed.”

“……… Alrighty.”

She suddenly didn’t feel so hungry anymore.