I tried to focus on the young man's face as I used Inspect. It was kinda hard to keep my eyes up since he was staring right at me in return, but once I saw his status, I forgot all about my embarrassment.

Masahiro Tanaka

Race: Human | Age: 17

Level: 32 | Condition: Normal

Attack: High

Endurance: High

Agility: Normal

Speed: Normal

Intelligence: high

Mana: High

Skills:

Inspect 3, Swordsmanship 5, Map 2, Evasion, Language 2, Detect Enemies

Magic:

Elementalism, Class 1 - Fire, Water, Air, Metal, Earth, Light

So his name was Masahiro and he was an Elementalist! How cool was that!? Having only one affinity meant that his magic was probably super strong too! His Skills and Level were also higher than mine, so I reckoned he must have been playing for a longer time. As usual, I blurted out my thoughts before I could stop myself again. "So, Tanaka-san, how long have you been playing this 'game'?"

"Ah, that's too much of a mouthful, so you can just call me 'Masa'," he said, scratching his head.

"Oh, then you can call me 'Rynn' too," I said.

"Right, Miss Rynn, to answer your question--"

"Just Rynn is fine."

"O-okay, Rynn," he said with a quick nod. "This is my third full day here. And you?"

I stared at him, speechless.

"Hmm? Did I say something wrong?" he asked, tilting his head.

When I finally found my voice again, I croaked out, "I've been here about a week, I think."

His eyes widened. "And you've managed to survive without any supplies or weapons?"

I looked down at the cudgel in my hand. Ah, I must have kept Deux back into my Void at some point and used this stick to deal the finishing blow. Did he not know about Conjuration since he only had the Elementalism affinity? Maybe his guide hadn't informed him about that since it didn't apply to him.

"Actually, I—“

"Shh!" He suddenly put a hand on the hilt of his katana. "Two Goblins incoming. Save your explanation for after we deal with them."

"O-okay," I agreed, keeping the stick and taking out Deux again before staring in the same direction Masa was looking at. If he noticed my weapon-switching, he didn't say anything.

We stood side by side but far apart enough not to hit each other with stray swings. He might have Swordsmanship 5, but I was still a rank amateur, even with Deux giving me the occasional tip. "Another goblin? You should be able to deal with them with your eyes closed by now," came the sword's voice in an annoyed whisper.

I summarily ignored it and waited for the goblin to charge as they usually did. On the other hand, Masa dashed forward first and sliced one of the goblins in two with his katana. There was something odd about the direction of his slash, but I didn't have the time to ponder what it was. The second one was charging towards me, so I simply impaled it through the chest with Deux and then bludgeoned it on the head with the cudgel I took out right after that. I had become very used to doing this by now so I barely had to think before retrieving the object from my Void.

Masa wiped down his katana and sheathed it again before approaching me. "I guess your 'storage' must be pretty useful," he commented.

"Ah, yes, I was about to explain about it before we were interrupted," I told him with a sheepish smile. "Maybe we should move to a safer spot before we exchange more information?" I suggested.

"That's probably a good idea," he agreed.

I led him to the old mansion, explaining briefly on the way about how I came here. He was surprised to learn that I came here from Malaysia, since he had entered through a tunnel in the Kagawa prefecture of Japan. We had a lively conversation, mostly with me asking about his life in Japan and how much it differed from what one saw in anime and such. To my surprise, he didn't appear to be very well versed in the latest series and had only heard about the famous ones whenever there was an advertising campaign or in passing when he watched the television.

It turned out that his main hobby was birdwatching, and he spent most of his time outdoors, which was how he chanced upon the tunnel in the first place. He eagerly asked me about the birds in Singapore and Malaysia, and I was rather taken aback at his sudden shift in demeanour after having assumed that he was more of the cool and calm type. I described to him those I knew of, but he seemed to be able to identify them after a general description. It felt somewhat embarrassing for a foreigner to be more knowledgeable about the bird life in my native country than me.

He then brought up the possibility of being able to travel between Japan and Malaysia via this other world. I hadn't thought of that and the more we discussed it, the more excited we became. When the old mansion came into view, Masa stopped short and simply stared. As I opened the gate and entered, I realised he hadn't followed and turned back to look at him, tilting my head.

"T-this is your house?" he finally said in a somewhat hoarse voice.

"Well, not exactly, but it is connected to my house in Malaysia somehow," I explained. "It was unoccupied when I came, so I've been staying in it since. There are too many rooms though, so I've only been using one."

"I-I see," he said, looking relieved as he stepped through the gate. "I almost thought you were a super rich heiress or something."

I averted my gaze. "Er, that's not exactly inaccurate..." I took a deep breath before sharing some more details about my family.