1

Having sufficiently recovered by now, in body and spirit, Yuliana struggled back up to her feet. It hadn't happened the way she envisioned it, but the results were what mattered. She had been saved by the champion from another world, delivered to her aid by a literal miracle.

Even if Yuliana had her misgivings about the savior's appearance and conduct, the unknown woman's strength couldn't be denied. Regaining her composure, Yuliana inhaled and went to express her gratitude to this unlikely ally.

“Please accept my thanks. Whether intending it or not, you have saved my life,” she told the woman with a light bow. Just in case, she kept her distance outside the greatsword's range. The terrifying scene of carnage before still made her arms quiver. Though as a trained knight she had faced various dangers in the past, this had been the first time Yuliana had seen a human being spill the blood of another in such a ruthless, unrestrained fashion.

“Hm?” Izumi turned her head and looked at the girl.

Of course, she had recognized the girl's presence before. It was rather difficult not to. Just, there had been too many distractions to give her a proper look. Now cautiously sizing her up, Izumi was unsure of how to return the greeting.

“I understand you are confused,” Yuliana took advantage of the woman's silence to continue. “Allow me to begin by introducing myself. My name is Yuliana Da Via Brannan of Walhollem. And the land you tread upon is that of the kingdom of Langoria, where I was formerly a princess and a knight.”

“Now there's a princess!?” Izumi reeled backwards, shocked. “Not that I mean to complain, not at all! I like princesses a whole lot! Of course, isn't it a given that a high fantasy tale must have a princess or two? Only, don't you think it sounds a little too convenient when sprung upon you so suddenly? That's right, I think it would've been better, had you started out pretending to be a nobody, only to reveal the truth at a suitably tense moment somewhere near the climax...Giving away such a big reveal upfront without any build-up is—If you get so lucky all the time, it starts to feel suspicious, somehow! You know what I'm saying? And really! What are you thinking, exposing your true identity to a person you just met!? That's bad writing!”

“Um...”

Was the stranger in shock? Her rapid spiel didn't make much sense to Yuliana.

Then again, it would've been weirder for the woman to not be the least bit frantic, after what just happened. The knight princess saw it best to ignore the blabber and instead try and soothe the lady with her contained manners,

“Ahem, in return for naming myself, may I inquire yours?”

“My name? Oh, um, it's Izumi...Itaka Izumi,” Izumi meekly introduced herself.

In the heat of the moment, she failed to come up with any cool western pseudonym or background setting for herself but merely named herself plainly like a job applicant.

“Quite a strange name you have. Ah, but then again, you've truly come from another world, haven't you? Forgive me, it still seems a bit difficult for me to accept. You don't seem that different from us on the outside, at least. Then, lady Izumi, allow me to explain the situation, hard as it may be for you to believe. By a certain magical ritual, you have been summoned here—”

“Ah, I get the gist of it,” Izumi interrupted her. “So I'll skip the tutorial, thanks.”

“Eh? You...do...?”

“Why, of course!” the woman nodded with sudden zeal. “I've been waiting for this turn of events for a looong, long time! And finally it happened! Thank goodness, it happened! This is another world, yes? A whole different world, a world of might and magic, where nobody has ever heard of Apple, K-Mart, Lawson, or McDonald's! I don't believe it! I'm so happy to be here!”

“Apples? We do have apples, though—”

“It's really been a long time! Couldn't you have summoned me just a little bit earlier, maybe? Again, I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, no! After everything, I'm very grateful, definitely, but...Oh well, I'm here now, and that's all that matters. Thanks a bunch, Yu...Yu...What was it again? Yule! I'll call you Yule, okay? It's okay, right? Great! Let's be friends, Yule!”

The woman stepped forward, put the sword aside and rapidly shook Yule's gauntlet-clad hand.

“Eh, right…” It was Yuliana's turn to be at a loss for words.

So far as she understood, the summoning spell wasn't supposed to grant the champion any specialized knowledge. And yet, the woman said she had been 'waiting for it'? And why was the cold-blooded killer of those knights suddenly acting all bubbly with her?

“Er, in any case,” Yuliana set aside her confusion, encouraged by the foreigner's warm attitude, and decided to address a more urgent matter. “As said, I am thankful for your aid. I most certainly owe you my life, lady Izumi. If there is anything I may do to pay back this great debt, I shall make doing so my utmost priority. That being said, could I have my sword back now?”

The princess held out her hand expectantly.

In response, Izumi looked blankly back at her and replied,

“No?”

“E-excuse me…?”

“I said no?” Izumi repeated.

“Ah, I heard you just fine the first time! What I mean is, why not? What could be the problem? It was mine in the first place and I merely happened to drop it as I fell—”

“It's not nice to tell lies, Yule,” the woman interrupted her with a frown. “If it's yours, then how come those men insisted on having it? Why were they chasing you? You're not going to claim they were thieves, are you? With the way they were dressed and all.”

Yuliana was momentarily silenced.

Lying was hardly her forte.

It was true that the weapon wasn't strictly “hers”, she couldn't deny that. But on the other hand, she was a member of the royal family, technically, so she had a certain right to the blade. A right she would never be allowed to exercise normally, yes, but Izumi didn't need to know that much. The point was, if there was anyone here who had any legal claim to the weapon, it was definitely Yuliana and not this stranger from another world. Champion as she may have been by definition, this lady Izumi didn't seem like someone who could help Yuliana with her true mission. Still, trying to trick or extort her savior went against her principles. In the end, the princess saw no other choice but to explain things properly in order.

“That sword is called Amygla,” she said. “It is one of a kind and essential to my mission. A mission, which means much not only to me and my country but to all the nations and races of this world, which is why I—”

“Yes, yes, I'm not really interested in that,” Izumi brushed her off, turning her back on Yuliana and going to look at the bodies left lying around on the slope.

“H-hey! Listen to me! This is important!” Yuliana demanded, offended.

“Don't wanna.”

“I said it's important!”

“And I said I'm not interested. Do we really speak the same language?”

“Why!?” Yuliana raised her voice, frustrated.

“It's always the world at stake and so on,” the woman answered. “I've heard that so many times. But I can't claim I'm in any way attached to a country and a planet I'm seeing for the first time. All that matters to me is that this world doesn't look very advanced or hospitable. So unless I have a good weapon, I'm probably going to die pretty soon. I'm just a lonely old woman, after all. This sword is sharp, really durable, well-balanced and feels good to hold. There's nothing more you could ask for a good sword, so I'm not giving it away just because you say pretty please, and it's a big deal to somebody I don't know. It's better than what these guys have anyway, I can tell that much by a glance. You don't believe me? I dare say I have a good eye for quality goods! I haven't spent most of my life shopping online for nothing! Recognizing whether something is worth your money by just a glance at a grainy little jpg is an essential skill for someone as poor as I!”

“W-what do you mean many times? Pla...net? On a line? Gee-pay...?” Yuliana couldn't keep up with the discussion at all.

“You don't really owe me a thing since I was only defending myself back there,” Izumi went on, “but if you really insist on paying me back, then I'd appreciate it if you could show me the way to the nearest town. That good enough?”

The knight princess stood still, dumbstruck.

Not only had Yuliana been deprived of her precious weapon, she was made into a guide as well. After everything she'd been through to get this far, despite the urgency of her task. And she was nobility too! She had never used her status to claim superiority over the common man, but just this once, she felt she deserved better.

But with her peaceful request turned down, it seemed the only way to get the Amygla from Izumi was to fight her for it. Yuliana shuddered at the thought. Being unarmed, her starting level in that attempt was even lower than that of the knights. The knights, who had fallen like helpless children.

Then, she saw something that made her forget about her fear.

“What are you doing?” she inquired the woman, who was busy searching the body of the nearest knight.

The answer staggered her yet again.

“What does it look like? Looting,” Izumi nonchalantly responded.

“What...!?”

“Throwing knives, pouches, belts, gloves, boots, coins, swords to sell—How nice that I wound up with such a quality haul right in the starter zone. This totally feels like cheating, but I won it all fair and square, didn't I? Nobody can claim I didn't.”

“Please step away from the body,” Yuliana told the woman,and her tone turned commanding.

“Hm?” Izumi looked back at the girl, brows contorted in a questioning manner, as if she really had no idea what she was doing, aggravating the princess further.

“I will not allow you to desecrate the remains of these men, who fell in the line of duty, by robbing their corpses! Get away from him!”

“They're dead, though?” Izumi replied. “They're not going to need any of this stuff anymore, while I have nothing. What's wrong with helping myself? Otherwise, it's all going to go to waste here.”

“You wretched—!” Barely able to restrain her anger, Yuliana took a step forward. “I won't repeat myself! Get away from that man right now!”

“You really are from the same country. And what will you do if I won't?”

“I will—”

“You'll fight me?”

At her words, the knight princess remembered again her helplessness and sullenly bit her lip. In her stead, Izumi stood up and continued,

“You'd kill me or die trying, to protect the memory of those who tried to kill you? What sense does that make? These men were your enemies, right? Yet you act like these hunks of flesh and blood are somehow holy? I don't really get it. They're all gone now. That means you, the winner, own all that was theirs and can do whatever you please with it. Isn't that how it usually goes in a medieval setting like this?”

“Silence!” Yuliana didn't think she had ever been as furious and humiliated in her life, feeling her face burn. “They were knights, defenders of my homeland, not some miscellaneous bandits! They deserve better than that!”

“They were men. And wearing fancy clothes never made anybody a saint.”

“They had families, wives, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and I mourn that it had to come to this! I will not allow you to scorn them with such unjust words! The fact that we ended up as enemies was by unfortunate circumstances only! That is all! I didn't want any one of them to die, even if it was to save myself! It was not right!”

“Well, almost everybody in the world has someone to miss them, even the bandits,” Izumi replied, unmoved by the girl's defense. “Yet everybody's got to die one day, and it's rarely very pretty. Well, provided these guys were real to begin with.”

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“What...?”

Her face like a mask, beautiful yet frighteningly cold, the woman continued,

“I'm not from this world, remember? That means, from my point of view, 'these people' are not 'the same as me'. For all I know, you might as well be NPCs, soulless, simulated automatons that only exist to set the stage. I have no real way to check if you're a person with a mind of her own, and not just a superficially convincing cluster of pixels and polygons operating on an algorithm by a highly advanced alien supercomputer. I only just booted up the game. Your feelings, bonds, and morals look like nothing but lukewarm flavor text to me. That's why, the only thing of importance to me here is myself. Getting too invested in the story mode would only mean needlessly crippling myself in the long run. That's all there is to it.”

Yuliana couldn't understand a word. She took a step back, her anger replaced by sheer dread.

This was a “champion”?

Exactly what had she unleashed into this world?

Was everyone a senseless lunatic like this, in Izumi's world?

“Ah, yes,” Izumi shook her head, “this is making me remember a lot of things that I already forgot about. About the past, I mean, when I was around your age. I had all these cute ideas about what I'd do when in another world. I thought I'd go the full immersion route. Pretend to be an amnesiac, live as one of you, act as one of you, play by your rules, talk to all the quest-givers, listen to their boring life stories, gather all the flowers and kill all the boars, diligently work my way up the ladders of the society, and so on and so on. But that was a long time ago. That was so terribly long ago. I'm already burned out on playing games that way. It only takes too long, and I'm not growing any younger. It's always the same anyway. The clichés and tropes, nothing ever changes. No matter how well done it is, how polished the packaging, I just can't find it in me to care anymore. My best days are already behind me. Every minute I sit bashing another infinitely respawning monster, I feel my life slowly drift away from me. And for what? Nothing at all. There's not enough time, not nearly enough time. I finally get to enjoy a thrilling adventure in a fantasy world for real, or as real as real can get, yet I'm still me, just the way I left. Isn't it too cruel? Don't you think it's just too terrible? I worked so long and hard for this. I went to learn martial arts under a pervy old geezer who would grope me at every opportunity. I begged for a dumb hipster blacksmith to take me as a pupil, and had to listen to his obnoxious geek talk all day long, for months. I spent the nights online looking up occult sites, testing out rubbish magic patterns and incantations, that did nothing. And that's just for the starters. What did I get for all that? Did anybody appreciate my efforts or encourage me? No way. 'Ah, that Itaka lass, what a dumb broad she is', 'does she do anything but play net games all day', 'why does she have a computer, when I have to work my ass off just to bring grub to the table for my kids?', 'what a damn leech, why can't she get a real job', 'she should just neck herself instead of wasting my tax money', 'somebody should give her a good dicking to get that dumb shit out of her head'. I'm lonely and despised and old and tired and beyond despair, and then finally my ultimate wish came true. At last, it came true! I've finally come to a world where all that wasted effort pays off, where I'm the sane one and all those who laughed at me are wrong, and what then? 'Oh, you can't take the boots of the dead guy who tried to mash your head, because it goes against my morals'? Get real. Stop messing with me. Please crawl into a corner and die off, you big little baby.”

“Hii—!”

Overwhelmed by the creepy, machine gun-rate monologue imbued with negativity too great for any ordinary person to endure, Yuliana fell back on the ground, terrified and disgusted. It was all pure nonsense to her. All she could tell from that speech was that whoever this woman had been prior to coming to Ortho, her life hadn't been an easy one.

What should I do? What can I do? The princess feverishly weighed her options.

Clearly enough, this person was beyond her scope in combat. She had no hope of besting her, mentally or physically. Not without a weapon, at least. She glanced at the sword left lying next to another body. There it was, her chance. Surely it was okay to only borrow it for a moment? Yuliana shook her head. What was she thinking? Would she rob a corpse to keep corpses from being robbed? Would she kill to preserve the dignity of the killed? Did it make any sense whatsoever?

Still, these men belonged in their graves together with the arms and the uniform they had borne whilst alive. Such was the custom of her land—honor and chivalry demanded it. Every victor owed respect to the defeated, and had to at least ensure the deceased weren't needlessly shamed. Otherwise, people would've been no different from beasts. Letting a foul looter strip the fallen bare was insufferable as a thought. But if Yuliana tried to oppose this otherworldly monster, she was likely to end up sharing the fate of the men. She knew it. Perhaps it was a worthy death, but she was scared. Of course, she was scared.

Scared...?

Swallowing, Yuliana got an idea and got back up to her feet.

“Fine, have it your way then,” she said, her lips curving into a smile.

“Hm?” Sensing the change in her demeanor, Izumi frowned.

“So be it then. I'll fight you,” the princess said and quickly backed away, further down to the bottom of the gorge. “Well, not me. Someone else will.”

Izumi followed the girl's movements with furrowed brows.

What was the princess planning?

She clearly didn't have any weapons hidden, the form-conforming white dress extending from under the elegant armor left no room for such. So why the distance? To cast spells? Izumi had first assumed the attire to be only ceremonial in nature, but perhaps it was this country's standard outfit for the paladin class, knights capable of wielding magic?

This girl being a magic-user was the only way to explain how Izumi had ended up in this place, anyway.

Yet, something about it was off.

How could such a young and naive girl be able to cast a spell as powerful as to connect two worlds, yet be unable to defend herself against regular rank-and-file grunts? If she was a powerful caster, why did she want the sword? Because casting took too long? Because some specific conditions had to be met first? Because she really didn't want to fight her countrymen? Or else…?

Someone else would fight on her behalf?

She could summon something other than people, too?

Or perhaps...

This could be just a little bothersome

Izumi gripped the Amygla's handle. Wouldn't it have been better to pre-emptively cut down the girl before she could finish her preparations? Though she acknowledged it as an option, the idea of killing Yuliana didn't sit well with Izumi.

All her talk about NPCs and such moments prior had been mostly just that—talk, venting.

For a person, who felt more sympathy for game characters than actual people, those words had been the pinnacle of irony. Even as desensitized as she was, it's not like Izumi was completely heartless. The few lines she had exchanged with Yuliana had made the lonely woman already a bit attached to her.

If it was a kill or be killed-situation, she would still set aside those feelings and fight.

But was it, really?

The girl's preparations, a theatrical pose with her arms stretched to the sides, looked only comical. How thin she was, with her narrow neck and slightly concave cheeks where the delicate lines of her facial bones had become pronounced. Her light, silky hair was tightly pulled back and braided, emphasizing her pale, wide forehead, smeared in dirt, and glistening wet from the rain.

Still, regardless of how pitiful the princess's position was, the spirit burning in her blue eyes was dazzling. Watching it, Izumi couldn't bring herself to make a move, but only sighed powerlessly.

I'm really two-faced, aren't I?

Why couldn’t she just apologize?

It was too late now.

Not knowing what would happen, Izumi couldn't take any measures but only stood still and waited, hoping that their distance would give her enough time to react to whatever fantastic offensive was about to happen. At the same time, she was a bit curious. The light now framing Yuliana rekindled the forgotten child within her.

She was about to see real magic——nobody she knew could claim the same.

Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad way to die.

An elaborate pattern of pure light encircled Yuliana as she finished her mental preparations, knelt and chanted in her clear, resolute voice,

—“Hear me, o' radiant sprite, I beseech thee, the Noon of the White Sun. Become my blade, coat me in thy wings, bring upon thy foes the purifying blaze. Lord of Light, the keeper of my soul, thy vessel calls thee by thy hallowed name—Aesa Aiwesh!”

The princess lisped a little, like she had nearly bitten her tongue, but the ceremony was otherwise successfully completed.

There was a flash bright enough to make Izumi turn her face away. It even burned through her shut eyelids. Shielding her eyes with the greatsword, she now focused on her other senses, trying to detect whatever deadly force should come flying at her.

Nothing did.

In a short while, the light faded, and the scenery in the gorge returned to its usual bleakness.

With one exception.

Izumi lowered her weapon to see Yuliana Da Via Brannan's elegant figure gone.

In her place stood a woman taller and older than the princess, a tad taller than Izumi herself—and, clearly enough, not a human.

Clad in an extravagant, religious-looking attire, spotless white, the being appeared mostly like a human female, with slight differences.

She had hair even longer than she was tall, straight, and white like her attire. Besides an inhumanly beautiful face, her ears were long and slim, covered in white fur, and pointed horizontally to the sides. Above her head hovered a quietly rotating, halo-like circle, with radial spikes pointing in every direction. Two pairs of pure white wings extended from the being's mid back. Her bare feet weren't touching the ground, she floated above the rocks.

The being looked at Izumi with a pair of glittering, yellow-brown eyes, like smoky topazes, and smiled. Her body itself appeared to radiate light in the otherwise blue moment.

Izumi swallowed.

The spell had been for another summoning, after all?

Or was it body-swapping? Possession?

The being of light didn't look particularly aggressive, on top of being unarmed, but there was no way to tell if she didn't possess the mystic powers to turn Izumi to cinders with a flick of her finger. It was better to wait and see what would happen.

And yet, instead of attacking Izumi, the godly vision simply greeted her with a little curtsy,

“I am pleased to see you with my own eyes, o' champion. I am called Aiwesh, one of the Aesa, or Divines, which inhabit this world of Ortho. I am also the one who summoned you to us.”

“Um, how do you do?” Izumi answered.

“You have countless questions to ask, I am sure, but alas, the Lord of Light cannot easily tread the world of Dark. Needlessly prolonging my manifestation would burn away the life of my vessel, so we must keep our communion brief at this time.”

As Izumi kept quiet, the being, Aiwesh, went on,

“For now, it should suffice for you to know that you are in a world far detached from the conventions of your old. And while I was the catalyst, the conditions behind your transportation were not mine to choose, but decided by forces far older and grander.”

“You mean it was my fate? Coming here?” Izumi asked.

“Fate?” Aiwesh repeated, with a light laughter. “Were you chosen in specific by the Gods, from among the peoples of your world, to play a role that only you can? If the thought consoles you...I am no God, but I do have a purpose in mind that I wish you to follow, now that you are here. Although, so far as I am concerned, you have already done your part. The worst has been averted. My vessel has escaped imprisonment.”

“What?” Izumi was surprised. “You only summoned me for that? To save Yule from those fellows? Not that I objected to coming here, but wasn't that a terribly whimsical reason to abduct somebody from another world?”

“Perhaps from your point of view,” Aiwesh admitted. “But to me, it was more than worth it. Had this child been captured or slain, I would not see the realization of my will for another thousand years, if ever. By comparison, your convenience seems a small price to pay, if you may pardon me saying so.”

“Because it's not a price you have to pay,” Izumi shrugged. “But, it so happens, you got lucky. Because being summoned like this was what I always wanted, whatever the reason.”

“Is that so?” The mysterious spirit seemed amused. “Your wish was to be taken from your world, which I see has been too kind to you, and be cast into the midst of pain, misery, and bloodshed? Despite being but a frail maid, past your prime? What a curious thing to long for. Are all the people in your world as curious as that?”

“Well, that's not what I meant, exactly,” Izumi said. “Surely there's something more than blood, misery, and pain to this world, right?”

“Perhaps. Perhaps not,” Aiwesh answered, an enigmatic smile on her lips. “All I can say for certain is that in Ortho, those who seek conflict are most certain to find it. Because it is a world of stark extremes and countless contradictory dreams.”

“Then, what is your dream?”

“Mine?”

“I don't suppose you're possessing the princess and worried about her well-being only out of the kindness of your heart? So what's the reason then?”

The Divine looked a bit surprised. But then chuckled faintly and answered,

“You are a curious person, Itaka Izumi. No one in this world would ever think to question one such as I. I do not hate that about you. Rather, I choose to view it as a trait of endearment. But the answer to your question has to be a story for another time. If you wish to be of use to me, then follow my vessel. If you may accept that as your 'fate'. But I fear destiny played no part in your selection. Now, I must leave you. We shall speak again, once the conditions are in my favor.”

Having said all she wanted—as if running away from actually answering, Izumi noted—the form of Aiwesh shattered into countless feathers of light, revealing the knight princess as they spread and faded.

“Well?” Blinking, dazed, and having trouble standing up straight, Yuliana triumphantly gazed at the woman.

It seemed she wasn't conscious of the time her body was possessed, as her assumed conclusion—written all over her face—was at odds with reality. “Too frightened to even speak? Well, it's not that I don't understand. The first time I met my Lord was a terrifying experience for me as well. Now that you understand the forces you are dealing with, obediently hand over my sword, unless you want to...Eh?”

Without listening, Izumi walked past the princess, down the gorge.

“W-what…?” Yuliana looked after her in confusion.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Izumi paused to look back and asked. “I don't know the way.”

Before chasing after the summoned woman, Yuliana turned to look over her shoulder, at the dead knights lying quietly on the slope, still bearing their arms, equipment, and clothes. A faint smile of relief softened the tension on her tired countenance, as she hurried to respond,

“On my way!”