As I wake up, an unfamiliar softness of a cushion I’ve never seen before greets me. It’s certainly strange since I don’t own any western beds, preferring traditional futon more: I am a Japanese person through and thorough. And yet, I am currently lying on a wooden bed, under soft and warm covers.

I squirm a bit, and finally manage to sit. I look around to see the room better. It is small, even smaller than my apartments, and decorated with nothing but wood. It feels more like a cottage than a place where you can live all the time. I see some furniture, like a cabinet and a table – all made of, as you can guess, wood. I guess, the owner of this house is either a carpenter or some kind of an eccentric furniture lover.

I hear the door open: its hinges seem to be really old. An old man enters. He looks like a magician with a long white beard and dressed into strange robes. He eyes me, and a kind smile blossoms on his wrinkled face. He must one of those kind gramps, who give children candies for free.

“Hello, little miss. Are you feeling quite well?”

Ah, even his voice sounds gentle, but with a hint of steel inside. Honestly, he is the very model of a fantasy old man who takes care of a story’s protagonist. However, who is this “little miss” he is talking to. I am certainly no “miss” and it’s not like I can be mistaken for one: I am a man of a tall stature with boorish, but masculine face and hair too short to be considered androgynous.

That is, until I slip a hand under covers and check what is exactly between my legs. I, much to my distress, find nothing at all. Well, I do find something, but this will instantly turn it into an 18+ novel, so I prefer not to speak about my nether regions. However, the fact is that I am, despite all the odds, female.

Obviously, I react by emanating a rather loud shout of ‘eh!’ and shattering the old man’s eardrums, as he starts to shiver in pain. In my defense, it was the first thing my anxious mind could do. I need a mirror, so I try to stand from the bed, and find one, only to trip, as my legs were too weak to support me.

The old man somehow manages to catch me, moving in a flash from his place near the door to me. He holds me as if I weight nothing. Man, that old man certainly has some moves up in his sleeves, isn’t he? Normally, characters like him serve as mentor and parental figures, while also providing information about the outside world for the hero.

“You got a nice set of lungs, little miss. However, your body is not up to match: it took almost a week for our local healer to patch you. It’s a good thing that elves like you have such a strong affinity for magic, but don’t strain yourself this early”

As he says this, the old man puts me back on the bed, adjusting pillows so I could sit on them comfortably while talking to him. However, something he said before bothers me a bit.

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“Elves like me” he says? I touch my ears and find that they are quite long, longer than those of a human. Huh, so in addition to being female, I am also of another race? It seems, I am either hated or blessed by the god. I also take a good look at my bangs, feeling a silky texture on my fingers. I retained by black hair in the other world, too. Well, that’s a small victory here.

“Say, gramps, where am I? What is going on? I can’t remember anything at all”

I say, as I shake my head back and forth. It is time for some info dump!

Obviously, the old man obliges and starts his story from the beginning. I take some pauses and asks some question. In the end, this is what I managed to gather:

I was found by this person’s grandson when he was playing in the woods. I was injured, so he dragged my body all the way to the village. Since then, I was treated by the local healer. Since elves usually live on the south of the continent, my sudden appearance caused an uproar, which called for the landowner’s immediate attention. Said landowner is the old man I talked to.

I managed to attain some other information by probing further. It seems, I am currently in a nameless village, located on the west of the Lyon Empire. It is a massive country that takes near the half of the continent, and appears to be governed by the emperor with the help of the senate, located in the capital. That said, most of provinces are actually autonomous, and ruled either by local nobility or, in rare cases, strong chieftains.

I should note that this empire seems to be multi-racial, housing the standard fantasy set of dwarves, elves, beastmen and, obviously, humans as well. However, it’s a rarity to find one of those in this part because the local wildlife and climate seem to be too harsh. In fact, it is a place where mainly only ogre and orc nomad tribes reside, besides human settles who choose to move to this land in hopes of better life.

Also, I managed to somehow fool the old man, Percival, into thinking I have an amnesia and can’t remember anything, even my own name. I couldn’t help but squirm and seeing incredibly sadness in the old man’s eyes. Damn, he is too kind for his own good. I sincerely sorry for lying to you, Percy-san, but I need some means to survive in this world.

After the lecture, Percy-san told me to have a good sleep and relax. Also, he told me that he will come with his grandson tomorrow since I wanted to thank him for rescuing me.

I yawned and plopped on the bed. I was too tired to think about anything, so I will leave all problems to the me of tomorrow.