I sighed as I calmed myself down. There was no point in getting all worked up, since there was no one I could complain to right now, but the next time Feyril showed up, he was getting a piece of my mind! Meanwhile, Masa and I discussed our plans for exploring and levelling. Having this house as a safe area was all well and good, but he did have to return home once in a while, and I wanted to travel further as well. Unfortunately, neither of us had the Transportation affinity to teleport us back to wherever we wanted.

Perhaps if we travelled more, we might be able to meet up with more players or even find a town of natives. The monsters here didn't drop any items, so it might be difficult to earn money here though. Maybe we could do some odd-jobs or barter something in exchange. Tasty snacks from another world might be popular. Hmm...mm?

"You're doing it again," said Masa with a sigh.

I blushed and covered my face with my hands. "Sorry about that," I mumbled.

"I don't really mind," he said, chuckling at my embarrassment. "Hearing your thoughts makes things more straightforward. At the moment, I told my parents that I'm off on a solo trip and not to expect me back for a few days, so we have a bit of leeway."

I perked up. "Now that's a good idea! I could tell my parents that I'm going on a trip too! A solo trip to Japan like I've always wanted!"

"Wait, wait, this place is connected to your house, right?" he asked, tilting his head. "In that case, you're technically not leaving your house at all, right? How do you explain that?"

"Er..."

"Plus travelling alone for a young lady like you is far too dangerous," he added with a shake of his head. "I doubt your parents would agree."

I bristled a little. "You're only a year older than me!"

"I have Swordsmanship 5!" he shot back.

That deflated me. "You're right. Wait..." I snapped my fingers as a brilliant idea suddenly came to me. "Maybe I could convince them to let me go if someone went with me!"

"Well, sure, but if you're going to bring someone else--"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Nuh-uh, he already knows about this place, is older than me, and...has Swordsmanship 5!"

Masa stared at me, his eyes wide. "Surely you're not suggesting that--"

"Let's go meet my parents!"

I very nearly would have dashed off right away if Masa hadn't held me back to discuss a more concrete plan. I told him about how the butler, Muhammad, had cooperated with me so far and would be able to help us with an alibi. I would tell them that Masa was a friend I made online who happened to be in the area and invited me to visit his place. Since I had lots of free time, I could visit Japan as a sort of exchange student for a while. The only problem was how we were going to pretend to fly off to Japan when we were actually going via Shyi'eld.

In the end, we decided to leave the house openly while my parents were home and then sneak back when they went out. The plan wasn't completely foolproof, but we could just figure out the details as we went. Masa appeared to be more worried than I was, but his excitement at being able to see what he called "lifers" in Malaysia seemed to override his good sense. I completely understood. I was willing to do anything to be able to visit Japan for free too.

With the time difference between here and Earth, we could plan out the exact time to reach my home and chose to arrive a few hours before dinner. Today (on Earth, at least) was a Sunday, and my parents had gone on a day trip to a nearby town to do some shopping. I had left the house in the morning just after breakfast, and had returned for lunch before leaving again, so they wouldn't be expecting me back until dinner time. It would look more natural to have Masa enter with me through the front door, so we could sneak back and out of the house before anyone realised. The servants were used to me popping in and out of the house by now, so they wouldn't notice anything amiss.

All right, our plan was perfect. With things all settled, we rested for a while before heading to my house in Malaysia. Masa was quite interested in the tropical garden in this old mansion, but slightly disappointed that there weren't any wildlife to be found here. He asked me questions about the plants and I answered as much as I could, which wasn't very much. I probably had to read up more about them when I could get Internet access again. Wait...couldn't I just Inspect them?

Banana

Species: Musa acuminata

Palatability: Edible (sweet)

Description:

Popular fruit crop native to Southeast Asia (Earth) which has been cultivated into diverse varieties. Has been widely introduced into many countries, including Xon'le, Sua'lart, Agrith and Hertha. Some of the Shyi'eldian cultivars have taken on mildly magical properties.

It turned out that I could inspect them after all! And it even told me whether the plant was edible or not. Why hadn't I thought of using this earlier? But the countries listed in the description were not familiar at all. Did that mean plants from Earth could be grown in Shyi'eld as well? Come to think of it, the exotic-looking plants back in the enclosed garden at home were likely Shyi'eldian plants too. Even after using this portal between my home and Shyi'eld so many times, I hadn't really thought about that. In fact, if Earth had no magic, how could the portal even work?

As I brooded over these matters, we stepped back into Malaysia.