Zeigel couldn't help but feel a sense of relief. If someone understood his situation then it meant that they could help him figure out what's going on.

She must've been a victim of one of those portals. I don't know how long she's been in this place but if she's familiar with the creatures here then it's safe to say that she's been living here for quite some time.

"You may find it surprising but I also have the same reason for being in this forest as you." Said the girl.

That definitely confirms it, she's also from Earth. I'm not the only one who got sent here! She can help me figure out how to get home!

"That's right, I know you came here so that you can train yourself to become a vanguard."

"...Wait what?"

"I also came here to fight a few monsters and do a bit of training before becoming a vanguard."

Okay, maybe she's just assuming that I've been in this world for awhile and that I'm trying to become whatever a vanguard is. The fact that she knows what I've lost means that at the very least she understands my situation.

"Earlier you mentioned that you know what I lost, that means you know what happened to me right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I know what you lost. It was something very important to a man like you."

That definitely confirms it! She lost the life she had on Earth just like me! She knows what my situation is!

"You lost your dignity."

Zeigel paused and gave her a look of confusion. "I lost my what?"

"When you started screaming like a little girl, you must've felt like you lost your dignity." The girl spoke with genuine pity in her voice. "To put on such a pathetic display in front of someone, I can't even begin to imagine just how embarrassing that must've been for you."

"...Huh? No that's not-"

"But don't worry!" She said in a brighter tone. "I'll keep this embarrassing secret between us. No one will ever know that you nearly wet your pants today."

"That's not what hap-"

"By the way, you said that you're planning on becoming a vanguard right?"

"I never sai-"

"Why don't we both join the vanguards together!"

"I'm not-"

"It'll be fun!"

"I-"

"You and me, we'll go on adventures, slay some monsters,"

"..."

"I bet we'll even be able to defeat those Earth people and become world renowned heroes of Errale."

Zeigel's eyes widened. "Wait, Earth people?"

"Yeah, they're probably real strong so we're going to have to train hard if we wanna beat them."

Just what kind of a reputation does Earth have in this world? Maybe she meant Earth people as in people made of earth and not people from Earth.

"Can you tell me everything you know about these earth people?"

The girl tilted her head at him. "Seriously? Have you been living under a rock?"

"I don't keep up with the news okay, so just tell me what you know."

"Man, what a weirdo," The girl muttered under her breath. "So basically a couple years ago a bunch of people from another world called Earth came to Errale. It's such a dumb name for a world amirite? Anyways, everything was fine for awhile until they decided to betray us during a big mission with tons of vanguards in it and killed most of the people there. Afterwards Earth was declared the enemy of Errale." The girl explained nonchalantly.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"So yeah, that's pretty much all you need to know about those Earth people. They're all evil."

Zeigel could feel his body tense up. Not only is he stuck in another world, but the one he was in considered his people to be evil.

"So uh, just out of curiosity," He asked nervously. "What would you do if I was from Earth?"

"Something like this," The girl performed a swift kick that stopped an inch away from Zeigel's face, startling him as he tumbled backwards.

"Ha! Man, you're real easy to scare." The girl laughed as she stretched her hand out to help him up.

"Jerk." Zeigel grumbled.

"Now, what would you do if I was from Earth?" The girl asked.

Zeigel's eyes widened in surprise. "You are?"

"Of course not silly! We're just practicing what we'd do if we met an Earth person right?"

"Ah, r-right."

"Now come on! Show me what you'll do!" The girl had taken up a fighting stance, much to Zeigel's displeasure.

"I'd rather not..."

"Don't be shy, we're both planning on becoming vanguards right? This'll be a good chance to train ourselves before becoming one!"

Like hell I'll become whatever the hell a vanguard is. From the way she described it, it sounds like a sort of adventurer job. There's no way I'll take a job that puts my life in constant danger. But then again, since I came into this world with nothing, I'm homeless and penniless, and I doubt I'd be able to get a decent job without any educational qualifications. Plus there's the whole issue of me needing to learn how society works here while hiding the fact that I'm from Earth. God fucking damn it, why did this have to happen to me!

While lost in his thoughts, a familiar feeling began to overwhelm Zeigel. The strange uneasy feeling was back, and it was far worse than what he had experienced before coming to this world. He could feel something at the back of his mind screaming at him that he was in danger.

"Something's wrong!" Zeigel exclaimed.

"Of course something's wrong, there's an eeevil Earth person in front of you." The girl joked.

"I'm not talking about you dumbass!" Zeigel snapped. He began frantically looking around until he saw something in the distance. A velociraptor covered in feathers with four wings on its back was running in his direction while letting out a loud screech. It had a dark aura coming out of its body and looked as if it was possessed.

"Is that a dinosaur?" Zeigel exclaimed.

"What's a dinosaur?" The girl asked, turning to see what Zeigel was looking at. "Is that a ciraken? It looks like it's glowing."

"Well whatever it is, we need to get away from it now!" Zeigel yelled as he turned around to flee .

"Wait!" The girl grabbed Zeigel's arm. "This is a perfect chance for us!"

"What do you mean!"

"We'll defeat this monster together!" The girl said with more confidence than Zeigel would like to hear.

"ARE YOU CRAZY? YOU'RE GONNA GET US BOTH KILLED!" Zeigel screeched as he struggled to break free from the girl's grip.

"But just think about it. We'll be defeating a monster before we even become vanguards. Wouldn't that be cool?"

"You know what would be even cooler? NOT DYING!"

"Don't be such a baby."

The ciraken was roughly a hundred meters away from them. The girl had taken up a fighting stance while Zeigel still struggled to break free from the girl.

It can't end like this! I don't wanna die just because some suicidal moron wants me to help her fight a velociraptor!

While failing to free himself, Zeigel noticed that the gardvern was still watching them, seemingly entertained with what they're doing.

I don't know much about this wyvern, but if it's friendly enough to let people pet it, then it might be nice enough to help stop that raptor.

Zeigel waved his hand at the gardvern to get its attention. "Psst, hey, you see that raptor over there?" Zeigel pointed at the ciraken that was now ten meters away. "Can you stop it please?"

The gardvern craned its neck to see what Zeigel was pointing at. The moment it saw the ciraken about to pounce on the girl, it let out a roar. Roots sprouted out of the ground and wrapped tightly around the ciraken to restrain it.

"Aw man, why'd you do that?" The girl let out a disappointed sigh. Zeigel let out a sigh of relief and smacked the girl at the back of her head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR? YOU NEARLY GOT ME KILLED YOU CRAZY MORON!"

"But you're alive..."

"NO THANKS TO YOU ASSHOLE!"

Zeigel took a deep breath to calm himself down. Even though the ciraken is restrained, Zeigel continued to have the strange uneasy feeling, only now it had gotten worse.

As he stepped away from the ciraken, Zeigel noticed something. That strange feeling would weaken the further away he was from the ciraken. When he got closer to it, it would grow stronger. Not only that, but no matter where he moved, the ciraken would only focus on him, wiggling its claws and snapping its jaws at his direction while completely ignoring the girl and the gardvern.

It's attracted to me, but why? Is it because I'm from Earth? Does this thing have anything to do with the portal that sent me here?

Zeigel carefully approached the ciraken, moving behind it to ensure that it couldn't claw or bite him.

"Whoa, careful there." The girl warned.

"You're the last person I wanna hear that from!" Zeigel rebuked.

This raptor might be related to the portal that sent me here. I might be able to get some answers out of this.

Zeigel inspected the ciraken's body and found a small glowing dark purple shard lodged in between its talons. Unsure if he should touch the dark aura radiating out of ciraken, Zeigel grabbed the longest stick he could find on the ground and carefully picked at the shard until it came loose.

As soon as the shard was removed, the ciraken stopped moving and the dark aura dissipated. The ciraken was still breathing but it was unconscious, and the strange feeling that he had disappeared as well.

This must be it! This shard is the key to getting back home!

Zeigel reached down to grab the shard, but something pulled him back before he could reach it.

"Don't touch that." A man with unkempt white hair and a disturbingly emotionless face appeared out of nowhere beside him. He wore a dirty worn out coat with dried blood splattered across it and a gold and blue bracer with five small gems embedded in the center of it. The bags under his eyes made him look as if he hadn't slept for days and he had a voice that sounded incredibly depressive.

"Didn't anyone tell you not to touch cursed shards?"