The plan was perfect. Well, the plan to save the Goddess and to suppress the Goblins was perfect. However, no matter how perfect a plan was, there would always be a gap that even I didn’t predict. And that led to my predicament at the moment.

Alright, let’s go right to the point. Players, well, they were Players. And this world was a game for them. And although they could play all day long almost every day, they still had their lives out there, on Earth. So, what would happen when night came?

Seventy percent of the Players disappeared. Or in another word, they were logging out at the moment. So, yeah, there were only a handful of Players now, probably only a dozen or so. That was the first thing that I kind of forget. And the second thing that I forgot was the fact that I was in another town alone with Adventurers which were mostly males and the Players that played until tonight were mostly males as well. Perhaps it could be said that I became the most beautiful girl in the whole town. Since there was no other girl besides me.

Or no. Fortunately, there was a female Elf Adventurer with me, though she was busy with her party. They were going to stand guard at the wall, and that was not something that I wanted to do. Nope, not under the open sky. However, I didn’t want to stay inside the Adventure Guild or the tavern connected to the Adventure Guild that had a scary cook in it. No.

“...maybe I should spend some time to do some therapy,” I muttered to myself as I looked at the sky from the window. I wondered what I was going to do if the Goblins managed to conquer the town. Evacuate? Well, yeah, but it would be scary. Yep, I should do something about my phobia.

So, I exited the Adventure Guild, and my knees suddenly grey weak. No, seriously, I was prepared, but my body wouldn’t listen to me. And I thought that people with phobia was overreacting, but it was really difficult to keep calm while my body was trembling like this. My mind was calm, but my body wouldn’t listen to me.

“You alright?” Zero asked while standing right beside me. I didn't know since when he was beside me though. Maybe, he followed me just now. Or maybe, he was always out there.

“...no,” I answered honestly. I felt sick. I felt the world was swaying in front of me. I couldn’t see everything clearly. My knees were trembling. Cold sweat poured and in less than a minute drenched my dress. In summary, I wasn’t alright at all.

Zero sighed. “Here, you can hold my hand.”

I looked at him. I didn’t refuse his help, as I really felt sick. “So, mind sharing what you are doing now?”

“Mm. Help me rest in a... an open space. A plaza, maybe.” I asked.

“Alright. Let’s take a walk.” Zero said expressionlessly and he led me to take a walk. We didn’t say anything. I was too busy with my own mind while he was being him. Weird.

We arrived at the garden of flowers. It was beautiful, or at least I imagined it would be a beautiful sight to behold if it were on a day with nice sunlight. It was night though, so, there was not much to see. Zero led me to a bench and sat down with me there.

“The moon is beautiful.” Zero opened our conversation with that line. I looked at the moon hanging motionlessly in the sky. It was a full moon. And it was sure beautiful. Though unconsciously, I tightened my grip on his hand when I looked at the moon.

Speaking of which, that line was used by ancient Japanese to say I love you, wasn’t it? Also, speaking of which, I wondered how Earth right now. Should I ask him about Earth? Oh, right, I wasn’t blushing at all even though I could interpret his words as ‘I love you’, yep, not at all. Because he must think that I was an NPC and he didn’t mean anything by that. I was so sure of it.

“So, mind sharing why you are doing it?” Zero abruptly turned his head and looked at me. I was surprised. A little. Just surprised though.

“It’s rehabilitation. I can’t just stay inside when we are supposed to fight, cough, I mean, evacuate, right? If I can’t evacuate, I will die for sure, so I have to overcome my... fear of open sky.” I could hear my voice trembling when I spoke.

“Rehabilitation, huh?” Zero looked back at the moon. “I never thought that you need rehabilitation as well.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Hm? What do you mean by that?”

Zero shrugged. “Nothing. I think you will overcome your fear somehow when you are cornered.”

Do you think I’m the main protagonist of an anime? I wanted to retort like that, but I stopped as I thought it would be weird for me to know about anime. Or anything else about Earth, I guess. Though I was curious.

“...so, is Earth similar to this world?” I probed a question.

“Not really.” Zero stared at the moon wistfully. I wondered why.

“This world is more beautiful. And livelier.” He added.

Oh, livelier? I wondered what he meant by that. In my opinion, a big city on Earth was far livelier than even the Royal Capital. For example, just looking at the rush hour train in Japan was enough for me to think that Earth was definitely overpopulated. Or the traffic jams in China that could last for days. Well, I only read that in news though, fortunately. I didn’t know whether that was real or a hoax, but anyway, I thought Earth was livelier than this world full of death.

“Hey, do you think this world will be destroyed by the Goblins?” Zero abruptly asked while I was immersed in my thought.

Honestly, there was no way a Goblin Emperor could destroy this world. It might destroy a civilization, however, but since the Goblins still needed a place to live, I doubted they would destroy everything. Though everything would change if they won. I replied like that, and Zero stared back at the moon.

“Then we must win no matter what. I won’t let the Goblins destroy this beautiful world.” Zero said as if convincing himself.

“Hey, Fey, are you planning at staying at this town while the Players are rescuing Briana?” Zero asked. He changed the topic as fast as a girl’s mood. I didn’t even have the chance to enjoy the beautiful scenery because of our talk. Well, mostly because I was too scared though.

“I don’t know, there’s nothing I can do in this place, but it’s not like I can go anywhere else,” I replied with a sigh.

I couldn’t make any potions in this town unless of course, I had a base of some sort. And the Adventure Guild was not a base I could use to concoct potions. But more importantly, I needed ingredients to make potions, something that I didn’t have at the moment. I couldn’t ask the Players and Adventurers to gather the ingredients as well as they were quite busy with the Goblins and the plan. So, yeah, there was nothing to do for me in this town.

However, I couldn’t evacuate either. Unless, of course, I could use some stagecoach. Or used my Smokeless Slime. But I couldn’t use my Smokeless Slime when I evacuated with other people, could I? Otherwise, they would be scared of me and I would be attacked by them. Or the Adventurers helping them to evacuate.

“Why don’t you join us? Going to the Dungeon, I mean.” Zero asked.

“Why would I risk my life doing something like that? I won’t be revived if I die and I’m not as strong as you or other Players.” Status-wise, I added inwardly. I didn’t know why my status didn’t increase much, so, I was as strong as children of this world. No, some children might be stronger than even me. I should stop thinking like this or I might be sad...

“...you are right. Well, let’s go back, it’s getting cold out here.” Zero said.

It was cold? Oh, I forgot that I was wearing a special dress that could regulate the temperature, so I didn’t feel cold at all. But I still wanted to rehabilitate my fear of the open sky. Besides, I didn’t know where I would sleep if I went back to the Adventure Guild. I didn’t plan to sleep amongst the other guys after all.

“...you might go first,” I said as I released my hand from his. Mm, I should try to rehabilitate myself, not depend on him too much.

“And leave you here?” Zero replied with a mischievous grin. “Yeah, that would be a great idea. So, see you next morning, in this exact spot?”

“...mm, we’ll see tomorrow. I’ll try to go back before dawn though.” I replied with a bitter smile. I didn’t know whether I would be able to stand on my own or not, but it didn’t seem like I would be able to do that.

“Yeah, yeah. Like I’ll believe you!” Zero flicked my forehead and it was painful. Seriously, he forgot that his Strength attribute was several times over me, didn’t he? Also, his speed was so fast that I couldn't react!

“Ugh, stop using violence, I’m pretty fragile, you know?” I complained about it with a bit of tear in the corner of my eyes.

“Ah, sorry, I forgot to control my strength.” He laughed awkwardly. Tsk forgot to control his strength. It was easy for him to apologize, but it didn’t make the pain go away!

“Alright, as an apology, I will stay with you as long as you want, so, forgive me?” Zero apologized insincerely.

“That’s what you want to do, right? It’s not you apologizing, right? Right?” I glared at him, as menacing as I could be.

“Ahaha, you got me. Anyway, sorry for doing that. So, let me off this once, alright?”

I could only sigh. Even if I didn’t want to forgive him, there was nothing he could do to soothe my fragile heart, so I let him go. He should be thankful for my magnanimous heart!

“Well, whatever,” I said as I stared at the moon again. Yep, it was still scary, but it was better now. At least, I didn’t go blank when I was staring at the moon.

"...scared of falling to the sky, huh?" Zero muttered. His expression was a bit weird. I didn't say anything at all and waited for him to continue. "Even in stories, there are not a lot of people who have a similar phobia. Ah, but the friend of the wizard boy is scared of spiders!"

"Oh, you mean Ronald?" I remembered that movie! Well, it was one of the most famous movies in the world, so, naturally, I could remember it. Zero nodded absentmindedly.

"Right, it's him. Even though he has arachnophobia, he still can be one of the main characters, huh?" Zero chortled lightly. I was slightly offended by what he said. Even if someone had a phobia, why couldn't he be the main character? Like the boy who was afraid of growing old...

Anyway, after that, Zero and I started talking about a lot of things. Mainly, we were talking about movies. There were some that I knew, but there was a lot that I didn't know. As the night grew deeper, Zero started yawning more and more. And he leaned on me before I knew it. Heavy. Seriously. Also, his breath was tickling my neck.

I didn’t push him away though. Well, it was not that I didn’t want to push him, yes? It was because I couldn’t muster my strength to push him away, alright? My condition was really terrible as I couldn’t even move properly under the open sky. I wondered if a rehabilitation like this would have any effect, I hope the effect would show up as soon as possible.

No, perhaps besides staring at the sky like an idiot, I should do something else? For example, trying to move my body... which was currently impossible due to my uncooperative body.

How about using some Spells? My mind was working properly even though my body wouldn’t listen to me, so using some Spells should be no problem.

“[Light]”

I used the simplest Spell that I could, [Light]. Its effect was, well, just producing a source of light, perhaps similar to will-o-wisp. Or like a miniature sun, though it was far dimmer and far smaller than the actual sun. However, my [Light], weirdly swayed left and right, like the fire of a candle in howling wind, before it abruptly disappeared. It seemed I couldn’t use a Spell properly too, huh?

While trying to produce another [Light], the boy beside me moved. He lied on the bench with his head on my laps. He... really took advantage of me, didn’t he? Thinking like that, I sighed and continued practicing using [Light] silently.