“Delicious!” Sine cheered when she bit into the soup. 

“...Mediocre,” Sumire said. However, she smiled and took another bite. She gulped down the soup along with Sine. 

“Another?” I asked. 

Sumire shook her head, but Sine happily accepted another bowl. I noted that my soup profoundly affected their aura when I put magic into my eyes. It seemed to make them bigger, if nothing else. It was only a slight change, but it might be wise to limit their dubious food in the future. 

When we finished eating, I made us tea. It was obviously delicious and infused with some of the plants from my starter forest. Sine refused to leave my lap the whole time, but I couldn’t blame her given the circumstances. 

“What part of Earth were you from, Miss Witchhat?” Sumire asked and giggled after saying my name. 

“That’s a good question,” I said, trying to remember life before this place. The only thing that came to mind was a city entirely of skyscrapers. “I have no idea. What about you two?”

“From Japan,” Sine said.

I was surprised they were both so good at English. Or at least, I hoped what we were speaking this whole time was that. Maybe I had learned a different language in my few thousand years here? It wouldn’t have surprised me. 

“We were attending class when it happened. The Goddess transported us here.”

“So that’s what—”

“What did you think?” Sumire asked. 

“N-nothing, more importantly!” I said. “This place is safe. I should know that better than anyone, so you can stay here for some time. It’s one of the only things I can do.”

“Witch can do anything!” Sine turned and hugged me, much to Sumire’s chagrin. 

“This is not really fair,” Sumire said, pouting and crossing her arms. “I can’t believe you, Sine.”

“Anyway, you two can make yourself at home for now. I have many rooms.” 

After some struggle, I got Sine to let go of me and go with Sumire. I figured that little girl must have had it rough. She lived here with no parents and was barely a high schooler. I gave each of them a button to press just in case they needed my assistance.
I wondered what that goddess was thinking. The more I thought about it, the more I realized she was incompetent.

She sent me to this world with less than a word. Kreah placed whole forests inside caves where they didn’t belong. And she summoned children who hadn’t learned the ways of the world. 

I realized then that I was mostly likely the only sane and average person here. 

“Still, what should I do about the kingdom?” I knew they would be targeting me as a criminal. “For now, I should take some time to relax.” 

I removed my boots to make myself even more comfortable in my home. Walking out of the living room, I entered the long hallway. In my mind, I could feel all of the rooms since this was my space, but I intentionally darkened my vision to the girl’s room. 

After descending a flight of stairs, I arrived in one of the best rooms in the manor—the hot spring! I had spent at least a hundred years on this room alone. 

The water was beautiful and mixed with a magical oil. From one side of the place, a giant rock golem stood. Water poured from its mouth and cycled through. Under the drain was a golem as well. This one would filter out all the grime before the water returned. It was perfect! An endlessly fed system.

“I missed you!” I said, quickly disrobing to dive into the water. I sighed in sweet satisfaction for the modern bath I’d been missing. The sorry excuses at the inns here just couldn’t prepare. I closed my eyes, sinking into the water a bit more.

A nice bath is good for clearing your head. The girls should be OK with the baths in their room, and I made plenty of clothes. I knew they were the goddesses’ heroes, but it wasn’t right. 

After leaving the bath and donning my robes, I knew it was time for an outing. Sneaking around was something I had been good at since hiding from monsters. At the very least, I could use my invisibility to snoop around the castle, or I could use it to meet up with Mary. 

I walked up to Sumire and Sine’s room and knocked on the door. Sine opened it and hugged me. “Soft witch.”

“Soon, I will head out,” I said. “There is something I need to do.” 

I patted Sine, noticing her hair was still wet. It seemed they bathed as well. Sine had chosen to dress in one of my previous outfits, yet Sumire remained in her silly-looking, gaudy mage attire. She’d fit right in at Winterhold. 

“You two should stay here. There are ways to entertain yourself in the library and food storages.” 

Before they could protest, I vanished, appearing in the sky high above Tinderwick on my broom. I went invisible and slowly glided down to the ground. It was daytime, so the street was filled with people. 

I looked over to the wall of one building, catching a glimpse of a wanted poster with my name on it. The only thing I could conclude was that this city worked fast. I walked over, picking up the poster from the wall. The girl in the image looked nothing like me—my real chest was much fuller. However, the reward had been fitting for an actress of my status. It was a hefty one hundred Mythril coins. 

I put magic into my ears and listened to the conversations. Many people discussed it—a mysterious, eerie woman who kidnaps heroes. There really was some timey-wimey stuff going on because they were talking about it like it had been days. To me, it had only been a few hours. 

That thought needed to be put off for later. I shook my head and smacked my cheeks. The first thing I needed to do was find Mary so that I could explain I was not really a criminal. With that in mind, I headed to the adventurer’s guild.