It's been another week since I agreed to stay here. For the most part, I've gotten used to living in this world... Speaking of which, I never got the name of this world, now that I think about it.

Regardless, I've also gotten acquainted with a fair bit of the members of this town. The closest of which, is the old couple that lives closest to us, down the road. Those two are very nice, plus the lady knows how to make a mean pie. And when I say mean, I mean that you literally have to yell inappropriate statements at it to help with the cooking. Something about magic, or some weird thing I don't get about this world.

…I swear if she's just making a fool out of me...

There's also a lot of children growing up here. Make sense to me, since this town is just so calm. The atmosphere here is perfect for anyone wanting to raise a family.

However, today Saffron and I won't be staying in town for long. She wanted us to head out to the next town over to pick up some supplies and to enjoy a little field trip. It sounds like a lot of fun, and I'll take it as my little adventure in this world.

Right now, I'm loading in some of the things we'll need for the trip. She, on the other hand, is busy playing with the kids. I would complain, but it's just too cute to see her spending time with those children. That smile of hers is just too sweet for me to get angry about this arrangement.

“So, you all are heading out soon?” It's Charles, the elderly man of the couple we know. I answer him in the affirmative, prompting a bit of a chuckle from him. “You know, ever since you've come along, she's gotten a lot brighter.”

“T-thanks.” I don't really know how to take it. Is this supposed to be some type of teasing of our relationship? It's not like we're a couple, or anything.

“I'm glad that she's got someone like you, that girl's been through a lot.” He could say that again. I can't imagine how being enslaved for who knows how long would be good on anyone. “It's been real tough for her during these last two decades, but I'm guessing she hasn't told you.”

“Hmm?” I could gather that losing her old master was bad. What he just said though, it sounds like there's something not so obvious from that time.

“Sorry, I shouldn't get too into it.” He stopped himself from explaining. “If she hadn't talked about it, then it's not my business to tell you.” If he wasn't going to explain, then why mention it at all? Apparently it's just so I understand where she's coming from, but I don't know what he means by that.

“I'm sure she'll tell me when she's ready.” It's not like I can force anything, nor do I want to.

“Right.” He says, just as I finish up packing our stuff in the carriage. “Have a safe trip, I hope our world doesn't disappoint you.”

“Oh I'm sure that... Wait, what?” What he just said, he made it sound like this world was new to me. As it turned out, my foreign status wasn't that unknown at all.

“We all know.” He whispered to me. “Just that no one's brought it up, since you seem to want to hide it. But don't worry, you're not the first guy to end up here on accident.” I knew that I wasn't the first, but I never figured it wasn't an uncommon occurrence. I wonder if it also happens the other way around?

“Is everything taken care of?” Saffron approached us with the rest of the children. I nodded, it's time to get this show on the road. After some farewells with the people of this town, the two of us got on for the long trip.

Well, maybe not that long. We should arrive by nightfall, though if this was my world, it would take an hour at most thanks to cars.

It's going to be a while on the road, so I'm a little worried we might not have that much to talk about. It would be awkward with too much silenece, in my view. I wonder if it's the same for her, or did the long isolation teach her to get used to the quiet?

For a while, we don't talk. So I decide to take in the scenery we pass by on our carriage. It's really beautiful, seeing all the flowers lining along the fields. Given the stories I've heard from before the defeat of the demon lord, I have a hard time believing how much of this was barren wasteland.

“So.” She's the one to break this silence between us. “What did you do before you came here?” I never really got around to tell her that. Seeing as I'm staying here, I didn't think she'd care all that much.

“I just did some odd jobs.” Another reason I didn't want to tell her, would be that it's something I'm a little ashamed of. Didn't go to college, since I didn't want to go somewhere when I hardly knew what I wanted in my life. So I spent my life after high school moving from job to job. Never did find anything I could settle into.

She asked for more clarification, so I went to what I was doing most recently. That being that I was a caretaker. It wasn't anything special, just keeping an eye on kids when their parents needed help. In fact, Saffron only just looks a little older than the children I watched back then.

“So what about you?” I ask her, it's not fair if only I gotta answer questions. “What happened with you, after you defeated the demon lord?”

“Well, first I came back to the mansion. That was the first time I saw the place in months, then I slept for a week!” She lets out a hearty laugh. I laugh along with her, that was quite the exaggeration. However, once that's out of the way, her expression become much more somber. “Then I woke up.”

She doesn't have to say much more for me to understand. I imagine that once the realization that her old friend wasn't around to see her accomplishment. It must've been truly sad.

Saffron also explained that for her deeds, the people gave her more than enough funds to live a somewhat comfortable life. Maybe not enough to be fancy rich, with servants to care for the big place she owned, but enough to live the life she wanted.

“That's pretty nice.” I say. “It must be cool to be viewed as a hero.”

“Yeah...” She turned her head down a bit. Perhaps being viewed as a hero wasn't what she was wanting that whole time. “Anyway...” She gets her usual mood back. “I'm sure you know what else I was up to the last year.” Right, I assume that summoning magic isn't easy to learn. I hope no one before me met with an unfortunate fate.

“Ahh...” I yawn. It's not easy to keep my energy up when I've been up at the crack of dawn to make sure we had everything we needed.

“You should get some sleep.” She told me that we should be nearly to the town by now. “I'll wake you up when we get there.”

“Great.” I move on to the back of the carriage to give her some space. There's not much room for me to stretch out properly, but I think I can manage. Turns out that I managed pretty well, because I head to sleepsville in no time.

What did I dream about? It's a little embarrassing to say, because... Well because she's in my dreams. I don't know why, you could say it's the influence of what she's been doing ever since I got here causing it. Except that's not the full story.

Ugh, I can't avoid saying it. Fine, you could say that I've got a bit of... A crush on her. Tsk, crush... What am I, ten? But I don't have a better way of saying it. That girl's grabbed my attention, now I want to know more.

“Alan...” She says my name, but she didn't open her mouth. “Alan.” There it is again. What, she's fading away? “Alan, wake up.”

“Huh?” Slowly, my eyes open, capturing the light coming from the sunset.

“Alan, we're here.”