While walking with Reina, I mentally make a fist and say “Damn yea, that was hella cool!”.

 

Unfortunately, I could not do a lot of the performances I had in mind due to the rapid adrenaline blinding me and the euphoric feeling generated from having my first facade. I did get to easily assimilate into the role of a custodian for a young girl after being fortunate enough to find someone who manages to venture deep into the forest, so it all went well in the end.

 

“Eirene, can I become someone pretty like you too?”

 

Oh, right, I had chosen my name to be Eirene. It does not hold any meaning besides sounding pleasing to the ears.

 

I had changed my appearance before meeting her along with the bandits. In Reina's eyes, she should be seeing a blue-eyed girl instead and a different facial form in comparison to what people would see when I am on a resting period. However, it was specifically for Reina and still is and not the bandits since they all would be dead anyway so as to not waste mana for critical moments.

 

By the way, it might seem my male body is not doing anything right now, but that is a false statement.

 

Incidentally, my male body is actively surveying our surroundings for any potential monsters that may have been lured by the smell of blood and death oozing from those bandits and a bit of it from Reina. Stemming from the personal experience of once living inside this forest, all of the mobs here are extremely hostile towards anything that they see as food. So, it is vital for me, or my male body to scout the area around us before stepping into those areas.

 

Combining the efforts of two people which are my female and male bodies’ positions, the observable area is significantly larger and of more detailed when the two of my magic-radars overlap each other.

 

Managing both of my bodies has become a piece of cake after having plunged to the ground and caused chaos with everyday activities in the name of ‘recovery’ in front of Ercilla during those days. The process of how it became easy is a long history so I will just leave it at that.

 

“Mmh? Ah, it's naturally possible. Of course, if your question perturbs the methods of how I possess such beauty, it's better for you to not think about it.”

 

“But that’s the reason why I’m asking you.”

 

“Like I said, it’s better for you not to think about it. We custodians can freely manipulate our form at will, be it becoming a handsome man or a beautiful woman or a child, or even an animal.”

 

What I have just said is the truth, with the exception of the custodian part.

 

It is surprisingly easy to change your appearance with magic. By flooding the receiver’s eyes with magic instead of natural light waves, I can force Reina’s brain to receive those wave-like magic and integrate it according to my desire.

 

So saying after hearing my response, her head slumps while showing a dejected face.

 

“Cheer up. One day, I’m sure you’ll become someone as pretty as me.”

 

“Okay…”

 

Though she said that, her face is still dejected.

 

“Anyway, where do you live? Is it a village or a town, or maybe a kingdom or an empire?”

 

Her head raises itself and makes a surprised face.

 

“No, no. I don’t live anywhere like those places. But…”

 

She suddenly goes despondent and does not utter a single word after saying that.

 

No way, right? She must be living at least inside a village for her to have survived this long.

 

As I almost blurted my own thoughts at her, she then slowly opens her mouth with a gloomy expression visibly shown to me.

 

“...it’s a small hut. Far away from those places and this forest.”

 

“...is it in the middle of nowhere?”

 

“...yes.”

 

And thus, we continue our journey as I hide my sunken hopes. If only it is at least a backwater village…

 

————<>———O———<>————

 

The sun stands midst of the sky, casting silhouettes from the the frame of two young girls that have just emerged from the forest behind them.

 

The two young girls named Reina and Eirene, the former bearing a brown hair while the latter bearing a silvery hair look at each other before seeming to be conversing together.

 

Reina points at a certain direction as she speaks with the nodding Eirene. After that, Eirene aims her palm at Reina, causing Reina to levitate until having reached a certain distance from the ground before Eirene follows suit.

 

As it is Reina’s first time experiencing levitation magic, she can not control her movements in the air and flails around like a jelly. Seeing that, Eirene chuckles at the sight and helps Reina to regain control by levitating on top of her and their heads positioned in the same vertical line before embracing her abdomen.

 

Reina can smell the aromatic waft of a flower emanating from Eirene by their close contacts. Even though she still has the lingers of blood on her, the waft overcomes that smell of death and is replaced with a far tranquil one. Furthermore, Eirene’s skin feels incredibly smooth and soft that it has made Reina think she is resting on a cloud, yet giving her a sense of home from the warmth of Eirene’s body.

 

Reina’s thoughts are cut short when Eirene starts moving to the location of Reina’s brother with her in Eirene's arms.

 

Flying under the brisk light of the warm sun, Reina can see the animals that she has been seeing and those that she has not seen wandering across the temperate plain below them. The lands are formed picturesquely from the different elevations of hills, ponds of divergent sizes and several floras and faunas flourishing the lands.

 

Animals feasting peacefully on the grass while some of them are engaging in intimacy and symbiosis with the other animals, Reina feels peaceful at the sight of them and Eirene seems to be also enjoying the serene scenery from their conversations while glancing at the direction of Reina’s brother.

 

Unbeknown to Reina, an extra person is also flying with them. Eirene already knows about that person's existence and is merely ignoring it but for the utterly gullible Reina, she does not even have the thoughts of looking backward or the possibility of an existence tailing them from behind, allowing the person to bluntly fly behind them.

 

After some time has passed, they arrive at a certain place where a small wooden hut is only distances away in front of them, with the exception of the person who has been following them in covert which is still moving in the air.

 

With anxiousness clouding Reina’s cognitive capabilities, Eirene immediately begins to scan her surroundings while ignoring the person moving around them.

 

In her surroundings, she can see a number of trees near the hut with a total of three of them being fruiting trees. Some of the trees have reached their natural lifespan and the fruiting trees’ fruits are all of the same which is an apple fruit. There are also a variety of flowers blooming in patches on the ground between the hut and the trees. Additionally, a river is situated near the trees and trails behind the hut before furthering along its path.

 

Several animals occupy the sides of the river for the mineral flowing through it at the same time a few of the wandering kinds are staring at Eirene as she stares back at them. However, it is after seconds have gone that the two groups stop the contest and return to their routines.

 

Gazing at the hut, it appears to be in a dilapidated state like Ercilla’s house of which she has been living within, but in a worser state than the former.

 

The nailed woods that make up the walls of the hut had been battered to bent shapes. Though there are still numerous unbent parts of the walls, most of them are in a torn state, leaving large and small hollows and crevices which one can peer into them for bits of the hut’s contents. A window exists on the hut but it is purely a glass-less window with only sticks decorating the window’s frame. Moreover, the roof of the hut is also decorated with a few holes that has made Eirene think of the possible leakage from the impaired roof into the interior of the hut.

 

After finishing her observations, Eirene follows Reina who is now hastily pacing to the hut’s entrance door.

 

When they have arrived in front of the door, a crumbling wooden door is what greets them. But instantaneously appearing in front of it, Eirene senses oddities exuding from the hut’s interior and its unobtrusive breached marks on the wooden door, no, it is as if the whole area with the hut as the middle is incomprehensibly odd.

 

Given that the door has no knob on it and is in a state of almost deteriorated, Reina only needs to push it to with a slight force but due to her grown anxiousness, she has done it a bit forceful from what the gloomy door can handle, causing it to be ripped out of its connections.

 

“Don’t.”

 

Immediately after Eirene says that, the door is already laying broken on the side of Reina as the painting of a dimly lit room containing a body being consumed by five small-hideous green creatures with jarring paint of blood smearing everything near them enters both of their fields of visions.

 

The aroma of death swiftly sweeps into Eirene and Reina’s sense of smells as Reina stands silently against the reality transpiring across from her. The abrupt sound of the door has already garnered the attention of the feasting creatures, inducing them to release distorted growls as they swiftly pick up the small wooden clubs lying at their sides and launch themselves towards Reina.

 

Reina, who has slumped to her knees with her eyes fixated at the mangled corpse, merely remains unresponsive. But because of the existence of Reina’s custodian behind her slumped body, the green creatures are effortlessly halted of their attacks and their bodies are suspended in the air, involuntarily making them drop their weapons.

 

Then, their bodies are steadily being compressed with magic force applied in every direction of their bodies.

 

With each second, the sound of bones cracking can be heard through the blood-oozing green creatures’ flesh while they let out distorted agonies. Their ribcage goes against their functions as they are ripping the front torso of their bodies, spilling out moving organs that have weaker joints and conspicuous amounts of bodily fluids. Soon, their arms and legs are completely joined with their mangled organ-spilling bodies before their heads become pancakes, devoid of any intelligence.

 

After tossing the bundled meat to the corner of the room, Eirene immediately goes to Reina’s side and kneels to the ground.

 

“Reina, I’m sorry for failing to save your brother, but I’ll have to take you with me right now.”

 

Reina still can not accept the reality as she simply looks downward with her lifeless eyes.

 

“I’m really sorry for this.”

 

Having realized that Reina will not move, Eirene gets up and places her hand on top of Reina’s head and begins to pour magic into it.

 

After a few seconds have gone by, Reina’s eyes slowly close themselves before her body falls limply. Eirene quickly catches her and carries her to her arms before exiting the pungent hut.

 

“Heh, you guys are damn lucky that I have to act out my part.”

 

Immediately after going outside, hordes of small and huge green creatures with the latter numbered in three are marching towards the hut with saliva spewing from their mouths. Needless to say, the smaller are goblins and its contrast are ogres.

 

“Well, I can’t really take out three ogres while dealing with the small fries, so it’s a pass.”

 

Without a notice, eight goblins appear behind Eirene from the side of the hut’s wall with wooden and stone clubs in their hands before speeding towards her. But before they can shorten the distance, the person who has been flying above slams to the ground, creating a dirt haze and enacts a magic barrier that covers the person, Eirene and Reina, instantly deflecting the rocks and pebbles thrown at them.

 

Behind Eirene, a silvery hair boy clad in average clothes - same as Eirene - materializes from the haze while heaving a sigh.

 

“Really aggressive, mmh?”

 

Eirene says so, she and Reina along with him then levitates while the barrier is following the position of the boy.

 

Due to the unreachable height, the goblins and ogres can only throw an innumerable number of rocks and pebbles at them, though no damages are being inflicted to the receiver.

 

After having raised some distance from the ground, they fly away from the hut and travel along the river which is formed behind the hut before dissolving the magic barrier.