Chapter 1

Chapter 1 \nVol 4: Chapter 1\n

There is a small tunnel where only a child could fit through, as the clothes rubbed against the rough surfaces of the wall. Miners called it the “Racoon hole”.

I suddenly remembered that.

Raccoon hole is branched out like a tree branch, so conversely, if you choose to go through the thicker tunnels, you will reach the root—that is, you will reach the entrance of the mine.

——Then, what if, conversely, you go up from the root? What happens if you continue going up the branches?

I suddenly thought about that.

——No, at the end everything becomes a continuous branch. Then there is no need to hesitate.

Because what you will find at the tip of all branches is the same, leaves.

**

I woke up due to intense chills and nausea. Coupled with intense stinging pain inside my head.

「Uh, ugh, uggh…!」

Everything in front of me was red. No, black. No, blue. No… many mosaic-like colors flashed on and off, and I got chills and nausea again.

Then, I felt a hand on my back.

The warmth transmitted from the palm of that hand kept me sane. I was gradually able to focus my mind and get a clear grip on my consciousness.

「——Hah, hah, hah, hah……」

What I saw in front of me was the work-of-art-like Highness Anastasia’s beautiful face. But her hair was disheveled, her bangs stuck to her forehead due to sweat, and her cheeks smeared with dirt – but strangely it made her look more human, and thus even more attractive.

Tears formed in the corners of Her Highness’ eyes, and she hugged my head. Her body quivered and shook, as it would when someone was crying out loud, but Her Highness was stifling her voice.

(Oh… right. Her Highness’ voice would automatically activate【Fire Magic】.)\n

I strongly sympathized with Her Highness, who was bound by the shackles of “can’t produce voice” even if she is deeply moved. But right now, the first thing I have to do is grasp the situation.

「Thank you, Your Highness. I am alright now.」

While breaking out of the hug, I almost couldn’t resist the temptation of letting her hug for a while longer. But stilI, I broke off the hug and surveyed the surroundings.

「…Where is this place?」

The surroundings were dim, as clouds covered the sky.

Apparently we were in a forest, but the trees were thin and there was almost no weed even.

Although I could see through the thin trees and see quite far away, I could not feel any other life reaction other than small insects flying about.

『I only remember up to the point where I used magic.』

Her Highness wrote on the ground with her beautiful fingers with polished nails. I stopped her.

「Your Highness, I think you can try speaking out.」

And she responded with a hesitant expression.

「It’s going to be okay. With the【Mana Control】skill orb, Your Highness should have become quite good at controlling mana. If you practice every day, you will be able to speak normally before long. And even if you produce too big a fire, I will erase it with【Water Magic】.」

I put on a confident smile and produced a water ball in my palm.

「…Umm…」Her Highness started.

Small sparks broke out, but that was all.

I nodded reassuringly, urging her to continue.

「Please call me Anastasia, not “Your Highness”!」

A fireball shot out, so I hurriedly put it off with a waterball.\n「…Umm, Your Highness?」

「My name is Anastasia.」

Another fireball shot out, so another waterball.

「But that’s….」

「A-And I’ve always wanted people close to me to call me Asha!」

Fireball after fireball after fireball after fireball. The strength of the fire got stronger.

I put them off, but my bangs got slightly burnt.

「Your Highness! Your Highness, calm down–」

「I can’t stop it!」

「Asha!」

「!」

The fire ceased.

However, Her Highness’ face turned bright red as if she was boiling, and there was even steam coming from her head.

「Ah!」

Her Highness fell on her back.

**

「Have you woken up?」

「!?」\n\n「…………」

This time, her face turned bright red and she looked down, squeezing the bamboo tube in her hands. She was trying to maintain dignity, but her mouth was grinning so broadly.

(If you look so cute, then the【Fire Magic】in my heart might run amok instead.)

「But, please forgive me for the tone. Speaking in honorifics has become a habit.」

「O-Okay.」

A fireball appeared, so Her Highness — Asha hurriedly closed her mouth.

「Reiji-san. By the way, where are we?」she asked, after calming down.

「I will tell you as much as I can remember.」

Then I talked about everything that happened after Asha fainted.

The gigantic monster that appeared in the sky.

The reaction between a powerful mana interference and the “Labyrinth of 9 Emotions”.

And then both of us and a couple of airships were sucked into the sky.

I dreamed about the “Raccoon hole”, but that may have just been the world I saw while being sucked into the red spot in the sky.

Her Highness added that when she regained consciousness, she woke up in this world and that I was lying right next to her. She couldn’t remember anything that happened in between.

I can’t forget anything because of【World Ruler】, so the whole experience must have made me sick when I regained consciousness.

「My guess would be…」

The night sky can be seen through the underdeveloped trees by looking up.

The very same constellations can be seen up there. It was indeed the very same starry sky.

「—We have come to the “Other World”.」