When I opened my eyes, I saw foliage through the remains of a roof that had long ago fallen into ruin. Spots of sunlight made their way through the dense leaf cover, illuminating my resting body.
I felt as though I’d just woken from a bad dream, but I couldn’t recall any details. I took a few deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling, hoping to expel the dark feeling from my chest.
Now that I was fully awake, the memory of what happened after I entered the hot spring came flooding back. I looked around, my head suddenly heavy, as if it were stuffed with cotton.
I lay on a stone countertop next to what had once been a hearth. It looked like this room had been a kitchen at some point. One of the pelts we’d used back when we were camping was draped over me like a blanket.
As far as I could tell, I was in the ruins of the shrine we found near the mountain’s peak. The walls were mostly bare, what few decorations there once were having falling away long ago. Grass grew through gaps in the stone floor, making the boundary between indoors and outdoors rather vague. All the same, the building still appeared sturdy.
Also on the countertop, by my side, slept a small, grass-colored fur ball. I heard it snoring lightly as its cotton-like tail swayed back and forth. It opened its eyes and blinked a few times, perhaps startled by my movements, and looked up at me. Then it started mewing excitedly.
“Kyiiii! Kyiiiiiiiii!!!”
Ponta hopped over to my face and gave it a few licks with its tiny tongue.
“Hey, hey! Cut it out! That tickles!”
I pulled the overly excited fox away and caught a glimpse of myself reflected in its pupils.
“Huh. I guess I changed back.”
The hot spring had returned me to flesh and blood, but now I was in my skeleton body again. I was just as naked as I’d been when I entered the hot spring in the first place—assuming, of course, that skeletons could be naked. There was really no shame in being naked as a skeleton. All the same, I wanted my suit of armor.
Casting my gaze around the room, I locked eyes with Ariane, who’d just entered. She gaped at the sight of me, and dropped some leafy greens as she rushed over, practically yelling in my face.
“Arc, you’re awake?!”
A tear glinted in the corner of her eye. I scratched the back of my skull in embarrassment. The way she was looking at me left me taken aback. They must have really been worried about me.
“Uh, y-yeah. I just woke up a few moments ago. How long was I unconscious?”
“Let’s see…” Ariane counted on her fingers. “This morning marks the seventh day since you passed out at the spring. We were just about to send Chiyome back to the village for help, or possibly ask the Dragon Lord to take us there himself.”
“I was out for seven days?!”
It seemed as though hardly even an hour had passed. I felt a little like Urashima Taro, from the fairytales I’d heard as a kid.
“Arc! You finally woke up!” Chiyome was dressed in her usual ninja garb. She carried a simple basket of fruit and herbs similar to the ones Ariane had dropped earlier. The cat ears on her head twitched.
“I’m sorry for worrying you so much,” I said.
✦ ✦ ✦
Ariane crossed her arms. “You should be sorry! We had no idea whether your heart was even beating, considering that you’re a skeleton. For all we knew, you were dead!”
I couldn’t really argue with that. If they’d actually mistaken me for dead, though, they would have held a funeral and buried me.
“Thank you for waiting all this time. But how did you know I was alive? Personally, I would have given up after the second day.”
Ariane’s golden eyes wavered, and she looked away. “It’s…it’s no big deal. Don’t worry about it.”
I was confused by her reply, but I didn’t press her.
“Anyway…” Ariane continued. “Y’know how you’ve been saying you’re human this whole time, Arc? Well, when the spring lifted your curse, you definitely didn’t have a human body.”
The bizarre reflection I’d seen in the hot spring came surging back to me. The face in the water definitely hadn’t been mine from the real world. But it felt familiar all the same. It was the character I’d used in the game before switching to my skeleton avatar. I’d been playing as a dark elf, with long, pointed ears, brown skin, crimson eyes, and black hair. However, I looked nothing like this world’s dark elves.
Ariane stared at me, awaiting some sort of explanation.
I averted my gaze and scratched my chin, unsure how to respond. “I honestly thought I was human.”
I knew there was no way they’d believe me if I told them what was actually going on. So, I decided to leave it at that.
Ariane and Chiyome exchanged a glance and then shrugged in unison. I was grateful that they apparently weren’t going to pursue this further.
I looked down at my body and sighed.
Ariane’s eyes remained fixed on me as she muttered to Chiyome. “Judging by the ears alone, I would have said he was an elf, but I’ve never seen an elf like that.”
Here I was, a knight who was actually a skeleton… Who’d been cursed… Who was originally a dark elf, but the person inside that dark elf was actually a human gamer… It felt like when you buy something, only to find it wrapped in layer upon layer of packaging. I shook my head, trying to dispel the frustration welling up inside.
There were more important issues at hand.
“Why did I pass out in the hot spring?”
I remembered being overcome with emotion right before I lost consciousness. It was something I’d never felt before, like a tornado running rampant through my skull. That feeling had been amplified by the fact that I’d rarely felt any emotion since becoming a skeleton.
“It was likely a side effect of the curse.” I was surprised to hear a vaguely familiar voice coming from above.
Ariane, Chiyome, and I turned. A man I’d never seen before stood atop a wall, looking down at us.
“Kyiii!” Ponta didn’t seem the least bit alarmed by this newcomer. Rather, it was excited, mewing and wagging its massive tail.
The man hopped down, landing lightly on the ground. He stood with his hands on his hips, an imposing figure.
Ariane answered my unspoken question. “This is Villiers Fim, the Dragon Lord. He can take the form of a man when he chooses.”
“Wow…”
I still had a lot of questions.
The person in front of me had two arms, and two legs, and definitely looked humanoid. He clearly wasn’t the same thirty-meter Dragon Lord I’d fought. But I wasn’t sure I could call him human, either. Blue-gray scales covered his skin, and he still had a dragon’s head. Sharp, pointed teeth poked from his mouth, and horns stuck out of his head, stretching behind him. Small, neatly folded wings lay flat against his back. He was dressed from head to toe in armor the color of his scales, and I noticed a large tail extending from his lower back to the floor.
The Dragon Lord’s most notable characteristic in human form, however, was his height. He was a giant, standing at least four meters tall.
I really wasn’t sold on the idea of calling this a “human form,” when “giant lizard-man” seemed just as fitting. However, I kept those thoughts to myself as I turned to face Villiers Fim.
I had more important things than his appearance to worry about, such as what was going on with my body. “What did you mean by ‘side effect’?”
Villiers Fim fixed his reptilian eyes on me. “From what I can tell, your body is not originally from this world, and was brought here from another. The spring’s power temporarily returned you to your true form. What you experienced was the emotional shock of that transition. Why your transformation was temporary, however, even I do not know.”
His words echoed in my mind. “From another world…”
“Correct. But you must already know that. You are a Wanderer, no?”
I cocked my head to the side, not sure I understood what he had said.
“A Wanderer, as the word implies, is someone who comes here from…elsewhere. From time to time, even people of unknown species appear.”
I glanced at Ariane and Chiyome. Judging from their faces, this was news to them as well.
Ariane spoke. “These…other places you speak of…are you referring to other continents?”
“I speak of other worlds. Hanzo, the man who made this mountaintop his home, was also a Wanderer.”
Chiyome gasped. “Hanzo?!”
Villiers Fim’s mouth curved in a crooked attempt at a smile, perhaps charmed by the pure innocence of Chiyome’s reaction. “Wanderers are hardly rare. I’ve even heard that the humans who inhabit these lands are all descendants of Wanderers.”
“That’s certainly…interesting.” I thought back to the human settlements I’d visited since arriving.
There were actually very few humans here, compared to my world. However, compared to the elven villages’ population, there were far more humans. Considering the humans’ numbers, and how long it would take to clear forests, establish farmland, and build settlements, their ancestors must have arrived ages ago.
That meant that, in addition to myself, the Wanderers included the founder of Chiyome’s clan and the Great Canada Forest’s founding elder.