This isn’t the time for tears, and yet I can’t stop them from pouring down my face. I ignore them, wrapping myself around her body, cradling her, before casting my light magic.
“Aah… It’s so warm. Miku…thank you.”
“Ugh… I’m sorry for leaving you, Claire. But I found help, so everything’s gonna be okay now.”
“Help…?”
As her wounds slowly begin fading away, I explain everything that happened. About bumping into Ektor and his friends on my way back to the village. About feeling an immensely strong power from the three and somehow knowing that they would be able to handle the monsters.
“Huh? Uh? The Handsome Trio…? I don’t understand…”
“Wait! You shouldn’t move.”
I warn her as she abruptly tries to sit up upon hearing my words, but she brushes me aside. Her eyes are wide in shock as she stares at the three boys.
“But wh-why? They said they were going to the Northern Wood! And also… Ah! Ow, ow…”
“Claire! You need to calm down!”
I try to keep Claire from getting to her feet and running back into the fray. When suddenly, she snaps, clearly panicked.
“The story has changed!”
That’s right, the story.
The situation has deviated from Claire’s story. The three boys are supposed to head toward the Northern Wood on business, and by the time they return, the village is in shambles and the monsters have already gone on their way. That’s why they couldn’t help us and why we’ve been training so hard so we could fight the monsters ourselves. Claire’s wound-riddled body is proof of all that. I just assumed they happened to meander off in this direction by chance, but it’s clear that Claire doesn’t think this is a mere coincidence.
“The only reason I tried so hard to change the original story is because I knew about THIS future. If I hadn’t told you, Miku, we wouldn’t have trained so hard, and you’d still be back at the village.”
“That’s true…”
It’s frightening to think about. I’d probably be back at the village helping get ready for the festival, and I’d be excited for my birthday, all the while being completely ignorant of the imminent danger.
“Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but there’s also a high chance that’s not the case,” Claire says ominously.
“Not the case?”
“Yes.”
Upon saying this, Claire slowly gets to her feet. Any sense of painful or stiff movement is now completely gone, and she seems almost completely healed, so I stand up alongside her. I look over at Claire, only slightly taller than me in my true beast form, and notice the way her red eyes blaze with fury and the desire to kill the horde before us.
“I wonder if one of those three is a Reborn like me. He must know about the game!” she declares. “We have to figure out if that’s true, and if so, then we must figure out which one it is!” she shouts, her gaze unwavering.
“Huh? Really?” I blink at her.
To tell you the truth, nothing Claire is saying right now makes any sense. It’s not that I doubt her when it comes to this story she keeps bringing up, or this other world, or her memories. I wanted to believe her from the very beginning, and besides, the monsters showed up just like she said they would…
Well, I can’t deny that even I had my doubts about it! But now I believe her completely!
But the idea that there might be another person like Claire, and that person might be one of those three guys?
For being such an odd phenomenon, I wonder how many others exist that are like Claire, retaining memories of a different world and a past life? Still, with that said…
“Ektor was the one who decided to come here.”
“Ektor?” Hearing my words, she turns to face me. Suddenly, her eyes grow wide and she shouts in anger. “Hold on! Miku?! I just realized you’re in your true beast form! Change back! Right this instant!!”
“What? You just noticed NOW?!”
To be fair, she’d been badly hurt when I found her, so it’d be an understatement to say that she was preoccupied and may not have noticed. Still…there’s no denying those three definitely saw me in this form, which is why Claire is so upset. I revert to my normal half-beast body; a demi-human. I’m not as strong as those three, so I still have my fox ears and tail.
“I wanted us to be able to change completely into human form before we ever met that trio…” Claire sighs. “I guess it’s all a matter of training and not having enough time.”
“Suppressing your magical abilities to that degree is pretty difficult,” I agree.
As demi-humans, we can take three different forms. This kind of half-beast form is the easiest to get around in, which is why it’s so common. We’re born like this, and that’s probably why it feels the most natural. It’s incredibly easy to accidentally slip into true beast form when overwhelmed by emotion, whether it be anger, sadness, or joy. Some say those who succumb to their emotions easily are still children. Once you grow older, it becomes easier to control, which is where Claire and I currently stand.
The final form is a true human form, like the three boys currently fighting the monster horde. Being able to control your magical ability to that extent is incredibly difficult, and only doable by advanced practitioners. The upside is being recognized as a demi-human who can take on a true human form, which in turn means better jobs with fewer oddballs, plus the ability to handle very potent magical spells.
Although the human and monster continents are fairly disconnected, there are humans who make the trek over to get their hands on fur, horns, and claws in order to sell them for high prices on the human continent, where they are very rare and valuable. Monsters, on the other hand, oftentimes abduct children for slave labor on this continent. The first time I heard about that, I was too afraid to sleep.
Our village is fairly peaceful, at least. By the way, half-monsters do not have any power, making especially rare breeds basically sitting ducks for evil folks with evil intentions. Regardless of the rarity of their race and even if they can fully transform into human form, those with considerable skill can see through any disguise. Personally, humans who attack half-monsters because they have no way to defend themselves are truly despicable.
“Those three are demi-humans. I don’t think they would do anything bad…but throwing a Reborn into the mix changes things! I don’t think we can say with certainty they’re not up to something!”
Claire was on maximum alert. Considering, however, that they’re all in full human form and still able to fight, we wouldn’t stand a chance against them.
“They’re all so strong…” I say.
“Th-That’s a different matter entirely!”
They seem to be having a blast as they casually mop up the monster horde, one after the other. It’s honestly kind of terrifying, even if they are helping us out!
“Do you think Ektor is hiding something?” Claire asks.
“Oh, yeah. Um… The other two didn’t seem to believe monsters were out here. They said he was crazy, or something like that…”
“Th-That settles it, then! So, Ektor is the Reborn, huh?” Claire concludes.
Although we still don’t know for sure, there’s a very high probability that the Reborn is him.