My eyes shot open. My body felt kind of sluggish and heavy. What happened...? And more importantly, where am I? I stood up and looked around, only to find...trees, trees, and even more trees. Not only that, but a good number were simply massive—any one of them would probably easily break the record on Earth for “oldest living tree” by several hundred years. Through the gaps between the trees, I could see... Small tree. Big tree. Small tree. Small tree. Big tree—okay, okay. First things first, I need to calm down.
Trees completely surrounded me. I turned in a full circle, affirming what I’d already guessed: I’m in a forest. On top of that, there was a strange, sluggish heaviness to my body—and on top of that was the fact that the forest seemed to be draped in thick, black shadows.
I’m gonna have to do something about this sluggish feeling—and those shadows aren’t helping my mood either.
Assuming I was correct in declaring this a forest, just where was the forest, then? I tried to remember what had happened up until then.
Let’s see... I heard some voices—apprentices, the angry voice had called them. I remember that much at least. They’d tried to cast some sort of “hero-summoning spell,” and I think I must have been dragged into it by mistake?
Hero-summoning spells were the type of crap that always came up in the manga my little sister loved to read. Despite my complete lack of interest, she’d frequently plop down on the couch next to me and ramble on about her favorite stories and characters for as long as she liked, and somehow it seemed like I’d remembered at least some bits of it.
Usually, some dude gets summoned to a parallel world, becomes a hero, and has to fight the De— Wait a minute. Am I in a parallel world?
Umm... Does this mean I can never go home?
“You BASTAAAARDS!”
I was pretty annoyed, but shouting at the top of my lungs relieved some of my frustration. I took a deep breath.
There. That’s a little better.
My little sister liked to say that keeping stress bottled up inside was bad for your health, which explained why I’d often hear furious screaming coming from her room when exam season rolled around. Turned out, she was right: It had definitely alleviated some of my stress. Now I could actually think.
Okay, I gotta take stock of my situation here. This is probably a parallel world. In those manga, there was something all parallel worlds seemed to have... What was it again? The go-to element for reincarnation fantasy... C’mon, me! Remember! Er— Magic! Right, they all had magic. And monsters! Crap, I shouldn’t have yelled so loudly before!
I hastily scanned my surroundings. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any monsters sneaking up behind me. I looked around again, this time more slowly, but there still weren’t any signs of life.
I breathed a sigh of relief. “No monsters for now at least... But I still don’t feel too good.”
Ever since I’d opened my eyes, my body had felt like something heavy was coiled around it. Even worse, it felt like it was slowly slithering into my body.
Am I just being stupid, though? No, that’s definitely how it feels...
I scanned my surroundings again. The shadows seemed thicker and more widely spread than they had before. Okay, for the time being, let’s say I am in a parallel world. Just where am I, though?
I wanted to call out for help, but I was surrounded by trees as far as the eye could see, and nothing else. If I was in the middle of some massive forest, calling for help seemed a little pointless. But at the same time, I was feeling worse by the second—worse than anything I’d ever experienced. I felt sluggish and nauseated.
Hang on. Sluggish and nauseated...? Isn’t that what the lady said on the paranormal reality show I was watching yesterday? Is this like that “possession” thing? Are the shadows some kind of curse left by a vengeful spirit...? Ha ha ha, no way...right? It’s not like parallel worlds have curses that are visible to the naked eye...do they?
I laughed quietly. “Nope. Absolutely not.”
What was it they said in these situations anyway? “Begone, evil spirits”?
I shook my head. I wasn’t sure it was quite the right phrasing, and if I said it out loud and nothing happened, it would be pretty embarrassing.
What did they call it in those novels? Purification magic?
I raised my hand so my palm pointed toward the something coiling around my body, and I awkwardly half whispered, half chanted, “Begone! Purify!”
What am I doing... I need to calm down. Vengeful spirits? I’m being an idiot. I mean, I don’t know if this world even has magic in the first place. Seriously... Uh, hang on. My body—it feels...lighter? There’s no way, right?
Still, I had to try. I faced toward the shadows in front of me and held out my hand. “Purify.”
It— It actually worked. So if purification works here—wait, does that mean it actually was a vengeful spirit? Or an evil ghost? Ha ha ha, so I can use magic in this world, huh? Guess there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism every once in a while...
“Grrrr.”
Apparently, escapism wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. While I hadn’t been paying attention to reality, something had crept up behind me.