I woke up, gripping my still dizzy head, to find it was the dead of night, and everyone was already asleep. Or rather, not everyone—Altera was awake, keeping watch as she looked around.
“Are you awake? Do you have any idea who I am? Or are you forgetting your own name, recent events, or feeling like throwing up…?”
As soon as Altera saw me, she approached, crouched down, and checked if my head was severely injured. Thankfully, there was nothing wrong with my head, much to her relief.
“Uh, no need to worry, Altera. Just a lump… Ow. That’s all. Sorry for causing unnecessary concern.”
If only I hadn’t done it, then I wouldn’t have had to apologize. Rubbing the lump once, I stretched my body and apologized to her. It was partly an accident, but ultimately, it was my fault.
“…Hmph, at least you know what you did wrong. That’s fine. The punishment has been given by Her anyway. I don’t intend to punish someone who’s already been punished. Thanks to what you’ve done… I’ve learned something important.”
Something important? What could that be? I’ve uncovered quite a bit myself, but there’s nothing relevant to her knowledge.
No, more importantly…
“Altera. Now that I think about it, should I call you… Sword Witch? You were talking to her so fluently. Could you understand her?”
“By chance…? I was surprised too, but… it doesn’t really matter, does it? We won’t be meeting her often anyway.”
Ah, is that so? If she truly is a witch, it might be better not to get too deeply involved. So, I accepted her words.
Speaking of which, she mentioned that the Sword Witch was friends with her mother. And also mentioned witches in general. Then… her mother must definitely be a witch.
The village chief back in that remote village was right. About being the child of a witch.
He wasn’t surprised just by her appearance; he must have seen her with her mother, the witch, at some point.
“Honestly, I felt like my lifespan was being drained. Ugh, if those clusters of blades had fallen…”
“I’ll protect you. I can’t guarantee you won’t get hurt, but… you’re my friend, aren’t you?”
Altera smiled and extended her fist. Hmm, so this means we’re supposed to bump fists. A friend?
“…Were we friends?”
“We share important secrets, spend time together laughing and chatting, and even share meals… Aren’t we friends? I thought we were. Oh, now that I think about it, I haven’t heard any of your secrets yet. Anything, even something trivial. I’ve told you something pretty significant, so it’s only fair.”
Her natural way of steering the conversation made me think—if Altera had grown up normally, she would have been someone I couldn’t possibly compete with in terms of popularity.
Right, secrets… I don’t really hide anything significant. I’ve already shown my abilities… Ah, that’s right. There’s one I haven’t mentioned yet.
“…There is one. Not something catastrophic if revealed, like you said. But it’s a secret I haven’t told anyone since coming to this world.”
“Another world… do you mean you came from another world?”
Her hitting the nail on the head gave me goosebumps. How did she know?
“…Yeah. They called me a Hero. But the summoning method was kind of unpleasant.”
I briefly recounted how I was drying my hair in a corner of the room, planning to play a game, when I tripped and lost consciousness. When I woke up, a goddess stood before me looking exhausted, threw something at me, and after regaining consciousness again, I found myself in a summoning circle.
But Altera seemed more interested in the story of the other world than mine.
“What was the name of the country where you originally lived?”
“Hmm? South Korea. Apart from being safe enough to wander around drunk late at night, it’s not particularly interesting… Oh, the land is small, people have lost their dreams… Ah, but I do miss smartphones.”
“Smart…phone? What’s that?”
Excitedly sharing stories I knew, I realized I might have lacked consideration.
“Um… it’s hard to summarize in one sentence, but it’s a device packed with countless functions. It allows people far apart to see each other’s faces and talk anytime, anywhere… You can watch moving pictures with sound…”
“…Sorry, I don’t really understand.”
Altera stopped listening, perhaps overwhelmed by the complexity. It is indeed hard to explain verbally.
Altera seemed shocked that such a device allowed conversations while seeing each other’s faces from afar, as she stared into space imagining the scene.
“Well, that’s the gist of it. Coming from another world. Compared to your secret, it seems rather insignificant.”
“No, no! Definitely, it’s a good story… but it’s still your friend’s secret, so it’s not insignificant.”
Friend. It’s still a word that gives me butterflies every time I hear it. While I had acquaintances, I never had a true ‘friend’ with whom I could share secrets.
“I’m glad if it holds value to you. Hmm… Are we really friends…? If so, may I ask one thing? Earlier, you mentioned learning something important. What was it?”
“Oh… that. Actually, I just learned my mother’s name. We’ve lived together for 13 years, but she never once told me her name. Isn’t that strange? A child who doesn’t know their mother’s name.”
Ah, so she just learned her mother’s name.
“There’s nothing particularly strange about that. I only learned my parents’ names when I was 15, and that was from a piece of paper. So… umm… don’t blame yourself too much.”
“…Thanks. Anyway, my mom isn’t the type to get angry over something like that. Seeing that you’re fine except for the lump on your head, it seems you’re okay! Then I’ll go back to keep watch. Humans shouldn’t skip sleep, or they’ll stumble at crucial moments.”
Altera shook off her cloak, stood up, and returned to her watch.
…Her real name, I noticed then, seemed like something that would cause trouble if others knew, so I didn’t ask.
I didn’t want to misuse the trust of a friend like that.
Friend… Friend. Lying back down on the blanket, I smiled foolishly and closed my eyes.
—
I was half-sure that Myungho came from the same place as me. However, hearing his story, it wasn’t the Korea I knew.
Most importantly, the existence of smartphones. I had never even heard of such a thing during my lifetime.
Being able to see each other’s faces and talk in real-time? Anytime, anywhere? It sounds like a dream machine straight out of the distant future.
Could it be… that he came here from a future era, different from mine? Certainly, as he said, it doesn’t matter anymore now…
What will the future look like? Flying cars… machines that replace human labor… could they exist?
Trying to imagine the future society based on Myungho’s words taxed my imagination.
Partly because my imagination is limited, and partly because Myungho is just one person who can’t describe everything about society. Still, it was enough to pass the boring hours of my watch.
I could daydream undisturbed because there was no sign of threatening monsters nearby.
At most, creatures that barely reached my calves. No animals large enough to harm humans were approaching either, so I could enjoy pleasant imaginings until dawn.
When sunlight hit her face, Yuna frowned and woke up, followed shortly by Akashi, who glanced worriedly at Myungho.
Well, only Yuna did. Akashi was busy shaking his head or yawning widely, showing no interest in Myungho.
“Surely… he hasn’t failed to wake up yet, has he…?”
From yesterday’s conversations, I understood how frustrating it must be not to understand each other’s language.
Even though I’ve learned quite a bit, according to Myungho, I’m still at a toddler’s level.
After roughly a month of meeting, is this considered learning a lot? I’m not sure.
Myungho reassured Yuna as he woke up later than the others.
“Ah, you’re awake. It would’ve been funny if I stayed unconscious like a vegetable. Well, nothing can be helped.”
“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you… Please let us know beforehand when you’re going to do something reckless, and don’t do things you’re told not to. Do you even realize how worried we were?”
“Aahaha… sorry, Yuna. I’m genuinely repentant about that. But it’s fine. Wait, wait! Don’t press it, it hurts!”
“That’s exactly why I’m pressing it. So you won’t do it again!”
Yuna kept pressing on the lump while lecturing Myungho, finally letting go when he screamed like a bird.
“Even if minor, I’m still a patient! You should take better care of me!”
“To discipline a troublesome kid, a punch works best. Consider yourself lucky it ended here. Here, catch.”
As if scolding him, Akashi tossed a strip of dried meat to Myungho, who almost dropped it but caught it in time and devoured it hungrily.
“He knows what to do and what not to do… Here.”
He politely handed it to me. At least it tasted much better than the quasi-food I ate yesterday.
After drinking water and waiting for everyone to prepare, once the cleanup was done, we set off with Altera confidently leading the way.
“Alright, let’s not waste any more time and head straight to our destination. Follow me!”
“Altera. Sorry to throw cold water on you, but it’s not that way—it’s this way.”
Oh.
