Chapter 9 – Traveling to a new place

Another dinner being dealt with, the odd combo of an oversized wolf and a human-looking girl was relaxing around the fire of their impromptu camp. Watching the sunset in silence, Sophia's second day in this new world was slowly nearing its end.

"You've become rather quiet, girl. Is something the matter?" Fen noticed how she was absentmindedly staring at the fire after the sun was gone.

"No, just tired. Today was rather eventful again. That exhausted me, I guess. Not to mention that the whole situation of me being here in the first place is still mentally straining…"

"Ahh… Yeah, I can imagine that one can't just go 'Oh, that's awesome', and goes on like nothing happened after finding themselves in another world."

"Well, it is awesome in a way, and I'm already dealing with it way better than I thought, thanks to my personality changes, but that's a part of the problem as well… It only hits me once things calm down, like right now. I had way too much fun during the day after all." She remembered how she happily trained her magic the entire time without wasting a single thought on it.

"We just have to keep you busy, huh?" Fen liked the fun Sophia more than the serious one.

"Ahaha, that's a good idea. At least until I get used to everything." She, too, liked her new self more after all, but that obviously came with various, very complicated feelings.

"Speaking of which, do you still want to go to the place where edible plants are growing tomorrow?"

"Of course! The fish earlier was a welcome change, but that was not nearly enough."

"Okay, let's leave early in the morning then."

"Ah, you'll definitely have to wake me up if that's the case, Fen. I never was a morning person. Probably never will, either. Feel free to use force. You'll have to."

"Noted. Speaking of which, how were you even able to catch that fish in the first place? Your technique was impressive for a beginner."

"Hmm… even if you ask me, I just felt it? Like, I didn't notice any fish in the river, but it felt like something should be there… After a while, the little red dot from the detection magic popped up, proving me right. Maybe I have to really concentrate on finding smaller stuff with the detection magic?"

"Well noticed. It only picks up targets with a certain power. For anything else to show up, you have to want it to appear. Imagine the detection reacting even to things like bugs. Your entire vision would turn red."

"That would be super scary! For various reasons! Not to mention absolutely useless. Hmm, but going on a crusade against bugs might be… N-No, absolutely useless." She had a scary expression for a second.

"Yes. You did well on finding out how to change the reaction on your own. Guiding the fish by changing the current was a nice detail, too. I have the feeling that you'll create some ridiculous magic in the future if you're like that on your second day already."

"Should I feel happy now?" Sophia didn't know whether that was praise or not.

"I'm expecting big things, and I'm looking forward to it." Fen had a thing for magic, so he was obviously praising her in his eyes.

"Please don't expect such things."

The two continued to chat for a while during the evening until Sophia had become too sleepy.

Having used his body, or rather fur, to get a comfortable night's sleep, she was woken up when Fen moved his body in the morning. Rather, he ended up simply standing up, making the girl topple over because that was the only thing that worked.

"Good morning, Sophia. As requested, I have woken you up."

"Hmm… fuah… Fen…?" As she mentioned yesterday, she wasn't a morning person. The girl never noticed it was the hard fall on the ground that actually woke her. "Ah, right, we wanted to get to the holy land of vegetables today…" Definitely still half asleep, Sophia remembered the plan from the last day. She wanted to go to a place with a friendlier type of vegetation to give her a wider food variety.

"Something along those lines, sure..."

"Haa~" Another yawn escaped Sophia's lips while she got up from the ground and made a couple of light stretches to get rid of her fatigue. "You said it takes about half a day to get there, right?"

"Less if we hurry."

"No need for that. While I look forward to new types of food, it's not like we have a deadline to pass. Also, I don't want to miss anything interesting along the way."

"I'm fairly certain there isn't much to look forward to in the area we're traveling, but I do not mind either way."

Once the two, mainly Sophia, were ready, they began jogging, or sprinting at superhuman speed, towards their destination. Like Fen had said, there was nothing worth paying close attention to, only more untainted nature the girl was already familiar with by now. To keep themselves from getting bored, the two were holding a casual conversation, even during their high-speed travel, like it was nothing.

"Hey, have you ever met a human you didn't hate, Fen?"

"Hmm? You…?" Not understanding her question, he tilted his head in confusion.

"Well, t-thanks… No, I mean the ones native to this world."

"Ah… That's a tough question. Was there? Wasn't there?" He had a hard time remembering, it most likely being a long time in the past, if there was one at all. "There once was a human that showed up in a small group and challenged me. He managed to put up a little bit of a fight for a few seconds… That was somewhat fun. Does that count?"

"Not really… But, a human that was able to put up a fight against you, huh? No matter how short, that's quite amazing, isn't it? I bet that was their hero or something like that. Ahaha, just kidd-"

"Oh, now that you mention it, I think their companions did call him something like that."

"…" Sophia only wanted to make a little joke, but it had backfired on her. That Fen had played around with the human hero, which posed no threat whatsoever to him, was not something she needed, or rather, wanted to know. Then again, it was nothing surprising either, so she managed to put it aside quickly. "No, that wasn't what I had in mind, Fen."

"Yeah, I figured. Actually, from time to time, some humans approached me while leaving some offerings. It kinda felt like they were apologizing for their kin."

"Oh, so you did meet some nice humans, after all."

"A pretty insignificant amount, though. It's also been a very long time ago…"

"Still better than nothing!" Sophia was happy that she was able to keep some faith in the humanity of this world.

"Why are you asking?" Fen was trying to make sense of this conversation.

"I want to visit a human village, after all. If possible, sooner rather than later… I'm want to get a feel of what I have to expect."

"While I still can't recommend it, it makes sense for you wanting to visit one. You're in luck in that regard because we're already heading in the right direction for the next human settlement."

"How convenient. Ah, but wait a moment?!" Sophia gasped as she suddenly noticed a fatal flaw in her plan. "Wouldn't me visiting a human place mean that we have to part ways?! There's no way we can go together with you. Not to mention you not wanting to go in the first place…"

"Do you want to go separate ways, girl?"

"Of course not!" She put a lot of power into her immediate answer. "You're the first friend I made in this world… It's only been two days, but you've already helped me out more often than I can count. You're teaching me magic, explaining various things about this world to me… I don't want to, definitely not, but-"

"I guess I have no choice."

"Eh?"

"Looks like I'll have to accompany you then." He sounded a little happy.

"W-What?!" Sophia couldn't believe her ears. "B-But Fen, you hate humans."

"That, I do."

"T-Then why…?"

"It's been a short time, yes, but I've become rather fond of you, Sophia. It would be a waste to part now. I want to witness the future you create because it's surely going to be an interesting one."

"Fen… I'm glad you feel that way… But isn't it, uhh, physically impossible for you to accompany me?" She looked at the wolf-like creature with his over two-meter-tall body. "You're not exactly, how do I say it, inconspicuous…?"

"Don't worry about me. I still have a lot of tricks up my sleeve." Fen proudly puffed up his chest. "My magic's amazing, after all."

"Should I be scared?" The girl had a bad feeling about it.

"Not overly much." He flashed a cheeky smirk.

"Okay, I'm worried. Very much so."

"I'll demonstrate it to you once push comes to shove."

"O-Okay… Well, whatever it is, thanks for sticking with me." Even though she was slightly concerned, Sophia was also genuinely happy as well.

"No need for that."

While the light small-talk during their travel transformed into something more serious, the odd duo eventually arrived at their destination right after the conversation concluded.

The two's surroundings had noticeably changed compared to the slightly barren plain Fen and Sophia had spent the last days. Instead of the occasional group of trees or bushes, they found themselves in a forest with many different vegetation types. The temperature was also much milder, thanks to the trees blocking the sun, creating lots of shade. Both had picked up their speed somewhere along the way, making it right in time for lunch at their new campsite, which was located at the corner of a small clearing inside the forest.

"Okay then, Fen, let's gather some food! Tell me all about the edible plants, fruits, and whatnot around here!"

"Sure…" He wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about it.