Chapter 163 - Rachel Vanargand

It really looked like any old alley. Like someone would poke their head out of a window at any moment. It had that kind of lived-in quality. And it stretched out as far as I could see without anything in particular. I thought that maybe it would connect to a different street, but it didn’t. Yes, there was something odd about that. Should I wear my armor just to be safe…?

“…Hmm?”

I could hear footsteps.

Tap, tap, tap.

As the sounds came closer, I wondered if one of the townspeople had come inside. And so I turned to look.

“What?”

A wall had appeared there. Right in front of my nose. A tall, tall wooden board.

“Wait a minute, this wasn’t here…”

I tried knocking on it. It was definitely wood. But it didn’t move at all. But judging from the sound, it didn’t seem too thick. And yet it wouldn’t break when I hit it. My hand dropped to my sword, but then I wondered, what if even the sword didn’t do it?

“I can’t risk damaging it…”

This sword was supposed to be very durable, but this was a very strange situation. And who knew what could happen.

Still, what the hell was happening… I had no way of contacting Daniela. In fact, I had been trying to activate Legs of the Forest Wolf for a while, but I couldn’t create so much as a breeze of wind.

It was as if something were obstructing it.

“What the…”

I turned away from the wall and sat down on the ground. It must be some kind of magic. A spell that trapped wanderers in. I had never heard of such illusions as this, but then again, there was Eve. There were secret spells that the public did not know about. It was very likely that this illusion was no different.

“But if it is an illusion, then why can’t I deactivate it…?”

I didn’t know how it worked, but often you were only trapped because you believed in them, and once realized they were an illusion, you could return to the normal world…

“Maybe that’s just too fantastical…it doesn’t apply here.”

But complaining about it now wasn’t going to get me out of here. There was no way to turn back. The only thing to do was continue on ahead.

“I guess I have no choice…”

I decided to put my armor on first. There was no telling what was up ahead. And so I took out my set of armor and the poncho and mantle from the bag and put them on. The Glampanzer was my weapon of choice. The great sword would be too limiting in this narrow space. But then again, there wouldn’t be much space for an enemy to run either. In any case, I took the Ashikirimaru as a backup weapon.

“Alright.”

There was a possibility that I could be attacked from above. But I wasn’t very good at using Presence Detection over my head, and so I just put on my hood. It should be good enough for blocking arrows.

I wanted to find the person whose footsteps I had heard. There was a possibility that it wasn’t real, but I decided to look anyway. There was only one path, afterall. I would find something even if I didn’t want to.

“The scariest thing would be if I was locked up with no purpose…”

Just being locked away. Not captured, not killed. Just locked up. I could not let such a horrifying thing happen.

“I’ll get you, whoever you are!!”

“Could you shut up already!!”

A window opened loudly from the side. I was just about to run off, when I turned my head to look at the window. It was a young girl. A silver-haired girl in a tank-top who was carrying a bowl and some chopsticks as she glared at me.

“I’m eating right now.”

“…”

“Can you not leave me in peace?”

“…”

“Hey, are you listening to me?”

“Sorry, it’s taking me a minute to process all of this.”

“Hmm, are you a bug?”

“Don’t call me a bug.”

I really had no idea what was going on. Could someone come down and explain this to me?

□　　　□　　　□　　　□

The silver-haired girl was kind enough to invite me into her house. I had to enter through the window, but at least I took off my shoes. A cushion was prepared for me and so I sat down and waited for her to finish eating her bowl of rice porridge. When she was done, she sat cross-legged in front of me and stared.

“…Hmm. Are you from Japan?”

“Uh, what did you just say?”

“Are you trying to play the dense protagonist with me? I asked if you’re Japanese.”

Japanese. I had only heard that word used twice in this world. The first was with Matsumoto.

The second was here. But where was ‘here’?

“Here? This is a space that I created. There are entrances and exits to many places in this world. You wandered in. Into my door.”

“Door?”

“It is magic.”

She said as she picked her teeth with a toothpick. A space that connects to other places. What kind of powerful dimension magic…?

“But, how did you know I was Japanese? Are you Japanese too?”

“You could say that. In spite of my appearance, I was at one time.”

“One time…? Well, now that I think of it, I wouldn’t expect anyone who wasn’t Japanese to end up turning into a silver-haired loli witch.”

“Are you trying to insult me? You are, aren’t you?”

She stood up, not quite angry, but almost there.

“Very well then. I, Rachel Vanargand, will fight you!!”

Bam! She put one leg on the low table. …Rachel Vanargand?

“…I’ve heard that name before. Rachel Vanargand…but where…?”

“Huh? You have?”

“Somewhere… Ah, now I remember. It was the blacksmith from Valdorf.”

It was a name that Kasil had said. He was the blacksmith who sold me my current weapons.

“Ah, so you have met him?”

“Yeah. I bought my weapons from Kasil.”

“Oh? But I don’t see the weapon that I enchanted…”

“Ah, that? I didn’t bother. It was too expensive.”

“You bloody bastard!! It was indestructible! I am the only person in this world who can use such an enchantment, and you say you didn’t buy it!? I will bloody kill you for this!!”

Damn, this girl was terrifying… It wasn’t my fault it was so overpriced…

“Ahhh… I cannot believe this… To pass on such a rare thing…”

“Uh, hey, why don’t you enchant my clothes then? Wouldn’t that fix the problem?”

“I will knock you down!”

What? Why so stingy… Oh, never mind.

“We are getting side-tracked. What is this place? And who are you? Tell me.”

“Hmph. Why should I tell the likes of… Hmm, but I will tell you as a Japanese friend. I was reincarnated into this world a long time ago. But well, not as a human.”

She said as she started to scratch her backside. She looked like any other human to me…

“When I was born, I was a wolf. Just an ordinary wolf. But I evolved over the next eight hundred years.”

“Wolves evolve?”

“I ate the flesh of monsters in my forest home. Then I ate magical ore and changed into a monster. After that, I went from place to place, taking in mana.”

“Uh…isn’t that what abnormally evolved beings do?”

“Hmm? You know about that? Well, that makes things a lot easier to explain then. Because that is what I became. But I didn’t stop there, I evolved even further.”

In other words, she was born as an ordinary wolf, then evolved into a monster wolf…in other words, a forest wolf, and then turned into Beowulf after that.

“You met Beowulf?”

“Yeah. We fought and then made peace. I received Beowulf’s enchantment then. Though, I can’t use it here, for some reason…”

“Of course, you can’t. I am the superior being. This place is under my control. A thrall to a weaker forest wolf, such as yourself, will not be allowed to move freely here.”

I see. So that’s how it worked. Wait, a second. I’m Beowulf’s thrall?

“…Now, let me continue. I became a Beowulf, and traveled the world. Took in mana from different lands and studied. And then I finally reached it. The peak of evolution.”

“The peak of evolution…”

“My status now displayed it, Fenrir.”

Fenrir…

“Heh. A Fenrir who drank in the world, not a god. It is a funny thing.”

“Uh, not sure I see the humor…”

The thing in front of me wasn’t a mysterious Enchanter. It was perhaps the strongest creature in this world.

“So, once I had become a Fenrir, I went about creating a certain magic spell. The ability to turn into a human.”

“And so that’s how you regained your human body.”

“You can say that. I started to go by Rachel Vanargand when I became a human. And then I decided to explore the world again, this time on two feet. I made money by doing Enchantments. Sometimes I return to my home like this and rest.”

“You seem to be having a good time.”

“Aye, I do enjoy my life!”

Rachel said with a big smile.

“Still, why did you choose to be a young girl…”

“What? Is it not cute?”

“I guess. At least it’s kind of memorable?”

“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment…?”

After that, Rachel told me about other things that had happened in her life. While she said she was doing me a favor, it did seem like she enjoyed talking to someone. She hadn’t been able to tell anyone about this before, so it was no wonder…

“Phew… Perhaps I have told you too much.”

“You seemed to enjoy it.”

“Well, I never thought I would meet someone from home.”

“But there is another guy from Japan.”

“You mean Yasushi. No, I don’t like that one at all! We are too different in age. I have no idea what he is talking about!”

“Oh, so you knew.”

That was unexpected. Well, maybe not. As she had traveled the world.

“After all, I am a court magician in Lambrusen. I am their master.”

“What!? Are you the dimension sorcerer that Matsumoto talked about!?”

Things were connecting in odd places. They say that the world is big but society is small…

“I’m pretty sure Matsumoto said something about how they are not allowed to leave the castle.”

“Yes, people believe we are shut up in our rooms and are committed to our research day and night. That is what they think.”

“So it’s not that they can’t, but they don’t? But you actually do travel around the world…I guess.”

We had talked for quite a while. I was mostly just listening to her rapid-fire talk as I looked out the window. The sun didn’t seem to set…but I’ve been here at least half the day…

“Hm? What is it? Why aren’t you listening?”

“Uh, well, I’ve stayed for a long time already. I need to head back soon, or my partner will be worried.”

“There’s no need to fret on that account. I created this space. It is under my control. A space made of dimension magic allows me to control time itself.”

“You can do that… It’s kind of like my hollow bag then.”

“Exactly. In fact, that bag was made by me, a very long time ago.”

“I kind of thought so. Well, thanks.”

Still, I wanted to leave. You could say that I was just tired…and hungry…and sleepy…

“Well, I do not wish to keep you…and it is not as if we cannot meet again. Very well.”

“I hope you won’t come at the worst timing, at least.”

“Worst timing? What does that mean?”

She asked, but I ignored her.

“Well, I’ll be going then. Will I be able to return through that window?”

“Yes. I will give you this key. It is a key that will allow you to enter and leave. You may come and see me if you ever need any help. Though, who knows if I will be here?”

She traveled the world, after all. I guess I would just leave her a note if she was gone.

And with that settled, I put the key in my bag and put my foot on the window frame.

“Well, see you later then.”

“Aye. Stay safe, Asagi!”

I waved and she waved back with her small hand. Well, this was fun… Just as I turned to look away, I saw her mouth curl unnaturally into a grin from the corner of my eye.

“Uh…”

My head tried to turn back, but my body was already out the window. I lost my balance and fell.

“Ah…woaahhh!!!”

I thought I would hit the ground, but instead, I was falling upwards through the sky. Under me, the alleyway shot off into the horizon. And to my surprise, beyond the houses that formed the alley, in other words, the area opposite of the alley, was a never ending wilderness.

I saw all this as I went higher and higher. And the higher I went, the faster my consciousness seemed to fade.

“Damn…it…”

I couldn’t stay awake. I wanted to bear it and somehow fight against this ‘plummeting.’ But the more I tried the harder it became. I could not fight it, and then in a flash, my vision went blank.

“….Huh!?”

It went completely dark, and in the next moment, it was bright again. When I came to, I was sitting where the alley should have been. Near the wall where I had been watching it. The sky was still bright. Nothing had changed from here. It was just a street in Usk.

And then I suddenly realized that I was holding onto something.

“…Paper?”

I uncrumpled the sheet of paper and saw Japanese letters in childish writing.

‘Hah! You fell for it! Idiot!’

I crumpled it up again and threw it away.