A Wanderer Named Lieh

❥ ❥ ❥

"Nn-ngh..."

I slowly opened my eyes. Just when I thought I was already dead, I saw the figure of someone. They seemed to be... waving at me?

«Splash.»

«"Gah!"» I jolted upright, and found my face soaking wet.

In front of me stood a girl with short pink hair, holding a bucket. It looked like she had just doused my face with water... the nerve of her!

I blinked a few times, then looked around. It seemed I had been reborn. I saw a green forest region, and right in front of me, a river.

"Hello! Are you okay?" the girl asked, waving her hand in front of me.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, thanks," I replied, giving her a friendly smile. No matter what, I didn't want to stand out here. I had to find a way back, and fast.

"By the way, where are we?" I asked, looking at the girl.

The girl thought for a moment, tapping her chin with a finger. "We're in Forestgloom right now," she answered.

Right, I remembered that area. It was one of the regions of the third dimension. But wait, that meant I was in the third dimension, didn't it? But how was that possible? From what I could see, this pink-haired girl was a native of the third dimension too.

I tried using one of the skills I had learned, one based on information analysis. Through it, I saw that this girl had regen and heal for herself and for others. She had also burned through a lot of her Zoltra when she used that magic on me.

I stood up at once. "I see. All right," I said.

That's right, someone like me ought to be fair. So maybe I should repay her kindness later... if I remembered.

"By the way, who are you?" the girl asked, tilting her head.

"Who I am isn't important," I answered, brushing the dust off my clothes.

"Huh? But if you don't tell us who you are, people here might think you're a bad guy!" the girl shot back, hopping in place.

I fell silent. What a troublesome thing to say. I figured I'd better come up with a name other than Hell.

"I'm Lieh, a wanderer who happened to get lost here," I replied. «Yeah, Lieh is just Hell reversed. I only had to swap one of the L's for an I.»

The girl clapped her hands together once in the air. "Wow! A wanderer!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"I'm Elysia," she went on, placing a hand on her chest.

"And these are Leiche and Tiara," she continued, pointing to the black-haired and gray-haired girls who were fetching water not far from here.

The two girls walked over to us, a bucket in each of their hands.

"What's going on, Elysia? We could hear you all the way over there," asked Leiche, the short-haired girl with black hair, as she approached us.

"Oh! I met a wanderer!" Elysia cried, hopping in place. I was baffled. Why was she so excited?

Tiara, the girl with the gray hair, dropped both of the buckets she was holding.

"Wow! Are you traveling the world to learn magic?" she asked, leaning her head toward me with sparkling eyes.

"Huh?" «I have no idea what that means. Wait, of course! I almost forgot that the whole point of being a wanderer is to seek out sources of knowledge.» Not only that, sometimes they helped the people of remote villages defend their homes from the monsters I sent. No wonder they were always idolized.

"Um... Yeah, of course," I replied, glancing away.

As soon as I said it, all three girls' eyes went wide with admiration, their mouths hanging open with curiosity.

"Wow, amazing! Can you show us?" Tiara asked, leaning in eagerly.

I just froze, my eyes wide. I figured there was no other way to dodge this. Fine, I'd show them.

I opened my eyes and unleashed my Copying. I looked into the gray-haired girl's eyes. «No wonder those two heavy buckets were no problem for her»—it turned out this girl had mass manipulation.

Then I picked up a large rock lying near us, lifted it slowly, and let it drop. It fell gently, like cotton drifting on the wind.

The three girls' eyes widened. "Wow, amazing!" they cried in unison.

"That's just like my ability!" Tiara exclaimed, pointing at me.

"How did you do that?" Tiara asked, staring at me with sparkling eyes.

I just stayed silent. "W-well, I learned it," I said, glancing away.

Then, out of nowhere, something happened.

«Boom!»

I felt a violent tremor beneath my feet.

"N-no, they're coming again..." Tiara said, pointing north with a trembling finger.

I had no idea who "they" were, but I figured I had a hunch. I turned toward the direction Tiara pointed, and my eyes widened at once. «How ironic.» That monster was none other than one of the army I had commanded myself.

I never expected it to be so huge. It was shaped like a spider, and stood over twenty-five feet tall! Terrifying!

All three girls' bodies shook violently. "Let's get out of here, now!" cried Elysia, grabbing Leiche and Tiara by the hand.

"Come on, Lieh! You too!" Elysia shouted at me.

"Huh? Oh, right!" I replied, immediately running after her.

I had no idea where they were taking me, but the sound of the tremors grew fainter with every step we took.

The three girls then came to a stop.

«Huff~ huff~ huff~»

They were out of breath. They paused for a moment to wipe off their sweat and stretch their bodies.

"Looks like we're far away from that monster now," I said, looking around.

Tiara nodded quickly. "Yeah."

"But wait, isn't there a wanderer right here with us?" Leiche asked, tilting her head.

"Oh, that's right!" Elysia chimed in, snapping her fingers.

Hearing that, I flinched. «I mean, so what if I'm a wanderer?»

"You're right! You can definitely beat that monster, can't you?" Tiara exclaimed, shaking my arm. «Is she planning to make me fight it? Yeah, right!»

"N-no way, I'm not strong enough to beat a monster," I replied, waving my hand in the air.

"Come on! We'll help, I promise!" Tiara pressed on, hopping in place.

"Right?" Tiara asked, turning to her two friends.

Elysia and Leiche nodded. "Of course!" they said in unison.

«Boom!»

The ground shook, and branches came crashing down from the trees around us.

Peering through the trees, I saw a spider monster emerge between two tall, steep cliffs. This one looked even taller than the last. Maybe it was a different monster?

Suddenly, "HAAAAA!" All three girls ran straight toward the raging monster.

My body went rigid at once. "Hey! What are you doing?" I shouted.

"We'll lure it out for you!" Tiara shouted back, running with her back to me.

«Th-they've completely lost their minds!» That was what I thought before I ran after them.

They kept running in opposite directions. The monster was thoroughly bewildered by three kids who didn't even look serious. «Have monster standards really dropped this much these days?»

«Boom! Thoom! Kaboom!» Not a single one of the monster's heavy stomps landed on the three nimble girls.

"Come on! Do it!" they shouted. But wait, do what? They hadn't even told me what to do!

Fine, I figured I'd just do what I was supposed to do. Maybe... wipe that monster out?

That's right, I still had the ability of the girl named Tiara! I was still with her. So my ability, or anything tied to her, hadn't disappeared yet.

The monster started closing in. I immediately sprinted toward it. "HAAAAA!"

With a swift move, I touched the spider's leg for a few seconds. My body swayed this way and that before it finally took effect. That's right, the spider's body had become incredibly light.

«Whoosh...»

Even a gust of wind was enough to rock its body. Finally, the monster was blown away by the wind and drifted off, far from us.

That's right, this girl's ability was none other than mass manipulation. In short, she could manipulate the mass of any object she deliberately touched.

Of course, this ability drained quite a lot of Zoltra. Right, and I figured my Zoltra capacity had dropped drastically since I arrived in this third dimension. Or more precisely, since this morning.

The three girls walked over to me, their eyes wide. Were they in awe? I figured they were just shocked.

"Amazing! You really have an ability just like mine! How is that possible?" Tiara exclaimed, her eyes sparkling in disbelief.

"W-well... I learned it, of course!" I replied, scratching the back of my head.

"All right, since it's safe now, let's head back!" Elysia suggested, turning around and walking off slowly.

"We'll take you to our village, okay?" she continued. That's right, I couldn't pass up this chance to gather information.

I nodded once. "Sure," I answered.

The three girls cheered softly, their steps light as they headed home.

But then I noticed something... Leiche suddenly stopped in her tracks, breaking away from the other two. Her footsteps sounded strange after that, and I didn't know why.

"W-what's wrong?" I asked, until I felt something moving quickly toward me.

«SQUELCH!»

"Arghh!" What was this? I felt something lodge itself in my chest.

"Consider that my thanks," said Leiche, with a faint, mysterious smile.

I tried to look down at my chest, which was already smeared with red fluid. What was happening? Why had she suddenly stabbed me? Without thinking twice, I tried to use my analysis eyes and my Copying skill.

That's right, I had only just realized it. Leiche was the same girl who had killed me in my previous life. Only, the one I was facing now was her as a child, or to put it more simply, I was now in her past. But how was that possible? Who was she, really? Why? «Could she possibly know who I am?»

Unfortunately, my eyes slowly closed before I could find out. The last thing I saw was the blurry silhouette of that girl, slowly walking away.

— 1 —