Chapter 107: To the Great Forest
"Y-Yes? Friends…? Ah, yes! That sounds great! I was actually waiting for the right moment to bring it up with you, Dogeon, but I never expected you'd be the one to approach me first…"
"No, I understand. We've both been… quite busy in our own ways. Both myself and you, Lady Anastasia."
"Th-That's… true?"
He conveniently left out what exactly had kept them so busy, but since they both already understood it implicitly, there was no need to bring it up.
"Yes. That's all I had to say. Hmm… How are things going with Eric?"
Dogeon could have left right then and there, but curiosity got the better of him. He casually inquired about how far things had progressed.
"H-How do you know about that?!"
"You make it so obvious. It's harder not to know. The rumors have already reached my ears, you know. Even the frozen North is said to be blooming with love."
"…Huaaa… Impossible… I was sure I had been flawless…"
Watching her flustered reaction, Dogeon thought to himself that, unless a war broke out, Eric was in for a tough time. That is, assuming war doesn't happen.
From the moment he had arrived in this world, Dogeon had convinced himself that there was no way to undo things, so he pushed aside any lingering guilt. When Anastasia caught sight of his bitter smile, she got mildly irritated, thinking he was laughing at her. But Dogeon easily brushed it off.
"No, I was just thinking that Sir Eric will have a lot of trouble in the future."
"What is that supposed to mean…? Why would Eric have trouble? If anyone is struggling right now, it's me…! Ah. I wasn't supposed to say that…!"
"Are you finished talking, Dogeon?"
Hoyeon had been silently allowing their conversation to continue, but as the topic became more frivolous, her patience was wearing thin.
She knew that friends could chat and joke around like this, but still, she grabbed Dogeon's wrist with just enough force to make her point. That's enough. Follow me.
"…Oh dear, looks like it's time to go. Will you be alright?"
Seeing Hoyeon suddenly gripping Dogeon's wrist tightly, Anastasia realized that Hoyeon was also signaling her.
"Ah… Yes. Um, Lady Hoyeon? You must tell me how you got inside the Elves Forest on the way there, alright? You promised!"
As soon as Anastasia got her answer, Hoyeon was already pulling Dogeon away. Desperately, Anastasia called after her, demanding an explanation.
Hoyeon simply responded with a nod.
"Alright, who's next?"
Hoyeon was fired up, ready to quickly sort out all of Dogeon's relationships, but Dogeon scratched the back of his head awkwardly and replied,
"That's it. We're done."
Hoyeon had expected to deal with dozens of girls and was confused to hear him say they were finished after meeting only two.
"…You didn't meet anyone beforehand or anything?"
There's no way someone as sociable as him would have this few connections… Hoyeon thought. Unaware of the reason why Dogeon had so few friends, she pressed him for answers.
"No. Well, there is someone I should meet, but… they haven’t shown up recently."
"I see… That's fewer than I expected… Hm. Then, do you want to go somewhere? Maybe the zoo, or just for a walk…? Let's go somewhere."
Since the topic could be a sensitive one, Hoyeon did her best to change the subject despite her lack of conversational skills. Dogeon had already heard her muttering under her breath, but he found her efforts endearing and decided to go along with it.
"Sure. Then let's go to the zoo. Last time, we went to the botanical garden."
The memory of their last zoo visit flashed through Hoyeon's mind—where the divine beasts had quietly slinked away from them. She wasn’t particularly eager to go again, but since it was with Dogeon, she figured it didn’t really matter.
"This time, how about we check out the magical beasts instead…? But if you don't want to, we don’t have to."
Though they had bizarre appearances and tended to view her companion as a potential meal, Hoyeon was more interested in magical beasts than divine ones this time.
"I don’t see why not. But answer me one thing first. What did your mother ask you?"
"…Huh?"
How do you know about that? That should have been my first question, but I was so shocked that I couldn't form a proper response. That was something my mother told only me.
"Y-You… how do you…?"
It wasn’t something I couldn’t say, nor was it a question that had to be kept secret. But I was too stunned not to ask how he knew.
"Ahaha… A while back, I had a little chat with your mother. Without you knowing."
Through her journal.
The moment I heard that, my mind went blank.
More than anything, there was something I needed to confirm immediately.
"Did… did you read it…?"
"I did, but… I didn’t understand what it meant. Ah, and I’m really sorry for snooping in your journal."
Phew… Thank goodness…
There were so many embarrassing things in there—like wetting the bed as a kid and blaming it on the world map, catching and eating frogs because I was starving after running around in the mountains, throwing a tantrum at my dad during puberty and crying under my blanket, or getting caught sneaking food from the kitchen behind my mom's back…
He didn’t understand it. Thank goodness…
"…It's fine. I mean, I get that you’d be curious… Haa… As long as you didn’t understand it… B-But next time, if you want to know something, just ask me!"
I could just tell him normally. I didn’t want to create unnecessary tension between us.
Reading my journal out loud would be way too much, but… Dogeon is a good guy, so he wouldn’t ask me to do something like that.
As for the conversation he had with my mother… it must have been through my journal. And the question—did my mother tell him herself?
That would be the only way he could know. I never mentioned it to anyone.
"Hmm. So, what was the question again? ‘Can humans live without gods?’ …That’s what she asked. I don’t know what my mother meant by it, but it seems like it has some deep meaning… probably."
Or maybe not. My mother sometimes asked philosophical-sounding questions just to mess with me.
The truth was, I had no idea.
If she meant survive, then sure, we could. But thrive? That was another story.
If she meant advance, I’d probably answer… "It would take too long."
Especially since this continent wasn’t even unified, and the so-called greatest academy mostly focused on training students to overpower others.
Pure sciences and magical studies were practically nonexistent.
"I see… ‘Can humans live without gods?’ …I see. So that’s why…"
What is he so convinced about? Is it because he's the protagonist? Come to think of it, maybe my mother approached Dogeon because he is the protagonist.
She might not know this world is a novel… but she must recognize that he's special.
If that’s the case, everything makes sense.
"…What? Did you figure something out?"
Tell me, too. I wanted to understand my mother’s intentions, even a little.
"Nah. It’s barely worth calling a discovery. Alright, let’s go. The magical beasts can be dangerous, so I’ll stick close to you."
But before I could question him further, Dogeon casually linked his arm with mine and headed toward the zoo.
Shouldn’t the guy be the one protecting the girl in dangerous situations?
…Wait. Since being near me is the safest place, I guess this makes sense.
Sometimes, this guy is too rational.
"…Uh. Yeah, let’s go."
But that was something I liked about him.
Because it meant he pointed out things I overlooked.
While watching the magical beasts, I let out a startled shriek at one point… but well, I’ll just brush that off as part of the experience.
***
I was secretly curious about what kind of transportation we’d be using. Would it be the same carriage we took to the academy, or something I hadn't even considered?
Judging by the level of technology and environmental conditions, teleportation via ley lines—like in my homeland—was probably out of the question. Still, I wanted to see just how advanced this continent was, despite its people calling gods "demons."
"…An airship…? I never expected to see one of these."
Honestly, I had only anticipated something like a train at best. This was unexpected. Plus, the way mana swirled around certain areas suggested that it wasn't just floating aimlessly in the sky.
The interior was spacious—compared to similar technology from my original world, this one seemed far superior.
Even so, it didn’t seem large enough to accommodate the entire first-year class. Then again, how many vehicles could transport hundreds of students at once?
Of course, within a few dozen paces of me, there was no one besides Dogeon, as if some invisible barrier had been erected around us.
I'd thought this was the kind of place where everyone just rode around in carriages, but they actually had something impressive like this.
"Yes… I had only heard of these before, but this is my first time seeing one with my own eyes. I heard the empire uses them for military purposes… I never thought I'd actually ride one."
Dogeon didn't seem completely clueless about it, but it looked like he hadn't expected to board one either. Well, I hadn’t, either.
"Where are you, Lady Hoyeon? Sir Dogeon? Ah, you there! Have you seen Lady Hoyeon?"
"Ah… um… I-I'm sorry, Lady Anastasia, but I don’t know. M-my group is waiting, so I’ll be going now…"
"Ah, wait a moment! Haa… Where could they be…?"
From a short distance away, I could hear Anya’s voice, anxiously searching for us.
Oh, right. I promised to tell her how I got inside.
"We're here."
"Ah! Lady Hoyeon? Where—ah, there you are!"
Anya and Eric appeared, weaving their way through the crowd. Since this was a trip, they had dressed up more than usual, which was noticeable at a glance.
"…Anya, I just want to check—are airships like this common on this continent?"
That was the first thing I needed to know. If these were standard here, I might have to reevaluate my assumptions.
"No. Airships of this size? There are barely more than ten in existence. However, smaller and mid-sized ones aren't particularly rare. Anyway, you remember what we talked about last time, right?"
"Of course. I just opened it, and it opened."
"…What?"