Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy
Yanagi/Iris White snow crystals fluttered in the sky, and all the trees I could see were covered in a white makeup of powdered snow.
In the midst of such a fantastic natural landscape, like something out of a fairy tale, I…
“So tired…”
With a face like the end of the world, I was at my wit’s end, perched on a reasonably high fallen tree.
I was on my way to the nearest town where I was supposed to meet up with those two, and about an hour into my walk, I had already started to make noise.
I would like to say that my body is not as strong as it looked… but it was more my inability to walk well that was causing this situation.
Back in my old world, I’d been forced to live with a wheelchair since I wasn’t even ten years old because of an injury, and even in my game days, I could move my avatar, but I could not move my legs as well as other people. As a Highborn player who had wings on my back, I was able to cover this to some extent by levitating, but this weakness was exposed when I landed on the ground.
At first, I tried to play as the vanguard character my sister was currently playing, but quickly grew frustrated with it.
In close combat, I had to stand my ground, but my condition meant that I just couldn’t do it.
Reworking our avatars just because of “not having the aptitude for the character” was not an option either, for they were masterpieces we had spent a long time perfecting together.
Fortunately… as weirdly as I put it, my younger sister was frustrated with her support character as well. She used to say, “I want to act cute with a cute character and be pampered in a support role”, but that didn’t last long.
She was the type to go out in front and punch monsters in the face even though she was supposed to be a specialized support. Needless to say, the two of us had a disastrous result when we started out.
After exchanging avatars, we found ourselves meshing with our new roles much better. Since then, I’d spent seven years undergoing some mysterious lessons called “G.I.R.L training from a genuine article” by my sister.
Thanks to my sister, every single word and action of mine had been refined to perfection. It’s fair to say that I could immerse in my girly role as naturally as I breathe… As a man, I felt a bit complicated.
My limp legs couldn’t be fixed, however, and I often stumbled when I walked, but my sister only said something incomprehensible like “That’s also a moe point, so no problem!” and let that matter slide.
Oops, looks like I’ve digressed from the topic at hand. Why did I walk on my own two feet despite my bad legs? After my reincarnation, I was now of the Lightwing race, which looked no different from humans and could only produce wings when necessary.
Naturally, it came with the restriction that I could only fly when the wings were out. These extremely conspicuous wings.
If some bad people were to see my wings, I’m sure it’s going to be a Slave Ending speedrun right then and there.
Moreover, when I tried to practice flying, I found that unlike in the game days when the system assisted me in moving my wings on my own just by wanting to fly, here I had to consciously move my wings myself.
For the time being, I could float myself for a short time, but it was decided that flying freely in the sky was impossible without a lot of practicing, so I continued walking…
One hour later.
I had been compensating for my lack of muscle strength with strengthening magic, and for the pain in my legs with recovery magic, but I could not do anything about the accumulation of fatigue, so eventually I was exhausted to the point where both my legs and my back were shaky.
“…Why does it take so long to find a town anyway…? Back in the game, it only took me 30 minutes even with my feet alone…”
Mumbling and complaining, I munched on the sandwich that was lying in my magic bag and sipped the magic water as my drink…
I took this time to look back on my journey so far.
Up until now, I must have walked twice as far as I did within the game, but all I could see was trees and more trees. It was painful to walk in silence, seeing nothing but trees, snow, and a barely recognizable roadlike thing.
Several times, I was caught in the roots crawling under the snow, and dove headfirst into the snowy ground. Sweat and melting snow that had gotten into my clothes made it slightly damp, sticking to my skin and making me feel uncomfortable, which contributed to the accumulation of fatigue.
The density of monsters was low for a world that had become so large, and I was lucky to have only seen a few passive ones grazing leisurely from time to time.
When I got up to continue my search for a town or at least a place I could camp, something came from faraway…
“…A scream?”
Yes, it was a scream that sounded like someone was in dire need of help. I thought for a moment about avoiding it and running away, but the calculation hit me that maybe I could get directions if I helped, and I couldn’t just leave it alone, so I turned my legs in the direction of the scream. Or rather, I was about to.
“…Ah, AAAAAAH?!”
Suddenly, I collapsed in a severe pain that seemed to go through my entire body from head to foot.
Ithurtsithurtsithurts! But there’s nothing around…!
What just attacked me?! But I didn’t feel like I’d been injured anywhere at all. But soon, the pain that was tormenting my entire body began to subside. When my consciousness was clear again, I was left with “only”
a throbbing, tearing pain in the back of my head.
I didn’t really get it, but for some reason, an urge rose from the back of my head that I must go that way, the way I heard the screams. As if guided by something, my feet naturally began to move.
Then I immediately regretted my choice. I closed my mouth by instinct after seeing the horrific sight.
The scream’s owner was there.
A man who appeared to be middle-aged was lying helplessly on the ground.
The snow around him was stained a deep red, and around his belly, an irregularly shaped dog-like creature, about the size of a large dog and seemingly made of shadows, had its snout buried in the man’s belly.
I abandoned my thoughts when I saw a long, thin object being pulled out of the man’s stomach when the black shadow pulled its nose away from the man, who was still twitching and convulsing from time to time. I felt like I wouldn’t be able to even stand if I recognized what that object was.
…But the man was still alive.
My body trembled with horror at the thought of being gutted and devoured alive. My soft and white body, albeit rather thin, must look delicious to whatever creature that was there.
I almost lost strength in my limbs as I pictured the scene in my mind, but I scolded myself that if I slumped down here, my fear would become reality. I bit my lips to hold it in, to the point they bled, trickling blood into my teeth.
In the game, that monster was probably called a “phantom”, which would attach itself to the animals around it, transforming them and cranking up their feral instincts… appetite, in this case, perhaps.
I remembered that my “Divine Spear” was effective against spirit-type monster such as that phantom, and gripped my staff.
Leaning back against a tree to suppress the recoil, I quietly finished the chanting before I knew it. With a feeling of something being pulled out of my body, four spears of light appeared, the maximum power that I had put into them in order to be prepared for anything. I took careful aim and unleashed the four spears of light.
The enemy, engrossed in eating, finally noticed me and turned around, but it was too late. The spears, guided by my concentration heightened by fear, pierced the targets and sent it away flying with a cry of pain.
Just like in the game… spirit-type monsters died when their MP ran out, regardless of their HP.
After coaxing my shaking body and confirming that there was no other enemy around, I walked over to the fallen man and tried to check his injuries…
I quickly averted my eyes.
A hot sensation rose up from the back of my throat, and I couldn’t help but spit it out onto the ground beside me. This time, my knees gave way and I slumped to the ground.
The contents of the belly were unusually small.
Several lumps of different colors, and the occasionally twitching flesh, were burned into my mind for a moment and never left. I might have nightmares about it for a while.
But if I stayed like this, I would not be able to save what I could save.
With trembling hands, I gripped the staff, and after a few unsuccessful attempts, I spun a faltering chant with a trembling throat and a sense of urgency to hurry up.
“Ares Heal”. This healing magic, bearing the name of the god of war, was a magic that healed HP greatly and also healed physical conditions and abnormalities at the same time, but perhaps in this world it might also be effective for blood loss.
The wound in the man’s abdomen began to close up as if time was turning back.
Once I was sure it had worked safely, I leaned back on the staff and tried not to fall over, and regulated my breathing.
I still had a violent feeling of nausea going round and round in my stomach, but there was nothing more to be rushed up as there was nothing more to vomit up.
“…Ugh, I… Huh, I’m not hurt anywhere?!”
The man in front of me seemed to have woken up and seemed to have roused himself.
I was reeling from the tension of my first battle and the relief of having arrived in time.
The threads that had somehow managed to hold me up until this point snapped. I slipped and fell from the staff that supported my body, and lost consciousness…
(Author’s Note)
First battle in another world. For a recluse in a peaceful country, Iris didn’t do too bad.