Every night when I wake up, yes, every night because here there is no morning, I think about how the people who live in this world know when the sun will rise and set. I suppose that for generations, they created methods with which measure time, or even their bodies could have adapted to such an environment.
Unfortunately, I am not sure what the correct answer is since any complicated measuring mechanism would be impossible to exist in these parts, nor did I come with such an instinct installed in my body.
Well, even if I had it, I don’t think it would make much difference because being so used to going to bed late, besides doing it for less time than recommended, having to endure twelve hours in the dark is torture. Sure, I’ve gotten used to the waiting because of everything I’ve been through since I fell into this world, but even with that, it’s depressing that every time I think it will stop happening, things keep not getting better.
Looking on the bright side of things, I now have something more fun to do than just looking at the rocky ceiling of the cave for long periods. After all, a vast sky can be seen from the clearing in front of the cave, although I must be careful not to get lost in its beauty, or else I will be suddenly blinded by the appearance of the sun.
The stars, for example, are attractive to observe, but as expected from such a strange world, these are different from the ones I knew. I noticed it a couple of days after having watched them attentively for hours, and that is that they do not blink as they did on Earth, and even though weeks have passed, not a single shooting star has crossed the night sky.
Strange, as if it were an immense lifeless painting pretending to be a foreign stage.
‘Not that it worries me’
Having noticed the disparity between the two worlds is not something that keeps me awake at night, for worrying about such a great frame when I am just a small child living in the depths of a forest located in who knows where, one that is not even the largest of most of the beings residing in the site, is useless nonsense. Although, that could change in the future.
Speaking of sizes… as expected from the protagonist of the world. The gap between me and the other brats is something that is becoming more and more noticeable as time goes by. I may not have approached them in a long time since I prefer to avoid as much contact with them as possible, but from a distance, the height difference between me and the others shows.
Hopefully, we also differentiate on appearances, making me less ugly than them.
”Hehehe”
As always, I think it’s good to be positive, even if you have to use lies to be so.
While I have yet to see my face in any reflection, and if someone were to hear me called the protagonist of the world, I would die of embarrassment, it is still good to encourage my heart.
”…”
Now, it is true that there is nothing here to tell me when the sunrise will occur, but considering the long time that has passed since I woke up, it would be best to look away, not at the sky, to avoid being blinded by its bright glow.
Trying to make as little noise as possible to avoid waking the nearby monkeys, I got up from the branch I was lying on and then sat against the tree trunk as I looked toward the cave entrance, remembering past events.
‘Come to think of it. I still haven’t figured out the reason for the merchant’s arrival’
I saw what he brought here, but I didn’t get to see what he got in return since the next day, when they left, after sleeping with his subordinates in the cave, they took off with the boxes on their shoulders, apparently full of new cargo.
Also, I haven’t noticed any change since then. It is a pity because when I saw on them containers with apparent powder, along with some things that I prefer not to remember, I came to think that it could be some kind of condiment… or drug.
I know. It was nonsense on my part, but at the same time, it could be called a faint childish hope…
Anyway, I am grateful that that evildoer came, I call him so because someone who makes deals with people in this place can not be a good person, for thanks to him, I could see for the first time the magic at work.
Metaphorically speaking, when I saw that old man raising things in the air using only his mind, my eyes sparkled like a cat’s in front of a camera lens.
I want it. I want it. I want it. How nice it would have been to have been able to do it in my previous life, not to mention how useful it would be to have it in this future.
Fighting with blows? No, bro, that’s barbarian stuff. Okay, I know I train daily by throwing kicks and punches in the air, but that’s just to get a method of defense while I learn to use magic. Besides, being a magical knight wouldn’t be bad, but I’d need to practice fencing for that… I’ll keep that in mind.
Still, I regret that the old man’s performance was so weak and short, for I could not judge the limits of his powers.
”Sigh”
It is not pleasant to live in suspense. I just hope that the geezer is not much stronger than the beasts he has under his command.
Well, now that the existence of magic has been confirmed, I wonder if there are also mythological or fantasy creatures in this world, such as dragons and goblins or angels and demons. It would be interesting if it were so because although the appearances of the things that live here are different from those on Earth, even so, they are so similar that it feels incongruous to see them.
‘In my dreams, I imagined myself fighting against gods and dragons, but here I may end up doing it against earthworms and clown fish… not that I have seen them to know how they are, but taking into account that the smaller and weaker I was on earth, the bigger and stronger are here…’
Now that I think about it, it is surprising how much I have changed compared to my past life, and although this was noticeable since I was in the womb of the woman who would become my current mother, now that I have gone outside, the contrast is much more marked. After all, the me from before who only thought about playing video games, watching anime, touching himself, or even more than one of those simultaneously would never train the way I do, as he would lack the will to do so.
Not that this is something reprehensible, since objectively, I don’t think many people could stand it.
Having to walk daily up a hill full of small rocks that scratch my bare feet, as well as endure with gritted teeth the falls that usually happen, along with the pain in my knuckles after having thrown blows against the rough, hard bark of the trees, none of it is pleasant.
Yet, unpleasant it may be, it is something I must endure, and not so much for my physical well-being, for I have not received any kind of mistreatment so far, but for my mental health since being weak in this place would be unbearable.
It is unfortunate that, although my body heals quickly, the fatigue and pain are still present.
”Even so, I am proud to be able to walk this path without giving up, and it is in part to that pride I feel that I can do it but, still with that, I really hope that someday all this will prove useful to me because if for some reason beyond what I can deal with, I end up dying without being able to defend myself, having tried so hard for nothing would become a regret that would haunt me after my death”
For the peace of my heart, I think I’ll have to do something I’ve been avoiding for a long time, that is, fight the brats, as there are no better opponents than them to battle.
However, that is something for another time, not today, as I have already prepared the plans for the rest of the day.
When the sun rises, I will carefully get down from this tree, and as soon as I can, without even stretching, I will run with all my strength in search of the food that the cooks have prepared during the night. I must act quickly before the ogres wake up fully and head for the same destination as me because if I am late unless I want to die during the fight for breakfast, I will have to wait until all those bastards finish eating.
‘Fucking idiots, they are so brainless, but they still know that the worst of everything prepared is the soup, and that’s why it’s the only thing they leave behind after they’ve eaten all the meat’
As if that were not enough, since they are animals with humanoid bodies, their manners are zero, no, negative, I would say, so when it was my time to eat… drink, all I saw was a total mess, with the bones, well cleaned because the meat on them had been completely devoured, thrown everywhere. Not to mention, even the soup, which they don’t like very much, has come to have leftover food and probably a lot of saliva in it.
”That’s a damn thing I’d rather not experience again”
With that said, the next thing to do after eating is to head up the hill to practice some Muay Thai moves, or to be exact, the movements I saw in a martial arts anime that claimed to be one. In short, strikes with elbows and knees.
So far, I have only practiced with my knees, as I feel that such attacks are more lethal and easier to perform with this body blessed with good flexibility. However, today I will concentrate entirely on practicing hitting trees with my elbows to have a greater variety of techniques.
So, after having trained for a few hours, I’ll sit down for a while to rest under-…
”Hmm!?”
”… Someone is coming… it’s the women, uh…”
Although my mind was immersed in my thoughts, my senses were attentive to what was happening around me, so I did not miss the approach of a light coming from the cave entrance. Curious, I waited to see what was approaching, only to be surprised to discover it was the covered women who were coming out of there. Not one or two, but about ten, all accompanied by a lamp no longer on their waists, as they were now carried whit one of their arms.
Of course, I was not surprised to see them, for who else but they would be the ones to come out? I did so because of the time they do it, still at night, and because of the number that comes out, for except for when they came in to feed us when we were babies, I almost always saw them in pairs or alone.
‘… I see. They don’t do it because they want to. They do it because it is an order from above, or to be exact, one given by the old man who walks behind them’
Just as I had seen before, the old wizard slowly walks alongside the armed giant who follows at his side, but beside them, a new face also stands out. Not near the previous ones, but between them and the women, an old woman with her face uncovered and without lamps in her hands advances with the group.
