Aloumine is the Mistress of this mansion but as expected, she is still a little girl at heart.
When she calmed down we chatted for a while. There I had the chance to ask if she could tell me a good place to stay because I don't want to impose here for too long but she insisted that I should at least stay here for a month or so.
She talked as if a month was just 3 days. Is it because this is a different world?
I don't know the rules and the commonplace here so she wanted me to adapt first before setting off. That would be for my benefit so I accepted with gratitude.
After that she led the way to the dining area on the first floor and we sat on a large table, just the 2 of us. There are 3 girls in maid uniform standing behind her.
"These are all my personal maids but for me they are my friends. Everyone, introduce yourselves."
The maids stepped forward and lowered their heads.
"I'm the head maid, I am called Martha. Pleased to meet you."
"I'm in-charge of cleaning and cooking, I'm Espina! Pleased to meet you."
"…I-I'm Leutte. Pleased to meet you."
Th-they are all short...
The first one looked so proper.
The second one is very energetic.
The third one is very timid and shy.
They all have long and pointed ears just like Aloumine, the third one have shorter pair of ears but it's also pointed. And there is a very BIG difference with all of them. She had a well pronounced chest compared to her short stature unlike the others with flat chest.
Aloumine noticed my gaze from Leutte.
"Hmm? Oh, if you're curious why Leutte is a little different, it's because she is a half elf."
"You can tell by her big muhf…"
Before Martha could finish her sentence, Leutte covered her mouth and was blushing furiously.
"Sorry sorry~"
Leutte finally let go of Martha when she said that.
"Au..." Leutte covered her chest with her hands but was not able to cover it completely.
"Geez, Leutte is not very good with talking to other people, please forgive her. She is in-charge of gathering information which means, she is the most knowledgeable one here. Well, all of them are very talented."
"I see. I'm….well, pleased to meet you all."
They lowered their head again and retreated behind to Aloumines's back.
"…oh, it seems that he doesn't have any memories from his past, so he can't… remember his name."
Seeing that I struggled a bit when I returned their introduction, Aloumine came to the rescue while the 3 maid's made a complicated expression. I need to lighten up this gloomy atmosphere or I might drown from it.
"Having no memory is a little inconvenient but to be honest, it doesn't bother me at all. Knowing at least my name would be nice."
"I believe we can use the Identification Crystal, Aloumine-sama." Said Martha as she turned to Aloumine.
"That's a good idea!" Aloumine said cheerfully as she clapped her hand.
"Identification Crystal?"
"Yes. That is the same as the adventurers use on the guild but this one is a bit different because it is for personal use."
Adventurers huh. So there's also something like that here.
And this crystal that she is saying, it seems to be a very useful item. She already came up with an answer just after I said that. She sure is fast thinker.
"When you inject magic on it, it will reveal basic information about you so we might learn about your name. Very convenient right?"
She puffed her chest as if she was the one who invented the item she was talking about. Maybe she was just proud to introduce me some convenient tools in this world. Either ways, if I would at least know some basic information about myself, then it's a good thing.
"Yes. Where can I acquire this item?"
"You don't need to worry about it. I'll provide you one. I just need Martha to get one for me."
"Is that alright?"
"Of course it is. Don't worry about it."
Aloumine said as she waved her hand.
After that I asked her to tell me about this world.
The most idiotic thing to do is go out in an unknown place without knowing anything. Lack of general knowledge is not healthy.
Which by the way I wouldn't have done because I was being hasty at first. I guess that made me an idiot in a way.
She insisted that we should eat first before discussing about the things I want to know and because I feel famished, I accepted the offer. I didn't get any food for 5 days after all so I'll just dig in until I'm satisfied.
I ate my fill and was very satisfied with the taste and quality of the food.
After we finished eating the maid took care of the dishes and leftover foods.
We are now walking to the balcony with a single maid with eye glasses following us. She was carrying a tray with tea sets.
We reached the balcony and Aloumine gestured me to sit on the wooden chair as she did the same.
The view was great. You can see the forest from up here and the breeze of the air is a bit cold but it's blowing gently.
The maid called Leutte served tea to us.
"Thank you, Leutte." Said Aloumine and Leutte lowered her head and stepped back on her side waiting for any further instructions.
She turned to me and she begun talking.
"First, I would like to apologize again for suddenly summoning you here. It was an accident and I have no excuse for such blunder."
She immediately apologized for bringing me here.
"Don't worry about it. Like I said earlier, its fine already, Aloumine-san."
What's done is done, and even if I'm not okay about it, what can I possibly do about it? None.
Plus, I don't really hate it. I don't know myself but it really doesn't bother me at all.
"I-if you say so. Uhm…"
While fidgeting she looked at me with upturned eyes.
Her current expression is even more attractive than the beautiful scenery in front of me that it made it hard for me to look away.
"I-I have one favour, if that's alright with you?"
Her cheeks began to blush a little as she tap her fingers against each other.
"Nn? Sure, what is it?"
"Un.. Can you stop calling me Aloumine?"
Eh? Does she dislike being called by her first name with a stranger?
"Ah sorry, I might've been acting a little familiar by addressing you by your first name right? Alright, I'll call you Lafinn-san from n―"
Before I could finish she waved her hand while shaking her head.
"Th-that's not it! uhm…"
"…then what?"
"Wh-what I'm trying to say is… instead of Aloumine, j-just call me Alou!"
"…Eh?"
"auu….."
She covered her face with both of her hands to hide her embarrassment.
Her whole face up to her ears is now flushed in different shades of red.
"…Alright, Alou."
"Y-yes!" she said while still hiding her face.
Turning my eye on her side, I could see Leutte covering her mouth with her hand and also blushing furiously.
It must be embarrassing for girls to ask a boy to call them by their nickname.
Not that I can't relate though. I can't see my face but my cheeks feels a little hot too.
"A-alright, now let's begin. What do you want to ask me?"
"Can you tell me more about this world?"
"Sure!"
She said while putting her hand on her chest then she began to talking about this world.
She taught me about the basic things in this world. She told me that this is the first time that someone had been summoned on this world aside from the heavenly beings and celestial creatures using the formation circle located in the spring. That leaves my case with full of mysteries. Even Leutte who is the most knowledgeable here don't have the slightest clue.
They also don't know the reason why I don't have my memories. It's possible that the summoning is responsible for it or I originally have an amnesia.
Well, as long as I'm alive, I have no complaint about it. Right now I have this feeling that the situation now is the complete opposite of my past. I don't dislike it.
Her story and explanations went for a while and now I'm back inside the room where I woke up. She said that I can use this room as much as I want but I'll still use this room with discreet.
I'm leaning at the opened window overlooking the beautiful nature outside.
While enjoying the gentle breeze and the scenery, I think back of the things Alou taught me in the balcony.
In this world, magic exist. A world of swords and magic. They all rely mostly on magic and crafts for their daily lifestyle.
Not everyone possess magic in this world such as certain races.
Magic is very important especially in fighting. So without it, you will have a hard time living in a world where demons and monsters exists.
To compensate with this, those fighters who can't use magic or doesn't have too much talent on it devote themselves to mastering the use of weapons.
There are many talented individuals who can use weapons and can defeat powerful monsters. It made it possible for them to achieve this level because of 'Fierce Soul'.
Unlike magic that uses the energy from its surroundings, the body 'fierce soul technique' uses the energy inside the user's body and turning off the limits of what a normal being's power can produce.
Both use of magic and fierce soul can be very dangerous for the body if used without prudence.
No matter what subject, if you take it too far, there will only be consequences waiting at the end of the line.
And because there are varieties of races in this world who uses peculiar skills, there's still a lot of undiscovered things out there.
There's so many types of race of people in this world but the main races are,
Heavenly beings
Demons
Dweller of the Forest
Humans
Beastkins and Lizardmen
Alou is from the Nymph race and it is one of the heavenly being type of race.
To think that the girl in front of me is a member of the highest ranking race of this world.
She mentioned that when I was brought in this mansion, my situation is in the worst state it can ever be but while I was at the death's door, her mother who is the Guardian of this forest, personally used her magic to bring me back to life.
I need to thank her for it if ever I got the chance.
Amongst the heavenly beings, nymphs mostly consist of females.
They are located in a secluded place like this forest with the protection of a barrier granted by the Forest Guardian to keep away the enemies and harmful entities from entering.
Because I was not rejected by the barrier, they were able to relax with me around.
The protection barrier has a very unique effect so even if you're good in keeping your ill intent, the barrier will still activate automatically and throw you outside of its range.
They'll still go outside if needed, especially if they need to address important matters with others.
"You saw Martha right? She may look like that but she is already over 50 years old. She even got to serve my mother before I was born."
"…over 50" I just mumbled the numbers.
She looked very young for her age. I looked at Alou and she tilted her head.
Realizing what I was thinking, she suddenly became flustered.
"Hmm? H-hey! Don't think I'm that old too okay? I'm a genuine 14 years old girl!"
Even if you say that, your height still won't do justice for your age you know.
I said inwardly.
"Yes, I get it."
"Do you really? W-well if you say so." Cough, cough.
She coughed forcefully and continued.
"We are Nymphs after all. There are also other races with long life span. This is not applicable to everyone but when we reach a certain point we'll stop aging, keeping our youthful appearance."
Age huh, hmm. So there are races with long life-span as well.
After that she told me about what is happening outside this forest.
How different races interact with each other. Their relationships and such.
It seems that there's some friction between other races especially the humans and other races.
The humans have the most number of population. They occupied a vast amount of land. There's so many countries on all continents that governed by humans.
The Demons have tried to occupy the lands and properties of humans but because of their massive number, they were able to push back the demons but with a lot of sacrifices as well.
Demons are the main enemy of all the races. They would trample everything and anything along their way.
Though they are called the enemy of all, not all the demons are pure evil. There are those who are living in the human society in secret.
While the 2 races are in a long-standing feud, the Heavenly Beings are standing neutral.
They won't get involve on it unless they are the ones being aggravated.
Dwellers of the forests also hide themselves from the spotlight.
The beastkins race are in the lowest rank that's why they are being treated poorly by humans. You will see them frequently as slaves together with some from the elf race which is part of the dwellers of the forest.
To think that all of this is the norm in this world. Surely there would be some things that are far more surprising than these events but if this is what's normal here, I doubt that the things that would unfold later on wouldn't surprise me, to the point that I wouldn't even be able to know what course of action to take.
But no matter what world, I need to be cautious.
I think I can trust Alou, but from beyond here, there are many people with black heart and evil intent.
I don't want to stay here in Alou's mansion longer than I needed to because it would definitely became a bother for her.
If I were to go outside of this comfortable place I need to be ready for the unexpected.
To do that I need to at least learn how to protect myself.
"…magic."
If I can learn how to use magic then I might be able to defend myself.
That weird feeling earlier, it has to be the etheria she is talking about.
If I can feel my etheria then I can probably be able to use magic.
Before I knew it, the sun has already set and the sky was replaced with starry night sky. Seeing that there are 2 moons above, I whispered to myself.
"…a different world huh."
I'll use my time here wisely so I could ready myself before I venture.