Rei was sitting alone right in the middle of a dark place, it's completely devoid of anything. He couldn't sense or see anything, but this place definitely felt like a dream.
'...It's like when I had that nightmare.' Rei thought as he felt like closing his eyes.
Then suddenly, the scenery changes.
*TIK*
"Huh?" Rei felt a small drop of water landed on his nose.
*TIK* *TIK*
The droplets of water kept on falling...
*TIK* *TIK* *SHAAAA*
Eventually, it started to rain.
'Rain?' Rei thought as his body suddenly felt cold.
He decided to open his eyes and he found himself standing at some sort of wasteland with trees surrounding him.
Rei looked up and felt the rain washed his body from head to toe.
'So cold...'
For a dream, it felt so real. This was the first time he ever felt something like this.
He wondered, 'Where am I?'
"Why!!"
A familiar voice could be heard from behind him, Rei quickly turned around to see the source.
The voice belonged to the man who has always been with him and trained with him. His partner.
Yes, the voice was from the one and only...Ray Houston.
'Houston?' Rei widened his eyes, 'What...'
Ray was holding someone in his arms while crying under the rain. The ground was stained with blood from that person who seemed to be fatally injured.
Rei walked closer and his face turned pale the moment he recognized the person in his arms.
It was a lady that he met not too long ago, the one he recognized as his equal, Iris May Welford. She looked much older than the one he met in real life, and right now...
She's resting lifelessly in his arms with a gaping hole on her stomach.
"Why you must die like this...Iris!!" Ray wept louder as he hugged her tightly.
'This is...his memories.' Rei concluded as he watched this man cried.
"I swear...I will become strong....stronger than anyone." His lips were trembling, but the resolve to become strong could be seen through his eyes.
There's another emotion, that is swelling within him through his eyes. Hatred, towards his weak self, and anger...towards the world who has been unfair to him.
Rei could tell from his eyes very well since his feeling are connected with him. But right now, he could only stare at him.
When he closed his eyes for a moment...
...and opened it again, Ray and Iris disappeared.
'Where did they go?' Rei blinked for a moment until suddenly he felt his hands were holding onto something.
'Huh?'
Rei looked down and then widened his eyes once more.
This time, he's the one who held Iris. Not only that, this Iris is her younger self that he met in real life.
"Iris?!"
His eyes quickly scanned his surrounding and what he found was...
Dead bodies, and he recognized all of them as his team.
"No..."
All them were lying on the ground lifelessly with their eyes opened wide.
"How did this happen?!–"
Rei shouted, confused why he was having this vision. Iris in his arms, and his dead comrades were lying on the ground around him.
But then...his eyes shifted to something in front of him.
There was something standing in between those bodies.
This thing were surrounded with a black fog, Rei didn't know who is—or what is that.
But there's one thing he knew for sure, and that is....
This thing who stood before him now...was the cause of all this.
'What is that? A monster? A person?'
There's something rising within him, and that feeling is...
'How dare you do all of this in front of me.'
Anger began to swallow him...
"YOU–!!!"
Rei put Iris down on the ground and quickly took out his sword from his [Inventory].
The thing that stood in front of him, started to show its face. It was still blurry because of the black fog surrounding it, but the only thing that Rei could see is its wide smile, and it's howing off its sharp teeth.
Fear suddenly washed over him the moment it dashed towards him.
He was so fast that he couldn't follow its movement.
*SWOOSH*
Before he knew it, the left part of his body, from his chest to his left arm were blown away just from a single strike.
"Wha–" Rei who finally noticed that his body was torn apart, coughed blood and began to feel the pain coursing through every nerves of his body.
'Dammit–'
*****
*ZWONG*
The slit of his helmet began to glow from his eyes, meaning that he's just awoke from his sleep while still wearing his armor.
Rei panted a bit and looked at his left hand, frantically checking whether that was real or not.
He sighed in relief when he checked that everything was fine. He felt cold sweat on his back but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary.
"That's just a dream..." Rei mumbled in front of the campfire.
He remembered that they were stopping in the middle of the forest to set up camp for them to rest at night with carriages surrounding them before they could continue their journey.
Fang and his team were sleeping together, while Rei and Andrew's team were still awake since they're taking turns to guard this spot.
Iris and her crew were sleeping in their carriage, separate from them.
Rei looked around and saw Andrew were talking with Erica and Dahlia. Meanwhile Lena was sitting beside him.
"Are you okay, Crimson-san?" She asked.
Rei sighed, 'Can't believe I fell asleep during a night stand.'
Rei looked at her and nodded, "It was nothing...I'm sorry that I fell asleep."
"I-it's okay, you have done a great job today for dealing with those bad guys." Lena spoke with a smile.
"It's just a small problem and by the way, did anything happen while I was asleep?"
"Nothing in particular, just Andrew with those two as usual."
Lena pointed at them, they could see Andrew was having hard time with the two girls beside him.
"It seems they were arguing who will be sleeping together with him the whole time." Lena spoke while looking at them.
"I-i see...but why didn't you join them?"
"Eh? W-well I just don't want to interrupt them, and since I notice you were sleeping, I thought maybe you'd need someone to wake you up if something did happen." Lena fidgeted her fingers as she said that.
"Hmmm...that's true, you can't lower your guard when you're sleeping at this forest. Thank you for guarding me, Lena."
Lena felt her heart just got shot by a cupid's arrow when she heard him call her name, "Y-you're welcome."
Rei nodded, 'yeah...I can't lower my guard down...and I also need to be strong, strong enough to protect them.' Rei thought while closing his eyes.
'Kiritsuka.' Ray called him from his mind.
'Houston.'
'Did you had a nightmare?'
Rei widened his eyes for a moment then nodded, 'Yeah...I did.'
'I see...me too.'
'Yeah?'
Ray nodded his head.
'What kind of dream?'
'Hmm...what I can remember is that...we were facing something powerful.'
'Something powerful?'
'Yeah...our comrade died and we were killed with just a single strike.' Ray explained.
'No way...I dreamed about that too!'
'I see...this would be the first time we shared a dream like this.' Ray mumbled.
'...Houston.'
'Hmm?'
'Let's start learning the second page for Archer Artillery Mastery.' Rei suggested.
'Huh?? What is this all of a sudden.'
Rei reminded of what just happen in that dream, he needed to become strong...strong enough to overwhelm those powerful enemy he would be facing in the future.
'I want to become strong...so can you help me, Houston.' Rei spoke while looking at the campfire.
Ray sighed, 'Well it's already in my plan...but never thought you asked for it first.
'I was going to train with you about other skills from Spearmanship book as well, since we have been using [One Strike] and [Gungnir] several times, so their level about to be maxed up.'
'So we need more variation in our attacks, right?'
'Correct.' Ray agreed.
'Then I have to tell them first.' Rei spoke.
'Okay, I'll be right here.'
After having conversation with him, Rei came back to real life again.
He turned to look at her, "Lena."
Lena who heard him calling her name, flinched, "Y-yes?!"
"I will be resting for a moment, it might be hard to wake me up but if I didn't wake up...make sure you hit my head as hard as you can."
"Huh?? Y-yes, I will hit you as hard as I can!" Lena looked a bit pumped when she said that.
Rei smiled, "I'm thankful to you again."
"You're welcome..." Lena replied while her face reddened even more and hide her face away from him.
Rei chuckled seeing her reaction, then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
'I need to become stronger...and I will make sure to protect them.'
Afterwards, he went back into his mind and began his training together with Ray.
******
The next day has arrived, Iris and her crew have many questions regarding this man called Crimson.
This time, the one who's inside their carriage was Kagura.
"I'll look forward to work with you." Kagura spoke while bowing her head.
Iris nodded with a smile, "I'll look forward to it as well, Kagura-san~"
Kagura nodded back before looking at the window, calmly observing the scenery outside of the moving carriage.
Meanwhile, Iris was looking at her curiously, 'Kagura...she has japanese name and different hair color than others.'
"Is Kagura-san from the Eastern Continent?" Iris asked.
Kagura looked at her, "Yes, I am from the Eastern Continent called [Hashira]."
'[Hashira]...right, it was on the book before, the Eastern Continent is a mysterious place because they have unique [Job] that most people didn't know.'
'The rarest job in there is [Samurai]. They're quite famous for their sword drawing technique to struck their opponents down'
'And they're very similar to Japan in its older era.' Iris thought while observing Kagura.
Kagura then looked back at her, "You."
"Hmm?"
"I heard you fought with Crimson, was that right?" Kagura asked.
Iris blinked for a moment and nodded, "Yes, we did."
Kagura nodded, "I see...how was he?"
Iris blinked once again, "He did much better than I imagined. I think he's at the level of our elite soldiers but even more than that I suppose."
Kagura suddenly swayed her legs and nodded with her reddening cheeks, "I see, that's good." She replied in monotonous voice and calm face
But from Iris' eyes, she looked happy. Similar things happened not too long ago with Lena, and to prove her suspicions, she would ask her about something.
"Kagura-san."
"Yes?" Kagura looked at her with her emotionless look but her cheeks were still a bit red.
"Are you perhaps, in love with Crimson-san?"
Right after that, Kagura's face became twice as red, smoke began to puff out of her head if she was overheating a bit.
"N-no! I-i mean...maybe." Unlike Lena, Kagura has higher self-esteem while hiding the fact that she did like him.
Iris and Silvi who saw this suddenly put her in between them and gently caressed her head and cheeks.
"Awww!! How could you be this cute!" Iris complimented while fawning over her features. Kagura has petite and slender body. She also has black hair that matched her outfit.
Kagura felt ticklish from their touch, "Mmmgh~ No~"
"Come on~ tell us what you like about him~" Iris smirked as she wanted to know more about the maiden heart within her.
"N-no!~ I-it just...I-i mean...Crimson is different than most of the guys in our guild, they're loud and noisy." Kagura pouted as she folded her hands in front of her chest.
"One day...when he came to the Guild, he was so cool and amazing. I-i mean--the way he Intimidate his opponent and the way he doesn't back down from the challenge from the Guild Master."
Kagura covered her face with her hand, as her face became much redder than before, "Everything about him is just so cool..."
Iris smiled and nodded, 'I guess that's true...he did challenge us while knowing that we're Nobles and didn't back out despite the consequences.'
Kagura took a peek at Iris for a moment from the slip of her fingers, "What about Iris-san."
"M-me??"
Kagura nodded, "I mean...I noticed your behavior changes after he saved you from Baltz."
"E-ehh?? Really?" This time, Iris was the one that turned red.
Even Albert who were just quietly listening, joined. "Really?!" He sounds like he's the most surprised with the reveal.
"Did you fell in love with that guy?!" Albert accused.
"L-love?! N-no no no!!" Iris quickly denied it while waving her hands frantically. Despite that...her heart began to beat fast once again.
"Really?" Kagura and Albert stared at her really closely, observing the change of her expression.
"Oh! Come on! There's no way I would fell in love with someone that easily!" Iris spoke defensively while turning her face away.
'Beside....I already have someone I like...'
'I wondered...why is he so...familiar.' Iris wondered. 'I-I mean...I am thankful that he protected me.'
'It's just...that damn thing again, it feels like...'
Iris quickly brushed that thought away, but she look panicked now, 'No, I already told myself to focus on this mission! I gotta stop thinking about him!!'
'And...why! Why [The Villainess] skill doesn't activate at times like this!' Iris screamed internally.
After that, the day went on without problem.
******
Four days had passed and they have been moving non-stop since then.
Iris who sat inside her carriage sighed, "Haaaa..."
"Is there something wrong, Ojou-sama?" Silvi asked her.
"Nothing..." Iris huffed, 'I thought we might see something amazing but lately, we have been on the road the whole time and only stop to rest at some forest.'
'I mean, we have adventurers here but it's really boring to keep riding like this.' Iris frowned.
Ever since she went outside of the capital, all she did was sitting nicely at the carriage and never went to anything except Aven Town.
It has been more than 1 week she's stuck in this carriage again and again, she wanted to take a break.
"Silvi, do you know if there's a nearby village around here?" Iris asked.
"Hmmmm...I don't think so, this might be the first time I went out this far." Silvi said.
"Iris-san!" Lena joined in, it's her turn to be inside this carriage once again.
"What is it Lena-san?" Iris asked.
"Why don't we ask Fang-san and the others? Because he and his team are veterans." Lena suggested.
"Oh right! That's true." Iris took out an orb from her [Inventory] and it began to shine.
"Ahem! Can you hear me?" She talked to the orb.
******
Meanwhile, in the carriage where Rei was sitting at, things were pretty calm since Fang, Wise, and Kagura were playing cards.
Rei who stared at the window watching the scenery suddenly noticed something.
*RING* *RING*
His eyes widened when he heard a familiar noise. Like something from his original world.
'A call notification?' He looked around, and the noise also confused Fang and the others who wondered where the noise came from.
Until Rei opened his [Inventory] and there's a [ ! ] symbol on top of certain item.
'Isn't this Orb the one she gave us before.' Rei thought while pulling out the Orb.
The Orb was shining and the ringing sound was coming from this, it sounds like a cellphone.
*RING* *RING*
"This is..." Rei mumbled.
"What is it, Crimson?" Fang asked while looking at him with the Orb on his hand.
Suddenly, a voice came out from the Orb.
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
Rei and the others back away when they heard a voice from that Orb.
"It's talked!!" Fang claimed it quickly.
"I-iris?" Rei asked for confirmation.
"Oh! It's finally connected!" It was indeed Iris who talked to them through this orb.
"Woah...what is this thing? How is this possible?" Fang asked.
"Oh! This is a Communication device that I invented myself~" Iris replied, she sounds really proud of herself.
"Wait–you invented this?? How did that make any sense?" Rei asked, bewildered.
"Well yeah, it just pops out inside my head so I was thinking just how hard it is when people have to talk to each other from a far using a letter. I mean we do have a magic then I was thinking how about we created something that could let us talk from far away using magic." Iris explained.
"And you invented this?? With just that thought?" Rei asked one more time.
"Yepp, with the help of [The Witch] which is my master~" Iris answered.
Rei was making a disbelief face behind that helmet and at the same time confused.
'Seriously? is that enough reason to create something like this...? Isn't this basically like a revolutionary?' Rei wondered, knitting his brows in suspicion.
'First of all...What's a cell phone?' Ray asked about the thing he just thought a moment ago when he first heard the ringing.
'Ah, it's a device from my world that you can use to communicate from afar, just like this thing.' Rei explained.
'That thing? Really? that's one amazing device...but how come there's something like that in this world.'
'That's what I want to ask you, do they have this in the past?' Rei asked.
'Hmmm...I think they do, but I never seen it until now.' Ray replied.
'But I think it might took several years to finish this thing since we don't know how can we even talked to someone from far away.'
'I mean most Mages are crazy people and they sometimes invent crazy magic item that we can't comprehend, unlike smithing.' Ray explained.
'But I guess it's possible to finish this quickly since [The Witch] helped her.' Ray spoke.
'I guess that's true I mean she is one of the Legends and also suprisingly her mentor.' Rei replied.
'True.' Ray agreed.
'Then is she some sort of genius to be able to think something absurd like that? Is that even normal?' Rei asked again.
'I don't know...even I am suprised here, but maybe this is the irregularities that Ifrit mentioned.' Ray spoke.
Rei nodded. 'I think so too.'
'But anyway, just stay calm and act like you always do.' Ray reminded him.
'Yeah.' Rei replied, then went back to focus on her again.
"So what do you need, Iris?' Rei asked.
"Hmm? Oh right! I wanted to ask Fang-san about something.' Iris spoke.
"Yes? Do you need something, Iris-sama?" Fang replied while still being fascinated with this orb.
"Do you know any nearby village around here? I wanted to rest on something comfy because my whole body is stiff sleeping in the carriage." Iris asked as she explained it.
"Hmmm, a village you ask? Wait–hold on, I'm gonna check the map first." Fang spoke while reaching his bag. He took out a scroll map then show it to the others.
They observed the place where they were at right now.
"Hmmm...I think there is a nearby village around here...oh right! This one!" Fang pointed out at this one dot that was quite nearby from their current location.
"Loren Village!" Fang spoke the name.
When Rei looked at the dot, Ray who is inside his mind widened his eyes in surprise.
'That village...' Ray mumbled.
'Hmm?' Rei noticed him mumbling, 'Is there something wrong about that village?'
'Yeah...but I don't know...I heard some nasty rumor in the past.' Ray replied.
'What kind of rumor?' Rei asked while getting nervous.
And of course...Ray explained it, the rumor and everything to the point that shocked Rei because he didn't expect to hear it all so suddenly, 'What?!'
"What do you think?" Fang asked her through the orb as Rei went back to reality.
"Hmmm, I think it's great! Then off we go! I will inform the rest!" Iris spoke excitedly, of course she's happy because she could finally sleep on a bed after this long journey.
While everyone else is happy to have a proper rest, the only one who's anxious about this village...
.
.
.
.
was Rei.
To be continue...