Haruto slowly woke up to see he was being hung up on a wall. He tried struggling but couldn't break it loose so he gave up after a short period of time.
'The hell is going on?! Where am I?!' "Hey! Is anyone there?!"
A person came walking from behind one of the walls although there was something different. This man had pointed ears and held a wooden bow.
"Are you an elf?"
"What about it?"
"No no it's just…I thought elves were fantasy…"
"That's what all humans think, of course that's to be expected since we're all stuck here and not allowed to leave."
"Why not?"
"I don't know, no one knows. Only the rulers know why, like they'd tell someone like me."
"So this place is ruled under a Monarchy?"
"Yeah isn't everywhere a Monarchy? I doubt anything else would work better."
"…Huh…" 'I guess they haven't seen the outside world in awhile…' "So how long am I going to be here?"
"Don't know and don't care. Taking up my time that's all I know."
"Okay then…Could you at least uncuff me? It's kind of uncomfortable having my arms like this."
"Sorry no can do."
"Why not?"
"You could be dangerous for all we know."
"Wait a second! How long have I been here?"
"I think you've been unconscious for a day, went down pretty hard so must have his your head pretty good."
"I have to get back! They're probably all worried about me!"
"Woah, hold your horses. We're not allowed to leave so why would you be allowed to?"
"Because I don't belong here maybe?!"
The man turned his head to face somewhere Haruto couldn't see. The man pulled out a key and showed to Haruto.
"Listen, we're just taking you somewhere else, don't try to run. Cooperate and everything will be fine. Maybe you'll even get to leave."
The man took Haruto off the wall but left the handcuffs on and guided him out of the place he was being locked up in. They stepped outside and Haruto's eyes widened. He was in a place he'd never seen before, it was the place he saw from the tree and it looked even better up close. It wasn't industrial, it was more nature like and it was hard to explain just what he was actually seeing. Then he noticed who was actually populating it. There were species he had only seen in fantasy stories, Mermaids, Dragons, Arachne, Centaurs, Cyclopses, Dryads, Fairies, Ghosts, Harpies, Imps, Goblins, Lamias, Lizardmen, Slimes and so much more. He was puzzled at just where he was but it was soon out of his sight when he was brought into another building. He has tied to a chair and in front of him were people who seemed like they'd be powerful.
"Umm…Hello?"
A woman who appeared to be an elf began to speak.
"Why have you come here?"
"R-Research…For my college."
"Ha! College? Don't make up such fake words!"
"Haha, what do you think college is?"
"Um…I don't know because it doesn't exist and I doubt your intelligence is anywhere above 10. So you can't fool me in any way."
"…Huh? Did you mean my IQ?"
"IQ? What is that?"
While asking that her demeanor changed entirely and now she just seemed like a confused high school student who didn't understand a question.
"It stands for intelligent quotient. It pretty much just a ranking system for how much of a reasoning ability you have."
"Then I doubt your above 5."
"I don't even think that's possible for a normal person…"
"Then your not a normal person."
"Thanks for that."
"Anyway, you're not allowed to be here. We will ask you to leave politely but if you refuse expect there to be consequences."
"Why do I have to leave?"
"Hm? Well humans shouldn't be here, that's the reason."
"…So I'm the only human?"
"Yes, is there a problem with that?"
"Can I maybe stay for a little while?"
"Huh?! Why would we let you do that! I literally just asked you to leave!"
"I don't know how to leave so…"
"That's true, I'm surprised you could even get in here. You should have been looping until you decided to go back."
"…Could that be something to do with memory perhaps?"
"Yes? Why would that matter?"
"Ah so that's how I got here…You see I actually have a pretty terrible memory, so I guess that system didn't work on me."
"…Well that makes things a lot harder…"
"And why is that?"
"Do you remember the route you took to get here?"
"Nope, not at all."
"…W-Well then…"
"Well, what?"
"Y-You see we don't actually know how to leave so we were hoping you'd just go the way you came."
"Huh?! You mean I'm stuck here?!"
"I suppose so…This makes things a little harder…"
"Do you think there's any way I could get back?!"
"I mean no ones entered or left this forest in years, no one knows how to get out."
"You've got to be kidding me…"
The two of them sat awkwardly as they no longer knew what to do.
"I-I guess you can stay until we find a way to get you out of here…I can give you a room in the palace…But that's only temporary!"
"No no! Thank you for your generosity…Well I guess I got my wish in a way, still want to eventually go back…"
"I guess we should introduce ourselves. I'm Elaire, Queen of the elves. Everyone gathered here each rule their species accordingly. I would suggest you don't anger them, you shouldn't even be able to stay long enough to do that."
"Okay I'll make sure to not do that…So could I be untied? Oh and my name is Haruto Nakahara."
"Oh, yeah, yes! Of course!"
Elf guards untied him and Elaire came down to him.
"I'll lead you to the palace, there my servants will assign you a room."
"Should I be worried or anything?"
"About what?"
"Well aren't I the only human here? And I've heard rumors about the monsters here being bloodthirsty killers…"
"Oh there's no need to worry about anything like that! We've been in a civilized age for quite some time."
"Do you have electricity?"
"Hm? What's that?"
"Ah so you're that far behind the rest of the world…"
"What do you mean by that? Are we really that old?!"
"I would consider this to be medieval times…Which was almost 500 years ago…"
"Well that's quite depressing to hear…"
She seemed to actually be bothered by the fact of how far behind they were in terms with the rest of the world. Looking around the city again it was easy to tell that they don't have much current knowledge. Everything was practically natural, not exactly electrical in any way.
"I-If you'd like to, would you like to get us caught up on things?"
"Hm? Oh! Oh yeah, sure! But first I need my bag…Where is my bag?"
"Oh it's probably in the cells."
They changed their destination to the cells to retrieve his bag he noticed how many of the residents were looking at them. He felt a little uncomfortable with the feeling of eyes being everywhere so he wanted it to be over fast. After the short walk he was able to retrieve his bag and once again headed for the palace. They were put into a carriage and brought over to the palace. The carriage was being pulled by centaurs which was definitely a strange sight to behold.
After a longer ride they stopped at the destination. Haruto stepped out and looked at the giant palace in front of him. It still held the natural feeling of the whole area but nothing was in the size of this building.
"So this is where my current life starts…Wonder how long it will last for…"
They walked up to the palace as Haruto began to take notes on everything around him excited about the future.