"Have you ever heard about other worlds?"
He wanted to tell her, but he didn't know how to get to the point. Before his confession, he wanted to probe Neko and see what her level of knowledge was. If she knew nothing, he would first try to explain the concept of different worlds.
"Why do you ask such a question now?" Neko couldn't understand Yu's purpose.
"Just answer me."
"Heaven, Hell, Demon Realm, Underworld. Is that what you're talking about?"
"I'm surprised that Hell, the Demon Realm and the Underworld are separate, but that's not what I'm talking about."
The fact that there were concepts similar to parallel worlds and that Neko knew about them would make it easier to explain.
"If you are thinking of some ignorant plan to bring my mother's soul back from heaven and put it in a new body, I will not accept it. Contrary to what you ignorant life forms know, when people die their souls do not go to heaven, they are reborn in a different body, without memories, without pieces of the past. Even if you use magic beyond your imagination and find my mother's reborn soul, I will not accept it, I will not accept this faulty world, because I want my mother never to have died, I want her in the same soul, in the same body, with the same feelings, the same emotions, and the only way to do that is to put an end to this faulty world, to go back in time and change destiny."
"This thing is... heavy." Yu avoided topics related to religion. If he saw a discussion about religion, he stayed out, he didn't express an opinion because he knew that individuals could not easily reject what had been imposed on them from childhood. So arguing with them was a waste of time, like arguing with a wall.
Of course, at the same time, Yu's other reason for not engaging in debates was that he didn't want his ideas to be questioned.
For Yu, the more boring an idea about reality was, the more true it was. The idea of magic was fun and the absence of magic was boring, so magic was not real.
Lightsabers couldn't be real because they were fun. Everything in Star Wars was fun, a world without the Force, without hyperspace engines, without attractive female aliens was boring, so nothing in Star Wars was real and could not be real unless humans made it real in a virtual world.
He had similar views about the existence of a being called God. The idea of a god creating a paradise where the good could do whatever they wanted and have fun was fun. That's why Yu believed that this idea could not be true in a reality based on boredom. Yu thought that even if there was a god, he would have abandoned this boring reality by creating a fun world for himself.
Yu was sure that his logic was correct and based on his logic he knew that people disappeared after death. He didn't want to believe it, he wanted to believe that there was a fifty percent chance that the god who existed and worked for fun had left a chance for an afterlife before leaving the boring world, but knowing and believing were different things.
But the chance of an afterlife Yu wanted was not the way Neko described it. He wanted there to be a heaven and he wanted to go there and devote his eternity to having fun. What Neko told him bothered Yu and weighed heavily on his heart.
"Reincarnation, becoming a me that is not me, I don't want to accept that."
It was no different from dying and disappearing. It was the memories that made a person who they were, and when the memories were taken away, that person was a different person. Even if they had the same body, the same soul, the old one had died and a different one had taken its place.
"I didn't expect to hear something like that out of the blue. No, what I said has nothing to do with your mother."
He pushed Neko's words to the back of his mind, among the other thoughts that would occupy him during his sleepless nights.
"What? Then I'm not interested."
"You're so hard, Neko. Why don't you just listen? I believe that since we are partners, we should open up our past to each other." He cleared his throat before speaking again. "What would you think if I told you that there is another world like this one?"
Instead of giving an answer, Neko just looked at Yu's face.
"It's a different place that you can't go with walking, swimming or flying to. You can think of it as paradise, but it's not paradise, it's a completely different universe. If I told you I came from a place like this, would you believe me?"
"No."
"You refused too quickly!"
He was shaken by Neko's quick denial and could do nothing but give her a crooked smile, but he was determined to tell her even if she didn't believe him. This stage at the beginning of their journey was essential for building mutual trust.
Or make Neko think he was a liar and lose what little trust he had.
"I come from a different world, a different universe. I wasn't born here, I didn't grow up here. I was born and raised in a different universe where there is no magic, where only humans rule. I don't belong to this world."
After Yu's confession, they both sat for a while without saying a word, watching each other. He couldn't tell if Neko believed him or not.
"Last week I opened the door to my house and there was this city. When I got out and started to walk through the streets of the city, the road I was on collapsed and I met you. You remember your mother said I had no core, don't you? Because I come from a world without magic, that's my story."
He didn't give Neko the example of the soul, lest she think that her mother had given her Blessing completely in vain.
"Are you trying to trick me?" asked Neko. She stood up from the bed and fixed him with her stern gaze. "I will not release you from your duty by saying this man is crazy!"
He lowered the finger he was pointing at Yu. Yu could understand the reason for the harsh reaction, what he said was not something a person heard every day and would easily believe.
"I'm not crazy and I remember our mission. I just wanted you to know where I came from, that's all. I didn't expect you to believe me right away. For now, it's enough for me to tell you."
And after a while, Neko would realize that Yu was honest.
"I have a present for you."
After putting on his own clothes, he took out a wafer from her own world from inside her bag, one of the handles of which was broken.
The food in his hand was a delicacy unprecedented in the Second World. He carefully opened the package and handed Neko a chocolate-covered wafer with nuts inside.
"Eat with savor, it's a taste you only get once in this world."
Neko approached the wafer skeptically. After picking it up, she looked at it, sniffed it and finally hesitantly took a bite. As soon as she tasted the wafer, her eyes lit up and she devoured the whole thing.
Then he looked away, scratched his cheek and asked, "Is there anymore else?"
"Are you a glutton? You finished it so fast."
Needless to say, Neko's coy demeanor sweetened her, Yu replied with satisfaction.
"No, like I said, it's a flavor you can only taste once. There was only one of it."
"Why didn't you say so, stupid human! If I'd known, I wouldn't have eaten it all."
"I told you!" Yu smiled slightly again, the tenderness of a parent caring for a child settling in his eyes.
"I must have no one, I get attached a little too easily."
Seeing the look in his eyes, Neko blushed and headed for the door, trying to hide her face.
"Let's go down now."
He accepted Lucia Leafera's invitation not only because he wanted to learn something new about the world. He thought that if he got on well with Lucia, he could use her as an intermediary to make new contacts.
He could have gone alone, not taking Neko there, but he didn't want to leave Neko. Not because he was afraid of something happening to him, but because he was afraid of something happening to Neko.
"Before I forget, it's going to be crowded where we're going. Hold my hand so you don't get lost."
"No," Neko refused without thinking.
"If we lose each other in the crowd it will be a problem, you could be kidnapped as you are a valuable being. At least let me take you by the arm or you grab a piece of my clothing."
"I-it is true that I am a valuable being, so even an ignorant person like you can understand that. I'll hold your clothes so you don't get lost, like I'm holding a leash." Neko was at first embarrassed like a tsundere, then overcome like a narcissist.
"If you learn a little politeness, you'll make a nice tsundere loli, you just have to say onii-chan."
"Don't use words I don't understand, stupid human."
"So you claim to be a superior being, but your understanding is not developed, huh?" Yu thought he could corner Neko.
"Dogs can bark, does the fact that you can't understand their barking make you equal to dogs?"
"There seems to be some racism here."
When they reached the ground floor, they saw two female elves sitting at a table. One elf was the innkeeper Lucia Leafera, the other he did not recognize.
"On second thought, I should be cautious. Even if I am not of this world, I can recognize the value of a being with the name of a sword fairy, and I should not trust even Lucia with Neko."
"Here they are, Lucie. This young man here is Yu Valarfin, and this is his friend Neko." Lucia introduced Yu and Neko to the elf next to her. "This is my sister Lucie."
"Nice to meet you," Yu said, holding out his hand.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Valarfin," Lucie shook hands with Yu.
Lucie's face was a little different from her sister's, but they looked similar. She had blonde hair and green eyes, but Lucie was shorter than her sister and her breasts were a little smaller than hers.
"Your eyes... The color is beautiful. A very rare color." Lucie stared at Yu's purple eyes as if mesmerized.
He was used to receiving compliments, but this was the first time he had received one when he least expected it. After recovering from his surprise, he replied to an embarrassed Lucie.
"Not as beautiful as you."
He said it with a heartwarming smile, but he didn't mean it. He could see that Lucie was beautiful enough to steal a man's heart, even more than that, but Yu thought his own looks were much better than hers.
"Ah, ha... Thank you."
Lucie was happy and a sweet smile formed on her thin lips, unlike her sister's. It was the first time Yu had met such a shy girl.
"She must have come here reading romance books, it was like a romantic conversation in a clichéd story."
"Hmph..." Neko grunted to be noticed, then changed the subject. "Elven families with two children are rare."
"Yes, we are a rare family." Lucia puffed up her chest, proud of her family.
"Why?" Yu wondered. He could think of a few reasons, but when he asked, it was too late, Lucia answered immediately.
"Elves are not very keen on mating."
"Sister! What are you saying in front of people?"
Lucie's face flushed red with embarrassment and she shook. She looked at Yu and when their eyes met, this time she blushed up to her ears.
"Doesn't everyone know such simple things?" Lucia put a hand on her sister's shoulder. She was enjoying her sister's shyness.
"There's a child here!"
All three of them fixed their eyes on Neko at the same time, and she remained expressionless.
"How much do you know that you shouldn't know?" Yu spoke without a pause between words. A child shouldn't know such things.
"Anyway!" Lucie nodded and extended her hand with a smile to shake Neko's hand. "Nice to meet you too."
Neko did not reach out her hand, avoiding contact.
"She's a little shy, I'm sorry."
Lucie took Neko's rudeness with a smile. As an adult, she could take it in stride.
"You both look very good, the clothes fit you well." Lucia looked at Yu and Neko before leaving the inn.
"Well, I have an innate beauty. Everything I wear looks great on me." Yu felt good to be praised, he liked to hear such words. It made her forget her problems. "You're very good, too."
"Thank you." Lucia turned around and showed off her green dress, the same color as her sister's. When she turned around, her breasts jiggled and she met her sister Lucie's jealous gaze.
"Let's get out, Lucie~" Lucia took her sister's arm and they walked out, leaving the inn in the care of a working cat-eared man. Yu and Neko followed behind them.