"Hold on a moment, human… girl? I have no intention of fighting you in the first place. Earlier, I just wanted to scare you away because you were about to enter my domain. But, once you started running away at such tremendous speed, I got the, let's say, urge to chase you." While he said so, Lila noticed that the creature's tail was wagging like crazy.
"S-So you wanted to… play?!"
"As much as it hurts my pride to admit, this was indeed the case." The wolf hung his head in response.
"Come on!" Lila fell to her knees once the tension left her body. "Don't scare me like that!"
"I'm sorry." His tail stopped wagging as the wolf looked genuinely apologetic.
"Haa~ Hmm? Wait a moment-" Having escaped a life-or-death situation, she finally noticed the strangeness of the situation.
"What's the matter?" The wolf didn't get her reaction.
"…"
"…" The two continued to stare at each other in silence for a while.
"You can talk…?" Totally out of place, Lila voiced the one thing that was bugging her the most.
"Why shouldn't I?" The wolf tilted his head, not understanding what this weird girl was going on about.
"Ehh… So, monsters can talk in this world, huh?" She wasn't sure how to react to this revelation.
"Human, don't compare me to a mere monster."
"A-Are you some kind of Boss-Monster then? Like the final enemy of this area?"
"While not entirely true, it's not that far off, either."
"I really have rotten luck after all, haven't I? Even in this world!" This was the only explanation possible for her.
"You're quite the interesting one, human...?" The last part sounded more like a question.
"Same goes for you, big guy."
"By the way, what brings you here, girl? The next human settlement is multiple days away, even with your speed."
"W-What…?" Lila hoped she had misheard him.
"You didn't know? Where are you even from, then?"
"That idiot!" She had lost count of how many times she had complained towards the sky already. Afterward, noticing the wolf's confused expression in front of her, Lila briefly explained how she ended up here while making sure to insult the so-called overseer at every possible time. Keeping something this ridiculous a secret hadn't even entered her mind.
"Oho, I wasn't wrong. You certainly are an interesting one." He reaffirmed his earlier assessment, sounding even more convinced. "I never heard about someone entering this world from another."
"Wait, you actually believed me…?"
"Eh?! You lied?!" He seemed seriously shocked.
"No, it's the truth, but… one normally wouldn't believe such a story just like that, right?"
"Ah, indeed, it sounds unbelievable, but you do seem very ignorant of this world. Your aura feels different as well. Not to mention that it makes way more sense than being a human of this world."
"Hmm…? I-I see…" Lila didn't like being able to be labeled as an outsider so easily.
"Don't worry. Only individuals with high enough magical powers can sense something like that. Ordinary human beings are unable to do so." Having sensed her discomfort, the wolf gave her some peace of mind.
"Heh~, so you can use magic?" Feeling relieved, that bit of information spiked her interest.
"Of course, I can!" He sounded smug. "But, girl, you should be able to do so, as well. The magical power I sense from you, at the very least, rivals my own. I never saw anything even remotely close in any human before. You're quite the monster in that regard. Are you truly human? It makes absolutely no sense."
"That's the last thing I want to hear from a boss-class monster!" She had also realized she wasn't normal but hearing it from him made the feeling way worse.
"You should be proud, girl. Most cannot even dream of such powers—also, magic's fun. After all, you can do whatever you want with it."
"Magic, huh?" It was a foreign concept to Lila because it wasn't a real thing in her old world. "Interesting, I have to try it later!" She recovered quickly.
"That's the spirit! How about I teach you? I'm quite, uhm, free at the moment! It sounds interesting to train such a promising candidate in magic."
"Really? You will?" She was genuinely happy about the offer but then hesitated. "Wait, where's the catch?"
"There's none! As I said, I'm super bore- A-Ahem, I mean, I'm free right now, so I thought, why not."
"Ahh, I see…" Lila looked at him with sympathetic eyes after having found out his real motive.
"A-Anyway-" He got flustered. "Before that, what's your name, girl?"
"Oh, right… we kind of skipped over that, huh? My name is Lila. It's nice to meet you. Do monsters have names as well? Okay, boss-monsters or whatever you really are?"
"Lila, is it? Yes, it's nice to meet you. As for my name, people used to call me… uh, wait, what was it again…?" It seemed like it's been a while since someone called him by his name. "Hmm, I think it was something that started with… Fen-"
"A-Ah! Isn't that fine?! Fen, I mean? It sounds nice if you ask me." Alarm bells were ringing inside her head while she tried to stop him from remembering his full name. Lila had a good idea of what it was going to be, and she wanted to escape this reality. Forget Boss-Class, that guy in front of her was straight-up Mythical-Class, and that was too much for her to deal with.
"Fen, huh?" He said it out loud to get a feel for the name, and at the same time, his tail started wagging again. "How nostalgic… Yes, I like that name."
"G-Good…" Lila was glad that she, at least theoretically, was still able to deny who the wolf in front of her really is.
"Once again, it's nice to meet you, Lila."
"The pleasure's all mine, Fen."
And just like that, on the very first day in the new world, Lila made her first acquaintanceship. It was a somewhat crazy one she had never dreamed of, on top.