I Tried to Prepare, But...

"They go and transmigrate someone after dumping spoilers like that, and this is the status window they give me...? Those bastards..."

I took a deep breath, cooling the anger boiling up inside me.

Fine. For now, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at least, it was a useful ability.

It's not like I have all the time in the world, but knowing when it happens is better than nothing.

There weren't many options available to me in this child's body to begin with.

Leave the village while monsters were swarming in?

That was basically suicide.

Staying under the adults' protection was the best play I had.

As for other methods...

Hmm... maybe I should try a few things.

It was tomorrow, after all.

Might as well test every approach I could pull off before the day was out, right?

"Alright, back to the village— eh, Elin?"

I turned to look at Elin so we could head back, and found her staring at me with trembling eyes, on the verge of bursting into tears.

"H-hic... d-don't be mad..."

...Ah.

She's eight, isn't she?

So basically, right after cracking my head open, I started ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cursing up a storm in front of the kid who was worried about me?

What came next was, in a way, inevitable.

"Elin? I-I wasn't mad at you... there was just this weird developer— no, this weird person, and..."

"Li-Lily said bad words..."

"No! I mean, it wasn't directed at you—"

I tried my hardest to explain.

But I had zero experience looking after kids, and I'd only just transmigrated— I wasn't exactly in my right mind yet.

In the end—

"H-hwaaaaaah—!"

Elin started bawling her eyes out.

...What was I supposed to do at that point?

Wipe her tears, stroke her back with what little knowledge I had— that was about the extent of it.

By ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the time Elin finally stopped crying, dusk was already settling over the land.

It had been broad daylight when I first opened my eyes...

After calming Elin down and returning to the village, I decided to start testing the methods I'd thought up, one by one.

"Nnngh... sleep over with meee—!"

"I have to go home too...! So let go already...!"

...I had intended to test them.

That is, if Elin hadn't grabbed my clothes as I tried to leave and plopped herself right down on the ground.

"Dad'll just tell your dad anyway!"

"I have stuff to do—!"

"Yesterday was at Lily's house, so today we sleep at mine!"

I wanted to shake off her arm and refuse outright— but a thought crossed my mind.

Acting too differently from the real Lily might not be a good idea.

Before I could even start worrying about butterfly effects, there was the fact that I was behaving like a completely different person in a world where magic existed.

I'd be lucky if I didn't get mistaken for a Witch.

...Well, I did technically enter Lily's body, so it's not entirely wrong.

With that thought settled, I held out my hand to Elin, still sitting on the ground.

"Alright, alright. Let's go to Elin's house."

"H-huh? Okay..."

Elin looked startled that the person who'd been fighting her tooth and nail had suddenly changed her mind— but she was still only eight. The moment she realized she'd gotten what she wanted, her face lit up with a bright smile.

"Let's go! Elin'll cook for you today!"

"How about we leave the cooking to Elin's dad?"

As we walked, I chatted a little with the villagers we passed, and picked up a few things.

"Hello."

"Hello..."

"Oh my, Elin and Lily. Did you two go to the forest again today?"

A kindly-looking woman approached, and Elin ducked behind me, gripping my hand even tighter.

"Hehe. Still scared of Auntie?"

"It's not that... I just... like it better this way..."

My brain short-circuited for a second.

The same Elin who'd been chattering and laughing so brightly was shy around other people?

That was a genuinely shocking revelation.

"Oh, right! Want to take these with you?"

"Huh? Apples...?"

"Tell your father thank you for us, always. We can rest easy thanks to him."

And another fact I learned: Lily's father and Elin's father were both guards of the village.

They didn't take any pay for it, so the villagers looked after them often...

"And this is for running the errand."

"Th-that's too much..."

"Kids need to eat a lot to grow big and strong. Got it?"

Whether it was because the villagers were simply generous, or because we were the two daughters of the village guards— or just because we were cute kids— every short stretch of road brought out adults who pressed food or toys into our hands before wandering off.

"I can't see in front of me..."

Thanks to that, a walk that should have taken less than ten minutes took us a full hour before we finally reached Elin's house.

"Dad—!"

"You're home? ...There's a box making my daughter's voice. Don't tell me the box turned into my daughter?!"

"Uuu! No it didn't!"

With that playful exchange, I got to meet Elin's father— the protagonist of the game.

"I'll take these over to Lily's dad, so Elin— no bullying Lily, alright?"

"I don't bully her!"

"Hahaha! Lily, I'm counting on you!"

Elin's father took the goods I'd been carrying and left the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠house with those parting words.

He was clearly used to this routine...

After that, we played whatever Elin wanted, shared dinner, and talked about all sorts of things.

Not that any of it was particularly useful conversation.

The most I managed to gather was that Lily's personality hadn't been all that different from mine, and that Elin had a habit of dragging Lily out on a regular basis.

I was dying to ask about the Black Wave, about the world itself...

"Lily! Let's read a storybook!"

"Huh? No, hang on, I just want to ask—"

"Hurryyy—!"

...But Elin kept latching onto me, and I ended up playing with her without managing to ask a single thing.

She's still a little kid, though— she'll go to bed early, right? I'll ask after she falls asleep.

Thinking that, I read through the storybooks Elin kept bringing me.

When I opened my eyes, the starry night outside had somehow become a morning sun pouring bright light through the window.

"...Eh?"

"Lily, you're up? Can you wake Elin for me?"

I had completely forgotten that my body was also eight years old.

.

.

.

After waking up and eating breakfast, I got straight to work.

The death flag appeared for today. That means the beasts attack tonight...

The first thing I tried was telling Elin's father.

I told him monsters would attack tonight and that we needed to get out— but:

"The Black Wave...? It's not the season for that yet, so we should be fine. Did you have a nightmare?"

As expected of an eight-year-old's warning— he took it as nothing more than a child's bad dream.

On top of that, last night's storybook had mentioned the Black Wave, and Elin, who'd overheard me, helpfully chimed in with, "Wow! Elin had the same dream!"

So going straight to the adults is a no-go.

If this was the reaction, Lily's father would probably respond the same way.

To be fair, if an eight-year-old suddenly told me, "Monsters are coming, we have to leave the village!" I wouldn't believe it either.

Is there... any other way?

Fleeing into the forest— unknown dangers, so pass.

Warning the adults— not enough evidence, so pass.

Building barricades outside the village... yeah, I couldn't even move the materials.

Trying to block the monsters' entry with an eight-year-old's strength wasn't going to accomplish anything either, so pass.

I even considered just barricading myself inside the house... but—

"Damn it... it won't go away."

"The monsters will just smash through, won't they."

Beasts charging in a frenzied swarm— a house would be nothing to them. They'd tear right through it.

...Hide inside, and I'd just end up as Lily jerky.

"Jerky or pancake, I refuse to die like that..."

My dream was to die of old age.

Failing that, I wanted one of those dramatic deaths from novels and hero epics— the kind that came with honor, romance, and love all wrapped up together.

And I still had so much I wanted to do. I wasn't ready to die yet.

"I don't know what kind of world this is, but there have to be things I can do here that I never could in the modern world."

I threw off the covers and stood up.

The adults wouldn't believe me, and there wasn't much an eight-year-old body could do— but preparation? That, at least, I could manage.

"Wonder if there's a bag around..."

I rummaged through the house and found a small bag.

Lily's father was out on patrol with Elin's father, so I could get ready without anyone noticing—

The door burst open.

"Lily! I came to play!"

"...They say speak of the tiger and it appears, but why does Elin just show up without even being mentioned."

"Hm?"

At this rate, I couldn't prepare at all...

Wait... she's just a little kid, so...

"Lily? What's wrong?"

"...Mm. Nothing. Hey, Elin— want to pack for a picnic?"

"A picnic? What's that?"

Ah. She didn't even know that much.

Didn't matter. Might even work in my favor.

"We go to the forest, eat food, and play."

"Isn't that just what we always do?"

...Excuse me. Why are you suddenly so sharp?

"It's totally different! On a picnic, you and I get to make the food ourselves and bring it along!"

"Wow! I want to go on a picnic!"

"Right? But if we're going on a picnic, we have to prepare first, okay?"

I was the one who was going to die.

So what if I prepared thoroughly enough that I wouldn't die?

"First, can you grab that knife over there?"

"Knife...? Oh! The fruit-peeling knife! Okay!"

I wasn't going to die some ridiculous death.

With that resolve, Elin and I started gathering things one by one and packing them into the bag.

"...So it begins."

The moon rising overhead was staining itself red.