Where Am I?
Where Am I?
The world right now is divided into two.
One is the nation of warriors, 'Velos'.
The other is the land of mages, 'Eclipse'.
If I were to mention the small vassal states, there would be no end to it, but it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Velos and Eclipse are the standards of the continent, as they boasted their own respective fame.
Perhaps that's why.
The two became locked in a relationship where friction was unavoidable.
Since there is only one other power similar to them under the sky, it has become a destiny where, perhaps, justification doesn't even matter.
As time flowed and we have now reached the modern era, the fact that the relationship between Velos and Eclipse is an 'ill-fated relationship' has become common knowledge on the continent.
Knock, knock-.
"...Come in."
Bow-.
"Commander-nim, it is time for the unit inspection."
"......."
"...Were you looking at old records again?"
The Vice-Commander's gaze turned toward my desk. Usually, I would have replied with a nod, but seeing how tired he looked today, I opened my mouth.
"Well, yeah."
As I opened my mouth, I heard his small but deep sigh. This might be due to the fatigue of war, but it's probably more because of me.
It makes sense, considering that in a sensitive time like this due to the war, the guy who is the Commander was just staring at books; it must have been frustrating.
Literally, even knowing that, I was neglecting not just participation in the war, but even command.
If asked if I had given up on the war, that wasn't it.
In the first place, there are other commanders, and to be precise, I wasn't actively stepping up, but I was doing the bare minimum required.
"I'll go soon, so head back."
"...Yes."
However, my actions weren't exactly justified, just like the look on that guy's face right now.
Regardless, I am a person of Eclipse, and since I am a commander operating a unit representing countless people, it was true that my behavior was unsatisfactory.
Thud-.
"...Is he gone?"
Yeah, I know.
I know, but.
"Whew, scary guy. His expression is so fierce every time I see him."
What do you want me to do when I'm truly sick of it now?
I stretched to loosen up the body that had been hunched over from tension.
"Huuuugh, I'm dying."
While doing so, I looked outside through the only window in the stuffy office. Then, the past two years naturally came to mind.
The past two years. Because of my small and delicate appearance for a man, I grew up introverted, and because of that personality, I always holed myself up in my room and only studied magic.
"Thanks to that, my magic power shot up, but...."
Before I knew it, I had become a commander leading a unit, and on top of that, I ended up standing at the center of the war.
"I wasn't even interested in the first place."
Anyway, for these reasons, I was spending every day living a life that felt like torture, and these days, I was so fed up that I was neglecting my duties—that was the summary of my life.
"If I've collected this much, should I bring it up at the meeting?"
In the midst of that, I habitually opened the drawer.
The drawer contained dozens of crumpled and stained letters.
To be precise, they were letters presumed to have been sent secretly from Velos.
At first, I tried to discard them, but before I knew it, I had also started keeping them secretly.
The reason was simple. It was because the senders were children from Velos, whom it was awkward to call an enemy nation.
Especially since most of the content was just about wanting to live or wanting to see their families. That's why I didn't bother throwing them away.
"So, if I show them this and say, 'The residents on both sides want an end to the war, so let's stop this meaningless war'... would that work?"
Though, saying I didn't throw them away just because of that is a bit of a stretch; I have been using them as an escape from my weariness.
Still, my desire to end the war was sincere.
As I said before, I wasn't interested in the first place, and since war only leaves deep scars on both sides, I was truly sincere.
Besides, because of the war, my family also....
Squeeze-.
"Am I tired? Suddenly thinking about the past."
I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head.
Then, after taking a deep breath, I gathered the letters and stood up from my seat.
The inspection time the Vice-Commander mentioned earlier was approaching, and this time, I intended to bring up the talk of ending the war, which I had been putting off and putting off.
Trudge, trudge-.
Stop-.
"...But, will those stubborn people even bother to look at this?"
Then, suddenly, my footsteps stopped in the hallway connecting the office to the outside.
"I suppose I'll also need things that can serve as a practical justification."
My stopped footsteps moved again, but the noise that would arise from bringing up the topic had already started to ring in my ears.
"Ugh, I don't know. It'll work out somehow. They say big things usually start from small things."
Was it because I really thought it would work out somehow?
Arriving at the unit's barracks, I was met with an atmosphere that contradicted my vague expectations.
"...Where did everyone go?"
Literally, when I entered the barracks, a different atmosphere than usual greeted me.
There wasn't a single unit member, who should have numbered in the hundreds in this area alone, and only a desolate sight remained.
"It's definitely the right time for the inspection."
Furthermore, no matter how much I searched everywhere, not even a single bug was visible.
If only a few were missing, it wouldn't be strange, but since that many people were gone all at once, I even started to feel a sense of eeriness.
Hummm-.
It was then. I felt a flow of magic power from the grass around the barracks.
As soon as I sensed the flow, I parted the bushes without hesitation.
"A portal...?"
Then, unexpectedly, I could easily identify what it was. The identity of the magic power was a portal created by an unknown person.
"...I can't even tell where it leads to?"
The problem is that it's a mysterious magic power to the point that even I can't tell where it's headed.
To add, regardless of the level of the technique, it was a magic power with a suspicious identity.
"But still...."
In other words, it means there's a high possibility that the fact that all the unit members disappeared is also related to this portal.
In particular, the fact that I couldn't feel the Vice-Commander's magic flow added weight to that hypothesis.
"......."
Therefore, I placed my slightly trembling hand in front of the portal.
If it were my usual personality, notifying others would have come first, but I just reached out my hand abruptly.
Huummmm-.
"Ugh, wh-what is this!"
As I reached out, the massive magic power condensed in the portal burst out as if exploding.
To be precise, a massive light enveloped the surroundings and transported me somewhere.
At the moment my body was being transported, I couldn't do anything.
Just leaving my body to the flow of magic power.
As my eyes closed, the surroundings became silent as if the world had stopped.
*
...Caw caw-.
"......."
Did I arrive already?
No, to say 'already', my head hurts.
The fact that my head hurts means I was in the portal for too long, did I travel such a long distance?
I'm not sure about that, but my head was throbbing, perhaps because I had lost consciousness.
"Ugh...."
I grabbed my dizzy head and sat up.
"Ugh, ptooey, ptooey, wh-what is this...!"
When I sat up, I felt something like sand in my mouth.
Looking at what I spat out, it wasn't something like sand, but actual sand. And it was soft, light brown sand that you'd find on some beach.
"Did I fall face-first when I arrived? It all got into my mouth."
Anyway, the fact that there's sand like this means the portal location is some coastal area.
"...Huh."
It definitely should be.
"Wh-what, where am I?"
When I looked around, my eyes widened.
It makes sense, because even if it's a portal, the distance it can travel is limited, and that means there's nowhere in that vicinity that I don't know.
However, as you can see now, these landscapes were a series of sights that went beyond my experience, let alone common sense.
Except for the vast coast spread out before my eyes and the sand under my feet, everything was like that.
Right away, the trees around me were like that, the bugs crawling on those trees were like that, and the bushes nearby were also a feast of types I'd never seen before.
It was literally because I had been dropped all alone in a place I had never set foot in my entire life.
"No way..., to think there's a tree that looks like this. The fruit looks really fascinating, too? I really want to collect some and study it."
Perhaps that's why curiosity came first at first.
Since everything, starting from the appearance, was different from what I usually saw.
However, that was only for a moment; after the curiosity passed, a sense of foreboding began to well up.
"...So where is this place."
To be precise, before the strange scenery, it was the fact that my magic power wouldn't activate that made me feel ominous.
"......."
To think that I, of all people, am stomping my feet because I can't even cast a single 'Return' spell.
If the unit members heard this, they wouldn't even believe it, calling it a lie, but it was true.
Really, let alone 'Return', not even simple magic power appeared, and all the techniques I had accumulated had become useless.
From this point on, that foreboding welled up to the point of overflowing and enveloped my body, and only then did I start to investigate the surroundings.
30 minutes later.
"Okay, assessment complete."
Thump-.
"...It's super hot."
All I found out was that this place was extremely hot.
How is it that after looking around for 30 minutes, this is all I found out?
"B-but it's so hot that I can't even move properly...."
If I used ice magic at a time like this, it would be over.
The reality is that I'm collapsed with my face buried in the hot sandy floor.
Surely I'm not going to die like this, right?
"Pfft, no way."
Even if magic doesn't work for a moment, there's no way I, the continent's only-class Archmage, would die on a sandy floor like this, right?
My magic power must just be exhausted from being in the portal for too long. It's not like I had good stamina.
"Yeah, so...."
Flinch-.
While comforting myself like that, I began to feel a serious sense of incongruity within that comfort.
"Uh, eh...?"
Looking back, it was a sense of incongruity that made me wonder why I hadn't noticed it right away.
As soon as I felt it, I started touching my body, starting from my face, with my hands.
"Th-this makes no sense...."
Why is my face so soft?
Why is my hair so long?
"A-and why is my voice...."
The result of touching my body directly due to the strangeness was shocking.
I don't know how this happened, but my skin had become incomparably softer than before, my hair had grown long, and my voice had become clear and elegant, just like a girl's.
"Besides...."
Squish-.
Among them, the most noticeable change was the incredibly large breasts I was seeing for the first time in my life.
"W-what on earth is going on...."
...Rustle-.
"Eek!?"
But, as the old saying goes that bad things happen in succession, a sound that sent a chill down my spine was heard for a moment.
"Wh-what is it again...?"
Gulp-.
"Is, is someone there...?"
"......."
As a result of carefully extending my foot in response to the lack of an answer.
-Kyaa!
Flinch-!
Suddenly, a woman's scream was heard, and the fact that I peed a little because of it was a secret for the rest of my life.