My Name Is Riol
It was a meadow.
A vast expanse of blue grass swaying in the wind, blades rustling noisily against one another. The sunlight pouring down was warm, and at the same time the breeze drifting in was cool. That temperature wrapping around my body in an instant was comfortable enough to call it heaven.
Not that I was happy.
"What the hell? Where am I?"
Tiny flowers of every color blooming here and there, grass blades tickling my skin. Lying there alone in a daze amid it all, the sense of wrongness hit me all at once. When I sat up, a landscape straight out of a movie unfolded before my eyes.
"...What is this."
I'd only just gone slack-jawed at scenery I'd never once seen in my life when another wrongness registered.
"Wh-what the... What's wrong with my body...? Were my clothes always this small?"
This wasn't my body. If anything, I looked... younger, somehow? I was wearing the same clothes I'd had on, but the size was unmistakably different.
While my brain sat frozen, unable to process the sudden reality, something creepy seemed to slip past at the edge of my vision.
"...?"
No—wait. It was swaying. Gently, side to side.
What is this thing?
A... tail?
I snatched at it and gave it a light squeeze, and a ticklish feeling bloomed in my hips as the thing curled in on itself. The tip was shaped like an upside-down heart, and every time I ran my fingers over it, I could feel a shiver race down my spine.
"Ah, shit... you have got to be fucking kidding me..."
Twisting my head back for a peek down at my own rear, I discovered the unidentified monstrosity sprouting right out of my tailbone. Then my scalp suddenly itched, and when I reached up to touch it, this time my hand closed around something small and hard.
"...Fuck. No way."
I wanted to deny it, but I knew instinctively. Horns had grown from my head, and a tail from my tailbone.
A demon?
Had I turned into something like that?
My head was spinning; I couldn't seem to judge the situation at all. But as I spent a long while thinking, the panic in my skull gradually began to settle, thankfully. When was the last time I'd run my brain at full capacity like this? ...Not that I dug up anything useful.
No—actually, I did come away with something.
"Those pale blobs way off in the distance... No matter how I look at it, that's a village, right?"
After walking a while, something faint had come into view at the far edge of the horizon—something that looked like it could be a village. Maybe my eyesight had improved along with everything else, because when I focused hard, the shapes sharpened into human figures, and I could be about half-certain it really was a village.
The problem was whether I could show up there looking like this. I had no idea what kind of village it was.
If it was a place where people like me could walk around freely, fine. But if this turned out to be one of those medieval, church-run worlds...
The moment I got caught, my limbs would be nailed to a tree and set ablaze.
"I wish I could hide this tail... and these horns..."
Shaaa—
"Huh?"
The moment the words left my mouth, my tail and horns vanished. I groped around where they'd been, but there was nothing left to feel. Only, the sensation that the horns and tail were still there, exactly in place, never went away.
Pretty convenient ability, that.
"...Well then. Shall I go take a look?"
Praying I'd landed in a sane world, I set my steps toward the village.
The place I arrived at was an ordinary village. The kind you'd see in any manga or anime themed around medieval fantasy.
The market was packed with people, and the shops were selling all sorts of things. And other races like me...
"Oh, there they are?"
I spotted a dwarf and an elf walking together in a group. Beside them were beastfolk covered in fur from head to toe. It was honestly fascinating, watching all these races that didn't exist in reality mingle with humans like it was the most natural thing in the world.
So I can release the Polymorph after all, I thought—and just as I was about to let the horns and tail grow back—
"THERE'S A DEMON—!!!"
I froze.
Someone in the crowd had screamed. Soon enough, every gaze in the square converged on a single spot, and my eyes followed. There stood an ordinary human.
Except for the massive horns jutting from both sides of his head, the demon tail, and the prominent fangs.
So. That guy was my kinsman in this world, huh?
Uh...
Clank—
The armored guards on patrol descended on the demon at once. Then, with savage, brutal methods—arrest or torture, who could even tell—they crushed him to the ground and swiftly bound his whole body.
And what came after...
"Kill him—! Kill him!!"
"Kill that wicked demon bastard already!!"
"Fucking vermin!"
Every citizen there, regardless of race, was radiating raw hostility at the demon. From rock-throwing to whipping to kicks, he was beaten so thoroughly it was almost painful to watch.
From that one short scene alone, I got a vivid, secondhand lesson in what would happen if it ever came out that I was a demon.
...Shit. Glad that wasn't me.
Yeah. The Polymorph stays on. Absolutely, permanently on. Thankfully it wasn't some difficult thing I had to consciously maintain—all I had to do was not let my guard down. I didn't feel like burning to death.
Before long, I tore my gaze away and moved my feet elsewhere.
The curious thing was...
The letters on the shop signs, the writing on the notice boards—I could read every word without any trouble. It was definitely a language I'd never seen before. And yet... it felt like I'd known this script all my life, the way you'd read Hangul. Was this what they called synchronization?
That one there was a "General Store." And over there, a "Blacksmith," the "Elling Tavern"... there was even a "Broker's Office."
Gawking around all excited like a tourist, I seemed to be drawing a few stares. Of course, that was probably mostly because of these strange clothes I had on. The fit was a little off, too.
I needed a place to sleep, and I'd have to walk into somewhere—anywhere—but...
I have no money.
In any society where people gather and live together, "money" has to exist. Without it, you can't use anything. An obvious truth. And right now I was in a pretty desperate situation, without a single coin to my name.
Grrrooowl—
"..."
My stomach, sending signals with zero sense of timing. I needed to eat something, but what was I supposed to do about it?
That was when one signboard caught my eye.
Adventurer's Guild.
As expected—this really was a fantasy world. Exactly! What kind of medieval fantasy doesn't have adventurers? Well then, I might as well check the place out.
"Welcome~!"
The receptionist at the front desk greeted me in a bright, cheerful voice. She was a young woman with a fresh, radiant smile—genuinely beautiful. I instinctively picked up on the fact that the vast majority of the male adventurers inside the building were keeping a very close eye on her.
Yeah... she really was that beautiful.
A sudden jolt ran through my body.
"...?"
Setting aside the strange change that had just come over me, I walked up to the receptionist and spoke.
"Oh my, little one. What brings you here?"
"I want to become an adventurer."
...
Silence.
Starting with the receptionist, every mouth in the place clamped shut. The gazes quietly looking down at me were filled with all sorts of emotions.
"Puh-hah... That's quite the outfit. You came from somewhere far away, I take it?"
"Ah... yes."
At that, a huge, burly male adventurer nearby strolled over and butted in. That build... even my old body would've been swatted aside with one hand. He was imposing.
"Squirt. Looks like you picked up some weird fairy tales somewhere. Being an adventurer isn't the romantic romp you're imagining. Skip the nonsense and go home."
"No. I'm serious..."
"Listen to your elders. Go on home now."
"I don't have one."
Silence fell again at those words. This one lasted longer than the last. Somehow the man turned his head away as if he'd put his foot in it, and the receptionist glared daggers at him.
"Really? Then, kiddo—how did you end up all the way out here?"
"Uh..."
I had zero confidence I could explain my situation properly. One wrong word and I'd be under suspicion. Maybe I should just... play amnesiac.
"I... don't know."
"Oh dear..."
Hearing that, the receptionist put on a pitying look, as if she'd pieced something together on her own. Then she rolled up my sleeve, gave my arm a gentle stroke, looked me straight in the eye, and said,
"Then why don't you stay at your big sister's place tonight? Adventuring is dangerous work, like that man said. Big sis will feed you and tuck you in tonight, so let's take our time thinking things through. How's that sound?"
"Dalia. If that's the case, he could stay at my place..."
"It's fine. More importantly... no. Yes, it's fine. Anyway—kiddo. You're okay with that, right?"
So the receptionist's name was "Dalia." Through no planning of my own, I seemed to have solved my lodging and meals for a day.
"Yes. Thank you."
"Hehe... It's like I've gained a little brother. What's your name, by the way?"
"...Uh."
Ah, shit. Didn't think that one through.
A name? I could use the one I had back in Korea, but if it stood out too much, it might invite needless suspicion. Still, I'd need a Western-style name.
"It's... Riol."
Ah. Shit.
My mind went blank trying to come up with something on the spot, and I unconsciously named myself after the character from the game I'd played the most before dying. You know... that one. The fighting-type furry that goes around firing Aura Spheres once it evolves.
"Riol? What a pretty name! I'm Dalia. Just call me big sis."
"Okay, big sis."
Hmm. I was hamming up the kid act a little too hard. Sure, my frame had shrunk a bit and my height seemed to have dropped to somewhere around 170 centimeters... but I was still taller than Dalia.
Come to think of it, I still hadn't checked whether my face had changed too. I just hoped I wasn't too hideous.
"My shift's almost over anyway, so wait for me in the staff break room over there, okay?"
Still—thank goodness. I felt like I'd somehow caught my breath. Staying with Dalia would buy me time to get a handle on this world, even just a little, and adapt to it. Honestly, I'd been worried sick, but running into someone this kind right out of the gate—if that isn't luck, what is?
"Aaahh... Ahhaahh...♥"
"Ngh, Dalia...!"
"Ah♥ This feels, so good...♥ Mmmn—♥"
But how on earth did it come to this?