I encountered a strange bird at the water’s edge.
As the sun began to set, I decided to make camp for the night. It was surprisingly chilly, a stark contrast to the daytime warmth. Karubene dramatically threw himself onto the ground, shouting.
“Ugh, I’m so tired! Brother, is the next town still far away? I’m going to die!”
“You won’t die from this, and besides, isn’t it your own fault for drinking so much sake?”
While everyone else was drinking water, she was surprisingly drinking sake. Just then, Veronica, who had been sleeping, approached with a tobacco in hand.
“Ah, Sister, you’re so lucky sleeping all day. I wish I could ride in the cart too.”
Ignoring Karubene, who was still sprawled on the ground, she extinguished her tobacco by rubbing it against a nearby rock. As she was about to flick it onto the ground, she seemed to remember something and placed it inside a bottle instead. It seemed she remembered what I had told her.
“Huh? Sister, isn’t that my sake? You were drinking it earlier, weren’t you?”
It turned out that the sake I had discarded earlier belonged to Karubene. Well, I had suspected as much, but it wasn’t a big deal.
While Karubene continued to whine, Veronica briefly turned her gaze towards me.
“I heard from him that you came from another dimension.”
It wasn’t entirely wrong, but knowing Karubene, I couldn’t be sure what he had said.
“What’s your world like? Is it the same there?”
“Yes, there are similarities, like with living beings and some things. But just because they’re similar doesn’t mean they’re all the same.”
Veronica simply replied, “I see,” to my words. Karubene, who had been making a fuss, was already asleep at my feet. The others were also starting to prepare for sleep.
“Oh, are you talking about your homeland? I love hearing about Hiro’s world, Philiana said.”
Philiana, who had overheard our conversation, sat down beside me.
“I’d love to see it someday. What kind of place is it?”
Until now, I had always thought of my own world as a dull and uninteresting place. But now, I found myself longing for that very boredom.
“No, it’s not as interesting as you might imagine. Don’t you all miss your homes?”
“That’s a good question. I do worry a little about my brother. And my mother, too.”
It seemed everyone felt the same way. Of course, they might regret coming along on this journey that had unfolded so unexpectedly.
“I’m sorry for dragging you all into this journey. If I had been a little more responsible, it might have been easier.”
“Oh, don’t say that. I was the one who started this journey. Besides, I’ve never felt this happy in my entire life. When I was back home, I used to hate myself. I always thought, ‘If only I were born a man.'”
I remembered Philiana saying when we first met that she hadn’t been born into this body wishing for it.
“But now, I think it’s for the best. Because if I were a man and had become a knight alongside my brother, I wouldn’t have been able to experience such joy.”
Before I could say that the same applied to me, she said, “Good night,” and left.
