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It’s the second day since I woke up.

I must have seen Alice’s life again in my dream; I woke up with tears streaming down my face. I hastily wiped them away with a rag and hid any trace before Sufi noticed it.

With that being said, sleeping did make me feel a little better. My mental state, too, had calmed down and adjusted, as if yesterday’s confusion had been a lie.

That said, “a little better” doesn’t mean I’m in good shape. I’m still sluggish and lightheaded, and only just barely able to move around if I grit my teeth and push through it.

The fact that this barely functional state doesn’t feel particularly strange just goes to show how “normal” this was for Alice. It’s only now, after remembering what it’s like to have a healthy body in a previous life, that I realize how off this is.

I feel miserable. It’s like I am plagued by a cold that never goes away. But there’s no time to complain, we’ve got too many problems that need solving.

Even if my memories and emotions flow seamlessly with Alice’s, that doesn’t mean my former self is insignificant.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to redo everything. I’ve finally been given the opportunity to go out and live freely. All the more reason to do something about this situation and fix my health. Otherwise, I’m headed straight into another shut-in life in this world, too.

…Just to be clear, it’s not like I hate being a shut-in. That lifestyle fit my personality perfectly. What Ido hate is being forced into it.

I want the freedom to go out whenever I want. Sure, having someone look after me is nice, but if it comes bundled with being locked up, it’s not worth the trade.

Well, more than that, right now the reality is I need to worry about my wellbeing.

Even before regaining my memories, I knew instinctively that this body won’t last long in poor conditions. It’ll probably hit its limit in a few years.

Among beastfolk, who are generally known for being tough and sturdy, Alice’s body is painfully fragile.

My health was better back when Grandpa was still able to move around. He could make medicine to ease the symptoms and prepare proper meals.

But these past few months, Grandpa had been bedridden almost all the time. I started making my own medicine, and Sufi had to take on all the housework on both of our accounts that she ended up carrying more and more of the burden.

She had to take care of two sick people at the same time. There’s no way a seven-year-old girl could manage something that huge properly.

And there’s no way the people circling like vultures for Grandpa’s inheritance would lift a finger to help.

Eventually, even the housework fell apart, and my health steadily declined along with it.

As things stand now, Sufi and I are probably in the worst condition imaginable.

Warm clothes, proper gear—everything was taken from us. We managed to escape somehow, but the price we paid for staying with Grandpa until the end was high.

We did manage to secure the most valuable items amongst Grandpa’s possessions, but they’re not something we can exchange for money, sentimentally and practically. Right now, they serve us no purpose.

Aside from that, the only other thing we took was a pendant said to hold clues about our biological parents. But Grandpa strictly warned us: “Never show this to anyone unless you truly, completely trust them.”

Just bringing me here without letting me die—that alone proves how incredible Sufi is. But from here on out, if I stay dead weight, we’re going to run out of options fast.

“Phew.”
“You’re up, Alice?”

As I stretched my body and exhaled, Sufi peeked in through the entrance of the ruined hut. …So that rustling I’d been hearing earlier was her doing something outside, huh?

In her left hand was the chipped knife that she used to remove branches and barks from the stick she held in her right hand, stripping it and shaping it up to be…

…A weapon?

“Sufi, what are you doing?”
“See, the knife won’t work if something attacks us, so—”

Her answer skipped a few steps, but I got the idea. Basically, since a knife isn’t good enough to fight with, she was trying to make a weapon with longer reach.

Because we basically had no friendly contact with anyone in the village except Grandpa, crude and unfinished sentences had become the norm between Sufi and I. It was almost like we were telepathic.

It’s not surprising, since we always understood each other anyway, but from now on, we’ll have to interact with people outside our little world, so we really should fix that habit.

“Sufi will protect you.”

Sufi looked down at her makeshift spear, her young face filled with resolve.

There exist beings known as monsters in this world, and they are enemies of humanity. According to books I’ve read, their origins and biology are completely unknown, as they are described as beings that solely exist to be hostile towards mankind.

Strangely enough, most of them resemble familiar living creatures, including humans themselves.

They are characterized by their dark coloration and their extreme hostility toward all non-monster lifeforms. They don’t require food, nor do they coexist with any other species.

They’re sometimes confused with magic beasts—creatures that use magic—but they’re clearly different. In fact, it’s questionable whether monsters are even living beings at all.

Dangerous wild animals are rare in this region, but a certain magic beast does reside nearby. Locals call it the Creeping Sludge. I’ll call it a slime for convenience, and that’s not an inaccurate translation.

It’s a creature whose interior is made of gelatinous fluid, encased in a rubbery membrane, with a colorful magic stone core at its center. Among magic beasts, it’s known for being gentle and timid. Its diet mainly consists of animal carcasses, rotting fruit, and feces it finds in the forest.

Due to its bizarre, non-animal appearance, it was once classified as a monster. But recent studies have reclassified it as a magic beast. In the ecosystem, it occupies a decomposer role—akin to earthworms or flies.

Although they do show hostility and wariness toward humans who approach, they’re so cowardly that waving a stick is usually enough to scare them off.

That said, they’re not exactly weak. It’s not uncommon for children in the village to get injured after pestering a fleeing slime. Better safe than sorry.

“There’s just a little more to go before we reach the city. Do you think you can move, Alice?”
“……Nn.”

Now that I was awake, Sufi must’ve decided it was okay to finish her preparations indoors. She came back inside the ruined hut and asked me that.

If I focused, I could faintly hear the sounds of people from far away.

The big ears weren’t just for show; this body had ridiculously good hearing. If the weather was calm and there were no obstacles, I could probably pick up sounds from several kilometers away just by concentrating.

Maybe it’s because we’re in the forest, but the sound of leaves rustling mixes with everything else, and I can only just barely hear what seems like human voices in the distance. But… somehow, I feel like I recognize one of those voices.

It feels like heading straight for the gate might not be the best idea.

“We probably shouldn’t go in through the main gate.”
“?”

Sufi tilted her head, twitching her ears. I could tell she was ready to listen, so I began speaking slowly, sorting out what I needed to say in my head.

“We… don’t have any money, so we can’t pay the entrance fee. We also don’t have anything that can serve as ID—it was all taken from us. Cough… I doubt they’d go that far, but if we’ve been listed as missing persons, we might get taken back to the village… maybe… huff… haah… The way beastfolk are treated around here… cough, doesn’t seem very good… cough cough…”

Even though I was speaking slowly, I ran out of breath from exhaustion and slumped over weakly. Sufi gently rubbed my back.

“Haah… haah…”
“It’s okay, take your time.”

After a few deep breaths, I paused to rest. My body was weaker than expected. I was still operating under the sense of being a fairly healthy person from my previous life.

If I keep thinking of myself as a healthy teenage boy, I might eventually make a fatal mistake. I need to adapt.

“Going through the front gate directly is cough… difficult. Hitching a ride in with someone else also carries risk.”

In this country, beastfolk are treated as second-class citizens. If we fall in with the wrong kind of person, they could easily try to sell us off to make a quick profit. Even though we’re dirty and covered in mud, anyone who knows what to look for could tell that we’d grow into beautiful girls.

…At least, Sufi would.

“Mggh… Then what do we do…?”

Sufi furrowed her brow and let out a low groan. It had always been this way—ever since we were little, I’d be the one doing the thinking while Sufi listened. I was the brain, and she was the brawn.

That said, Sufi was actually smarter and more intuitive than me. She just had a tendency to act on instinct rather than logic, so I naturally ended up taking on the role of interpreting things with reason.

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