What spread before my eyes was a mundane world-a clear sky and a dense, sprawling grassland.
I couldn't help but feel a tinge of disappointment at the emptiness that stretched all the way to the horizon.
I had imagined something far more fantastical, with castles in the sky and strange creatures roaming about. But no, this was just an ordinary landscape. how unfortunate.
Still, Saraila-sama mentioned that monsters exist in this world. So, even in a peaceful place like this, there's a chance of encountering one.
I decided to take a closer look around. Then, in the distance. I noticed something black standing out starkly against the boundary between the sky and the grassland.
What is that?
The object was quite far away, making it hard to discern, but something about it filled me with a sense of dread. Could that be a monster in this world? But it wasn't moving at all. It just stood there, as if it were watching me.
My curiosity quickly outweighed my fear.
My feet began to carry me towards that black shape.
Pushing aside the knee-high grass as I walked, the identity of the object gradually became clear.
A hole?
The black shape that I had feared might be a monster was actually a large, imposing entrance-an opening in the ground.
Why is there a hole here?
It was clearly unnatural. The way it sat abruptly at the edge of the sky and grassland seemed to distort the very concept of space. There shouldn't be a hole floating in mid-air.
As I tried to peek behind the hole to understand it better,
"Ouch!"
I banged my head against a wall.
Looking more closely at where I'd hit, I realized it wasn't an open space stretching off into the distance, but a wall encrusted with glowing blue crystals. From a distance, it was easy to mistake that vivid blue for the color of the sky, but up close, it was unmistakably a solid, impenetrable barrier.
What had I been imagining?
I felt a bit embarrassed.
So, what I thought was the sky was actually a ceiling made of blue crystals. That meant I wasn't outside at all. But if that's the case, then where exactly am I?
I stepped back from the wall and looked again at the hole that had initially seemed so out of place.
Now, it didn't feel strange at all.
When I glanced behind me, I noticed another similar black hole.
These holes seemed to be the entrances and exits of this space.
At least they weren't monsters or anything weird.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I decided to enter the hole in front of me.
Inside the dark hole, a staircase descended.
It was like a cave-no, since this is another world, maybe I should call it a dungeon.
As I descended the stairs, light gradually illuminated the way ahead. It must be an exit.
When I reached the end of the stairs, I was left speechless.
An unimaginable sight stretched out before me, defying all logic.
I could tell I was inside somewhere, yet the scene was that of a natural environment. It was astonishing.
If this was indeed inside a cave, then the fact that an entire forest, indistinguishable from the outside world, spread out before me was beyond bizarre.
As I wandered aimlessly through the forest, a sound suddenly reached my ears. It wasn't the sweet song of a bird, but a deep, guttural roar, like that of an enraged grizzly bear.
My nerves instantly tensed, and I scanned the area, bracing myself.
The rustling of the trees mixed with my quiet breathing.
I heard a crack, as if a small branch had snapped, and a low growling sound filled the air.
It's... close.
"GRAAAAARRRR!!!"
From the forest directly ahead, a massive creature, easily four times my size, emerged, bearing a majestic horn on its forehead-a unicorn bear.
"KYAAAAA!!!"
I screamed and instinctively ran for my life. But then I remembered that turning your back on a bear is a sure way to get killed. I glanced back, but the bear was nowhere to be seen.
Huh?
I stopped and looked around, but the bear was gone.
The roar and the rustling trees from just moments ago had completely disappeared, leaving behind an eerie silence.
"Watch out!!"
A voice suddenly rang out from somewhere, and at the same time, a deafening crash and a wave of heat erupted from behind me.
What just happened? Huh!?
When I turned around, the massive unicorn bear I'd seen earlier was lying on the ground, engulfed in flames.
What's going on?
"Hey, are you okay?"
I had been so focused on the bear that I hadn't noticed the person standing behind it.
When I finally turned my gaze towards the voice, I was just as shocked by the sight of the woman standing before me as I had been by the bear.
She had dark skin and wore leather armor, and her long silver hair and beautiful blue eyes gave her the appearance of a model. But what caught my attention most were her long, pointed ears, far sharper than any human's.
Is this what people call a forest elf?
I'm not very familiar with fantasy, and I'd only heard a little about forest elves from a friend.
So, I wasn't sure if she really was one until I asked.
I called out to the woman who had saved me, her figure standing tall over the defeated bear.
"I-I'm fine! Thank you so much for saving me!"
"Good! Hold on, I'm coming over!"
With that, she performed an astonishing leap, easily clearing the huge bear's corpse and landing gracefully in front of me.
As I admired her flowing silver hair, she checked on me again.
"You're not hurt, are you? But...."
She scanned me up and down with a puzzled look on her face.
"You must have some serious guts to be unarmed in such a deep part of this dungeon. Even those confident in their magic would usually carry some sort of weapon as a backup in a place like this."
"Well... I'm not really sure what's going on but thank you. You truly saved my life back there. I don't know how to thank you enough.
"That doesn't really matter. More importantly, do you have any other companions? Or are you possibly solo?"
"Solo? Um... well..."
She widened her eyes in surprise at my response.
"Wait, are you not an adventurer?"
An adventurer? No, no, no! I'm just an office worker!
But I couldn't bring myself to say those words.
"An adventurer? No, I just arrived here recently, and I don't really know where I am or what kind of world this is."
"No way... Are you saying you were summoned by magic?"
She stared at me intently, her expression revealing her shock.
"Your clothes... I've never seen anything like them. And the fact that you're unarmed in such a deep area is proof enough. Just to ask, can you use magic?"
"I don't know. I only just got here, so I have no idea what I'm capable of."
She gazed at my face for a moment, her expression turning slightly grim as she muttered to herself.
"Could it be... that you're a hero candidate?"
Her words made me react slightly.
A hero. Before being transported to this world, Lady Saraila had taught me about this world's knowledge. A world with both heroes and demon lords. If I were a hero, wouldn't that mean I'd have to defeat the many demon lords in this world? But I feel so weak... Is that okay? Just a while ago, I couldn't even take down a bear, and I'm supposed to be a hero?
Maybe the chances of me being a hero are pretty slim.
Well, she only speculated that I might be a hero, so there's nothing definite about it.
"Um, if someone is summoned to this world, do they automatically become a hero?"
"Not everyone, but most of them do. Then again, summoning magic itself is rare, so the statistics aren't exactly reliable."
"Do you... dislike heroes?"
"What makes you think that?"
"When you mentioned I might be a hero candidate earlier, you looked really unhappy, so I thought maybe you didn't like heroes."
She let out a small sigh before continuing.
"You're right. I hate heroes. Because I'm on the other side. Since you've just arrived in this world, I guess you don't know about my race, do you?"
I nodded.
"I'm a Dark Elf, an immortal race aligned with the forces of darkness. I belong to the dark side, but you probably don't even know what the factions in this world are, so let me explain."
With that, she began to teach me the basic knowledge of this world.
"In this world, there are two factions: light and darkness. Simply put, the heroes are on the side of light, and the demon lords are on the side of darkness. So, I'm aligned with the demon lords. But don't worry; I won't attack you out of nowhere. Besides, I don't even know if you're a hero yet, so I can't act hastily."
If I were a hero or someone from the light faction, would I end up being her enemy? How could I possibly fight someone who just took down a unicorn bear, especially when I don't even know how to fight?
It's easy to imagine myself dying miserably without any means to defend myself. But that would go against Saraila's wish and my mission to survive in this new world. I can't afford to die before achieving anything, especially after being given a second chance in another world.
For now, I need to make sure I don't end up in an antagonistic relationship with her.
"So, how exactly are the light and dark sides divided?"
"Mostly by race. Each race is already aligned with either the light or dark side. For example, as a Dark Elf, I belong to the dark side. In this world, race is the basic indicator. However, occasionally, someone from a light-aligned race might fall to the dark side. I've never met one, but they say that a sign of that transformation appears somewhere on their body."
In that case, I'm human, but which side does that put me on?
"By the way, which side are humans on?"