What the woman's voice said made Joe freeze temporarily.
'Could it mean… that I should do sins to level up…?'
Of course he knew what the sins were, according to the earth's general knowledge. It was Greed, Wrath, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Pride, and Sloth.
And now he was facing one of them. Lust.
But the effect felt different than what he had experienced. It was stronger, trying to push him to the edge, with just the slightest temptations.
Without knowing what the man she just met was thinking, Carrie walked past him, and Joe could smell her soft, sweet fragrance. He felt his blood sprinting to his head, and his pulse quickening in a way that caught him off guard. This was something he hadn't experienced in his 25 years on earth, assuming this place wasn't earth.
"Come with me. Got a little cabin nearby. It ain't much, but you can rest and grab some food." She said while continuing to walk along the path that Joe wasn't aware existed. He glanced warily toward the dense forest, and to the girl, but figured he had little choice.
"Thanks," he said quietly, silently calming himself down, even though his cheek now flushed and felt hot. But it was a bit hard to do, as she walked ahead of him, making him see the sway of her full hip.
Carrie stopped abruptly, making Joe startled, hoping she didn't notice what he was looking at. She only glanced at him with a hint of curiosity.
"You're definitely not local. And you talk kinda weird," she said, and continued walking.
Joe gave a weak smile, and followed her, trying to focus his eyes on the ground. "Yeah, that's one way to put it."
After a short walk through the trees, a modest wooden cabin came into view, nestled between oaks and ivy-covered stones, smoke drifting lazily from its chimney. The cabin was simple but cozy on the inside. Embers crackled in the small hearth, filling the air with the savory aroma of herbs and stew.
Carrie setting out bowls on the table, and ladling generous portions of the steaming soup into them. "Eat up," she urged, sliding a bowl toward Joe. "You're gonna need the energy for whatever you're getting yourself into."
Joe lowered his head and took a sip, the taste was a bit unfamiliar for him. Yet, the warmth spread through him, soothing his aching body and dulling his gnawing hunger. And most importantly, diverting his attention from her lustrous figure.
Finally, she stopped moving and settled across from him. She smiled faintly at the young man who was eating with his head bowed, as she stirred her stew.
"So, you're new around here. Not many faces show up around these parts of the forest. What brings you?" she said casually.
Joe hesitated, then chose his words carefully, decided not to tell the truth, especially the weird voices on his head. It was his secret to carry alone.
"I have no clue where I am. I just woke up here and don't remember how I got here."
She raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced but not pressing further. "Fair enough. This place can be rough if you don't know what you're doing."
Joe nodded, his eyes focusing on the fire on the heath behind her. "I'm learning."
They talked for about an hour, with Joe carefully answering her questions and listening intently to her stories, trying to understand the world he was now a part of.
*******
After the world totally went dark, Carrie got up from her seat. She headed into the only chamber in the cabin, and a moment later, she reappeared in the doorway.
"You can sleep by the fire," she said, tossing him a blanket. He catched it, and instinctively turned his face away, not wanting to see her tight leather pants.
"Thanks for the help," he mumbled, offering a sincere smile, one he had honed from his undercover work on earth. Carrie didn't respond, instead closing the door behind her.
Alone, Joe settled by the hearth, sitting down on an animal skin that looked like a bear, but it had unusually thicker fur. He sighed, relieved to be free from Carrie's presence for a while, and from the unwanted desire that came with it.
The warmth of the fire and the softness of the fur, made him feel comfortable after all he had been through. The betrayal of his teammates, the weird woman voices inside his head, then the information about this world from Zeon memories, none of them makes sense to him anymore.
Magic existed here, fueled by mana that flowed through every aspect of nature and life. Here, people could tap into this mana to perform extraordinary feats of healing, protection, and combat.
This reality was fundamentally different from earth, where sorcery and magic coexisted, bringing fantastical concepts to life.
'What should I do…?'
His original body was probably destroyed by his teammates, at least what he thought they would do to eliminate the evidence. If he wanted to go back, it would not be possible.
And this Zeon bastard, left him nothing but his miserable life. If only he was still with his family, Joe would have lived a slacker life, with the wealth of the Duke.
'Damn…' he thought, '...but at least this idiot was able to use mana…'
If Zeon was able to use mana, then his way to learn about it, and how to use it, would be much easier. The bigger problem was the voice inside his head, the Sin System. Joe wasn't sure what it would do to him if he didn't do what it commanded him to do, he only wished that it would not give harsh penalties.
After all, he was a law enforcement officer with a background as a technology professor, one of the youngest in the nation, before he was transported to this world. There were morale encompasses which he believed of being a good officer, and those actually ended up his life.
The room door where Carrie was sleeping creaked open, making Joe turn his head instinctively towards it. And what he saw made his blood freeze, and paused his breathing.
That girl was standing at the doorway, with her back facing the light on her room, making her lustrous body see-through her thin night gown. Joe became panicked, and he jolted to sit, pretending to divert his gaze from her body. His mind, which had begun to calm down, became chaotic again.
But Carrie seemed not to care about what Joe was thinking. Instead, she whispered, "Did you hear that?"
Joe was taken aback, then tried to listen to his surroundings after hearing her question. The soft rustle of tree leaves against the leather, and the crunch of dead leaves.