Ian stood in the middle of the huge stone house.
Staring at the Female Titan sitting on the bed playing games in front of him—she was a three-meter-tall Female Titan, and in a race with an average height of several hundred meters, this was absolutely more loli than a loli.
Of course.
To put it nicely, she was a loli; to put it harshly, she was an extremely underdeveloped Dwarf—fortunately, the proportions of the Female Titan's body didn't look as weirdly off as those Dwarfs.
She had the proper nine-heads-tall proportions a normal woman should have.
"Pa pa pa pa~"
That was the sound of buttons being pressed mixed with fingers tapping a screen. The Female Titan looked just like a veteran otaku girl, holding a strangely shaped game console in her hands.
Ian couldn't even bother to figure out what the hell was going on with this bizarre scene.
Because he heard it.
"Good morning, Teacher Raven." The Female Titan's voice was soft and lazy, as if she were just greeting an old friend, not a stranger who had suddenly barged into her territory.
"Teacher Raven?" He repeated the title, his Adam's apple rolling. What, she was calling him Teacher Raven? Mistaking him for that Raven again?
This clearly wasn't the first time this had happened since he came to this weird world.
Even before he came to this world,
there had been similar situations.
Once, twice, again and again—this obviously wasn't some coincidence.
Ian froze for a moment, his brows knitting slightly. "You… called me what?"
"Teacher Raven."
The Female Titan still didn't look up, her fingers tapping rapidly on the game console.
"I'm human. I'm a Wizard from the future." Ian carefully uh-uh explained, while also constantly observing the expression and demeanor of the Female Titan not far away.
He didn't know if her sudden form of address was some tactic to lower his guard. After all, after entering this world, he had turned into Raven's form before.
Whether it was a misunderstanding,
or some other reason,
Ian felt it necessary to correct her.
The Female Titan finally raised her head, her hands still operating the game console. "Okay, got it, Teacher Raven. Looks like your obsession finally came true."
Somewhat baffling words,
leaving Ian momentarily speechless, a bit torn between laughing and crying.
"Are you mistaking me for someone else?"
He sensed something was off; her gaze on him felt way too familiar. Ian had long had his own guesses regarding his relationship with Raven, but somewhere deep down he still subconsciously felt that was impossible.
"Maybe." The Female Titan shrugged, her tone so calm it was maddening. "But since you can come here, it means fate has already tied you and that Raven together."
Ian opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but not knowing where to start.
He had considered that this meeting might involve conflict, maybe even a fight; he had also imagined the other party would be some lofty existence, coldly and ruthlessly explaining everything.
Of course.
It could also have been some obscure ancient riddle, or maybe a cross-species peace talk. Or maybe Ian would finally find another Transmigrator in this world—that was possible too. But he absolutely hadn't expected that the one greeting him would be a game-addicted, otaku-type Titan girl calling him "Teacher Raven."
Among the thousands of scenarios Ian had imagined beforehand, none of them involved him standing around like some neglected visitor in the bedroom of a Titan girl obsessed with gaming, just waiting there doing nothing.
The entire room's atmosphere was weird and awkward.
Ian looked around, trying to shift his focus.
This place really didn't look like a Deity's Holy Hall at all; it was more like the bedroom of some ordinary otaku girl. The walls were covered in dynamic posters, each one looking alive, featuring all kinds of Pocket Monsters, Digimon, and some creatures he'd never seen before. They would blink now and then, or strike a pose, as if greeting him.
And not just those.
There were other posters too.
Characters in Magical Girl outfits, their Magic Staffs changing colors in sync with the LED strips along the poster frames. Figures lined the right-hand bookshelf in neat rows, and on the top shelf, a life-sized Ultraman model had a crystal on its chest that pulsed with a steady light. A few strings of starry sky lights hung from the ceiling, projecting slowly rotating constellations.
It felt like a combo of otaku girl's bedroom + dance club.
The vibe was all over the place.
But it really did have a strong Japanese otaku culture feel.
"How do you have all this stuff?"
Ian couldn't help but ask.
The tip of his Magic Wand unconsciously traced out a Detection Rune in the air; the result showed that all these items contained real Magic Energy—they weren't illusions conjured from his memories by someone else.
Ian did have a sense of caution.
But it didn't seem to be working as intended.
"Prophets are like this." The Female Titan replied casually while still mashing away at her game console. She tilted her head, her long silver hair cascading to the floor like a waterfall.
"You're the one who told me, anyway. You told me everything." Her tone was that of chatting with an old acquaintance, yet Ian was sure this was his first time meeting this Female Titan.
"I told you?"
Ian was taken aback.
"When?"
The air inside the stone house suddenly turned viscous.
Ian felt a wave of dizziness.
The sentence hit Ian's temple like a sledgehammer.
It was as if some crucial memory was being forcibly stuffed into his mind and then yanked back out.
They weren't Ian's memories—or at least that was how it felt to him—so when he tried to grab hold of those fragments, they slipped away like sand between his fingers.