His head was swimming, and his arms and legs ached, as if he'd been hit by a dump truck.
He still remembered being attacked by a beast, but it seemed he hadn't been eaten yet?
Rhode opened his eyes, but didn't see an unfamiliar ceiling.
The sunlight was a bit dazzling, and his eyes involuntarily narrowed into slits. He subconsciously wanted to raise his hand to block the light.
Shhh... Someone carefully drew the curtains, making Rhode's eyes feel a little better.
"Judging by the time, he should be waking up soon."
Rhode heard someone speaking; it was a slightly aged female voice.
But he didn't understand what she was saying at all. It wasn't the Chinese he was familiar with, at least not Mandarin.
Nor did it sound like English or any other familiar language.
Rhode tilted his head slightly and saw an old lady with pink hair and a strange red cloak standing by the window.
She must have been the one who just spoke.
"How do you feel?" A kind male voice came from the other side. Rhode saw an old man in a jester's hat sitting cross-legged on a chair by the bed.
Of course, Rhode didn't understand what he said either.
Rhode's throat was a bit dry, and he asked with difficulty, "Where is this?"
The two old people on either side of the sickbed exchanged glances, looking puzzled, not understanding what Rhode was saying.
Rhode thought for a moment, then tentatively said, "Where is this? Who are you? Uh... Lei dou hai bin dou?"
Looking at the two old people's increasingly confused expressions, Rhode knew something was wrong.
Mandarin wasn't working, English wasn't working, and even his broken Cantonese wasn't working. What was he going to do?
The old man in the jester's hat lightly jumped off the chair. Rhode realized that he was shorter standing than sitting.
Thinking that was impolite, Rhode chastised himself, then noticed that the old man was incredibly agile, not at all like someone his age.
"It seems like there's a language barrier? This is troublesome," the old man said, a bit distressed.
"I've never heard this language before," the pink-haired lady asked. "Where did you pick this child up from, anyway?"
"In the forest, I already told you," Makarov replied.
Just then, a knock came at the wooden door, and a girl of seventeen or eighteen walked in:
"Master, it's almost time. If we don't leave now, we'll miss the regular meeting."
"Ah, I almost forgot. Porlyusica, can I leave this child in your care?" The old man asked the pink-haired lady.
"I refuse. I hate humans, Makarov, and it's too noisy here."
The pink-haired old lady said she hated humans while helping Rhode sit up and handing him a glass of water.
"Thank you," Rhode said instinctively.
Porlyusica didn't understand, but she could roughly guess what Rhode was saying.
However, she didn't respond, but turned and left directly: "His injuries are no longer serious. I'm going back."
"Ah, thanks," Makarov understood his old friend's personality and knew that persuasion was useless.
Rhode took a sip of water to moisten his dry throat, watching the pink-haired lady leave with confusion.
The short old man was talking to the girl who had just entered.
They were still speaking a language Rhode didn't understand, but seeing their occasional glances towards him, he guessed it was probably about him.
At this moment, a slight pain in his left leg made Rhode frown. He noticed that his left arm and waist were wrapped in bandages, and when he raised his hand to touch his head, his forehead was also neatly bandaged.
The wounds all over his body made him remember the attack.
The whole thing was a bit bizarre.
Rhode remembered staying up all night gaming with his roommates and not wanting to move after waking up in the morning.
Two roommates who went to buy food went missing one after another and hadn't returned.
Rhode was so hungry he couldn't stand it, so he pulled the remaining roommate along to go out and look for them.
One went to the new cafeteria, the other to the old cafeteria.
As a result, Rhode, while playing on his phone and going up the stairs, accidentally tripped and fell hard to the ground.
When he got up, he found a large forest in front of him.
What do you do if you're walking along and suddenly find yourself in an unfamiliar place?
Don't panic, first open your phone to check your location, and if necessary, you can make an emergency call...
But he couldn't find his phone.
When he tripped just now, his phone seemed to have flown out.
Rhode realized that things seemed to be not so good; he might have encountered a phenomenon that science couldn't explain.
CCTV once had a program called 'Far Science,' which talked about a person sleeping normally at home and then suddenly appearing in a city thousands of miles away after waking up.
Rhode suspected he had encountered a real event, and of course, there was an even worse guess: he wasn't in another city, but in another world.
Thinking carefully, did his two roommates also encounter the same thing, which was why they hadn't returned?
No matter what, he had to go to a populated place to ask first.
Rhode tried to distinguish the direction, hesitated for a while, and then decided to walk west - the weeds there seemed to have been trampled.
However, a few minutes later, he regretted it, because he startled a fierce beast the size of an elephant.
He had never seen such a giant beast before - a bear with spots all over its body, a pig's head, and pig's trotters.
The branch Rhode broke for self-defense had no deterrent effect in front of it.
The moment the giant beast pounced, the branch broke, Rhode was thrown flying, and everything went black.
Before he fainted, he heard bird calls, wolf howls, frog croaks, and the roars of unknown beasts.
This was definitely not a normal world. But at that time, Rhode couldn't afford to think about these things.
He just felt that death seemed to come too suddenly, and there were many things he hadn't had time to do.
If there was a next life, he would definitely not play on his phone while walking, especially when going up stairs.
But now it seemed he wasn't dead; was he saved by the owner here?
"Hi, hello!"
Rhode's thoughts were interrupted by a gentle voice; it was the girl who had just entered.
The girl was wearing a dark red dress, with long white hair reaching her waist. Her bangs were tied into a single strand and combed to the top of her head. Her features were delicate, and her smile was gentle.
This was a girl whose appearance and temperament would be very attractive wherever she went.
Rhode didn't understand what she was saying, but seeing her waving, she was probably saying hello?
"Hello," Rhode said, and her bright smile somewhat dispelled his unease.
"Just as Master said," the girl showed an 'I knew it' expression: "It's a pity, I don't understand what you're saying either. I guess you must be very troubled and uneasy too."
"Ah, you don't understand that either... Anyway, Master has to go out for a bit and asked me to take care of you temporarily."
The girl tried hard to communicate with gestures, but unfortunately, it was of little effect.
"Oh, right! I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Mirajane."
She pointed to herself, saying slowly, one word at a time: "I, Mirajane."
"Mira...jane?" Rhode hesitantly mimicked the syllables he didn't understand.
Mirajane's face brightened with a smile again: "That's right, Mi, Ra, Jane."
Rhode was infected by such a smiling face and followed her, repeating it twice, his pronunciation gradually becoming standard.
"Mirajane." He learned the first word in this world.
"What about you?" Mirajane pointed to herself, "I, Mirajane."
Then she pointed to Rhode, "What about you?"
Rhode understood her meaning and pointed to himself: "Rhode."
"Rho...de?" Mirajane repeated after him.
"Rhode." Rhode corrected her pronunciation slightly, just as she had done.
The first step of communication, though a bit difficult, had finally begun.
"Nice to meet you, Rhode," the girl said, extending her right hand to Rhode.
Rhode gently clasped her fingertips: "Please... please..., Mirajane."
He couldn't learn the phrase that probably meant 'Nice to meet you' or something similar.
Grrr... Rhode's stomach rumbled at an inconvenient moment.
Rhode covered his stomach, opening his mouth, not knowing what to say.
Mirajane smiled knowingly: "Ah, I understand that. Please wait a moment."
She made a gesture of pressing her hands down and turned to leave the room.
Rhode watched her back as she left the infirmary, picked up the cup, and while taking small sips of water, began to sort out the few memories he had after tripping.
First, there was the sudden appearance of the forest, the strange-looking beasts, then the people he saw after waking up, and the unique language they used.
This was definitely not the world he was familiar with, nor was it an ordinary world.
Rhode wanted to know how long it had been since he fainted, what happened during that time, where this place was, how to go back, and he wanted to know many other things...
But even basic communication was a problem, so these things were even harder to ask about, which was very troublesome.
He lifted the covers. His leg still hurt a bit, but he could move it, so the injury shouldn't be too serious.
"It's better not to move around... though you won't understand," Mirajane said, bringing in a tray and placing it on the bedside table. She made a 'please' gesture, indicating that Rhode should eat first.
On the tray were a glass of milk and two exquisite-looking sandwiches.
The triangular bread slices were cut very neatly, with lettuce, tomato slices, and ham slices in between. The vibrant colors made them look very appetizing.
Rhode picked one up, giving her a questioning look of uncertainty.
With her approval and the urging of his rumbling stomach, Rhode bit off one acute angle of the 'isosceles triangle.'
The taste was the soft sweetness of the bread and the smooth deliciousness of the ham.
Then, the slightly sour juiciness of the tomato, combined with the overly sweet sauce, made Rhode a little unaccustomed.
But the fresh and crisp taste of the lettuce alleviated this very well.
Only after swallowing this bite did Rhode feel truly alive again.
However, he then no longer cared to savor the deliciousness, like a cow chewing peonies, he only cared about swallowing in large gulps.
After finishing one sandwich, Rhode's hunger was greatly relieved. He picked up the milk cup and felt the warmth on the cup wall, which was clearly intentionally heated.
This must be a very gentle girl who knows how to take care of people, right?
Rhode cast a grateful look at her.
Mirajane smiled, quietly watching him eat and drink.
A newbie writing a novel for the first time (not really)
Writing Fairy Tail for the first time (not entirely either)
Anyway, please collect and invest!