It had been a long, long time since she'd slept this well.
That feeling, when effort brought real, tangible results… when you were so excited to wake up just to keep going, Shoko Toyokawa hadn't felt that way since… that one spring, long ago.
She opened her eyes.
The sun was nearly up. The light stung a bit, and the air was cold. Otherwise, she might've slept even longer.
Wait.
The sun is up?
Did Kiyoshi fall asleep too?
Maybe he'd stayed up too late. So late he was too exhausted to wake her for the shift change.
Or maybe,
A prickle of unease crept over her.
Maybe something happened to him.
She feigned sleep, wrapping the blanket over her head and cracking it open just enough to peek across the fire.
Kiyoshi was sitting next to the burnt-out embers. His eyes were open. His expression, calm.
"You scared me… I thought…"
Shoko threw off her blanket, about to ask why he hadn't woken her, no matter how heavy your heart, you still had to sleep. That much, she would absolutely correct.
Then she saw it.
A small "girl," her back facing Shoko, resting her head on Kiyoshi's lap. Her strange hair shimmered between blue and green.
She looked just like…
Miku Hatsune?!
Shoko's thoughts snagged, her brain buffering. She whispered, "Kiyoshi, this child…?"
"…No idea. But our journey, well…"
His throat caught, he hadn't spoken much last night. He coughed a little before continuing.
He wasn't worried about waking the girl on his lap.
Because she wasn't asleep.
No creature, none, was that still while unconscious. That level of relaxed posture had to be performed.
Was it confidence? Or bait?
"…May not be so peaceful anymore."
He summoned his Adventurer Card.
He'd tested it earlier in the night. The girl on his lap didn't seem to notice. He'd been quietly using the system's item descriptions and enlarged word-by-word previews to spell out basic phrases for Shoko.
[This = dangerous]
[Captured = us]
[Language = critical info = do not = reveal]
[Possible = recording = magic = used = this one]
Shoko's eyes widened.
She understood enough.
Her dreamy, otherworld adventure… had started with her changing classes to "prisoner."
"…."
A gentle breeze brushed past them, carrying the faint bitterness of leaves.
The "girl" had somehow closed the distance.
Shoko now saw the horns on her head.
Her eyes were the green of early spring fields.
Solitar, meanwhile, listened to them speak in their unknown tongue, even more curious now.
[Sound-Recording Spell]
She cast it.
The language was being stored for later study.
She could tell… there was more happening than just speech.
Something beneath the words. Some form of exchange.
The girl in front of her, though clearly an adult, had eyes as expressive as a five-year-old. Easy to read.
But the boy, when she'd rested her head on his lap earlier, she'd monitored his muscle tension. He hadn't moved a single extra muscle.
What had that been?
His pupils had reflected nothing abnormal.
Strange…
Never mind.
She'd take them home. Sooner or later, she'd find out.
Human lives were like books.
And she planned to read them, page by page.
Day Two in Another World.
They now lived in a luxurious estate.
As captives.
No, worse. Possibly as pets.
The look on Solitar's face was exactly the kind a child has when taking care of a cute little animal.
They'd been carried here.
She had literally lifted them off the ground and flown, at about the speed of a scooter. They'd stopped twice to rest, finally arriving near noon.
They must've crossed over 200 kilometers.
Which begged the question: Why had she gone that far in the first place?
Along the way, Kiyoshi spotted only a few ruined human villages.
A botched teleportation, it seemed, had dumped them into a dangerous wilderness. How delightful.
After plains, forests, and mountains, they finally reached a coastal mansion with a grand gate.
An actual seaside villa, complete with a stone-paved drive and symmetrical rows of trees.
Solitar said a few words, probably introducing the house.
Kiyoshi had no idea what she said, so he replied with his best "Wow, amazing" face.
She laughed and patted his shoulder.
Hopefully that didn't mean "You're next."
The door was absurdly large. Inside, the architecture was… breathtaking. Vaulted ceilings. Suspended from ropes, a massive skeleton of some kind of sea creature, maybe a whale or shark.
They both recognized the shape. Sea monsters were easier to identify than most things.
But there was another door on the opposite wall. Same scale.
Strange design.
Then they realized, it looked like a shipyard. Big enough to haul vessels in and out. The entire middle area was like a drydock.
Solitar spread her arms as if welcoming them, then led them up the stairs to the second floor.
Jars filled with starfish, seahorses, fish bones, lizards, octopuses… and all of it looked startlingly close to Earth's ocean life.
The good news: there were no people preserved in jars.
Books were scattered everywhere. Every single volume was as thick as a dictionary. The weight of knowledge here was almost overwhelming.
After a few more words, Solitar flew straight out the window.
Just like that, she left them alone.
This won't do.
Solitar tapped her chin, hovering above the sea.
She needed a teacher. If she was going to keep these adorable humans, they had to be able to communicate.
Some humans might be foolish enough to raise demon children, but demons? They didn't even raise their own.
She would be the first demon ever to raise humans.
The thought made her a little giddy.
Demons were born understanding basic language, born able to use magic, and even learned deception and mimicry instinctively. They didn't need years of schooling like humans.
But her humans were fragile.
If they were to thrive, she needed someone to teach them.
Not just anyone.
The teacher needed to meet specific criteria:
No close relatives. If the teacher vanished, no one should come looking.
Educated. No illiterate peasants.
Compliant. Someone who wouldn't resist a demon's authority.
Solitar had encountered many humans, most feared her, cried, but rarely begged. Even unarmed villagers, clutching sticks, would sometimes charge her without hesitation.
That… emotion. Was it called "hatred"?
Anyway, finding someone who met all three requirements wasn't easy.
But eventually… she did.
"Greetings~!"
Solitar landed gracefully in front of a small caravan of horse-drawn wagons.
"A demon! Why is a demon-?!"
No one fought back.
They screamed, fled, and were skewered by her long, sweeping blade.
She didn't bother with the bodies. In a few minutes, they'd be monster food.
"Does anyone here know how to read and write? Or teach?"
She pointed her blade at the most elaborately dressed person in the caravan.
A merchant caravan.
Their "goods" were people.
Even Solitar had been surprised the first time she encountered this.
She understood shopping in stores. But this? How lucky of her to stumble upon such a supply chain.
"Y-yes! We do! My lady! But the last shipment just sold, we'll need some time to-"
Slice.
She walked to the last wagon.
There was still someone alive inside.
Hopefully this trip wasn't wasted.
"Hellooo~"
With a single sweep of her magic-forged blade, she sliced open the wooden side.
Inside, shackled in chains, sat a woman, clutching a baby.