For the next few hours, Lumine wandered around the forest that seemed to have no end.
Tall trees stretched endlessly in every direction. Bushes brushed against his legs as he walked, and sometimes birds suddenly flew away from branches above him, startled by his presence.
Why is he here? Whose body he is in, because it is clearly not his.
But moreover, where can he find a damn river or a waterway?
His clothes felt dirty, his hair felt heavy, and his beard itched terribly. Every few minutes, he scratched his chin like a wild man who had been living in the forest for years.
Then, as if God had looked down and seen his miserable face, he suddenly heard something.
A faint sound.
Splash… splash…
Water.
Lumine froze for a second.
His eyes twinkled like two little suns. Then Lumine began to run toward the sound.
Well, by all means, Lumine Sullivan was never a serious guy, except when it came to researching.
When it came to life, he simply accepted things that came his way, whether they were medals or rocks thrown at his head.
That was why he didn't even fight back when his work got stolen.
What mattered to him was his research doing the best work possible, not the ownership.
Or so the idiotic Lumine thought.
As he ran, he began to smell the water.
Well… who knows how?
But the scent was there, the damp smell of soil, the cool freshness that only existed near clean rivers and streams. The forest air carried it clearly, guiding him forward like an invisible path.
He ran through thick bushes, branches scratching lightly against his arms, leaves rustling loudly around him.
Then he suddenly stopped.
"Wow," he mumbled.
Before him, a small waterfall cascaded down from a rocky cliff not too far away.
Clear water poured down in a smooth white stream, crashing gently onto the stones below before flowing into a small waterway that continued deeper through the forest.
The water was so fresh and colorless that he could clearly see the little rocks and clean sand resting beneath it.
Tiny fish flickered between the shadows of the stones, disappearing whenever the sunlight touched them.
As the water splashed against several large rocks, a soft mist formed in the air. The sunlight caught that mist perfectly, bending through it and forming a faint but beautiful rainbow that floated above the flowing stream.
Lumine stood there for a moment, staring at it like a child who had just discovered something magical before finally beginning to approach the waterway.
The cool sound of flowing water filled the quiet forest as he knelt near the edge and leaned over it, inspecting his reflection on the surface.
The water was so clear that it worked almost like a mirror.
"Well…" he muttered.
There wasn't much he could see clearly, besides glowing blue eyes staring back at him and long blonde hair that hung messily around his face.
The beard covering his jaw was thick and wild, making him look more like a wandering hermit than a normal person.
It was clearly not his body.
Lumine had never had blue eyes.
And he definitely never had blonde hair.
He frowned slightly while staring at the reflection, tilting his head left and right as if hoping the face in the water would suddenly change back to his own.
It didn't.
He slowly looked around the area. Maybe there was something he could use to cut down this tangled hair before he took a bath.
But there was nothing. With a long sigh, he simply began taking off his clothes.
"Seriously… when did this guy last bathe?" he muttered under his breath.
At this point, he had already accepted that he was in another person's body. Thinking too deeply about it would probably only give him a headache.
Mental health is important, he always said.
So Lumine simply stepped into the water completely naked. The cold stream wrapped around his legs, sending a shiver up his spine before he slowly moved deeper.
He took his dirty clothes and began to wash them in the river.
The dirt slowly began to wash away under the flowing water. Brown clouds drifted away from the cloth as he rubbed the fabric against itself, but it wasn't perfect.
Without soap, there was only so much he could do.
Still, after rinsing them properly, he stretched the clothes across a nearby rock where the sunlight could dry them.
Then Lumine finally began washing himself.
Days…maybe weeks, of dirt and grit slowly disappeared under the flowing water.
He scrubbed his arms, his shoulders, and his face before carefully threading his fingers through his long hair and beard, trying to loosen the tangled mess.
"I look like a primitive age human," he mumbled to himself while continuing to wash his hair.
The forest remained quiet except for the steady sound of the waterfall and the gentle movement of the stream.
Then suddenly,
"(What does primitive human mean? Different from normal guys?)"
Someone spoke.
Lumine stiffened instantly. His head snapped around as he looked everywhere like a maniac.
But there was nothing.
"(Ne ne, what does that mean?)" it asked again.
This time, Lumine slowly lowered his gaze toward the water.
Right below him, a fish was swimming lazily in the clear stream. It moved back and forth in front of him, occasionally rising to the surface to gulp a little oxygen before dipping down again.
The small creature stared at him with round, shiny eyes.
Lumine's mouth slowly opened.
"A… f… fish."
His vision went black.
He fainted.
—
When Lumine woke up again, he was lying on the ground near the riverbank. The cool earth pressed against his back, and the sound of the flowing water filled his ears.
He coughed a few times as he slowly sat upright.
He was still naked.
His clothes were still stretched on the nearby rock, drying in the sunlight.
"What the hell?" he muttered hoarsely.
For a moment, he simply stared at the ground, trying to collect his thoughts.
Then he rubbed his face slowly.
"A fish talked," Lumine said to himself quietly.
He buried his face into both of his hands, his fingers pressing into his forehead.
"I know I am used to accepting things, but… this is too absurd," he mumbled. "How can they talk? When they don't even have human-like vocal cords."
A soft breeze passed through the forest, rustling the leaves above him.
For a moment, everything seemed peaceful again.
Then,
"(You sick or something? You always faint.)"
The voice came again.
"(And I am not a fish)"
This time it was very close. Right beside him. Lumine startled violently and turned his head.
He froze as he saw two big brown eyes staring at him.
And a round green face.
He faint-
"(Don't faint again!!!)"
The voice screeched.
Before Lumine could collapse, something smacked him hard across the cheek.
Crack!
His head whipped to the side.
"Ouch!" he hissed, clutching his face in pain. His eyes watered slightly from the sudden hit.
"(Oh my, it's reflexes. Are you alright?)" The creature asked quickly.
This time, Lumine slowly lifted his head and looked at it properly.
"Oh my God… a dog-sized frog was talking," Lumine muttered in a completely dumbfounded tone.
His face had gone blank, his eyes unfocused like his brain had simply stopped working. If he were inside some kind of anime, there would probably be smoke slowly rising out of his brain right now.
"(F–frog?)" the green creature asked, sounding confused.
Then suddenly-
"(ARE YOU BLIND?! Who the hell are you calling a frog?!)"
You exactly!
The creature puffed up slightly in what looked like outrage.
Now that Lumine actually looked carefully, the creature did not exactly resemble a frog… well, maybe just a little.
Its body was plump and round, but its green surface didn't look like skin. Instead, it looked like it was made from tightly woven vines and soft leaves layered together. Tiny hands stuck out from its sides, and its legs were short, thick vines that curled slightly when it stood still.
On top of its head was a small wooden crown that seemed to grow directly from its body, as if it were part of the creature itself rather than something it wore.
Its eyes were big and beautiful, shining a warm brown color like polished amber.
And strangely enough,
There was no visible mouth.
"Well… maybe not a frog," Lumine admitted slowly, scratching his cheek.
"(I am a Dryad.)"
The voice came again, echoing softly in the air around them. It didn't come from a mouth. Instead, it seemed to vibrate through the air itself, like the sound was being pushed directly into Lumine's ears.
Lumine tilted his head slightly.
A dryad?
He repeated the word silently in his mind.
So it is a dryad, but…
What the hell is that?
"(I am the guardian of this part of the forest. I have been talking to you for so long now, yet you never replied back.)"
The voice, ugh, the dryad said while placing its tiny vine hands on the middle of its body. On its hips, perhaps.
"(And I was so worried when you slipped on the leaves and fell back. You slept for so long that I thought you were never going to wake up. I was already getting ready for your funeral!)"
Lumine blinked slowly.
Should he thank them? He tilted his head slightly, thinking about it for a moment.
"Well… um… thank you for worrying?" he said awkwardly. "And… not going through with the funeral."
He was still trying to accept this whole situation. Somehow, he was handling this all surprisingly calmly.
"I am Lumine Sullivan," he added.
The creature immediately scooted closer, its vine legs rustling softly against the grass as it moved.
"(Lumine Sullivan,)" it repeated carefully, as if tasting the name.
"(It is nice to finally hear your name after two years of you being here.)"
Lumine froze.
"…Two years?"
His eyebrows slowly rose.
"Two years… in this forest?"
The words came out almost in a whisper. What the hell did this body owner do?
"(Nice to meet you, Lumine. My name is Sylphie, and I am a female.)"
As she said that, a faint rose-like color appeared on the leafy surface of her cheeks, well, what seemed to be cheeks.
Then she paused for a moment before speaking again.
"(And for starters… why don't you put on some clothes?)"
Lumine blinked. Then he slowly looked down at himself.
"…Ah."