“Where am I?”
It was complete darkness here, so pitch black that she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face, couldn’t see anything, couldn’t touch anything, she couldn’t even feel herself.
“Ah… Looks like it happened again.”
Looking at the scene before her, Lanafit showed no fear at this eerie, spine-chilling situation.
On the contrary, she seemed rather used to it.
The grogginess in her consciousness kept her from thinking too much, but that invisible tugging sensation still made her a bit uncomfortable.
Still, there was one thing she was sure of: now that she had regained consciousness, she was about to wake up.
As a burst of light illuminated the impenetrable darkness, that invisible pulling sensation vanished instantly.
In the next moment, Lanafit could feel her body again.
A wave of intense dizziness in her mind made the world spin.
Slowly opening her eyes, Lanafit recalled that she seemed to have forgotten to set up a magic barrier before she fainted.
She could only hope she wouldn’t wake up to find herself dragged off by some beast while she was completely defenseless.
Fortunately, when she opened her eyes, Lanafit saw no wild animals as she’d hoped, nor did she feel any pain on her body.
The sky above seemed to be the same as it was the moment before she fainted.
But just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, two faces appeared in her line of sight—a handsome older man and a handsome young man.
Right now, they were both looking at her, and when they saw she was awake, it seemed like they both smiled.
But to Lanafit, the sight of the two of them was enough to give her quite a scare.
“Whoa—!”
Ignoring her heavy body, Lanafit sprang up from the ground.
Her right hand instinctively swung forward to ward off the two men, but she forgot about the staff in her hand—which was taller than she was—and nearly whacked the young man’s head with it.
Luckily, he reacted quickly and dodged out of the way.
Forcing herself to stay alert and putting some distance between herself and the two men, Lanafit immediately cast a barrier around herself, then began to check her own body under their surprised gazes.
She’d been unconscious—she really hoped no one had taken advantage of her.
Thankfully, apart from a large patch of dirt on her chest, her clothes showed no signs of being undone.
Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief, though she still didn’t fully let down her guard.
“Who are you?”
In her palm behind her back, a sparkling icicle quietly began to form.
Although Lanafit didn’t think this pair—one old, one young—could be a real threat, she wasn’t about to trust anyone before figuring things out.
Over the past half year of traveling, Lanafit had tried to avoid unnecessary contact with others, but as long as you walked the lands of the lower realm, unless you planned to live completely isolated from the world, how could you possibly avoid all human contact?
So, inevitably, she had witnessed plenty of good people—and bad.
Some people with ill intentions wouldn’t give up their nasty thoughts unless you gave them a proper warning—or a lesson.
The men seemed to just now be recovering from the fright of Lanafit’s sudden movements.
Thinking back to the force of the staff she had just swung, the young man couldn’t help but shiver.
But then, he figured that suddenly appearing in Lanafit’s field of vision right as she woke up must have startled her.
Thinking of this, the man did his best to put on a gentle smile and spoke to Lanafit.
“Miss Mage, my name is Fried Bell. The man beside me is Retua, my butler and teacher.”
The reason he had to force a smile wasn’t because Fried had any ill intentions; it was simply that he was still shaken from the close call.
With that kind of force—who knew what would happen if he took a blow from that staff? Thankfully, he hadn’t neglected his training.
Retua was different from Fried.
Although he was also trying hard to show he was a good person, there was a constant wariness in his gaze as he looked at Lanafit.
“Miss Mage, my master and I saw you unconscious by the roadside and came over out of kindness to check on you. But as soon as we approached, you woke up. Please rest assured, we haven’t touched any of your belongings.”
Listening to their explanations, Lanafit finally started to shake off the grogginess of waking up.
Their words didn’t sound like lies.
After all, nothing valuable was missing from her person, and not a single piece of clothing was gone.
Realizing she’d just misunderstood them—and nearly hit someone—Lanafit felt a little embarrassed.
She withdrew her staff, and the icicle forming in her hidden hand was crushed into icy powder.
She scratched her head and gave them an apologetic smile.
“Sorry about that. I’ve just been out here for a long time, so I tend to be a little overly cautious. Please don’t take it personally. My name is Lanafit, a mage with the Adventurer Association, currently traveling.”
Of course, that didn’t mean she fully trusted them.
After all, they were just two humans.
She had already set up a layer of magic barriers around herself, so even if she fainted again, she wouldn’t have to worry about them doing anything.
Fried laughed and waved his hand, clearly someone with a lively and cheerful personality.
“I understand, Miss Lanafit. You’re so beautiful—of course you should be careful when traveling alone.”
Fried Bell—having a surname in this world was undoubtedly a sign of noble status.
Combined with his attire, manner of speaking, and the carriage behind him, it was clear enough.
But as a noble, Fried gave Lanafit a very good first impression.
Although she hadn’t actively sought out the upper echelons of this world, given her own circumstances, whenever she entered a noble’s territory, it was inevitable she would attract the attention of those high and mighty lords.
The nobles’ intentions toward Lanafit were obvious—either coveting her beauty or, driven by greed, wanting to offer her up to those in the imperial capital.
But without exception, none of them had ever succeeded.
Now, this young nobleman named Fried, when he looked at Lanafit, his gaze held only admiration and amazement—no other emotion.
It was a first since she’d arrived in this world.
Lanafit needed a brief rest, and Fried and Retua seemed to have taken it upon themselves to play the role of her protectors.
It appeared both were well-educated gentlemen.
During their conversation, Fried asked where Lanafit was heading next.
After thinking for a moment, Lanafite told them her next destination.
“I’m planning to keep heading west, to the town of Padugel, to visit a doctor named Dragan.
To be honest, I’ve had these spells of absent-mindedness for a while now.
I’ve seen many doctors, but nothing has worked.
However, a doctor I saw recently told me to go to Padugel and find this Dragan—he said I might have a soul-loss condition caused by unstable magic power, and that Dragan is quite an expert on this kind of symptom.”