Even from a distance, I could immediately recognize them.
Fia, with her light pink hair like a goddess and wearing the familiar saintess robes that I had seen so many times.
Dana, with black hair that cascaded down to her back, wearing a wide-sleeved black robe that covered her entire body.
Kalia, wearing a luxurious red dress that complemented her vivid red hair.
Arna, with shining blonde hair that looked like it was spun from fine gold, her skin much whiter than others, and dressed in a green ranger outfit.
Truly, just as those people had said earlier, they looked like characters straight out of a fantasy game.
But, the reason I could recognize them from such a distance wasn’t just because of their distinctive appearances.
For the past five years, I have been with them every day. Even if they weren’t wearing those clothes, or hiding their hair, I would still be able to recognize them.
With a feeling of joy, I eagerly started walking toward them, but then suddenly stopped.
…They hadn’t changed at all. Well, that was to be expected. They weren’t growing children, but adults in their twenties. It wouldn’t be possible for their appearances to change drastically in just one month.
Of course, they had improved a lot compared to the last time I saw them.
No matter how much they ate, the energy expended in battle was beyond imagination. Swinging a sword wasn’t the only exhausting task; even just walking would take a lot of stamina.
Simply carrying a heavy load on your back while walking was tiring, but sometimes, we had to walk off the beaten path to avoid the enemy, or sneak past areas where there might be traps or ambushes, crouching low.
There were times we had to abandon our gear.
Of course, when that happened, we would retreat as quickly as possible to the nearest friendly base to regroup, but during the retreat, there were often times we couldn’t properly eat or drink.
Swinging a sword, blocking powerful enemy strikes with a shield, and constantly running around to prevent enemies from getting close to our teammates…
Shooting arrows while staying alert to distant enemies, keeping our senses sharp…
Casting spells while draining our magical energy, and pulling the right knowledge from our minds to adapt to the situation…
Concentrating on invoking divine power, focusing on the goddess even in the worst of situations…
All of it was physically exhausting.
So, in my last memory, they were all terribly gaunt.
They had at least managed to rest and recover a little bit right before the Demon Lord’s castle assault, but the resistance from the Demon Lord’s army inside the castle was fierce.
And of course, the final battle with the Demon Lord was no less intense.
Kalia had been bleeding. Fia had desperately pressed her hands against Kalia’s side, trying to stop the bleeding with all her might, while pouring in divine power.
Dana had been on the verge of collapse, having poured all her magic into the battle with the Demon Lord.
Arna had also been covered in both large and small wounds.
She had been willing to sacrifice herself for me…
And, perhaps, they had seen me die right before their eyes.
“…Ah.”
I had thought about it before. They must have seen me die.
Of course, they probably didn’t witness the most horrific part of it—the part where I burned in the fire that destroyed the world and was annihilated.
That process was so fast that they wouldn’t have been able to see the intermediate stages.
But still…
They must have seen me leave this world.
Just like I had done to Ayun, I had done something terrible to them, too.
Of course, at the time, there had been no other choice…
“…”
More than anything, could they even recognize me?
Even if I said I was me, would they believe me?
It was I who had requested to be transformed into a completely different, unrecognizable form. The goddess had perfectly granted that request.
Although I had turned into a woman, the bigger question was whether anyone could recognize me as the same person from before.
Arna’s gaze landed on me.
It seemed she noticed that I was reacting differently from the others.
Since she had always been the scout of the group, it was probably easy for her to sense this unusual reaction from me.
Some people glanced at me as though I were an oddity. Others, who might have thought I’d say something if they approached, seemed to avoid me, keeping their distance.
In terms of appearance, it was possible that someone might be interested enough to strike up a conversation, but it seemed that the clothes these women were wearing were a huge barrier.
Arna turned her head and started talking to Kalia. Kalia, who had been looking the other way, shifted her gaze toward me. Her burning eyes locked on me.
Her expression didn’t change much.
It was just the kind of look someone would give if they were wary of the entire world.
Well, I guess it made sense. This world was so different from the one they came from.
A world where civilization had developed over thousands of years, built on magic, versus a world that had developed based on the laws of physics, without any magic at all.
People often assume that kingdoms in fantasy worlds would fall behind the scenes of reality, but… having lived here for five years, I’d learned that this wasn’t necessarily true.
Sure, there were many things that were uncomfortable, but on the flip side, there were things I realized made the world function as it did.
But those things could only be felt by living through them.
To the women, all they could see now was a world that was far too noisy and complicated, filled with strange devices, compared to their own world.
When I crossed over to this world, I died and my soul went to the temple of the gods, where my body was recreated and I was reborn.
Naturally, I had nothing from my previous world, so my only way of communicating was through my pathetic drawing skills and my not-so-great way with words.
But, fortunately, no one seemed scared.
Dana, who was looking around, seemed completely intrigued. Being the smart person she was, if I had mentioned any items even once, she’d probably recognize them immediately. Her imagination, as a wizard, was rich and sharp.
And Fia….
Maybe, for her, as the saint she was…
Arna and Kalia seemed to have made up their minds quickly, and they started walking toward me.
Dana and Fia, who had been scanning the area a beat later, realized my presence. Dana quickly showed a look of confusion on her face.
It seemed she didn’t understand why the two of them were coming toward me.
But soon, she followed behind Arna and Kalia. I guess she didn’t consider me a dangerous person… maybe she deduced from some of the basic common knowledge I had shared about this world.
And then, Fia’s eyes widened just a little when she saw me.
Her heart seemed to beat faster than when she had heard the goddess’s voice earlier.
Has she recognized me?
Perhaps, like the time I accidentally met my sister again, she might have sensed something subtle.
Even though the goddess’s power was hard to reach in this world, it was still possible that such immense magic had brushed past us.
If the goddess guided her in some way, Fia would definitely feel it.
The closer Arna got to me, the more her expression seemed to change.
From a distance, she might have thought I was just a normal girl.
But no matter how much time had passed, a warrior’s nature wasn’t something that disappeared easily.
And I was still training. Though not for combat, at least not directly.
…Maybe she had noticed that there was something inside the thin bag slung over my shoulder.
The way Arna’s footsteps approached changed. It wasn’t exactly a combat stance, but it was a stance where she could easily shift into one at any moment.
It was like encountering someone on the road and not knowing whether they were a civilian just gathering herbs from the mountains or a bandit looking to rob you.
Seeing this side of Arna, it seemed like Kalia realized something too.
Maybe it was because she saw the two of them.
Dana’s footsteps stopped. She grabbed Fia’s arm, who had been walking as if in a trance, and halted her as well.
It was a wise choice. Dana, with the most powerful firepower in the party, and Fia, who could heal any injury, were two people who should never be rendered powerless within the group.
But even that cautious behavior made my heart race.
It felt like the way we acted on the battlefield when we wielded our swords. Of course, Arna was usually by Fia and Dana’s side unless there was a special situation, but—
“…Wait, I’ll ask you one thing.”
…..And right now, this was that ‘special’ situation.
“Are you…”
Maybe it was because I was a stranger to her. Arna asked me cautiously, in a slightly more formal tone.
“…Are you perhaps… a disciple of the Prophet?”
“…….”
At those words, I couldn’t help but smile widely.
“You’re not wrong.”
The voice that came from me wasn’t the same one I had used when talking with her and the others.
But Arna’s hearing was extremely sharp.
She knew my usual manner of speaking—the emphasis in certain words, how I began sentences, how I trailed off—and her eyes widened slightly.
“I think the person you’ve been looking for is probably me. How about it?”
I said it with a bit of teasing in mind, but…
Before I could even finish my sentence, Fia, who had been further behind, shook off Dana’s hand and rushed toward me.
“Fia!”
At my call, Kalia quickly turned around, but she didn’t actively try to stop Fia from running.
Fia passed between Arna and Kalia and jumped straight at me.
My vision was suddenly filled with her pink hair.
“…Ugh.”
The only sound Fia made was a single, soft exhale. Or, I might not even call it a word…just a sob.
…But even just that sound…
I don’t know, it felt strange to say it here, now that I was ‘back,’ but for some reason—
I finally felt like I had truly ‘returned’.