Inside the Town

Originally, there must have been a fairly prosperous town. As I recalled, this was a little north in latitude. The trees that towered in places seemed to be mostly coniferous. Over the past 50 years, it had begun to weather, but there are many parts of the town that were defying the green, such as the cobblestone pavement... No? Isn't this asphalt, not cobblestone?

Looking at the ground, the part I thought was cobblestone pavement was a deteriorated asphalt-like material. This world was a place where people from various worlds gathered. I had heard that so many different technologies were brought to this world, and there must have been engineers who knew the raw materials of asphalt...

But the crumbling buildings did not give off a very modern feel, so there was a sense of discomfort.

Looking around, one could see mountains to the north. The top of the mountains was quite high, and in some places there appeared to be white snow. Perhaps this place was higher in altitude than expected. Rather than the sweltering summer temperatures of Japan, I felt a sense of comfort, like when I was climbing in the mountains.

I had expected to be teleported to a place full of monsters, but as far as I could see, it didn't feel like there were any monsters there. Even when I listened carefully, I felt like I was in an empty forest, and the sound of their footsteps echoed around me. I was nervous about what they might be up to, so I walked slowly along the road.

The scene was still terrible...

It was probably the scene of a very fierce battle at the time. There were even barricades that had been destroyed in places. There were some weapons on the ground, but most of them were rusted or broken and not usable. It was probably a relief that there were no human bones to be seen. If Kimishima saw such a thing, she might have broken down again.

"What is this ...? Did a bomb hit?"

As I was walking along, I came across a place where there was a large hole like a crater. It looked as if it had blown away all the buildings in the area. The hole seemed to have been made a long time ago, and if it weren't for the weeds and other overgrown debris in the hole that seemed to have blown away the buildings around it, it might be hard to tell.

As I quietly looked at the hole, I found that the ground had collapsed in two places, and there were holes in the ground. I wondered if there might have been a shelter under the ground. As I got a little closer, I heard a sound of running water coming from there.

"What is it? Is it a underground water vein?"

"I-I don't know."

"…Hmm?"

"What is it?"

"No, it's…"

Come to think of it, had her tone been a little rough when she came to this world, has it been modified a bit?

We were alone together in such an extreme situation. It was normal to think that the relationship between us should be as good as possible. But it was a little rewarding to think that even I could be depended on.

"Nothing, there is nothing here..."

"Well, maybe if there's no people, there's no food..."

Still, as we continued on, making as little noise as possible, we came to what looked like a large plaza. Was it the center of the town? There was a fountain in the middle of the plaza, and the water was spurting out, as if some kind of device was still active.

Around the plaza, there were still some street lamp-like pillars surrounding the fountain.

Perhaps something like the underground water vein I saw earlier was welling up. Just as I was about to walk toward the fountain, I felt a tug on my sleeve from Kimishima. What is it? I turned to look at Kimishima and saw her pointing frantically toward the fountain.

What was that?

At first, I thought it was a rock or debris, but upon closer inspection, I saw that it was moving slightly. It looked like a hippopotamus-like creature with its back facing us and its head in the water.

I hurriedly ducked behind a building with Kimishima.

"Wow, my bad, I didn't realize..."

"What? Huh. It was drinking water, right?"

"I'm not sure...but that must be a monster."

"A monster..."

I quietly peeked toward the fountain, but it didn't seem to have noticed us. Naturally, we choose to just walk away.

Seeing a monster-like creature for the first time, I hid in the shadows and took a deep breath. As usual, my composure quickly returned, and I began to think about our next move, and attempted to move out of the way.

At that moment, Kimishima grabbed my arm firmly. Teachers are sensitive to the distance between them and their students, especially those of the opposite gender. I was surprised to see Kimishima clinging to me like she was pressing her body against me, and I hurriedly tried to correct her.

... Hmm?

Well, I could calm down right away thanks to my spirit, but Kimishima couldn't do that.

I gently stroked Kimishima's head, her face pale with fear, and whispered, "It's all right. It didn't notice us", I whispered in a low voice and urged her to move away from the plaza.

Having not seen any monsters immediately after the tense teleportation, she must have been a bit relaxed. The first encounter with a monster had made her feel anxious all at once.

Desperately trying not to make any noise, I entered an alleyway behind the plaza and proceeded cautiously along the wall. As we proceeded, I kept touching my sword with my left hand. Seeking for a place to hold on to in my heart.

We had just entered the town square, which I assumed was the center of the town. Considering that our goal was to get out of the city, it would have been better to walk as far away from this place as possible.

--Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

In the distance, the howling of a beastly monster could be heard, and both of us sat up with a jerk and looked around.

"... No. I think it's pretty far away."

"Yeah, that's right... isn't it?"

This kind of fear was hard to drive out of my mind. The best thing to do was to take a deep breath to calm myself down, but I could never get rid of my fear completely. Just as I was about to move, I heard footsteps, this time with a hard thud.

"Burururu."

The snorting beast's sound was rather close to us. I sat down again in a hurry. She must have remembered my idea from earlier. Kimishima reached for the ivy on the wall. Her face was still pale, but after a moment, the ivy began to grow and lightly covered us.

…

We both sat down and stayed still. I looked at Kimishima and saw that her eyes were squeezed shut and her face was scrunched up in fear. Soon the footsteps faded away, but it was some time before we could move again.

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