"Well, Sir Cassian, I don't understand where we are either. Suddenly, the Day of Prophecy arrived, and when I was with my family fighting the initial invasion, that black dimensional door sucked me in. I appeared in a smaller room... then I came here and saw you guys."
Ria was the first to respond. It seemed to be more or less the same experience as Cassian's, only she seemed to know some extra details, mainly that the "Day of Prophecy" intrigued him.
"I-I too... hmmm... I was at home, in a large secure room with many protective barriers. Even so, I was suddenly sucked into that black thing."
"It seems we all experienced the same thing... hmm, but Ria, you mentioned something about four worlds earlier, right?"
"Yes. Miss Ellys and I are not from the same world. But our worlds, including the demon world, have been connected to each other since ancient times. There is a fourth, but only the demon realm has access to it, and that is the marine world. But you don't seem to be from any of them."
"No, I'm not. Hmm... so neither of us understands what this place is or what we're doing here?"
"No, I'm sorry..."
"I'm also confused about this, Sir Cassian."
It seemed that the situation was not as simple as going to another world; he still did not have a clear picture of his current situation.
Those two over there are listening, right?
Cassian, for a moment, looked away toward the couple dressed in martial artist clothing.
Neither of them stood out much, nor did they have extravagant hair colors. In fact, like Cassian, they had ordinary black hair and black eyes.
The only thing that made them stand out—at least to Cassian—was their martial artist clothing.
The two of them weren't looking directly at them and seemed to be minding their own business, but Cassian could hear the man's murmurs with his keen ear, even at this distance.
He gathered that they were talking about the same thing they were, and how they came from a different world than the one his group mentioned.
He also found it curious that the man was the only one talking, but it still seemed like there was a conversation going on.
The important thing was that they could, in fact, hear them somehow from that distance—what Cassian's group was saying—just as Cassian could hear them, and they were only pretending to be minding their own business.
They too were hesitant and were formulating hypotheses about what was happening and what they were doing here.
They seemed just as lost as Cassian, and it didn't seem like he could get anything new out of them. So it was useless to go and ask them.
In fact, they seemed to understand even less than he did, as they wondered what a dimensional portal, rifts, and concepts like another world were.
So that makes six worlds. Actually... now that I think about it... why can I even understand them? Do they speak English?
If he thought about it... in his world, not even the language was unified in his republic. Why could he even understand what people from another world were saying?
"No, that's not important right now. They seem to know some things."
Returning to the important matter and remembering what they had talked about before, Valeriane mentioned something about the "Day of Prophecy," Varnorr, and gods.
Maybe she didn't know why they were here, or what their current situation was, but maybe she did know what had happened in his world before he got here.
oh!
But just as he was about to question her, he saw that from one of the entrances - now that he counted them, there were ten - two women came out almost at the same time. Both were dressed in extravagant clothes.
hmm they must be what they look like. So she would be... Demon? No, those horns are like those of an oriental dragon, aren't they? besides those eyes with slits, if I think she's a dragon woman.... hmmm... and the other one is an exhibitionist? and those ears, some kind of merfolk?.
Faced with the two new members, Cassian tried to relate them to what he knew. One was a woman with dark green, almost black hair and golden eyes.
She was wearing an outfit that seemed to him to be oriental-themed, but more sophisticated and high-class than the couple's, as if her clothes were made of silk and expensive materials.
She looked mostly human, but she had two large horns.
He associated her with either a demoness or something like a semi-human dragon oriental woman, that or some other type of race with horns, Cassian wasn't entirely sure but felt that the second option, mainly because of the way she dress.
Cassian didn't know how to describe her, but she had a kind of ethereal, lofty aura, like the women in the oriental novels of his world, whom they described as fairies.
She entered the room, looked around, and when her eyes landed on him, for some reason she looked down—as if noticing the only piece of clothing Cassian had on: his pajama pants.
That made her eyebrows furrow, but that was all. Without saying a word, she continued scanning the room and, as if nothing was worth mentioning, she simply leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.
The other wore an outfit, to put it mildly, light: a suit that exposed most of her back and sides. Fortunately, it covered the important parts relatively well.
It was like a swimsuit, with only a semi-transparent veil and lots of embellishments. She had sky-blue hair and sea-blue eyes.
What made him think she was some kind of merfolk or something like that were her ears, which were like fins.
He associated her with some aquatic species, perhaps a merfolk or a mermaid. He also noticed that she was very beautiful... although most girl here were, but for some reason, she caught Cassian's attention.
He felt a sense of familiarity from her; he didn't know why, but for some reason, when he saw her, Nora's face came to mind, even though they didn't look alike at all.
Hmm... she's especially lacking in the chest area. She has almost nothing... ugh!
As he thought this, their eyes met . Well, it was partly his fault for staring at her distractedly while thinking nonsense, but when the girl saw him, Cassian felt her eyes sparkle.
That, for some reason, gave him a chill that made him look away immediately.
"ah!! A mermaid from the sea world with Sky blue hair... Sir Cassian, don't look her in the eyes!"
"Huh? I already did...? Is there a problem if I—?"
"Purificatio mentis."
"uh! Lys?..., what did you just throw at me?"
"She has cast a spell of mental purification on you, which is very good for dispelling the enchantments of sirens. It is a very advanced spell... I see that you are very good at this branch of magic. Well, seeing as you are a Sephirion..."
"I'm not very good at combat, but I am good at healing spells, cure spells, and Anti-curse ."
"Oh, so... she had enchanted me? That's why I thought she was pretty...? Uhmm... but she still is. Wait... isn't she coming this way?"
Cassian began to calm down, and although he wasn't entirely sure if the things that were fiction in his world aligned with what surrounded him now, he thought that associating them would make everything simpler.
In fact, it seemed that he had been right about her being a mermaid.
As far as he knew, in some cases, they tend to enchant people, but honestly, besides thinking she was pretty, he didn't feel in love or anything. Well, it's not like he knows what it feels like to be in love.
Rather, when he looked into her eyes, and because of the way she looked at him, he had a bad feeling.
For some reason, the image of Nora overlapped even more with her, and that was far from enchanting him at all.
"Purificatio mentis."
"Hey, Lys, I know you mean well, but I don't think I'm enchanted or anything."
"Yes! How rude, Little angel, I have my enchantment well under control and I haven't used it at all!... Oh, really, they're firm and hard too!"
"Hiii!!!"
"Hey, big guy, why are you running away? I'm not going to eat you... besides, you look silly hiding behind that little angel. You should have at least chosen the woman in armor."
Cassian, who had let his guard down for a moment to complain to Ellys about her continuing to cast spells on him, was surprised when he suddenly felt cold hands on the sides of his waist.
He felt a chill run through his body, and his body reacted immediately. In a quick and agile movement, he hid behind Lys.
Now he knew why she reminded him of Nora: she was another pervert obsessed with muscles. He felt it immediately, and there was no doubt about it.
Her eyes had lit up just like when Nora saw him shirtless, making him deeply wish for something to cover himself with.
In that brief moment, he felt her cold hands rubbing him without any qualms.
It was unmistakably the same feeling as when Nora did it. And although Nora had told him that it was okay for friends to touch each other with that kind of freedom, he didn't like it.
Especially because, when he gave her permission, Nora would even lick him, which he found particularly unpleasant, although according to her it was the norm lately.
And now a stranger, whom he didn't even know, wanted to do the same thing to him. At least Nora had waited until they were friends.
Cassian was impressed by how strange people from another world were... they didn't even wait to become friends before touching each other freely.
It was a culture shock. Even so, the only thing he was sure of was that he didn't want to be licked by a stranger.
"You keep your distance! I don't want to start a conflict!"
And in fact, the woman was after him, but she was stopped by Valeriane, which further increased Cassian's good opinion of her.
On the other hand, Valeriane didn't seem to be playing around. She looked seriously at the mermaid and put her hand on the sword she wore at her hip, immediately raising the tension.