Waking Up
Ryuji's eyes were still adjusting to the brightness of the daylight and squinted. Images slowly take shape and his vision started to clear. He looked to the direction of the voice and saw a wolf and an open doorway. "R-Raiji?" He instinctively called out .
"Yes master!" Raiji responded and his tail wagged with vigor.
The wolf is quite bigger in size and the fur is quite fluffier and cleaner. The wolf has a brown and grey coat which resembles more of a husky or a malamute. But the greatest difference is the huge size of the wolf, he seemed to have grown bigger and if he were to compare it, he felt the wolf was a very big, large dog. 'Was he always this big?' Ryuji asked himself.
Ryuji reached out his hand in curiosity.
Raiji sniffed his hand and brushed his head against his master's palm while his tail wagged excitedly. It was comforting to know that their master is alive.
"So soft…" Ryuji muttered. All these decades of living, he never had given pets to a dog or a cat, but now he is petting one and it's a wolf to boot. A big wolf gets some pets and acts like a loyal dog. He got reminded of that loyal shiba inu and wondered if that dog acted like that at least once.
"Oni-san!" A crackling voice cried.
Ryuji looked at the doorway and saw a black-haired ten-year-old child bursting in tears. The child rushed to him and cried uncontrollably. The child was followed by a big brown wolf. The wolf was not as big as Raiji but if he would compare it to normal wolves or how they look before. They are kind of bigger.
"T-T-Takehiko? F-Fuji?" Ryuji stuttered as he called their names in surprise.
"Oni-san!!!" The child cried harder. Takehiko resembled a child who got bullied for some reason.
"Master!" Fuji whimpered as if he was crying and at the same time relieved.
Then he heard a woman's voice from afar. If he could guess somewhere beyond the doorway. "Hoho… It seems I am correct, my dear."
"Gaaaahhhh… I can never go against you." A husky low voice sulkily replied.
"Let's leave them for now dear. After all, the hyeongje seemed to have not seen each other for a while." The female replied then several footsteps were heard moving away from the doorway.
'Wait! Did someone say 'hyeongje'?' Ryuji thought to himself while his brother cried rivers in front of him. He wanted to first know what was going on, but he needed to calm this child first.
***
It took about thirty minutes and two glasses of water to calm the child who seemed to have bottled up his emotions while he was knocked out cold. The wolves were beside the almost silver slime in between the wolves. They looked very cute at that moment. If only he had a smartphone, he would have taken a picture of that moment and one picture most likely would not suffice.
Ryuji did think Pyun-Pyun kicked the bucket after melting when the defenses had broken down, but everything happened so fast that the enemy damaged several people at that time that he was not able to react properly. Ryuji realized that the slime carries his whole inventory, especially the divine items entrusted to him like the
Ryuji looked toward the sniffing elf child. He is honestly glad that his brother is alive. It was an unfamiliar scene, but he had a familiar feeling. For a moment, he felt that they had switched places, he had been lying unconscious on the bed for a while as if he were the patient and his brother was at his side. Back then, it was Takehiko that was the one that was sick, and he was the one beside the patient at that time. Ryuji smiled as he comforted himself. He felt as if the pain of losing his brother was nonexistent for a moment, but he knows it did happen in his previous life. Because if it did not, they both would not be here in this magical world. Or maybe this is all just a vivid dream. But regardless of if this is a dream or not, he felt happy.
"Pfft… I remember the last time you cried so hard like this." Ryuji snickered. "You cried like the time you got lost in the amusement park?"
Takehiko was beet red in embarrassment. "Nii-san!" He cried out to protest. He felt his brother will blabber things from their previous life. Embarrassing things especially in front of other individuals. Takehiko took a quick glance at the wolves and the slime who are quietly lounging at the side.
"By the way, where are we?" Ryuji asked as he looked around. He was observing the place. It looked like a human house but the doorway seemed a bit bigger. There was less dust, but he could see the windows are wood and there were only simple things inside. A bed, table, chair, some pots, and pans. It feels familiar as if he were inside a medieval home that he saw from some of the fantasy games he played back in Japan.
"We are at the South Ridge Settlement. This is where Princess Elyara brought us."
"… Who is that?" Ryuji dumbfoundedly asked. He blamed himself for being out for several days. He needs to pick up information fast, since they seemed to be in some kind of town area.
"The princess of elves. I can't believe she is alive all this time." Takehiko smiled.
Ryuji paused for a moment. Maybe he can meet her later since they are all in the same place for now. As for the information, his brother is ok, and his familiars are ok for now. "How about your team? How are they?" Ryuji probed.
"They are doing fine… except for Galvalen. Somehow the whole experience affected him." Takehiko replied.
"That's good to hear." Ryuji sighed. Now he can relax and possibly contact the gods. He had done the task. Everything that happened was too abrupt and spontaneous, which does not fit to his working style or even his gaming style in his previous life. As much as possible he would like to avoid future violence in this life. Ryuji did wonder, how did the other isekai protagonists fare so well in fighting, whereas it's like life or death to him when he had experienced it firsthand. Since his brother is here, it would be best to plan their next step or something because he felt this is not over which made him frown for a moment.
"Why are you asking about them, Nii-san?" Takehiko curiously asked after seeing him frown. He wondered why his brother was asking about his companions. If he remembered it right, they weren't particularly good to him from the first meeting. He had to explain things to them for the past three days. Especially to Alistair and Prince Elan who had some sort of disgusted face when he said that his brother was a goblin.
"Well… I have this thing called a quest." Ryuji spoke in Nihongo and pointed up in the sky nonchalantly. He did contemplate a bit about telling the whole ordeal or whatever the gist of his misadventures to Takehiko. He felt there was no harm done if he told him the truth, but he simplified it in a single sentence. The gods did not tell him to keep his mouth shut. Besides, this is Takehiko, his brother. They have grown up for several years together and there are no problems telling him these things because the concept of having a quest in another world is not new to both of them.
"Really? Like an RPG? You mean like you have system?" Takehiko's eyes grew wide. When Takehiko arrived in Zariya, he was just told to live his life free of pain by the gods. How come he did not receive anything resembled like this? He could hear a voice whenever he learned something, but he never had things to do. That is why he only toured the forest and then holed up in Valereth because he needed to figure things out. He wondered if his brother had some sort of story to follow like the games they played before.
"No. Aside from that system log when you learn a skill, I don't have a system like in the novels." Ryuji shook his head.
"Oh. But can I join?" Takehiko was excited. 'Finally, some proper motivation to set out and see this world.' He exclaimed in his thoughts, rejoicing at the fact that there are concepts like quests in this world. Should they slay something? Collect a rare herb or two? Protect the helpless innocents? Takehiko felt excited as these thoughts flooded his imagination. He felt that the adventure should be unique and epic.