Chapter 23

The next morning rolled around, and I was still pacing around the room given to me, trying to think of how I could stop my old classmates from laying waste to the Elven Islands without becoming the enemy of humanity. It was fortunate that I didn't need sleep, since having my brain clouded with sleepiness at a time like that could have been really bad.

To be fair, I almost did just take a dive out of the nearest window and start flying as fast as I could a few times, but I managed to control myself. There was no point going into this with no plan, and I wouldn't have control over anything that had already happened. In short, I was in need of more information.

Logically, the best way to get that information would have been to join the backup group and travel there with them, but there was a sense of urgency in all of this. If everyone was really as strong as Annabelle made them out to be, then I had no time to be doing all of that. By the time the second unit gets there, the entire place would be gone.

Which would mean my other choice, flying there as fast as possible, was the only one to take.

I mean, it certainly seemed like the right answer to me. It wasn't like I was going to lose anything by just disappearing, and I would probably make it on time if nothing had gone down yet.

The only issue with that plan is what I'd do after I get there.

It was clear that these were my old schoolmates, and that they were out there to wreak havoc at the emperor's command. Without knowing their true intentions, I can hardly justify making enemies of everyone that I used to know, for the sake of a country that I hardly had any connection to.

That's when it hit me.

Nobody would know that it was me. Nobody even knew me in this world. Sure, Annabelle might have had an idea, but even she wouldn't be able to pinpoint who I was just based off of our conversation from the night before. I was free to do whatever I wanted to.

A smile had crept its way onto my face. I couldn't help but feel good about how well everything I'd done came together.

A knock at my door scared me enough to make me jump. It was Annabelle.

"Um... Are you awake?" Her voice came through the door pretty clearly. I was glad I didn't start cackling like a crazy person, because that for sure would have made it through both that door and probably the walls.

"Y-yeah. What do you need?"

"I'm just here to tell you that the baths were just cleaned, and that they're open now. These are only open to our group, and nobody seems to be awake at this hour just yet, so you wouldn't need to worry about anyone barging in on you."

"Ah, Thank you. I'll head on over there then." I said, then realized that I had no clue how to navigate this labyrinth they call the top floors of the Academy. "Or, on second thought, can you show me the way there?"

I heard Annabelle giggle through the door. What was it made of, literal paper?

"I will do just that, then."

With Annabelle's help, I managed to find my way to the baths. Apparently, there was one of these on every floor save the ones dedicated to the Academy. The one on this floor was reserved for only the Otherworlders.

As an American kid who'd hardly ever been out of his home country, taking a bath in such an open place was completely alien to me. Sure, my family might have had more than an abundance of money that would have allowed for plenty of travel and such, but I had mostly isolated myself from that and lived a normal highschool life... or so I'd like to think. It wasn't like I knew what the standards for "normal" were anyway.

But, me also being someone who'd wasted a huge chunk of his life watching various TV shows and anime, I'd be a disappointment to myself if I didn't know the proper way to go about taking a bath in a public bathhouse.

Well, not exactly public in this case, but my point stands. I'm a disappointingly large nerd.

Standing before the wall-length mirror naked, I finally got a good look at my own body in the months that I'd been living in it. I noticed that some things that I honestly was surprised that I didn't find before.

First, I noticed that I was, in fact, not flat as a board. But that's besides the point.

I realized that my hair itself was not actually a dull green, but instead completely silver, and seemed to radiate a slight green glow. Under normal circumstances, I don't think anybody could have noticed such a detail, but standing there and really paying real attention to my own reflection let me pick out just that.

I turned my head to make sure nobody else was in the room, and summoned my "wings."

I call them wings because that's what they looked like, but really they weren't what allowed me to fly, since I could just as easily take off into the sky without them. As the six blade-shaped prisms materialized, starting from their base hovering around the small of my back, I noticed that the green glow to my hair drained out of my hair in a similar fashion, like it was bleeding out from the roots to the tips and then into my wings.

Upon closer inspection, these wings were the same deal with my hair. They looked to be completely transparent, almost like glass, but emitted a very subtle green glow. Over time, these wings had grown larger, and there were now six of them. I guessed it had something to do with how I was properly supplying myself with proper nutrience and my health was noticeably better than when I first woke up, but there had to be something else working behind the scenes. Each of the wings were about as long as the blade of a broadsword, which is what I usually end up comparing them to due to their shape.

I reached over and tapped one of the wings, and an odd feeling traveled up it and into the nerves in my back. It wasn't like a normal sense of "touch," per se, but I could definitely feel the wings somehow.

Over my hours of experimentation, I found out that these "wings" could actually be used as weapons. The edges of each wing were sharp enough to cut clean through just about anything I'd tried it on, and I could make the wings detach and fly around at will. It was like having my own collection of projectiles, swords, and other sharp, pointy objects, all on my back. I guess that's another reason why I compare them to swords. Plus, they were much more stylish than any other sharp or pointy weapon.

The sound of the sliding door to the bath opening reached my ears, and I immediately retracted my wings. My hair regained its green sheen, and I sat down to wash myself before getting in the bath itself.

Beside me, Annabelle sat down and did the same.

For a second, I almost lost composure. I mean, this was Annabelle, Zeik's girlfriend. Even if she wasn't in her original body, I had no business seeing her naked body.

Then I realized that I was supposed to be a girl in this world, and acting flustered probably wouldn't go too well for me, especially with all the dumb hints that I keep dropping about my identity.

"Would you like some help washing your back?"

WHY did I not expect that to be coming?

I mean, it's not like it happens literally EVERY time someone takes a bath in anime. Are people just suddenly a thousand times more polite in bathhouses or something?

Then I considered Annabelle's fixation on being a maid throughout our conversation the night before, and it made a lot more sense. Of course, that does not mean that I was okay with it.

"No, I'm fine." I rejected the offer swiftly. "I appreciate it, but I don't like it when others touch me."

That second part wasn't exactly a lie. I just hoped that she took it seriously.

"Oh, I see..." She looked sad, almost.

I wanted to hit myself. Why did I have to notice that? Now I felt obligated to do something.

"Actually, fine." I said, and her eyes lit up instantly. "But in return I'll wash yours."

Why was I like this? Why couldn't I have just turned a blind eye and continued washing myself?

Annabelle moved her stool over, behind me, and picked up the glass container filled with body wash at the station where I was. She poured a generous amount of it into her hands, and set the container down to the side

It honestly surprised me to see how modern everything in the Academy/Castle building was. I would never have expected a place set in the medieval times, no matter how high-class, to have luxuries comparable to the 21st century. There must have been some influence from the Otherworlders, I was sure of it.

Annabelle moved to spread the soap onto my back, but she recoiled the moment she touched me, letting out a small, surprised noise.

"What's wrong?" I turned my head to see Annabelle, her blonde hair tied up in 2 balls, with soap all over her hands and her blue eyes wide. With her pale complexion, it looked like she had just seen a legitimate ghost.

"You're... Cold."

I ran my own hand up the opposite arm, and it felt perfectly normal.

"Cold?" I asked. "I don't feel all too cold though?"

"But you're ice cold!" She insisted. "like... like...?"

"A corpse?" That came out of my mouth before I could even process it. "Wait, sorry, bad analogy."

Annabelle looked actually horrified, and I felt pretty bad.

"Let's just stick with washing ourselves?" I suggested. Annabelle nodded, and moved back silently.

That was something I didn't realize. I had no way of telling how I felt to a normal person, and now I knew. Apparently, I was deathly cold to the touch. That's something I'd have to keep in mind, then.

Annabelle stayed silent for the rest of the time we were in there together, and I was a little thankful for that. I didn't want to strike up a friendly conversation knowing what I planned to do.

Though, was it really that scary to touch someone who's ice cold? I could notice Annabelle's quaking from the other side of the bath. There was probably something behind that one, too. And I was better off not digging into it, at least for now.

After seeing her like that, I started having second thoughts. Yea, nobody would know that it was me if I decided to fight against them, but what about me? Would I be able to just shrug off the guilt of betraying these people? They were seeking war, after all. Worst-case scenario, I'd have to kill some of them. Did I really have the resolve to go and do that, and then not be plagued with guilt afterwards?

Doubt started to cloud my thinking process, so I just shut the line of thought down. I'll have to rethink my line of action again, but not at that moment.

I left the baths before Annabelle, and headed back to my room. I had been wearing just one set of clothing ever since I had made them myself, which I was really proud of. I washed them daily, of course. Though I doubt there was much need for it, since my skin didn't produce sweat, oils, or any other nasty human skin substances. I never felt like making any more clothes after the first time, so I just took care of the one outfit that I did make. The downside to this was that I stood out quite a bit, considering I based them off of modern clothes. There wasn't really helping it, I found the clothing sold in stores both expensive and uncomfortable.

Now that I thought of it, nobody really questioned my clothing. I'd have expected Annabelle to at least point out that I was wearing something based off of her world. Then again, every Otherworlder wore modern-looking clothing, so she might have just been so used to it that she didn't notice.

I decided that coming to such a conclusion was a naive and lazy way to think, so I pondered the question hard. However, I came to no conclusions at all, and only snapped out of it because I turned a corner and ran into someone.

"Ah! Sorry, are you alright?" I personally hadn't felt any pain, but the person in front of me was on the ground, rubbing the back of their head. Did they fall backwards, and hit their head on the floor?

I helped the guy up. He stood a full foot higher than me, and his formal attire combined with his armful of towels that was now scattered across the floor led me to believe that he was a servant at this castle. His dark brown hair had quite a few gray strands, and the creases on his face were obviously not from worry or anger. At the very least, he didn't look like he was straight out of college.

"I'm fine, thank you." He said, bending over to pick up the towels. "I'll have to return and re-wash these, then."

"Ah... Sorry." I apologized. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Worry not, it is but the duty of a servant." The old man paused for a moment, taking a close look at me. "Might you be the new guest that arrived yesterday?"

"That would be me, yep."

"The emperor has sent for you. I was on my way to find you after I delivered these towels to the baths, but this has saved me the trouble of doing so. My thanks."

"Okay, thanks." I said.

The old man turned and went back the way he came, presumably to grab more towels. I tried to think of the way back to the emperor's throne room, which wasn't too hard since I had just walked from there the day before. I retraced my path from the day before after reaching my room, and sure enough, I found myself at the massive doors to the throne room.

I'd be lying if I said I knew how to act before an emperor, but he saved me the trouble of thinking by getting up off his throne and walking over to welcome me himself. Well, walking over half way, at least. I still had to enter the room first.

"Hello there! We meet again, traveler."

"I'm not exactly a traveler... Whatever floats your boat, I guess."

"Have you made your decision?"

"I had a choice?" I then decided being sarcastic wasn't going to cut it in front of the ruler of all of humanity. "I mean, no, not really."

"Well that's a shame. They're setting out to the Elven Islands tomorrow, so you won't have too much time to decide."

I paused for a second. They were heading out TOMORROW? Nobody told me about this. Did he just pull that out of thin air without telling the people he'd be sending out first?

Before I could say anything, The sound of someone rushing into the room behind me was so perfectly timed, I almost asked if this was staged.

"Harris Brown, reporting!"

Harris Brown? Wasn't he that one quiet kid who always got messed with back on the other side? With him now having a decently well-built frame instead of his old, short, stick-like body, red hair and eyes, and his freckles and glasses gone, I'd almost have expected him to be a popular dude. Too bad everyone knew who he was on the other side. I personally found him kind of annoying to talk to. He was one of those people who knew too much and had no sense of humor, so he just fact-checks jokes for a living. Probably why he got singled out so much.

"Just in time!" This emperor seemed to be a really enthusiastic character, and it kind of creeped me out. "Here, Harris. Let me introduce you to a new member of your team."

Ah, so if I didn't decide, he'd just decide for me. Understandable.

Well, if that was the case, then I really didn't have to worry about going there myself in the dead of night anymore. I'll just go with them. That was easy enough.

"My name's Aris." I stuck to the name I had picked previously. "I look forward to working with you."

Hey, If I was going to get dragged into it, might aswell give a good first impression.

"Aris?" Harris's eyes moved from my head to my feet, up and down like a scanner. "I see... Welcome to the team. We'll have high expectations for you, so don't think you'll get by easily."

Ah, I was irritated.

I completely forgot how unbearable this Harris guy was. Of course, if he was the leader of the group here like they were suggesting, and he also gained good looks on top of it, a kid like him would grow a massive ego. I looked around the room. If I punched him right then and there, would those guards come after me? I decided not to risk it. I also didn't know what Harris was capable of. It wouldn't have been wise to make an enemy of someone who could very well be the strongest person there.

"Of course." I said with a forced smile. "I'll be sure to not disappoint."

Now that I'd been dragged into this, I didn't really need to make any decisions anytime soon. Everything will come to me, given time.

Right as I thought that, I heard two more pairs of footsteps behind me, and in came a girl with light blue hair, dragging a boy with black hair that had darker blue strands running through it. She looked excited, her blue eyes wide and beaming while the boy following her seemed like he wanted absolutely none of it. He and I locked eyes for a moment, and I felt a strange chill run down my back.

"Your Majesty!" She practically yelled. "I've found him!"

"Who exactly have you found, Juni?" The emperor asked her, much like a parent would ask a toddler bringing them a cool rock.

"The answer to all our problems! The one who'll lead the Otherworlders in the expedition to the Demons' Castle!"

The boy behind her looked at me as if asking for help.

"Introduce yourself, Zeik." She turned and said to him.

My eyes snapped towards the boy she was talking about. Black hair, blue eyes, pale skin and not at all well-built. In fact, I'd almost say that I was in better shape than his, and well... I had no clue where my body even came from. He looked confused, out of place, and his eyes were begging to be anywhere but there.

This was Zeik...? Surely not.