Ch 3: The Girl of Flame

---This Chapter is written by Void-King---

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"Who are you? Are you here to kill me too?" asked the girl with red hair tied into twin tails.

"No, I'm not here to kill you," Kurumi replied, looking at Fuyu. Fuyu, understanding what Kurumi meant, answered.

"Master, I'm sorry, but I also don't know the answer. Why is that girl here? I never opened the gate until now," Fuyu replied.

"I see. Sorry for doubting you," Kurumi said as she looked at the girl who was chained.

"Do you want to be free?" Kurumi asked, and the girl only nodded in response.

Kurumi used her pistol to break the ice chain that was binding the girl. Once she shot the chains, they broke and released the girl.

When she walked over to where the girl had fallen, she noticed that the chain had drained away the girl's magic powers, making her unable to escape.

"Are you okay?" Kurumi asked.

"I'm fine. Thank you for freeing me," the girl replied.

"Hey, what's your name? And where are you from? And how did you end up here?" Kurumi asked.

"My name is Kotori. I don't know where I came from. All I remember is that I fought a guy with white hair, and the next thing I know, I'm here," the girl replied.

"I see. Do you want to come with me to see the outside world?" Kurumi asked, and Kotori only nodded in response to her words.

***

Once they were outside, Kurumi could see that Kotori was uncomfortable.

"Is the weather not to your liking?" Kurumi asked, and Kotori nodded in response.

"I hate the cold," she replied.

After that, the two went on a journey to find a place to stay. Not long after, they found a small abandoned city in the middle of this frozen land.

"This place looks abandoned. Let's rest here for a while since the sun is starting to set," Kurumi said.

They found a house where they could stay, and to their surprise, there were a few clothes in good condition inside. Kurumi didn't expect to find clothes in the house.

Upon close inspection, she noticed that the clothes were still in good condition due to being maintained by magic.

Kurumi took a few clothes and gave some of them to Kotori, who was still wearing the clothes she had on when Kurumi found her in the dungeon.

"Here, take these clothes. They can also help with the cold," Kurumi said.

"Thank you," Kotori said.

While Kotori was changing her clothes, Kurumi decided to cook food for the two of them.

She gathered some wild vegetables that only grew in cold places, and they also managed to obtain some bear meat while they were looking for a town.

***

After Kotori finished changing her clothes, she went back to where Kurumi was, and the two started to eat and talk.

Kurumi asked about what Kotori remembered, and all she said was that she was trying to protect someone. She also mentioned that there were others like her, but she couldn't recall any specific details.

"I see. You have had a hard life. I understand your pain," Kurumi said.

"How about you? What is your life story?"

"Well, I don't think it's interesting, but are you sure you want to know?"

Kotori nodded, and Kurumi proceeded to tell her what had happened in her life. She shared the story of the day she and her classmates were summoned, the day she fell in love with her classmates, and the day she died because she tried to save her belove and the time when she was resurrected by an Angel Called Zafkiel.

After she finished her story, she saw that Kotori was crying.

"Ara... Why are you crying?" she asked.

"*Sob*... Because you... *Sob*... have been through... *sob*... a lot," Kotori replied.

"I'm fine. It's all in the past, and I'm alive. I don't want to die until I manage to get back to his side," she said while comforting the crying girl.

After they finished eating, the two went to sleep. Since Fuyu was there, Kurumi asked Fuyu to wake her up if there were monsters or other people approaching their location.

***

The two slept on the same bed since there was only one bed in the house. While Kotori had already fallen into slumber, Kurumi was still looking at her.

'Why do I feel like I know you somehow, and why does your story feel familiar?' was on her mind as she looked at Kotori one more time before going to sleep.

She knew that everything would be answered in due time.

***

Unknown to Kurumi, she was being watched by three individuals on a realm that no one could reach except for a few chosen individuals.

"Looks like everything is going according to the plan. She has already found Kotori. All she needs to do now is find the others," a person with silver-blueish hair said.

"Will you return their memories back?" a girl with black hair asked.

"Yes... it's the only way I can help fix her world and make up for my mistake," the silver-haired individual replied.

"Still, she's a version of me, so go easy on her. And I understand that you feel guilty for letting that artifact from the Cardinal World be unleashed in the lower realm," the girl with black hair said.

"Well, you two should also know that there's a version of myself there, so I'm sure she would be able to help Hajime-kun and you, Kurumi," the silver-haired person responded.

"Hah... well, let's just watch what will happen. And I'm still sad that you don't have a variant in that universe, Rimuru," the girl with black hair remarked.

"Well, it is what it is. Every universe is unique in its own way, and not every universe has a 'me'," Rimuru replied.

After that, the three continued to watch what would happen to the universe they were observing, hoping to fix it.

---End---

***

{A/N: So I decided to update this since it's been a Loong time since I Came up with something for this Fan fiction... anyway I hope you guys like it haha}