Drifted Into a Reversed World ~ The One Method for Me, a Japanese Guy, to Survive in a World Where Men and Fertility Are Scarce ~ - 3

Chapter 3: Encounter

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Sota woke up. Or rather, it seemed he had fallen fast asleep just like that.

“Nnngh…!! Phew…!! My body is as stiff as a board…”

He stretched broadly to work out the knots throughout his body. Satisfying pops erupted from his frame, and with his awakening, it felt as though the blood flowing within him began to circulate through his entire body. He had completely forgotten to keep watch over the fire, but it appeared to have gone out on its own. After briefly chiding himself for his carelessness, Sota’s attention was already elsewhere.

“…She’s sleeping.”

The beautiful woman with golden hair was breathing in a steady, rhythmic cadence. When he had rescued her yesterday, she had been drenched in sweat and tossed about by a high fever, far from having a peaceful sleep, but her condition seemed to have stabilized. He tested the heat by placing a hand on her forehead; the fever appeared to be gone.

While he was worried about her injuries, there was nothing for it but to monitor her progress and have her rest quietly. For now, he could breathe a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness…”

Sota let out a long breath of relief and once he felt at ease, hunger followed. Rubbing his stomach as it began to growl, he pulled a mess tin and a small bag of rice from his rucksack. This was the extent of his food supplies, since he had intended to buy meat and fish locally during his camp. But he figured it would be fine to eat it here.

He had to get the injured beauty to eat something as well. Sota decided to head to the nearby stream to gather water to make porridge, so he picked up the mess tin and a plastic bottle and quietly slipped out of the hollow. He moved stealthily, step by step, so as not to wake the woman.

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The river flowing through this forest was astonishingly pure. The riverbed was visible through the water, and the surface, which caught and reflected the dappled sunlight, was so beautiful it made him sigh. The water was so transparent that he could easily spot schools of fish swimming in the distance. They were plump and heavy, boasting scales that practically shimmered. If he were to salt-grill one and tuck in, the white rice would surely never stop.

“Still, they don’t really look like sweetfish or rainbow trout… They’re similar, but they’re definitely different from the river fish I know.”

Grumbling to himself, he gathered water into the bottle and the mess tin. After rinsing his mouth with the river water, he swished a bit around and swallowed it. This water was drinkable… in fact, it was delicious. It was much tastier than Tokyo tap water. Sota could easily accept the idea that the fish and plants grew so lush precisely because of this pure water.

“Better head back…”

He stood up sluggishly and began walking back toward the hollow with slow movements.

After all, he had all the time in the world. Sota walked leisurely, picking up several suitable branches along the way, thinking he might fashion a fishing rod. And then, it was when he returned to the hollow…

“…Huh?”

Sota noticed that the sleeping bag was empty.

(Where on earth did the golden beauty go… )

Just as Sota was about to look around, it happened.

“Whoa!?”

The world suddenly went wild. An instant later, a significant impact surged through his back. As a side note, he also hit his head. Tears welled in the corners of Sota’s eyes—

“Don’t move.”

–and then, a woman’s voice, drifting with an intoxicating allure, struck his eardrums. It was a low voice, yet it possessed a core of distinct femininity, Sota thought. When he opened his eyes, the beauty’s face filled his vision. Her exquisite, snow-white skin was fine-grained. Her eyelashes were so long they seemed to spill over, curving sharply upward, and the deep blue eyes held within were like jewels. Her moist lips were trembling, however, and at the same time, her eyes began to shake with astonishment.

“A… A man…!?”

The beauty… Firis, made no attempt to hide her shock.

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When she woke up, she realized she had been carried to a hollow somewhere. Firis felt relieved for the time being that she was neither in a prison cell nor beneath a gravestone.

It seemed someone had also treated her wounds. When she had crawled out of the river, her body had been terrifyingly cold, but now she felt perfectly fine.

“I was saved…?”

To be honest, Firis had been certain she was going to die. Even if she survived, she figured she would eventually be found by Imperial soldiers or die in a ditch because she couldn’t treat her wounds. Therefore, Firis could not help but recognize how precious it was to feel the warm tide of blood flowing within her own body. Tracing a star across her chest, she offered a prayer of thanks to the God and spirits she worshipped.

“…Still, this is strange, to say the least…”

Muttering to herself, Firis checked the feel of the sleeping bag. The smooth texture she had never felt before (it was synthetic fiber) was warm, as if it refused to let her heat escape. The rucksack placed right nearby also looked like a completely unfamiliar object to her.

“It is certainly not Kingdom equipment… I should be on my guard.”

At the very least, she could not conclude that they were an ally. While it pained her to think this of her savior, there was a high possibility at this stage that they had treated her wounds simply because they wanted to capture Firis alive. Just as Firis heightened her alertness slightly, that vibrated against her eardrums.

(Someone is coming.)

The sound of treading on young grass and fallen branches. There was no sign of caution whatsoever. A trained, first-rate warrior would walk while making as little noise as possible, but…

Firis hid herself near the entrance of the hollow… in a slight depression. From there, she would be in a blind spot for anyone entering the hollow.

“…”

She held her breath and waited for the moment. Even if it wasn’t the master of this hollow, there was a possibility it could be an Imperial soldier who had come looking for Firis. One could never be too careful. She was already prepared to neutralize the target.

And then, it arrived.

“…Huh?”

The relaxed voice showed no sign of alertness. The moment she heard that voice, Firis moved. She lunged from the depression like a flash of lightning and pinned the “man” down with lightning speed. She tripped him, straddled him to keep him down, and pressed the edge of her hand against his throat with the intent to kill at a moment’s notice.

“Don’t move.”

Having said that much, Firis realized. Unlike a woman, he had a rugged build. There were no breasts. Instead, there was a slightly thick chest, and “he” was looking at Firis with tears welling in the corners of his eyes.

Thump. 

Firis’s heart began to beat like a frantic bell. Jet-black hair and jet-black eyes were the symbols of beauty. An impossibly “beautiful” “man” was pinned beneath her.

(A man!? It’s a man!! …Why is there a man in a place like this!?)

The birth rate for males was one-thousandth that of females. If it were a young, healthy man, that ratio dropped even more significantly. Furthermore, such men were typically raised in the capitals where kings and emperors resided in any nation. There was no way such a beautiful man could be in the middle of a forest like this. As Firis’s thoughts swirled deep enough to lose herself….

“U-Um… if you don’t mind, I’d like you to get off me…”

A bit hesitantly, the man—Sota—raised a hand and spoke.

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