Within his widened field of vision were the white cloth walls unique to the inside of a tent, as well as the blue-haired goddess sitting quietly and gracefully beside him.
At that moment, Ize’s memories from before he had passed out began to resurface in his mind, especially the final flash of dazzling blue, which now overlapped with the figure of the goddess before him.
Suddenly, as if blessed with a moment of enlightenment, Ize understood what had happened.
Back then…
had he been saved by the goddess Artemis?
And now he had even been picked up and brought back?
Although saying he had been “picked up and brought back” might not be entirely appropriate, well…
it did not seem exactly wrong either.
Ize knew the goddess before him.
In fact, he knew her very well, even though he had never met her before this.
During a meteor shower more than ten years ago, Ize had transmigrated into this world in a remote village somewhere on the continent.
He had begun growing up as a newborn baby while retaining the memories of his previous life.
Before transmigrating, aside from sharing a name with a popular character from a certain famous game, Ize had not been particularly outstanding in any way.
One of his few hobbies had been passing the time by watching anime and reading light novels.
Thanks to that, when Ize heard stories from a bard about the underground labyrinth, gods, and adventurers as a child, he quickly figured out where exactly he had transmigrated to.
A world with the Labyrinth City of Orario, gods who had descended from the heavens to live as humans, and adventurers.
What else could it be besides DanMachi?
It was also from that moment on that Ize hoped he could become an adventurer and see this colorful world for himself.
Now, sixteen years had passed.
Ize, who had long yearned for Orario since childhood, had finally convinced his parents to let him leave home and travel there.
After all, in this world, sixteen years old could already be considered adulthood.
It could be said that he had the foundation to stand on his own.
Moreover, ever since he was young, Ize had almost never made his parents worry about anything.
Because of that, the two of them were more or less reassured about his journey, believing that he could take care of himself.
Then events fast-forwarded to Ize “returning the courtesy” with the gray wolf, getting chased by a pack of gray wolves, being picked up by a goddess, and ending up alone with her?
To be honest, the current situation was not just Ize letting his imagination run wild.
Rather, it was indeed the case that…
he was alone with Artemis.
Although Lady Goddess seemed to be spacing out by herself.
However, that did not last very long.
As Ize carefully sat up, Artemis also snapped out of that state and noticed that Ize had awakened.
“Hmm?
You’re awake.
How do you feel?
Is there anywhere that hurts?”
Her beautiful voice gently rang out.
As she asked the usual question one would ask an injured person, a faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
Then, perhaps because she realized the situation was different now, the goddess quickly restrained it.
“Thank you.
There isn’t really anywhere that feels uncomfortable.
Thank you for saving me.”
Aside from his forehead still throbbing faintly…
Ize could understand why his forehead hurt.
After all, it was where he had been injured, so naturally it was the place that hurt the most.
He only hoped it would not leave a scar after it healed.
He still cared quite a lot about his handsome face.
“No need to thank me.
Just remember to be more careful next time.
Don’t go wandering into the depths of the forest again.
It’s very dangerous for an ordinary person to enter the forest alone.
Where is your home?
If it’s on our way, perhaps we can escort you back.”
Unaware of the rich inner drama going on inside Ize’s mind, Artemis gave him a somewhat stern warning before making that suggestion.
“Uh…”
Hearing that, Ize froze.
I came all this way from home, spending almost three or four months on the road, all for the sake of reaching Orario, finding a god, signing a contract, and becoming a magical girl—no, wait, an adventurer.
And now you want to send me back?
For a moment, Ize truly did not know what to say.
“What’s wrong?
Did I say something strange?”
Taking in Ize’s reaction, Artemis asked with some confusion.
“No, it’s not your fault.
It’s just that, on my side…
I left home because I wanted to become an adventurer.
The place I want to go now is…”
“The Labyrinth City, Orario?”
Before he could finish speaking, the goddess had already guessed his destination.
“At the farthest western edge of the continent lies the center of the world, a place where the blessings of the gods can be found…”
Words like that had already been written to death in adventure stories and biographies.
Although the truth was indeed like that, compared to stories, reality was often much harsher.
Many newcomers who came because of its reputation, yet did not possess a god’s Falna, would basically find themselves firmly blocked at the very first step toward their dream.
But then again…
Artemis suddenly looked Ize up and down carefully, then inexplicably nodded to herself in her heart.
A boy of this age really was still at the age where he would be drawn in by the beautiful stories written in books, wasn’t he?
Probably~
“Um…
Lady Goddess, I feel like you may have misunderstood something?”
Noticing Artemis’s gaze just now, Ize tentatively spoke up, wanting to correct her.
“Hmm?
Did I?”
“I think you did.
Your gaze just now was actually quite subtle.”
“Cough, cough.
Wasn’t that just your imagination?”
“…”
Although Ize was confident he had not seen wrong, since the goddess had said that, what could he possibly do?
“You want to go to Orario…” Temporarily ignoring Ize in front of her, Artemis raised one slender, jade-like finger to her chin and entered deep thought.
After a while, the goddess once again placed her gaze on Ize.
However, her eyes seemed somewhat strange.
“Should I say the timing is a coincidence, or should I simply say you’re very lucky?
My Familia has just completed a dragon-hunting commission, and now happens to be the period when we are returning to Orario to rest and reorganize…”
Ize blinked, unable to help feeling a little stunned.
He felt as though he could guess what she was about to say next.
Sure enough, just as Ize expected, Lady Goddess lightly parted her lips.
“If you can obey our arrangements, then it would not be impossible for us to bring you along on the way.”
“R-Really?
Thank you so much, Lady Goddess!”
Immediately, Ize excitedly propped himself up and leaned forward, joy appearing on his face.
Putting aside the fact that traveling with a powerful Familia would greatly reduce the dangers along the way…
The most important point was that Ize did not know the way!
In all fairness, according to the description Ize’s father had given him, although the small village where Ize lived was remote, its distance from Orario was not as far as one might imagine.
Many bards who had traveled through Orario and stopped in the village had said that if one followed a merchant caravan, it generally only took about two months to travel from the village to Orario.
And yet, Ize had nearly doubled that two-month journey!
At first, he had indeed paid valis and traveled with a merchant caravan.
However, half a month after departure, a sudden monster attack caused Ize to get separated from the caravan.
After that came three months of wandering alone, stopping and starting along the way.
Perhaps he had some kind of grudge with the monsters in the forest.
Every time he entered a forest, or even merely passed by one, Ize would inevitably encounter monsters—goblins, kobolds, stone men, and all kinds of other things.
He had not even reached the Dungeon yet, but Ize had already run into all those monsters one by one.
Following the principle of running away if he could not win, there were many times when he would run and run, only to have no damn idea where he had ended up.
Sigh…
just talking about it brought tears to his eyes!