As the saying goes, “Those who offer favors without reason are either thieves or scoundrels.”
Tyrogue’s intentions were written all over its face.
That was how Edward met it…
One day, he saw a group of Machop—well, actually, just three of them, including one Shinny one—ganging up on a Tyrogue.
Edward, seeing this injustice, drove the Machop away…
That’s right, this body was ridiculously strong, though he didn’t know what was wrong with it.
Since then, Tyrogue would constantly come to him to learn from his techniques.
After all, Edward had nothing to do all day.
He would occasionally do push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, and other bodyweight exercises, ostensibly to work out but actually just to kill time, and Tyrogue happened to see it.
To a naive little bumpkin like Tyrogue, this was nothing short of miraculous.
So much so that it had been coming more and more frequently lately.
“Baru~” Tyrogue turned its head away, but reached out to Edward, opening three fingers to reveal a bright red apple.
The apple was plump and bright, the highest quality one it had.
Edward: “… Are you a tsundere? Or do you have the Justified ability? Does bribing me make you feel ashamed? It’s just a measly apple.”
“Fine, since you want to train, let’s do it together.”
Edward took it, wiped it on his clothes—which had miraculously shrunk with him but were now full of holes—and took a bite.
Crunch~ It was indeed sweet and juicy.
Then, the daily warm-up began.
First, a five-kilometer swim in the lake!
At first, Tyrogue could barely keep up, but it soon disappeared from sight.
However, Edward knew that no matter how long it took, it would definitely finish.
Next was one thousand push-ups!
Then one thousand squats!
Finally, ten thousand jump ropes!
And lastly!
Ten rounds of wrestling.
After the whole set, Tyrogue was half-dead.
However, it was a Fighting-type Pokémon with the Guts ability, after all.
It managed to persist.
[Species: Tyrogue.]
[Ability: Guts.]
[Moves: Tackle, Helping Hand, Focus Energy, Foresight.]
[Affection: 89.]
Huff~ Huff~
Edward’s body had become strange.
It seemed to have become somewhat idealistic.
He didn’t know if he was panting because he was truly tired, or because he felt he should be tired, so his body gave him some feedback out of courtesy…
Regardless, after panting symbolically a couple of times, he caught his breath.
Besides, as someone aspiring to be a Trainer, he didn’t dwell on it.
What was important was this interface.
It had popped up suddenly after his affection with Tyrogue reached 60.
After testing, it seemed only he could see it.
Edward didn’t make a fuss.
There had already been enough absurd things, so a little more didn’t matter.
Besides, whether he was an NPC or a transmigrator, having a system was normal, right?
After a month of ups and downs, his heart was now as clear as ice, unmoved even if the sky fell.
“Huh? Where is this?”
A person?!
Someone?!
Was that a person speaking?!!
It was a bolt from the blue, startling Edward, who had been so calm, right out of his skin.
His hair stood on end as he looked toward the direction of the voice.
He saw a cute—ahem, delicious—little girl standing there with short white hair and big blue eyes.
Premature gray hair?
Oh, this is a 2D world.
Any hair color is not strange.
“Who are you? Where is this?” the little girl asked again.
Edward was glad he could understand her language.
He replied, “Who are you?”
It was a very strange feeling.
He clearly intended to speak Chinese, but the words turned into the same language as the other person’s.
And he could be certain it wasn’t Chinese, Japanese, or English—any of the three languages he knew.
“I, I’m Lisanna, Lisanna Strauss, a Mage of Fairy Tail.”
Seeing that Edward looked good, or perhaps because they were similar in age, the little girl didn’t seem shy and spoke naturally.
Edward, on the other hand, was stunned.
Lisanna…
He knew Serena, but Lisanna?
And Fairy Tail…
It also sounded familiar…
Was it a nickname for some Fairy-type Gym?
And what the heck was a Mage?
“My name is Edward. May I ask how you got here? Are you a Trainer on a journey? Did you bring any Pokémon? Do you have any extra Poké Balls?”
She was a little girl, but she must be over ten, the age to go on adventures.
Lisanna:???
Facing Edward’s machine-gun-like barrage of questions, Lisanna was completely confused.
She couldn’t understand most of the terms.
“I, I just came to play in the guild’s backyard and walked here without realizing it.”
“Then I saw a lot of monsters I’d never seen before.”
“As for what a Trainer, Pokémon, or Poké Ball is, I don’t know. I’m just a Mage.”
“Mage? What’s that?” Edward, with his preconceived notions, tilted his head.
“You don’t know what a Mage is?!” Lisanna looked at Edward with an absurd expression, as if he were some alien species…
which he actually seemed to be.
“I don’t… wait, I think I know a little.”
Snap!
A bolt of lightning flashed through Edward’s mind.
Dead memories suddenly attacked him.
No.
He had only transmigrated for a month.
Those memories were alive and well!
In the month before Edward transmigrated, while looking for July new anime, he clicked on two episodes of “Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest.”
But because of the poor, low-quality slideshow-like animation, and because it was a sequel to an old, long-running series, he didn’t want to catch up, so he just clicked the X.
But because of the browsing history, big data later pushed a few short videos to him on TikTok.
So, in the early hours of that morning, the sleepless Edward watched it hastily.
Although he watched it at double speed and it was just a simplified summary, because it wasn’t that long ago, so…
Lisanna, Fairy Tail, Mage…
Could this be…
“Is this the Kingdom of Fiore?” Edward even remembered the name of the country in the story.
“Yeah!” The white-haired little girl nodded heavily with righteous confidence.
“There’s a girl… named Erza in your guild, right?” Edward’s expression became increasingly strange.
“That’s right! That’s right! What are you talking about? You know it quite well!” Lisanna laughed carelessly.
Holy crap?!
What kind of situation is this?!
While some of Edward’s confusion was resolved, new questions arose.
No wonder this kid didn’t even know what a Pokémon was.
She shouldn’t have known!
So she transmigrated too?
Come to think of it, she seemed to have transmigrated in the original work.
So, does she have a constitution prone to transmigration?
Or…
“Where did you come from? Can you take me out? I think I’m a bit lost.”
Afraid of scaring the little girl, Edward suppressed his excitement and tried to speak as calmly as a creepy old uncle.
He forgot that his own appearance was also that of a cute little creature.
“I just walked over from that way. Honestly, kids shouldn’t run around alone. Come on, big sister will take you home.”
As she spoke, Lisanna walked over with her short legs, taking big strides.
Then, before Edward could react, her soft little hand grabbed his.
“Wait, who are you calling ‘big sister’!”
Edward, of course, wouldn’t be shy just because he was holding a little girl’s hand.
Even though he was single for life in his past life, he couldn’t back down on some things.
Especially that tone—what was that about?
Treating him like a kid!
“No matter how you look at it, I’m older.” Lisanna looked down at Edward strangely.
The latter:…
Indeed, he was at a disadvantage in height.
But that was only because boys develop later.
In his past life, he grew to 1.82 meters!
“Ahem, let’s not talk about that for now. Just take me out.”
“It’s going back, not out. Don’t worry, big sister is a Mage, after all.”
Edward:…
Knowing that the more he said, the more likely he would suffer, Edward pursed his lips and walked, expression serious, while being led by the little girl.
Until, as he passed through a membrane that felt like a mere illusion with minimal resistance, a voice suddenly sounded in his ear.
[Ding!]
[The one-month newbie protection period has expired.]
[Ding!]
[Detecting newbie mission progress… Ding! Detected: Host has obtained affection over 60 points with 41/10 Pokémon. Exceeded target!]
[Special Newbie Gift Pack has been issued. Please check it.]
[Detected that the host has left the Secret Realm. Would you like to set access permissions for outsiders?]
Yes…
[Please set the access list.]
None.
[Setup complete. The Secret Realm is now closed. No one but the host can enter.]