As I watched the trio get pulled up by my grappling hook, I couldn't help but sigh at mysslf.
Was it a sigh of relief or exasperation? I couldn't tell.
'I would have ignored these people, thinking they were monsters, but...'
When I was taking the path that would lead me to my destination, I heard human noises—particularly the sound of a woman fighting.
In the end, I couldn't help but check the fight out, and it turned out to be a group of Adventurers, or whatever they were called, here in this world.
'Legris Damien, according to the memories I share with Jared, is also from the Nether Realm, so I knew there would be humans here, but...'
I didn't expect to find some so quickly.
The three finally reached the top, where I was standing waiting for them. The firm rocky foundation here was still intact, unlike what had taken place below.
I could see them breathing heavily as they greedily took in the air around them.
Their faces were a little obscured from me thanks to their current positions, so I could hardly see their faces.
'They look disheveled. They must have been fighting for a while...'
Well, not all of them. According to my sensors, two of the three were extremely weak.
'The woman looks like the strongest. Half Elf, huh? That brings back memories...' A wry smile formed on my face, however it quickly darkened.
'But Emilia is dead. And she wanted me to move on...'
Karlia was still alive, and I had chosen my path already. That was all that had to exist in my mind.
"Are you people alright?" I asked them, finally rising to my feet to greet the three.
"a-aaaH, knaht uoy... rof gnivas su..."
'H-huh?' I recoiled the moment I heard their speech.
It seemed they spoke a different language from me.
'This will be difficult...' It finally dawned on me why they took to long before grabbing onto the rope I sent down for them.
'They couldn't understand me either. This is a bother.'
I didn't have the time to concern myself with e
learning their language, or them learning mine, so perhaps we could just call it even at this point.
"eW yllaer etaicerppa ruoy pleh!"
As I listened to their words more keenly, analyzing it, something struck me instantly.
'Are they speaking my language backwards?!'
To be completely certain, I swiftly tweaked my perception device, allowing a mirror effect to occur in the sound region, thus rendering everything I would hear or say to flow backwards.
'Let's try it now.' I focused my gaze on the other two two were now rising to their feet.
"How can we ever repay you?" The language seemed normal now.
'So that was it, huh? I should also be able to communicate with them.'
"It's fine..." I took in more details about them as they lifted their faces.
One was a buff ebony man. He seemed strong, but I knew quite well that he was really weak.
And then there was the last person—the seemingly oldest in the group.
He had some wrinkles, and he wore glasses, but the moment I saw him, I recognized him instantly.
"Y-you are..."
The elderly man in front of me looked a great deal like Legris Damien!
"My name is Larry Damien. They call me The Great Sage. I am truly grateful to you."
'Larry? Not Legris?'
In any case, seeing the face of the man who caused most of the troubles my other self was going through made me unhinged.
A part of me wondered if I should have just left him and his friends to die.
'The Nether. Legris Damien. The visitors our world has recieved from the Nether Realm have all had malicious intent.'
How could I have saved three of them just like that?
All three of them began to thank me profusely at this point—especially the Larry Damien fellow.
They introduced themselves, allowing me to know their names and occupation.
After listening to them yammering on for a couple of minutes straight, I realized that I was a bit prejudiced in my first impression of them.
'They're... actually pretty normal.'
Well, as far as normal went.
These three Nether Realm denizens seemed as human as anyone I had ever met. Ah, well, there was an Half Elf too, so that counted as well.
**********
After their initial introduction, I informed the trio that we would have to leave our current position because the explosion had attracted more enemies who were making their way to out location.
My navigation compass detected a few red dots on the map, and the only one strong enough to handle those kinds of enemies was pretty exhausted already.
Our best option was to retreat.
Fortunately, thanks to the map, I knew which areas weren't congested with dots, allowing me to navigate my way out of danger.
It seemed the trio realized I held the key to their survival, considering the way they followed me as baby chicks would run after their mother.
In the end, we managed to escape the immediate crisis, and we even found a cave-like region where we could hide for a bit and wait out the current agitation that swirled in our immediate vicinity.
'At least until everything settles...'
With that out of the way, and with everyone safe, I finally decided to address the gnawing questions that had been eating at me for a while.
"Who are you people? What are you doing in a place as dangerous as this?"
As soon as I asked my question, the expressions of all three expressed unexpected surprise.
"Y-you don't know who we are...?"
Was I supposed to? Ah, I just recollected how the Larry Damien fellow called himself the Great Sage.
The Half Elf Aria called herself the Grand Magic Swordsman, and the one named Drake called himself the Heretical Doctor.
It seemed they were really important people in this world.
'Should I just pretend, or...'
No, there was no need for that.
'I have the advantage in this conversation. I might as well use it to learn more about this place.' With that thought guiding me, I proceeded in the conversation.
"I've been a hermit explorer for a while, so I'm not particularly adept at the current occurrences of the world."
"R-really? That's... unexpected." Larry Damien seemed surprised, fortunately he didn't appear too suspicious.
'Though it's reasonable for them to display a little skepticism.'
"So you saved us without even knowing our identities, and you've treated us with such courtesy. You really are a noble young man." Larry smiled at me with his usual cheerful demeanor.
To be honest, I was still very suspicious about him. His face held too great a significance to be mere coincidence.
"So... who are you people, really?" I asked once again. "And what are you doing here?"
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[A/N]
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