4 - The Second Time I've Awakened On an Unfamiliar Floor.

I heard a strange voice inside my dreams.

"I'll take this child♪"
"I don't know about this child♪"

"She's our new relative!"
"Guiding one guest~♪"
"Hurry up. Hurry up and open your eyes♪"

It appeared that children were making a racket. I was glad that they were energetic, but I wanted them to be kinder to my ears.

"If possible, I wanna play out…side?!"

Although I heard them say this, there were no children around when I got up.
And, I was in an unfamiliar place again.

It was different from the place I woke up in before.
The window shape was rectangular, and the room was narrow. Above all, there was a mattress stuffed with stiff blankets or something placed on top of a wooden bed frame.

Because there were three other similar beds, this was probably a sickroom.
In any case, it appeared that I had somehow managed to escape being almost killed for some crazy reason.

"Ah, I'm glad…"

It was good that my life wasn't at risk. Frankly speaking, just recalling it was enough to make me tremble in fear.
That beautiful, silver-haired man probably rescued me.

"At any rate, clothes… these clothes…"

My clothes were changed again while I was asleep.
Now it was women's clothes: a white dress with a ribbon or something attached to it and something like bloomers on my legs that reached down to my knees.
When I looked over at myself again, a sense of abandonment washed over me. Since this happened while I was unconscious, there was nothing I could have done about this…

When I thought about this, I realized that this was different from the previous time.
I could smell herbs from the bedding—the blended scent of lavender and sage.

"This means that a woman might have changed my clothes for me this time!"

I mean, I couldn't imagine that beautiful man who rescued me diligently burning herbs in the room and sheets to repel insects. If he did, I would've liked to see.
…I was sure that it would have been interesting.

Anyways, could I finally talk to a fellow woman?
In that case, I must have heard the children's voices. I probably imagined them sounding closer due to being half-awake despite them playing outside.

My mood slightly brightened. If I were to be seen naked, it was better to have been seen by one of the same gender.
If I was seen by a man, before worrying about my figure, I would simply be terrified…

There was one more thing I realized.
I felt that I remembered my past life.

I didn't think about it since my life was in danger the last time I woke up like this, but…this was a fantasy world, right? There was magic here, after all.

"Reincarnated into another world…kind of thing."

When I muttered that, the door suddenly flung open.

"Hyah!"

Probably because something terrible happened the last time someone suddenly appeared and I originally had a very introverted personality, I reflexively screamed and hid inside the blanket.
But, it appeared that the person felt rather hurt by this.

"Oh, dear… Is it because you were captured by a strange group and were terrified? It's okay. You're already inside the castle."

The voice belonged to a relatively older woman.
When I peeked my head out from the blanket, I could see a plump, middle-aged woman enter the room.

White hair appeared among her blonde hair as it all tied tightly in a bun. She wore an unbleached shirt, a dark green skirt, and a brown apron. At a glance, she looked close to her fifties.
She looked at me and smiled brightly.

"It looks like you're awake. That's good. You didn't wake up at all even when I shook you or when I changed your clothes."

At this statement, I understood that she was the one who changed my clothes. I was greatly relieved.
"Alright, I have to thank her," I thought as I fired myself up.

After being reincarnated into this world, I was troubled since I was always strangely tense and couldn't speak well. That was why others became frustrated whenever they spoke with me…
Because I wasn't nervous when speaking to the granny at the store whom I became familiar with, I helped out and got along with her…

"Um, thank you very much. You even changed my clothes."

I was surprised at how smoothly these words came out of my mouth.
Huh? Did I always speak this properly? It was like I became my past life's self… Could it be because I recalled my memories?
Seeing my wide-eyed expression, the woman responded to reassure me.

"Those clothes, you see, they're the ones my married daughter wore. You're dainty, so they might be a bit too big for you, but please bear with it. By the way, what's your name?"

"You can call me Yura."

"My name is Helga. Since you're awake, first drink that water there and then change into this. I'll bring you a meal."

"Ah, yes."

Miss Helga handed me a set of clothes and immediately left the room.

"……Could this be because I recalled my past life?"

I thought deeply about this.
If I remained my past self, I wouldn't be able to talk properly and would trouble Miss Helga.
Besides, even if people tolerated me in the beginning like that, I was often hated since this part of me couldn't be fixed right away.

…Even though I explained my communication anxiety to the village, many people were under the impression that I hated them, so I was deeply troubled.
Likewise, because of my communication anxiety, I was at my wit's end after Grandma passed away. I didn't know if I could properly run the store by myself.

My long-standing worry was resolved, and my mood lightened after that terrifying experience.
Blessed be my past life. But, if this could be cured, then there must have been some reason why I couldn't properly talk to people when I was young.

No, if that was true, then it might also be because of the so-called experiments my abductors did on me for some unknown reason.
I was thirsty, so I drank the water Miss Helga left for me on top of the room table before looking at the clothes.
I was given an unbleached dress with a blue vest to be worn over it and a skirt.
By the time I changed, Miss Helga came back.

"Ah, it looks like it fits you."

Miss Helga placed a tray with food on top of the table and approached me.

"First, eat. After that, I'll go call the captain over."

"The captain?"

I tilted my head.

"This castle is the headquarters for the Cigle Knights."

Upon hearing that name, the knowledge deep in my head came out.
The territory owned and protected by the Cigle Knight was located in the Arendal Kingdom's south.
The reason why I knew this was because the tale of the Cigle Knight's establishment was a popular story to tell children.

The king of that time was going to be killed by evil people, so he took refuge in a castle to the south. The ones who supported the king at the time formed the Cigle Knights.
But, in addition to that, I felt like I heard the name from another source…

I had this kind of strange feeling when I also saw the beautiful man's face.
If I had to put it into words, it would be, I hate to say it, like that extremely cheesy pick-up line: "Have we met before?"
But, I shouldn't know any knights. I was a girl from a small notions store.

"No…"

Rather, it was my previous life. I saw much of this fantasy world, and I knew many of the knights' faces.

—Elfir Online.

A fantasy online game.