"Darius? No way, am I named the same in this world?" he thought as he heard someone calling out to him.
Darius still questioned whether or not he should speak up, as he didn't know if that person was an enemy or a friend.
The only fact that he was sure of was that the owner of that voice was a woman.
"Darius? You there?" the feminine voice repeated as she got closer and closer to the house.
Darius, on the other hand, was hiding behind one of the many random trees.
"That's weird; he's always there when I visit him," the voice muttered as she turned around. "Guess I'll come back later."
As she turned around, Darius seized the chance to peek at her, trying to see what she looked like.
He could clearly see her figure, which was rather slim. But she wasn't frail like this new body of his. That person hadn't slacked off on her training, and it showed, as Darius could almost see some of her muscles.
But that wasn't all that he could see; he had to admit that he appreciated the view. Seeing her ass jiggling was a sight to behold.
'Wait, maybe she could tell me more about this world?' Darius thought as he debated in his mind whether or not to call her back.
It was, after all, a good opportunity to learn more about the world that surrounded him, as he had no idea where he was at the moment. Maybe she would be able to clear his mind about whether he should head toward the city or not.
All he knew was that he had woken up in another world after dying; it really was weird. Almost like he was some main character in some random isekai.
After pondering it for a few seconds, he made his decision and revealed himself.
"Um, um, I'm here," Darius practically shouted as the girl was getting further away by the second.
The girl then turned back, confused.
"Darius?"
Looking into her eyes, which were full of confusion, Darius quickly came up with a believable excuse.
"Yeah, I just came back from hunting in the woods; that's why I didn't answer you."
The girl nodded upon hearing that; however, the look in her eyes was definitely strange, as if confused by his answer. It was as if Darius wasn't allowed to leave this place; she seemed quite mad about what he had just said.
"You went hunting? Are you serious?" the girl asked, looking furious.
'Fuck, why did I come up with that?' he thought, regretting saying that he went hunting; he should have said that he had gone out somewhere else, to pee… anything would have done the trick.
"Mhm… yeah, I wasn't supposed to?" he asked, wanting to know if maybe there was a particular reason why he needed to stay inside.
"How dumb are you? Of course, you're supposed to stay inside. You do know that this house is in a D-Rank Danger Zone," the girl said, using words that meant absolutely nothing to Darius.
'D-Rank Danger Zone? What is she even talking about?'
"Did you meet a monster when you went outside?" the girl now asked, worried about him.
'Wait... monsters? Like real monsters?' Darius thought, shocked to hear such a word come out of her mouth.
However, Darius still didn't ask any questions; he simply denied having seen any creature.
"Uh, no, I didn't see any monsters."
"Oh, that's good, that's good," she said, slightly relieved.
Her acting all worried confirmed one thing to Darius: she wasn't here to hurt him, or else she would have done so a long time ago. From a glance, he could tell that she was a lot stronger than him back then.
'Should I ask her who she is? No, that would be way too weird. Still, I need to learn something about her. I don't even know what her name is.'
"So, why did you come today?" he asked.
It was the only thing that he had managed to come up with on the spot, and he thought it was a decent question.
"Uh? What's with you today? I come here every week at the same time. The better question would be why wouldn't I be here?"
Instantly, something clicked inside of Darius's mind. This girl standing before him was probably the one currently supporting him with food and other essentials. However, why would the old owner of this body not want to go out or to the city, which he could literally see when stepping out of the cabin?
"I guess you're right; I don't know what's happening to me recently," lied Darius as he thought of a new question. "So, do you want to come in?"
"Haha, I'll enter if I want to! This is my cabin. It seems that you can't remember the one that saved you all those years ago. The only reason that I'm not living inside it is because of business that I have to take care of," she quickly explained, reminding him.
"What sort of business?"
The girl seemed to be exasperated when asked that question.
"What's with you today? Of course, I'm talking about my business with the Avalon Empire. Didn't I tell you all about it a week ago?" she said, wondering if something happened to Darius during the week she had been away.
'Avalon Empire? That's probably the city over there,' thought Darius, taking in the small bits of information.
"Ah, right, must have forgotten about it. And those monsters, aren't you scared of them?" asked Darius, wondering how powerful the person in front of him was.
"What's with all those questions today, ahaha? Why would I be scared? I told you we're in a D-Rank Danger Zone, and I'm a B-Rank Awakened," she said as she showed a medallion in front of Darius's face.
On the medallion was written a name; Darius had a little difficulty seeing it as the medallion kept spinning around. But once the spinning slowed down, he managed to read it.
It seemed that her name was Ashe… Ashe Frost.
'Ashe Frost? Weird name,' he thought while reading it.
'Should I ask her about going to the city? She seems nice; maybe she'll say yes.'
"Um, and let's say that I wanted to go to the Avalon Empire. Could you help me out with that?" he asked, hope in his eyes.
"You? You want to go to the Avalon Empire?" she repeated the question, confused.
"Yeah, what if I wanted to go to the Avalon Empire?" Darius insisted.
"Well, I don't think that's the best of ideas. There's a reason you're stuck here, you know that, right?" she answered without a second thought.
'A reason why I'm stuck here?'