It was some time after Rest had taken the entrance exam for the Royal Academy.
"Hmm… It seems we've gotten ourselves stranded!"
"……"
A girl with short red hair, dressed in a practical pantsuit, placed her hands on her hips and made the declaration.
Her name was Yuri Cattleya.
A young lady of House Cattleya. She was currently in the middle of running away from home, and she and Rest were merely acquaintances — familiar faces who had happened to be at the same entrance exam.
Rest and Yuri were surrounded by densely overgrown trees.
It was a jungle. From somewhere far away came the piercing cries of tropical birds.
"No… Why? How did I end up alone with Yuri in a place like this?"
He had no memory of how they'd gotten here.
No memory of meeting Yuri, and no memory of heading into the jungle together.
Could it be… that he'd been kidnapped by someone?
"Rest, I'm truly sorry. I feel awful for dragging you into something like this."
"Yeah, oh… Right. Well… I appreciate you feeling bad about it…"
Rest answered Yuri's words while trying to bear his headache.
He was wildly curious about how this had come about, but more importantly, he needed to think of a way to escape.
"For now, let me fly up with magic and take a look around… If I see from above, maybe I can figure something out."
"Got it. Leave it to you, then."
"Huh…?"
What was she thinking? Yuri latched onto Rest and clung to his back.
"Wait, why!?"
"Weren't you going to scout from above?"
"Well, yeah, but…"
"Then please, carry me."
"……"
He hadn't said he'd take her along.
Feeling uneasy but too tired to argue, he gave in.
"Mmm…"
Pressed close like that, he could feel Yuri's warmth and softness through their bodies.
Yuri had a lithe, flexible build reminiscent of a feline predator, but her chest was firmly rounded and soft.
"Is something wrong?"
"No… Levitate."
Rest cast the spell to levitate objects and launched himself into the air.
He rose until he could see over the treetops and surveyed the surroundings.
"Where on earth are we?"
It was a sea of trees.
As far as the eye could see, dense jungle stretched on endlessly.
"Why did we end up here… Did I get reincarnated into another world again?!"
"Rest, look! There's a settlement over there!"
"Huh…?"
Rest squinted, but… he couldn't see anything in the direction Yuri was pointing.
"Is it a vision thing…? With Yuri's eyes, it wouldn't be impossible, I guess?"
Yuri was absolutely hopeless when it came to magic, but her physical abilities were incredibly high.
The settlement that was invisible to Rest might well be visible to Yuri.
"Let's head over there anyway… Wind Ride."
"Whoa!"
He manipulated the wind and moved while still levitating.
He couldn't reach high speed, but at roughly the pace of a motorized bicycle, they flew over the jungle canopy.
Below them, all that was visible were the shapes of beasts and birds scattered here and there. Nothing else.
"Hmm, the Amazon maybe? We've ended up in some ridiculous place…"
"I really am sorry for dragging you into this…"
"Yeah, I know. Drop it already."
He didn't even want to hear what he'd been dragged into.
He might need to ask about the circumstances eventually, but Rest genuinely felt too lethargic and chose to put off the problem.
As the two of them flew through the air, they reached the settlement in about thirty minutes.
"It actually existed…"
It was a quintessential indigenous village.
Rows of tent-like wooden structures lined the area, and what appeared to be animal bones — perhaps from cattle — were displayed here and there as decorations.
"This is… pretty sketchy. I don't feel like we should just barge in. Let's hang back and observe…"
"Hey! Is anybody here!?!"
"Were you even listening to me!?!"
Ignoring Rest's words entirely, Yuri shouted loudly into the settlement.
And then… as if they hadn't been there a moment ago, figures began emerging from the buildings one after another.
"Outsiders! Outsiders have come!"
"Get your spears! Don't let the outsiders through!"
What appeared were humans wearing animal-shaped masks. There were about twenty of them.
The indigenous-looking humans carried crude spears made of stone and wood, and they charged forward with open hostility.
"Kill! Kill them!"
"Hey, Rest! They don't exactly seem welcoming!"
"Ugh, I told you so!"
"I really am sorry for dragging you into this…"
"Seriously, I don't need to hear that anymore! Just actually feel sorry!"
"Kill! Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!"
The indigenous people charged.
They hurled spears and leapt forward with wild cries.
"Oh, for crying out loud! Fine then… Thunderball!"
There was no point resisting at this point.
Rest cast his spell and unleashed lightning upon the indigenous people.
"Gyaaaaaaah!"
"They can use 'Kamui'! These ones use the power of 'Kamui'!"
"Hold them off! If they get close, they're done for!"
"Like I'd let you! I'll protect Rest!"
Yuri grabbed the indigenous people trying to close the distance and hurled them aside.
With power that seemed impossible for her slender arms, she tossed them effortlessly, as if playing catch.
Rest dealt with the distant enemies while Yuri handled the ones nearby, and they cut through them one by one.
Eventually, when every last one of the indigenous people had been taken down… they pressed both hands to the ground and prostrated themselves.
"Oh, please forgive us!"
"You who wield the power of 'Kamui' — you are gods!"
"Now what… They suddenly start worshipping us…"
Rest slumped his shoulders, his head throbbing from the endless string of bewildering developments.
Then, from deep within the settlement, a small figure wearing a mask emerged.
"Divine children who wield mysterious power, please forgive our discourtesy."
The figure… though the mask concealed the face, the voice suggested a girl.
Unlike the others, she spoke to them in fluent, polished language.
"Won't you hear us out? We have been driven into a desperate situation, and that is why we attacked you."
"Rest, I don't really get it, but let's hear what she has to say!"
"Seriously…"
Yuri seemed oddly enthusiastic.
Rest felt his headache intensifying steadily, and he finally clutched his head in both hands.
(This is… impossible in reality. It has to be a dream, it has to be…)
"Huh…?"
The very instant he realized that— The scenery flipped, and the world around him changed completely.
'Rest!?' Yuri's scream was the last thing he heard before her figure warped and vanished, and what appeared in its place was his familiar bedroom in the House of Rosemary.
Rest was sitting up in bed, drenched in sweat.
"S-So it really was a dream ending…"
At least a grand saga hadn't begun.
He felt that way on one hand, but on the other, he had a nagging premonition that this wasn't where the story ended.
(To continue the dream somewhere again… No, impossible. Impossible. Absolutely impossible…)
"Might as well change…"
Shivering at the ominous feeling, Rest stood up from the bed for now.
'Rest and Yuri's Jungle Adventure' To be continued…?