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MIND READING AND OPENING ONE'S HEART

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*****

On the Interworld Train, a single day was set to twenty-four hours, with day and night simulated by magic, casting various illusions throughout the interior depending on the time.

It was during the dim hours when the train simulated a morning mist that Rob finally made his way back from the four-armed widow's cabin.

When Rob stumbled back into their cabin with sleepy eyes after his night out, Arcelia was already up and awake, working away on her handheld terminal just like always. She gave him a quick glance as he walked in, but she didn't say a word about his late-night escapade.

「You're up early. You always seem to be staring at that thing. Work?」

When Rob asked, Arcelia kept her eyes glued to her book-shaped terminal as she replied.

「It's the Investigation Division's database. It also has the Interworld Train schedules, data from various newspaper agencies, and things like that.」

「Newspapers, huh... Come to think of it, where exactly *is* the Alliance anyway?」

It was a bit late in the game to be asking such a basic question, but the simple surprise of finding out they had newspapers gave a sense of reality to the otherwise abstract concept of the Alliance, sparking Rob's curiosity.

To Arcelia, this was completely common knowledge, but she looked up from her terminal and began to explain with sudden enthusiasm.

「—The Interworld Alliance Headquarters is located at the final stop of this Interworld Train, right at the center of the five worlds.」

Once upon a time, due to an unknown supernatural phenomenon, five parallel worlds were on the brink of total annihilation. At first, each of the five worlds tried to deal with it independently, which only made matters worse. Amidst the chaos, volunteers from each world banded together, kicking off a movement where they cooperated not just across nations, but across the boundaries of realities themselves.

In the end, they successfully saved their worlds. Ever since, those five worlds became fused at a single point, and that was where the Interworld Alliance Headquarters was established.

「So, do the newspapers cover all five of those worlds...? Nah, probably not.」

「Newspapers vary wildly. They range from local papers in a specific country of a specific world, all the way up to the Omniverse Newspaper, which covers every single alternate world.」

For local papers, even advanced worlds might still use actual paper, but anything on a global or omniversal scale utilizes cutting-edge technology.

「If there's no security issue, let me take a look.」

Following Arcelia's request to wait a moment, Rob walked over to the beverage machine installed in the corner of the cabin, idly pressed a switch, and decided to kill some time. He had absolutely no clue how the machine worked or if the coffee it made was even the exact same substance he knew from Earth, but it poured a perfect cup of tea, coffee, or juice at the touch of a button, so he'd been using it quite a bit.

In just a matter of seconds, the coffee was ready. He set a cup down in front of Arcelia and took a seat opposite her. A translucent newspaper expanded right before his eyes.

「Just try using it the same way you would a paper newspaper.」

He scanned through the text, but naturally, most of it flew right over his head. He mostly focused on the events in the Alliance Headquarters' home nation and major news from other worlds. Even so, Rob found himself fascinated by this bizarre technology that hadn't even existed back in Japan, flipping through the virtual pages over and over again.

Eventually getting tired of flipping through the news and just staring blankly at the words, Rob suddenly remembered how exhausted he was.

「...I'm gonna crash.」

As he spoke and started climbing up into his bunk, Arcelia called out to his back in a quiet voice.

「...Just so you know, marriage systems vary from world to world, so please be careful.」

Rob took a second to register what she was getting at, then turned around with a smug grin.

「It's a clean, no-strings-attached arrangement. I mean, what good is adding a freeloading leech to a widow who already has two kids to feed? Her late husband's inheritance isn't bottomless, you know. She gets how it works. Or what, is a relationship like that considered illegal by the Alliance?」

「No, legally speaking, there is no issue—」

When it came to romantic relationships, personal freedom was paramount. As long as the marriage systems respected basic human rights, whether it was monogamy, polygamy, or polyandry, the Alliance couldn't care less—leaving each world to regulate it under their own laws.

「—However, I do believe a Hero should carry himself with the dignity expected of a Hero.」

No matter the circumstances, a Hero must show proper responsibility and chivalry. Even in highly advanced worlds that had embraced basic human rights and hyper-modern ethics, that traditional mindset still stubbornly persisted.

「Like what, exactly?」

「Generally speaking, marriage.」

「With my current situation, that's completely off the table, and neither of us wants it anyway.」

「In cases like that, it translates to financial support.」

「Hmm. So out of curiosity, what's the going market rate for... specific acts?」

「Th-There isn't a concrete market price for... physical acts! It's supposed to be a token of a Hero's sincerity, regardless of gender! Putting a price tag on it is just completely...」

Arcelia had been trying her best to keep her answers strictly professional, but the utterly uncalled-for question sent a faint blush to the tips of her pointed ears. Still, she did her absolute best to scramble for a proper answer.

「Come on, demanding something based on a vague concept like 'sincerity' is exactly what the yakuza or mafia would do. That's why I want concrete numbers.」

「Like I said—!」

Mid-sentence, Arcelia finally caught sight of the massive smirk plastered across Rob's face. Realizing she was totally being played, she shot him a sharp glare. Rob let out a low chuckle from the back of his throat, climbed the rest of the ladder, and buried himself under his covers.

Unable to contain her annoyance, Arcelia downed her now-cold coffee in a single gulp, her face wrinkling up instantly.

「...So bitter.」

A sudden rush of irritation hit her, thinking he had pulled a prank on her coffee too, until she remembered that Rob didn't even know how she liked her coffee. Letting out a heavy sigh, Arcelia dropped her gaze back to her terminal. But right then—

Rob's snoring echoed through the room.

It wasn't particularly loud. But for some reason, the sound that usually didn't bother her at all was totally getting under her skin, making it impossible to focus on her work. Arcelia couldn't help but slump forward, banging her forehead against the table.

Her own perceived incompetence, Berta's interference, Rob's sketchy behavior, and non-stop teasing... everything mixed together into a giant ball of frustration, making even his usually harmless snoring feel incredibly infuriating.

After spending a few moments staring down and counting the grain of the wooden floorboards, Arcelia suddenly snapped upright. She couldn't afford to break here. To Arcelia, the world where the Alliance Headquarters sat was her hometown. Leaving Rob to harbor nothing but distrust toward it felt completely unacceptable.

Arcelia forced herself to review the documents once more. She meticulously combed through the Interworld Train's daily schedule—which was sent to her every single day regardless of whether there were updates—when her eyes locked onto a certain station name.

「This is... But wait...」

Arcelia froze in place, an expression of deep conflict washing over her face.

***

There stood a colossal tree. Its trunk pierced straight through the clouds, and its vast canopy cast a massive shadow across the earth. From its base, endless grasslands stretched out in every direction, and at the far edge sat a log cabin covered in lush greenery.

And that was exactly where the Interworld Train pulled to a stop. As the train's built-in spell arrays instantly materialized a station sign and a platform, the middle of nowhere suddenly transformed into a functioning station.

A few passengers disembarked after a short while, but there wasn't a single local or station staff member in sight. Though presences could be felt lurking here and there across the boundless grasslands, not a soul showed their face.

「This is basically an unmanned station.」

Rob commented as he stepped off the train, but Arcelia shook her head.

「Please refrain from being rude. The immigration check is inside that log cabin, so the staff are definitely in there.」

Getting scolded by Arcelia as he followed her into the log cabin, Rob instantly found his eyes wide with awe. Standing before him were strikingly beautiful men and women with long ears, porcelain skin, and golden hair.

As Rob stood there looking like a total space cadet, a scathing remark cut straight through the air.

「—Do not stray from the authorized zones. Do not cause trouble. (...And close off that utterly abhorrent mind of yours.)」

That last phrase was a telepathic message beamed directly into his brain.

「...Elves are pretty much the same no matter the world, huh?」

The elves in the world he'd been reincarnated into certainly didn't have telepathic abilities that rang directly in his skull, but aside from that, they looked exactly like the ones he knew.

「They are not Elves, they are Alfar.」

Arcelia swiftly wrapped up the paperwork and dragged Rob right out of the log cabin.

「—Make sure you don't end up on the bad side of the 'Beasts of the World Tree.'」

They left with that ominous parting remark—half advice, half warning—from the Alfar ringing in their ears.

The grasslands stretched out as far as the eye could see.

「There really is absolutely nothing out here... except for the crowd behind us.」

The moment they stepped outside, Rob felt an unmistakable gaze piercing into them from the log cabin—one they weren't even trying to hide.

「When anyone other than the Alfar visits their cities, it only leads to trouble. ...While this 26th World is a member of the Alliance, they haven't ratified most of the treaties and pacts. ...Actually, it's more accurate to say it's a world that has no need to do so.」

Showing a bit of hesitation, Arcelia explained the situation to Rob.

"Mind Reading" and "Mind Opening."

In this world, the only humanoid species in existence were the Alfar, close relatives of elves, and they were born with these two distinct abilities. The power to read another person's heart, and the power to let others read one's own.

「Their total population is around two hundred million. They live an almost entirely self-sufficient lifestyle, but as a pure magical civilization, they're considered one of the most advanced worlds out there. They say it's the single most peaceful world among the members of the Interworld Alliance—」

Mid-sentence, Arcelia caught her breath.

The sources of the presences lurking within the grasslands had suddenly lunged at them all at once.

*****

The first things that come to mind when I think of Elf.

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