The Tailed Warrior of The Unknown Race

Chapter 3

It has been… what, a week now?

Yeah, around seven days. Seven days that have passed since I first woke up in this open wilderness. I gotta say, pretty impressive feat with the lack of outdoor experience I have. If I were still in my normal body, I would've kicked the bucket ages ago. Fortunately, I don't see myself being in that situation anytime soon.

As for what had happened during that time period… well, I pretty much did nothing more than survive. I slept, drank river water, ate fruits that Bluey—the name I've made for the fairy—so thoughtfully directed me to, and—above all else—I did a lot of wandering. Funnily enough, even with the sheer distance that I've gone outwards, I have yet to get lost in this forest; I always return back to the river roughly around dusk. And even if I did, Bluey probably would've helped me, but it never happened in the first place since apparently my innate sense of direction has dramatically increased in efficiency. I say all of this without an inkling of complaint, of course.

Right now, I was hanging from a branch of one of the many goliath trees in this forest, eating a small bunch of bananas. True to my previous assumption, all the good food was up in the tree canopies. After some trial and error—which consisted of me falling down constantly and Bluey hovering around me in concern—I managed to climb my first tree, ever. Whether it was due to my new body's traits or not, I am pretty glad I was able to do so, since from there I pretty much was presented with a bountiful buffet of fruits.

While chewing on the sugary bananas, I glanced over to Bluey, who had decided to perch on my shoulder. She was kicking her feet, doing what I assume was humming based on the small and harmonical twinkle sounds coming from her. Throughout the past week, I got to know a lot of things about this strange fairy creature. In fact, I learnt a whopping two things about her. One, she was a very positive critter—which arguably was already obvious from the start—and two, she was a really good guide.

That was about it. We couldn't really have any deep conversation with the whole one-sided language barrier. It was like speaking to a dog… uh, in a friendly manner. She's able to hear and respond to my words, but I couldn't really interpret much with her twinkles. The whole glowing magical writing is a whole other can of worms in itself, too.

And speaking of magic… I have to be real here. I'm not on Earth anymore. At least, not on my original Earth. It should've been obvious from the start, the more I thought about it. Initially, all of my ideas about 'where I the fuck am I' was under the pretext that I was still in my world. You know, real life and everything. Turns out I was just being dense and stupid, and I can't fully blame the experience of torture I went through. The signs were there the moment I had looked around the outpost. The signs were there when the weird monk man essentially bathed us and air dried us with seemingly nothingness. It was only just recently when I had seen the family of horned rabbits yesterday that I finally came to the realization that I, in fact, was not on Earth…

… but rather, I was in the notoriousness of an isekai trope.

Ha, even saying it out loud sounds dumb, but I can't even argue against it. There are too many elements supporting that claim—hell, one of them is literally on my shoulder right now.

Now, with all that said, the question is how I'm going to react to it. And, naturally, I have absolutely no idea how to react to it. Sure, this did clear up a load of questions I had previously—actually, it pretty much cleared up everything—but it also brought more of its own questions. When did I get isekai'd? No idea. Did I die? Obviously, otherwise I'd still be in my other average body. Do I have overpowered main character powers? No idea. Who isekai'd me? No idea. Why'd they let me suffer through all that bullshit? Who the fuck are they to just take me away from my normal life and do that shit? What does that benefit them? Where are they? Can I beat the shit out of them? All of that, no idea.

I sighed to myself, tossing the banana peels down to the forest floor. If this were any other person, I'm sure they'd probably get to grinding on their "cheat gamer system" right on the spot, and also probably join the adventure guild or something. Actually, before any of that, they'd probably have a firm understanding of what the hell just happened to them, with some explanations on the way. All of that has yet to happen to me. I was just some monkey boy, moping around on tree branches and eating fruits like an animal.

"... Display… open… open system… bankai… appraise…arise…link start…" With every word I tried, nothing happened. No floating magical screen or some inner voice telling me what to do. I was truly alone in this new world… fuck.

Amidst my grumbling mood, I felt a tap to my cheek. I glanced over to Bluey, who was giving me a worried expression. Seems that I wasn't giving a happy face right now. " Ah… my bad, Bluey. Was just trying some things… lost in thought, you know?"

I don't think she did know—with her generally happy mood and all—but I appreciated her concerns. Bluey hovered off my shoulder and came up to my face, using both arms to squeeze my cheeks and make me pucker my lips like a fish. I stared back at her with some amusement. It's funny how I was thinking she was an alien before. She looked too adorable to be some reptilian lifeform from another planet. She had a better comparison to a barbie doll, if I'm being honest.

Well… in any case, I guess there's no point moping about this. I've already experienced it all… I'll just have to carry that pain until I find some real explanation. And even then… to be honest, I don't want this experience to just be about getting answers. To be fair… that's a pretty cliche route, in all senses. I should probably appreciate the fact I get to live what millions of other people would die to try. Hell, I wasn't a hardcore fan of isekais or reincarnation, but I did share my own wonders at some point. I should probably be wise here and take advantage of this situation.

I no longer have responsibilities… no longer have a life, as much as that sounds depressing… and I have nothing to lose. This is quite literally the start of a new adventure…!

… ok, that was cringe, but whatever. Who's here to judge me?

With that in mind, I leapt down from the branch, landing down into a roll on the damp forest floor. Standing up, I idly scan my surroundings. I guess the best thing to do if I wanted to make the most of this situation is to just explore. Maybe I'll find something. Maybe I'll find the first girl of my harem…

… yeah, fuck that. I ain't going that route.

Bam, another week gone!

What exactly happened? I'll keep it simple, one word actually; more wandering!

… Erm, that's two words, but you get the point. After that day of coming to terms with my current situation, I dipped the small area of the forest I had grown accustomed to and went onwards into the unknown, with Bluey loyally by my side. Like two explorers of the frontier, we trekked over fallen trees, steep hills, muddy grass, and even more fallen trees. On our travels, we came across many other marvelous isekai creatures, namely human-sized hornets and human-sized hornets. Did I mention human-sized hornets? I don't think I've ever ran faster in my life.

Oh, right, before all of that happened, I went back to that hill I woke up on. I was sneaky with it, of course, but it really didn't matter much since I didn't see anyone there. In fact, nothing really changed other than maybe a few blades of grass bending the other way. I had just made the assumptions that those guys gave up on searching, were still fixing up the destruction the giant most likely did, or that they all died with the destruction. Preferably, I stuck with the latter and went on with my day. It was my final goodbye to the hill, where I had realized true freedom.

Aside from that, it was pretty basic traveling. Food was always available in the tree canopy, so if I were ever hungry, I'd just pitstop for a while and stuff myself full. Bluey didn't seem to need any food, since she declined my offers many times. I think she just enjoyed watching me eat, like a mother hen or something. Not like I really feel embarrassed of it or anything; she's a really helpful guide. That actually brings up the fact she's very informative of the things of this forest. She stopped me from eating a group of brown mushrooms, which I had thought were good, but ended up being insanely toxic. The pus-filled corpses of deer were quite the sound example she gave me.

We eventually came to the end of the forest, which made way to large hilly prairies. It was yet again a pretty awesome view. In the distance were some insanely large mountains, with one literally taller than the clouds. Like, the fuck? In fact, I was so impressed by it that I actually made that mountain my general end goal for my wandering. Who wouldn't want to know what's on top of there… even if I couldn't really go all the way up due to the lack of oxygen I might find.

And so, without much hesitation, I left the forest behind. During my trip through the prairies, I got to see some actual normal animals for once. Wild prairies dogs, gophers, bison, and lots of horses. And when I mean lots of horses, I mean like well over two hundred from my poor head count. It's a pretty mesmerizing sight to see such a huge number of equines grazing idly; it's normally the cattle that are great in number. Note, I say mesmerizing, not strange. This is, of course, an isekai world.

As I had expected, they all pretty much moved out of my way as I walked through their numbers. I had no intention of scaring them and causing some sort of stampede—which arguably would be bad—so I avoided making any quick motions or running. One thing I did do, however, was shake off the prairie dog that tried to climb up my leg. Weird fellas, if I'm being honest. I'm not sure why, but they seemed really drawn to approaching me. It's normally the opposite reaction from these small rodents, but I of course can't completely use my normal standards with this world. In any case, they were the only real hindrance through my trip over the valley.

That pretty much leads to now, where I'm currently about two miles away from a new line of forestry. This forest looked to be more northern based on the trees, though I couldn't really feel a distinct change in the temperature. And judging by Bluey's consistently happy state having not changed, this forest doesn't seem to be bad or anything, albeit having a dark interior…

… maybe I shouldn't use her reaction as a sign. She's generally happy all the time… yeah, I'll take my precautions when wandering in.

But there's just one problem though. I stopped in my tracks, looking back at the brown horse that also stopped some meters behind me. Why is this a problem? Well, it's the same fucking horse that has followed me ever since I left the horse herd… group… uh, whatever. It has been just following me since then. For what reason, I don't even wanna try and think about it. I'm literally living life with nothing more than my birthday suit, so I literally don't have anything on me that I probably took from this horse. And—wait, what could I even take from a horse? Maybe it's because of Bluey?

" Hey, Bluey," I called out to Bluey just for the heck of it. She glanced over to me with a tilted head. " You know why this horse is following us?"

Bluey simply shook her head, her own confusion present. Hm, in that case, I guess I should try to scare it? But it really didn't do anything, to be honest. Maybe it wants food? I don't have carrots, but I can definitely find something in the trees…

Before I could do anything about the matter, though, the horse approached in a casual stroll. It came up to me and bumped its head into my chest, causing me to stumble back a bit.

" Woah, what the—" I didn't get much out of me before I felt the horse bump me again from the side, causing me to stumble even more. It did it again from behind me, then my other side, and repeated this over and over. " Wha—hey, stop doing this shit…!"

It didn't listen to me. The brown horse continued to push me around with its head, and each bump was gradually starting to piss me off. Why the hell was it doing this? Actually, I don't fucking care, just cut it out! But just when I was about to start throwing hands, the horse stopped entirely. It then… began to walk around me in circles… similar to what Bluey would usually do.

"..." I silently stared at the horse as it continuously walked circles around me…

… I had absolutely know fucking idea what was going on, but one thing for sure is that this was not normal from a house.

Eventually I felt my anger dispatch and I instead gave the animal an exasperated look. I had zero experience with horses before, so I really couldn't read much about this. I wasn't even sure if this was a good idea to let it so close to me. Instinctively, I raised my hand and brushed it through the horse's blonde hair. It didn't flinch or anything—hell, it even leaned into my touch, as if I were its long lost trainer or something.

From there, I was stuck in a phase of patting the horse on the head, and not once did it ever back away. I silently glanced over to Bluey, who was smiling at the scene. She gave me a thumbs up, for some reason. Not sure what it meant… not sure what any of this meant…

…but, you know, since this is like a whole different world… I guess I could just ask the horse itself…

… Yeah, this is gonna be hella stupid.

I sighed, throwing my shot out. " … um, so like, why're you following us?"

I got a burst of hot air into my face as the horse exhaled in response. I guess that was my answer…

I tried again. " Can you understand me?"

I got another burst of air. I blinked before glancing over to Bluey. " … can you understand this shit?"

Surprisingly, she nodded. I watched as she then began writing out more illustrations with her magical floating text. She first drew a check mark, then she drew the image of a muscular arm flexing. It looks like she was translating.

" …yes… and, uh, strength?" I guessed out loud. Bluey nodded, then drew an image of a finger pointing at me. "...me?"

With another nod from her, I stared back at the horse. Yes… which probably meant it can understand me… a slightly unsettling thing, but cool I guess? And then strength… and a finger pointed at me… so, it's following me because I'm strong?

… what is even happening right now? " Uh… thanks, I guess?"

The horse snorted.

"... but, uh, why?"

Bluey then drew a sword, then a finger pointed at me, then an image of a person on a horse…

…. Wait, what? This… oh damn, I see what's going on here.

I looked back at the horse, slightly impressed. " You want to… ride me into battle?"

This time, the horse started to rub its head against me. Even without Bluey's translation, I could clearly see this as a yes.

… well, I really don't know what to say about this. I'm still settling with the fact I am genuinely have a conversation with a fucking horse. Now add the fact it wants to be my trusty steed to carry me into war? That's… kinda based, not gonna lie. It definitely has its priorities, that's for sure.

The problem is, however, that I had not an inkling of an idea how to take care of a horse… if I decided to keep it. Hell, even if I do keep it, I couldn't live up to its wishes. I am currently not in any war and I don't plan on fighting anytime soon… hope.

I sighed, carefully pinching the bridge of my nose. " Look, you've got some pretty valid goals, uh, horse, but I can't—woah!"

Again, I got assaulted. It bumped its head into mine, this time pushing with the force of a bulldozer. I literally had to spread my legs out before I toppled into the ground, and yet it still kept pushing. The fuck?The horse rubbed its face into my chest, letting out some neighs of distress. Clearly, it didn't like the idea I had in mind.

" Ok, ok!" I tried to ease the horse, patting its snout. " I'll, uh, let you come along and stuff… just… stop fucking doing this! Is that cool?"

As if it were cognitive—which I wouldn't doubt already that it is—the horse calmed down and huffed, easing its force down to nuzzling my cheek. I had a sour expression on my face as the horse continued to nuzzle me.

….This was one hell of an affectionate horse. Almost on par with Bluey, if I'm being honest. Well, no, she isn't that clingy. So this horse is more like an oversized dog… yeah, a dog in a horse's body.

In any case, I guess I got another travel member…? Bluey seemed to be fine about it, since she happily nested herself in the horse's mane. The horse itself didn't seem to mind it either, having taken more interest in resting on the ground next to me. I… I really didn't want to stress over whatever the hell just happened, and so I decided to sit down next to it as well. I was in no hurry, anyways. Gave me time to think of this new turn of events.

So… uh, a new horse… needs a name. Food, I can probably ask Bluey to guide me on that. Clothes, only I'm the one troubled with that. Water, pretty much everywhere. Shelter, don't need that right now. So yeah… I just need to give it a name…

… hell, I should also figure out its gender.

Almost as if reading my mind, Bluey suddenly floated up from the horse's mane and drew out the symbol of the male gender… huh. Ok, so I guess this horse is a guy. Cool. Now I'm just worried if Bluey really can read my mind…

… ok, phew, she can't. Now to go to the naming.

" Hmm," I rubbed my smooth chin, staring at the features of this horse. As I had noted previously, it was a brown horse, specifically something like mahogany, with dirty blonde hair. Same color for the tail, by the way. Eyes were dark brown and hooves were black. That was about it. As for mentality or whatever… if that even needs to be considered… I guess he got tired of home and wanted to explore? That was just a mindless thought.

I'm trying to think of a good name here, one that's both simple yet unique. No way in hell I'm calling him "Flash" or "Duster", those are too common. Maybe… Axe? No, makes no sense. Fang? That's more of a dog name. Holster? He isn't a gun, for fuck sake. Uhh…. I'm lost here.

Maybe I should name him after a car brand, something like Ferrari. It has a horse in its logo… but no, I'm not calling him that. I need something more… I dunno, something that goes well with his looks. So a bulky car, like a Ford or Mustang…

… why am I overthinking this…

… yep, got it.

" Alright, I'm calling you Mustang now," I declared, patting Mustang's snout. He seemed responsive to the new name, leaning into my touch. A few twinkles brought my attention up to Bluey, who tilted her head in confusion. " Ah, it's a name from my old world. I think it fits him pretty well, right?"

Bluey nodded slowly, her face displaying pure awe. I guess this name must be a novelty in this world. I figured; normally, in an Isekai world they have some obnoxiously long names that make almost no sense half of the time, though that's just with the nobility. In any case, I feel like Mustang is a good name for this fella…

… I, uh, hope I don't get too attached to him

I figured that this new forest would be somewhat unsettling. It had a bunch of evergreen trees and the ground was dry. That's not accounting for the eerie silence of this place. Like, I haven't even seen any other forest critters in here for some time now. It's… I dunno, it's just something precarious, if that's the right word.

What I'm getting at here is that I'm starting to not like this forest. I just have this feeling that something is going to happen. I'm just sure of it… it's too obvious. But as much as I think something is going to happen, I should probably not let that hinder my travels. I'll just… run, if anything happens.

Oh wait, no. Mustang seems pretty fast. He can probably ride us out of this place, if need be. In fact, I'm currently riding on him, surprisingly. I only fell once, but since then it's been smooth travels, albeit bumpy. The banes of not using a saddle, but whatever. Hopefully I'm not messing up his spine or anything… my balls do itch from the hair, though.

" Hey, Bluey," I looked over to my left shoulder, where she perched quietly like a parrot. She looked at me with her usual smile. It seems she wasn't all that bothered with this forest. At least that gives me some ease of mind… just a little, though. " Can you, like, scan this area or something? Detect any threats?"

Bluey tilted her head, putting a finger on the corner of her lips before nodding happily. Hovering off my shoulder, I watch her disappear into the tree. Within no time, her signature twinkles were no longer present, and I was left with nothing more than Mustang and myself. The area turned slightly dark with the lack of Bluey's light, and I became conscious of how deathly quiet it was. It unfortunately made it look like I was walking through a forest from a horror movie.

" …." For the next few minutes of traveling, me and Mustang quietly trekked across the maze of dry wood. I didn't really have much to think about, not when I was feeling this agitated. In all honesty, I shouldn't be feeling this when I was able to so casually trek the other forest. Again, it's gotta be some bad omen. I just have to stay attentive…

….

… I felt my heartbeat in my chest, my breaths being the only sound around me…

… I suddenly heard rustling in the leaves on my left side. I turned my head immediately, watching the area glow in a low blue tone as Bluey returned. She still held her smile, coming up to my face and shaking her head,

I sighed with some slight relief. Ok… Ok, phew. She almost had me there. I was seconds from kicking Mustang into full throttle. I did not want to deal with any threats, at least not in this state I'm in. I don't even have a stick as a weapon, much less do I even have the strength to fight.

" … well, alright, lets go," with Bluey back, we continued our travels through the suspicious forest. Every step we took was a serious and attentive one, our eyes—specifically mine—glued to the surroundings. Eventually, we managed to leave the forest. On the other side was a hilly terrain of rocks and gravel, which through sheer strength we managed to push through. From there, we carefully climbed the side of the mountains, our journey eventually leading us to a cave where I made Mustang rest. I continued the journey onwards with Bluey, our small forms climbing through the clouds and eventually reaching the summit of this monstrous mountain. And from there, I stretched out my hands and screamed into the horizon, cursing whichever fucktard threw me into this world without any help.

…At least, that's what I would've liked to have done.

" GUOOOOOOOOOOOAH!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake!"

Bam, chapter 3 out!

To be honest, kind of a sudden time skip, but really I didn't want to drag this out more than it needed to be. I don't want his entire time to be in this random forest... no matter if it's FAR much better than what he was experiencing previously. I also want to just get into the action. I could always work on the lore as I go, and I also wanna keep it open so that I can implement new characters later on.

As technically established in the previous chapter, Sean is in a young body. Specific age? I'd say like twelve or thirteen, give or take. It's going to be both a benefit and a hinderance for him as the story progresses, I can say for sure.

That'll be all from me for now. Next chapter we're going to see just who this loud roar came from... and then more world building. The chapter MAY come out a bit later than usual, but that'd probably be because I'm working on chapter seven going onwards. Anyways, have a good day/night!