– Huh..?! Where am I?

He exclaimed slightly when he realized he was awake. His breathing quickened, his pulse could even be heard in his ears, and his body tensed a little. His eyes couldn't focus for a couple of seconds, but then everything became a little clearer.

– Wait... am I... am I really in a cave..?!

He found himself in the very place where he had been not so long ago. Natsuki Subaru already had time to think that it was just a pathetic and strange dream. After all, what else could it be when you find yourself in a woman's body, in a cave, and an entire village is burning nearby, where dog girls live. It would be the most interesting fantasy dream of his life.

– But it wasn't a dream... or... a dream within a dream?

He had heard of such a phenomenon, but it was hard to believe, especially when everything around him felt so realistic. But now he looked at himself and realized that everything was exactly the same as the first time. He's a girl, and with a good body, if he had the right to evaluate himself, and his body itself is now in a semi-dark cave.

– If everything is exactly the same, then...

He looked exactly where he had found the extra clothes last time and was not mistaken. There was everything that was needed, and Natsuki Subaru did not disdain to use it all again. And then his gaze shifted to the two remaining items, one of which he took with him last time.

A suspicious book and a strange-looking blade that resembles the religious weapon of the Inquisitor from his world. Subaru didn't want to take any of this with him, but this time the blade seemed more useful to him than the last one, so he even found a small compartment in the sleeve of his robe just for this small weapon. And even if he didn't want to take the book with him, he couldn't. For some specific reason, this item just wouldn't let him give up on himself. So I had to hide the book under my robe and move into the light, because I couldn't read anything in such darkness anyway.

His memory turned out to be much better than he thought, as he was able to find a way out of the cave the first time. And when Natsuki Subaru found himself in the afternoon sun, the smell of alcohol hit his nose. His entire existence was twisted in disgust at this fragrance, which was even a bit new to him. Of course, he had never liked alcohol, and he was wary of drunk people, but now the feeling of disgust was much stronger than usual.

– In any case, it just means...

He turned in the direction he had gone last time and noticed a dense cloud of smoke rising in the sky. He felt sick from the sudden recollection of what he had seen there.

– Is this a premonition? Or a recurring dream..?

However, with a quick shake of his head, he banished these currently intrusive thoughts and began to think only about the reality on his hand. He was distracted for a second and took the book out from under his robes, he wanted to open it, but for some reason this whole situation seemed somehow wrong to him. That is, it's not that he didn't want to or couldn't read, but for some reason the book itself didn't want to be read, and he couldn't leave it somewhere in a cave either.

– What a damn problematic thing.

He hesitantly stared at the slightly battered dark cover of the book for about a minute before gathering his thoughts and opening it. The old slightly damp pages were a living hell for his delicate skin, but Subaru studiously ignored this unpleasant feeling. For a second, the thought crept into his mind that this might be this girl's personal diary, but in the end it was impossible to stop.

– I don't understand anything.

He flipped through almost all the pages where something was written, and he still didn't understand what it was. The language was some kind of mixture of what he had once seen in his world and something incomprehensible. It became clear that Natsuki Subaru did not understand a single gram of what was written in this suspicious book.

– ... But still, I heard a girl in that village speak Japanese. Or was it my imagination?

He had heard that in a critically stressful situation, the brain can perceive the world a little differently from reality, so this possibility also existed. If the latter option was correct, then he was stuck in the girl's body, in another world where nothing was clear.

– I'm fucked, aren't I?

– Pfe…

Suddenly, Natsuki Subaru heard a strange sound next to him and turned to the side, noticing several empty bottles and a man lying on a leaf litter. He was making indistinct noises, but he seemed to be still asleep.

– That's right, I forgot about you, drunk.

He chuckled slightly at his own forgetfulness, but then a frightened expression immediately appeared on his face. Natsuki Subaru looked fearfully in the direction where the black smoke was rising, and realized that he was wasting his time standing still. At first, he wanted to immediately move in the right direction in order to have time to do something, but he stopped and instead decided to approach the drunk man.

– WOW..! It smells disgusting.

The smell of alcohol was so strong and incredibly unpleasant that it was difficult to ignore it, especially at such a distance. But Natsuki Subaru did his best for this and gently kicked the man next to him. There was only an inarticulate mumble in response.

– Kami-sama, it's pointless.

However, despite his words, he kicked the man at least eight more times in some already illusory hope to wake him up. And as a result, the drunk opened his eyes and looked irritably in the direction of Subaru.

– Huh, finally awake! I'm tired of kicking you.

– What do you want... Morgana..?!

– What...?

He already had what he wanted to say in his mind, but at that moment Subaru almost bit his tongue. All because of this strange treatment used by a drunk man. However, he still managed to gather his thoughts and say what was needed to this person.

– There's a village on fire, people are dying. I could use a helping hand!

– Morgana, d-dan't be~ ridiculous.

However, he sluggishly waved him away and lay down again on a bed of leaves, apparently to fall asleep again.

– Damn it, my name is Natsuki Subaru!

He couldn't stand this strange treatment and immediately said who he considered himself to be. However, in response, he was only…

– M-Morgana... please kiss me.

– My goddess Eris, this is disgusting.

Subaru immediately recoiled from the drunk, who reached out to him with terrifying intentions of close lip contact. Never in his life had Natsuki Subaru kissed anyone, and he wasn't going to start doing it with a drunk man while in a female body somewhere near the edge of the forest.

In any case, he had to leave this drunken pathetic creature here and go on his own again. He tried to change the situation, but it all failed, and it wasn't his fault.

– Alcohol is definitely to blame. Scary.

Now he would like to get rid of something like this in his life even more. He had never drunk alcoholic beverages before, but now even thinking about it became unbearably disgusting for him.

– And he even called me some kind of... Morgana.

However, as soon as this thought appeared in his mind, a small realization struck him as if it meant nothing. Natsuki Subaru took another look at his body and especially his long hair before coming to a strange but relatively logical conclusion.

– Or maybe that was the name of the girl I ended up in?

He couldn't definitively say if it was a name he'd never heard in his life, or if it was just the ravings of a drunken lunatic, but there weren't many options anyway. Because of this, his fortitude dropped slightly, but he diligently tried to support himself. This is not a situation where it would be worthwhile to wither right in front of our eyes, when nothing more can be done. Yes, he's in another body. Yes, he lives in a cave now. Yes, he's dressed like a religious fanatic who's been kicked out of church. Yes, he's running straight to the disaster site right now, but…

– Aah?! Fuck!

At the moment of his running, Natsuki Subaru slipped right on the dirty wet ground and lost his balance. He was already close to an acceptable slope, from where the place of fire damage could be seen, which is why, due to his own carelessness and the force of nature, he managed to roll head over heels down the slope, while his body constantly changed its position during the roll, forcing him to fall on bent knees, then on buttocks, then on his back and It was almost on my head.

–Ah... damn it... oh…

His whole body ached in different places, and he completely stained his clothes and hands with mud. However, he still managed to find the strength to get to his feet and head more cautiously straight to the village, which is still about a few minutes or more away, considering that he is no longer running, but trudging like a turtle or snail riding a turtle.

And when he arrived, the picture in front of him was the same as it was last time. The smell of burnt flesh and a lot of bodies burned to the internal organs. The village is still burning and there is no sign of anyone alive around. However, Natsuki Subaru did not give up, as he had last time, and cautiously but still persistently moved forward, trying not to look at the horror around him.

– Fuck!

This caused him to stumble over someone's corpse and fall onto another burnt body of a young girl. There was an expression of pure horror in her slightly moist eye sockets. And, apparently, she died before her lower half of her body burned down, which was now quietly smoldering with pathetic flames.

– Byach! Ghauh!

And he couldn't help himself at that moment. He suddenly vomited right on her face with a frozen grimace of horror. Subaru felt truly disgusted by the fact that his inner gastric juice had defiled the breathless half-body of a young girl. And from these thoughts, he vomited once more.

– Huh..! God..!

With the last of his strength, he managed to crawl away from the lifeless corpse and slowly he tried to come to his senses. However, this was completely prevented by the smell of burnt flesh and, in general, the heat of the flames that covered most of the village.

– I hate it so much...

All these people don't deserve this kind of treatment. Whatever happened here, it was extremely terrible and incredibly cruel to them. That's why…

– Oh?!

And suddenly he heard someone banging on the door of a house a little further down the street. Subaru had originally been heading there, but the events of the last two minutes had clouded his mind. He regained his sense of awareness at the same moment, and a moment later he got to his feet, running in the right direction towards the burning building where the lonely girl was trapped. He had undoubtedly run into the door, but it had not yet given way.

– My name is Natsuki Subaru! I'll save you!

However, no one answered him anymore. Last time, this girl had lost consciousness due to all the conditions in this burning house, so he needed to act as quickly as possible. He pounded on the door as hard as he could, but it resisted him, insistently not wanting to let him inside.

– Come on! Open up!

In a fit of rage, he pulled out a hidden blade and stuck it into the weak creaking hinges of the door. To his surprise, the blade of this small weapon easily dealt with this part of the barrier, and then Subaru used it again to deal with the remaining loops. It was then that the door fell forward without the slightest resistance from a slight push, as if it had lost all will to fight.

–Damn it..!

Despite his success, he spent a lot of time on it, so blame yourself for your own slowness and stupidity. A little later, Subaru hid the blade in the sleeve of his robe and lifted the girl in his arms, quickly carrying her out of the burning building. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the ceiling of the house collapsed right behind him.

– Phew, that was pretty close.

He carefully placed the girl on the stone pavement of the path on her back, which was least burned, and examined her body again. The horrific burns seem to be even slightly worse than before. She was still unconscious, and he couldn't blame anyone but himself. If he hadn't been doing anything stupid and had come here right away, things might have turned out much better.

Subaru gently took her weak hand, not knowing how else to help her, and noticed how her dog ears twitched slightly at his touch. However, she did not wake up.

– Oops, that was sweet, but it probably hurts her, damn...

He took his hand away, and then regretfully decided to brainstorm just to come up with something. However…

– You don't look like them, but still decided to save those disgusting demon-things.

– Huh?!

Subaru cursed himself for the hundredth time for forgetting about the very end of his dream or something like that. There was a man who spoke unpleasantly about someone. There was no sadness, pain, fear, or compassion in his voice, only contempt and perhaps even rage.

This caused Subaru to turn around sharply, only to notice how the blade of a bloody battle axe, shining in the light of day, was raised directly over his head. He couldn't react, didn't have time to react, didn't even have time to scream in fear, because this battle axe was instantly brought down with overwhelming force.

– Hm?

– Hk!

However, at the last moment, Subaru's left hand, which he was trying with all his might to protect his body, even realizing that it was useless, shot up sharply to meet the battle axe, and a blade hidden there popped out of the sleeve of his robe on this side.

Natsuki Subaru's terrifying dark eyes stared in shock as his own hand, acting against his will or rather uncoordinated with his will, acted in its own unknown interests, intercepting the blade an instant before colliding with the battle axe.

The blade of a battle axe and a small blade with a scarlet handle collide, forming a faint stream of sparks and an incredibly strong sound of metal hitting metal.

– Hk?!

Subaru felt a sharp and incredibly strong pressure on his uncontrollable hand. Whoever this man was in front of him, he was strong and dangerous. His appearance speaks of him as a soldier from the late Middle Ages, when people had not yet completely abandoned metal plates on their armor, but clearly reduced their number, focusing on the movement and endurance of soldiers, rather than on their impenetrability.

– What the hell is going on..?!

Listening to his screams, the man frowned and separated their crossed weapons with a bang sound. It only took him a couple of moves to knock the blade out of Subaru's hand. And as soon as that happened, control of that limb returned to him. But along with this fullness of his own body, he felt something more terrifying. The fear that death was definitely waiting for him now, because the moment of unexpected and incomprehensible salvation was immediately used up, like a fleeting luck card in a video game.

– Oh, no..! Don't..!

And then, without a doubt, the man raised the battle axe over his head and, with eyes full of feelings incomprehensible to Subaru, abruptly lowered the battle axe down. At the last moment of his life, Natsuki Subaru's world split in two again for an understandable reason. On the one hand, his pain-stricken brain could only discern a girl who had never woken up and would probably never wake up. But on the other hand, part of his vision focused on the man he now hated, who had no qualms about dealing him a fatal blow. The man who was wearing light combat armor, a medium-sized battle axe, and had a conspicuous golden banner on his sternum with the image of a golden wolf's head pierced by three sharp blades.