The diary lies open between them.

  The Diary

  My observations and research notes since coming to this world:

  I’ve been here for two weeks now. I’ve finally settled in. The rent is paid, and I could afford this diary with the change I had left over.

  When I woke up in this world, I remembered phrases they used like “Initializing” and “Optical.” This needs further investigation.

  The Adventurer’s Guild here isn’t like the ones in games back home. I joined on day one. There are no rankings, but there is a weekly practical combat test for newcomers. You go up to the desk, and they bring you a job… eventually. I mainly do fetch quests.

  Felmina raises her hand.

  “What’s a games?”

  Roka looks at her.

  “It’s not important, Felmina. I’ll explain later. My mom told me about them.”

  “O-okay…”

  I only need to do the combat test monthly now. They’ve finally started giving me harder quests—three at a time. I got my card too.

  I can leave town now. This is progress, I guess.

  I ran into an alchemist during a delivery today. We got to talking, and he suggested I start harvesting medicinal plants and wholesaling them for extra money. I bought a book illustrating the different plants, some basic manufacturing equipment, and a map detailing locations in the forest—all from him. It wiped out my savings, and I still owe him a bit for the mortar and pestle. I’ll pay him later.

  This world is weird. Super weird.

  I found a bird stuck in a tree. Half its body was fused inside the trunk. It reminded me of clipping errors in games, where two static meshes collide and get stuck. It freaked me out. I need to investigate this.

  I had an interview at the Guild today. They informed me that I need to learn fire magic. It’s compulsory. Apparently, all corpses must be burned to ash; otherwise, they rise from the dead. That would be… bad—especially if the monster was strong. I’ll be tested next week, and if I pass, I can get better work.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Time to train.

  I passed. They had me—

  “Question.”

  I get up.

  “Yes, Roka?”

  “What’s a clipping error? And a static mesh?”

  Oh shit.

  I think for a bit.

  “You know what games are, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, wait—please explain it to Felmina so she doesn’t fall behind.”

  “Okay.”

  Roka takes a breath.

  “So, Felmina, according to my mother, the world she comes from used to create other worlds. People would sit in front of a window called a screen and control things in that world using tools called a keyboard and mouse. These worlds usually told a story.”

  “That’s simply wonderful,” Felmina says, then looks at me.

  “Is that true?”

  “Well… yes. Kind of. But it would take way too long to explain, and it’s not that important. I think Roka nailed the basics.”

  “Now, to your question. Static meshes are what we called objects in the game. When something goes wrong, sometimes they get stuck together. That’s a clipping error.”

  “I see…”

  They continue reading, but I can practically see steam rising from Felmina’s head. Roka too—though not as much.

  I passed. They had me burn a troll corpse to ash in the training yard.

  I need to train more so I can raise my MP.

  I almost died today. I was only thinking about the money from the quest. Those wolves swarmed me—surrounded me in no time. Luckily, I realized you can save your level-ups for full recovery. I only use them in emergencies now.

  Still, I think I’ll start seriously foraging from tomorrow onward.

  Roka waits for Felmina to finish, then places the bookmark and closes the diary.

  She thinks for a long time. Felmina watches her.

  “Dearest husband.”

  I get up and sit across from them.

  “I’m listening.”

  “Did you use that full recovery in the hospital this morning?”

  Ah—she got me. She really is a genius.

  Damn girl. One hundred points.

  “I did.”

  “I see.”

  She looks at me seriously. Felmina seems to be following, at least.

  “What’s your real level?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Your best estimate, then?”

  I close my eyes and consider it carefully.

  “Between 350 and 450.”

  “No wonder…” Roka says. “Lady Felmina is level eighty-eight, and even I’m only level eighty.”

  “That’s how you saved me that day at the site,” Felmina says, starting to squirm.

  “That was the day I fell in love—oooh, just remembering it—burhgh—”

  Roka puts a palm over Felmina’s face, stopping her.

  I smile at them.

  “Okay. Dinner, then bed. You two.”

  “I want to keep reading.”

  I raise my hand.

  “Please consider Felmina’s and my feelings. I don’t want to answer everything twice.”

  She nods reluctantly.

  I fetch the meal from outside. We eat. We finish.

  “Dearest husband,” Felmina says, “if I may… why do all of this at all? The things in here seem very personal. How can you trust me and Roka to this extent?”

  I think for a bit.

  “Well… since you both married me and placed your lives in my hands, I see no alternative but complete honesty going forward. If this relationship has any chance, I can’t hold anything back.”

  They both blush.

  Felmina then gets a serious look.

  “Dearest husband… there’s something you don’t know about me. I want to tell you, but I think it’s best if I wait until the honeymoon to reveal it. Would that be fine?”

  That gets me curious. Honeymoon, huh.

  “Does it have to be then? Is it a difficult subject?”

  “Yes. It’s best if I tell you then—before we… you know.”

  She blushes. Roka goes beet-red.

  We all calm down.

  “All right.”

  We chat for a bit.

  “Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, dearest husband.”

  I turn off the light.

  We sleep.