Adventurer's Guild Café: I Was Wrongfully Exiled by the Saint, So I Will Enjoy My Second Life with My Fluffy Friends - V 2.1 Chapter 3.15

Pii, piyopiyo…

“Mm…?”

A noisy chirping, piyopiyo and pichipichi, buzzed right by my ear as my consciousness slowly floated back up.

What’s this—I feel unusually sleepy.

“Uuuhn…”

And somehow, it’s chilly too…

“Piyo!”

“Wah!”

A poke to my cheek startled me awake.

What came into view was a dim, shadowy space.

“Eh…? Where am I?”

I forced my heavy body to sit up. My head was still foggy, like waking from a deep sleep.

“Piyo! Pii!”

“Lili?”

Looking beside me, Lili was fluttering anxiously, fluffing her tiny wings.

Strangely, water filled the ground up to about ankle level. I must have collapsed near the water’s edge. Every time I moved, a chap sound echoed.

It seemed it was just Lili and me in this dim place.

Then it hit me—of course, we got swallowed by that huge fish!

“Lili, are you okay!?”

“Piyo…”

Lili, probably scared, nuzzled her fluffy little body against my cheek. Thank goodness, neither of us was hurt.

My head still felt fuzzy, but no injuries. To have survived being swallowed by such a massive mouth felt like a miracle.

“Still, where exactly are we? Could this really be… inside that fish’s stomach?”

The surroundings were dark, and I couldn’t see well.

But I could hear the sound of water rushing in and out—zaaa, zaaa.

I’ve never seen the ocean before, but maybe the waves sound something like this.

“Uwaah, what should we do…?”

We, who are usually the ones eating delicious things, now found ourselves on the opposite side—being digested…

“Piyo…”

Poor Lili was quietly shedding tears from her round black eyes.

“I-It’s okay, we’ll figure something out.”

Honestly, I was scared out of my mind. But everyone else was outside.

With that grand group, there was a faint hope they might somehow rescue us.

Before, I might have just trembled and cried, but now I was calmer.

Lili clicked her beak and shook her head.

“? What’s wrong?”

“Piyo…”

She seemed really down.

“Piyoyo.”

“?”

“Piyo…”

Huh, is she… apologizing?

“Are you saying sorry for jumping out of the backpack?”

When I asked, Lili nodded, tears quietly streaming down. Looks like I hit the mark.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s my fault for not closing the backpack properly.”

More than that, it’s worse that I broke Simon’s orders and ran off. If it were Simon, he might have been able to rescue Lili easily.

Ah, what have I done? This is really bad.

“P…?”

“…Yeah, I’m not upset. It’s okay. I’m just glad Lili’s not hurt.”

For now, I tried to encourage Lili.

“~!”

She pressed her fluffy body against my cheek desperately.

It tickled, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Laughing gave me a little strength.

“All right. Let’s get out of here.”

We’ll live and get outside first, then apologize. Worrying won’t do any good.

Compared to who I was not long ago, this is an unimaginable positive attitude. Maybe it’s the strong desire to return to everyone that’s pushing me forward.

“Piyo!”

Lili chirped, like saying, “Got it!”

Maybe everyone outside is doing something for us. But it’s eerily quiet here, and aside from the sound of gentle waves, nothing else can be heard.

Come to think of it, even though it should be pitch dark, why is it only around us that it’s faintly lit…?

If Lulu were here, the stone on her forehead would be glowing with fire, so it would always be bright…

“Huh?”

Suddenly, I noticed my back pocket felt warm. What could it be?

“?”

I fumbled around in the pocket. Then, my fingers touched something hard. I pulled it out.

“!”

This was… the scales I’d picked up earlier when I went to the otherworld with Ares.

For some reason, the scales were warm and faintly glowing in the darkness.

“Why are they glowing…?”

Come to think of it, Ares had said it was an ancient magic item.

Why it glows, or even what exactly it is, I had no clue.

Since it’s a scale, it’s probably meant to measure something… but what exactly?

“Hmm… for now, let’s use this as a light and see what’s around us.”

“Piyo.”

With Lili perched on my shoulder, I stood up and held the scales high, casting light into the darkness.

In the wide space where water whispered and rippled, we slowly moved deeper inside.