The Dream of a Lost Mother

This was a dream—a fact he knew from the moment it began. In this dream, he saw his mother, her gentle hand caressing his cheek.

In reality, he could no longer feel his mother’s warmth. Four years ago, she had been laid to rest in a beautiful crystal coffin, sleeping eternally in the church.

On that day, elegantly dressed adults presented her with white bouquets. Despite her humble origins, she was still highly respected. However, their reverence stemmed not from her kind heart or exquisite beauty, but from the immense wealth and influence of the Tang family.

His father, as he recalled, was a man of few smiles. Throughout the entire funeral, even during the final farewells, he remained silent, uttering not a single word.

He must have been profoundly grief-stricken. Or so it seemed, until less than a year after the funeral, he married a woman from another prominent family to emerge from his sorrow.

Afterward, his father never returned to the villa, which was still imbued with his mother’s presence. The servants also left, leaving only him and his maid, Kuroki Nao.

Under the weight of these blows, he chose to wallow in self-pity. The young master, Tang Wenxu, who once ranked first in his school, became a shut-in who never left the house.

Fortunately, his father still sent him and Kuroki Nao money each month for their living expenses, providing him the capital to indulge his reclusive lifestyle.

Despite having no worries about food or clothing, this was not the life he desired. What he wanted most was simply for his gentle mother to return.

He meticulously examined his mother’s face, fearing he would forget her appearance once he awoke.

“You must take good care of yourself when I am gone.” Beneath his mother’s benevolent smile, a hint of sorrow lingered.

He vaguely understood that his mother was saying her final goodbye.

“Mother, don’t go!” he cried out.

But his mother shook her head, casting a lingering glance at him.

He reached out to grasp her, but caught only emptiness. He jolted awake from the dream, opening his eyes to see the face of his maid, Kuroki Nao.

“Master, what’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?” Kuroki Nao stroked his face. He realized he had mistakenly taken her touch for his mother’s.

“Can a grand funeral truly allow a soul to rest in peace?” Tang Wenxu asked, appearing melancholic.

“Of course,” Kuroki Nao affirmed with absolute certainty.

“I hope so.”

“Ah…” Tang Wenxu, who had been feeling a bit sad, suddenly flushed. “That…”

Kuroki Nao was sitting on the grass, and Tang Wenxu’s head was resting on her lap.

A lap pillow—the dream of countless shut-ins.

“Hmm? What is it? Master, why is your face so red?” Kuroki Nao asked, feigning ignorance.

“Cough, cough… stop teasing me.”

It had to be said, Kuroki Nao was a remarkably elegant young woman. She possessed a tall stature, lustrous black hair, and rare red pupils.

Those red pupils were particularly striking; they never appeared eerie, but rather made one feel as though those ruby-like eyes belonged perfectly on her delicate face. Her black maid uniform accentuated her noble and graceful demeanor, as if she were not born to be a servant, but a refined lady from a prestigious family.

Such a young woman could make even Tang Wenxu, who always claimed to be a “paper-lover” dedicated to 2D characters, feel his heart quicken.

“Any thoughts?” Kuroki Nao asked mischievously, patting her thigh.

“Thoughts about what? The weather? It’s… quite nice.” Tang Wenxu looked left and right, deliberately playing dumb. Then he suddenly realized an important question. “…By the way, Nao, where are we?”

Normally, he should have woken up in his own room. Yet, they were currently sitting in a desolate grassy area, devoid of any buildings or road signs.

Kuroki Nao shook her head, looking equally bewildered.

‘What a joke. How could a 21st-century human not know where they are? I’ll feel around… Damn it, why am I wearing pajamas?’

“Nao, did you bring your phone?”

“It’s useless. There’s no signal here, no mobile data, and not even emergency calls can go through.” Kuroki Nao pulled out her phone and showed him the screen.

“You mean the phone turned into a brick…”

“Not entirely. At least it can provide light, though the battery is limited.”

“A glowing brick… is still a brick, isn’t it?”

Tang Wenxu sighed. It seemed that without a phone, 21st-century humans were a joke; a compass would have been more useful.

“The situation seems a bit serious.”

“It’s alright, Master. I’ve already prepared food.” Kuroki Nao, as if prepared for this, pulled out some unfamiliar but seemingly juicy berries from her uniform pocket.

“Food? Good heavens, you’re not planning for a prolonged survival mission, are you? The anime I’ve been waiting all week for was supposed to update today… Hey, what kind of expression is that? I’m just trying to lighten the mood. In any case, we need to find a way back quickly.”

Kuroki Nao offered a polite but somewhat awkward smile.

Ultimately, just waiting there was not a solution. They decided to walk deeper into the area, believing that if they kept going, they would surely encounter someone.

Although the situation was rather bizarre, Kuroki Nao seemed to be in good spirits. She hummed an unknown tune as she walked behind Tang Wenxu. It had been a long time since she had walked outside with him.

Ever since Tang Wenxu became a shut-in, his daily activity space within the 800-square-meter villa was limited to just his bedroom and the kitchen—a straight line between two points.

Tang Wenxu went to the kitchen not to eat, but to cook. Cooking was one of his few hobbies. Although having her master cook was a slight to her role as a maid, she willingly conceded, because it was the only way she could use the excuse of “helping” to be close to him.

Out of twenty-four hours a day, their time together was often only one or two hours. If Tang Wenxu didn’t cook, the time they spent together each day would be pitifully short—a thought that was terrifying to her.

When did Kuroki Nao fall in love with her master? Even she didn’t know the answer to that.

Being with the one you deeply love is happiness. Therefore, facing the current situation, she felt not a trace of fear, but even a hint of secret joy. Her master was right before her eyes; what could be more blissful than that?

She even wished this place were a deserted island, where they could begin a life like Adam and Eve.

If Tang Wenxu’s heart held a proportional weighting, then computers and otaku merchandise accounted for seventy percent, cooking for twenty-five percent, and Kuroki Nao for the remaining five percent. In other words, if there were no computers or merchandise, Kuroki Nao would have a much higher chance of winning her master’s heart.

The deeper they walked, the stranger Tang Wenxu found the environment. There were trees and fruits he had never seen before.

“Is this really Earth? I have a strange sense of incongruity. Could we have transmigrated to another world?” Tang Wenxu mused, chuckling self-deprecatingly. “In anime, the probability of transmigration is quite high. But in the real world, that probability should be lower than winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning on the same day, right?”

“Master, it’s best to read fewer novels and watch less anime,” Kuroki Nao said, rolling her eyes.

“Nao, let me ask you a question.”

“What is it?”

“From a scientific perspective, can triangular apples exist on Earth?”

“…”

Kuroki Nao, who had been looking down, lifted her head and spotted triangular apples—or rather, fruits that merely looked like apples.

Kuroki Nao sniffed the air in that direction, her expression turning serious.

Deep in the dense forest, Tang Wenxu’s hand was clasped tightly in Kuroki Nao’s, their fingers intertwined. Tang Wenxu tried to pull free but couldn’t budge her grip an inch.

“Don’t drag me like this; you’re making me feel like a child.” Tang Wenxu’s face was flushed with embarrassment.

“What if you get lost?” Kuroki Nao’s expression was grave, seemingly unwilling to compromise.

As a maid, it was her duty to protect her master, especially after catching that scent. She needed to heighten her vigilance.

She was a formidable individual.

In her pockets, she carried not only a handkerchief but also a custom P226 semi-automatic pistol, a dagger that had tasted human blood, and several sets of shuriken and kunai. She was confident she could make any fool who dared to harm her master regret being born.

However, in truth, Kuroki Nao acted like a gentle girl. Those who threatened her master never got the chance to regret anything, for they didn’t even have time to breathe.

These matters, though, she always kept hidden from her master. In his eyes, she was always just a sweet maid.

After walking a while longer, Tang Wenxu suddenly frowned and asked, “Nao, do you smell a strange odor?”

“Don’t try to change the subject.” Kuroki Nao was incredibly firm, almost neurotic. She was very familiar with that scent, but at this moment, she had to deny it outright. She didn’t want the pure-hearted young master to see the source of the smell.

In Tang Wenxu’s memory, a strong-willed Kuroki Nao was rare. The last time he witnessed her assertiveness was a long time ago. He remembered trying to learn how to smoke back then, and Kuroki Nao had been terrifyingly firm. Because of her, he successfully quit, though the friend who always recommended cigarette brands had mysteriously disappeared shortly after.

“I really do smell it. Trust my chef’s nose.” He was certain he wasn’t mistaken, so he repeated himself.

“Even if there’s a strange smell, what does it matter? What’s important now is to keep moving,” Kuroki Nao said loudly.

“Nao, I order you—let’s go toward the three o’clock direction.” He couldn’t be wrong; that direction was the source of the odor, and he had to investigate.

She thought for a moment, then sighed, saying softly, “Master, you will regret this.”

Perhaps letting him see wouldn’t be so bad after all.

A rustling sound reached their ears. Upon closer inspection, the sight made one’s scalp crawl.

It was a corpse, leaning against a tree. Dense black insects crawled in and out of its pores, flies swarmed around it, and unnamed bugs held a gruesome feast. The strange odor emanated from here—the smell of death.

The sight was far too gruesome for a sheltered young master. He vomited everything in his stomach. “This is… a dead person… right? Ugh…”

In that moment, he even imagined the two of them lying exposed in the wilderness just like that.

Compared to Tang Wenxu’s panic, Kuroki Nao seemed completely unfazed. She meticulously examined the corpse like a detective, missing no detail.

The corpse wore armor similar to that of ancient Greece, suggesting a medieval level of development. The cause of death was unknown, and the time of death appeared to be around a month ago. A long spear lay beside the body; he must have been a spearman belonging to some nation.

She had pulled her master along earlier precisely because she didn’t want him to see this. But now that he had seen it, there was no harm in investigating. Nao took out a pair of white gloves from her pocket and carefully rummaged through the corpse’s armor, discovering a map inside the breastplate.

Although parts of the map had been corroded by a black liquid, rendering some content unclear, most of it remained intact. The map depicted a continent and numerous islands. Kuroki Nao was confident in her geography; she could guarantee that no place on Earth resembled the location on this map.

The continent was divided into various regions by dashed lines. She couldn’t understand the writing, which seemed to belong to the Indo-European language family, appearing like a mixture of Russian and Lithuanian. But even treating it as Russian, the grammar was incorrect. She was a linguistic prodigy, fluent in eight languages and familiar with many others, yet this language baffled her.

She glanced at Tang Wenxu, who was still kneeling nearby, then stepped forward to help him up. “Feeling better?”

“I’m fine.” He feigned composure, but his trembling legs betrayed him.

“Master, take a look at this map. Do you recognize anything?”

“I have no idea.” Tang Wenxu felt as though he was looking at an indecipherable text.

“Perhaps… and I mean perhaps… we really have transmigrated to another world.”

“Mm.” Tang Wenxu nodded, though his heart was a tempest of emotions.

Glancing at the corpse, Tang Wenxu suppressed the urge to vomit again. He knew he had to be strong, for there was a girl beside him.

He just didn’t know that the girl behind him was far stronger—and far more terrifying—than he could imagine.

“Don’t worry, Nao. I’ll protect you,” Tang Wenxu said.

“How reliable,” Kuroki Nao smiled sweetly.

“Let’s continue onward.”

“Mm.”

“Are you scared?”

“Not at all.” Kuroki Nao smiled, perfectly playing her role. “Because Master will be here to protect me.”