I was accidentally injured by God and I just want to be an ordinary person

The light gradually dissipated, leaving behind five people in the distance who remained in a dodging posture as if they were stopped in time. Through the masks, one could clearly see the fear in their eyes, but even so, they could not move a step.

However, Ella just stared blankly at their conversation without taking any further action.

"Ms. Ella? What should we do next?"

"Huh? Ah, next... next..."

I didn't expect that my first actual combat after arriving in another world would end in such a simple way. It was too different from the battle I imagined. I was looking forward to a big battle. What a fool I am. Please give me back my expectations!

But back to reality, what exactly are these people trying to do? And who is this supreme Queen? Being called the Queen—is it related to the Mark of Original Sin? It's really concerning...

Thinking of this, Ella couldn't help but reveal a dazzling smile like a little devil on her face. She took something out of her backpack and slowly walked to the person closest to her.

Seeing what Ella was holding in her hand, the man in front of her looked even more terrified.

"What are you going to do?"

"Nothing, huh? I just need a little information—hehehe…"

“No, no! Help… Help!”

(Beep——Infinite harmony sounded from a distance)

Chapter 23: The Incredible Country

*创世纪6186年4月24日 下午19：42分 至圣学院学院区

It was late April, and the evening had not yet fallen on the Holy Academy. The light of the setting sun became unusually thick and flowed across the earth.

"Well, I have a general understanding of the situation. So, can you let me interrogate the 'Princess'?"

Looking at the five people in front of her who were tied up with ropes and hanging upside down on the tree, struggling like worms, Iris felt a bead of sweat appear on her head that had never existed.

He had originally planned to wait for the five men under his command to force Ella into a desperate situation, and then he would appear like a hero to win Ella's favor. However, he did not expect that Ella's strength was completely beyond his expectations, and she easily dealt with this group of people. As a result, not only did he not have any chance to appear, but even his own information had to be "tortured" out by Ella. He could not wait any longer and could only pretend to pass by to rescue her.

"It's great that Iris-senpai is willing to help. These guys won't talk no matter what I do, and they won't even take off their masks."

Ella waved helplessly at Ruthie, and Ruthie untied the rope fixed to the tree and lowered the five people who were tied up tightly from the tree one after another.

“Mmmmmmm—!”

"Be quiet."

The last person to be put down struggled desperately as if he wanted to say something, but Lotte stepped on his back and he fainted immediately. He fell to the ground and didn't say anything anymore.

"..."

"What's wrong?"

The person involved seemed to be completely unaware of what he was doing and had a harmless expression on his face.

"No, nothing."

"Um... um, no, nothing."

"Ha, haha, Lotte always does some weird things on special occasions, ha, haha."

Iris and I could only fake a smile in response. Lotte would be like this whenever her affairs were involved... Is this the place where I should be happy? I always feel a little complicated.

"Ahem, if these people were able to invade the academy district, if they weren't students themselves, they must have been assisted by someone inside the academy. Plus, given the destruction of the East Church's Holy Pillar, they might know something. When I hand them over to the academy, I'll ask them to help Ella investigate their intentions in capturing her."

"Uh-huh... well, I'll leave it to Elise-senpai then."

As soon as he heard about the East Church, he felt nervous unconsciously. He quickly raised his sleeves and pretended to wipe the sweat off his face to hide his stiff expression.

In the end, the attempt to hide the strange tone did not work, and Iris took a step forward with a concerned look on her face.

"What's wrong? Were you injured when you fought those guys earlier?"

"No...no, I want to ask you, Senpai, the East Church incident has been going on for half a year, right? Why are you so persistent?"

"Well, that's only natural, right? For a school like the Sacred Academy, the strongest in the continent, to have its church's 'Contracted Pillar' destroyed, not to mention the culprit, is incredibly embarrassing. Ella-chan, having accepted the contract, knows the Sacred Academy's purpose, right? With a sacred pillar like that hidden within it being destroyed, no one would believe they didn't have ulterior motives, right?"

"Yeah, that's right, haha, ha."

Not to mention that I have no idea what the so-called secret is, the first thing I want to say is that the pillar was destroyed because I slapped it in anger. I don’t know what to say, so I can only agree with it.

However, Iris didn't seem to notice her awkward tone and continued talking.

"Well, there aren't many people who can destroy a heavily protected sacred pillar without leaving a trace. If you consider the purpose, it's probably only the 'that' mentioned in the contract. Hmm—don't tell anyone else about this, okay?"

Iris put her index finger on her lips, and her originally mature look instantly became a little playful.

"Well, I'll keep it a secret. Of course, so will Lotte."

"Ella-chan and Lotte-chan, I'm not worried about the secret being revealed. That's all, you two can go back first. I'll take care of this. Oh, by the way, the 'Flute Player of Hameln' will be setting up a stall in the dormitory area today. If you like stories, I recommend checking them out."

As if she heard something interesting, Lotte, who had been standing beside her obediently, seemed to jump for joy.

"The flute player from Hameln? Is he the one who sang the tale of the 'mysterious kingdom'?"

"That's right, Lotte-chan, you knew about this. I thought the story of the flute player was only told in the academy."

"I only knew about this in the basement library at home. Miss Ella, shall we go now?"

It was rare to see Lotte so excited, and I couldn't help but feel curious about that incredible country. Unable to bear Lotte's rare excitement, I hurriedly told Iris the questions I wanted to ask, then said goodbye and left the path.

Iris looked at the four people who had become obedient since Ella and Luty left, plus a subordinate who had fainted, and let out a sigh that was not sure whether it was disappointment or helplessness. She waved at the five people, and as if by an invisible blade, all the ropes that bound the five people were cut.

"I'm sorry, Lady Iris, we failed."

"It's okay. I underestimated Ella's strength. It seems safer to do it myself. That second-level magic should rely on the protection of that special staff."

"I'm so sorry."

The man who should have been the team leader took off his mask, revealing his twisted facial features. His expression looked as if he hated his own powerlessness.

Iris took a step forward and patted the leader's shoulder nonchalantly.

"If you say it doesn't matter, don't worry about the outcome."

——And from the very beginning, I felt that this method was too stupid, especially for me who was watching my subordinates studying hard. It was so embarrassing that I wanted to say "I don't know these people".

"I will improve my strength and await Lady Iris's next order."

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it."

Looking at the determined eyes of his subordinates, he felt too embarrassed to refuse and could only comfort them like a superior. However, compared to improving their strength, he would rather let them cultivate their acting skills. However, this requirement was too harsh for the current environment of the academy.

"Don't use this method next time. Try a different approach. Let's go."

After taking a look at the deserted surroundings and the cracked soil, Iris chanted a short spell to level the land and then left with the five people.

---------------------------------

*Holy Sacred College Dormitory Area

The dormitory area, which is roughly the size of Ryan Town, does not have any buildings such as shops. Instead, it is composed entirely of single-story stone houses that are about ten meters apart. Perhaps because the designer felt that this was too monotonous, an open-air building like a colosseum was left in the middle of the complex. Usually, students would set up stalls here to sell equipment and items they made or that they no longer needed. However, today, there was only one person on the stage, and the entire colosseum was filled with students like a theater.

Ella and Lotte were sitting at the back of the tiered auditorium. The noisy environment around them forced her to get close to Lotte in order to hear what she was saying.

"Ms. Ella, have you heard of 'The Pied Piper of Hameln' and 'The Mysterious Land'?"

"I've never heard of it... Can Lotte tell me?"

When it comes to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the first thing that comes to my mind is the puzzle game mentioned in a novel I once read, and then the Pied Piper in a fairy tale who mysteriously disappeared with 130 children. As for the incredible country, the first thing that comes to my mind is Alice in Wonderland. However, looking at Lotte's expression, these two stories that have nothing to do with each other in the original world should have a deep connection in the other world.

"In that case, I can't say anything more. Miss Ella, it would be better if you listened to the flute player herself, right? This is my first time seeing a flute player in person... I really want to go up and see what he's like in person."

Lotte tucked her twin ponytails at her waist and tried to look out at the person standing on the stage, but the distance was too far, and even she couldn't see what they looked like. But only at this moment did she feel the age difference between her and Lotte—this was indeed how a girl should be. Lotte, always focused on herself, had completely lost her youthful vivacity.

Seeing Lotte's happiness, she also felt happy. This happiness diluted her previous doubts about the group of people who wanted to stop her. Ella looked at the stage intently.

As it turned out, the person standing on the stage was not playing the flute as the title suggested, but started speaking directly. The originally noisy environment suddenly became quiet, and only the sharp and low voice echoed in the open-air theater.

"Have you ever heard of a country where even dreams can lead to death—"

Chapter 24 The Pied Piper of Hamelin

"Have you ever heard of a country where even in dreams one can die—"

As if to create a stage atmosphere, the bright night sky that could be seen by looking up was gradually engulfed by a layer of dark curtain, and quiet whispers began to appear in the arena that had been quiet.

Not paying attention to the discordant voices in the venue, the person on the stage continued speaking.

"That's a story that's been circulating for a long time—"

Like the voice of a male narrator in a heroic biography, his reassuring voice calmed the students, who had become somewhat uneasy as the venue darkened. Then, the lights suddenly brightened to match the figure standing on the stage, revealing their appearance on the vast curtain covering the sky.

Most of his face was painted white in a clown style, and his entire body, including the exposed hair, was painted with various colors of paint as if to add a funny touch. He wore a black tuxedo on the upper body and only a pair of women's stockings on the lower body. The piccolo flew alternately between his two hands like a toy - this person was so weird that it was frightening, and probably everyone would have this reaction when they saw him for the first time.

Sure enough, there were many gasps from the audience.

"What is this? This ominous appearance..."

"The Pied Piper of Hameln has always been like this. Don't worry."

People who knew the inside story began to help, and the audience returned to calm.

Perhaps this has become a habitual process. The flute player just keeps playing with the piccolo in his hand, waiting for the audience to quiet down.

Although Ella had prepared herself for the fact that the flute player would be very different from what she had imagined, the shock this appearance brought still exceeded her expectations.

"Is this also the image of the flute player that Lotte has in mind?"

"Hmm—how should I put it? He seems a bit more human now than I remembered. The flute player in the illustration doesn't look human anymore..."

Lotte withdrew her gaze from the screen and whispered something in her ear. In the dimly visible conference room, only Lotte's shining eyes could be seen.

"Look at it this way, the flute player is also trying his best to cater to everyone's preferences."

“Yes—”

"Um--"

A long, low hum interrupted their conversation, and they refocused their attention on the stage. So far, Ella's curiosity had been satisfied. As for the content of the story, she was not very interested. She was only curious about what the flute player of Hameln looked like. The main purpose of her visit was simply to accompany Ruthie to watch the performance. For her, this kind of performance could not satisfy the sensory stimulation at all - after all, in the previous world, there were countless things that were much more stimulating than this experience. Now, it seemed that this feeling of listening to the story with Ruthie was more like the real-life behavior of watching a movie together in a theater...

I couldn't help but let out a wry smile, but no one noticed except myself.

"—If the world we live in now is just a fantasy world in your mind, what would you think? I wonder if you all learned something called 'emergency response' when you were in academy—"

Perhaps in order to create a terrifying effect, the flute player deliberately closed his mouth and opened it to the sides, and the picture became filled with only an ugly devilish smile.

Although Ella felt a little bit of fear, it was not enough to scare her. Instead, it was the flute player's words that caught her attention.

"'Emergency mechanism'?"

"This is something the teacher only mentioned once in theory class. He said that we intelligent creatures have this mechanism in our brains. When we encounter something we can't handle, this mechanism immediately triggers the thought, 'This can't be real.' But we still think about it afterwards, so I don't think this buffering mechanism is very useful."

"yes……"

I recalled the painful experience of my own game save being accidentally overwritten. At that time, I thought, "This can't be true." Now it seems that there is a special term to explain it... But unlike Lotte, I think this thing is still useful. This is probably because of the different experiences of both of us.

The flute player continued his story.

"—Because of this mechanism in the brain, there's this saying: If we label our current world the 'first-class world,' then if we encounter a danger we find unbearable, time in the first-class world will collapse, slowing to an extreme speed. Our real selves, due to this emergency mechanism, will be sent to the 'second-class world'—the normal world we create in our minds, where 'nothing unbearable has happened.'"

Perhaps to wait for the audience to digest his words, the flute player deliberately paused here, and the piccolo in his hand turned so rapidly that Ella could not see clearly. Ella even wondered that the name of the flute player in Hameln actually came entirely from the juggling flute.

The dancing flute suddenly stopped and was held firmly in the hand, and the flute player continued speaking in that narration-like male voice.

"—And so we live on. From then on, everything is like a choice. Whenever we can't bear it anymore, the world splits in two. We go to the world in our heads, while reality continues to happen."

As if surprised, Lotte's originally focused look turned a little surprised.

"Eh? Has this part been mentioned before?"

"Hasn't there been one before?"

I had originally had no interest, but the flute player's words instantly piqued my interest. I loved this kind of bizarre conversation, even though I was often too frightened to leave my room in the dark after hearing it...

"Well, this paragraph wasn't in the storybook before. Maybe it's a new addition."

"—It's been more than ten years since I entered the mysterious country. It wasn't until recently that I figured out the reason. Perhaps the world I live in now isn't the real world, but that doesn't stop me from continuing, even though the mysterious country will never appear again. And the so-called mysterious country is—"

……