Human beings were free.
Across countless works throughout history, humanity had always celebrated free will. Even in modern civilization, people still pursued freedom almost obsessively. Sometimes the freedom in question was trivial. Sometimes it was downright absurd. But once something was framed as a matter of personal freedom, someone would inevitably decide it was worth pursuing.
Which, naturally, meant that humanity had always contained people willing to do astonishing things.
Some of those interests were merely eccentric.
Others were the kind of thing that made everyone else wish they had never heard about them.
There had once been someone who developed an unhealthy fascination with a hornet's nest and followed through on the idea badly enough to die from the consequences.
Another person had apparently decided that giant snails belonged somewhere they absolutely did not.
Compared with stories like those, people being unusually attached to cats or dogs barely even registered anymore. Humanity had long since discovered far stranger ways to test the limits of good judgment.
Ray reflected on all of this while watching a broad-shouldered man escort an extraordinarily beautiful female lizardfolk whose scales looked almost as smooth and pale as carved jade.
The man looked delighted.
The lizardfolk woman looked shy.
Judging from the way they were looking at each other, the two were very clearly past the stage of innocent conversation and probably heading somewhere private.
"I remember watching fantasy anime where a white-scaled lizardwoman showed up once," Ray muttered. "People in the comments made all kinds of jokes."
His expression became distant.
"At the time, I assumed they were jokes."
He paused.
"Now I'm not so sure."
Ray already knew that humanity's ability to develop bizarre interests had essentially no lower limit. The internet had made certain infamous stories impossible to forget.
Caelus closed the book in his hands.
"Based on what I've observed so far, humans seem to be the species most likely to develop romantic or sexual interest in other races and then actually act on it."
He glanced toward the street.
"Most other intelligent species strongly prefer their own kind. Individuals attracted to completely different races do exist, but they're extremely rare compared with humans."
The title of the book he'd been reading was Forbidden Bonds: Love Beyond Species.
"And it isn't limited to humanoid races," Caelus continued. "Some humans are attracted to species that barely resemble them at all. Some prefer fur. Some prefer cool scales. There are even groups interested in insectoid species."
He went quiet for a moment.
"At this point, I'm honestly not sure where this world's future eventually leads."
"Humanity is finished," Ray said flatly. "Someone ring the final trumpet and get it over with."
Caelus hesitated.
"...I'm not entirely sure that would improve the situation."
He had almost said that the divine response probably wouldn't be quite that extreme.
Then he remembered a few stories from religious scripture and decided not to make any confident claims.
"Whatever," Ray said. "I'm finishing what I came here to do and leaving before this place corrupts my standards."
The thought of returning to the Monster Hunter world with permanently altered tastes sent a chill through him.
It was true that romance was nowhere near the top of his priorities right now. He would soon have to face Xeno'jiiva, then travel to the Hoarfrost Reach, and after that eventually deal with the catastrophe represented by Fatalis.
His schedule was already packed with world-ending monsters.
He did not have time for dating.
That did not mean he was willing to come home one day and discover that his sense of attraction had somehow expanded to include half the Monster Hunter bestiary.
Just remembering some deeply cursed Tigrex merchandise he'd once seen online was enough to make his scalp prickle.
"The undead Dragon Lord you're looking for is here now."
Caelus indicated a location for him.
"When I rewrote history, I erased the destruction of the country it originally annihilated and relocated the Dragon Lord to an uninhabited wilderness. The region is now known as the Undying Plains. Large numbers of undead wander there, most of them created by that Dragon Lord."
He looked at Ray.
"Be careful once you enter. The area is also saturated with miasma."
"Miasma-filled wasteland?"
Ray grinned.
"Now that sounds familiar."
Then he waved.
"Oh, right. I had my System send the coordinates of the Monster Hunter world to yours. Come visit sometime if you're ever free."
With that, Ray set off on the final leg of his journey through this world.
Caelus watched him disappear into the distance.
Then Caelus vanished as well.
When he reappeared, he was standing near a village.
Carne Village.
A small patch of woodland lay nearby. At its center was a clearing with an old moss-covered stone.
A middle-aged man lay unconscious upon it.
He wore a long black-and-gold robe, and his face was unusually pale.
Birdsong drifted through the trees.
The man's eyelids twitched.
Then slowly opened.
"...Where am I?"
He sat up in confusion.
"Wasn't I waiting for the servers to shut down?"
Satoru Suzuki rubbed his head.
His last clear memory was sitting alone at home, waiting for the game to end before finally going to sleep.
Then his vision had gone dark.
And somehow, he had awakened here.
Satoru suddenly realized something else.
His hands weren't skeletal.
He stared at them, then quickly examined the rest of his body.
He was wearing robes that vaguely resembled a mage's outfit, though not the ones his character had used in the game.
More importantly, this was his original human body.
His real body.
"What...?"
He looked around helplessly.
"What happened to me? Where am I? Why am I here?"
Satoru climbed down from the stone.
His foot struck something lying in the grass.
He looked down.
An oak staff rested on the ground.
It was almost comically familiar, the sort of basic starter weapon given to a mage in countless fantasy RPGs.
Then a voice spoke behind him.
"Ah. The wandering soul finally wakes."
Satoru spun around.
A thick book with a black cover was floating in midair.
Somehow, despite possessing neither eyes nor face, it gave him the distinct impression that it was looking directly at him.
After a lengthy explanation, Satoru gradually came to understand what had supposedly happened.
He had apparently died suddenly in another world.
His lost soul had then been caught in a distortion between time, space, and existence itself before arriving here.
The strange book claimed that it too had been born from the same distortion, a miracle created by the changes surrounding his arrival.
[I will grow alongside you until you become the greatest mage in this world.]
[Here, you will meet new companions, make new friends, and begin an entirely new life.]
Satoru opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
He thought about the lonely, monotonous life he'd lived since childhood.
He thought about the game that had already shut down.
He thought about the guild that had long since fallen apart and the friends who had all gone their separate ways.
Maybe...
Starting over wasn't such a bad idea.
Satoru picked up the oak staff.
Following the mysterious floating book, he left the forest.
The moment he stepped beyond the trees, he encountered a blonde girl who had left her hometown because she refused to accept an ordinary life and had set out on an adventure of her own.
She smiled brightly at him.
"Hello! I'm Keno!"
And just like that, their story began.
Somewhere beyond sight, a page turned.
(To be continued.)