Being Asked If I'm in My Right Mind Is Too Much!

At some point, an unwritten rule of sorts arose among the residents of Edelweiss Forest.

If you ever saw a blue stone pillar in the forest, you must never go beyond it.

That was because a monster wielding white flames lived beyond the pillar, and it took the lives of everything that entered its territory.

The forest’s residents called the stone pillar the Symbol of Pride. The monster had built it to declare that only those brave enough to cross it could challenge the monster.

The name was chosen because the monster’s behavior was so unbearably arrogant.

After hearing the rumors, countless powerful fighters scoffed and crossed the pillar to challenge the monster, but not a single one ever returned alive.

Fortunately, the monster rarely appeared in the forest, so no one suffered any direct harm at its hands.

In fact, the series of events had driven away many predators, allowing the weaker animals to live more safely than before. With gratitude and reverence, they called the monster this:

The Ruler of the Forest, the Queen of the Forest!

"So you’re saying that’s me?"

"That’s right, Your Majesty!"

I gave Magpie, the cute black-haired girl standing before me, a withering look. She flinched and avoided my gaze.

Seeing her like that, a perfectly reasonable suspicion naturally arose in my mind.

"You’re the one who spread that rumor, aren’t you?"

"…No, I’m not! "

Her expression looked wounded, but honestly, I was sure of it.

She was more than capable of spreading a rumor like that and exaggerating it to boot.

But I don’t have any proof… What a shame.

Anyway, the forest’s residents are ridiculous. What’s with calling it the Symbol of Pride?

That’s the kind of cringey phrase you’d only find in a web novel from my previous life.

Besides, that stone pillar is basically a sensor to keep trespassers out.

"By the way, Magpie?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Why are you calling me that too?"

"Urk, I’m sorry, Lady Edel!"

Magpie begged for forgiveness with an exaggerated reaction, but she was so brazen about it…

Maybe I should’ve named her Crow instead.

Though she wasn’t actually a magpie at all. She was the Thunder Bird—the same monster I’d once enjoyed as roast chicken.

When I first met Magpie, I’d tried to catch and eat her right away. But even after I’d roasted her halfway, she folded her wings and shed big fat tears, begging to live. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her, so I gave her some spirit energy and saved her.

But perhaps because she’d been roasted in my flames, all her yellow feathers had turned black.

She reminded me of the magpies I’d seen in my previous life, and I also wanted her to repay me for saving her, so I named her Magpie…

I was genuinely surprised when she later learned Human Transformation and came to visit me.

"So, did you come here to tell me that?"

"I just came to see you, Lady Edel."

"Then go home."

"That’s too much!"

Well, there’s nothing I can do about that.

I’m too busy spending time with my little sister.

"I love you, Lady Edel!"

"I don’t like you. Hurry up and go home."

"That’s too much!"

You confessing to me like that just makes me uncomfortable, you know?

Sure, I used to be a man in my previous life, and Magpie’s a beautiful girl, so maybe it should be fine. But, creepily enough, I don’t feel that way about her at all.

And that’s not all. Every time you confess to me like that, I start thinking, ‘I really am a woman now.’

"So stop confessing and hurry up and go home!"

"Tch, I’ll go for now!"

At my sharp reprimand, Magpie grumbled under her breath and left the house. I sighed, stood up, and headed for my sister’s room.

The path from the living room where I’d received Magpie to my sister’s room ran through a small passageway beside it. It wasn’t quite as nice as the houses I’d seen in my previous life, but since it was built with wood, it had a pretty cozy atmosphere.

Who’d have guessed that this lovely home was made by remodeling the inside of a cave?

When we first decided to live in this cave, I’d gotten excited, since I’d acquired a bunch of useful skills, and started bringing in materials and decorating the place. Before I knew it, the simple cave had become a rather lovely home.

Of course, I’d lost interest in that sort of thing lately.

Knock, knock.

"Big Sis is coming in, okay?"

Then I opened my sister’s door,

"Kyuu!"

and a ball of golden fur flew toward me. I caught it in my arms without a second thought.

"Why are you in fox form again?"

"Kyuu!"

Poof.

"Big Sis~!"

Hug!

As soon as I pointed it out, my sister used Human Transformation and changed into human form.

The little fox in my arms had become a girl who looked like me, only with shorter golden hair, and she threw her arms around me.

Completely naked…

I immediately gave my sister a bonk on the head.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"I hit you because I wanted it to hurt. I told you not to hug me naked."

"But it feels nicer this way when I hug you, Big Sis."

Maybe it feels nice for you, but it makes me uncomfortable.

When my sister transformed, she looked like me, and she was pretty well-endowed, if you know what I mean.

"Hurry up and get dressed!"

"Okay!"

Poof.

Why did smoke always appear whenever someone used Human Transformation?

I just couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

Once the smoke cleared, my sister, who’d been naked, was dressed.

A white jeogori, a bright red skirt, and even bright red flats.

They were traditional Korean clothes from my previous life: ‘hanbok.’

It was the third effect that came along when we gained another tail, at the same time as we became able to maintain Human Transformation indefinitely and change our fox ears into human ears.

The strange thing was that it only made hanbok—no other clothes—but I wasn’t particularly bothered by that.

Hanbok were much prettier than I’d expected.

And since they came with shorts underneath, I wasn’t all that embarrassed about wearing a skirt.

The one downside was that the colors were fixed: mine was sky blue, while my sister’s was bright red. It didn’t seem like we could change them.

Well, the colors were pretty, so it didn’t matter.

No, wait, that’s not what’s important right now.

"Are you really going to stay here?"

I took Lazuli by the arm as she smiled at me and asked in a serious voice. Her eyes widened for a moment, as if my reaction had surprised her, then she smiled and said,

"Yeah. If I leave too, who’ll protect the forest?"

She gently but firmly refused, giving the same reason as last time.

Who did she take after, to be so stubborn…?

Back when I first became able to transform completely into a human, I would sometimes visit a nearby town to study this world’s language for the future.

Of course, people paid me a lot of attention because of my unusual clothes and appearance, but perhaps because the nearest town to the forest was small, everyone was kind, and there weren’t any major problems.

Then I heard something surprising: Theo was the head of the family that ruled this region. When I found that out, I thought about giving up on meeting him.

It was a fantasy world, but I was basically a commoner. How could I possibly meet such an important noble?

I thought I’d be satisfied just hearing that he was doing well…

But not long ago, I heard from a villager that Theo was ruling tyrannically, and I made up my mind.

I would meet Theo and find out for myself.

People’s personalities could change as they grew up, but I couldn’t believe that the boy who’d been so kind had become cruel.

So when I got back, I immediately asked Lazuli to come with me to the human village, but…

"What will happen to our weaker animal friends if we leave?"

She said that and insisted she was staying here.

Ever since gaining power, my sister had always stepped in to protect weaker animals. She said she was worried about them.

If we disappeared from the forest, the predators might return.

But honestly, I still couldn’t understand her reasoning.

"The forest runs on survival of the fittest. We survived by hunting weaker animals too, didn’t we?"

"But our friends aren’t prey. They’re our friends."

Lazuli’s words landed on my head with a thud, like a massive boulder.

I’d thought she sometimes went out alone because she was hungry and wanted to catch a tasty monster to eat!

She’d been secretly making friends without me! Big Sis is hurt!

That’s what I said, and then…

"I get jealous of you too, but I put up with it!"

She snapped back at me with something I couldn’t make heads or tails of!

Even when I asked who she was jealous of, she wouldn’t tell me, so in the end, I gave up trying to persuade her.

This is why there’s no point raising a little sister, you know?

"Big Sis, do you still not trust me?"

No… It’s not that I’m worried about you staying here alone.

Lazuli already had five tails and was a five-tailed fox. She’d even grown a Fox Orb just like me, so I doubted there was any monster in this forest capable of so much as scratching her.

So there wasn’t a problem, right?

…There was. A huge one.

"I get lonely without you!"

My sister’s eyes went round with surprise at my blunt words.

It was a little embarrassing to say it so plainly, but what could I do? It was the truth.

I’d denied it before, but now I had to admit it. I was a siscon.

But I’d always been too busy looking after you to make any other connections in the forest!

"Liar."

"Urk!"

Of course, it wasn’t like I’d wanted to make other connections anyway!!

Anyway! You’re the only animal I have any kind of relationship with!

And you went and made friends with other animals besides me?!

That’s too much! So if you have any conscience at all, come with me to the human world…

"Then stay here with me.

Her words pierced my chest like a dagger, and I froze on the spot.

I absolutely didn’t want that. I’d been human, after all. Even if not for the rest of my life, I wanted to try living with humans.

I wanted to travel around this world.

And my sister knew how I felt.

I’d been singing the praises of humans right beside her for ages.

So what she meant by saying that was…

"That’s too much."

"Hehe, I’m kidding!"

Good grief. I guess I’ll just go alone.

Lazuli was all grown up now, too.

I liked meeting humans, but Lazuli liked being with animals.

We were twin sisters, but we wanted such different things.

That didn’t mean we had to force each other to share our interests.

We were family, after all. Besides…

"If we want to see each other, we can meet whenever we want."

"Mm-hmm!"

Our orbs were connected, so we could travel to each other whenever we wanted. No matter how far apart we were, if we missed each other, we could fly over in no time.

"All right, all right."

"Big Sis!"

She threw her arms around me again, and I gently hugged her back. At the same time, I felt her pleasant scent and soft touch.

"I’ll be back soon."

"Okay. Be careful!"

I said my farewells as though I were about to leave right away, but despite that, neither of us let go for a long time.

***

"Hiring some commoner no one’s ever heard of as a maid? Theo, are you in your right mind?"

Ellis Verdia couldn’t understand Theo’s decision.

Of course, being a maid was generally a job for commoners. The same was true of Ellis’s household, and even the two maids accompanying her today were commoners.

But that wasn’t the issue Ellis wanted to point out.

The issue was that the maid was, quite literally, a commoner no one had ever heard of.

Even though nobles hired commoners as maids, that didn’t mean they accepted just anyone, regardless of their background.

They needed to have family, acquaintances, and a good reputation in their town. In other words, they needed to be trustworthy.

That way, if a commoner made a mistake or stole something while working, the noble could hold their remaining acquaintances responsible.

So if a noble hired a woman with no connections whatsoever…

"I’d appreciate it if you stopped talking nonsense."

But Theo dismissed all her suspicions with a single sentence.