Chapter 9

The first thing I noticed when the light faded was the expanse of green that spread out before me. I blinked in surprise and glanced around myself. Erza was looking around in awe beside me. We were on what seemed to be a large hill of some sort, and on all sides, we were surrounded by a vast ocean of verdant trees, a forest that looked straight out of a fantasy novel or open-world game.

The sun was up high in the sky and a gentle breeze blew across my face.

"It's beautiful," Erza said with a smile.

"It is," I replied as I walked over to stand beside her. "And as much as I'd like to spend the entire day admiring the view, we need to get find a village or civilization of some sort, and if not that, then at least someplace to stay."

Erza turned away from the view and nodded. "I'm with you master."

I winced. "Erza, I don't mind you calling me Master in private, hell you don't even have to call it me at all if you don't want to, but at the very least just call me David when we are around people or just not in private."

"Of course, ma-, I mean David." She smiled.

"There we go." I nodded. "Now do you have any idea of what direction we should go in?"

"Well there does seem to be smoke coming from the west," Erza pointed out, and I turned to see that she was correct. There was a trail of smoke rising into the sky a few miles to our west. From what I could tell and the world we were now in, I guessed it was from a campfire, and that meant people, hopefully, friendly people and if not, then I had my devil fruit and Erza by my side. She alone could probably take care of any normal people or fantasy creatures that came our way. She may only have been Erza at the start of the anime, but even so, the Erza at the start was still an S-class wizard and an extremely skilled fighter.

We made out way down the hill together, and as we did, I took the time to check the position of the sun. It seemed like it was morning, which was good for us, as it gave us enough time to head to this campfire, and hopefully get some answers or at least meet some people who could point us in the direction of a village or town.

Once we made it down the hill, it was an easy trek through the forest. Despite knowing we were in a different world, the forest didn't look that much different from a forest you might find back on earth. The trees were about the same size, and little animals scurred from tree to tree, although I was pretty sure we didn't have any pale white squirrels on earth, or bees the size of my palm, neither caused us any trouble.

I couldn't help but smile the entire time we traveled. Things had been looking so down for me, and by random chance, in a day, my life had changed comply, and now I was the owner of my world and traveling to a different universe. I was literally in a different world, with an anime character who called me master.

I guess, heaven really did exist.

After a few hours of travel, we finally made it to the campfire, although we weren't greeted by people sitting around a campfire. Instead, there was a ring of goblins crowded around a tied-up man who there were trying to attach to a swivel above the fire. Closeby was more tied up people.

I felt anger overcome me, and despite not being a fighter, I knew there was no way I could leave these people like this, not while I could do something about it. I was no hero, but neither was I the type to ignore someone in need who I could help.

Erza looked just as disgusted as me, and from the look in her eyes, she wanted nothing more than to tear the goblins apart. I was most definitely going to let her.

"On my mark, we rush them," I said. 'Ok?"

Erza nodded, and there was a small flash of light before her longsword appeared in her hand. It shone brightly and looked sharp enough to tear through flesh with ease, though it was nowhere near as deadly as its wielder.

I focused and turned both my forearms and hands into sharp blades that came to a point. It felt so odd, but I was sure I'd get used to it with time. With a last deep breath, I began counting.

"Three, two, one!"

We burst into the clearing and before they had even had a chance to react, Erza was upon them. She moved so fast she was a blur, and half of the goblins fell, their heads cleanly sliced off. The remaining goblins let out high-pitched shrieks and turned to face her, but that was a big mistake as I used the opportunity to dash to them. I swung my right arm and held back bile as my blade tore through a goblins neck. The blood and viscera that poured out smelled disgusting and I almost puked, but I managed to push it back. Unfortunately, that had given the goblin next to the one I'd just killed enough time to bring his club around in a swing. I blocked and before I could even take a swing, his head flew off his body, and I looked up to see Erza standing behind him.

Her sword was covered in blood and a quick glance showed me that all the goblins were dead.

I stood and immediately had to kneel and press a hand to my mouth. I'd seen gory movies and blood before, but this was different. I felt Erza's hand on my shoulder, and after a few minutes, I raised a hand to signal I was fine. I knew I'd get used to it, but the first time was the hardest.

"You ok?" Erza asked in a worried tone.

I nodded. "I'm good, I'm good, thank you. How are the hostages."

Erza looked around and I followed her gaze. The tied-up humans including the man who had been the goblins dinner were staring at us with wide eyes full of relief and shock.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of those."

There were muffled sounds of crying and sobbing at my words, presumably of happiness and relief, that they weren't about to end up as the goblins dinner or other things I didn't want to think about.

Once Erza and I had cut them all free, they gathered around us with thankful smiles, and awe, especially when they noticed my hands which were still blades. I morphed them back which just caused more wide-eyed stares.

Finally one of them stepped. It was the man who'd been about to be cooked. He was a middle-aged man, with black hair and a stern face.

"Thank you for the rescue strangers," He said in a grateful tone. "I was sure that I was about to end up as those greenskin's dinner, may I have your names?"

"I'm David and that's Erza," I responded, and held a hand out.

"Dale," He replied as he shook my hand with a firm grip. "Nice to meet you."