Chapter 23

Simple anthropomorphization isn't allowed (a furry's opinion)

I'm so relieved that Kabbalah-chan shines brightly. I just found out last night, but when she's in a dark place, the ruby on her head emits a pleasant glow. Thanks to that, I was able to move safely even in the village with no streetlights, and it helped a lot with tuning my harp up in the trees. I was worried it might have broken since I used it as a weapon to defeat the Abyss. Instruments are precious, you know.

Even so, sitting alone on top of the sacred tree at night, looking down on the village... isn't that super cool?

The tree was massive, with thick branches, and even with a beautiful girl sitting on one, it didn’t budge. Leaning back against the trunk with my knees up made for a really stable, comfortable position.

Man, as expected of a different world, even the trees are of a different scale.

And it’s great that there aren’t too many annoying bugs around. Thanks to that, I could bask in Kabbalah-chan’s halo all by myself.

While I was in that good mood, a little kobold child came to talk to me—that happened last night.

At first, I thought it was odd for a child to be out so late, but then I figured, being wolf-like, maybe they were nocturnal. So, I asked, and the kid explained that while kobolds are usually nocturnal, the ones in this village live according to the same lifestyle as angels.

He says that it's because of her devotion to the angels, and that freaked me out. This... makes me really anxious. I can’t let it be known that I’m just a beautiful girl phantom thief and not an angel or anything—so I was seriously panicking.

Man, even beyond that, the guilt was killing me.

Because… the kid’s eyes were sparkling so much, even in the middle of the night. I couldn’t betray those eyes... So, I kept my responses vague and managed to keep up a cool and composed act.

At one point, the conversation got idle, so I suddenly changed the topic and asked the kid about his dreams for the future, which somehow turned into a serious life consultation.

Listening to his angel talk made me realize how truly great the Ten Archangels of Sefirot are. No wonder En’s group from the anime, with Chesed, were so quickly accepted by the villagers.

At some point, the kid seemed like he was about to say something ominous, so I distracted him by showing off my harp and playing a little concert.

Fufufu, kids are best distracted by showing them something rare. I hadn’t expected a few more people to gather by the time I finished playing, but it ended up being quite the lively event, so it was all good.

After the performance, I received pure admiration from them, not out of fear or reverence, just genuine praise. Eight-chan has a strong need for recognition, so being complimented makes me really happy.

After spending such a night, we borrowed a lodging the village chief had arranged for us and spent the night there.

Of course, in separate rooms. I might be a TS original protagonist, but I’m not the heroine, so I’m not the one who gets caught in lucky pervert situations.

Both En and I were up early in the morning, and since his strength had mostly recovered, we set off right away.

Our destination was the Holy City of Adonai Island, "Tsabaoth." What a hard-to-pronounce name… I need to be careful not to bite my tongue when I say it—I chuckled, remembering the kid from yesterday. En, with dark circles under his eyes, gave me a puzzled look.

"What are you laughing about?"

"Nothing... I was just thinking it was a nice village."

"...That’s true. I don’t know if it was thanks to you, but they treated me, a human, really well."

"What are you talking about? That’s because of your own good nature."

"…I wonder..."

Geez! Why is the protagonist so humble?

... No, maybe it’s because he’s protagonist that he’s so humble. Now that I think about it, Akatsuki En from the original anime was one of those nervous protagonists popular at the time.

That type of protagonist is easy for readers to project themselves into in fanfictions, which is why they become popular, but if it goes too far, they start to feel irritating and self-deprecating, so you have to be careful.

"Your ability to take a step back and see yourself objectively, while also being able to act with courage when necessary, is one of your best traits. That’s why I think you should have more confidence in yourself."

As I patted his back to cheer him up, I urged him to embrace his confidence. A bit of mental care for the protagonist is part of what a competent original protagonist does. As I did that, he narrowed his eyes at me, as if to say, "This guy is getting too familiar." Scary.

Sorry, I was in a good mood... sorry for being annoying.

"You’re the one who protected this village. They just want to thank you for that."

"... I see."

That’s right.

Ugh, I can’t pull it off as smoothly as Akari-chan! Well, even if I could, that’d be a problem, right? After all, I’m not a heroine, I’m an original protagonist.

En, looking contemplative, gazed at the village that had been restored, along with the villagers who came to see us off.

Though it wasn’t as grand a farewell as in the anime, a few people did express their gratitude to En. If we could continue helping other places like this, maybe we could restore the image of humanity to the level of the original work… But it’s going to be tough, especially since Tiferet, who has such a great reputation, is on the opposing side.

In the original, her influence was crucial in rallying the moderate citizens to our side. To calm her anger and engage in dialogue, we’ll probably need to resurrect Chesed. And for that, I need to hurry up and join up with Mea.

『Take care, Eight-sama!』

『See you later, musical lady!』

『Salute to Archangel-sama on his journey!』

Ohh, thank you! Sorry I’m not an archangel though!

It looks like the village chief has put a strict gag order in place, so I’m hoping word won’t spread. I probably won’t be coming back to this village, so I doubt I’ll slip up again. I’d love to improve my skills and hold another concert here, and to be honest, I’d have liked to stay a bit longer, but I don’t have the time to be sentimental. As a cheat protagonist, I’m busy—the world needs me.

『Eight-sama, I will fulfill my dream for sure!』

『Yeah, do your best, kid. Stay determined, study hard, and make sure to play, too. The memories of your journey are connected to the future you aim for.』

『…Yes!』

I'm glad he’s doing well.

I like hardworking kids too, so I gave him some pretentious advice. Diligence is important in life, but it’s tough to live on that alone. You have to take detours sometimes, or you’ll burn out. Before reincarnation, original protagonists worked at a black company and often died from overwork… but that’s not the case for me, is it? I’m an original protagonist without a tragic backstory.

Shaking off the lingering sentiment, I turned on my heel, created a large Dark Phoenix, and jumped on it with Kabbalah-chan. A bit later, En joined us, and we rose into the blue sky, tinged with the colors of dawn.

"May Sefirot’s blessing be upon you."

『…!』

After bidding farewell with that cool line, one that Chesed and Tiferet used in the original, we flew away from the kobold village.

Our destination is the Holy City of Tsabaoth on this island. Yeah, it’s still hard to pronounce.

Though it’s on the same island, the journey to Tsabaoth is long.

In the anime, they skipped over the travel details, but the distance is greater than traveling across the entire Japanese archipelago. Such a distance can’t be scanned in one go, even with my clairvoyance, so I’m relying on my knowledge of the original as our guide.

And as for that knowledge, rest assured. I remember it well.

In the story, Chesed mentioned that it was far north from the village. He’s got such a presence even when he’s not around. Once we get close enough, I can use clairvoyance and search abilities to pinpoint the location.

Incidentally, if you go further north from Tsabaoth, you can supposedly cross a sea of clouds to reach Chesed’s island.

I’ll have to feel my way around to the crucial part, but at this speed, we should arrive just after noon.

In the anime, they kept the travel scenes brief to save time, so we’ll also take it easy on our way there.

This time, I created a Dark Phoenix with a spacious back, about the size of eight tatami mats, with a transparent barrier that completely blocks the wind. It does shake a little, but it’s almost like a bird-shaped airplane, making for a comfortable flight.

"Aren’t you going to use Teleport?"

En raises a good point about about how I've worked so hard to move up to here.

It would indeed be easier if I could just teleport us both. But this ability isn’t all-powerful.

"My teleportation has a mass limit. Taking Kabbalah-chan is about as much as I can manage."

The limit is roughly 100 kg, including myself. I could take along a child, but with En’s weight at about 60 kg, it’d be a close call. I’ve already tested that neither weight manipulation through "gravity control" nor shape-shifting with "mimicry" helps get around this limit.

And with Kabbalah-chan’s mass added in, teleporting is out of the question. Even if we stripped down to reduce weight, teleporting wouldn’t be possible. Well, I’d never do that, and I don't want to.

Plus, to activate teleportation, you need to "accurately know the destination." In other words, you can’t teleport to places you haven’t been. I can overcome this by using clairvoyance to scope out the destination in advance, but the underwear thief with this ability could only teleport to the same spot repeatedly, which allowed us to lie in wait and catch him. Eight-chan’s smart too!

Being the well-informed original protagonist that I am, I didn’t mention that I didn’t know the exact location of our destination. It’d be embarrassing if people thought I, who always had a know-it-all attitude, couldn’t even find Tsabaoth…

“I see…”

En looked frustrated, as he wanted to rush off to help Chouta immediately.

I don’t think he needs to worry too much, though. Haniel-san did say they wouldn’t do anything bad.

Sure, if it were just me, I could teleport repeatedly and arrive much faster than flying, but that wouldn’t be very interesting in a fanfiction.

I do enjoy fanfictions about lone wolf original protagonists, but since I’ve got the protagonist with me now, I don’t want to part ways unnecessarily.

Also… looking at En’s face right now, I felt it might be dangerous to leave him alone, which was another reason I didn’t want to act solo.

This kid looks like he could die at any moment.

“There are limits to what one person can do, En. You didn’t seem to get much sleep last night, so you should rest until we arrive. You look awful.”

“...That bad, huh?”

“Yeah, pretty bad.”

You really do look terrible right now.

Though his ability seemed to have somewhat recovered overnight, his skin looked dull and his eyes were bloodshot. He just looked plain tired.

If you ignore the time he fainted, this was the first night in a whole new world for him. Thinking of his friends, I could understand his feelings. I, on the other hand, slept soundly. Snuggling Kabbalah-chan as a body pillow was quite comforting.

Don’t worry, just go ahead and sleep! It’s not the coziest, but I’ve also made a bed from the Curse of Darkness! I can’t lend you my fluffy body pillow, though.

There’s no way I’m giving you a lap pillow again. That was too hard on my legs.

At the moment, I was sitting on a sofa made in the same way from Curse of Darkness, brushing Kabbalah-chan with a special brush, a souvenir said to be popular with the kobolds.

Kabbalah-chan was sprawled across my lap, stretching her back and narrowing her eyes with pleasure as I brushed her. She refused to let me brush her belly, but she seemed happy enough otherwise. This legendary creature was behaving just like a friendly cat. So cute.

I accidentally caught a glimpse between her legs as she stretched, and… she doesn’t have “that.” So, she must be female.

Praying earnestly that she doesn’t suddenly transform into a cute girl, I continued to respectfully serve the little lady.

“...Do you like animals?”

Absolutely.

I’m not a furry, but I do love animals in a normal, reasonable way.

However, in non-human reincarnation fanfictions, I can’t stand it when characters transform into humans for the sake of a harem. It’s satisfying when such things are done gradually and carefully with good story progression, especially when it happens near the end. I’m all for that kind of story, but if a supposedly non-human protagonist transforms into a human right from the start, that’s unacceptable! I’m not a furry, though. I’m a furry!

“I like them. Yup, I love them.”

As I rubbed the base of Kabbalah-chan’s ears, I spoke with a calm heart.

This spot, right here? Is this it? Mufufufu, I couldn’t have a cat in my past life, but I studied all the cat pressure points! I’m glad they work on carbuncles too.

...Oops, I almost made a silly face from all the fluffing. Close call.

I’m a cool and stylish original protagonist, so I can’t go grinning like an idiot in front of characters of the original work. Cool Eight-chan always has to play the big shot.

“It’s not just animals. I love everything about the world you all live in. Good and evil alike… I love it all immensely.”

That’s the truth.

This is the world of “Fairy Savers,” a world I’ve been a fan of since my past life. Everything I see here feels fresh, sparkling, and dear to me.

It goes without saying that I love En and the rest of the protagonist team, and honestly, I even like the ruthless boss of PSYence. Of course, I only like him as an evil villain that I can beat down with satisfaction.

As for Mea, I’m on the fence. I do feel some camaraderie with her as a fellow original protagonist, and I don’t dislike her, but I don’t know her well enough to say I like her.

"En, that’s why I want you to..."

I want you to try even harder.

Like the protagonist that you are, I want you to try harder and harder, so that you can lead me to become the perfect cheat original protagonist.

Well, even if you don’t, I’ll just keep doing my thing.

While I was thinking about that, I noticed that his breathing had grown much quieter.

Curious, I shifted my gaze from Kabbalah-chan on my lap over to him, and there he was, sitting on the dark bed I’d made, head down, quietly breathing in his sleep.

“Fufu…”

I couldn’t help but smile, thinking he could have just laid down to sleep properly.

Still, I felt a bit happy that he’d fallen asleep in front of me.

I don’t believe he trusted me enough to show me his sleeping face, but at least he wasn’t worried about me stealing his ability while he slept. He’d had such a harsh look on his face even when he was unconscious, but now he was finally showing a peaceful expression. I was genuinely relieved.

“...Goodnight, En. Sleep well.”

But I doubted he’d sleep well sitting like that, and it’d probably hurt his back too.

Always considerate, I paused my brushing and let Kabbalah-chan step aside, then stood up from the sofa and went over to him.

Gently, I laid his upper body down on the bed, took off my cape, and covered him with it as a makeshift blanket.

Fuh… I must look cool right now, like an original protagonist tucking a younger girl in for bed.

The only downside is that he’s not a heroine, but the protagonist, and a guy, at that. Still, I’m glad I had a chance to show how cool I am. Coolness takes priority over everything else. That’s the policy of the cheat original protagonist.

“Now then… I’m alone again…”

...Eight-chan's conversation partner fell asleep, leaving me without anything to do until we reach Tsabaoth.

The Dark Phoenix currently flying us through Fairy World at high speed is on autopilot, but I can’t just doze off too. Now, what to do to pass the time... I was at a loss.

The one who livens things up (Rikidou Chouta)—! Hurry up and join us—

A journey with both the protagonist and original protagonist is exciting, but he isn’t exactly the chatty type, so this is tough.

Normally, I’d play the harp to fill the silence, but I didn’t want to disturb En, who had finally fallen asleep. Chuckling at the situation I’d put myself in, I picked up Kabbalah-chan, who was circling around my feet trying to get my attention, and decided to enjoy the view outside with her.

“You’re right… I’m glad I have you here.”

I was so glad that Kabbalah-chan had come with me, and I held her close to my chest.

She was warm, comforting, and smelled really nice.

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