Reincarnated As The Heroine?! I refuse!

5: What little they know..

When morning came, Lea involuntary woke by reflex. And when she did, she was met with 3 pairs of curious gazes.

The four of them were currently huddled around Hamspath just outside of Port Ruo, within the nearby forest where Lea hunted Radeers.

"'Morning, Lea. Thanks for saving us last night, although I don't really remember anything. Much like the others." Raize superficially gave his thanks while continuously analyzing their current situation. Lea saved them smoothly this time, which would usually be hard for some people to achieve.

Not thinking much of what Raize meant, Bright nodded his head in agreement, "That's right! We were all feeling so hopeless until your majestic shadow arose from the darkness and saved us princes and princess from the evil clutches of----" He could not possibly finish his words when he saw an amazing sight all of the sudden. 

Lea was smiling, although a little, while affectionately rubbing Hamsphant's side, taking delight from the softness of its hamster fur. She did not say anything over their thanks, but through her rare smile, they instantly understood they were welcome. Nevertheless, none of the three ever saw her smile before due to how rare she mingled with other people.

"So what is that?" Raize slowly asked, recovering from shock faster than the other two.

"Its name is Hamspant." Shortly, she said. Although her tone was indifferent, it sounded a little less colder. It could be that the strange animal and Lea were happy together, or it might be the case of Lea warming up to her few classmates.

"Now that I look closer at you, Lea... You look rather different...!" Ulla said softy with a surprise tone. She has been observing Lea for the longest time, and could not stop herself from speaking her thoughts aloud.

Hearing this, Lea had no idea. She pondered for a moment then attempted to respond when the fox upon her chest wiggled about. Looking down on the cute little thing, Lea did not let the fox escape, instead, she looked up to continue their conversation. "I am not aware of my appearance's change, but while we were separated, I have found some information concerning our current predicament. To cross the Land Bridges, we need a Citizen Pass."

"A -what- pass?" Bright dumbly asked.

"A Citizen Pass." Lea promptly replied.

"Wrong question, Bright. How did you find out, Lea? And do you where we are now? Did we get stranded so far away from our homeland?" Raize threw a barrage of questions into the air, landing on top of Lea's head without a change of his expression.

Lea let out a soft sigh, and she felt the fox's paw on her cheek in comfort. With that, she broke another small smile on her rosy lips. She tightened her embrace around the fox, while thinking of a proper response. Seeing her smile, the three still could not help but appreciate a beauty's smile even more. Truly, when someone smiles, time seemingly stops.

Then she slowly said, "This land is called Ingrid. This is not Earth at all."

At this, Ulla perked up, but Lea ignored her unusual reaction and continued with what she found out.  "Three competitive nations exist, but each one of them wants to be in power. Due to their competitive nature, each of these nations developed their own war potential. One particular nation that's closest to Port Ruo practices a fascinating supernatural called Essence Manipulation. Anybody can figure out if they posses the capability to manipulate the essences that's the naturally in the air, so if you guys are curious, feel free to look into your mind's eye and accept the fact that these essences exist, while taking advantage of their nature for you to control.

"Grasping essences have their own limits too. One as such is that a person can only absorb a number of essences, but the limit seems to be up to the person himself. I'm not quite sure what the condition of the threshold is, but I believe the more you understand about essences, the less limitation you will have.