Delusions of grandeur. It was common among the younger crowd, even more so nowadays with the rise of video games and social pressures. But Honami wasn't his patient, and she wasn't the only one who underwent their fight. He wanted to smile and nod and discard her opinion entirely. He wanted to assure her that everything would be alright while pondering the true explanations behind her struggles. But she made too much sense. Everything that they'd gone through sounded too close to something he'd see in a commercial or magazine advertisement.

"I'll admit I don't know that much about geography, but I've never heard the name of this forest in my life," said Kaito. He bit his lip and pondered Honami's last words, at a loss on how to act.

If he stepped out of the box of reason for a moment, he could see how concluding that they had died made sense. But there had to be some other explanation that could work under the confines of reality. People didn't just die and wake up in an afterlife that had creatures poised to kill them. "It's possible we were drugged and moved here by someone. That could explain why our minds are having a difficult time trying to adjust to our surroundings," he proposed. It was a shaky theory at best, and came with some worrying implications as to what the other two had just done, but he wasn't about to accept the idea of dying and reviving.

Hiroko listened earnestly and tilted her head at the mention of Tarashima Forest. As Honami pointed out, there was no such thing in Japan. But, then again, the woman doesn't seem to know what Japan is. It was then that suddenly Honami broke out into laughter which startled Hiroko for a moment as her hand instinctively tightened around the arrow she had picked up earlier. And then she went on about something anime-related - a new genre called isekai. Hiroko wasn't exactly known for watching anime even as a younger child due to time constraints and lack of ability to do so. But, as odd as it may seem, Honami's observation might actually make the most sense.

But to think that they would have died and come back to life? Being thrown into a world they didn't know. Reincarnated in their usual clothing? It wasn't a comfortable idea to accept.

Kaito offered another explanation. Something more sound of mind - something that is more solidified in the logic of their world. "I doubt even drugs can mask humans as goblins." Hiroko pointed out, gesturing to the three dead bodies quite a ways from them. "And if we were drugged and moved here, what would be the point of her lying to us? What would they gain from that?" She then moved to gesture to the purple-haired girl.

She looked down at the bow and arrow in her hands and continuing. "And I'd rather accept Honami's theory... because I've never held a bow and arrow in my life and yet I just managed to stick two arrows into their heads." Hiroko looked back at Honami. "Does this 'isekai' cover that? Being given skills beyond what you know?" It was crazy to believe that a genre of an anime would happen to them but she was willing to risk believing that at this point because it's what made more sense.

The more she actually heard about this isekai genre, the more convincing it is that it was what happened to them. Hiroko wasn't exactly a believer of the supernatural but if that's the only explanation that would fit their current predicament, then so be it. It is good for them that Honami seemed to know what this isekai genre is, even if she just heard it being thrown around. It did help her kind of come into terms with things that were happening right now, or at least have a plausible explanation drilled into her head so she doesn't feel like she doesn't have complete control over her life right now.

And then they were thrown into introductions and thankfully, Honami had continued on to introduce them as well. "Just Hiroko is fine." Hiroko gave a bow of her head as she was gestured to before starting to look around. Thankfully, everything seemed silent again and there were no goblins reinforcements after them. Hiroko did hope that they can get over to the next time without encountering more of them. Even with these newfound... skills, she doubted they would be able to continue fending enemies off.

"Gods, huh?" Hiroko mused to herself as she turned back to grab a quiver from one of the dead goblin's bodies and collecting the arrows she could. Who knows when these could be useful. And, well, considering the goblins and that they were in a forest of an unknown world that seems to have danger written at every turn, Hiroko was sure they'd start to need these sooner than later. "What exactly do you do, Ipharia? What brings you to this forest alone if it's pretty dangerous?" She couldn't help but ask as she slid the arrows into the quiver before walking back to the group, waiting for Ipharia to start leading the way.

Kaito's face didn't show much emotion in response to being discredited, which must have been a surprise to the others. It was a perk developed as a result of working in a career devoted entirely to the solution of conflict. To Kaito, his displays of cowardliness from earlier were a far cry from his typical professional behavior, an outlier caused by being suddenly placed in danger.

"Hallucinations are a symptom of many conditions, and can cause many other effects on their own. This disconnect between the 'self' and our surroundings is typical." He let out a small sigh of frustration. "But what makes this different is that all of us are seeing the same things... which would be..." He struggled to find a way to conclude his hypothesis, letting his eyes flicker down towards his journals before thinking better of it. This was something a color-coded frequent issues notebook couldn't handle. "Hmm, situations where multiple people have shared the same delusion have existed. Much rarer than your typical case, but still within the bounds of reality."

The way he spoke, it was like he was ignoring the purple haired girl. It wasn't intentional, he had just subconsciously lumped her in with the rest of the strange occurrences in the forest. Her name being Ipharia only solidified her place in his mind as an additional obstacle in the way of the truth.

"...My name is Kaito," he said, resting his eyes on her with a sense of unease. It was hard to dissect someone's behavior when they were so legitimately naive.

He listened quietly as she explained her background. Despite having hoped for information that could have helped him make sense of everything, even someone like Kaito who didn't keep up to date with pop culture knew he hit a dead end as soon as the word cleric left her mouth.

"Divinity, spells, oath, goblins..." he muttered to himself, as if he were carefully checking off a list of ailments. "Pilgrimage... monsters." His lips pursed. Another, larger sigh escaped his mouth.

"We might actually be in another world."

So Ipharia was a Cleric. Well, if this really was a fantasy world, then a Cleric would be very useful to have around right? They're the types to have those healing spells and that should come in handy if they were going to fight more. She'd rather have something more than a shot of morphine if she was stabbed in the gut by some sneaky Goblin or whatever. Hiroko looked down and let out a sigh. Looks like she was getting used to this really quickly, but she guessed the sooner, the better.

Honami gave an exchange of taking them to the temple (to find out if there is any record of any heroes being summoned) for protection. If they managed to continue being as skilled as they were earlier, Hiroko wanted to at least believe that they could stand a chance against some of the monsters of this land. It was not an assurance but a hope. Nevertheless, it was better to believe than not to since it would just make her give up. And, well, that wasn't an option here.

"Fitting in might be better." Hiroko agreed, grabbing her coat. "I imagine it would be better to not stand out for now. I'd like to get a feel of the land too." She'd feel better if she knew how to act in this place. She wondered what kind of civilization they had. With magic at hand, there was surely some differences.

"With all due respect the idea of waking up in another world seems, um... unlikely." He was running out of energy, and wasn't in the mood to spend so much effort phrasing his words to be their usual inoffensive selves. Honami, like him, was another piece of the puzzle. But this puzzle had hundreds of pieces and possible leads, with many of them currently dangling in front of him. Why focus on just one?

He turned to Hiroko, his back straighter than usual. "Fitting in would be a good first step. I wonder if we can recreate our experience with the language from earlier." Casting more light on that first little glimpse into this new life would no doubt provide answers. "If there are things in this world that we are, for whatever reason, already acquainted with, then heading towards civilization could give us some answers."

Hiroko agreed partly with Kaito - he still hadn't accepted Honami's reasoning but he'll come into terms with it soon enough - but the plan of seeing what they were or were not familiar with in this new world was a good one. Languages should come easy since Honami did explain that being summoned would mean that they would be able to understand the languages of the natives of this world, and they even experienced it firsthand with the inscriptions and the goblins.

She turned to Ipharia and gave her a nod. "Alright, let's head over there then. Let's not waste any more time yeah?" She told them. They were burning daylight and she'd really rather not traverse through the dark in some unfamiliar world. Even if they did have a native with them now and even if they would wake up to some mysterious power while in this world, she wanted them to be safe in a town rather than on a road. At least there, it was relatively assured that there would be helpful in arm's reach.

"Before we get to a town, can you tell us more about this... kingdom or whatever the hell we're in right now?" It would be better to have some form of background about their location than not. At least they won't seem too lost when someone approaches them. It would probably be enough for only Ipharia to know that they're from another world. Hiroko dreaded the idea of people being far too curious for their own good about their unique condition.

Kaito's eyes widened at Hiroko's question. Weren't there more important things to ask first?

"Just how likely would you say it would be for us to run into more... erm... goblins?"

The world goblins left his mouth in a way that sounded like he was learning a new language. Or if you were Honami, a supportive parent cautiously watching their child play a video game. He was unconfrontational to the point of comedy, and yet his profession, the thing he had worked the hardest for in his entire life, was being invalidated with every passing second spent in this fairy tale world that insisted it was real. It was quite the odd clash of emotions to have on the inside, to say the least. This turmoil wouldn't last forever, though. They'd arrive to the nearest spatter of civilization and then he would absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt know the answer to this conundrum. Definitely.

Hiroko's face scrunched up when she heard that the goblins were very common. They'd likely have another encounter if they continued on, but at least Hiroko knew about them. She could be more alert - and she had a weapon with her. Way better than being taken by surprise again like earlier. It had been lucky for her that one of the goblin's bow had rolled off to her. The bow may have been small for her but at least she would have something to protect herself with.

So this was called the Alma Kingdom - a monarchy. That was unusual for the modern day, but since this was some sort of alternate universe, she guessed that a monarchy was the norm. And this forest was on the borders of the kingdom. Maybe that's the reason that there were still goblins around and that there wasn't much of a civilization around. That and they were kind of inside a forest.

"Who rules the country? What kind of traditions should we be aware of? Anything to avoid?" It was the first things she wanted to know when she came to a foreign area - well aside from the first question, but that was because they were now in a place with a monarchy and she assumed that they would kind of need to know about that. This information would make it easier for her to assimilate into the kingdom. They can't get in trouble.