Unlike last time, this time I was fully conscious. So, I saw the space around me darken, then the next moment, the darkness receded rapidly until I could make out the things around me—I was standing in the hut in the village.

I also realized I was no longer carrying the hunting knives I had bought.

’So, I can’t bring anything here except the clothes I’m wearing, but when I return, I leave even the clothes here.’ I thought while looking at my torn clothes I had been wearing last time on the bed.

Well, I had realized the latter when my mother woke me up because I was completely naked at that time. Fortunately, I was under the quilt otherwise it would have been too embarrassing.

I first changed into the torn clothes and hid the good ones I was wearing under the bed. After all, if villagers saw me in them, they would question where I got them from.

With a thought, I summoned the system screen.

[Return Countdown: 11:56:09]

’So I can stay in both worlds for 12 hours each.’ I thought, recalling that from the time I spawned in the cave and then fell asleep after eating in the morning, around 12 hours had indeed passed.

I then looked at the door and could see it was still noon outside.

’So, does time freeze when I leave this world and resume when I return?’ I rejected the thought as soon as it crossed my mind.

Thanks to the science and all the knowledge I received from the fantasy novels, I could say for sure that even for the almighty creator of the universe, if there was one, stopping time wouldn’t be easy.

’Maybe... It’s not that the time stops when I leave, but the time difference between the world is very significant. A few minutes or seconds in this world are equal to 12 hours on earth?’ I hypothesized but once again rejected it because while I don’t know the exact time I was sent to this world the first time, it should have been after 12:30 A.M. since before that I was scrolling through my phone.

When I went back after spending 12 hours here, only six or so hours had passed after 12:30.

’I’ll have the answer when I return this time.’ I thought and stood up. When the countdown had hit zero, I had looked at the clock and noticed the time was 07:14:37 P.M.

...

I walked out of the hut and began wandering the village.

I saw many villagers. Some gave me peculiar looks while others nodded in acknowledgement. I nodded at the latter and ignored the former.

About an hour later, I had explored the entire village and found that there were only 97 houses. If each house had three people on average, there were only 291 people in the village, which was a very low number.

I also found that there were two exits leading out of the village. One facing the eastern forest from where I had entered and the other on the south and it led to open plains.

Also, unlike the east exit which was heavily guarded day and night, there were only four people on the south exit. It also made sense since the danger the village faced came from the eastern forest, not the open plains.

...

3rd POV.

"Oh?" A guard on the wall suddenly raised his brows.

The others noticed this and followed his gaze, "It’s that guy? What is he coming here for?"

A guard glanced at the spearman from last night, who despite not sleeping last night didn’t seem tired, and asked, "Joshua, do you know who he is and where he came from?"

Joshua shook his head, and curtly said, "I haven’t interrogated him, nor do I plan to."

"Oh, why?"

"I’m going to send him away in a while. So, there is no need to get familiar with him." Joshua responded before jumping down from the wall and approaching Eren.

...

As soon as I neared the eastern exit, I became the focus of everyone’s attention. Then I watched them exchange a few sentences among them before the spearman jumped down and approached me.

"What is it?" he asked, his grip tight on the wooden spear.

"I took a stroll through the village and saw that there is nothing I can help with as everything is already taken care of. But I can’t just stay and eat your food without contributing anything. So, I want to enter the forest, hunt down a beast or two and bring them back." I calmly explained.

The man narrowed his eyes and asked, "You don’t plan on leaving the village yet?"

I gave a wry smile, "Would you believe me if I said that I have lost my memories and don’t know where I’m supposed to go?"

He stared at me in silence for long moments before giving a faint smile, "Come with me."

With that, he glanced back at his companions and called out, "I’ll be back in a bit." Then, he led me back into the village.

Soon, we arrived in front of a house and he knocked.

The moment he gave me that smile, I had already had an inkling what he was going to do, so when I saw the doors open and Luna walk out, I became sure—he wanted her to confirm for him whether I was lying.

’It seems I have no choice but to believe in her now.’ I sighed.

"Uncle Joshua? Is there something you need from me?" Luna asked after taking a look at me.

Joshua nodded, "You should already know who he is. So, I won’t bother with the introductions."

Saying this, he turned to me and said, "Tell her what you told me earlier. If she believes you, I’ll believe you too and you can stay in the village as long as you don’t bring us any harm."

I gave him a confused look as though I didn’t understand why he wanted me to tell her that. Then, I nodded and looked her in the eyes and slowly said,

"Ms. Luna. I have lost my memories and I don’t know where I’m from or how I appeared in the forest. So, I want to live in the village for the time being. But rest assured, I have no desire to become a burden on the village. This is why I want to hunt down beasts and contribute to the village."

Luna stared back at me, her expression neutral.

After a moment, she shifted her gaze away from me to Joshua and lightly nodded.

I immediately let out a breath of relief and gave her a grateful look.