While they are described as being half human half horse in shape, that doesn’t mean they have to be exactly that. There would be no reason to have redundancy of many of the standard human organs in the human half. So, rather than have the human half have standard human biology, the whole system can be redesigned such that the human half is basically equivalent to a horses’ head and neck.

Other than skin, muscle, and a skeletal structure, the entirety of the internal space could be taken solely up by a very long esophagus and additional respiratory organs. Highly specialized lungs could keep up an almost constant panting effect, filtering oxygen which would then get get pulled back into the main lungs.

Or, they could have some sort of gill-like structures, or blowholes, or perhaps some sort of osmosis of air through their skin

The ones on Rhir died fast because they were assumed to be strong heroes from the get go, and thus sent against enemies that they probably would have needed them to be at least in the teens, if not 20’s for levels. Rhir also seems like the land itself is somewhat poisoned or the like, possibly something like magical radiation poisoning – exposure to that could just be very harmful. Baleros might be rainforest and jungle, but it’s still just nature.

As for why there are so many, it seems like whatever transported people from Earth took everyone in a certain radius from wherever the effect took place. So Erin, who was basically at home by herself, was the only one affected. Ryoka i believe was mentioned to be taken while she was jogging, so again, alone. The UN group was taken at an airport – a place where there is generally going to be a large number of people clustered into relatively small areas. The new people that were just found were all taken while riding a bus.

There probably are some. But as alluded to in this chapter, because English is the common language for the entirety of Innworld, people being transported that don’t speak English would nave a very, very difficult time.

If you can’t communicate at all, many of the natives to Innworld would probably think you’re either crazy, making fun of them, or just not worth bothering with. With not even the most basic of support, most people wouldn’t be able to survive. Remember that basically everyone that has been transported has been fairly young – teens or early 20’s at the latest – so often wouldn’t have the experience to know how to survive in many of the hostile environments of Innworld.

Even if they get transported alongside a group of other Earthers, if they can’t speak English, there’s a good chance they wouldn’t stick together. That’s what we’ve seen happen with this group, when they initially arrived – many of the Earthers split up into smaller groups to stick with people from their own countries.

But Miss Hastel was a Centaur and thus she was infallibly courteous to her hosts.

Should be to her guests

“But Miss Hastel was a Centaur and thus she was infallibly courteous to her hosts.”Perhaps you meant guests instead of hosts?

Oddly enough, I wonder about this every time a centaur is mentioned in a story: how do they get enough air/oxygen into their bodies, especially when running.
A horse has huge nostrils and a much bigger mouth, throat, lungs, etc. Presumably a centaur has a human-sized mouth, nose and throat, at least.
Lungs? Heart? Stomach? Are all these organs located in the horse part of the body?
A centaur is several times larger than a human, and considerably larger than a horse what with the human torso and arms.
So, how do they inhale and exhale sufficient volume to supply that big body through a tiny human head? Why aren’t they gasping desperately for breath every time they trot around?
(I know, I know … Magic!)

As a few other commenters have mentioned, I found the “centauress” thing a little odd. To me, “centaur” equates to “human.” Human species, centaur species, gnoll species, etc.
No one would refer to Geneva as a “humanness,” or to Krshia as a “gnolless.”

I love all of your chapters–thank you for sharing your talent.

I’m not sure whether you’re reading the comments anymore, years later. Just a nitpick on Japanese culture: natives wouldn’t typically add “san” after a non Japanese name, particularly if they’re speaking English. Also, soy sauce is generally an ingredient for cooking, rather than a condiment (besides for sushi, of course). For example, we wouldn’t pour it on rice for flavoring.

Again, these are nitpicks and your stories read beautifully.

It’s okay to write the longer chapters, or split them up. The story needs to be as long as it needs to be.

The [New Zealander] uttered a short laugh.’
People from New Zealand aren’t “New Zealanders”… we’re kiwis. Good to finally see some representation here.

Also, people don’t get diagnosed with recently experiencing a trauma. Trauma is an event that happened, not an illness. Could diagnose someone with Acute Stress Disorder or something like that tho.