Chapter 1: Makoto Takatsuki Stumbles into Another World
“Is everyone okay? Put on your jackets to keep your temperature up.”
“Ooh! It’s cold...”
“I can’t go on like this.”
“Teacher, will we really make it home?”
“Shit, where’s that rescue squad?!”
Our teacher, Mr. Satou, was patrolling up and down the dimly lit bus trying to keep the class’s spirits up. The voices he heard in passing were feeble and forlorn.
How did it come to this?
Eastern Shinagawa Public High School’s Class 1-A had been traveling back from a ski camp when we’d suddenly found ourselves engulfed in a blizzard. If that wasn’t unlucky enough, an earthquake had rumbled through at the exact same time.
The avalanche triggered by the earthquake had pushed our bus clean off the cliff. Though the bus had stopped moving, it was now buried under snow and completely inoperable. Even our heater had stopped functioning, which had left us defenseless against the freezing wind that poured in through the shattered windows.
Over two hours had already passed since we’d gotten buried under the snow. The teacher had called for help as soon as the accident happened, but emergencies had erupted all throughout the area, so the rescue squads were overwhelmed. They couldn’t send out a helicopter in a blizzard either.
Is this...the end?
No one said it out loud, but it had begun to dawn on me and my classmates—this really might be the end.
“My esteemed Tackie,” said my friend Fujiyan from the seat beside me. “Are you really playing video games now, of all times?”
“If I’m gonna go out,” I responded, “I wanna go out playing a game.”
“Your eyes are transfixed on the proverbial prize. As per usual.”
“Is this my usual?” I didn’t take my gaze from the screen for a second while I spoke with Fujiyan.
It was cold. So cold that my thumbs couldn’t move the way I wanted them to.
“Oh come on, Takatsuki, don’t jinx us!” The girl in the aisle seat next to me sounded pretty concerned. This voice was Sasaki’s. I glanced over and saw that she was shivering from the cold.
“I’m kidding, Sasa. It’s just boring since we’re not doing anything,” I stated.
“Indubitably,” remarked Fujiyan. “Merely sitting still is most arduous.”
I looked over to my friend and saw him playing a waifu game on his smartphone.
“See, Fujiyan? You’re playing a game too.”
“Correction, compatriot,” replied Fujiyan with gusto. “I am simply experiencing my most treasured scenes once again. Incontrovertibly, Kanon here is the most adorable character of them all.”
His screen displayed a smiling girl with cat ears and sparkly eyes.
“Bleh!” exclaimed Sasaki in a clearly creeped-out tone.
“Might I inquire as to why you find Tackie’s game acceptable and mine repulsive?”
“Let it go, Fujiyan,” I said. “It’s a world that girls just don’t understand.”
“You guys. Listen,” said Sasaki in exasperation. “We’re stranded. Would it kill you to have a sense of urgency here?”
“C’mon, Sasa, you want to play games too, don’t you?” Sasaki was secretly a gamer, which is why we’d become friends; I’d be way too shy to talk to a girl otherwise!
“H-Hey, Takatsuki!” she stuttered.
“No point hiding it now, right?”
“My widdle Kanon, how cyoot you are...” panted Fujiyan.
Fujiyan, on the other hand, should probably hide it a little.
“You really like those cat ears, huh?”
“Heavens, no!” exclaimed Fujiyan. “I am by no means limited to cat ears. All manner of animal ears are valid objects of my worship!”
“Philosophical stuff,” I said. I didn’t really get it, but more power to him, I guess.
“Jeez, you two always talk about the dumbest things.” Sasa laughed at us. Well, to be fair, it was a dumb discussion.
I returned my full focus to the screen of my handheld (I was playing the whole time, of course) and noticed that about a quarter of the battery’s life had drained. After doing some math comparing the percentage remaining against how far I’d gotten in the game, I figured that I should just barely beat it.
The game I was playing was an action RPG that I’d been addicted to lately. It was a dark fantasy story about a protagonist fighting for revenge against a demon who’d destroyed his village.
His job? Hero. But defeating his nemesis opens the gates to the world of darkness, enabling the arrival of the greatest evil of all—the Demon Lord. Once our protagonist defeats the giant dragon, the witch whose magic controls death, and the Fallen Hero, the last dungeon appears. And then, the Demon Lord is revealed as the final boss. Yeah, I’ve seen that cutscene hundreds of times by now.
I double-checked my play time. Yep, should be just enough.
The Demon Lord has incredibly high defense, so you can’t damage him with normal attacks. Instead, the player has to counter him when he uses a specific attack of his own. I’ve practiced the timing for the counter more times than I can count—at this point, I could pull it off with my eyes closed. I continued to efficiently chip down the Demon Lord’s HP bar before felling him in one final strike.
“Beat it...” I murmured.
That game time was a personal best. Too bad I couldn’t upload it to the internet.
With his revenge taken, the protagonist on screen advanced toward the Demon Lord’s throne, and then vanished inside. Since I was trying to clear the game as quickly as possible, I got the normal ending.
In the end, peace returned to the game’s world, but not a soul knew what became of the man who’d defeated the Demon Lord. Saving the world without anyone celebrating your heroics—that’s truly the way of the lone wolf.
Incidentally, my favorite ending was the one where the protagonist transforms into the Demon Lord himself. Hmm, I kinda wanted to see that one again.
I glanced around my surroundings and noticed that my talkative classmates had quieted down. I wondered what had happened before a wave of drowsiness suddenly came over me.
“Fujiyan?” I asked my friend sitting beside me. No response. He was sleeping like the dead.
Wait—no way...
On my other side, Sasaki’s face was hanging too low for me to see. Even so, I could tell that she wasn’t moving a muscle.
“Sasa? Hey, Aya Sasaki?” Still no response. The screen on my console was blank. Its batteries had died as the credits rolled.
I’m so sleepy...
Guess my time was just about up. It was such a short life... Oh well.
If I get born again, please, make me a hero.
With that foolish thought in my head, I closed my eyes and let my consciousness drift far away.
◇
And then, I woke up.
“Where am I?” I asked groggily. From what I could see, I wasn’t in that bus anymore.
“Uh... Doesn’t look like a hospital...”
The ceiling and walls weren’t made out of concrete, but stone. Or maybe marble? I found myself lying on top of a plain, hard bed while covered by a thin blanket. There was a slight draft that made me wonder if a window was open. It was kinda chilly.
I couldn’t say for sure that the afterlife didn’t have temperature, but somehow, I got the feeling I was still alive.
I could see a large window a little further away. It was bright outside.
“Noon...already?” We’d left the ski camp at nighttime, so I must’ve been asleep for at least half a day. “But c’mon, you can’t just abandon exhausted people stuck on a mountain like that...”
I grumbled to myself as I walked over to the window. I wanted to look outside.
Until that moment, my half-asleep brain had figured that I’d been rescued. At most, I thought that I’d woken up in a pretty weird place. But when I reached the window and stared outside, the scenery I saw took my breath away.
“...Huh?”
Before my eyes was a forest of deep green unlike anything that belonged in Japan. There was a vast lake set before an extensive mountain range that looked like the Alps. Above the water’s surface flew a mysterious bird that soared gracefully using rainbow-colored wings. A creature that looked similar to a dinosaur was drinking water by the shore. There was also a building with several horse-drawn carriages stopped in front of it—several of the coachmen possessed heads like those of a lizard’s or a dog’s.
“Beastmen?” Well, that was strange.
Another carriage was being driven by a bird that was larger than an ostrich. And over there was a big, lizard-looking creature. “I-Is this a Hollywood movie?”
“All right, everyone,” a voice rang out. “Open fire!”
“Fire Arrow!” shouted four others in unison.
I looked down and saw a field that looked like a training ground. A bunch of kids were lined up in a row. They wore robe-like clothes, and all shot arrows made of fire from their hands at the same time.
The flaming projectiles hit their marks and exploded. I saw the embers fly in all directions before the smoke trailed up to my nostrils.
The odor of charred wood brought me back to my senses. This really wasn’t a dream...?
“...Oh.” It suddenly dawned on me. I knew what this was. It was that thing I’d seen in manga and anime.
I was in another world.
I should probably start by finding someone who knows what’s going on, I thought.
With unsteady footsteps, I headed out the door. The corridor was dimly lit, but I heard the sounds of what I assumed were people’s voices from far away. Maybe coming from a lower floor? I slowly made my way down the stone steps and opened a crookedly constructed door. It led to a wide-open room, where I spotted the faces of quite a few classmates I knew.
Phew, I thought. I’m not alone.
“Oh hey, Takatsuki. Finally up?”
“Y-Yep...” While I was mulling over who exactly to talk to, someone else talked to me first. My classmate Kitayama? He was a bit of a delinquent, but he could be friendly with anyone.
Then, I heard another familiar voice. “My esteemed Tackie! Are you feeling well?”
“Thank goodness. Glad to see you’re all right, Fujiyan.”
“I fretted most fervently,” he said. “You slumbered for half a day longer than the rest of us, might I add.”
“Did I really sleep that long?”
“Sure did,” Kitayama chimed in with glee. “People were talkin’ like you might not ever wake up, ha ha ha!”
“Ha ha...” I didn’t find that quite as funny. “So, uh, what’s everyone doing here?”
“Yo! You ain’t gonna believe it,” said Kitayama. “This place? It’s another world! Sick, right?”
Ah, figures. I knew I wasn’t in Japan anymore from the scenery.
But...another world?
I started to feel my back getting sweaty, but the cheerful Kitayama gave me some forceful pats on the shoulder without regard for my comfort. There sure are a lot of delinquents who speak with body language? The smacking kinda hurt, though.
“The establishment we find ourselves in is called the Water Temple,” explained Fujiyan. “We appear to have been cared for after we all faded from consciousness.”
“Huh, the Water Temple.” The decor did look pretty temple-esque.
“Now that you’re up,” said Kitayama as he chummily wrapped his arm around my shoulder, “we gotta go ask about your stats and skills, my man!”
“Stats? Skills?”
“Curiously enough, we all seem to have gained mysterious powers when coming to this world,” explained Fujiyan. “I possess the skills Storage (Ultra Rank) and Appraisal (Ultra Rank).”
“And I got Dragoon (High Rank), Lancer (High Rank), and Lightfoot!” added Kitayama.
“Uh, neat.” All of this was kind of a lot for me to take in, but I guess it sounded impressive.
“The room in that direction,” said Fujiyan, pointing to a large door in the back, “will inform you of the skills and statistics you’ve been granted.”
“Oh, thanks,” I said. “I’ll check it out. Also, was I the last one to wake up?”
Fujiyan and Kitayama went silent for a moment.
“Y’see,” started Kitayama, “it’s not like everyone in our class made it here. The rest, well...”
“What about them?” The two looked and sounded really grim. Why?
“According to my calculations, not all of our classmates are present and accounted for...” Fujiyan trailed off.
“What?” After taking a second look, I noticed that only about two-thirds of our class was here. I might not have had a lot of friends, but I could at least remember the faces of people I’d spent the past year with.
Ah well. I would’ve liked it if everyone could’ve been safe. Which reminded me...
“Fujiyan, where’s Sasaki?”
“M’lady Sasaki appears to be absent...” Fujiyan trailed off.
“Wha...?” I exclaimed. “You’re kidding me, right?”
She’d been sitting right next to me on that bus. Heck, we’d even been talking until just a moment ago. I figured she had to be all right—but I couldn’t find her anywhere.
“I...see...”
What was the last thing we’d talked about? The catgirl thing?
So that’s how it ended, huh? Wish I could’ve sent her off with something better than that.
My bad, Sasa.
“Don’t let it get to ya,” comforted Kitayama as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “We’re just the lucky ones. I got some friends who ain’t here either.”
Like Fujiyan, he looked pained. Well, he did have plenty of friends. He was probably straining himself to act cheery.
“Being spared is all well and good,” commented Fujiyan, “but I’m afraid it might be too early to celebrate.”
“What? Why? Weren’t we just rescued?” I asked.
“While this facility does indeed provide a safe haven for those with nowhere else to call home, they fully expect us to become independent in due time.” He continued: “And of course, this is a fantasy world teeming with ferocious monsters, so mastering one’s skills is essential.”
Aw, really? Well, it figures that the Water Temple wouldn’t take care of us forever. You know, financial reasons and all. For now at least, we could breathe a sigh of relief that we were rescued. It looked like we all still had plenty of work ahead of us, though.
We also didn’t know if there was a way home from this world. That stuff about monsters caught my ear, but I didn’t know much about these skills or stats. I had to know one thing before anything else, though.
“Can they understand us?” I asked.
“Therein lies the wonder of this temple!” responded Fujiyan. “A spell that automatically translates their speech has been cast within these walls.”
“Oh, automatic translation. That’s pretty useful.”
“Yep, and that’s why they carry people from other worlds over to the temple.”
Yeah, that makes sense. It’s hard to have a conversation when whatever you say is all Greek to them. Or, well, whatever language they speak.
But automatic translation? This world’s got some nice tech!
“However, we must study the local language before our departure from the temple,” added Fujiyan.
“Ahh, yeah, figures.” Life’s never that easy. As we wrapped up our conversation, we reached a large door.
“One’s skills are considered private information,” explained Fujiyan, “so they’ve been informing each of us one at a time.”
“Takatsuki, my man,” said Kitayama as he grinned and patted my shoulder. “You gotta tell us what kinda skills you got later.”
“Sure,” I replied. “See you in a bit.”
I knocked on the door and entered the room.
“Pardon me.”
Inside the room, I found a pudgy man who looked like a priest. He was sitting in front of a large desk next to a thin, beautiful woman dressed like a nun.
The ol’ smiling priest with an enigmatic nun, huh?
“Hello, visitor from another world. I am the priest of this temple. May I ask how you’re feeling?”
“Hello, my name is Takatsuki. I’m feeling...okay, I think.”
“Is that so?” asked the priest. “Well, if you have any aches or pains, please tell us at once. Incidentally, did you hear anything about this place from your friends out there?”
“Just a little.”
“Ah, yes, very well. Allow me to explain. This may come as a shock to you, but this world is a different one from the world you previously inhabited. You must be anxious about being unable to see your family, but rest assured, we will look after you for up to a year, all for free, until you become independent.”
Pretty much what Fujiyan just told me.
“So, uh, we can’t go back to our old world?” I didn’t think it was that weird a question, but the priest’s expression grew grim.
“So, I take it you weren’t told about that part,” the priest said. “Takatsuki, you were on the brink of death just before coming to this world, were you not?”
“Uh, yeah. I was. I was stranded on a mountain.”
“That you were, my boy,” agreed the priest. “The same can surely be said about all your friends here—the usual requirement for coming to this world is to die in your previous one!”
“What?” Whoa, for real? Did that mean I was dead?
“But worry not,” said the priest. He gave me a smile after seeing the shock on my face. “Our Holy Goddess is a gracious one. Before you all tragically died young, she teleported everyone to this world!”
The priest made a melodramatic pose. It seemed kinda rehearsed.
“H-Huh. So, uh, that’s how it is.” Which basically meant that I was not, in fact, dead.
“Incidentally,” continued the priest with a smile, “returning to your original world will result in your death. You would surely find that most inconvenient.”
“Uh, oh, yeah. Totally.” I couldn’t find any words besides those.
“Now then,” said the priest as he changed the subject, “let’s get back to a more productive topic and talk about how you’ll live from here. Surely you’ve heard about skills, correct?”
“Uh, I heard a little bit from my friends,” I responded. “I don’t know the details, though.”
“Perfectly fine. Now then, I shall tell you about your new abilities. Upon coming to this world, you’ve surely been granted unique skills and accompanying stats. For example, the ‘Mage’ and ‘Swordfighter’ skills are quite famous. It is no exaggeration to say that the ranks of your skills determine the path your life will take!”
“Sounds important.” Fujiyan and Kitayama had said that skills were a big deal too.
“Now for your stats. Otherworlders tend to have stats that are far above the average!”
“W-We do?” I asked.
“Why, yes. Compared to average people like us, your stats can be over ten times that of ours!” exclaimed the priest.
News to me.
“So, what are my abilities looking like?”
“Well, aren’t you an eager one? We’ll look that up right now.” The priest turned to the nun. “Sister, if you’d please.”
“Yes, Head Priest.” The nun who’d been silent until now handed the priest a sheet of paper.
“This is an item known as the Soul Book,” stated the priest. “It will determine what your stats and skills are.”
“Uh, wow,” I gulped. They really brought out something serious.
“Now, now, don’t be nervous,” the priest assured. “Simply stand before this statue of the Goddess and offer a prayer.”
“Okay.” I walked in front of it and did my best prayer pose. Was that good enough?
“I must admit, I’m rather excited,” said the priest. “All the otherworlders so far have been blessed with fantastic abilities.”
I had to wonder whether things would really go so smoothly. The priest’s hopes sure seemed high.
Before long, my body became wrapped in a faint light. Suddenly, the surface of the priest’s sheet of paper let out a flash.
“Your stats and skills have been determined,” said the priest sternly. The suspense was killing me.
“Your unique skills are Calm Mind, Water Magic (Low Rank), and...the last one written is RPG Player.” Sweet, a magic skill! Bummer that it’s low rank. That last one had a weird name, though.
“Are my skills strong?” I asked.
“Well, uh, that last one is new to me, but the rest are fairly average,” said the priest.
Aww, just average.
“As for your stats...” The priest looked dismayed. He then showed the paper to the nun. “Are you sure there’s no mistake here?”
“There shouldn’t be,” she said. “What is the matter?”
“Look here. This number’s a bit...”
After skimming over the Soul Book, the nun also looked dismayed.
“Well, it’s true that these values are low when compared with the others, but when you compare them to ours, they’re...still pretty low, huh.”
Was I missing something?
“Er, is there a problem with my stats?” I asked.
“No, no, nothing of the sort!” assured the priest. “Now, Takatsuki, your stats may be a tad...lacking, but it’s nothing to be worried about!”
The priest was smiling like always, but it definitely looked a bit more forced than it had been. Guess it wasn’t what he’d hoped for. It kinda hurt to see him be so obvious about it, though.
“Now then,” the priest asked the nun, “can I ask you to explain the rest?”
“Very well, Head Priest.” The nun bowed her head.
“Anyway, Takatsuki, my boy, good luck. You’ll need it.” With those parting words, the head priest walked briskly out the door, leaving just me and the nun in the room.
“Takatsuki, I will now explain about the Soul Book,” she began. “Please, take a look here.”
I read over the pages I was given and saw my name and age. It also listed the skills I was told about, as well as stats like Strength, Stamina, and Magic. I couldn’t really tell much about my stats just from the numbers alone.
But there was one entry that really raised an eyebrow.
Lifespan: 10 years, 0 days.
Huh?! Uh, wh-what am I looking at here?!
“So, um. What is this, uh, ‘lifespan’ thing?” Was I going to die in ten years? Nah, couldn’t be. Surely they just had a, uh, dark sense of humor.
“Allow me to explain. In our world, your Soul Book will inform you of how long your lifespan will be.”
“Th-Then why is my lifespan a measly ten years?!” I was fifteen, so did that mean I’d die at twenty-five?
“Ten years is the amount of time given to all otherworlders.”
“It is? Really?” That meant Fujiyan, Kitayama, and everyone else had ten years too. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it all, but hearing that everyone else got the same number calmed me down a bit. Even if it was still way too short.
“Your lifespan can be extended by offering reverence points to the Holy Goddess.”
“Wait, you can extend it?” I asked.
“Yes, you can,” said the nun.
O-Oh. That was a bit of a relief. But I figured that I should ask for the details.
“So, how exactly do I show ‘reverence’ to this Holy Goddess?” I asked.
I had to know the specifics. Anything to dodge dying in ten years.
“There are many methods, but the quickest way is to donate to the church.”
Donate? I thought. Does she mean...
“M-Monetary donations?”
“Yes, monetary,” she clarified.
“So you can buy a longer life with money?” I asked again.
“Yes, you can.”
Wow. You can just do that, huh? I guess fantasy worlds just operate however they feel like.
“But keep in mind,” the nun continued, “the more years you wish to extend your life by, the more massive the price becomes. Since you possess none of this world’s currency, this method might be rather impractical for you.”
True, there wasn’t much I could say there to argue.
“Fair enough,” I conceded. “What other methods are there?”
“The second method involves defeating monsters who threaten humans or saving people in times of crisis.”
“Ah, makes sense.” This one seemed simple enough. Just help the needy. “So helping people is what my skills are for, right?”
“Yes, exactly. Now then, allow me to explain your three unique skills: Calm Mind, Water Magic (Low Rank), and RPG Player.”
“What kind of skills are they?” I asked.
“The details of each skill are written in your Soul Book.”
I scanned the page and found what she must have meant.
Calm Mind: A skill that lets its user maintain composure. No matter how strong a monster you’re up against, you’ll keep your cool! Nice going!
Water Magic (Low Rank): A skill that lets its user cast beginner water magic. Your low amount of mana means that your spells are gonna be low rank, but them’s the breaks! Good luck with training!
RPG Player: A skill that lets its user view from the perspective of someone playing an RPG. You can see in 360 degrees! This is a unique skill that’s exclusive to otherworlders, so you’re one lucky guy!
- Goddess of Fortune, Ira
Whoever wrote this got super into it! Were they drunk? Well, apparently they were the Goddess of Fortune. There were also some detailed warnings about using my skills. I’d read that later.
“I’ve got a basic idea of what my skills are,” I said. “So, what now?”
“All otherworlders such as yourself may undergo training here at the Water Temple for up to a year at no cost,” the nun explained with a stony face. “You can wait until then to decide what job would suit you best.”
“Uh, so, what job would you recommend for someone like me?”
The nun said nothing. Why was I getting the silent treatment?
“Here at the Water Temple, we offer training for a wide variety of jobs,” she said after a pause. “You’re free to try out all the courses you like and choose your job afterward.”
No recommendation? I guess there was nothing that my skill set made me suited for. Oh well. I could just try everything and think of it as an open-world RPG.
But man, I was starting off with some weak stats.
“Okay, I understand. Could you tell me how to take these courses?” I asked. “And what are the rules for living here?”
“You’ll find the answers written in this manual,” said the nun as she handed me a thick book. The words Water Temple Manual (For Otherworlders) were written on the cover. They were obviously prepared for this.
“Now then, if there’s anything else you’d like to know, please ask the nearest Temple staff for advice.” The nun declared this conversation over without any hint of a smile. An enigma to the end.
Fujiyan and Kitayama were waiting for me outside the door.
“What wonders were revealed to you, my esteemed Tackie?” inquired Fujiyan.
“Hmm, nothing too impressive,” I answered.
“Yo, Takatsuki, lemme see,” Kitayama said excitedly.
“Hey, wait!” Unfortunately, he had already swiped my Soul Book.
“Hold up, why’re your stats so low? Hmm. You’re right, nothin’ here looks too strong.” Kitayama suddenly lost all interest.
You jerk! I complained internally. How are you gonna dunk on my results when I didn’t want you to see them in the first place?!
Guess that meant my stats and skills really were pretty weak.
“Yep, you got some weird skills on account of you bein’ a total nerd. Good luck, though!” Kitayama gave me a firm pat on the shoulder. He was apparently trying to console me.
“Yo, guys, you gotta hear about Takatsuki’s skills!” And now he was blabbing about it to all of our classmates. Had he ever heard of privacy?
“Now, now, Kitayama, you mustn’t talk about others’ skills without their permission,” a nun warned him. Thank goodness.
“So, Fujiyan,” I asked while looking over my Soul Book, “what kind of skills are yours?”
“Storage (Ultra Rank) allows me to pack and unpack items at will. Ultra Rank means that my capacity for storage is rather large. Appraisal (Ultra Rank) allows me to verify the quality of the items I discover.”
“Neat.” That sounded convenient. But here, Fujiyan lowered his voice.
“I may not have mentioned it before, but I was granted one last skill.” He showed me his Soul Book.
“Waifu Game Player?” This name seemed kinda similar to one of my own skills. “What’s it do?”
“It allows me to read conversations I have with others as text. It even saves a chat backlog that I can refer to at any time.”
“Huh, I guess visual novels do work that way,” I said.
“I was told this skill was unique to otherworlders...but I dread the thought of anyone discovering its name!” admitted Fujiyan.
Yeah, I couldn’t blame him.
“It’s sorta like my RPG Player skill,” I mused. “Is this just the type of skill you get when you like video games?”
“I can’t say for certain, but neither of ours seem very suited to combat,” Fujiyan remarked. “Therefore, our humble compatriot shall master the path of the merchant.”
“Yeah, that sounds practical.” His skills seemed like they’d be well suited to the job.
“You never know, my esteemed Tackie. You may find your skills to be quite powerful in practice!”
“I kinda doubt it.” Given how the priest and the nun reacted, I got the feeling that I’d drawn the short end of the stick.
How depressing...
Incidentally, I’d found out why the priest said otherworlders were so strong: otherworlders had wandered into this world in the past, and they’d all been blessed with crazy-high stats when they did. Guess he just compared us to them.
“Why am I the only otherworlder with such weak stats?” I later asked a nearby nun. All of my classmates were ten times as strong as anyone from this world. Meanwhile, I was three times weaker. Like, come on...
“Let me think,” said the nun, pausing a moment. “If I were to hazard a guess, it’d be because you were highly exhausted when you came to this world. Having the poorest physical condition of your friends might have affected your stats.”
“Was I that worn out?” I asked.
“Your pulse had stopped for a time. It was the magic of the clerics that brought you back to life.”
“Oh. My apologies for the trouble.” Things were more dire than I had realized. Maybe because I spent all my time gaming instead of exercising.
The nun suggested that I stay and study at the Water Temple for the time being. All of my classmates had more powerful skills than anything taught here, so they had a special class made just for them. Mine were far from that level, so I was stuck in the regular classes. It really took the wind out of my sails.
Was it just me, or was I playing on a broken difficulty level?
This fantasy world was turning out to be one dud of a game.
I breathed out a deep sigh.
“Hey, Takatsuki! Finally woken up, eh?”
A voice called out to me while I was thinking. Before my eyes was a suave playboy with a babe on each arm. A classmate, by the way.
Ryousuke Sakurai.
He was the center of attention in our class and the MVP of the soccer team. A man who never ran out of girlfriends. A life-haver to the core.
“Oh, Sakurai. Well, yeah, now. Thanks.”
“What a relief!” he said. “I was worried when I heard that you hadn’t opened your eyes.”
“Oh. Much appreciated.” To be honest, I didn’t gel with him. He was like my polar opposite.
“So, heard about your stats and skills yet?” he asked.
“Yeah, a bit.” I gave Sakurai and the girls a quick rundown of what I had. They told me their skills in return.
Sakurai had the Hero of Light skill. The two girls beside him had Sage and Sacred Swordfighter, respectively. Those names made it sound like they’d hit the jackpot.
“By the way, Takatsuki, want to join our party?” asked Sakurai suddenly.
“Huh?” Where was this coming from?
“Uh, do you really mean Takatsuki?” asked Eri Kawamoto, one of the girls next to him.
“Wouldn’t he be better off in a different party?” asked the other girl, Saki Yokoyama. These two were in the running for the prettiest girls in class.
“We’re planning to start our journey tomorrow, so we’re asking everyone we can,” clarified Sakurai.
“Tomorrow? Isn’t that a little soon?” Wasn’t everyone going to take the training here?
“Ryousuke here’s the Hero of Light, so he doesn’t need training!” bragged Kawamoto.
“Yeah, he’s already been nominated for captain of the Highland Knights!” said Yokoyama.
The girls basked in their hero’s glory.
“Anyway, Takatsuki, would you like to join us?” The charismatic Sakurai was apparently inviting me to his party with an innocent smile. “We don’t know anyone around here, so I figured that we ought to work together.”
“Hmm...”
I gave it some thought. It wasn’t a bad deal, was it?
No, wait. Given my skill set, I’d probably be stuck on luggage-carrying duty if I traveled with them. Or worse... Well, I wouldn’t be their slave, exactly, but I’d definitely be at the bottom of the pecking order.
I was sure that Sakurai wouldn’t turn me into the errand boy since he’s a nice guy—however, the glares that his entourage sent my way demanded, in no uncertain terms, that I turn him down.
“I do appreciate the offer,” I started, “but I’m gonna stay at the Water Temple to train.”
“Ah, that’s a shame.” Sakurai sounded like he was honestly disappointed.
“Well, hey, you gotta respect Takatsuki’s wishes,” said Kawamoto.
She then came up with a bizarre proposition: “Oh, I know! How about you teach him how to use a sword, Saki? You know, stay here.”
Yokoyama shot back immediately. “Well then, Eri, how about you teach him magic instead?”
“What? Don’t be ridiculous!” Kawamoto scoffed.
“You first!” Yokoyama argued back.
And then they both laughed in unison. The two looked like they were being friendly at a glance, but I got the feeling that they had ulterior motives.
Not that Sakurai, the man at the center of it all, showed any signs of noticing, though.
“Well hey, just say the word if you ever change your mind!” he said.
He gave a smooth smile and left. Neither Kawamoto nor Yokoyama said another word. They didn’t even look my way. They did shoot each other a glare for a moment, though. I think I heard a tongue click. Fights between women are scary.
Hopefully, Sakurai won’t get stabbed any time soon. I was kinda worried.
A different group called out to me some time later. “Hey, Takatsukiii!”
“You’ve got the Water Magic skill, right?” asked one voice. “The one that’s the weakest of the seven elements?”
“And it’s low rank too... Heh heh,” laughed another.
“And like, what about those stats? They could pick dudes off the street stronger than you.”
This was Okada, a partier who was friends with Kitayama, and a popular girl named Kawakita. Kitayama was there too.
These three often hung around together at school. Altogether, they looked like a band of delinquents.
In other words, I didn’t gel with them either.
“Anyway, Takatsuki,” asked Okada with a sneer on his face, “what kinda job you thinkin’ about?”
“Haven’t decided yet. What about you?”
“Me? I’m goin’ for Sword Master! I’m gonna hack ’n slash monsters with my Greatsword (Ultra Rank) skill!” said Okada.
“And I got, like, the High Wizard skill. I can use high rank magic from the water, fire, wood, and ground elements! Pretty nice, ain’t it?” boasted Kawakita.
I didn’t recall asking her, but I told her that it was nice anyway. Guess she just wanted to brag.
“You two got all the luck!” exclaimed Kitayama. “You can use your skills right off the bat—I’m a dragoon though, so I can’t do squat until I catch a dragon first. Pain in the ass, man.”
Still, he seemed pretty cheery about it.
“Bro, how are you gonna complain when you still got Lancer (High Rank) and Lightfoot?!” exclaimed Okada.
“Hey, how ’bout giving me a ride on that dragon you’re gonna catch?” asked Kawakita.
“Yeah! You got it,” said Kitayama.
“Yo,” gruffed Okada, “hands off my girl!”
“I ain’t touchin’ nobody!”
Oh, I guess Okada and Kawakita were dating. Didn’t know. Anyway, they didn’t ask me anything else and just made me listen to them brag.
Oh, my poor self-confidence...
One month had passed since I’d come to this other world.
A third of my classmates had been scouted and whisked away by the heads of faraway countries or organizations. The first ones to go had been those with ultra-powerful skills like Hero of Light. Various scouts had come one after another, so with regard to the best skills, it seemed like the early bird got the worm.
Using everything they’d told us, I pieced together a bit about the state of the continent. We lived on what was known as the Eastern Continent, which contained six countries:
Nation of the Sun, Highland: The largest country on the continent. Exceeds all others in population, wealth, and military might.
Nation of Fire, Great Keith: Desert makes up half of its territory. Excels in combat, so it’s home to many beastmen and mercenaries.
Nation of Water, Roses: The country I was in now. Has a booming tourism industry. Also, the church is really powerful here.
Nation of Wood, Springrogue: A forest country. Home to many elf and beastman tribes.
Nation of Commerce, Cameron: A country of finance and trade. Has plenty of banks, merchant’s guilds, and more.
Nation of Ground, Caol Ilan: An underground country. Home to many dwarf tribes. Has a booming weapon-forging industry.
Or something like that. The six countries were more or less on good terms with each other. There didn’t seem to be any ongoing wars, at least. There used to be a nation of the moon called Laphroaig, but it was long gone by now.
One by one, my classmates had agreed to the offers presented by the scouts, and were now scattered across the continent in accordance with the conditions of their contracts. Not a single scout had come for me. No surprise there.
Right now, I was taking the Magic for Beginners course. No other classmate from my old world was there. My new peers were kids barely above kindergarten age.
“This is Takatsuki. He’s new to this world, so I hope you can all make him feel right at home.”
“Yeeees, Teacher,” the kids all cheerfully responded. A lone high schooler among a bunch of grade schoolers...
Ha ha, I can feel the tears coming on.
“For today’s class, we’ll be learning about the magic elements. There are seven elements in this world, each with their own characteristics.” The elderly teacher started scribbling on the blackboard.
Sun: Controls light, thunder, and wind.
Moon: Controls darkness and death.
Fire: Controls flame and heat.
Water: Controls water, ice, and mist.
Wood: Controls plants and poison.
Gold: Controls time, space, and destiny.
Ground: Controls land, stone, and metals.
“Every element has a goddess that commands it. Six of the elements are worshipped widely across this continent, but not the moon. As you all know, the moon is the element of darkness and death, as well as the element of demons. Remember, you mustn’t worship it.”
“Yeeees, teacher.”
“Also, any magic you use requires magical power, or ‘mana.’ You have to use a lot of mana to cast stronger magic, which is why it’s necessary to level up...”
And so the lecture went on. It was a lot more exciting than classes in my old world. Guess I had to start studying.
Three months had passed since I’d come to this other world.
“I bid you farewell, my esteemed Tackie.”
“You too, Fujiyan.”
Fujiyan had gotten scouted. Not by a party of adventurers, but by a merchant’s guild. He’d apparently been networking with the merchants who’d come by the Water Temple. What a responsible guy.
“Your humble compatriot plans to work as a merchant in Macallan, the closest town to the Water Temple. By all means, greet me if your path brings you there.”
“Got it,” I said. “I’ll look for you if I’m in the neighborhood.”
“Well then, I pray that your training serves you well.”
“Yeah, same to you.”
I gave Fujiyan a firm handshake before he departed. I know I’ve never had many friends, but with Fujiyan now leaving, I’d lost just about all chances I had to talk with classmates. Over half of the people we’d started with had already left on their journeys.
I was getting lonely.
“Hey, Mr. Makoto, did you get better at water magic?”
I was talking to a kid that I had bonded with after I’d told him some stories of my old world. He was apparently the third son of some noble.
“Water Magic: Waterball.” As I spoke, a softball-sized sphere of water appeared above the palm of my hand.
The process of casting magic was to generate first, and then control.
For Waterball, the user would generate the water and then control it (by morphing it into a ball form). Simple stuff. The strength of the water magic a person could generate depended on the amount of mana they had. You could also use magic more quickly if you trained your magic’s mastery level.
My mana was at a beginner’s level, meaning I had very little. Making this tiny ball was about all that I could manage. On the bright side, I’d heard that a user’s mastery increased every time they used magic, so I’d been training every day.
“Wow! You can use magic after just three months! It took two years for me to cast Fireball!”
A ball of fire as large as a basketball appeared above the palm of the boy’s hand. It...was big. Like, five times the size of mine. Comparing his magic to mine just...made me sad. The boy had the Fire Magic (Mid Rank) and Swordfighter (Mid Rank) skills, so he was set on becoming a spellsword.
You know, I thought, I wanted to be a spellsword too. Not even a hero or anything greedy.
But I didn’t have any skills suited to being a warrior, so that entire line of jobs was off the table. I just had to commit to being a mage.
“Good luck, Mr. Makoto!”
All I could do was say “Yeah,” and give him a lifeless nod.
Half a year had passed since I’d come to this other world.
Scouts had pretty much stopped recruiting at the temple. All remaining Class 1-A students (myself included) had to think hard about the future. Then again, the others all had skills like Swordfighter (High Rank) or Mage (High Rank), so their outlooks weren’t too dire.
Unlike me.
In addition to my mage training, I was also studying normal skills like Traveler and Thief. Normal skills were ones that anyone could learn with a bit of training. Ones like Water Magic or RPG Player were called “unique” skills, which meant that they couldn’t be learned by just anyone. A person’s unique skills were set in stone.
The Traveler skill tree contained a lot of subskills that would be useful on the road, such as the ability to Gut and Cook animals, perform First Aid, or Ignite fires. The Thief skill tree had stuff like Sense Danger, Scout, Dodge, Flee, Clairvoyance, and Listen. It was notable for having a lot of useful subskills for predicting danger and escaping from enemies, which were essential for someone like me who’d probably be flying solo.
It was kind of exciting. Like going on a trip.
Nine months had passed since I’d come to this other world.
Three Class 1-A students remained, myself included. I’d been spending all my time outside of training in the library so I could learn this world’s language. If I could read the alphabet, I could read books.
I knew absolutely nothing about this world; not its history, not its nationalities, not its monsters, not its terrain, not its diseases, nothing. I’d have to leave in three months, so I committed to expanding my knowledge of this world as much as I could.
I also researched its history a bit. This world measured years using something called the Savior Calendar—right now, it was the year 1001 AS, or After Salvation. 0 AS was the year when Abel the Savior defeated the Great Demon Lord.
...Abel the Savior. According to the history books, he had two Hero skills: Hero of Light and Hero of Thunder.
Talk about a cheater.
Anyway, Abel the Savior had created the largest country on the continent, Highland. Can’t get more heroic than defeating the Great Demon Lord and founding a country. The nations of Roses and Great Keith were founded after Abel the Savior had rescued the world. So basically, all the countries we lived in had a history of only about a thousand years. Kinda short.
The books in the library taught me the history of the past thousand years in plenty of detail, but I could only find scattered mentions of any history prior to 0 AS. From what I gathered, it was a dark age where the Great Demon Lord ruled the continent; it was only after the savior liberated people from him that history had entered its current age.
One year had passed since I’d come to this other world.
Every one of my classmates had gone.
I was the last person from Class 1-A left.
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