Konjiki no Moji Tsukai

Chapter 1: Dragged into another World

Okamura Hiiro calmly analyzed the scene in front of his eyes. There stood people he had never seen before.

Furthermore, the several men were dressed like priests as one would hardly come across in Japan and amongst them was one girl, wearing a pink dress, too.

He checked out the surroundings by looking around. The building was an atrium, so he could see outside well even while sitting.

But since he could see a mountain range in the distance and not just the ground, he concluded that he was up fairly high.

The building was a tower or alike. The ceiling was supported by various pillars and had unfamiliar and strange drawings on it. It were mysterious drawings like the Egyptian mural art.

What he recognized were the four people near him, wearing the same high school uniform.

They were his classmates, but he had never talked to them. So, why was he here together with them?

A magic circle like from a game was drawn on the ground to his feet.

Obviously foreign people, an unfamiliar scenery and a magic circle.

He could more or less guess what had happened from the current situation. And the girl in dress confirmed it with her words.

“I, I welcome you, Heroes!”

Yeah, this was a so called different world.

Up until now he had been at school. Skipping classes by sleeping the whole time on the rooftop, he had went back to the classroom to fetch his bag after school. There he found these four people here.

Like always, he had headed for his desk without so much as looking at them. They had frowned a bit upon see him, but he had ignored them as he didn’t care.

But then a bright light had suddenly gushed out from under his feet. All five present, Hiiro included, had frozen up on the spot from the all too sudden surprise.

Everything had turned snow-white in front of him and in the next moment, he found himself in the current situation.

The priests cheered merrily. Frolicking with “Yes!” and “It’s a success!”, they ignored the five of them, who were confused from the sudden happening.

However, they all looked rather exhausted and they were sweating as if they had just run a marathon.

On the other hand, the girl had long orange hair till her waist, which made her unthinkable as a Japanese. She was overall pretty, had big eyes and adorable facial features.

She was without a doubt an eye-catching beauty.

Same as the men, the girl showed a broad smile. Most likely the five of them were summoned unquestioning.

He should never have imagined it possible that he would experience something like that. Although Hiiro had been rather composed so far, a part of him still refused to believe it even now.

The others seemed to feel the same from being summoned as their faces showed that they couldn’t keep up with what was happening to them. Then one of them finally spoke.

“H- Heroes? What do you mean?”

The guy named Aoyama Taishi had bleached hair, but an earnest expression and gentle aura.

To add, he was tall and handsome, so he was overwhelming popular with the girls in class.

The girl lowered her head flustered on Taishi’s question.

“Ah, my apologies! His Majesty personally will explain this matter to you! So please follow me!”

She looked apologetic as she said that. On a closer look, she appeared rather pale. It was hard to tell from her smile earlier, but like the men, she was sweating on the face as well, probably exhausted from the summoning.

Taishi seemed to notice her condition as well and likely thought it would be better to listen to her for now instead of staying here longer, since it would probably allow the girl to get some rest then.

Taishi exchanged looks with the everyone except Hiiro and nodded affirming.

“Okay. I’ve a rough idea of what happened, but we’ll listen to what you have to say.”

Seemingly the other four also kind of understood their situation.

Like that, the five of them headed to King in the ≪Throne Room≫ with the girl‘s guidance. Hiiro didn‘t neglect to observe the area on the way.

Judging by the colour of the hair and eyes of the servants and the soldiers, stationed here and there, he once more concluded that this wasn’t Japan.

The building they had been in was indeed a tower and stood in the middle of a big castle.

“Ohh, I appreciate your coming, Heroes.”

The man sitting on the throne said that with a refreshing smile. No need to tell him that they didn’t come of their own will.

“I am sure you must be confused from the abrupt circumstances. But rest assured, I will properly explain it now.”

After saying that, he first started with a self-introduction.

The kingdom’s name was ≪Victorias≫ and the king unified the ‘Humas’ of ≪Edea≫, of this world here. The continent was partitioned and each race had its own country.

The so called ‘Gabranth’ were a race that had animal traits like a ‘Werewolf’ or ‘Werecat’ and lived in ≪Pasion≫, the countryy of beasts.

Likewise, the ‘Evila’, commonly known as demi-humans, were a race of ‘Demons’ and ‘Ghosts’ and lived in ≪Xaoc≫, the country of demons.

Lastly, the ‘Pheom’ were a race consisting of ‘Faeries’ and ‘Spirits’, but they didn’t have a country on their own. They lived in a small settlement as there were extremely few of them. Hardly anyone had seen them, since they don’t interact with other races.

And in front of them sat Rudolph van Strauss Arcliam, the unity king of ≪Victorias≫.

Next to him sat the queen Māris and the girl, who guided them here, was the first princess Lilith.

‘Humas’, ‘Gabranth’ and ‘Evila’. Between these three races currently existed a tension like never before.

Particularly the Demon Lord of ≪Xaoc≫ plotted to destroy the ‘Humas’ and ‘Gabranth’.

He seemed to think that only his race was suited to rule over a united ≪Edea≫ with their superior strength. So he tried to make a world solely for the ‘Evila’ by eliminating the ‘Humas’ and ‘Gabranth’.

The ‘Evila’ indeed had an enormous magic power and possessed an all too brutal battle strength.

Magic existed in this world and needless to say, the stronger the magic power, the stronger the magic. The ‘Humas’ had magic powers as well, but it was relatively low.

Of course magic wasn’t everything in a battle, but the magic used by the ‘Evila’ was quite powerful and a human had close to no hopes of defeating even a lower demon by himself.

Even a high ranked adventurer from the adventure guild had to form a team to fight against the ‘Evila’.

The king feared that they would be destroyed sooner or later at this rate and considered destroying the ‘Evila’ before that. On that occasion, they used summoning magic, which had been sealed as an old magic.

But it was sealed for a reason. It showed that the summoning magic wasn’t omnipotent.

The summoning magic consumed a lot of magic power and if used by someone untalented, it ran the risk of ≪rebounding≫ and making the used magic power go out of control.

Essentially, the summoning magic could only be used by the royal family, but it didn’t mean that anyone could use it as long as they were royalty. Failed attempts always resulted in a mental breakdown from being exposed to such enormous magic power, or sometimes even in death.

It wasn’t a simple summoning magic. It was a heretic magic that opened a path to another world and thus carried an adequate risk.

So King Rudolph had an idea. He had a couple of daughters and let them use the summoning magic.

At this rate, ‘Humas’ would be exterminated. To avoid that, it was necessary to summon Heroes from another world at all costs. An old book told the tales of Heroes being summoned in the past and saving ‘Humas’ from a terrible calamity.

Heroes possessed an incredible magic power and could utilize physical abilities and magic unthinkable for ‘Humas’. Learning of this, Rudolph hardened his heart and asked his daughters. But the fourth and third princesses both failed and lost their lives from the ≪rebound≫.

(He sacrificed his own daughters…?)

Listening to the King’s explanation, Hiiro scowled on his insanity. But speaking up here would make complicate matters, so he kept his mouth shut.

The Queen lamented the death of her daughters one after another, but she herself had married into the royal family and was an outsider, so she didn’t have the pure royal blood and couldn’t use the summoning magic. The second princess was next in line.

She managed to avoid death, but was bedridden and still unconscious at this point. That left Lilith and Rudolph as the only ones, who could use the summoning magic. As they couldn’t afford any more failures, he decided to do it himself.

However, everyone was against that. Precisely the losing of the King, the buttress of the country, was what could lead to the immediate demise of the ’Humas’ by the ’Evila’.

Lilith understood that and offered herself for the country. She was scared, very scared, but at this rate everything would vanish. If she was going to get killed anyway, she would rather choose the moment by her own will. She conducted the summoning ceremony with these feelings.

The ceremony was held with the priests’ and Lilith’ magic power as a medium. Lilith felt her consciousness fading during the ceremony and when she gave up, thinking that she was no-good either, the magic circle released an obscure light.

And then the five people appeared.

“I see. So you brought us here to protect the ‘Humas’ from ‘Evila’.”

Aoyama Taishi nodded a few times while listening to the explanation.

“Yes. According to the documents, there are four Heroes in total. Mh? Speaking of, I just noticed, there’s… five of you.”

Exactly. Five people were summoned this time. The king looked questioning at the nearby scholar. The scholar adjusted his glasses flustered.

“I, I have no clue! But I guess, all of them are Heroes…?”

“Mhm… Then we just have to find out. All of you, show me your abilities.”

Rudolph said that, but Hiiro and the others tilted their heads puzzled.

“Mh? What is the matter? Do not tell me you are unable to show me your abilities?”

Taishi answered as their representative with “Indeed”.

“Recite ≪Status≫ in your mind.”

Everyone did as told. Of course Taishi recited as well. Upon that a status screen like from a game appeared in front of him.

Hiiro Okamura

LVL 1

HP 24/24

MP 120/120

EXP 0

NEXT 10

ATK 13

DEF 8

AGL 27

HIT 11

INT 23

≪Magic Attribute≫ None

≪Magic≫ Word Magic (Single Chain Unlocked)

≪Titles≫ Innocent Bystander – World Traveller – Word Master

Chapter 2: Classmates

A few questions arose. He realized that his level was one. If this was a RPG-like world, this was only natural, since he hadn’t fought with anyone yet.

But why was his MP (magic power) so high? It must be the benefit of being a world traveller, who had high magic power as he was informed just now.

By the way, HP referred to endurance, MP was magic power, EXP experience and NEXT indicated the necessary experience points for the next level. ATK, DEF, AGL, HIT and INT respectively symbolized attack strength, defence, agility, hit chance and intelligence. These were expressions often used in games.

He was surprised at his unexpectedly high AGL, but what he was most surprised about was this:

≪Innocent Bystander≫

It perfectly showed that he was just dragged along with the four Heroes. In other words, he himself wasn’t a Hero, but just an ordinary person. Although he was concerned about his magic too, he rather pondered how to explain this situation.

While he was in thought, Rudolph asked them.

“How is it? When you look at the title, it should display Hero.”

Taishi was the first to answer.

“Y- Yes, it does! It says Hero here! Uwah~ Awesome, I’m really a Hero.”

He uttered with a somewhat excited voice.

“Hey, what about you, Chika?”

The one answering Taishi’s question was Suzumiya Chika. She was a talkative and popular girl in class. Her open and direct attitude in dealing with people gained her their goodwill.

Her short hair was bleached like Taishi’s, albeit paler. Her breasts were somewhat lacking, but her slender figure as a sport ace was quite attractive.

“Yeah, I have it too, Taishi.”

“Good. And you, Shuri, Shinobu?”

He called out to the other two girls. Minamoto Shuri had pretty, glossy and long black hair.

Unlike Chika, she had a voluptuous body that attracted boys. She belonged to the tea club and the boys sometimes came by to ogle her in her kimono. Her charming points also included the kind of drooping eyes and the mole under her eye.

The other girl, Akamori Shinobu was brimming with curiosity. Active in the newspaper club, she also planned to find employment in that field in the future. She was talkative as well and smart on top, so everyone often asked her for tips on the exams.

Her slightly wavy, black hair hang over her shoulders. From her cattish eyes, you could feel the strong resolution of never letting go of her prey. Moreover, she came from Kansai.

As for what these three girls had in common: They were all eye-catching beauties. And as members of Taishi’s harem, they were always around him.

Shuri and Shinobu seemed to have the Hero title too. And as a matter of course, the gazes faced Hiiro next.

“What about you?”

“…Nope.”

He answered with a single word. Upon that, the others made a ruckus.

“Then… can you tell us what kind of title you have?”

It annoyed him how was talked down to, but answered honestly nevertheless. But only one of them.

“≪Innocent Bystander≫…”

Now his four classmates changed their attitude on these words. They frowned and left their mouths gaping open in disbelief.

“≪Innocent Bystander≫…? Lilith, do you know what that means?”

“Eh, uhm… Yes. Most likely…”

Lilith looked downward, hesitant to answer. Hiiro sighed while looking at her. Then he answered in her stead.

“I’m just an ordinary person. I just happened to be in the classroom back then and got mixed up with these guys. Right?”

“Uh- Uhm…”

“Hey, wait! Okamura! What‘s with that tone!”

Chika said by pointing at me. But he completely ignored that and continued.

“Originally four people should’ve been summoned here. And that’s these four here. I’m an irregular so to speak. What’re you going to do about it?”

He merely stated it indifferently without any hostility or animosity. And yet, Lilith turned pale as she was the one who summoned them.

“Well, it’s not just about me. These guys were brought here at your conveniences too. I’m sure our families are worried about us.”

Lilith’s expression became more and more heartbroken.

“You are right. I can only ask for your pardon on this matter.”

The king offered his apology like that. Hiiro thought he would make excuses, but the king was unexpectedly aware of the significance of their actions.

“We were left we no other choice.”

“No, to be honest, I don’t care about your circumstances.”

“Huh?”

Time stopped for everyone upon Hiiro’s words.

“I have no connections whatsoever to these four.”

“Hey, Okamura! Aren’t we classmates!”

Taishi yelled enraged.

“Yeah, we’re classmates. But we’re merely studying together in the same room by the school’s decision.”

“Th- That’s going too far…”

“Yes, after we finally got together~”

Shuri and Shinobu stated their opinions too.

“So you say, but I haven’t spoken a single word with you in the four month, since we’re in the same class.”

It was a fact. Hiiro basically liked being alone, so he kept his distance from everyone, not just these four. Sleep, eat and read. That was Hiiro’s custom.

The other four fell silent from his words. Like he had said, they hadn’t talked to each other, even though they were classmates. It was also a fact that they never tried to speak to him on their own accord, even if he was hard to approach.

“Okay, as I said just now, I’ve no connection to these four. You guys want the four Heroes, right? Then I seem useless?”

“Mh- Mhm…”

Rudolph groaned with a difficult expression. He was perplexed about what to do.

“Since they’re Heroes, they can fight the ‘Evila’ in some way, right? But I’m a no-name. You wouldn’t send me out to fight these dangerous guys too, would you?”

“…Then let me ask you: What do you want to do?”

“Go home?”

“Th- The documents speak of the Demon Lord knowing a magic to send you home.”

Rudolph’s word resounded through the throne room and Lilith’s expression turned gloomy at once. Seeing that, Hiiro quietly shut his eyes.

“S- So we just have to defeat the Demon Lord quickly!”

What an idiot, Hiiro thought. Even if the Demon Lord knew such magic, why would you defeat him? Hiiro was disgusted at Taishi’s thoughtless statement.

“In- Indeed. Besides, our country is wonderful, so you will surely come to like it. You are all basically part of my family now.”

Seeing Rudolph desperately trying to persuade him, Hiiro shrugged his shoulders.

“Ah, if I may add, I‘m worried about my family.”

The others felt worried as well, not just Chika.

“Th- There is no need to worry about that. Right?”

A nearby scholar was addressed.

“Ah, y- yes! As a matter of fact, you all have been forgotten now!”

“F- Forgotten, you say!?”

It was quite a shocking statement.

“Ah, please rest assured. There are forces at work to keep things coherent in your world. Once you return, it will be changed back… yes.”

(That’s… a lie.)

Hiiro definitely felt that from their attitude.

(Everything they said is surely a lie. Likely just a made-up reason to somehow convince us. A return magic, in other words a method to send us back… doesn’t exist. At least not right now. And I’m dubious about the forgotten part too…)

He looked at the other four to see if one of them had realized that. Taishi hadn’t noticed at all. Same for Chika. Only Shuri and Shinobu were frowning on this story.

(Well, I don’t care about them. As for myself… I can make do anywhere.)

Okamura Hiiro grew up in an orphanage. His parents didn’t leave him, they died in an accident when he was still young.

Then he was handed over to an orphanage. He made some friends there, but more than that, he loved books, so he read nothing but books all day. The books were more a friend to him than humans.

Of course he still had other relatives, but he had no real reason to return to his world. So it wasn’t really troubling for him when there was no way to return.

Lilith, knowing that there was no way to return, had clouded her expression for a while now. She might feel guilty about the lie.

Taishi and the girls started to talk about what to do from now on after understanding that as of now there existed no way for returning from Rudolph’s explanation.

“Like Okamura said, you selfishly called us here. I think that’s really rich of you.”

Being told so by Taishi as well, Rudolph looked sullen.

“But…”

While saying so, Taishi looked at the three girls. They all snickered and he looked at the king again.

“We’ll do it!”

“Really, you will?”

Rudolph raised a voice.

“Yes, we always wanted to travel in such a world.”

“Yeah! We four are playing an online game together too!”

As Chika had said, the four of them had played an online RPG game in their world. They often met up and discussed about where to venture, just like they did after school before this.

Right before they were summoned here, they were just talking about their desire to venture a world like this.

“Th- Then you will accept!”

“Yes, but in exchange…”

Shinobu spoke after the king.

“From what I can see in the ≪Status≫, we still seem to be level 1. In other words, beginners.”

“Y- Yes, that is correct.”

“We can’t fight the Demon Lord like this. So… I want you to teach us in fighting.”

“Do not worry about that. For that matter…”

At that time, a person clad in armour showed up.

“I will take over here, Heroes.”

He kneeled down and lowered his head while he said that.

“My name is Vale Kimble. I was entrusted with the duty to teach you in fighting.”

“Incidentally, he is the captain of the second division of our army.”

He was a handsome guy with a noble face. Just by looking at his body, you could tell how well trained he was. His hair was green and short, whereas his eyes emitted a great willpower.

Naturally the gazes of the females focused on him. Only Chika looked at him inexpressively, as she had no interest.

“In other words, that hunk is going to train us?”

“Yes. Right now, matters have quieted down at the borders. I want you to grow stronger before it becomes turbulent again.”

“Ah, where’ll we be living?”

“We have prepared rooms for you here in the castle. Lilith will show you around later.”

The discussion proceeded and Takashi and the others seemed to have resolved to fight. At this point, Hiiro raised his hand.

“Sorry, but I’m going to act on my own.”

Time stopped again for everyone on these words.

“You see, I’ve no obligation, nor reason to fight for this country. Neither am I a hero like you guys. So there’s no point in staying here any longer.”

“Mhm… But”

“Sorry, I’m not as sensible as these four. Well, since I’m already here, I just want to do as I want. You won’t mind, will you?”

Rudolph looked worried. Hiiro was indeed no Hero, but just an ordinary person. He didn’t look all that strong either. Black hair, dark pupils and around 1,80m tall, but not really muscular.

His only charming point were his glasses. In terms of looks, he was inferior to Taishi.

With an appearance like that, it was unthinkable that he could fight. But it was a fact that they summoned him. Throwing him out without doing anything for him would be unreasonable.

“Mh- Mhm, I am feeling really sorry about your case. Is there anything I can do…”

“Nothing.”

“N- Nothing, you say?”

“Yeah. And it’s not like I resent you. This world should’ve some novel books, so it seems quite interesting.”

Hiiro was a guy as well. Of course he admired adventures. It didn’t need to be a great adventure like for the protagonists of his books, but he certainly wanted to travel this world.

“I’ve no more business here. See ya.”

Saying that, he was about to leave, but Taishi grabbed his arm.

“Hey! Acting all apathetic, do still call yourself a man?”

“Huuh?”

Hiiro made an annoyed utterance.

“They’re lowering their heads here! Don’t you feel like helping them out even a bit?”

“Nope.”

“Why!”

“Because I’m no Hero. Or what, do you want to use me as a bullet trap?”

“Wha… Bullet trap…?”

Taishi let go of his arm.

“Forget about this guy, Taishi.”

Chika said with a sharp look.

“Don’t you two agree?”

“Ehm… I’m…”

Shuri cast her look down bewildered. Shinobu stared at Hiiro, then snickered.

“Ahaha, sure, why not. I mean, this looks like a game, but it’s still reality. In other words, we’re putting our lives on the line here. We’re Heroes, so we’ll get stronger, but it’s different for Okamuracchi. He’s just a normal guy. So try putting yourself in his shoes.”

Shinobu’s words shut up the other three. Because she made a sound argument. This wasn’t a game. As a matter of fact, people died in the attempt to summon them. They were this serious about it.

“R- Right. Let’s just do it ourselves.”

Taishi consented. Hiiro gave them a glance and tried to leave. At that time,

“Uh- Uhm!”

The voice belonged to Lilith. Hiiro stopped and looked over his shoulder.

“Uhm… I, I am sorry!”

She looked at him worried. Hiiro said as he turned his head back.

“Don’t sweat it.”

Then he left the place for sure.

Chapter 3: Magic and Magic Power

Hiiro left the castle and got out onto the streets, mulling over what to do next.

(Now then, gathering information first is a must in RPG)

Technically he could have asked the king and such, but there was a risk of getting dragged into something unforeseen and becoming unable to leave the country when he stayed there any longer.

Therefore he left the place as fast as possible. Besides, there were four very capable people. He had concluded that he wasn’t needed.

(First of all, what’s with this ≪Word Magic≫ in the magic column in my ≪Status≫…? I kinda get that it’s unattributed.)

Accessing his knowledge from games and books, he also remembered the term Guild when thinking about magic. The king had told him that a Guild existed in this world.

Hiiro decided to ask the townspeople about the location of the Guild. By doing so, he came to know that it was close by.

He headed there to register as an adventure for now. Living and travelling here wasn’t free. Somehow or another he had to save up money.

By the way, the money of this world could be stored on a Guild Card. Likewise it was possible to pay with the card. That’s what the townspeople taught him.

When he arrived at the Guild, the interior was rather crowded. Sturdy guys, likely adventures, lined up in front of various counters. The nearest counter had a sign above it with register application written on it.

As his black hair and dark eyes were unusual, Hiiro became the center of attention as soon as he entered. Naturally, since he was dressed in an unfamiliar school uniform. He reminded himself to buy some gear later on.

He went to the counter, assuming indifferent to all the gazes on him.

“Hey, I want to register.”

When he bluntly said that, the woman at the counter explained with a business smile.

Various quests were filed to the Guild. An adventure earned a reward by carrying out these requests. The quests were classified into levels of difficulty from F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS till SSS.

A Guild Card was handed out upon registering, but it served the same purpose as the Citizen Card that all citizens had. An ID so to speak.

The adventurers were ranked into the same categories as the quests as well. Although there were very few adventures with a rank S or above. Particularly the SSS rank had only three adventures from the ‘Humas’.

The woman at the counter gave him a white card and told him to drip his blood onto it. He prickled his finger with the small needle he received. After dripping the blood on it, the card started to disperse and vanished.

“Huh? It’s gone?”

“Please recite ≪Guild Card≫ in your mind.”

When he did as he was told, the card appeared in his hand. But the card wad different than before. It had been completely white, but now it had a blue border.

“The colour represents your rank. From the lowest blue to violet, green, yellow, orange, pink, red, silver, golden and finally black.”

Hiiro listened to the explanations with nods. Looking at his new Guild Card, he confirmed the inscription.

Name: Hiiro Okamura

Sex: Male

Age: 17

From: Unknown

Rank: F

Quest:

Equipment:

-Weapon:

-Guard:

-Accessory:

Rigin: 0

He was glad that the FROM column listed his birthplace as unknown. If there had been written that he was from another world, it would have been troublesome to explain. Equipment meant his gear. It was subdivided into Weapon, Guard and Accessory. But he asked about the one thing that bothered him more.

“Hey, what’s this Rigin stuff on the card…?”

“Mh? That is the currency…”

The woman tilted her head baffled. Naturally the people of this world knew that Rigin was the currency. But just as natural, Hiiro didn’t know that as he was only summoned here a while ago.

On further inquiring, he learned that Rigin nearly had the same value as Japan’s yen and that the sixth column Quest displayed his currently active quests.

(Quite a handy card)

With just one single card he could trade and identify himself. Moreover, the card was usually within him and could be taken out at any time.

“Where can I take quests?”

“Please choose from the bulletin board over there. But remember that you are a rank F. You can only accept quests up to one rank above yours, meaning E.”

“I see. How do I raise my rank?”

“When carrying out quests and raising in levels, your rank will go up naturally.”

“In short, after I completed a number of quests, this blue border will turn… uhm, what was it again?”

“Violet.”

“Then it’ll turn violet?”

“Yes.”

Hiiro was awestruck at the serviceableness of the card.

“Better not waste any time.”

Saying that, he headed for the bulletin board.

Church Roof Repair F

Help repairing the roof of the Amaruq Church. Experience preferred.

Reward: 10000 Rigin

Lucky Herb Harvest F

Collect Lucky Herbs on the Asbit Plateau.

Reward: 300 Rigin per bundle

Goblin Hunt E

Kill 10 goblins in the Clair Forest.

Reward: 35000 Rigin

There were various other quests, but he chose “Lucky Herb Harvest” without hesitation. To be honest, he was uneasy about hunting quest, since he was still level one. Although even a beginner should be able to hunt goblins.

But he decided to only go for hunting quests after he went up a few levels and got used to fighting.

“I understand. But please be careful about the 10000 Rigin penalty fare in case you cancel a quest midway.”

He accepted the quest by bringing the quest note to the counter. Since there was a penalty fee, he had to avoid cancelling a quest by all means. At least for now, when he didn’t got any money.

First he asked where the “Asbit Plateau” was. Luckily for him, it was right outside this land. And he was shown a picture of the “Lucky Herb” in a reference book to know what they looked like.

(I would like to read that reference book)

As he loved books, Hiiro’s thirst for knowledge awoke. He seriously considered to hole himself up in a library for a while after he saved up some money.

After seeing the picture of the plan, he got a big bag and left the Guild. The bag surely was meant for his harvest.

On his way out of town, he remembered the ≪Status≫ again. The ≪Word Magic≫ from it weighted on his mind.

And even if he had high magic power, it was a waste of talent when he didn’t know how to use it. He needed to learn how to use magic as soon as possible.

He regretted a bit that he didn’t ask about it at the counter. Magic was nothing unusual in this world. About anyone could use it and had magic power to a greater or lesser extent.

Speaking of, he could just someone around here. Hiiro stopped and looked to his right. There sat a person on a chair in front of a crystal ball on a desk.

(…A fortune-teller?)

The person wore a black robe and a hood hid the face, but it certainly seemed like a fortune-teller.

“Oh my? How about it, Sir?”

From the voice he concluded that it was quite an old woman.

“Nah, I don’t have any money.”

“Oh, is that so. But you look like you want to ask something.”

“…”

“Are you not from here? I have never seen you before.”

“Your point?”

He looked at her a bit suspicious.

“Fuehehe, don’t look so grim. How about I tell you a bit about your fortune in commemoration of coming here?”

“Not interested.”

“Fuehehe, don’t say that. Take a seat.”

Since he wasn’t really in a hurry, he sat down on the chair in front of the desk like he was told.

“Fuehehe. Then let me begin.”

She put her hands on the crystal ball and concentrated. Hiiro silently watched over her with crossed arms. It didn’t escape him that she suddenly narrowed her eyes.

“….Oho, you have a strange star fortune.”

“Strange?”

“Fuehehe, everyone has a star in their heart. Each has its own shape, colour, size and radiance. My divination allows me to see them. And while I have seen many up till now, I have never seen such a powerful star like yours before.”

“Mhm~”

“It’s powerful and to shut out a burning red, a dark blue rules over its surroundings. The shape is an immaculate sphere without a single corner and it shines so bright that it opens the eyes of anyone who looks at it. I see… This country aside, you are not even from this world.”

He stood up at once with a clattering of the chair. How did this fortune-teller know this? Hiiro felt doubtful.

(Can fortune-telling do this? No, maybe it’s… magic?)

Thinking that, he glared at her with a sharp look. He didn’t care that she know, but he got wary on reflex.

“…Sit down. I’m not going to spread it. And while people from other worlds are indeed rare, it’s not my first time meeting you.”

“…You met one before?”

“Yes, just once when I was still young. The person back then had a strange star as well.”

“…I see. So, what’s the deal?”

“Fuehehe, you will get, no, you already have the wings of freedom. These wings will grow wide and warm in all aspects.”

He didn’t get what she was talking about, but it didn’t seem to be anything ill.

“Many will likely gather at the light you are in pursue for these wings.”

“Geh, that’s bad. I prefer to be alone.”

“Fuehehe, well, it’s nothing but one possible future. By hearing this today, this future became more likely for you. That’s all.”

“Mhm~ I don’t get it. I’ll just do what I want.”

“Fuehehe, do that. Incidentally, didn’t you want to ask something?”

“Yeah. Like you said, I come from another world. There’s no magic in my world, so I can’t really grasp the magic here, nor do I know how to use it. I’ve to learn it as fast as possible…”

“Oho, I understand. A world without magic, interesting.”

There Hiiro suddenly realized and looked at the old woman.

“Hey, could you teach me how to use magic?”

“I don’t mind.”

He had thought she would turn him down, but apparently she accepted.

“Do you know where magic power comes from?”

“Nope.”

That’s why I’m asking, was what he stifled to say.

“Maybe the heart or brain?”

“No, no. The magic power comes from the blood.”

“Blood?”

“Yes, every living organism has blood. That is the source for magic.”

“Oh.”

“That’s why you focus on the flow of your blood in your veins, when concentrating magic power.”

“The flow of blood?”

“Yes, look closely.”

Saying so, the old woman showed him his hand. Something like blue smoke gushed forth from her palm. It gradually assumed shape until it was a sphere in her hand.

“That’s magic power.”

“Wow. So it’s something this visible?”

“Well, it takes a lot of training to make it visible like this. I focused on the flow and imagined it gathering in my hand.”

“Imagine, huh.”

“Magic is the power to imagine. And also the power of flow. A flow of magic power is currently circulating inside this sphere like blood.”

“Sounds a bit complicated, but I get the gist of it. Anyway, it wouldn’t be wrong to say blood flow = magic power, right?”

“Indeed.”

“And to utilize the magic power, I imagine the blood flowing through my entire body. Going by that…”

While saying so, he imagined the flow of blood only going to his index finger. Upon that, his fingertip glowed pale and became a little bit warm.

“So you can even do stuff like that. I see, so this is magic.”

The old woman in front of him had her mouth gaping open in surprise.

“Oh, what a surprise! You said it’s your first time using magic, right?”

“Mh? Yeah.”

“Nevertheless, you can control it already. You must have an incredible imagination.”

“Well, I AM a bookworm, so I’m confident in my imagination.”

Books consisted only of words and one had to imagine the written text in one’s head. To visualize the place, person and action in one’s mind from the narrative needed imagination.

Hiiro had buried himself in books since he was small, so his imagination was well trained. Or rather, it was his only strong point he felt confident about. When he stopped imagining, the light and warmth disappeared from his finger tip.

“Thank you. Now I get what magic power is.”

“Glad to hear.”

“One more thing, do I just chant a spell while I focus on the flow of magic power like just now when I want to use magic?”

“Quite so. Look. ≪Fire Ball≫”

The old woman held up her index finger and chanted, then a fire ball with the size of a tennis ball appeared.

“Ohhhhhhh”

Hiiro raised an excited voice in admiration. His interest in magic was piqued by using it for the first time.

“I kept it small now, but it can became bigger depending on your imagination and magic power.”

“I see. But I don’t think I can use ≪Fire Ball≫.”

“Mh? Is your attribute different?”

“Yeah, it’s unattributed.”

“…Now that’s a rare attribute. Those unattributed are unique magic users without fail. Could it be you…”

“Wait a sec. Unique? You mean a special magic just for oneself?”

“Yes.”

According to the old woman, there were eight attributes to magic: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Ice, Light and Darkness. Unattributed meant having none of these attributes. In other words, someone unattributed could not cast magic of other attributes.

In exchange, one had a magic only usable to oneself, also called unique magic.

“By the way, unique magic is precious even in this world. Actually, not many can actually control it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Unique magic is always powerful. And I heard it’s difficult to control. And most people die from ≪rebound≫ as their own magic power explodes.”

That story sent a shiver down Hiiro’s spine. He never thought unique magic would be that dangerous.

“Control is important, but knowledge even more so.”

“Knowledge?”

“Yes, because one ends up with a ≪rebound≫, since he does not fully understand what his own magic actually is. Knowledge of magic power, of magic and of oneself. When all these are mastered, one will be a first-class magic user.”

“I see. Thank you for telling me all this.”

“The pleasure is all mine. It’s been a while since I enjoyed a light like yours.”

He still couldn’t see the old woman’s face, but she must have been smiling as she raised her voice.

“I am always here, so drop by if you need something. Though I will charge you next time of course.”

“So shrewd.”

Then he parted with the old woman and headed for the town gate.

Chapter 4: Word Magic

(I think the “Asbit Plateau” is due east of here)

Hiiro started walking towards the plateau while remembering the picture of the “Lucky Herb” he was shown. After walking for a while, he found it rather easy. It looked exactly like on the picture.

It had a small, white bud at its head and was growing all around.

(Even a kid could do this quest)

It was close to the town and could be collected easily as it grew in large quantities. An easy task, even for a beginner.

(No one’s around here)

Looking around, he noticed that no one besides him was here. Then he recited ≪Status≫ and looked at the column where ≪Word Magic≫ was written, lightly touching it with his finger. Upon that, the panel changed and showed an explanation about the ≪Word Magic≫.

(So the help shows up after all when I click it. This really is like a game)

Hiiro didn’t just wanted to read the help. He wanted to try the magic here.

If possible, he would like to avoid showing off his unique magic, because he feared that he would get dragged back to the king if he stood out, after he finally obtained freedom.

(Well, it depends on the magic anyway)

If all unique magic were indeed powerful, it was quite possible that his fear came true. Besides, it was necessary to understand the magic to grasp his self, like the old woman had told him earlier.

But he didn’t intend to be reckless, since there was the so-called ≪rebound≫. Hiiro just wanted to find out what his magic was, not to die here already.

≪Word Magic≫ MP cost: 30

Imagine the magic power gathering in your finger and draw a word. An effect in accordance with the meaning of the word is brought forth. It is a unique magic with the phenomenal power to apprehend and contort the underlying principles. ≪Single Chain unlocked≫ refers to the possible chain length of words. This magic was once ?%&GR!&*

For some reason the last part was corrupted and unreadable. He was quite bothered about it, but he somehow understood this magic. Still, he wouldn’t know if he was right unless he actually tried out the magic.

(So it’s called Word Magic. Let’s try it for now)

With that in mind, he took a deep breath and concentrated magic power in his fingertip in the same way as in front of the old woman. Before it took him a little while, but on his second try, his finger lighted up with magic power rather smoothly.

(A word, huh… Will anything do? But since it’s manifesting the word…)

He drew on the ground with his finger. Upon that, the pattern glowed in a pale light. He had written the kanji for “hard” while imagining the ground hardening. It was easier to imagine with kanji.

And the moment he recited ≪Activate≫ in his mind, the magic power from the word flowed into the ground while making sizzling sounds like on an electric discharge.

(Did that do it…?)

He knocked onto the ground. It was hard. Incredible hard. Pretty much like concrete. Until a moment ago, it had been loose dirt without a doubt.

He went around, checking the range of effect.

Clonk, Clonk, Clonk…Splat.

The ground was hardened in an area roughly 6.5m² wide.

The glowing word dispersed and vanished too. It was quite convenient that it left no traces behind, because it lowered the likelihood of his magic getting exposed. Then he reverted it with the kanji for “Origin”.

The electrical discharge happened again and the ground returned to how it had been before.

(This is… more overpowered than I thought)

Hiiro realized the incredible potential of his own magic. A magic to apprehend and contort the underlying principles. It meant affecting anything with a single word.

For example, if he gave the “lucky herbs” around here the effect from the word “wither”, then they would wither. If he gave a rock the effect “split”, then it would break into two.

(It can change all kind of phenomena regardless… Moreover)

With that in mind, he concentrated magic power in his finger once more and wrote another word into the ground. Upon that, a fire suddenly broke out and scorched the grasslands. The word he had written was “fire”. But this time, the fire extinguished after one minute.

(Creating from nothing… Looks like I got my hands on some awesome magic)

He exhaled in awe, realizing that the unique magic held a far greater power than he had imagined.

Still, he was happy about the usefulness of his magic. He should be able to live here without a problem with it. An almighty magic sure was handy.

(But I shouldn’t forget that I still don’t know everything about it. Part of the help text was corrupted and considering the output…)

He called up the ≪Status≫ again by saying so.

Hiiro Okamura

Lvl 1

HP 24/24

MP 30/120

EXP 0

NEXT 10

ATK 13

DEF 8

AGL 27

HIT 11

INT 17

≪Magic Attribute≫ None

≪Magic≫ Word Magic (Single Chain Unlocked)

≪Title≫ Innocent Bystander, World Traveller, Word Master

(I knew it, it costs quite some MP)

His full MP was 120 and now it was down to 30. He had used the magic thrice, so it consumed 30 MP per usage, just like the description said.

He couldn’t compare it to other magic, but the consumption was most likely quite high. His MP being higher than the other numbers was a peculiarity from being a world traveller, or so he heard.

A three-digit number was quite unthinkable for a normal level one. It should usually be around the same as the HP. And the consumption for beginner magic should correspond with that.

In all the games he had played so far, there never had been a magic that cost 30MP right from the beginning. It was an established fact that the strength of a magic, and in accordance its MP cost, increased with level ups.

(I can cast it four times with my current max MP. I need to level up quickly)

After all, the more often you could use a magic, the better. Even more so with an almighty magic like ≪Word Magic≫.

(Okay, I got the magic down. Time to bring this stuff back)

He returned to the town with the bag filled to the brim with „Lucky Herbs“. It would be common to get attacked by nearby monsters in such a situation, but to his luck, he reached the town without any incidents.

There he headed to the Guild to complete the quest.

„Allow me to verify the details of your quest, Hiiro Okamura-sama. You accepted the rank F quest „Lucky Herb Harvest“. Please show me your loot.“

Told so by the woman at the counter, Hiiro put the „Lucky Herbs“ from his bag on a big weighing scale.

„…Okay, that makes twenty-two bundles. Your rewards amounts to 7700 Rigin in total. Please give me your card.“

When he handed over the card, she took it somewhere. After a while she came back and returned his card. Looking at the currency column of the card, the earlier value of 0 had turned into 7700.

“The quest is completed. Good work.”

She lowered her head politely and showed him a business smile like always. Hiiro gave a small nod and left the Guild.

(Good, I have money now. Guess food comes first. I still haven’t eaten anything since I came here)

Asking the villagers, he looked for a restaurant. ≪Victorias≫ was a big walled town, divided into the trade, craft, pleasure and living districts where a lot of people lived.

With each district being rather big, it was structured as if various towns had been merged into one.

Hiiro went to the trade district for a restaurant. When he entered one that he found on the way, it turned out that it served delicious fish cuisine. He didn‘t hate fish, so he decided to stay and checked the menu.

But as expected, all the dish names didn‘t mean anything to him. He ordered today‘s suggestion, since he had no clue.

„Okay~ One serving of ‚Addicting Seafood Noodles‘! Please wait a moment~“

The waitress cheerfully took his order. While he waited for his food, he checked his ≪Status≫ again. There he noticed that his MP recovered up to 40 after having sunk down to 30 from using ≪Word Magic≫ three times.

It probably recovered over time when he rested, just like his stamina. But the recovery rate wasn’t really profitable as it only recovered 10 MP since he used the magic over an hour ago.

(Well, rather than resting, I just walked around the town without using MP)

If he rested in the true sense of the word, meaning sleep, then the recovered amount should be different. As he pondered about that, his steamy food was served.

A lot of seafood swam in a ramen bowl. It was full of eggs from a fish like a salmon roe, something like shrimps and kelp or brown seaweed. He took his chopsticks and stirred it.

By doing so, an exquisite fragrance tickled his nasal cavities. Instantly his stomach reported in with a growl as to demand food at once. He munched on something exquisite like a shark fin.

“Oh!”

He couldn’t hold in his voice. The fin was well flavoured and its fish flavour spread in his mouth. It tasted and smelled so good that he couldn’t help but crave for more.

Then he drank the broth with the spoon. It was good enough to be served as a separate dish. The broth with plenty seafood was so addicting that he would gulp it down in one-go if he didn’t pay attention. It was lightly flavoured, yet superb.

Next he tried the noodles. On a closer look, something like small grains were kneaded into it. From one mouthful, a sea flavour assaulted his taste buds. Mashed fish was kneaded into the noodles. Truly Seafood Noodles.

(Yeah, the addicting in the name isn’t just for show)

He finished his meal in a matter of few minutes and could go for another two or three bowls, but he resisted the temptation, since he was tight on money. Still, 450 Rigin was cheap for it.

After he stomached the satisfying aftertaste, he looked for an inn and made plans for the future, involving levelling up and collecting money, for a while.

Chapter 5: As for the Heroes

In the meantime, the four heroes received training in magic right away. Vale Kimble, the captain of the second division from the Victorias army, was in charge of it.

Taishi Aoyama

Lvl 1

HP 35/35

MP 35/35

EXP 0

NEXT 10

ATK 28

DEF 23

AGL 13

HIT 19

INT 9

≪Magic Attribute≫ Fire, Wind, Lightning, Light

≪Magic≫ -Fireball (Fire, Attack)

-Wind Cutter (Wind, Attack)

-Thunder Shock (Lighting, Attack)

-Lighting (Light, Effect)

≪Title≫ Hero, World Traveller

Chika Suzumiya

Lvl 1

HP 28/28

MP 30/30

EXP 0

NEXT 10

ATK 25

DEF 20

AGL 21

HIT 17

INT 12

≪Magic Attribute≫ Fire, Earth, Ice, Light

≪Magic≫ -Fireball (Fire, Attack)

-Grave (Earth, Attack)

-Ice Needle (Ice, Attack)

-Lighting (Light, Effect)

≪Title≫ Hero, World Traveller

Shuri Minamoto

Lvl 1

HP 18/18

MP 60/60

EXP 0

NEXT 10

ATK 9

DEF 10

AGL 15

HIT 10

INT 20

≪Magic Attribute≫ Wind, Water, Light

≪Magic≫ -Wind Cutter (Wind, Attack)

-Water Wall (Water, Support)

-Heal (Light, Recovery)

≪Title≫ Hero, World Traveller

Shinobu Akamori

Lvl 1

HP 22/22

MP 52/52

EXP 0

NEXT 10

ATK 13

DEF 13

AGL 24

HIT 14

INT 24

≪Magic Attribute≫ Water, Lightning, Light

≪Magic≫ -Mist (Water, Support)

-Paralyse (Lightning, Effect)

-Heal (Light, Recovery)

≪Title≫ Hero, World Traveller

Each of the four told Vale their ≪Status≫.

“Oh, all of you are so outstanding!“

Listening to them, Vale widened his eyes and leaked an astonished voice.

„What‘s so outstanding?“

Taishi asked as their representative with a doubtful look.

„Let me explain: Originally one is supposed to only have one attribute. Of course there are exceptions and talented individuals possess more than one, but I never heard of anyone having three or even four attributes. Moreover, the light attribute is basically only used by ‚Pheoms‘. That all of you have it shows that you are truly Heroes.“

Everyone smiled embarrassed on the exaggerated praise. They were happy, albeit the cheating status.

„And as far as I can tell from your magic, Taishi-sama and Chika-sama are the vanguard type, whereas Shuri-sama and Shinobu-sama are the rearguard type. Your basic statistics seem to confirm this, too.“

Indeed, Taishi’s and Chika’s ≪Status≫ emphasised on attacking, whereas Shuri’s and Shinobu‘s emphasised on defending and supporting. Their magic were in accordance with that too.

„It‘s quite the balanced party.“

„Haha, just like in our online game!“

„Yep!“

Taishi and Chika looked at each other and smiled. The four of them had formed a party in an online RPG before. Even there, Taishi and Chika had been attackers, whereas Shuri and Shinobu were supporters, just like now. They were given the exact same roles in this world.

„I‘m sure our ≪Status≫ will grow according with our role when we level up.“

„Oho, just like a RPG. By the way, what about you, Captain Vale?“

„You can call me just Vale, Taishi-sama.“

„Mh, really? Okay, Vale, what‘s your level?“

„Mine? I am level 48.“

„Woah~ Nothing less from a captain. I guess you get experience points from defeating demons?“

„Indeed. Completing quests will also gain you experience points.“

„Quests!?“

All four got hooked.

„Jesus! There are quests!? That means there‘s a Guild too?“

„Ah, yes. Adventures are registered in a Guild.“

They all were in awe with „Ohh~“. The words quests and guild certainly pique their interest as they had always admired the game world.

„C- Can we register there too?“

„Why, of course. After some basic training, I would like you to register and polish your skills.“

„Hell yeeeeeah~!“

Vale blinked with surprise on their excitement.

“Y- You are this happy about it? Danger always follows an adventurer. I am quite surprised to see you so excited about it.”

“Man, it’s a Guild! Adventurer, you know! And quests to boost! Naturally this excites you as a gamer! Right, everyone!”

“Yeah, I’m itching to act.”

“Yes. I’m a bit scared, but it’ll be fine with everyone together.”

“Yeah~ You can’t really do without a Guild~”

Each of them voiced their opinion.

“That sounds quite promising.”

However Vale misunderstand their optimistic thoughts, he felt hope in their brave words and showed a smile.

“Ah, but what about him?”

Taishi asked as he suddenly remembered. Chika reacted to it.

“Him?”

“I mean Okamura.”

“Oh, right…”

Chika replied indifferently as she wasn’t interested.

“He got involved in all this because of us, right? You know, I feel a bit sorry for him.”

“Oh come on, he said he wasn’t resenting us, so don’t need to worry about him.”

“Mhm~ But…”

“To begin with, I don’t like his attitude.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, he’s always by himself and gives off the vibe that he can do everything by himself. It’s not pleasant to watch.”

The other three kept silent on Chika’s outburst of anger. Sure, they had been in the same class, but they never talked to each other. And not just them, they never saw him speaking with anyone else.

He was like air and gone before you noticed it. Either he skipped class altogether or paid no attention during class, since he slept or read a book.

“Be a loner elsewhere!”

“Hey, Chika, why’re you so angry?”

“It just pisses me off! He rarely attends class, yet always scores full marks on the tests! Just why!”

“W- Well, don’t ask me…”

Yes, Okamura Hiiro certainly didn’t attend classes regularly. And even if he attended, he was either asleep or didn’t listen. Yet for some reason, he got perfect scores on his tests. Chika was angry at that unfairness.

“F- For all you know, he could properly review and prepare at home.”

Shuri uttered so merely as a possibility, not in his defence.

“Well~ There’s cram school or a private tutor too.”

Shinobu added to that.

“I don’t care!”

Chika turned away, pouting. Taishi made a weary sigh.

“Okamura-dono was a friend of yours?”

That Vale added dono instead sama to his named showed the difference in their assessment.

“He’s no friend!”

“You might say… he’s a classmate, someone who studied together with us.”

“Mh, I see. But will he really be alright on his own?”

“Eh?”

“Our world is overflowing with danger. The ‘Evila’ for one, but there are strives between the same race as well. To survive on his own, it is very likely that he will become an adventurer. But it does not seem like he possesses outstanding fighting talents like you, so…”

He might end up dead. Everyone present thought that. A heavy silence hung in the air. Although he wasn’t their friend, it was indeed unpleasant to lose a classmate.

During that, Chika was the first to start a conversation.

“Aw, geez! There’s no use to worry about such a selfish guy! Instead, let’s think about getting stronger first!”

“You sure are vigorously, Chika.”

“What, got a problem? Besides, when we defeat the ‘Evila’ and bring peace, then he can live in peace too, right?”

Everyone had her mouth gaping open on these words. No one imagined that Chika, angry until a moment ago, would voice such a view.

“Chika-chan… You’re so kind.”

Saying so happily, Shuri showed a smile, whereupon Chika turned bright red and shouted.

“N- No! I was just… Aw, geez! We’re done with this topic! No more! Got it?”

The other three looked glad as if to say “Sure, sure”.

“Chika-sama has a point. We have to think about training you now.”

Everyone nodded upon Vale’s words. Then their magic trained started.

Hiiro found an inn for the time being and brooded over what to he needed to buy from now. He concluded that he wouldn’t last a day with his current funds.

(I really need to save up money quickly. And there’s a lot of stuff I want to try out)

Saying so, he fell into deep thoughts on the bed in the single room of the inn.

(…My heart‘s beating faster?)

He repeatedly opened and squeezed his hand. By doing so, he felt that his body was unusually hot, he felt excitement.

(I’m unusually excited? Haha, guess I’m a guy after all)

The RPG-like world gave him a racing heart. A world he could only experience through books or games. Not even in his dreams would he have thought to experience one in real life.

After completing a quest and trying out magic, he felt his excitement growing. Since he was already here, he wanted to try out everything on his mind.

Luckily enough, he had an overpowered magic. If he could make good use of this unfair magic, he surely would have a worthwhile life, even here.

(Anyway, I should get some sleep for tomorrow)

His MP fully recovered after eating the “Addicting Seafood Noodles”. He could go out to level up right away, but so many things happened all at once today, so his mind couldn‘t keep up.

As that was only inevitable, he decided to go to bed for today to recovery his mentality too and genuinely start taking action from tomorrow onwards.

“Are you sure you want to accept this quest?”

“Yes.”

The first thing he did after getting up on the next day, was looking at the quests at the Guild and choosing one.

Goblin Hunt E

Kill 10 goblins in the Clair Forest.

Reward: 35000 Rigin

Chapter 6: The Battle against Demons

He had checked out the quest yesterday already. It was reasonable for a beginner and yielded quite the reward.

“The Goblins are the weakest demons, but they attack in groups, so please be careful.”

“Sure.”

He answered curtly, left the Guild and wanted to leave the town right away, but he had things to buy, so he went into the shopping district.

He visited a weapon shop to buy a weapon, since even the weakest demon was hard to fight against with just bare hands, looking for a weapon within the range of his funds.

When he looked around with his funds in mind, he would have to go with a short weapon like a knife. Amongst these, he found a relatively robust one with a thick blade and a good grip.

“This one.”

Saying so, he showed it to the shop owner.

“Gladly. A solid knife, that’ll be 2650 Rigin.”

After paying, he received the weapon and appreciated the scabbard that he got as an unexpected freebie. Then he brooded over what to do about armour. A shield might be useful, but he concluded that he could just use his ≪Word Magic≫ when necessity arose, and left the shop.

Leaving the town, he headed for the “Clair Forest” in the west. He could reach it by following a straight path called the “Toll Road”.

During his search for an inn yesterday, he had stopped by a general store and bought five “crispy beans” for HP restoration, three “honey toffee” for MP restoration along with a map of this world.

Even if they were necessary expenses, they completely emptied his wallet. He had to complete the quests by all means or he would have to sleep outside tonight. That sounded fun in itself, but he wanted to avoid a sudden hobo lifestyle.

During his trip, he spotted something weird in front of him.

(What’s that…?)

It looked like a big volleyball. However, it didn’t have a fixed appearance and contorted itself spongy, blocking his path.

(Wait, could it be…?)

The famous monster for levelling up as a beginner in a RPG…

“A slime!”

His voice was somewhat filled with excitement. There the slime suddenly charged into his direction, startled by his voice.

“Wait, a battle out of nowhere!?”

He drew his solid knife from the scabbard. The slime was slow, but Hiiro got the chills when he thought about coming in contact with that disgusting substance.

The moment the slime jumped up, he swung his knife downwards accordingly. There was no resistance and the slime was cut into half, but the two parts still moved meandering. To put it bluntly, it was disgusting.

“Don’t tell me it multiplied from being cut in half?”

In that case, a blade would be useless, so he wondered about what to do, whereas the demon writhed agonizing on the ground and stopped moving before long. Hiiro timidly poked it with his knife.

(Wait, there’s a faster way!)

He opened his ≪Status≫. The NEXT (required experience points until level up) column had been 10, but now it turned into 8. The fact that he had received experience points meant that the demon was defeated.

“Oh~ It was a demon after all. I bet it’s a weak one like the goblin. It only gave 2 EXP anyway.”

Still, he felt somewhat accomplished from his first battle and victory. At first he had feared it would pain him to kill, but it surprisingly turned out alright.

“…Still feels like a game… Or rather, like it’s none of my beeswax.”

When he analysed it calmly, he heard another rustling sound from behind. He turned around and there were more slimes, three even.

“They seem perfect for levelling up. But I wish there were four of them.”

Then he could have levelled up. At the time he clicked his tongue, three more slimes appeared from behind him as to ridicule him. Hiiro was totally surrounded.

“Grr, a pincer attack on a beginner?”

While he grumbled bitter, he focused on defeating the three in front of him first. After he cut down the first and second one, an smacking impact hit his back. A slime seemingly attacked him with a charge.

“Kuh… It unexpectedly hurts quite a bit.”

It felt just as if he was hit by someone. He took his distance and checked his ≪Status≫, seeing that his HP decreased by 3.

“Looks like I can’t play around.”

Bracing himself once more, he took a stance with his knife. Since two slimes attack him simultaneously, he dodged them and cut one down immediately. But two more were coming from behind.

“No more pain!”

By swinging his knife around, he managed to cut down two at once. One slime remained. Hiiro killed it by charging in on his own.

Upon that, he heard a weak PLIIINK sound over his head and opened his ≪Status≫.

Hiiro Okamura

Lvl 2

HP 21/30

MP 120/145

EXP 12

NEXT 12

ATK 15 (25)

DEF 10

AGI 30

HIT 12

INT 25

≪Magic Attribute≫ None

≪Magic≫ Word Magic (Single Chain Unlocked)

≪Title≫ Innocent Bystander, World Traveller, Word Master

“Figures. That sound was from the level up. Anyway, my MP sure has an amazing gain. It went up by 25 in one level. Well, not that I’m complaining.”

Though he complained a bit about not recovering the health upon levelling up. Some games did that, so he had preferred it here too.

On his way to the “Clair Forest”, he kept defeating the appearing slimes.

He reached the “Clair Forest” alright, but he had no clue where to look for the goblins. As slimes had appeared various times, he was level three now.

With no other ideas, he advanced into the forest precautious and left marks on the trees as not to lose his way. He would use them as landmarks on his way back.

Then he heard the brushwood rustling and took a stance, thinking it was a goblin, but it was just a slime again.

“…’nother one of you.”

Although he was sick of them already, he killed it instantly as he was already familiar with them. The quest was to kill ten goblins. As proof, he had to bring the “goblin fang” back with him.

Incidentally, slimes dropped “slime substance” as part of a hunt quest, but he ignored it as it was too disgusting to touch.

Going through the forest, he encountered another slime. The moment he felt annoyed about it, something appeared from the bush to his side. And it attacked him with some kind of weapon.

WHOOSH!

He dodged it by bending his body at once, but he broke out in a cold sweat.

(C- Close call… I see, that’s a goblin.)

Its appearance was identically to the picture in the reference book he was shown. A stature small like a child, but an ugly face and a club in its hand.

“Must hurt to get hit by that…”

When he glared at the goblin, he received another attack on the back and groaned. He had totally forgotten about the slime. Moreover, the goblin used this chance to attack too.

(Damn. Goblins come in groups, I can’t waste time here!)

He parried the club with his solid knife. The goblin let out a creaky voice like grinding one’s teeth, with drool spilling out of its mouth. Hiiro definitely didn’t want to get bitten and sent the goblin flying with a kick.

(Fuh, a humanoid demon… Will I be able to kill it…?)

Speaking to himself, he narrowed his eyes as he stared at the goblin. Needless to say, he never killed anyone when he was in Japan. He had killed bugs, but never animals, so he was insecure about whether he was able to kill a living creature with a human appearance, even if it was a demon.

“…Hah. Well, I gotta survive here.”

He muttered as to convince himself.

“Sorry… but you’ll be a stepping for me.”

Saying so, he rushed at the goblin with all his might. Hiiro had a lot of agility, although he didn’t know why. The goblin didn’t move as it intended to take him on upfront.

SLAAAASH!

He cut down the goblin. That made him somewhat sick in the stomach, but he swallowed it down and glared at the goblin.

“You’re next!”

Afterwards he defeated the slime, whereupon another level up sound resounded. His level turned to four now. It was going well.

The his joy only lasted for a moment as one goblin after another appeared in front of him. The earlier battle seemed to have attracted them.

However, Hiiro had waited for them. He concentrated his magic power into his finger tip and quickly draw a word onto the ground. The group of goblins came at him all at once.

(Good… Come here!)

Just when the goblins were right before him,

“Activate!”

He shouted and the electrical discharge occurred in the word. In the next moment, various sharp objects appeared from the ground and pierced the goblins.

“Haha, it worked.”

The goblins desperately tried to move while grimacing in pain, but they couldn’t. After a while they stopped moving as they died.

The word Hiiro had written was “needle”.

The area of effect was roughly 6.5m² wide, just like with the word “hard”. He had waited for the goblins to enter that area. The ground had turned into a cactus and killed all the goblins on it.

(Kuh… It’s more tiring than I thought.)

Lot of blood was flowing out from the pierced spots of the goblins. Seeing that, Hiiro painfully became aware that this was a real battle, that he did this and that he could have turned into this himself if he was careless. It was taught to him in a forcible manner.

(Fuh, anyway, first things first)

He took action again right away. There were still goblins around, but confused by his weird attack, they were reluctant to attack him.

“Then let’s try the next one”

While saying so, he picked up a stone and wrote onto it the word “stop”.

If all went well, it might stop the goblin’s movement. He threw the stone at a goblin. The moment the goblin was hit at the shoulder, he activated it. However, only the stone was stopped. It stopped right in midair.

(Mhm, so it can’t emit magic)

As he had written it onto the stone, probably only the stone itself was influenced.

Hiiro had hoped that the effect from the stone would affect the goblin too, but sadly that wasn’t the case. Only the stone itself was affected, leaving the goblin unaffected.

(Okay, next one!)

Next up he wrote “extend” on the blade of his knife. Then he readied the knife and turned his body like a spinning top.

“Activate!”

WHOOOOOSH!

In a flash, the blade extended manifold and the goblins in the distant were cut. Three of them went down at once. As far as he could tell, that left three more.

“I only need two more for my quest, but I won’t let anyone escape.”

He slaughtered the goblins by swinging his extended knife around and was so immersed in it that he didn’t notice the level up sound during it.

After he defeated all of them, he collected the “goblin fangs”. It was the only sharp tooth on the upper jaw. But before that, he transformed his knife back by writing “origin” on it.

As soon as he finished collecting them, exhaustion befell his whole body. His MP was empty too, so he ate “honey toffee” to restore it.

(Oh right, I gotta fix the ground too)

With his MP replenished, he fixed the ground by writing “original”. Anyway, it had been a while since he moved around so much and he somehow endured that battle, which was akin to a massacre, albeit of only demons.

“Puh, never thought I was this emotional”

He sighed while saying that as he didn’t expect himself to get worn out mentally to such an extent. It really made him realize that this was not a game.

The smell of lots of blood, the sensation of cutting through flesh, the dying screams and corpses. All of that gave Hiiro, a citizen of a peaceful country, a dreadful shock.

Feeling more exhausted than expected, he sat down on the spot to rest. But a rustling sound announced the arrival of something. It was a goblin.

“Fuh~ Guess I can only keep going until I’m used to it…”

He made a resigning sigh and glared at the goblin.

“Then bring it on! Come at me! Until I get used to it!”

Somewhat out of frustration, he swung around his weapon.

“Aw~ I’m pooped~”

Hiiro had returned to the town, but took a rest on a bench on the street. The slimes and goblins had attacked him without rest. He had defeated them while their blood splashed onto him, so he was completely out of fuel now.

(Though I quite raised my level thanks to that)

Hiiro Okamura

Lvl 7

HP 31/65

MP 34/250

EXP 222

NEXT 87

ATK 25 (35)

DEF 21

AGI 46

HIT 20

INT 37

≪Magic Attribute≫ None

≪Magic≫ Word Magic (Single Chain Unlocked)

≪Title≫ Innocent Bystander, World Traveller, Word Master

Chapter 7: Bon Voyage!

He planned to go to the Guild for his quest reward after he rested a little bit more. His blood-spattered appearance drew the attention of by-passers, but he was so exhausted that he paid it no mind.

(Hah… Maybe, I can clean… my clothes with magic)

With that in mind, he moved somewhere without people and wrote “clean” on his clothes. And when he activated it, the bloody clothes became all clean again in an instant.

(When I write it on my body, I won’t be needing a bath…?)

He kept it in mind to try it out later. And if it worked, he would be delighted about such a convenient power.

At the guild, the woman at the counter widened her eyes in surprise. Because he completed the quests, which demanded to hunt ten goblins, with a far higher number: 22.

She looked at the 22 “goblin fangs”, which he presented as proof for the quest.

“I am impressed you managed to hunt so many. Especially considering that you only registered yesterday, Okamura-sama.”

“Whatever, evaluate it already.”

He wanted to get over with it before he was dragged into something troublesome. The woman apologized on his words and properly did her job.

“The advertised reward is 35000 Rigin, but I can give you an extra 10000 Rigin for all these ‘goblin fangs’ you are turning in. What do you say?”

“Yeah, do that.”

He had no use for the “goblin fangs” anyway.

“Then please wait a moment.”

Saying that, she took his card and went somewhere. After a while she came back and returned his card. The money had been added to it. He brought the card closer to his chest and recited disappear, whereupon the card dispersed and vanished.

Now he had enough funds for the inn for a while and could even buy a fair number of MP restoration pills. With this quest he realized that MP pills were an absolutely necessity for him.

When he wanted to use the ≪Word Magic≫, which by itself already had a high MP consumption, numerous times, he should have a large number of restoration pills at hand.

(I got to test out a lot of stuff and realized how important the MP pills are. I better buy as much as I can carry.)

Hence he went straight to a general shop and bought the necessary items for battles, including a new weapon. It was the cheapest kind of a sword, but still cost 30000 Rigin. The reason he bought a new one was because the blade of his knife was chipped. Well, naturally that happened when he fought so many demons. Lastly, he bought a red robe as a protection gear.

He chose it, since it had a high magic resistance and an unexpected high protection value. The red was kind of flashy, but he made do with it, thinking that he will get used to it.

(Wait, couldn’t I have fixed the chip in the blade with magic… Like if I wrote ‘new’ or ‘original’ while remembering how I bought it… Moreover…)

Various things came into his mind, but he had already bought the sword.

(Well, it was just a knife anyway. I’ll use magic from now on)

The knife was only bought due to a shortage of funds at the beginning and he had intended to buy a sword when he saved up some money anyway, so he would now first try magic to repair the blade before buying a new one.

And when the blade actually chipped and he tried ≪Word Magic≫ to repair it, the blade really turned as good as new with the word “new”. His own magic apparently knew no bounds.

For one week then, Hiiro completed quests from morning till evening. At first he just wanted to save up money and level up, but it was surprisingly fun when he tried it.

He saw flowers he never saw before and encountered various demons. It was also quite enjoyable to think of ways to defeat these demons.

He didn’t consider himself to be a battle maniac, but he might have to reflect about himself as he unintentionally got elated about how to kill a strong opponent, the real thrill of an RPG.

And by this and that, his Guild rank raised as well, turning from the blue F rank into the violet E rank. Not to mention his pile of money and levels.

The woman at the counter called him a new rising star as there certainly were hardly any beginners that completed twenty to thirty quests in one week.

(It’s likely that things will get troublesome when I work here any more and the king hears about it)

He feared that he would get told to fight with the heroes if he was that strong, which would be horrible. His freedom was the only thing he wouldn’t surrender. He didn’t want his fun life in the other world get spoiled from obligations.

(I guess it’s about time)

He made his resolve while checking the contents of his big bag.

(Tomorrow I’ll leave this country)

Yes, he resolved to go on a trip.

Enough money on his hands, a good level and above all, his mentality toughened up. With that, he could even survive during a trip.

Hiiro Okamura

Lvl 18

HP 210/210

MP 640/640

EXP 4672

NEXT 480

ATK 89 (100)

DEF 65 (80)

AGI 137 (139)

HIT 77 (85)

INT 102 (106)

≪Magic Attribute≫ None

≪Magic≫ Word Magic (Single Chain Unlocked)

≪Title≫ Innocent Bystander, World Traveller, Word Master

Guild Card

Name: Hiiro Okamura

Sex: Male

Age: 17

From: Unknown

Rank: E

Quest:

Equipment:

-Weapon: Short Sword

-Guard: Red Robe

-Accessory:

Rigin: 567000

On the next day, Hiiro groaned while spreading his map on the “Toll Road” outside the town. It was necessary to decide where to go.

He technically had an idea. Going south, there was a big town called “Frentor”, albeit not as big as “Victorias”. It was a famous trade town.

But Hiiro rather tended to go to “Surge” instead, a town in the west. “Surge” was close to the country border, right next to the continent, where the “Gabranth” lived.

Since he came to another world, he naturally wanted to meet a “werewolf” or “werecat” by all means.

But right now, there was a tension between both countries. He didn’t think he would be able to pass the border easily. However, being an adventurer, he heard some news.

That the countries certainly had placed restrictions on each other, but lot of “Gabranth” were adventurers and often went on jobs together with “Humas” adventurers.

The individual and nation’s opinion were different things. In other words, the nation’s opinion didn’t represent the whole race. Some people worked together with each other.

Still, a lot of people in this world detested other races right now. They were especially out of sorts with the fighting “Evila”.

Nevertheless, Hiiro believed that he had to confirm it with his own eyes. To begin with, he wasn’t interested in the opinion of others, priding himself with the conviction to come up with his own answer by experiencing it himself.

Therefore, he decided to head to “Surge”. Crossing the border would be possible one way or another as well if necessary.

But it was quite a distance to “Surge”. A long trip called for resolution and good feet.

On his way, he came by the “Clair Forest”, where he had been before. There was no more need to be wary about this forest, but he needed to get through there. He entered the forest and defeated the demons that attacked him flawlessly.

With his current AGI, the movement of his opponents looked like they were standing still. Their difference in strength was that obvious.

(Well, I’m not a beginner anymore)

Hiiro was experienced fighting even stronger demons, so the slimes and goblins appearing in the forest weren’t worth mentioning.

He easily passed through the forest and got onto the “Tempus Highway”. Following it straight lead to a small town called “Ames”. His plan was to stay the night there and go on tomorrow.

“Oh, a jewel slime in such a place?”

He spotted a sparkling slime shining like a jewel in front of him. As he had read the Guild’s reference book once, he got a hold of the different kind of demons.

“I can sell its ‘jewel slime core’ for quite a sum. No escape, dude.”

Hiiro drew his sword with the eyes of a hunter. Money was important after all. After he killed it without letting it escape, he nodded satisfied.

“That’s a good sign. Mh? Now it’s a yellow rabbit.”

The next demon that appeared was a literal yellow rabbit. Its attack power wasn’t all too strong, but it was quite fast. Still, not so fast as to bewilder him, because right now, he could move even faster than the yellow rabbit.

“Haah!”

He cut it into two with his sword. Three of them had shown up, but one seemingly got away. He kept the hunt quest drop “yellow rabbit tail” just in case. Defeating the appearing demons, he headed towards “Ames”.

Chapter 8: An average guy that won’t work for free

In “Ames” he looked for an inn first of all. Luckily for him, not many adventurers dropped by here, so there were enough empty rooms, only one double room was booked.

“A single room please.”

“Eh, ah, yes. Ex- Excuse me… Are you… an adventurer?”

“…Yes?”

“I… see.”

“…?”

Hiiro inclined his head as he somehow didn’t feel welcomed. It was his first visit to this village, nor did he ever did something to them.

Yet, the inn keeper treated him anxiously. It bothered him, but for now, he reserved his room and went to look around the village.

But there he noticed something strange. For some reason, he felt gazes on him. And from all directions at that. It was an atmosphere like he was an uninvited guest.

Just like the inn keeper, they frowned at him. Maybe this village didn’t welcome outsiders. Well, Hiiro was only going to stay for one night, so he didn’t let it bother him.

“Hey, Mister.”

At that moment, someone called out to him. When he turned around, there stood a kid. It was a boy around the age of seven. He glared at him with eyes like looking at someone suspicious. Hiiro ignored him, since he didn’t like that attitude.

“Hey, don’t ignore me!”

The boy got angry. Why would he have to deal with a brat? Hiiro dropped his shoulders.

“What‘s up, shorty?”

“Don’t call me shorty! Not when you’re wearing some weird red robe yourself! It’s intimidating!”

“…Are you a bull or what?”

Not like he wore the red robe to be intimidating. It simply wore it for protection purposes. Although he grew attached to it after wearing it all the time.

With his black school uniform underneath, it was a surreal combination, but Hiiro didn’t care at all.

“Mister, you’re an adventurer, right? Why did you come to such an isolated place?”

“Isolated place?”

“Don’t call it an isolated place!”

“You called it that.”

Why was he so aggressive…? Hiiro couldn’t come up with an answer to that, so he ignored him and walked away as it was too troublesome after all.

“H- Hey, wait!”

Ignore, ignore.

“I told you to wait!”

Turn a blind eye.

“Hey, man! Listen to me!”

Just the wind.

“Hey… Please… don’t ignore me.”

His voice gradually started to tremble. He must have gotten sad from being ignored. Hiiro made a light sigh and stopped.

“What do you want?”

He stopped ignoring him as it would be difficult to stay in the village if he made him cry here. Upon that, the boy smiled energetically, but went back to glare at him right away.

“Sh- Sheesh, you’re such a meanie! All adventurer are like that!”

“I’m me. Don’t lump me together with others, it’s discomforting.”

When he glared at him in a bad mood, the boy cowered with a shiver.

“…Hah. So, what’s up? I’m busy looking around, you know.”

“Eh? Why’re you looking around?”

“What does it matter? It got nothing to do with you, brat.”

“Uh… Uhh…”

The boy got close to tears again, so Hiiro pressed on his temples with a sigh.

“Hah. Just killing time. I got here just now and plan to stay here one night during my travel.”

He looked at the boy, hoping that this satisfied him.

“Oh? You’re not going to sham the village?”

“Sham? Say what?”

According to the boy, certain adventurers lately dropped by the village, barged into the general or weapon store and forcefully haggled products, doing whatever they wanted.

“It was a group of two and they falsely charged the inn to get to stay for free.”

While he grinded his teeth frustrated, the boy clenched his fist.

“Why didn’t you refuse? You could’ve chased them out with all the villagers.”

“We cannot do that.”

It wasn’t the boy, who replied to Hiiro.

“Ah, Uncle Panis!”

The man called Panis looked like in his late 30s. In reality he might be younger, but his gloomy expression made him look older.

“And you are?”

“You seem to be an adventurer. My name is Panis. I run a humble shop.”

That meant he was a victim of the two adventurer.

“Is it true what the brat said?”

“Yes, it is. They currently picking at the general store.”

“…You said you can’t chase them out. What do you mean?”

Panis looked troubled and made a big sigh.

“For some reason, they got title deed of the village.”

“Huh? Why would they have that? Doesn’t the village chief usually keep it?”

“Yes, but the title deed was suddenly gone from the village chief’s house…”

In other words, the two stole it.

“How careless. You reap what you sow.”

“Haha, you got us there.”

Yet another new person answered Hiiro.

“You are the adventurer that arrived earlier? I am the village chief of ‘Ames’, Brey.”

“What are you doing here, Chief?”

Panis asked.

“Same reason as yours. I was told there is an outsider, so I came to check.”

Appearing Hiiro’s arrival was immediately reported to the village chief and he came to see the suddenly visiting adventurer with his own eyes. He seemingly was relieved to see that Hiiro was just an average adventurer.

CRAAACK!

Suddenly the sound of wood breaking resounded. Everyone present faced the origin of the sound taken aback. The door of a house was burst opened and someone was thrown out.

“Mick!”

The village chief widened his eyes and shouted. The man called Mick was thrown onto the ground and crouched. Then two people appeared from the house, where he was thrown out from.

One man was fat with a bald head, the other one slender with a spiky hairstyle like a broom. Mr. Spiky Head spit out while looking down on Mick.

“Keh! Try saying that again!”

The slender man, also qualified to be called spiky beanpole, scowled fiendish. Next to him, the other guy took a bite out of a fruit that was probably from the store. Hiiro named him bald chubby.

Mick desperately pleaded. They most likely told him to hand over the products for free and he refused to. However, spiky beanpole showed an irritated vein on his forehead and kicked Mick’s face.

Quite a lot of blood splashed around. Seeing that, the villagers rushed over to him. Spiky beanpole glared sharply at the village chief.

“Huuh? Look who we have here, the chief. Got something to say? Mh?”

Hiiro calmly observed, taking him for a third-rate gangster, no, delinquent.

“M- More food.”

Bald chubby tried to go back into the house while drooling, probably in search for more food.

“Hey, Junior, give it a rest, we’re leaving.”

“B- But I’m hungry.”

“Tch. Make it quick.”

“Okay.”

“Stop it already!”

Unable to watch any longer, the village chief shouted, but winced when spiky beanpole glared at him. The others close by didn’t approach either, scared by spiky beanpole’s look of menace.

(Looks like they’re being compelled to accept it because these guys are beyond their power, not just the title deed)

The village didn’t have any capable people, so they didn’t resist as they would only get killed if they challenged them.

(They could ask the army for help, but I guess the guys would just run away with the title deed then. And there’s a fear for their revenge. The best solution would be for someone to subdue them)

While Hiiro pondered like that, the boy next to him looked up to him. Pretty much ask if he was asking him to do something about it.

“No idea what you want, but this doesn’t concern me.”

“Wha! And you still call yourself human!?”

“What? Do I look like a demon or what?”

“You do! Why aren’t you helping! As a fellow adventurer, you have to stop them!”

“…Listen, brat, I may be an adventurer, but I ain’t some advocate of justice. Ask the Heroes if you want justice for free.”

Hiiro said composed while crossing his arms. The boy gave him a look filled with anger, it was no concern of his.

“Forget it! In the end, all adventurer are like this!”

Saying so, the boy went straight for the two guys.

“Ah, wait, Nies! Don’t go there!”

Panis tried to stop him, but the boy called Nies ran with all his might. Then Panis glared at Hiiro while grinding his teeth. Still, he relaxed soon enough and sighed.

“No, I get it. This has nothing to do with you. A Hero that works for people without charge like from fairytales does not exist.”

“Mh, no idea if such a person exists, but at the very least, I’m not like that. I pass on working for free.”

Hiiro kept it to himself that sadly enough, he considered unprofitable things as bothersome.

“…For free.”

“Huh? What?”

Panis suddenly leaked a voice, so Hiiro inadvertently asked back.

“So it just… has to be paid?”

“…..”

Hiiro got a bad feeling.

“In that case, I will give you my finest weapon when you help us.”

“…..”

“Will you help us?”

“…..”

Panis looked at him earnestly. It was a pain and to be honest, it didn’t concern him at all. However, the finest weapon was appealing. Just taking care of this scum for it was rather cheap.

While thinking so, he made eye contact with Panis. Looking into his eyes without averting his gaze, they stared at each other for a while. After a while, Hiiro sighed like being outlasted.

“Fine. I’ll lend a hand. But keep your promise.”

Panis’ face instantly brightened up, but turned gloomy again.

“I, I know I asked you, but… are you strong?”

He asked while looking anxiously at Hiiro from head to toe.

“Dunno. But at least good enough to do something about them.”

Hiiro said so by looking at the chubby & beanpole combo. Panis had his mouth gaping open from that confidence, but Hiiro ignored that and swiftly went into action.

Nies picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it at spiky beanpole. It pleased him how it hit him right into the face, but needless to say, the other villagers all went pale.

Spiky beanpole’s expression as he slowly looked at Nies spoke volumes: This brat is as good as dead.

Feeling his killing intent, Nies froze on the spot.

“St- Stop it!”

The village chief stopped covering in front of Nies, but was sent flying with hard punch. Then spiky beanpole drew the sword on his waist and pointed it at Nies. Paralyzed by fear, Nies didn’t move an inch.

“Brat, any last words?”

“D- Don‘t…”

Nies shook his head while shedding tears, but that didn’t stop spiky beanpole. He smiled happily and raised his sword into the air, then swinging it down from there.

WHOOOSH!

Everyone gulped and closed their eyes. They all thought Nies’ life was over now. However!

“OWWWW!”

The one screaming in pain and bleeding was spiky beanpole. Something was pierced into his sword arm.

Everyone looked dumbfounded at this scene. A blade, yes, it was a blade. His arm was undoubtedly pierced by a blade.

But the length of it was clearly too long. And they looked at the end of the blade, at the person, who performed the attack. It was Okamura Hiiro.