29-Years-Old Bachelor Was… Brought to a Different World to Live Freely

Chapter 1 ~ I’m in a different world before I knew it ~

[What?]

Before I knew it, I was standing in a large meadow.
When I looked to the right, there’s a meadow, to the left was also a meadow, behind me a forest, and in front was a hill.

[Eh? Hey, eh?]

I kept looking around.
But, the scenery would not change.
I tried touching the grass under my feet.
Yeah, it’s grass alright.
Let’s try tapping my cheeks.
There was a sense of discomfort.
Or my belly.
My happiness-filled metabolic syndrome was refreshed.
I looked at my hand.
It’s definitely my hand.
There were still small scars from when I was injured in the past, but my arms were strangely full of energy and strong.

[Calm down, calm down me]

Saying that, I tried to fix my glasses.
There was none.
I was suffering from extreme myopia, but now I can see normally even without glasses.
Let’s check ourselves for the time being.
What is my name?
Mitsuba Taichi, an adult who just entered his thirties this year, is a contract employee with metabolic syndrome.
Parents divorced, mother died of illness five years ago, a father who was never there.
Now I lived with my maternal grandmother and my pet dog.
Alright, there was no lack of memories about myself.
Other than that, let’s try to remember what I’ve done so far.

[And where is this?]

It’s a landscape that I don’t recognize.
I don’t even remember coming to such a place.
In the first place, I should have sneaked into bed after playing games and checking the internet in front of my daily computer.
What’s going on? I don’t understand.
For the time being, let’s check my appearance.
Fortunately, I wasn’t naked, because I’m not a calm sleeper.
Durable trousers, shirts and leather shoes.
The material of the clothes was linen-like, but a little stiff. It’s obviously not the clothes I originally had.
There was nothing else of note. I was empty-handed.
There’s no wallet, smartphone, car, or house key.
It can’t be helped if you’re at a loss for the time being, so let’s try walking to the top of the hill.
Maybe I’ll see a place I recognize.
No, at least private housings, if possible.

[Oh.]

My expectations were brilliantly shattered.

[That’s a fantasy fortified city, no matter how I look at it!]

Across the grasslands in front of me, was a tall wall made of sturdy stones and a medieval spire.

Was it a dream?
Was it a lucid dream?
No, it’s real. The texture of the grasses or the wind I can feel are real for sure.
What are my options?
For the time being, perhaps go to that fortified city or to the forest behind me?
No, I don’t know what kind of creatures there are, so forest is a no-go.
The fortified city it is then? It should be safer, right?

There’s no boxes or texts.
Shouldn’t there be a tutorial or something?

『Let me explain』

A voice echoed in my head.
Eh? That’s scary.

『You may have noticed that this is not your original world. This is the so-called different world, the fantasy world as you may have already know. ]

Hmm, this guy was speaking directly in my head…!
However, wasn’t the development too solid?

『The fantasy world you’ve always wanted, aren’t you happy?』

[Wow.]

I was obediently pleased.
It’s been two minutes since being here.

『And in this world, unlike the world you were in, there is magic. The cultural level is the medieval level in your world, but it is a little inferior because it was developed by magic. On the other hand, science was hardly developed. Be careful not to be eaten up by the so-called『Monsters』that also live there.』

[It’s the usual template of a fantasy world. So, do I have any special abilities?]

I don’t even bother to think about the true nature of the voice.
If you don’t think about it, everything will be just fine.

『At the moment, You are not so different from ordinary people. However, if you gain experience, you will gain powers that the people of this world cannot match. Try opening the menu.』

[What? Menu?]

The moment I muttered the word, various information was displayed in my field of vision.

The standard menu in most RPGs, such as current time, coordinates, map, inventory, skills, options, etc.

The name listed here is Taichi Mitsuba.
Godcall? What’s this?

『We have prepared enough supplies for you to last for a while, so make effective use of them. In the skill menu, you can acquire various skills using skill points. You can instantly acquire the skills that you would otherwise can only learn over several years 』

When I opened my inventory, I found a short sword and an adventurer set, three servings of preserved food and water, and some coins.
The adventurer set was packed with tools and other things that can be used for various adventures.
This feels like a TRPG.

Apparently, I can put items in and out just by thinking about it.

What a fantasy, this certainly was a different world.

[How do I get skill points? Can I reset my skills?]

『If you gain experience and level up, you can get skill points. Skill reset will be possible once every 20 levels』

[Okay…but there are so many skills.]

Just from a quick look on the list, wasn’t that more than 100 skills already?
Weapon mastery for each category, such as swords, polearms, axes, archery, and throwing weapons.
In addition, there were four major attributes such as fire, water, wind, and earth, as well as various magic such as light, darkness, and recovery techniques.
There were also living skills and manufacturing skills such as cooking, cleaning, sewing, blacksmithing, alchemy, agriculture, and woodworking.
Other skills included physical strengthening, avoidance, stealth, thievery, negotiation, appraisal, mind, and magic eye.

The initial amount of skill points I had was 10, and when I tried various things without confirming it, it seems that I can basically grow with skill points equivalent to the skill level.
However, depending on the skill, it may take several points to acquire a level.

『The maximum level of most skills is 5. Some skills such as the various magic eyes are not limited to this. Speaking of martial arts, 1 is an experienced person, 2 is a well-trained person, 3 is a master class, 4 is a first class, 5 is a superhuman class, and so on.』

[Martial arts, bows, and cooking are level 1 from the beginning. Negotiation is at level 2?]

『It reflects the experience you have cultivated in the original world.』

Oh, by the way, I used to do Shorinji Kempo when I was little.
After that, I had a little bit of Kyudo.
I had a level in cooking probably because I used to cook for myself.
But, I don’t really understand, I can hardly remember Shorinji Kempo.
The level 2 on negotiation was probably from my working experience.

[Well, I’ll remember it as I go… What should I do?]

『You can do as you please. You can be a Hero or a villain. You can look for a way to return to the original world, or you can choose to spend the rest of your life here.』

[That’s some high degree of freedom.]

First thing first, I guess establishing a base for a living here?

『Tutorial is over. I’m not going to always watching over you, but if you feel like it, just call me.』

I could no longer hear the voice that echoed in my head.

Let’s stop pondering about that voice of God, or whatever it was.
First of all, there are various things I need to verify.
I tried opening my status.
There are five main statuses: STR, VIT, AGI, DEX, and POW.
My current numbers are 28, 36, 24, 32, 127. The POW value being the highest​.
I can guess at glance that STR is strength, VIT is vitality, AGI is agility, and DEX is dexterity. But, what is POW?
HP and MP were displayed in one corner of the menu.
HP is 56 and MP is 147.

[Magic Power, I guess?]

Maybe it was.

The Hero from another world that had extraordinary magical power was already a well-known trope.
For the time being, let’s conclude this and try to move my body.

I tried running after doing a light stretch. Oh, my body was light. Farewell, metabolic syndrome.
Alright, let’s use 1 skill point to acquire physical strengthening skills.

It became STR 42, VIT 54, AGI 36, while DEX seemed to be unaffected. The increased value was a 50% improvement at level 1, which was amazing.
My running speed had increased to a level that was noticeable. However, it became hard to breathe.

Next, I selected the short sword from the inventory.
Suddenly a short sword appeared in my hand. It’s surprisingly heavy.
Because it was a double-edged blade, I tried to swing the sword slowly and carefully.
After getting used to the weight to some extent, I tried slashing and thrusting, pretending if it’s an 『actual battle』.
If I don’t swing the sword with a lot of force, there would be no sound of the blade cutting the wind.
Hmmm, I guess that’s all for the sword fight at child’s play level.
Next, I set the sword mastery to level 1 and swung the sword once more.
Yeah, the sword speed was obviously different.
I could hear the sound of the blade cutting the wind even when swinging with less force.
So I used 2 more skill points to level sword mastery to 2.
This time, I think it affects the stability of the lower body or physical fitness. The sharpness of my movement has clearly improved.
For now, I think it would be better to be able to fight to some extent even while empty handed, so let’s raise the martial arts skill to 2.
Pulling out a sword in the middle of a city may cause me trouble, which can be dangerous.

I inserted the short sword into the waist belt and checked the status again.
With this, I’ve used 6 skill points, with 4 remaining.
The rest is where I want to learn magic, but later.
I think that recovery magic should be taken as a starter, but I also want to learn attack magic.

There were quite a number of different magics.
Dark magic, space magic, pure magic, ancient magic, etc. looked very exciting, but let’s focus on one of the four major attribute magics first.

After some deliberation, I set the recovery magic to level 1 and the wind magic to level 2.
Heal was the only magic that could be used at recovery magic level 1.
At wind magic level 1, I can use the wind bullet that launches a sphere of compressed air against the opponent. At level 2, I can use the wind blade that cuts through the opponent, and the wind barrier that creates an air wall.

Let’s try shooting some wind bullets and wind blades.

[I see, there is a lot of freedom.]

Attack magic seems to be quite applicable depending on the image.
There was a high degree of freedom in firing continuously, firing at the same time, and manipulating the trajectory.
Since I recklessly experimented with my magic, my MP was down to 36. I’m fairly exhausted.

Alright, let’s head to the city.

A few minutes after I started walking to the fortified city in front of me, a wild boar-like animal appeared.
Unfortunately, I have never seen a real wild boar with my own eyes, but I think it was like this.
I mean, were its tusks that big?

[Woops!]

I avoided the rush of wild boar-like creatures.
What he didn’t expect was that it turned around and immediately rushed at me again.
Is this my first battle?

It’s not very monster-like which made me hesitate to kill it, but I couldn’t help it if it came towards me like that.
I pulled out the short sword, provoking the rushing wild boar (provisional name), avoiding its rush by dodging sideways as before, but also slashed its leg in the process.
Now that it’s down with a sad sounding noise, I stabbed its nape with my short sword, tearing it apart.
Blood spilled out, and soon the wild boar (provisional name) lost its consciousness.

[I killed it quickly…]

It’s actually surprisingly easy to kill.
The only things that I ever killed in the world where I used to live were insects or mice…but somehow, I wonder if I’m still too naive for this reality.
For the time being, when I put the corpse in my belongings, it was displayed as『Small Boar corpse』.
The dismantling command was highlighted. When I executed it, the corpse of the small boar was divided into『small boar fur』and『small boar meat』.

I see, it’s very convenient.

After that, while heading to the city, I was attacked by several small boars and big hornets, so I retaliated.
As far as I could see from the menu, my level seemed to have gone up a little, but that will have to wait for later as I was on the road leading to the gate. I put my sword in.

I ran into a few locals on the way, all of which looked like Westerners.
There were some people who looked at me sternly, perhaps because my black hair and black eyes are unusual.
While walking, fields spread on both sides of the road, and the gate was visible.
As a matter of course, there was a checkpoint at the gate, and it seemed to check the people coming in and out.

Now then, can I understand the language?

[Next, can I see your ID, please?]

[I’m from out of the country, so I don’t have one.]

I was listening to the exchanges of the person in front of me for more than ten minutes, as I lined up behind the merchant-style man. I talked with a plain face when it’s my turn.
It is one of the skills of working people to be able to say things that were not truly from the heart.
My response made the gatekeeper look annoyed.
Hey, I was never a customer here, okay?

[If you don’t have an ID card, come to that station. We’ll issue a temporary ID card for a short stay.]

Then, he pointed to something like a surprisingly well-built hut. Apparently, the soldiers in charge were supposed to issue the documents. I was indignant at the customer service, but followed through quietly.
It’s awkward and scary to suddenly notice the judicial organization.
There was something like a crystal ball with dirt on the desk.
I wonder if it would be a benefit to touch it.

[Sit down. First of all, the issue price is 5 large bronze coins, but do you have one?]

[Ah, is this okay?]

While sitting in a chair as instructed, I pretended to take it out of my pocket and put five large bronze coins from my inventory on the desk.
With this, I still had 1 gold coin, 2 large silver coins, 8 silver coins, 13 large copper coins, and 20 copper coins.
Honestly, I don’t know which type of coins will be a higher-grade one, so I need to understand this area immediately.

[OK, what’s your name?]

[It’s Taichi Mitsuba]

[That’s a strange name…where are you from?]

[It’s a place called Earth. It’s far away and I think you probably haven’t heard of it.]

[Erd, huh? I sure haven’t heard of it. You have no criminal record of murder or theft, right?]

[Oh, none.]

[Hmm, then put your hand on this stone and declare it.]

I put my hand on something like a crystal ball on the table as I was told.

[I have no criminal record of murder or theft.]

Then the crystal ball glowed dimly green and quickly settled.
The soldier who saw it wrote something on a card about the size of a credit card.
Is that stone a lie detector or something?

[This completes the procedure. This card is an ID card for a short stay, it is valid for three days. This coat of arms will disappear after three days. If the coat of arms is already gone when asked to show the ID card, you will be fined one silver coin. If you can’t pay the fine, you’ll be forced to become a slave, so be careful. ]

Illegal immigrants were immediately enslaved or subjected to something more severe.
In a world where monsters roamed, the food situation would not be so good, and the deterioration of public security was an important issue for the city.
I think it is a necessary measure.

[Where can I get a formal ID card?]

[The quickest way is to register with the Adventurer’s Guild or the Merchant’s Guild. You don’t feel like a merchant at first glance, so you should head to the Adventurer’s Guild. It’s on your left as soon as you enter the city. ]

Then the gatekeeper stood up.
It seemed that the procedure was over.

[Thank you, I’ll go right away.]

[Yeah, welcome to Crossroad]

With that said, the gatekeeper smiled lightly and returned to his post at the gate.

[Well, first thing first, to the Adventurer’s guild then?]