TL : Kinokura
Editor : Alany
1.For the time being, I want to meet another people
Alright, somehow, I came to another world
Originally, according to the transporting to another world theory, I should use a flashback scene, and explain from there, from my everyday life until I came here.
But, it’s embarrassing to talk about it with other people, so I’ll omit it.
The only information I’m going to give is, that I’m a Japanese male that came here from Earth.
More than this is going to be a privacy problem――
“No, now is not the time to be narrating the prologue.”
Let me explain my current situation, I’m inside an otherworldly forest. And, that’s all.
When I noticed, I was inside a forest. No, perhaps, it’d be more accurate if I say that, I’m inside a mountain with overgrown trees and weak slopes. By the way, how do I know that I’m in another world, is because of the trees in front of me.
It has a transparent trunk that allows a faint view of the scenery on the other side.
And fantasy-like leaves that emit faint light, are all over my field of vision.
Where can you find a forest like this on Earth?
If it exists, please tell me where it is. I want to travel there in my old age.
“By the way, about 20 minutes have passed since I’ve been immersed in the view.”
5 minutes being impressed by the scenery.
5 minutes since I calmed down, and started thinking where am I right now.
5 minutes thinking that maybe this is another world, and definitely not earth.
And another 5 minutes for looking back at the trees, and relaxing my mind.
I need to start moving soon.
First, I should check my condition.
“No injury on my body. I can’t see any sign of grotesque deformation or any appearance of a crest, like what you see in a typical fantasy development. I can’t feel any magic power surging up from my body either. Personal belongings… I’ve nothing.”
In short, I have nothing with me because I was in the middle of throwing trash outside my house, when I suddenly transported here.
No smartphone or a wallet full of coins, and paper money from Earth. Well, I’ve only had one piece of paper money inside.
Anyway, I was suddenly sent to this kind of place without any kind of explanation.
No reincarnation bonus either.
Wait, if I think about it calmly, I didn’t die, so this is not reincarnation, but rather transported to another world pattern.
Apparently, right now, it’s nighttime. It’s pitch dark above the trees.
Ah, there’s a star several times bigger than the moon, that usually can be seen from Japan.
It must be a satellite of this planet just like the moon, because I can see the change of day and night phase, and if I can see the satellite, it’s natural that I think this planet formed similarly to the Earth’s solar system, right? in the solar system like Earth, right?
The probability of the Earth existing is astronomical. Well, there’s nothing more convenient than being transported to another world with that kind of probability.
” ―― Isn’t it a bad idea to walk around inside the forest at night?”
One of the ways to know the direction at night is to look at the celestial bodies, but the star arrangement is different, because this is another world.
As expected, finding something like Orion or the Big Dipper is impossible.
And if I think it calmly, even if I know the direction, because I’m in an unknown land, I don’t know where should I go?
So, yeah, I can only continue forward.
Fortunately, the plants around here are glowing, which means it’s safer than walking around forests at night, than on Earth.
“I should praise myself for wearing sneakers instead of slippers when taking the trash out.”
There was something that I understood after walking randomly for about 1 hour.
That, this place wasn’t a forest, but a mountain.
Wherever I proceeded, the ground level was constantly changing, and I could gradually feel the shape of a mountain.
Still, the mountain had a bad slope.
Also, it seemed that my starting point was near the peak of the mountain.
So, the first thing I thought I must do was to go down the mountain. Next was to find a river.
While walking down, there was something that came to my mind, of course, it was a way to survive.
I planned to eat nuts and drink night dew to survive, but since I wasn’t a natural-born survivor, there would be limits.
To be honest, it was scary to drink random raw water, so I put that as my last resort.
The reason to find a river was to set a course rather than to hydrate myself.
If this planet was unexplored by humanity, there was nothing I could do about it, but if humanity, and civilization existed, then the river could be the basis for it.
Famous ancient civilizations also flourished by cultivating around the rivers, since it had nutrient-rich soil. I wanted to believe that this principle was also the same in another world too.
“Right, here comes the problem.”
I muttered in a very low voice. Of course, that was the case.
As I could see “that” from afar.
Yes.
A Bear.
An extremely giant bear.
The bear that I had seen in the zoo didn’t even reach 2 meters, but this bear was at least around 4 meters high.
Aren’t they nocturnal? I mean, this forest is bright. There should be a problem, right?
It was about 20 meters ahead, but I could see it clearly.
Well, I could see it clearly, because it was bright.
Why are you looking over hereー? Am I about to be captured?
I was then thinking for a while, and I felt the valuable experience of having a frozen spine.
Pretending to be dead? I’ll just be easy prey.
Escape? The bear is on the descending side, and chasing uphill is a bear’s specialty.
Fight? Hahaha, not a chance, even if I have a hunting gun.
In the meantime, the bear was slowly approaching while growling.
Think. Think harder and come up with a solution quickly.
Ah! That’s right! There’s “that” method!
“N, Niceー toー meetー?”
The bear roared. Apparently, the western greeting wasn’t acceptable.
I should have started running as fast as I could?
Well, I couldn’t do that. My legs were shaking, so, I couldn’t move.
And the bear that recognized me as easy prey started to run after me—or not.
Suddenly, the bear was swallowed by a greenish-yellow liquid.
Perhaps the liquid that easily swallowed the whole body of a four-meter-class giant bear had a high viscosity, after all, it started to form a sphere, instead of spreading on the ground.
Along with the bear’s sorrowful cry, a frightening sound was coming from the liquid, and the inside of the liquid gradually turned black.
Blood.
The blood of the bear looked black because it was mixed with the liquid.
The bear’s fur, skin, and flesh were also melting at an abnormal rate. This liquid must be something with a will, after all, it was eating the bear.
“…it’s a slime”
For anyone who ever played fantasy RPGs before, probably knew of it.
The thing in front of me was that. It didn’t have cute eyes, or mouth like a certain famous game,
More than that, it certainly didn’t look like a monster that would give you a single-digit experience point.
The bear’s scream of agony echoed throughout the forest as it desperately tried to escape from inside the slime.
However, it soon became quiet as part of the slime entered its mouth.
“Uuuhh… COUGH!! COUGH!!”
Seeing such a gruesome, emotionless, eating scene made me feel nauseous.
If I had seen this after a meal, I’d surely vomited, but it ended with the pain of gastric juice burning my throat.
However, only after coming to this point, that I finally realized the fatal mistake I made.
The slime started to move in my direction, maybe because of my cough.
I should’ve quickly escaped, while the bear was being eaten. I regretted watching it, and even Moreso of making a stupid sound.
But, the slime was moving slower than the bear’s walking speed. I thought that escaping now wouldn’t be too late.
“——!?”
My body jumped sideways out of fear before I could even think further.
The place where I was a moment ago, was swallowed by the slime.
That speed reminded me of a ruptured water balloon, or a water cannon.
The slime showed no reaction to its failure, and it began to move in my direction again.
Again, it moved slowly. I felt like I was being played even though it had no emotion.
My body hadn’t stopped trembling. The giant bear, which was a threat up until earlier, not even its bones remained.
I was starting to realize that this might be the last few minutes of my life.
“A… aaah…”
Engulfed by fear, I couldn’t let my voice out.
I threw a stone that I randomly picked up at the slime.
However, the stone I threw with a lack of composure flew through without hitting the target.
It flew past through the slime and made a fine sound as it hit the trunk of a tree.
And, the slime suddenly leaped.
“…?”
It jumped towards the tree behind it.
The tree collapsed due to the slime’s overwhelming size.
What a strange scene.
“Is it, eating the tree…?”
I guessed that the slime reacted to the sound, or maybe it’d be more accurate to say that it felt the vibration rather than the sound itself.
It attacked the bear when it was roaring, it reacted to my coughing sound, and when I made a stepping sound, it attacked me. And just now, it attacked a tree that made a loud noise.
Immediately, I looked around and picked a reasonable-sized stone.
I got up.
Perhaps, the slime realized that there was no prey in the place where it jumped, it started to move again as it reacted to the sound of me standing up.
Then I threw the stone that I picked up to the furthest tree, while trying to make as little noise as possible.
The stone hit the tree.
The slime reacted to the sound, and it leaped to the direction of the sound, and the tree collapsed just like earlier.
At the same time, I started to run away as fast as I can.
“Haah… Haah… Haah…”
Along the way, I looked behind repeatedly to see if something was chasing me. Fearing that something might be there, I threw a stone at a nearby tree while running away.
I didn’t know how far I ran.
As I was totally exhausted, I leaned against a nearby tree and breathed roughly.
The sky lit up, and when I realized, the scenery of the magical forest had been changed into a forest with common brown and green.
Huff… It’s great to be alive.
It’s really great—but why am I in such a situation?
Why was I transferred to this kind of world?
According to the popular books I’ve read, there’s always a reason behind being summoned, reincarnated, or transported like this.
I mean, this body has no unique characteristics, and I’m not a hero descendant either.
If there’s no particular reason, it’s quite possible that I was summoned by accident.
God’s whims and mishaps, summoning failure, and many more.
Well, at this point, I don’t care if it’s a mistake or failure. I just wanted to see the summoner’s surprised face in front of me.
Being abandoned in the mountains is too much for me.
“Become a hero then defeat the Demon King, or to create a harem with a bunch of beautiful demi-human girls, or whatever, just please let me live safely…”
Well, it’s no use complaining to someone who isn’t here.
Let’s continue after taking a break.
Now that I’ve calmed down, I just noticed that in this forest, I can feel the presence of ordinary living creatures here and there.
The voice of a chirping bird, a spider nest in a gap in between the trees, and, yep, there are no translucent trees around here.
I wonder if no decent animals are living here, because that slime inhabits that place. Ah, also that bear. Did the bear just wander around by chance, or something like that?
But, why was the bear carelessly wandering in the place where the slime that sits higher than itself in the food chain live?
“Anyway… I’m tired.”
I let myself enter the dreamland as I muttered so.
◇
A meeting was taking place at the castle in the Kingdom of Tiez.
The knight captains donned their shining silver armors, and the elites who were serving the King of Tiez, all were present.
And of course, the King of Tiez, Marito Tiez, himself.
Marito, at the early age of twenty-five, was a man of great caliber who inherited the throne and took the role of an active King.
Only two years after he became the King, he solved various domestic problems, and gained tremendous support from the citizens.
However, a troublesome issue had occurred, leading to the meeting right now.
“Was it a merchant without escort that got attacked again?”
“Yes. The horse-drawn carriages we escorted passed through without a problem, but it seems that those who followed were attacked, and only the corpses were left.”
“Although they reaped what they sowed for being a pinchpenny, it’ll be a bad example if the merchants that bring benefits to our country are always getting attacked.”
In the neighboring country, the Kingdom of Garne, the King had changed a few years back, and due to his competence, the crime rate around Garne had been dramatically reduced.
However, as a result, the bandits and other criminals had flown here.
Unlike Garne, where the plains spread out vast, in this land with many mountains and forests, there was no problem with campsites, so, it wasn’t a strange thing that a lot of bandits were hiding in the unexplored place, attacking the travelers whenever they had the chance.
Under Marito’s discretion, the knights had been stationed around the castle town and the surrounding villages to prevent any further damage.
However, it was still difficult to make the road safe.
Although it was possible to dispatch the knight from the government as escorts, it would naturally cost money and labor. There were just not enough personnel to make it free of charge.
In that situation, many merchants and travelers had no choice but to hire adventurers, but the size of the adventurer’s guild in the Kingdom of Tiez was rather small, and it lacked the number of personnel due to the strong influence of the knights.
The adventurer’s guild in other countries might have sufficient personnel, but it was impossible to force other countries to dispatch escorts.
As a result, people were trying to travel without escorts, and ended up getting attacked by the bandits.
“If bandits dare to attack, I will purge them with my sword…”
Said one of the knight captains, but Marito just sighed.
Indeed, the abilities of the knights in the Kingdom of Tiez were incredibly high. Even a few of them was enough to deal with more than a hundred bandits.
However, the bandit seemed to be aware of it. When the knights were escorting, they wouldn’t make an appearance at all.
It’d be a battle that couldn’t be won by fighting fair and square. In a sense, it was something natural.
“In order to purge the bandits, it’s necessary to grasp their whereabouts. Is there anyone here with a plan to break out from this deadlock?”
And like that, the knights were unable to say anything. Previously, various ideas were proposed, and although many of them were adopted, all of them ended up failing.
The cunning bandits always slipped through the knights with their predictable pattern of conduct.
“I know that we have failed in mountain hunting three times. But if we have a better grasp of the situation, I’m sure we can get a result… well, for the time being, I would like to choose someone who will be responsible for dealing with the bandits who have become more aggressive lately. Is there someone who would do it? Or someone you would like to recommend?”
If this were any other task, the knights would’ve taken the initiative.
However, as several talented knight captains had already failed, it seemed that they understood the difficulty of this issue.
But, one did raised his hand, it was Sir Ragdo, the oldest among the knight captains.
“My king, there is someone I would like to recommend.”
“Sir Ragdo, is there someone here you’d wish to recommend?”
“No, it’s not someone here. However, everyone knows that she has a remarkable ability. I would like to recommend Illias from my unit.”
The faces of the knight captains became slightly displeased as such a name surfaced.
“Are you talking about Illias Ratzell? Is that right?”
Marito knew Illias very well.
In terms of ability, Illias could be said as a person of talent that wouldn’t lose, even to a knight captain in swordsmanship, and there nothing to be questioned about her loyalty to the country.
However, her reputation was never good. The reason was——
“If it’s “her”, I’m sure she’ll come up with an idea seen from a different perspective.”
“Very well, I will give you one month. I shall leave this matter to you.”
Pride might be involved at not wanting to admit the heights of her ability, and being a woman, only a few knights accepted Illias.
Sir Ragdo was one of the few people who think highly of her, but being a part of the minority, he couldn’t establish a firm position for her.
If Illias succeeded in subjugating the bandits, her reputation might change, but if she fails, she would likely be looked down on even more.
Marito also appreciated Illias, but he also knew the fact that Illias was an honest knight.
There was some concern about whether this would be a good idea against the cunning bandits. But, it would be nice if something could bring her towards a bright future. Such was in Marito’s mind as he was anxious about her future.
