It has been about one and half hour since our first combat. Because we knew the location of the village on the map, we should arrive there by the end of the day and Kinoshita-san’s tragic emotion has disappeared.
I’m collecting the monster stones from the goblins now. Since this one and a half hour I have meet with 3 goblins, I defeated them with stomach punch after taking their ability. When I look at the map, there are other kind of monsters like slime but we only met with goblins only. Goblin’s moving distance and numbers are big, I think that is why we met them so easily.
As Kinoshita-san who moves away during the battle sees me removing the monster stones, she moves closer.
[I’m sorry. Shindo-kun, may I ask a question?]
[I don’t mind. What do you want to ask help-sensei?]
There is no problem to answer the question. If I don’t know, I could ask help-sensei for the most of it.
[It’s different. It is about the combat a little while ago. Why did you do nothing but evade after the fight started? I think other enemies might come…]
[Oh, about that…]
I fought 4 times and defeated 10 goblins. At the beginning, I did nothing but evade. It is really strange for someone who could defeat them with one strike.
After seeing it so many times, Kinoshita-san also thinks it was unnatural.
[My ability taker can’t take all at once, it has to do it little by little. I have to keep evading until I finish taking their ability. The effective range of this ability is about 2m. So I have to approach them and evade.]
Because effective range is 2m I need to get close. I can’t defeat them before I finish either. The limitation is really troublesome. Of course, it is still a strong cheat.
[Is that so? Then it will be difficult to take abilities in the middle of battle if the opponent is too strong.]
[That’s right. I can’t take abilities from corpses and I don’t get much experience from defeating the enemy after I take all their ability. So I might stay at level 1 for a while.]
We receive experience value when defeating an enemy. If accumulating enough, the level and status will rise. When taking status from an enemy, their level is artificially lowered (Level itself doesn’t lower). So experience value we will receive will drop to almost 0 after I finished taking their ability.
[Well, what kind of benefit do leveling up in this world have? I think Shindo-kun ahould confirm it now.]
[Uh, I don’t really know about it but I’m familiar with the concept.]
I don’t need to worry. What is the benefit of level up?
Q : What is the benefit of level up?
A : Status rises a lot when level up. But status can be improved with related activity but efficiency is worse than leveling up. Another, magic is related to level.
[Oh, I confirm the basic now, it is basicly the same as status. But some part of magic is related to level.]
[For example. I guess a chance of instant death for enemies at lower levels.]
Oh, I didn’t see this quite often in games. In that case, it will be dangerous for low-level no matter how high one’s status is.
Q : Is there magic?
A : Yes, there is. Specifically, magic damage will be magnified with level difference.
[I confirmed it won’t be instant death. Is there anything you want to confirm?]
[No, it is fine not to go that far. But we should get some experience sometime.]
That’s right. Being at level 1 doesn’t look good either.
I will check about the experience value.
Q : What is the experience value?
A : The battle experience. When experience value is above certain point, level will go up and status improves. Experience value is divided equally among the party. There is also a bonus when deal a finishing blow. Mock battle could give experience point but quantity is lower because you don’t deal a finishing blow.
Q : What is a party?
A : A battle group. In party, there are some benefits including experience sharing. You can create party just from acknowledging each other and become party member in sense.
[But I’m only person who can see level, The gap between level and strength, is hardly a problem.]
[You are right. In case of the game, it is cheat-like.]
[Well, special power is basically a cheat.]
People in this world don’t know about skill and status other than blessing (Gift). This ability could detect weak point or strong point of another person. Let’s check the skill a little.
Q : What is skill level?
A : A skill proficiency. You will receive skill experience when using the related skill. Skill level will level up when skill experience value is above certain value. The highest level is 10, the upper limit isn’t different between individuals. However, the rate of skill experience value acquisition is difference for each individual.
Q : How do you obtain a skill?
A : It is mostly obtained by inherent. The most inheritance skills are race skills and natural talent. You can rarely obtain skills by practice, ritual or contact.
In other word, if anyone could get the first level, they could reach the highest level if they put in enough time and effort.
Beside, I can take the first level of skills from others with my special skill. And my special skill can ignore an effort to get the first level, it isn’t a normal advantage for this world.
After continue walking for 10 minute, the village is coming into our view.
Since we took about 2 hours to reach here, it is evening and the sun is about to set.
Even the distance is 1 hour on foot, it can’t be help since we have to fight and collect monster stones on the way. Since I fought, I want to take their ability and secure the monster stone. It will be hard if we don’t have ability to travel and we can’t do anything after entering the village if we don’t have money.
According to the map, this is Kabate village. Since there wasn’t any gatekeepers at the entrance of the village, we decided to enter without permission.
This isn’t a big village but the facilities seems to be in order since it is near the capital. There is a hotel and general store here too. But weapons and protective gears are in the general store, they doesn’t seem to have specialized shops here.
[We finally arrived. Is there a place we can stay in this village?]
[I looked at the map a little while ago. I saw INN is written on the map.]
Since Kinoshita-san is asking about the resting place, I tell her about the information I have.
[That’s is great. But your map is really game-like.]
[Yeah. But didn’t I say it before? It looks like a game.]
[Come to think of it, you were right.]
Two of us head to a hotel while smiling awkwardly. By the way, map doesn’t show the world’s area, only show the current area and adjacent area. This special power isn’t good in that area, it shows only a plot of land. City and village just show up with 1 area.
The inn has come into our view after walking for a little while. It wasn’t big and didn’t have many rooms but it seemed to have 1 empty room. Does the map know about this?
The uncle who sat at the reception desk calls us out when we open the hotel’s door.
[Welcome. Do you want to stay at the hotel?]
[Yes. Do you have any vacant room we could stay?]
I already know it from the map but I have to ask him properly. Because common people doesn’t know the existence of the map, I think I have to proceed as normal as possible.
[Oh. I actually have 1 vacant room. …err, did you two travel together? Is it okay to be in the same room?]
[Kinoshita-san, is it okay to be in the same room? Kinoshita-san could stay in hotel room alone if you don’t want to. I can sleep in the open somewhere…]
I want to sleep in a bed too but I have to confirm with Kinoshita-san. I should give priority to the girl (limit to beautiful girls only) if she don’t want to be in the same room. Well, I could manage to sleep in the open somehow.
[It is fine to be in the same room. It’s Shindo-kun’s money. I’m really thankful just from taking me together.]
Too bad we couldn’t take 2 separate rooms (Stick). It is unavoidable to sleep together because there is only one room left (Stick).
I head toward that uncle and give my conclusion.
[Understood. Then please. For money, could I pay with monster stones?]
I already confirm the market price of monster stones with help-sensei. The gold’s unit is almost the same as Japan.
Large gold coin : 1,000,000
Gold coin : 100,000
Large silver coin : 10,000
Silver coin : 1,000
Large copper coin : 100
Copper coin : 10
Iron coin : 1
On the other hand, 1 goblin’s monster stone is about 1,000 gold. Because not just defeating it, dismantling technique is needed too. Because of that, 10 monster stones from goblins I defeated on the way to this village is about 10,000 yen. It should be enough to stay for a night.
Uncle checked the monster stones I showed one by one and nods after all checks were done.
[Let’s see. Hmm, I don’t have any problem to buy 1 for 1000 gold for this size and color. 1000 gold for 1 night and meal are 500 gold per person. Extra charge for another help. There isn’t a bath but lending bucket and towel are 100 gold.]
It seems we have enough and still have some to spare. I confirmed it with help-sensei but the price is according to the market price.
[Then, it is 4000 gold for 1 night stay and 2 breakfasts per person for 2 people. You can get a bucket if you want.]
[Thank for your patronage. Your room is 201. Key is here. When do you want your meal?]
I hand 4 monster stones to uncle and receive a key in return. 201 is written on the key.
[Please tell me when it is ready since I will be in the room.]
[Understood. Supper is stew and bread. Since the stew is a pride of our hotel, please looking forward to it.]
[Okay. I will be looking forward to that.]
It is time to enjoy the other world’s cuisines, but I’m still a little worried about the hygiene for an medieval environment.
I open the door of the room on the second floor that has 201 written on the plate. It isn’t big but it has 2 beds.
[[Phew~]]
Two of us sigh after we enter the room and close the door. We are considerably tired for various reason.
We could settle down in a place with roof after all. To be honest, I don’t think we could lower our guard in the country where that princess is…
[I guess the first objective is complete. Today was hard in various ways.]
[You are right. We are considerably worn out. Although I want to take a bath but this hotel doesn’t seem to have it.]
Kinoshita-san seemed to want to take a bath but gives up because they offer a bucket so there is no bath here.
[Ah~. In medieval culture, it doesn’t have many baths.]
[A hard environment for modern Japanese people…]
I also want to take a bath if I could. Especially when I was fighting with goblins and moving a lot. But I don’t have victim’s blood. I may be bathed with victim’s blood if I fight with sword, I don’t have to worry since I only struck at their stomachs. I was careful not to take a blood when I took monster stones too.
That’s right. We should talk about future when we are resting. Looking for village was our top priority and we had to postpone on something.
[Let’s talk about what we are going to do from now.]
[Talk about what we are going to do?]
I decide to take a supplement because we don’t have any hint.
[Ah, our first goal was to reach another village. And it was accomplished when we arrived at this village.]
[Yes, it was possible to reach here alive because of Shindou-kun. I’m really grateful.]
I could feel a sense of respect from Kinoshita-san who thanks me. I have to make sure I have show my cool side in front of Kinoshita-san.
[However, to leave this country, I think our preparation isn’t enough. Like preparation for trip and the mental attitude to live in this world.]
I want to talk about the earlier. The malice of people won’t change no matter the world we are in. It is clearly that we can’t expect the law and public security when that kind of royal family is in power.
We need the mean to defend ourselves.
[Preparation? For now, the one who could live in this world is only Shindo-kun who has special power. I’m completely luggage.]
[I don’t think like that. Because a dependable boy has to protect a cute girl.]
[C-Cute. It is the first I heard that compliment.]
Kinoshita-san’s face becomes really red. It seems she isn’t used to be complemented. Seriously, the fellows at school really have bad eyes.
[Let’s return to topic. I think I will use this village as base. I want to improve our fighting force and make preparation for a trip while gathering the money by defeating monsters.]
[Ahem. I think collecting the money and making preparations are good for now.]
Kinoshita-san completely agrees with me. The current policy has been decided for now.
[For now, we will make a preparation for a journey in this village.]
[Uh, because I confirmed it with map, I know the general store has travel tools.]
For now, we have an outline for our plan. Kinoshita-san seemed to be getting used to it too, and the existence of the map could tell the prerequisite to some extent.
[Then the next topic. Only noble of this world has family name.]
[Is that so? But what’s wrong with that?]
I don’t think you will understand when I talk about this. But this story is important for our future.
[In short, we call each other by our surname, but it is unnatural for us who aren’t noble to have a surname. So, I think we should call each other by first name.]
[Is that so? Understood. It is fine to call you Jin-kun.]
Sakura obeys me obediently. No, it isn’t like that. But I have to keep my wildest desire deep down inside my heart.
[Oh, That’s right. Sakura.]
[!!!!]
She was surprised too much. Her face is red. I just called her by name without any honorific. It might be too soon for her.
[I guess it is too much. I’m sorry, Sakura-san.]
[It is okay… I was just surprised a little. Yes, you can call me by first name without any honorific.]
Kinoshita-san gives me the permission to call her Sakura.
[Then, It is fine for Sakura to call me by first name too.]
[Err…]
[Repeat after me. Jin.]
Sakura timidly says.
[Jin………kun]
[Disappointing!]
It was really disappointing. I thought it will be wonderful to have classmate that calls each other by just first name.
It can’t be help, but it isn’t your fault.
[I’m sorry. It is a little to hard for me…]
[It can’t be help. Don’t force it. Then Sakura, let’s move to the next topic.]
[What is it? Jin-kun…]
It is still embarrassing a little but we should get used to it after a while.
[Next topic is to strengthen Sakura’s status. Right now, if Sakura was hit by goblin, you will be seriously injured. I don’t want to see that. So I will give some of my status to Sakura. So I want you to able to protect yourself.]
[Power to protect myself…?]
Sakura is lost in thought. So let her hear my opinion.
[Oh, I’m only one who is going to kill enemy. I could manage it if it was one-on-one but in case of multiple enemies, I might not able to protect Sakura. At least, I want you to be good enough to protect yourself at that time.]
[Understood. I think being a nuisance is bad too. So, please let me fight too. Although it might be impossible for me to suddenly become competent, but I want to be useful even it is just a little.]
I was surprised a little. Because I think it is impossible for Sakura to fight as she suggested but it was a good step for Sakura’s self-confidence.
[Understood. I will give
and all status.]
I hold her hand and distribute the point in my mind. It took several second to finish the transfer.
[For now, I have the same status as when I fought with goblin for the first time. I think it is enough for fighting and running away in the worst case.]
When I look at the status, it was transferred properly.
[Thank you. My body is lighter somehow. The influence of the status is considerably large.]
[Yeah, since it was taken from me, my body feels considerably heavier.]
[That is somewhat scary…]
That is true. The name of cheat isn’t just for show.
The map had changed. It seems that uncle is approaching here.
[We should hurry for now. The hotel uncle will be here soon.]
[Hey, meal is ready~]
As expected, It seems the meal is ready.
[Let’s go. Sakura.]
[Yes, Jin-kun.]
We go down to the first floor, the meal is on the table. It is middle ages style stew and bread as promise, it was delicious as he proclaimed.
After the meal, we decided to sleep without wiping our body because we are too tired.
Thus, our first day in a different world ends.
We woke up on next morning, had breakfast and went outside of the village. Because we are going to stay in this village for now, I handed the rest of the remaining monster stones to the uncle and rented the same room.
After I put the knife for extracting monster stones and the canteen that I brought from general store into my bag. My money is almost gone. I understand we can barely keep it going, but it is still very heart-breaking.
[Well, we are penniless again. Shall we defeat some monsters?]
[…Please don’t suddenly say something so gloomy…]
Sakura’s tension has fallen down.
[Well, we don’t have to worry since we have more time to earn money than yesterday. Honestly, yesterday’s pay was about 2500 yen per hour.]
Our base is settled. Sakura will join the fight for now. I also has knife for extracting. My status rises whenever I fight. Hey, there is no reason not to earn more.
[Beside, where are you going to fight monsters today? Are you going to wanderer around the road?]
[No, I’m going to enter the forest today. Because when I searched for a good hunting ground around here with help, the forest about 30 minutes from here was just the right place.]
[Forest? Isn’t it dangerous?]
She feels a little uneasy.
[Well, it will be fine because I have map. We won’t go too deep into the forest too…]
[Understood. I believed in Jin-kun map.]
When I said that, she seemed not to worry about it anymore. I think I was able to build a mutual trust with her.
We walk about 30 minutes and arrived at the nearby forest.
[Monsters in this forest doesn’t seem to appear on the outside most of the time. I don’t think we will be in danger if we don’t go in too deep.]
[Yes, let’s save money to buy weapons and armor first. Then save money for hotel’s fee and food expenses. Finally, let’s aim to save money for travel’s preparation.]
…It is simply a word [I don’t have money] when I see that. Poverty is an enemy.
[Gugyau!]
When we entered forest, we encountered 4 goblins immediately. Well, I already knew it from map. By the way, one of them has sword.
I was surprised at first, but I confirm it’s a weapon soon after that.
Sword of goblin swordsman
Classification : One-hand sword
Rarity : Common
Although I can’t swing the club around but I guess I could use a one-hand sword. By the way, I will give a rough explanation about the rarity.
Creation class (Genesis)
Myth class (God)
Illusion class (Fantasy)
Legend class (Legendary)
Treasure class (Artifact)
Rare class (Rare)
Common class (Common)
The top two class, the creation class and myth class don’t seem to be in human realm. It is finally starting to look game-like.
By the way, confirmation is over too, what should I do with this goblin?
I think about it calmly, I know this place because of map, I could take sword mastery skill from the goblin swordsman, and taking the sword itself shouldn’t be a problem… Nothing to say about being in pinch, I only see a sweet event here.
I give instruction to Sakura and concentrate on evasion while I keep taking their skills.
First, I will take all its status and then take its sword when its movement is dull. I was surprised at first when I pick up the real sword. I cut it down after I finish taking it then used the sword for defense afterward.
[Phew. How was it? The first combat?]
[With increased physical ability, it is enough to evade alone. The actual feeling didn’t come out…]
If you are good enough with evasion alone. I guess I could let her participate in the next fight a little.
[Next, after I tell you I finished stealing from them, go and punch their stomach.]
[I have to punch their stomach after all…]
Sakura’s face becomes complicate. No, a stomach punch is powerful. Because you can punch with all your power.
[I’m sorry. Isn’t good just to evade only? I don’t think I have confidence to take a life yet.]
Well, extermination speed don’t change too much with two people since I have to finish them off alone.
[Understood. Don’t overdo it and focus on evading.]
[Yes, thank you very much.]
I take out the monster stone while talking. The knife can be used to extract it easily. But it seem useless when the monster’s skin it too tough.
[Eh? the monster stone from the goblin swordsman is larger than the goblin.]
[That’s right, it seems to be a different kind of goblin.]
I heard about the types of goblin from help. Because there are so many types, so I asked about what in this forest.
(Order by monster stone’s quality)
– Goblin general
– Goblin healer (Rare)
– Goblin shaman
– Goblin sorcerer
– Goblin knight
– Goblin swordsman
– Goblin
It is really unexpected. Err, what is about other monster?
– No response
[This place is a forest of goblins!]
I unintentionally shout. What’s wrong with calling a forest that has only goblins a forest of goblins?
[W-What’s wrong? You suddenly shouted… Won’t it draw monsters here?]
[Fine, let’s them come! Because it is just a goblin anyway! There is only goblins in this forest!]
[This is forest of goblins… So, what kind of goblins are here?]
I tell her about goblin general to common goblin.
[Shaman and sorcerer… There is a goblin who can use magic too…]
[Magic skill came out at last. I want to obtain it at all cost.]
It is one of the skills that I want to learn while living in this fantasy world. When I check on the map, I see a rare healer is in the same place as general.
[Healer is near the general after all…]
[The importance of a healer is as high as in a game after all.]