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Chapter 1 – Departure from the Capital
I, Yuki Haruto, high school sophomore, was summoned to another world — together with my whole class.
When we checked our status, however, it turned out I was the only one without the title of “Hero” and I didn’t even have the special ability called “Gift”, normally granted to all heroes.
When Mariana — princess of the Glicente kingdom and the one responsible for summoning us — found out about my situation, she said that “useless people would bring the others down” and kicked me out of the capital.
I thus set out for the nearby town of Waxe, but ended up being nearly killed by knights sent by Mariana. The next thing I knew, I was in God’s presence.
As an apology for forgetting to give me a Gift, God gave me a set of skills, or rather cheats: All Creation, which allows me to create all sorts of skills, God Eye, which lets me see through anything, and more. I decided to use them to become a successful adventurer and, one day, take my revenge against the Glicente kingdom. I was going to look for a way to go back to my original world too, of course.
After I safely arrived in Waxe, I registered at the adventurers’ guild and headed to Vaana, a city located on the border between the Glicente and Perdis kingdoms. My destination was the Perdis kingdom capital.
In Vaana I met a young female adventurer, Finne, and formed a party with her; in the Perdis capital, I met Iris, the first princess of the kingdom, and also fought against adventurers of the highest rank. My life had become rather busy, but it was fulfilling at the same time.
One day, the guildmaster of the Perdis capital’s adventurers’ guild, Garguin, proposed that I take an exam to be promoted to S rank adventurer.
I honestly wanted to refuse, but eventually lost to Garguin’s persistence and accepted to take the exam.
Finne and I then started making preparations for the exam, which consisted of taking down a mutant wyvern.
~
The morning of our departure had finally come.
Finne and I went to say goodbye to Sofia, owner of the New Moon Inn, our lodging in the capital.
The Wyvern apparently dwelled in the mountainous area to the west of the capital, so we would have to leave the inn for several days. We also wanted to ask about how our rooms and luggage would be handled.
“Good morning, Mrs. Sofia, Mr. Jayn.”
We went down to the inn’s ground floor and found not only Sofia, but also her husband Jayn. He was usually busy in the kitchen, so I rarely ever saw his face.
I told them that we were going to leave the capital for a few days and asked about our rooms and luggage.
Sofia then explained the inn’s pricing system.
We had already paid for a long-term stay, so we could just leave the luggage in our rooms. If we didn’t send any communication and failed to return for three weeks, however, all our luggage would be disposed of.
If someone didn’t make contact or return for such a long period, they were considered dead, she added.
I nodded in agreement, then Jayn and Sofia looked at me apprehensively.
“Haruto, you have to protect Finne, all right?”
“That’s right. But she’d be so sad if anything happened to you, so do be careful!”
I looked at both of them in the eyes and nodded with conviction.
“Don’t worry, I know.”
“I-I can fight too, you know!!”
Finne’s small outburst of anger was kind of funny, so we couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I’m going to make you something special, so get back soon.”
Jayn grinned at us. His cooking was really delicious, so I was already looking forward to it.
“Sure! Wait…we’re going to arrive late at the meeting point! Let’s hurry, Finne!”
“Yes!”
We were going to travel for a considerable distance, so I bought a carriage complete with a horse the day before. We were going to retrieve the horse from the stables in the morning, so if we were too late we might cause trouble to the owner.
Finne and I hurriedly said goodbye to Jayn and Sonia, then rushed out of the New Moon Inn.
~
When we arrived at the stables, we found the owner waiting for us, with the horse and carriage all ready to go.
“Sorry for the wait.”
“We are very sorry for making you wait, sir.”
Finne and I both lowered our heads.
“Don’t worry about it…our preparations are complete here.”
“Thank you. Did he rest properly last night?”
I asked the owner while rubbing the horse’s head.
“Yes, surprisingly so. This horse was always so noisy at night, but yesterday it was so quiet it was almost eerie. It wanted to be ready for today, I suppose.”
“I see. I might need more horses in the future, so I’ll likely visit here again.”
“Naturally, sir. I will be looking forward to that.”
I glanced at the owner bowing at us as I hopped on the coachman seat.
Finne too got on the carriage and sat on the space behind me: we were all ready to go.
“Okay then, we’re off!”
The horse responded by looking my way and neighing loudly, as if saying “leave it to me!”.
He was going to become a good partner, I thought.
We left the stables and headed for the town’s western gate.
The mountainous area where the Wyvern dwelled was about 30 Kilometols west of the capital. There was no straight road leading there, however, and I planned to stop to hunt down monsters along the way for Finne’s training, so we would travel more leisurely than normal. We should arrive at the foot of the mountains in about two days, though.
We did not encounter any monsters close to the capital, so the carriage proceeded uninterrupted at first. At that time, I happened to recall something.
“Hey, Finne, we didn’t give a name to the horse, did we?”
“Oh, that’s true. Do you have something in mind?”
I tried thinking for a while…but couldn’t come up with anything.
“You have chosen him, Mr. Haruto, so I believe you should pick the name too.”
So said Finne, but I cocked my head to the side.
“I’m not good at picking names, actually…”
“Is that so…but we’ll definitely find a good name! Let’s think together!”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Finne did her best to cheer me up.
Was there no limit to her kindness…!?
As the carriage advanced towards the mountains, Finne came up with several names and I considered them.
We took a break for lunch and I finally decided on a name.
“Got it!! Your name will be Maguro!!”
So I said, while playfully slapping Maguro’s neck. He replied with an energetic neigh, clearly expressing that the name was to his liking.
“Mr. Haruto, does that mean something?”
Finne apparently never heard the word before: maybe in this world “maguro” — tuna didn’t exist?
“It means…well, it’s the name of a very lively fish, back where I’m from. Perfect for a wild horse like this guy, right?”
“Are you really sure…? Well, looks like he likes it, at least.”
Finne replied with a somewhat unconvinced expression.
To tell the truth, I wasn’t completely sure, but Maguro himself seemed to like the name, so I guess that worked.
“Okay! We’re counting on you, Maguro!”
“Neeeiiiigh!!”
~
We proceeded without any trouble the whole day and set up camp when the sky started getting dark.
We were going to sleep inside the carriage, so making dinner was our only camping task for the evening.
I gathered firewood and lit it up with magic, then took out a grill and a pot from my dimensional storage.
Finne looked at me and inquired why I would take out a pot.
Had I done something wrong?
“Don’t you need a pot for cooking?”
Finne sighed and replied.
“Mr. Haruto, when you camp outdoors you normally eat dried meat or fruits. If you start cooking normally, you’ll attract beasts and monsters, after all. Didn’t we do the same during the escort mission?”
“That’s true, but it’s also important to eat properly.”
After replying to Finne, I started cooking like that.
“Ah…so you’re going to cook after all…”
Ignoring Finne’s grumbling, I continued preparing the meal: there wasn’t time to waste.
I realized then that it was my first time cooking after being summoned to this world. Hopefully, things would work out…
I decided to make a vegetable soup with abundant meat.
I opened the dimensional storage and took out the chicken monster meat I had bought in the capital, then cut it to bite-sized bits. Next, I put it in the previously oiled pot and heated the meat until it turned lightly charred.
I then added the vegetables, stir-fried them together with the meat, then added water. After it started boiling I added salt and some spices, adjusted the flavor, and voila, it was complete.
Before I realized it, our carriage had become surrounded by beasts.
They were all small fry, however: they all scampered away with a light shot of Intimidation.
I used my detection skills and the map to make sure that there were no more beasts or monsters around. We could enjoy our meal in peace.
I gave Maguro some fruits to eat, poured the soup into two bowls, and started eating.
After a spoonful of my special soup, Finne’s eyes started sparkling.
“Mmmh, delicious!! Who would have ever hoped to eat something so delicious while camping outdoors!!”
Feeling glad to hear she liked it, I tried the soup too.
It turned out better than expected: I wasn’t familiar with the vegetables in this world, so I was a bit worried, actually. The meat had a good texture too.
Finne and I chatted and enjoyed the soup till the last drop.
After dinner, we split our tasks: I was in charge of cleaning up, while Finne would prepare the beds.
We were both done very quickly, but since there wasn’t anything else to do, we decided to call it a night.
Someone needed to stand guard, however, so we were going to sleep in turns.
During dinner, we decided that Finne would take the first turn.
I felt guilty to leave everything to her, though, so I set up a barrier.
“Finne, we might be attacked by beasts or monsters during the night, so I set up a barrier, just in case. It should be able to hold off even disaster class monsters, so rest easy.”
“Barrier? That powerful one you made the other day…?”
Finne probably referred to the barrier I erected to protect Iris from the ruffians that attacked her.
“Yeah? It’s not that powerful though, just normal.”
“That was n-normal?”
Finne seemed shocked, but I went to sleep anyway.
“Night, Finne.”
“O-okay. Good night, Mr. Haruto…”
Yeah, she still sounded weird…
◆◆◆
After Haruto went to bed, Finne was standing guard next to the bonfire, thinking.
She wondered when exactly she started having feelings for him.
They had met by accident: he helped her out of a bad situation when she experienced harassment from four adventurers in the border town of Vaana.
At that time, she just thought he was a kind and strong person.
In the following escort mission, however, she realized how incredible he was.
He shot magic power spheres from his fingertips, calling them magic bullets — a kind of magic she had never heard before — and eliminated goblins instantly.
Then, when he defeated the band of thieves, or when he protected princess Iris, or when he won the sparring match against rank S adventurers…
Haruto used his powers with confidence and pride.
He never showed any sign of being drunk with power or abusing it for vile acts, however.
On the contrary, he just put up a barrier out of concern for Finne.
Finne had this impression also when he saved Iris: Haruto was a kind person that treasured the people he regarded as his friends and companions.
After realizing this anew, Finne felt a warm sensation fill her chest.
She glanced at the horse carriage.
She looked at Haruto sleeping inside and her heartbeat grew faster.
This must be love…Finne whispered to herself, finally admitting it.
At the same time, she thought —
— I wonder what Haruto thinks of me…
For a second, she thought he might actually hate her — but shook her head immediately.
If that was true, they wouldn’t be traveling together now. He would have definitely refused to form a party with her.
Could it be that he likes me, then?
No matter how much Finne thought, she couldn’t find an answer to that question.
Haruto was kind: she couldn’t tell if it was only kindness he felt towards her, or there was also a kind of romantic affection.
Just then, she thought of something.
How can he be so kind when he has such incredible powers?
It wouldn’t be strange for him to be more arrogant or to act with no regard for other people.
Even with all that strength, he didn’t let go of his kindness.
Finne didn’t know if he gained his strength first or was kind from the beginning, but there had to be a reason why Haruto was like that.
“Mr. Haruto…I want to know more about you…”
Finne’s words trailed off in the bonfire, not to be heard by anyone.