Chapter 4 – My ordinary appearance is a cheat? … That’s meaningless!?
TL: Krrizis
Editor: Nahct & Karma
Since meeting Mooks-san, it’s been seven years and now I’m thirteen. It wasn’t a dream.
Well, I knew that the pain that had coursed through my whole body was real, but I still wanted to escape from reality.
After that, when I wanted to go to an orphanage somewhere, Mooks-san offered me a place: his house.
He actually offered it to me, whom had he picked up despite the fact that he didn’t know me and I was someone of unknown origin. Was it the magic of being a child? No matter, it didn’t change my gratitude towards him. Though I was slightly troubled, I jumped at it.
Before problems occur, I’ll head to the trade country so that Mooks-san won’t be troubled by it.
It was much later that I heard from Mooks-san that the environment at the orphanage wasn’t appropriate. I was a bit interested in what sort of orphanage it was. Even though I was curious, I didn’t want to go.
After judging that life with Mooks-san was certainly better than the orphanage for my plans, there was virtually nothing else to say about it. He really saved me.
Mooks-san was a man who lived a solitary life. Moreover, his single storey house was huge. However… as a bachelor living alone… the room was neglected, as expected!!
The condition of his room gave off a rough feeling typical of a bachelor’s room, and even his meals were takeaways. Does he even use the kitchen?
It was then, that my previous life skills proved useful! I took it upon myself to live and take responsibility for all of the household chores. When I had the free time, I also would go over to Mooks-san’s workplace and study various things.
Mooks-san was the agency’s chief. Additionally, since the agency was established everywhere, it was necessary for the capital’s agency to have a representative who would collect and assign the tasks to be completed by the various agencies.
In both the game and manga, there was no such thing as a guild in this country. Instead, there was the agency. When my brother, who was excited about the game heard there wasn’t any guild, he was extremely disappointed.
The agency was a place where people seeking assistance could put in a request and, shortly thereafter, the request would be turned over to the corresponding people who had registered as subscribers. It was similar to a temporary agency?
Both short and long-term contracts existed, and the subject of the work was varied. In the beginning, workers were assigned as errand boys to complete requests in order to gain more reputability. If they were reputable, they would be assigned jobs that suited their ability. If they worked hard, they would be personally nominated by the client for requests.
Within a year, I had mastered reading and writing. While I was studying, the staff members of the agency and the subscribers would teach me martial arts and give me indispensable information. Amongst the subscribers, there was a splendid military man… No, he was certainly nothing but a soldier.
In this world, there were demons born from harmful animals and magic. Those born from magic had their own will and were called demonic beasts because of their ability to use magic as well.
The order of chivalry was essentially for the suppression of these demons; however, a lot of the suppression cases were requested through the agency in this country. If there was an emergency, apparently the agency would cooperate and work together with the government. To facilitate this process, it seems combat was included in their training as well.
Then, there were a lot of requests from merchants, aristocrats, and so on for soldiers to act as guards and escorts.
So, whenever those requested people came, I would ask them to teach me various things. After all, I am a combative fellow.
I did various things when I started, from being an errand boy for the bakery to being dispatched to repair various roofs in the neighbourhood like a handyman, and completing collection requests. Now I’m even able to go on suppressions as well. Mooks-san wasn’t very pleased about it for some reason.
Since currently I could read, write and calculate; at the age of nine, I signed a long-term contract with a merchant. The contract was designed so that as long as I didn’t bring multiple losses to the client; when the merchants were on break, it could be written off, allowing me to save my migration funds laboriously.
Although Mooks-san didn’t look pleased that I was overworking myself, I was grateful that he didn’t try to stop me, since he knew my objectives.
Besides that, the really surprising thing was magic!
In this country, citizens who turned ten years old could touch an item at the government office known as a magic probing stone to somehow check their receptiveness to magic and its attributes. Apparently rich people and aristocrats were able to check it immediately after they were born.
In this country, the ones who the stone reacts to are registered and go to school when they turn fifteen.
When Mooks-san brought me to the government office, checkmate! … Or so I thought. After all, I can use magic already.
So, after becoming nervous and being examined by the pleasant people in the surroundings, I finally gave up and touched the stone for half a minute. However, the magic probing stone did not react at all. It was rather disappointing.
When a person with the makings of a mage* touches it, apparently the stone will light up with the color corresponding to their attribute, and the intensity corresponding to their receptiveness to magic.
A mage is, well, a generic term used for people who’re able to handle magic. From here, the education received splits into three paths: magician, wizard, and sorcerer*.
I remembered Mooks-san being shocked at the extent of my surprise and comforting me.
Be that as it may, it was quite unexpected. Even though I can use magic, it didn’t react. Strictly speaking, what I can use isn’t really magic, but… I only knew that a little while later.
The magic in this world was a bit different from what I had thought of. From the start, the magic users* in my mind were just a small portion of mages: magicians.
In this world, magic is invoked from mana essence* that floats in the atmosphere and is then converted into magic power by means of a magic stone. This power is then kept within the body and transformed into the person’s attribute.
When the course of direction has been determined, the transformed magic power will be released from the body.
At this point:
A spell used generally is called magic, and the user is termed a magicianA spell used for battle is called black magic, and the user is termed a wizard
There are six types of attributes: fire, water, wind, earth, light and darkness. As someone who dearly loved RPGs, this was extremely exciting for me.
Apparently a normal person can only hold one attribute or, at the most, up to three.
The magic power accumulated within the body can be judged depending on the intensity of the light, which occurs when the user checks their receptiveness to magic.
However, in this world, nobody possesses magic power within their body. Magic power are only taken in. Putting it roughly, this means that mages with power are receptive to magic.
In my situation, the conclusion seemed to be that I can’t use either magic or black magic. But that was before I managed to operate my magic power.
After the examination, I tried to experiment with the magic stone’s usage. The magic stone could draw mana essence from its origin into the stone, and the mana essence that was drawn in would then be converted into magic power. However, that magic power doesn’t remain in the stone and it is thought that magic power is used to rebuild the stone itself, as that is it’s very nature.
For a mage, the more a stone has been used, the more useful it is. The rebuilding of the stone could be considered a sort of growth? Except that before that happens, the magic power is stored within a person’s body.
There were a variety of magic stones that were commonly sold, and heading to the mines would allow me to potentially excavate one. When I said variety, that was in reference to the differences in the stone’s magic power conversion volume. The higher the volume, the more expensive it would be.
Off topic, but, the stone I used broke. Marvelously.
After that, I tried to sense the mana essence. It was unusually mysterious, but when I tried, I was able to see mana essence and magic power! Observing it consciously at first, the mana essence was so dazzling that it somewhat became a My eyes! My eyes!! sensation. Deep in my heart, I thought I should have been able to control it better.
If magic power looked like the light of a firefly, despite being pretty, mana essence was like a flash of light.
Being careful not to break it this time… My heart raced as I used the magic stone, my magic power transforming the magic stone into a mana essence stone. Although I declared it to be a mana essence stone, that was just my unofficial name for it.
Originally, mana essence would not cease flowing within the stone as long as there was magic power, and even if it were to stop, the stone would be unable to retain its form. Moreover, mana essence transforms into magic power. Therefore, the flow of mana essence within the stone is unchanging. Yet it stopped. What a miracle! It was like a Wot sorta mana essence stone is this!?* feeling.
Since mana essence could not be transformed into magic power, it could not be drawn into my body. Therefore, I believed that no matter what, even if I used a spell or magic formation, it would be useless. What I meant by “no matter what” is that I wouldn’t be able to attempt spells or magic formations. In this country, mages are treated harshly. In order to become a mage, one must enroll into the school or they’re unable to partake in the study of magic power. Till then, magic power at most… Well, only having the so-called basics isn’t considered learning. (… with the exceptions of the aristocrats.)
No matter how I tried to change the mana essence I was conscious of into magic power and make it take the form of various shapes, I was unable to. Although the magic stone naturally collected mana essence and changed it into magic power, when I used it, it would immediately dispersed and vanished.
Nevertheless, by using my gaming intuition, I was able to use it. Even with this, by keeping my eye consciously on it, I was somehow able to directly contain the mana essence within my body. After all, there was a line of light that entered inside me, even though it wouldn’t pass through the stone.
Moreover, I was able to use all attributes. Considering the amount of mana essence that had entered my body, I wasn’t afraid to test my limits.
What am I… A cheat? I’m a CHEATTTTTTTTTTT! No, I’m supposed to be a supporting mob!
Ah, but my appearance is that of a supporting mob. And it was shocking, simply shocking.
When I first looked into the mirror, I was at a loss for words. Why I reacted that way was because the appearance reflected in the mirror was the appearance of my previous existence.
Elegant upward angled eyes, thin lips. This was just like what I looked like as a child. That means even when I grow up, I’ll still be me.
However, I also had parts that were different. Like the color of my hair was dark brown, and the color of my eyes were grey… But everyone in this world has a strong chiselled face. Considering that, besides having a weak, ordinary face with brown hair, nothing else had changed.
Far from being unchanged, the black hair that I’d grown accustomed to seeing wasn’t particularly ikemen-like to me, since I couldn’t help but see it as being pretentious*. Haa~
Yo, so this isn’t a reincarnation, but a trip? But I have Asnord’s memories…. Suddenly, I felt a chill but only for a moment.
Well, leaving that aside, I must evade the death flag. The world isn’t going to change whether it’s a trip or reincarnation, and right now it’s of the utmost importance for me to find the right path for the sake of living!!
TL Note:
魔力師 – Maryoukushi. Mage. User of magic, amateur to intermediate magic user. 魔法師 – Mahoushi. Wizard. Master of magic, think Harry Potter
魔術師 – Majutsushi. Magician. An entertainer kind, think Houdini. But in this context, a battle mage.
魔導士 – Madoushi. Sorcerer. A professor of magic, think Dumbledore.魔法使い – Mahoutsukai. Generic term for magic users魔素 – Mamoto. Magic or mana essence. I went with mana essence because the entire text was filled with magic and I got a tad resilient to using the word again.なので魔素石って何ぞや！？って感じなのだ – Spoken in Kansai-ben. Excuse my poor attempt to try and make the text sound Texan. If any readers have any input on how to change the sound of that sentence, feel free to chime in below.Asnord doesn’t want to conform. Black hair = uniform = conformity in society.