Road

That night, Tirihi did not come to my room.

…I should have realized.

Of course I should have realized.

Though it would have made for a delicious story.

Maybe this is as far as I can get with my looks.

Or maybe she didn’t come because she doesn’t know where I’m staying?

It was lonely sleeping on my own, and I wake up in the village chiefs house in a room with a dirt floor.

I think I was dreaming about something, but I can’t remember it.

I wake up expecting to see my apartment in Tokyo, but that’s impossible.

Tirihi didn’t come either, this is the worst way to wake up.

I sigh as I lay there on the bed.

The bed is shabby, made only of a mat & blanket on a board.

Is this how you treat someone well? I’m not sure yet since I don’t know what the standards are like in this world.

Part of me thought this world might be virtual reality, but that idea was totally shattered when I went to the toilet.

If my body was lying in a hospital, that would have been great.

I’d rather not wake up.

But this is a real world, and I’m living here.

“Mmmm”

I stretch my arms.

“Excuse me.”

I hear the village chiefs voice.

“Village chief?”

“Are you up already? It’s nearly time to depart.”

“Ok”

I leave the room with my luggage.

I call it luggage, but it’s really only a copper sword, and a drawstring bag. In the bag I have the large sum of 130 nars, and the thieves intelligence card.

That is everything I own.

“Good morning.”

“Yes, good morning.”

“Here are your cloths from yesterday.”

“Was there a jersey?”

I forgot.

The copper sword and drawstring bag are not everything I own.

I find the jersey on the stand near the front entrance.

It’s still dark in the entrance, but after opening the front door I see the first light of dawn appearing.

I wear the cloths I received instead of the jersey, but I take it with me.

“Your cloths are made from some very unusual cloth, they must be quite valuable.”

“No, they are not very valuable.”

The jersey was quite cheap.

Oh, polyester would not exist in this world.

“You can use this bag if you want.”

The village chief offers me a large bag.

There is a shoulder string on it.

It’s a rucksack.

“Hou”

“I’ve put breakfast in it. Please eat it in the wagon.”

“I’ll do that.”

I am grateful for the rucksack & breakfast.

I put the jersey & drawstring bag in to the rucksack with the breakfast.

Breakfast is wrapped up, but feels like a loaf of bread. I shouldn’t hope for something luxurious.

“Also, here is a reward for saving the village.”

The village chief gives me a drawstring bag, the same as the one I got yesterday.

“Oh?”

Casually I looked in the bag & saw coins inside.

In the low level of light I can see some bright yellow. Are they gold coins? There’s about ten of them.

“Sorry it isn’t much.”

“No, I’m very grateful for this.”

“This is the largest reward we can manage.”

After thinking a little, I accept it.

There is no downsides to taking it.

Since it was offered to me, there shouldn’t be any grudges if I accept it.

There is no benefit in declining.

I don’t want to stand out, and I don’t want a reputation of being a hero who works for free.

There isn’t any reason for me to show favoritism for this village either.

…and Tirihi did not show up.

I put the rucksack filled with all my luggage over my shoulder.

The village chief accompanies me outside.

We head towards the edge of the village & find the merchant there preparing the wagon.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

I exchange greetings with the merchant.

“I’ll leave as soon as it gets light, Could you sit next to the coachman’s seat?”

“Sure.”

I got in the wagon.

It shakes a bit.

The cargo is the thieves accessories, Tirihi’s two swords, and a cage similar to a kennel.

Tirihi seems to not want to sell her dagger.

The cage is fully enclosed on three sides, and the fourth side has a lattice covering.

As I was wondering about it, a man was brought out & placed into the cage.

It’s the thief from yesterday.

“This man will be taken to Vale & sold to a slave trader.”

The village chief explains.

“Oh.”

“Half of the sale price will go to you Michio.”

“We got the right accessory back, the family can take all the money.”

“No, if we pass the family all the money then they can buy him straight back & this is no longer a punishment. Please accept your share.”

Ah.

That makes sense.

As a stranger I should not object to the law of the village.

I give a nod of agreement.

“××××××××××”

“××××××××××”

A man comes and exchanges some words with the burglar.

A young girl runs to her father without being told.

Even though I don’t understand what is said, I can understand the atmosphere.

This mans family speak to him with sadness.

“It’s become light enough, so let’s be off.”

The merchant climbs up beside me.

He flicks the reins & the horse starts moving.

The sun isn’t fully up yet, but this is light enough for the stretch near the village.

“Thank you for your help.”

“No, thank you for saving our village.”

The village chief & I say our farewells.

The wagon is now leaving the village.

I may never return here, but this will always be my first village.

I look back towards it and take one last look to etch into my memory.

A tarp covers the back of the wagon.

The man who became a slave is quietly behaving himself.

“Is the journey safe?”

I ask the merchant.

“The road to Vale has regular demon subjugation to maintain it.”

“Oh.”

“There is no real danger.”

Things start getting lighter, and the wagon raises speed a bit.

The wagon shakes with a rattling sound.

Is the wagon bad, or is the road bad? Probably both.

There is a forest of broad leafed trees on either side of the road.

The trees are not very high along the road, though I’m not sure about further into the forest.

However it doesn’t seem to be a very deep forest.

There is no scenery to enjoy because of the forest.

Scenery might take my mind off the shaking.

I endure the shaking in silence.

I eat the bread for breakfast while getting shaken around.

There is nothing to do, so I just stare forwards.

Well.

It’s not bad to have free time.

But if I don’t change my position every now & then my butt gets painful.

I see a shadow out front.

It seems to be something.

Slow Rabbit Lv1

“There’s a slow rabbit ahead.”

“You’ve seen them before?”

“I hunted some yesterday.”

It’s because of the judgement skill that I know it’s a slow rabbit.

It’s still quite far away though, so I can’t see it well yet.

“I see it, it isn’t very dangerous, but I’ll slow down a bit.”

“Hmmm.”

The wagon approaches the slow rabbit, and then passes by it’s side.

I want to attack it, but it’s better to arrive at Vale quicker.

“We’ve passed it.”

As we move on, I see something else in the distance.

I’m not sure what it is yet at this distance.

Gumi slime Lv1

Do they normally have this many demons?

“It’s a Gumi slime.”

“A Gumi Slime?”

The merchant slows down the speed of the wagon.

“What’s wrong?”

“Gumi slimes attack when they see people, and they are hard to damage because of their soft bodies.”

“Is that so? No problem.”

It should be fine with my durandal.

“It’s the most formidable demon around here. It can melt your body with it’s slime. Villagers need to run if they see it.”

The merchant explains how fearsome the Gumi slime is.

Is it that dangerous?

It should be fine if I don’t make any mistakes since it’s Lv1.

I said there was no problem, so I should do it.

I’ll probably have to fight one sooner or later anyway.

“Don’t worry, keep going.”

I tell the merchant.

“Ok.”

The merchant doesn’t stop the wagon.

I open my character stats.

The two bonus points I thought I had were gone.

I’m not sure why, but the demon is priority now so I’ll think about it later.

I cancel the 30% bonus sale price, and put the points into weapons 6.

Also, the Hero job has a skill for things I can’t defeat with my durandal that I can try.

I confirm my settings.

Skill: Overwhelming!

I’m not sure of it’s effects.

“Overwhelming?”

An incantation appears in my head.

Should I recite this?

“What should I do.”

“It’s fine, just keep moving forward.”

“It’s straight ahead.”

The merchant does as I say, but I can see he’s scared.

I take off the rucksack, and put it and the copper sword at my feet. I take the durandal out of it’s sheath, and hang the sheath at my waist.

As the wagon approaches, the Gumi slime notices us, and moves towards us.

“Ok, stop.”

“Ok!”

As the speed of the cart decreases, I jump down from my seat.

I run past the side of the horse to the front of the Gumi slime. I swing the durandal sideways towards the left. It tears right through the Gumi slime.

It seems I can’t finish it in one blow.

“By the deliverance of ei…. urgh”

I tried to recite an incantation, but the Gumi slime jumped at me. I twisted my body in a hurry, and somehow managed to avoid it.

Seems it’s nearly impossible to do an incantation while fighting.

The Gumi slime jumps again, but I dodge it well because I’m watching it’s movements this time.

I swing the durandal down onto where the Gumi slime landed. I strike it from it’s head to it’s lower body… though I’m not sure if it’s got a head. If I’m hit by it that will be the end of me.

The Gumi slime slops onto the ground. It becomes green smoke & starts to vanish.

When the green smoke is gone there is something white on the ground.

Slime starch.

I’m not quite sure what this dropped item is.

But I’ll take it anyway.

To defeat a Gumi slime it seems I have to hit it with the durandal twice.

It’s difficult to chant a skill during combat, my concentration isn’t good enough. Maybe I should only use them for pre-emptive strikes?

How do I use a skill when I’m in a pinch?

I will need to train to do it.

As I’m thinking about the fight, the merchant brings the wagon up.

“You defeated it.”

“Yes.”

“…and in such a short time… amazing.”

“I guess.”

It’s because of the durandal that it’s two shots.

I don’t know how many strikes it would take with the copper sword, and it’s likely that I’d lose.

“Michio, are you a wizard?”

The merchant asks.

“Even if it looked like that, I used my sword.”

“Yes, you used your sword the other day too.”

I defeated the thief without magic.

But it would be useful.

“That’s right.”

I climb back onto the wagon.

Magic definitely exists in this world. My character stats indicate it.

I think wizards probably exist too, but I could be wrong.

“Is that a Slime starch?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want it? I could buy it from you as a reward for defending the wagon.”

I hurriedly pulled up my character stats.

I removed my points from weapons 6, and put them back into 30% selling bonus price.

I finished adjusting my stats, and then hid the durandal so the merchant couldn’t see it.

I hope he doesn’t think I’m strange.

“Thank you, that would be good.”

I pass the Slime starch to the merchant.

Was I quick enough?

“Slime starch can become alcohol. It ferments when you dissolve it in water. It’s called

Slime sake, and there are many people who like it.

“Oh.”

“The normal price is 80 nars, but I’ll increase that tenfold since you defended the wagon. I’ll give you 1040 nars for it.”

“Thank you very much, I’ll accept it.”。

Tenfold should have been 800, but it’s 1040.

The 30% selling bonus seems to be working.

The merchant gives me 10 silver coins, and 40 copper coins.

I put it in the drawstring bag, and then put the rucksack back over my shoulder.

“Are there wizards around here?”

I was curious, so I asked about it.

“I don’t know. To become a wizard you have to drink some special medicine from 5 years of age. Mostly only children of nobles and super wealthy families can become wizards. I have not heard of any around here.”

“I see.”

So there is that sort of restriction on becoming a wizard.

So I can’t become one?

Or….

It’s something I can think about later.

I start thinking about bonus points while getting bounced around by the wagon.

I thought my bonus points had increased, but they weren’t there.

I’ve got 63 points in bonus sale price.

15 points in decreasing experience needed.

5 points in bonus experience.

That’s 93 total.

3 points in my third job, so that’s 96.

Judgement, job settings, and character reset brings it up to 99.

That’s what I had in the beginning, so it hasn’t increased.

It makes sense after I add it all up.

When my Villager level went up, I gained bonus points.

I’ve removed my Villager Lv3 job and replaced it with Farmer Lv1. This must be why my bonus points are the same as when I started.

To test it out, I switch my first job back to Villager Lv3.

When I do a character reset…..

There are 2 more bonus points.