Kays Translations

Chapter 5

I’ll probably be fine. Even if I’m way weaker than Silent, I’m definitely stronger than the castle guards at least.

When I arrived at the training grounds behind the guild to take the test, a few people were sparsely practicing.

“Alright, we’ll begin the test now. Please use one of those wooden swords over there.”

“Got it. And the examiner is…?”

“That would be me. I’ll be attacking you. If you withstand me for five minutes, or land a clean hit on me, you pass. If you try to run away, you’re instantly disqualified.”

Huh? The examiner is this kind-looking lady? Also… why is there suddenly a whole crowd watching?

“Poor kid… got stuck with that sadistic woman.”

“I watched a bit too—she lured that clueless outsider in real smooth. Remember last time? She looked real happy when she toyed with that young guy. Totally her kink.”

“Ugh, that gives me the creeps… why doesn’t she just stick to assigning simple jobs?”

“Why is she even at the front desk…? Wasn’t she formerly with the central guild HQ—”

…Okay, I can hear you guys, you know. I’m really starting to lose faith in humanity here.

But… well, it’s not like she’s trying to corrupt me or anything. Just a woman with a messed-up fetish, maybe…?

Just then, as my mind drifted, she rushed in. Without warning, she swung her wooden sword in a powerful arc from a low stance.

I dodged—easily, surprisingly. Then I stepped in close and slipped behind her.

“Okay, then I’ll just go lightly…”

Thwack. I gave her a light tap around the waist with my sword.

“Owww… no way, you landed a hit!? What the heck… I was planning to make you cry with that cute face of yours…”

“…You just said something awful, didn’t you? But this means I passed, right?”

“What are you talking about? You only pass if you endure for five minutes! A lucky hit doesn’t count!”

Oh really? Then… I guess I’ll go full speed and poke you with the sword.

Circle around—poke. Circle—poke. Circle—poke-poke. Circle—leg sweep.

“Wait—stop! Stop it!”

“Still got three more minutes to go!”

Three minutes later.
There she was: collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily, clothes disheveled.

…Definitely not a scene suitable for young audiences. Yet everyone’s staring. It looks like something else just happened.

But more importantly—so I didn’t just get this game character’s power and items, huh? I probably inherited their experiences and knowledge too.

Combat techniques, reading your opponent’s breathing patterns—these things just come to me naturally.

So… if I switched to one of my sub-characters, like the crafting-focused ones, would I get their knowledge too? I only briefly checked one the other day and changed right away…

“I… I get it… You pass, Same. I’ll get you into the escort mission…”

“Thank you very much~”

As I left the training ground in high spirits, the watching crowd burst into applause.

“You actually beat that sadist lady, man! That was awesome!”

“That was something you don’t see every day…”

“Heh… she sure made some nice noises.”

“Wait… you can actually beat her? Even though she dropped out, didn’t she used to be—thirteen—”

Wow… you sure made some enemies, huh?

Afterward, I was officially told I’d been accepted for the escort mission. Since it starts in three days, I needed to find a place to stay.

The problem? I had no money.

I guess the standard approach would be to do some easy quests to earn cash… but I’m still too wary for that.

“Excuse me, receptionist-san. Is there a pawn shop or a place nearby where I can sell stuff?”

“…There is. Actually, the merchant who posted the escort request owns one. Just go out the door and turn left—you’ll see it.”

“Hey, isn’t it kind of unfair how your attitude totally changed after you lost?”

“…I thought I’d get to hear some cute cries from you. You embarrassed me. Let me sulk in peace.”

Uh, yeah—no, that’s not how that works. This lady’s definitely the type who gets her kicks from beating up guys like me. I really hope not all women in this world are like this…

Anyway, I received my official guild registration proof and headed straight to the merchant’s shop.

Let’s see if I’ve got anything worth selling…
In addition to each character’s personal storage, there’s also a shared storage for all characters, right?
And since I have close to 20 sub-characters, that shared inventory space is… insane.

Most of it’s just crafting materials, though.

“Wait… this isn’t a game anymore. I guess raw materials are edible now, huh.”

As I walked through the crowd, gnawing on a piece of dried meat I had taken out, the shop I was looking for came into view.

For now, I should probably try selling something I have in abundance… most likely materials, right?

What about low-grade gemstones?

[Small Raw Ruby]
A raw ruby. Its value is low due to its small size.

[Small Raw Sapphire]
A raw sapphire. Its value is low due to its small size.

[Small Raw Diamond]
A raw diamond. Despite its small size, it still holds considerable value.

Small? These? They’re all nearly twice the diameter of a 500-yen coin!

…Yeah, I probably shouldn’t try pulling out any of the larger raw stones. People might start killing each other over them.

Anyway, I pocketed one of each and decided to go ask the shop if they’d buy them.

The shop seemed to be doing good business. There were a fair number of customers inside, and some workers were packing up merchandise into boxes—probably preparing for the upcoming request.

“Excuse me—do you do buybacks here?”

“Yes, yes, what can I help you with? As for buybacks, it depends on the item.”

“Well, I have some gemstones, actually.”

“Oh ho, gemstones! I see… You look rather young, if you don’t mind me asking—how exactly did you come by these? Not that I’m doubting you, of course, but if we were to deal in stolen goods, it could damage our reputation. May I ask where they came from?”

Ah, right. Of course they’d be careful about that.

“Actually, not too long ago I went to a dungeon called the ‘Great Forest of Dream Hill.’ While I was there, I found these at the bottom of a river—probably from someone who died there in the past. I don’t know where they were before that, but they’re raw stones, so I don’t think they’re stolen from any store.”

“Oh! You’ve been to that dungeon. Hmm… Well, considering the nature of the items, I don’t think this is something we should handle out in the open.”

Saying that, the shop clerk led me further inside. I ended up being shown into a reception room that looked like it was used for important business deals. It made me a little nervous.

“Now then, do you have something that can verify your name and identity?”

“My name is Same. I have a guild registration tag from the Adventurers’ Guild.”

“That will do just fine. Now then, may I see the items?”

I took the three raw gemstones out of my pocket.

“Here they are. Pretty big, right? That’s why I came to the biggest store in town.”

I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that bluffing is part of good negotiation. But… what if these really are considered small in this world?

Turns out, I had nothing to worry about.

“What!? Excuse me, may I handle them?”

“Go ahead. Please check their authenticity too.”

“Hmm… From the look and feel of them, they appear genuine… May I call our gem appraiser?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Since the items were valuable, the shop’s in-house gem appraiser came to examine them.

The verdict: they were unquestionably authentic.

“Thank you very much for your business, Same-san. If you ever come across more, please don’t hesitate to visit us again.”

“Haha… I never imagined they’d be worth that much.”

“Fufu, actually, I’m about to go on a long journey, and I was just thinking about converting my capital into something less bulky. So this was perfect timing. Still, these are exceptional quality. Ideally, I would have given them to a top-tier craftsman for finishing, then auctioned them and given you a share of the profit—but, well, there’s just no time for that now…”

“Oh, by the way, I’m one of the guards assigned to the escort request for your shop.”

“Oh!? What a coincidence! Actually, we’re planning to relocate our merchant guild headquarters to… well, I shouldn’t say too loudly, but it’s to Lendia. If you’re planning to work there too, please feel free to visit us.”

“Understood. I’ll see you in three days for the job.”

Man… there’s no paper money in this world, huh? I was handed two sturdy barrel-shaped trunks filled to the brim with gold coins. Apparently, it was “300 large gold coins.” Though they said there might be a little more inside.

…How much are these actually worth? Maybe I’ll try using one for paying an inn bill later to find out.

“Damn, this is heavy… I don’t think just anyone could lift this. They had to bring it out on a cart earlier.”

I put the gold into my inventory menu for now. Nice—it’s been properly stored as currency.

Looks like I can even withdraw it one coin at a time. Super convenient.

“Alright then… time to head to the inn and run some more detailed tests.”

“Hmm… It’s kind of a hassle, but this is a really convenient ability…”

I rented a room at the inn for three days to run some tests. When I recall or actually perform skills that my sub-characters used to know, it seems those skills get thoroughly imprinted into my shared consciousness.

In other words, if I try making some gear or clothes using a character who’s good at sewing, I can later switch to a different character and still perform the same task without issue.

The catch is, I have to perform the skill at least once first. That’s a bit inconvenient… but once I do, Same (my main self) can do it all, which is incredibly handy.

So, for now, I’ve had Same learn the basic skills currently executable: Sewing Lv1, Cooking Lv1, and Crafting Lv1.

As for the finer recipes and such… well, I’ll get to those eventually. I can’t cook properly without access to a kitchen anyway.

Also, it seems that when skills are inherited, they’re only transferred in their most basic form.

For example, even if I use Sewing Lv30 with another character, it drops down to Lv1 when I use it with a different one. It’s more like learning the basics rather than a downgrade, I guess.

“Alright, I’ve got the knowledge and skills now—all that’s left is to use them.”

Man, I’ve suddenly become a jack-of-all-trades.

I can sew, cook, repair small tools, and even make accessories now.

If only I had some survival knowledge or in-game skills—that’d be even better…

Still, the quality of what I make doesn’t compare to what a dedicated character could produce.

“This is actually starting to get fun… I wonder what the others are doing right now? Maybe they followed Silent and are headed for the border together or something.”

Well, whatever. As for me—whether I want to ask Lendia for protection or not, it’s still too early to decide. Maybe I’ll travel a bit, gather some opinions, and decide from there.

So, until the escort mission begins in three days, I spent my time in the castle town gathering info about current events, the royal family’s reputation, and anything else of interest.

What? You’re surprised people talked to me so easily? …Heh. Money talks, my friend.

Apparently, one large gold coin is worth about 50,000 yen (roughly $350 USD) in my estimation.

So… doesn’t that make me filthy rich right now?

Three days later.
I checked out of the inn and headed to the guild to join the caravan as a guard.

Turns out, including me, there were six guards. Three looked like seasoned veteran warriors, two were younger guys, and then there was me.

Over the past three days, I learned a lot. When you’re in the guild, you can more or less travel freely, but you do need to notify them whenever you move to a new town. Like a transfer report? Or a residence move? Well, something like that.

Since a lot of guild members are seasoned travelers, they’re usually pretty well-informed about the state of each country.

First, the country I’m currently in:

The Kingdom of Golda is located at the northern tip of the Dusterfil Continent. Its main resources are minerals and gemstones mined from its mountains, along with rock salt. You can sail from the edge of the continent, but it doesn’t seem to lead anywhere specific—like, there’s no known destination. If this world is a globe, you’d reach somewhere eventually, but I guess ships capable of that kind of long-distance voyage don’t exist yet.

Bluntly put, this country is poor, and it’s heavily invested in dungeon exploration as a long-shot way to turn things around.

It used to benefit from the bounty of the Great Forest, but as the dungeons there grew harder, it became increasingly difficult to make a living from them.

To make matters worse, the kingdom adheres to a “pure human supremacy” ideology. They’re hostile to other races, population is in decline, and their international reputation is poor.

There’s a legend that an old king was deceived and horribly betrayed by a “beastkin” who lived deep in the mountains. Ever since then, humans and beastkin have been considered incompatible here.

Even now, there’s significant hostility toward non-humans—especially beastkin.

So… that girl I ran into in the mountains… she was a beastkin, wasn’t she?

“I didn’t get a good look at her, but… with those ears and tail, she just looked like a really cute girl to me.”

Now, about Lendia, the place I’m headed to as a guard.

It’s apparently a religious nation, but not the kind with harsh doctrines or forced faith. It’s actually quite tolerant, and it seems people of various races live there peacefully.

Huh? That place sounds way better.
I might end up settling down there permanently.

However, the land isn’t particularly rich, and there’s a lot of interference from other continents. On top of that, there have been rising tensions stemming from religious differences, so the situation seems to be becoming unstable.

Also, due to a large number of immigrants, land has started to become scarce. That’s why they’re trying to conquer dungeons to expand their territory.

Apparently, the person who defeats a dungeon and obtains its Dungeon Core is granted ownership rights.

So that means… I have the rights to that ruined mansion deep in the Forest of Dream Hill?

What exactly am I supposed to do with that?

“Well then, I guess I’ll be in your care for a while starting today.”

“Yeah, good to have you, Same. I saw your guild test, by the way. You’re gonna be pulling your weight in combat.”

“Heh, we’re newbies when it comes to guard work, unlike the seniors here. We’ll be keeping an eye out for monsters, but we’ll have our hands full just protecting the caravan.”

“We’ll focus on defense, so we’ll leave the skirmishing to you.”

“…Sorry about this. These guys aren’t experienced enough to go out on skirmishes yet. You’ll be on your own handling that while the rest of us focus on guarding the caravan. Is that okay?”

“Actually, that’s perfect. I prefer fighting alone anyway—less to worry about.”

So the plan is: if an enemy shows up, I rush in and take them down immediately.
Since the whole guild exam incident, people seem to think I’m a nimble and agile swordsman.

By the way, I didn’t want to attract too much attention with a flashy sword, so I just grabbed a decent one from one of my storage characters.

At any rate, this is the start of my journey.
A new life, a fresh beginning…
I’m getting kinda excited about it now.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter