Chapter 36 – Real World
After dinner, I sit back in my chair and stare at the light glowing from the energy source of the magic stone shard.
On the table is a notebook and a pen.
I plan to force myself to sit in the chair and compile information because I am sure that I will fall asleep as soon as I think about the new facts that happened today on the futon.
But I’m glad that today’s dinner was fish…
Of course, the well-seasoned fish tasted good, unlike the raw fish I bit into, but I think meat would have been a bit too much for my stomach today.
I was in a state of mind where I had to choose between dying or getting the magic stone, so I didn’t feel anything halfway through.
In a way, it was a special kind of mental state, like a runner’s high.
However, when I came back to my senses, that unfamiliar sight was still burned into my mind, and I had no desire to eat meat at all.
Well, in that case, I’ll have to think about what I’m going to eat, so it might be a good idea to take a break and explore the city somewhere else next time.
What is the food culture like in this world?
It’s pretty easy to get dinner at an inn, but I should also check to see if a dinner bill of 1,200 beeke is the norm.
If I can find a restaurant between the Hunters’ Guild and the inn that serves “Horned Rabbit Bowl Extra Large 600 beeke,” I might go there quite often when I am no longer afraid of meat.
I don’t know what would happen if I sold the Horned Rabbit directly to food and beverage stores at this time, and I don’t know if there are any other stores that specialize in magic stones, but I could check the purchase price and compare it with the guild.
The guild said that accomplishments and skills were required to advance in rank, so no doubt it should be tied to accomplishments in order to constantly hand over the proof of subjugation and receive rewards for it according to the requests to kill them.
However, I am not sure if the guild’s collection of other items, such as magic stones and meat, will be considered a contribution to the guild’s profit and treated as an achievement.
Depending on that, I may be able to develop a place to sell them, so I need to find a way that doesn’t cause me a loss.
It would be better to ask Roddy-san… who seems to be open and honest than to ask Amanda-san.
And as for the status?
I didn’t think the “great” that Acorn was talking about was really great…
Levels that only I know, skill numbers that only I know… I guess it’s a kind of skill to be able to see them whenever I want.
At first, when I got the Rush skill, which was my first other slot, I wondered why there were two mysterious blank spaces above Rush.
It still stays blank and shows nothing, but it makes sense if the status where you can see that detail is that it is a skill.
I don’t know why neither of the skill names are displayed since the two things Acorn did for me are this status screen and restoring my physical age, but I’m sure there must be a hidden skill name like Rejuvenation or something like that for my rejuvenated age.
From what I heard from auntie sister and Zink-kun, it seems that skills and skill levels in this world are treated the same as “qualifications” in Japan.
For example, suppose you study abroad and become fluent in English. In that case, the goddess will give you the skill level of English Proficiency Test Level 2, saying that you have the ability equivalent to English Proficiency Test Level 2.
The only difference is that from the moment you qualify, you develop special abilities such as Presence Detection, which allows you to sense the movements of people within a five-meter radius around you, which can only be considered a mysterious phenomenon in a world where magic exists.
Also, leveling up by defeating monsters that people in this world do not recognize is similar to “accumulating virtues. In Japan, where religious beliefs are thin, it may be more about whether you want to be a good person or whether you want to make it easier for some people to go to heaven because they believe in the afterlife.
Some people do it subconsciously, and some do not. I think it depends a lot on a person’s character.
Although there are some advantages to “accumulating virtues,” such as human connections and amicable relationships, there is also the sad side that good people who accumulate virtues often lose money, and bad people sometimes make more money than good people.
However, in this world, when you acquire skills or improve your skills, in other words, when you accumulate virtues, you can deepen your understanding of English or become able to speak it, and your skills can be forcibly improved by outside forces.
In reality, the skill points gained by leveling up are simply used through the goddess, but for the good deed of killing monsters, a solid benefit is created in exchange for the risk of death.
That is the extent of the difference from my previous world.
Yes, there is magic, and civilization is lagging behind, but in this world, just like in Japan, everyone goes about their daily lives hoping for happiness.
That’s it.
This is how it is.
I knew it was approximate, but… it still seems so real here…
You might think it’s too late for me since I’m eating, sleeping, and fighting monsters in my own flesh and blood, but it’s pretty important to me.
When I was first sent to this world, I saw the “status screen” that Acorn gave me. I could see it immediately like a game without doing anything.
So, was I sent to the world as a game, or was I sent to a real-world like Earth?
I didn’t really understand.
No, but I knew.
There were insects in the forest, just like in Japan, and on the ground, there were little ants that had come out of their burrows and were moving in a procession.
There were spider webs between the branches, and I had seen insects caught in them several times, and I had brushed them away with a branch as I walked through the forest.
If this were a world in a game, it would be hard to imagine spending resources on a place like this.
If that were the case, I would have asked them to make another attractive boss, and I think it would be normal for the developers to do that.
When I get hit, it hurts, and I bleed.
When I get sick, I get nauseous, and once, I have a stomach ache.
No matter how I think about it, Zink-kun and the others, Amanda-san, the auntie sister, the innkeeper, and even the shopkeepers don’t seem like NPCs.
None of them repeat a particular response, and the way they think, act, and speak is just like the few friends and colleagues I have in Japan.
When I think about it…
I am the only one who has confused the game with reality in this world.
I feel as if I have become spoiled in strange places, reckless in strange places, and switched between the game perspective and the real perspective without realizing it.
And somehow, I think that when I switch to the game perspective, there’s a high probability that I’ll die.
“(I wonder if I can fix it… I should fix it… but I’m not too sure…)”
When I was addicted to video games, they felt so real.
24 hours a day, whether you were going to the bathroom or taking a bath, you had to make sure your character didn’t die while you were there or that you didn’t kill the enemy properly and lose efficiency. I didn’t think I was going to come back into the game and find a rare drop?
That was all I could think about.
It was normal for me to eat in front of the computer while looking at the screen.
When I slept, I was even hunting in my dreams, and I was happy or sad about the drops in my dreams…
When I worked as a working adult, I thought I could correct myself into a proper person, but when I see the world I’m addicted to like this, it’s hard to suppress it.
When I think about it, the reason I stopped playing games after I became a working adult was because I was afraid I would make up an excuse that I didn’t have time and go back to my old self.
I can’t enjoy myself halfway in the category of a hobby. I know my character well.
I am discouraged by my weakness and don’t want to be satisfied with such a situation.
Especially in a world where results follow hard work.
As a result, I’m trying to make the decision to throw it all away… and now I’m already suspicious of it.
It’s a good sign that I took advantage of Zink-kun and the others, who could easily be considered my own children.
When I was a salesman, the idea of using children would never have occurred to me.
Ah… I’m filled with guilt when I come back to reality… but that’s my nature.
This is who I really was before I started to patch things up and thought I’d been corrected.
Can I resist the desire for strength?
“(Probably not.)”
Can I bear to be miserable and weak?
“(I don’t want to feel that way anymore.)”
What will I do then?
“(…..)”
This is not a game. This is the real world.
There is no “convenient reset button” to say, I can’t take it anymore, so I’m going to stop.
How can I go home? When I was in the forest, I thought about that and even called out to Acorn several times when it got too difficult…
At least, I haven’t thought about it since I came to the city.
Because I have come to enjoy the way this world works.
I felt that I could be strong in this world.
“Acorn… If this continues, I’ll rot forever. I think it’s not too late. I think I can still go back. Can you… send me back to my world?”
・
・
・
Well… I knew that, but I didn’t see an answer…
Maybe he can see that I don’t really mean it.
Hmph…
Maybe the magic stone has run out of fuel, the light goes out, and the whole room is plunged into darkness.
The light coming in through the only small window in the room is quite weak, and I can only manage to locate my notebook, which should be in my possession, in the dim light.
Gently closing the notebook, I naturally turn my eyes to the small window in search of light.
“It’s pitch black―the Demon King in all black, huh…”
An existence I recognized through the name Loki.
I do not know if he was really defeated by the hero Takuya, but it is believed that he is already gone.
“With my thoughts and personality, I’d rather be called a Demon King than a hero. …Haha, do I want to be a Demon King right now?”
I muttered to myself in the dark, but Acorn didn’t show any reaction.
Do you think it’s a joke, or do you think it’s impossible anyway? Or maybe he’s just not that interested in me.
Who cares?
In the end, it’s all about who I live for.
And I live for myself.
Since I was suddenly transferred, that’s the only choice I have now.
Then the rest just has to happen.
But still…
“Should I say it? At least tell Zink-kun and the others the truth…”
Such thoughts spontaneously came out of my mouth.
Chapter 36 – Real World
After dinner, I sit back in my chair and stare at the light glowing from the energy source of the magic stone shard.
On the table is a notebook and a pen.
I plan to force myself to sit in the chair and compile information because I am sure that I will fall asleep as soon as I think about the new facts that happened today on the futon.
But I’m glad that today’s dinner was fish…
Of course, the well-seasoned fish tasted good, unlike the raw fish I bit into, but I think meat would have been a bit too much for my stomach today.
I was in a state of mind where I had to choose between dying or getting the magic stone, so I didn’t feel anything halfway through.
In a way, it was a special kind of mental state, like a runner’s high.
However, when I came back to my senses, that unfamiliar sight was still burned into my mind, and I had no desire to eat meat at all.
Well, in that case, I’ll have to think about what I’m going to eat, so it might be a good idea to take a break and explore the city somewhere else next time.
What is the food culture like in this world?
It’s pretty easy to get dinner at an inn, but I should also check to see if a dinner bill of 1,200 beeke is the norm.
If I can find a restaurant between the Hunters’ Guild and the inn that serves “Horned Rabbit Bowl Extra Large 600 beeke,” I might go there quite often when I am no longer afraid of meat.
I don’t know what would happen if I sold the Horned Rabbit directly to food and beverage stores at this time, and I don’t know if there are any other stores that specialize in magic stones, but I could check the purchase price and compare it with the guild.
The guild said that accomplishments and skills were required to advance in rank, so no doubt it should be tied to accomplishments in order to constantly hand over the proof of subjugation and receive rewards for it according to the requests to kill them.
However, I am not sure if the guild’s collection of other items, such as magic stones and meat, will be considered a contribution to the guild’s profit and treated as an achievement.
Depending on that, I may be able to develop a place to sell them, so I need to find a way that doesn’t cause me a loss.
It would be better to ask Roddy-san… who seems to be open and honest than to ask Amanda-san.
And as for the status?
I didn’t think the “great” that Acorn was talking about was really great…
Levels that only I know, skill numbers that only I know… I guess it’s a kind of skill to be able to see them whenever I want.
At first, when I got the Rush skill, which was my first other slot, I wondered why there were two mysterious blank spaces above Rush.
It still stays blank and shows nothing, but it makes sense if the status where you can see that detail is that it is a skill.
I don’t know why neither of the skill names are displayed since the two things Acorn did for me are this status screen and restoring my physical age, but I’m sure there must be a hidden skill name like Rejuvenation or something like that for my rejuvenated age.
From what I heard from auntie sister and Zink-kun, it seems that skills and skill levels in this world are treated the same as “qualifications” in Japan.
For example, suppose you study abroad and become fluent in English. In that case, the goddess will give you the skill level of English Proficiency Test Level 2, saying that you have the ability equivalent to English Proficiency Test Level 2.
The only difference is that from the moment you qualify, you develop special abilities such as Presence Detection, which allows you to sense the movements of people within a five-meter radius around you, which can only be considered a mysterious phenomenon in a world where magic exists.
Also, leveling up by defeating monsters that people in this world do not recognize is similar to “accumulating virtues. In Japan, where religious beliefs are thin, it may be more about whether you want to be a good person or whether you want to make it easier for some people to go to heaven because they believe in the afterlife.
Some people do it subconsciously, and some do not. I think it depends a lot on a person’s character.
Although there are some advantages to “accumulating virtues,” such as human connections and amicable relationships, there is also the sad side that good people who accumulate virtues often lose money, and bad people sometimes make more money than good people.
However, in this world, when you acquire skills or improve your skills, in other words, when you accumulate virtues, you can deepen your understanding of English or become able to speak it, and your skills can be forcibly improved by outside forces.
In reality, the skill points gained by leveling up are simply used through the goddess, but for the good deed of killing monsters, a solid benefit is created in exchange for the risk of death.
That is the extent of the difference from my previous world.
Yes, there is magic, and civilization is lagging behind, but in this world, just like in Japan, everyone goes about their daily lives hoping for happiness.
That’s it.
This is how it is.
I knew it was approximate, but… it still seems so real here…
You might think it’s too late for me since I’m eating, sleeping, and fighting monsters in my own flesh and blood, but it’s pretty important to me.
When I was first sent to this world, I saw the “status screen” that Acorn gave me. I could see it immediately like a game without doing anything.
So, was I sent to the world as a game, or was I sent to a real-world like Earth?
I didn’t really understand.
No, but I knew.
There were insects in the forest, just like in Japan, and on the ground, there were little ants that had come out of their burrows and were moving in a procession.
There were spider webs between the branches, and I had seen insects caught in them several times, and I had brushed them away with a branch as I walked through the forest.
If this were a world in a game, it would be hard to imagine spending resources on a place like this.
If that were the case, I would have asked them to make another attractive boss, and I think it would be normal for the developers to do that.
When I get hit, it hurts, and I bleed.
When I get sick, I get nauseous, and once, I have a stomach ache.
No matter how I think about it, Zink-kun and the others, Amanda-san, the auntie sister, the innkeeper, and even the shopkeepers don’t seem like NPCs.
None of them repeat a particular response, and the way they think, act, and speak is just like the few friends and colleagues I have in Japan.
When I think about it…
I am the only one who has confused the game with reality in this world.
I feel as if I have become spoiled in strange places, reckless in strange places, and switched between the game perspective and the real perspective without realizing it.
And somehow, I think that when I switch to the game perspective, there’s a high probability that I’ll die.
“(I wonder if I can fix it… I should fix it… but I’m not too sure…)”
When I was addicted to video games, they felt so real.
24 hours a day, whether you were going to the bathroom or taking a bath, you had to make sure your character didn’t die while you were there or that you didn’t kill the enemy properly and lose efficiency. I didn’t think I was going to come back into the game and find a rare drop?
That was all I could think about.
It was normal for me to eat in front of the computer while looking at the screen.
When I slept, I was even hunting in my dreams, and I was happy or sad about the drops in my dreams…
When I worked as a working adult, I thought I could correct myself into a proper person, but when I see the world I’m addicted to like this, it’s hard to suppress it.
When I think about it, the reason I stopped playing games after I became a working adult was because I was afraid I would make up an excuse that I didn’t have time and go back to my old self.
I can’t enjoy myself halfway in the category of a hobby. I know my character well.
I am discouraged by my weakness and don’t want to be satisfied with such a situation.
Especially in a world where results follow hard work.
As a result, I’m trying to make the decision to throw it all away… and now I’m already suspicious of it.
It’s a good sign that I took advantage of Zink-kun and the others, who could easily be considered my own children.
When I was a salesman, the idea of using children would never have occurred to me.
Ah… I’m filled with guilt when I come back to reality… but that’s my nature.
This is who I really was before I started to patch things up and thought I’d been corrected.
Can I resist the desire for strength?
“(Probably not.)”
Can I bear to be miserable and weak?
“(I don’t want to feel that way anymore.)”
What will I do then?
“(…..)”
This is not a game. This is the real world.
There is no “convenient reset button” to say, I can’t take it anymore, so I’m going to stop.
How can I go home? When I was in the forest, I thought about that and even called out to Acorn several times when it got too difficult…
At least, I haven’t thought about it since I came to the city.
Because I have come to enjoy the way this world works.
I felt that I could be strong in this world.
“Acorn… If this continues, I’ll rot forever. I think it’s not too late. I think I can still go back. Can you… send me back to my world?”
・
・
・
Well… I knew that, but I didn’t see an answer…
Maybe he can see that I don’t really mean it.
Hmph…
Maybe the magic stone has run out of fuel, the light goes out, and the whole room is plunged into darkness.
The light coming in through the only small window in the room is quite weak, and I can only manage to locate my notebook, which should be in my possession, in the dim light.
Gently closing the notebook, I naturally turn my eyes to the small window in search of light.
“It’s pitch black―the Demon King in all black, huh…”
An existence I recognized through the name Loki.
I do not know if he was really defeated by the hero Takuya, but it is believed that he is already gone.
“With my thoughts and personality, I’d rather be called a Demon King than a hero. …Haha, do I want to be a Demon King right now?”
I muttered to myself in the dark, but Acorn didn’t show any reaction.
Do you think it’s a joke, or do you think it’s impossible anyway? Or maybe he’s just not that interested in me.
Who cares?
In the end, it’s all about who I live for.
And I live for myself.
Since I was suddenly transferred, that’s the only choice I have now.
Then the rest just has to happen.
But still…
“Should I say it? At least tell Zink-kun and the others the truth…”
Such thoughts spontaneously came out of my mouth.
