Chapter 1

---

"Please consider it seriously!"

"Yeah, if there's an opportunity."

After finishing the greeting and PR for the old client company, I put on a smile and bowed deeply.

However, when I raised my head, what came into view was the factory manager, who seemed annoyed, glancing at the documents on his desk and waving the business card I had given him.

Surely, as soon as I left, that business card would be thrown into the trash.

It was a scene I had seen several times in the past three years.

(I want to die...)

I almost let those words slip out, but managed to push them back down into my throat.

---

I've been at my current company for three years.

In that time, I've only managed to sell one project, a modification of an existing processing machine.

After leaving a client, all I can do is sigh.

At my previous company, I had decent sales, but lately, not selling anything has become the norm.

Of course, there's no place for me in the company.

I get scolded by my section chief and treated like garbage by the female office workers.

Maybe it's a blessing that I'm over thirty and have no family.

I can retreat into my own world when I return to my one-room apartment.

---

(Man, it's hot...)

When I opened the door of the air-conditioned client's office, a hot blast of air hit me.

The sudden temperature made me flinch.

However, the discomfort pushed me forward, and I managed to take a step.

As soon as I stepped outside, the scorching summer sun and the heat radiating from the asphalt burned my entire body.

I was drenched in sweat in no time and started walking down the client's premises and onto the sidewalk.

---

After walking for about five minutes and feeling thoroughly exhausted, I reached an intersection without a pedestrian signal.

Seeing the building in front of me, I almost gave up.

"A pedestrian bridge?"

Yeah, I think I crossed it on the way here.

Of course, if I take the same route, I'll have to cross it on the way back too. At least if it were an underpass, I could escape the sun.

Still, standing there would only make me more tired, so I decided to climb the stairs.

---

Panting, I finally made it to the top and wobbled across the bridge.

Just as I was about to descend the stairs on the other side, it happened.

Thud.

My right foot slipped into thin air.

Maybe it was because of the heat making me drowsy.

I lost my balance and, before I could regain it, my entire body was slammed against the stairs.

Thud, Roll, Roll, Roll.

The back of my head hit hard, and my consciousness quickly faded.

I rolled down the stairs, feeling pain all over my body, but I was observing it as if it were happening to someone else.

---

"Ugh..."

How much time had passed?

As my consciousness returned, the pain hit me.

My body ached all over.

Of course, after falling from the top of the stairs, it was to be expected.

However, something seemed off.

I should have been lying on the ground, my cheek pressed against the asphalt, but my senses were telling me that I was standing.

Confused by this strange sensation, I cautiously opened my eyes.

---

"...Huh?"

I was stunned.

I was standing in a clearing in a forest at dusk.

An unfamiliar landscape.

The wind blowing through the trees.

Where was the industrial park in the middle of summer? It had vanished without a trace.

---

In front of me, a brown-haired boy was glaring at me, pointing a wooden sword at me.

Behind him, a light-pink-haired girl was sitting on the ground, clutching something precious and looking at me with teary eyes.

They both looked to be around third grade.

"Vorman, you lose. Give up gracefully!!"

The boy shouted, still pointing the wooden sword at me.

Wait, who?

I thought he was talking to someone else and turned around, but there was no one.

...No, there was.

A few steps away, two boys were lying on the ground, groaning.

But the boy with the wooden sword was still glaring at me.

"...Huh? Me??"

Confused, I pointed at myself.

I suddenly noticed something odd.

My voice sounded strange.

It was high-pitched, like a pre-pubescent voice.

Maybe the air around here contained helium?

---

"What are you playing at? I promised not to touch Tina's pendant if I lost. Are you still going to fight!?"

No, I don't know anything about that.

As I was about to say that, I realized something.

My butt felt hot.

I twisted my body to look at my waist and saw smoke coming from my butt.

And flames.

"Ah!!"

I fell to the ground and pressed my hips against the earth, rolling over and over until I finally put out the fire.

---

"Did you see that? It's the Flame Slash I learned from my big brother!"

The boy puffed out his chest.

I don't really understand what's going on, but it seems the fire on my butt was his doing.

"Hey..."

As I said that and moved closer to the boy with the wooden sword, I realized the source of the odd sensation I had been feeling.

"Wait, what?"

I was at the same eye level as the boy.

That means...

"Eh? Eh?!"

My limbs were shorter, like a child's.

To make matters worse, my arms looked like boneless ham, and my belly was bulging out. Was I really that fat?

---

Just as I was starting to feel shocked and confused, someone grabbed both of my arms from behind.

"Kid, let's back off for now."

I turned my head and saw the two boys who had been lying on the ground earlier, grabbing my arms from both sides.

The one on the left, who seemed to be the bigger one, had spoken.

Then the smaller one on the right shouted at the boy with the wooden sword.

"Hey, Lead Granwell. Don't think you can get away with challenging the next lord, Vorman-sama!"

What, what's with that loser's line?

...Wait?

Lead?

The next lord?

Then, the two of them tried to carry me away.

"Hey, wait a minute..."

But my plea was ignored, and I was quickly carried off.

---

At one point, they switched positions, and I was carried on the shoulder of the bigger boy.

Since they didn't seem to have any ill intentions, I decided to go along with it for now.

While being carried, I tried to think about what was happening to me.

First, who am I?

Given the current situation, I needed to sort that out.

In my memories, I am Kawanagawa Daikichi, a thirty-something unsuccessful salesperson.

I have memories from my childhood, high school, and university, with no gaps.

On the other hand, my current body seems to be that of a fat boy named Vorman.

I have no memories of this boy.

...But after thinking about it for a while, vague memories started to surface in the back of my mind.

Vorman Etchgor Dalkvart. Twelve years old.

The only son of Goutzuk, the lord of the Dalkvart barony.

A short, fat, and ugly arrogant boy who has been doing as he pleases since childhood, relying on his father's authority.

Faintly, memories of my misdeeds from childhood started to resurface.

...Wait, did I really do all that?

---

By the way, the two boys carrying me are named Giles and Staniev, and they are the sons of the lord's retainers.

In other words, they are Vorman's lackeys.

---

After thinking about all this, I reached a conclusion.

Well, I knew it from the beginning, but I didn't want to admit it.

"...This is a reincarnation in another world."

I couldn't help but mutter.

And I know what will happen next, Vorman's fate.

"Moreover, it's a bad reincarnation..."

---

☆ Now available in book form! ☆

---