Chapter 10

Summary of the previous chapter ------------------------------------------------------

The meal served at the inn was at a level that could be eaten normally, so the three of them felt relieved.

However, following the black bread, the ale was also bad, shattering the fantasy world's dream.

The next morning, we got up with the sunrise and had breakfast.

Without a clock, the exact time was unknown, but it was probably a time when we would still be sleeping in our original world.

That said, we went to bed early the previous night, so we just woke up earlier as a result.

It was our first day in this world yesterday, and we were tired, and even though our night vision had improved a bit, we couldn't stay up late without light, so we went to bed early after finishing dinner.

The candle for lighting was, of course, charged, and it was a luxury for us.

There was also talk of trying to use magic, but it was decided that it would be dangerous to try it indoors, so we didn't actually use it.

Incidentally, I thought I had woken up early, but when I opened my eyes, Haruka had already washed her face and finished getting ready.

On the other hand, Toya was still sound asleep even after I returned from the well, so I immediately rubbed his ears to wake him up.

In a sense, it was a perk.

Toya's ears, but the texture wasn't bad. Yeah.

The breakfast served by the always expressionless old man was meat cooked with soup and bread.

The bread, which seemed to be made mostly of rye, was the kind that could be sold in Japan.

It was a bit hard and didn't rise much, but it was freshly baked and quite delicious.

If it was a bit hard, it could be soaked in soup and eaten, so it was quite appreciated as long as it didn't have a strange sour taste.

Toya also muttered, "With this, we can live in this world..." so he must have been quite affected by that bread.

I also agreed, as I couldn't have eaten it for a long time.

Moreover, this bread was free for seconds. It was quite heavy, so a few pieces were enough.

Toya only ate 3 or 4 pieces, so I guess he felt the same way.

"Ah, both of you. There might not be lunch today. We don't have money."

Withdrawing my previous statement, Toya and I looked at each other and, following Haruka's example of eating bread silently, stuffed more bread into our stomachs.

◇ ◇ ◇

Well, whether or not it was a satisfying breakfast, we, who had eaten our fill, came to the East Gate, which we used when we first visited this town.

There weren't many people, probably because it was early in the morning. The soldier from yesterday, whose name I had already forgotten, was also not there.

There didn't seem to be any particular checks when leaving the town, so we passed by the soldier standing idly and proceeded down the road leading east.

After walking a bit and looking south, we could see a forest in the distance.

It was probably the southern forest that the guild lady mentioned yesterday.

Compared to the eastern forest, which would take a few hours to walk, it looked closer.

"Naoto, we're going to the eastern forest today, right?"

"Yeah, I know. Safety first."

Haruka must have seen what I was looking at and reminded me, but of course, I knew. I wasn't reckless enough to rush into a dangerous forest with just Toya's staff.

"Is it just a matter of following this road to the eastern forest?"

"Yes. It's supposed to be along the road. It's about a 2-hour walk, a bit far, but it's relatively safe because it's along the road."

Since we walked for about an hour yesterday, it must be about another hour down the road from where we were dropped into this world.

The forest we saw in the distance at that time was probably it.

Was it the mercy of the evil god that we were dropped on the relatively safe eastern side?

"Round trip 4 hours + gathering time... it's almost a full day's work. How much can we earn?"

"If things go well, we can return by mid-afternoon... but for ordinary people, it's about the daily wage of a commoner plus a danger allowance. You can make more if you're good at finding things or if it's a dangerous place, but you can't expect to make a lot of money by gathering herbs easily."

"Yeah, that makes sense. If you could, everyone would become adventurers."

"Exactly. As a matter of course, there's no such thing as an easy job."

Haruka shrugged and smiled wryly.

In a sense, since anyone can gather them, it's natural that the purchase price would be around that level.

If it were too cheap, no one would go gather them, and if it were too expensive, more people would gather them, and the price would drop.

It seems that in this different world, the price would settle at the hourly wage of an ordinary person plus a skill fee, just like in our world.

That's the principle of economics.

"In our original world, it's the same even if the world is different. If you don't have qualifications or skills, that's about it."

"Fortunately, we received those skills, so let's train hard and try to make a comfortable living later."

"Yeah, I agree. I don't intend to be too extravagant, but I want to be able to eat good meals every day!"

"Right. At least enough to maintain our current inn. ...I want to avoid that food stand."

"Strongly agreed. I want to live a life where I don't have to eat black bread and don't have to hesitate to use hot water."

Yesterday, to save money, we only wiped our bodies with well water.

It wasn't too bad in this weather, but in the cold season, we would at least want hot water.

We didn't ask for a bath or shower.

...Well, we would want it in the long term, but as Japanese people.

It would be impossible unless we could earn enough to buy a house.

"By the way, are we heading straight for the forest?"

"No... Well, the town gate is out of sight, so it might be a good time. Let's check our abilities a bit around here."

Haruka looked back to confirm and then moved away from the road into the grass.

"Wow! Are you going to show us magic!? I really wanted to take it, but I didn't have enough points..."

"Is that so? You could have managed if you didn't take something like [Smithing]. Besides, in a game, it might be different, but [Smithing] is hard to use, right?"

It sounds interesting, but without a forge, there's no point in having the skill.

A real blacksmith wouldn't lend you a forge so easily, and there's no common workshop like in a game.

Buying a forge would be out of the question. Maybe after becoming a successful adventurer and saving up money.

"No, no, it's quite difficult for beastmen to take magic. I tried, but I couldn't level up magic without taking the magic aptitude, and it took dozens of points to learn a magic after taking the aptitude. [Smithing] is... romantic!!"

"...Should I respect Toya for choosing romance in a life-or-death situation?"

"No, he's just an idiot!"

Toya's passionate argument made Haruka laugh a bit awkwardly, but I dismissed it outright.

"Choose a skill that will increase your survival rate! You can't eat romance!"

"No, no, I might have exaggerated with 'romance,' but I did think about it. Considering that we would form a party with you two, I thought it would be okay to use 10 points to account for the possibility of weapons breaking and making us unable to fight."

"...Is that so? Then I might have been a bit too harsh. Sorry."

He did think about it.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed that for a beastman, it took at least 30 points to level up a magic to level 1. Considering that it only took 10 points for an elf, it was quite heavy.

With the remaining 10 points, Toya chose [Smithing] as a useful skill.

Indeed, in a game, durability would decrease and items would break, so it wasn't a bad choice?

"But isn't it meaningless in reality? You can't repair without a forge, right? At best, you can just sharpen."

I thought so, but Haruka dismissed it outright.

"That's true. We don't even have weapons to sharpen or whetstones! Hope for the future!"

"We only have a staff."

"Yeah. --Ah, no. It's a wooden sword, a wooden sword. It's technically in the shape of a sword."

For Toya, it had to be a sword. In terms of [Sword Talent].

"Well, I think a knife will be useful for dismantling, so I'll leave the sharpening to you."

Perhaps feeling sorry for Toya, whose animal ears were a bit droopy, Haruka said this to follow up.

Still, it would be after we got a whetstone.

"Well, let's check our physical abilities first. We don't have a measuring tape or stopwatch, but let's try some physical exercises as a reference."

"Yeah. We won't know exactly, but we can get a general idea."

Following Haruka's suggestion, the three of us did short sprints, vertical jumps, repeated side jumps, running long jumps, and stone throwing.

The result clearly showed that Toya's abilities were the highest.

"What do you think?"

"Yeah! This body is amazing! It's exactly the beastman I imagined!"

He was happily jumping around.

With a light jump, he could easily exceed my chest height, which was clearly a level that was impossible in Japan.

While not as high, Haruka and I could jump up to about waist height, so it was certain that our physical performance was higher than in our original world.

"Our bodies are also much more advanced than our original ones. I think we've become thinner in build."

"Yeah. My performance is clearly better too. Since I'm an elf, it's a bit different from the racial characteristics, and I didn't take any physical ability-related skills, so the evil god must have boosted our abilities?"

"Probably. It would have been easier to compare if we had stayed human..."

Elves were said to have relatively low stamina, but it was still better than our original bodies.

If I had to mention something related, it would be [Toughness], but does being tough include physical endurance?

"There's also the possibility that the average human in this world is much higher than in our original world..."

"Well, it's fine, right? We didn't become weak!"

"Yeah, I guess so. There's nothing we can do about it. Then, let's try using magic next."

"Wow! I've been waiting for this!"

"Ah, Toya, you can practice your swings over there. You can watch, but stay far away."

"Eeeh!"

Toya complained, but it really is dangerous, you know?

"You don't want to get burned, right? We don't know if we can control it. Naoto, let's practice in different directions and stay far apart."

"Yeah, that's true. It's a completely unknown technique, so we have to be careful. Toya, you'll get tired of watching eventually, so bear with it."

"Understood. I don't want to die either."

"Then, I'll go over there."

With that, Haruka moved away, and I turned to look at my status again.

The magic I took was [Time-Space Magic] and [Fire Magic].

Currently, I can use [Time-Space Magic]: 'Weight Increase,' 'Weight Reduction,' 'Time Acceleration,' 'Time Delay,' and [Fire Magic]: 'Ignition' and 'Fire Arrow,' a total of six types.

It's nice that I can check what kind of magic they are from the status, so I don't have to wonder.

There are 2 types of magic per level? It seems a bit few...

But, unlike in a game where 'Fire Arrow' has a fixed MP cost and damage, there might be some flexibility?

Let's try it out.

"Let's start with 'Ignition'? If it fails, the damage should be low..."

Gathering magic power at my fingertips... It's strange that I can understand this sensation even though it's my first time. The fact that I can use the words without any sense of discomfort means that thinking about it is pointless.

"---'Ignition'"

Pss!

With that sound, a spark-like thing scattered from my fingertips, and a wisp of smoke floated. No flame was visible.

"Was the magic power too little? Let me gather a bit more---'Ignition'!"

Whoosh!

"Whoa!! That was close, my bangs almost got burned..."

This time, the flame rose higher than expected, and I hastily turned my face away and leaned back.

It's surprisingly difficult. I need to be more precise... like a thin stream of water from my fingertips...

"Ignition"

Bubububu...

"Wow, that's a good feeling! This is a fire magic worthy of its name, isn't it?"

It feels like a candle at my fingertips? The flame is swaying gently.

"Hmm, I wonder if I can add some flair. Can I make it like a turbo lighter or a gas burner?"

It seems sufficient to ignite dry leaves, but it feels a bit weak for lighting charcoal or firewood.

After extinguishing the flame, I tried to imagine spraying magic power from my fingertips...

"Ignition!"

Shhhhhhh!

"Wow! Exactly!"

A blue flame about 10 centimeters long was spraying from my fingertips like a gas burner.

"This should be enough for charcoal... No, stop! Stop!"

I felt something inside me being rapidly depleted, so I hurriedly extinguished the flame.

"Ah, that was dangerous. That was magic power, right? In other words... the power consumption is proportional to the power. Of course, that makes sense, but..."

I couldn't grasp the exact numbers, but the rate of depletion was quite alarming.

If I had used it for a minute, I might have run out of magic power.

"Can't do it. Maybe I can use it when I grow stronger, but for now, I'll have to start with a small flame and build it up."

Of course, there are no lighters in this world.

Considering that, it would be a good idea to collect dry leaves, twigs, and tree bark. There might not always be kindling when we need a fire.

"Well, next, next. Let's try 'Fire Arrow.' Is that ground over there a good target?"

I drew a circle on the ground about ten steps away and returned to my original position.

What kind of feeling should I use this time... Since it's an arrow, I should gather and release it all at once...

"---'Fire Arrow'!"

I thrust my palm forward and cast the spell, imagining sending the magic power flying.

Bang!

At that moment, a flame arrow shot out from my palm and hit the ground near the target circle.

"Wow! Success on the first try! The target position is roughly correct, so it seems like it could be useful with a bit of practice..."

I tried a few more times, adjusting the power of the magic.

As a result, I could concentrate the shots within a 20-centimeter range at a distance of about ten steps, and I could also adjust the power to some extent.

"Phew. Next, time-space magic, but the magic power is a bit delicate..."

I can only sense it, but considering the amount used so far and the fatigue, it seems that practicing time-space magic would deplete my magic power.

We're about to head out for gathering, so I can't use it all up.

"Let's just try 'Weight Increase' and 'Weight Reduction'? The effects are a bit hard to notice..."

As the name suggests, these are spells that make the target heavier or lighter.

I picked up a stone at my feet and tried 'Weight Increase' with a small amount of magic power.

"...Did it get a bit heavier?"

The change was noticeable only because I was holding it.

The duration was also not very long, and the usage seemed a bit limited...

If I were to use it, it would probably be for a trap? Dropping a stone from above and casting 'Weight Increase' just before it hits might be effective.

Next, I tried 'Weight Reduction,' but this was also a bit subtle.

It might be useful for moving obstructive rocks, but it would require a lot of magic power.

"Let's call it a day for now."