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Horse-drawn carriages rattled along the stone-paved streets of a town.
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“It’s…it’s a parallel universe. Look around! We’re in an actual other world! Am I really here? Am I really gonna get to learn magic and go adventuring?!”
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I took in the scene before me, quivering with excitement.
Brick buildings stood eave to eave, like a scene straight from Middle Ages Europe.
There were no cars or motorcycles, no utility poles, no cell phone towers.
“Oh man! Ohhh man! Ohmanohmanohman!”
My eyes darted everywhere, watching the people passing by.
“He’s got animal ears—real ones! And there’s an elf! A real elf! She’s gotta be an elf—she’s so beautiful! Good-bye, modern-day hermit life! Hello, fantasy world! Now, this is a place where I could see actually going outside…getting a job and stop being a NEET—”
“Waaaaaaaaah! Waaaaaaaaaaaaah! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
I looked at Aqua, who was on her knees beside me, head in her hands.
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“Hey, keep it down. What’ll happen if everyone thinks I’m friends with a crazy lady? Anyway, don’t you have something to give me right about now? I mean, look how I’m dressed. I’m wearing a tracksuit! In a fantasy world! If this was a game, I’d at least get some kind of basic starting equipment.”
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!”
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The goddess grabbed hold of me as she cried.
“Wh-whoa! What’re you doing?! Stop it! I get it; I’ll handle the starter gear myself! I mean—I’m sorry! If you hate it that much here, then fine—go home. I’ll manage somehow.”
My hands brushed Aqua’s as I tried to free my neck from her grip.
To my surprise, her hands were shaking.
“What are you talking about?!” She wept, holding her head and dancing back and forth. “I can’t go home—that’s the problem! What am I gonna do? Arrrgh, come on! What am I supposed to do now?!”
She shook her waist-length hair, and I realized she would be a real beauty if she’d just shut up…but as it was, she came across as a diva. Frankly, I could barely bring myself to look at her.
“Hey, goddess, calm down. At times like this, you have to find the tavern. Start there, gather information. That’s how role-playing games work.”
“Wh—? I thought you were supposed to be some shut-in video game otaku. When did you get so reliable? By the way, Kazuma, my name is Aqua. It’s sweet of you to call me ‘goddess,’ but you should probably use my name while we’re here. If people knew who I really am, we might attract a crowd, and then how would we get to the Demon King? This may be a different world, but I am actually worshipped here.”
With that, Aqua pattered along behind me. I, for my part, was feeling quite confident.
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Now, there had to be a group of adventurers resisting the Demon King, or an Adventurers Guild that handled fighting monsters, or something.
Actually, come to think of it—Aqua’s a goddess. Why not ask her?
“Aqua, how about an Adventurers Guild? Know where it is?” I said, but she just stared at me blankly.
“Sorry? I’m sure I don’t know. I know only the most basic things about this world, not every little detail of its towns. Think about it—this is just one world among millions, and this town is just one insignificant settlement out of all the towns in this world. Why should I know anything about it?”
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This girl is totally useless.
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The conversation wasn’t getting us anywhere, so I stopped a middle-aged woman on the street. It was better than asking a guy, who might’ve turned out to be trouble, or asking a young girl—my anxiety would’ve driven the difficulty of that “quest” through the roof.
“Excuse me, ma’am. May I ask you something? Is there anything like an Adventurers Guild around?”
“A guild? You mean you don’t know? You must be new here.” I relaxed at her words, knowing there had to be a guild here somewhere.
“Yes, ma’am. We’ve come from quite a ways off. We just arrived a little while ago.”
“Oh my… If you’ve come to this town, you must be looking to become adventurers. Welcome to Axel, the town for novice adventurers. If you follow that street and turn right, you’ll see a sign.”
“Straight, then right. Thank you very much, ma’am! …Okay, we’re off!”
The town for novice adventurers, huh?
A starter town. The ideal starting point for new, freshly dead arrivals from some other world.
After thanking the woman and heading down the road she’d pointed out, I could feel Aqua looking at me with new respect as she darted along behind me.
“Hey,” she said with a hint of astonishment, “how’d you come up with that story on the spot? You actually seem quite capable. So then why were you a hermit of an otaku who’d never had a girlfriend or really any friends at all? Why spend your days as a hikiNEET?”
“Not having friends or a girlfriend isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You can’t judge a person’s worth by how many friends they have or if they’re in a relationship. And don’t call me a hikiNEET, you dumb bimbo. Don’t assume all hikikomori are NEETs. I was just sixteen. That’s too young for society to assume I’ll be a member of the workforce… Ah, there it is.”
Aqua made to strangle me at the words dumb bimbo, but I ignored her and went into the Adventurers Guild.
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—Adventurers Guild—