AFTER repeatedly checking to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, while mentally insisting over and over that I was still a middle-aged man, I finally stepped out into the forest. I couldn’t stay in the same place forever. And taking a long time to make decisions is a bad habit of mine.
I pushed my way through the thicket, then suddenly the view in front of me opened up to reveal a tranquil lakeshore. It occurred to me that I could probably see my reflection on the water’s surface, so I rushed over—and when I saw myself, I swallowed audibly.
Oh, okay, I was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. But how the heck had that happened?
While the eyes on my new face were unusually sharp, the features were well-balanced and symmetrical overall, giving a dignified, composed impression. Sparkling brilliantly in the sunlight, long hair like silver thread fell down to my hips. I carefully picked up a lock and stroked it—it was a part of my own body, so what I was doing definitely couldn’t count as sexual harassment. The strands were so smooth to the touch it felt like they’d spill right out of my hands like water. I was careful because it felt so wonderful to touch that I found it hard to believe it was my hair.
For a little while, I trembled with emotion. Then, with a gasp, I returned to my senses and my observation of myself. I seemed to be around twenty years old, give or take a few years. It’s hard to tell a woman’s age, but it looked like I was done growing. My skin practically glowed and I couldn’t see any wrinkles, so at the very least, this body was definitely younger than my familiar middle-aged one.
And there was one more thing worth mentioning—my pointed ears. Accustomed to the fantasy genre as we are, we indoor types referred to this race of people with long pointed ears, whom we thought of with affection and admiration, as elves.
I was an elf. The healthy shine of my dark brown skin made me think I was probably a dark elf. And with the added adornment of my glittering silver hair, I was a mystical vision to behold, if I did say so myself. The only disappointing thing was that it was me inside this body, but I was still thrilled by the sight of one of the fantasy elves I’d always appreciated.
For a few minutes, I tried to rein in my excitement while staring at the reflection on the water. Then I slowly lifted my head as questions and anxiety ran riot in my mind.
Why was I in an unfamiliar place? How did my body become like this? What happened to my old body? Who did this to me? Could I communicate with others? Were there others here?
There was nobody around to answer the questions that rushed forth one after another. No god to tell me, “You died, so I reincarnated you.” No noble to beg me to, “Save our world, Hero. That is why you were summoned here.”
I was so anxious. Somewhere far away, there was the howl of a beast. My feelings of hopelessness deepened.
I wandered around the immediate vicinity, restlessly hoping for some kind of new information, anything, my eyes scanning my surroundings. Finally, I spotted a tree stump that had been carved into a chair of sorts right next to the remains of a campfire. Closer inspection revealed telltale signs that people had been here.
Apparently, this place wasn’t completely off the beaten track. So that was good news. If I managed to survive, someone would definitely appear, eventually. I could only pray that whoever it was, they would be kind to this idiot from another world. I fervently wished that the first person I met in this place would be someone with a huge heart.
I sat down on the chair-like stump that whoever had made, picked up a fallen tree branch, and stirred through the campfire remains. I wanted to search for clues among any possible leftovers, so I knew what kind of food I might be able to find for myself. But just as I could easily have predicted, all I ended up doing was making a mess of the ashes. If I had known I’d wind up in a situation like this, I would have taken survival classes. Hindsight really is 20/20, huh?
In any case, I was hungry. Since I planned on staying where I was until people eventually showed up, I needed to find a way to stave off the elements and, most importantly, feed myself. Fortunately, the weather was nice and warm, only just verging on hot. It didn’t feel like the temperature would suddenly drop to freezing once the sun set, either.
However, the fact that I had to make all my decisions based on guesswork unsettled me deeply. I may have had the soul of a man in his forties, but I felt like breaking down and crying. I tilted my head back and looked up at the sky, holding back the tears that threatened to spill over. Already, I was missing Japan more and more.
It occurred to me that given my current appearance, even tears might make good weapons. But my pride as a man wouldn’t let me weep, so I endured the pain silently. I couldn’t just abandon that stubborn pride. After all, I was still a middle-aged man on the inside.
Here’s an idea. Let’s think about fun things. The existence of elves means this is definitely a fantasy world. A fantasy world means sword and sorcery, and adventurers too. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that magic is something all fantasy nerds love. When I was a kid, whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I had always answered a wizard or a hero.
How about, say, fire magic?
It was a classic trope, easy to use and always handy through the very end of a story. I decided to give it a try.
I needed to approach this deserted environment with a positive mindset. It wasn’t like anyone was around to mock or criticize me for being a little overexcited. Besides, the reality of the situation was that having fire would be incredibly useful—for avoiding monsters, drinking water safely, and eating. Humans had evolved by using fire and tools, so it was definitely worth figuring out whether or not I could use fire magic. This experiment wasn’t just to satisfy my inner delusional teenager; it could ensure my very survival.
I was done with pathetic excuses. I thrust my arm out straight ahead, looking for anything to use for this, then picked up the stick I’d been using to search through the ashes. It was actually the first thing I’d used for anything since my arrival, and it looked like it would serve well as both a staff and a poker. Even when I swung it aggressively, it didn’t feel like it would break, so I decided to use it as a weapon too, just in case some wild animal showed up.
“Right then.”
Wanting to test my voice, I uttered those two words as I lowered my arm. Then I pressed a hand to my mouth, my mind racing.
My voice sounded strange to me. It made sense that my vocal cords were now also those of a woman. But I hadn’t counted on my voice being exactly my type—melodic and a bit low. That was a pleasant surprise.
I hadn’t said anything at all since waking up. Until just then, at least. If I had known my voice was so nice, I would have talked to myself a little more. It might even have helped distract me from feeling so anxious and stressed.
Once more, I raised My Favorite Stick, this time holding it level with the lake’s surface. Then I tilted it downward just a tad, pointing the tip at the lake itself. I was about to make my first attempt at using fire magic, and it would have been a disaster if I’d pointed the thing at the forest instead. Even if living trees were less flammable than dry wood, it was still safer to fire at the water.
I imagined a massive fire. An enormous campfire like something I’d seen on TV at some point. I closed my eyes and sharpened the image in my mind. A roaring blaze that climbed high and spread far, powerful enough to scorch the sky itself. I said only one word:
“Burn.”
An instant later, a ridiculous amount of steam billowed up. Fssh. Bwoosh. It would have been hard to describe the sounds. The sky-burning inferno I’d visualized rose over the lake. The once-beautiful body of water began simmering gently, and fish flew up into the air one after another. It looked like the Buddhist cauldron of Hell.
Woohoo! You just caught tonight’s dinner!
Those excited words echoed in my head as I tried to escape reality. This wasn’t the time for flights of fancy, though. Because all I could do about the flames relentlessly evaporating the lake water was pray they would go out quickly.
Finally, the blaze burning above the lake gradually grew smaller and smaller until, without so much as a sizzle, it disappeared. All that steam and the poor, boiled fish were the only incontrovertible proof that the fire had ever even existed.
Magic. Fantasy. Amazing. But it was too much power for me. Where in the world did those flames get the energy to burn? Hopefully, not from my lifespan.
I clenched and unclenched my hands a few times to check if I was any weaker than I’d been a few moments before. It didn’t feel like it. Which only made me even more curious about what exactly the fire had consumed.
Little by little, the steam rose up into the air, slowly dispersing in all directions.
I need to sit down and think. But the moment I turned around to do just that, I saw a man, staring at me in open-mouthed shock. And to my horror, he was holding a sword.