Chapter 2
MY NAME WAS Ren Saito. I was twenty-four years old, single, and never married.
I loved first-person shooter games, deeply. I started playing when I was a student and eventually gained enough skill to compete in major world tournaments for cash prizes. Even so, this kind of semi-pro hobby rarely led to a secure job. So, I also worked a day job as a sales representative at a PC peripheral manufacturer.
FPS tournaments were played with a team. VMB had several tournaments and leagues, and I was active under the name Schwarz. I was a starting player for the team called “P0wDer,” but it was the off-season for league matches, and I had been playing solo mostly.
When Ashley Zeparnel asked for my name, I hesitated between giving my real Japanese name or my FPS player name. Somehow, I felt that I was not Japan’s Ren Saito, but VMB’s Schwarz: FPS player extraordinaire.
“The name’s Schwarz.”
“‘Schwarz’? I haven’t heard that before. I’m sorry to ask this after you just saved me, but you seem like a high-ranking adventurer. Could you accompany me back to Myral Village? That’s where I am a guild investigator. I came here for a post-investigation of an extermination of stray goblins. I got separated from the other investigators, attacked, and brought here. I need to find my colleagues and report this incident immediately.”
Ashley seemed to be around twenty years old and had a diligent personality. Despite just being threatened by death or worse, she’d d already switched gears and was moving on.
I nodded in agreement with her request. I had no reason to object to accompanying someone around this world. If I encountered any language barrier issues, Ashley could take the initiative. That would be very convenient for me.
I stood up and started moving towards the den’s exit, but Ashley called out and stopped me.
“Wait, Schwarz! One moment. Did you see my tool bag, or any equipment, around here? Also, you haven’t collected that mage goblin’s proof of extermination. If it’s really a mage class, it might have magic stones.”
What in the heck was a proof of extermination? How did you collect it? And what were these magic stones? Were they this world’s crystals?! If it meant I could obtain crystal points, I definitely needed to collect it!
Unaware of my confusion and desire for crystal points, Ashley searched around the dimly lit room.
“Ugh, it’s so dark,” she said. “Where is everything? Oh, I know!”
She placed one hand on her chest and clenched the other into a fist. She closed her eyes and concentrated.
“&%$#, &%$#, Light Ball!”
She chanted something that the automatic translation feature didn’t understand. With the final words, she opened her clenched hand and revealed a glowing orb the size of a softball. She lightly tossed it upward. It didn’t fall back down but remained suspended in midair, illuminating the room like an incandescent bulb. This brightened our surroundings and made it much easier to see.
Did she just use magic to create light? Such brightness...
I was astonished by seeing such magic so up close and personal. Ashley found what she was seeking. She jogged towards a cloth bag buried underneath the mage goblin’s corpse.
“Found it! Oh, thank goodness, nothing is missing.”
Ashley pulled out a short sword from the cloth bag. Seeing a weapon made my reflexes tense up, and I reached for the M1911A1 at my waist. I clicked my tongue when I realized I hadn’t changed the magazine.
I didn’t know what she intended to do with it. I considered the situation as I watched her movements. If she pointed it at me, I’d use the MP5A4. Ashley drew the short sword from its sheath, switched to a reverse grip, and suddenly stabbed it into the mage goblin’s chest.
What is she doing? It’s terrifying!
Unfazed by her bizarre actions, Ashley skillfully opened the monster’s chest and extracted a stone. It was white and measured about an inch in diameter. She then snapped the sash from its neck and handed it to me.
“Here you go, Schwarz,” she said. “It’s the proof of extermination and a magic stone. Sadly, it doesn’t have any attributes. I thought you would get a wind attribute, since an ‘Air Ball’ was cast. This band seems good, though.”
Oh, I see.
She was collecting the sash and magic stone for me. I looked at the magic stone. I’d never encountered one before and was surprised that it resembled a crystal. The fact that I was still holding it, however, meant it wasn’t being collected as Crystal Points.
Is this completely hopeless? And what do I do with this sash?
I stared at the items Ashley gave to me. I decided to fold-up the sash and stuff it into my magazine belt pouch. I pretended to look around the cave casually while I covertly reloaded the M1911A1 and returned it to my waist. Ashley did not seem to notice my actions.
Now I only had two magazines left. I needed to summon a supply box, but I didn’t want to do it in front of her. I wanted to keep my powers secret until I better understood how this world’s residents would perceive them.
As if she heard my thoughts, Ashley stepped back to look me over in the magical light.
“So, did you use magic to defeat the goblins earlier?” she nodded as she spoke. “You don’t seem like a mage. You don’t seem to be carrying a magical weapon. Unless that’s what that black short staff on your waist is?”
She kept saying words like “mage,” and “magical weapon.” Even if I wanted to explain my gun, Ashley wouldn’t understand me. So, I pointed at it and nodded firmly.
“It is a magical weapon!” she said. “I’ve never seen such a powerful magical weapon before. I’ve heard that the Baishburn Empire has magical weapons. Did you come from Baishburn?”
I responded to Ashley’s barrage of questions with a wry smile and let her draw her own conclusions. This was helpful to me, as her mention of the Baishburn Empire would be a good cover for when I was asked where I came from.
Eventually, she seemed to satisfy her curiosity and let it drop.
“Sorry for all the questions.”
We left the den to move towards the exit. There were no more goblin survivors, and we reached the den’s entrance without incident.
When we reached outside, the sky was cloudy, with no moonlight or starlight. There was only the glow of Ashley’s orb.
“It’s pitch dark,” she noted.
I didn’t know if a day in this world was twenty-four hours, but the time displayed on my goggles read 10:34 p.m.
We were eager to return to Myral Village, but taking an unknown path at night was too dangerous. I wished for the words to suggest we wait for sunrise before moving, but I didn’t. So we just stood by the river, quietly gazing at the flowing waterfall and river, until I noticed a faint light flickering downstream.
“Ashley, could that light be from someone you know,” I asked. “Or a search party?” Not understanding me, she continued gazing at the waterfall. I tapped Ashley’s shoulder and pointed downstream. Her gaze followed my gesture until she saw it.
“Why, that’s another Light Ball!’” she said. “The senior investigator must have come searching for me!”
Ashley waved her orb above her head. The other side noticed, and their light began to sway as they came nearer. Behind it, we started to see that torches of various colors followed close behind their Light Ball.
“Ashley!” a woman shouted. “Are you all right?”
A cropped-haired female warrior approached us. Ashley ran to her. I watched as the woman checked on Ashley’s well-being then directly scolded her. I pondered how I would communicate with them.
This world was undoubtedly different from my own. Unable to verbally communicate, I couldn’t explain to them that I just dropped into this world from another one that existed in a video game. And I couldn’t explain to myself why I was dropped here. Until that question was answered, at least, I decided to keep VMB’s power and my origins to myself.
“Schwarz, was it?” the woman asked. “Thank you for saving Ashley. I’m Remi, a guild investigator from the Kingdom of Kurtmelga. I heard you defeated a mage goblin down there. Could you show me the proof of extermination?”
Remi had an Amazonian appearance and was also beautiful like Ashley. She had tanned skin, a small nose, light red eyes, and small pink lips. She was slightly taller than me—I was five foot seven, so she had to have been five foot nine, making Ashley the shortest between us at around five foot two.
Remi was wearing red-leather armor and carrying a large sword on her back. Her armor wasn’t quite a bikini, but compared to what Ashley wore, her bare bosom and long, exposed legs looked very alluring.
I took out the mage goblin’s sash from the pouch as requested and handed it to Remi.
“This is indeed the sash of a mage goblin,” she said. “To think, a higher species appeared here. Do you think they’ve formed a labyrinth?”
Remi returned the sash to me. She ordered two torchbearers behind her to search the den. They had to be her subordinates.
“Ashley mentioned that you could accompany us to Myral Village. Will you assist with the report at the guild outpost, Schwarz?”
I nodded my agreement. The three of us set off downstream. Turned out, Myral Village wasn’t that far, and we arrived after an hour’s walk.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Let’s hear the report.”
Upon arriving at Myral Village, we—the Comprehensive Guild staff—set Schwarz up with accommodations at the village’s only inn. As this was at the guild’s request, we covered his fees. Together with Remi and the Myral Village’s resident guild staff, Barold and Keith, we gathered in a room at the village’s Comprehensive Guild outpost.