MYHLF Vol. 1 Mission 1 Part 1

Mission 1: Blessing and the Magic Bag

With the languid sensation of waking from a dream, he breathed out softly and opened his eyes. The dream he had seen had not been a nightmare, or so he thought, judging from his calm heartbeat.

“…It feels so strange… not hearing an alarm…”

He sat up from a bed that was considered high quality in this world and looked around the room.

There were no televisions or household appliances. The few books on the shelf were thick leather-bound volumes, each as hefty as a dictionary. The bed he had been sleeping in had a canopy. He had only seen canopy beds from television and magazines. More than anything, this room was larger than a small apartment unit. The toilet, bath, and kitchen were all separate. He was using that spacious room as his own private quarters.

For a while, he considered whether the dream he had been having moments earlier had been reality, and whether the present moment was, in fact, the real one. In the end, he pinched his cheek to confirm it.

“…It hurts today too…”

Pinching his cheek to verify whether this was a dream or reality was, by the very fact that he could think of doing it and then carry it out, proof that this was reality. He understood that much by now. With this, all he could do was nod and accept the reality of his morning routine for the past several years.

What he saw in his dreams was likely memories of his previous life. Memories from when he had been a Japanese boy on Earth. But if it was his previous life, then that life should have already ended. And yet, he had no memory of that ending.

“I died… that’s why I’m here… I should be….”

Whether as dreams or memories, he saw them from his own perspective. And for some reason, the dreams he saw were from when he had been in elementary or middle school. Perhaps it was because his current age was around that range as well. No matter what, he never dreamed about anything after he had become an adult.

“Why…?”

Even as he murmured that, he gauged the time from the sunlight that entered his room and climbed down from the bed. Then he picked up the enameled pitcher sitting on a small shelf in the corner of the room, one capable of holding roughly a liter of water.

A round red stone resembling a switch was set near the top of the handle. Called a magic stone, it served as a substitute for a battery. Some were obtained from creatures capable of using magic known as magic beasts, while others were mined from places such as mountains.

This pitcher was a magic device. When infused with mana, water welled up from the bottom of the empty pitcher. Once it was full, he removed his hand to stop it and poured the water into a washbasin. In this world, mysterious magic devices like this, similar to household appliances, were widespread.

He tied his long hair back, waiting a short while as he checked his face reflected in the water after the ripples faded.

His hair was not black or brown like what he had seen in the dreams of his previous life, but a deep indigo. It could almost pass for black. His eyes were narrow and made him look older than his actual age.

His features closely resembled those of his mother, who was known as a great beauty. Since he wore his hair long as well, people often mistook him for a girl as long as he did not speak. Admittedly, there were times when even he thought he looked like a beautiful young girl. His eyes were the same jade green as his father’s, a color said to be inherited among nobles with strong mana.

“…No matter how many times I look, it feels strange…”

People with hair and eyes in colors like these seemed bizarre to him. Most nobles had blond or light brown hair and either green or blue eyes. He was somewhat relieved that his hair was still at least a dark color.

The season was shifting from spring to summer. Since this world did not have drastic temperature changes like Japan, it felt comfortable throughout the year. Just as he finished changing into the clothes he had prepared, there was a knock at the door.

“Young Master Philz, are you awake?”

Philz was his name in this life. And this place was a detached mansion located a short distance from the main residence.

“I’m awake. Good morning, Canal.”

Canal was the butler of this mansion. He stood at the head of the servants. He was fifty years old. Though this was an estate in a provincial domain rather than the royal capital, considering the rank held by the master of the house, he was probably on the younger side for a butler entrusted with managing the entire residence. However, his competence was unquestionable.

Canal quietly opened the door, stepped into the room, placed one hand over his chest, and bowed his head.

Philz was the child of the second wife. She was only the second wife on the surface. In truth, she was a commoner. And because she came from nomadic people, she was treated as a mistress. A mistress and her child housed at the edge of the estate. Even so, this butler showed proper respect to both Philz and his mother. He came all the way to this detached residence and greeted him before even the maids did, so Philz was always encouraged by his sincerity.

“Good morning. Where would you like to take breakfast today?”

“With Mother, if she is feeling well. If not, here is fine.”

Philz was twelve this year. Until recently, he shared meals in the main residence with his siblings, but with his mother’s strained relationship with the first wife, his relationships with his siblings had naturally soured. Now, he was almost entirely forbidden from entering the main residence, though Philz didn’t mind it much. 

He had said, “if Mother is feeling well,” but he had not seen her face in half a year, so in practice, Philz felt as though he was nearly living alone. What he had just said was little more than a daily confirmation.

“Understood. I shall go and confirm. As for your schedule today… My deepest apologies. Young Master Serge and Young Lady Elseria will be taking their lessons again today, so…”

Those were the first wife’s two children. Serge was his elder brother by two years. Elseria was his younger sister by one. On days when they did not take lessons, the hired teacher was supposed to be summoned to this detached residence so that Philz could receive instruction. Today, in fact, should have been one of those days.

Apparently, there had been a change of plans due to the first wife’s harassment. At this point, he had no choice but to give up. Since he was being allowed to live in a mansion like this for free, without even paying rent, even Philz felt reluctant to ask for more.

“I understand. Then I’ll go into town again today.”

“…Understood. As for the guards…”

“I don’t need any.”

Although the answer never changed, Canal always asked. Until several years ago, guards had secretly followed him from a distance even when he said he did not need them. But after Philz had seen through their presence several times, they had truly stopped accompanying him.

Philz had spoken with them directly and even demonstrated his ability, which finally made them give up. In truth, the guards likely had no desire to trouble themselves over a child born to a mother from nomadic people, even if he was the son of the second wife. If they involved themselves with him, they would attract the first wife’s ire and naturally, they would want to avoid that.

More than anything, Philz went into town under a false name and a false background. If some clumsy guard followed him, there was a chance his true identity would be exposed from there. When he told them that would be more dangerous, they had fallen silent. It must have been frustrating for them to be outmaneuvered by a child like Philz.

Besides, this world had skills and mana. Many people could sense the presence of others instinctively. The longer someone had worked as a guard, the more keenly they understood the limits of their own ability, and the quicker they became to concede.

“Has Father returned yet?”

“My apologies… There has been no reply to your letters either…”

“I see… Don’t worry about it. Send another letter to Father today.”

“Understood… Then, please excuse me.”

“Mm.”

Canal looked apologetic to the very end. He felt that way because he knew he could not properly reign in the maids and servants of this mansion.

In places beyond Canal’s watch, the servants came to harass Philz under the first wife’s orders. That was precisely why Canal came in person every morning, to prevent anyone else from doing anything foolish.

“What a troublesome job… Compared with him…”

His father’s rank was a Duke. Apparently, he held the position of prime minister. Due to that, he rarely returned from the royal capital to the domain where Philz and the others lived.

Although he knew about the strained relationship between the first wife and Philz’s mother, he disliked getting involved and seemed to have become a workaholic, always burying himself in work. This was information he had gathered through intelligence in town, rather than the people of the estate. It was highly reliable information from a skilled spy.

“What an utterly spineless man…”

Philz had almost no memories of his father and mother from his previous life. According to the sensory impressions that remained, however, it felt as though they had not been all that different from his present situation.

A father who lived for work rather than family. A mother who, though he was not certain whether it had involved infidelity, had been consumed with thoughts of another woman connected to his father. Both had their hands full with themselves. Naturally, their child had been a secondary concern.

To begin with, he remembered thinking a countless number of times that if they were already overwhelmed with themselves, they should never have had children. At the time, he had probably been nothing more than a child who could only harbor dissatisfaction. But now was different. Because he could view the situation objectively, he could at least think of possible solutions.

As usual, breakfast was to be taken in his room because his mother was unwell. He could tell that a trace amount of a drug had been mixed into the soup. The poisons of this world were not chemical substances. Drugs made from medicinal herbs were mainstream. Since they could be obtained easily, building up resistance was not particularly difficult.

Incidentally, his mother’s poor health was not due to things like this, but primarily mental in nature, so there was probably no need to worry. The first wife did not want to harm his mother. She only wanted to take away what belonged to her. It was retaliation for having her beloved husband stolen. From Philz’s perspective, it was an absurd case of collateral damage; an intolerable nuisance.

Philz ate the hard bread by soaking it in that soup. Since it was harassment, the toxicity was not strong. In that case, he would use it to build up his resistance. Even if he was bedridden, he had nothing in particular to do, so his stance was to do whatever he wanted.

The maid serving him, unaware of all this, kept anxiously letting her gaze wander. She was the one who had put it in. For the past month, she had been trembling like this every time she served him a meal. He was getting thoroughly sick of it.

“Your name was Slan, wasn’t it?”

“Eek, y-yes…”

“Clear this away. Also… it ruins a perfectly good meal. It’s an insult to the cook, so if you’re going to put something in, put it in the tea.”

“!”

Without looking at her as she gasped sharply, Philz stood, took two letters from the drawer of his desk, and returned.

“Give this letter to Lady Mirialia. And this one is a letter of introduction. Do as you like with it.”

Mirialia was the name of the first wife. As always, that letter politely and indirectly conveyed that he had no intention of associating with her side, and that there was no need for her to continue harassing him.

“A-A letter… of introduction…”

“If you feel guilty right now, then leave this place and go elsewhere. This time, go to a mansion with a master who won’t order you to do anything so foolish.”

“Ph-Philz, Young Mas…”

“Go.”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

When he intimidated her a little, her face turned extremely blue, and she hurriedly cleared the table and left the room. Even when shaken, she neither broke a plate nor overturned anything. That alone proved she was highly competent. Philz had anticipated as much and written the letter of introduction accordingly. It even bore Canal’s signature.

“Hah… It’s about time. As for Mother… if she’s only going to keep breaking like this, maybe I should think about breaking her first.”

After drinking a larger amount of water to dilute the drug, Philz slipped out of the mansion alone.

◆　◆　◆

The town was reasonably lively. However, when he considered that his father, the prime minister, held the rank of Duke, it felt somewhat lacking.

“Oh, if it isn’t Fil. Been two days, hasn’t it? Come by my place for lunch. The Pickborua meat you hunted the other day is just about ready to eat.”

The proprietress of a dining house, who had been sweeping in front of her shop, called out to him. When Philz went into town, he went by the name “Fil”. A Pickborua was a magic beast resembling a large boar.

“Got it.”

“Good. Then I’ll let my man know. It’s a promise, all right?”

“Yeah. I’m looking forward to it.”

“You’d better!”

Responding to the waving proprietress, Philz strode unhesitatingly toward his destination.

At the moment, Philz had altered his distinctive hair and eyes to the black commonly seen among commoners by using a magic device for a spell called 【Dark Color Conversion】.

Philz had created this magic device after reading a book called 『Magic and Magic Devices from Antiquity』, which he had brought to his room from the main residence’s library when he was young. It seemed he had been interested in crafts and inventions since his previous life, and when he had become old enough to read, that book had looked as though it were glittering before his eyes. From the bottom of his heart, he had felt that this was what he had been searching for.

According to that book, this world had mana, but apparently did not use it as so-called magic. Instead, magic devices converted mana’s attributes, gave it directionality, and activated the effect. Even offensive magic was said to presuppose the use of a magic device as an auxiliary tool.

If one had little mana, one used magic stones. Those with innately high mana, like nobles, were apparently considered impressive because they did not use magic stones. When he learned that some of them acted high and mighty over nothing more than that, it had left him feeling unpleasant.

In the same way as with his hair and eyes, he used a magic device for a spell called 【Costume Conversion】, which instantly changed his clothing and outfit. Right now, he had changed into an adventurer’s attire.

Philz’s mother, Clarus, was from the nomadic people. She had worked as a dancer and storyteller. Apparently, Clarus’s mother had been a dancer, while her father had been a minstrel. Clarus seemed to have inherited the best of both, and when Philz was still young, she had sung songs and shown him dances. She sang, narrated, and danced like a stage actress. It was almost like performing a play all on her own.

In that case, costume transformation was basically a quick-change act, Philz had thought, driven by some inexplicable curiosity, and had ended up completing the thing he had imagined.

That said, because he had made it on impulse when he was young, he found it a little embarrassing. After all, he had thought that it could also be used for the sort of transformation a hero might perform. He had blushed at how childish that was, and even after completing it, he had put it away for a while, so neither his mother nor anyone else knew about it.

The guards who used to follow him had probably assumed he was changing clothes somewhere. At first, he had used a wig for his hair color, and for his eye color, he had used eye drops that could turn them black, though only for a short time. Even if a guard were assigned to him now, they likely would not find it suspicious. That said, Philz could now shake them off cleanly, so either way, it would not be a problem.

As he walked through town, a male adventurer he knew called out to him.

“Oh. If it isn’t little Fil. You never picked up your reward from that Treant hunt the other day, did you? The folks at the Guild have been getting restless, wondering when you’d show up.”

“…I forgot.”

“Seriously…?”

Philz had been heading for the Adventurers’ Guild. It was an organization that arranged jobs for those registered in the occupation known as an adventurer. The registration fee was three large silver coins. Converted to Japanese yen, would that be around 3,000 yen. In a world where earning even one large silver coin a day was difficult, it was quite expensive. However, the card issued upon registration was a proper magic device with functions similar to a cash card. It was only natural that it would be costly.

That registration fee could be paid later. Since the organization existed for people who had no money, a measure like that was only to be expected.

First, during the trial period, one accepted simple odd jobs around town for very low pay, which was then applied toward the registration fee, and these jobs came with supervision. The supervisor was either someone at the workplace or an active adventurer; it was annoying, but unavoidable.

Moreover, Philz thought it was a well-designed system. Since the reward was being deducted as the registration fee, the pay was low, but work was still work. If people did not do it properly, the Guild would have trouble as well.

Philz had earned his registration fee this way too. In general, five or six jobs such as weeding, dishwashing, cleaning, or sorting work were enough to cover the fee somehow. He had done those after the guards stopped following him.

Until then, in order to build knowledge of medicinal herbs and improve his stamina, he had walked around town and outside the town near the outer gate. Alongside that, he had also been allowed to help with dishwashing and other work at the dining house from earlier.

He had explained to the guards that he wanted to learn how people in town lived. As thanks for helping, the shop would give him an allowance or food. He had continued that steadily. Therefore, he did not dislike the jobs he took to pay for the registration fee.

Apparently, most people who came wanting to become adventurers disliked those first odd jobs. They were probably dreaming of stylishly hunting magic beasts and earning money that way. There would always be people who could not understand that doing work like that right from the start was impossible.

“Most people don’t forget to pick up their rewards, you know.”

The man said this as they entered the Adventurers’ Guild together.

“That’s because you dump your entire day’s reward into drinks at night, right? You’re a grown man, old-timer. Save some money.”

“Y-You little, that’s forbidden for us adventurers!”

The surrounding adventurers, who had apparently heard their conversation, nodded along in agreement. Watching them, Philz furrowed his brow.

“Which part? Don’t tell me you actually think it’s cool to live without a coin to your name by morning. What are you doing, advertising yourselves as useless adults who can’t plan their lives?”

In this world, people felt relieved as long as they could earn enough money to live for the day. People only lived in the present. He understood that they had so little margin for error, but the ones who would suffer for it were them.

“That! All of that! Every single bit of that is taboo! Also, that calm side of you is scary… and because you’ve got such a pretty face, it stings even more…”

When Philz, who had a beautiful face despite being a boy, said it, the blunt truth seemed to pierce the hearts of the rugged male adventurers. Normally, no one would want to hear something like that from a twelve-year-old child. But Philz wanted to say it anyway. They were his colleagues. And the adventurers in this town were, so to speak, his seniors and juniors working at the same shop.

Philz stopped and said,

“I’m worried about you. You might be fine now, but what are you going to do when you can’t move anymore? Imagine dying alone. If you die fighting, well… you could probably accept that… But what if you can’t even stay at an inn anymore and end up alone on the roadside, unable to move? You’d be trembling in the cold of night, thinking that if only you had even a little of the money left from those drinks back then, you might have been able to buy medicine.”

“““…”””

The inside of the Guild fell deathly silent.

“Don’t go thinking that men who spend money freely are popular, either. Once women get married, they start wanting someone steady and sincere. If you don’t properly bring money home, you’ll end up getting cast aside.”

“““…”””

Adventurers were always trying to look good. They wanted women to think they were generous with money as well. In fact, since they did spend that much money in the moment, it was not as if they had none. They would be dead broke afterward, but they had enough to pay at the time. That made some women judge them as worth marrying.

However, once they actually got married, women would become dissatisfied unless all the money they had once spent freely to show off went into the household. At that point, their way of life would begin to diverge from what it had been until then. And then the relationship would fall apart.

“Well, either way, if you can’t save money and manage your finances, the ones who’ll suffer in the end are you. Without money, you can’t even make a proper life plan in the first place.”

“““…”””

Leaving the adventurers standing there with their mouths half-open and unmoving, Philz headed to the reception counter.

“I’m here to collect the reward for the Treant hunt. Also, if there are any good requests, bring them out. I’m free for the whole day.”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

Treants were monsters that disguised themselves as trees. They were harder than ordinary trees and could be used for magic devices, making them good materials. Another benefit was that, unlike other magic beasts and monsters, they had no entrails or other parts that needed to be discarded. However, they were extremely territorial and mercilessly attacked anyone who approached them thinking they were trees, making them very dangerous monsters.

After having the reward deposited onto his adventurer registration card, he accepted a goblin extermination request that they said they wanted resolved as quickly as possible.

The reward for this Treant hunt was two gold coins. 20,000 yen. On top of that came the purchase price for the Treant materials. The purchase price was five gold coins. Thus, his income came to 70,000 yen. Considering that even a mid-ranking adventurer could barely earn one gold coin in a day, it was a considerable haul. Philz had the skill to earn that much.

“I’m off.”

“Ah, yes! Please take care, and have a safe trip!”

“Mm.”

“““!”””

Philz glanced back slightly at the Guild employee who had properly seen him off and smiled. Philz was unquestionably beautiful in appearance, and when he smiled at them, the employee and the adventurers who saw it turned bright red.

—