SIAW Vol. 1 Chapter 1
Chapter 1 – To the Pioneers’ Village
Seconds ago, I was sitting in front of the desk of the facility’s office. Yet now, all I could see was wide, green plains.
A grassland I had never seen on the facility island.
No matter how much destruction I caused, the facility returned to its original state the next day. I had thus seen the same scenery for 15 years, so I remembered it well.
The training was over…really over!!
The realization that the eternal torment of the training period was finally over, filled me with joy. It’s even more than being reborn.
Fighting back the tears of joy brimming in my eyes, I thought I should ensure I was in a safe place first. The woman who acted as my guide was a proven liar: it wouldn’t be strange if she had sent me to a dangerous location.
I used the Map skill to check my surroundings.
I learned the skill when I leveled up the Space Magic skill “Spatial Cognition” and “Memory” to 3.
The Existence Cognition skill — the advanced form of “Presence Detection” — fused with the Map skill, letting me see the presence of monsters, etc. in a 5 km radius.
In my current location, there were no monsters in a 100m radius, at least.
I could see a Horn Rabbit about 120 meters away. The map showed the exact location of monsters and a simple display with their name and level.
If I focused on the monster displayed, I could see more details, but I didn’t need to at the moment.
In the wider 5km radius there were packs of Goblin and Forest Wolf monsters. The numbers were a bit higher than expected, but they weren’t a threat anyway.
I had the Physical Resistance and Magic Resistance skill, and my stats were high enough, so the monsters around here wouldn’t be able to hurt me.
I felt relieved, knowing that I hadn’t been transported to an especially dangerous place.
According to the map, proceeding straight north for about 600 meters led to a road, but unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any people in a 5km radius. The presence of a road, however, meant that there were people somewhere.
The next thing I did was to check my belongings.
I was wearing the same clothes I had when I started the training; A shirt and a pair of trousers in cotton and linen, and leather shoes. The robe I had was pretty ordinary too; the only piece of armor I had was a leather breastplate. The short sword hanging at my waist was the only weapon I had, apparently.
I was also carrying a small bag on my back.
I checked inside it, and found a knife, black bread, dried meat and salt. There were a few spare pairs of cotton underwear too. I had another small leather pouch, with some coins inside. I counted them: 20 gold coins, 100 silver coins, 100 bronze coins. I had no idea about the value of money in this world, though.
There were an endless number of books in the training facility’s library, but they were all technical books or illustrated compendiums about monsters or the like: they deliberately hid any information about this world, maybe.
In the training facility I had clothes, armor, and weapons I made myself, using materials dropped by the monsters. The clothes were extremely comfortable to wear and were imbued with all sorts of enchantments, so it was a shame that they were all gone now.
The Item Box was reset too: there was nothing inside. I had long lost count of all the stuff I had inside it, though.
I put only the money I found inside the pouch in the Item Box, then started walking towards the road.
While walking, I picked up pebbles and put them in the Item Box.
In the latter half of the training period, I mostly used magic, but I didn’t know how magic was seen in this world. I thus thought I would rely only on my Sword Arts and Throwing skills for the time being. Unless I was in danger and forced to resort to it, at least…
I didn’t know if having an Item Box was something I could safely disclose to other people or not either. It would be too inconvenient not to use it, though, so I decided I would say that I had the Storage skill, the lower-grade version of Item Box.
While I was picking up medicinal herbs and other materials, a Horn Rabbit attacked me, so I caught it with my bare hands and finished it with the short sword. I immediately let the blood out and stored the carcass.
～
I was walking normally, so I arrived at the road after about 20 minutes.
The next thing to do was to decide in which direction to go.
I used the Flight spell and soared 30 meters straight up, to see where the road would lead to.
To the east, the road proceeded through a forest, followed by a hill. There didn’t seem to be any houses.
I turned to the west and found what looked like a village, surrounded by a wooden fence. Using the Farsight skill, I could see some human-like silhouettes.
I landed on the ground and headed towards the village to the west.
Thinking that I might be able to meet people after so long, I felt like running.
Somehow, I managed to hold the excitement at bay.
As I proceeded, I saw a guinea fowl. I shot it down with my Throwing skill, quickly let the blood out, and stored the carcass.
I ate guinea fowl often at the training facility: the meat was delicious, especially fried. I didn’t have enough ingredients to cook it like that now, but it was very delicious even just salted. The meat was juicy, and tastier at every bite.
At one point during the training, I hunted guinea fowl almost every day. There were about 20 of them on the island, and they returned every day, so I could hunt them down without worrying about causing their extinction.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
I kept walking while indulging in such thoughts, and soon enough the village’s wooden fence was in view.
There was a large wooden gate too, presently shut tight. There was a sort of lookout tower next to it, with a beastman on top of it.
Humans with animal ears!! They really existed!!
The beastman on the lookout tower had a rough beard and looked pretty tough. I could tell that he was watching me closely, highly alert.
When I was closer, the beastman yelled loudly.
“Stop right there, boy! What did you come to this village for?”
The beastman’s words reminded me that my current body was that of a fourteen years old.
My previous life ended at thirty three, followed by fifteen years in the training facility, so I was actually forty eight already. When I started the training I was given a fourteen years old boy’s body, however, it didn’t grow at all during the training.
I didn’t have a mirror, so I still didn’t fully grasp the fact that I had turned younger.
More importantly, though…for the first time in fifteen years, I heard someone else’s voice. Even if it was from a rough and burly beastman, I was happy beyond words. I somehow suppressed the feelings welling up inside and answered.
“I-I got lost on the road…!”
To think that talking with someone else would give me so much joy!!
“B-Boy!? Are you crying!?”
Only then did I notice the tears streaming down my cheeks. My Mental Fortitude skill was level 9, but I couldn’t contain my joy completely, after all.
“I-I’b sorry…”
That was all I could muster.
You carried me through all that training period!! Mental Fortitude, get to work already!! I’m a 48 year old man inside, it’s too embarrassing to cry like this!!
“Fine, fine, don’t cry!! Put your weapon on the ground and walk five steps back!”
I did as I was told; I put down the short sword and walked backward.
I looked up at the tower: another person appeared, who seemed to be humankin.
The two spoke for a bit, then the beastman disappeared from the tower.
After a while, I heard a noise from the gate, which opened slightly.
The beastman from before came out and approached me. He cautiously walked up to where I placed the short sword, picked it up, removed it from the sheath, and looked at it closely.
He then looked at me again, still alert. He then sighed.
“Don’t look at me like that, kid, these are the village’s rules. Do you have any other weapons?”
I had no idea what kind of look I had on my face, so his words left me clueless.
I probably looked like a five year old kid, biting his lower lip, trying hard not to cry.
Just in case, I checked the beastman with the Appraisal skill. He was a level 28 Wolf Beastman. He was 10 levels higher than me, but his stats were much lower than mine.
He might be a tough-looking beastman, but he was still a person. A person was so close to me…! I had to fight back the urge to run up and hug him.
I took off my leather bag and handed it to him.
“There’s a knife inside…*sobbing*”
When I spoke, it became harder to hold back the tears.
“Hey, Ranga!! What are you doing, making kids cry like that!?”
The other man on the lookout tower called to the beastman.
“I didn’t threaten him or anything, Jeet!!”
The wolfman called Ranga replied while looking at the contents of my bag.
“This is all the luggage you have?”
I nodded and Ranga continued.
“Fine then, you’re coming with me to see the elder. I’ll keep your stuff for now, is that alright?”
Feeling a sort of kindness in his voice, I felt even more tears welling up.
I was sure they would come out if I spoke, so I just nodded. Ranga looked at me and sighed.
After that, I followed him inside the gate.
～
After we entered, the gate was closed again, with a bar.
The man called Jeet had come down from the tower too. He seemed younger than Ranga, kind of laid-back and aloof, but easier to talk to.
“Jeet, keep this weapon in the watchtower’s shack. I’m taking the boy to the elder, you stand watch.”
“Yessir!!”
“What’s your name, kid?”
“Tenma, sir.”
“How old are you?”
“I’m for…fourteen.”
I almost said I was forty-eight.
“Fourteen…so you’re of age already. You have to eat properly, or you’ll never grow big.”
Ranga looked at me with a kind of pity in his eyes.
During the training period, I tried to exercise to become a “thin but muscular” type, so I probably looked frail from above my clothes.
In my past life, I was probably about 165cm tall when I was 14. And I was still growing: as an adult, I was around 175cm tall. I hoped I would grow more in this life too.
“Come, this way.”
I obeyed and followed Ranga into the village.