3rd person point of view.
Continuing from the previous chapter…
The next chapter will return back to the main character.
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There was a pure white space. All the humans who boarded the train this morning were gathered there, forced to choose a card by an old man who claimed to be god. They were surrounded by a dazzling light before disappearing.
Sano, who was in the eleventh grade, was one of them too. When Sano had chosen his card and confirmed it, he closed his eyes due to the bright light.
“Are you serious..?” When he opened his eyes once again, the words that left his mouth were tinted with surprise.
Sano was standing on a gently sloped hill. From there, he could see a big mountain, a village spread out at its foot, as well as the endless nature beyond.
“Damn it! What on earth am I supposed to do in a place like this?!” Sano cursed while putting his hand into his pocket to take out his cellphone.
There might be a possibility that this place is Japan, and cellphones would be useable. Sano harboured that slight hope inside his mind.
First, he shoved his hand into the right pocket, next was the left pocket, and then, he dug further into his blazer’s pocket. But...
“Oi! This is a lie, right? My cellphone is missing!” He complained.
Before being able to confirm his last hope, he found that his cellphone was missing. There was only a wallet in his pockets.
“Come to think of it...” Sano noticed that the card he chose just minutes ago was missing from his hand.
For a moment, he wondered if he lost it. He thought and panicked while looking at the ground, looking for the card [Sword Talent] [Small]. However, if it was an ability, it would be normal to think that the card would disappear.
“First, what should I do now?” Even though he muttered so, he didn’t actually have to think for long.
First of all, he needed to go to a place with people. He felt like he should go to the village which he saw at the foot of the mountain.
Just as Sano took his first step...
“W-What?” He could hear sounds coming from behind him, making body jerk to a stop unintentionally.
He had made sure that there wasn’t anyone around when he checked the surroundings just now.
Sano whimpered from the tension. He knew that his heartbeat was speeding up. But, he thought ‘wait a moment!’ If someone were to appear in this situation...
Thinking up to there, Sano peered behind him cautiously. A young man wearing a black gakuran stoodbehind him. In other words, a person from the white room earlier.
“Don’t scare me!” Sano snarled.
“M-My bad.” The other man stuttered.
“So? Did you also come from that white place?” Sano questioned.
“Y-Yeah…” The student replied timidly.
“Anyway, I feel reassured. it would be unbearable if I was the only one here.” Sano stated.
“Ah... Ah, me too...” The newly summoned man mumbled.
Sano thought that he was a weird guy who only replied softly and vaguely. However, he had been concerned about something since a while ago.
“Hey, what’s that thing you’re holding?” Sano asked.
The thing held by the man easily exceeded 1 meter in length, and could only be a sword.
“The... The card I got from the old man from before became a sword.” He held it in both of his hands like a child boasting about his treasure.
“Are you serious?! What?! That’s a sword right? Which reminds me, the old man did say something about weapons as well.” Sano mused.
“The… The description was [Considerably Good Sword].” The other man informed him proudly.
“Oh, is that so? I see.” Sano nodded.
God did say that he would team up people who pulled a low grade card with another person.
[TL: so apparently I mistranslated that the god will pair the person with low grade to higher grade. That is the reason why the mc is being sent alone. Sorry for the trouble.]
“Your sword... How many stars does it have?” Sano asked.
“Eh? Uh, only one.” The student answered.
As Sano had guessed. God didn’t say anything about the stars on the cards. However, the guy before his eyes didn’t seem to think anything about the star ranking.
“I’m Sano Tsutomu. You are?” Sano introduced himself.
“Su... Suzunose Kai. What is... Sano-kun’s card?” Suzunose asked hesitantly.
“Me? Mine is [Sword Talent].” Suzunose replied vaguely.
“Err... Is... Is that a great thing?” Kai asked, confused.
“Well, I think it’s... It’s decent..?” Sano replied unsurely.
That was a lie. The [small] and [★] written on the card… If you had seen those, you would immediately know that Sano’s card was worthless .
Sano then understood why Suzunose hadn’t noticed the meaning of the number of stars.
[Considerably Good Sword] [★]
There was a distracting [Considerably Good] portion, so Suzunose must have overlooked it. But well, it should be fine as it is. It wasn’t necessary for me to tell him.
For the time being, Sano and Suzunose headed towards the village at the foot of the mountain.
The fields were spread out, and the houses were scattered around sparsely. The fields weren’t that big, which means that the village’s life wasn’t dependent on farming, or so Sano concluded.
When they arrived at the edge of the village, Sano called out to the man who had been looking at them cautiously from his field.
“Excuse me! We are travelers! Is there some place for us to stay in in this village?” Sano shouted.
It would be too awkward and one-sided if they were to ask for a place to permanently stay in this village since they didn’t have any place else to go. Therefore, it was better to be thought of as travelers, and stay in the village for several days while gathering information for the future, or so Sano planned.
“...Money, do you have any?” The villager approached Sano grumpily.
“Eh, no. We don’t have any, but...” Sano floundered.
The villager frowned upon hearing Sano’s answer. His face showed blatant disgust. Sano thought that he must have answered badly.
“A-Ah, that’s right! We have gold! But, it’s foreign gold! Perhaps it would be worth some money!” Sano took out the wallet from his pocket breast, and retrieved a coin.
Then, the villager’s hand extended towards Sano abruptly, making him squeak in alarm. But, he didn’t even have time to complain. His wallet was in the hands of the villager, and after he confirmed the contents, he put it inside his pocket.
“Hmm, this is good. I will settle it with the village chief.” The villager stated before taking Sano and Suzunose to the village chief’s house for a simple interview.
The village chief seemed to have understood their circumstances, and said [If you work well, I wouldn’t mind if you stay in this village for the rest of your life.]
Since there seemed to be an abandoned house, Sano and Suzunose were allowed to stay in the village
The villager escorted them to their house, and Sano murmured something along the lines of ‘give me a break’.
“Is this the house that we’ll live in..?”
In front of them was a ragged hut with only one room inside.
After entering the house, Sano sat down. On the other hand, Suzunose remained standing uncomfortably. It was natural since Suzunose had remained silent until now, and left everything to Sano.
“Hey, why didn’t you say anything just now?” Without trying to hide his displeasure, Sano complained to Suzunose.
“S-Sorry.” Suzunose apologized and hung his head.
“Well, it’s fine, I suppose. Just don’t do it again.” Sano decided to let it go.
“U-Understood.” Suzunose nodded furiously.
“Hey, can you lend me that sword for moment?” Sano asked.
“Eh..?” Suzunose held his sword protectively.
It was Suzunose’s only mental support. On the way to the village, Sano has asked for permission to touch the sword, but had been rejected.
That was why Sano thought that he couldn’t possibly decline since he was indebted to him now.
“Hey, isn’t it okay? My card is [Sword Talent]. Aren’t we grouped together because of this?” Sano urged.
“But...” Suzunose bit his lip.
“Ha... I was robbed of my wallet to get this house.” Sano muttered loudly, wanting it to sound like he was mumbling to himself, but those words were clearly meant for Suzunose to hear.
“A-Alright, I understand...” Sano’s words had unexpectedly affected Suzunose more than expected, and he finally agreed to lend his sword to him.
“Oh, my bad.” Sano accepted the sword that was handed out, and grasped the handle in his hand.
Could this strangely familiar feeling towards the sword be an illusion? Or, could it be the ability of [Sword Talent]?
When he pulled the it out of its sheath, the blade shone like a mirror, causing Sano to release a sigh of admiration.
Sano went out with the sword drawn. Behind him, Suzunose followed while seeming to want to say something.
“Waa! Ho!” Sano swung the sword cheerfully.
At the beginning, the sword was quite heavy, and Sano was thrown off by its weight. However, after swinging it several times, he came to understand the best way to swing it. Somehow, the sharpness of the sword seemed to increase gradually too.
“This [Sword Talent] is incredible!” Sano raised his voice joyfully.
His athletic ability was originally average. So something like this happening was the first time.
“Oi, oi! Isn’t this like I am some kind of a genius?!” Sano laughed smugly.
He was fascinated by his ability. Was this what first-class professional athletes in the previous world had been feeling?
(How unfair! Those people were relying on talent!)
Sano cursed inside his mind while grinning.
He had attained a talent similar to those professional athletes, so it was natural for him to not be able to stop laughing.
“Fuu...” Before long, Sano stop swinging the sword to take a break.
Suzunose had been waiting for a while, and was about to call out to him when at that moment, Sano started to run.
“Ah!” Suzunose screamed.
Sano headed toward a thin tree
“Haa!” With a shout, Sano swung the sword horizontally.
The slash could be considered magnificent according to the standards of an amatuer. Again, just to emphasise, an amatuer, that is.
Then, the tree was split exactly into half right in the middle. The top half fell heavily, and rolled onto the ground.
Sano and Suzunose’s lives in the village started. Their work consisted of fishing, picking fruits, mushrooms, and edible wild plants in mountain and rivers throughout spring to fall, and when it was winter, they went hunting.
At present, it was spring, the same season as Japan. Sano and Suzunose were plucking weeds and plowing the ruined field with wooden hoes.
Not used to farm work, they had muscle pains everyday. Swinging the wooden hoe once wouldn’t till the soil deep enough, so they had to plow the same place several times. But, they still worked desperately.
Well, it was only Suzunose, and not Sano.
In the beginning, Sano plowed the fields together with Suzunose, but afterwards, he had only been following the villagers to pick edible wild plants. That was because that was easier. Sometimes, he would work with Suzunose on the fields, and at that time, Sano would exert a power beyond his limit to show off how easy fieldwork was to him.
Suzunose may be timid, but that didn’t mean that he was without pride. Looking at how Sano seemed to be able to work on the field calmly, he tried to work on the field desperately. This way, Sano was able to focus on the easy work of collecting edible wild plants.
Eventually they became accustomed to life in the village.
However, Sano was not satisfied with this. It was natural because in this world, everything was barely enough. Still, there were many things he needed to do. It could be said that they were so busy everyday that there was no room for boredom.
Anyway, Sano wanted to eat something that could satisfy him. Then, what could he do? Therefore, hunting was the answer for Sano.
It was said that the humans in this village only hunt in winter. As hunting involves life-threatening risks, there was no reason to do it from spring to autumn when food was abundant. Also, the activity of the beasts in the mountain would decline in winter, which was also another reason that made hunting easier.
When spring was about to end, Sano was suggesting that he go out to hunt.
“You know, since I am going hunting, can you lend me your sword?” Sano asked.
“Ugh...” Suzunose showed a dissatisfied expression when he heard Sano’s suggestion.
But, Sano knew that Suzunose was the type that was weak to pressure.
(There was such a guy in my class too. The guy couldn’t speak his mind and was always careful of relationships with others.)
Suzunose was someone who couldn’t speak his own mind clearly. Sano kept asking for the sword under the pretext of his former achievements, and before long, he succeeded in making Suzunose lend his sword to him.
The next day, Sano entered the mountains, the place where people only go to during winter, alone. Scratching the trees along the way so he wouldn’t get lost, he advanced deep into the mountains.
After a short while, a wild boar appeared in front of him. Sano recognized the wild boar as a pig. It was a slow witted animal which exists only to be hunted by humans.
In the previous world’s TV shows, wild boars were often depicted falling victim to the hunters’ guns easily.
“Heh… The lowest level monster to be subdued, huh?” With confidence, Sano removed the sword from its sheath.
But, it was different. When its territory was invaded, it had became angry, and the wild boar that charged with the speed of a car was a being to be feared of.
“Hii!” Sano shrieked.
He was able to move his body to avoid the wild boar instead of freezing on the spot, which may be thanks to the experience from playing sports. But, the wild boar changed its direction and made a curve, heading towards Sano again.
(Are you serious?! Shit!)
Sano cursed.
However, when the boar was about to smash into him, Sano took one clumsy step and moved his body sideways. The move decided the outcome of their clash.
Sano avoided the wild boar’s charge right before they clashed, and swung his sword instinctively, slashing the wild boar from it’s lower jaw to the tip of its nose. The boar squealed one last time before collapsing .
“T-This bastard!” Sano turned to stab the head of the wild boar furiously.
With the power of [Sword Talent] combined with [Considerably Good Sword], he was able to cut through the hard skull of the wild boar easily. Blood gushed out from the wild boar’s head, and it stopped moving completely. It had died.
“Y-Yeah! I did it! Serves you right!” Sano cheered loudly, sneering at the boar’s corpse.
Excitement. Sano felt an indescribable feeling swelling in his chest.
He had won and lived on while the wild boar was defeated and lost its life. It was clear who was on winning and losing side. The sense of superiority built up inside of him, and satisfied his heart.
(Who would be able to do something like this besides me? A high school student who can kill a wild boar with a sword would only be me!)
The surge of his conceit increased and even extended to comparing himself with the previous world’s ordinary people. Sano displayed his power once more by letting loose a loud battle cry.
“Heh, if the people in the village saw this, they would surely be surprised.” Sano imagined the look of awe from the villagers as he dragged the heavy boar down the mountain after his excitement had settled.
“You... That.!.” At the foot of the mountain, the villagers doubted their eyes when they saw Sano dragging the wild boar.
Wild boars were dangerous creatures. The tusks that stuck up from it’s lower jaw can easily pierce through a person’s flesh and rip into the blood vessels. It was able to move quickly, and its body was also protected by a thick layer of meat. A group of people would be needed to kill it. And that was the case for winter, when it’s movement was dulled from cold.
But, Sano hunted a wild boar during its active season in spring, and managed to defeat it with a sword alone. This was something to be surprised about .
“Hey, this wild boar sure is heavy, huh?” Chuckling nonchalantly, Sano acted as if it was an everyday thing.
From that day onwards, Sano became a hero of the village. Once every few days, Sano would go hunting and bring a big game back home. The quantity of meat acquired was something that Sano and Suzunose couldn’t finish eating alone. So, the remainder of the meat was distributed to the villagers.
The villagers who received the meat were wholeheartedly pleased and showered Sano with praise. When Sano took down a bear, they even conducted a small festival, and made Sano the guest of honour. From then on, the [Considerably Good Sword] started to settle on Sano’s waist naturally.
One day, they had a conversation.
“U-Um... The sword... Can you lend that to me..?” Suzunose approached Sano who was lying down.
“What for?” Sano yawned.
“Oh, for me to exercise.” Suzunose mumbled.
“Hmmm… Well, it’s fine. Remember to return it back later, okay?” Sano had treated the [Considerably Good Sword] as his own thing, and Suzunose wasn’t able to say anything against that too.
One year had passed since they first came to the village. It was the 2nd spring in the foreign world for Sano and Suzunose.
Recently, Sano was full of dissatisfaction towards life in the village. Having extra leisure time, everyday felt so boring. Without having anything to do, he missed the life he had from the previous world.
Even if he wanted to play with women, there were only conservative women of the suburbs . As soon as he tried to hold their hands, he would be choked with the word ‘marriage’.
Above all, Sano felt great dissatisfaction having to share a house with Suzunose. Living with Suzunose felt like a burden.
Sano would hand over the game he hunted to villagers, and they would skin it and later, he would receive half of it. The furs (asset) had already piled into a tower in their house. All of them were earned entirely by Sano alone.
As for Suzunose, he had only worked on the fields. Once in awhile, he would talk about fertilizers to appeal his work, but that didn’t matter to Sano. What Suzunose had contributed was only the [Considerably Good Sword]. Now, even that had settled by Sano’s side.
At that time, a merchant came to the village. The merchant travelled around villages in spring to stock up on furs obtained from hunting in winter. Sano went to hear a story from the merchant to kill time. Then the merchant talked about life in town which seemed like paradise.
Inside Sano, there was always the longing for town life. He thought that if it was the city, life would be more enjoyable than this shabby village. Above anything else, he was curious about how far he could go with his [Sword Talent].
He had been thinking leaving for a long time, but he couldn’t gather his determination. Now, he won’t waver anymore.
Sano sold all of the furs to the merchant, and on that evening, he fled from the village with the [Considerably Good Sword] on his waist.
The next day, it was said that screams could be heard all day from a certain house.