Bocchi the Bard (Bocchi the Rock!/Konosuba)

No, it couldn’t be, right? Was that… pram moving?

I was probably just tired. I was commuting two hours each way to school, so recently I had been waking up earlier than usual. I wasn't getting any naps in either, because I was worried about my sleeping face.

I shook off the fatigue and checked my phone. No messages.

I looked up and found that the pram still looked like it was moving. The woman I supposed was the mother was chatting to a friend.

I stared at the pram, hard. It wasn’t just the wind on the patterns of the fabric. I think it was definitely moving.

T-that was kind of bad, right?

I looked around. Surely I wasn't the only one seeing this. Was nobody else going to say anything?

Nearby high schoolers were chatting quietly to themselves about something or other. The foreigners with the suitcases were doing the same thing, but more boisterously and frighteningly. The salaryman...

‘Ah…’

It was definitely, definitely moving.

Mr Salaryman over there, please stop drinking and pay attention!

It was still moving. Wasn’t anybody going to notice? Somebody notice the moving pram!

‘A-ah—’

Wait, no way, right? No way, no way, right?

It was moving onto the road!

‘Aaaaahhh!’

I threw myself forwards and pulled the pram back just before it rolled off the curb. Safe!

Then I tripped when my foot stubbed against the floor and continued forwards.

…

Huh? W-why was I standing on a chess board?

A little ways ahead of me, a blue-haired woman with same-coloured eye contacts was sitting on a white throne.

‘Welcome to the afterlife.’

Afterl…

N-no way… I died…?

Just like that…?

I never even managed to speak to any of my new classmates!

Did I really die because I tripped over nothing?

‘Hello?’

My parents. Oh no. I hoped that they wouldn’t cry for too long.

At least they had Futari and Jimihen.

Oh no.

‘Hello?’

What if they tried breaking into my computer to handle my affairs and then found all of the embarrassing songs I wrote.

‘Helloooo?’

W-w-w-what if they discovered my Oh!Tube account and all the embarrassing lies I wrote!

‘Aaaaahhh!’

‘Aaaaaaahhh!’ the woman screamed back.

Aaaaaaaah!

I fell back onto my butt but quickly scrambled to prostrate myself.

‘S-s-s-s-sorry! Sorry, sorry! I-I was a little lost in my thoughts!’

I rubbed my forehead as pitifully as I could against the ground. I’m sorry, afterlife lady! Please forgive me! What if she took offence and sentenced me to Hell because I’d been ignoring her to focus on my own issues?

‘It’s fine. Please raise your head.’

When I refused to do so, she elaborated.

‘People have all sorts of reactions when they find themselves here. You just caught me by surprise because it was so sudden.’

I chanced a look and raised my forehead just a fraction.

I could only see her legs, but she had already stood up from where she had fallen from her throne.

‘Come now’, she said, ‘please stand. I have news for you, both good and ill.’

I still couldn’t find it in myself to stand up. What if this was a trick? I felt… oddly comforted around her, but maybe that was also a trick. Maybe I’d stand up, and then she would suddenly shout, ‘So you really think you’re worthy of standing in my presence? I was just saying that to be polite. Ten thousand years in Hell for you!’ and banish me to Naraka.

I could already see myself being cut up into a thousand pieces. And then even in Naraka, nobody would talk to me.

Everybody else's dismembered body parts would be joining the Arms Gang or maybe the Torso Gang, but my pieces would only have themselves for company. We’d be stuck forming our own gang, the Hitori gang for hitoribocchi body parts.

W-would the tyranny of the extroverts never end…? Even in Hell I’d be…

‘Ah, your legs must be weak from the shock,’ she said. Ah, I needed to pay attention… ‘That’s all right. I suppose it’s not bad that you’re sitting down. To be blunt, you were struck by a truck and flung ten paces down the road. That’s the bad news.’

I knew it. I knew it, but I was hoping that maybe…

‘The good news is that you did not die. It’s been about three days since you were hospitalised, and while stable, your body slumbers in a coma.’

‘A c-coma…?’ I asked.

Did that mean I could wake up? Or maybe not, since I was in the afterlife… Maybe I’d be comatose for life.

The senior nurses would point me out to the new hires and say, ‘Oh, and that’s the girl with no friends. Nobody except her family has ever visited her, so don’t worry about changing the water for the flower vase’.

I’d spend the next sixty years the way I spent my first fifteen and a half - alone. Then when I finally passed away, it would just be Futari’s grandchildren half-heartedly paying for a budget funeral.

Aaaaahhh! I should’ve just said something at the pedestrian crossing!

Why was my life always such an endless stream of bad choices?!

‘It’s not our usual practice to extend such an offer to still living souls, but your act of heroism has impressed enough of us that we’re making an exception.’

I braved a short glance at her. The… goddess? She was smiling at me.

‘W-w-what kind of o-offer… are you t-talking about…?’ I asked. Sometimes I stuttered at home, but it wasn’t usually this bad. Could this have been the first person I’d spoken to in months that wasn’t my family?

It was strange to say this about myself, but that was actually so tragic that I wanted to cry.

The goddess’ smile turned into something more broad.

‘I’m Aqua, the goddess assigned to guide the young souls of Japan. When they pass away, I give them two choices. One is to go to Heaven. The other…’

I watched her flash me an excited look.

‘To be frank, most of the applicants we send through this programme are simply to fill up the ranks. All they need to do is survive and have children. A few, though, we expect more of. You, dear soul, are one of them.’

Lady Aqua quietly explained the program.

This was the gist of it:

There was a high fantasy world where a Demon King was causing trouble. The people in that world were given a choice to go to heaven or reincarnate when they died, but because death at the hands of the Demon King was too terrifying, almost none of them chose the latter.

That’s why the gods and goddesses were sending destined heroes to this world, to survive, have children, and for a select few, to defeat the Demon King.

…I was horrified.

‘B-b-b-b-but I don’t know how to f-f-fight!’ I cried.

‘It does not matter. In this world, as long as you have the courage to try, the knowledge will find you.’

What did that even mean?!

‘W-w-wha…?’

‘Yes?’

Say it! Ask her what she means, Hitori!

‘What do you need me to do?’

Noooooooooooo!

‘We’ll incarnate you in this world with your current body and memories, as well as a “cheat power” as your people call it.’

While I was regretting my lack of a spine, I realised that my eyes had found themselves looking at the ground again.

It was so distracting whenever she uncrossed and recrossed her legs. Why was the fashion in the divine realm so bold…? I could almost see her…

‘So long as you vanquish even one of the Demon King's generals, we shall aid you in rousing from your coma. Should the Demon King fall at the hands of any hero, we shall aid you in rousing from your coma. And who can say? Perchance, should you forge friendships in this new land, you might decide to remain.'

Friends...? Of course... In any adventure story, the hero always had friends.

'Time doesn't run linearly between worlds, so you might simply choose to awaken from your coma after living a full life in this world.'

‘I agree!’ I blurted.

‘Wonderful,’ she said. ‘Shall we move onto the bestowal then?’

A number of sheets of paper appeared on the floor before my eyes.

'In front of you lies a choice, and you must make it wisely. I am able to bestow upon you a single power, be it a unique ability of great strength or a weapon of legend.’

My eyes scanned the cheat powers.

Superhuman strength… Dragon summoning… Flamebrand… Cursed Sword Gram… Crystal Dragon Staff…

…Dragonslaying Bard’s Lute?

‘E-excuse me?’

‘Hm?’

‘W-w-what’s this one?’

Dragonslaying Bard’s Lute

Bestowed with confidence and might
Equal to all who hear its strum
Whoever plays this lute shall be.
Like a dragon thou shalt become.

I moved my gaze down from its flavour text and began reading its item description. Crafted from the bones and entrails of an ancient red dragon, those who strum this old dragonslayer’s lute are g-g-guaranteed to be filled with the courage and inner strength of those they perform to!

‘Ah, in essence, for a time it endows you with the confidence and strength of all who hear your melody. Not very useful unless you have a huge party, or you face a large number of foes.’

…Endows me with confidence? Endows me with confidence?!

‘I-I-I’d like this one! Please! T-this one please!’

I wasn’t so sure about the entrails part, but if only I had this item I'd finally be able to talk to people!

Lady Aqua gave me an odd look, but shrugged her shoulders gracefully and nodded.

‘Very well. Please stand in the magic circle.’

My time had finally come…

I took a deep breath and did as Lady Aqua said. As soon as I was in the centre, violet sparks erupted under my feet. Suddenly, it was like gravity abandoned me. When I started rising, I instinctively reached for something to grab onto, but there was nothing except the swirling motes of purple light that danced around me, slowly turning sky blue.

My heart thumped wildly in my chest.

For a few moments, I simply hung there, suspended in mid-air, until Lady Aqua's voice broke through the haze of wonder that had settled over me.

‘Now, depart on your journey with the Dragonslaying Bard’s Lute, hero. I bid you farewell!’

***

When the lights faded, I found myself in an alley. In my hand was the Dragonslaying Bard’s Lute, but otherwise I didn’t feel any different from usual.

It wasn’t until I tentatively stepped out into the street that I realised I was standing in an idyllic fantasy town.

It could have been plucked straight out of a fairy tale. Quaint houses lined the streets, made from beige brown bricks and topped with red tiled roofs, but the glass in their windows made them seem very modern. The uniformly cobbled streets under my feet matched my image of a European town, but were also too well-made to be medieval. …Probably. I wasn’t exactly well-read on history, or on Europe. Colourful clothes hung from lines that stretched from second story windows to the buildings across the street.

I might have mistaken this for some place in modern Europe except for a few things - it wasn’t cars or bikes passing by me, but horses, carriages, and animals of burden that roamed the roads in their stead. I looked around in wonder and my gaze landed on some of the locals.

…They were looking back at me. A few were even staring and whispering.

I was still wearing my pink tracksuit. Everybody else was wearing tunics or strange RPG gear. The only difference was the lute in my hand. Oh no… What if they thought I stole it? It didn’t match the rest of me at all…

I quickly started walking to avoid their notice. I felt their stares on my back, as I made my way down the street.

What was I supposed to do in this situation?

Save a merchant from some bandits? Find an inn? That’s how everybody did things in the web novels…

I passed by a few hawkers and merchant stalls who tried to call out to me, but I ignored them as best I could.

As I walked down the bustling street, my mind raced with questions and possibilities. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched, and the whispers of the townsfolk only served to intensify my discomfort. I tried to focus on the details of the town around me, hoping to find some clue as to what I should do next.

That's when I saw it - a wooden sign swinging from a post at the end of the street. It depicted a bed with a crescent moon overhead, and beneath it read 'The Silver Cow Inn'. Relief washed over me at the sight of it. Surely, an inn would be the perfect place to gather my bearings and figure out my next move.

I quickened my pace, eager to reach the sanctuary of the inn. As I drew closer, I noticed the inn's exterior was painted a soft shade of blue, and there were flower boxes overflowing with vibrant blooms adorning the windowsills. It looked cosy and inviting, thankfully nothing too fancy or stylish.

In the novels the protagonist would step into the inn, and then the innkeeper would say, 'Welcome. That's some unusual clothing you're wearing,' to which the protagonist would respond 'I'm from out of town.'

I'm from out of town, I'm from out of town, I'm from out of town.

I spent a few minutes practising in my head while walking up and down the street, making sure it looked like I was headed somewhere instead of just loitering, before I decided I was ready.

That was also how long it took for me to realise that I had no money…

I had no money…

Come to think of it, I was sent here to be an adventurer, wasn’t I? That was part of Lady Aqua’s explanation, and was how I was supposed to earn a living, but…

…Where did adventurers get their jobs?

I glanced around. A few people had stopped to look my way and whisper. They were talking about me for sure.

I had to ask one of them. It was so simple, just a ‘I’m hoping to become a new adventurer. Do you know where I should be going?’

I looked down at my lute. I’d faintly realised it while gearing myself up to enter the inn, but to make use of this, I had to actually play it to others.

…I couldn’t do it.

I tried to force my arms to move. Icy weights held them down by my side. It was like all feeling in them had been stolen away.

The thought of playing to a live audience was so terrifying that a dark hole had opened up in the pit of my stomach.

Move, Hitori! Just strum something! Anything!

In the end I left those strangers without playing a note.

 

The sun set a few hours ago. My feet hurt too much to stand on.

Exhausted, I slowly staggered over to an empty alley and sat down on the floor. The cool cobblestone pried a small gasp from my lips.

I shivered and hugged myself, trying to draw warmth from my tracksuit. There was an empty wooden box that looked warmer than the brick wall, so I leaned against it instead. The box smelt of mangoes.

It was hopeless. Even after wandering the city for what seemed like the whole day, I didn't stumble into... into... I wasn't even sure what I was hoping for. Maybe an adventurer's guild? A quest board? Just some way to get started with adventuring.

My heart pounded as I realised that my only hope of finding work was to talk to strangers. I had an inkling that it would come to this, but I was hoping... I didn't want to talk to people. Just thinking about it… Fear gripped my chest in a vice, making it hard to breathe.

The thought of having to ask one of the locals for help filled me with dread. It was bad enough that I had trouble talking to people, but I was wearing strange foreign clothing too. What if they arrested me for being a weirdo? That was something they did back in Japan, right? Arresting people for being suspicious…

You couldn’t get more suspicious than a stammering person in never-before-seen clothing accosting people on the streets… I probably smelt like mould too.

The Dragonslaying Bard’s Lute had turned out to be too good to be true. A few times I tried to play it to myself, but nothing happened. I wasn’t sure if it was because it didn’t count playing to yourself as a performance, or if it was because adding zero courage to zero was still zero, but I was left no better off than without the lute.

I was an outsider here, with no money, no people skills, no presence, weaker fighting strength than a slug, and no money. I didn’t even have the physical strength or good looks to sell myself. Would anybody even want such a gloomy slave?

I would probably curse my master's mansion with bad vibes just by being there, if the slave merchant even managed to sell me as a maid. I'd probably drop any crates they made me move as a manual labourer. Maybe they’d sell me as food for a pet dragon. I’d probably give it indigestion.

And that was only assuming slavery even existed here. If that wasn’t the case, then I’d be left with begging. That required interacting with people, so I could already see how it would end.

Without alms, I’d shrivel up and become shrivelled Hitori.

And then I'd die on these streets, on that corner over there, with nobody to mourn me. My corpse would sit, exposed to the elements, because none of the passerbys would even notice that I was dead, just like that one Hollywood movie with the black taxi driver and the extrovert assassin. Maybe only months later, a group of drunken extroverts would only notice my mummified remains because they were too drunk to walk straight and knocked my head off after they stumbled into me.

I sat in the darkness of the alleyway in silence as the night passed me by.

***

I wasn’t sure when I passed out. As I roused and stirred, the coldness of the cobblestones not already warmed by my butt helped chase away my drowsiness.

The sun wasn’t fully up yet, as far as I could sleepily tell in my alleyway, but already I could hear the distant chattering of townsfolk. I could smell breakfast too, which left my grumbling stomach feeling extra empty.

…There was also a cat curled up against me on my right.

‘Hello…’ I said.

The cat didn’t respond. I hoped that was because it was just a regular cat, and not because it deigned me unworthy of a response.

A gust of wind brought a chill into the alleyway, as well as the equally unwelcome smell of baked goods. …I was so hungry.

Yesterday I was fretting about starving to death as a beggar, but maybe it wouldn’t come to that. I still couldn’t see myself suddenly becoming an extrovert, but if I grew hungry enough, maybe I’d start breaking into houses to steal food.

I was very good at not being noticed, after all, and Thief was sometimes a job in fantasy games. That wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe I’d become such a famous thief that other thieves would beg to learn from me. I’d be rich, soon enough, and with my gang of thieves behind me, I’d take revenge on the world of light from the shadowy underworld of…

‘Meow.’

This kitty could be my first apprentice.

Wait a minute. Cats were alive.

‘Meow?’

The tawny looked up at me as I stared at it, mind racing.

I looked to my left. My lute was, thankfully, still here.

With quiet expectation, I brought my fingers to its dragongut strings and strummed a simple melody. Instantly, the world changed around me. Logically, I knew it must have been a change to myself, but that was the only way I could describe it.

Sounds I’d never heard before were picked up by my ears, while the shadows in the alleyway seemed to lighten. The greatest change of all was that my timidity had simply… disappeared.

Why was I even so scared? It was just a few words.

Just a simple ‘I’m hoping to become a new adventurer. Do you know where I should be going?’

I-incredible…

Was this the true power of the Dragonslaying Bard’s Lute?

Already I could see a bright future ahead of me.

I jumped to my feet, protesting cat in one hand and lute in the other, and marched out into the street.

The apprehension that had dogged me all of yesterday was like a lie now. I can't believe I'd forgotten. I wasn’t just any regular old loner, after all!

I was Gotoh Hitori! A woman with 30,000 subs!

‘You there! W-w-where’s the Adventurers’ Guild?!’ I demanded from a passerby.

‘Huh? Oh, another new adventurer? Welcome to Axel, the town of novice adventurers. You’ll wanna head to the next quarter. See that tree over there?’ The man pointed. I nodded. ‘You take a right at the bakery next to it, and then keep walking until you hit the bridge over the river, maybe half an hour from here. Cross the bridge, turn left the moment you reach the merchant’s square, and it’ll be straight down the road from there.’

‘I see. T-thank you!’

‘Good luck, miss.’

The cat was still meowing in protest, and I almost didn’t care. I was already running down the cobbled street. I was guitarhero. A woman with over 30,000 subs on my Oh!Tube channel!

After I reached the tree, though, I thought better of it. It might have been a stray, but it might not have been. Even if I was guitarhero, a woman with over 30,000 subs on my Oh!Tube channel, that didn’t mean I could just catnap people’s pets.

‘Perhaps we’ll meet again, kitty.’ I gave it a cool, dashing grin, but it was already running off.

About twenty minutes later I regretted following my conscience, because the power of the lute had already worn off, and I was still nowhere close to the guild.

What did that man say again?

Keep walking until you hit the bridge over the river, maybe half an hour from here. Cross the bridge, turn left the moment you reach merchants’ square, and it’ll be straight down the road from there.

I still hadn’t seen any bridges or rivers yet. I began to feel a sense of creeping panic. What if I was lost? What if today was going to be a repeat of yesterday?

I passed by what seemed to be yet another bakery. The smell of freshly baked sourdough wafted by. It made my hunger even worse, and because I associated sourdough with fancy people, it further aggravated my anxiety. Still, my hunger betrayed me and I was forced to stop and stare at the display window, mouth watering while people stared, trapped in an endless loop of hunger and self-consciousness.

Eventually I forced my feet to bring me away from the store window, but it was too late. My mind was already filled with images of my dark future, in which I haunted this town like Quasimodo haunted Paris. It’s a stormy night. A girl wakes up in her home to get a drink. She hears rustling downstairs, in the attached bakery storefront. Fearfully, she tiptoes down the stairs with a vase in hand. Within the long shadows of the corners of the bakery is a great, dark beast, gorging itself on leftover bread.

‘Eeeek!’

The girl drops the vase in terror as the beast rounds on her.

‘Breaaaaad…. Breaaaaaad!’ it growls.

A large brass bell rings sonorously, warning all of danger. The townsfolk are gathered. Torches are lit, and pitchforks are assigned, and inquisitors of the church scour the night looking for the Bread Beast of Axel Town.

‘I’ve found the creature!’’ a burly labourer cries. ‘Have at ye!’

He swings his torch menacingly, but the creature in pink rags hisses and crawls up the wall.

Inquisitors come running from all corners of the town, and chase it back to its lair in the sewers. There’s nowhere left to run.

‘This is the end of your reign of terror, creature!’ They throw bottles of holy water at the surrounded beast, and helplessly, it screeches and dissolves.

‘Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!’

‘Hehe. Mama, why is that lady making funny noises?’

‘Shhh, don’t interact with adventurers, sweetie.’

When I came back to myself, people were giving me a wide berth.

‘Ehe… Ehehe…’

I immediately broke into a panicked run and escaped the stares. It drew new stares, but at least these people didn’t know for sure that I was a weirdo.

It wasn’t long before I was out of breath and forced to return to a sedate walk, but by then nobody around me had seen me scream. I shook my head, trying to dispel the thoughts. I had to stay focused. I couldn’t let my anxiety get the better of me.

As I walked, I tried to take in my surroundings, hoping to spot any landmarks that might help me find my way. As I continued walking, the scenery around me began to change. The buildings became bigger and more ornate. It was noisier here, too, less petty hawkers and more genuine fantasy merchants. A few of them waved at me, but I lowered my gaze and tried to ignore them.

I wish I had kept that cat with me. If I could only get things done with a cat around, then I absolutely needed a cat. The problem was that I couldn’t even afford to feed myself, let alone an animal.

My stomach gurgled loudly.

…Stop thinking about food, Hitori. Stop looking at the stalls of fresh produce. Stop noticing the smell of roast meat.

I passed by a group of armoured guards patrolling the streets, and I couldn’t help but feel a little trepidation at the idea that they might stop me. But they passed by without a care, so I continued on my way. At least I had run in the right direction after the disaster at the bakery.

I was about to lose all hope when I caught a glimpse of something sparkling in the distance. It looked like… water, and the closer I got to it, the more I was sure that it was indeed a river.

The relief was indescribable. The bridge was a little smaller than I’d imagined, but it was there, just like the man said!

I followed his directions and crossed the bridge. Soon enough I saw a bustling square. Performers entertained crowds of children while their parents stood by, while more merchants and stall owners shouted about their wares and produce. I’d noticed it since yesterday, but the adults seemed more than happy to let the children run about freely.

Yesterday I saw groups of them playing without even adult supervision. Was this really a world being attacked by a demon king? Everyone seemed to feel safe.

Eventually, I tore myself away from the square and continued on my way. It didn’t take long before I saw the sign board for the guild.

It was another brick building, like the others around it, but it was larger, grander, and… didn’t look like what I imagined. Rather than one of the wooden tavern-like things described in the web novels I read in primary school, it looked more like a church. There was even a single stained glass window above the double doors, kind of like the one on the Notre Dame.

…I really shouldn't think about the Notre Dame.

Hatefully, lined up in front of the guild were even more food stalls. The only good thing I could say about them was that I was so hungry that I didn’t even hesitate to push open the guild doors. Immediately the muffled sounds of heckling and laughing became unmuffled, but what hit me even harder was the smell of food. Concentrated into this tiny building, it smelt even better than outside.

People of all sorts sat at wooden tables eating food. My eyes ignored some stuff that they usually wouldn’t have and zeroed in on the dishes. Meat, stews, fried tubers…

It was so hard to think about anything but the food.

A black-haired girl passed by with a tray of tankards and took notice of me.

‘Ah, welcome! If you’re here for food, take any empty seat. If you’re here for job guidance, please head to the counter inside.’

Without another glance, she headed towards a table.

Some of the adventurers seated here and there were staring at me, but miraculously I couldn’t spare a care.

It didn’t take long for me to spot the counter. There were four windows, but only three of them were manned. An attractive blonde girl was already talking to a red-haired girl in a wizard outfit, so that left the woman with dark hair and the man.

I beelined for the counter.

Finally, I could make some money.

‘I’m hungry.’

‘...Pardon?’ The counter lady looked confused.

My face was burning.

‘A job! I’m here for a job!’ I held up my lute and gestured at it. ‘See this? I’m an adventurer. H-h-here to become an adventurer.’

Thankfully, her face lit up in understanding.

‘Ah, you’re here to register as an adventurer? That’ll be one thousand eris.’

One thousand eris? One thousand eris…?

I was melting. It was all over.

‘A-ah, it’s okay, it’s okay! What’s your name, miss? It’s just one thousand eris, so I can lend it to you. Please get off the ground!’

 

‘T-t-t-t-thank you f-for l-l-lending me money, Madam…’

‘...Why did your stutter suddenly become so bad after eating?’

It was really too nice of her to lend money to a person like me…

‘A-a-and t-thank you for sharing your l-l-lunch with me…’

The stew might have been the most delicious thing I’d ever eaten. I wanted to cry. Before my sense of shame returned from its holiday a moment ago, I’d even gone as far as to lick the bowl clean.

She blew a lock of dark hair out of her eyes.

‘It was just a bunch of leftovers from dinner last night. And geez, stop calling me ‘madam’, you’re making me feel old. I’m only nineteen this year.’

Even though her hair was black too, Miss Irina clearly wasn’t of Asian descent. It was hitting me again how foreign this place was. Now that I was thinking about something other than eating, I wasn’t sure if I was excited or terrified…

After she managed to get me off the ground earlier, Miss Irina said something to her colleagues behind the counter and took her lunch break early. She guided me into one of the staff rooms in the back and after sitting me down, split her lunch with me. To my shame and horror, I didn’t even refuse once. I don’t even remember the moment I started eating. When I had come back to myself, I was already a good third through the bowl.

She never so much as gave me a judgemental look.

It was hard to believe that I’d met such an angel…

While I was busy gobbling down somebody else’s lunch, Miss Irina introduced me to the duties and expectations of an adventurer. To put it briefly, it was about what I’d expected.

These days, or rather, up until my… accident… I spent most of my free time playing the guitar. Actually, it was basically all I did besides eat and sleep.

It was mostly just something of an enjoyable routine by now. I’d wake up and practice guitar for an hour. After school, around dinner and taking a bath, I could fit in another four, five, or six hours, sometimes of just practice, and sometimes recording guitar covers of whatever song was trending at the time.

Before I’d grown to enjoy it though, my reason for practising the guitar was depressingly shallow. I wanted to be popular, and I wanted to make friends in a band. That was it, really. First I’d become a cool guitar girl that all my classmates looked up to. And then, seeing my talent, somebody would invite me to join their band. I’d grow closer and closer with the others in the band, and gradually, naturally, become friends with them. You could say that was my dream.

I had an older dream though.

Before I picked up the guitar, I didn’t have a lot to do. It wasn’t exactly something to brag about, but I barely ever went out in primary school. If I wasn’t helping my mum with something around the house, then I was laying around watching t.v. or reading something on my phone.

Primary schoolers didn’t have a lot of money, so I gravitated towards things that wouldn’t cost money to read. Wouldn’t you know it, free fantasy web novels were really popular at the time. It felt like every week, another story about an underdog in a high fantasy world was published. I can’t remember how many of them I read. Enough that they started to get boring, at least.

But the draw of the escape that they promised never lost its shine. An ordinary loner, just like me, would be drawn into another world due to a quirk of fate. There, they would finally become somebody special, make friends and gather companions around them, and go on exciting, extraordinary adventures.

That was my dream once: that one day I would be suddenly transported to a fantasy world and given special powers, where I’d join an adventuring party and grow closer to its members while completing jobs off a guild quest board. Nobody in the real world wanted to talk to me, but in that world I’d be noteworthy because of my powers and otherworldly origin, and impossible to ignore.

It was the same kind of idle, unproductive dream as ‘I want to join a band somehow, and then become friends with the people in it somehow’, the sort of dream that put the catalyst for change in my life on anybody and anything that wasn’t me.

It wasn’t lost on me that I had remained fundamentally unchanged even after all these years. That was probably also why I still didn’t have a single non-imaginary friend.

…I-I had been just about to change, though. Honest!

High school was meant to be my chance. It would have been different, for sure! If only I hadn’t been hospitalised, I would have figured something out. S-somehow.

I know my first week in high school hadn’t gone so great, but I was in a completely new place where I didn’t know any of my classmates. That was the point, even. That was why my high school was almost a two hour train ride from my house.

I just needed a little bit of time to figure out what my classmates were like before I struck up a conversation. …Really.

…

…Putting my failings aside though, the one good thing that had come from reading all those novels was that I knew some of what to expect from my current circumstances. It was even a little scary how similar this world was to a fantasy web novel.

It even had a ‘level’ system, which was even scarier. I suppose that’s what Lady Aqua meant by naturally learning how to fight.

Whenever anybody killed and ate something in this world, they absorbed a part of its soul’s memories. In that terrifying alternate future where I became the Bread Beast of Axel Town, I probably would have done more than just eating bread. And it wouldn’t have been inquisitors, but the adventurers that would be sent to deal with me.

…Maybe if I killed and ate enough extroverts…

A-a-at any rate—! Levels could be measured using special tools! And one of them would be the adventurer’s licence that I’d be applying for soon. It was supposed to be enchanted to be able to update in reflection of our progress.

I sat there and watched Miss Irina pack up the bowls, unsure how to offer to help. Then I lost my chance because she was finished.

‘All right. This way, Miss Hitori.’

We returned to the counter where she handed me an application form.

‘Please begin by filling in your height, weight, age, and other necessary details in the provided spaces,’ she said with practised smoothness.

156 cm tall, my weight was… 44 kg last I checked… eye colour, hair colour, age…

‘I-I’ve filled it out…’ I said.

‘All right.’ Miss Irina took the proffered sheet, quickly scanning it, and nodded.

She proceeded to fiddle with a device on the counter, before producing a fancy-looking card which she held out to me. So this was my adventurer’s licence. My name and a few other details were already printed on it.

There were only a few blank spaces left to complete.

Once I touched this, my level status would appear, allowing me to pick my class… I swallowed thickly and reached out for it.

When I took the card in hand, it emitted a dazzling blue light.

I watched, mesmerised, as burning golden script appeared in the blanks next to the attribute list, before settling into the same dark ink as the rest.

‘Let’s see.’ Miss Irina glanced over the card in my hand. ‘Strength and vitality are below average. Magic is quite high. Intelligence… is a little low.’

I stared at her as she went silent.

‘But agility and speed are above average. Luck is…’

As the sum of my existence was casually totalled up, I stood there silently and uncomfortably. Miss Irina didn’t continue her sentence.

‘Moving on, it looks like the wizard, spellcaster, alchemist, bard, and… for some reason the assassin class is available to you. The bard and assassin are advanced classes, but both the wizard and spellcaster are solid picks as well.’

Assassin… Was I supposed to assassinate people by playing them my crummy songs? At least the bard class was open to me...

‘T-then, the bard class… please…’

When Miss Irina handed my licence back to me, ‘Bard’ was written under my name.

I let out a sigh of relief. Finally, I was an adventurer. Maybe I could start making money now.

‘Congratulations, Miss Hitori.’ Miss Irina smiled at me. ‘Shall I introduce you to the quest board now?’

I clutched the card, feeling a sense of excitement and nervousness. What kind of adventures awaited me? Would I be able to make a name for myself as an adventurer? What kind of people… would I meet?

Miss Irina led me over to an ornate wooden board, hung up below the mezzanine. It was huge, dominating the area with its presence. Quests of various kinds were pasted to it by unknown means. How were they stuck there exactly?

I found myself thinking about magnets and glue while I looked over the mess of posters with wide eyes. Some quests were accompanied by detailed maps, while others were just simple lists of tasks. Owl monster spotted in the area, escort for a merchant caravan, white wolf fur required, culling giant frogs… What was a neroid…?

‘This is the quest board I mentioned earlier,’ Miss Irina explained. ‘Here, adventurers can take on quests from the guild or from individual clients. The rewards are clearly stated on each quest sheet itself. Adventurers can take multiple contracts, but it’s recommended not to bite off more than you can chew.’

My eyes quickly skimmed over the sheer variety.

‘W-which one… should I p-pick…?’ I managed to ask.

Miss Irina turned away from me and looked over the board, stroking her chin thoughtfully. While she thought over my question, I started browsing, myself.

‘You don’t have a party yet, so I wouldn’t suggest combat.’

She put her hands on her hips and hummed, frowning.

‘We’re in a bit of a slow season. I think there’s only this herb gathering quest for today. It comes with a list of their identifying features. Most of these should be available on the edges of the woods just outside of town.’

I looked it over while Miss Irina continued to browse, just in case she missed anything.

‘Oh, lucky you!’ Miss Irina turned to me with a smile. ‘This one came in just this morning. A merchant is celebrating his daughter’s 6th birthday, and is looking for a bard to play at the event.’

Playing the lute… in front of… a crowd…

…Why this again?

I looked at her bleakly.

‘I’ll take the h-herb gathering mission please.’

‘H-huh?’

Miss Irina stared at me in bemusement. It looked like it was taking her a few seconds to understand what I said.

‘You want the herb gathering quest?’ she said sceptically.

I nodded, avoiding her eyes.

‘P-please.’

She examined me for a moment longer, but eventually shrugged.

‘Very well, then.’ Miss Irina removed the sheet from the board. ‘We’ll be keeping custody of this at the counter for the time being. If the quest isn’t completed within the trial time limit, a sum equal to the failure fee will be applied to your tab.’

Miss Irina pointed at the bottom right corner of the page.

‘In this case, it’ll be five hundred eris, all right?’

I nodded.

‘Well, it shouldn’t be too hard. Usually rookies hate this kind of quest, since it’s not very interesting and doesn’t pay too well. Try to find a party as soon as possible, all right?’

I nodded, more glumly this time.

…I wonder what happened to my excitement at starting my fantasy adventurer lifestyle.

 

It had taken about five hours to get to the mountain forest from the city gates.

Except for my feet feeling sore, I wasn’t having much trouble, only occasionally having to hop over fallen branches or duck beneath low-hanging branches. Apparently it was different deeper into the forest, closer towards the rocky mountains, but out in the peripheries the undergrowth wasn't thicker than the occasional shrub that I had to step around.

The rustling of leaves under my feet was the only sound I could clearly make out, but I could still faintly hear the sound of wildlife. It was coming from everywhere.

Maybe it was a good thing that I'd only found the guild this morning. If I had found it yesterday afternoon... Knowing my luck and my brains, I probably would have made the decision to head for this forest anyway, and gotten mobbed in the dark by otherworldly animals.

While the undergrowth wasn’t too thick, the forest canopy was a different story. It was darker in here than I expected. That was comfortable though. The sun had been beating down on me the whole walk to the forest, so the shade inside was a nice reprieve.

Besides the unpleasantness of the heat, standing in brightly lit open spaces always left me feeling a little exposed. I-I wasn't a weirdo or anything—I could definitely walk around outside! But if I had to pick between the sunny road or the shaded forest, it wouldn't even be a contest. I also hadn’t come across any dangers yet in my time here.

It was a little hard not to feel at home here. Gloomy, dark places were just so inviting. I didn't have to worry about my posture, or what kind of face I was making. There hadn't been any other people, after all. So far I'd only seen a few slugs, and I knew I didn’t have to worry about being judged around them. They wouldn't do that to me.

I wonder if I had been a difficult birth. If I had spent my whole life up until then inside my mother's tummy, I couldn't imagine wanting to go outside. I wonder if Mum was doing okay… At least she still had my sister. Futari would have to keep her company in my stead.

She— Oh!

‘Ah, I'm sorry!’

While I was lost in my thoughts, I almost walked face-first into a spiderweb. Just a few centimetres away from my face was a big, bulbous garden spider.

I bowed towards the web and carefully made my way around. That was no good. I needed to stay more focused and pay attention to where I was going. I had a bad habit of getting lost in my own head. I almost destroyed the poor thing’s home!

And thank goodness it had been the spider and not something dangerous that I almost walked into. Just because I had been sent on an isekai trip, didn’t mean that I was any tougher. At least I didn’t think I was. If Lady Aqua had empowered me in any other way besides the ability to level up, she hadn’t mentioned it. At baseline Hitori, if I fell into a ditch and broke my leg it would all be over for me…

It was just an herb gathering mission, but I was still just me, so I needed to be careful.

My experience had been quite comfortable, though.

It hadn’t been that long since I entered the forest, but I’d already found three of the herbs outlined in the guild quest. Maybe I was extra lucky today. The herbs specified in the quest were supposedly on the harder-to-spot side of the spectrum, but two of the herb satchels I’d borrowed from the guild were already full.

Spotting another of my targets in a nearby clearing, I stepped carefully over a small mound of plant litter. If there were any bugs under it, I didn’t want to crush them.

I was mostly done with this particular herb. I felt like the plant was pretty easy to spot when compared against the surrounding forest. The correct method for harvesting it was a little tricky, but there was plenty for me to practise on, and it hadn’t taken more than a few tries to get the hang of it.

I pulled out a paring knife as I approached the small shrub. Unlike the herb satchels, the knife was actually mine. At Miss Irina's recommendation, I bought it with some of the money I borrowed from her.

Crouching down, I methodically worked from the top of the plant downwards, being careful to follow the instructions. You were supposed to make a clean cut from a centimetre above where the leaves came off the main stem, and not take more than a fourth of its height. If you weren't careful, you could kill the plant. After I'd harvested just enough of it, I continued on my way. That was my third satchel full. There was just one herb to go, then. I hadn’t spotted it so far, but it was still early afternoon.

As I wandered the forest, I couldn't help but feel like I was quite well-suited for this kind of job. I was used to being by myself, and picking herbs had been quite soothing so far. Unlike the forests just outside of Axel Town, there were supposed to be monsters living in this one, but you wouldn’t encounter bloody squirrels unless you went deeper in. With the reward I would be receiving from this, I’d be able to eat something tonight. Maybe not anything good, but as long as I didn’t have to starve through the night again...

There were supposed to be edible grasses in this forest too. Miss Irina had taken pity on me and told me to look out for them. The seeds of the lichtail grass were bitter but edible, and supposedly, broke adventurers liked to munch on blades of bluegrass. …I didn’t think humans could actually digest grass, but maybe it was just a name. Since everybody else was eating it, it probably wasn’t toxic at least, and if nothing else the fibre would help me feel full.

Thank goodness for the herb gathering mission. If it hadn’t been for this…

My mind drifted back to the birthday gig that I'd turned down.

If I had been stuck between equally awful situations, I didn’t know what I would have done. I could go without eating tonight, I could spend more money borrowed from Miss Irina, a stranger, or I…

…Just the thought of the bard’s gig made me nauseous with anxiety. Thank goodness. Thank goodness I didn’t have to go through that…

Thinking about standing there, with countless people watching me… And of all things, a 6th birthday party…! People didn’t know how truly terrifying children could be. Cute? Where was the cuteness? Why couldn’t I see it?

Children were innocent, but it was that innocence that made them horrifying. They were creatures that could happily tear the legs off of an insect and watch it squirm, and they could just as happily drive a knife into you.

Daddy, why doesn’t that man have any hair on the top of his head?

Mama, how come that lady is so fat?

Mummy, why is that big sister on her own? Doesn’t she have any friends?

The way their words stabbed effortlessly into the depths of your heart, with no regard to your pain or emotional trauma, was nothing short of terrifying. The things they could say in their brutal naivety could be utterly soul-crushing.

Delicacy? Consideration? Mercy? Children knew no such thing.

Facing an entire gang of these pint-sized monsters was a fate worse than death. Maybe it still might have been okay if the children were still only one or two, but a 6th birthday party? I already knew the horror of five year olds first hand. The mere thought of a dozen Futaris watching me and making unintentionally pointed comments…

A sliver of ice traced down my spine.

Anything but— Wah..!

T-that was close. I glanced back behind me to see a little tree root jutting out of the leaf litter. I had almost tripped over it. The fall wouldn’t have hurt, but it would have been a pain if the satchels had come undone. I didn’t want to spend an hour sorting the herbs back into the right bags. I really had to stop tripping over everything. It was the same kind of accident that got me into this mess to begin with.

No good. I was wasting time. That tree over there was… I recognised it, and the sun seemed to be in the right place, so I was probably still heading in the right direction. If I didn’t want to end up hurt or lost in the forest, I really had to stop completely losing myself in my thoughts. It was fine to think about other things while I was doing this, but this was still in a fantasy world with monsters after all.

After vigilantly swivelling my head for danger, I continued to search for the remaining herb.

The forest wasn’t too dense. Although there were plenty of shrubs here, most of them weren’t big or bushy enough to get in my way. I only had to push stray branches aside on occasion.

It had only been a few minutes before I spotted what I was looking for. Using the roots of a large tree as a ramp, I crested a slope of bare earth to get to what I was after. It was a small clearing. In stark contrast to the usual leaf litter, vibrant violet flowers with v-shaped petals grew in harmony in a small sea of cold cyan grass. Together with the way the sunlight filtered through the leaves, the blue-green grass and purple flowers created an enchanting, almost otherworldly atmosphere. It was a beautiful sight, and more importantly, an edible one.

The sun was still high enough in the sky, so rather than get to harvesting my last target, I plucked a blade of the bluegrass. I didn’t have lunch, after all. After a little hesitation, I gave it a tentative lick.

It didn’t taste like anything in particular. I decided to bite the bullet and began to chew on it experimentally.

…It was really grassy.

That was my first impression. After a few chews, I realised that it had an aftertaste. It was a little bit like cornsilk, actually. Not that I’d ever tried to eat cornsilk, but sometimes Mum bought cornsilk tea at the supermarket. The flavour reminded me of that. Or of just plain sweetcorn, I guess.

When it was softer, I swallowed it.

...While it wasn’t an unpleasant experience, it wasn’t anything like food. I couldn’t help but conclude that you’d have to be really poor to even consider eating it.

I cut off a handful and began to chew.

Sometimes I needed a sip of water to get it down, but by the end I was left with a full stomach and a pleasant aftertaste in my mouth.

It was with complicated feelings that I finished my lunch and began harvesting my elusive final quest target. The directions for this one didn’t require tools, so I put my knife away. I crouched down, carefully avoiding the flowers and plucking the top quarter of each plant bare. The flowers weren’t useful as harvest, but would be important in promoting the spread of the plant. After a while, my movements grew methodical. A little after that, it was almost like my hands were moving on their own.

How peaceful.

Compared to that nightmare of a gig, the gentle solitude of the forest was a sanctuary.

If it was just the children, maybe I still could have done it. They were still awful, but Futari liked my guitar. Maybe these other kids would too. The problem was that I didn’t have a guitar with me: I had a lute. It was a little similar to a guitar, but it wasn’t the same thing. I wasn’t confident that I could wow them in the same way.

Worse yet, these weren’t just any children, but the rich children of a merchant and his friends. Futari’s words were horrifying, but she didn’t mean anything bad by them. I could only imagine how much worse it could be if the children were also rich and judgemental.

If only I was someone braver, maybe I could have chosen the gig. It was such a missed opportunity.

…In the books people were supposed to change when they got chances like I did, but I was still just the same old Hitori.

My hands paused in their harvest.

Was I always going to run again? What was I even doing here? A goddess gave me a legendary item. All I had to do to make use of it was play in front of a crowd, but instead it was sitting tucked into my tracksuit jacket while I was gardening and eating grass.

Could I even really call myself an adventurer…?

No, I was just being too harsh on myself. Right. This was only my second day, after all. People needed time to adjust when moving to other countries, let alone other worlds! If you think about it, I was actually doing pretty well for myself! I had a job, and I had dinner for tonight. That was good, right?

And this was only my second day with the lute, too! Of course I wasn’t feeling confident. The only chance I’d had to really practise on it was the hour I’d spent alone on the road. I just had to practise more. Once I was used to the lute, everything else would flow from there, surely!

Geez, why was I getting so negative just now? Birthdays came every year, and it wasn’t like people would stop having birthday parties. I was just being ridiculous. Actually, it might even be better next year! After all, kids couldn’t be five forever, right?

Feeling better about my situation now, my hands resumed their harvest with more energy than before, plucking with incredible efficiency.

If you really thought about it, I’d been making a lot of progress. I really had been trying as hard as I could. Yesterday I slept cold and hungry in an alleyway. Today I found my way through a completely foreign town, and not only had I managed to ask somebody for directions, but I’d even gotten my first job. That was huge! At least a thousand steps forward!

Maybe I was actually a changed woman already. I was out here making money, like an extravert, and I carried the conversation with Miss Irina pretty well, if I did say so myself.

Really, all of the trouble I’d been having so far was kind of out of my hands. It wasn’t my fault I didn’t have money. Lady Aqua had simply dropped me into the middle of town with the lute. And it wasn’t like being unable to play a lute was my fault either. They didn’t have a Dragonslaying Guitarist’s Les Paul after all. If I could have chosen a guitar, I would have.

Geez, the service provided by the gods of reincarnation was really lacking these days!

If only I had Dad’s guitar with me, it would have been easy peasy to wow the people here. Wasn’t that how it always went in these stories? Somebody would be transported to another world, and they’d impress everybody with something from the modern world, like creme caramel pudding or miso paste.

I didn’t know how to make miso paste, but I could definitely shred a guitar. I’m sure these fantasy people had never heard an electric guitar before.

‘I-incredible! What is this exciting, simply electrifying sound?!’

‘Who is this woman? I simply must have her perform at the year end banquet!’

The merchants and their families shout in amazement as I introduce them to the wonders of X-Japan’s WEEK END.

‘Ehehe…’

If only my lute had been a guitar.

Ah well. I’d gotten pretty good at the guitar once. Was there any reason to think that I couldn’t get as good with the lute? Once I got used to my lute, my bright future definitely wouldn’t be far off. More opportunities would come, and this time I’d be able to take advantage of them. I’d grown so much, after all.

And then…

Children dressed in their finest clothes stare at me, eyes sparkling with wonder. They’ve never seen anything like this before.

As I sweep about the stage, playing with infectious energy, wealthy merchants in vibrant silks ignore succulent roasts and expensive wines to hang on every note of my adapted Malagueña cover. The women are holding their breaths, while the men subconsciously move in time with my song.

The spotlight is on me, but everyone would have been transfixed by me anyway.

I’m like a spirit, a magician. I hold the entire room captive, from corner to corner.

Soon the music is not only heard, but felt. It transcends mere sound and becomes an experience. In time with the rapid song of my lute’s dragongut pair-strings, one person begins to clap in time. Then two. Then four. Now eight. Sixteen.

Even the enthralled children begin clapping in time.

‘Hi-to-ri! Hi-to-ri! Hi-to-ri! Hi-to-ri!’

The room chants my name with feverous energy as my virtuoso performance reaches a blistering climax.

That’s right. Your lute hero is here.

It isn’t long after that day that my name spreads through the aristocracy. The mysterious and beautiful bard, Gotoh Hitori. People are begging me to perform in events across the country.

The throne room is adorned with elegant tapestries that hang beneath arched ceilings. The king affixes a medal to my chest. I’ve been declared a national treasure.

All throughout the room, people stare at me with admiration and longing.

'Ehehehehehehehehehe…'

Ah. I was drooling.

I quickly wiped my mouth with my wrist. Whoops. I almost drooled all over the herbs.

I quickly got back to work, plucking as quickly as I could. It wasn’t long before the final satchel was full. Phew.

With the herbs collected I pulled off my tracksuit jacket and turned it into a makeshift bag and stuffed as much bluegrass as I could into it. It was a shame that I couldn’t collect extra herbs for more money. The quest giver had only wanted so much, and I didn’t think I could sell the herbs either.

For starters, I didn’t even know what they did, or who might want them. I could maybe ask Miss Irina, but what if they tried to haggle with me? I heard that people did that in some foreign countries. I’d taken a thousand steps forward, not two thousand steps. H-haggling was probably still a little too high level for me. I would probably get ripped off.

Ah well. It would come to me soon enough. First I had to focus on climbing the ranks as an adventurer.

When my jacket was absolutely bursting with bluegrass, I wrapped it around my front before putting the herb satchels back on. My first quest was complete! That was three thousand eris! I could pay back Miss Irina today, and still have enough for a bath, and even a little food!

It took a little positioning, but I found a spot where I could see the sun through the canopy. It seemed like I still had plenty of time before sunset, so I carefully made my way towards the nearest edge of the forest.

The quest wasn’t technically over until I was safely back at the Adventurers’ Guild, after all.

In the end I left the forest without encountering any trouble. I circled around the forest’s edge and found the road that I had come here on.

Before long I was walking back to Axel Town with some pep in my step, taking the opportunity to get familiar with playing on the courses of my lute.

In the end, I made it to the safe surroundings of Axel Town before the sun had even begun to set.

Today had been relaxing and productive, but my next quest would have to be something more ambitious.

I couldn’t just do herb gathering forever, after all!

***

I trudged through the gates of Axel Town.

Today marked three whole weeks of herb gathering…

Aaah! I couldn’t let this go on! At this rate I was going to turn into a professional herb gatherer!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow, for sure, I was going to pick another quest!

***

I woke up to the familiar sight of the alleyway, drool on my face.

Ugh.

While I wiped my mouth, I thought about my plans for today. The time I had been in this fantasy world was twenty-two nights now. The time I had spent as a herb gathering adventurer was twenty-one days. Surely it was time for me to pick a new quest.

It wasn’t that I had anything against the herb gathering quests. If anything, I quite enjoyed them. It sounded really boring if you phrased it as ‘herb gathering’ but there were different types of herbs that people requested, and sometimes it wasn’t herbs at all, like quests for edible tubers.

If there was anything to complain about, it was that foraging quests didn’t make very much money. There was usually only one quest of that kind each day, and although they usually paid three thousand eris, some went as low as 1,500 eris for a whole day’s work. It all depended on not only the herbs requested, but also the requester themselves.

On the worst days there were no jobs at all. On those days—lute practice days, I liked to call them—I still went to the forest, but usually went to sleep after eating nothing but wild plants. If it wasn’t for my meagre savings from better days, on those lute practice days I wouldn’t even be able to pay for my nightly bath at the guild.

A-and it hadn’t all been a waste of time. Plants must have counted for something too, because just a few days ago I hit level two! I even had my first spellsong now, ‘Melody: Summer Vitality’. It let me heal people and made them less tired, which Miss Irina said was very valuable.

All in all, though, I was doing pretty well.

By now, I’d grown used to sleeping in the alley. Really, sleeping on a hard surface wasn’t as terrible as I had imagined. The first night was a little rough because I wasn’t used to it, but it wasn’t so bad at all.

I’d figured out how to tie my hair just right to keep it off the ground while I slept, and I’d even crafted a pillow out of twigs. I remembered watching an Oh!Tube video about how people in ancient times used to sleep. They’d lay on the floor with nothing but a solid wooden or ceramic pillow to rest their heads on.

Once I thought about it like that, suddenly my sleeping situation didn’t seem all that bad at all!

The only problem was that it was getting a bit chilly.

It was autumn in this world, and the forest was already starting to turn red and brown. I didn’t know how quickly it would grow colder, but sometimes I listened to the chatter in the guild bathhouse and some girls had complained about the deep snow last year.

I couldn’t begin to guess how cold the autumn might get. It didn’t snow much more than one or two days a year where I grew up, so I didn’t have a good point of comparison. To be safe, though, I needed to find some real shelter soon enough. If I couldn’t even afford dinner every night, I wasn’t sure how I would be able to afford rent.

…Did the rental market even exist in fantasy worlds? I wasn’t very well read, so I didn’t know how these things worked. I would have to ask Miss Irina later.

I hurried over to the nearby well. The sky was still dark, so if I was lucky, I wouldn’t bump into anybody. On the rare occasions that some of the other early birds were there, the city was still empty enough that I could hide around a corner until they left without being seen by anyone else.

When I reached the cobbled square it was still deserted, so I dropped the wooden bucket into the water and began wheeling it up. With speed born of practice, I splashed the cold water onto my face. In an instant I was wide awake. After giving my face a good rub, I rubbed my neck and ears, and then washed my hands. The first time I tried this I’d gotten my pants all wet with the splashing, but by now I was an old hand at it.

A quick, cautious survey of my surroundings confirmed that nobody was around, and then I was quickly trotting off towards the guild. The well was for public use, so I hadn’t been doing anything wrong, but I still felt a little nervous about using it. I also wasn’t keen on the idea of anybody seeing my silly stretched face while I was cleaning it.

I quickly scanned my surroundings just in case anybody had been looking at me, and then quickly trotted off towards the guild. As I crossed a familiar bridge, the horizon reflected beautifully on the river. The timing was just right to see the sun rise. A vibrant mix of oranges and violets sparkled across the water’s surface, pairing perfectly with the gentle hum of the waking town.

Maybe my luck was looking up today. I hadn’t bumped into anybody at the well, either.

Feeling a little more positive, I quickly made my way through Axel Town. Before long I was making a left turn at the merchant’s square, where familiar faces were setting up their stalls. I was sure that they didn’t know me, but I passed by them every morning.

At last, I arrived at the Adventurers’ Guild. You can do it, Hitori!

Summoning my earlier feelings of determination, I pushed open the heavy wooden double doors and stepped inside. The hall was relatively empty. The good thing about adventurers was that most of them loved to party late into the night. All the drinking meant that most of them typically slept through the guild’s first few business hours. The few adventurers that did start their day this early tended to be the more serious types, who were all business. Sometimes, some of them gave me polite nods, which was nice.

As luck would have it, nobody was at the staff counter right now, so I quickly headed over. Behind the counter, Miss Irina was comparing one ledger to another. Leaning over Miss Irina’s shoulder, a familiar blonde woman was looking at the same thing, exchanging quiet words with her.

I didn’t usually interact much with Miss Luna. She was a nice person, but she was so popular with the other adventurers that I avoided her later in the day. The one time I reported a quest completion to her, somebody else lined up behind me and I tried to let them go first, which turned into an awkward mess. I had never done so again.

'G-g-good morning, Miss Irina, Miss L-Luna.'

'Miss Hitori! Early as usual?' Miss Irina said, putting the ledger away. Miss Luna flashed me a friendly smile before returning to her window.

'Another herb gathering quest?"
'Miss Luna asked, but today, I had no flyer in my hands.

I took a deep breath. 'I-I-I-I’m looking for a d-different quest today!'

The two of them exchanged a look and smiled.

'N-not a musician’s gig, p-please,' I added before Miss Irina could say anything.

'Have you had a chance to look at the quest board yet?'
she asked.

'N-not yet… I was h-hoping for your advice.'

While Miss Irina hummed, Miss Luna chimed in. 'Why not that quest about the mysterious rumbles?'

'The one from Greenbloom Village?' Miss Irina asked, and when Miss Luna nodded, her expression turned thoughtful. 'I suppose it shouldn’t be too dangerous.'

Miss Irina turned back to me. 'There’s a farming village a few hours from here that have been complaining about a loud noise every morning. The villagers can’t decide if it sounds like a large thump or a rumble, but they all agreed that it happens at the same time each morning. They’d investigate themselves, but it’s harvest season right now, so they can’t spare any of the men.

'The quest is just to investigate the source of the noise, so it doesn’t pay much, but it should be quite safe. If it turns out to be something dangerous, leave quickly and report back to the guild.'

'I-I just have to find out what’s happening?' I asked.

'It’s quite normal. Usually small villages aren’t willing to pay more until they know what’s happening, and whether they can’t solve it themselves or even want to solve it. The noise occurs at the same time every morning, so it isn’t random, and we haven’t identified any monsters in the bestiary that might be responsible for such a thing.'

Investigate a mysterious occurrence, and I didn’t even have to solve whatever was causing it. W-wasn’t that perfect for me?! My heart thumped in excitement.

'I-I-I’ll take it!' I said.

Miss Irina nodded with a smile, but added, 'Are you still adventuring alone? This time the quest might take you pretty far, so you should find some companions before you leave. It isn’t monster season, but it pays to be safe.'

I averted my eyes. 'Ah, yes. I’ll try and find somebody,' I said quickly.

'Alrighty. I’ll go grab the flyer and you can have a look.'

Miss Irina quickly disappeared into the back room, and then came out from the side door to make her way to the quest board.

While I waited, Miss Luna asked with a smile, 'Are you really going to find a party?'

'Y-yes.'

It made me a little nervous when she hummed in thought. Miss Irina returned with a brown quest flyer. T-twenty thousand eris! There wasn’t a failure fee either!

The rest of the flyer was about what I expected, so I quickly accepted the quest.

'Good morning, you two. You’re both looking lovely as always,' a deep but slightly sleazy voice said behind me, setting off my playboy alarm.

'Keith, don’t be rude. Miss Luna, is now a good time?' said another voice.

Since the two of them were distracted, I took the opportunity to quickly duck my head and leave the Adventurers’ Guild! I hoped Miss Irina wouldn’t be too angry once she realised what I’d done.

---

A/N: 4 and 5 were originally one big chapter that got away from me. It looks better to have five chapters than four though, so here we are.

 

According to the flyer, I had already missed the scheduled ‘rumble’, so my new quest would have to start tomorrow. It was looking like today would be another lute practice day. I quickly made my way to the forest to stock up on edible grasses.

It used to take me about five hours to reach the edge of the forest. I could tell because the sun would usually be almost right in the middle of the sky. Over the last few days though, I seemed to be getting here earlier. If it wasn’t just my imagination, the sun wasn’t quite as high in the sky when I arrived.

Either I was getting better at walking here, or the sun was rising later now. That was something that happened in autumn, right? I liked to think that it was the first one, though.

I made my way through the familiar area.

At the very least, I was definitely sure I was getting better at herb harvesting! It didn’t take me long at all to find a new patch of bluegrass. With experienced ease, I harvested all of it for eating. I was having to head a little deeper into the forest now, compared to my first week, but I was also much more confident in finding my way around in it.

Time passed me by, and by the time I was heading back to Axel Town, I had enough to keep me going for at least five meals, and it wasn’t just bluegrass but lichtail seeds and tasteslikechickenroot too.

I was ready for my first real adventure, now!

The village was in the complete opposite direction of the forest, so I stopped back at the Adventurers’ Guild to use the bath. After quickly washing myself off and having an afternoon soak in the bath, I hastily made for the town gate.

Thankfully I hadn’t been spotted by Miss Irina, so there was no more discussion of finding a party for now. It was just for now. Once I had at least one real quest under my belt, it would be that much easier to find party members!

It was my first time headed in this direction, but I still managed to make it to my destination before sunset. As I reached Greenbloom Village, the first thing I noticed was how busy everyone seemed. A few sweaty men and women were heading back from the fields, some of them carrying baskets filled with produce and tools, but most people seemed to be done with their work day already.

I stood down the road from them, on the path that led to the village entrance. A small group of children were playing near the village entrance, but their mothers were already there. It was probably about dinner time.

…It didn't seem right to bother any of them with questions. I-I mean, they were clearly occupied with the harvest season, and they had just finished a hard day of work. It would be really inconsiderate of me to interrupt their routine, right? And besides, the sun was already setting. Surely, it was time for everyone to wind down and relax with their families.

Right. I didn't want to get in the way and ruin their precious family time. It was actually quite thoughtful of me to not approach the villagers, if I did say so myself.

If you really thought about it, they were paying me twenty thousand eris for a reason. Since they were too busy to spare their own people to investigate, did it make any sense for me to go and bother them about the problem? I had to show a little initiative. At the very least, I could wait until they were well-rested before asking my questions.

Instead of entering the village, I decided to retreat to a small forest just outside of it. It was a perfect spot to camp for the night. I didn't have an alarm clock, so my plan had always been to sleep earlier than usual.

I took my twig pillow out of my bag and found somewhere to stay for the night. The spot I decided on had less leaf litter and more grass. Less chance I would crush any poor insects that way. I pulled some bluegrass out of my bag for dinner before settling down for the evening.

While I was lying down, the sounds of the village carried over to my spot. This was the right choice. It was important to let the villagers have their evening in peace. If I really couldn’t figure out which direction the sound was coming from, then I could ask them tomorrow morning when I asked what else they knew.

As I lay there, staring up at the stars, I knew I had made the right decision.

***

The results of my plan to go to bed earlier were a little mixed. Sleeping in a forest wasn't quite what I was used to. I kept waking and sleeping in fits and starts.

Still, it all worked out in the end, since I hadn’t overslept. It was the very early morning right now and I was alert and ready, so while I munched on some tasteslikechickenroot, I headed towards a hill I spotted yesterday. The village was still quiet. Did the ‘thump’ happen before or after everybody was getting about their day? The flyer had only mentioned that it happened in the ‘early hours of the morning just before the sun rises’.

With nothing else to do, I reached the top of the hill and found a nice spot to sit and wait. Hopefully the height gave me a good vantage point to listen for this mysterious sound.

Instead of idling, I took my lute in hand and began to mime playing it. I was far enough away from the village that it shouldn’t have been audible, even in the silence of the twilight, but I didn’t want to risk it. I also didn’t want to play over the sound that I was here to investigate, even if it had been described as fairly loud.

After a while, the sun began to rise. The sun itself still wasn’t visible yet, but the horizon was starting to glow with its light. I guess I picked the right time to ‘wake up’.

I was putting my lute away when I saw it—a cloud of dust, rising just beyond the horizon in the direction of Axel Town—and then the loud thump that followed.

…I wish I had paid more attention in science class. There was something about thunder and lightning and calculating its distance, right? Maybe if I spent less time daydreaming at school, I might have remembered it.

There was a reason my grades weren’t very good, though…

I squinted, trying to get a better look at the dust cloud, but whatever had caused it was blocked by the curvature of the planet. It was a little strange to think of a fantasy land in planetary terms, but I didn’t want to think too hard about it.

I had the direction to go on now. All that was left was to see if the villagers had any other clues.

A few villagers had left their home to have a look, but they didn’t leave for work until a while later. As time passed, more villagers began to wake up and go about their mornings.

I waited, watching for the best moment to approach someone.

Soon enough, the villagers started heading off to work in the fields. It didn’t feel right to approach them now, either; they were clearly very busy, and I didn’t want to get in the way. Maybe if I followed along, so we could talk while they walked?

For the moment, I could pick someone friendly-looking to talk to. I headed down into the village.

As the time passed, I grew more and more discouraged. Whenever I spotted somebody who looked approachable enough, somebody else would come up to them and begin chatting instead. A few of the villagers who were walking alone looked a little scary, so I left them alone too.

Some of the villagers noticed me and gave me strange glances, but nobody went up to speak to me.

Time passed quickly, and before I knew it, the morning had slipped away. The sun was already high in the sky.

This wouldn’t do.

Since it was impossible to ask for any clues, I would just have to figure it out myself. I started walking back down the road I arrived on. As I walked, I kept my eyes peeled for anything unusual.

Eventually I had to take a right and cut through the grassy countryside if I wanted to continue in the direction of the dust cloud I’d spotted. It wasn’t too hard to tell that I was on the right track, because the closer I got, the dustier the grass became.

After walking for a while in the afternoon sun, I eventually came across a suspicious crater. After cautiously watching it for a while, I approached in search of clues.

After all, the thumps had always been at the same time each morning. Surely it was safe enough for now.

The crater was deep, but it wasn’t too wide. Curiously, besides the crater itself, and the dirt that had been displaced by whatever caused it, there weren’t any other signs of a disturbance. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t a sign of any monsters, or anything else that might have caused it.

Uneasy, but determined to make my money, I wandered about in search of any other similar formations, but despite my best efforts I found nothing.

By the time the sun was setting, I still hadn’t found anything.

Maybe it was time to set up camp again.

Just in case, I walked a good ten minutes away from the crater and then did my best to climb up a tree. All the hiking and exercise over the last three weeks had done my lazy body some good, because it only took me seven tries to get up here.

I watched the sun dip beneath the horizon.

Seated on a branch, maybe four metres up, I was sure that I’d get to the bottom of this.

I probably wouldn’t be getting much sleep tonight.

Would it be better if I just slept on the ground? After all, besides all the dust, nothing else near the crater had been touched. And even if I was sleepy, I would probably wake up before the ‘thump’.

…No, better not to risk it.

I was a little worried I would drift to sleep and fall out of the tree, but after thinking for a while it hit me. I could simply tie myself to the tree! A rope had come with the basic adventurers’ set that I’d been recommended once I had some money, but I hadn’t had a chance to use it until now.

I was really starting to become a real adventurer!

I looped the rope around my stomach and the tree trunk first, and then finished it off with a bowtie around my thigh and the branch. With this, I could take a nap without worry!

Excited with my ingenuity, I had some trouble falling asleep, but eventually I did.

When I woke up for the fifth time, the stars were finally starting to dim in the sky. I gave both cheeks a few slaps to wake myself up, and then sat attentively in the tree.

It was almost time.

Around the time the sun was just starting to crest the horizon, I noticed movement. In the distance, on the side of the crater closest to Axel Town, there was a little red speck.

My heart started to race. This couldn’t just be a coincidence, could it?

This could be it!

Squinting, I tried to make out what it was. As best as I could tell, the speck looked like some kind of.. red monster with… yellow eyes. Would that be enough for the Guild?

Eventually it approached the crater. I watched in confusion as it began to flash with otherworldly energy, like the colours of the rainbow. The sky seemed to flash in the same way for an instant, orange discs of energy filled the sky, and then—

H-Hiroshima…?!

A blinding light, a mushroom cloud, and then… a rapidly approaching wall of dust!

'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!'

The world turned upside down and I screamed. Something pulled on my leg painfully, and then I was swinging side to side, coughing. Blinking through the haze, I coughed and struggled to get rid of the dust from my lungs.

Nose running, eyes burning and watering, I eventually realised what had happened. The force of the wind had blown me clear out of the tree. It was only because of the rope that I hadn’t fallen to the ground, which was why my thigh and stomach were throbbing from the pressure of my weight.

W-w-what the heck was that monster?!

Gritting my teeth, I pulled myself back onto the branch as quickly as I could and then hid behind the trunk. I couldn’t let that thing see me!

I couldn’t stop my coughing, but I tried desperately to keep it as quiet as I could. I could only hope that it didn’t have superhuman hearing.

I didn’t know how long I stayed in the tree. Time seemed to crawl. Even after the dust settled and I finally risked a look, the red monster was still there!

Keeping behind the tree trunk, I carefully untied myself, wincing at the way the rope was cutting into me. Clambering down the tree, meticulously keeping out of view, I dropped to the ground and then onto my stomach. I couldn’t afford to be seen!

With adrenaline pumping through me, I started to crawl. I couldn’t head back to the Guild while the monster was still there. I decided to head for the village instead. If I could just get far enough away, I could loop the long way around back to Axel Town! This had to be reported.

As stealthily as possible, I began making my way through the wilderness, and then the countryside.

When it felt like I couldn’t crawl any more, I rolled onto my back and played Melody: Summer Vitality, and then rolled back onto my stomach to keep crawling.

Eventually I made it back to Greenbloom Village, and then it was evening when I reached Axel Town.

I pushed open the double doors to the Guild, exhausted. All the other adventurers were already eating and partying, but a few noticed me and gave me commiserating smiles. That was the first time anybody had done that. I smiled nervously back. I guess everyone had bad days.

I trudged my way over to the counter.

Miss Luna’s window was already occupied. She was talking to somebody in a shade of red I would rather not have seen again, but thankfully Miss Irina was free.

'...And then they kicked me out of the party again! Is that fair? No! Absolutely not, I say!'

Trying not to eavesdrop, I walked up to the counter. Miss Irina’s eyes widened when she saw me.

'Hitori?! What happened to you?!'

'Ah…' I looked down at myself. I guess I was pretty dirty. 'There was some sort of monster.'

I quickly recounted everything that had happened. Well, I glossed over my investigation at the village a little, but other than that, I told the story as I remembered, describing the monster as best I could. Hopefully their bestiary would have something. The closer to the end I got, the stranger Miss Irina’s expression grew.

'...I think I understand the situation, Miss Hitori.' She sounded a little angry. Miss Irina glanced at the girl in red next to me and then turned to Miss Luna, whose conversation partner had stopped talking for some reason. Had they been listening to my story? 'I’ll leave this to you, Luna.'

Before I could wonder at what was happening, Miss Irina turned back to me.

'Miss Hitori, let’s get you to the baths,' she said. 'I’ll lend you a change of clothing.'

'Ah, yes,' I said obediently. I could tell from her tone that she wouldn’t brook any arguments. Right, I was probably getting the Guild all dusty… Sometimes I saw the Guild staff sweeping the floors, and I’d just gotten them all dirty…

…And she must have realised that I’d snuck away the last time we spoke to avoid looking for a party.

I paled. Meekly, I let her lead me away.

I heard some yelling from behind us, but I was too busy trying to figure out how to apologise for causing trouble again to pay it any mind.

---

​

 

I had twenty thousand eris now! Tonight I was going to treat myself!

‘T-the vegetable stew with h-honey glazed roast meat, please… A-and the cheesy herb bread.’

‘One vegetable stew with honey glazed roast meat, and one cheesy herb bread,’ the waitress said. ‘What about you, Irina?’

I knew the names of most of the counter attendants now, but not most of the rest of the Guild staff. I wondered if I ever would. I couldn’t stay in Axel Town forever, after all. Not if I was going to be defeating one of the Demon King’s generals!

‘Oh, good choice. Just give me the same, Aisha.’

Come to think of it, there were a lot of Aishas in isekai settings, compared to other Western names, I mean. It sounded very stylish. The other popular one was Eris, but that was the name of the goddess of this world. Maybe it was one of Lady Aqua’s aliases.

Aisha the silver-haired waitress strode off, leaving just the two of us at the table. Miss Irina smiled cheerfully at me, so I smiled back.

'Have you tried the stew before?'

'N-not yet…'

'It's pretty good. I think you'll like it.'

Most of the adventurers had come back from their missions by now, so Miss Irina was taking another break and having dinner with me tonight. When I first came back from the baths, she filled me in on the aftermath of my mission.

It turned out that the red monster wasn't a monster at all, according to her, but a troublemaking fellow adventurer who had a penchant for casting the powerful Explosion spell whenever she had the chance. I still had mixed feelings about that revelation.

Maybe the wilds outside of Axel Town weren't filled with tremendously powerful monsters after all, but were tremendously powerful delinquents that much better...? Delinquents all liked to gather around and light newspapers on fire. I read about it on the internet. Was casting Explosion the fantasy equivalent to that?

It only sounded a little less dangerous than monsters, to be honest.

N-not that I'd ever really had trouble with delinquents, myself. They left me alone at school. Everyone did. But I'd seen some do scary things before, like smoking cigarettes or saying ‘Aaah? What are you looking at?!’...

‘...Why are you frowning again? Your mood changes so quickly…’ Miss Irina muttered. She liked to drop the 'miss' in front of my name whenever she wasn't working. I liked it. It felt like we were growing closer. ‘Well, don’t think about it so much. The adventuring business has its fair share of oddballs… like you… but most of them are good people, even Megumin. Besides, Belzerg has its laws, so she’d be in a lot of trouble if she actually hurt anyone.’

I suppose it made sense. After all, she did trek out into the wilderness every morning. Maybe she just didn’t think she would be heard or seen by anyone. I guess it was my fault for hiding in the tree, too. Surely a sensible person wouldn’t fire that spell with anybody else close by.

‘Speaking of people, you went adventuring on your own again, didn’t you? Did you even try to find a party before you left?’ she said pointedly.

Ah… I was hoping she might have forgotten about that.

‘...You’re doing that shifty eye thing again.’

‘I-I’m still in the process of looking…’ T-thinking about it was a type of planning, right? I was still just in the planning stage, that was all…

Miss Irina gave me a flat look. ‘Just thinking about it isn’t a type of planning.’

M-m-mind reading skills...?!

‘It’s written all over your face.’

I had my mind read again!

‘B-but… I don’t think anyone would want… someone like me…’ I said.

Miss Irina looked faintly disgusted. I’m sorry for being useless…

‘You’re a bard, Hitori. We aren’t exactly swimming in advanced classes out here in the countryside.’

‘Ahaha… aha…’

I hadn’t actually told her that I was having trouble playing for an audience yet. As far as she knew, I just hated playing music at parties. I wasn’t in much of a hurry to enlighten her, either. I felt like enough of a burden already.

Miss Irina looked over me thoughtfully. W-what…?

I picked up my tankard and gave it a sip, and tried not to feel too self-conscious.

Eventually she sighed.

‘I’m used to adventurers giving me headaches, but not in this way. I swear, you’ll give me a heart attack one day.’

‘S-s-sorry…’ I said glumly.

‘It’s fine, it’s fine.’ She waved her hands in a hurry. ‘Blame it on me for being too nosy, I guess. Look, you said you were worried about your income over the autumn, right?’

I nodded. I did. I asked her a few times about what the herb collection market would look like once the seasons changed, and while they paid more in the autumn, there were also less jobs.

‘Unless you’re a self-sufficient class, like an elemental master or something, you’re not going to be able to do extermination missions suitable for your level. And if you’re not doing that, and you’re refusing to play music as an entertainer out of stubbornness, then you’ll probably have to do construction work or waitressing or something until spring arrives.’

Waitressing?!

Instantly, my mind filled with visions of myself clad in a frilly dress—like the clothing that Mum liked to see me in—nervously trying to make myself small.

‘H-here is the menu,’ I say, passing booklets to a noble and his date.

The noble sniffs contemptuously.

‘What do you recommend?’

‘I-I rec- I rec- I-I re-reco-reco- I re-reco-reco-re-re-reco’

‘Bob, you swine! Did you send this imbecile to serve me as a deliberate insult to me?!’

The manager’s glare promises punishment as he hastily apologises to the noble. Behind me, my seniors at the workplace giggle together. All of them are prettier than me, and even the way they laugh mockingly is stylish and fancy.

‘Pfft, are you seeing this?’

‘What is she even doing here?’

‘I heard nobody wanted her as an adventurer.’

‘She’s not even wearing makeup. She looks like a herb farmer.’

As I scurry away to deliver plates from the kitchen, my nervousness makes me trip up, causing all of them to crash to the floor.

‘No! That’s the third time this week!’ the head waitress shouts at me. The manager is too fed up to even say anything.

Finally the day ends, but my ordeal isn’t over. In the changing room, some of the girls sidle up to me.

‘Say, why don’t you wear makeup, anyway? Think you’re too good for us, as an adventurer?’

‘N-n-no… I-I don’t know h-how to use makeup…’

‘Ehh, deadass?! You can’t use makeup?!’

‘Ew, that’s so nasty!’

‘Not knowing how to use makeup is only fine for primary schoolers, no cap!’

‘Kyahahahahahaha!’

Terrified, I quickly finish changing and try to slunk out of the restaurant, but Bob the manager catches me by the elbow.

‘You’ve driven away our best customer!’ he bellows. ‘I have no choice but to fire you, you clumsy, useless girl, and report you to the Royal Commission For Bad Waitresses!’

The next thing I know I’m in court. Stares surround me from every corner from where I’m on trial inside a glass cage.

The noble from earlier jumps to his feet and points at me.

‘It was her, Your Honours!’

A panel of three judges squint down at me from their podium. The old man in the middle bangs his gavel.

‘The evidence is clear. Guilty as charged! Hitori Gotou, for your crimes and your inability to perform even the most basic of tasks, I sentence you to a lifetime of ridicule and ostracism!’

‘Kyahahahaha!’ laugh my ex-colleagues from the audience seats.

I’m driven from the town. The people of Axel—

‘Come back, Hitori!’ Miss Irina shook me. H-huh? When did she end up on my side of the table? ‘I said "if"! "If"!'

I blinked.

Miss Irina looked at me in disbelief. ‘Is this gazing into space just a habit of yours? This isn’t the first time, Hitori. I hope you don't do this while outside of town.’

‘A-ah, I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I d-don’t want to be a waitress…’

She sat back at her seat and huffed, blowing her black fringe away.

‘I didn’t think you would. But my point is that you’ll need to do something if you want to keep a stable income. I know that you’re shy, but the other adventurers aren’t as scary as you think. Some of them are really sweet.’

I wasn’t sure about that. People who were sweet to the popular people could be really mean to the unpopular ones. Miss Irina was really pretty.

Still, I nodded my head. It wouldn’t be right to dismiss everything she said after she went out of her way to take care of me.

…

In the end I couldn’t help it and said something.

‘But w-what if I hold them back? I don’t know anything about f-fighting monsters yet…’

Miss Irina sighed, her fingers tapping a quick beat on the wooden table. ‘Hitori, everybody has to start somewhere. Nobody is born an expert, and adventurers least of all. They don’t become strong overnight.’

I knew that. I knew that, but the problem was that I would be forcing somebody to take me as I was now. If only I had a few more years to practise the lute, then…

‘Rejection isn’t nice, but it’s not the end of the world, Hitori. If things don’t work out with one party, there are always others. And this is the town of rookie adventurers, Axel Town.’ She waved her tankard and gestured at the partying adventurers in the rest of the hall. ‘There’s never going to be a shortage of novice adventurers, just like you.’

I was sweating nervously. I wish this conversation had happened before I had my bath…

Still, I nodded again.

‘M-maybe.’

‘Your vegetable stews with honey glazed roast meat, served with cheesy herb bread.’

Thank goodness for the distraction!

‘T-t-thank you!’ I said to the dark-haired waitress who set the dishes down in front of us. It looked so good. The aroma made my stomach growl in anticipation.

Miss Irina sighed just once before smiling brightly at me. ‘Well, we can talk about this later. Let’s eat before it gets cold.’

I hesitated for a moment, eager to try both and not sure where to start, but in the end I took a sip of the vegetable stew first.

I couldn’t help but be amazed by the taste. Different vegetable fragrances danced across my tongue, contrasting with the hearty salty, savoury, and fatty undertones that must have come from the meat.

The honey glazed meat didn’t seem all that glazed after all the cooking. But that wasn’t a drawback, because the way it had broken down into the stew itself meant that the sweet and tender chunks practically melted in my mouth.

It was homely and comforting, which was a weird way to describe it since I barely ever ate western stews like this back home.

Miss Irina eagerly began eating her own food. She seemed to be enjoying it, if I was interpreting her hums correctly.

I decided to try the bread now. I gave my best effort to try tearing neatly, but its golden crust was too crunchy for that, so it ended up as an ugly rip. When it was torn open like this, you could see the way the oils from the cheesy outside seeped part of the way into the rest of the bread. It didn’t penetrate too far though, because the insides were still fluffy.

I dipped it into the stew experimentally and then tried the soaked bread piece.

I-incredible. Was this the world of twenty thousand eris…?

Miss Irina chuckled. ‘I knew you’d like it.’ She leaned back in her seat and took a sip from her tankard. ‘You know, most adventurers have stories of their first party experiences. You might be surprised how many of them started out as disasters.’

I felt my stomach sinking. Was this supposed to make me feel better?

‘Oh, not like that! That’s not the point!’ She tapped the table to get my attention. ‘My point is that it’s normal if your first team doesn’t work out, and it’s not because there’s anything wrong with you. That’s simply how it is. A lot of the people who end up in the adventuring business tend to have their own idiosyncrasies, so you just have to keep trying until you find people who are right for you.’

‘I-I see.’

‘I mean it. Some of the most famous adventurers have hilarious disaster stories about their first parties. It’s nothing to take personally. They all eventually made some really close knit friends.’

I paused with a spoon of the stew halfway to my mouth.

‘Really?’

‘Absolutely. You just have to start looking.’

Maybe it wasn’t such a big deal after all. I mean, if everybody was a failure at first, then wouldn’t I fit right in?

Actually, if you thought about it, I had an incredible head start. Not everybody had a Dragonslaying Bard’s Lute, after all. I got it from a goddess. Didn’t that make it a divine artefact?

Even if I couldn’t use it now, all that did was put me at the same starting line as all the other adventurers. Yeah…! It was like that in the stories too.

The hero didn’t get along with his first party, but once he got kicked out of it, he found true friends that appreciated him for who he was. I thought about all the other examples I’d read in stories before.

As we enjoyed our meal, Miss Irina began to tell me about some of the more interesting rookie stories she’d heard on the Guild grapevine. That Megumin character was another adventurer with an advanced class who was still looking for the right party.

‘And the crusader named Darkness is…’ She trailed off.

I looked at her in confusion.

‘Is what, Miss Irina?’

‘Is… Hmm. Maybe I’ll tell you when you’re older. And hey, didn’t I ask you to drop the ‘Miss’ thing? I say it because it’s my job, but it feels weirdly distant when you do.’

I flushed.

‘I-Irina…’

She smiled. ‘That’s better.’

‘I-Irina…!’

‘Y-yes?’

‘Ah. Nothing.’

I returned to my stew. It really was delicious.

As I savoured it though, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something.

It wasn’t the stew—like I said, it was delicious. The bread was perfect too, and I had almost finished mine.

Meat, vegetables, a bubbly drink…

What was…? Ah.

I reached into my pouch and pulled out a handful of bluegrass. I gave it a nibble.

Ahhh, this was it. The food was delicious, but bluegrass had become such a staple for my dinners that things didn’t quite feel right without it.

Irina watched me with an expression I couldn’t decipher. ‘Bluegrass? Really, Hitori?’

I flushed a little, feeling embarrassed.

‘I-I’ve gotten used to eating it, a-and now it feels w-weird not to have it for dinner.’

‘Oh. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of that happening.’ She sounded a little impressed.

‘T-thank you…’ I smiled.

‘...It wasn’t a compliment. Or maybe it was—even I’m not sure how I feel about this.’

I continued to nibble on bits of bluegrass between spoons of the stew.

Miss Irina raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t comment again, and the smile on her face made me feel good. Maybe I was the quirky friend in her social circle. Were we on the way to being friends, yet?

She gave her tankard a swirl and took another pull from it.

We continued to eat and chat, the sound of the boisterous conversations and raucous laughter around us serving as the backdrop. By now I was sort of used to it. At least, it wasn’t as scary as it used to be. Nobody had really harassed me, like I had been afraid that they might, and nobody had tried striking up a conversation with me either, which I had been equally afraid of.

The adventurers here had surprisingly high EQ. Maybe that was just how you had to be if you didn’t know which of the people in the room might save your life one day. Maybe I would save their life one day. That would be so cool…

‘You know, Hitori, the bluegrass is part of the point too.’ Hmm? ‘I won’t say anything about you enjoying the taste, but you started eating it because you had no money, right?’

‘Ah, yes.’ I nodded.

‘Are you going to be all right for winter? I know sleeping in the stables is cheaper, but I told you that it snows pretty heavily in Axel, didn’t I?’

…Huh?

‘Stables?’

‘Huh?’

We looked at each other for a while. Miss Irina’s brows furrowed.

‘If you’ve already managed to share a place with roommates, how is it that you’re so nervous about looking for a party?’

‘Huh? Ah, yes. I’m not living with roommates.’ I looked at her in confusion. ‘What does that have to do with stables?’

‘Oh, err.’ She scratched her head sheepishly. ‘Generally, rookie adventurers don’t make all that much money. If they’re not locals, then usually they can only afford to sleep in stables, or share a place with other people. I know what quests you take, so how are you getting by? Are you staying with a relative?’

Ah, was that how the others managed it? I’d been wondering how some of the others were getting on. I just assumed they had friends in town, or were sleeping in corners like me.

‘Ah, actually I just s-sleep outside. There’s an alleyway I-I’ve been using.’

Miss Irina’s spoon clattered on the floor.

Ah. Dad sometimes made that expression when he’d discovered I’d done something weird.

The silence was getting a little awkward, so I went back to my bread. Mmn, yummy.

After a while, Miss Irina leaned forward.

‘I’ve come to the realisation that there’s no such thing as being too nosy when it comes to you. All right, you wait here.’

Eh? Huh?

Miss Irina marched off to one of the other tables and began talking animatedly to the adventurers seated there.

Eh? Huh?!

She was coming this way with the three of them! Why were they bringing their food and drinks too?!

Oh no, stay calm, Hitori!

Before Miss Irina had even returned to her seat, a man with coal grey hair sidled down into the seat next to mine.

Ehhhhh?!

‘So you’re the rookie, huh?’ He examined me with an easy smile on his face.

‘R-r-rookie…?’

My eyes shot to Miss Irina pleadingly.

‘C’mon, don’t scare her, Keith.’ Another man sat down next to Miss Irina’s seat, while a pretty girl sat down on the other side of me.

‘I’m Taylor. This is Keith, and this is Rene.’ He gestured at the people sitting on either side of me. ‘Miss Irina said that you’re a bard, looking for a party.’

‘Nice to meetcha,’ Miss Rene said.

‘N-n-nice…’ Before I could finish my sentence, Mr Taylor spoke again.

‘Can you tell us about your adventuring experiences?’

Ehhhhh?! Right now?!

‘I-I-I… H-herb… Koho! Koho!’ Aaah! I choked on my own saliva…!

‘Hitori’s pretty new, like I said.’ Oh thank god. Thank you, Miss Irina! I shot her a grateful look between my coughing. ‘She’s only attempted herb gathering quests so far, but by all accounts so far she’s done a pretty good job.’

‘Herb gathering?’ Miss Rene looked dumbstruck. ‘I didn’t even know they had quests like that.’

‘There’s usually a few on the board. They take you a fair distance out of town,’ Mr Taylor said absently, and then refocused on me. ‘Well, I guess we know that you can walk. Do you have any skills unlocked yet?’

S-skills… Skills!

‘I-I-I-I do! T-this!’

I pulled out my Adventurer’s Card.

‘S-see?’

The three of them leaned in to peer at it.

‘Hitori Gotou, level two… Skills… Lute… Melody: Summer Vitality?’

‘It’s a support spellsong. It can only be used once per target per hour, but recovers injuries and significantly restores energy,’ Miss Irina explained.

‘How effective is the healing?’ Mr Taylor asked.

‘At least as effective as the Heal spell.’

‘That’s not bad,’ Miss Rene said. ‘I can’t believe you have access to healing at just level two.’

‘Eh? Really? I’m not that good. Ehehe…’

‘It’ll be a long while until she hits level three though,’ Mr Taylor mused. ‘Well, if you’re willing to join our party to see how it goes, I’m fine with it. I’m a crusader and I’m using a one-handed sword. Rene? Keith?’

‘I’m fine with it too.’ Mr Keith spoke up for the first time in the conversation. ‘I’m an archer. Very pleased to meet you, Miss Hitori.’

Miss Rene flashed me an easy grin. ‘I don’t mind either. I’m a wizard, and I’ve just unlocked the Wind Curtain spell. Stay next to me and I won’t let you get hurt.’

H-how dependable…!

‘P-p-pleased to m-meet you all! I-I’m Hitori, a bard!’

Finally! Finally, my isekai adventures were truly beginning!

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A/N: I know it's an Arabic name, don't @ me lmao.