Chapter 19

Ossan, tells the story of his life *DISCLAIMER: I DON'T REALLY KNOW j.a.pANESE, THESE ARE MACHINE TRANSLATIONS THAT I TRY TO PUT INTO PROPER ENGLISH. READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION. *This chapter was around 35% longer than the previous ones so far and it gave me more headaches as well, so when i translate the next chapters, if i realize that something in this one totally doesn't make sense in relation to the future ones, I might retroactively correct some of the translations. *small announcement: First of all, I made a “mistake” in the way I started counting the chapters. For me, the prologue was chapter 1, for the previous translators it wasn't, so in actuality, I'm only missing 2 chapters(12 and 13), which I decided to start translating after I read some comments here and on nu saying that the wn is slightly different from the manga. so those are going to be next week's chapters(I'll try posting them as soon as I finish them but i can't promise a specific date). my apologies if you just wanted to read what happens next, but this is for the sake of not having missing chapters. at least, with this one, we conclude the forest excursion arc… probably.

Zeros and the others, who subjugated the bandits, finally arrived at the riverside where they would have to spend the night at.

Celestina and Zweit went to sleep first whilst, Zeros and several knights were keeping watch. Even in a safe area monsters can appear and attack people. 

Since they returned from the vast forest of Far-flung, their senses have been sharpened enough to be like those of wild beasts, and they would wake up at the slightest sign of danger.

The problem was, when the beast that appeared this time was just a wild bear, Why did they look so joyous to be able to hunt prey? 

Their feral behaviour was quite problematic.

Despite being already besides a bonfire, a girl approaches Zero, who was sorting the seeds of the medicinal herbs he had picked up in the forest.

It was Iris, who had the same circ.u.mstances as him. She was reincarnated into this otherworld due to the selfishness of the G.o.ddess.

"Mister, Do you have a minute?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not a lolicon so I won't be able to reciprocate your feelings."

"That's not it! What's with that?"

"Ah… well, you see, in the past, there was this girl the same age as you that tried to seduce me into dating with compensation* in the city I was living in. When I politely refused, she went 'tch, so this one is no good, huh? Piece of s.h.i.t old man', and then proceeded to curse at me for a while, so it kinda became a trauma for me. I apologize."  (*T.N: 援交. Thank you for having a specific word for 'schoolgirl prost.i.tution', j.a.pan. It took me a while to get it.)

"Don't lump me together with those kinds of people! I wouldn't do such a thing… That happened in our previous world, right?"

Iris was treated as a schoolgirl prost.i.tute. As one would expect, she was, naturally, quite indignant about it. 

"First of all, why did you think I was that kind of girl!? What the h.e.l.l, I can't believe it!"

"If you are dressed in such an attire I believe many would misunderstand, Don't you reckon?"

Iris was wearing a black shirt that dangerously exposed her chest area, a long skirt of the same color, with a deep slit, and a bracelet on one of her arms, that seemed to be a support magic tool with a luxurious design.

It's an outfit that's perfectly fine for magicians, but it didn't seem to match with her pet.i.te body.

It was clearly supposed to be a s.e.xy outfit, so it was quite vexing for Zeros to see a little girl trying to look older by using such a risqué attire.

"Ugh… my avatar was supposed to be a tall beauty with a nice body. Then what about you, uncle? You look like a complete beginner so isn't that suspicious as well?"

"That's the importance of it, it works as camouflage to avoid being recognized, in all manner of ways."

"That sounds so shady… What do you want me to say, Doesn't it look like what a mob character, walking around in the city, would wear? Also, the way you're gradually using more of that stupid overly polite tone is so suspicious… Honestly, it's really weird!"

"That's why it works perfectly, and well, the tone is something like an habit. I got it since the time I was working, and now I only say 'ore'* when I get emotional."

(*T.N: 'ore' as in the manly j.a.panese p.r.o.noun.)

Zeros' tone was corrected when he first started working for the company, and soon after, it became how it is now. However, when a scruffy-looking middle-aged man is talking with that kind of tone, it can't look like anything but strange.

Although it sounded awkward coming from him, Zeros quite liked that manner of speaking.

"Heee… What kind of job did you have?"

"Well, it was mainly related to security systems on the internet. Like building firewalls and tracking crackers with a counter-program for example…"

"Woah… you're really smart, uncle."

"… I don't do dating with compensation, though?"

"I already said that's not it! Don't say it with such a serious tone!"

In his previous world, he worked for a certain company for about seven years. During that time, his life… the life of Osako Satoshi was smooth sailing.

(*T.N: Osako is his family name, Satoshi, his first name.)

He spearheaded several projects, and was one of the major contributors to the company's profits. Furthermore, in collaboration with well-known overseas companies, he was involved in several nation-wide projects… 

Until a certain incident forced him to leave the company… 

"…Still, isn't that amazing? But, Why did you get fired? That sounds really odd."

"Well, hear this. I actually have an older sister and she's quite the troublesome person. I was living at the company's dormitory at the time, and……. she came to live with me, saying that because we were siblings I should help her out, that sort of reasoning… but she stayed for 3 years and wouldn't leave the place."

"Eh? Wasn't she your older sister? She was an adult, right? Didn't she work?"

"She worked. And then, she quit immediately after getting married, but she divorced him after she used all of his savings…"

"Haaaa!?"

Satoshi's sister was quite the selfish person.

She spent her half of the money from her parents' inheritance in just two years, and she spent all of her marriage partner's deposits without permission.

Far from just getting a divorced, it was the kind of story that would get the police involved if it would've gotten reported, but it didn't become a big deal because she had previously investigated the fact that her husband was cheating on her, so she used that as leverage against him. 

Rather than letting herself be unhappy, she's a sly schemer that drives her opponents to a corner. 

(*T.N: Not sure about that:むしろ、自分を不幸に見せる事で、逆に相手を追い詰めるほどの策士である。)                                 

That elder sister barged, uninvited, into Satoshi's company dormitory.

She lived there for three years without working, only eating rice and watching TV. 

Since all of the bankbooks were managed by Satoshi, they could be used without fear of her sister using all of their money. Because he didn't trust his sister from the beginning, his room was tightly guarded, and the bankbooks were put in a safe in the bank.

"Woah! What a sister! She's a complete parasite."

"She would randomly order food, and to pay the bill she would barge into my room, under the excuse of 'cleaning it a bit', in order to take whatever money she could find while completely messing it up."

"Did you not try to kick her out? You could've called the police or consult with a lawyer…"

"I would've done it, but she's good at keeping up with appearances. If anything happens, I'd look like the bad guy, so it was useless."

A good sister on the outside, a tyrant at home. 

In any case, she got along with the neighborhood wives, never giving off a bad impression of herself to them.

After 3 years living in such a h.e.l.lish place, Satoshi succeeded in forcibly driving her out when he got rea.s.signed to another district for his work. And fortunately, the new dormitory he was designated to, was a men only 2LDK apartment. 

In addition, his bedroom was also quite narrow, barely enough for one to live alone. 

He gazes at the distance with an annoyed expression as he remembers the moment he finally got away from his sister…

"I have no intention of working, and yet, I'm the kind of woman that needs to constantly spend money… so remember, in this world, I always win."

(*T.N: That was a really confusing sentence to translate, specially the last part, but I think that's the main idea behind it;この世界にいたら、真っ先に殺してますよ )

"I don't think this will be the end of it…"

And, indeed. It was not the end of it.

When he went abroad on a business trip, and, naturally didn't return to the dormitory for a while, she showed up there and deceived the manager into letting her inside the apartment. She hacked his computer and stole the program that he was developing.

(*T.N: I wonder how such a useless woman would be able to hack into a literal cyber security expert's work computer…) 

And then, she met and even got married to another man.

"That man… he was one of the top executives of a rival company, and soon after, they announced the stolen software as one of their new products under development!"

"Your tone is changing, uncle…"

Naturally, a patent application had already been filled, and so, both companies went to court. Although Satoshi's company won because of that single, irrefutable, piece of evidence, he was still fired from his job. All due to his troublesome elder sister.

The rival company's executive, who was also her sister's husband at the time, was made to take responsibility for the incident, and was fired as well.

It was a nightmare-like event, in which, no one ended up profiting from.

Satoshi then bought some land on the countryside, and started a secluded farming lifestyle.

He had always enjoyed playing videogames, and adding that to his new slow life, made him surprisingly comfortable. 

His older sister, who knew he retired to the countryside, wouldn't even come close to him. Probably because she thought it would be impossible to adapt to a farmer's lifestyle.

"Well, why am I even talking about this, right? By the way, are you going to change your equipment now?"

"I don't have anything else I can wear right now, I do have some materials but…"

"Ahh, are you the kind of person that sells their old equipment first? If you leave it to me, I can strengthen it."

"In any case, it's supposed to be a s.e.xy outfit so you can't. It doesn't suit me now."

"So you were trying to make some money as a mercenary to buy new equipment first?"

…After mixing in some silly talk, Zeros had a rough understanding of Iris' situation.

She was a player who enjoyed the game quite a lot, and probably had the type of personality that makes her draw into her own sh.e.l.l. Very curious, but lacking awareness of potentially dangerous situations. 

The relationship with her family couldn't be said to be the best, but it also wasn't bad. It was a very ordinary family.

She had a considerably small social circle, even after reincarnating.

That was how Zeros evaluated Iris, and he seemed to be almost entirely correct.

"What do you do for a living, uncle?"

"I'm teaching magic to a n.o.bleman's children, but I'll most likely be unemployed soon."

"N-n.o.bles… How did you managed to get acquainted with such powerful people!? And in less than a month…!"

"I just helped them when they were attacked by bandits, though?"

"But you can't normally talk to n.o.bles, right? That's how it is in Ran.o.be, at least."

Even in this world, there's a large gap between the n.o.bility and the commoners.

n.o.bles are the ones with status and power, and also the ones who run the country. Normally, it would be an honor to be able to talk to one.

Iris couldn't believe he wasn't just arrogantly looked down upon.

"In your first time meeting with someone, half of your words have to be your true intentions, 20% lies, and the remaining 30%, to probe the other person's intentions and feelings.

With that, you can manage to extract information from the nuances in their words, and the other party's feelings are explored by saying the things, you believe, they're more likely to respond, at the right times, and then, finally connecting the full story by differentiating truths from lies.

Those are the basics of the art of negotiation, right? After that, I just need to be able to get through with my skills."

"Shady!! That's so shady, uncle!"

"It's hard to win the trust of the other party during your first time meeting, but you still have to do your best by talking, and if you do get their trust, the most important thing is to not betray it."

"Isn't that what con-artists do? Sounds pretty shady to me…"

"Conversation is important to gain other people's trust. The key to winning it, is how much of a great first impression you can make onto the other party.

A n.o.ble is like a company executive or a politician in the first place, right? I've done it so many times that I'm used to it."

When having business negotiations abroad, it was very important to make a good first impression while talking with the other party, and be able to win their trust. That would lead to new business opportunities, and if you succeed, the rewards will be great.

Zeros, who has experienced that many times, is currently working within the framework of a private tutor.

Though, he will be unemployed after a couple of weeks…

"Wouldn't it be possible to be one of the country's great persons if you try?"

"I have no desire to, it's annoying. I want to take care of the fields and live leisurely."

"What a waste of talent…"

"Everyone chooses the way they want to live their lives. I don't want to change mine just because others say so."

In terms of his personality, he doesn't feel like being in an important spot in the country's government apparatus.

He just wants enough money to live leisurely, and the power struggle of the n.o.bles who are in charge of the country's internal affairs is fierce.

Currently, most of this world's war potential is due to the contributions of the combat profession of knights.

Although the social status of a magician would only be high in a magic State(*T.N: I think the narrator is talking in general about States where that political system exists, not a country in specific; 法国家), they're currently clinging onto power, and don't understand the nuances in tactics meant for real battles. 

Up until now, the Solistair Magic Kingdom has never been involved in any major war, and for some reason, the chain of command of the military has been divided into two; with the magicians and the knights often acting independently from each other.

However, when it comes to battles, they had to fight together, thus, having a divided chain of command proved to be quite inconvenient.

When the time to move together comes, the order is transmitted to both divisions, but they try to pull each other's legs and compete as to which side gets the credit as soon as possible.

Of course, there were few direct clashes, but given that they did not trust each other, under the surface sparks flew between them by means of political squabbles and tactics.

The magicians also train for combat, but they've never experienced a real one, in the truest sense of the word. On the other hand, knights have strengthen their coordination having bandits and monsters as their opponents, and aim for the effective management of their organization. However, their joint operations with the magicians result in failures more often than not, due to the divided chain of command and the constant pulling of each other's legs. 

(*T.N: I gave up with that last sentence, at least this makes more sense to me than the raw;ここに異なる命令系統を持つ魔導士団が加わり足を引っ張られる事を由としない。 )

Even if they receive the same instructions, magicians would often interpret it differently, and move on their own accord, despising the knights, who were engaging in actual battle (mainly bandit subjugations). Of course, that could be useful in a war, but it's mainly done as hara.s.sment towards the knights.

This could be due to the fact that magicians are divided into different factions, each one arguing about who will take the credit and gain the upper hand against the others.

There are some magicians that try to fulfill their role seriously, but if you go against your faction, you could easily lose your job, considering that they're composed of n.o.bles that hold most of the political power in the country.

Both the King and the Chivalric Order are overburdened with the internal discord of the Magic Division, but because the leaders of each faction have their hands in the political center, they can't be carelessly irritated. 

The country is in turmoil, and far from stopping any time soon, some of the factions are even starting to behave recklessly.

"Would you want to serve such a country? I feel like I'd get stabbed in the back eventually."

"Is this country okay? I feel like it's lacking in term of national defenses…"

"Well, if you can manage to incorporate serious magicians into the knights' ranks it'll be a different story, but you'd have to get around all of the factions trying to pull each other's legs. That sounds impossible, right?"

"Serious magicians look pretty adorable in their eyes, huh. Looks like the ongoing hara.s.sment it's mutual, and would be hard for them to team with each other, specially with the power struggle going on between the magicians' factions."

Creston created his own faction for that purpose, but so far, the situation is not looking good. Above all, there were many magicians that wanted to dedicate themselves exclusively to research, so often, they didn't want to be involved in military affairs.

On the other hand, there were magicians that didn't want to join Creston's faction because they were scared of the other factions. Due to that, it was difficult to secure personnel.

"I heard there were the Royalist faction, the n.o.bles, and the Knights, right?"

"Do they love creating factions that much? I don't think they'll be able to run the country in that way."

"They seem to have profits in mind, so no one would want to stop each other's despotic actions towards the people, well… there seems to be some fools that try to now and then, but for the most part, is a tacit understanding."

Zeros calmly takes out a cigarette from the pouch at his waist, lights it up, and quietly breathes in the white smoke. 

"Cigarettes… aren't they banned?"

"They're selling them normally, though? This is an irresistible world for smokers, you can treat anything with healing magic."

"…And with that my image of a fantasy world crumbles down instantly… hey, Why do you look so happy about it?"

"Even if the price was high, I wouldn't stop smoking. Have you ever felt the sensation of lighting up a cigarette in the smoking area where the north wind blows through in the cold winter? Well, there's no roof here but you get the point…."

"You should stop it! It's bad for your health and the ones around you."

Zeros, cigarette enthusiast. 

Couldn't stop smoking even after getting fired. 

Casually haves a smoke after working on the fields.

"It was hard not being able to smoke during the first few days after I arrived to this world."

"I wish you could just stop smoking altogether…"

"When I found a tobacco shop in the city, I, involuntarily, made a Hanagasa Ondo-like dance."

(*T.N: traditional song; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanagasa_Ondo)

"What even….show it to me!!"

"For some reason, those who were watching, left money so I earned a little extra income."

"Did you get mistaken as a street performer!? And you even earned money!!"

Zeros lets out the cigarette's smoke and looks at Iris with an expression as if saying 'What even are you talking about?' 

"W-What is it…?"

"Are you… going to continue working as a mercenary?"

"Of course! There's nothing as fun as that in this world. Moreover, there are even dungeons, right?"

"… And miss your marriageable age period? In this world, most people get married when they're 17, you won't be able to find a partner after you're over 20 years old."

"Well, I'll catch a good man by then!"

"I see, you're free to dream…"

Zeros exhales the cigarette's smoke in a casual manner.

*** You are reading on https://www.novelhall.com/ ***

What he really wanted to say was 'Do you want to keep putting yourself into these dangerous situations? This is a world where the rule of kill or be killed prevales', But he stopped himself due to the lack of persuasiveness of his argument, considering he'll be out of work in a couple of weeks.

*** You are reading on https://www.novelhall.com/ ***