CH 2

Status and Bandit Attack

Once it seemed like the blinding light was starting to subside, I felt a breeze on my cheek.

Finally, I opened my eyes and saw that I was surrounded by fields of grass. A short distance away, I could see something like a road. And after scanning the area, I found a small area with a thicket and boulders, and so I hid myself there.

It would have been reckless to continue standing in a field where you could be seen from any direction.

Once I was settled, I decided to take a look.

‘“Status open!”

I chanted, and a game-like window opened up in front of me.

“Woah…”

It was like being in a VRMMO, only those were never invented in my lifetime. Well, at least I knew now that this world wasn’t a scam.

Name: Ajifu

Race: Human

Age: 46

Lv: 1

HP: 36/36

MP: 11/11

STR: 18

VIT: 17

INT: 8

MND: 11

AGI: 14

DEX: 7

LUK: 4

Skill

Title

Visitor From Another World

Hmm. I understood most of it.

STR was strength, VIT was vitality, INT was intelligence, MND was mind, AGI was agility, DEX was dexterity, and LUK was luck.

So I could raise my Lv and punch physically. Did that mean I was a vanguard type? I wasn’t sure, but my status seemed quite good for being Lv1?

But how could I use the skills? Hmm. I tried thinking about the Eralt language.

Eralt Language Lv1

Allows you to use Eralt, which is the standard language of the human countries.

The details were displayed. Would it not activate unless I was thinking about it? Could I switch back and forth? But there was no way for me to find out unless someone talked to me in the Eralt language. So I left it for now.

As for my main skill, it was Reverse Age.

Reverse Age Lv1

Reverses the users age by Skill Lv x MP used x 0.1 year.

Recast time: 1 year.

Th-the recast time is one year!? That’s how long it takes to be able to use the skill again. If I could only use it once every year, then I’ll have to be very careful. Currently, it would be Lv1 x MP 11 x 0.1, which meant I could only rejuvenate by 1.1 years. And to be honest, there was hardly a difference between being 46 and 44.9. So, it wasn’t possible to get a lot younger from the beginning then. The road to anti-aging could not be traveled in a single day.

While there was a part of me that wanted to test it right away, if I used it now, I wouldn’t be able to use it again for a whole year. And so I should at least raise my level and MP a little first.

Another thing that interested me was that my stats looked like that of a vanguard type. And I had the impression that vanguards weren’t great when it came to increasing their MP. Besides, starting as a vanguard when you were old seemed quite awkward. Why couldn’t I be a sorcerer who fights in the rear guard?

After all, when you think of other worlds, you think of magic! Well, it won’t be easy, as I didn’t have the skills. But that light…which was probably a god, said that it was possible to acquire new skills. And so I would have to put it to the test.

I stretched my hand out and tried to focus on gathering energy…

And then I chanted the familiar words!

“Fire Ball!!!”

…Hmm. Nothing happened. There was a light breeze, but that had already been there. It was unrelated.

This wasn’t exactly unexpected. If it was activated now, then there wouldn’t be any need for skills. Still, it was embarrassing to be flopping around like this at my age. I felt an overwhelming sense of defeat.

However, I did learn something. You couldn’t acquire skills just by trying something. So it wasn’t a defeat.

Now, it was time to think about the reason that the magic wasn’t activated.

Theory 1

Stop dreaming about magic, you old man!

While it may have seemed realistic, and while the god had said it was a world of swords and sorcery, it wasn’t that realistic, considering there were stats.

Theory 2

I had said the wrong words.

There are different patterns, after all. I’ll have to test it.

Mmm…

“Fire!”

“Fira!”

“Flame Bullet!”

“Wind Cutter!”

“Aero!”

“Water!”

“Earth Bullet!”

“Grand Javelin!”

“Light!”

…Did the breeze get a little weaker?

No, it must be unrelated. And there it was again, that feeling of overwhelming defeat.

To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. I would have to watch someone use magic in order to figure it out. So I’ll give it a rest for now.

Theory 3

I haven’t met the requirements for activating it.

This seemed the most likely. For instance, you need to acquire spells, catalysts or magic circles. Once again, I couldn’t be sure unless I saw someone else doing it.

But then there was the most likely possibility.

Theory 4

You needed a skill in order to use magic.

This could also be seen as an activation requirement. For instance, things like magic energy detection or manipulation. I would have to put it to the test.

As I couldn’t sit in a zen meditation pose…old men are not flexible, I simply sat cross-legged, closed my eyes, and searched for the energy within my body…

Searching…

I even checked the area around my stomach, which seemed the most likely…

Hmm? What is this?

Grrr…

Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t eaten my dinner.

It wasn’t magic energy.

I even checked the heart, where the blood flows…

I searched…

Hmm. I don’t sense anything at all.

Dodo…

Hmm? What was that?

Dododo…

Oh? Is this…?

Dodo-dododo…

It’s!

It was the sounds and vibrations of something from the other side of the road. It wasn’t magic energy at all.

When I looked out from the shadow of the rocks towards the road, I saw a cloud of dust that was approaching me.

Apparently, it was a carriage. But it was moving at a great speed. And I could see several horse riders behind it. They seemed to be chasing the carriage.

This scene. I had a bad feeling about it.

There was someone on the luggage carrier of the carriage, and they seemed to be fighting back with a bow. But at that speed, it would be difficult to hit your target. Ah, one of the riders was shot off his horse.

Amazing.

Now the number of pursuers were 3, 4…5. They were wearing leather armor that looked…old. My impression was that they looked like ‘bandits.’ Three of them had spears and two had swords.

The driver of the carriage was wearing ordinary clothes, but out of the people in the back, two were wearing dark armor that might have been leather. One carried a bow and the other a sword.

The riders spread out, one of them overtook the carriage and began to attack the driver to the right with his sword.

The horizontal swing went straight for the neck, but the driver dodged the attack in the nick of time!

…But, a spear-wielding bandit had now come up on the other side, and with a quick thrust, the driver was stabbed in the stomach.

As the carriage began to slow down, the spear-wielder jumped onto the carriage and kicked the driver off.

And while the swordsman in the back tried to assail the invader, he was targeted by a bandit who was behind him.

In order to cover for the swordsman, the archer let go of the bow and drew his sword, but he was soon surrounded by the other three and stabbed with a spear.

Once the swordsman was facing five enemies at once, he finally dropped his blade and surrendered.

The carriage stopped, and as the bandits searched through the luggage, they discovered a small boy who began to struggle wildly. But he became quiet after they dragged him out and dealt a few punches and kicks.

The swordsman was tied up, and while I was too far to clearly hear what he was saying, it sounded like, ‘Please spare me!’ But he was then held to the ground and beheaded.

The scene was just too different from modern Japan that my mind could not keep up with what was happening. I just watched in stunned silence.