Volume 1 - CH 1

Bonjour! Isekai

Translated by Raizu

My name is Tanaka Sei. 41 years old.

A plain name, isn’t it?

I think so too.

I was born the third son of a rural temple guardian family, but I didn’t lead a particularly unusual life.

Should I also mention that I went to a Buddhist high school?

And I also joined the judo club…half forced to join the judo club. Looking back, it’s a good memory. But, I hated it back then. Very much so.

When I was 23, I got married to my wife, Yumiko, and got a job at a food processing company run by her family.

Because the company was completely run by the family, I was treated like a section chief, you know?

That said, my job was warehouse management, and my subordinates were all local part-time aunties.

Our eldest son, Kenta, was 18 years old, and the second son, Shoji, was 16 years old.

Both of them were excellent, unlike me, and managed to attend high-level local school.

I’m proud of my sons.

Me? I’m a graduate of a third-rate private university…not that I mind that.

Well, I was happy.

Because of my work, my wife was the one who made up the most of the family expenses, but I was able to manage my pocket money of 30,000 yen a month, smoke cigarettes, and drink alcohol.

I had to make a loan for it, but I had a house and two cars.

For a rural area, I could be considered decent in terms of income.

I had life insurance, as well as student insurance.

My children’s future was pretty much assured.

Of course, I wished I could watch them grow into adulthood. But, it can’t be helped.

I mean, I’m dying as we speak.

Stomach cancer… by the time it’s found, it’s been metastasized. I was diagnosed to have only 4 to 5 months left to live… Well, nothing we could do about that.

At least I got to lose some weight at the end of my life.

Well, I was able to live for half a year after that, and the pain was taken away and I felt much better.

I think it’s really wonderful that it doesn’t hurt, seriously.

I think I was happy.

…..Because there were people who cried so much because of me…..

…I was happy, I was happy, but…

I really don’t want to die.

I wanted to live longer.

I do not want to die.

============

………………

I felt like I was falling.

No, I didn’t know for sure, but I felt like I was falling.

After I died, I slipped out of my body… and before I knew it, it was like this.

…..If I remember correctly, in the picture of hell that I saw at my parents’ house, there was a hell where we just kept falling… Of the eight great hells, Mugen Jigoku or whatever…

Oi oi, how come I didn’t pass the yellow river and met Enma-sama before I got kicked out here…? Was I really so sinful?

Well, I lied, killed, ate meat, had sex with women, and drunk…eh? I guess I was sinful?

Even so, it’s so deep. I wasn’t sure how long I had been falling like this.

Mugen Jigoku… If I recall correctly, the sinful soul will keep falling for thousands of years before finally being eaten by either a dragon or a demon… I’m already dead, but I don’t want to be eaten as well.

I hate this.

…oh, I think I see something.

===========

…..ouch!

I woke up to a feeling of sharp pain in my shoulder.

[…..this is?]

The voice that came out of my mouth felt unfamiliar.

Is something wrong?

I felt an instinctive sense of danger and looked around restlessly.

I was supposed to be in the hospital room, but for some reason I was standing outside…and for yet some reason, an angry giant was standing in front of me.

I didn’t know why this giant was so angry at me, but he just was.

He’s big. Real big.

I was 172 cm tall, and no kidding, the giant was twice as tall.

And his face reeked of danger.

The giant had black hair, black eyes, and a mustache that made him look dandy, but… he had two streaks of scars on his face that nothing like I had ever seen before.

But, why is this giant of a man going mad in front of me?

What’s more, looking closely, he was carrying a wooden sword…that’s it, I’m dead.

What kind of divine punishment is this…ah, I’m really in hell, aren’t I?

[ ×××! ×××!]

This is bad. He’s saying something, but I don’t understand it at all.

[××××!]

And then the giant hit me on the head with a wooden sword… Naturally, I wasn’t able to do anything.

…..this is painful… I was getting beaten up…ahh, as expected of hell.

Even though I just woke up, I quickly lost my consciousness once more.

==========

Then, I woke up again.

I’m in bed? It’s nice, but… it’s kinda dirty. And stinky.

I got up and checked my surroundings.

Tud.

When I moved my body, the area that was hit by the giant… My head and shoulders throbbed in pain.

Enduring the pain, I kept looking around, and found myself in a dark, rustic room made of stone.

If it weren’t for the small window, I could’ve mistaken the room for a prison cell.

I heard a child singing from outside the window.

The somewhat out of tune singing voice was mixed with cheerful laughter.

…..Outside the window?

When I peeped through the window, which was located in a strangely high position, by tiptoe-ing with my unsteady legs, I saw a girl and a boy who seemed to be foreigners had their feet in the tub.

I wondered if they’re playing in the water… No, they’re stepping on something… it looks like they’re doing laundry.

Washing with your feet? …..this window doesn’t even have glass in it…is it weird?”

I twisted my neck.

Looking closely, there’s no lighting of sorts in this dark stone room.

A filthy bed, a window without glass, a ceiling with no lighting…and to top it all off, there were foreigners outside the window.

As I was thinking that it was unnatural, the children outside the window noticed me and hurriedly ran away.

…eh? I wondered why…

When I was thinking for a while, the heavy door suddenly opened.

The person who entered was a foreign woman.

A woman in her 30’s with a plump atmosphere, light brown hair and green eyes… her features are well within the category of a beautiful woman.

What’s more, she’s also a giant.

[×××××, ××××!]

I still didn’t get the language she’s talking in.

I wasn’t proficient in English, and not being able to communicate at all was extremely inconvenient. I’m a little scared when someone I don’t know speaks to me.

Seeing my reaction, the woman frowned suspiciously.

Afterward, the black-haired giant man emerged into the room and tried to talk to me…but I still didn’t get what they’re talking about.

[Excuse me, is there anyone who understands Japanese? My name is Tanaka Sei.]

A strangely high-pitched voice came out of my mouth.

Hearing my words, the two giants looked at each other with dubious faces.

「Do you know Japanese？」

Just in case, I also asked in English, despite not really being good at it. But, it still didn’t work… Here I thought they’d understand English.

[Nihao, Bonjour, Ciao, Guten morgen?]

I tried to pronounce random greetings in different languages one by one, but none seemed to work… well, it’s not like I would understand if they reply in French or Italian, but at the very least give me a clue here.

It’s tough on my mental state not understanding anything like this.

[×××××! ××!]

The woman crouched down and started crying.

The giant man tried to comfort the woman, but it seemed to have the opposite effect, and the woman hysterically accused the man.

Serve you right.

Good, do some more.

I was grinning as I watched the giant man grow fuzzy, but even if the giant is taken into account, it’s still too much to call it a fight between foreigners.

However, both of them have a strange appearance, or should I say, they have simple bodies… I wonder if this is Eastern Europe or somewhere in the countryside?

The giant man had a sword on his waist.

All of the things I’ve seen so far made me feel uncomfortable, and I thought that I might have been involved in something outrageous… Then, I finally realized.