Chapter 5: My Arrival
The Way Back
On the way, the king looks at me with a serious expression.
"I have judged your character as a man and found it good overall, but before this can go any further, I need details regarding the betrayal you mentioned. The magic behind the Absolute Loyalty Seal is a very serious matter."
I look at him seriously, interlacing my fingers in front of my face.
I glance to my left. He understands I want privacy.
"Ah. I see."
The king loosens a black curtain to my left, revealing a pattern similar to the one on his hand.
"Sir Kaijuu, please feed some magic into this pattern with me."
We both do so. The circle glows red, then fades.
"Our conversation in this cabin is now encrypted. Please proceed."
I nod and begin telling him everything.
My Arrival
I woke up on a bed in a room. All I remembered was falling asleep in my own world the night before.
"Kaijuu Ryu, welcome to our world. My name is Mel. I have been assigned to you."
He looks me over and marks something on his clipboard.
"No visible abnormalities found. Do you feel okay? Any dizziness or anything at all? Tell me even the smallest thing."
"I feel a bit dizzy."
"That's normal. It will go away in a moment. Anything else?"
"No."
"Please look at your hands for me."
I look at my hands. They look… off. Too smooth. No pores. No arm hair. I lose focus as I get dizzy again.
"My hands are... wrong."
"I see. Please bear with me for a second, and I'll fix you right up."
He puts his hand on my chest, and I see a light glow under my shirt.
"Initializing."
The glow fades. A screen with numbers and bars appears. All the bars fill up, and my dizziness fades. The screen disappears.
He moves behind the bed and places two fingers on my temples.
"Calibrating optical."
He lifts his fingers.
"How's that? Please look at your hands again."
I do. Everything seems normal now. I can see the details again.
I sit up. Afterwards, he informs me that I was summoned here. I ask what happened to me, but he says everyone who passes through has a different experience. Some remember being hospitalized, others just wake up here like I did.
Not very helpful.
He starts asking me a lot of questions about my life on Earth.
My occupation?
I tell him I was a store clerk.
My hobbies?
I tell him I was a gamer and an amateur speedrunner.
He has no idea what that means.
And then we're done.
I collect my personal effects.
Ah—my cellphone. I try turning it on.
Nothing.
When I try removing the back cover, it won't budge, and the HOME button won't press, like it's welded to the screen. I guess it's a paperweight now.
I receive some money, a map to the Adventurer's Guild, and another map to the employment office.
I decide to become an adventurer after they basically shoo me out the door. I still wonder why they asked me all those questions.
I register and get my life together. After a few weeks, things feel kind of comfortable.
About a year and a half later, I forget my food at the inn. I only realize it once I'm starving. Some passing adventurers help me. One of them is a huge guy. They share their food with me.
That night I ask him if he's a giant or something.
They all laugh.
The next day, on the way back, we're attacked by wolves. Most of us make it out fine, but the big guy gets hurt badly—though he survives. I notice he drinks three HP potions, and his health doesn't even reach one-quarter. Judging by the color, they were decent-quality potions too.
We return to town without incident, but the whole thing prompts me to investigate again.
I learn the Foraging skill and notice the plants at the end of the day have higher properties than the ones I pick in the morning.
Especially the stamina flower.
I conclude it has something to do with my own stamina.
I test it out. I can't keep picking stamina plants with low stamina for obvious reasons, so I get an idea: I start digging up the plants—roots and all. When my stamina falls below 10%, I harvest them.
Needless to say, I get a more than decent haul that day.
I start applying the same method to MP and HP plants.
The HP plants get dangerous, so I start buying monster repellent.
That's when I meet Steph.
She joins me.
I explain what I'm doing—she's kinda hot, so why not?
Then one day, Steph disappears. No goodbye. Nothing.
I start noticing the high-quality plants I'm selling are suddenly worth less and less.
When I ask the wholesale buyer, he says the market is flooded with high-quality plants. I ask who sold them, but he can't reveal other sellers.
So I stake the place out.
And I see Steph again.
When I approach her, she claims she doesn't even know me, then has me thrown out and blacklisted by the wholesaler. I almost end up in jail.
One of the guards who comes to arrest me tells me about her.
Her real name is Lillith, daughter of a wealthy merchant.
The guard advises me to move to the next town, but I can't let it go.
I stake out their business and follow their wagons into the forest.
What I see is awful.
They use slaves by the dozen to harvest using my methods.
Unfortunately, they notice me, and I barely escape.
I leave that same night.
I head north and cross the border into the Shadowfall Kingdom from the East Empire.
I never partied up again.
The king listens calmly.
"I can see why you would not trust people easily after such a thing. Very well. I can now grant special permission for use of the Absolute Loyalty Seal, provided my daughter agrees. Don't worry—I'll convince her when the time comes."
I'm glad he understands.
"King Raymond… what exactly is the Absolute Loyalty Seal?"
He stays silent for a moment.
"All I can say is that it guarantees what happened to you will never happen with my daughter. To assure you further, I'll send the relevant research documents to your room later."