Author Note:

RRL Post

Hey guys, this is an original story of mine. All posts related to this will have a D.E.H on the front so for the ones that are not intending to read this one then ignore all that have this on the front.

Anyways enjoy and do give me feedbacks in the journey. If anyone ever reads it ^^;

Editor: Ismya

——–

“Are you ready to leave everything from this world?”

A dark figure appeared in front of me in the usual white room. A body that was faded and unclear, maybe due to my already weak vision.

I check my surroundings and there I saw my arguing parents again. A usual sight that tore at my weakened heart.

“A… yo… the dea… g……..”

Are you the death god? Those words wouldn’t come out of my mouth. How long has it been since I have tried to speak?

“I am a messenger”

Yet he understood my broken words. Or maybe, he doesn’t even need words…

As I glance again at my parents arguing I could hear traces of their discussion.

“Why are you covering for him so long?!”

“He is our child, how many times have you asked me the same question?!”

“Because it’s stupid how long we have to provide for that… that vegetable!”

*SLAP

I couldn’t see clearly but that hit resounded in my soul… Dad just slapped my mother.

“Don’t you dare say that again”

A door slammed. Heavy steps could be heard from the other side of the walls.

It seems my father went after her too… Now it was just me and the dark shade in this white room.

I just want to disappear from this world.

“I have received the message clearly”

And with what sounded like a snap of fingers, my consciousness fades away.

***

I, Youma Hiromi, a 21 year old that suffered from disability was now standing in the middle of a dark room.

With candles lighting the area, I could barely see my surroundings. There are pillars supporting the place and a decoration on the floor that seemed like a spell circle of some sort.

Where am I? – I thought, looking around the place. Watching closely, I noticed I was wearing the hospital clothes. After a while, I tripped on my feet.

I… I can walk?!

The initial shock made me unable to notice it but I was standing on my two feet, when not long ago I was bedridden having difficulties to even breathe.

What’s going on?! Th- This is awesome!

Ecstatic about this, I began jumping left and right, falling every now and then because of my lack of coordination.

My hands and legs were now responding. Even though I still couldn’t speak, I didn’t mind at all as there was no joy as great as this.

After another failed attempt in jumping, the door to the room slammed open and light rushed inside.

“W-Who’s there?!”

A man that seemed to be a guard was standing there, with an armor that was clearly not of the times.

“W-What are you doing there? The summoning process should be over already”

“U…uuughh…”

I was lying on the floor. Using my hands, I tried to push myself up but failed miserably as my brain to hand coordination was still a mess.

“A- A ZOMBIE?!” (Guard)

“E.. uuuu?”

The guard didn’t spare a second and pointed his lance at me.

I hurriedly get up with all I had and quickly retreat, trying my best to articulate words but was only able to make E and U sounds making the matters worse.

“So these are the rumored zombies that crawl up from dead bodies by using mana” (Guard)

Reaching an understanding all by himself the guard slowly approaches my confused self with full intent to cut me down.

Realizing that retreating was not an option I stop back stepping and…

“What?” (Guard)

Prostrate in front of the guard. Lifting my hands up and down to demonstrate surrender, trying my best to show him that I am an intelligent being.

As if to answer, the guard lowers his lance and walks to me.

Breathing a sigh of relief I proceed to be lifted…

And thrown into a cell

EEEHHhh?!

Wait a minute, why am I in a cell?! And why am I naked?!

Stripped of all of my belongings including my clothes. The cell I was thrown into was a pretty desolate one, not a single cell in the vicinity was occupied, making me look rather dangerous, in a lot of different meanings.

With both hands cuffed and legs restrained, I was already dying of boredom. Reliving the times when I couldn’t move at all so soon was not a pleasant feeling.

“Hey, how long are you going to restrain me here?” (Youma)

Several hours passed and I already learned how to articulate words. Now it was my only way of killing this boredom.

I already knew this was definitely not my world from the conversations of the guards.

“…”

Though the guard seemed to be perfectly ignoring me every time I tried to establish a conversation.

“GOSH! At least look at me! No, w-wait no don’t look at me, don’t look at me with those eyes!” (Youma)

As time continued to pass, a person finally came.

“So, this is the rumored “zombie”… why is he naked?”

“Well Count Melroc, sir, he had clothes of unknown origins so we proceeded to strip him to prevent problems” (Guard)

“The other ones were wearing weird clothes too”

The man that appeared seems to be a Count by the name Melroc. His clothes exuded a high class feeling and his eyes were so squinted, they were barely visible, if at all. It made me wonder if he actually had them closed.

*Kashan

With a loud noise, the door was unlocked. Melroc made his way to the chained me and stopped just a few steps away.

“…”

Melroc was just standing there, watching me closely. Moving his head up and down, analyzing every part of my body.

A chill ran down my spine. It’s obvious that I find such an act uncomfortable, I am naked!

Am I going to be…

Scary thoughts ran through my mind, but it didn’t last long.

*cling

My chains were released and the clothes I was using not long ago were somehow lying right beside me.

I couldn’t help but be grateful to this mysterious person, as I lifted my head to express my gratitude…

“Let’s talk in a more private place”

My body tensed up and my face went pale.

***

“I’m sorry for the rudeness of our behavior, my name is Melroc Rusfolt the Count of the Kingdom of Arnesti” (Melroc)

So this place was ruled by a king? Am I not presented to him?

“I-Its ok, I was obviously acting abnormally on my arrival anyways. My name is Youma Hiromi” (Youma)

We both were sitting on our respective chairs.

In a room that would be considered modest. Only a table and a few bookshelves were placed here. The tea was already served by the time we arrived, steam rising gently.

Melroc, taking a sip of his cup, begins to explain the situation.

It seems that I have been summoned into a world where magic and superhuman strength were common feats and the ones who were stronger were superior.

In all of this mess there were multiple races. The beast, demon, dragon, spirit and human.

Among all the races, the human is considered the most numerous but at the same time the weakest. With the signs of war slowly creeping its head, the humans were desperate to find a solution to their weakness.

Legends of heroes passed down through countless stories told about them being the sole reason why humans were actually deemed as an upper tier race in the past. But the heroes have already disappeared and the humans were now in a dire situation as they are to fend off the flames of war that was approaching.

“… so, you are telling me I’m a tool of war?” (Youma)

I couldn’t believe what my ears heard and asked for confirmation.

“That’s how the situation has forced us to act and we are terribly sorry to make you take on this duty” Melroc lowered his head, without denying the statement.

Are you kidding me?

From the spell circle in that room, the designs of the structures, the garments and the miraculous recovery of my body. I could deduce that I wasn’t in my world anymore.

As happy as I was for being able to move my body again, I couldn’t handle the pressure about this sudden situation. Throwing yourself to war wasn’t something the 21 year old me, was expecting when I came to this new world.

Melroc was incredibly direct and honest about all of it as he knew that I wouldn’t be able to run away from it and it was a fact that would sooner or later be revealed.

“Why… me?”

Those words came out truly unconsciously, I, who was bedridden not too long ago, was now sitting here able to speak and move as freely as I did in my youth. If they had to choose there should be better candidates, why me?

“We didn’t choose you. Our goddess, Izara, was the one who guided you to this place” (Melroc)

A goddess was introduced now.

I couldn’t help but remember that dark blur that was in my hospital room.

“What makes me different from all of you? I will be honest here, I came from a world devoid of magic and have no experience in real life fights” (Youma)

The last part wasn’t true. Actually I have practiced a number of martial arts in the past and was pretty proficient if I had to say so, but in this unknown situation it was best to not carelessly throw away information.

Melroc was unfazed by this. He probably knew already that my world didn’t have magic and simply took out a card from his pocket and placed it on the table.

“This is an identification card. It’s a magic item that registers all your data and it’s used in guilds to store your information. It only needs a drop of your blood and it will record everything necessary”

Without me noticing, a knife was already beside the card. With a gesture of his hand, Melroc gave his “go ahead” sign.

I didn’t know how this linked to my question, but the face of Melroc told me that everything would be answered after this.

Taking the knife, I slit my index finger, letting a small droplet of blood flow onto the card. The droplet disappears as if being sipped and it begins to shine, dazzling my eyes. When the light recedes the card that was empty is now filled with my information.

---

Name: Youma Hiromi

Age: 21               Gender: Male

Class: Villager             Race: Human

Alignment: None

Guild: None

Lvl: 1

Stamina: 100/100

Mana: 100/100

Stats:

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Vitality: 10

Magic: 10

Luck: 10

---

“…”

I didn’t know what to say. The card in front of me was pretty crude.

It seems in this world there are stats, but they were so general that it made me wonder if they actually thought about how to distribute them at all. Though I don’t know about how stats work in this world, I am quite sure that mine were not high at all. Imagine a top tier knight that has a 10 in strength and boasts about it, in my world that’s definitely not a number to be proud of.

But what shocked me the most was…

“Villager…”

Was that supposed to be a tittle that a hero should have?

Sure, as a level 1 character you usually start off as a neutral class, but a villager. I’m sure no hero would be able to show his identification card at the beginning of his journey if they were all given this kind of class to start off.

Melroc who was watching all this time, enjoying my reaction, was equally shocked to hear my words.

“No way, what did you say?” (Melroc)

Taking the card off my hand he pressed the card close to his face, so close that if I didn’t know he was checking the contents I would think he is actually smelling it.

His already squinted eyes grew quite severe as he concentrated on a single part of the card.

“Well, I was expecting something like this…” (Melroc)

Melroc heaved a heavy sigh as he released all his strength and fell onto his chair.

“Youma, it’s my turn to be honest with you. I did tell you that heroes were already an extinct race in our world right?” (Melroc)

I wasn’t explained that part, but one could infer that possibility from the way Melroc explained it.

“The truth is they were all beings from other dimensions, not a single hero was born from this world. Many of them did stay in this world, but the blood of the heroes did not pass on to their descendants making it impossible to recover our former glory without resorting on the summons” (Melroc)

What was being told shocked me heavily. Not only that the heroes were all coming from different dimensions but Melroc who was calmly telling me all this.

Melroc grew silent as he stared at my face. Seeming to reach an understanding he nods his head and continues,

“Heroes possess an incredible amount of energy, and can easily tip the balance between races. That kind of power actually affects the environment in the world as it is. There’s something called mana in this world, I won’t go too deep into this but just think of it as the life of earth. The heroes possess an enormous amount of the energy stored inside their bodies and with the proper training they can increase that amount and control what’s inside and outside at will” (Melroc)

Taking the teapot, Melroc begins to pours the tea in the cup. Once the cup was filled he resumed his explanation without drinking it.

“The world is filled with mana. When we summon the heroes we bring an external source mana” (Melroc)

Once again taking the teapot, he poured into the already filled cup and it began overflowing.

“The world can handle only a small amount of that energy. If more than that is provided the consequences are dire. That’s why we limit the hero count so that this overflow won’t happen”

Melroc’s face was ridden in a painful expression, as if being reminded of a past experience.

“The limit is 5 heroes. Youma, you are the ‘6^th’” (Melroc)

With a snap of his fingers, numerous soldiers poured into the room pointing their spears at my unarmed self.

Not keeping up with the pace of the unfolding situation, I just watched my surroundings with a dumbfounded expression.

“It’s a good thing your card didn’t say hero, right?”

With a heavy thud, my body fell to the floor. I was beginning to lose consciousness.

In the last moments, I could see those small, squinted eyes clearer than ever before. His eyes looking down on me as if pitying me, laughing at me.

Ah, so that’s how it is. Even in this world…

My vision went completely black, as my now limp body was carried to an unknown destination.

***

I woke up in an unknown bed in an unknown room.

It was obvious that I wouldn’t know as I haven’t even been anywhere in this new world, but my mind right now was not working properly.

As I shake my mind awake I remembered the face of the man that left me in this state.

‘Next time I get to him…’

Not knowing the reason I got thrown out like a rag and giving me a half-assed explanation that was most likely filled with lies. If you guys are the ones that summoned me at least explain things to me properly!

It reminded me of those guys’ faces in my other world. Taking advantage of the weak ones and exploiting them, sucking them dry and then stepping on them until there is nothing more to take.

I shake off those feelings for now.

“It’s more important to get a grasp of my current situation”

Psyching myself up with those words I begin to scan my surroundings.

It seems I was left in a pretty shabby inn, with a pouch that was lying on top of a shelf.

When I checked it, I saw that it had my ID card and a couple of what looked like silver coins. In total there were 10 coins. It’s most likely the currency in here.

What are they trying to achieve by giving me money?

For some reason my last name was gone from the ID card, only leaving Youma and it just showed my basic information, there were no stats in it. I don’t know why but I will have to take note of that in the future.

---

Name: Youma

Age: 21          Gender: Male

Lvl: 1

Class: Villager          Race: Human

Alignment: None

Guild: None

---

Placing the contents of the pouch inside my pocket I leave the room.

***

“Good morning, did you have a good sleep?”

From behind a counter, I receive an energetic greeting from an old man with a scruffy beard and a big smile so big that his eyes closed. Giving me the vibes of The Inn Keeper.

From his words it seems I have been knocked out for a day.

“Yes I had a great sleep, thanks. May I ask what happened when I was brought here? It’s embarrassing but I have no clear memories of that day” (Youma)

“Ah, there really are those kind of days, hahahaha! I also have days when I get so wild I end up sending a man to the medics” The man nods in understanding and slaps my shoulders with his broad hands. His strength was incredible, it felt like he was trying to plant me on the floor.

“Well, 2 soldiers carried you here and asked me to let you spend a night here. How can I refuse the Blue Scale regiment? Kid are you a regiment enthusiast?” The old man asks me while checking me with his eyes, a strange expression appearing on his face.

‘Maybe not?’ Is what was written there.

Blue Scale regiment, a word that I have never heard before. But it seemed to be of common knowledge so I should refrain from asking questions that might tell them that I don’t know this world.

First there is one thing I need to confirm.

“Haha, as you can see I’m no military material. I am an outlander that doesn’t know much of his surroundings. I’m glad that some kind soldiers took me back. Anyways, how much would the fee be?” I make a motion to take out my pouch but got stopped by the inn keeper.

“Don’t worry boy, the fee has already been paid”

“No way, I can’t just cause so much trouble to the soldiers. From helping me out when I was unconscious to paying for my stay in this great place? I can’t allow such a thing. Please can you tell me how much the stay costs? I would like to pay them back if I ever get the chance” (Youma)

That big smile appears again from the inn keeper and he begins to slap my shoulders with even more force than before.

“Gahahaha! It’s nice to see such a fine young man in this kingdom of Arnesti. Kid, this inn charges 50 copper a day, if you want food included it’s 70 copper. The soldiers only paid for the stay but because I like you I will give you a free meal, how about that?”

The laughter resounds through the inn, a number of people watch us with a smile as if it’s natural for the inn keeper to do behave like this.

I got forced to a table in another section of the inn and the inn keeper calls for an old woman that seems to be his wife. When the food arrived I couldn’t help but see that there wasn’t much difference from how this and the food in my world looked like. A plate, a fork, a knife and a glass of water. What was set in front of me had a high resemblance to chicken and rice. Really, no difference.

When I tasted it, it wasn’t as good as in my original world a bit dry but still edible. It’s nice to know the food in this world is not bizarre.

The inn keeper gave me a thumps up as he saw me take my first bite and then left.

It seems I got into his good side, though that was not my original objective. It was to check for the currency in this world. It’s actually a pity that the fee was paid in advance, now I’m not sure how much a silver is worth in coppers.

If I judge from past experiences in games, a silver is normally worth 100 copper. Going from that logic with 10 silvers I can stay 20 days without food and 14 days with.

That’s actually pretty good. But I’m sure that won’t be good enough, I can’t just stay idle. I have almost zero knowledge and have no idea how to get the money. I have to learn all I can in the time I have, if I don’t want to be ripped off and taken advantage of.

Gripping my pocket I set my objective.

After speaking with the inn keeper for a while I leave the inn.

***

I head in the direction that the inn keeper pointed out.

On my way there I saw a lot of unusual things. The men in this world were mostly well built, and the girls were more attractive, their figures pretty defined. The buildings were out of a fantasy game, with fancy designs and floating sign boards. But who cares about floating sign boards? The important point was… the hair color! Green, blue, pink… There were an incredible number of unusual hair colors that were clearly natural!

“Damn it, I want that hair too” (Youma)

My hair was completely black. A common color that most people I knew in my world had.

As I lamented this irreversible and pointless thing. I reach my destination, the library.

The outside wasn’t much to praise, and aside from the board on the floor that said library, it looked like a normal 2 story house.

On my way here I have already confirmed that I can read just fine. Good thing I don’t have to begin from that step. There is also no barriers in language, I don’t if I will understand the languages on the outside world, but it certainly does in here.

I enter without minding it too much. It’s another world after all.

Inside it was as normal as the outside, I haven’t been to many libraries in my world but this one could be considered a pretty small one. It didn’t look like it, but the number of books was actually good and the atmosphere in here was ideal for concentrating.

‘This is a good place’ I thought as I glanced at the books.

“Can I help you?” A voice called out from behind startling me a bit

“Ah yes, my bad, I’m an adventurer from outside. I heard that this place was ideal if I wanted to learn” Facing the person behind me I lower my head politely.

“…” From behind the desk, a woman was sitting there with a book in hand. Her sharp gaze behind her glasses was silently watching me.

This is bad, I completely forgot about my manners.

After so much time bedridden and lack of human interaction I could be considered a complete airhead. If not for my ability in speaking that I learned from dad and the debt collectors, I would surely be the antisocial type. Not like I’m not.

But to think I would slip here. I heard from the innkeeper that the librarian was a strict woman, and should not get on her bad side as it’s the only library in town for public access. The only one!

“U…um I…” Running my head to fix the situation-

“Feel free” These words came from the librarian woman, adjusting her glasses she promptly returned to reading her book.

Safe?

She seems like a woman of few words so it probably is.

I go ahead and take a book from the bookshelf titled “The beginnings of Eledea” and as I open the book I sneak a few glances at the librarian. She didn’t even pay attention to me anymore.

Feeling relieved I begin my research.

Fortunately, it seems I am able to comprehend the books just fine.

***

“He is running again today”

In a room exclusive for official issues.

The man called Melroc was watching Youma from the castle which was 2km away. One had to wonder how he was able to see so clearly from that distance. As if there were no obstructions in sight.

It has become a habit for Melroc to look out the window and analyze the situation of the kingdom. Though his attention was now more focused on this irregular called Youma.

“Count Melroc, sorry for my rudeness but I still can’t understand why we left such a “question mark” to run around our village freely” a man in armor exclaimed in protest.

Melroc just made an irritated expression in response.

The man in armor cringed.

This wasn’t the first time an officer asked this question to him and it was already getting him on his nerves, but he was required to brief every party involved on the reason of his actions. Truly a troublesome system.

“Didn’t I explain the situation already?” (Melroc)

“Count, I was one of the officers involved in carrying the unconscious body of the individual Youma to the inn, sir” the officer explained promptly, his eyes showing nervousness.

“I did forget to explain the situation for the 2 that were gone. Very well, once I tell you this you should explain it to the other one too. And next time, just ask the others” (Melroc)

“Yes, sir” (Guard)

Checking out the window again, he saw Youma enter the usual library. Once he enters there he will not go out until evening.

Separating himself from the window he takes out a few documents and spreads them on the desk.

“This are the documents from the 5 heroes… and the previous heroes?” the officer asked checking each document.

Of course, what was in those papers was the basics of the basics in information. Nothing important was written there.

“Yes, in all those circumstances there were always 5 heroes. There has never been a circumstance where a 6^th hero is summoned, you know the reason why right?” (Melroc)

The officer nods to Melrocs question. It was common knowledge and was written in various textbooks about the grand power they possessed and that if more than 5 are summoned, that greediness would be punished by the goddess Izara.

“Then why is it that a “6^th hero” appeared?” (Melroc)

The officers face changed quickly and resolutely said,

“That was no hero sir! That was a spy trying to infiltrate our ranks as a hero trying to get information from us”

Melroc just laughed internally at this firm response of this armored dumpster in front of him.

‘This guy just repeated the same thing the other ones said’

The guards in this castle were brimming with ideas of honor and stuff. Always thinking about the countries of the beast or the spirits or even demons to try something against them.

In response to this foolish remark Melroc asked:

“So, why did they use a villager class? Why did he readily accept to imprint his information if he knew that would expose him? Why did they let a level 1 do the job of spy?” (Melroc)

A storm of questions attacked the officer. Unable to respond to even a single one he could only let his gaze swim as if there would be an answer somewhere.

With an ‘as expected’ face Melroc just sat down on his chair, glancing at the window. He said these words:

“He is indeed a big question mark, so we will let him answer” (Melroc)

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