Life In Another World
The sun was shining in the sky, Pipi was nesting on my head while I was walking down a slope with a bunch of dried wood strapped to my back.
I was wearing baggy and light clothes, a brown loose short sleeve and black pants that were held together with a rope so that it won't fall off my waist and as embarrassing as it was to admit, I was also going commando…
Oh my god, I feel so ashamed, why couldn't my boxer shorts be spared at least? Sure it felt liberating but I didn't want people to label me as a pervert because I was definitely not!
"Ahhhh, I am definitely not a pervert."
"Pervert, pervert, caw, caw."
"Shut up your mouth Pipi! You're going to give people the wrong idea." This silly bird.
"Pervert, pervert, seed, seed, grain seeds, caw, caw."
"Ahhhh…" I sighed again. Now even a bird was blackmailing me. "Fine… I'll find some seed grains for you… but don't blame me if they are not sweet though." After all, I have no idea about the flora of this world.
Pipi cooed in response to show her satisfaction. Honestly she can go from majestic, selfish and shameless in quick succession.
Anyway, I've been in this place for three days now and I've learnt a few things.
First of all, the name of this village was called [Olimarch] and there was less than two hundred residents here, it was a small village where everyone basically knew everyone.
As I was walking towards the residence of the granny, a ball rolled over and hit my leg, I rolled it over on my foot a few times bounced it on both legs then kicked it up to my eye level as I balanced it on my index finger.
"A-amazing, that was so cool, big bro!" A little boy running towards me said.
"Bro, bro. Teach us how to do that, that was crazy!" The second boy said.
The first boy with short red hair was Richard and the second one with short blonde hair was Anthony, they looked around seven years old and were one of the few kids in the village. I had met them yesterday and they were actually twins.
"Hehehe, are you sure you have the guts to learn such a formidable move?" I asked with a smirk.
The truth is that, it was one of the few tricks that I learned since I was the ace of the dodgeball club… why did I learn it though? Because I wanted to look cool.
The two boys nodded eagerly with sparkling eyes.
"Bring it on! My talent is on par with Oragon, the manly man, I can learn it easily." Anthony, the confident one, said with bravado.
Oragon? I had no idea who that person was but that sounded like a silly title.
"Y-yes, me too. If Anthony can do it th-then I can do it too, I won't fall behind." Was that how it worked?
Although, Richard had said that, his conviction didn't sound as strong as Anthony's. He was the shy type after all.
"Then, if you call me teacher, I shall mentor you in the ways of the flashy cool." I said.
""Flashy cool?!"" They both asked at the same time, body vibrating with excitement.
"Alright then, teacher!"
"Let's get to it, teach!!" The boys were fired up until a voice cut into the conversation.
"Boys, come this way!!" The authoritative voice of a woman called out.
Standing a few ways, in front of a house surrounded by picket fences was a woman, she had long red hair tied behind her back and she did not look pleased.
"But mama." Anthony whined.
"Here. Now." She commanded.
"Come on boys, don't keep your mom waiting." I said as I passed the ball to Richard, who was pouting a bit.
"Fine…" Anthony said, disappointed. "See you later, teach! And you too Pipi!"
"Bye-bye t-teacher a-and Pipi." Richard said as they both started running towards their mother.
"Cawcawcaaaww." Pipi responded with a brandish of her wings.
I waved my hand at the lady. "Good afternoon miss." But in response she glared at me then took her children inside the house.
Hmm, tough crowd, I guess.
I continued my walk towards the direction of the granny's house.
Speaking of the granny, this is an actual fantasy world with swords and magic and it seems like she was not lying when she said she brewed potions, she is basically the resident potion maker of this little village and when I asked her if she could teach me magic she said she couldn't use magic so she couldn't teach me.
I was a little disappointed because I had tried various things to see if I had any special abilities to no result, magic was my last hope. I had tried calling every video game slangs but nothing happened, I had picked a wooden stick thinking maybe that I was now a peerless sword master but no dice and the last thing I have not tried is magic which just happened to be the thing that was difficult to test without any foreknowledge.
And I have indeed looked into my self and try to feel for something but nothing could be felt.
Not a ball nor flow of energy.
"It kinda feels like the world has it in for me, wouldn't you agree, Pipi?"
"Too bad, too bad, too bad." Pipi replied.
I do know that acting entitled would not help but i can't really help it, what with the another world fantasy medias that I've consumed. I guess my perception is kinda skewed.
The granny can't use magic but yet she can brew potions, so maybe there was still hope for me. Perhaps something that only I can do.
Also, I don't really understand the granny but one thing I've learnt is that she might be grumpy but she is actually nice, she has been sheltering me who is without a place in this world, for three days now, and she hasn't even asked about my background or anything of the sort, I honestly feel bad for taking advantage of her kindness like this so the least I've been able to do for her is going out to pick dry wood since she uses a lot for her potion brewing.
I've also been going back to that cliff face at least twice a day in hopes that I would find Alyssa but there have been no sign of her.
I-I don't know what I feel about that anymore, but there is still some gratitude there, I suppose.
I sigh as I step over a rock.
It's kinda weird that I'm doing something like this in another world when I should be going on adventures and doing all sort of stuffs isn't it? At least, that's how it's supposed to go in light novels and mangas right?
It can't really be helped at this point, my knowledge of this world is still barebones so rushing head on into things is not wise, especially as there are dangerous elements like monsters around.
As I begin to reach my current resident, I catch the tail end conversation of granny and a middle aged man with blonde hair.
"—not stand for it!" The man finished as he started to walk away. As he caught sight of me, I greeted with a nod. "Good day, sir."
He grunted in response as he continued walking.
His facial appearance kind of reminded me of an older Anthony with a hint of Richard so maybe that was their dad or something.
"Is something the matter, granny?" I asked when I got close to her, Pipi flew from my head to nestle on the branch poking out of her walking stick.
"Huhuhu, nothing a foolish boy like you needs to worry about." She said as she started walking inside the house.
"Foolish boy, foolish boy."
"Granny, my name is Shin, please get it right, even Pipi would not stop calling me that."
"Fuhuhuhuhu." She just laughed.
Ah, I really don't get this granny.
Is this perhaps the eccentricity that comes with old age?
•••
It was night time and I was sitting before the circular table while the granny was sitting on the opposite side, we had just finished dinner and currently, the granny was hand feeding Pipi some seeds.
"So, what are you going to do brat?" The granny asked.
"Huh?… well, I…"
I of course knew what she was talking about.
What was I going to do?, I had been living here for three days now and I couldn't just continue mooching off her after all so I had to find something to do.
A way to survive.
"Honestly, I don't really know much about this— some things." I corrected myself from saying 'this world'. "So I guess, for someone in a new land like this, the first thing I want to do is find a job."
It would be ideal if I could work out some money while learning about this world and then eventually find a way to go back home.
Home huh?
Did I have anything to go back home to?
["Yo Shin, you looking kinda weird today, did you even get any sleep?"
"Shin!! Let's go! Ramen is on Ichigo today!!"
"Shin-san, are you perhaps an idiot? Why did you think mixing those things together would taste sweet?"
"Shintarou!!!"
"My dear Shin."]
Voices, from his club members, president and even his classmate who always calls him a wrong name flashed through his mind as he smiled a bit. It might not be worth anything but he did have people he would like to see again.
"..."
It seems like the granny had been saying something.
"Eh, what was that granny?"
She looked at him for a bit before she repeated. "I said, your condition has stabled and there have been no side effects from the potion so maybe you could head to the capital."
"Ehhh? So that potion could have truly made me have two heads?!" Shin blurted out.
"What are you talking about, brat?" She looked confused.
I coughed into my hands. "Sorry about that… anyway, why the capital?" I asked.
"Hmm, that is where you can find job opportunities after all, instead of a backwater village like this, and there are also youngsters your age swimming around there."
'Swimming around', are they fishes or something?
"I see, that makes sense. I wonder if the capital is far from here though." I wondered aloud.
"You really do not know anything. This me wonders how you have survived till now, you don't know how far it is to the capital, you don't know anything about the flora or fauna around, you are this old but you don't even know if you can use magic, and I also found you naked, almost dying. You see why this me calls you a foolish boy right?"
With every word, it felt like an arrow was piercing my heart.
"Foolish boy, foolish boy, foolish b— caw!" Before Pipi could continue, I threw a grain of seed to hit her head.
"Keep quiet!"
Those things are not really my fault though, anyone from a different world would have those problems as well and it doesn't help that there are no books around to read.
It seems like books are expensive here, how do mages learn magic then.
"By the way granny, I know you said you can't use magic but how does it work anyways?"
"Oh, have you not seen magic been used before?" She asked not with suspicion but something closer to curiosity.
"Not really… I guess, I was something of a sheltered child."
"Hmm, I guess there are people like you after all…"
So there were people who were lacking in knowledge like me then? Good to know.
"I don't really know how magic works since I gave up on it when I found out I couldn't use it. Every being alive is born with [Oum] and it is that manipulation of [Oum] that gives birth to the effects which is referred to as magic." She started, still feeding Pipi grains of seed as her voice took a lecturing tone.
"Sorry, but what is this [Oum]?" That was an unfamiliar word even in my gaming terms.
Granny looked at me like I had grown a second head and I looked away in embarrassment.
It could be that this [Oum] is something common that the fact that I did not know what it was would be seen as me being an idiot or something.
"[Oum] is a mystical energy that is used to shape magic." Oh, so like mana or magic power then.
"People who can manipulate [Oum] are easily able to call forth magic. Most times, each person has an affinity of magic that they can utilize more efficiently than other types." She continued.
"Oh, so someone who is good with fire magic might be bad with water magic?"
"Yes, but it is called [Red magic] and [Blue magic]"
"Huh?" Red magic and blue magic, was magic perhaps based off colors in this world?
Seeing my confusion, granny continued undeterred. "[Red magic] controls fire. [Blue magic] controls water. [Sepia magic] controls earth and then [Emerald magic] controls wind."
Huh, it feels like whoever named the magic tried to make them sound cool and original. For someone like me with outside context though, it just sounded weird, what was wrong with just calling it fire magic, water magic and so on?
It seems like granny was not done.
"And in some rare cases, someone would be able to use [White magic] which is said to be able to manipulate goodness and [Onyx magic] which supposedly deals in the manipulation of evil, it's not like there is information lying around about them."
Supposedly? Does that mean it is not confirmed or that granny doesn't know?
Also, isn't the last two too vague? Manipulation of goodness and evil… did a child come up with those descriptions? And besides, who decides what is good and what is evil? Those can be very subjective after all. Perhaps there is more to it.
But I see, basically the four staple elements of fantasy and then the usual white and black which is usually good and dark or holy and unholy, kinda.
"Well, magic is not something that can simply be understood in full. Only Goddess Fionna knows the full extent of what magic is capable of."
That name again. Goddess Fionna, this was the second time I was hearing that name and I would have asked about it but I felt like it was a bad idea, she was obviously a deity and perhaps one that everyone knew so asking who this goddess was would be very suspicious.
"If [White magic] is rare then how do people use healing magic?"
If they needed potions to heal, doesn't that mean that the granny should be a lot more popular than this? Since she apparently made her own formula of potion… to be fair, I don't know if she is popular though.
"What are you saying brat? Of course, every element can use healing magic to some degree."
I blinked.
"Huh?!!!!"
I have come to a conclusion.
I should stop trying to make this world make sense because whoever created the magic system probably did not care about themes and such.
"I was not expecting that. So where does potion making fall under then? If every magician can use healing magic, doesn't that mean there would be no need for it?"
"You fool!" Granny started with a raised voice. "Not making use of potions is like saying that since you can breathe with your mouth, you should cut off your nose."
"What sort of analogy is that?!" I immediately replied.
"Listen boy, a magician without mana is like a sitting duck and the difference between a winning battle and a losing one for a mage might be a single bottle of potion. Unless the person is a high ranking magician, the efficiency of their healing magic is very limited, and not every magician bothers to learn how to heal using their affinity since they can just use potions."
Okay, even though that sounds a bit cheap, it kinda makes sense, so the idea is that there was no reason to waste mana— Oum or whatever— when you could use a potion to get the same effect which would even be more effective unless you were a high ranking magician.
"But, from all you have said granny, doesn't that just make you sound amazing?"
Since it seems like everyone needed potions.
"Huhuhuhu. Flattery will get you nowhere, boy but you are correct, this me is amazing after all." She was laughing and I carefully made sure not to remind her about how she had made me drink a potion she had not verified the full effects of.
"Anyway, back to what we were talking about… if you want to find a job to help look after yourself, the capital is your best chance, there are a lot of opportunities there and since you seem interested in magic, there is also an academy of magic there, just keep in mind that if you can't use magic, it is not the end of the world okay? Sure it is a rare occurrence but don't let something like that stop you, you are just a brat so there are other things in the world that you could learn."
Huh… was she trying to console me in case I couldn't use magic?
Did I seem that desperate to her? Or was she perhaps speaking from experience?
Well, she is old so she might have easily seen through me.
As granny said that, Pipi cawed saying. "Don't give up, don't give up, caw, caw, caw."
A smile found its way to my lips.
"Granny, from where I come from, you are what we would call a 'tsundere'" I ended up saying in order to hide the warm feelings I felt.
"What is that?" She asked confused.
"Soondayre, soondayre, caw, caw."
"It's someone whose actions and words does not match, basically your words might be harsh but the truth is that you actually care… to put it bluntly, someone who can't be honest with their feelings." I snapped my fingers in her direction.
"Are you picking a fight with this me, brat? Pipi get 'im" She ordered and Pipi flew forward and started pecking on me.
I laughed.
This felt nice.