First Contact
A beast’s attack, falling without a sound.
Because I noticed it at the last instant, I was able to react by a hair’s breadth.
Krrrunch—!
“Urgh… What the hell is this all of a sudden?!”
I rolled across the ground, jamming the metal rod I had been carrying for self-defense into the maw of the beast that had pounced on me.
Even with my strengthened body, I couldn’t shake off the beast as it pressed down on me with its weight.
“Grrrrr…”
Drool dripped from between the jaws that were crunching down on the metal rod.
Meaning it thought of me as nothing more than a meal.
‘Ah… disgusting.’
The stab-proof clothing and arm guards on my upper body had already been shredded by the beast’s claws, and wounds had opened here and there, but I calmly searched for a way to respond.
It had startled me by leaping out so suddenly, but for me, with fear and pain filtered out, it was no different from a realistic game.
That was why I could respond immediately without making a mistake from nerves.
Twisting both hands that were bracing the metal rod to the side, I created a brief opening and quickly grabbed the handle at my waist with one hand.
Thuk—
“Graaaagh—”
Without hesitation, I drove the knife into the beast’s nape.
Perhaps because I had used “Mana Affinity” and poured every bit of my meager mana into the knife, the blade pierced through its thick hide and sank deep.
With one hand, I pushed against the metal rod and kept its jaws shut; with the other, I continued stabbing its nape with the knife.
Thankfully, since its strength had drained after being struck in a vital point, I somehow managed to hold out.
How long had I struggled like that?
I gradually felt the strength leave the beast’s body.
“Haa… hah… It’s finally over.”
After finishing it off one last time and confirming for certain that it had stopped breathing, I stood up.
The beast was a black leopard.
Seeing it at night, it was so hard to spot that I realized it had been sheer luck that I had noticed it in advance and reacted.
I took my eyes off the leopard and checked my own condition.
My clothes and equipment were in tatters, and bloodstains showed from wounds all over my body.
I looked like a complete wreck.
Fortunately, the wounds were recovering in real time.
My protective gear had been ruined, but thanks to it, I hadn’t suffered any major injuries.
‘Staying here probably isn’t a good choice.’
There was the commotion I had caused while fighting the leopard, and the smell of blood would spread, so the best thing to do was leave quickly.
I poured water over the bloodstains on my body to wash them off and hurried away.
They wouldn’t be completely cleaned, but it was better than leaving them alone.
Just as I was hastening my steps—
Was my luck still holding?
I saw a light beyond the trees.
I approached carefully and looked around, and it seemed like a small slash-and-burn village.
‘I kept thinking it was just night because I was only in the forest, but I guess it isn’t time to sleep yet. There are people moving around.’
It was my first encounter with people from another world.
Though I looked terrible, I tidied myself as much as possible and headed toward the entrance of the wooden palisade surrounding the village.
Since it was late, the palisade gate was closed, and there was no one standing guard.
As I was wondering what to do, a man’s head popped up over the palisade.
“Who goes there?”
Relieved that there was someone after all, I cleared my voice and answered.
“Good evening. I was traveling and lost my way on the forest path, which led me here. Would it be possible for me to stay in the village for just one night?”
“…You came through the forest path alone in the middle of the night? Through that forest crawling with magical beasts?”
Uh… The only thing I ran into was one black leopard. Was that forest really that dangerous?
Thinking I really had been lucky, I let out a sigh of relief.
“Ah… yes. After quite a struggle, I was fortunate enough to make it out safely. Though I ended up like this because of it. Ahaha.”
When I answered quickly with an awkward laugh, the middle-aged man looked over my ruined state, told me to wait a moment, and disappeared beyond the palisade.
‘They’re quite wary. Well, I suppose it can’t be helped for a slash-and-burn village in the middle of a forest like this.’
I thought it was only natural that I looked suspicious.
Even in tatters, my clothes themselves were out of place.
After I waited like that for a while, the man who had disappeared reappeared with an old man who seemed to be the village chief.
“So… I heard your story, young man. You lost your way while traveling and ended up here?”
“Yes, that is correct, sir.”
As I answered politely and did my best to make an expression that said I was harmless, the old man looked me over and then opened his mouth with a benevolent smile.
“People struggling to get by like us should help each other when times are hard. Come in and rest comfortably.”
Creeeak—
The middle-aged man who had come with the old man immediately opened the palisade gate.
I thanked them, entered, and bowed politely again.
“Thank you once again for your kindness.”
“It’s nothing. It’s late tonight, so hurry in and rest. There are a few empty rooms in my house, so you can stay there.”
The old man accepted my thanks with a kind smile, but the middle-aged man showed no particular reaction.
‘My, what a prickly fellow.’
I followed the old man and exchanged various bits of conversation with him.
As I had thought, the old man was the village chief.
And I learned that the forest I had passed through was more dangerous than I had imagined.
The fact that I had only encountered a single black leopard in such a forest, and that the village had been close enough for me to find quickly, were both matters of luck.
“My name is Malcolm. Now then, what is your name?”
“Ah! My name is Hans.”
As we talked, we arrived at the chief’s house before I knew it.
Since the village was small, it hadn’t taken long.
“You can rest in this room. You must have been through a lot, so rest well.”
“Thank you very much. I don’t know how I should repay this kindness…”
“Well, if you’re grateful, you can chop some firewood tomorrow.”
“Yes! I’m very confident in my stamina. Just leave it to me!”
Soon, the chief left, and I was alone in the room.
Perhaps because it was an empty room, there was some dust, but compared to sleeping out in the forest, it was practically heaven.
“Phew…”
Only then did I fully relax, put down the bag I had been carrying on my back, and take off my ruined clothes.
The top was beyond use, and the equipment damaged by the beast’s claws was the same.
Still, they would be better than not using anything, so I wasn’t going to throw them away.
‘I had heard about it, but… experiencing it directly is fascinating. I was unconsciously understanding and using their language.’
Thinking this and that, I wet a towel with water and wiped myself down, only to realize that all my wounds had healed without leaving a trace.
“Super Regeneration” was truly helpful in many ways.
“Mana Affinity” was also quite useful.
After finishing up, I spread my sleeping bag over the old bed, climbed inside, and lay down.
It hadn’t even been that long since I’d come here, yet in that short time, I had fought a beast and met and conversed with otherworlders.
‘Yeah, I’m doing well. The conversation wasn’t strange, and the chief’s reaction wasn’t bad either.’
I quietly stared up at the ceiling, then lifted the corners of my mouth into a gentle smile.
I didn’t know whether “Mind Hub” helped with this too, but I was able to smile fairly naturally.
After smiling up at the ceiling for a while, I let the smile fade and closed my eyes.
In truth, since it hadn’t been long since I arrived in another world, I wasn’t sleepy, but I needed to adjust to this world’s time difference now, so I intended to rest even if I had to force myself.
I slowly entered a dormant state.
***
I opened the package, took out the chicken, and bit into it.
“Chicken really is the truth.”
As soon as I sent the avatar to the other world, I ordered chicken, but it hadn’t arrived until after all that travel, entering the village, and reaching a dormant state.
Well, in Earth time, it had only been about twenty minutes at most, so it couldn’t be helped.
‘Still, this is really nice. I can take a shower in warm water, tear into chicken, and comfortably travel another world.’
Another avatar, “Heinz,” entered an extreme training mode following behind “Hans,” who had been sent to the other world.
I didn’t know when he would be deployed, so I had to prepare him in advance.
After devouring the chicken in an instant and cleaning up, I sensed that morning had come on the otherworld side, where he had been in a dormant state.
“Mm… Then I guess I’ll gather some information on how the world is turning.”
I strolled over, sat down in front of the computer, and began poking around various sites.
After all, I could enjoy traveling another world perfectly well while browsing the internet.
***
My eyes were closed and I was in a dormant state, but I hadn’t completely cut off all my senses.
When it grew bright outside and I sensed people beginning to move, I opened my eyes and got up.
Of course, even an avatar needed to truly sleep and rest the brain, but tonight had been for adapting to the time difference, so this much was enough.
“Did you sleep well, Chief?”
“Yes. Did you rest well too, Hans?”
“Yes, thanks to you, I was able to spend the night comfortably.”
I happened to exchange greetings with the chief as he came out of his room, then went to the backyard and washed up briefly.
“There isn’t much prepared, but eat plenty.”
“You’re even giving me food like this. Thank you very much.”
“Huh huh huh, we all live by helping each other. You only need to lend a hand with some village work later.”
Although it was only boiled potatoes, hard bread, and soup, thinking of it as my first meal in another world let me eat it with satisfaction.
It didn’t seem like he cooked at home, and when I asked about it, the chief answered.
“This old man lives alone, so the neighbors bring me meals whenever it’s time to eat. I’m grateful for it.”
It seemed the villagers were more close-knit than I had expected.
Or perhaps, as the village chief, he was treated well in various ways.
As we talked, the subject naturally turned to me.
“Come to think of it, your clothing and equipment are all things I’ve never seen before. Have you come from far away?”
“Ahaha, I have a fondness for unusual items. As I wandered here and there, I collected them one by one, and it ended up like this.”
“Oh… Is it not difficult traveling alone?”
I vaguely glossed things over with the wandering adventurer backstory I had prepared in advance, saying that I had traveled aimlessly and lost my way.
Then I naturally asked whether there were any other cities nearby.
“Hmm… What would an old man who has only lived in the mountains know? I think I’ve heard there is a small city if you go east.”
Unfortunately, the answer I got was uncertain, but for now, I decided to set east as my goal and try going that way.
It was better than wandering with no destination at all.
I decided to leave the village the next day, and that day, I followed the chief around and helped with various village tasks.
Before moving in earnest, I needed to gather at least the bare minimum of information to be able to grow safely.
For someone like me, who still didn’t know much about this world, it was a chance to naturally approach the natives and gain information.
I filled the water barrels in the backyard, chopped and organized firewood, and lent a hand repairing the village palisade.
“Mr. Hans, could you pass me that rope over there?”
“You’ve got good stamina. What kind of work did you do before?”
While working together with the other men of the village, I was able to strike up conversations as naturally as possible and talk about various things.
“I see. Then exchanges with the outside are handled entirely by the hunters? Are there any safe roads, perhaps?”
Since I had more than enough stamina, it wasn’t particularly hard. Rather, I took it as an opportunity to train a bit more and worked without resting.
“You worked hard today. If you’re leaving early tomorrow, you’ll need to rest well. Have a final drink with me.”
After finishing that day’s labor, which doubled as information gathering, I washed up and entered the house, where the chief brought out dinner along with a bottle of alcohol.
The alcohol content was fairly strong, but not enough to threaten a liver that recovered in real time, and it suited my taste better than I had expected.
Enjoying the fact that I was drinking alcohol from another world, I exchanged cups back and forth, and when I came to my senses, quite a bit of time had already passed.
If it got any later, it would interfere with waking up the next day, so I reluctantly wrapped things up, entered my room, and climbed into my sleeping bag.
Unlike the day before, I had adjusted to the time difference, and with moderate labor and alcohol added on top, this time I was truly able to fall deeply asleep.
***
And I stopped the game I had been playing, closed my eyes, and concentrated.
Heinz, who had been hammering his lower body with squats at the gym, also stopped in place and closed his eyes.
…The connection with the avatar in the other world, Hans, had been cut.
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