Chapter 1 “First Match”

 　For all intents and purposes, he should have been poisoned, but his body moves.

　I put my hand on my left chest.
I can't feel my heart beating….

 

　”Seriously…?”

 

　I check for a pulse, but there is no response.
But for some reason, his body temperature is still there.

　It's hard to tell if he's physically dead or alive.

 

　He's a very half-assed zombie.

 

　It seems to have five senses, but…
But something is missing.

　But first of all, I want to do something about this hunger…or rather, starvation.

 

　I wonder if I have to follow the theory and attack people and eat them.

 

　Frankly, I don't want to do that.

　I should find something to eat, after all.

 

　Well, where is this place?

 

　According to my memory, it is a wilderness in the northern outskirts of Oratorium territory.

If I go north, there is a mountain range inhabited by subhuman races such as goblins, and if I cross it, a large forest inhabited by woodland elves and other races.

If I go south, I can find a small village.

 

　The choice was rather simple: north or south.

If I went north, I would be entering goblin territory, but there would be crops and other things they were growing.

They would not likely share their crops with me, so if I wanted them, I would have to steal from them.

The subhuman race is basically hostile to humans, so they will attack anyone who finds them.

If I go to the south, there is a village, but the lord…probably a former lord, is well known and is treated as the source of all this, so he will probably be kicked out or even killed.

 

It doesn't make much difference which way I go.

 

　Either they will be human or subhuman.

 

If I am lucky, I may be able to resolve the issue with a discussion when dealing with humans, but…
I don't think there is much hope with these people, who seem to turn their backs on me so easily.

Even if it seems as if we can talk it out, it would be a loss for me if someone reports me for being too friendly.

　If so, I'd like to go to another territory, but the only one adjacent is my fiancée's.
If they find me, I'll be erased in nine out of ten cases.

 

　Should I simply enter an appropriate private house and use force?

In that case, well, I might be able to get by, and if I do well, I might even be able to get a weapon.

But if I do it, I will have to kill all the witnesses.
If I let them live, the people who killed Rothfeldt will find out that he is still alive, and if they report it to the knighthood, the knighthood will come after me as well.

　With Rothfeldt's skill, it seems that he can handle a few people, but it is probably only a matter of time before he is killed.
In any case, battles are always about numbers.

 

　When dealing with subhumans, discussion is out of the question, so basically, if you run into them, kill them.
If you don't run into them, you steal from them, which is simpler than dealing with humans.

 

 North.

 

　

There really wasn't a choice.

 

　The destination is decided to be north, and then I need to find out what I am capable of, as there is a high probability of a battle.

　I looked around, but there was nothing else but a sparse growth of dead trees.

I break a branch of a tree and take a stance for the time being.

 

　”Phew!”

 

I trace the pattern of all available attack methods, such as stabbing and slashing.
It's just as I remember it.
I can do it without any problem.

　In this world, there seems to be no such thing as a school.
It may be that Rothfeldt simply doesn't know about it.

　It seems that learning swordsmanship in this world is a matter of accumulating experience in actual combat.
In other words, you have to learn it with your body.

　It may be too much to be true, but Rothfeldt was actually sent out by his father to hunt bandits and goblins, and he has been fighting actual battles there up to the present.
Most of the battles he remembers were not fair and square.

 

Well, I remember that he and his father put a lot of effort into training and practicing real combat-style fighting.

 

　The rest is magic.

　The procedure for activating magic is as follows.

　1.
Picture a magic circle in your mind.
Draw it, not float it.
It seems that it is no good to suddenly prepare a completed magic circle in your mind.

　2.
Imagine the power, range, and scope of the magic circle.

　3.
Fire the magic circle.

 

　The process is completed in this order.

 

　The first step was particularly tricky.
It is not a problem when you are not doing anything, but it is very hard when you are in the middle of a battle.

If you are hit during the construction and feel pain and your thinking is disturbed, it is said that the formation will disappear in an instant.

　I learned the formula when I was hit in high school, and it went right out of my head.

　If that happens, you have to start over.

　The point is that there is a disadvantage that once you start building, you have to finish it to trigger.

 

Moreover, Rothfeldt's fighting style is mainly melee, so he can't use magic with any significant power.

 

　It can't be used in battle.

 

　It's not that there is no use for it, but let's put it on hold for now.

 

　…And finally.

　I've been calmly thinking a lot about myself….

　I have been thinking something strange since a while ago.
I've been thinking about things too calmly.

　It's not unusual to panic a little in a situation like this…no, it would be odd if I didn't.

　It's me, right?　Everywhere I go, I think negatively, and because of that, I get bullied or hated everywhere I go.
And I'm trapped in a negative spiral of even more negative thinking….

　I'm starting to feel sad.

 

　I have a few theories about this, but I don't have enough information.

 

　I decided to put it on hold.

 

　I decided to move for now.

　I was about to step out toward the north….

 

　…and there it was.

 

　There was something in front of me.

 

　And there were three of them.

 

　He is about 3 meters tall, with dark skin.
His whole body was covered with solid muscles.

　His face was wrinkled like an old man's