Eguchi Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill: Volume 1

1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-1-7183-4300-9
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, Band 1, 318 Seiten

Reihe: Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill

Mukouda Tsuyoshi was nothing special in modern Japan, so when he was summoned to a world of swordplay and sorcery, he thought he was ready for the adventure of a lifetime. Too bad the kingdom that summoned him only got him by mistake! Not only was he not one of the three summoned heroes, but his stats were laughable compared to theirs. On top of that, there's something really sketchy about this kingdom... 'Ah, these people are the kind to try and use the Hero,' he realized, and immediately left to make his own way in this other world.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Eguchi, Ren

Weitere Mitwirkende

Masa

Chen, Kevin

Leseproben

The people of this other world had no idea what the skill was, and the three with the Hero job all laughed at me, so thanks to this unique skill I was immediately branded as useless. Even so, there was no doubt I was summoned to this world with the “Hero Summoning” ceremony, so I was able to participate in the audience with the King, but what he said was shady as all heck.

According to the King:

• The demon king frequently attacks this country because he wants to conquer it.
• They’ve somehow managed to stall him for now, but they have no idea how long they’ll be able to keep the status quo.
• The kingdom’s people are suffering under these continued conditions.
• With those feelings, they had no choice but to rely on the ancient ritual of Hero Summoning.
• It’s a selfish wish after summoning us here at their convenience, but they want us to somehow save this country.
• They don’t know of a way to return us back to our world here in this country, but the demon king might know of a way, as he has lived a long life and is extremely skilled at magic.

Well, it was that kind of excuse.

There was clearly something going on here. Especially them putting off responsibility for returning us to our world for later.

Also, the king said that this country was in dire straits, but the people here had none of that grimness about them. Not only that, but the king was a very obese old man, and he was wearing a gemstone-studded gaudy-as-all-heck mantle that screams “Just how much money did you put into this?!” And sitting next to the king, his wife, and their daughter beside her, are both wearing flashy dresses that put on display just how they’re living in the lap of luxury. Would a royal family expressing grief over the state of their people put forward an appearance like they’re indulging in every luxury they can? Putting together all these observations, I came to the conclusion that this was one of the no-good types of otherworld summonings.

Even though they called us heroes, in the end we’ll probably just be used conveniently by the country, like being sent out in wars to expand the country’s territory. Moreover, I wasn’t even a hero so I probably can’t expect to be treated well; in the worst case, I might even be executed. I decided that it would be best if I left the castle as soon as I could.

That’s why, at the time, I acted as humble as I could and said this:

“Seeing as how I’m not a hero, I’d only be causing everyone trouble by remaining here. Doing that would riddle me with guilt, so if I could just have enough money to live during the two or three months it would take for me to find employment, I’d like to leave and live on my own.” And just as I expected, they gave me 20 gold coins and tossed me out of the castle with the haste of someone getting rid of a nuisance.

? ? ? ? ?

And so we’ve come to the present, with me walking around the streets of the capital. I had no idea if 20 gold coins was a lot or nothing at all, but at any rate I’d been given enough money for me to at least live for a while.

I thought to myself:

This capital resembled a town out of medieval Europe.

I started off by calling out to some children who were idling about on the street nearby.

“Hey, do you guys have some time? I just arrived from way out in the country so I’m not really familiar with this place. I’ll treat you to some skewers from the stall over there, so can you teach me some stuff?” They were wary of me at first, but they couldn’t win against their stomachs and so they eventually agreed.

I bought the children two skewers each and listened to what they told me.

The first thing I asked them about was the value of the currency here, which one could argue was the most important thing to learn, and came to these conclusions based on what they said:

1 iron coin ? 10 yen

1 copper coin ? 100 yen

1 silver coin ? 1000 yen

1 gold coin ? 10,000 yen

1 large gold coin ? 100,000 yen

1 platinum coin ? 1,000,000 yen

The skewers I treated the children to were 5 iron coins each. If a family of four had 6 gold coins, they could probably live off of that for at least a month.

I also heard of the existence of the Adventurer’s and Merchant’s guilds, which weren’t attached to any country (both of these were basically mainstays of any fantasy novel), and that belonging to either of these guilds would make moving from country to country or town to town smooth. Basically, it would lessen the costs of doing so. If one had a form of identification not from either the Adventurer’s or Merchant’s guilds, or no form of identification at all (those from rural areas or children living on the streets often didn’t have any of this), one would get taxed when trying to get into countries or cities therein. This kind of stuff is common in this genre.

I also asked about this country. And I heard that, while the conflict with the demonic race was real, apparently this country was the aggressor. The stated reason was to destroy the demons that cause harm to humans, but in the end, their real aim was the demonfolk’s land. This country has also been making suspicious moves towards the neighboring human-led countries too, so people have been leaving the country little by little for a while now. The children also told me that they were orphans whose parents had died in the war.

These children knew more than I expected. Apparently, they see and hear a lot because they take on a lot of menial jobs to earn money to live. Orphans are really tough...

Anyway, I’d planned to stay at an inn tonight and leave the capital tomorrow. I heard from the children that there’s a stagecoach that goes to a town called Kiels which lies on the border to another country every day, so I was set on riding that to get out of here. After that, I was going to cross the border, and figure things out again from there.

At any rate, getting out of Reijseger Kingdom was the most important thing. In order to do that, I’d need some funds, but I had an idea for that. I also already had the 20 gold coins I was given from the country. They probably gave me a bit more than was necessary because they were feeling a little sorry that they summoned me in a fashion like a pseudo-kidnapping. Well, it’s convenient for me that this shady country gave me this much. , I thought.

? ? ? ? ?

I arrived at an honest and moderately-priced shop for clothes that was recommended by those children. I came because I was still in the suit I was wearing when I was summoned, so I stuck out like a sore thumb.

I bought a dully-colored shirt and brown pants so that I’d match those people walking the streets. The clothes were more expensive than I expected at 7 silver coins, but I managed to get the store to buy my suit, Y-shirt, and bag for 3 gold coins, so I made a net profit of 2 gold and 3 silver coins.

I considered putting the writing implements, documents, smartphone and other small accessories I had into my Item Box, but I didn’t know how the existence of the Item Box would be treated in this world, so I probably shouldn’t show it so easily to others. There were cases in the novels I’d read where the Item Box was treated as an extremely valuable skill, after all. Thankfully, the store owner threw in a cloth shoulder bag for free, so I put my stuff inside that.

My shoes were probably fine as is.

Before I left, I made sure to ask for a moderately priced inn nearby. He recommended an inn three buildings over, so I headed towards it. The inn the store owner recommended was 4 silver coins for a night’s stay with meals.

After dinner I returned to my room and checked everything that needed to be checked.

“Status Open.”

?Name? Tsuyoshi Mukouda

?Age? 27

?Job? Victim from Another World

?Level? 1

?HP? 100

?MP? 100

?Attack? 78

?Defense? 80

?Agility? 75

?Skills? Appraisal, Item Box

?Unique Skill? Online Supermarket

Just like they had told me at the castle, when I chanted “Status Open,” an opaque window appeared in front of me with my status on it. Apparently only summoned heroes with the Appraisal skill (although I’m not a hero) can check their statuses at any time. According to them, normally one would have to check their status using an Appraisal magic tool at a town’s guild branch or temple.

I decided to turn my thoughts...