Eguchi Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill: Volume 10

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7183-4318-4
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, Band 10, 250 Seiten

Reihe: Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill

Guided by the God of All Creation himself, Mukohda and his familiars have found their way into the treasure-filled lair of a long-dead bandit king. Stashed away among the piles of ill-begotten lucre is an item that catches Mukohda's attention: a magical tablet containing the autobiography of an ancient Sage, written in Japanese, of all things!

What secrets could this mysterious book have to teach the other world's most cowardly chef? Who was the Sage, and how did he know Mukohda's native tongue? Will Mukohda manage to stay at home for more than a day before Fel and the others drag him off to another dungeon? And perhaps most importantly of all: What on earth is he supposed to do with the preposterous mountain of money that's been amassing in his Item Box all this time? Adventure awaits, whether Mukohda likes it or not!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Eguchi, Ren

Weitere Mitwirkende

Masa

Hill, Tristan K.

Leseproben

Chapter 2: The Sage’s Autobiography

As I pored over the book, I quickly learned that it was an autobiography written by a Japanese man named Kazuki Matsumoto. He’d been brought to this world by the same sort of Hero Summoning ritual that I’d been caught up in.

It happened in 2014, by Earth standards. Kazuki, a college student, had been on his way to his part-time job when a country called the Kingdom of Astafyev summoned him. The similarities didn’t end there—just like me, he wasn’t the only one summoned, though only two other people got pulled along in his case.

The way he described the circumstances of his summoning made it pretty clear that his initial impression of the Kingdom of Astafyev wasn’t exactly great, to say the least. The first people he saw were the king, who was dressed in a gaudy, extravagant outfit that just screamed ‘nouveau riche,’ the queen, who looked as harsh and severe as royalty could get, and several well-dressed old men who were all plainly looking down on him. And then there was the group of armor-clad soldiers who were surrounding the three of them. They were probably the biggest problem.

Kazuki, a light novel fanatic, understood what was going on in an instant. In his own words, his feelings at the time could be best described as:

“?( ???)/ ?(??? )?”

But then the royals started talking and almost instantly ruined it. According to them, Astafyev had been under constant, brutal attack by its neighboring country. Their economy was devastated, their people were suffering from a widespread famine, the kingdom itself was on the verge of collapse, and so on and so forth.

Their self-pitying spiel ended with them begging the “heroes” they’d summoned to fight on their behalf and save them, but Kazuki was less than convinced. On the contrary, he was struck by how none of them seemed anywhere near as grim or concerned as you would expect the rulers of a country “on the verge of collapse” to be.

he wrote.

Once again, I was struck by how his circumstances were almost identical to mine. The only real difference was that his kingdom was under attack by a neighboring country instead of demons. I had to agree with him—you’d think a king who cared about his people would pawn his fancy clothes to help feed them.

I’m not gonna say a king should go around in rags or anything, but there’s a time and a place for extravagance. Not having a sense for when and where that is means showing the whole world just how arrogant you are. Considering my own experience, I had absolutely no doubt that the Kingdom of Astafyev was a pretty garbage country. Some things never change.

Anyway, Kazuki had no interest in getting used and abused by the nobles and decided to put his extensive light novel knowledge into action. His first move was to check his own status privately before the Astafyev officials had the chance.

His job, shockingly enough, was listed as “Sage.” His skills included Fire magic, Water magic, Wind magic, Earth magic, Ice magic, Lightning magic, Healing magic, Sacred magic, and Holy magic. In other words, he had an aptitude with every form of magic it was physically possible for him to have. He also had a unique skill called “Magical Profundity,” which heightened his comprehension abilities when it came to anything and everything related to magic.

A normal person would have to spend years upon years in intensive study to learn how to use advanced magic, create magic items, or inscribe magic circles, preferably under the tutelage of a skilled master. Thanks to his skill, however, Kazuki could figure it all out in an afternoon’s worth of casual reading. His MP was preposterously high from the outset, as well.

In short, though Kazuki was a Sage rather than a Hero, his skills and MP reserves made it obvious that he was extremely capable in the magic department. He knew for a fact that if the royals found out about his stats, he’d be exploited in the same way a Hero would. His first instinct was to figure out a way to hide his real status screen and display a fake one in its place, and surprisingly enough he pulled it off instantly and effortlessly.

He set his job as “Student from Another World,” hid all his skills, and put his MP at 88, slightly lower than his 96 HP. The other two people who had been summoned with him turned out to both be Heroes, and everyone was too busy raising a fuss over them to notice what he was up to. When they finally got around to checking Kazuki’s stats, the royals’ attitudes immediately shifted. They looked at him with the same sort of expression they’d make when looking at human waste.

The other two were bewildered by the way everyone was suddenly telling them how important and special they were, but they didn’t seem to mind all the attention. Kazuki didn’t feel totally comfortable with leaving them to their fate, but when he balanced his own life against the lives of two total strangers, the decision was an obvious one.

He addressed the king, explaining that since his status made it clear he’d be of no use in a fight, he’d like to live his life in peace and quiet as an ordinary townsperson. The king agreed without protest. Kazuki had been keeping his guard up, half-suspicious that they’d try to murder him on the spot to silence him, but it all turned out surprisingly well.

He would later learn that the fact that Astafyev was capable of hero-summoning had already leaked to the neighboring countries, to some extent. He guessed that the king’s surprisingly cooperative attitude could be attributed to that fact. If it got out that they were killing their Heroes mere moments after they were summoned, it certainly wouldn’t do good things for the kingdom’s reputation.

That said, they weren’t about to turn Kazuki free to go where he pleased. According to the king, “The fact remains that you arrived in this world as a consequence of our actions. Thus, we will send you to a remote region of our kingdom that has yet to be besmirched by the horrors of war. There, you may live your life in peace and comfort.”

Along with a squad of the kingdom’s soldiers, that is. In short: he’d be under constant watch.

Kazuki left the capital in a carriage driven by his military escort, riding farther and farther out into the countryside. Five days after their departure, the long, desolate road that had grown so narrow the carriage could barely fit on it plunged into a forest. They rode a ways into the woods before the soldiers came to a sudden stop and told Kazuki that he was free to go wherever he wanted...assuming he managed to survive the trip. Then they booted him out of the carriage, turned around, and left.

They didn’t try to kill him, but the woods were teeming with monsters. Abandoning him there was effectively the same as telling him to go get eaten. Unbeknownst to them, however, Kazuki couldn’t have asked for a more perfect opportunity. After all, they had no clue that he was a Sage with an especially powerful unique skill.

Thanks to Magical Profundity, Kazuki had managed to teach himself the basics of magic over the course of the five-day carriage ride. The monsters that tried to make a meal out of him served as the perfect test subjects, and he trained his magical abilities further by mowing them down as he traveled. Leaving the forest posed no difficulty whatsoever.

He proceeded to make his way out of Astafyev, earning the money he needed to travel by taking on odd jobs here and there and doing his best not to draw too much attention. Eventually, he reached the next country over, the Kingdom of Slezak, where he registered himself as an adventurer under the name “Kazu.”

Becoming an adventurer meant that Kazuki—or rather, Kazu—was now free and unfettered. He wandered the world, traveling wherever his whims took him. His journey led him to find all sorts of magical techniques and tomes, and his understanding of magic deepened to the point where he could produce his own magic items and inscribe his own magical circles.

About a third of the way through the book, I was interrupted by the irresistible urge to yawn and decided to take a break. I rubbed my eyes and ordered a can of black coffee from my Online Supermarket to stave off my sleepiness. I pulled the tab nice and slowly to make sure the noise wouldn’t wake my familiars, then took a sip.

I couldn’t get over how similar his summoning was to mine, practically down to the last detail. The Kingdom of Astafyev wasn’t around anymore, at least as far as I knew, but Kazuki was brought over here in 2014...

I glanced back down at the decrepit tome in my hands. It seemed worth a shot, at least, so I gave it an appraisal.

?Kazu the Sage’s Autobiography?

The autobiography of a Sage...