Let The Isekai Adventure Begin!

“Here we are! Welcome to Brooks!”

Oh wow. Is this really a town? Screw a city, this is more like the capital of a country!

In front of me is an enormous star fort, something seen straight out of Tolkien’s.

If I weren’t informed beforehand by Ralph it was a town, I thought I’d be in the center of the continent.

Asides from the massive buildings with fantasy motifs, my sights are drawn to the various people roaming about.

There’s the classic elves and dwarves.

Some beefy half-orcs and those of giant blood.

Tiny gnomes and stout padfoots.

Ah! Can’t forget the beastkin! Furries would get a nosebleed seeing one of the wolf girls.

Then there are some lesser-known creatures, I spot something that I can only describe as a bipedal ant.

To top it all off roughly a third of the people here are carrying weapons and armor.

This place is the definition of an adventurer’s hub.

“Quite the sight, eh?”

I glanced at my farmer companion who smiled amusedly at my reaction.

Ralph, or Mr. Ralph turned out to be a pretty nice person.

He answered any questions I had to the best of his knowledge.

Including the basic history of the world.

In the past the Frontier was a vast stretch of neutral territory no nation wanted due to its monster problems.

Thus it effectively became a buffer zone.

Over time, cities and adventurers popped up, new resources were being uncovered, treasures from ancient ruins were found, blah blah blah.

Gist is, several nations tried to take over and lay claim to the frontier, but it ultimately ended in failure. Either to the skills of adventurers or the rampaging monsters.

Safe to say is politics from religion and other nations are unlikely to make their way here.

Meaning this is a great starting place for me to hide and make a debut as a great adventurer myself.

We were let in pretty easily into the city by the guards, who greeted Ralph quite jovially. Seems they might be old military, that or Ralph frequents the city often.

I inquired about this, “Do you come to Brooks frequently?”

“Hmm? Yes, it’s one of the best places to do business. I’m a rancher you see, plenty of people want meat or long-lasting provisions. I always make a killing here!”

“How far away is your farm?”

From the forest where I first met Ralph, it took roughly three hours for us to get here. With the lack of transportation, he shouldn’t live too far.

“A couple dozen miles. Hovering about eighty, maybe more, give or take.”

His answer shattered my estimations.

“A couple dozen miles!? You make this trip daily!?”

“Once a month. Why so surprised?”

Oh, never mind, I was overthinking it.

“How long does it take for you to travel?”

“There and back, a day and a half, if I include the time I spend delivering my wares and having some fun, three to five days.” He replies nonchalantly like it’s no big deal.

Huuunh!

A couple dozen miles!? A horse can barely make that distance in those time constraints!

I look at Ralph with newfound respect.

“Yup, the return trip is usually faster since I’ll be carrying less than when I arrived.”

We walked for a while, passing several buildings and shops selling fantastical items like it was Aslope Alley from Larry Sotter.

Finally, we arrive before the guild, a large marble, three-story building that looks more like a museum or a bank than some gathering for mercenaries and sellswords.

Honestly, I thought it’d be a bit more rustic, smaller and tavern-like.

But I also like this design. Reminds me of the guild from the dungeon-crawling series in which the MC is a dual-wielding rabbit.

I part ways with Ralph, he promises to meet me again at the guild so he can repay his debt to me.

I don’t refuse his goodwill, especially if it’s cash which I lack currently.

Moments after Ralph goes about making his sales and deliveries, I push open the double doors and enter the halls.

The first impression I have is of a clean four-star hotel and lobby. Nothing too fancy, but very neat and presentable.

There aren’t many adventurers right now. I check a large clock hanging off to the side. I’m near-sighted so I can’t see that well, but it’s close to one. I check my own watch, it shows a time close to one as well.

Interesting, seems the time in this world runs parallel to earth’s

Not that it’s useful in any way, it just means I don’t have to bother tuning my watch. Though I am worried about it running out of power and dying since it’s a digital one.

I shake myself free of the thoughts of time and watches.

I’m in an isekai world for goodness sake and I’m carrying more about my watch than registering as an adventurer?

My mind must still be addled from being teleported to the abyss.

With my goal set, I walk up to the front desks, I go up to one of the empty booths.

Okay, a brown-haired receptionist who’s easy on the eyes.

Half the Isekai Bingo sheet is full, at this rate I’ll soon get a Bingo.

I greet her and state my purpose, “Hello, I’d like to register as an adventurer.”

She gives a professional smile, “No problem. May I please have your name first?”

“Shin.”

She jots it down on some documents.

“What is your role? Are you a warrior, mage, scout, etc.”

“I’m a magic user.”

“I’ll put it down as mage for simplicity if that’s fine with you.”

“No problem.”

“Are you affiliated with any organizations?”

“Organizations?”

“Places like the Mage Towers, Merchant or Artisan Guilds, Schools, etc.”

“Umm, none, I just came from another world.”

“Hmm, I see, an Otherworlder.” She nods to herself, “I guess I’ll skip the background questions.” She scribbles something down, “Last question. How old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

“I see, alright.” She nods, “Everything checks out.”

“Does that mean I’m an adventurer now and can take on quests?”

She shakes her head, “Not officially yet. Although the guild is very accepting of Otherworlders, some discussion and paperwork is required before we issue your badge.”

“Come on now girl, he just arrived from another world with nothing but the clothes on his back. He needs a gig to support himself, can’t you cut him some slack?.”

“Mr. Ralph!? What are you doing here!?”

“I sell adventurer’s provisions as well. You’ll never find any jerky better than mine in all the Five Realms!”

After explaining his presence, he continues convincing the aptly named Karen to help me out, “So, Karen, think you can skip past some of the paperwork and let this guy start out immediately?”

Unlike her namesake, Karen acquiesced almost immediately, “There’s a few records in the past of Otherworlders in similar situations, so I can make a few concessions.” She faces me next, “I can’t give you an official license, but I’m afraid some of the services, aside from Request-related matters, will be restricted to you until your reputation within the Guild builds up.”

“Perfectly fine by me!”

“Alright then, wait one moment.”

Karen takes out a wooden token and hands it to me.

“This is one of our provisional adventurer tags. Be sure not to lose it. You can now take on requests that match the substance of your tag. If a request catches your eye, you can take it off the board and bring it back to me.”

She uses her hand to direct me to a board in the back. A few adventurers are looking at it, scrutinizing which quest they ought to take next. Rather requests since that’s what the guild girl calls them.

I go up to the board she points at and find a section filled with requests labelled ‘Wood.’ I take a closer look at the requests in this section.

“Slimes, Big Rats, Horned Rabbits.”

Looks like all the basic mooks are here.

Which ones are closest?

Actually, no. Which one will be the easiest for me to kill?

I ain’t going in a sewer and Horned Rabbits might be a bit too agile for me to hit.

“I’ll take the Slime Extermination Quest.”

I came back to the front with the request in hand and put it on the counter.

Karen briefly looks it over and gives me a green light, “A suitable level.” She stamps it and takes it away, “Please be advised that termination or failure of requests will be recorded. If too many terminations or failures accumulate, the adventurer will be subject to an interview and investigation. Potentially resulting in a rank decrease or revoking of an adventurer’s license. The area of the quest takes place at a local farm.”

“A farm? How far and which direction?”

“It belongs to a man named Horace, he—”

Ralph interrupts the guild girl, “I can guide you there, Horace just so happens to be my neighbour. By the way, this might be a bit of a rhetorical question, but you don’t have any place to stay do you?”

I briefly ignored his words about Horace being his neighbor and answered his question, “I’m afraid not, I’m completely new to this world. Perhaps the Guild is generous enough to offer food and lodging?” I say glancing over at the receptionist.

She doesn’t bat an eye and continues to give me the business smile.

Looks like she’s the professional money-grubbing type. Good to know, I’ll try to find a different receptionist next time.

Just as I was worried about finding, Ralph delivered a lifeline.”

“Really!? I’m extremely grateful!”

“Alright, I can take you to my home right now.”

“Don’t you have other errands to run?”

“Not really, today’s my lucky day. There was a shortage of food recently, so the guild bought all my jerky.”

“Good for you, but won’t it be a bit late? I’m not sure about the local security, but travelling late is ill-advised.”

“Don’t worry!” he laughs, “Without any goods, I can run quite fast! If I’m really serious, we’ll be able to arrive before dinner!

I can bring

“Almost, I have a few more questions I want to ask.”

“Alright, I’ll wait for you outside.”

Ralph takes his leave and I turn to Karen, “Can I take multiple Requests?” I ask.

“At your current rank, no. You need to be at least Bronze-rank.”

“Bronze?”

“There’s ten tiers.” She explains, “The lowest is Wood, your current tier. The highest tier is Hero.

In between these tiers are Tin, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Mithril and Orichalcum.”

“How do I rank up?”

“If an adventurer wishes to advance in rank, they must request a mock duel with one of our on-site instructors or an available adventurer the guild approves.”

“So, I just have to defeat the tester and I’ll be promoted?”

“No, mock duels will be judged based on the standards of the Guild, the criteria cannot be divulged.

It’s also recommended, to take on at least ten exploration and/or extermination requests before taking on a promotion.”

“Can I take another promotion exam if I meet the qualifications?”

“Also no, there is a cooldown period of one month until adventurers can take the promotion exam again.

This rule is in place to control competition and prevent surges in requests so the qualified can advance and requests aren’t fought over.”

“Alright, that’ll be all.”

I left the guild and reconvene with Ralph, standing next to an empty cart.

Upon my arrival, he brings up an interesting subject, “Before we go to our farm I want to take you to our village. There’s a adventurer’s outpost where you can file in the Requests you’ve completed

“Adventurer’s outpost?”

“Yeah.” Ralph nods, “Consider it a branch of the guild back in Brooks. Small villages like ours have these outposts where local adventurers can base themselves and respond quickly to any requests villagers have.”

We went to a village, it took us about two hours to get there. Honestly, calling it a village is misleading (once again). It’s a lot more like a walled small town than

Ralph guides me to a building resembling a cross between a tavern and saloon.

“This right here is the outpost. Once you complete your request, you can come here, they’ll give you the rewards and report the request’s completion back to the guild in Brooks.”

My ears listened to about half the things he said.

I was too busy admiring the aesthetics.

This place looks a lot more like an adventurer’s guild than the one in Brooks.

I took a peek and saw several rough looking guys.

Having seen enough, I follow Ralph on a tour.

After showing me around town and pointing out several places like the blacksmith’s and apothecary’s, we continue the journey back to his ranch.

It wasn’t long until we arrived at our destination, less than an hour. Turns out several farms were based around the village. Oh, right, the name of the village is Tros, I almost forgot that.

FYI, for most of the journey from Brooks, I was riding on the cart. Quite fun honestly with the speed it is going.

Don’t get any funny ideas about me oppressing the weak, it was Ralph’s idea to have me ride his cart.

Moving on, the sight of a ranch, grazing cows and low stone walls come into view.

“Very nice farm. It’s incredibly peaceful.”

“Yeah, I hope it stays that way for a while longer.”

We stopped in front of the ranch house, a wooden building one-story tall.

I get off the cart and hear young voices call out in excitement.

““Dad!”” Two kids looking after some cows drop their herding sticks and rush over to us.

Ralph holds out his arms, “Rufus! Millie! I’m back!”

A woman with an infant tied behind her back walks over with a pail in hand, she smiles and welcomes Ralph, “You’re home early. What’s the occasion?”

“There’s someone I want to introduce you guys to.” Ralph wraps one arm around my shoulder and brings me into the center of attention for his family, “Meet Ren, this guy saved my ass from some goblins. Ren, this is my family, the two young ones are Rufus and Millie, the beautiful lass with little Shaun is my wife, Jess.”

The kids greet me with excitement while Jess profusely thanks me for taking care of her husband.

With introductions out of the way, Ralph explains my situation, “Ren’s not from around here and is looking for a place to stay. I’m hoping we can house him for a while until he finds somewhere to settle.”

“No problem, unfortunately our cabin’s a bit small, there’s a shack where we store some old tools. There should be a spare mattress and some blankets inside.”

That evening I ate dinner with them, beef stew and mashed potatoes. An excellent combination when mixed together.

After dinner, I entertained Rufus and Millie for some hours. They begged me to tell them tales of my adventures.

It seems in this isekai world, Otherworlders tend to be renowned adventurers or great heroes.

Unfortunately, having recently been isekai-ed, I’ve achieved no great feats other than goblin extermination and escaping the Spanish Inquisition. The latter’s not that impressive if they’re anything Monty Python depicts them to be.

Thankfully the child-care skills I developed from my volunteer hours in recent years were put to good use.

“Settle down kids, I’ll tell you all a fairy tale.”

“A fairy tale? What kind of fairy tale?” Rufus, the bolder of the two siblings, asks.

“A fairy tale from my world, one that you never heard of before.”

The kids settle down around me with eager eyes.

With a slow deliberate tone I mastered, I regaled the children with the tale of one of Cinderella. A classic back in my world.

Their ears were hooked onto every word, especially Millie, who was completely enthralled with the protagonist and her rise from rags to riches.

“... then they lived happily ever after.”

After playing with them for a couple more hours, Ralph and Jess put the two along with little Shaun to bed.

Ralph takes me to a relatively spacious and newly built shed. Inside is an old mattress, blankets. Off to the sides are spare tools and covered crates.

He bids me goodnight,

I must say, the mattress is more comfortable than I thought.

The next day I woke up and had breakfast with the family. Ralph, as promised, guided me to Horace’s farm, it was some miles away, but nowhere near the journey to and back from Brooks.

We arrive at a small house similar to Ralph’s.

I knock on the door and a rugged man with a thick messy stache answers.

“Yes, how can I help?”

“I’m here to

“I see.” He then catches sight of Ralph behind my back, “Ralph? What are you doing here? Don’t tell me you became an adventurer at your age with a wife and three kids.”

My friend chuckles, “No, no, it’s nothing like that, I just happen to owe the kid my life. Save me from a goblin ambush.”

“Ah! Those nasty blighters were an annoying bunch to deal with back in the old days.” Horace reminisces, he’s most likely a former conscript like Ralph as well, “I’m just glad you made it back safe. We should talk some more, it’s been far too long since we had a good chat.”

Ralph agrees, “Same here, but I think

“Of course!” He brings back the conversation to its original purpose, “

I can handle the ones in the fields myself, but someone has to deal with the ones grazing outside. Those things always manage to find some gap to squeeze through.” Horace points a finger to one of his fields full of wheat, “Most of the buggers somehow

“No problem! Leave it to me!”

I turn to leave, but not before Ralph calls out behind me, “Right! Be sure to collect their cores! That’s how the Guild knows if you completed a request or not!”

I wonder how Ralph’s so knowledgeable. Is he one of those NPC’s or minor characters that act as a guide for the beginning of a series?

If so, then does it mean I’m living in a novel? If I’m living in a novel, then what does that make my existence? The thoughts of a mere writer who writes and controls my fate?

Well if I am living in a novel, then I only have one thing to say to my creator.

Hey, writer, if you’re here. Fuck you.

I laugh at my own silly joke.

Surely there’s no way my entire existence is just some words on a document brought to life by a mangaka or an animation studio desperate enough to adapt an isekai, right?

…

Why on earth did my thoughts wander in that direction? I must be going nuts.

Must be the isekai themes I’m encountering way too frequently.

Anyways, I’ve been dawdling about long enough

I tread through the fields of lush wheat for a bit.

One of my uncles abroad is a farmer and I’ve been to his farm once for summer vacation.

Let’s test out the ‘Eyes of The All-Knowing’ again. Surely there’s

[An insignificantly weak race that can be killed with a stick. Should one struggle against fighting a single Slime, they should consider hanging themselves. Piercing attacks are very effective. Don’t bother bludgeoning it.]

The hell? What sort of description is this?

The latter half is useless to me since I’m not a melee combatant, and the former half looks like a message written by an underpaid game developer working for Net of Marbles!

Whatever, let’s just see what happens when I blast a Slime with magic.

Just like I did when killing the goblins, I make a gun with one hand and aim it at a slow crawling slime.

“Eldritch Mote.”

Once more, a small, unstable orb the size of a gumball shot forth.

‘Splat!’

The Slime bursts, pieces of gel and liquid fly everywhere. What’s left at the center is a lumpy blue core smaller than a child’s fist.

Reminds me of how zits popped when squeezed. Or the boba in bubble tea and how it’d pop when I chew on it.

Damn, I can use a sweet drink.

There’s quite a few Slimes left. How many am I supposed to kill? I forgot to ask for the specifics, but Horace did ask me to clear out all of them, so why not.

“Eldritch Mote.”

Another Slime splatters and drops its core.

Despite two of their compatriots dying, the Slimes don’t react and continue absorbing the field’s vegetation.

Very interesting, these guys are probably the variety that lack self-awareness and intelligence.

There’s a lot of them, but with the energy efficiency of my spell, I simply blasted all of them from where I stood.

Soon enough, the ground became littered with Slime cores.

I have pretty good accuracy if I do say so myself. I once shot eight out of ten bullseyes when I went to a shooting range with my dad.

I wonder how my folks are doing back home.

…

Silence hangs in the air as I ponder my parents' reactions.

My parents have some quirks, but overall the family atmosphere was decent.

They were quite supportive, they didn’t indoctrinate me with their beliefs or force me to pursue a high-ranked university and good career.

It’ll be a lie to say I don’t miss them.

Perhaps the excitement of being in a fantasy world hasn’t worn off yet. As I don’t have any strong feelings of wanting to return to Earth.

Who knows, as the days go by, maybe I’ll become homesick.

Anyways. There’s something else in need of my attention.

And that’s the green showing I’ve levelled up my Eldritch Mote spell and my own level.

“Oh hey, level two, nice. I wonder if I can see my specific stats. Seeing as I’m a spellcaster, I probably have high Intelligence.”

On the topic of stats, I never once saw my actual stat points. All I can view on this screen are the skills I have and the level I’m at.

Hmm… Not like it matters that much for now, but I should definitely check this out later.

I’ll go to the adventurer outpost first to cash in the Slime cores.

Travelling from Horace’s farm to the village took me a good hour. By the time I arrive, it’s already noon.

The front desk girl this time is a timid freckled ginger, cute, but not as smooth or cool as Karen.

I handed the stuttering girl the slime cores and she gave me about two dozen coppers coins in return.

I took the liberty to utilize the outpost’s built-in tavern services and ordered a chicken sandwich and juice, spending eight coppers total. Leaving me with only a little more than ten coppers.

Sitting at a table with my grilled chicken sandwich and a glass of cool grape juice, I take a moment to check my Eldritch Mote in the green status screen.

[Eldritch Mote is now Level 2.

Eldritch mote now deals more damage.

An additional mote can be conjured.]

Sweet! Not only do I get a bonus to damage, but I can also hit more targets!

Although I wish I can learn more skills. If this were in D&D, as a Warlock, I should have, like what? Four spells?

Eh, but it's not like variety matters, most players I know who play Warlock always spam that one spell beginning with Eldritch and the word associated with the onomatopoeia of the word ‘boom.’

Still, it’s a pretty good spell. I’ve been spamming it on scrubs for quite a bit and haven’t gotten tired yet.

With this spell, I feel like I can take on the promotion exam, but it wouldn’t hurt to gain some more experience.

I already killed plenty of slimes and goblins, but I’ve been doing it mostly solo, which is fine.

However, if I want to challenge dungeons, this world has dungeons right?

Shit, I forgot to ask.

Okay, even if there aren’t any dungeons, there’s probably points of interest to explore such as ruins.

But we’re in an isekai world so there’s probably going to be dungeons.

Stop, stop, I’m getting off track.

Whether dungeons exist or not, these ruins will most certainly contain monsters, traps and puzzles I doubt I can handle by myself.

If I want to venture into the unknown and brave its dangers, I’m going to need a squad backing me up.

Going to need a frontliner, a ranger and a healer.

But where do I find these people? I doubt anyone would let a stranger into their groups so easily.

As if heaven answered my call…

A voice calls from behind, “Hey! The one with the weird clothes and black hair! You’re an Otherworlder right? Haven’t seen your face around before.”

Ah! What suspiciously perfect timing!

Let’s hope whoever these guys are actually have good intentions of recruiting me.