Again From Zero

I vowed to never use magic again.

Technically I would be fine if I just avoided generative magic—the kind that used my own spiritual power to create the effect of the spell. That type of casting would expose the blackness within me for all to see, and I would be condemned as a murderer. Manipulating elements external to me wouldn’t betray my past at all, on the other hand.

But that wasn’t my only concern. As a magic user, I would be branded a black mage by anyone who knew my history. I couldn’t risk the possibility of that happening, even if it was slim.

Even more so, I just didn’t want to deal with magic anymore. The excitement and wonder of it was gone for me now, most likely permanently. The most basic of spells only served to remind me of what I was. It made me sick. The first and last time I tried to move some water around after being kicked out of the inn, I nearly threw up. It was after that when I made an oath that I would never again engage in the arcane arts.

I didn’t know what to do with myself at first after Talon Tomkin cast me out. I ended up going to the city, since I figured there would be some kinds of opportunities for me there. Anything was better than sleeping alone in the forest, which is what I did the first night. I was lucky that I wasn’t torn to pieces by monsters before I woke up.

Getting a new long term job was challenging. As I had previously theorized, most beastkin in Debustadt worked as servants for the city’s upper class. I technically had the skill for that kind of work, but I couldn’t talk about my job experience without people wondering why I had left the tavern, and vague answers would make me seem suspicious to potential employers.

I didn’t want to keep doing cleaning and stuff anyway. One traumatic experience in the field was enough for me.

There were lots of job opportunities for mages, but that wasn’t happening. Even if I had wanted to apply, I probably wasn’t qualified for most of them. I only had three months of formal training.

At the very least, being a beastkin who refused to use magic didn’t make me stand out.

Each of the mortal races had an affinity with one type of magic, and for beastkins it was black spells we had an advantage at casting. This was one of the things that led to the continent-wide discrimination of our kind, so many beastkin just didn’t use magic altogether. We would never be better at chroma casting than humans anyway, and elves had us beat in the white magic department.

Because magic was off the table for a majority of us beastkin, those who wanted to fight often worked as guards or mercenaries. Debustadt did have an adventurer’s guild, but it was an unofficial requirement that you had to be able to cast at least basic spells before they would let you join. That explained why such a large percentage of the city guards were the same race as me.

That, I decided, would be my new career path. Fighting came naturally to me, after all, and it was a bit more adventurous than mopping floors. There was only one problem.

I didn’t actually know how to fight.

Joining the king’s army would be the quickest way to get training, but once I enlisted I would be contracted to continue working as a soldier for five years. I didn’t want to commit to that before I knew if I would like the job, or if I had any potential as a fighter.

Incidentally, I didn’t know that Leauland had a king until I started inquiring about the army. Apparently he was basically just a figurehead at this point, and the broader nobility were the ones who actually ran the country. As far as I could tell, they were all humans.

Other than the military, there weren’t many places to get formal combat training, and most of them were prohibitively expensive. If I wanted to learn, I would have to do it on my own.

I still had the prize money from beating Romy in the drinking contest, so I used that to buy a decent sword and put myself up at an inn in town for the time being. I couldn’t stay forever, but hopefully my coin would go far enough to keep me from having to live on the streets until I got the hang of basic swordplay. I had about two weeks until I was broke.

***

Day one. The forest where I had first appeared in this world was quite large, surrounding the entirety of the Southern and Eastern borders of the city. That meant there were plenty of places for me to go to find monsters that were far away from Tomkin’s Tavern and Inn.

I set out at first light for a spot on the edge of the Eastern forest that I heard was pretty safe from an adventurer I asked. I didn’t want to go up against high level monsters and get killed before I could even start my training.

It turned out to be a little too safe. I searched for hours without finding anything worthy of pointing a weapon at. I saw a few rabbits, but they were of the regular variety, not the giant antlered kind. Finally I gave up and tried traveling to a different part of the forest.

That was a big mistake. I knew I was in trouble when I started to hear a low noise, like a big-bellied man chuckling quietly to himself. The sound slowly got louder. I was being followed by… something.

I turned around to see a large monkey, similar in size to me, staring down at me with beady red eyes from the treetops. Its mouth hung open, showing its sharp fangs, which glistened with drool. It looked hungry.

The monkey leapt at me, and something unfurled from its back as it did. A pair of feathered wings, like a bird’s.

…Seriously? A flying monkey? Weren’t those from the Wizard of Oz or something? What was one of them doing here? It looked so goofy it was kind of hard to keep a straight face.

The monkey took my moment of surprise as an opportunity to grab me by my shoulders with its feet. It carried me up into the air, then released me, sending me hurdling into a nearby tree. My back slammed against the trunk. Damn, that hurt!

My opponent laughed at me again, then glided over to the tree I was lying prone next to and started to climb down. It bared its fangs, eyes trained on my neck.

Okay, okay, I take it back, this thing was seriously scary!

I rolled away from the tree just as the flying monkey reached its base. Leaping to my feet, I drew my sword from its sheath. I wasn’t sure how much good it would do me, since I didn’t really know how to use it, but it made me feel a bit safer, at least.

With a wild whoop, the monkey charged at me across the ground, propelling itself forward with its feet and knuckles like a gorilla. My legs were shaking, but I held my ground.

What do you do with swords? You swing them, right? I played baseball a little back in high school, so I knew how to swing a bat. Maybe that would work?

Gripping the hilt of my sword in both hands, I swung with all the force I could muster. The blade collided with the monkey, but the edge wasn’t properly aligned, so it glanced off without cutting very far into the creature’s flesh. The monkey howled and raked me across the chest with its claw. Three gash marks appeared in the front of my shirt, and I saw thin lines of blood running down my torso.

“Yow, that stung!”

Fortunately the monkey had only grazed me. My attack had thrown it off balance just enough to save my life. But only for now. The winged creature was readying another strike, and I wasn’t confident that I could defend myself against it this time.

A typical RPG command window has four standard options: attack, magic, items, and flee. Other actions like guard or character specific skills might be included as well, but only one choice was viable for me at that moment.

I picked number four, flee.

My top speed was pretty fast, but the damned monkey could swing from tree to tree with absurd efficiency and grace, and when two trees were too far apart to reach between, it just glided to the next one instead. I wouldn’t be able to stay ahead for very long.

My mind raced frantically for a way to get out of this battle as unscathed as possible. I didn’t see a way. I was about to get eaten by a dumb monkey from a children’s novel.

“Argent iaculum!”

The air became tinged with silver as a powerful breeze blew past me and I heard a thunk, followed by choked warbling from the monkey. I spun on my heel and saw my pursuer clutching at its throat. Embedded in the center of its neck was a small javelin. The monkey’s beady eyes rolled back in its head, and it tumbled from the treetops. It hit the ground hard. Its limbs sprawled lifelessly around it.

“I thought you’d be dumb enough to wander into a beast hotspot, but to end up going blow for blow with a pinionape? That’s some good stuff, little bro! Bwahaha!”

Out from the shadow of one of the trees stepped a man in leather armor, holding a javelin that looked suspiciously similar to the one impaled through the body of the flying monkey. It was the adventurer who had advised me to come to this part of the forest in the first place.

“You sent me here as bait, didn’t you?”

I wasn’t sure what rewards an adventurer could get for killing so-called pinionapes, but I had to assume the guild had a basic bounty system on monsters to encourage their extermination. Having creatures like that near the city was anything but safe.

“A gig’s a gig,” the adventurer admitted, shrugging. “I’m pretty sure pinionape slaying is on the quest board right now. If it makes you feel any better, I could give you a small commission for your help. How about five percent of the quest reward?”

Five percent couldn’t be a lot, but any money was better than none. I followed the adventurer back into town and waited for him outside of the guild hall. He came back and handed me ten coppers. Basically pocket change. I went on my way without thanking him.

On day two I managed to find some enemies that were more my speed—such as a tiny monster called a brownie that could swim through the earth—and even they were a struggle. My technique was horrible. I also had no idea how to watch out for something that could be anywhere underground without me knowing it.

Or, wait, there was one thing. I wasn’t willing to cast magic, but I knew how to sense a living thing’s spirit now. As long as it was close enough, I could tell where the brownie was waiting to spring up and ambush me.

At the end of the day I returned to the inn battered and covered in dirt, but, technically, victorious.

I spent the rest of the week honing my ability to predict where a creature was using spirit sense, and strike at it with my sword before it had a chance to retaliate. I could tell my form as a swordsman was still atrocious, but I was slowly improving at the one applicable skill I had. Weak monsters got easier and easier to defeat. Maybe I could make this work after all.

Week two, I started putting effort into improving my posture, my balance, my ability to swing my sword with precision rather than randomly. I allowed myself to take on some slightly tougher monsters.

Blakas were right within my skill level—giant batlike creatures with round bellies that could suck your spirit right out of you if you let them get a bite. Fighting them often left both my bodies feeling drained, but they were good practice. I was starting to feel like a semi-competent sword wielder.

Once my time at the inn was up, I started to put my newfound skills to work. Often traveling merchant parties would hire local fighters as bodyguards on the roads between cities to keep their wares safe from bandits and highwaymen, so I took gigs like that whenever I could. The road from Debustadt to the nearby city of Cilstadt was only about a day’s journey through the marshy wetlands to the West. I got very familiar with that stretch of road.

Eventually I made enough money to rent a tenement room in Debustadt. I made sure it was in a different building from Romy’s place. I couldn’t stand the thought of running into her on the way home after a day of work. The interaction would be incredibly awkward at best.

I had a room of my own now, and while it didn’t feel like home per se, I was still far more comfortable than I had been living out of the inn, or worse yet the night I spent out in the forest. Working odd jobs in town, then coming back here in the evening reminded me of my life as a net-cafe refugee after my sentence was up. Not exactly a pleasant memory, but it was better than being reminded of prison.

***

Four months passed, and so did my one year anniversary of life in this world. I was still living day to day without a real permanent occupation. At this point I doubted I would ever take another step up the societal ladder. At least I had my basic needs provided for—food, shelter, and all that. If I had to choose between being lonely or starving… well, that was too depressing of an ultimatum to think about.

When I wasn’t traveling with a merchant caravan, I spent most of my time waiting around in the city square, hoping someone would come hire me. It was as unglamorous of an existence as it sounds, but what else could I do? Being unable to hold down a permanent job, this became my only option.

There wasn’t any easier way to advertise myself, either. Standing in the city square was the standard way to catch the attention of passersby in need of an armed escort to a nearby town or village. On any given day there would be a half dozen of us loitering around while trying to look impressive, with our hands held proudly on the pommels of our swords so passing caravans would see that we knew our business.

As much as it would have been nice to have someone to talk to during those long days of waiting, I never approached any of the other sellswords. They were in competition for clients, and as such they didn’t generally fraternize with each other.

I was sitting on the edge of the decorative public fountain that served as the centerpiece of the city square when a particularly notable caravan rolled into town. They looked like a big deal, at least. A fancy horse-drawn carriage took the lead, followed by a covered wagon. Unlike most wagon parties that passed through here, they didn’t seem to be traveling merchants. Members of Leauland’s nobility, perhaps?

I couldn’t imagine what people like that would be doing here, and besides, the carriage wasn’t that luxurious. It wasn’t dolled up with gold inlays or anything stupidly indulgent like that. I only say it was fancy because a majority of people in the mid to lower classes didn’t own carriages, period.

Then again, I had never seen a real noble before, so what did I know?

The carriage came to a stop next to the fountain, and the driver climbed down from his seat and detached the horse’s harness. He led it to the pool at the base of the fountain and let it get a drink. A few men jumped out of the wagon and did the same with the pair of horses that were pulling their ride.

Watering your horses at the fountain pool wasn’t uncommon. It meant that these people were most likely passing through rather than planning an extended stay, and that meant that they might need someone like me to protect them on their trip.

I looked around. I was the closest fighter-for-hire to the caravan at the moment, so I had first dibs on attempting to sell them my services. Lucky me!

I approached the carriage with as much confidence and swagger as I could muster. No one would hire a bodyguard who looked like he’d turn tail and run at the slightest provocation.

My cat ears picked up bits and pieces of a conversation going on inside the coach. It didn’t mean much to me, because I couldn’t understand what they were getting at.

“…You sure about… could just call it quits… right?”

“No, we can’t. This is the last… There’s no way that…”

“But it’s so… right?”

“…Doesn’t matter… even if we have to…”

“…Hate to interrupt, Mistress, but I believe someone is listening in on your conversation.”

Uh oh. I had no idea how I had been detected, but eavesdropping wasn’t a good look when I was trying to make a positive first impression. I may have just blown my chance at getting hired by these people.

I thought about backing away and making myself seem unsuspecting, but the door to the carriage opened before I had time to put the idea into motion. I stood tall. As long as I still had a chance, I would face forward with pride (and grovel pitifully if necessary).

The person who stepped out of the carriage was a girl. Or should I say young woman? It’s hard to tell just by appearance, but she looked like someone who had recently become an adult. No pointed ears or animal features meant she was definitely a human.

And an attractive one, at that. Her sizes were all average, but proportioned in such a way that they balanced with each other to create a body shape ideal for— I mean, uh, suffice it to say she had a higher than average cuteness factor. Unrelated, but she was shorter than me by about five centimeters.

Her long, flowing hair was a light blue-green, the color of the sea, and the same shade as the halo of light that appeared around water when manipulating it with magic. Her jade eyes had a kind of depth that made you feel like you were staring down into the middle of the ocean when you looked at them.

Her clothes were closer to those of an adventurer than a noblewoman. The skirt of her navy dress was short to allow for quick footwork, and under it she wore a pair of form-fitting black pants that were somewhat similar to leggings, as well as snow-colored boots that came up to her mid-calf. The white, fur-lined mantle on her shoulders was also designed to avoid restricting her movement.

She had white leather bracers on her lower arms, as well one of those chest guards that archers wear, although she didn’t seem to be carrying a bow. Or any kind of weapon, actually. What was the point of adventurer’s gear, in that case?

As soon as she stepped down from the coach, she turned her scathing gaze toward me. Caught red-handed.

“You, beastkin. What is your name?”

I already didn’t like her attitude. I was starting to reconsider wanting to work for her.

Suck it up, Seiji, I thought. If she pays well, she could be this world’s biggest bitch for all I care.

“I’m called Seiji, ma’am,” I said in as humble a tone as I could muster.

“You live around here, Seiji? Are you familiar with the area?”

As familiar as I needed to be to do my work properly. I nodded.

The green-haired girl’s expression softened. “I didn’t expect it to be this easy,” she said to herself.

I guess… she wasn’t mad at me for eavesdropping on her conversation? I was pretty confused about what was going on here. Who even was this lady, anyway?

“Ehem.” She cleared her throat in a manner that I figured was supposed to sound serious and businesslike, but mostly came across as cute. “I am in need of a guide who can help me navigate in the surrounding lands. Ideally one who knows his way around a sword, as well. Would you consider yourself up for the task, Seiji?”

That was literally the only task I was up for, but if I agreed too readily I would miss my opportunity to set a good price. These people looked like they could afford to pay me a pretty penny, if I managed to negotiate well.

“That depends, ma’am.”

She tilted her head to the side in obvious confusion.

“On what?”

Not a savvy tradeswoman, eh? That was nice to see. The trouble with merchants was that they always knew how to force you into a deal that was advantageous to them.

“Where you want to go, for starters,” I said nonchalantly.

“Oh, I suppose I should give you more details before expecting you to take me up on my offer. We are headed for the Water Dragon shrine, located in the forest East of here.”

…

“Huh?!”

Now it was my turn to be confused. It was like she had played a reverse card on me or something.

“Seriously? You want to go to the shrine? You know no one goes there, right? Like, ever. And it’s in a terrible state. Absolutely falling apart. It ought to be condemned property, for the sake of public safety, except the public stays far enough away from it on their own. And you’re telling me that’s the place you want to go?”

“So you’ve been there, then?” the girl countered. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement. “You’ve seen it in person and everythin’?”

“Well, uh…”

No, I hadn’t. Everything I knew about the shrine was technically hearsay, although Verne-sensei certainly qualified as a reliable source.

“Y-yeah, I’ve been there! I can take you right to it! As long as you can pay.”

I could buy a map of the forest if need be. The area around Debustadt was pretty well charted, and the shrine was an important historical landmark, even if most people didn’t care. Sure, I lied, but it wasn’t like I didn’t have a way to deliver on what she was asking for.

“Of course, I wouldn’t ask you to help us if I couldn’t pay you. Just name your price. Tomas!” The girl called out to someone. In a moment, a second person exited the carriage—a white-haired, mustached man in a genuine butler uniform, tailcoat and all. He carried with him a large bag that jingled every time he took a step.

“I do believe you’ve allowed yourself to get carried away, Mistress,” Tomas said coolly. “We should have set our own benchmark for this young man’s wages to ensure he doesn’t take advantage of you.”

Despite his verbal misgivings, the butler held the bag out to me, allowing me to see its contents. It was filled with imperial coins.

“Point taken,” the girl said. “Then how about… two silvers for each day you travel with us. Would that be satisfactory?”

My mouth hung open involuntarily. Two whole imperial silvers per day?!

I did a quick calculation in my head. Verne-sensei was able to reach the shrine in about a day’s travel, but he was a single person, and had magic on his side. A caravan would take at least three days to get there and another three days back. Assuming we stayed at the shrine for another day or so, I was guaranteed at least a week’s pay, which amounted to fourteen silvers in total.

That was enough money to put me through real combat training and certification, or more than half what I needed for a year of study at a university. I could finally get the qualifications for a real job! Forget a single step, I felt like I’d just climbed three whole rungs of the ladder at once!

“That should be plenty,” I squeaked.

“Great! You’re hired.”

My new boss for the next seven plus days extended her hand toward me. I took it and shook weakly. The deal was sealed.

Tomas withdrew the bag of coins and returned it to the carriage.

“I intend to leave as early as possible tomorrow morning,” the girl said. “We will be staying at an inn just outside the city walls. Can you meet us there at daybreak?”

“A-actually, it would be better if you could meet me here.”

If it was Tomkin’s, and I had to go there before we set off, I was screwed.

I was relieved to hear her respond by saying, “Alright, I suppose that will be fine. But make sure you’re on time.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“See you tomorrow, Seiji!” She waved to me as she began to climb back into the carriage.

“H-hold on,” I called out. “You never told me your name.”

The girl’s cheeks colored with embarrassment as she realized that I was right.

“It’s Na— Nadine. Nadine Goldberry.”

I waved back. “See you tomorrow, Nadine!”

The green-haired girl smiled faintly. Then the door to the carriage closed, and, after her driver hooked the horse up again, she and her companions rode away.

…

They were definitely headed in the direction of Tomkin’s Tavern. I sure dodged a bullet there.