A Comfy Life

My life was completely average - well, normal is a better word to describe it.

I had my parents, my big brother, my friends, my daily routine, my club and everything else anyone else in Japan my age would have, and then, one day, I was there.

“Welcome, hero from another world!” An old man in white robes greeted me inside a giant domed building. “The Holy Kingdom of Tythe gives thanks to the Great Oporo for sending us his champion to save us from the Demon Lord.”

Confused doesn’t even begin to describe what I felt that day.

I had been walking down the street one day and then found myself here - I wasn’t hit by a truck, I didn’t get robbed, I didn’t die.

I was walking and then I was here.

Before the old man could continue, I screamed at him and the knights guarding him angrily, demanding to be sent home. After many minutes of shouting, they bluntly told me that there was no way I could be sent back home, not now that I had been summoned.

I spent 1 month pent up in the grand bedroom they’d prepared for me before I spoke to anyone else again.

I’d no choice but to accept the reality of the situation - I was here, in Tythe, and that wasn’t going to ever change.

Once I finally left that room, the old man, the Arch Bishop of Oporoism, told me why I’d been summoned.

The Demon Lord had risen and threatened to destroy the whole world and only an otherworlder like myself could stop him. Then, he told me to say ‘Status’ allowed and say what I saw.

I did and then a game-like menu appeared before me, listing my level, HP, MP and skills.

Now, I had read some manga where this sort of thing happened and the protagonists were very excited by it and the potential of going on an adventure; I, however, was apathetic towards it.

What was so exciting about this?

I’m stuck in another world, told I have to fight the Demon Lord and save the world?

Why did people think this would be fun if it happened to them?

Haruki Yamamoto - this is the beginning of the end of your life.

Is what I thought until I saw her - my future wife, Alexandria Whiteheart, the king’s eldest daughter.

As the crown princess of Tythe, she was in a dress befitting her stations and her silver tiara highlighted the shine of her golden hair. Her pale-green eyes were gentle like the ocean and calmed my nerves and anxieties right down.

She looked to be my age, maybe slightly older (it turned out we were the same age) and her smile melted my heart.

“The Great Oporo does not expect you to complete this quest alone, brave hero,” the Arch Bishop continued. “Lady Alexandria Whiteheart has been chosen by Oporo to be the saint, the one who shall help protect and guide you on your quest to slay the foul Demon Lord! Brave hero from another world, do you accept?”

Truthfully, I didn’t hear everything that he said but nodded anyway.

I just didn’t want to disappoint Alexandria.

After a rather long, boring appointment ceremony, I was finally able to talk with her and we got along very well. At first, I spoke quite formally to her, but then she got fed up and ordered me to talk to her casually.

I hesitated, for a few moments, before Alexandria gave me some puppy dog eyes and I folded instantly.

We spoke until the early hours of the morning before she finally got too tired and fell asleep; I carried her to her bed, bid her goodnight and went back to my room. When I woke up the next morning, Alexandria eagerly invited me to dine with her and I accepted.

From that day onwards, we were rarely separated, even when I was being trained to fight or being taught about Lys, the world I now found myself in.

Whenever Alexandria wasn’t by my side, she was on the sidelines, cheering me on, encouraging me whenever I felt downtrodden or like I wanted to give up.

Soon, I began to level up quite quickly.

My stats, like my Strength and Intelligence, shot up lightning fast, as did my level and soon I had more than fifty skills to use. Either I was an excellent student or the power of being a hero enhanced my training to a truly unfair degree.

I believe it’s what some people call a ‘cheat’ skill, but I don’t know or care.

All I cared about was that I was getting stronger and more confident, and I wasn’t as scared that I might die on my very first mission outside the castle walls. Alexandria, of course, went with me and we slew a dragon.

It was quite tough for my first fight, but we won and that’s what mattered most.

Then, after a year of training, I was at the max level humans could reach in Lys, 99, and we set off on our quest to defeat the Demon Lord. It wasn’t an easy journey, but it wasn’t as gruelling as I expected it to be.

There were days when we went without proper rest, some where we had no food or water, or had to hold one another at night to keep warm. Some days bandits and brigands assaulted our camp at night, though my Detection skill was so high that they could never properly ambush us.

My high stats meant that there was little in Lys that could really threaten me, but I never let my guard down. I didn’t want to get cocky and then screw up at the worst possible time, and get either of us killed.

No, I remained vigilant until the very end when the Demon Lord was dead and my quest had ended.

After that, we returned to Tythe victorious and many days of celebration were held. I drank alcohol for the first time, I was intimate with Alexandira for the first time and I was given more than enough money to live the rest of my days in peace.

Of course, I still missed home and tried to find ways of going back, but even my maxed-out Magic and Spell Creation skills couldn’t help. Alexandria had a few unique magic skills too and we tried to work together to create a teleportation spell, but it didn’t work.

So, I decided that I had to move on and try to live a good, happy life here and the first step of that was fulfilling my lifelong dream.

I had always wanted to be a farmer.

…I imagine most people wouldn’t expect that, but I really did want to farm for the rest of my life.

When I’d gone on a school trip in the 4th grade, we went to a farm and got to help the farmers for a day; no one else but me really enjoyed it, and I always wanted to save up and buy one for myself.

Now, with the more than generous retirement fund the king had given me, I could live out my dream!

I invited Alexandria to come with me, fully expecting her to reject me, but she readily agreed and kissed me.

Then, she told me about her lifelong dream.

“When I was a girl, I heard my nannies talk about how much they loved their children and how difficult it was to raise them,” she said. “I asked mother about it but she laughed a little and said that the nannies did most of the work after I was born, not her. She visited and played with me, of course, but all of the more boring and meticulous jobs she left to the maids.

“…I once asked Nanny Mary if we could play house together and I would be the wife, looking after and raising a young baby. Nanny Mary said that I would make a great mother and wife one day, but then another nanny said I wouldn’t have to do all of that, that they’d take care of it. That…really upset me.

“So, I decided that I wanted to be a normal wife one day, not a princess or queen!”

Alexandria then told me that she approached the king about coming with me on my adventure to defeat the Demon King, rather than staying back at the castle, waiting for, as her father put it, ‘her prince to come home and declare victory’.

Together, we told the king and queen what we wanted to do, ignored their desperate pleas and rants about how irresponsible we were being and we settled in the village of Kappen, about a hundred miles from the capital.

Kappen itself wasn’t a big village, but it was truly beautiful to behold.

The tall peaks of the mountains, the luscious grasslands and wetlands, the tall oak and pine trees of the woodlands, and the peaceful tranquillity that only a village could offer, far away from the troubles and problems of the rest of the world.

We bought a large farm, paid for some local workers to build us a comfy cabin to call home and then set about living the lives of our dreams. Soon afterwards, we learnt that Alexandria was pregnant and she gave birth to our wonderful daughter Yelena.

Not too long after that, we had our son George.

I’d named our son while Alexandria named our daughter.

Why did I choose George and not a Japanese name? Honestly, it was because I once read about the patron saint of England, Saint George, and thought he was kind of cool.

That was it, but I never told Alex that that’s why I named him George.

Truly, we were both very happy with our new, normal lives.

Every day, Alexandria would make our meals while I worked with a few of the locals in the fields, maintaining our crops, feeding the livestock or taking animals to the butchers for slaughter. Yelena would sometimes follow behind me, trying to imitate what we did which was very cute, though she’d often struggle.

She’s young, so it’s fine and it’s adorable so it’s even better!

George, however, is definitely a mother’s boy.

He likes to stick to her whenever he can, helping out around the house or during meal times. He’ll set the table, clean up the plates and cups or even run down to the market to buy things Alex forgot to get.

Alexandria didn’t, however, just sit at home making meals and cleaning. She still kept up with the exercise routine our instructors drilled into us years ago, and she still kept practicing her magic and trying to make a teleportation spell. Likewise, whenever trouble was brewing in the village, Alex would always volunteer to help mediate differences between people or to exterminate dangerous monsters or bandits that threatened Kappen.

I helped out too, and helped her study magic, but managing and working on a farm proved more taxing than I’d ever imagined.

Still, I enjoyed what I did and never stopped smiling.

Of course, there were bad days here and there, namely whenever I remembered Japan and my old life. Alex always held me close when I wept and cried about those days - she had some rough times too, usually at night when flashes of our more dangerous encounters of our journey took place.

I don’t blame her - I get them too.

We always support one another whenever we can, and our kids often realise when something’s wrong so they always hug and kiss us, just like we do to them if they’re upset.

Truthfully, this is not how I ever expected my life to go and I don’t think I’d have ever chosen it if I’d had the choice back when I was first summoned, but I was happy.

I was living a wonderful life with a wonderful family, and there was little more I could ask for.

Sadly, there were always some problems that were out of our hands, like when the king and queen decided to visit unannounced.