On the outskirts of a vast, expansive forest with towering trees and a river cutting through it, where the occasional roar of beasts would unsettle the tranquility of the forest, a young boy lay unconscious near the river's edge.
The boy, who looked to be no older than 10 years, had no visible wounds or marks that would lead someone to believe he might be dead, but if examined closer, one would notice that his chest was not moving and his heart was not beating.
Unfortunately for the boy, no one was around to save him or attempt life-saving measures for him. The only things around the boy were small animals and insects that were looking at a treasure trove of food. But before any of them could sink their teeth into him.
THUMP THUMP
A heartbeat loud enough to echo through the forest and beyond came from his chest, causing all the animals and insects to freeze in place from the sheer power of the heartbeat.
Moments later, the animals and insects scattered and ran away as fast and as far as they could, afraid that they had been in the presence of a creature much stronger than them and more importantly, their intention of devouring such a creature would come with retribution.
As for the boy from which the heartbeat came, his previously unmoving chest and unbeating heart had started to move, as if they had never stopped at all. And a few minutes later, the boy's eyelids showed signs of movement before suddenly snapping open followed by the boy's upper body shooting up.
The boy sat there with bewilderment and fear on his face.
~
"W-what happened?" said the boy as he heavily breathed in and out while moving his hands all around his body to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary.
"I-I'm okay? How? I got hit by a car." said the boy to himself before finally noticing his surroundings.
"Where the hell am I?" he said as he turned his head this way and that, "Did I get hit so hard my body got launched into a forest? But then how would I survive a hit like that? And I was in the middle of the city, there's no forest around for miles. What the hell is going on?!"
Closing his eyes, balling up his fists, and pressing them to his temple, the boy began to rhythmically breathe in and out so as to calm his million-beat-a-minute heart and clear his mind.
"Okay, calm down. No use in panicking. Panic can only lead to mistakes." said the boy to himself, opening back up his eyes now that he had successfully calmed down.
"This is just like that time you got lost camping—no big deal. Just a little weirder this time." he said as he stood up.
As he got to his feet, he noticed that his field of view was a lot closer to the ground than he was used to.
"That's odd." said the boy, looking down at the ground and seeing that he was not wearing his ratty jeans and sneakers, but brown linen pants that stopped halfway at his calf and brown leather boots.
"These aren't my clothes." said the boy reaching down to touch his boots before noticing his hand was a lot smaller than normal, "This isn't my hand either."
Then the panic he had just managed to rid himself of, returned and was much stronger than before.
Feeling himself all over his body and his face, he realized that something was very wrong, so he rushed to the river at his side and looked into the water. There he saw a reflection of a young boy no more than 10 years of age with black hair and brown eyes.
Seeing the reflection, the boy shakily raised his hand to his face hoping to not see the reflection do the same. Seeing the reflection do the same, the boy realized that was himself he was looking at and promptly threw up.
"W-what the fuck is going on?" said the boy, fear, and uncertainty on his face, as he sat down and began to search his memory.
"I was just on my way to class and then I got hit by a car and I thought it was over. I remember thinking it was over as I went flying. Then I woke up here." said the boy, recollecting his last memories.
"I got fucking isekaied." he said, coming to the only logical conclusion from the information he had on hand, before falling silent as he tried to process his situation.
Before he could fully process his situation, however, he was interrupted.
"Leofric! Leofric! Are you okay?!" said a voice full of concern.
Instinctively turning to face the direction the voice came from, the boy laid eyes on a stunning blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman wearing what looked like a nun outfit, except it seemed more nondenominational than usual nun outfits.
Besides being stunned at her beauty, and her bouncy chest, the boy was stunned because seeing her triggered something in his mind.
Memories of his life as a young boy flashed through his mind when he was young and his parents died and the depression that followed, when he first arrived at the orphanage, the friends he made, the care he got from the nuns, his dreams of growing up to be rich to help out the orphanage, and other instances.
And yet again, before he could fully process his new/old memories, he was interrupted from his thoughts thanks to his face being smothered by the two softest things he had ever been smothered by.
"Leofric, I was so worried!" said the nun, whose name Leofric now knew was Sister Augustine, as she tightly hugged him and pressed him in even further into her abyss.
"C-can't b-breathe." said Leofric, even though he didn't really mind not being able to breathe.
"Oh my." said Sister Augustine, slightly blushing at her blunder while letting Leofric go and allowing him to catch his breath.
"Wait, there's no time for that! Are you okay?! There was a loud thumping sound that was heard for miles! It might be a magical beast, we need to leave! Come!" said Sister Augustine, grabbing Leofric's hand before quickly running.
'Magical beast?' thought Leofric, triggering a memory of when Leofric was younger and one of the sisters was reading the kids a story about how a Hero saved the country from a stampede of magical beasts.
'So this is a world of swords and magic... what a pain in the ass! Why couldn't I have been isekaied into a peaceful futuristic world?!' thought Leofric, cursing his situation, 'Not only that, this world doesn't seem to have any of the modern conveniences I've come to take for granted! No toilet, no running water, no A/C, no TV, no electricity!'
"Leofric!" shouted Sister Augustine, snapping Leofric out of his spiraling thoughts.
"Hm?" he said.
"Are you sure you're okay? I've been calling out to you for a while now. Are you hurt?" she asked, the worry clear on her face.
"Sorry, Sister. I was thinking about something." said Leofric.
"Sigh, I know why you're absentminded." she said, causing Leofric to stiffen up.
"Y-you do?" he asked, worried that his taking over the body of the original Leofric got discovered somehow.
"Of course I do, I've practically raised you your whole life. You're worried about your Job, aren't you?" she asked.
"My j-job?" asked Leofric, not finding any mention of a job in his memories, and causing him to be confused.
"That's why you were out in the forest, wasn't it? You were trying to tame something again, weren't you?" she said, causing even more confusion to appear on Leofric's face.
'Tame something?' thought Leofric.
"Mother Superior said she's never heard of or seen your Job before which means its conditions might be stricter than a normal one. You don't have to worry, we'll figure something out eventually." she said, turning to Leofric and giving him a comforting smile.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"But you can't go out into the forest by yourself. Especially not right now. That thumping noise we heard has everyone in the village on edge, and everyone in the orphanage is worried about you." she said.
"Sorry." said Leofric out of instinct after hearing the worried tone in her voice.
"It's okay. Let's just hurry home." she said, speeding up a little.
As worried as Leofric was about his situation, the unknown, and what the future held in store for him, the jog back to the village through the forest was oddly calming.
The towering trees, the singing birds, the scurrying critters, and the buzzing insects all came together to create a harmony of nature that took his mind off of his situation. It also helped that he was a naturally curious person and seeing that some of the birds and critters were similar to those in his past life while some were wildly different, stroked his curiosity about the world he found himself in.
After a few minutes of jogging through the forest while gazing at all the new sights, the pair reached the end of the forest and laid eyes on the village.
'Wow.' thought Leofric, in awe of the sights.
On one side was the forest, a vast expanse of towering trees, and on the other, a grassy plain that seemed to similarly extend for miles, with the village nestled in between.
The village was a beautiful scenery of buildings made of stone, brick, and/or wood, each one painted in different shades and colors, creating a mishmash of colors that did not look messy but rather playful and artistic.
The streets, paved with cobblestone, while certainly not as busy as one would find in a town or city, were still teeming with life. Young and old alike were roaming the streets as they went about with their lives. Usually, there would be smiles on everyone's faces, but the thumping noise had blanketed the village in a shroud of uncertainty.
In the center of the village was the town square or in this case, the town circle, where all the most important buildings were located and centered around a statue of the village's founder, which also served as a fountain. The church, which also served as the village orphanage, also happened to be located in the town circle.
Even as a person who had lived in a concrete jungle and visited other major cities from different countries, Leofric was still in awe at the village.
'I thought a village near a forest with magical beasts would have a wall to protect it, but I guess not.' thought Leofric as the pair entered the village outskirts.
As to why the village did not have a wall or any fortification, it was because the forest was not dangerous. There were no magical beasts that the village could not deal with if it came to it, and was mostly filled with regular animals. The plains as well were devoid of any strong magical beasts.
Because of that, however, a thumping sound that reverberated throughout the entire forest and beyond was enough to put people on edge.
'Having the memories of the village and seeing the place for myself are two very different things.' thought Leofric.
As the pair made their way through the village and to the orphanage, many people would call out to Sister Augustine and say hello, while many of the men would try to do a little extra, clearly because they thought she was beautiful, only to be shot down. According to one funny memory where the old Leofric told Sister Augustine he would marry her in the future and where he got promptly rejected, those of the cloth, man or woman, could neither wed nor participate in satisfying their carnal desires.
After a while, the pair reached the town circle where a crowd of people was gathered and listening to the village chief, a buff and tall old man with a body that would put bodybuilders to shame, who was standing on a wooden platform.
"I will personally lead a team of able-bodied men and women to investigate the forest. We will investigate the source of the sound and if it proves too much for us, we will retreat and put out a request." said the Chief, calming down the crowd.
"Who knows? Maybe I'll die in battle. Hahahaha!" he said, laughing boisterously, causing the crowd to let out an almost collective sigh before dispersing.
"Oh, Augustine!" said the Chief, hopping down from the platform before making his way over to where the pair were standing.
"Chief." she said curtly.
"Come on, no love for your grandfather?! Give me a hug!" he said before attempting to hug Sister Augustine who put out her arm to stop it.
"A woman of the cloth can not be seen hugging a man." she said.
"B-but I'm your grandfather." said the Chief.
"My grandfather would not hope he falls in battle." she said, side-eyeing him.
"That's what this is about? Hahahaha!" laughed the Chief, causing Sister Augustine to get angry and pinch the Chief.
"Humph." she said before continuing to pull Leofric toward the orphanage, all while leaving the laughing Chief behind.
"The Chief is your grandfather, Sister?" asked Leofric.
"Yes, he is. He can be a real handful." she said shaking her head in annoyance.
"Looks like it." said Leofric, who had little experience dealing with family thanks to his orphan status in his past life.
"Home sweet home." said Sister Augustine as she stopped walking.
In front of them was a rather simplistic church made of natural-colored stone with two large wooden doors that had an infinity symbol carved into them.
'An infinity sign which in this world represents the beliefs of the leading religion whose beliefs can be boiled down to the cycle of reincarnation and rebirth. Very Buddhist. Cool.' thought Leofric as the pair entered the church.
The inside of the church was very simply decorated with pews for prayer, a podium at the end of the room where the Priestess would preach, a wooden infinity sign hung on the wall behind the podium, and windows to let light in.
"Pay your respects, Leofric." said Sister Augustine, tracing her index and middle fingers across her heart and making an infinity sign, which Leofric followed suit.
'Not really a religious guy, but I guess when in Rome. Though can't really deny an all-powerful entity existing anymore seeing as I got transmigrated into a different world. Meh.' he thought while following Sister Augustine through a side door that connected to the rest of the church grounds.
"Can I go to my room?" asked Leofric, hoping he would finally be able to have some alone time to digest everything that had happened to him.
"Mother Superior wishes to see you first." she said.
Making their way to the orphanage, which was a large building that was further into the church grounds, they ran into some of the other orphans.
"Sister, Sister, play with us!" said a group of boys and girls younger than Leofric, whom the old Leofric occasionally would play with.
"I'm sorry my sweets, but I can't right now. I'll play with you guys later, okay?" said Sister Augustine as she rubbed their heads.
"'Kay! Bye, Leofric!" said the kids as they ran to play while the pair continued toward Mother Superior's office.
'According to my memory, there are about 30 orphans in this place. That's a lot of orphans for a village, guess it comes with the dangers of the world and the time period.' thought Leofric.
A short walk later and the pair had arrived at Mother Superior's office.
Knock Knock
"Come in." said a kind, old voice.
Entering the office that only had a desk, some seating, a bookshelf, and an infinity sign, Leofric laid eyes on Mother Superior, a kind yet stern older woman who the old him saw as a grandmother.
"Mother Superior, I brought him back." said Sister Augustine.
"Thank you, Sister Augustine, you've done well." said Mother Superior with a smile.
"I'll leave you two to talk." she said as she left the room, closing the door behind her.
"Sit down child, you must be tired from all that walking." she said as she poured a cup of tea for Leofric, who sat down before taking a sip.
"Thank you, Mother Superior." he said, putting the teacup back down since tea was not his thing.
"Any good news?" she asked, a tiny grin on her face from seeing Leofric's face scrunch up at the bitterness of the tea.
"Sorry?" he said.
"Any good news about your Job? I assume that's why you were in the forest to begin with." she said.
"N-no." said Leofric, still confused at them mentioning a job and hoping a memory would trigger like when he saw Sister Augustine to help him clue things together, but to no avail.
"Don't worry too much about it dear. Goddess works in mysterious ways, and she would never abandon her child. I'm sure it will all be revealed soon enough. Go get some rest." she said.
"T-thank you, Mother Superior." he said, getting up and leaving her office before hastily making his way to his room where he promptly closed the door behind him.
His room was just as simple as the rest of the church. A desk and a chair for studying, and a wooden bed frame with a straw mattress, just like every other orphan had.
Plopping down on the bed, Leofric closed his eyes and finally began to digest everything that had happened. From being hit by a car and dying to waking up in another world in another body to being engrossed in the sights to talking to Mother Superior.
And going over the events of the day at his own pace had given him some clarity.
'Wait, these Jobs that Sister Augustine and Mother Superior mentioned, don't tell me they mean Jobs as in Classes? Like in RPGs and games and stuff.' thought Leofric, 'It would fit in with the setting. Those isekai stories usually have some RPG elements like that so it would be appropriate for this world to have it. Might as well try it. Status.'
~~~~~~~~~
Name
- Leofric
Age
- 10
Job
- Pokemon Tamer
Skills
- Pokemon Communication
- Pokemon Empowerment
~~~~~~~~~
"Huh?" said Leofric out loud, his mind blanking from reading his Job.
POOF
"Finally you read your Status, I was wondering how long it would take you to. I was getting tired of waiting." said a young female voice.
Turning to look at the voice, Leofric laid eyes on a young red-haired girl floating in the air smiling at him and throwing up a peace sign.
"Who are you?" asked Leofric.
"Oh, I'm the Goddess of this world." she said, posing with her tongue out, one eye closed, and her fist to her head.
"Huh?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, this is my first novel in a long time. I used to write a few years ago and I just had an urge to do so again. But this does mean it'll take me a few chapters to get back into the rhythm of things so do bear with me.
I do have an idea of how I want this novel to go but I'm not the best at planning things out, I mostly just have things I want to happen and then fill in the gaps so bear with me on that as well. In terms of worldbuilding, I also have a good idea of how things will work.
I put the romance tag just in case I do end up doing romance down the line, but I am unsure if I will, or even if it will be harem or not. If I do harem, at most it will be 3 girls, no more than that just because it's too much for me.
Release schedule-wise I'm thinking once a week, anything more than that is because I want to.
Since this is the first chapter, it's a lot longer than I would normally do. I'm aiming for 2,000 words on average, maybe a little more.
With that said, however, I will mention that I have a job and a life so I will not promise that I will be able to keep this up.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy and leave any comments or questions, I'll most likely answer.
Also, don't be a dick, it ruins the mood. If you leave a negative comment or review just to be negative, I'll delete it. If it's genuine criticism/your opinion, then it's fine, just don't be a dick about it.