During my first few days in my new life, I discovered several things about my new reality. Firstly, I appeared to be the same as I was in my previous life — same age, same appearance, same black hair — except that I was now dressed in old-fashioned clothing, including a ragged tunic. My family life was also similar, with me living with my father, as my mother had died during childbirth in this world.
Secondly, I learned that this world was powered by a spiritual energy called mana, which was present in all living beings. This mana allowed people to cast spells, with the strength of the spells being directly proportional to the amount of mana a person had. Being an otaku in my previous life, I was able to quickly understand this concept and even cast a few beginner spells myself. I was also informed that mana could be increased through training.
Finally, I learned that my "wife" was a textbook definition of a psycho. Despite her cute appearance, it was all just a facade. Our marriage was pre-arranged by our families and not yet official, a common practice in this world. But, due to her erratic behavior, I was already making plans to escape the relationship.
"Ryuji, open your mouth and say 'ahh'," Shizu said, holding a knife in her hand.
I complied and swallowed the bite of grilled fish she had cooked for me. Despite its delicious taste, I was on edge with Shizu waving a knife around.
"Delicious," I said, forcing a smile. "By the way, Shizu my dear, why are you holding a knife?"
"What?" she replied, looking confused.
"The knife," I repeated, pointing to the weapon in her hand. "You're done cooking, right? You don't need it anymore."
"Oh, this?" she said, glancing down at the knife as if it were nothing. "I was cooking."
"But you're done cooking now," I stammered, trying to keep my voice steady.
"Hm," she pondered, "but how would I protect you without a weapon?"
I swallowed hard, thinking back to what the squirrel god, Gunsey, had warned me about when I died. Clearly this was the girl that he was referring to as 'batshit crazy'.
So far there wasn't much I found out about her besides her name was Shizu and that she was around 1 year younger than me. Apparently she had also been killed by the same truck that took my life in our previous existence.
"Shizu," I said, "do you remember anything about our past life when we died?"
She shook her head, and I sighed, returning to my food. My own memories of that day were missing, and I wasn't sure if I could trust her.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. We were at my house where I lived with my father. Shizu wasn't living here yet, but she might as well be since she visited every single day.
"I'll get it," I said, getting up from the table. It was probably my dad, but he was supposed to be working at the blacksmith shop.
Opening the door, I saw a female knight standing there with two other knights behind her. She was tall and dressed in silver armor, with a sword at her hip and a crest on her chest plate that set her apart from the other knights. The two knights behind her were dressed in similar armor, but lacked the distinctive crest.
"Uh, hello?" I greeted them, glancing at their stern faces. "How can I help you?"
"Greetings sir, my name is Catherine De Silva, a knight captain of the Mideron empire," The female knight introduced herself.
"I see."
"Due to the escalating tensions between the Mideron empire and the Vasily empire in the west, the Mideron empire is currently conscripting soldiers in preparation for potential military warfare. We are conducting surveys of this village, as it is part of the Mideron empire, to scout for potential conscripts to enlist in the army," she explained.
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Perfect! This might be my chance to escape from Shizu. Did Gunsey throw this lifeline for me? The only problem though was that there was a high probability that Shizu would follow me into the army. I needed to consider my options carefully.
"What type of civilians are exempt from conscription service?" I asked Catherine.
"Well," she said, pausing to think. "If one is too old for war, or if they are an Adventurer."
That's it!
"Thank you for the information. I appreciate it." I was about to bid them farewell when a voice interrupted me from behind.
"Ryuji," Shizu called out.
I turned to face her, "Yes, Shizu my dear?"
"Why are you talking to another girl at the door?" she asked.
I paused, suddenly realising something about the atmosphere wasn't right.
Catherine blinked, trying to peer into the darkness behind me, "Is there someone else with you?"
"I, I..."
I glanced behind me and saw in slow-mo Shizu running forward with the knife, aiming for Catherine's jugular. Without thinking, I quickly turned around to grab Shizu, stopping her in her tracks and the knife slid out of her hands, clattering on the floor.
"Um, thanks so much for the information, Catherine, we will think about what you said, see you later!" I babbled a jumble of words before slamming the door shut, leaving Shizu and me alone inside the house.
"That was close..." I breathed a sigh of relief, not wanting to imagine what would had happened if Shizu killed a knight captain on our first week of being isekai'd. Probably we would both be locked up inside some underground prison cell somewhere with the keys thrown out until we wither away into the dirt.
I shuddered just imagining that scenario.
"Hey Shizu, seriously..." I said, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her away from my chest then my words trailed off. "Are you okay...?"
Blushing wildly, Shizu stood there anxiously with her eyes fixated on the ground.
"T-t-that's the first time you ever hugged me, Ryuji..." Shizu said in a quiet whisper.
"Uh..." I wasn't hugging you. I was trying to stop you from committing homicide. Was what I wanted to say but obviously I didn't say it.
Damn, she was actually really cute like this. If only she wasn't a crazed psychopath. What a waste.
I sighed to myself then shook my head.
"Hey listen Shizu, I've got an idea of what we should do..."
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"Fighting experience, none. Magic capabilities, beginner. Physical prowess..."
The clerk sitting behind the desk pushed up her steel-framed glasses, glancing me up and down lazily with one eye.
"Skinny, probably none." The clerk said, glancing back down to scribble on some papers she had in front of her.
"Hey..." I forced a smile, feeling crosses on my forehead. "I'm actually pretty strong, you know? I can lift up 10 bags of groceries all by myself, and carry them across two or three neighbourhoods."
"Oh really." The clerk said dully, not taking her eyes off the paper she was writing on.
"Yes, really."
"Uh-huh."
Clearly she wasn't listening. I sighed, glancing around the adventurers' guild we were in. Surprisingly, there wasn't many people around. I would had thought that the adventurers' guild would be filled with all kinds of people like the ones I've seen in animes. Especially also since being an adventurer would exempt one from being conscripted into joining the army.
"So where are all the other adventurers--"
"Here you go," The clerk stamped loudly on the paper she was writing on, then pulled open a drawer at her desk to grab something and chucked it out in front of us, "Your application to join the Adventurers' Guild has been approved. Based on my assessment, you will be classed as an Iron-ranked adventurer. This is your iron badge that will be used to identify yourself to others as an adventurer. Please don't lose it, otherwise there will be a replacement fee of 5 copper."
"Got it, so the ranks--"
"Adventurers in the guild are ranked based on jobs and quests completed and are only allowed to take on jobs that are at their rank or below. This is to ensure the safety of our adventurers. Initial assessment is performed by the clerk processing the application. The 8 ranks that can be assigned are Iron, Steel, Brass, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Titanium, and lastly, Palladium."
"And I guess Iron is--"
"The lowest." She said flatly, slamming a stack of papers together. "Now if you'll excuse me I have other things to do."
"But there's not even anyone else around!"
She sighed, palming a hand to her face. "Sir, I have a lot of paperwork to do. Please just take a job from the job board and leave me alone..."
At that, I followed where she was pointing to a job board at the side of the guild, grabbed the only available Iron-ranked job pamphlet and headed outside the guild.
Outside, Shizu was sitting by a bench, dressed in a robe waiting for me. Luckily I had instructed her to wait outside the guild for me. If she had gone in with me, she probably would had attempted to assassinate the clerk whilst I wasn't watching.
"So, Shizu..." I smiled weakly at her, "We got our first job."
"I'm so excited!" Shizu jumped up to me from the bench. "What is it?"
"I don't know actually." I said, then I opened the pamphlet out in front of me.
Glancing down at the pamphlet together, we read the bold words written at the top:
[ IRON-RANKED JOB : GOBLIN SLAYING - CLEAR OUT GOBLIN CAVE ]
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AI generated image : Shizu
[https://i.imgur.com/uV9g5DZ.png]