Category: Kajiya de Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life

I slowly lost my consciousness after telling my preferred age. Then, when I wake up, I was already in this forest.

I slowly got up.

I’m worried I’ll get lightheadedness but there was none. I don’t know if that was because I got younger. I looked at my hands, but I can’t confirm if I’m at the age that I said or not. In the first place, hands are not the part of the body that changes suddenly when you reach a certain age.

Haa-, when I sighed, my head ached.

“So this is it huh…”

Until I completely lost my consciousness, the woman (feels like it) explains things continuously to me. One of them is about this headache.

『The moment your existence fits into that world, your head will likely ache. That is the proof that the skills, knowledge and experiences that I gave you matched to your brain and body so you don’t need to worry.』

The woman said so.

“It’s not that great of an ability so shouldn’t it be nice if she goes easy on me a little more?”

I looked around while being alone like this. Hmm, there’s nothing particularly noticeable.

『I will prepare a place where you can live and do blacksmithing for the mean time. I will also add foods and minimal ingredients.』

The woman also said that but…, is it not here? Preparing the place somewhere far away from the transfer point doesn’t seem necessary, but if it is, that will spell trouble for me. At worst, I won’t be able to find it.

The moment I thought that, I caught something at the end of my sight. I’m certain it is not there when I looked around before. I got surprised and look over there intently. Then, I found a building that is a little too big to be called hut.

“W-What the heck is that…?”

From the woman’s explanation, that was probably meant for me to live there. It’s not there a while ago but I’m not sure whether that is “really not there” or “I just couldn’t see it”. But given this situation, I think it’s safe either way.

However, I still approach the building carefully. I don’t know if it is because of the ability I got but I’m certain that no one’s inside. I also don’t feel any hostility or vigilance towards me from the surrounding area. I look inside through the grid window. No one’s here.

Just in case, I bend down under the window and head towards the door so I won’t be seen from the inside. The door has a simple handle and key, and there’s no knob to be turned.

When I pulled the handle gently, the door opened without resistance. It is not particularly locked. I peer inside through the opened door. There is no presence or smell. It looks safe for now.

I completely open the door and stand normally. Immediately after, I heard a muffled “Clang Clong” sound. I got startled and unintentionally crouched down again but there’s no other particular reaction afterwards.

Feeling relieved, I gently stroke my chest. I look around only to see that the inside is like the cottage I used to stay at when I went skiing in the previous world. What differs from that time is that there is no 2nd floor and a counter kitchen, instead, there is a shelf that holds a furnace and tableware, like a dirt floor in a Japanese house where the kitchen is.

Furthermore, there is a door behind it. I noticed that the string stretched unitl there. Apparently, the “Clang Clong” sound a while ago came from behind that door.

When I closed the door (I heard another “Clang Clong” sound), I noticed that there is a “Kannuki”. I bolted the “Kannuki” and look inside. There is a large room with a pretty large table and several chairs. (TLYN: Kannuki is a heavy, usually wooden, crossbar used to lock across double doors or gates of an entrance to a building)

I look up and the ceiling is quite high. There is something like a clapper there but I don’t think that the muffled sound earlier came from those. In that case, there must be something else that made that sound. I’m curious but I leave it at that and look around more. I found 3 doors in the corner of the room. I opened one of them – it’s a toilet.

I didn’t see any beddings when I looked at it so one of the other two must be the bedroom. I tried opening another door. There is a reasonably large desk and something like a bookshelf. Looks like this is the study room. Then I opened and checked the last door, as expected, this is the bedroom. There’s a reasonably large bed, a side table, and a small round chair just like in a business hotel.

Now, next will be my most favorite.

『I will prepare a place where you can do blacksmithing.』

Since she said that, I want to expect that there are already some facilities installed there. Even if I say that, I will probably operate it by myself for a long time (I have no intention of taking a disciple for now). Handling equipment like a charcoal blast furnace for raw material production will be difficult but I would like to have something like that.

Hooo-, I opened the door at the back with half expectation and half anxiety.

Will it be granted?

In addition to anvils and hammers, there are furnaces, not only for heating crucibles but also a fire bed and Rheem furnace for making steel. All the so-called iron (steel) weapons, including western swords, Japanese swords, and, to a lesser extent, arrowheads, can be made here.

I somehow understand how to use these tools and devices because of the “installed” knowledge given to me when I came to this world. Surely, with this much knowledge, that kind of headache makes sense. The smithy has a small counter with a little space behind it, and a door that seems to lead outside, where the “Kannuki” is hanging.

“I see, sales will be done here.”

In other words, over there is the living space while this area is the workshop and sales area. In case I forgot to remove the “Kannuki” on the door in the living space while I’m at this workshop, even if customers came, the clappers here will produce such sounds to inform me that there’s a visitor –that’s the kind of mechanism it is.

When I look at the door, the string connects up to the living space. When I enter here, it rings over there so I’m quite grateful for this function.

After checking the room like that, I returned to the living room. I still don’t feel like living here completely. Well, even if I say that, there is no way I can go back “there” so I need to be firm. I was all by myself over there anyway, and even if I die, only my boss in the company will be troubled I guess.

Well, all he have to do is practice the saying “there are many alternatives”, so he might not be actually in trouble. I shook my head to drive away those thoughts and concentrate on the future.

Immediately after that, my stomach made a “Guuu” sound, prompting me to eat. The body doesn’t lie huh. I’m amazed even though it is my body. Sigh~, there might be some kind of food in the kitchen.

I then head to the kitchen behind the door.

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When I opened my eyes, I can see the blue sky. I’m currently lying on my back. Awake, I look around, all I see is the dense forest and it looks like I was lying inside an open space field.

At first glance, the forest is no different from Japan.

But I know that this place is far from Japan, much less on Earth. Furthermore I know that I am no longer in that world.

This is a different world.

To begin with, after a continuous overtime, I head out of the company. I stroll around Teppen and on my way back home, I found a stray cat walking unsteadily –that’s where all this started.

I was heading toward the station, walking no less than that stray cat and then I saw the cat heading towards the middle of the road, staggering.

A truck came from the other side. There is no sign of it slowing down as it may not have noticed the cat. Tired or whatsoever, the moment I saw it, I began running towards the cat.

As I approach the cat, so did the truck. It’s a pure race against time. Which can reach the cat first, me or the truck? Speaking of speed, of course it is an overwhelming victory for the truck, but in terms of distance, I’m much closer.

However, if I can’t reach it to some extent, it’s a one sided victory for the truck. The gap between me and the cat quickly shorten, my hand grabbed the cat’s body and then I threw it.

Shortly thereafter, Bam–, with that sound, my body fling in the air. In my fading consciousness, I thought that I saw a powerful scene of fire, which was irrelevant.

I don’t know how long it took. Was it immediately after or has it been fairly long time? I suddenly recovered consciousness. Opening my eyes, it’s only a pure white space, I couldn’t see anything, even my own body.

It’s true that my consciousness recognizes something, but I’m quite doubtful if this can be said to be “awake”. It can be said that my consciousness is clear, it can also be considered as faint, I’m in such ambiguous state.

Then there is a “voice” that starts talking to me. Considerably, it’s a voice of a pretty young woman.

『Hey, did you wake up? 』

“If you can call this state as such. Yes, I’m awake.”

I simply answered the truth. This “voice” interaction does not necessarily mean that the sound waves has reached my ear clearly and is “heard”. Similarly, I don’t seem to send air out of my lungs, my vocal cords do not quiver and emit sound waves…

To express this sensation, it may be telepathy. It’s a very distant image of “conversation”, where I can feel that someone is trying to communicate with me, and I am also trying to communicate with that someone thru our minds.

『For now, it seems that there is no defect in your soul. Originally, preservation of soul slightly exceeds the range of my jurisdiction. 』

“Hmmmm…. I don’t really understand what you meant to say.”

『Well, in simple terms, you have died in “that world”. Normally, human souls that have died in any world, not just that world, are decomposed and accumulated as new resources. Speaking in terms similar to your job, it’s like freeing up the memory you had reserved. So, I locked that memory so it wouldn’t be released, this is what I meant when I say that it was not under my jurisdiction. 』

“I see, I understand the condition itself. So what should I do from now on?”

I was strangely calm despite the declaration of a very important thing, “You have died”.

『I’m glad, you’ve calm down right? I’m very sorry, but now I’ll be tampering with your perceptions to temporarily dilute the notion of death. If I don’t do that, your soul will still be destroyed –in the analogy I mentioned earlier, the memory you thought was supposed to be removed thru GC,  releases itself. Then, of course, the data in it will be erased –the concept for you will be, both your body and soul would be erased. 』 (TLYN Note: GC/Garbage Collector is a programming terminology)

“Hmm. That can be understood calmly now.”

『Un. Thank you. Well then, before you died, you saved a stray cat right? 』

“Ah, that’s not a mistake. I really like cats.”

I’m a little over 40 years old, my outward appearance was said to be a “Perfect Yakuza”, and “I don’t look like a respectable person”, but I do like pretty and cute things, I especially loved cats.

In addition, every day and every night, it’s an exhausting work. My physical strength has dropped by the coming years, along with that, my thinking ability fell below the limit, all of which miraculously meshed (although in the completely wrong direction), I myself think I was the cause all of this.

To get to the bottom of it, one of the reasons would be “Because I like cats”.

『In conclusion, that’s me, I’m a “Watch Dog”. You wouldn’t understand it though. I wonder if you’ve heard the concept of parallel world. 』

“Yes, science fiction and fantasy, I’ve been in contact with such works quite a bit.”

『I see. Our talk would be quicker then. I walk across parallel worlds and see if there is anything that could adversely affect the other worlds. That’s my role. 』

From her voice (maybe not), I can feel that she is a little proud. Well, it’s true that such a role must be played by the best person.

“Heh…, that’s pretty great.”

I complimented her honestly.

『Well even if I say that, from better to worst, it is faster to count from the later though.”

Well, I praised and hurt her.

 『But I want you to understand that it is not a role that serves other people. It’s hard to overlook the signs of an impact on the parallel world and reach the stage where you can actually take action. It’s not my part to actually do it but… Anyway, let’s return to the explanation where you understand my role. 』

Correcting her sitting position (feels like it), she (most probably) continues to speak.

『In the world where you were, I continued to act as a “Watch Dog” in the form of a cat. So to say, you helped me when I messed up and almost died. By the way, here is the gap between the worlds where people like us are free to use. 』

“As the guy who plays the role of watching the world, will you also die if you were hit by the truck?”

I simply asked what I thought. The fact that such an important role is no different from that of a normal creature seems to be a very susceptible system.

『About that, “death” is only for my temporary body in that world, my soul will continue to live. The tentative body takes the form of an ordinary creature in that world, and its physical strength follows that. Otherwise, I could be recorded as a creature with a high physical strength.

So, when my temporary body is dead, it doesn’t affect the world so much. Originally, I made the body so that it would not affect that world, but in your case, even if your body is dead, it causes a little problem.

It is a trade off with the parallel world I was talking about earlier. Do you think there are many parallel worlds with only subtle differences? 』

 “Oh, at least in my knowledge, or that’s what I’ve read and played.”

『For example, you thought, “today I’m going to drink before going home”, and as a result, the train was delayed and you got home too late, that kind of world and, “I’m going straight back home”, resulting in you not getting tangled in the train delay branching from the world you live in. 』

“I see.”

『In short, the world is not like that. There are no such minor differences in the world. If you decide to “drink then go home”, that’s the harmony of the world. In this case, if you go home straight and went home early without being caught up in the train delay, you’ll have more or less trouble in the world.

For example, you return early and hear a quarrel between a couple in your neighbourhood and reports it, some people may not be born as a result of the harmony of the family there, and that would cause damage to the world.

As the saying goes, there’s no “IF”in history. It has a different nuance from the original meaning though. 』

It’s an explanation that I don’t understand. I encouraged the rest of the story by keeping silent.

『Oops, I got sidetrack too much. Anyway, the world is like that. As the world does not branch into detailed parts, the “You in a world similar to this one” is only one. There will be no one else.

And you weren’t supposed to die at that point. But because you helped me, this became an irregular for the world and the same for you.

Of course, I as well. Since I am an irregular among the three parties, I will make up for you in this world. To make this world consistent, the fastest way would be to make that you are “miraculously unharmed and did not die”, but then you helped me instead, I could only observed where you died.

Since it became like this, it’s impossible to make it like it never happened. My job is to “monitor and report the status of multiple worlds”, so what I see is reported and recorded in multiple worlds.This is translated by Yume Neiji (yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com)

Then, no matter what the impact on that world, you’re “dying” in that world. 』

I feel that the conversation is getting suspicious.

“Then it sounds like it’s out of hand, but why is it that only my soul was saved in that state?”

『Un, that’s… In order to place your replacement in this world, I’m going to put you in the other world. 』

 “Is it okay to do that? Considering the stories I’ve heard so far, it’s pretty bad …”

『U-n, how should I say it? Without you in that world, I have to put a substitute or make a replacement of you to keep the balance, but in the same way that no one could be a replacement, there are many worlds where there is room to put you in. Well, I have to choose from the world I am in charge of, so there would be few though. 』

 “You mean, do something like “swap existence”?”

『Oh, you have a good understanding. It helps. Well, if you put it together in a very simple way, it will happen. Then the fact that you died in the original world will not change and will continue to exist properly in the next world. That’s why this can be done. 』

“I see. Can I ask a question?”

『Please say it. 』

“What is your reason for doing this?”

『Ah-, Un. That’s also what I’m going to explain from now on. Simply put, due to my mistake, a person who shouldn’t die before me died, that will leave a bad taste in me. Well, it’s a coherence of the world. For now, just think that there is a reason to do that. 』

“Uhhh, If you’ll ask me if I’m satisfied, I’m not convinced. But I don’t have any choice anyway right?”

『Yes. I’ll apologize for that, so I can give you the right to choose the world and some preferential treatment in that world –cheat to put it plainly.

Basically, Cheat does not disturb the balance of the destination world or the balance of the other worlds, so please feel free to say your request. 』

 “Is that so…”

I think I just got a second life, so I don’t want to waste too much. The fact that the balance is not lost may not be such an incredible ability.

If that’s the case, why don’t I just feel at ease? I thought so and said the request.

“I like making things, so I hope it’s a world where I can make things and live thru it. So I want you to give me abilities based on that. If you could, I want an ability that could support myself on my own. I talked about it a little a while ago, I really like cats so I want to have a cat if possible. That’s about it.”

『Hmmmm……』

This time the “female voice” seemed to be lost in thought.

『Given the world I will send you to, should the destination be a so-called fantasy world of swords and magic?”

“I doesn’t matter.”

『Then I’ll give you an ability to match your desire. There are various stuff when you say to make things, but what do you look forward to? 』

“I am interested in sword smithing.”

『Then, blacksmith has the highest priority… For the remaining resources, I’ll give priority to language and production, battle, and so on. There will be self-defense too. It’s not essential in daily life, so should I keep the magic to a minimum? 』

“Ah, that would be fine.”This is translated by Yume Neiji (yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com)

『Next is… how about age? It’ll be okay no matter how old you want, so please tell me your preferred age. You could choose from the teenager age, there is no problem even at 70 years old though. 』

 “Ummm. I don’t really like to be too young…”

However, I would like to live a second life for a long time. Thinking for a long time or a short time I don’t know, the conclusion I made is―

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There is a castle at the far end of the demon world controlled by the demons. Located at the deepest part of the demon world is the castle of the Demon King.

Further inside the castle, two people face each other in front of the throne of the Demon King.

On one side, a young man looked slender but still exhibits core strength. He is wearing a silver armor and holds a long silver sword in his hand.

He’s an existence called “hero” in this world.

The other one is a beautiful woman, she had a sheep-like horn on her head, and wore a robe with a dreadful atmosphere. In her hand is a black bladed sword.

She is the lord of this castle, the “Demon King”.

The two clashed swords without exchanging words. The hero’s sword, which was swung vigorously, was received by the demon king’s sword, without hesitation.

If those were normal swords, both would have been split in two – such powerful blow was exchanged.

The sword of the Demon King, which is slender compared to the Hero’s sword, endured the strike without feeling the difference in the thinness of the blades.

The two jumped and clashed swords again. This time, the hero stops the Demon King’s thrust with the side of his sword’s blade.

If it is a normal sword, the blade would have been pierced, such sharp thrust was made. However, the Hero’s sword took it easily.

They clashed swords countless times. Both people moved while trusting their own specialized weapon. Meanwhile, the color of perplexity begin to emerge on their faces.

Considering each other’s position, it was assumed that the weapons would be a special-grade product that could have been passed down from ancient time.

However, on the contrary, it is too strange for such weapons to clash and endure that much. The limit should have been reached by now.

Both of them get confused, and eventually, they lowered their swords.

“Demon King, though it late there’s something I want to ask.”

“Un, agreed. Hero, that’s probably what I want to hear too.”

“Well then, let me ask. Who crafted your sword?”

“As expected, I also want to know who crafted yours.”

“So after all…?”

“Un, there’s no doubt he’s the person you imagined. It’s the work of that eccentric blacksmith.”

Saying that, the Demon King turned the sword’s pommel towards the hero – the figure of a sitting fat cat was engraved on it.

“So it’s really him, that old man…”

As the hero said that, he also turned the pommel of his sword towards the Demon King. The same marking as that of the Demon King is engraved there.

“Perhaps in anticipation of this, he made swords for both sides… Really, I can’t take that fellow.”

“Any other than this is completely futile.”

“Un. There’s also an option of whoever exhausted physical strength first…”

“I understand this now. You and I are equal.”

“Well, probably. So even if one wins, he would be exhausted to death afterwards… It wouldn’t make any sense.”

“Then, there is only one answer.”

“I know. At least in my generation, I promise a truce.”

“I will also inform the old man. Is it alright?”

“Un. Informing THAT about this and not earning his displeasure will be the greatest deterrence for each other. Making him displeased and becoming an enemy will be the most troubling thing for me. I don’t mind.”

“Then let me do that. We may meet at some point, but until then, goodbye.”

“I understand. Now then, I must also put out an official notice as preparation…”

Then, the two turn away from each other and leave on opposite sides.

With the tense atmosphere like the time of their first confrontation gone, relaxed ambience started flowing again. The two people contrasting each other, think of the same person’s face.

—At first glance, there’s nothing remarkable and several years has piled up on the man’s face…

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