Level 1 Another World Transferee – 1 Part 1

レベル１の異世界転移者　俺だけレベルが上がらない
(Level 1 Another World Transferee – Only I Can’t Level Up)
Taira Futakami

Chapter 1 – Before I Knew it, I was In Another World

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First, I want you to calm down and listen to what I have to say.

I was walking while thinking absentmindedly.
Right now, it doesn’t matter what I was thinking about or where I was headed. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you, as I’ve forgotten. In any case, what I do know for sure was that I was walking down a road.
And then before I knew it, I was in an unknown place.
It felt like I had accidentally taken a wrong turn and walked too far.

The first thing that I felt was, oh, it’s quite dark here.
It wasn’t the darkness of clouds blocking the sun, but a more dim kind of darkness. Like when you light the candles on a birthday cake and turn off the lights in the room… Perhaps instead of describing it as darkness, it would be better to say it was an unreliable brightness.
As for the change in scenery, I didn’t notice it at all. I was just confused by the difference in brightness. And so I looked up.
And that’s when I saw a group of them. They wielded weapons that were directed at me.

Okay, I’m the one who needs to calm down.

I must have gotten lost somehow.
Even in modern Japan, there were places where you could take a wrong turn and end up in some dangerous place. In the large cities, there were people who lived outside in parks, under blue tarps. Perhaps it was not strange that there are people who have swords and spears as well. I had heard stories about people who wore medieval armor and fought as a type of sport. There were even weapon stores in Akihabara. Should we go there and arm ourselves? That’s what it was like.
In any case, it was better to look away and quietly withdraw.

Thinking this, I turned on my heels.
There was a white wall ahead of me.
It seemed to be around 20 meters away?
I could not tell for sure, as it was quite dark, but it wasn’t plaster or concrete. It looked like the materials used in schoolroom floors. But I had never seen it used on walls before, so it felt very strange. Regardless, the smooth hardness was very similar.
It looked very durable.
And this wall extended to corners on both sides.

Not only that, but there was a ceiling.

So I was indoors.

Thud. My heart sounded loudly.
I could feel my blood go cold.

Why was I inside of a room?

I had been walking down an alley. I was outside.
The ceiling was quite high, perhaps about 4 meters. It was made of the same material as the walls, and there were slits here and there. Were they for ventilation or light? In any case, they were not functional now. The only light in the room was a single, swaying flame, and the torch that the group behind me were carrying.
How had I not noticed I was in a room?
Even if I wasn’t thinking about where I was going, it should not be possible. I wasn’t that stupid as to be able to wander into a dark room like this.

In the first place, where had I walked to get here?

After turning around, what was in front of me, in other words, the opposite direction that I had been walking, was just a white wall. There was no road, path or door. Nothing for a person to go through.
It was a dead end.
So there was no way I could have walked through it.

My legs felt weak, and I stumbled forward.

In order to support myself, my foot moved forward and landed on a circuit board.
To be precise, it was a transparent floor that had patterns that resembled a circuit board. Those patterns you see on green boards within electronics. But these were not flat, but three-dimensional within the floor. As for how deep they went, it was too dim to be able to see.
But it made me feel like I was standing over an abyss.
My legs felt shaky. This didn’t feel real.

I swirled around and looked at the rest of the room.
Right now, I tried to not think about the figures who wielded weapons. While they still directed their weapons towards me, they had yet to take any other action.
They say that you should let sleeping dogs lie. And so I would ignore them until they make a move.

The room was about the size of a school gym, and I appeared to be standing near the center.
The walls and ceiling were made of a white material, and the overall structure was made of gentle curves. Though, due to the dimness, it was sometimes difficult to know which parts were walls and which were ceiling.
The general shape was that of a square, and so it was as if they used the curves to get rid of any corners.
On the other hand, the only place that was completely flat was the center of the floor where I was standing.
The area was circular and had a radius of about 5 meters. This was the circuit board-like floor I noticed earlier.
There were no windows at all.
It reminded me of a training area within a fighting game. In a certain robot battle game, it would be called an arena.

Did this mean that these people were my opponents?

I finally forced myself to look directly at them.

Five…no, there was one other hiding in the shadows.
About 15 meters away they stood. And their weapons were pointed at me.
Yes, weapons.
Not guns. Not rocket launchers. They were holding swords and spears.
To be precise, two of them wielded swords.
One had a great sword.
And one had a long sword and shield.
One had something like a halberd. That one was standing a little farther away from the others.
And then there was one person with a staff. A staff. Like Sun Wukong’s Ruyi Bang. A staff that was a weapon. But it looked more like the staff that European priests might use.
Well, I should just say it.
It looked like a magic staff that would be wielded by a wizard.
The other two did not have weapons.
One carried a torch, and the other appeared to be writing desperately on a stack of papers.

It was no surprise, but their clothes were something that did not fit with modern Japan. Ignoring the fine details for now, to put it simply, they looked like medieval warriors and travelers.
Or perhaps I should just say it was the style of a fantasy RPG.
No, maybe it wasn’t that. After all, recently, game characters were always dressed in such over the top outfits.
Compared to those, their clothes looked more functional, and also a little plain.

And right behind them, I could see what was the only exit in the room. And it was wide open.

Did that make them gatekeepers?
It was like a tutorial in a game. In order to get used to the game, I had to face an enemy that I could win against. Or maybe it’s a fight that you are supposed to lose.

Now, I still hoped that this was a dream or a bad joke.

You sometimes see completely immersive virtual reality being depicted in anime, games and novels, but it would be a long time before such technology was actually possible.
Anime and games were enjoyed on tv, and novels were read through paper books. Well, I suppose e-readers were popular now, but it would take a while for bookstores to disappear.
In other words, there was no point in speculating about this being virtual reality. It was frankly, not possible.
And so the only possibility that was left to me was that this was a dream.

I then did the typical thing and pinched my cheek.

Uh, that hurt. So this isn’t a dream.

Maybe it was a dream where you could feel pain, but the pain felt real. And I did not like pain.
Still, I had a direction now.
I would avoid fighting as much as possible.
I didn’t like the idea of getting hurt or hurting others. At the very least, I did not have any kinks for deriving pleasure from pain and suffering. And it was the same with inflicting it on others.
In fact, I had never been in a real fight.
I had played fighting games, but I wasn’t delusional enough to think that would be useful in a real fight.

In that case, I also knew how to deal with them for now.
I would try to communicate, and if that failed, I would have to make a run for it.
Yes, that was the only way.
While they stood between me and the exit, they were wielding weapons and wearing armor. I doubted they could run that fast. Besides, the room was wide, so maybe I could run around them.
Perhaps I should just run without even trying to talk to them. After all, they might attack as soon as I spoke. There were enemies like that in games. They did nothing until you approached them.

In order to show that I was unarmed, I showed my palms as I raised them in the air.

So, what should I say now?

Would they even understand me?
In anime, even if they were in a foreign country or another world, they all spoke Japanese for some reason. But I doubt it would be the case in this situation.
Would English do then? I doubted that. Besides, even if they did, I would only be able to answer them with a ‘pardon?’ Not that I was any better with any other language.
Well, I would just try Japanese, even if it was hopeless.

“Uh, umm… Do-you-Under-stand-Japan-ese?”

Not only did I stumble over my words, but I spoke them in a broken manner.
Why couldn’t I speak normally? If it wasn’t going to work anyway, I should just speak normally. You idiot!

“You can understand the common language?”

Came the question as I berated myself.
I looked up in surprise.

“You. You can speak the common language?”

This time the woman’s voice was slower and clearer.
The person speaking in Japanese was the person who had been writing furiously with her pen. She was wearing a white robe that was covered in red patterns. She had shining golden hair and had very western features. And so it was a little odd to see her speaking in such fluent Japanese.

“I don’t know what you mean by common language. Is it not Japanese?”
“I have never heard of this…Japanese. Japan…ese… In other words, the language of Japan?”
“Yes! What a relief. I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to understand me.”

I was relieved from the bottom of my heart, and said as much without thinking.
I had never been so thankful to be able to understand what a person was saying. I always spoke Japanese without really thinking about it, but I would be more thankful from now on. Because of it, I could finally find out what the hell was going on here.

“Um, where is this place?”
“Hey-hey, do you mind if I ask some questions first!?”

She said, interrupting and ignoring my question completely.
As for the others, they were standing in a way as if to block her, as she seemed like she was about to rush towards me any second now.
Apparently, they were wary of me.

“G-go ahead.”

I was a little taken aback by her excitement, but I did not want to object and create a sense of hostility.
First, it was important for both sides to talk and understand each other.
As I had been born and raised after the war, I had lived a life that was unrelated to fighting.
And so I was quite shaken at having weapons directed towards me.
It was all that I could do to prevent my knees from shaking.

“You. How is it that you have no name!? And how can you be Level 1?!”
“No name?”

She wasn’t asking me to tell her my name. She was asking why I had no name.

“What. No, uh, my name is…”

Huh?
And then I was stunned.
You could say that I was stupefied.
No other word could more appropriately describe it.

“My name…”

I desperately tried to dig up the memory.
Not just my own name.
But my life up until now.
All of those memories.
My parents.
Where I was born and raised.
School, friends, maybe a lover.
What I liked.
What I hated.

…But there was nothing.