Chapter 1 Crossroads of Fate
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Aaahh, I can’t go on anymore. I’m going to die.”
How many times have I said these words since I was born?
Now, I was facing a huge monster in the forest with my servant following me.
”Master Neil, please refrain from making such a feeble statement until you have experienced the pain of having your heart torn from your chest.”
”No way, I’m already dead, not about to die!”
”My esteemed master, you will remain alive for a few moments after your heart is gouged out, correct? Please tell me during that time.”
”Don’t assume that I’m going to be gouged out!”
The servant who spits merciless venom at the weak master instead of cheering him up. It’s funny, isn’t it? The other world I wanted wasn’t like this.
I thought I would be able to live a life in a different world where I would be free to travel around freely, kill monsters in an instant, and be loved by beautiful girls, without being burdened with heavy responsibilities. No more struggling against monsters or being spat poison by the servant.
”How did this happen?”
The answer is obvious.
I answered God’s question, “Give me a cheat ability,” and that was the turning point of my destiny.
* * *
Before I was born, I was a humble businessman.
No, it would be disrespectful to a businessman to say that I was a businessman.
I correct myself. Before I died, I was a carbon dioxide generator who can only produce carbon dioxide by consuming oxygen.
The point is that I was so incompetent that people made fun of me.
I had no self-confidence, I was not good at talking to others, I always tended to talk too fast, and I got irritated when others kept asking me back… Anyway, I was not good at socializing, working, and everything, and I was easily shunned from the group.
This was the same when I was a student, and even after I entered the society, I was always alone.
It should be obvious that this is why I became so absorbed in my own world of fantasy.
What brought me to the turning point of my destiny was the day I was on my way home from work, mentally exhausted and treated like an outsider as usual.
I got off the train at the nearest station and took a wobbly step forward, and before I knew it, I was standing in a pitch-dark space.
Was it a blackout? I was thinking in my foggy mind, when suddenly a voice echoed in my head.
’Welcome, child of the other world.’
This time it’s an auditory hallucination. Oh no, it’s time for me to see a psychiatrist.
’It’s not an auditory hallucination. Look up there.’
I reflexively looked up and saw a planet floating in the sky.
A blue planet, similar to the earth, was spinning above my head.
’That’s Kaldor, or to explain it more simply to you, it’s a different world. And I am the one who manages Kaldor, the God of Management.’
I see, it’s not an auditory hallucination but a kind of daydream.
Oh, but now it is night, not day, so is it a nightdream?
’It’s not a daydream, pinch your cheek.’
I do as he says and pinch my cheek… Ouch.
But the pain makes me think clearer.
I don’t feel fluffy like in a dream, I can clearly feel my arms and legs, and I can move without any difficulty.
Now that I have confirmed the physical condition of my body, I now consider my own situation.
On my way home from work, I suddenly found myself in a pitch-dark space, and then I heard a mysterious voice, and then a planet similar to the earth was spinning above my head, and then I heard a voice saying—
”—what?”
Of course, no matter how calmly I thought about it, I could not understand a single thing.
The best way to describe the situation would be to say that it was a dream, but the pain confirmed that it was not.
I carefully picked not only my cheeks but also my sides and inner thighs… Ouch.
’You seem to be confused, let me first explain briefly why I have invited you here. The God who controls the world in which you were born asked me to take you in, because he could not handle your soul, an unwanted child. Thus, I agreed and brought you to the world under my control.’
Whoa… I guess God was trying to explain in his own way in a very simple way, but it was too simple for me to understand anything.
All I could understand was that the God had brought my body, or in this case, my soul, to here without my knowledge or consent.
”Um, what’s an unwanted child?”
”It’s a being that has a different “origin” from the “Blue” that is the main stream of the “World Tree”, such as “Red” and “Yellow”.”
Oh, no, the more I ask this question, the more words I don’t understand will appear in a mouse-math way.
I decided to forget all the words that stuck in my head and proceeded with the story only on what I could understand.
”Let’s see, what kind of world is that Kaldor? What kind of world is it?”
’Kaldor is a replica of the first world three generations ago, created with some modifications. Specifically, it has been modified since prehistoric times, and its civilization is very different from that of the first world three generations ago.’
”…I see.”
I’m sorry, but none of his explanations are getting through to my mind.
This is a bad question, I should ask a more focused question.
”Well, compared to the world I’ve lived in, how is it different? Is it more developed in terms of civilization?”
’In terms of civilization, Kaldor is about five centuries behind. However, this is because the world you are in is modeled after the current First World, not because all of Kaldor is inferior. For example, in terms of the abilities of the human species, although their intelligence is certainly inferior, our Kaldor is superior in terms of their combat abilities. Other than that―”
Is this a bad question? I think I stepped on a land mine.
He is more talkative than ever before, his speech is filled with emotion, he is clearly aware of the rivalry, and he shows no sign of stopping talking.
I am not good at talking with people, but there was no way I could interrupt God’s conversation, and God’s story about his own world continued for more than enough time.
Most of the contents were about how wonderful the world he had created was, so I mostly listened to it, but there were some contents that allowed me to guess what kind of world Kaldor was, so I will briefly summarize it as a fantasy world without demon kings, a game-like world without levels or skills, or any other kind of game-like system. Although there is a kind of supernatural power, it is called bloodline magic and is lumped together with magic.
He talked about many other details, but I think this is all I could remember at the beginning.
’―now, it’s time to go. From now on, you will live in Kaldor.’
Well, time is almost up, though about 90% of it has been consumed by his own world story.
There were more questions I wanted to ask him, but he seemed to be really short of time and continued talking without saying whether he had time or not.
’This is an agreement between the gods, and unfortunately you have no right to refuse. But you have been brought here without my consent, and you have your own reasons. So, as you move to Kaldor, I’m going to grant you a few wishes.’
”Huh!?”
Is this what people call a reincarnation bonus?
What should I do, I hadn’t thought about it at all since I was suddenly told.
I have been thinking about what I would do if I could be reincarnated, but I have never decided what I want most as a reincarnation bonus, so I’m at a loss when I’m asked to decide what I would do if I could be reincarnated.
Oh, he said a few, so it might be a good idea to say more than one.
’Just to be clear, in the case of a supernatural ability, please choose only one. A supernatural power requires “capacity”.’
It goes without saying that this was a no-no.
If it is limited to one ability, I am in serious trouble.
I tried to think of other reincarnation bonuses that I want, but nothing in particular came to mind, and if only one bonus is given, it should be a supernatural one.
Then I have to decide what I want the most, however一my thoughts are going round and round in circles.
’There is not much time left. If you can’t decide, I’ll send you out like this.’
”Wait, wait a minute!”
I don’t want to be thrown out into another world without any bonuses.
I need to decide on my abilities quickly before God gets tired of me, but I am going to a real other world.
It is not an ideal world that I have created in my brain, where my abilities can be used in a convenient way.
In an unknown world, easy choices of abilities may produce useless products.
So what to do, I decided to take a gamble with the time approaching.
If I can’t think of any useful ability because I don’t know the other world well, I can ask someone who knows the other world well to choose an ability that would be useful for me.
I may not get the ability I want, but at least I will be less likely to choose an ability that is not useful for me.
”G-give me ‘cheat ability’ (Chī to nōryoku/チート能力)! Ah, no, please give me that!”
Yes, it would be best to get the ‘cheat’ ability that the God who created the other world thinks is best…
I was so impatient that I lost my honorific expression, but God didn’t seem to be bothered by it and swallowed my answer.
’Status and ability (Chii to nōryoku/ちいと能力)…? Oh, I understand. Your ability is not a problem, but in that case, it’s a reincarnation, not a transmigration, is that not a problem?’
”Yes… It’s okay…”
As long as I can have an adventure in another world, I don’t care whether it is a reincarnation or a transmigration.
Besides, in the case of transmigration, there may be a lot of inconveniences, aside from reincarnation.
For example, there may be no one like me, or there may be no one to rely on, and of course there is the advantage of starting from a brand-new state without any unnecessary ties, but even considering that, reincarnation would be more convenient for survival.
At that time, when I was thinking such a thing, I still could not realize it.
Why did God say that my ability was not a problem, and why did I have to be reincarnated instead of transmigrated?
If only I had realized that at that time, my life in the other world might have been more easy-going.
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The God of management uttered various mysterious words, but you don’t have to worry about them because they are common to all of the author’s works and are treated as a kind of backstory in this work.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.