As I sit on the ground in the middle of a magic circle, I quickly do an inventory on myself. My body is definitely my own, and it’s not as though I’ve suddenly changed into someone else. I’m wearing shorts and a T-Shirt. I reach into my pocket; Luckily, it seems my phone came with me, as well as my wallet. It’s as if I was straight up taken from just before my death with everything that I had on me. I’m sure this will come in handy somehow, though. I quickly grab my phone in my hand and shut it off. This battery needs to last until I invent electricity. Just then, I hear the girl speak.

“Can it be, you can’t talk, Mr. hero?”

I look up at the girl who just shouted out that I am a hero. What am I going to do? I can’t let this get out. It’d be a massive drag if they tried to force hero duties on me. I’ll just play dumb and walk away.

“I don’t know what you mean by a hero. I’m just a simple adventurer, you see. Could you do me a favor and point me towards the nearest town? It seems I’m a little lost.”

The girl looks at me, confused for a second, and then her expression lightens.

“Ohh, umm… sorry about that! The nearest city is Beckton. Just head that way for half an hour. You can’t miss it.”

Hmm, it seems my strategy of being completely straightforward worked. As I begin to get up and walk away, the girl suddenly speaks up.

“Please stop for a second. I did summon you. Don’t you have to help me, even if you aren’t a hero?”

Maybe that works on monsters you summon since they don’t have intelligence equal to you, but I have my own things to worry about. Well, I suppose I should be thankful for this girl since it’s a lot better than being summoned in some castle surrounded by a bunch of crazy officials. I’ll hear her out, at least.

“Alright, what’s bothering you. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not obligated to hear you out. It’s just what I want to do.”

I know I’m probably opening a can of worms here, but she may prove useful for finding the best place to build a dungeon. This is for my own gain, I swear!

“Well, my mother has caught a deadly sickness. Unfortunately, we can’t pay for medicine to save her. I can’t turn to anyone since most adventurers are greedy and, well, umm… it’s not like they’d want a half-elf anyways.”

The girl looks down at the ground, seemingly holding back tears as she brushes her hair back with her hand revealing her pointed ears. Well, it’s quite common for things like this to occur in fantasy worlds. I’m sure she’s been through a lot.

“In any case, I suppose I don’t mind helping. I can’t say I’m particularly strong, but I’ll do what I can, however…”

I speak firmly, pretending I’m not at all emotionally attached to the outcome. I mean, really, how can I not be? There’s a cute half-elf girl asking me desperately to help.

“however?”

The girl looks at me, worried.

“I need some help from you too; you help me, then I’ll help you.”

The girl tilts her head to the side.

“As long as it’s something I can do.”

Now’s my chance. I begin laying my demands firmly.

“Condition 1: No one can find out my origin, I am from another world, but no one else can know. Condition 2: You will provide anything I need to get my life started in this world. Condition 3: We have one week to finish this job; I have my own things I need to take care of.”

The girl looks at me for a second, then down at the ground.

“If we really can do it in a week, I will give you anything and everything that I have.”

Yes, yes, yes! Now I’ve secured a path to start strong in this world! Let’s cheer her up then.

“What’s your name?”

I give her a brief smile trying to show her my lack of hostility.

The girl looked at me then back to the ground. She seems to be very timid. She’s doing her best trying to hide her fear from me, but it’s apparent that she still has her own worries.

“Elli, that’s my name.”

She says while looking at the ground.

“Nice to meet you, Elli, my name is Kazuki Hirano, but Kazuki is fine. Anyways what’s the plan? I agreed to help but being that this is my first day in this world, I’ll have to leave the planning to you. Let’s start with our goals. How much money do we need?”

I give her a determined glance; I’ll do my best, and then maybe she’ll perk up and do her best too.

“We need 3 gold coins to buy medicine.”

She says, continuing to look down on the ground. Her facial expression is blank and stiff.

“Oh, you’ll have to help me out here. I don’t really know the value of money in this world. Can you explain money to me?”

I pass her a goofy glance, still trying to cheer her up. She always seems very down, but she at least looks at me for once.

“Well 100 Copper, makes 1 Silver, and 100 Silver makes 1 Gold. Living an okay life takes 30 Silver per month. So far, I’ve saved 56 Silver in total.”

She sounds disappointed as she talks about how little she has.

“So, we have to make 244 Silver, huh? A little over 8 months of an ‘okay life.’ Well, gathering this much in a week is a much more difficult task than I imagined. Oh well, let’s get to it. We can’t waste time.”

The elf girl looks at me and blinks. She seems confused because of my reaction. I imagine she was expecting me to lose hope after hearing that.

“Aren’t you going to give up? It’s an impossible amount!” She speaks up and has some tears in her eyes.

“If you have time to question how impossible it is, you have time to work towards it. Alright, Elli, give me your pinky.”

I say, attempting to lighten the mood a bit with a pinky promise. Elli, naturally, takes it the wrong way, and she looks at me in fear. Oh, differences in culture, why must you betray me!

“U-umm, it’s going to hurt a lot to give you my pinky, but well, if you insist.”

She takes out a knife, what the fuck?!

“STOP IT”

I shout, and she jumps a little bit.

“O-oh, sorry, did you want to do it?”

She hands me the knife; her hand is shaking in fear. I quickly take the knife from her and put it aside. I then take my pinky and wrap it around her pinky.

“In my world, this is called a pinky promise. Even if you’re desperate, you should take care of yourself more. I promise that for the next week, I will do everything I can to help you save your mother, so cheer up a little.”

I give her a determined look. She then responds.

“I promise that I will do my best to help you start out in this world.”

“In any case, we better get started and head back to town.”

I say as I look around. It’s still morning in this forest, but by no means should I waste time. Not only do I have to find a suitable place to build my dungeon, but I also need to help this girl out. Time is not on my side here. I quickly survey my surroundings. I’m in a narrow grassy field between endless rows of trees. Behind me is a small stream or rather a creek. The plants around me seem to be relatively similar to the ones we have on earth. However, looking carefully, I can tell from the leaves that they are quite different, so far, so good. It makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Everything seems so similar to earth though just different enough to feel a little alien. Additionally, the [God of Order] alluded to their being monsters, so I better keep my eyes peeled for that.

“Hey, Elli, what were you doing out here in the woods?”

She looks a little startled for a second before speaking gently.

“Well, I’m a new adventurer. My class is actually [Summoner]. I don’t have many skills right now, but I can attempt to summon a new familiar every now and then. I was hoping I’d get a powerful monster, but well, you popped out instead.”

That still doesn’t answer why you were in the woods, though; I give her a puzzled look. She quickly stammers

“Well, I can’t exactly go summoning a monster inside of the town. N-not only that, but if I did it in the immediate outskirts and I failed, everyone would see it.”

Her face is turning slightly red. She is embarrassed over her attempt to hide her magic. I wonder if this has something to do with her being a half-elf, I suppose I should probably try to understand this world’s politics.

“You said you were a half-elf, correct?”

I pass her a glance. “Y-yes, I’m sorry for hiding it. You don’t have to help me if that bothers you.”

She bows her head, apologetically. It appears that half-elves have a very low social standing in this world. In any case, I can’t understand that sensibility at all. It’s not as though the world I’m from is entirely free of this kind of thing, but well, at the very least, it probably isn’t as direct as this world.

“Raise your head, like I said, take care of yourself more. Don’t believe that junk. Who cares if you’re a half-elf. If others have a problem, that’s on them, don’t let their problems become yours. Raise your head high because you’re a proud half-elf!”

I give her a small smile, and she looks directly at me. For the first time since I met her, we made eye contact, and her eyes are shining and beautiful. After a short pause, we begin to actually leave the forest on our way to the city of Beckton.

As we walk through the forest, I take the time to look around at the environment. I need to get a feel for things around here.

“Are there any monsters in the nearby area?”

I ask Elli, hoping to learn more about where we are.

“This area is considered relatively safe compared to other areas surrounding the town, but it’s not like it’s guaranteed to be safe. Goblins can cause some serious pain if you aren’t careful.”

Yikes, I mean, I’m sure I can probably hurt a goblin pretty good, but that does seem quite gruesome. Actually, come to think of it, I don’t even have a weapon. I’d just be punching it awkwardly.

“I don’t think I need to point it out, but I don’t exactly have a weapon. Do you have anything I can borrow?”

I ask Elli. She gives me a sideways glance before answering.

“What kind of world do you come from where you don’t have to carry a weapon? Well, we can buy you a weapon once we get to town.”

Her response put a smile on my face for some reason. I’m glad she’s able to talk to me more naturally now.

“By the way, what do your stats look like?”

I’m curious to compare myself against someone else.

“That’s a very private thing you’re asking. Y-you have a lot of nerve to ask a girl her status.”

She stammers. It would appear that asking about stats is a rude thing to do in this world.

“Oh wait, sorry I forgot you were new to this world. It’s rude since showing your status reveals all of your skills. Confidentiality can keep you safe.”

I didn’t even think about the possible security risk of sharing your status. Wait, should I have not told the [God of Order] my status?

“I suppose you are still curious, though; I’ll at least tell you whether your stats are normal.”

Alright, now’s my chance.

“Well, my highest stat is magic at right around 100, is that good?”

I ask her with genuine curiosity.

“That’s nothing too out of the ordinary. What level are you?”

“Level 1.”

“Level 1?”

“Yes, level 1?”

“And you already have a stat that hit 100?”

“Well, it hasn’t quite hit that yet.”

“Typically, a level 1 adventurer’s highest stat will be around 65! You’re almost twice that! What’s your lowest stat.”

“If I recall correctly, Magical defense at around 30.”

“Alright, well, it’s official, you’re quite a bit stronger than most level 1 adventurers.”

After continuing to walk for a little while longer, we finally come to a road, and we see the massive stone walls of Beckton. I knew I was in for a treat, but, wow A walled city is so much more impressive in real life than I was expecting. We slowly walk up to the city; carriages pass by us in both directions. In a moment, we get to the gate, some guards walk up to us.

“How’re you folks doing? I just need some identification, maybe a gate fee depending on where you’re from, and you’ll be good to go.”

I see Elli pulling out a small card. The gatekeeper gives her a nod, and then she steps on ahead.

“Well, I don’t really have any local Identification. It’s not as though I don’t have anything at all. I’m just not from around here.”

The guard gives me a dumbfounded look.

“We don’t get travelers here often, quite a treat really. Where are you from?”

I look him in the eye and say, “Earth”. He looks at me carefully before answering.

“I can’t say I ever heard of that place; anyways, just show me the Identification you do have.”

I quickly reach into my wallet and pull out my Driver’s License handing it to him. He looks over it carefully.

“This is quite a high-quality Identification card. It even has your picture on it! Unfortunately, I can’t read it. Well, you’re endian is quite fluent, though.”

Ha-ha, I don’t actually know how to speak your language, though. Perhaps it was a mistake showing him such an advanced ID.

“Unfortunately, since you don’t have a local Identification, I’ll have to charge you one silver to enter.”

Ahh, my good sir, I don’t have any money! Still, it’s better than being questioned on my ID.

“Elli, can you pay the toll for me!”

I shout to Elli, who is standing on the other side of the gate. She quickly walks over and talks things over with the guard before speaking to me.

“Alright, you’re good to enter the town. Now we’ll have to get you registered as an adventurer. If we had to pay a silver each time you enter, we’d go broke.”

Elli responds jokingly. I’m glad her mood has improved. Time to start my life as an adventurer!