Chapter 1 - An Unlikely, Yet All-Too-Common, Transference to Another World
"Ta-da! You have been chosen to be the heroes who will save the world!"
A woman had suddenly cut into my reality. She had long, fluffy, wavy blonde hair. Contrary to her choice of words, her refined features and white skin gave her an air of nobility. She was clad in a sleeveless, white, lustrous garment—a peplos, I suppose. In a word, she was a Greek goddess sculpture brought to life. She looked to be in her early twenties. I found my eyes drawn to the valley of her cleavage.
"Where am I?"
I was supposed to be on a train platform, but now I was in an unfamiliar place. It was a strange space, surrounded by needlessly extravagant stone pillars. It looked like a chamber in a temple.
"This is the realm where gods reside. This area is my personal office, you see. And you have been chosen to be the heroes who will save the world, you know?"
"No, I'm pretty sure I was in the middle of a fight with a high school girl who'd mistaken me for a groper."
I looked around and saw the long-haired girl in the sailor uniform—my opponent from the brawl—looking around in confusion, just like me. Soon enough, she noticed my presence.
"Groper! Don't you run away!"
The girl shouted and charged at me.
"I told you, it wasn't me! Like I've said a dozen times, I was on my phone the whole time."
"Liar! I'm not going to let you get away with this!"
She wasn't listening to a word I said. Besides, she wasn't even the victim. She claimed to have seen another girl in the same school uniform being groped and had suddenly grabbed my arm. I didn't even know there was a girl being groped. That was just her side of the story.
"Damn it, I really want to punch her."
My frustration with this person who refused to listen was boiling over.
"First groping, now violence? You're the worst!"
I genuinely wanted to hit this woman.
"Um, excuse me? That man is not a groper, you know."
Perhaps unable to watch our argument any longer, the blonde woman stepped in to support me.
"Umm, you weren't there, were you?"
She had a point. If a woman like her had been on that train, she would've been the number one target. She wouldn't have had the luxury of defending me.
"Fufufu, I am a goddess. I see all, you knowww."
Her way of speaking was rather irritating. The self-proclaimed goddess raised her hand, and an image of the inside of the train appeared in the space before us. The car was packed. A crowd of exhausted-looking old guys in suits. And among them, one particularly exhausted-looking old guy—in other words, me from this morning—was visible. For some reason, this old guy was happily fiddling with his phone with both hands. He was even smirking from time to time.
"Hey, don't show me. Show the victim."
I wanted to see the girl being groped.
"Buh-buh-buh! If I did that, everyone would see that poor girl getting… you know… done to her. That's an invasion of privacy, you knowww."
"Damn it, you're a useless woman, too."
"I'm not a woman. Please address me with respect as Racshell-sama."
"What? Didn't you just say you were a goddess? With that appearance, you're not a woman?"
"My gender is female. So please, don't call me 'woman' or 'you,' call me Racshell-samaaa."
While we were having this pointless conversation, the video showed the girl in the sailor uniform pushing her way through the crowd toward me. The girl grabbed my wrist and started shouting about me being a groper. The train stopped at the station, and I was dragged off by her.
"I was standing in a spot where you couldn't even see the supposed victim, holding my phone with both hands. This is a textbook false accusation."
"But you had the most lecherous look on your face. And you were smirking."
True enough. I'll admit I even thought I looked a bit creepy. But I was innocent.
"What a ridiculous excuse!"
"I was absolutely sure you'd do something like that!"
"You're being persistent! I may be a pervert, but I've never acted on it."
The girl looked dumbfounded. The video ended, and the monitor-like thing vanished.
"No way… But you're…"
Leaving behind a curious line, the girl in the sailor uniform collapsed to her knees, planting both hands on the floor. It was the first time I'd ever seen someone actually collapse to their knees. I thought she was about to apologize, but she shakily got back to her feet.
"Do you know me?"
"No… I don't."
She denied it, but maybe we'd met somewhere before.
"So, what do you think? He didn't do it, right? He's innocent, right?"
The girl clenched her jaw in frustration at Racshell's words. She looked like a boxer who'd been knocked down by a powerful punch, managed to get up on sheer willpower, but was now forced to accept a loss by decision. Racshell's way of speaking sounded like she was just trying to provoke her. But since she'd proven my innocence, I decided to keep my mouth shut.
"Well, that's settled. Glad justice prevailed. Now, send me back to where I was. No, send me to my office. I don't want to be late."
"I can't do that."
Racshell's tone was final.
"You are the heroes summoned to save a certain world. I will now be transferring you to that world."
""Huh?""
My voice synchronized with the girl in the sailor uniform.
"The two of you will join forces and defeat the Demon Lord!"
"What Demon Lord? Are you an idiot?"
"Buh-buh-buh, I will not accept any objections. I'm on a tight schedule, so let's move this along. The two of you will be granted three special skills each through my divine protection. Please pick them out real quick!"
A monitor appeared in front of me and the girl. Displayed on it was an enormous list.
"What's with this list? It's way too long. I can't read all this."
"She's right! I can't process all this. Stop pushing things forward without our consent!"
The girl in the sailor uniform also protested to Racshell.
"Isn't it your fault for starting a fight the moment you got here? The time humans can stay here is short, you know. You'll just disappear. You two are lovers, so you need to get along, or I'll have to punish you!"
"Hey, you saw the video. We just met, and in her mind, I'm a criminal."
"I'm sorry for treating you like a criminal. But saying an old guy like this is my lover is just cruel!"
"You're still going to insult me?"
"Ugh, I'm sorry. But on a visceral level, you're impossible for me."
When I glared at her, she averted her eyes. That hurt more than being called a groper.
"That can't be true. My selection process is flawless. But we're out of time right now. Anyway, please just choose your special skills."
I had no idea what kind of force was at work, but the tips of my feet were beginning to disappear. It seemed she wasn't lying about being out of time.
I looked at the list, but my brain couldn't process any of it. There were just too many options. Plus, most of them were filled with incomprehensible, chuunibyou-esque keywords that I couldn't even figure out how to pronounce, like Super Explosive Annihilation Suicide Sword, Raging Howl Destruction Beam, Dark Obliteration Wave, Great Dark Demon Lord's Hilarious Descent, and Dark Smile.
"Hey, tell me which ones you recommend."
"They're all recommended!"
"Damn it. At least tell me what kind of world we're going to and what we'll need."
"You're going to a wonderful fantasy world of swords, magic, and adventure! I was actually planning to show you an epic video that took a year of planning and a year of production, but you insisted on seeing that footage of a cramped, sweaty, packed train…"
I didn't appreciate the accusatory look she was giving me. Anyway, a fantasy world, huh? The abundance of hyper-aggressive words suggested there would be enemies to defeat, like monsters. I picked two skills that seemed useful and whose effects were easy to understand: Party-wide Acquired Experience Boost and Party-wide Rare Item Drop Rate Boost. Then, Summon Goddess caught my eye. I figured summoning this airhead wouldn't be much help, but I chose it as my third skill. The girl in the sailor uniform seemed to have finished choosing, so I took a peek. Super Kill. Super Save. Super Expansion.
"'Super,' 'Super'... Are you a supermarket mascot or something?"
"Huh? What's a supermarket?"
She responded with a completely straight face. Is this what they call a generation gap? And man, this girl has been chipping away at my HP from the start.
"Fufufu, you've chosen special skills from the same family. The three skills work in tandem, and as you level up, higher-tier skills will activate!"
"Are you serious? You should've said that from the start!"
Should I have picked all 'Dark' something skills? Or maybe I should have picked another party-based skill to make a wonderful party. While I was picking skills, my body had disappeared up to my knees. It was surprising, but there was no pain, and I could still feel the missing parts and walk normally. It was a strange sensation.
"Alright then, I'll create your character sheets for after you transfer. The name and some of the information on this sheet will be visible to anyone, so it'll serve as your identification. Please tell me your names."
This woman summoned us without even knowing our names?
"I'm Yamase Mizuki."
The girl in the sailor uniform introduced herself. Her name was similar to the heroine of an eroge I was into.
"Does it have to be our real names?"
"Hmm. It's not ideal, but since we're out of time, I'll allow it."
"Then I'm Mash."
"Pfft."
Mizuki snickered beside me. When she noticed my glare, she quickly bowed her head. I wanted to spend hours telling her how I've saved countless game worlds with this name. But I figured she'd just make fun of me more, so I kept quiet.
"Okay. I'm the goddess of adventure, so both of your professions will be Adventurer. It's a great deal of a job, centered on fieldwork skills, decent in a fight, and able to use a little magic!"
"A jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none that becomes useless at higher levels, huh."
"Ughh, if you're going to be like that, then try chanting 'Storage Open.'"
"That's just one of those embarrassing things where nothing happens, right?"
As I was doubting her, Mizuki next to me chanted, "Storage Open." A storage space materialized in the air in front of her.
"Amazing!" "Whoa! For real?"
Mizuki was excited. I was surprised, too.
"Then I'll give you some money, so please put it in there. Here's your starting equipment, an iron sword and a leather chestplate. I'll also give you 'A Walker's Guide to the World,' which I personally supervised. It's quite a hefty volume, so read it when you have free time. I especially recommend the special feature on wonderful date spots at the beginning. You two must go together, okay? Oh, and if you want to see the character sheet I just made, just think about it. It has a help function, so you can check anything you don't understand, you seeee."
She was throwing so much information at me I couldn't keep up. For now, I'd better skip the beginning of that guide. The money she gave us was 100 silver coins.
"How long can we live on this much money?" Mizuki asked.
"At a normal inn, about ten days."
"That's pathetic."
I guess you can't complain about unearned income. I also summoned my storage and put the silver coins and equipment I received inside. I tossed my work bag in there as well. I took out my smartphone from my suit pocket and put it in, too. I probably wouldn't have a chance to use it again. I realized my body had disappeared up to my butt.
"Well then, I'm sad to see you go, but it's time for your journey to begin. I'll make you bilingual so you won't have trouble with the language. When you get to the other side, head for a town first and stop by the Adventurer's Guild. Also, please offer a prayer before my statue in a temple every now and then. And please leave an offering. And then, defeat the Demon Lord."
She was talking a mile a minute now. Even the drawn-out affectation at the end of her sentences was gone.
"If we defeat the Demon Lord, will you send us back to our original world?"
Mizuki asked. If she was going to be so polite to a woman like that, I wish she'd show me some respect, too.
"About that… well, yes, I suppose. Let's think about it once you've defeated him. But we're out of time right now."
"Wait, are there others transferring besides us?"
"You two are the only ones I've summoned this time. Other gods have also summoned two transferees each, just like me."
"'This time'? And there are other gods?"
There was way too little information to process. I could learn about the new world once I got there, but I wanted to ask about the gods first.
"Hey, tell me more about the gods."
"Fufufu, you mean my three sizes?"
"Not that. But sure, tell me those too. And what I really want to know is what you guys are planning to do by summoning us."
"My three sizes are a secreeet. As for why I summoned you, it's to defeat the Demon Lord, of course. You have to defeat him before the other heroes do. Now, off you gooo!"
I was filled with nothing but anxiety, but even if I returned to my original world, I'd been branded a groper on a commuter train. My life was as good as over. Even if I could avoid that, I'd just be stuck in the endless cycle of being an old guy. Starting over in a new world might not be so bad.
"Wait."
Just as I was getting into the spirit of departure, Mizuki called out to me.
"What is it?"
"I'm truly, truly sorry for accusing you of being a groper. I saw a girl in the same uniform as me get her butt touched, and I wanted to help her, so I just… If it'll make you feel better, please hit me."
So she did it for a complete stranger? Her sense of justice was way too strong.
"Why would I have to hit you?"
"Because you said you wanted to hit me earlier."
That was just a figure of speech.
"Fine. That'll do."
"Ugh. So you're really going to hit me. Go ahead."
She must have thought I'd let her off with just an apology and wouldn't actually hit her. I was certainly pissed off about what happened, but hitting her wouldn't solve anything. In fact, I'd never hit anyone in my life. It was annoying that she could see right through me. I needed to find a different way to settle this. Having steeled herself, Mizuki turned her face toward me. I observed her intently. Straight, long black hair. A small, beautifully proportioned face. Her breasts weren't as large as Racshell's, but they could definitely be called big. Her waist was nicely cinched, and her butt was no doubt firm and perky. I could tell even through her sailor uniform. She had the beauty and figure of a gravure idol. And now, she was closing her eyes, offering her lips defenselessly. Was she inviting me? I cupped her cheeks with both hands and pressed my lips against hers.
"Mmh, nngh!"
A startled Mizuki let out a muffled groan. She tried to pull away from the kiss, but I wouldn't let go. I waited for her mouth to open and slipped my tongue inside. I explored the inside of her mouth thoroughly. Mizuki pushed me away. She followed up with a slap across the face.
"Wh-wh-what do you think you're doing?!"
"You looked like you wanted it. Besides, you said you'd accept your punishment, didn't you?"
"I did not! That was my first kiss!"
She glared at me, wiping her mouth. That was unexpected. She looked pure and innocent, but I figured she'd be super popular and would have been around the block a few times. I decided to keep the fact that it was my first time, too, to myself.
"You know, you nearly had me socially erased."
"Now, now, you've made up with a kiss, so please continue to get along as lovers from now on."
It seemed Mizuki was retorting to Racshell's clueless comment, but I couldn't hear anything. Her body had almost completely faded. Mine must have been the same. My consciousness was slipping away.
"Well then, you two. Have a good trip! Bon voyage, you seeee!"
Racshell was waving at us.
Thank you for reading. To those who have bookmarked and rated this story, I'm truly grateful. It encourages me. I'll do my best.