Setting Notes From The Author

This is my first time posting a novel, so I’ve made use of the so-called “templates” that show up in a lot of stories. I’d also gotten a few question-like comments in the feedback section, so I decided to write this up.

First, about the world

There aren’t any gods who manage the world, nor any evil gods who meddle with it, nor Demon Lords or Dark Kings. It’s a world like Earth in that sense. Since there’s no Demon Lord, there’s naturally no “hero summoning,” either.

That said, a part of the story does include the idea that something like a god—something akin to the system behind Earth—does exist.

And this place is a planet. At some point, there might be a chance to see it from high up, or notice it feels like a planet when flying, or see a round horizon out at sea.

It’s the same as our solar system. However, for some mysterious reason, gravity and atmospheric composition are exactly the same as Earth’s. The mass must be identical down to the milligram, I suppose.

I’ve never seen stories in this genre address that sort of thing. I suspect there’s an unspoken rule that you’re not supposed to touch it, so the author won’t be touching it either.

Since the premise is that you wandered in through a gap between dimensions, it’s probably most reasonable to think of it as an Earth from a different world. The continental distribution is completely different, though.

In this kind of novel, unless the author specifically sets it up, the “rule” is to glide right past details like that, so please go along with it.

About money

One gold coin is equivalent to about one million yen. Gold is set to be worth ten times what it’s worth on Earth.

The setting is roughly 4,000 yen per gram. Since gold prices fluctuate on Earth, I’m fixing it for convenience. In other words, the buyback price is treated as 40,000 yen per gram (since it’s appraised and converted as 100% purity).

At 25 grams, that’s the equivalent of one gold coin. With gold’s specific gravity being about 20 grams per milliliter, that’s roughly 1.25 mL in volume. So that’s probably about right for one gold coin’s worth. The coin itself is probably not pure gold all the way through, though.

As for why it’s worth ten times more than on Earth—maybe their refining or mining technology is poor? Who knows.

Money is minted by each country, but the gold content is made nearly the same, so it functions as a continent-wide common currency, as per template. For the real-world details of historical gold coinage, please consult the box in front of you.

To begin with, this template is unrealistic. It’s the same as the euro, which was called a “grand failure.” A currency union without fiscal union is full of problems. But this genre uses the template anyway for convenience.

Counterfeiting gold coins is a major crime. It’s punishable by death. Since the value is determined by gold content, there isn’t much upside to it anyway. Some people get extremely particular about these settings, but this is a light story that isn’t built on that kind of high-minded worldbuilding, so please just ignore it.

About dungeon monsters

This story’s worldview is based on the idea that an energy called magical power transforms into matter. The protagonist’s ability is also based on that.

Dungeons themselves are set up as monsters. Monsters are produced by the dungeon, which serves as the “parent monster.” Even if you kill them, their bodies don’t disappear immediately. They don’t just vanish in a flash and drop loot.

People with storage abilities can dominate, but storage users are in high demand. They can live richly without ever coming to dangerous dungeons.

Harvesting is necessary. If you take too long, the dungeon absorbs what’s left.

Naturally, it absorbs bathroom waste too—though, as mentioned above, it takes a little time.

The etiquette is to go in a designated corner.

As for women’s bathroom needs—it’s a delicate topic, so I’m going to gloss over it.

There are places like spaces behind rocks where nobody can see, I’m sure. Definitely.

Questions like “What do they wipe with?” are also being deliberately glossed over.

There are other ways to handle toilet-related matters, but that would be spoilers, so I’ll omit them here.

About magic stones

Monsters may carry magic stones. The magic power they gather—by killing other living things, absorbing them, and so on—crystallizes over time. The stronger the monster, the more impressive the magic stone it tends to have, and that also becomes a part of the monster’s strength.

If processed, magic stones can amplify spells or store magical power. The work is difficult, and combined with the stone’s inherent value, it gets very expensive. The protagonist makes them casually, though.

About moving between worlds

Normally, there is no point of contact between this world and Earth. So normally, travel back and forth is impossible.

At the beginning, under certain conditions, a “distortion” formed and a rift opened. The fog was produced by the energy from that phenomenon—that’s the setting.

When I was a kid, I read one of those suspicious old books that claimed things like, “A car got swallowed up in fog and vanished, then reappeared 6,000 kilometers away,” so I used that as inspiration.

That’s about what I could think of off the top of my head.

I’d be happy if you read this without overthinking it.