Chapter 2

Yorinobu Takahashi was reincarnated into another world.

If I were to write an autobiography, this was probably how it would begin.

But there was no god, and no cheat ability.

Or rather, I could not even understand the language.

Even so, things somehow worked out because there was a man named Kengo Kataoka, someone who had arrived before me.

From what I heard, he had graduated from a top-tier university, worked at a foreign consulting firm, and did bodybuilding as a hobby. With guts, communication skills, and brains, he had gotten along with the people of this world, learned the language, and built a foundation for living.

He was probably a good example of how someone who could truly thrive in the previous world could thrive anywhere.

By contrast, I had been worked to the bone at a black IT company I joined without much thought, and before I knew it I was on the verge of turning thirty; if I had been alone, I would have been instantly doomed.

After all, even in the previous world where I could understand the language, I could not navigate things well at work, was used up by a power-harassing boss, became dizzy from overwork, and failed to notice the red light… that was the kind of person I was.

And when I remembered that moment, I still sharply caught my breath even now.

Still, when I came to this world and thought my body felt strangely healthy, it turned out that my body apparently belonged to a local person from this world.

As part of this world’s customs, when someone died far from their homeland with no one to claim the body—in other words, a wayfarer’s corpse—if there were no obvious external injuries, they would place it in a cave or somewhere similar.

The reason was that sometimes, another soul would take up residence in it and bring it back to life.

And as an even rarer occurrence, a special ability would reside in that person, allowing them to use magic.

“In this world, a mage is a one-man army and part of the privileged class. So little Iiria-chan, a weak local lord, was hoping we might be mages. Iiria-chan is usually cuter than that too, but after her expectations were let down twice, she was in a bad mood. Don’t worry about it too much.”

The name of the fluffy-curled girl who had sat in the chair and looked at me with an expressionless face when they tested whether I could use magic was Iiria.

The attendant girl standing beside her was apparently named Kururu.

Because of how sharp her eyes looked, I thought something like Gururu or Garuru suited her better than a cute name like Kururu.

“So if they found out I couldn’t use magic, they just threw me out… that feels awful.”

Somehow, I found myself wondering whether they had no sense of responsibility as the ones who had summoned me.

“The word human rights doesn’t exist in this world.”

Kengo said that with a laugh in a tavern thick with billowing smoke.

It was not really a laughing matter, but judging by the level of civilization, I figured it was somewhere around the late Middle Ages or early modern period, so there was no point expecting a modern welfare state.

Their ethics were such that they could casually leave collapsed corpses lying around and run a dark gacha hoping some usable soul would take up residence in them.

“Well, once you learn the language and writing, living here isn’t all that hard. I can teach you, and you can stay at my place until then.”

This place was apparently an island in a frontier region far from the political center, called the Jirenu Territory, Azuria Province, Doflore Empire.

The first time I heard it, it felt embarrassingly anime-like, but apparently that was simply how it was.

And although the Jirenu Territory was rural, it was said to be economically blessed because it had mines that produced magic stones, which served as the medium for magic.

Magic stones were those purple stones I had been handed in the mansion courtyard.

Because magic stones were incredibly valuable, the island prospered, and since literacy among the people was low, if you could write and do calculations, trading companies and the like would be eager to hire you.

For the record, the Kengo sitting in front of me worked at that magic stone mine.

He was a mining supervisor, and in fact it was also this same Kengo who had calmed me down, soothed me, and taken care of me in various ways when I revived in the corpse storage site and panicked.

“This world is fun in its own way too. Look at those muscles.”

The Kengo who said that while pointing toward a corner of the tavern was himself a huge, muscular hunk.

On top of that, the lower half of his face was covered in a beard, so he looked like some kind of Jomon-period man from a textbook illustration.

What Kengo pointed at, however, were people with muscles so unusual that even Kengo was not comparable to them.

To say they did not seem like the same kind of human was too mild; in reality, they were not human at all.

Lord Iiria and her attendant Kururu had beast ears and tails growing from them.

So in this other world, it was certainly not strange that there were beings like them.

“The muscles of beastfolk are magnificent no matter how many times I see them. If there’s a lofty goal, training becomes all the more worthwhile.”

The beastfolk noticed Kengo’s gaze and turned faces like savage wild beasts toward us.

They were clearly on the predator side, and sharp fangs could be seen in their mouths.

I had been trembling, thinking that staring at them so rudely would start a fight, but the beastfolk casually raised their cups to us.

Kengo and the beastfolk got along absurdly well.

They were well over two meters tall, and unlike Iiria and Kururu, they were in fully beast-like forms.

Ferocious beasts walking on two legs, their entire bodies covered in fur.

Their arm strength was naturally beyond anything humans could match, and apparently their job was to dig stone in the mines.

Those muscles were one thing, but their fangs and claws were also large enough that they looked capable of turning a human into mince with ease, and to be honest, I could not help but be terrified of them.

Still, from the easy familiarity they showed Kengo, I strongly felt that he must have been respected as a mining supervisor.

“We don’t know how to get back to the original world either. So in that case, I think it’s best to just enjoy this world.”

That positivity seemed dazzling.

Lacking the nerve to bet everything on returning to my old world by throwing myself off a cliff or hanging myself, I let out a deep sigh and then took a drink of the oddly sour, strong beer.