Its been a few days since the first special examination of the first years. Unfortunately, I was unable to gain suitable evidence to pinpoint the enforcer sent by Tsukishiro. Though, after talking to Nanase Tsubasa, a first-year Class D student, I noticed that for some odd reason she was using 'Boku' instead of 'Watashi', more commonly used by females. I'm unsure whether this may come up again, but for now, I'll keep it in mind.

I made myself to class for Homeroom. After entering the classroom, I noticed Chabashira had an unusual expression on her face. It wasn't quite the expression she used when discussing a special team, nor did it look particularly worried. It seemed she was calm, no, listless would be the correct term.

I sat down on my seat near the door, avoiding contact with students entering the classroom as I have. Upon my seating, Chabashira started speaking, ignoring the students still making their way to their seats.

"As you all know, you've recently completed your first special exam of the new school year. Fortunately, for all of you, the school has decided to give the students a break of sorts," she explained, ignoring the many comments coming from the students of Class 2-D.

"It has recently come to the school's attention that while even though you are all provided luxury items in exchange for points earned through the year, the special exams may be taking quite a toll on the state of minds in each student. So, to help relieve that, Acting Director Tsukishiro has declared that after the end of the school day, students years 1-3 will not have to attend school for the remainder of the week."

A break? Most students, including I, expected the next special exam to be announced. Now that we have become second years, the number of exams we would have to take would increase. But in actuality, that seems to be the opposite.

But for Tsuikishiro to be the one to recommend it, it can almost be assured that he will attempt to expel me, either directly or indirectly, using the bounty on my head as a tool.

"That is all," was all Chabashira had to say.

"Ya hear that. We're getting rewarded for all our hard work"

"Man, I love this school. It's a blessing"

"Did you forget about the things we had to face? We were left deserted on an island!"

"Now now, calm down everyone. While I think it's good that we have gotten this break, but we still have to get through the day as best as we can," Hirata exclaimed as he stood up, trying to calm down the masses.

Horikita, on the other hand, was looking through her notes and preparing for the next class. Considering there's not anything involving class competition, this type of reaction is normal for her.

End of the Day

The class of the day has ended, while leaving the classroom, I received a text message from Hiyori. According to her, a new series was added to the library's collection. I decided to accompany her, I'm quite curious as to what the library has added to their logs as well.

I pulled myself through the storming crowd of students, excited to experience their unexpected break.

Upon entering the library, I searched for Hiyori but it came to no avail. She was not here as of yet.

Deciding that I might as well look around, I took off toward the crime and suspense section of the library's shelves.

As I walked toward the shelves, I noticed a relatively light book on the floor in front of me. Someone must have carelessly dropped it, as this book couldn't have been part of this shelf.

I leaned down and picked it high up. After standing straight, I noticed that the book has a 'unique cover'.

On the cover, an image, no, drawing, of a boy with white hair and a woman with twin, black ponytail style hair, were standing back to back.

The title of this book was, 'Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?'

A rather weird title for a book. I don't see why the author would purposely label his book with that title.

Unsure of what type of book this was, I flipped through the pages. I saw multiple colored drawings of women wearing rather revealing outfits. Labeled next to the pictures were the names Hestia, Loki, Freya, and Hephaestus. These were the names of greek and Norse gods. I wasn't as familiar with mythology as other subjects, but I have an overview of the mythology of most religions, simply because I found it rather interesting to read about it in the library back in that place.

The book couldn't have been longer than 200 pages. This was most definitely a fantasy novel, with images of elves and 'dungeons' contained inside its contents.

Something I couldn't imagine took place the moment I reached the final page of this book.

The last words of this book were 'Familia Myth'.

Upon reciting these words, a mysterious glow appeared on them, but I didn't have a chance to wonder why it glowed as my surroundings changed to pure darkness. I couldn't understand what happened as my mind went blank.

...

...

...

...

Darkness, darkness with a hint of light. That is all I saw as I opened my eyes. Almost immediately, I noticed that I was in a completely different setting. This was not the school library.

Surrounding me were rocks that were colored blue. I was in a wide hallway. There was no one around me.

As I observed the rocky areas around me, I came to a conclusion.

I was somehow transported to somewhere else and the novel I picked up was the trigger. I have a guess of what this place is but I can't be sure.

I was standing in the middle of the hallway, still wearing my uniform but for some reason, my bag was not here with me.

Standing not so far away, maybe only 20 meters, was a green humanoid...monster?

That was a monster. Even if I've never seen one before, I know what it was. A goblin. Commonly known as a weak monster in fantasy novels.

This just contributed to my hypothesis all the more.

The monster noticed me not long after, Its big, bulging eyes were locked onto me as it started running over here.

This place, its a fantasy world. Either that or I was somehow drugged and have started seeing hallucinations. The former seems more likely, considering I would've noticed a presence in the library.

This monster was unknown to me. But there was only one thing I had to do. Fight. Otherwise, it would've pierced my body with those sharp hands.

But, if it has other abilities besides brute force, such as fantasy-type abilities, then I might be in trouble. For now, let's see how it reacts.

I picked up the nearest stone and aimed it at the wall that it would approach soon enough.

If I threw it on the goblin directly, it might become more aggressive upon contact. I just need to see what it can do.

With a flick of the wrist, the stone was launched on a path directly to the rocky wall next to the goblin.

When the stone came into contact with the wall, it created a slight sound before breaking down. It was a large stone but I launched it with enough force that the goblin would be tempted to look.

When it twisted its head to the wall, I picked up another stone and threw it to the monster's right. Again, it twisted its head in that direction.

Siimutanelosuy, I launched stones in several directions, each and every time, it looked its way.

Its intelligence was low. Extraordinarily so.

This entire time, I hadn't moved a step, but that changed as I silently approached the monster. Unbeknownst to it, it was launched flying after I successfully landed a sidekick to its lower ribs with my right leg.

It came crashing down around 50 meters away until it was out of sight.

I made sure to add enough force to my simple attack so that it would take massive damage. I couldn't be holding back in this new environment. If I did, I might as well meet my end in this very hallway.

I walked at a regular pace toward the monsters landing spot. The monster was sprawled on the ground, supposedly dead. Its head was knocked off its body as an effect of the impact. Its body had a gaping hole, most likely because of my kick. And in the center of its chest, an area I avoided attacking, was a stone of sorts. I noticed it a while back, so I made sure to avoid directing my attack in that spot.

I reached down and ripped it off its body. Upon doing so, the monster's body, including the decapitated head, turned into a black, smoke-like substance until it was blown away by the wind.

Was this the monster's core or something similar?

I inspected the stone in my hands. It was small, so small that it can fit in between my fingers. The stone itself was pitch black. It had a rough exterior. I pressed down lightly and it was crushed.

As I thought, it's not dense. Shallow, to be specific. It didn't take much force to break it. Even someone on Ike's caliber could have done so.

This place, no, this world, it was a fantasy world.

My surroundings looked similar to that of a certain part of the cover on the book.

On the cover, there was a gap in the ground. An underground area. And this was most likely it. Adding this to the fact that the words 'Familia Myth' glowed upon recitation, could only mean that that was a trigger of sorts to send me into the contents of the novel.

That was my best guess.

This was all too mysterious to be true, but with what I've just witnessed, if I don't believe it, it could prove to do me wrong in this place.

This might be the dungeon that was mentioned in the title.

After breaking the stone, the shrill voice of someone sounding like they were in agony, reached my ears.

This was the voice of another monster. A scream of sorts.

It came from close by. As I made my way to the location the sound originated from, I saw a goblin being slain by another human. This person used a club to kill the monster. The goblin's head was crushed. The person took the stone from the monster's chest and stored it in his pockets.

This human was wearing armor. It was heavy armor, with a dark brown breastplate guarding his chest.

If the monsters were more dangerous than this, then someone could easily get hurt so the armor made sense. But if all monsters were on the level of the goblin I faced earlier, then the armor would prove to be fatal if there was a need to run.

But for creatures such as these, firearms would prove to be more efficient to use. Unless this world didn't have such weapons.

On that topic, this new world. How exactly did I get here? There is no possible way to get transported to another world. The logic just doesn't add up. Was this virtual reality? No, if it was I would've easily known.

It couldn't be a dream, to be able to interact and think like this, a dream was one of the most unlikely options.

And how would I get back to the real world?

I have a multitude of questions and no answers. For now, I should get out of this 'dungeon'.

Since I don't have the slightest clue on where the exit of this place resides, if there even was one, I followed the person I saw earlier. As I made sure he didn't notice my presence, I observed all his actions. Each and every time he killed a monster whether it be a goblin or a different one, he would take the stone imbued in its chest and store it in a safe place. Are the stones valuable? If so then that can explain why he's killing them so enthusiastically. Otherwise, I don't think one has to kill these monsters to survive considering the lack of people in the surrounding environment.

Once his storage was filled to its maximum, he made his way into a different path. For the next 10 minutes, I traced his steps until a staircase showed up. There's a high probability that that is the exit. If he immediately went here once he acquired enough stones then that must mean that coming here was his purpose. This further supported my theory of the monster stones being valuable.

The moment I step outside, I have to acquire enough information about this place immediately.

Seeing no need to hide, I stepped out of the darkness and ascended up the staircase. Upon reaching the peak, a wave of light flooded my eyes, momentarily rendering my eyesight useless.

After regaining my vision, I slowly walked out. Once I came out, I was greeted with multiple trees and sunshine. I was in a park. And standing right above the area I came out of was a gigantic, white tower. Its peak reached high into the Troposphere. The intricate designs and windows of the tower filled my eyes. A building such as this does not exist on Earth.

As I pulled my eyes away from the massive tower, I observed the many people walking around the area. Most wore armor of all kinds. As well as having a wide assortment of weapons. They were either entering the place I recently existed or were engaging in conversation with other people.

The 'people' of this world, if they can even be called that, were extremely different, much more than just skin complexion and color.

People the same as me downed armor but besides them, men and women who were at least 5 foot exactly were walking around. They look like dwarves, and unlike Earth, they were much more common. Either that or they were just in one place.

There were also little children, walking around with light armor and weapons while others downed bags bigger than themselves.

There were also plenty of tanned women but little men with the same color skin. Anything similar was just a lighter type of brown.

But the most unusual people of them all were the ones with animal-like features. More specifically, the features of a mammal other than a human. Ranging from cat ears to dog tails, human people with an animal body part roamed the streets like it was normal.

These were most likely different species. Different species of human.

The building far from modern and the weapons and armor gave this world a medieval aesthetic.

The same people I was looking at were doing the same to me. Most likely because I wore clothes that bore little to no similarities to theirs.

Foreigners like me must have been common as they went back to their business after a slight look at my appearance.

It's time I make my way across the city. I'm currently walking in uncharted waters. This town, no, the city, is unknown to me. I noticed several street signs next to the park. There are 8 streets that connect to this park. This area must be the center of the city's interior.

Choosing one of many paths, I walked down a street that contained food stalls of any kind.

One such stall showcased a sign.

'The Greatest Fish In Melen Now Makes Its Debut In Orario'

If this city was called Melen then it wouldn't be stating that the fish is making its debut here as it's already the best. Meaning, this place is known as Orario.

This is assuming those are the names of cities and not shops or other things.

Now having some information I needed, I made my way to the vendor.

"Hello, how may I help you...oh, are you a foreigner by any chance?"

The people of this city speak a language I don't recognize, yet I'm able to understand each word as if I've learned this language along with the many others I already have.

"I am. Would you mind pointing me in the direction of this City's central head of authority," I clearly spoke. Not recognizing a single word coming out of my mouth yet understanding them perfectly. It's as if my Japanese is being translated the instant the words form.

He gave a disappointed look upon understanding the reason I reached out to him was to ask for directions to a place he's most likely been to several times instead of buying the fish he came out here to sell.

"And here I thought you came to sample my fish. The Guild is located west of here, the market area. If you go directly straight, a pantheon should be in sight. If you still cannot locate it, just ask the people nearby."

So the authoritative force in Orario is the 'Guild'. Its building is in that of a Pantheon.

Thanking the man for his direction, I set off toward the guild.

Making my way into the next street or 'section' in Orario. I passed a building signed 'Benevolent Mistress'. A lady with gray hair was standing outside, reaching out to the people close to the shop's doors.

Avoiding the women, I went northwest of the building and finally reached my destination.

With 3 banners on each side of the pantheon, the building stood a solid 23 or so meters high. Entering inside through the dark brown double doors, I analyzed the interior.

While mostly empty, behind the counters in the back stood an assortment of races dressed in the same clothing. These were the employees of this building, the Guild.

Revealing my true identity would cause too many problems, posing as a foreigner from far away lands would be sufficient.

Walking up toward the nearest counter, a rather short woman with pink hair directed her gaze to me.

"Oh hello, what do you need?"

"I've recently entered this city. I was wondering if I can learn about it through the Guild, which I assume is this city's authoritative force."

"I figured you weren't from here because of the weird-looking clothes. Though I love the color. Where did you get them?"

Instead of answering my question, she instead diverted the topic to my clothing.

"I retrieved these from my homeland which is a considerable distance from Orario. Now, if you would answer the questions I ask-" But I was interrupted by her next outburst.

"Ah right, sorry bout that. If you would come with me to a conference room, I'll tell ya what you need to know in this bustling city. My name is Misha Flott, by the way."

She came out from behind the counter and led me to a room on the left.

Misha pov:

Since Eina was busy with paperwork, I was getting kind of bored. Luckily, a man I've never seen before showed up.

He wore a type of suit commonly worn in special events or an occupation. But that wasn't the weird part, the color of his suit was reddish pink, a color I've never seen on a suit before. he must have attracted some attention because of that.

Identifying himself as a foreigner, I took him to a conference room.

Ahhhhh this is Eina's job. Why do I have to do it for her?

...Oh right, she's doing my paperwork. I guess it's the least I can do.

I move to the nearest couch in the room and take a seat. He takes a seat without making a sound.

Taking a closer look, he doesn't look much younger than me. Maybe 18 years old. But he's really tall. Got to be at least over 175 celch.

I forgot to ask his name. Wonder what it could be.

"Before I get on with answering your questions, could you tell me your name. Sorry for forgetting to ask," I ask him. Trying not to sound pleading.

"Don't be. My name is Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

Sounds like a far eastern name. Though he doesn't look like it. Not with that brown hair. Well. It doesn't matter anyway.

"So, where to begin?"

"Would you mind telling me a detailed description of the world?"

Huh?

"Shouldn't you be familiar with that? Since you made it to Orario and all."

"My homeland was an isolated country. Cities such as Orario were unknown to me and my people. My means of arrival to this place was with the assistance of a neighboring friend. Meaning what might seem like common sense to you, will most likely appear to be shocking to I."

What kinda place did he live in. Must be so lonely.

"Well then. From the very top, it is. Let's talk about the god's arrival on Genkai."

Ayanokoji pov:

The existence of gods doesn't surprise me as much as it would any other. From the names of the book, I was correct to assume the gods in this world were based on real mythology.

From Tenkai and Desudia to Genkai, the lower world, Misha Flort explained in detail for what I've been wanting to know.

The dungeon appears on this world before the god's arrival. Following the first god who arrived here, Ouranus, the gods bestowed a blessing onto the people. This allowed these people to gain a Falna which allowed humans to get stronger to combat these monsters. She went into specific detail about Falna and status. I made sure to remember every word.

This city contains the only dungeon in the world. People with the same blessing group in Familias. Though, you're allowed to not join even if you have one. Most Familias contain adventurers, people who kill monsters in the dungeon to retrieve their stone which could be exchanged for money called 'valis' in this world. Some Familias focus on other types of business such as agriculture and trade/delivery.

This explains a lot.

She went into depth on the dungeon, Orario's commerce and its economy, and surrounding countries. I ingrained every word she spoke into my memory.

"Do you have any files that go over the specifics of each floor and monster?" I asked her. I wanted to learn as much as possible.

"Yeah. I could get 'em if you want."

She got up from her seat and dragged herself outside.

She came back minutes later.

"Here you go," she said as she handed me a stack of papers in the layout of a book. "Since you're new here, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the city before deciding what you want to do next. If you got any more questions that need my wonderful answers, come visit me anytime. Only when I'm working of course. See ya, Ayanokoji."

When she closed the door, I let out a deep sigh.

"If I'm here, then that place and that man won't be able to get to me."

In this world, I am free. Is this the peaceful life I was looking for? A world in which someone like me might not be so uncommon.

But...I knew deep down, in the depths of my soul.

Someone like me can never have a life of peace.

END