Chapter 1 - Off the Rails
Subaru Natsuki, a young neet who had given up hope of living a purposeful life, there was a time when he had determination and a goal in mind, now completely oblivious to life's situations, living only by the basic self-preservation instinct.
After the loss of motivation to achieve something greater in his life, Subaru began to face it in a very pragmatic way, seeking only to satisfy his momentary pleasures, without worrying about something bigger.
Living a relatively hedonistic lifestyle where he only sought comfort, despite exercising whenever he could, but he was never a person who did not honor his word, always decisive and assertive in his decisions, and reason was his greatest guide in any situation.
Being alone in his house was not something that happened on a recurring basis, the kitchen had a very calm atmosphere, a light breeze from the wind was hovering over the place, coming from an opening in the window, it was relatively calm until the moment he opened the refrigerator and realized something was missing.
'Oh man, to think that today I have to go out again to buy, it sucks having to go out on the weekend when you could be resting!'
'Anyway it's not like I have anything to do, I think I'm listening to music on my cell phone as I walk to the convenience store.'
Completely oblivious to his surroundings, Subaru was walking calmly to the convenience store, cars rarely passed by him, the weather was relatively dry and cold, the street was completely empty, being the only pedestrian walking, he heard his own footsteps and meditated.
Upon arriving at the place, he found himself facing his own reflection in one of the glasses that were on the wall of the store, a tired face, conveying the feeling of hopelessness, disbelief, lack of motivation and lack of purpose.
Like a zombie who lives only for the pleasure of the moment, not caring about anything but his own egotistical desires, no, maybe he was thinking too much, he didn't want to think he'd lost all will to live, yet he felt nothing that could satisfactorily confront such a thought.
Leaving aside his melancholy thoughts, which had haunted him for a long time, this type of situation had already become commonplace in his life, although he never showed it to anyone, always masking his deepest feelings through a fake mask, it was obvious as he did not want to raise concerns about his mental health.
Entering the store quickly, he began to choose products from the shelf, while he seemed undecided about what to buy, a black aura hovered over the atmosphere of the place, waiting for the opportune moment to capture him.
'Hm, I don't think I'll take two ramens, one is good enough, I think after I get home I'll finish that manga, it's been weeks since I've delayed that reading.'
After paying for the groceries and leaving the store, Subaru was calmly walking on the sidewalk of the establishment when he felt a shiver down his spine, turning around with the intention of looking for something or someone suspicious.
'What the hell, all of a sudden the place has a weird atmosphere, it seems to have no one here so I don't think that's something I should worry about.'
Just as he turned back to the intended direction, a mysterious hand grabbed him, an intruder being from another reality, transporting Subaru to a completely strange and unknown world.
When Subaru opened his eyes, confusion and fear filled his chest, wondering what the hell had happened.
'Wow, I don't remember doing drugs before I left the house, anyway it must be the fact that I got up all night last night.'
Subaru thought, still not facing the reality that he had been transported to another world.
After rubbing his eyes and opening them again, he realized that the situation was not an illusion of his tiredness.
At first glance, its surroundings had completely changed, it had been transported from a sidewalk of an ordinary establishment to a completely busy street, the houses had an architectural style very similar to medieval Europe, humans and semi-human monsters walked peacefully in the streets, wearing clothes old and poorly sewn rags, several trading stalls lining the streets filled what looked like a world straight out of a fantasy tale.
'What!? How on earth did I get transported to another place out of nowhere, that weird atmosphere from before, I should have paid more attention to that thing, I think now I should analyze the situation calmly and try to abstract as much information as possible from this world.'
'At first glance it looks like one of those medieval fantasy worlds of isekai manga, what the hell, so probably the people here are quite powerful and can use magic, the fact that I can see demi humans already proves the anomaly of this world compared to mine.'
Subaru was shocked that he was transported to another world.
Surprise and fear.
Surprised to learn that something, so extraordinary, had happened.
Fear of the unknown, fear of the lack of information about his surroundings, and above all, fear of never returning home.
That was the feeling that described his current state of being.
The situation seemed too unreal to be true, yet he completely dismissed the idea of it being a dream.
His weird behavior and weird clothes started to get the attention of the strangers who were walking next to him, wondering what the hell that weird guy with those weird clothes was doing there, acting like everything around him was surreal, a foreigner, that was their thinking.
Quickly realizing what was happening, not wanting to draw attention to himself, he walked to the town square, trying to get as much information out of the situation as he could.
'Hm, it seems I can understand them but I can't read their writing, I think the first step would be to try to understand where I am and survive at any cost, I have to be aware, despite the beautiful appearance, this place can hide many dangers , I must keep an eye on my surroundings and not act suspiciously.'
'Probably the individuals here can also use magic right, can I use magic too? I don't know, but I'll have to find out soon.'
"Hey, boy! Are you going to buy something or are you going to stare with that weird face!?" Asked the merchant, clearly annoyed by Subaru's strange behavior, relatively taller than Subaru itself, with an angry face, while holding an apple.
"Hey, are you going to buy that appa or not?" Subaru, surprised by the interaction, had been too distracted, caught in his reflective thoughts that he didn't realize that he had bumped into one of the stalls, and that obviously didn't please the owner.
'By the way, why did he call apple as 'appa'? Is this something new accent that I don't know? Well, who cares, I have more important things to do anyway.'
Not wanting to waste too much time with the idiot, he just turned him down.
"No! I'm broke anyway."
"Then get out of here, you bum!"
Not wanting any argument and attention, he quickly got out of there and kept walking as he assessed his situation.
As he walked, people walked by looking at him with a confused face, disturbed by his strange way and the way Subaru looked at them with a strange face thinking all the time.
People of all kinds passed by Subaru, demi humans of the most varied, from people with more human characteristics to monsters to the most bestial in terms of appearance, monsters that could kill you with a single punch if they wanted to, Subaru thought.
"Get out, asshole!"
"If you keep looking at me like that, you will die, human!"
Perceiving in an unsatisfactory way the discomfort he was causing by looking at them so analytically, he decided to speed up his pace as he began to think more about himself and look less at others, especially the demi humans, which they didn't seem to like humans so much.
His only concern at the moment was not to attract the attention of any criminal or anyone who could endanger his life.
Deciding to be more discreet, he thought to get out of the crowd and take shelter somewhere to think better without the judgmental looks of people on the street, when suddenly, a little girl fell in front of a carriage.
In shock at the situation, the child could do nothing but look, hoping that something or someone would save her from that imminent danger.
The carriage was moving too fast to stop in time, the wheels were frantically hitting the ground, while the driver in a desperate attempt tried to stop the carriage, the people around could only watch the scene, in disbelief and unable to do anything.
Subaru thought that this would be the opportune time for an isekai protagonist to show his powers and save the little girl, but obviously, he didn't feel he had any power let alone any motivation to save that poor child's life.
'Honestly I will not risk my life to save this child, I have no power whatsoever that can save her, so the only way would be for me to throw myself in front of the carriage trying to catch her, but I will not risk my life with such a trivial thing, I'm sorry little girl.'
Until a soldier did exactly what the Subaru had thought was the only thing that could be done to prevent disaster, he threw himself in front of the carriage grabbing the girl and pulling her out of what seemed to be his sad end.
Ignoring the whole situation with the child in a very cold way without giving a damn, he turned his back, ignoring the applause that the knight had just received from the crowd, still surprised and happy by what had happened, started to think about his situation again.
'Anyway, I have to look for a more empty place to think clearly and assess my situation. I cannot afford to attract the eyes of this crowd, I do not know what dangers await me in this world.'
'I can't be naive to think that there can be no evil here, probably if I walk unpretentiously on the street I will be robbed, but I believe that no one has followed me so far, so I can afford to go to a more private place.'
Subaru walked until he came across an alley, making sure no one had followed him, sat on the stairs while putting his things aside.
'I can't afford to think I'm special just because I was transported here from another world, it would be very stupid arrogance to underestimate my opponents or dangerous situations with the premise that I'm the "protagonist", no! In this world I am just one more, I have no apparent power and my physical aptitudes remain the same.'
'Any npc in this world could easily defeat me with a little basic magic, which leads me to the conclusion that I need to learn the language of this world, get some money and then start developing myself.'
'For sure I have the same potential as a normal person in this world, so maybe I can use magic with the right knowledge and instructor, so my current goal is to survive, find a safe haven and better assess the situation when I'm in better shape.'
As Subaru thought and analyzed his current situation, now completely oblivious to his surroundings, he hadn't had the luxury of checking to see if anyone had entered the alley, perhaps all that previous situation had distracted him.
Three individuals entered the alley, approaching him.
They saw Subaru as easy prey, a weird young man walking around as if he didn't know where he was and with an appearance that conveyed nothing but weakness, the perfect prey for the robbery, which they had already planned for a long time, following the boy. Until an opportune moment comes in.
Despite his weak appearance, his clothes and manner conveyed signs of nobility and wealth, after all, anyone from the slums could never be so well-dressed.
The perfect opportunity, thought the thieves.
"Hey, boy! You better spend everything you have if you don't want to die," said the young man with blue complexed hair, Subaru was shocked to see that these three individuals were harassing him, he had gotten so caught up in his internal dialogue that he hadn't paid attention to their approach.
Three individuals, with a face that did not indicate animosity, the leader of the group was now facing him, while the other two followed a little behind.
'They were probably watching me for some time and decided to approach me now when they saw that I was alone.'
Thought Subaru, with relative anger at being so careless, it was obvious that this world as well as his world would have evil and bad things could happen to him if he was so careless.
'The guy in the middle seems to be the most proactive of the group, for sure he must be carrying some weapon with him, as it is a fantasy world I doubt there is any firearm, which only leads me to the conclusion that they are armed with knives, even if I tried to knock out the middle guy, the big guy would probably hold me and I doubt they would let me punch them without doing anything to retaliate, after all I would be vulnerable to the other two while I was punching the middle guy.'
"Hey! Moron! We were talking to you! If you keep looking at us with that stupid face, I'm going to kill you right here, now hand over everything you have!" The blue haired boy, getting even more impatient, grabbed Subaru by the collars as he glared at him.
'I only have two possibilities here, bluff or call for help, I doubt any guards will listen to my help from here in the alley, so I'll have to bluff these guys, maybe I can use my cell phone to scare them I'm sure they would stay scared by the cell phone flash, it would give me enough time to just run, and then I could ask for help in the crowd, besides being easier to hide in the crowd.'
As Subaru thought, a girl approached the alley.
She had short, blond hair and a scarf that extended from her neck to her knees, and her clothes were short and relatively dirty, indicating signs that she was in a hurry and that she was probably running from something or someone.
Seeing the opportune moment, he decided to use the girl to get away from the attackers and use her to buy time and distract the three thugs, he asked.
"Hey little girl, what are you doing in this alley alone? And why the hell were you moving so fast before?"
"Sorry, I don't have time for you guys, I'm in a hurry, live well!"
And the girl, just as quickly as she entered the scene, she left.
Performing stunts at superhuman speed, jumping over the roofs of houses as she ran.
This obviously shocked Subaru for a moment, he had never seen anyone so fast, if that was the standard powers of the average people in this world then he had to be more cautious than ever, every stumble could mean only one thing.
Death…
After the initial shock of the girl's display of superhuman powers, Subaru snapped back to the reality of his situation and began to think.
'What the hell, my opportunity to distract these assholes is gone, now I'll have to use the cell phone bluff'
Then he took out his cell phone and started bluffing, taking pictures of the three individuals.
The cell phone flash had blinded them for a moment, making them rub their eyes, wondering what the hell that bastard had done.
"What the hell did you do!?", asked the group leader, clearly annoyed by the flash of his cell phone.
"You can see it from here! This is a cell phone, a magic item capable of creating curses on those I capture in your present moment!"
Quickly, Subaru selected the photos of the three thugs and showed them, in an attempt to scare them away with his bluff.
"Now that your present moment has been stored in my magic item, you are doomed to die, unless I lift the curse myself, only the item's wielder can lift the curse."
The fat thug and the smallest of the group were startled a little by the statement, but not for long when the leader of the group contested those claims.
"And you happen to think I am a fool!? Why do you think I would believe you?"
The blue-haired young man spoke with a mask of anger and haughtiness, despite being slightly apprehensive about the situation, wondering internally if this was indeed a bluff or a real threat coming from a mysterious magical object capable of creating real curses.
They knew very well how curses worked and that they could die if they were cursed and had their mana drained.
Despite the improbability of that words being true, the group couldn't ignore the very possibility even if small of those claims were to be real, after all, it could mean their deaths, even if they killed Subaru, they couldn't reverse the curse and would die days later, especially when it comes to a metia who could do such strange things, which they had never seen before.
'Damn it! They are indeed believing this bullshit, even if they are believing it for now, eventually they will confront me. I guess I have no choice but to flash them with my cell phone to blind them all as I run.'
Knowing that no soul would come to his rescue, Subaru decides to use the escape plan as a last resort, wanting to avoid as much as possible any conflict that would land him in prison or being killed by these bandits.
"Stop robbers! Return what you've stolen!"
The following scene looked like it came out of a fairy tale.
It was too surreal for Subaru to believe. At the exact moment he thought no one would show up there to help him, yet a person appeared, initially overshadowed by the southern glow that shimmered at the entrance of the alley, when Subaru's eyes started to narrow getting used to the light, seeing more and more clearly, he could see his 'savior' in every detail.
A beautiful maiden with silver hair, pointed ears, amethyst eyes, wearing a white dress with purple details and with a green stone around her neck.
She pointed his finger at the group and climbed up while frowning, trying to emulate an aggressive and clearly unconvincing attitude.
Subaru on the other hand was surprised and happy that someone had come down that alley, even if it was for other reasons, that would buy more time, and he wouldn't need to resort to the alternate escape plan for now.
'This girl is really very pretty, but I'm not the type of man who falls in love easily with any pretty face, this could very well be a weapon she uses to manipulate others, especially virgin men who don't have an ounce of self-love.'
'Still, it would be interesting to use her to get me out of this annoying situation, at least I can buy more time with her and at worst I run.'
The mystery girl said again, "Please! If any of you stole my insignia, return it immediately!"
One of the members of the gang, the tallest, not wanting to attract the attention of more people to that situation that could result in his early arrest, spoke.
"Are you by any chance trying to save that asshole over there? If so, you better speak up, and by the way, we didn't steal any badges from you."
"Hm, but what strange clothes this boy has, if you ask me if I know him the answer is no."
Not wanting to draw other people's attention to their theft any further, the group leader quickly answered the girl.
"We didn't steal anything from you, but we saw a blonde girl who was running in a hurry, she went in that direction! Go and don't come back here again!"
"Yeah, over there! She's probably three streets away by now!"
"It looks like you weren't lying, Alright then" said the girl in a hurry as she ran in the direction she had been told, until she stopped at the end and turned to the group as she assessed the situation and said.
"Still, I can't ignore this situation."
The girl quickly cast ice boulders in the middle of nowhere and hit the three thugs, who quickly fell on impact.
Subaru was somewhat surprised to see magic for the first time, it might have been normal for them, but for a young man who had lived his entire life in Japan this was something very new and really spectacular.
One of the group members who had been beaten by the attack had sustained serious damage. Two of them could barely stand up. Despite their bleeding, the two who were still standing appeared ready to fight.
The group leader, scared and angry, stood up, surprised that that girl was a magic user.
"So you're a magic user!? Still, you think you can beat the two of us against only you?"
"You're right, two against one is unfair, so maybe then two on two should be okay!"
Upon the girl's statement, a mysterious cat appeared in her hand, it was the size of a small cat, with a long tail and a purple pouch, as it floated freely through the air.
"Yaahn, how about now huh, two against two"
The two remaining members of the group were shocked by the revelation of the feline spirit, facing a magic user was a very bad situation, but facing a spirit user was frightening, yet the leader of the group tried to mask his fear in a failed attempt to demonstrate that he was not apprehensive about the situation
"And by any chance do you think we'll let you two live after what you did to us, I don't care if this girl is a spirit user, we're going to kill her"
The group leader's stupidity shocked even the other member who backed away looking at the leader with a look of disbelief, imagining it was crazy to say so after being easily defeated by the girl's magic.
The same stupidity irritated the spirit, which, upon hearing the leader of the group speak openly that he would kill his daughter, became more aggressive and protective, while saying.
"If you lay a finger on my daughter, I will hunt you and all your descendants, it's not like you will have descendants after I finish you all!"
The group started to run scared by the spirit, screaming in fear, Subaru was surprised by the situation but happy that it was finally over and didn't have to resort to such extreme methods.
'I'm glad I used the bluff, god knows what would have happened to me if I had faced those guys alone before this girl came along'
"Wait!" The girl pointed at Subaru as she stared at him with a look that passed, a failed attempt to convey authority.
'What a strange girl.'
"Hmph, looks like you're not guilty, after all I didn't see any suspicious looks."
"Of course not! I did not do anything. Why would I feel guilty?"
"Anyway, you look kind of tired, I could heal you with my magic so you wouldn't have any other way but to reward me by telling me some valuable information about that girl.", The girl stated with a strangely authoritative tone but with a hint of concern in the background, as if she wanted to help him without showing that she did.
"It's not like I want to help you, I'm doing this simply because by helping you, you would be in my debt and would have to repay me by telling me some information you know about the robber who stole from me"
'Yep, this girl is really retarded, she keeps trying to mask her feeling of wanting to help me with this stupid excuse, I'm tired of this bullshit.'
Subaru was annoyed that he was wasting his time with that stupidity, and simply dismissed the girl saying.
"No, I'm fine, I don't need your healing magic, thank you so much for helping me, but this is where our paths separate, bye."
Then, stealthily, he crouched down, picking up all of his stuff, and turned his back, heading down the stairs as he walked away from the girl until he came out of the alley, completely oblivious to the whole situation before.
Perplexed, that was the feeling that described how the girl felt after Subaru had left so rudely.
The girl questioned once again if it was her appearance that scared him away, people always treated her with indifference or contempt because of her appearance and her similarity to the witch of envy.
The memory of how people treated her could only bring a glimpse of sadness, as if she was destined for a lifetime to always scare others away, never to have a friend.
Still, she was at least relieved that the boy didn't get into her troubles, it would be too selfish to hurt one more person because of her innate ability to get into trouble.
Yet the way the boy dismissed her didn't indicate signs of prejudice with her appearance, but rather annoyance, as if he was in a hurry to do something and annoyed by the whole situation.
Puck realizing his daughter's emotions soon spoke in an attempt to cheer her up.
"Hey, it was very rude of that kid to dump you like that, lia, as far as I know if it wasn't for your help he would have been robbed by those thieves."
"Yes, I guess you are right but, we shouldn't worry about it, we need to go after my insignia"
And so the girl, after a brief moment of reflection, decided to put her thoughts aside and focus on her most important objective, which was to recover her stolen badge.
'What a disgrace, first I'm summoned to a parallel world of medieval fantasy with magical powers bullshit, and on the first day I'm almost robbed, still that annoying girl comes to make me waste time with those ridiculous tsundere chat, honestly that day couldn't be worse, I just wish I was home right now reading manga.'
'My plan of action at the moment is to get a safe shelter, certainly I could sell this cell phone for a good price that will help me to support myself for at least 1 month so that I can learn the language of this world, at first I would have to work with manual things, as I'm not qualified to do anything more sophisticated at the moment, eventually I could make inventions of my world, so i can become rich and live well in this world.'
'No Subaru, don't be silly! I won't abandon my parents like that, I'll do whatever I can to find a way to get back home, that will be my ultimate goal, get back home! I don't care about the problems of this world, that's not my concern.'
Subaru spent time getting as much information as he could about his situation, eventually he discovered that he was in a kingdom named Lugnica and that currently the kingdom was without a king, as the old one had been dead since he was got by a sudden mysterious illness with all the others in his family.
Right after some conversations with merchants, Subaru managed to bargain and sell his cell phone for 10 holy coins, not knowing the real value of his cell phone and out of despair of needing quick money for his own support, he couldn't see how to refuse that offer after long debates, he finally accepted the offer.
Following the selling of the cell phone, Subaru quickly resolved to look for an inn, as he didn't want to spend too much what little money he had, he decided to look for an inn near the slums where the price was much cheaper.
After a long search, Subaru thought it was time to ask someone for information, until he saw a man no less than 50 years old, wearing a very simple outfit, brown pants and a white sweater, and smoking a pipe calmly while enjoying the view from the street.
The street that now, unlike the streets of downtown Lugnica, was very empty, the houses were dirtier and the architecture was more precarious, a clear indication of poverty, Subaru knew that the risk of living in such places was high, but could not afford to become a beggar and spend all his money, he had already made a huge sacrifice selling his cell phone.
"Hey sir, I'm sorry to bother you, but could you tell me where I can find an inn, which is preferably cheap."
The surprised gentleman quickly got up from his chair while looking at the young man in a very happy way. It had been a while since he had had clients, and he was starting to worry if he would go all day without hosting a single life at his inn.
"So you asked the right guy, kid! You see, we're clearly in front of my inn, why don't you come in so we can discuss it further."
Subaru wasn't in such a hurry to do anything, he had spent more than half the day looking for buyers for his cell phone, he still had a lot of time to look for an inn, so he decided to go inside.
By entering the inn accompanied by the old man, he could see that the place was very simple, some tables were on the left while a counter faced the entrance of the establishment, and on his right was a staircase leading to the upper floor.
A young lady with blonde hair was sleeping, resting her head on the counter, not expecting anyone to enter.
The woman snores entertained Subaru, it was the first time he'd had a good laugh since being transported to this weird world. But the same snoring did not please the master, who immediately tried to wake her up and scold her.
"Oh my Ellen, I don't pay you to sleep through while you're working , come on! We have a customer to serve."
"Aah, wait a minute, old man", said the girl Ellen, as she rubbed and yawned, now staring at Subaru with a tired face.
After discovering the daily rate of the place, not wanting to extend the subject, as he was too tired to be small talk, he accepted and asked to be placed in his room quickly.
"Oh all right! Just follow me sir Natsuki, I will take you to your room"
Going up the stairs, which were dirty and old, he could hear the creak of wood, as if it was about to break.
'I just hope I don't die because of poor conditions, there's no way, I can't afford to spend my money right now, this is the best I can afford, either that or sleeping on the streets.'
"Here it is sir Natsuki, enjoy the rest of the day, here is your keys and anything just call me right."
Subaru, seeing Ellen walk down the stairs, quickly opened the door to his room, revealing an old bed, in the center with a window to the left of the bed, and a door in the right wall that Subaru assumed was the inn's bathroom.
Exhausted, he closed the door, locking it as he flopped onto the bed, sighing that he could finally lie down on a bed and rest after a long, tiring day.
A day when he would be forever marked in his life as the most extraordinary day of his life, the day he was transported to a world totally different from his own.
'Man, I've barely started living here, and I already miss home. Honestly, this place is horrible, the kingdom is in bad condition, and most people live in a precarious way.'
'But so what? That's not my problem, the world has always been like this, I just have to worry about myself and my survival.'
As Subaru was getting ready for bed, he remembered that weird elven girl.
'What a strange girl, the way she helped me while she wanted to seem like she didn't want to help me is at least comical, honestly so far I've only had contact with weird people, it must be a matter of culture shock, I think.'
'Anyway, better sleep, tomorrow will be a long day…'
And so Natsuki Subaru slept, hoping that tomorrow would present better things than he had seen today, and with a slight anxiety and worry about what this world might present to itself in the future.
"Hey, boy! Are you going to buy something or are you going to stare with that weird face!?"
"What?"
Leave any point that I should improve in this story, if you guys really like it, I will continue, I found the concept very interesting, basically Subaru is sigma male in this story, which means, no more simp, no more a sucker who forgives everyone without reason, basically Subaru here will be more selfish, analytical, hope you like it!
Also, English is not first language, so it might be a bit of wrong grammar, sorry in advance.
Anyway, that's it for today, bye~