Answers for the reviews will always be below, for those who are interested.

By the way, I forgot to mention some stuff related to the chapters in general.

They will normally be around 1000 up to 1500 words big, with possible rare exceptions pushing the number of words above that, but never below. Also, I will begin to cross-post this novel in AO3, and once the chapters alone will reach a total of 15,000 words, it will reach Webnovel.

Because of their shortness, you can expect quick updates from me. As for now, I have 6 chapters stocked in, but the number will progress with time. I may also hold back on publishing some more recent chapters because I am not sure of how they are written, but the first six should be perfectly fine.

So, yeah, this is it, enjoy the story.

Volume I

Chapter 2 ─ Humankind Needs You!

With a goal set and a road ahead, Ashton simply had to walk onto it if he wanted to return home. There was no use in staying on the bench until night other than wasting time, after all.

But before he could search for information on how he could communicate with the Goddess Ilias about how to return home, there was something else he must do, which is severely more important than that: Fit in this new world.

Needless to say, as someone who just "spawned" in this world less than an hour ago, he had nowhere to go, and no job to sustain him financially. He had no roof to repair from the weather and sleep comfortably, and he had to be careful to buy any kind of necessity he required, to not waste money.

As for now, the total amount of money he was left with was 1210 Gold, but just how much was that money worth in this place?

The 1210 Gold he had could be as big as 1210 dollars, or it could be as small as 1210 yen. With one, he could rent a cheap apartment for many days; with the other, he couldn't even buy Netflix back home.

But whether it was the first or the latter, the fact that this was all he had with him remained. Once that money was gone, he would truly be left empty-handed.

Because of that, he needed to find a way to "survive" in this world, finding a place that he could call home and have a secure future that won't let him starve to death for a long while. At that point, he could truly start to make up plans for his meeting with the Goddess...

…Which was why he was now standing in front of a large notice board hanging on a lone stone wall, looking at the pinned papers. It was in the very same plaza where he was just sitting, so he didn't need to look for long to find this board.

With his white clothes that didn't fit his frame, he looked out of place compared to his peers who wore multiple layers of colorful clothing or even leather and iron for armor. However, Ashton didn't seem to care about such a thing as his focus was completely on the board.

According to the tag nailed on the top of it, this was called a "Request Board", and as far as he could see, it seemed to be the equivalent of those applications listing various local jobs on the internet, as he could see various job requests pinned on the board.

This was definitely what he needed right now. But when Ashton read the listed jobs, he was left a bit disappointed.

Some were asking for teachers and scholars, some were outlandish tasks with no clear pay written on them, and among them, there were a few that came from completely different towns.

As someone who barely knew anything about this world and had nothing in his name, accepting this kind of work was definitely out of question, especially since a few of them also required an actual interview with the employers. He held no doubt that he would fail such interviews as he was now.

But just as he was about to give up on finding a doable job on the request board, his eyes stopped on a particular notice that was pinned on the edge of the wooden board. It was in such an unsuspecting place, which was why he didn't see it before.

These were words that were written on the paper.

"Humankind needs protectors, Humankind needs you!"
Join the military!
No interview is needed, no fee to pay!

Obviously, it was a recruitment notice from the military army of this city.

Ashton immediately walked up to it to take a better look at the poster, reading the details written on it. On the paper, there was listed: The location of the recruitment post, a summary of how the recruitment worked, what to expect during the enlistment period, and the average pay the infantry received.

It was 240 Gold per week, starting one week after he joined.

In comparison, some of the specific jobs paid up to 500 Gold per week, up to even 3000 Gold per month. And among the quicker tasks, they could even give ten thousand Gold depending on how hard the mission was.

But many jobs gave out about 200 Gold per week, and down to a minimum of 50 Gold. Those were jobs that most people could do, such as cleaning large buildings or lifting heavy stuff.

Working as a foot soldier seemed to be giving him about an average pay compared to other works, which admittedly was quite a lot for him. And it was also something he could do, unlike smithing or working as a carpenter, especially because he would be taught how to become a real soldier by the military itself.

But would Ashton join the military for that?

He wouldn't even bother with it if he was back on Earth due to his laziness, but things were different now, and it wasn't a matter of circumstances alone.

That's right, he had a system to help him out!

He still didn't know how and how much it could help him, but if it worked as shown in the novels he used to read, then this was probably among the best choices he could make. It wasn't about having the potential for it anymore; being part of the military would be the equivalent of playing a game.

A game that would result in severe physical exhaustion at the beginning, but it would become easier the more time he spent on it.

He would get stronger with the help of his system, he would get paid for it, and if the poster wasn't lying, he would also get free accommodation from the military. It was the perfect job for someone like him, and all he needed to do was to bear with the fatigue at the beginning.

"Never thought I would say this, but I'm going to join the army, I guess," Ashton commented before he looked back at the address of the recruitment post, written in the notice.

Northwest District, St. Nicholas Road, 311-B.

Well, now that he had the address and the intention to go there, it was time to move… Or at least, he would do that, if only he knew where that place was.

"It's not really a problem…" Ashton whispered under his breath before he looked around, ultimately setting his eyes on a fellow young man who was also looking at the poster with an interested expression while holding some luggage on his back.

"Excuse me, do you know where St. Nicholas Road is?" He casually patted the young man's shoulder, but in reaction, the young man jumped out in surprise at the sudden touch and looked back at Ashton.

"P-Pardon?" Startled, the brown-haired young man asked back for clarification.

"St. Nicholas Road, 311-B, can you tell me where that place is?"

A whole second passed after that question ─ which was enough for the young man to calm down his heart from the surprise call ─ before he realized what Ashton was talking about. His eyes widened in recognition as he finally answered. "Oh! You want to join the army? I can bring you there!"

"Huh?" Of course, that unexpected answer caught Ashton off guard, which caused him to politely refuse the young man's offer to not burden him too much. "You don't need to do that, just tell me where to go…"

"It's fine! I also wanted to join the military, so we can just go together." The young man replied with an uplifting smile, leaving Ashton silent as he watched him leave.

It was only a moment later when Ashton shrugged and followed the young man, deciding to go along with the flow.

Sup, chapter ended.

This will be the spot where I will answer some reviews which I feel may require some answer, and speaking of reviews, thank you for your ongoing interest in my fanfictions, Mediocracy.

Now... Here we go!

Guest: Why would he want to come back, when he has arguably a better life in this world, as far as he know anyways? He doesn't that the Monstergirls are rape and kill monsters... yet.
Which is actually a good thing. While I hate characters who doesn't jump at the occasion of trying to live a good live in a better world than our own, it also set the tone: A protagonist who isn't alright and homesick is great too.

Answer: Now, I understand where you are coming from, getting isekaied in a fantasy world sounds like a great thing, especially if you have such a cheat-like ability like this one. I was like that, too.
However, there is something I'd like to drop here in this answer... Every world has its own share of struggles, just as much rewarding stuff it has.
Sure, who doesn't like the ability to cast magic? If you manage to learn everything about it, you can even replicate the things we have back on our world, like a gun, but several times stronger than an ordinary one.
But not everything is flowery and beautiful in this world, and sooner or later, you will also understand how bad things can get.

Well, this is it, I hope you readers will keep following my fanfiction and enjoy Ashton's story on how he can get back to his world between fortune and misfortune.