Two Weeks After Arrival
'Hajime' sighed as he scanned through a book on ancient magical theory, trying to find some kind of indication as to how to return home. He had asked and asked and asked to see the summoning circle that had brought them all here, but was rebuffed at each and every turn, the church citing reasons that 'he needed to keep training', and that the summoning circle was 'not something a simple Alchemist could comprehend'.
'Hajime' never trusted churches before getting to know the people behind them on simple principle, and he was well aware that these people were up to something. If it wasn't their obvious disdain for him then it was furtive glances at the 'Hero', Kouki Amanogawa, the Golden Boy himself.
The Hero. A person 'Hajime' had nothing but unrestrained contempt and disdain for. Something that was made clear when the man had tried to encourage 'Hajime' to stop relying on Shirasaki Kaori's kindness.
"Perhaps you should stop twisting the narrative to your own benefit, hm?" He had said to the other man- well, boy was more appropriate, as Amanogawa had nothing but idyllic fantasies about being the Hero of another world in his head. As far as 'Hajime' could tell he thought all it would be was get his shit kicked in, training montage, kick the enemies' shit in, get the girl, go home, and settle down. He didn't factor reality into his dreams.
He thought that he would be able to save this world without shedding the blood of another person, as when 'Hajime' had asked what he would do when he was faced with the choice of killing someone to save others, or allowing his friends to die, he froze, then acted as if 'Hajime' hadn't said anything, ignoring him for the rest of the day.
'What. A. Child.' 'Hajime' thought to himself, sighing and setting yet another book down into the 'Useless' pile. He had decided to skim through the books and sort them into three piles, 'Return Home Useful', 'Alchemist Useful', and 'Useless'.
Guess which pile was the largest.
Thankfully, he was having more luck with finding books on Alchemy than on Dimensional Travel, finding a fairly comprehensive guide on skills that Alchemists could acquire, some of which he already had, such as [Mineral Appraisal] and [Increased Transmutation Speed]. Despite the fact that all they had done for the past two weeks was basic fitness training, he was already level eight, something that baffled and infuriated the priests and nobles of the castle in equal measures. Baffled, because there shouldn't have been anyone above level one in their class and infuriated because it left him with several stats that were higher than the 'Hero's', which wouldn't have been a problem for any other class, but since he was just an Alchemist they really hated that.
It didn't help that he was the only person to have two jobs- a fact that drove the scholars up the wall, and made the nobility and priesthood beyond wary of him, especially since they had never heard of a 'Doctor' before.
A Healer, Priest, and Divine Priest had all been at least heard of before, but no one had heard of a Doctor in this world. They hadn't even known what the word meant until it was explained to them!
'Hajime' rubbed his eyes as they darted to his Status Plate. Couldn't hurt to check, right...? Just to see if it had fixed itself.
Name: ?
Sex: Male
Title(s): N/A
Level: 8
Job: Doctor/Alchemist
Str: 17/24/41
Vit: 22/24/46
Def: 17/24/41
Agi: 57/24/91
Mag: 207/24/231
Mag. Def: 77/24/101
Skill: Transmutation (Mineral Appraisal, Increased Transmutation Speed)
Error
Language Comprehension
Error
'Nope, still screwy.' He thought to himself, tossing the slate back onto the table with a dejected sigh. They had given him three different Status Plates, only for each of them to do this exact thing! After the third one they gave up and just left it, citing reasons that summed up to 'User Error'.
He quickly skimmed through the last book he had taken from the library and tossed it into the 'Useless' pile. He grabbed the cup of tea he had brewed (they hadn't ever heard of coffee- and if that didn't just ruin his mood, all they had was tea. He hated tea) and drained it, grimacing as the cold drink cascaded down his throat. He couldn't decide which he hated more, the temperature or the fact that it tasted good. Disgruntled, he gathered up the 'Useless' books and began to head for the library (who's librarian had a decidedly worse sleep schedule than his own) to exchange them for other books. As he was about to open the door, someone on the other side knocked sharply.
'Who could be knocking at this hour?' He wondered, setting the books down and opening the door.