For humans living in a fantasy world, it’s more reality than fantasy – its real.
It wouldn"t be wrong to say that it was an unreasonable reality.
The reality that I, [Amano Taiyo] lived in was also unreasonable.
In a room called the "Third staff room", the teachers were working busily after school.
There were many staff rooms in [Oka1 Academy] just because the building was that big. Showing just abundant it was with both teachers and students.
…in my second life, I certainly didn"t expect to be called into the staff room after the closing ceremony.
I tried to think of why I was called.
Black hair and eyes, hair that"s generally cut short except for the bangs. I"m slightly taller than I was in my previous life being in the latter half of the 170 cm2. My body itself being quite trained.
Because my uniform wasn"t ruined, it probably wasn"t because of a dress code violation.
Although I"ve kept the facial features of my previous life, I considered my looks to be pretty above average due to my training. However, I"m nothing special, I"d still be considered an inconspicuous mob character in cla.s.s.
However, it’s still not bad enough to be called out just because of my appearance.
As for my grades, even though it’s my second life I can"t say that my grades are too excellent.
It’s not like I"m just goofing around though, I"m seriously working as hard as I can.
Thanks to that, my grades aren"t too bad.
…though they"re not the best.
Was it because of my att.i.tude in cla.s.s or something?
No, it can"t be that either. Oka Academy is a boarding school after all.
I"ve been quite serious in my daily life, my cla.s.s att.i.tude could be compared to that of an honour student. Besides, I don"t have the time or money to be playing around.
Nevertheless, the instructor, [Kurata Daichi]-sensei was sitting in a chair in front of me with a troubled face. Shifting on the seat cushion, he took off his suit jacket.
He then proceeded to remove his tie and roll up his sleeves.
He was thick and brave-faced for a teacher, he had the kind of face that a character who had fought in the fiercest of battles might have- no, he probably had actually fought in fights as fierce as what I"m thinking of.
His hair was already grey, but I couldn"t see him any older than his 50"s.
He sighed deeply at the sight of me.
"Instructor, can you please tell me the reason why you called me here?"
I had finally finished my first semester of highschool, and was planning how to spend my summer vacation when I was suddenly called here.
Kurata sensei opened his heavy mouth.
"Amano… your withdrawal has been decided at the staff meeting. "
“Huh!?”
When I called out in surprise, Kurata-sensei shook his head in frustration, as if disappointed in me.
"Do you really not know why we"re doing this to you?"
Oka Academy is very different from an ordinary high school.
Usually, school was a place you went to without paying to receive a compulsory education.
However, Oka Academy and several other schools across the country are special schools that pay for most of the student"s tuition and living expenses.
Equipped with the newest facilities, they are far more blessed than the average school.
…but of course there was a reason why.
It"s because Oka Academy is managed by the country and the adventurer"s guild.
Their policy was to secure and nurture the future adventurers of j.a.pan.
It was only necessary to contribute to the guild, even if you didn"t become an adventurer, n.o.body would complain. It"d still benefit the guild in the long run.
And yet, I was told I was going to be withdrawn from Oka Academy.
"This is a school that cultivates adventurers, so I"ll become an adventurer."
Kurata-sensei looked amazed at my response.
"I know that you"re a serious student and you don"t want to drop out if possible, but Amano… we just can"t accept your [Job], can"t you change it?"
We were having a conversation in a j.a.panese faculty room, but my surroundings seemed to warp around me. Some teachers glanced at me from the corner of their eyes, but didn"t seem to interested in what was happening.
This world… while it was set in modern j.a.pan, it was a world fused with a fantasy setting.
Monsters prowl the wilds, dungeons suddenly manifest from thin air, it’s that kind of feeling.
When you defeat them, the bodies of monsters will dissipate into thin air, but there"s also a crystalline material called "manastone" that"s left behind.
It was quite excellent as an energy source.
Thanks to manastones, j.a.pan in this world, which accounts for 80-90% of the dungeons around the world, was a technological and economic superpower that held plenty of resources as well.
Perhaps it"d be nice to think of it as a contemporary fantasy world.
"No, but… Once I get rid of my job, I"ll never be able to obtain it again."
While listening to my reply, Kurata-sensei nodded, "Exactly."
"You"re already a highschool student but your job is still "warrior". Everyone around you has already discarded that job by the time they first entered this place in spring. In fact, out of all the students currently enrolled in the school, you"re the last one to have "warrior" still set as their job."
[Jobs] – the power bestowed to mankind by the G.o.ds to fight monsters. Granting them the ability to use use special skills and techniques that would normally be impossible in reality.
Knowledge and other gifts are also recieved with a job, but everyone can only have one at a time. There are a few exceptions of people that have two jobs, but it’s generally accepted that it’s only one per person.
Jobs were special, and even though there were plenty of stories of people becoming the strongest due to a special job, I had still chosen the one accepted as the weakest.
Everyone in this world is born with the job of [warrior].
It wasn"t that strong by itself, but it didn"t have any special techniques either.
Even with magic, I"ll never be able to manipulate it as well as a specialized cla.s.s.
It was common sense to receive it when they were born, and to remove it by the time they reach the upper grades in elementary school or as soon as possible, as get a new job to train for the future.
Yes, that was the common sense in this world.
The "warrior" job is the weakest, and is said to be embarra.s.sing to have at my age.
"No, I want to become stronger as a warrior. Kurata-sensei, I told you this when we first met, so you understand my commitment, don"t you?"
Kurata-sensei nodded slightly, but then he turned his eyes toward the other teachers.
"At the staff meeting, I also objected, telling them what you told me, but even if you weren"t forced to withdraw, there"s still no reason to fight as only a warrior."
"I"m planning to become an adventurer in the future with my job as a warrior! There"s nothing wrong with that that goes against the school regulations!"
Kurata-sensei handed a sheet of paper over to me.
It was dealt with at the staff meeting.
"Even if you meet the qualifications, there"s n.o.body in the guild that wants your help as long as you keep your job as a warrior."
Looking around at my surroundings, all the teachers who made eye contact with me suddenly turned away.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});"F-for that kind of…"
I couldn"t find my words, so Kurata-sensei called out to me.
"…for the time being we"ve decided to withdraw you from school, but that can change. Change jobs during the summer holidays, and we"ll gladly welcome you back."
…if I did that, then everything that I"ve worked for so far would"ve been for nothing. I didn"t choose to be a warrior just to fool around.
But I"d also be troubled if I was forced to drop out.
"…I can"t do that."
“Hey, just drop that pride of yours already. I know how much being a warrior means to you, and how much it would frustrate you to change jobs, but this is for the better. I thought you were smarter than that."
If I was truly honest with myself, then I would"ve changed jobs by now due to everyone"s evaluation. It’s better to live comfortably without conflict after all.
But I haven"t yet because I can"t do it!
"…that"s impossible."
Kurata-sensei crossed his arms, frowning.
It looked like he was contemplating how to persuade me.
If you just looked at appearances, he definitely looked like a strict teacher, but he was actually a really nice guy. I didn"t want to annoy him if possible, but I had my reasons for doing so.
…it was painful that I couldn"t tell other people about it.
Even if I were able to say so, n.o.body would believe me.
If I was in someone else"s place, and somebody was shouting "The warrior cla.s.s is actually the strongest job!" I definitely wouldn"t believe them.
It was at that moment, when I avoided his eyesight since I couldn"t bear to look at him right then, that"s when I saw it. On the bulletin board of the staff room.
A brand new, freshly posted sign that stood out from the surrounding doc.u.ments that had faded over time from sunburn and other posters.
A single phrase-
"Come, adventurers! Get rich quick with dungeon subjugations! Nagano Prefecture Adventurer a.s.sociation."
– It showed an ill.u.s.tration of adventurers brandishing their weapons in front of a cave.
When I saw it, the first thing that came to mind was "Nagano"s Dungeon".
Whenever somebody discovers a dungeon, they have two options on what they can do.
Thoroughly manage and regulate it, or destroy it.
It’s absolutely out of the question to neglect it.
Noticing how I was staring at the poster, Kurata-sensei gave an explanation.
"Oh that? Some of the second and third years are going there to gain real life experience of what warfare will be like. Some of them are there to train themselves, but most are there for the monetary gain."
Originally, I was planning to head to a managed dungeon myself, but it looks like the school was able to make a deal with somebody from the a.s.sociation in Nagano.
Kurata-sensei seems to be the leader, gathering students together to challenge the dungeon.
"I"ll be partic.i.p.ating this year, but the work is tough. Why don"t you join as well? Change your job quickly and prepare yourself for next year, do you need money?"
Listening to his proposition, I blushed.
“That’s it!”
“…Huh?” Kurata-sensei replied to me with a surprised face.
"As long as I change my job by the end of summer vacation everything is fine, right? So it should be okay if I stay a warrior until August 31st. Instructor, please take me to Nagano."
Kurata-sensei seemed to have understood what my intentions were, but scrunched up his face in scrutiny.
"I can tell that you’re serious about this, but your not ready for it. You can join us next year in the second semester."
I know that, but by then I"d have to remove my warrior job.
I can"t do that.
"During this summer vacation, if I can show you that I can fight with a warrior"s job, will you change your mind?"
I stared at Kurata-sensei"s face seriously.
He ran his fingers through his grey hair and scratched his head in frustration to the point I was wondering if it would break.
"…we leave in three days."
"As expected of Kurata-sensei!"
While I was pleased, Kurata-sensei seemed more than discouraged.
"Putting that aside, do you have anyone who"d be willing to go with you? You won"t be allowed to explore the dungeon alone."
My euphoria from just now quickly gave way into depression. Seeing me in that state, Kurata-sensei threw out another lifeline.
"He may be a problem child, but he"s also partic.i.p.ating. I"ll introduce him to you, so let"s meet in the cla.s.sroom tomorrow morning."
I wasn"t planning on going home anyway. No, its because I don"t go home often that there isn"t any problem.
"You really saved me, I won"t forget what you did for me today."
To my words, Kurata-sensei replied with a joke.
"When you graduate and have a proper income, buy me some sake… Haa… I"m going to have a hard time at the staff meeting again."
…I’m really sorry.
While thinking that I"d like to share a drink with him someday, I left the staff room.
I was intending to go the cla.s.sroom, but along the way I stopped in the middle of the corridor.
I confirmed that there wasn"t anyone in my immediate vicinity, and sat down on the spot, my legs giving out on me.
“Okay good day … it was really good.”
"I"m soooo releeiiiiivvved…that was sooooo cloooooossseeeee…"
I really was relieved.
I was somehow created a chance for me to not drop out of school without removing my warrior job.
My life is at stake after all.
"…d.a.m.nit, even I…"
Tears started flowing out.
Why do I have to struggle so much in my second life?
At the very least, I wanted to be gifted a great ability or a weapon or something that would make living this life easier.
I would like to avoid removing my job or dropping out of Oka Academy.
Even if I leave school, that doesn"t mean I can"t become an adventurer. Even middle school graduates that don"t have the qualification can become adventurers.
In other words, I can quickly become an adventurer if I wanted to.
"Why did such a thing have to happen…?"
I remembered that moment.
Before my second life… before reincarnating as Amano Taiyo.
I started to remember that time.
It happened right after I died in a traffic accident.
Commonly known as… G.o.d"s reincarnation.
Well, he wasn"t commonly known by the public, nor did he a.s.sert himself as G.o.d.
But on that day, I was certainly incarnated.
While many of my memories from my past life had faded away, I could still remember that day clearly.
桜花 – Read as "oka" but uses the character for "Cherry blossoms(Sakura/桜)"About 5"6"Translated by KuroInfinity
Written by Wai / Yume Mishima