“Papa, what is today’s target?”
As I sat at the breakfast table, I asked my father, who was sitting in front of me, this question. My pop is a lazy, middle-aged man who grows a beard, and looks like a Waru Kei(悪系) . Having an evil expression coupled with a beard, there were rumors that any person would always be afraid the first time he or she saw him. Even babies would start to cry. In such a remote farming village, they don’t expect such a character to stay permanently, so they were scared when he first immigrated here. By the way, he will be 30 this year.
Papa swallowed a piece of hard bread dipped in goat’s milk, then answered my inquiry.
“Aim for the hummingbirds, Eldo. At least 3 birds”
“Hummingbirds you say?… They are troublesome you know”
“It’s a request from the village chief. It seems to be necessary for the village. I’m certain you that, if it’s you, they can be taken down. I am expecting it”
The hummingbirds are medium sized birds that move between trees at high speed like bees. You cannot hit them with an arrow, because they move so fast that, even if you set a trap, they will just break it with their natural power.
If that is the case, I can certainly capture them if I use my magic. But, even though it’s possible, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s troublesome.
“Aren’t you expecting too much from a kid? I’m still just 8 years old”
Yes, I am still 8 years old, but I can use magic much better than anyone else in the village. Its unthinkable to them that the mind of an 8 year old could grow up to this much, but my body itself is definitely that of an 8 year old.
To such a kid, who will have a hard time catching 3 hummingbirds with all the other monsters living in the forest, it is not a usual request.
“It was decided based on your accomplishments”
“Hah…It can’t be helped then.”
“Eldo-chan is more excellent than Papa, so it’s only natural for you to be relied on”
While saying this, my mother placed my breakfast in front of me.
Because my father is somewhat a scary Waru Kei, you would think my mother looks like a Gyaru Kei(ギャル系), but she uses a neat, tidy, and cute style. Mama’s tea-colored ponytail hair bounce prettily in sync with her movements today. I don’t know how they met up to the point where they got married, I think Papa was threatened, that is what I secretly believe.
With just a single word from Mama, Papa will gouge out his heart and all he can do is hold on to it to his chest .
Such a sad state.
“I will hunt down a three-horned cow within this week. So that we can live comfortably for a while”
The three-horned cow that my Papa was talking about is a very rare creature, even in this country very few are found. However their meat is very delicious, it seems to be traded between n.o.bles for a considerable price. If you can hunt one of that animal, your family can live in luxury without any worries in income for half a year. But because they are rare, a restriction was put in place on the time to hunt them, and on top of that any hunters who doesn’t have a license are prohibited to hunt them. Papa is definitely one those who has a license.
The beginning of this spring was the time where hunting is permitted. To hunt one down by the end of the week, so that means—-
“Did you find one?”
“Yes, but its located deep in the forest, carrying it will be hard and it’s not a short distance to drag it”
“If that’s the case, can I go and help you out?”
I gave my suggestion to Papa but he got upset and frowned. Having already a fierce looking face, the corner of his eyes rose up giving a more evil look. Maybe if you are weak and got glared by those eyes, I feel like it would likely kill you.
“Whoa there, being a hunter for 10 years is not just for show you know? I alone is not a problem”
“Well then, if Papa’s hunting is a success, we must celebrate!”
I clapped my hand, Mama laughed delightfully.
“If I hunted one, it doesn’t mean we can get a large sum of money immediately”
“Then we celebrate half a month after then”
Mama returned happily to the kitchen without hearing any of it. Anyway, I need to think of what to buy when the peddler comes around to this place next time.
I quickly crammed my breakfast to my stomach and left my seat.
“Thank you for the meal”
“Leaving soon?”
“Since it’s three of them, it probably take a whole day”
I took down from the wall a set of hunting equipment, placed a hatchet on my waist and shouldered the bag that had specialized weapons. I did not took the bow. It won’t hit the hummingbird anyway, so my weapon would be my magic.
“Well then, I’m off”
“Have a good day”
“Watch out for the valley”
“You already warned me many times”
While having a bitter smile, that warning became my father’s favorite phrase, I left the house.
As soon as I left the house, I could feel the warm breeze of spring, the fragrant smell of flowers slowly drifts in the air.
The animals starts to become active when it’s getting warm. As I was walking towards the forest thinking this would be an easy hunt, someone greeted me from behind.
“Good Morning Eldo!”
I looked back, its the only other person who has the same age as me.Or rather, the only other child in this entire village that has only 2 children. It’s Anjou, the village chief’s daughter.
If you describe Anjou in a single sentence, she’s a beautiful girl.
She inherited her mother’s blue eyes and blonde hair, she had a pure upbringing without a sliver of malice touching her. As a precious child of the village, Anjou was raised carefully, exactly like the village’s idol.
Well,I’m also one of those precious children that has been raised carefully but…… You see, my thinking is that of an adult already, I can be cunning in various ways.
“It’s Anjou, Good morning. It’s unusual to meet you at this time”
Every morning, Anjou takes care of the vegetables and I go out to hunt, because of this it’s rare for us to meet. We usually play after work is done in the morning or later in the evening.
“Ah, yes. I’m going to tend the vegetable after this, there is something I want to give to you from before”
“To me?”
Did I lend something to Anjou? I don’t particularly remember……I mean it would be nuisance to return it before going on a hunt.
“I heard that Grandpa requested Eldo to hunt hummingbirds”
“Yes”
“Doesn’t Eldo-kun always told me it takes a great amount of time to find a hummingbird? Therefore, this!”
She held out something while she said so, a wooden box the size of a lunchbox. Well, it’s a lunchbox if I say so myself. It’s tied down with a string on a cross formation so that the lid will not open.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a sandwich I made. It’s good if you eat it during lunch”
“Oh, Thank you for this”
Because it’s troublesome to return home during noontime, I was thinking of getting through with it only on forest fruits or something. Then came the lunchbox which I’m truly grateful of.
“Did you made this by yourself? Only Anjou? “
“U, un. However I got some a.s.sistance from mother……. “
Anjou nodded so as she hides her fingertips in embarra.s.sment. At that time, I noticed that there are bandages on Anjou’s fingertips.
It seems she was not used to it even though she tried really hard.
“I see, thank you. I’m looking forward for the lunch”
I thank her while I pat Anjou’s head. She likes to be patted on the head like from the old days. More precisely she is childish, because its a fact that she is still a child, when I pat her she seems really pleased. Is she really glad to be patted by someone as old as her? Well it’s probably because I have been doing it to her since we were 4 years old that this just became a habit.
“Its good that you are looking forward to it, but can you focus on your hunt properly? And because you are sleepy always that I’m worried.”
“I’m not sleep you know?”
“I’m not convinced when you are telling me that with half-open eyes ……”
I’m not particularly conscious of it, but I always seem to have my eyes half-closed. It would appear that I’m sleepy to those who see it and will become worried. Oh well, it’s thanks to the grace of G.o.d that I didn’t inherit papa’s glinting eyes, although to be asked if I need help every time……. is a little troublesome.
“Anyway, it seems to be alright. I’m going now “
“Un, have a nice day”
“Good luck to you”
While receiving a send-off from Anjou, I went into the into the woods.
It’s eerie and dim inside forest that hasn’t been touch by human hands.
Inside the forest, I climbed up to one of the trees as I activated my magic.
On top of my palm a semi-transparent sphere floats, red dot moves around restlessly.
I was using search magic. The range is usually around a 100 meters in radius. I can detect that there are creatures but I cannot discern what kind is it.
This magic is not easy to use, but I’m dealing with it as I improve this little by little.
When I fire of that magic, I can examine around a 300 meter circle with me at the center of it. If I shoot this in a straight line in front of me, then my search range can reach up to 800 meters. And by sweeping it around, I performed it like a search radar.
According to the villagers that can use magic, this was a great idea, but for me this idea is only natural. After all, I know such a thing like the convenient Radar.
Yes, I’m a reincarnated person. Up until eight years ago, I lived in j.a.pan. At that time when I was twenty-two years old, I went to an engineering university and I drew out my last breath at the place of my employment.
I can’t remember accurately how I died, but it probably was an accident. Oh well, I’m not really interested at how it ended.
Anyhow, now I’m living a new life as Eldo, I was impressed for a short while that this world has magic in it, but my soul is unsatisfied.
Certainly, the use of magic is fun. Or rather, it’s thanks to the knowledge from my previous life that using magic is much easier.
Because of that, the village had the best magicians and hunters.
However, the school I went to previously was teaching engineering. And the reason I went to it, is because of my hobby.
“I want to operate a robot”
I’m Hase Shuichi, twenty two years old. Operating robots is my hobby. This is my profile from my previous life.
I belonged to the Robot Research Club at my university, I also played in RoboCon as a pilot. Of course I like robot anime. When a c.o.c.kpit style game cabinet appeared at the game center, I was really impressed.
This hobby still remains strongly even now that I’m reincarnated.
But this world is a fantasy. Furthermore, there is no electricity at this civilization level. Although there seems are places which uses coal, but this remote village is only limited to using charcoal.
Such things like a robot won’t exist at this level of civilization ……
“Haa……… Huh, there’s a reaction”
Letting out a small sigh, I detected some movement which looks like a hummingbird in my search magic.
The hummingbird is a medium sized bird almost as big as a crow, unlike earth’s hummingbird but the way the fly and hover is the same, they fly around the gaps in the forest with such precision. As for their movement characteristics.For a bird the size of a crow, the flapping speed of the wing is unusual and they can hover on the spot, its unimaginable if you consider the laws of physics from my previous life, but this is a fantasy world any abnormal phenomenon can be chalked up to the word “fantasy”.
So, I gave up on trying to understand it.
As I locked on my search magic towards the direction of the hummingbird, before I jump out of the tree and risk losing sight of it, I went toward the there.
“[Aero Thruster]“
I accelerated at once using the momentum of the air bursting under my feet.
I ran between the trees and sometimes jumped on to the branches, while I hack away the leaves with the blade of my hatchet to go through the shortest route.
And then, I found a bird who is moving subtly.
“[Down Burst]!”
I casted my magic towards the target. Unlike the actual scientific phenomenon, this magic is only a wind striking into the ground, but I gave it that name because it looks the same.
The hummingbird, driven by the sudden strong wind, slammed its body to the ground. In addition, the ferocious wind is still blowing down, which made hummingbird unable to fly away.
Large birds have low bone density. Therefore, it doesn’t have enough strength to support the body.
Pinning down the hummingbird while struggling in place, I swung down the hatchet to its neck.
I slashed the neck without any resistance and blood gushed out dyeing the ground red, the smell of iron wafts through the air.
“Phew. First bird down. “
It felt quite a long time had pa.s.sed as I started to drain the blood out of the bird.
I’m stuffing my mouth with the sandwich that Anjou made while looking at the small fishes jumping out from the stream.
The sandwich is made with a basic set of vegetables and ham. Not only does she help around the house on a daily basis, this tasted great too.
“She’s going to be an excellent wife someday— no wait, will she become my wife?”
The are only 2 children in the village, Anjou and me. If we grow up without any incident, it will almost certain that Anjou and I will get married. Somehow it feels that the surrounding adults are pushing for it to happen.
Well, I don’t have any complaints. Even now, Anjou is a cute and beautiful girl. The path to being a beautiful person in the future is certain. She have good looks, and her cooking is delicious. There won’t be any negative factor.
But, I wonder at the same time if this a good situation.
In spite of receiving valuable experience from the rare reincarnation, will I be constrained and die in this remote village?
Given the narrative of me going to travel in the future, deepening relationships with people from various surrounding countries, and seeing the world around while lending a helping hand to those in need seems to be the best, unfortunately I don’t have the motivation to carry out that troublesome narrative.
“Well, I will leave it to fate then”
In the end, I settled with that conclusion.
I toss the remaining piece of sandwich to my mouth, and quenched my thirst with water.
There is only clean river water in the countryside, it is still cold at this time of spring.
“Phew …… Now then, shall we work more?”
I cleaned up my lunchbox and I activated my search magic again.
Since I have been chasing hummingbirds, I have already entered the deep part of the forest, there are a lot of creatures in here, my search magic displays a myriad of red dots.
While observing their movement one by one, I move to the location little by little.
Despite the improved search magic, it was only by luck that I was able to hunt 2 birds in the morning. Thanks to it, I don’t have to worry about the time limit in the afternoon.
I can concentrate on exploration without getting too worked up.
“This is…… Different. Perhaps its a b.u.t.terfly. And this one……. Looks like a lizard “
There are a lot of unexpected creatures that are moving subtly. Neither reptiles nor insects looks like a hummingbird but their movements are hare very hard to discern.
Even if you think you have finally found it, most of the time when I reached the location, it was actually a lizard.
Still, I persevere for about another hour I think.
“I found you!”
There was a reaction in the search magic.
Subtle movement, then will hold still in place for a few seconds. After some time, it will move to another location and will hold still again.
It looks like a lizard or an insect, but the repet.i.tion of subtly moving and holding still is unusual.
As I hang on to that glimmer of hope, I casted [Aero Thruster] and ran through the woods.
And I found the one bird that has a unique way of flying while holding still in the air.
It still hasn’t noticed that I’m here, it is desperately sucking nectar from the white flowers that bloomed in the bushes.
“I can finally go home with this!”
I removed the hatchet from it’s sheath, and I set up a magic towards the hummingbird.At that instant, the hummingbird noticed me here.
The hummingbird have an explosive power to soar immediately. Hummingbird that found me, when pulling out the tongue from flowers, hide and to stretch and raised in the tree. That hummingbird found me. it quickly pulled out its tongue from the flower and rose to hid behind the tree. But—
Don’t think you can ran away from me with just this. [Air Blast]! “
I antic.i.p.ated it will escape at first. So, I have a magic just for the occasion, this is not intended to slam down the hummingbird but to blow its surroundings.
A huge lump of air burst out from my left hand, knocking the tree where the hummingbird was hiding.
Birds and insects who were resting on the tree flew away all together and the vicinity became very noisy.
All of my nerves were on high alert as birds were escaping with all their might as the leaves flutter down. And then, I finally caught my prey.
“[Down Burst]!”
I shot my magic towards the hummingbird. Just before it hits, the hummingbird suddenly changed direction by 90 degrees, it had flown outside the effective range of [Down Burst].
“Tsk, I missed it huh”
This is unusual. That animal, it was able to dodge as if it can sense magic.
This fellow, that hummingbird just now, is able to change its movement direction as soon as it notice that magic is just about to be casted. Because of that my magic will not hit it at all.
If this is a common bird or beast, I could kill it with a bow, but the hummingbird is different. In the first place you can’t hit it with an arrow, then it’s able to dodge magic, this is close to stalemate.
However, I finally found the last hummingbird. Also if I look for another one again, it will take me several hours to find one. Because the forest became noisy after I had used that magic earlier, it became difficult to use search magic.
That’s why, no matter what I must catch it!
I returned my hatchet to its sheath while using [Aero Thruster], then I constructed a new magic onto my hand.
“[Active Wing], [Quadruple Installation]“
As the magic was waiting on my hand, I slapped both my shoulders and both sides of my thighs in these order with my other hand. Then the magic that was on standby in my hand, moved to the location where I slapped previously.
After confirming it, I spoke the activation word for the magic that’s on standby mode.
“[Start]!”
The magic sp.a.w.ned four small wings. The wings that are on both shoulders and thighs are too small to fly properly on the air.
However, the forest has an important factor which is that the trees has grown very thick branches to use as a foothold.
The four small wings moves according to my will. As it is, my body is now very stable in the air.
To add up, I raised the power of [Aero Thruster] to maximum which I have been suppressing so far.
The tree branch that I used as a foothold cannot withstand the air explosion, that it got torn off into thousand pieces.
The wind pressure hitting on my body is incomparable to before, It’s even hard to open my eyes.
While I make sure that I can see properly, I chased the hummingbird using the att.i.tude control of the [Active Wing].
There is only one way to catch a hummingbird that can avoid magic and arrows.
You just have to catch up with it and grab the scruff of the neck.
“Waaaaaiiiiiit!”
I came closer gradually as the hummingbird desperately flaps its wings.
I’m already at a distance where I can reached it if I forcibly reached out my hand. However, the balance will be messed up if I reached out now. Don’t be impatient and calm down. Just a little more, just fifty more centimeters!
Here I go! The moment I thought so, the hummingbird suddenly changed its flight direction.
It’s so agile, again it did a 90 degree right turn. So I used a tree trunk as a foothold to change direction immediately. I could hear the tree creaking while it falls behind me, at that moment I’m already far away from it.
Despite chasing it with that much speed, the distance between me and the hummingbird was wide open again.
“d.a.m.n, that guy is feeling c.o.c.ky.”
The high-speed pursuit race has restarted in the forest.
I don’t even know where I am in the forest anymore. I hate it that I’m lost, I have been going all around in confusion as the scenery changed suddenly as there are now more trees are all over the place.
Maybe this is the aim of the hummingbird, such bad luck! I understand now, it really wants me to give up!
I felt an unusual tension as I was trying to grab the back of the hummingbird again.
“This time for sure!”
At that moment the hummingbird looked back at me and I felt something was not right, but I can not afford to worry about such a thing now.
There is a light that shines up a little ahead. Maybe that is an exit to a possible open s.p.a.ce. If that’s the case, I’m gonna be losing my footholds and the hummingbird will get away.
I have to catch it before that happens!
I put a lot of force on my foot and kick the branch.
“Reach iiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttt !!!!”
I outstretched my right arm and could feel the foot of the hummingbird at the tip of my finger, I then suddenly grabbed the slim ankle.
Even tough the hummingbird was panicking as it tries to desperately flap its wing, I have finally caught my prey and I have no intention of letting it go.
I pulled back my arm, and held the neck of the hummingbird, which was running wild with my left hand. The hummingbird cannot escape me any longer.
“I did it!”
At the same time I caught it, I had already went out to the place where the light shined .
I put up some air brakes on the [Active Wing] for landing. As I was looking at the ground to decide on a landing point, my face muscles twitched.
There is no ground.
“This is the valley!”
You see, deep within the forest, there is a huge valley which we were always been to to be really careful, the enormous waterflow from the mountainous areas flows though here
This river became a big river that leads all the way to the capital of the this country, but that’s not what I’m worried about now.
The valley has been weathered for a very long time and is very deep. Such height is not easy to climb. To begin with, there is large amount of water coming in from different places flowing into the bottom of the valley. If a person fell there, they would be jostled like a leaf of a tree.
“This guy, this is what you are trying to do!”
Hummingbird was planning to escape by flying across the valley. I thought about it as I look at the hummingbird on my left hand that had stop trashing about, it’s like its saying “We’re gonna die together” as it stares back at me.
This egghead decided at that moment to hold on to dear life on my hands
“Hey, don’t ever think that!”
Falling from this height to the water’s surface, is no different than falling on to concrete.
Looking ahead at the river, it’s a straight line to death.
The hummingbird became quiet as I forcibly stuffed it into the bag, I then activated my magic.
[Aero Thruster] is a magic that burst out compressed air between the ground and my feet. So it doesn’t serve me good when falling. Therefore, another magic must be activated.
“[Air Shock Absorber], [Quadruple Setup]! [Open]!”
Four wall of air materialized in front of me. Even if the effectiveness of the individual shock absorber is small, if 4 of them are piled up, it will certainly slow me down considerably.
I crashed on the first wall. The first wall stretch a little bit but it ripped easily. Immediately following is the second wall, which was also torn easily, but my speed had slowed certainly compared to before.
The effects multiplier of the magic to reduce the speed had risen.
The third wall stretched a little bit further before it was torn. And then, the fourth wall.
I rushed to the wall, hoping that I can endure it a little bit more.
I could feel my body being jerked while also sensing that my speed had dropped
When I burst out of the last wall, my speed had fallen to half of what it used to at the beginning.
“Alright, now this!”
My speed dropped but there is another magic that I can use to further lessen the impact of the fall.
“[Air Cushion], [Quadruple Setup]! [Open]!”
As I approached the river closer, I immediately was able to invoke with all my power a cushion of air.
I prayed to fate afterwards.
After I confirmed that the magic got deployed, I tightly closed my eyes and and I curled up into a ball to protect my head, and then I fell to the river making a splash.
“Kooof! Kooof! “
Immediately after my consciousness woke up slightly, I was coughing with full force.
I spat out water that I accidentally swallowed and was breathing roughly.
It’s incredibly painful, but isn’t it evidence that I’m alive if I can feel the pain?
I seem to have been washed ash.o.r.e on the riverbank while drifting along the way. I wasn’t swept away too far as I’m still in the ravine of the valley. I lie on my back as I look up to the sky
“Haa …… Haa…… I’m still alive……”
There are birds that looks like a kite circling above the ravine.
While thinking about escaping towards the sky, I saw something that doesn’t look like a rock at the edge of my view.
“What …… Is this ……”
I turned my face towards that place and fixed my gaze.
I kept my gaze at it while rising up my body.
A humongous figure sitting down as if leaning against the wall of the ravine.
Both feet are sprawled about, it looks like sleeping is sitting position, my heart was beating so fast..
“Is it …… A robot?”
An artificial silver giant. The encounter between me and Aluminare, along with my survival, can be even be said to be a miracle.