Chapter 2.
About a month ago, I—Majima Takahiro—was transported to another world along with the students and staff of the high school that I attend, XX No.1 Prefectural High School.
Right after suddenly being hit by a sense of intoxication while in cla.s.s, we found ourselves surrounded by an unknown scenery.
A dense forest. Damp air.
It was clearly a place other than modern j.a.pan.
Honestly, I was stunned. Unable to comprehend the situation, I could only wander about in confusion.
Before long, the teachers and several students started to a.s.semble the confused students.
One of the teachers said he would go scouting, and disappeared into the forest.
It was a heroic action.
He must’ve been a good teacher with a sense of responsibility. But unfortunately, because he was in charge of cla.s.ses of a different year, I didn’t know his name.
Right after the screams of his last moments were heard, it happened.
What made us cower in bloodcurdling fear was the appearance of a lizard-like monstrosity over five meters long that walked upright in front of us――a dragon.
In its mouth, the dragon was holding the corpse of the teacher who had went scouting.
The students fell into a panic.
In the midst of the chaos, I was thrust aside by someone and fell to the ground. I think I was really fortunate to have avoided receiving any serious injuries, despite being stepped on a few times and screaming out loud.
Moreover, I was also lucky to be in a spot away from the dragon.
I saw the students who, unlike me, were unlucky enough to be eaten one after the other by the dragon.
If this continues, I will soon be eaten as well. Everything in my eyes became dark from despair.
I think it was the third person.
A male student was cornered by the dragon.
Because I fell down and couldn’t run away, I ended up fixedly watching his predicament.
He was unable to stand, and the dragon attempted to eat his upper body.
“Hi-hiyaaaaaaaaaa――!”
He probably wasn’t thinking about anything.
The student struggled as hard as he could, widely flailing both of his arms.
With a speed eyes couldn’t follow.
With an unimaginable force.
The next moment, the dragon’s face was blown off.
The scene was like a joke. In fact, the most surprised person was probably the student who actually killed the dragon.
And thus, we were able to overcome the first threat.
With the power bestowed upon us――cheat abilities.
＊＊＊
I wonder if you’ve ever read a story about getting transferred to another world?
It’s unfortunate, but I haven’t.
However, according to a discussion I had with a good friend of mine, ‘students from modern j.a.pan getting transferred to fantasy-like worlds’ is a seemingly popular theme among young people.
Although if you’d actually experienced it yourself, it’s nothing but misfortune.
But why did stories of such a genre became popular? When I first heard about it, I really couldn’t understand.
Well, wouldn’t you agree?
We were born and raised in a modern j.a.pan that was both complacent and disposed to peace, and as students without any special powers, in another world where swords and magic exist, our existence is simply one to be devoured.
Even if you went to another world, you probably couldn’t play an active role in it. At best, you would only be able to live while in hiding. However, that wouldn’t make a good plot.
The answer to those questions of mine was something called the ‘cheat ability’.
“Cheat” was originally a word meaning to ‘trick’ or ‘deceive’, but in j.a.pan it’s now used as a gaming term in things like net games, where a modding tool is used to perform normally impossible manipulations.
It is a template of sorts in stories where people who reincarnate in or transfer to another world possess strong powers that defy common sense.
That is probably why such acquired powers are also called a ‘cheat’.
Be that as it may, I still couldn’t understand the mentality of my best friend who said, “For those of us who came to this world, it’s natural to be endowed with cheat abilities”.
At any rate, we were actually able to obtain mysterious powers.
One person was able to smash open the ground using one’s bare hands, and another was able to wield an indescribable power that could only be called magic. Strangely, they seemed to know instinctively how to use their powers, and controlled them as naturally as breathing.
Then, without further consideration, we called them ‘cheat abilities’.
Thanks to cheat abilities, a world wherein we would normally be nothing but overwhelmed by monsters became remarkably easy to live in.
We built a temporary shelter, repelled monsters and removed threats. As a matter of fact, we added them to our current rations.
However, not everyone was blessed with a cheat ability.
At most, only a third held cheat abilities—about 300 people.
Those who held cheat abilities went into the forest to hunt and protected the temporary shelter. Because they primarily conducted explorations of the forest, we named them the ‘Scouting Corps’.
Those without cheat abilities became engaged with the construction works of the temporary shelter. In contrast with the ‘Scouting Corps’, they were referred to as the ‘Stay Behind Group’. We named the settlement that was thus completed: ‘Colony’.
By the way, I didn’t have a cheat ability, and my otaku friend who taught me about cheat abilities didn’t have one either. There are those with cheat abilities and those without. Perhaps there was some theory behind it, but unfortunately, I didn’t know those reasons.
To be precise, there seems to have been some improvement in physical strength, etc., for the remaining 700 people but those were too trivial; not to an extent where it could be said to be a cheat ability. I also felt some slight discomfort with my body, but that could be said to be at the level of no more than an illusion or feelings of stress originating from the mayhem.
A week later…
Even though there were some additional victims, the students who were transferred to another world tentatively became able to experience a somewhat steady lifestyle.
At that time, something like a system of government, run by one portion of the students, also began to function.
Because there were nearly 1,000 people, the existence of a system to unify them was absolutely necessary.
Having done that, the next thing on our minds was discovering what kind of world this was.
At this point, no one believed that this was our original world anymore. If we asked those who had the inherent cheat abilities of controlling magic to teach us, we could even learn how to use magic.
Of course, only those who already had cheat abilities were given the opportunity to learn magic. They had to fight for our livelihood, and—as one might have expected—had no spare time to teach magic to those of us of the Stay Behind Group who were living in the temporary dwellings a.s.sembled from all kinds of trees that were cut down.
At any rate, we were searching for knowledge about this world.
Are there humans like us here?
If there are, how can we escape from this forest to meet them?
Thus, the First Expedition Unit was formed. Their aim was to escape this forest. Thinking back on it now, I can’t help but to feel a sense of irony towards that name. Because a Second Expedition Unit would never be dispatched for the rest of eternity.
One week after the Expedition Unit left, our temporary shelter—the Colony—was destroyed.
Some of the people with cheat abilities staged a coup d’état.
Thrust from their former world into the middle of a forest of another world where laws do not exist, it was hard for the students to retain their morals. It is even more so for those who gained something like cheat abilities. Power drives people mad. Youth leads people astray. It’s that kind of thing.
Aiming for the absence of the First Expedition Unit, a group of ambitious people, the Revolt Group, gathered and staged a coup d’état.
An intense battle ensued between the students who tried to maintain order and the students of the Revolt Group.
A cheat ability is a power that can easily kill even dragons.
Because of the conflict between those who hold such powers, students without cheat abilities, including myself, could only run about, trying to escape.
It still would’ve been fine if they were just running about, trying to escape.
It wasn"t only just a portion of the people with cheat abilities who had lost reason.
Even the students without cheat abilities abandoned themselves to violence.
In the midst of this, I was violently a.s.saulted by fellow students of the Stay Behind Group.
If I had to say what went wrong, I think it was just bad luck. There were others like me, who were also victims of the commotion.
No one came to help.
I guess that no one had the leisure to do something like that. Everyone was desperate to survive. That was a logical rationale.
However, my emotions were a different matter. The sight of numerous students witnessing me being a.s.saulted, yet pretending not to and continuing to escape, tore my heart to shreds.
The only reason I survived was because I was lucky.
Just then, a fight between cheat ability users broke out nearby, and everyone was. .h.i.t by the resulting shockwave.
The students who were violent towards me were all turned into black ashes.
Only I, who had fallen to the ground, survived.
It was all about luck. There was nothing odd about dying or getting killed.
The moment I recognized this, my wounded heart felt as if it had become awfully empty.
Forcing my injured body onwards, I escaped into the depths of the forest, and wandered inside for several days.
Then, this morning, I found a cave and took refuge there.
Even though I had found a place to take refuge in, I, who had barely escaped with my life, couldn’t do anything hereafter.
After all, there are many monsters rampant in this forest, and without any cheat abilities or means of fighting, I became unable to leave the cave.
If I’d really wanted to survive, maybe I should’ve taken a risk and looked for people I could trust before leaving the Colony.
However, in the midst of that confusion, I wasn’t able to do that. No, even if it hadn’t been a situation like that, where you didn’t know what would happen in the next minute, I think it would have been impossible for me, as I am now, to make such a choice.
I could no longer believe in humans any more.
Human beings are nothing but trash.
That conviction might’ve been the only thing I gained after coming into this world.
Or perhaps I might’ve lost something important as a person.
Either way, it was inconsequential for me, as I was already about to die.