Kokooo! Kokooo!I reluctantly opened my eyes. The morning call of a bird waked me up. I pressed the back of my hand into my eye as I started to rub it. I stretched my arm as wide as I could and yawned. The bright morning sunbeams inside the room and warm sunny wind breezed in. I look at the window and saw...
I saw my little sister Namimi being murdered!
"Big brother! Help me! Help me! Big brother!"
"Ahhhhhhhh!" I breathed heavily as I got up abruptly from my sleep. It was just a dream. It was just... a dream.
This time I didn"t even bother rubbing my eye nor stretching my arms. As I got up from the floor, I decided to stretch my arms. Why was I sleeping on the floor?
That"s right! There"s a loli in here! I just summoned her yesterday.
I walked slowly into the bed with my cape on it. I slowly lifted the cape and tried to see if yesterday was just a dream. I was expecting a girl sleeping there but only find myself looking at a sleeping cat. I felt discouraged and disappointed.
I grabbed the cat by its nape and suddenly threw it out of bed. The cat looked surprised and groggy. I was surprised when the cat started to float in the air instead of crashing into a wall or falling down the floor.
I laid down in my own bed instead of mulling over that mysterious cat. The cat gave a long nyan like it gave out a yawn. She stretched her arms and legs in the air like any cat would do when they wake up.
The cat flew around the air like a boat on a river and ended on top of me. It slowly descended and finally stopped when it already sat on my face.
"Nyaaaaan~" it yawned again.
"What do you mean by "Nyaaaaan~?"" I asked it haughtily. "Get off my face you stupid cat!"
I grabbed it again and threw it away like the same time I did. But the result would be the same. She would float midair but this time it decided to sit on the floor.
I stared at the cat. She was licking her paws peacefully. She didn"t even bother biting me or scratching me. I looked closer at it. It had white fur that covers mostly its body and a golden blonde fur that starts from her forehead down to her shoulders.
I didn"t notice at first but there was a golden gem floating atop of its forehead. It was more like of a cursor which pointed at it. I clicked into my character panel and the name Nashiki Koneko didn"t disappear. I guess yesterday wasn"t a dream. It just turned out that I summoned a cat.
"Hey, come here." I ordered the cat. It responded obediently and jumped into my chest. She laid there like she was the most comfortable cat in the world. Unbelievable, this cat is beyond unbelievable.
I clicked the gem at top of its head. And my theories were proved right. This was a character panel that owners can access. A circular panel appeared and showed me various skills and stats as well as descriptions. I scrolled and scrolled till I stopped when it displayed some small circular circles. I clicked on each one of them and they seem to be some kind of special attributes that are yet to be unlocked.
Gathering all the information that I"ve learned about this cat is that this cat is a support type and non-combat type. Since her skills were either buffing, healing, and support.
I finally got out of bed and went into the main hall where we were supposed to meet. I"ve decided to call this cat by her name.
"Koneko, hump on my shoulder." She obediently followed my ordered and rested on my shoulder.
She looks happy and it made me smile a bit. I pat her head and she gave out a long and soothing nyan.
Nyaaaaan~ Nyan nyan~
d.a.m.n, that"s adorable.
I got into the main hall first. It wasn"t s.p.a.cious here at all. It was kinda cramped and it"s already crowded early in the morning. People were drinking beers with wooden mugs and sat on a barrel. It"s like how you"d expect in another world. I"m really here. I"m really revived and alive in this world. This place is still new to me and I really haven"t adjusted to it yet.
"Hey, boy! Looks like you"re early in the morning!" Ymil patted my other free shoulder like a falling anvil and made me lose balance for a bit. The barrel I"ve been sitting on made a cracking sound.
"Same to you, Emil-san."
I stared at the stairs and I saw Ayumi, Arnel and Elena got down.
"Good morning, Ayumi-chan, Arnel, Elensan." I smiled. Somehow it felt different for me to act like this. So kind and gentle. I even smiled at them. What"s happening to me?
"Ayumi-chchan?" Ayumi blushed.
I had a feeling this was the work of my pet Koneko.
*LIONESS G.o.dDESS" BLESSING OF THE CRESCENT MOON*
+Koneko is able to devour negative feelings and store them as power.
Well, that"s kind of inconvenient. Such a useless pa.s.sive skill.
Koneko suddenly bit me like she could hear what I was talking about.
"Ouch!"
"Hey, what"s with the cat?" Arnel asked.
"Oh, this? It"s a pet. I got it from looting yesterday."
"Hmmm. Interesting." Elena spoke.
"H.. Here"s your breakfast.." The inn master or the innkeeper nervously handed us our meal. He was shaking so bad that he spilled the wine at Elena.
He immediately prostrated himself asking for forgiveness.
"It"s alright," Elena said behind her mask.
The innkeeper smiled happily with tears flowing from his eyes.
"Hey, I wanna ask. Why don"t I have a cla.s.s like you guys? Mine just contained three question marks." I brought out the topic as we eat. Ayumi was still scarlet red from what I said and wouldn"t even look at me.
"Oh. Didn"t you know? If you haven"t registered in a guild, you couldn"t have a cla.s.s. How couldn"t you know that? You already went outside the village, didn"t you?" Arnel spoke.
"I"m not from this village." I replied.
Elena whispered something at Arnel in which he nods and looked like he understood something.
"Oh." He looked surprised then Elena stopped whispering at him.
"Is something wrong, Arnel, Elensan?" When can I drop this formality?
"It"s nothing, Yaki-kun." Kun? The h.e.l.l with you Arnel?
"Yaki-kun, I"ve decided that you"ll go to the guild. I"ll have Ayumi company you." Arnel suggested.
"M-me?" Ayumi stuttered. She"s that type of girl who easily gets nervous on small things. How would she work out on the battlefield?
"Yes you, Ayumi. You"ll accompany Yaki-kun for the rest of the morning. You"ll guide him to wherever he wants to go. Yaki-kun, please watch over Ayumi. She is very clumsy. Also, be back here in the afternoon. We"ll be grinding some good monsters."
"Wait, what"s with those foxes yesterday? Those were level 0 right? Why were they so hard to deal with?" I remembered.
"It"s better you"ll ask someone else. Elena and I have to go somewhere." He patted my back.
"Shadow Gate!" Elena cast at the door. A magic circle floated midair between her hands and the door. Then a black gate opened like a portal and both of them went in already. As soon as they went in, the portal disappeared. Magic circle huh. I"ve seen this in a lot of anime and manga. It"s the pa.s.sageway of mana to be able to cast magic and it requires channeling.
"How about you, Ymil?" I asked.
"I"d hit the dungeon this day." He smiled. His big smile gave out his bright large teeth. He was huge like a monster. Like a weightlifter professional.
"So I guess I"ll be going. Ayumi, I wanna go to the guild now. Will you accompany me?"
"We-well I got no other choices.."
Nyaaan~
We started strolling around the village. The sky was wide and the clouds were covering the sun. This gave me a bit of soothing feeling. Koneko"s pa.s.sive greatly influenced me.
We arrived at the guild. Large men started to approach me but as soon as they saw Ayumi, they backed away.
Ayumi held my elbow. I looked at her and she seemed fl.u.s.tered. Maybe this was her first time accompanying a boy. But as soon as she realized that I was looking at her, she let go and pouted.
"I-idiot.." What? Me? An idiot? What did I ever do to you?
I went to the counter and a beautiful young lady greeted me.
"Welcome! How may I help you?"
"I"d like to register."
"Oh, that would be 5 silver." She smiled but it disappeared when Ayumi stepped beside me.
"I mean, it"s just 1 s-silver, sir.." She spoke with a scared look at her face.
"Really? Here." I laid my 1 silver in front of here and took it.
"Give me your hand."
I reluctantly gave her my hand. What is she going to do?
She pulled out a pin and pierced me in the middle of my palm.
"This could hurt. We need a drop of your blood in order to register you."
"Well, you could"ve said it sooner." Idiot.
Then she pulled out the pin drenched in my blood. She took my other hand and drew a magic circle. The magic circle formed a floating bright magic circle with lots of shapes rotating from it. She took a paper and laid it on my hand covering the magic circle. As she took it off, the magic circle disappeared and was transferred to a piece of paper.
The paper started scribbling words I can"t understand and numerical numbers appeared on it.
"This is.. Extraordinary... You... You don"t have a cla.s.s... Is says three question marks. Who are you?"
"I-im Yakiro."
"Yakiro-kun."
Yakiro-kun?!
"You have to earn your cla.s.s. Normally, people would be given three cla.s.s and they would choose from it. But you didn"t have those choices. That means you have a special ability." She smiles fascinated.
Am I supposed to be happy with that?
"Take care, Yakiro-kun!"
Nyaaan!~
Koneko replied with a soft nyan.
"Hey, Ayumi. I wanna go into a nice blacksmith shop. I was thinking of buying some boots."
"Sure."
As soon as we went out, one of the guys that approached me lately grabbed my shoulder.
"Be careful." He said worriedly.
I just nodded at him. I don"t know what he meant by that.
As soon as we got out of the guild, Ayumi asked me what was that all about. All I could tell her was that I don"t have a cla.s.s and I had to earn it some point. We immediately went on our way to the blacksmith. I would gladly have some boots to wear. The road here is definitely hard to walk barefoot.
We arrived at an old wooden shop with a sign hanging atop. I don"t even understand what it is. Maybe I should start learning it that would help me a lot in living in this world. The shop was well known and people were inside buying weapons and stuff. As soon as they got out, Ayumi, Koneko and I, went inside.
There was an old masculine man with white hair and a white beard. I was glad though that it wasn"t the same in my world, fat, lazy, emo kid and some stranger. This is really the world I"ve dreamed of going to with my sister. But the thought of her suddenly saddens me. Koneko started biting my shoulder like it was sapping out my depression. Maybe it"s a good thing Koneko"s here.
"Welcome to my shop young man and Ayumi-chan."
I was surprised at how he greeted Ayumi. Seemed like they already know each other. Well, I"m the only one here who came from the other world.
"What can I do for you?" The man smiled at me.
"Umm, I would like a pair of boots, old man."
"How about weapons? I don"t see any daggers or swords on you. I don"t even feel that you have any weapons on you. Would you care to see my stash?" He grinned like a Cheshire cat. He didn"t look senile at all, even at his state.
"Nah. I would end up shattering it."
"And why is that?" He asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Reasons."
I looked behind and Ayumi seemed to be taking out daggers and a black knife from the merchandise.
"Nah. Let me show you my good stuff then. Here!" he pulled out several swords for me then laid it out in the table. Each looked expensive as it gets as it goes.
"Each of the four is made with fine Iron and enchanted with unbreakable magic. The other three are magic swords and are powered through your magic power, intelligence, charisma, and mana."
"Well, they looked expensive. I don"t have any money with me and I don"t want to end up paying some broken swords." I said with an irritated voice which made the old man laugh.
"Okay then. Let"s make a deal. You"ll choose one of these swords and if the break, shatter and even get a scratch, I"ll give you the best boots that I have. But if they don"t break, you"ll end up buying the one you chose." He gave out a proud smirk. He was proud of his masterpiece and had pride in his work.
"How much do they cost?"
"120 silver, 180 silver, 200 silver, 1 gold and 3 silver, 135 silver, 140 silver, and 2 gold." he answered.
"Ayumi come here. How much does a gold piece cost?" I had to clarify things.
"It costs 500 silver."
"500? d.a.m.n, that"s expensive." Ayumi returned to what she was doing and continued to take out some things she was interested in.
"So I guess you"ll take the 120 silver then?" the old man asked me.
"I still don"t have that money."
Ayumi came with a large brown sack full of daggers and lifted it to the table. It seemed heavy so I a.s.sisted her.
"T-thank you.." she spoke with a hint of scarlet on her cheeks.
"Still, old man. I don"t have that cash. I am tempted at your proposal but I just don"t have that money yet. I was thinking of buying a pair of boots for 1 silver."
"Don"t worry I"ll pay." Ayumi bit her lip. She"s cute and innocent. Koneko has been silent and I wondered why. I found her sleeping on my shoulder, seems like she got bored already from all this talking.
"Why?" I asked.
"As thanks."
"I just helped you lift it. It was not a problem for me at all. You shouldn"t spend your money."
"Come on, boy. This is the first time Ayumi-chan offered a boy something. Hehehe." He started poking my side with his elbow.
"Still that"s not enough reason for me to use her money," I repeated.
"Come on, boy. Think about me. If you"ll try, both of us will benefit."
"I.. I guess so. Fine. Ayumi-chan, thanks. So I"ll choose the cheapest one. I"ll take the 120 silver."
"Be my guess." He smiled proudly.
I lifted the sword and was awed when it didn"t shatter.
"See, I told y-"
His words were interrupted when the sword shattered when I swung it at him.
"See, I told you, old man."
*CURSE: REPENT*
I swiped away the notification from my vision.
The old man was speechless. His smile full of pride turned into a frown full of discourage. He felt like his masterpiece wasn"t enough. But he smiled suddenly.
"Well, a deal"s a deal." The old man went to the back of the door behind his counter. He returned with a pair of boots with fur on the end of the shaft. It was brown and the sole was made out of pig demon"s skin. It had high durability. I ended up feeling bad winning the dare. But hey, anything goes. I need this to live here easily.
"Thanks, old man." I smiled at him and wore them. It felt comfortable and easy to move in.
"Old man. I"ll pay for my purchase already." Ayumi reminded him.
"A bag of daggers and a black knife made out of the dragon demon scales? That"ll be 50 gold."
"Here." Ayumi pulled out a bag of gold and immediately stared at me.
"Thank you, Ayumi-chan for your purchase." The old man became happier.
"Well?" she looked at me while pouting.
"Well, what?" I asked.
She looked at the brown sack then stared at me. Oh, so she was expecting me to carry it that"s why she said thanks. Such a clever and cute young girl you are Ayumi-chan.
So we returned to the inn and I was the one who carried her heavy luggage.