[Seirei Gensouki] Episode 2 - Awakening

Year 991 of the Holy Calendar.

Existing on the continent Euphelia was Bertram Kingdom.

In a corner of the slums within Bertram Kingdom’s royal capital, holding back the feelings of regret in his chest, a boy awoke with a start.

"Haa, haa......"

After waking up, as if to distract himself from the inescapable anguish, the boy tightly grasped his chest.

Thereupon, he realized that his entire body was drenched in sweat.

His body was hot.

It felt as if his body was flaring up from the inside.

But strangely, that heat felt as if it began to permeate throughout his entire body.

(What is this......)

He couldn't understand why, but he understood that the unpleasantness was slowly fading away.

Having collected his composure, he began looking around the area.

Doing so, in the gloomy and dirty alley, crudely built buildings lined up beside each other came into sight.

A rotten smell attacked his nose, the unpleasantness of it making him knit his eyebrows, and thanks to that stench, his mind slowly awakened.

But when did he fall asleep? He couldn't remember.

With a thump, he laid down back on the ground.

He knew his clothes would get dirty, but he wanted to lay down a little longer.

Laying on his back gazing above, the clearly blue skies were reflected in his eyes.

(Did I get drunk and fall asleep on the roadside?)

Not having fully woken up yet, he dimly thought of that, but he didn't remember drinking anything.

The buildings around him were not Japanese style wooden houses and completely unfamiliar.

The boy felt strangely out of place.

Moreover, his physical condition wasn't very good. Perhaps because he fell asleep in the cold alley, all of his joints were sore.

(!?)

Upon rising to his feet, he realized the biggest irregularity, and a scream arose in his mind.

That's right, what the boy saw were the hands and feet of a child.

I should be a college student.

No, I should be an orphan.

(What's going on?)

The boy became confused at his overlapping memories.

Doubting himself, the boy carefully gazed at his hands and feet.

It was not the clean skin of a child living in the well-fed Japan.

On top of his limbs becoming thin from malnourishment, his skin was dry, rough, and covered in grime.

Thinking back, he had no memories of ever taking a bath before.

(Seriously...?)

Reflexively, he was repulsed by his own filthiness.

The only thing he was wearing was a worn-out hemp outfit.

Of course, he had no shoes.

Nevertheless, he should probably be thankful he at least has something to wear.

He didn't know what kind of face he had, but he could tell that his long, dirty hair was black.

Gazing upon his ragged clothes and bone-like limbs, his confused mind was on the other hand trying to making sense of the situation.

The boy's name is Rio and is also Amakawa Haruto.

Memories of having lived in this world for seven years, and also memories of having lived as a Japanese for twenty years.

Feeling lightheaded from hunger, in order to confirm the unusual situation he found himself in, he sat down on the ground and began putting his brain to work.

Amakawa Haruto's memories, he can more or less recall up to just before dying.

Rio's memories of how he's lived until now he can remember normally.

He still couldn't understand why he lost consciousness in this alley, but decided to leave that aside for now.

Comparing Amakawa Haruto's and Rio's memories, he came to the conclusion that his current location was not Earth.

The orphan Rio did not have a good education, but he knew the name of the country he lived in.

Taking into consideration the level of civilization, the spoken language, and various other factors, the conclusion he came to is that this isn't a country on Earth.

He probably had been reincarnated.

(It's hard to believe though... No, there's still a chance this is a dream?)

However, Rio thought the possibility of it being a dream was low.

For a dream, his consciousness was too clear.

His mind was calm and it didn't feel like his thoughts were hazy.

Furthermore, the joint pain as if he caught a cold strongly asserted that this is reality.

An unknown country in another world. A world with a class system where kings and nobles gain special privileges. A world with towns that have orphans, vagrants, and countless slaves. A world without any mechanically produced goods borne from science. A world with monsters.

This wasn't a dream, and also, this wasn't Earth.

Rio was currently in a slum district within the royal capital of Bertram Kingdom.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that conditions were the worst. At this rate, his life wouldn't last very long.

The fact that he had lived until now was due to good luck.

Excluding the luckiest orphans who live in an orphanage, orphans living in the slums fished for food scraps, become thieves, or if they're lucky, become manual labourers for pocket change wages and buy cheap stale bread. Those were pretty much the only ways to obtain food, so becoming malnourished was a matter of course.

Rio of course also survived living in such a way.

Bluntly, it wouldn't have been strange if he fell over and died at any time.

For now, he wanted to get some proper food, but what should he do?

Weak orphans form groups as a matter of course, but because black hair is a rare sight, it seems Rio would always be left out of any orphan groups.

Because of that, cooperating with an orphan group would be difficult. There was no other choice but to do something about this situation on his own.

(If possible, I'd like to get some kind of job but...)

In this severe society, finding a person who would be willing to hire an orphan would be impossible.

If that was so simple, orphans wouldn't exist in the first place.

Even if they found someone, the chance of working for considerably low wages was very high.

In that case, what could he do? He began recalling what skills he has that would be of use in this world.

Speaking of skills, there's most of the things he learned in his previous life.

First, being able to calculate is a huge advantage. Luckily this country also uses the decimal system.

Other things that might be useful are ancient martial arts, cooking, and other daily life knowledge learned in his previous life.

Rio began going through ways to make use of those skills in his head.

But, without any social status or connections, it could only be said that making use of those skills would be extraordinarily difficult.

That said, nothing will be solved just staying here.

Nothing will start if he doesn't do something himself.

While enduring his hunger pangs, Rio walked out into town to look around.

Thereupon, Rio realized another change that occurred since his memories awoke.

What he realized was that an extremely small, faint light was spilling out from within the bodies of the people walking in town.

At first he thought it was a hallucination, but after focusing his eyes and looking again, it seems that wasn't the case.

The amount of light differed from person to person, but for most people it was very faint.

Since awakening his memories, after passing by hundred, thousands of people he became able to fairly accurately figure out the average level.

Then, looking at his own body, before he knew it, he noticed the same kind of light spilling forth.

It was a considerably large amount compared to other people..

No, rather it was to point where it was constantly overflowing.

No matter how many other people he looked at, there was nobody with an inexhaustible light flooding out from their body.

Like steam that was evaporating from boiling water, from Rio's body a pale light spilled forth.

What’s more, the light slowly increased in intensity.

At the same time, he became gradually aware that due to the light, his perceptions began to change.

It was as if all of his five senses expanded greatly.

Touched by the light, he felt as if he was beyond the world, and that he could reach out and grasp anything.

He felt that his gaze became endless. There was nothing that he could not see with these eyes.

(It might be bad if this continues…)

He wanted to leave his expanding perceptions as is, but he began thinking that if it spread any further, the people around him might notice.

He might not be the only one who could see this light.

Ignoring that possibility was too dangerous.

The overflowing amount of light coming from Rio was clearly abnormal after all.

In any case, hurrying to a place with few people around, Rio rushed through the pedestrian traffic to a back-alley and sat on the ground.

The overflowing light was still getting brighter, but his body didn’t seem to change at all.

There was no need to be worried.

His mind calmed down thinking that.

Rio began meditating, clearing and resetting his mind.

For the ancient martial arts his grandfather drilled into him to come in handy at this kind of time, you never know what’ll happen in this world.

After who knows how long, before he knew it, the hustle and bustle of the people on the street no longer reached his consciousness.

Realizing that his mind had calmed down, Rio felt some kind of powerful energy overflowing from his body.

It densely filled his body even more than the blood flowing through his veins.

It identity was the pale light, magic power.

Magic power existed in the center of the body and spilled out from countless invisible holes.

Rio instinctively realized that and imagined how to control magic power.

Strangely, he felt that he could pull it off.

(I can do it……)

Believing so, although slowly, the amount of light overflowing from his body diminished.

It had a similar trick to killing off his presence.

It was not exactly the same, but he realized the similarities.

Realizing that, Rio managed to control his magic power all at once.

Now, there was not a single bit of magic power spilling out from his body.

It was an intuitive thing so he couldn’t really explain it if asked, but he somehow knew.

A thin smile arose on Rio.

However, the question of what exactly is this light came up.

Right now, he knew that it made his senses sharpen.

And more or less everyone released magic power from their bodies.

In that case, it wouldn’t be strange if there was some kind of method to make use of it.

Amount. Quality. Method. What are the conditions?

For the moment, Rio decided to take a look at the magic power inside of him to see if that would answer any of his questions.

After investigating various things, he understood that, although slowly, magic power moves according to the imagination and it’s possible to gather it in a specific place.

However, he didn’t know what happens after doing that.

There isn’t enough information.

After confirming there weren’t any people nearby, Rio decided to let out a large amount of magic power from his body and see what happens.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that if it’s energy from his body, then maybe he can use it targeting himself.

Such as reinforcing his physical abilities.

Vaguely imagining his physical abilities enhancing, a change occurred in Rio’s body.

(......My body is light.)

It was as if power was overflowing in Rio’s body.

As a test, he gathered his strength and jumped, and even though his body is that of a child, he managed to jump as high as a pro basketball player.

The effects of physical enhancement might depend on the imagination.

In that case, instead of vaguely this time, Rio tested what happens when he had a clear image of his body strengthening.

Removing the brain’s limits, acquiring more than 100% of his physical abilities, his body was clad in magic power.

Now then, was that thinking correct?

Just as Rio imagined, his body was strengthened.

In order to confirm the effects, he started moving his body.

Thus, he was able to move in a way that couldn’t be considered normal.

(Strengthening any further might be a little bad……)

It seemed that using too much magic power when performing enhancement put stress on the body.

Any more than this might cause damage to his muscles and bones.

His body probably couldn’t keep up with his strengthened abilities.

In that case, if he strengthened his entire body... Thinking so, he imagined his muscle fibers and bone strength enhancing.

Suddenly, the burden on his body was reduced.

It seemed that was right too.

Rio was satisfied with the results of this time’s experiment.

However, enhancing his physical abilities and body won’t fill the stomach.

A loud grumble rose from his stomach.

It was an interesting subject, but in his situation where he needed to obtain food, training any further wasn’t a good plan.

Looking up at the sky, the sun was already descending.

It’s going to start getting dark soon.

It would be pointless trying to obtain food honestly without any money.

Worst case, he would have to prepare himself for the possibility of not eating anything today, however he wanted to set some kind of goal.

For his livelihood from here on out and to find a way to obtain money, Rio walked out from the back-alley.

Walking unsteadily through the marketplace, suddenly a large building was reflected in his eyes.

Rio couldn’t read the letters written on the building, but he knew that the building was the Adventurer’s Guild.

There was only one way to become an adventurer.

However, Rio can’t become an adventurer at his current age.

According to the Adventurer’s Guild rules, it’s only possible to work starting from 12 years old.

He knew about the age limit after having overheard a conversation between a former adventurer and some other orphans.

A 12 year old doing manual labour would’ve been illegal in Japan, but this world had a lot of jobs with no age limits in the first place.

It’s because in this world where simple manual labour was the most common job, even children were a splendid work force.

But in the case of adventurers, there were a lot of jobs that couldn’t be solved through child manual labour, so an age limit was enforced.

However, Rio thought to himself.

Speaking of an adventurer’s work, although vaguely, the image of going out on adventures and selling materials obtained came to Rio’s mind.

In that case, maybe he can go collect things of value and sell them himself.

If it’s just selling, then it doesn’t have to be with the Adventurer’s Guild.

Shopkeepers can be business partners too.

After that, Rio decided to look into what kind of things shopkeepers would want to buy.

He focused on quickly acting upon what he thought of.

Following the map of the royal capital in his head, Rio headed to the marketplace.

“Hey brat, what are you looking around for? Hurry and disappear!”

As Rio was in one of the shops looking at the goods, the sales clerk noticed his sharp gaze and shouted a warning at Rio.

Seeing an orphan in the market, shopkeepers would be wary of them stealing instead of working, so the treatment of orphans in the marketplace was not very favourable.

There were orphans that had some money, so they wouldn’t especially raise the prices for orphans, but in order to not have anything stolen, the salespeople would be wary of all orphans.

An orphan looking around at the goods in the storefront would immediately look suspicious.

Because of that, he couldn’t openly survey the goods being sold at the storefronts.

At this rate, it didn’t seem like he’d be able to find a way to maintain his livelihood from tomorrow on.

In that case, he’d have to go fishing for food scraps.

Rio thought to himself that it couldn’t be helped, however Amakawa Haruto strongly objected.

Thus, Rio made use of one of the ancient martial arts techniques he learned in his previous life.

As if melting into the surroundings, he killed his presence.

Because Rio’s presence became so thin, the sales clerks that were wary of him were no longer very conscious of him and didn’t look his way.

(Good……)

While having killed off his presence, he gazed around at the goods lined up at the storefronts.

What are they selling? Where would I be able to obtain it? While thinking those things, he slowly walked.

Using this skill, he could easily steal something and run away.

However, he refrained from doing so.

Amakawa Haruto’s morales as a Japanese was preventing such actions.

While walking around like that, he understood that there were a lot of different goods displayed.

Among those, the things Rio kept an eye out for were medicinal plants and vegetables; vegetation type things.

Asking a salesperson at a shop with those kinds of items lined up with as much courtesy as possible about where he could find them, although the salesperson was wary, he gave in to the slightly insistent request and told him.

It seems that on the outskirts of town, a lot of it was cultivated in the fields, but there were also some that grew wildly.

It seems those plants grew outside of the town’s area of authority, so they were normally harvested by groups of adventurers.

Adventurers often harvested them to sell for some pocket change, but for a single child to do so would just lead to them falling over and dying. While giving him a look of pity, the salesperson gave him that warning.

To the sales clerk’s advice, Rio gave him a courteous smile and gave him his thanks.

There would be risk to his life, but that wouldn’t change his mind.

He has a technique to enhance his physical abilities and body after all.

Since he had learned ancient martial arts in his previous life, he won’t have to run away from a fight.

In that case, there’s no way he won’t go.

However, the day was already ending.

No choice but to abandon hope of eating today.

Without going to fish for food scraps like usual, Rio returned to the slum district.

Intending to distract himself from the hunger, he decided to recall all the shocking events and new experiences that happened today.

The biggest thing was his previous life’s memories awakening.

Ever since his memories awakened, Amakawa Haruto’s consciousness had main control, but Rio’s memories and consciousness were still there. It seems their two consciousnesses were fusing into a single one.

There were times when both consciousnesses surface at the same time, but instead of conflicting, it seemed they were blending together.

That’s why Amakawa Haruto could naturally accept that he had lived as Rio.

And Rio who had lived as an orphan could accept that he’s Amakawa Haruto.

Amakawa Haruto lived holding onto what he left undone in his previous life, his goal of finding his childhood friend.

Putting aside the feasibility of that being possible in this situation, that’s what he wanted to do.

But for now, he had to survive as Rio.

Rio had a goal he must accomplish in this world.

Rio did not live in the slum district at first.

Rio’s father was an adventurer. His mother was also an adventurer.

The two of them came from another country and traveled the world together

Rio’s mother temporarily retired as an adventurer when she was pregnant with him.

Of course, earning money then depended on his father.

Rio’s father who had easily finished requests with his mother partnered up with another adventurer made a blunder.

And then quickly died.

Rio’s mother raised him without being discouraged from her husband’s death.

Economizing the money that the two of them had saved up, she managed to raise her child.

However, that only continued up until Rio was five years old.

Rio’s mother was a foreign beauty.

And even though she had a child, the men around her that sent vulgar gazes her way were young.

Taking Rio as a hostage, a male acquaintance from his mother’s adventurer days raped and killed her.

Rio witnessed the violation of his gentle mother in his home.

Rio remembered that moment, the culprit’s name, and his features.

The reason Rio never gave up surviving even while slurping up food scraps was because he swore to one day carry out his revenge.

That’s right, the reason Rio survived even if he had to slurp on food scraps was for revenge.

That thirst for revenge was even now quietly burning inside him.

But on the other hand, Amakawa Haruto had a negative view on revenge.

Suddenly, the memory of the time his mother was raped was shrouded in fog, and Rio knitted his eyebrows with an annoyed expression.

Strongly shaking his head, Rio increased his walking speed.

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