Hiiro left the castle and got out onto the streets, mulling over what to do next.

(Now then, gathering information first is a must in RPG)

Technically he could have asked the king and such, but there was a risk of getting dragged into something unforeseen and becoming unable to leave the country when he stayed there any longer.

Therefore he left the place as fast as possible. Besides, there were four very capable people. He had concluded that he wasn’t needed.

(First of all, what’s with this ?Word Magic? in the magic column in my ?Status?..? I kinda get that it’s unattributed.)

Accessing his knowledge from games and books, he also remembered the term Guild when thinking about magic. The king had told him that a Guild existed in this world.

Hiiro decided to ask the townspeople about the location of the Guild. By doing so, he came to know that it was close by.

He headed there to register as an adventure for now. Living and travelling here wasn’t free. Somehow or another he had to save up money.

By the way, the money of this world could be stored on a Guild Card. Likewise it was possible to pay with the card. That’s what the townspeople taught him.

When he arrived at the Guild, the interior was rather crowded. Sturdy guys, likely adventures, lined up in front of various counters. The nearest counter had a sign above it with register application written on it.

As his black hair and dark eyes were unusual, Hiiro became the center of attention as soon as he entered. Naturally, since he was dressed in an unfamiliar school uniform. He reminded himself to buy some gear later on.

He went to the counter, assuming indifferent to all the gazes on him.

“Hey, I want to register.”

When he bluntly said that, the woman at the counter explained with a business smile.

Various quests were filed to the Guild. An adventure earned a reward by carrying out these requests. The quests were classified into levels of difficulty from F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS till SSS.

A Guild Card was handed out upon registering, but it served the same purpose as the Citizen Card that all citizens had. An ID so to speak.

The adventurers were ranked into the same categories as the quests as well. Although there were very few adventures with a rank S or above. Particularly the SSS rank had only three adventures from the ‘Humas’.

The woman at the counter gave him a white card and told him to drip his blood onto it. He prickled his finger with the small needle he received. After dripping the blood on it, the card started to disperse and vanished.

“Huh? It’s gone?”

“Please recite ?Guild Card? in your mind.”

When he did as he was told, the card appeared in his hand. But the card wad different than before. It had been completely white, but now it had a blue border.

“The colour represents your rank. From the lowest blue to violet, green, yellow, orange, pink, red, silver, golden and finally black.”

Hiiro listened to the explanations with nods. Looking at his new Guild Card, he confirmed the inscription.

Name: Hiiro Okamura

Sex: Male

Age: 17

From: Unknown

Rank: F

Quest:

Equipment:

-Weapon:

-Guard:

-Accessory:

Rigin: 0

He was glad that the FROM column listed his birthplace as unknown. If there had been written that he was from another world, it would have been troublesome to explain. Equipment meant his gear. It was subdivided into Weapon, Guard and Accessory. But he asked about the one thing that bothered him more.

“Hey, what’s this Rigin stuff on the card..?”

“Mh? That is the currency..”

The woman tilted her head baffled. Naturally the people of this world knew that Rigin was the currency. But just as natural, Hiiro didn’t know that as he was only summoned here a while ago.

On further inquiring, he learned that Rigin nearly had the same value as Japan’s yen and that the sixth column Quest displayed his currently active quests.

(Quite a handy card)

With just one single card he could trade and identify himself. Moreover, the card was usually within him and could be taken out at any time.

“Where can I take quests?”

“Please choose from the bulletin board over there. But remember that you are a rank F. You can only accept quests up to one rank above yours, meaning E.”

“I see. How do I raise my rank?”

“When carrying out quests and raising in levels, your rank will go up naturally.”

“In short, after I completed a number of quests, this blue border will turn.. uhm, what was it again?”

“Violet.”

“Then it’ll turn violet?”

“Yes.”

Hiiro was awestruck at the serviceableness of the card.

“Better not waste any time.”

Saying that, he headed for the bulletin board.

Church Roof Repair F

Help repairing the roof of the Amaruq Church. Experience preferred.

Reward: 10000 Rigin

Lucky Herb Harvest F

Collect Lucky Herbs on the Asbit Plateau.

Reward: 300 Rigin per bundle

Goblin Hunt E

Kill 10 goblins in the Clair Forest.

Reward: 35000 Rigin

There were various other quests, but he chose “Lucky Herb Harvest” without hesitation. To be honest, he was uneasy about hunting quest, since he was still level one. Although even a beginner should be able to hunt goblins.

But he decided to only go for hunting quests after he went up a few levels and got used to fighting.

“I understand. But please be careful about the 10000 Rigin penalty fare in case you cancel a quest midway.”

He accepted the quest by bringing the quest note to the counter. Since there was a penalty fee, he had to avoid cancelling a quest by all means. At least for now, when he didn’t got any money.

First he asked where the “Asbit Plateau” was. Luckily for him, it was right outside this land. And he was shown a picture of the “Lucky Herb” in a reference book to know what they looked like.

(I would like to read that reference book)

As he loved books, Hiiro’s thirst for knowledge awoke. He seriously considered to hole himself up in a library for a while after he saved up some money.

After seeing the picture of the plan, he got a big bag and left the Guild. The bag surely was meant for his harvest.

On his way out of town, he remembered the ?Status? again. The ?Word Magic? from it weighted on his mind.

And even if he had high magic power, it was a waste of talent when he didn’t know how to use it. He needed to learn how to use magic as soon as possible.

He regretted a bit that he didn’t ask about it at the counter. Magic was nothing unusual in this world. About anyone could use it and had magic power to a greater or lesser extent.

Speaking of, he could just someone around here. Hiiro stopped and looked to his right. There sat a person on a chair in front of a crystal ball on a desk.

(..A fortune-teller?)

The person wore a black robe and a hood hid the face, but it certainly seemed like a fortune-teller.

“Oh my? How about it, Sir?”

From the voice he concluded that it was quite an old woman.

“Nah, I don’t have any money.”

“Oh, is that so. But you look like you want to ask something.”

“..”

“Are you not from here? I have never seen you before.”

“Your point?”

He looked at her a bit suspicious.

“Fuehehe, don’t look so grim. How about I tell you a bit about your fortune in commemoration of coming here?”

“Not interested.”

“Fuehehe, don’t say that. Take a seat.”

Since he wasn’t really in a hurry, he sat down on the chair in front of the desk like he was told.

“Fuehehe. Then let me begin.”

She put her hands on the crystal ball and concentrated. Hiiro silently watched over her with crossed arms. It didn’t escape him that she suddenly narrowed her eyes.

“...Oho, you have a strange star fortune.”

“Strange?”

“Fuehehe, everyone has a star in their heart. Each has its own shape, colour, size and radiance. My divination allows me to see them. And while I have seen many up till now, I have never seen such a powerful star like yours before.”

“Mhm~”

“It’s powerful and to shut out a burning red, a dark blue rules over its surroundings. The shape is an immaculate sphere without a single corner and it shines so bright that it opens the eyes of anyone who looks at it. I see.. This country aside, you are not even from this world.”

He stood up at once with a clattering of the chair. How did this fortune-teller know this? Hiiro felt doubtful.

(Can fortune-telling do this? No, maybe it’s.. magic?)

Thinking that, he glared at her with a sharp look. He didn’t care that she know, but he got wary on reflex.

“..Sit down. I’m not going to spread it. And while people from other worlds are indeed rare, it’s not my first time meeting you.”

“..You met one before?”

“Yes, just once when I was still young. The person back then had a strange star as well.”

“..I see. So, what’s the deal?”

“Fuehehe, you will get, no, you already have the wings of freedom. These wings will grow wide and warm in all aspects.”

He didn’t get what she was talking about, but it didn’t seem to be anything ill.

“Many will likely gather at the light you are in pursue for these wings.”

“Geh, that’s bad. I prefer to be alone.”

“Fuehehe, well, it’s nothing but one possible future. By hearing this today, this future became more likely for you. That’s all.”

“Mhm~ I don’t get it. I’ll just do what I want.”

“Fuehehe, do that. Incidentally, didn’t you want to ask something?”

“Yeah. Like you said, I come from another world. There’s no magic in my world, so I can’t really grasp the magic here, nor do I know how to use it. I’ve to learn it as fast as possible..”

“Oho, I understand. A world without magic, interesting.”

There Hiiro suddenly realized and looked at the old woman.

“Hey, could you teach me how to use magic?”

“I don’t mind.”

He had thought she would turn him down, but apparently she accepted.

“Do you know where magic power comes from?”

“Nope.”

That’s why I’m asking, was what he stifled to say.

“Maybe the heart or brain?”

“No, no. The magic power comes from the blood.”

“Blood?”

“Yes, every living organism has blood. That is the source for magic.”

“Oh.”

“That’s why you focus on the flow of your blood in your veins, when concentrating magic power.”

“The flow of blood?”

“Yes, look closely.”

Saying so, the old woman showed him his hand. Something like blue smoke gushed forth from her palm. It gradually assumed shape until it was a sphere in her hand.

“That’s magic power.”

“Wow. So it’s something this visible?”

“Well, it takes a lot of training to make it visible like this. I focused on the flow and imagined it gathering in my hand.”

“Imagine, huh.”

“Magic is the power to imagine. And also the power of flow. A flow of magic power is currently circulating inside this sphere like blood.”

“Sounds a bit complicated, but I get the gist of it. Anyway, it wouldn’t be wrong to say blood flow = magic power, right?”

“Indeed.”

“And to utilize the magic power, I imagine the blood flowing through my entire body. Going by that..”

While saying so, he imagined the flow of blood only going to his index finger. Upon that, his fingertip glowed pale and became a little bit warm.

“So you can even do stuff like that. I see, so this is magic.”

The old woman in front of him had her mouth gaping open in surprise.

“Oh, what a surprise! You said it’s your first time using magic, right?”

“Mh? Yeah.”

“Nevertheless, you can control it already. You must have an incredible imagination.”

“Well, I AM a bookworm, so I’m confident in my imagination.”

Books consisted only of words and one had to imagine the written text in one’s head. To visualize the place, person and action in one’s mind from the narrative needed imagination.

Hiiro had buried himself in books since he was small, so his imagination was well trained. Or rather, it was his only strong point he felt confident about. When he stopped imagining, the light and warmth disappeared from his finger tip.

“Thank you. Now I get what magic power is.”

“Glad to hear.”

“One more thing, do I just chant a spell while I focus on the flow of magic power like just now when I want to use magic?”

“Quite so. Look. ?Fire Ball?”

The old woman held up her index finger and chanted, then a fire ball with the size of a tennis ball appeared.

“Ohhhhhhh”

Hiiro raised an excited voice in admiration. His interest in magic was piqued by using it for the first time.

“I kept it small now, but it can became bigger depending on your imagination and magic power.”

“I see. But I don’t think I can use ?Fire Ball?.”

“Mh? Is your attribute different?”

“Yeah, it’s unattributed.”

“..Now that’s a rare attribute. Those unattributed are unique magic users without fail. Could it be you..”

“Wait a sec. Unique? You mean a special magic just for oneself?”

“Yes.”

According to the old woman, there were eight attributes to magic: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Ice, Light and Darkness. Unattributed meant having none of these attributes. In other words, someone unattributed could not cast magic of other attributes.

In exchange, one had a magic only usable to oneself, also called unique magic.

“By the way, unique magic is precious even in this world. Actually, not many can actually control it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Unique magic is always powerful. And I heard it’s difficult to control. And most people die from ?rebound? as their own magic power explodes.”

That story sent a shiver down Hiiro’s spine. He never thought unique magic would be that dangerous.

“Control is important, but knowledge even more so.”

“Knowledge?”

“Yes, because one ends up with a ?rebound?, since he does not fully understand what his own magic actually is. Knowledge of magic power, of magic and of oneself. When all these are mastered, one will be a first-class magic user.”

“I see. Thank you for telling me all this.”

“The pleasure is all mine. It’s been a while since I enjoyed a light like yours.”

He still couldn’t see the old woman’s face, but she must have been smiling as she raised her voice.

“I am always here, so drop by if you need something. Though I will charge you next time of course.”

“So shrewd.”

Then he parted with the old woman and headed for the town gate.