Chapter 1 - My name is Shuzo Mori

My name is Shuzo Morita. A cool guy at the age of 30.

Today, as always, I’m energetically working on the assembly line at the factory.

I assemble the parts at my fingertips onto the products flowing on the conveyor belt, and they continue their journey along the belt. It’s a routine task for me, Shuzo.

After finishing my daily work and heading home, I noticed a young girl walking in front of me. Judging by the backpack on her back, she appeared to be an elementary school student, but it was quite late for her to be coming back from school. Perhaps she was returning from a cram school?

As I walked, thinking about how tough it must be for elementary school students, suddenly, a large man emerged from a side street and grabbed the girl. The man effortlessly lifted her up, muffling her voice, and dragged her into the dimly lit alleyway.

This was no time to be casually observing. Acting on instinct, I quickly grabbed my phone and started chasing after the man.

Ring, ring…

“Hello, is this emergency services? Is it a crime or an accident?”

“Well, I think it’s a crime…”

Thud!

As I rushed into the side street, I felt a blunt object strike the back of my head. Careless of me! Did he have an accomplice?

“What’s wrong? I heard a noise. Are you okay?”

As the sound from my phone grew distant…

“We will dispatch a patrol car! Please stay where you are…”

My consciousness, too, began to fade into darkness.

・

My name is Shuzo Mori. A nice boy at the age of 5.

I understand if you find it strange that I’m saying this all of a sudden, but I have memories from my past life. Even though I recently turned 5 and just regained those memories, I can vividly recall my past life as Shuzo Morita. In my previous life, I was a 30-year-old cool guy born in Japan.

I can remember my life as Morita Shuzo, even the moment of my death, so there’s no mistaking it. It seems that after dying once, I was reincarnated as Shuzo…

Damn it! I never expected that I, the previous version of myself, would be killed by a kidnapper. If only the girl was safe, it would bring some solace to my past self…

Well, at least I made the emergency call before dying. With GPS tracking, the police should have done something. They should have. So, my past self should rest in peace, and that’s the end of that.

Right now, what I’m thinking about is how to live my current life. This world is a medieval-style fantasy world filled with swords, magic, and monsters. I was born in the village of Damian, located in the legitimate August Empire. It’s a village with a population of about 800 people, where agriculture is the main industry. My family, the Mori family, is also engaged in farming.

The Mori family consists of six members:

Father: Leon (28 years old)

Mother: Agnes (32 years old)

Eldest son: Ein (10 years old)

Second son: Isaac (9 years old)

And then there’s me, the third son, Shuzo (5 years old)

Younger sister: Calfe (3 years old)

Although we’re not wealthy due to our home being a farm, we’re not struggling to put food on the table. However, that doesn’t mean our future is secure. The family farm will be inherited by the eldest son, Ein, which means that eventually, I, Shuzo, the third son, will need to leave home and become independent.

Now, does that mean I have to stay in the village, find a marriage partner, and continue farming? Well, it’s not necessarily the only path to take.

In this different world, the remnants of divine power are strongly present, and people have statuses, levels, and skills. When they reach their 10th birthday, they receive their class, which determines their future path. It serves as a guideline for their lives.

“Status Open,” I softly whispered, and a window appeared in front of me.

————-

Name: Shuzo Mori (5 years old)

LV: 1

EX Class : Survival Instinct

Skill ：Fool’s Strength in Desperate Situations (F)

Skill ：Consumption Growth （F)

HP : 5

MP ：5

Attack ：5

Defense ：5

Agility ：5

Magic Attack ：5

Magic Defense : 5

————-

Perhaps the influence of retaining memories from my past life is at play here. When I turned 5, I not only regained my past life memories but also received a class. My class is “Close Calls,” which is a proverb that generally means narrowly escaping death in a perilous situation. It’s difficult to say if my current state of being in this different world can be considered “having narrowly escaped death.”

The problem lies in the fact that this class is not an ordinary one. When I asked my parents about the types of classes, they mentioned occupations such as farmer, merchant, blacksmith, repair worker, warrior, priest, and mage, but they had never heard of a class called “Close Calls” or anything similar. It’s evident that this class is not a normal one, especially since it’s categorized as an EX Class.

The ability of the “Close Calls” class is to gain proficiency in combat skills when surviving from critical situations. Additionally, it states that I can learn the skills “Fool’s Strength” and “Consumable Growth. “Fool’s Strength” skill increases in power the more dangerous the situation becomes, acting as a decisive skill to turn the tables in a pinch. The “Consumable Growth” skill allows the maximum values of HP and MP to increase based on their consumption.

Furthermore, based on the knowledge I gained from my parents, I learned that the stats will naturally grow with each birthday until the age of 20. After that, they won’t grow unless there’s a level up. In this world, whenever I take damage, my maximum HP increases, and when I consume MP, my maximum MP goes up. It’s an overwhelming advantage.

With that in mind, it’s clear that quietly doing farming in a rural village is not the path for me. This world is filled with swords, magic, monsters, and even dungeons, which means my fate lies in embarking on adventures. In preparation for my future adventures, I’ve decided to focus on increasing my HP and MP from the age of 5 onward.