Chapter 1 - The Skill's Name is 'Game'
My life has been unremarkable. From adolescence to adulthood, it lacked any sense of excitement. I got through puberty with a whimper, found a mundane job, and lived an unremarkable work life. It wasn’t a terrible black company, but it couldn’t be called a white one either. The salary was decent, enough for a solitary existence, but marriage was out of the question, mainly due to the lack of a suitable partner.
The only solace in my life came from the occasional video game purchase. As I climbed the stairs of my modest apartment building, I heard voices arguing from above. I looked up to see a couple having a heated exchange. The boyfriend called out desperately, reaching for his girlfriend. He might have wanted to grab her shoulder, but his actions resulted in pushing her back as she stood on the stairs.
“S-stop!”
With a cry, she lost her footing and tumbled down the stairs. I happened to be at the receiving end of her fall.
*Thud!* That was the last thing I recognized before everything went dark.
I died. And then, I found myself in another world. Was it an isekai experience? When I came to, I was inside the body of a middle-aged man, around thirty years old. This man was lying unconscious in the forest. Nearby, a large fruit called “Decobun” with a tough outer skin lay, which must have hit his head. It was easy to imagine how this had happened.
Realizing that I had merged with this man, I surmised he was an adventurer. Not an exceptionally skilled one, though; he mostly gathered herbs in the nearby forest and sold them for a living. He had been kicked out of the village for some reason, registered with the adventurers’ guild in the capital city, and made a living by collecting herbs there.
Occasionally, he would join mercenary groups hired by traveling merchants, help out at shops with some manual labor, carry the belongings of other adventurers, or do odd jobs like scavenging for treasure. He didn’t quite fit the image of a traditional adventurer; he was more like a jack-of-all-trades.
He had dreams, dreams of becoming a renowned adventurer, delving into dungeons, slaying dragons, and gaining recognition from the king. But those dreams never materialized, and when his former comrades left him behind, he decided to forget about them. I became the one who took over his life.
I couldn’t tell if my consciousness entered his body at that time or if his consciousness awakened within him after I became aware of being him. One thing was for sure: since I became conscious, he hasn’t resurfaced. Maybe he doesn’t care because nothing much has changed in his life. Or perhaps, he’s just buried deep within him.
But one thing has changed. A special skill. In this world of swords and magic, some individuals possess unique abilities called “skills.” I awoke to a skill called ‘Game.’ As the name suggests, it allows me to play games. There’s only one game I can play, a game that resembles a mix of ‘Atsumori’ and ‘Atelier.’ It involves developing the given territory, crafting items with the materials obtained there, and other such tasks.
It’s strange to think that I’d play games in a world I was reincarnated into. Well, this world lacks entertainment, so I guess it’s a welcome diversion. However, there’s hardly any time to immerse myself in leisure activities, given the situation. Still, during the nights when candles are too precious to be wasted, and darkness surrounds me, I play the game to pass the time.
I clear the forest in the territory and turn it into a farm or orchard, go fishing, craft items with the gathered materials, and occasionally entrust my created equipment to adventurers to venture far away and gather materials. I can do various things, but the game primarily revolves around “enjoying life in the territory.” It makes me wonder why I’m spending my isekai life playing a slow life game.
Well, I can’t help but think that. I earnestly wish they’d give me something more meaningful than this slow life game. My earnings only cover the cost of staying somewhere for the night and a meal, with barely anything left. The meager savings I have evaporate due to essential expenses and the costs associated with being an adventurer.
Every day looks bleak, and the future seems uncertain.
At that moment, the in-game version of myself lived in a magnificent mansion, enjoying a luxurious life, indulging in leisure activities like fishing. The disparity between real and game life couldn’t escape my notice. As more than ten years passed, something unusual happened one night.
While playing the game, I must have dozed off without realizing it. In my dream, I saw myself from the past, back in the world I used to live in. But this time, I wasn’t wearing the worn-out suit from my previous life. Instead, I was adorned in a lavish robe, looking lively like I’d never seen before. The former version of me smiled wryly while looking at me. Then, he pointed to something.
It was the game screen, a corner within the virtual town hall. I wondered what it meant, and the former me grinned mischievously before vanishing.
Confused, I woke up and found myself looking at the game interface resembling a holographic monitor. I controlled it with a controller that appeared when I expanded my skills. Speaking of the dream, it occurred to me that I had dressed up my in-game character in a king’s robe.
Curiosity piqued, I followed the dream’s instructions and headed to the specified location. In the town hall, where I usually only used to save up some money, there was a corner I hadn’t paid much attention to before – the trading post section. According to the tutorial, this was where players could engage in trade. I could put items I obtained or crafted in my territory up for sale here, and other players might buy them. Additionally, I could set desired items with a price, and other players might provide them, automatically paying the agreed price.
However, despite hoping that other players with the ‘Game’ skill might have tried it, the trading post had never been operational. As a result, I had forgotten about it. But the dream kept nagging at me, so I decided to try it out again after a long time.
Having recently collected some apples from the orchard, I set them up for sale. Each apple was priced at 3L (Leen), the currency unit in this world. In reality, buying one apple would cost around 300L, so fruits were generally expensive. To get an idea, a simple meat sandwich, comparable to a beef bowl, would be around 150L.
Even though the game’s in-world prices were generally lower, I hadn’t witnessed the trading post functioning yet. Nevertheless, driven by the dream’s memory, I tried setting the apples for sale again. As I looked at the trading post bulletin, I saw only the apples I set up for sale.
I selected the option to “buy” the apples, even though I couldn’t figure out why I should do that. It was just 3L, so the loss wouldn’t bother me. However, the game informed me that I didn’t have enough money. Confused, I was prompted to “charge” money, and the controller lit up.
In the center of the controller’s upper part, like a touchpad on a PlayStation or an area where you place an Amiibo on a Switch, a circular light appeared, and my low amount of money was revealed.
I hastily searched for a small bag of coins and placed three L coins on the controller. They vanished into the light. “Charging complete. Buy now?” it asked me. I nervously selected “yes.” Suddenly, a large circular light appeared before the game screen, and apples fell from it.
“Heh… Hahaha…”
A dry laugh escaped my lips—a mix of self-mockery for not realizing it earlier and joy at seeing a glimmer of hope in the pitch-black days. The laughter continued uncontrollably; I couldn’t stop it. Those apples tasted better than any I had eaten before.
