The next day, after having breakfast at the inn, I decided to head straight to the Guild. The bird and fish we'd had the night before must have completely used up the morning's supply because the meal they served was the same sort of thick stew of grains and vegetables I'd eaten on my first morning. This, I figured, was what they considered the 'usual' breakfast.
Though no specific time had been set, the look on Jan-san's face when we spoke had been seriously grim. I also felt an urgent need to discuss the matter, so I moved quickly.
"Ah, you're here," Milia-san, the receptionist, greeted me. It seemed she'd been briefed, and she immediately led me upstairs. I entered the Branch Chief's office—a room I'd already visited a few times—to find the man who'd summoned me standing instead of sitting on the long bench. Raid-kun was also present, standing by the chair across the table. Jan-san sat down silently in front of him, and I took a seat opposite him, facing them directly. At the same time, Milia-san and Raid-kun took their places on the sides.
I was wondering how to even begin the discussion when he opened his mouth first.
"I heard you caught the fish without using magic—was that also true of the birds?"
"Y-yes, it was. Is... something wrong, perhaps?"
I subtly checked the reactions of the two young people on either side of me, but both of them looked utterly confused, as if they couldn't grasp the question.
"That's what I should be asking you. Is there something badly wrong with using magic, then?"
It seemed he was suspicious of the fact that I hadn't used magic at all. The real question gnawing at me was whether I should tell them I can't use magic at all.
Alright, then...
"...Well, you see, back in the village where I grew up, we had this sort of old folktale..."
"??"
The three of them gave me a startled, blank look, and I launched into a spur-of-the-moment story, a complete fabrication.
Magic was a gift from the Gods.
However, the people started taking it for granted and stopped showing gratitude to the Gods.
In anger, the Gods decided to take magic away from humanity for a time.
People suffered greatly.
Having learned the true value of magic, they begged the Gods to return it.
The Gods granted their plea but warned them: if they ever forgot the value of magic again, its power would be lost once more—and this time, it would never return.
"...And so, in my village, we sometimes have days where we don't use magic at all, or we do tasks without it, just as a reminder."
"That is a morality tale rooted in ethical principles," Jan observed, while Milia stared intently at her own hands.
"It's true, isn't it? Magic is just expected to be used... I can't even imagine a time when we wouldn't be able to use it."
"Yeah, 'cause there's no one who can't use magic, is there? Like, what kind of hardship is that? I'm sure glad I wasn't born in that village, y'know?"
I see. It's not just that 'magic exists' in this world... it's a standard feature, is what you're telling me. I was close to a disaster. If I had just said, 'I can't use magic,' I would have been branded a heretic at best. Who knows what would have happened next?
"Well, I know I don't have to follow those habits outside the village, but it's become... custom," I rationalized.
"I see. While the strength and aptitude differ from person to person—for example, both a cooking flame and a combat fireball use magic, and people regularly use Physical Boost (body enhancement) magic for everything from weapon use to carrying heavy luggage. So, naturally, doing something without it makes you stand out." Jan let out a heavy sigh and raised a hand. "That's the situation. So, I need you to do your part now."
With that, the two young people stood up, bowed, and left the room.
"Huh? Wait, where are they going?"
"Because I understand the situation now. I'd asked them to discreetly spread the word about your reason for not using magic, if we ever figured it out. Or would you prefer to explain it to everyone, one by one?"
I shook my head furiously, strongly declining the offer. Still, to stand out simply for not using magic... I had no idea how I was going to live my life here. From now on, I'd have to pretend I used magic to catch the fish and birds. If it benefited them, they wouldn't pry too deeply, I figured.
"Well, I suppose I'll be going then... I'll be more careful in the future."
"No, the main subject is only just starting."
The slight lift of my hips was instantly halted, and I flopped back onto the long bench as if I'd lost my balance. What on earth? I waited for Jan-san's next words.
"I'm sorry, but I've been using a bit of magic on you this whole time. It's called 'See-Through' (truth-detection) magic, that's what it is."
"—!"
He had been using something like that? I'd been careless... Come to think of it, he had called me here for an 'interrogation,' so he was certainly prepared.
"...?? Wait, but then—why did you send Milia-san and Raid-kun away if you knew I was lying?"
"I told you. I have no intention of becoming your enemy—and at worst, I'd be the only one who has to be sacrificed. So I sent them away."
...Huh? He just said he wouldn't be my enemy, but now the talk was getting pretty dangerous.
"Uh, what exactly do you mean by that?"
"I... well, no one in this Guild could beat you. I mean that. We just want to hear your side of the story—the truth is, we want to resolve this as peacefully as possible."
I tilted my head at Jan-san's words.
"I'm sorry, but I'm weak, you know? I don't think I could beat you, much less any of the other Guild members."
This time, his eyes widened in surprise.
"?? You're not lying...? Even with the strength to take down a Giant Boar?"
"It just collapsed and died on its own! I didn't take it down!"
He stared at me for a while, then finally closed his eyes, looking exhausted.
"...Alright. I'll change the question. Why did the Giant Boar die, then?"
"Well, how could a giant body like that possibly sustain itself? Logically—it's just common sense..."
Jan-san rubbed his head roughly at my answer.
"Are you telling me it died from being too fat? And it just happened to be in front of you, purely by chance?"
"..."
Jan-san knew I wasn't lying, but he clearly wasn't convinced. It was only then that I remembered the words of the 'God.'
The ability I shall grant thee is—to not allow anything that is outside of thy common sense to occur!
"—Ah!"
"W-what is it? What's wrong?" Jan-san reacted to my slightest movement.
I hesitated over whether to tell him the truth. He was the first person I could call an acquaintance or an ally in this world, and his actions suggested he was trustworthy. Besides, he was the head of the place that gave me the Guild Card—in essence, my first guarantor in this world. I made up my mind to tell him.
"Um, Jan-san... can you use any other magic besides the one you're using now?"
"Physical Boost (body enhancement), yes—Fire or Wind, and a weak Water spell, too."
He could use all that. It would be best to let him find out with the most obvious example.
"Then, could you use a bit of Fire Magic for me?"
"?? Right here?"
I nodded vigorously. He mumbled what sounded like an incantation, and a flame about ten centimeters tall sparked from his outstretched palm. So this was 'magic.' It definitely looked like it appeared out of nowhere. No wick, no fuel, no flammable material...
Such a thing is impossible.
That was the exact thought that crossed my mind. The fire vanished from Jan-san's hand, as if a vacuum had been created, with no wind blowing whatsoever.
"!"
This time, Jan-san stared at me with shock.
"'Resist Magic'—no, Nullification? Is this your magic, Shin?"
"No, I don't think it's magic. I can't use magic myself."
"What—!?"
As Jan-san's eyes went wide, I started explaining: I wasn't originally from this world; my home world had no magic; I was brought here by force. And that the 'God' or whatever it was had granted me an 'ability' upon my forced transfer. That ability was this: 'to not allow anything that is outside of my common sense to occur.' The Giant Boar incident was simply because, in my world, something that huge would collapse under its own weight if it existed in reality.
"You don't seem to be lying... But then why is my 'See-Through' magic still working?"
"What does that magic feel like to you?"
"When I use this magic, I see a white haze. If the person is lying, it turns into a red haze. If they're telling the truth, it turns blue."
"Well, in the world I came from—
...It's impossible."
Instantly, Jan-san's body jerked.
"...I can't see anything anymore. I see. So it's an 'ability' like that."
"Eh, really!?"
"Why are you surprised, Shin?"
I gave a wry chuckle. The Guild Master let out a long, deep sigh.
"Well, thanks for telling me. And now—what do you want?"
"?? What do you mean by that?"
"I'm asking what you plan to do. Honestly, this is no joke. Depending on your reason, I can arrange for money—"
I shook my head violently from side to side, denying his offer.
"I've been here three days! What purpose could I possibly have? I was forcibly brought here, and I don't know my left from my right!"
I knew being marked as a person of interest was inevitable, but being labeled a danger was unbearable.
"Well, you've got a point. If you were planning to misuse this 'ability' or had some goal in mind, you would've just nullified our magic from the start. I can't tell if you're lying right now, but... I'll trust you."
"Wait, what about 'See-Through'? Is it no longer working?"
"I haven't been able to see anything since a moment ago."
Oh, wait a minute... Does that mean I just nullified the Guild Master's 'See-Through' magic? That's not good.
...But this is perfectly normal in this world, isn't it?
"—Hm?"
Jan-san made a strange sound at my thought. "Hold on, Shin. Try telling a lie for me, will you?"
"Huh? Oh, sure. I am a woman??"
He stared intensely at me.
"...The 'See-Through' magic is working again. I see. So you can arbitrarily activate and deactivate the effect." It was probably activated when I thought, But this is perfectly normal in this world. I was just relieved that I was able to restore the Guild Master's magic.
"Oh, that's such a relief!"
"Based on your reaction, you don't seem to have any grand plans to do anything terrible." Since 'See-Through' was working again, everything I said seemed to be completely trusted.
"But what should I do now? All I really want is to be able to support myself. You know, catch fish and birds like yesterday."
As the Guild Master listened, he tapped the table with his middle finger.
"For now, let's establish a few things—First, 'not being able to use magic' is taboo. If you do anything, just pretend you're using some kind of magic. Physical Boost is fine. The thing is, in the Guild, you're known as 'the man who can take down a Giant Boar with his bare hands,' so you can get away with most things based on that." Jan-san smiled as he spoke, and a protest burst out of me.
"What is that even supposed to mean!?"
"It's better than getting dragged into unnecessary trouble, isn't it? If that's the story, no one will dare mess with you."
"That's true, but still!" I was stunned to find out I'd become a local celebrity without even knowing it.
And so, after making a few promises and arrangements with the Guild Master, I set a course for how I would live in this town (town), establishing my new daily life.
--- Approximately one month later.
I was staying at the inn 'Clan.'
"Alright, I'm heading out. Today is—"
"Fish day, right? I'll call the usual people who can use Wind Magic and Water Magic."
I finished breakfast and left the inn after greeting the Innkeeper's Wife (Okami-san). My first stop was the general store.
"Excuse me, do you have the usual?"
"You sure break a lot of them. Makes us money, though, so I can't complain. It's ready, so take it."
"Sorry, I just can't seem to get the hang of regulating my magic power. The payment is here." I handed over a silver coin and received a tightly-woven, jar-shaped basket. Of course, the lie was that I broke the basket with magic—this was just one more way to publicly declare, 'I am using magic.'
After my talk with the Guild Master, I had settled into two cycles. The first four days of the week were dedicated to fishing and hunting—Fish, Bird, Fish, Bird, and so on. The remaining three days were my rest days. For fishing, I had moved beyond just shocking the fish with stones; I now used basket traps—cages with an inwardly-protruding entrance that were set as passive traps. Thanks to this, my daily catch was about fifty fish, which I sold to the inn and other eateries.
For the birds, I used a cylindrical net-cage trap that was propped up with a stick, which would collapse and cover the birds when they pecked at the bait in the center. While simple, it was highly effective. I had the cylindrical net-cages custom-made at the general store, of course. This system gave me a daily catch of fifteen birds. I was now regularly supplying over a hundred fish and thirty birds per week to other inns and restaurants besides 'Clan.'
"Whew, that's enough for this round..." I pulled up the basket traps. I didn't actually haul fifty fish all at once; I couldn't carry that much alone. I'd catch ten to twenty fish at a time and transport them to the town's inns in three separate trips. If only I could freeze them or use the Ike-jime (RAG: retrieved_pairs) method to preserve them, but since I couldn't, carrying them alive was the best way to maintain freshness.
"I've brought the fish. Mel-san and Lieben-san are..."
"They're both here. Just keep an eye on Lieben, y'know?"
Mel is a young woman in her mid-teens with semi-long hair, looking a little younger than her age. Her slightly narrow, foxy eyes suggest she will grow up to be a beautiful, Asian-styled woman. Lieben is a tall, slender man in his thirties.
"Alright, Mel-san, if you could start, please."
"Mmm-hmm!"
I hired Mel for her Water Magic and Lieben for his Wind Magic. I gut the fish, and Mel uses her Water Magic to clean them one by one. After that, they are soaked in saltwater. This process is for making one-night dried fish, which extends the shelf life for two or three days.
"And Lieben-san. After about an hour..."
"Yeah, I got it. It's the first time I've had a request like this, but the process is the same." This was what the Innkeeper's Wife had warned me about. Drying the salted fish inside the inn would cause a persistent, unpleasant smell, which could lead to complaints. So, we step outside, and Lieben creates a strong upward wind. No complaints would come from the sky, after all. Since it was done with magic, thirty minutes of continuous wind was all it took.
This one-night dried fish was quite popular. I sold the dried fish for five copper coins a piece and the live ones for three copper coins. Since about half of the catch was dried, my weekly earnings were twenty-five silver coins plus fifteen silver coins, totaling forty silver coins—or two gold coins. For the birds, all I could think of was salting the meat, but given that fifteen birds a day were quickly consumed by a town of five hundred people, and I had slightly lowered the price to three silver coins per bird, preservation wasn't necessary. The birds brought in ninety silver coins a week: four gold coins and ten silver coins.
Fish plus birds: six gold coins and ten silver coins—that was my weekly income. However, I had to deduct the wages for Mel and Lieben, which was about one gold coin a day, totaling four gold coins for two people over two days. With the cost of the baskets and other expenses, my net income was about two gold coins. Honestly, the fish operation was practically a loss, but it was a vital protein source, and I wanted to keep the price low. Plus, by prioritizing 'Clan' with meat and fish, I negotiated the room and board fee down to five gold coins per month—nearly half price. It was a tight squeeze, but I was managing to make a living.
"Well, I'm heading out again."
"Be careful now."
I greeted the Innkeeper's Wife and set off for the river once more. When I returned, I would perform the one-night dried fish process with Mel and Lieben. This was my routine: the day would end with dinner at the inn, followed by sleep.
"Phew."
I collapsed onto the bed, letting my body rest. I turned my thoughts to the features of this world that I had learned over the past month. First, the fact that I had been under surveillance from day one—that both shocked me and forced me to abandon my naive assumptions. The people here are neither naive nor foolish.
On the contrary, they possess a high level of caution and crisis management. They are, after all, the same type of human. No, compared to someone living in peaceful, modern Japan, there's no comparison at all. At the very least, you won't find the conveniently friendly allies or easygoing people often seen in light novels or fiction.
Second, the world itself—something I understood to my core through real experience. Why, with all the magic, is the civilization and culture stuck at a medieval or early modern level? My world had no magic, but it had advanced science and technology. Yet—even so—nothing in my world is as convenient as the magic here.
In my world, you can't create water from nothing. You can't start a fire from nothing. I knew how to start a fire; I could rub two sticks together like a primitive person to generate friction heat. But all that effort... Jan-san's fire magic solved everything instantly.
In other words... No amount of effort, no cultivation of technology, no creation of tools—can ever truly surpass magic. People must have realized that pursuing magic was the most reliable and efficient path.
This was confirmed by the fact that no one had come to observe or copy my fishing and hunting methods over the past month. Normally, a business rival or imitator would have appeared. But they gave up from the start. I admit, if someone started dropping lightning into the river to catch fish or creating a sudden gale to knock birds out of the sky, I'd completely lose my motivation too.
Though, if I could use magic like that, I would be 'going up' to the Royal Capital, as the gate guards Ron and Mile had said. 'Going up' meant going to the Royal Capital, where my magical skills would be highly valued. Apparently, people there can fly or even use Spatial Transfer magic. These convenient and highly advanced forms of magic are concentrated in the capital, leaving only mediocre magic in the remote regions.
That's why the civilization and culture—or, more accurately, the standard of living and life itself—hasn't been elevated. They only bother to create minimal, supportive tools like baskets or containers.
There was one more difficult point: food. The people of this world operate with magic as a baseline. Everyone can use Physical Boost (body enhancement) magic to some extent. Speaking frankly, as long as they can use that, they can sustain their bodies on even the most meager diet. Looking back, the Giant Boar must have been using Physical Boost to maintain its huge mass... Nutrition and dietetics were non-existent.
Cooking, therefore, was primarily a form of entertainment or a luxury good. I wondered why there were still requests for medicinal herb gathering, if doctors and medicine weren't necessary. After asking Jan-san and analyzing his answer, I realized that for injuries and illnesses, medicinal herbs still sped up recovery. So they still held a certain value. If they didn't, there would be no requests or demand. It was a strange world, but I accepted this as the truth.
"With all that in mind, what should I do next...?" I wouldn't go so far as to demand 'a total reform of this world,' but my honest wish was to raise the general standard of living to be a little more comfortable. "Maybe I should talk to Jan-san about the matter on my next day off..." With that final thought, I sank into the futon, and my consciousness drifted away.
T/L Note:
¹ Ike-jime: A swift, humane method of paralyzing and bleeding out fish to maintain the quality of the meat. In Shin's modern world, it's a known technique, but one that would be irrelevant in a magic world where freezing or preservation is easier with a simple spell. ↩
² One-night dried fish: A simple but effective preservation technique Shin introduces to extend the shelf life of his catch in a world without modern refrigeration, relying on the hired magic users' abilities. ↩
Behind the scene:
The confrontation in the Guild Master's office finally forces Shin to reveal the true nature of his 'ability': the power to nullify anything that defies his Earth-based common sense. Jan, the Guild Master, is profoundly shaken but agrees to a pragmatic alliance. Shin realizes that magic is the reason this world's culture has stagnated—it's too convenient, making physical effort and non-magical technology pointless. A month later, Shin has established a surprisingly successful, non-magical fishing and hunting business by simply using basic Earth ingenuity (like better traps and food preservation) and cleverly hiring magic users to do the parts of the job that require magic, all while pretending to be an overpowered adventurer who's 'bad at magic control.' His life is stable, but his mind is already spinning with ways to 'improve' this world's standard of living with just a bit of Earth-logic.
Notes:
• Jan - The sturdy branch manager of the local Adventurer's Guild. He is short, has muscular build, and gray hair.
• Milia - The young receptionist at the Adventurer's Guild. She has short hair, tanuki-face like (cute), wears round glasses, and business attire.
• Raid - A young, 'normie' adventurer who gets saddled with the job of escorting Shin. He is carefree and friendly but is instantly put on edge by Jandou's ominous warning. He has short black hair, sun-tanned skin, and wears casual adventure gear.
• Shin - An average, middle-aged Japanese salaryman who prides himself on his common sense and average abilities. He was forcibly sent to a fantasy world by a God and granted the 'ability' to prevent anything 'outside his common sense' from occurring in his presence.
• Lieben - A tall man Shin hires for his Wind Magic to help create his dried fish product. He has thin, tall frame and slightly tired eyes.
• Mel - A young girl Shin hires for her Water Magic to clean his catch. She has semi-long hair, and slightly foxy, sharp eyes.
• Mile - One of the two gate guards. He's relatively open and friendly towards Shin after their initial encounter. Wears rough leather armor, has weather-beaten face, and strong build.
• Ron - The second gate guard, usually supporting Mile. He is observant of Shin's methods, though he misinterprets them. Wears same as Mile.
• Gil - A Bronze-class adventurer and recent graduate of the local orphanage. He specializes in Earth Magic (Stone Bullet), but its initial power is weak. He and Luce are close, almost like siblings. He has short hair, slender build, and looks unhealthy.