Chapter 01 - The Day I Died

I am going outside to relax a bit ... I said to my mom and left the house and was on the way to the usual park.

The weather sure was nice today, the sun was shining brightly and the wind was blowing gently. What a perfect day to go outside.

I am Asashi, an 18 years old 3rd-year high school student from Japan. My hobbies are coding and reading books along with some anime.

While I was walking on the footpath I saw a girl who was talking to someone on the phone. She was most likely 16-18 from her looks. But the situation was bad she was about to get hit by a truck and she was not even paying attention to the surrounding. How one can be so careless?

I hurried and ran toward her with all my might and pushed her out of the way. I planned to save her while saving myself too from the truck but I was a bit late during the execution of my plan and although I saved the girl I got hit by the truck.

My consciousness was fading away slowly and I was about to lose my life. But I was not ready to die yet. I was not ready to leave my parents behind.

One good thing was that the girl was safe and sound, she was panicking and people were gathering around me and probably calling an ambulance too I was not able to hear much all sounds were fading away.

I don't know why I moved to save that unknown girl. Probably I did that because last time ... I was not able to save someone I knew.

I was remembering the good moments in my life at this point. The time I went on hills with my parents to watch the snowfall, the time I got first rank in the class, the times when we celebrated each other's birthday and all and at last, I remembered her ... the only friend I had in my life.

After that what I saw after that was a person standing in dark and had some magic circles in front of his hand and he was chanting something which I didn't understand. For about 45 seconds I heard those incantations.

Eventually, my vision faded away and I guess, I died. I had my regrets in this life. I was not able to make friends except one because they thought of me as a creep for getting full marks on every test. No one even tried to talk to me and I lost my only friend too because she died. I had a lot to regret but that's all for nothing now, I am about to die.

After a while, I started to think if I am dead then why I can think these thoughts? then I started to blink my eyes. I was not able to see anything it was dark. Closing or opening my eyes was not making any difference. I am not even sure what kind of place is this. After a while I found myself laying on the grass. If I were to describe it, it was the terrain like in safari from South Africa where we would find Lions.

I was pretty much confused for a while, where am I? was I not dead? I was not sure if I am dead or not. I was not sure if I am alive or not. What is this place? I don't know.

Then I heard a rustling sound from the bushes and what I saw ... I was surprised a group of five goblins-like creatures was what I saw and they were after none other than me. I stood up hurriedly and started running but they were going to outrun me in no time that was for sure. While I was running I thought and it became pretty much clear to me that I was dead on Earth and this is no safari. This world might be a world where magic and swords are used. A world that is full of mythical beasts like goblins that are running behind me.

At the moment they were going to outrun me I heard a thud sound and I was stunned. After turning around I saw that all five goblins were on the ground and the green liquid was coming out of them maybe that's blood color? Then I started looking from where the arrow that killed all these came from and then I saw a man with a black robe came jumping out of the tree.

If I were to describe this man then he was wearing a black robe, had blonde hair and had a very serious look on his face. He started staring at me, while he was staring I bowed down to him and gave my thanks to him for saving my life.

Then after staring for like two minutes constantly, he asked "Are you a human?" and I said "Yes" and then he yelled at me then "why the fuck you are here?". I was confused like very much confused and then he again said while I was confused "Don't you know humans are not allowed in the goblin territory?" to which I awkwardly replied "Yes, I don't know that" and while we were at it I also asked "Are you not a human too?" and he said, "I am a human but what I am doing here is none of your concern". He said that judging from my outfit I don't seem to be from this world and said are you also not from this world? I was again shocked. "also?" does this mean that the man standing before me is also a person from another world?

I tried asking more but then he shut me down. I asked his name and he answered that he was Hyde - Warrior Chief Of The North ... now he no longer holds that title. I wonder why he no longer holds that title may be due to retirement? but he seems young to me at least he is very young for retirement. I thought of asking but considering he was not giving me many answers I dropped that question. I also thought that if he is Warrior Chief of the North then is it possible that there are Warrior Chiefs of South, West and East too?

I was still on the ground and Hyde gave me a hand to lift me and I was able to get up. After this, I introduced myself to him that I am Asahi. I still haven't told him about my reincarnation and else though because I am not even sure what happened. I mean if I died on Earth then I should have been reincarnated and I should have been reborn instead of that I found myself laying on the grass and If I am not dead then does that means that I am being summoned here? I certainly saw a man with magic circles in front of his hands but I am not sure if what I saw was not my imagination.

While I am having these thoughts I and Hyde started to move after incinerating those goblins. I asked Hyde, why are we doing this? he said, "If we won't incinerate them the smell of corpses will attract Daini and you will not be able to see this world again because you will die". We were moving in the direction opposite from the sun. Now I don't know if it's west or east because I don't know how directions work in this world. At first, I was not sure if I should go with him or not because even if he saved me he was quite a mysterious guy. From what I know he can be a monster in disguise of a human you never know right? But again I didn't know this world so I thought of following him.

I was actually quite scared while walking because I saw some very strange plants but Hyde was cutting them with his dagger. He was facing no resistance while cutting them down. The terrain was pretty amusing too... where I woke up it was safari-like terrain but now what I am into is an evergreen forest. I was following Hyde for quite a while now and I was not even sure where we were going.

While we were walking Hyde told me that it is not allowed for humans to enter goblin territory. "Goblin territory is third largest in this world after Human territory," he said. It was almost two hours of walking and then we reached a cave-like thing where some strange plants were protecting the cave probably. then Hyde put on some liquid on the plants and plants made their way. I was fascinated by this man, to be honest. He told me in this terrain plants are the most useful resource if you want to survive here you need to learn the application of plants otherwise you would become a dinner of some in no time. Even the arrow that killed those goblins was covered with a liquid that came from a certain plant otherwise goblins won't go down so easily that's for sure. While he was telling that I asked him ... aren't goblins supposed to be very less intelligent, to which he replied: "Yes they are but as they grow up their intelligence grows too and with that their physical capabilities increase too."

I was fascinated by his cave too it was huge. If I were to describe how it was it was in a dome structure with a few stone chests kept on one side and enough fire torches to light the whole cave. One corner was looking like a bit of raised platform and on top of that flowers were hanging. Then he took out bowls from one of the chests and served me something so disgusting that I don't even want to remember. It was like food that you will get from adventuring with a certain guy named Bear back on Earth. I unwillingly ate it but I gotta tell you it was quite delicious for its appearance.

It was cold at night and I was not able to sleep because I was sleeping on the cave's floor ... Hyde at least had something like a mat to sleep over but he didn't have any extra so I slept on the floor. Talk about cruel ... he can't even share. Well, the cave was big and full of stone boxes like things which contained so-called plant resources I guess. Hyde seems to be a very mysterious guy I don't know if I can trust him or not.

Well anyways, The day I died was over and I was not able to sleep due to the cold.