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Side Story 3: No Coffee, no Life. [Released Version]
🕑 Added 2020-02-03 05:51:49 +0000 UTCUrgh, why is it so cold outside…? My head…
Only a month ago, I, Tatsuya Nagata, was a simple student who complained about how mundane his life was, not realizing how much I would miss it once it was gone. To stave off my boredom, I developed a hobby of playing video games and reading fiction.
I loved it. Immersing myself in these worlds made me wish I could just rip open my monitor and dive right into these magical worlds. The adventures I would go on would be legendary.
… Or so I thought, and apparently, some universal force probably heard me and took it seriously, instead of treating it like some overworked student’s daydream.
One month ago, my whole class and I, except our homeroom teacher, were transported into a relatively medieval fantasy world you would find in most fantasy novels. The difference was that a supernatural power in the form of a video game’s system was ruling this place. To be more specific, game mechanics and system messages similar to RPGs and MMOs existed in real life here.
Magic, levels, skills, and so many other features you could think of were the cornerstone of this world’s power scaling. With a single command, you could call up your “Profile” to look up all his information in one easy to read format.
Sounds amazing when I promote it to myself, until the fact I am here against my will.
I was currently in the courtyard of what seemed like this world’s Vatican, and my class and I were using this place as our temporary home for now. It was currently winter here. This world had a similar twelve month per year cycle, and from the looks of it, their calendar was quite similar to ours for some coincidental reason.
We were summoned here in the first month of the year, so the current month was WinterBloom. February, in other words. Unlike their calendar, they had completely different names for their days and months.
“Oi, Tatsuya…” I heard a jovial, but a bit troubled, voice call out for me. I swayed my head to the direction of the voice, our eyes, meeting his eyes. “As your best friend, I can’t say I’m not worried about the fact you aren’t training with us, even if I know you’re on withdrawal.”
It was my classmate and best friend, Kyouya Ishiyama. Instead of wearing his Japanese school uniform, he was wearing a gambeson, a padded jacket designed to defend him from attacks and ward off the cold, some kind of medieval trouser, and boots. He was also carrying around a sheathed sword on his hip,and a kite shield was strapped on his back.
If he had some armor, he would look like a real knight, but I guessed it would be too heavy for him. Still, with the bruises on his face and the calluses on his hand, I could very much see how much he was pushing himself. The sweat and his strained breathing indicated he just came back from training.
“You don’t need to worry about me, Kyouya…” I mumbled before groaning at this massive headache I was having.
“Yeah? aAs if I’ll do that.” He showed me a worried face as he scratched his head in irritation. “Your parents would kill me if they found out I ditched their hopeless son.”
“Pah, good luck to them. As if they would kill you with all the boost this world gives. What’s your unique skill called again? That defensive one.”
Massaging his temples in frustration, he opened his mouth to answer my question, “It’s called [Ardent Defender].”
<Ardent Defender: A skill that specializes in and improves the defense of the user. Improves the effectiveness of all shield abilities by reducing a certain amount of damage from any blocked attacks. Passively improves Vitality and Wisdom of other members of the party, while the user is in it>
When we were summoned to this world, the group of priests who performed the ritual stated they brought us here to help them end the demonkin war or invasion or something. Now, if we were in some random fantasy story, I bet a couple of us would have been happy to hear something this shady, but I could assure you, nobody did.
I mean, it was a natural reaction. Summoned? Against our will! We were kidnapped to this world and some robed asshole told us we should follow their orders since we’re some god’s heroes supposedly. That we had to “defeat the demonkins for the good of all humans!”
Some of us protested — I was amongst them. However, it was futile as even if we wanted to run away, knights in shining armor acted as the priests’ bodyguards. Any attempt on the first day would just be impossible. That night, nobody could sleep, evidently since everybody looked miserable the next day.
During breakfast, they made it clear to us that they would only return us back to Japan — to Earth — if we sorted out their problem. How fucked up was that? Kidnapped and then given an ultimatum, as if we were just disposable tools.
Eventually, we had to calm down and adapt, and that was when this organization, the Church of Aurena, began offering us lectures and training with bright smiles. With our prolonged stay here, it was imperative we began learning about this world’s culture, history, System, and, of course, their religion.
They were essentially turning us into soldiers, and from what others mentioned, also propaganda material. With all the history lessons our homeroom teacher, Segawa-sensei, taught us, it was far too easy to figure out. She was a European history nerd, especially. Fitting, since this was the setting.
Who knew sitting her extra lesions out would bite me in the ass like this? Thank goodness for our bookworms.
Now, unlike the others in my class, I was the only one who wasn’t really training. I was learning and listening to lectures, seeing as it was just like in school, but even that was starting to become torture for me.
The reason for that was I was showing withdrawal symptoms, even a month after! Coffee, I needed my next fix of coffee. And I wasn’t kidding about it, here. Since the start of middle school, I had always drunk one homebrewed coffee in the morning and bought one for my afternoon studies.
The life of a student attending an extremely prestigious and strict school was terrible for my sleep schedule. That was why I needed coffee. I needed my daily dose of caffeine, otherwise my head would start hurting and I would feel so tired, I would just fall asleep the moment I sit down.
… Unless it was too cold to fall asleep. Which it was, and was one of the primary reasons why I like staying outside.
Thankfully, I got over the shivers, but I still had strong withdrawal problems. It made lectures extremely hard to listen to and training was just impossible without the needed energy. If it weren’t for Kyouya, I probably would have been terribly behind.
And one of the things he helped me with was my skills. Specifically, he appraised my unique skill [Rush Hour] and title [Otherworldly Visitor].
<Rush Hour: A skill that dictates a user’s maximum stamina and general activeness. Lowers maximum stamina of user in low tension situation. Increases maximum stamina of the user in high tension situations. In a flight and fight situation; the user may activate this skill to cleanse any [Exhaustion] effects and apply [Rush Hour] on oneself, significantly increasing Agility and Stamina regeneration. However, under [Rush Hour] the user will also receive double of all incoming damage. Once dispelled, the user will be inflicted with [Starvation (Minor)], and [Exhaustion (Moderate)] or [Exhaustion (Major)] depending on the length of [Rush Hour]’s usage>
<Otherworldly Visitor: A title granted to an individual whose origin is not from this world. Enables the Skill Point function. Grants the owner the [Automatic Language Translator] skill>
I was told everybody in the class received a unique skill and also [Otherworldly Visitor].
“Haaaa, jeez, Tatsuya.” Kyouya shook his head again. Training definitely took a toll on him. “We need to do something about this. The normal priests and shrine maidens are nice people, but those bishops and cardinals probably want to see results.”
“Tch, scumbags…” I pouted.
The only people who knew of my strong coffee addiction were only Kyouya and my parents. I wasn’t super close to my other classmates to the point they would care too much about me, and I didn’t think the church would understand my problem. In fact, I was pretty sure, if I explained the situation, they would think I was a drug abuser or something. They would think even less of me!
“Kyouya-kun!” Suddenly, while I was lamenting this stinging pain in my head, a high-pitched voice called out my best friend’s name in a cheery tone.
The both of us turned around, seeing a brown-haired girl waving as she came closer.
“Kyouya-kun, the others asked if you… huh?! Nagata-kun?! Oh jeez, I didn’t notice you there for a second. You look terrible! Did somebody beat you up or why are your eyes so black?!” She flinched, scared by my relatively unkempt appearance.
“… U-Uh, Aiko-san, hehe, you see—” Kyouya gave a nervous laugh before he began explaining my situation to her, shocking her to the point she looked like she saw a ghost.
“… Sorry. That was rude.”
The person talking to us was Aiko Hasebe. Classroom idol, and currently a priestess wearing an almost excessively embroidered winter coat as white as snow.
Under the winter coat, she was wearing a long, dress-like white robe that stretched down to her ankles, with impractical, long sleeves and a hood attached. The fabric used for the robe looked high-quality and silky. It was richly embroidered with golden-colored fabric to flaunt status and wealth without being too overbearing. The very image of an affluent medieval aristocrate.
<Saint Candidate Robes: Robes created to be worn by a saint candidate, dedicated to the Goddess of Light. Woven meticulously with high-quality fabric and skill, only fitting for a saint candidate to wear. Enchanted to protect the saint from harm
Skill: [Holy Resistance Lv. 8] [Physical Resistance Lv. 5] [Health Recovery Lv. 3] [Mana Recovery Lv. 3]>
Finally, in her right hand, she held a dazzling, white porcelain staff, completing her look as a white mage, I meant, a super-duper rich-looking white mage. Well, her parents were pretty wealthy, so maybe what the church gave her fitted her style. Not like the priests cared who we were on Earth.
Come to think of it, could that golden-colored fabric be real gold?
“Still, it is kind of surprising to hear that’s the reason why you barely did any physical activities in the last month. You’re awfully behind, you know that?” She looked a bit worried, making it even harder for me to speak back.
“W-Well, he can’t help it.” Kyouya immediately went to my defense, exactly what you expected from a best friend. “With how rough our school was when it came to grades and stuff, he needed that boost to keep him awake. I mean, I also had some energy problems in the beginning without any coffee and stuff. It’s hard.”
“Everybody was grumpy and irritated in the beginning, not only because of the lack of our usual amenities, but also because of our crazy situation. But everybody got over it. We did it as a class.” She then looked at me for a moment before sighing with a frown. “You could’ve asked, Nagata-kun. Like, we’re a class and need to stick together in this foreign place. Don’t act like a lifeless husk of a zombie.”
“Oi, could you call me a lifeless husk or zombie, please? I know I’m acting like a loser right now, don’t need to rub salt on my wound! Owch!” I argued back but a sudden sting in my head stopped me from continuing. Whilst massaging my temples, I continued, “Argh, whatever! You wanted to say something to Kyouya, right Hasebe-san? Just spit it out.”
“Haha! Well, at least you still act like grumpy, old Nagata-kun. I guess that’s why you’re so blunt”
No, I just don’t like socializing.
Snickering loudly at my attitude, contrasting her elegant appearance, Hasebe eventually calmed down to state the reason for running over here to Kyouya. “I noticed you going somewhere, so I followed you to bring you back to the training field. We’re doing a joint spar with some rookie church knights, and the cardinal overseeing my training told me I should start practicing my ability to heal front liners in the midst of a fight.”
““Heal?”” Both Kyouya and I tilted our heads at that word.
“Yup, venerate me peasants, I’m the first in our whole class to learn how to cast a spell! I’m an official holy mage, or priestess, as they call it here~” She puffed up her chest, boasting proudly of her achievement.
“W-What?! You actually learned [Holy Magic]? Wait, [Holy Magic Lv. 1]’s System spell was, what again? Oh right! [Minor Heal]! Incredibly, you actually are a saint candidate!” Kyouya was literally cheering and celebrating Hasebe-san, a fact that made her laugh haughtily.
During one of the lectures about the world’s magic system, the bishop explained to us how difficult it was for people to learn how to control their mana and use it to cast magic without the proper resources. Once we learned [Mana Control] and other necessary magic skills, we would start with a so-called “custom spell” to learn our first “System spell.”
Through an object called [Crystal of the Divine System], the priests were able to read our Profiles and used [Identify] to learn the details of our unique skills. A bit of a privacy invasion, but not like we argue back. With this information, they divided our groups into two groups — one focused on magic, the other on physical combat.
In the end, I was sorted into the physical camp because my Strength and Agility were higher than my Intelligence. Pretty insulting, until I realized they meant the names of my stats. And that was why I didn’t know much more about the whole magic casting thing. All I knew was that it was complicated.
But, Kyouya seems to know more about it despite being in the same class. He probably asked our magicians in the class about it. Connections. I wish I could use [Identify] more often…
Speaking of [Identify], although I hadn’t acquired that skill yet, I could still appraise things with a piece of technology from this world.
<Identify Ring: A manatech in the form of a ring. Uses mana from the owner to activate [Identify Lv. 5 (Restricted)] to analyze an object. Can only analyze inanimate objects and skills>
I sadly slept through the lecture about what manatechs were and was in the process of copying Kyouya’s notes on them, but from my limited knowledge, it was technology made with mana. Obviously.
Although the city and church was more styled like medieval Europe, it still had some hints of pretty nice tech around. These [Identify Ring]s weren’t the only manatech I’ve seen around.
“Hold on, but that doesn’t make sense. I heard from one of the knights that it takes around one to two months to gain the skill [Mana Control], not to mention how long it takes to learn your first custom spell. Five months should be the minimum to learn your first elemental magic skill!” Kyouya was flabbergasted, looking very much like a goldfish right now with his widened eyes and agape mouth.
“Ehehe.” She stroked her cheeks, smiling and giggling with a reddened face. “Well, I can’t deny that [Saint Candidate] and my unique skill [Saint’s Oath] didn’t help me.”
<Saint Candidate: A person that has been recognized by a divine being as a potential Saint. Boosts proficiency gain of magics based on Holy Element. Decreases Dark Element proficiency. Grants the owner of this title an aura that calms others>
<Saint’s Oath: Allows the sharing of all current active parameter boosting spells on the owner. All spell effects will not be removed upon transfer. Boosts healing proficiency when applied to others. Aiming required>
Hasebe-san then came closer, whispering to us the rest, “To be honest, the cardinal was a real prick about me having to learn [Mana Control] as soon as possible. I learned it last week with Nishio-kun, and also learned the custom spell [Apply Light] at the same time. Just to make him stop lecturing me about ‘this being my responsibility to be better’ I just kept spamming the spell over and over again, until I got [Holy Magic].”
She then straightened up her back and showed us a wry smile, smiling nervously before continuing, “Problem is, I went overboard and got [Arcane Fever]. I actually nearly died that night if it weren’t for my bodyguard, ehehehe…”
Kyouya’s eyes widened in bewilderment, all while I was confused at what she said. Why did she almost die? What was [Arcane Fever].
“Y-You… was that the reason why you were gone on the weekend? I heard from our other mage classmates that you didn’t attend the morning church prayer and sermon”
Hasebe-san flinched backwards when Kyouya showed this much concern for her well-being. She fidgeted, not knowing what to say to his genuine worry. I believed this was the right time to enter the conversation and throw Miss Saintess a lifeline.
“Hey, wait. Kyouya, what is this [Arcane Fever] anyways?”
“Huh?” My knight friend turned his attention to me. In the corner of my eyes, I could see Hasebe-san giving a silent sigh and nod, thanking me. “Sorry, I forgot to write that down for you. I thought you wouldn’t need it because you’ve been acting like a hikikomori, lately.”
I tried to be helpful but now I was getting burned for it? What the hell?
“[Arcane Fever] is a status effect that appears when you accumulate too much arcane corruption, so when you use too much mana in a short period of time. Signs are your skin turning blue and purple, you feel ill like you want to puke, and headaches, I heard.” He was already scaring me with the symptoms alone. “If you receive the ailment, your Health will slowly drop and, in rare cases, the accumulation would cause your body to explode! Death, dude.”
“What the fuck?!” I instinctively shouted out, turning my gaze at the girl responsible for my outrage. “Oi, Hasebe-san, are you stupid?! Why the hell did you risk your life for something like that?! Did you forget your brain in Japan?!”
“Tatsuya’s right, Aiko-san. I’m pretty sure even our trainers mentioned you shouldn’t overuse your mana! Arcane corruption is a mage’s worst enemy!”
With her mouth agape, she shook her head in a panic, trying to deny all the anger directed towards her. “W-Wah?! Y-You guys don’t need to be this harsh. I’m alive and still going strong. And, jeez! I’m trying to help out as best I can! Why am I getting so much hate?”
She pouted like a twelve-year-old, ignoring the fact she was 18 already. Still, her outburst made Kyouya and I second-guess ourselves and ask her to elaborate what she meant by “helping.”
She frowned before looking around the area, noticing there wasn’t a knight or priest currently around. She then came closer to us, to the point we could feel her breath next to our ears. She grabbed our shoulders and pulled us even closer, causing my head to suddenly feel hotter as I could smell her.
“I don’t think I need to tell you guys this, but you do know the church is watching our every movement, right? They call us ‘heroes’ but I think they see us more like tools to be used. Probably not expendable, thank goodness, though.” She let out a deep sigh, tickling our ears. “But, I think the best way to make sure they treat us well is to make sure they’re happy. You know, like me learning magic in record time. The cardinal was so happy, I think I could probably ask him for a favor now.”
“But you nearly killed yourself,” Kyouya retorted. “This honestly feels like a prison. We really should try to get out of here. I don’t like this ‘killing’ part we have to do for them.”
“Bit too late for that suggestion, dude. Tama-chan and Nishio-kun called some of us to talk about it, but we all agreed not to. Too many guards to get out of the church’s ground, and the city is probably controlled by them. It’s a ‘holy capital,’ after all.” Hasebe grimaced. “It’s not like we’ve given up, but you know, even for those with strong combat unique skills, like Takuma-kun and Enokida-kun, they can’t even defeat a knight captain. Right now, at least, but we’re also completely outnumbered.”
All of this was being planned and I’ve only learned about it now?! What the fuck!
But a more important point was that none of them seemed to be overpowered to hell like in a normal fantasy novel. maybe somebody was hiding their true powers, but at this very moment, none of us were like the superhumans blocking our way out.
“Maybe a real chance will show itself in the future, but right now, it’s best if we just curry favor. All of us are literally level zero with pretty mediocre stats compared to the people around us.”
“I understand that, but you’re killing yourself here! Shit! I didn’t know. I need to get stronger now. I can’t let you be the only one doing something.”
Without warning, Hasebe pushed us away from her and shook her hand, looking bashfully for a second. “I already said I’m good, yeah? I won’t do it again, now that I know how it feels, so don’t worry. The priests even gave me this tea to help me recover faster.”
She turned her head to her belt, pulling up her… termos.
Are you kidding me? She managed to bring her thermos with her?! Where is mine! Whyw?! This is so unfair!
Not noticing my chagrin, she opened the can and pour some dark green liquid into the cup. She waved it around a bit, letting her breathe in the aroma.
“What is that?” I asked her.
“This is a tea made from leaves that you can find… uhm, what was the name again? Ahh, it comes from a place called the Belzac forest. Why are you asking? You want some?” She reached her arm out, offering me the cup of tea.
“Nah, no thanks.” However, I declined. “I’m not a tea person. Coffee or riot.”
“Really? Well, it does have this bitter taste that reminds me of coffee, so I thought you might want it. Come on, try it. It’s good for your health. It helps reduce arcane corruption build up and fatigue, so this might help you.” She pushed it into my hands before reminding me it was cold.
“…Well, I guess. Thanks.”
My slightly shivering hands enjoyed the warm sensation of the tea, immediately making me feel more awake. I smelled it, and I had to admit it had some coffee smell to it, but it still reeked mostly of tea. Out of reflex, I grimaced, showing my heavy dislike for this beverage.
Still, I took a sip under Hasebe’s attentive eyes.
…!
“Woah!” I yelled out, startling Hasebe-san.
“A-And?! How is it?”
“It’s… amazing!”
The taste was undoubtedly similar to coffee, despite it being made from flavored grass. How was this possible?! It didn’t have any caffein within it, but my body still felt more energized than before. Was it a placebo? No way, I knew this was tea and not coffee! I had thought I would never, ever be able to drink coffee again, since I heard from the priests something like coffee didn’t exist in this world!
I thought, at first, it could be because they didn’t have the word “coffee” in this world, but that didn’t make sense with my title [Otherworldly Visitor] automatically translating everything for me. I had already fully accepted that I would never be able to enjoy a brew of warm, roasted coffee beans ever again until I returned to Earth.
“ I can feel the buzz! It isn’t like caffeine, but I still more awake than before! Even my headache is starting to hurt less! Mhmmph!” I took another sip from the tea without asking Hasebe.
Not minding it, she shrugged. “No idea, really, but the priests told me it helped regulate your mana flow. It’s really popular amongst mages and nobles due to its— Waaaaaah!
“Oi, Tatsuya what are you trying to do?!” Kyouya shouted.
I suddenly grabbed Hasebe-san at her shoulders, shaking her in excitement after finally finding this world’s coffee alternative! It felt like all the unspent energy from this whole month came back, streaming into me, refilling every single cell with power!
“Hasebe-san, thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Ahhh, you found coffee for me!” I eyed her as if she was the goddess.
“I’m happy for you but let me go!” Suddenly something hard hit my stomach. Still holding the cup of tea, I fell to the ground and groaned in pain.
“Jeez, you should be happy that I didn’t aim a bit lower, you jerk!” I couldn’t see her face, but the tone of her voice suggested it would be better for me to just stay quiet for now.
“Aiko-san, are you ok?”
Look at my best friend worrying about somebody else, while I was cradling my stomach. Where did your loyalty go, bro?
“I’m fine, Kyouya-kun. Phew, Nagata-kun, if you like that tea so much, then you can have the rest.”
My head snapped up when I heard that. “Wait, I can continue drinking?”
“Yeah, like I said, just ask for help if you need it, alright? Regardless if we weren’t really friends back at school, we need to stick together now. You need that tea more than I do. Take the whole termos as a bribe so you can start training like the rest of us, ‘kay?”
I twitched when she said that, but I kept silent. She was being really nice to me, and I had to ask her about something else. “Hasebe-san, where do you get more of this?”
“More? Well, these leaves are from the church’s own supply. It’s supposedly expensive, and they only considered giving me some because I almost died. You probably have to buy them, if you want some for yourself.”
That was not what I wanted to hear.
“… How do I get money?”
“I can answer that.” Kyouya raised his arm, wanting to speak. “The knights said that we will eventually become adventurers, and that we can earn money by doing Quests. We need to level up, and the best way to do so would be to go outside. We need to work, in other words.”
Kyouya’s words lit a fire inside my heart, a flame of hope. I gulped down the tea, enjoying this small moment of bliss and stood back up. “… That means I need to train myself.”
“Oh yeah, you should. You’ve missed a month of training, so you need to hurry up and… Hey, hey! Wait, where are you going, Tatsuya?” Placing a hand to stop me, I turned my head to Kyouya.
“Where? To train of course!” Both Kyouya and Hasebe-san were shocked at this revelation. “I’m filled with enough energy to keep me awake for multiple days. Now that I think of it, you told me about that joint training, right? The knights should be around. Help me out, who do I ask for a ”
““What?!””
“Hey, you told me I could ask you for help, Hasebe! I need help now, so help me out so I don’t become dead weight to all of you!” I argued with her own statement, causing her to twitch.
“Nagata-kun, you know that I can have some knights arrest you for kidnapping me, right?! So, let me go already!” Her failing stopped, realizing that it would be futile, so she instead resorted to threatening me. However, at this very moment, I couldn’t even give a fuck if I were to get kicked out of the church, or not.
“You can report me to the damn goddess, for all I care, but do that after the training is done, ok! Come on, it’s cold so breaking a sweat will help us warm up!”
“Give it up, Aiko-san.” I heard Kyouya let out a deep sigh. “You shouldn’t try to separate an addict from his addiction, and we have somebody here on a major withdrawal.”
First, we get stronger. Second, get some money to buy a good amount of leaves. And then finally, we’re going to the Belzac forest!
Just wait for me, coffee-tasting tea leaves. I’m coming straight for you!
