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「This is…」 

Athal opened his eyes inside of a building filled with bookshelves as far as the eye could see.
He surveyed his surroundings for any indication of human presence, but calmed down finding it to be dead silent.
Charmed by his curiosity, he began to walk, his footsteps resounding throughout the vicinity.

「A library?」

That was the feeling the building gave off, but as far as he knew there wasn’t such a large library in all of Japan, or even overseas.
No matter where he looked, there were bookshelves all over, so he looked at the spine of some book he didn’t know of.

『Fumu, have you woken up?』

Hearing a voice from his rear, Athal looked behind himself in surprise.
Back when he had been checking his surroundings, he had thought that there was no one around.
However, the one who spoke was sitting comfortably in a chair right behind Athal, hands crossed atop a desk.

「Since when have you been there? Who are you?」

『Hohoho, sorry for suddenly calling out to you.
I am… a God, like existence.
It’s fine to think of me as such.』

The man who referred to himself as a god smiling calmly was an old person with long white hair and a white beard.
Wrapped comfortably around his body was a soft long robe.
If one were to proclaim himself a god to the usual Athal, he would surely reject them as a shady existence, however in that place with its wondrous atmosphere, and most of all with the old man carrying a mysterious atmosphere, he accepted that claim.

「God, huh.
I guess in this kind of place, with that appearance, it’s not weird for that to be the case.」

If someone were to stop him by the roadside and made that claim he would say they’re joking, but in that place the credibility was high.

『Umu umu, it’s helpful that you understood quickly.
I’d get right into the main question, but do you remember what you were doing before you came here?』


In response to the question God had asked while squinting his eyes, Athal did as requested and called to his mind what he had been doing before he came to that place.

「If I’m not mistaken… I should have been gaming at home.
That’s what I always did.」

Inside his memory, Athal was playing a VR first-person shooter, holding a controller shaped like a gun.
When he was in high school, Athal had done a homestay in America where he had gotten a chance to go to a shooting range and fire a gun.
Unable to forget that feeling, he had turned to games.
Once he came to know the pleasant feeling of precisely shooting enemies inside the game, he became absorbed in mastering it.

『I see, how about after that? Do you remember that?』

God continued to question Athal.
However, Athal creased his eyebrows as he found himself unable to remember beyond that point, as a haze came from somewhere and covered his memory. 

「… After the game… no, I can’t remember what happened.」

After being unable to recall it no matter how much he thought about it, Athal gave up thinking about it and responded as such.

『Fumu, is that right.
In that case, I’ll tell you.
You were playing your game, and then at the moment when you were removing the game equipment, you were stabbed from behind.
Because you were living alone and concentrating on the game, it seems you didn’t notice the intruder.』

Though God spoke in a light tone, as though he were only speaking of the day’s weather, to Athal being informed of his cause of death came as a great shock.

「I was stabbed!? So what, I’m dead!?」

To Athal’s frantic query, God silently nodded.
God’s atmosphere was telling him that the fact of his death was already determined. 

「Bu-but, I still had so many things I wanted to do…」

In his astonishment, Athal recalled inviting his coworkers from the company he worked at to experience their first survival game the following Sunday.
During his homestay, he had picked up an interest in guns, but he didn’t have any experience gathering people to fight against in real life, so he was really looking forward to Sunday’s activities.

God called out to Athal’s dejected self in a gentle tone.

『In that case, how about going to a world where you can fight?』

God gave Athal some unexpected words.
Since he had died, he was under the impression that he’d go to heaven somewhere.

『I called out to you here with the intention of reincarnating you.
It’s a different world from Earth, but it’s full of fighting… There are wars between neighbouring countries, and there are monsters to fight as well.
There are plenty of unsettling movements as well.
I hope that you can go there and resolve even one of the problems there.』

God spoke with a face that showed he was troubled about the future of that world.
Even though he was God, that didn’t mean he was able to meddle with things as he pleased.

「Reincarnation, but…」

He was against having his current self disappear.
He was also understanding of the fact that he wouldn’t be able to change anything in that world without any real combat experience.
Athal hesitated over these two reasons.

『Umu umu, certainly you would have reservations.』

God read the heart of the silent Athal.
It was better to be someone with common sense rather than a crazed battle junky.

『However, worry not.
It would be too dangerous to simply send you to the other side to have you fight.
How about I give you some support.』

Athal raised his head at the word ‘support’.
God had said that with a playful expression on his face, laughing.

「Support? What are you able to do for me?」

God grinned as Athal took the bait.

『Umu, for starters, regarding your biggest concern surrounding your memories.
I said earlier that it was reincarnation, however, it’s more along the lines of a transfer.
How’s that? You’ll be warped over to that world with that body.
That being the case, you’ll be able to go there as your current self.』

With that proposal, one of Athal’s worries was swept away.
His eyes sparkled at how convenient the proposal was for him.

『As for your second concern… in the case of a transfer, your body will have to be changed between earth and that world.
That being the case, the abilities of your entire body will be raised.
And third, you will be given an exclusive weapon.
How does a gun like what you are used to using in the game you mentioned sound? That world is one of swords and magic, so you will be the only one with a gun.』

That proposal was incredibly tantalizing for Athal.To be able to fight with his beloved gun in the real world, he was more excited than he was for the survival game.

『You likely have resistance towards killing another person, but over there, hesitation will kill you so your mental strength will be supplemented as well.』

「Mumumu, those are pretty good conditions for me… is it fine to make a proposal that favours me that much?」

Looking at the conditions that God had given him, Athal had an idea.
Since he was already getting that much support, there was a possibility that God would listen to even more unreasonable requests.

『What is it? Go ahead and ask.』

Since God was willing to grant most wishes, he held a great interest in what Athal was going to wish for.

「Make the gun a sniper rifle.
Then, I want the power to make bullets.」

『A-are, you fine with that much?』

Since God was expecting him to wish for something like eternal youth, or magic powers, Athal’s request surprised him.

「Ah, I want a regular sniper rifle that won’t break and is maintenance-free.
Also, don’t make the bullets out of regular lead, but make I want them made with various powers.」

Athal thought that he would get nothing but the gun, so he asked for a way to get more bullets.
And then he heard that it would be a world of swords and magic, so to deal with that he would need bullets of various kinds.

『Fumu fumu, how interesting.
Your wish will be answered, I’ll make another modification to your gun.
It’s more interesting to make it more absurd after all.』

Hearing Athal’s request, God thought this man is fine and showed a smile like that of a mischievous child before he began overdoing it.

「Kuku… that sounds fun.
Then can you make this?」

Seeing God’s smile, Athal was taken aback for a moment but soon began going back and forth with him coming up with various powers.

Since that place was unbound by time, the two continued talking for what would have been three days on earth.

And finally, after what would be the fourth day in earth time, Athal faced towards the new world.

 

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