Vol 1 Chapter 2 – Tutorial Stage 1 (In Gaming Terms)

“Um… excuse me, miss — who exactly are you?”

“Oh, sorry about that. I’m Elena — Royal Dungeon Survey Corps, Water affinity.”

What did she just say?

I was about to ask what century she thought we were living in when she threw out “Water affinity” like it was perfectly normal. What are you, a Pokémon?

Then again… that sign back there…

I glanced over my shoulder. Sure enough — there it still was, surrounded by grass, babbling streams, wind, and forest, the sturdy wooden sign declaring “Royal Capital: approx. 300m North” in total, unashamed defiance of reality. Though honestly, the idea of a concrete pole growing out of the woods would be the weird part here. In context, the sign was actually the normal one.

“I don’t recognize your face. Are you not from the Royal Capital?”

“I’m not from near here — one second I was somewhere else, and the next I was just… here.”

“Oh! Then you’re one of those! People from other worlds show up pretty regularly, honestly. It happens all the time.”

It happens all the time. An entire world where interdimensional travel is so routine it warrants a shrug. Part of me almost wondered if I was being pranked. I can’t stress enough how casual this woman was about it. Let me repeat that: incredibly, incomprehensibly casual.

And I’m the one who came up with the isekai explanation — and I’m still not buying it. Isekai was a trendy fantasy genre. You know, virtual reality MMOs, dying and reincarnating, that kind of thing. Fiction.

“Your hair is black, and you’re not wearing a bracelet — that clinches it. There’s an office that handles otherworlders. I’ll take you there.”

“Wait, wait, wait — I haven’t processed any of this!!”

I couldn’t keep up with her rapid-fire explanations. Not to brag, but my brain isn’t exactly high-performance — I can’t absorb multiple things at once. Black hair and bracelet significance aside, expecting me to just follow along with zero context was frankly unreasonable.

Even if she was cute, even a cute girl running this kind of otherworldly pickup line was objectively alarming.

…Not that I wasn’t hoping, somewhere in the back of my mind. I won’t claim I wasn’t.

“You have absolutely no idea what’s going on, do you?”

“I have absolutely no idea what’s going on!?”

“Simply put — the bracelet is an ID. The mark on it indicates your class; mine is Gunner. Hair color shows your elemental affinity; mine is Water, like I said.”

She held out her wrist to show me. A bangle — or was it called that? Engraved on it was an image of a bullet and what appeared to be a personal identification number. Actually, that made perfect sense.

“Everyone who lives in this world should have one. The office can explain the rest properly. Okay? Let’s go.”

“Sorry for the trouble…”

“Don’t apologize — this is part of my job.”

Elena set off in the direction the sign was pointing, smiling and waving me over.

At least she’s not throwing game-jargon at me. I was the type to spend an unreasonable amount of time on even the simplest mobile game tutorial.

Why? Because I never paid attention.

“I haven’t asked your name yet. What is it?”

“Hm? Me? I’m…”

Do I give my real name in a situation like this? Every isekai story I’d ever read had the protagonist going by some kind of title or role. What was the standard protocol here?

“Do you — Elena and everyone here — say your family name after your given name?”

“People ask me that sometimes, but we don’t really have family names.”

No family names. A peasant society. That was, pathetically, the best insight my meager brain could produce.

“So you have one of these family names.“

“I do, but… not sure it’d mean much to anyone here.”

“The office will probably ask for it.”

Well, they’d end up calling me by my first name anyway. For now, just my given name ought to do.

“I’m Utaki. Mizugaki Utaki.”