Children in this world receive blessings and become adults around the age of 13.
When I say “this world” it means that I am not a native of this world. I realized this just last week when I turned 13 and received my blessing.
When I woke up in the morning of that day, I noticed something strange above my family’s heads. Even though I could not see it when looking at it directly, it became visible the moment I averted my gaze. It was like a rod or a bar, resembling a life gauge for an RPG character.
It was at that moment that I recalled many things about my previous life.
I was supposed to be a university student in Japan but I suddenly found myself here, as a child in a village as if I was in an RPG game. This child’s name is Finn.
“Onii-chan, good morning.” (Shari)
My sister Shari, who had been bedridden for all of yesterday, floated out of the bedroom. She is an 11-year-old girl with blonde hair, a delicate and fair complexion, and a fairy-like appearance. She’s like a beautiful girl created by God as a hobby. Her body is weak, and she sleeps for about half the day every day. Fortunately, she seems to be feeling a little better today.
Shari sits in the chair next to me and looked at me. I poured water from the jug into a ceramic cup and handed it to her. Then, she tilts her head slightly and drinks the water while looking like an angel. When I moved my gaze, I can see the bar floating just a little bit above her head.
It seems that I still remember everything that has happened in this world so far, including Shari.
The world I am in, or rather the only thing I know of as a child, is that this village had a so-called European medieval style with RPG elements.
I don’t really know if this is what European medieval times were really like, but there was a village with fields and forests, and apparently, there were monsters in the depths of the forest. The lord would have their soldiers patrol around with swords to prevent the monsters from coming out of the forest. It was that kind of setting.
And then there was me, a child who looked different from when I was Japanese. I looked more like a Westerner, with sandy-colored eyes and hair. But there were others like me in the village, so it wasn’t that unusual. My father looked the same way too. My mother had brown hair and brown eyes, though. Well, we didn’t have a mirror in our house, so I never really got a good look at myself.
◇
In this world, all adults have a special ability called “blessing”. Some of these blessings include skills such as ‘strength’, ‘speed’’ or ‘swordsmanship’, while others are like magic, such as being able to create fire from hands. In other words, adults are those who have received a blessing at the age of 14 or older.
It seems that my blessing was the ability to see a bar above people’s heads. When I first realized I reincarnated, I tried to say “Status Open,” but nothing appeared, and I didn’t get any explanation. This world is so unkind.
By the way, my father has the strength blessing and can easily lift up an entire person. My mother has the water blessing and can create water. In normal households, fetching water is a job for children, but we are exempt from that.
I haven’t told my parents about my blessing yet. I had a hard time telling my father who has been saying things like “I hope you receive a good blessing.” But saying “I can see a bar above you” is a bit difficult. However, I can’t keep it a secret forever.
It has been about a week since I regained my memories in this world. I had wandered around the village, looking at the heads of everyone, or at least the 300 or so people in the village. As a result, I had a rough idea about what my blessing is.
“I think this might be a level gauge.” (Finn)
◇
After looking more carefully at the people in the village, I noticed that everyone had a bar above their head. The bars varied in length and number, but the children’s bars were all less than one full bar length. I decided to call this level 0, for now.
When a person becomes an adult, in other words, around the age when they receive their blessing, the first bar becomes filled and a second one begins to grow. These people are at level 1. There are many level 1 adults in the village, including my father and mother. I’m also at this level.
Around 30% of adults have their second bar filled, making them Level 2. Only about 10% of people have their third bar filled, making them Level 3 and incredibly strong. The only ones at level 4 are the knights who occasionally come from the lord’s estate to guard the village.
It seems that this level does not continue to increase with age. As people age, their level appears to decrease gradually, so the old man next door is only Level 1.
I quietly glance at the bar floating above my little sister’s head. It is extremely short compared to others. While most children around her age of 11 are at least close to level 1, if I had to put a number on it, Shari’s would be 0.2. It’s almost as if she doesn’t have any presence, even though she’s such a beautiful girl. Rather than being a transparent beauty, it feels like she might disappear if you’re not paying attention.
I patted Shari’s head, who was sitting in the chair next to me drinking water. Shari closes her eyes, looking comfortable. Her blonde hair swims smoothly in my hand. She really is an angel. I want to keep stroking her hair, but I should go get something for her to eat while she’s still in good shape.
“I’m going out for a bit.” (Finn)
“Onii-chan, be careful.” (Shari)
◇
My house is a typical farmhouse in the middle of the countryside – a small wooden house consisting of a living room connected to the earth-floored area, a bedroom, and that’s pretty much it. We also have cows, sheep, and chickens for agricultural purposes in the backyard.
Although I said I am going to buy food, it’s not like a 13-year-old kid in the village would have cash on hand. So, I first go to an old lady who lives on the outskirts of the village, and who deals with medicinal herbs.
“Grandma, do you need any errands done today?” (Finn)
That’s right, it’s a quest. If I bring herbs to this grandma, she will give me some pocket change. I can use that to buy bread and fruit. It’s a trick I learned as a child. By the way, this grandma is a level 2.
“Oh, it’s Finn. How’s your sister doing?” (Grandma)
“She seems to be doing okay today. So, I was thinking of going to buy some food for her.” (Finn)
“Ah, I see. By the way, when I was a child, I was also weak and had a hard time with various things, but at that time, I was also cute and everyone called me an angel.” (Grandma)
“I see… But what about the errand?!” (Finn)
“Hmm. Then, could you bring me a branch of this leaf that strengthens your body? Don’t go too deep into the forest, though. Goblins might appear.” (Grandma)
“Got it! No problem!” (Finn)
I hold the sample leaf in my hand and checked that the knife my father gave me is in the small bag before I leave.
The fields outside the village are filled with potatoes, wheat, and grass. The fact that there are potatoes means that it’s not a real medieval Europe, so unfortunately I can’t exploit any potato cheats.1
After passing through the fields, I entered the forest. According to the old lady, the medicinal herb grows in the shade. I searched for a spot under the trees. Using my knowledge as a Finn, I have a vague idea of where they might grow, having found them before. After about an hour of searching, I found a plant that seems to be what I am looking for. I used my knife to cut off the branches, roll them up, and put them into a small bag.
“Alright, let’s head back.” (Finn)
As I lifted my head, there was a small green goblin in front of me.
“Woahh!!” (Finn)
I screamed in surprise, and the green goblin in front of me was also startled by my loud voice.
The creature in front of me is a humanoid being, not even one meter tall. It is holding a tree branch… club thing? In its hand. Based on my fantasy knowledge, it’s a goblin. The grandma who told me about the medicinal herb earlier also mentioned goblins. So, they really do exist.
This goblin is about the size of a large dog. Seeing a large dog in person can be scary, so it’s impossible to deal with one that’s armed and approaching you.
I turned around and ran away as fast as I could. This is bad, I have no choice but to run. I need to get out of this forest as soon as possible. I ran frantically, my feet almost tripping me up. I stumbled on a tree root and fell down. I crawled towards my knife that flew out of my hand and picked it up. I looked around to see if the goblin was still following me.
…There was no goblin.
I ran out of the forest and returned to the village. I went to the grandma who sells medicinal herbs and opened the small bag.
“This is the herb (wheeze) you were talking about, right? (wheeze)” (Finn)
“Oh, yes. By the way, what happened? You’re covered in mud and scratch marks. Did you run into some goblins?” (Grandma)
“That’s right! Goblins! I thought I was going to die!” (Finn)
“How many of them were there?” (Grandma)
“One.” (Finn)
“I see. That must have been a surprise. But if it’s just one, and you stay calm, it’s weaker than a person, so you should be okay. They’re timid creatures, so if you scare them, they’ll run away.” (Grandma)
“Come to think of it, it disappeared when I shouted loudly.” (Finn)
“Be careful, though. If there were many, there could be some danger. They might call for their friends.” (Grandma)
“I got it, so Grandma, I’m going home now.” (Finn)
“Uh-huh, here is your reward.” (Grandma)
After leaving, I went to buy some bread and apples before heading back home. Shari ate them with relish, but she looked worried about me, who was scraped in various places.
“Onii-chan, when Shari receives a blessing, she will heal these wounds right away.” (Shari)
“Yeah, thank you, Shari.” (Finn)
I boiled some water and added the medicinal herb I received, then poured it into a cup and handed the herbal tonic tea to Shari.
“Drink this tea, it’s good for your body.” (Shari)
Shari nodded and sips the tea. I gently stroked her golden hair.
“Onii-chan, Shari wants to go on adventures with you. You’ll defeat the monsters, and Shari will use magic to heal your wounds and help you. And then…” (Shari)
With Shari feeling better, she started to talk a lot. I hug her head and close my eyes so I won’t see the short bar above her head.
“Onii-chan, Shari will protect you…” (Shari)
My little sister said that happily.
Image of Shari
“Onii-chan, good morning.”
~ Link to source
TL notes:
Thanks for reading!
Grandma is already planting that flag.
OMG That was so many words to translate and edit. I have not read ahead, so I have no idea if all chapters are this long, but the first chapter looks promising. There are AI generated images, in about 80% of the novel, and they look rly nice, so you can look forward to that.
Btw halfway through editing this chapter, my brain turned off and I started typing in (Goblin) instead of (Grandma) for her lines LOL, it was quite funny when I looked back at it HAHAHA.
P.S. Does “Onii-chan, good morning” or “Good morning, Onii-chan” sound better? In the raws, onii-chan is usually added at the end, but do you prefer it at the front?
Thanks for chapter ! keep it up good job
Just piece of advice . ask tony to make your releases auto-approved https://forum.novelupdates.com/members/tony.19/
Ah I did plan on doing that but I read somewhere that he only adds new group to the NU bot for auto approving once a week. So if a week goes by and its still not getting auto-approved, I’ll contact him.