I was a high school teacher at a village in the countryside. The high school was for students from several nearby villages but at most there were only fifteen students in a class. At most.
Being in the countryside, most of the adults didn't really care about children not graduating or not. So some of the students ended up quitting school and chose to work right away. So the class ended up with only having less than ten students by the end of the school year.
I didn't hate it. The salary wasn't huge but it's the countryside so everything was quite cheap and I enjoy the tranquility of the countryside.
One day, the school had a field trip to a museum in the city which happened once a year and I was one of the few teachers guiding the students there because I was the youngest teacher. Most of the teachers were old because no one wanted to teach at the countryside.
At the museum while the students were looking around, I just checked my phone because I had been there a few times already. And I watched something interesting. An indie game I used to play a lot was being remastered. It's a game called Kill All Demons. A game that I played simply because I had an old laptop and it's an indie game made by someone using a cheap game-making program so my old laptop can only play this game.
It's just a normal game where you played as a student of the academy with a certain amount of freedom of choice to do what you want but one thing stayed the same. You have to kill all demons you encountered. It's quite a generic storyline.
Although it would be impossible to buy the remastered game, I watched the trailer out of curiosity. The graphic was improved from just the 2D graphic that were used more than two decades ago. And it was just a simple trailer that I never saw from the old game.
A large amount of demons kneeling in front of a throne where someone was sitting. My guess would be that was something like the Demon King. But there was no Demon King in the game back then even as the Final Boss of the game. Which means that the game must have improved a lot and some more events were added.
Watching that trailer was the second thing I remembered about the past while reminiscing about it. The other thing I remembered was one of my students was crossing the street and a speeding car couldn't stop in time. So I pushed the student out of the way and the car ended up hitting me.
I lost my life back then. My first life. Because after that, I opened my eyes and noticed that I was a baby. I got a second chance. A second life.
I just lived hoping for a better life in this time. And I was excited to learn that this world had magic.
But when I was young, I found out what kind of world this is. It's the world of the game I used to play a lot, a game I spent many hours of my previous life playing even after completing it many times simply because I didn't have any other game and my laptop couldn't play other games. Kill All Demons.
Before, I thought everything was just similar. But when I heard about this news that was spread in the city where I live, the Capital City of the Kingdom of Vassel, I knew right away that this world was the world of that game.
The story of how a commoner raised up to be the captain of the royal guards was not something I thought to be special. But hearing the name of said Captain and his story made me realize it.
His name was Gazel. A powerful man with a spear that could pierce through anything. He rose up to his position after killing a group of wyvern all alone when all his teammates died. That's the same person and same backstory as the Gazel in the game.
I remembered almost everything in the game so I was sure of it. And it couldn't be a coincidence.
So I explored the city I was born in and this time, I carefully looked at everything to see if it's as I remembered.
The game was 2D and the capital city was viewed from above. The size of the city and the buildings wasn't as small as it was in the game so I didn't think of it much as a kid.
But as I walked around, everything was as I remembered. I knew where the blacksmith was without ever going there myself. And I even knew the path through the alleyway. Then I looked at my house. It's an ordinary house as my father worked as a carpenter. And his workshop was where I remembered it in the game.
My house was also in the game. But it was a private residence and I couldn't enter the house at all while playing. And there were other houses and buildings that weren't in the game but exist here.
Knowing the danger, and remembering about the trailer which was that there should be a demon ruling over other demons, I feel afraid. But I had no choice but to get stronger.
Maybe the protagonist of the game could be strong enough to kill the Demon King. It's the name I decided to call whoever sat on that throne and had all the other demons knelt toward. But I still had to expect the danger ahead.
This city was considered to be safe. At least in the game during the whole time from start to every possible end, this city was safe. So I didn't have to worry about my family. But I still need to be stronger.
Since I learned what kind of world this was, I started training every day. I decided to pick up a wooden sword and swung it every day. I told my parents that I wanted to be an adventurer in the future and it's normal for kids around that age to start dreaming of amazing adventures.
Then I also went to bookstores to see if I could find magic book so I could learn magic on my own. Learning magic officially needed money and I wasn't that rich. Though I couldn't find any easily.
I also started helping my father's work as a carpenter. Taking up a skill like this would be helpful. And it's good since I got paid for helping around.
I needed a lot of money for the future. And one thing I had decided to spend on was for talent appraisal.
In this world, everyone has at least one talent. Those who were rich were lucky enough to have their talent be appraised early so they could make a progress in said talent at a young age. For those who were older, they ended up having to give up their skills because their talents weren't related to the skills they had learned. But that was stupid. They didn't need to give up their skills because their talents were unrelated.
That was also what made my parents worried. They were worried that my talent wouldn't be something that could be used in combat since I told them that I dreamt of becoming an adventurer. But they didn't need to worry because I was already someone with an adult mind even when I was a baby.
Knowing my talent only meant that I will be good if I put in a lot of effort in said talent but that didn't mean that other skills unrelated to the talent will be bad. I had mature mind after all.
And so, after a few years of helping around with carpentry and building a lot of interesting stuffs, I had enough money to buy a sword and to have my talent appraised. So I went to the church where I would be appraised.
And that day is today. Now I am at the church at the age of fifteen ready to be appraised. It's also the age where I can register myself as an adventurer. I have decided that no matter what my talent is, I will register as an adventurer today and will leave this city I was born and lived for fifteen years for the sake of getting stronger and to survive the danger ahead.
"Please come in."
After telling one of the nuns that I'm going to take the talent appraisal test, she guides me to one of the rooms in the church.
While many other people here wear garb or gown, the appraiser wore a suit. He's not really a member of the church. He just works at the church as an appraiser because in case someone has talents in something great, the appraiser can contact the church right away and the royal family will also be informed from here. Only for special cases.
Talents decide what you should focus at. It's not everything. You're just talented in it. You still need to put effort to be good in it. But it's good to know what I'm good at.
I was a teacher. Maybe my talent would be teaching but I wasn't really a good teacher. And I didn't have much talent in my previous life so I'm kind of expectant to know what my talent is in this fantasy world.
The appraiser uses his skill to appraise me and read my talent. Maybe his talent is to appraise people and that's why he took this kind of job.
"Hmm… you have one talent," he says without opening his eyes.
That's not bad. That's common. At least I have one.
"Your talent is… pft!"
…Now that's not normal. He laughs after seeing my talent.
"Your talent is slip magic. Hahaha!"
…Now he doesn't even bother holding back his laughter.
But slip magic? Seriously?
Even I would laugh if it's someone else's talent.