Isekai Kansha - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Beginning of a New Day

Soft light streamed through the window, and the chirping of little birds tickled Jin’s ears pleasantly.

"Ahh… morning already, huh?"

Half-drifting in the drowsiness of dawn, Jin slowly opened his eyes. What met his gaze was not the familiar tatami room he had known for decades, but the inn room he had stayed in for the first time yesterday.

"I wonder… do sparrows exist in this world too?"

Reaffirming that he was truly in another world, Jin sat up.

"Hm? …Oh."

It was then he noticed something unusual. Something he hadn’t experienced in decades. The sheets around his waist were distinctly raised.

"Right… I really am young again."

Jin muttered to himself, oddly moved by the sensation he had long forgotten. If only his body had been rejuvenated while his mind remained that of an old man, he might have been embarrassed or bewildered. But since his heart was young again too, it felt natural—just… strange to recall it after so long.

"Well, whatever. Guess it means I’m healthy."

He climbed out of bed, stretched, and promptly headed down to the toilet on the first floor. Afterward, he asked a staff member where he could wash his face, and was directed to the well in the backyard. Jin thanked them and made his way outside.

"I don’t stink of sweat, but I’d really like to wash properly. Ideally, a bath… but still."

Since he had fallen asleep right after dinner yesterday, his body was still sticky with training sweat. He didn’t even have a towel, let alone a toothbrush. He made a mental note: today, he needed not only weapons and armor, but daily necessities too.

He washed his face with the cold well water, shook the droplets off with his hands in place of a towel, and sighed. He wanted to change clothes, but he had no spare set. His current outfit—the tutorial gear, so to speak—was, like his wooden sword, one of the few possessions carried over from his old world. He resolved to treat it with care.

The courtyard was empty of people. Deciding it was the perfect chance to let himself dry, Jin began his daily radio calisthenics.

With this young, healthy body, stretching felt better than ever. As he worked through the familiar routine, focusing on lengthening each muscle, he suddenly noticed someone stepping out through the courtyard door. A tall young woman with dog ears. Their eyes met.

Jin gave a slight nod and shifted toward the edge so she could reach the well more easily, then resumed his calisthenics. But soon, he became aware of her gaze on him. He wasn’t really in the way, but being watched made him a little self-conscious. Embarrassed, he cut the routine short, gave her another polite nod, and retreated quickly back to his room.

Once inside, Jin decided to use the time before breakfast to plan his next steps.

First of all—what to do with his money. By his estimate, he had the equivalent of over seven hundred million yen.

But just because he had money didn’t mean he could live a life of luxury. That was out of the question. Jin wanted to enjoy this new world, but not by taking the easy way out. And he knew that wealth out of proportion to one’s station only invited misfortune.

He didn’t want to attract the wrong kind of people. At the very least, until he had enough strength to protect himself, he’d keep that fortune sealed away. Still, since Burke, the gate guard, had already exchanged one large gold coin for him, Jin decided it was fine to spend within that limit. From Burke’s tone, even buying a full set of equipment would leave some to spare, so he judged it sufficient for now.

"Alright then, let’s make a proper to-do list."

Calling up the Notebook function in his Menu, Jin summoned a pen as well and began jotting things down in bullet points:

• Buy weapons and armor. A sword—something safe and standard for beginners.

• Buy daily necessities: a towel, spare clothes, underwear, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and soap.

• Gather information: check for a library. Learn about skills, maps, social customs, general knowledge, and history. Buy books if available.

• Guild: register officially as an adventurer. Take quests. Train. Maybe practice on his own, too.

• Meet Burke: arrange the refund for the deposit.

• Use skills: test Non-Attribute Magic and appraisal when no one’s watching.

• Visit the temple: greetings. Skill check postponed.

• Check Menu: only 〔Settings〕 remains unexplored.

• Magic: Are attributes the same? How to learn spells? How to memorize chants? Buy books if possible.

• House: prices, rent or buy, bath, renovations, maybe build new.

"That should cover it. I’ll add more as I think of them."

He’d written down whatever came to mind. The last item, about a house, was for the future, but the sooner the better—he wanted proper baths, and staying long-term at an inn seemed wasteful. That was his Japanese practicality speaking, combined with an old man’s frugality.

Jin had already grown fond of this town after a single day. Leaving it hadn’t even crossed his mind.

"All right. What I can do right now is check the Menu."

Opening Settings, he found four options: Quests, Log, Detailed Settings, and Help.

He’d already seen Quests and Log, so he skipped them and selected Help.

It still looked exactly like the VR game New World & New Life’s help menu. Just to be sure, he tried searching Appraisal, but the entry was the same as in the game. Satisfied, he decided to leave it alone until he needed it.

But the truth was, this wasn’t a VR game anymore—it was reality. Just as the Menu had adapted to become his skills, the help system had surely been rewritten for this world as well. Had Jin been the sort of person to read manuals thoroughly, he might have avoided some of the troubles waiting for him.

But that was his choice. And in the end, it wasn’t entirely a bad one.

Unaware of the important details he had overlooked, Jin moved on to check Detailed Settings.

The options were:

• Map

• Windows

• Battle System

• Time

• Language

• Music

Some looked promising, but remembering Chris’s recommendation, he opened Map first.

The items were:

• Map Display

• Navigation

• Target Display

All of them were OFF. When Jin turned Map Display ON, a window appeared, showing a map of the inn centered on his room. He could switch between floors and zoom in and out freely. Zooming further revealed the entire town, and further still, a world map centered on the town. However, most areas remained hidden, only revealing places he had already visited.

Jin resized the map back to the inn and decided to test out the Target Display next.

The moment he toggled it on, the menu flooded with options:
Living Beings, Humans, Monsters, Animals, Hostile, Friendly, Wary, Size, Gender, and dozens more.

Apparently, he could configure in fine detail what kinds of dots and statuses appeared on the map.

As a test, he set the display to Living Beings, and sure enough, far more white dots appeared in the inn than there were people. The cluster around the kitchen gave him a bad feeling, so he narrowed the filter to Humans—and the number dropped sharply. His hunch had been right, but he chose to ignore the unpleasant implication for now.

Next, he toggled Hostile, Wary, and Friendly to see emotional states. Nothing changed. He figured this was because he hadn’t interacted with the people here enough for them to form such feelings toward him. Relieved that the woman who had caught him doing morning radio exercises in the courtyard wasn’t marked as "wary," he nevertheless felt guilty for what was essentially peeking into other people’s emotions. He promptly switched those settings off.

Overwhelmed by the sheer number of options, Jin remembered what Chris had said: "It’s all about image."

Sure enough, when he tried resizing the map in his mind or adjusting alert levels, he didn’t need to fiddle with settings one by one—the map adjusted just as he imagined. Whether this flexibility was thanks to the game’s system or some fantasy-world twist, Jin didn’t know. Either way, it was incredibly convenient.

In the end, he decided to prioritize safety above all. He set the Target Display to show only those with a clear hostile intent—people actively harboring malice toward him.

That alone was more than enough. If he needed something else later, he could always adjust it.

"Fuzzy image control for the win," Jin joked with a grin.

Next, he switched on the Navigation Function, another feature Chris had highly recommended. Two new items appeared:

• 〔Search〕 … Search by name, occupation, shop name, service type, and more.

• 〔Destination〕 … Set a quest objective or any chosen location as a destination and get navigated there.

"This one’s easy to understand."

Trying it out, Jin searched for "Burke." Result: 0 people. Expanding the range to the entire town, four results appeared, marked with dots and large arrows on the map. Searching "soldier" narrowed it down to one person. When he set Burke as his destination, a route appeared across the map, just like a car’s GPS. This’ll come in handy when I go see Burke-san later, Jin thought.

He considered searching for Instructor Greg or the receptionist too, but stopped himself. For Greg, maybe—but looking up a woman that way felt… disrespectful.

"It’s useful, but I should use it responsibly. Yeah."

One wrong move and he’d be a stalker. Chastising himself, Jin muttered a quiet reminder.

"But at least now I won’t get lost. That’s a relief."

As someone who had always struggled with directions, this was a godsend. Jin was quite pleased.

Satisfied with the Map, he moved on to the Window function.

This one was simple: it let you change the appearance. You could dress up the borders with ornate metals, or encircle them with branches or flames for a fantasy touch. Even the window surface could be swapped between parchment, scrolls, wood, paper, and more.

Jin imagined his Basic Info as a ninja-style scroll—and not only did the window appear as a scroll, but the text itself transformed into brushstroke-like characters. He could even "unroll" it himself, handling it as if it were physically real. Of course, it was just a visual projection, but the pseudo-tactile sensation—like a touchscreen—made it surprisingly fun.

Normally, windows were visible only to him, but he could toggle a setting to show them to others. Practical or not, it was perfect for role-playing, and Jin enjoyed the feature immensely.

Still, after experimenting, he left most of the windows on default. The only one he kept visible was the 〔Notepad〕. It seemed Jin wasn’t the type to fuss over appearances when it came to his own use.

The 〔Time〕 and 〔Music〕 functions also caught his interest.

The time wasn’t just a timepiece—it could be projected onto the back of his hand, the blade of a wooden sword, or even a wall, fixed in place until he changed it. Naturally, the shape and style were all up to his imagination.

Jin created a fantasy-style wooden wristwatch. Since it wasn’t physical, it wasn’t in the way, so he decided to leave it on, set to invisible for others. He also learned this world had a 24-hour day—good to know.

The Music function lets him configure everything sound-related: BGM, sound effects, and even playing music for others to hear. To Jin, it was an even sillier toy than the window customizations. The library was limited to in-game tracks, and since Jin had never been much of a music listener, he left everything at default, switched off.

Opening the Language menu finally explained why he’d had no trouble speaking or reading in this world.

• Language Setting: 〔Japanese〕

The bracketed part could be swapped for English, German, or countless other languages. Since New World & New Life had been sold worldwide, it must have shipped with this translation feature built in. Jin felt genuinely grateful it hadn’t been Japan-only.

That left only the crucial Combat System menu. But by now, time had gotten away from him, and he figured it’d be better to set it up after gaining more battle experience. Once again, he decided to postpone it.

Definitely not because of the hunger he’d been feeling for a while now. At least, that’s what he told himself.

"…I’m starving. Perfect timing, let’s go eat."

He glanced at his wooden wristwatch. It was just past 8 a.m.

Heading downstairs, Jin chatted with the middle-aged lady working at the inn (he guessed she was over forty), picking up bits of local information while enjoying a hearty, delicious breakfast.

And so, Jin’s first morning in another world began—reasonably fulfilling, all things considered. Heart light with the thrill of his new adventurer life, he set out into the town with eager steps.

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