Well, this one took longer than I had thought since I’m still refining my workflow, but I think it came out better. I should get faster as time goes by, but I can still say that I will be committed to at least updating once a month. If I get more free time, I’ll post a chapter early. In the meantime, feel free to read some of my other stories. ^_^
Enjoy!
One Person, Rising Up
Kurando felt the gentle caress of a breeze against his face.
He opened his eyes and realized he was inside of a cave because of the light coming in through the entrance.
The distant, shining, light exposed a world of blue and white beyond the cavern’s mouth..
Unsteady on his feet, Kurando was drawn to view outside and rushed toward the entrance of the cave.
The cold air bit into his skin and irritated the back of his nose, but it didn’t bother him.
What he saw were endless sky and white mountains.
Looking up, he also saw a not so big bird thing flying across the sky.
Also, on the opposite mountain slope, there was a strange looking, long, white, cat-like creature striding along a ridge.
He realized he was finally free from everything, released from all obligations.
Sure there would be inconveniences and troubles, but he felt such a deep emotion from throwing away both prejudice and pride. He was able to put the entire situation, appearances and lack of salary all behind him.
How long had it been like that?
Kurando felt a sudden chill. It’s understandable to feel this way when he only had a white towel wrapped around his neck and wore a long-sleeved, black V-neck, with grey overalls, a crappy analog watch and blue boots which seemed ok when working as a janitor but weren’t suited for a snow-covered mountain.
Kurando returned to the depths of the cave with the feeling it might be a lot more difficult to get out of this place.
In the back of the cave, Kurando found a large, moss-green rucksack enshrined in a nearby passage.
Kurando remembered this was what had been promised by the Goddess.
With the view outside, the interior of this cave, and having been in a white space with only a voice, he finally understood he really had been brought to some other world and time.
Kurando sat down right where he was.
He casually stuck his hand into the rucksack’s opening, but found nothing within.
There was supposed to be food and water for a year, a magic spellbook, and a knife, but there’s nothing inside the rucksack.
The thought came to Kurando that perhaps he only had to think about what he wanted.
Maybe if he thought of a specific food…
Like some rice or crackers? Or perhaps bread?
While he thought about it, something like a long stick touched his hand.
What he took out seemed like French bread. Looking at it carefully, and noticed it had an almost cookie-like consistency made into the shape of a small baguette. He guessed it was something like a handheld pastry.
“Guess I eat this…”
Kurando’s small, dejected voice carried throughout the interior of the cave.
He could make more of the pastry appear as many times as he wanted. Water would also appeared in a small cask. Lastly, he was able to pull out a largish knife and a magic spellbook without any issue.
Apparently, this rucksack seemed to hold a large quantity of things contrary to its appearance.
Everything except the knife was replaced into the rucksack. Kurando then stood up.
It was getting dark outside.
Before it became completely dark, he needed to find somewhere to sleep.
Sleeping in this wind-swept passage wouldn’t be possible.
Knife in his right hand, he advanced deeper into the cave.
The dusky cave was about two people wide, with a height of thirty centimeters over Kurando’s 170 centimeters. There was no moss on the walls of the cave and there were no other scents other than the smell of earth.
Kurando didn’t sense anyone’s presence ahead.
Still, as carefully as he could, he continued into the depths.
Fortunately, it seemed no one had ever reached the deepest part of this cave.
Ahead, there was an empty space of about six tatami mats.
When the light finally stopped coming through the entrance, he slept.
He might be defenseless, but it was a fact there wasn’t anything he could do about it. With that defiant attitude, Kurando slept.
Kurando awoke to a roaring sound within the dim light of the inside of the cave.
He had been able to sleep last night, even if it become a bit chilly. Although it didn’t get too much colder than it was now.
Wiping away the last signs of sleep, Kurando found himself invited back into the passageway by a faint light coming in.
The scenery he had seen yesterday was now obscured by a blizzard.
Nonetheless, the diffuse morning sunlight still managed to come into the cave.
The farther forward he advanced in the passage, the colder the temperature fell as well as inversely affecting Kurando’s state of wakefulness.
After about ten steps, Kurando felt as if he were going to freeze and turned back around.
A thought occurred to him as he quickly returned to the room.
A door and heating would be needed immediately, but something also needed to be done about light.
Just like around the same season in Japan, he’ll die if he didn’t take care of all those things.
Without it, he would die.
He could say it with certainty.
After all, Kurando had firsthand experience.
To survive one has to let death roll on by like a stone.
Also, it would be disappointing to die when there should be some magic (method) to avoid it.
Kurando trotted back to the small room in the cave, dug the magic spellbook from the rucksack and started to devour what was on its pages.
Fortunately, the paper was high quality and thick, so it didn’t have thin pages like some encyclopedias did.
It also looked like he could read the alphabet without problem.
Kurando began his studies in survival.
