Chapter 1
"Well then, I'm heading out."
After saying goodbye to my coworkers, I left the company.
I've been working at an exploitative company for three years.
Today, work ended early for once.
Even so, it was more than two hours past quitting time.
Yay. Damn it.
But tomorrow's my day off.
I'm so happy. Really, really happy.
I'll spend the day lost in the web novels I've bookmarked.
That's pretty much how I spend my days off.
Of course, I turn off my smartphone too, so my boss can't call me in for an emergency.
I can hardly wait.
Ahh, I'm so happy.
...This is bad. I shouldn't be this happy just because I have a day off or get to leave work early.
Ah, I hate this. I want to quit.
But even if I quit, there's no guarantee my next workplace would be better than this one.
I saw a colleague who started at the same time as me get fed up and quit, only to land at an even more exploitative company after finding a new job. Having seen that, I can't help hesitating to quit.
But maybe I'm a dyed-in-the-wool corporate slave for thinking that my work environment might somehow improve if I stick it out.
Well, whatever.
For now, I'll head home.
I got behind the wheel and headed home.
It was a thirty-minute drive to my place.
I lived alone, carefree, in a run-down apartment in the suburbs; my parents had already passed away.
It was completely dark outside by now. I needed to drive carefully.
If I let my guard down from exhaustion and ran someone over, it wouldn't be funny.
Well, hardly any cars came through this area, so an accident was practically impossible.
Ah, but I'm sleepy.
Oh no, I might fall asleep as soon as I get home.
No, I need to at least check for updates...
It must have been because I was driving so drowsily that—
THUD!!
I heard the sound of something being struck.
"Huh... what?"
For a moment, I couldn't understand what had happened.
No, surely my mind was refusing to process it.
Because no matter how I looked at it, that sound had to mean—
"I-I ran someone over...? Wait, what?"
What? What did I hit?
I-it was an animal, right? A dog or a cat.
Please, let it be an animal.
No, even if it was, I'd feel terrible, but it still had better not be a person.
My life would be over.
I slammed on the brakes and got out.
Under the light of my headlights, lying there was—
"...A dog? No..."
It seemed awfully big for a dog.
It was about the size of a person.
And what's with that? Its fur looked utterly wild, and there was no way it was a Japanese dog.
A wolf? No, it was even bigger than that.
Could it be some foreign breed?
Was there even a rich person around here who could afford to keep one?
Ah, but thank goodness it wasn't a person.
No, but this was still a problem.
I had no idea what its owner would say if they found out.
They might demand compensation.
I glanced around.
Yep, no one was here.
...Maybe I should make a run for it while I still had the chance?
Oh no, is this what it feels like to be a hit-and-run driver?
"—Huff... huff."
"Wuff?!"
I was so startled that I let out a weird sound.
I-is it alive?
When I looked at the fallen dog, it was moving ever so slightly.
W-what should I do?
Should I take it to a pet hospital...?
But what would I tell them?
F-for now, I should at least take a look at its injuries.
I approached the fallen dog.
Whoa, what an imposing presence.
Blood was spilling from its mouth. And its body was bent at a bizarre angle.
...There's no way this thing can be saved...
Oh, it doesn't have a collar. So it really is a stray...?
"I-I'm sorry! I was spaced out and let my guard down. I'm really sorry..."
What good was apologizing going to do?
"—Huff, huff..."
The dog looked at me with trembling eyes.
Was it blaming me?
Without thinking, I reached out and touched the dog.
"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry..."
When I said that, the dog slowly closed its eyes.
—It died.
"Sigh..."
It was an indescribable feeling.
What was I supposed to do?
If it was a stray, should I bury it somewhere?
Or should I call animal control or something—
≪—You gained experience. Your level has increased to 1.≫
"...Huh?"
What was that voice just now?
≪The first subjugation in Chaos Frontier has been confirmed.≫
≪The First Subjugation Bonus will be awarded.≫
≪You acquired the Skill 'Early Bloomer'.≫
I heard it again.
The voice sounded like a synthesized machine voice.
"W-who's there?"
I looked around, but no one was there.
Was I hallucinating? No, no, this had to be a joke. It was so clear...
Besides, that voice just now...
"...It sounded kind of like a game announcement..."
No, it couldn't be...
This was bad. I must have been pretty shaken up.
Anyway, I needed to do something about this dog—wait, huh?
It was gone.
The dog's body had vanished.
The dog's body had disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place.
"Huh? Wh... what?"
W-what the heck?
Could I have been imagining it?
No, that's ridiculous.
"...Huh?"
The spot where the dog's body had been.
There, a purple stone about the size of a marble lay on the ground.
"What's this?"
A huge dog unlike anything that could exist in Japan.
A game-like announcement that played the moment the dog died.
And the stone that had been where the dog's body was.
"Is this a drop item...? ...Haha, what am I even saying?"
Had I worked so much that I'd gone insane?
That's right. I must have been so busy that my brain conjured up a hallucination.
That had to be it.
"There was never a dog there in the first place. I didn't run over anything."
Yeah, that's right. It had to be.
"...Let's go home. Ah, I'm sleepy..."
I put the purple stone in my pocket and started driving again.
I really should just go straight to bed today.
That was for the best.
But—I would later learn that this was unmistakably real, not a dream or hallucination.
What had happened in the world at that time?
What had happened to me at that time?
I had no way of knowing then.
【Skill: Early Bloomer】
A Skill granted to the first human to kill a monster in the new world created by the fusion of two worlds.
It provides a tremendous bonus when gaining experience.
You will attract people, be guided by fate, and eventually become known as a hero.