Chapter 1
――When I came to, I was standing in a forest.
Towering, densely packed trees stood all around, and the dark forest showed no sign of ending anywhere within sight.
It was dark, but with no undergrowth beneath the trees, I could see quite a distance. Where I stood, a huge, straight tree—apparently a conifer—had fallen with its roots exposed, leaving a gaping hole in the forest.
Trees—especially conifers—fall surprisingly easily. The straighter and taller they are, the easier they fall, thanks to the lever principle.
What happens when a tree falls and leaves a hole in the forest? Looking up, I could see the sky, and sunlight shone down through that one spot.
The sky was blue.
Now then, what exactly was this situation?
I searched through my memories――I could remember my name and age, as well as the address where I lived.
I was a middle-aged guy who had been enjoying a slow life, tending a vegetable garden while making a modest living drawing illustrations online using the fiber-optic connection that had finally reached the countryside.
Maybe I had gone into the nearby mountains to gather wild greens and gotten caught in an accident? Even so, there was nothing wrong with my body. I felt perfectly fine.
"What the hell is going on...?"
Muttering to myself solved nothing, of course.
What should I do? If I didn't know where I was, then I was literally lost.
There was no point staying here. I started walking aimlessly.
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After walking through the forest for a while, I began to sweat, but I couldn't roll up my sleeves. There were bugs and leeches in the forest.
I didn't know what was going on, but thank goodness I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt.
On my lower half, I had the cheap work pants I always wore and sneakers I'd bought at a discount store.
Rubber boots would have been perfect for the forest, but... there was nothing I could do about that.
I really wanted to wrap a towel around my neck, too. If my collar was open, ticks could crawl in through there and bite my back.
I'd been bitten by ticks several times while gathering wild greens and had ended up needing medical attention.
I lived in the countryside, so even the hospital in the nearest small town was dozens of kilometers away. If I were stung by a bee and went into anaphylactic shock, I'd die before I could reach the hospital. That's rural life for you.
Even after walking through the forest, the ground remained flat, with no rises or dips, so this probably wasn't a mountain. There shouldn't have been anywhere like this near where I lived.
Any flat land had been cleared for fields, and forests meant mountains.
"Phew..."
I paused to catch my breath and looked around――there was nothing.
It was a relief that there was nothing around, but if a bear showed up, it would all be over. Still, if I stayed like this, I had no water or food, and it was obvious that my life would eventually come to an end anyway.
I was thirsty and hungry, but there was nothing around. I even rummaged through my pockets, but they were empty...
There were mushrooms growing all around me, but most were things I'd never seen, and I had no idea what kind they were. They were too dangerous to eat.
"This is bad. I have to get out of this forest somehow and find a settlement."
I looked around again. Then I thought I saw something white glinting.
For now, I decided to head over there.
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"Oh... what in the world is this?"
I reached the place where something had glinted. Lying at the base of a huge tree was a silver suit of armor with rust showing through.
It was an iron suit of armor like the plate armor worn by medieval knights. It had been scattered somewhat, perhaps after being disturbed by wild animals, but...
There was a skeleton inside, too, its jaw and neck detached, as if it were saying hello.
"Crap, I've found a corpse."
Nervously searching the area, I found a sword lying there as well. A straight, double-edged sword――it was probably a fine weapon meant to be wielded with both hands, but...
Its edge was badly chipped and it was heavily rusted. Even if I sharpened it, it would be difficult to use. It would probably be faster to have it reforged.
I felt a little sorry for the deceased, but this was an emergency, so I went through the corpse. It had nothing else, but I acquired a ring and a knife.
The knife came with a sheath and cord, so I fastened it to my belt for use.
At least I had managed to get a weapon, but the problem was food.
Still, what was this plate armor supposed to be? I didn't know anyone in my rural hometown eccentric enough to do something like this.
The craftsmanship was no joke, either. It was clearly the real thing, not a replica. It had seen a great deal of use, with scratches and even signs of repairs.
It wouldn't get this weathered just from using it for a hobby or playing pretend.
And this well-used sword should have run afoul of Japan's sword and firearm laws. It was made of real steel, not some alloy like a replica sword.
What was going on here――?
Was it a trap? Was someone trying to frame me?
But what would anyone gain by framing some obscure middle-aged guy from the countryside? Even if they tricked me, I had no money.
Besides, everything about this was far too elaborate.
I'd never seen a place like this, either. This armor and sword couldn't have been free.
――In that case, could it be...? No way――another world? A true story that sounded like a joke?
"Then if I say, 'Status Open!' will it open?"
As if responding to those words, a shining white panel appeared in front of my eyes.
"It really appeared."
【Name】 Hamada Kenichi
【Age】 38
☆Shangri-La
☆Item Box
☆Trash Can
"Huh? That's all? What about HP and MP? What about Skills and magic?"
And what the heck was Shangri-La? The first thing that came to mind was the online shopping site I always used. I had no idea what this meant.
For now, I tried saying "Shangri-La" aloud, but nothing happened. Then I tried touching it.
The screen changed. What appeared there was the screen of the online shopping site I always used――Shangri-La.
Shangri-La was a general online retailer that seriously sold just about everything. From books and fresh groceries to clothing and toys, it even sold new and used cars, motorcycles, trucks, and heavy machinery.
For 1,000 yen a month, e-books and videos were available to watch without limit. The only things it didn't sell were probably airplanes and firearms.
――Or so I thought, but I was surprised when I searched recently and found that it even sold business jets.
"Seriously? This is allowed? What kind of cheat is this?"
Next, I touched Item Box and Trash Can, but all that appeared was a white window.
"It's called Item Box, so can I put things inside it?"
As a test, I brought the sword lying beside the armor close to the screen――and it was sucked inside.
"Whoa!"
The screen read――
【Rusty Sword】×1
The display changed to show that. When I touched the 【Rusty Sword】 entry on the screen, another window opened.
【Take it out?】【Trash Can】
Those were the only two choices. When I pressed the button to take it out, the sword appeared in front of me again.
"Oh! This is convenient."
When I tried selecting Trash Can, it seemed the item was transferred to the Trash Can window. At the bottom of that window was a spiral button.
"What's this...?"
When I pressed the spiral button, another window opened.
【Empty the Trash Can?】
Ah, so it worked just like a PC operating system. If I didn't empty the Trash, its contents would be kept for a certain amount of time. I could even take things back out of the Trash.
At present, I had no idea how much Item Box or Trash Can could hold...
I had more or less figured out how they worked. But could I really use them just like this?
Wasn't it creepy that I could use something this convenient for free? What would I have to pay?
Wasn't this some kind of scam where, after I'd used it a ton, they would demand payment?
Or would a devil appear at the end and say, "Give me your soul instead of payment――hehehe"?
――But even so.
Even if this was some incomprehensible ability, I had to rely on it for now――otherwise, I'd use up my strength and starve to death within a few days.
I'd end up meeting the same fate as the armored knight lying here.
Having made up my mind to use this ability, I turned my attention to Shangri-La.
Looking at the screen, it was the same site I always used... At any rate, I decided to give it a try.
There was a search box at the top of the screen, and tapping it brought up an on-screen keyboard. Very user-friendly.
I entered 【Bread】.
――The search results came up as usual. Wow, this was convenient. It was exactly the same as the one I always used.
【First-Time Offer】Delicious Bread Assortment
I selected a product consisting of about ten pieces of bread in a set and added it to my cart. Next, I needed a drink. There was a product called Delicious Milk sold in three-packs for around 1,000 yen. I'd go with that.
Checking the contents of my cart, the total came to around 2,500 yen. I pressed 【Purchase】...
【Insufficient Balance】
――A sorrowful message appeared without mercy.
"Huh? Money? Of course money would be necessary, but I don't have any! What am I supposed to do?"
As I agonized over it, I noticed an option labeled 【Charge】 beneath the insufficient-balance message. I tried pressing 【Charge】.
――A new window opened.
"It wants me to put money in here... But what am I supposed to do if I don't have any money?"
The window didn't answer, no matter how much I muttered. In desperation, I shoved in the sword I'd previously placed in Item Box.
"Here, take this, you thief!"
But the sword was sucked into the window.
【Rusty Sword】×1
And beneath it――
【Appraise and buy it?】
Huh? It could buy things from me, too? Was it offering the price of the iron as raw metal? I pressed it for the time being.
【Appraisal Result】【Rusty Sword Buyback Price: 100,000 yen】
"One, ten, a hundred――100,000 yen? Is it really worth that much?"
There was another option below the buyback appraisal.
【Display Details】
Would it tell me how this had been appraised? This was pretty convenient.
【Rusty Sword (Metal) Appraised Value: 5,000 yen】
【Ruby Appraised Value: 95,000 yen】
Huh? A ruby? Was there one attached somewhere? Maybe a gem had been set into some part that was too rusty and dirty to see.
But I needed money right away. I decided to sell it at that price.
"Click."
The transaction went through immediately, and 100,000 yen was credited to my balance.
"All right! But if this is real, I won't have to worry about food for now..."
However, 100,000 yen wouldn't last a month if I spent like this every day. I absolutely needed to reach a settlement and earn money.
Alternatively, if there were a mine where I could find precious metals or gems, I could charge my balance, but how was I supposed to find such a place now?――It was impossible.
There was no point worrying about it. For now, I needed food.
Whether it was true, false, or just a joke, I displayed the cart containing the items and pressed the 【Purchase】 button.
――Then.
Bags of bread and three cartons of milk tumbled down from empty space.
Was it really necessary for them to fall like that? If they were precision instruments, they'd break!
Well, more importantly, silencing my growling stomach came first... But the armored skeleton in front of me was bothering me.
"Hmm..."
After thinking for a while, I removed the armor from the skeleton and bought a shovel from Shangri-La――2,000 yen.
Back home, I called the tool used for digging the ground a "sukoppu," but apparently the JIS standard calls it a shovel, so that might be the more correct term.
Apparently, the name differs depending on the region.
Now that I had a brand-new shovel, I dug a hole. The soil was soft with leaf mold. About fifty centimeters deep should be enough...
Once the hole was ready, I put the bones in and filled it back in.
"Rest in peace."
I put the shovel in Item Box and pressed my hands together in prayer, but there probably weren't any Buddhas in this world. The gods probably weren't the same, either.
Even so, I had done what I could to pay my respects. I would gratefully put the things I'd acquired to use.
I also shoved the plate armor I'd stripped from the skeleton into the buyback window, and it was appraised immediately.
【Appraisal Result】【Plate Armor (Used) Buyback Price: 50,000 yen】
Hmm, 50,000 yen――that was a pretty good price. Besides, when it said buyback, who exactly was doing the buying? None of this made any sense.
The skeleton in front of me was gone, so I was about to eat the bread――but since I had access to online shopping, I thought of something I wanted to try.
I bought a portable cassette-gas stove from Shangri-La――2,000 yen. I also bought three gas canisters for 300 yen. 100 yen each.
I bought a small pot with a lid for 1,000 yen. Then I bought water――some brand or other of natural water, six two-liter bottles for 1,200 yen. Finally, I bought twelve large curry cup noodles for 2,500 yen.
"And... 【Purchase】!"
The things I had bought tumbled down in a heap.
I immediately attached a gas canister to the stove, set the pot on top, poured in water, and brought it to a boil. Once the water was boiling, I poured it into the cup noodles and waited three minutes.
Oh, right, I needed to buy disposable chopsticks, too. I liked the bamboo kind――a hundred pairs for 500 yen. That would last a while, even if I used them once and threw them away.
"Hahaha! It's finished! This is the taste of civilization!"
I slurped down the curry cup noodles and ate some bread.
"Delicious!"
This would be incredibly convenient to take camping. I could even climb Mount Everest with it.
I didn't know whether this really was another world, but at least my stomach was full for the time being.