"...An unfamiliar ceiling."
A second helping of that classic cliché. When Jin opened his eyes, he realized he was lying in a bed. He was down to his underwear, but he saw his jacket resting on a table beside him.
He tried to sit up slowly. Everything felt normal; the only thing out of sorts was the fact that he was incredibly hungry.
"...?"
Sensing a gaze, he turned toward the door. Someone had been peeping in, but they ducked out of sight the moment he looked. This was followed by the pitter-patter of receding footsteps.
"Someone who lives here, maybe?"
Jin muttered to himself as he scanned the room. Modest walls of earth and wood, a simple table, and the bed he occupied. He gathered it was a perfectly ordinary rural home.
"Oh my, you're awake."
An elderly woman entered the room. She was the very picture of a country matron. Hiding behind the hem of her skirt, a small child peeked in. It seemed the gaze from earlier had belonged to her.
"You were collapsed at the edge of the forest, dearie. This little one’s the one who found ye."
As she spoke, she gently nudged the child forward. She was a girl with dull blonde hair and amber eyes, looking to be about eight or nine years old.
"I’m Jin. Nidou... Jin Nidou. Thank you for saving me. Um, where am I?"
"Jin, is it? This is Kaina Village. It’s just a tiny village out in the sticks."
Even after being told, Jin had no idea where that was. Just then, his stomach let out a thunderous growl.
"Oh dear, you must be famished....Just you wait a moment."
The woman stepped out. Jin and the girl were left alone. He spoke to her gently.
"I hear you're the one who found me. Thank you. Could you tell me your name?"
The girl looked bashful, but she managed an answer.
"...Hanna."
"I see, Hanna. It’s nice to meet you."
He held out his hand. Hanna timidly reached out her own small hand and gave Jin's a firm squeeze.
"Here ye go, sorry for the wait."
The woman returned, carrying a tray with a pot and a bowl.
"You’re hungry, aren’t ye? Eat up."
She poured a sort of porridge into a deep bowl. It smelled delicious, and Jin ate with abandon. It was his first meal in days.
"There’s no need to rush like that, now."
Jin polished off the porridge with a speed that left the woman looking exasperated.
"Thank you for the feast."
"What’s that you said?"
"Oh, 'Thank you for the feast'—it’s a greeting we use back home after a meal. It’s a way of expressing gratitude for the ingredients and the person who prepared it. By the way, before eating, we say 'I humbly receive.'...I missed my chance to say that one this time, though."
"Well now, is that so? Never heard the like before. You must have come from quite far away, Jin."
"Yes, probably."
"Probably? What do you mean by that?"
Jin gave a vague explanation. He hid the fact that he came from another world and simply said he had ended up here because a Warp Gate had gone out of control. However...
"A Warp Gate? What in the world is that?"
It didn't get through.
"Um... A Warp Gate is, how should I put it... a magical tool that allows you to travel between two specific locations in an instant..."
"A magical tool? You mean it’s an Artifact?"
"An Artifact?"
"What, you don't know? Artifacts are magical tools made before the Magic War."
"The Magic War?"
Another term he didn't know cropped up.
"Goodness, where on earth did ye come from? The Magic War was a fight between humanity and the demon race that happened about three hundred years ago."
He had no knowledge of such an event.
"Please, tell me a bit more about it."
"Well, I’m amazed. Fine then. Three hundred years ago, the demons who lived on another continent suddenly attacked. Because of that, the countries that had been squabbling with each other were wiped out. Everyone realized they couldn't go on like that, and a great nation's... what was it called again? Ah, right, Dinar I of the Dinar Kingdom brought the remaining countries together to oppose the demons."
"I see... I get it now."
Three hundred years ago would have been when the automata was searching through other worlds to find Jin. No wonder he hadn't heard of it.
"It was one desperate battle after another, and they say the continent's population was reduced to a third. Back then, the mages were quite active, but in the final death throes of the demons—what’s known as the Ether Stampede—it’s said that more than half of the people with magic died."
"So that's how it was."
The population had been decimated by war, and civilization had been burned to the ground. Then, the mages—the nobility who carried the torch of culture—had been drastically reduced. That was why this world was no different from how it was a thousand years ago; if anything, it was less advanced.
"I understand. Thank you for the explanation. By the way, I haven't heard your name yet."
"Oh, did I forget? I’m Martha. Nice to meet ye."
"Martha, then. It's a pleasure."
Jin heard many other things from Martha as well. He learned that Kaina Village belonged to the Klein Kingdom and that it consisted of twenty-nine households.
And it was currently spring. A year in this world was 357 days long, consisting of 51 weeks with 7 days in a week. Jin felt somewhat relieved that the calendar was the same as it had been a thousand years ago.
There had been a possibility that the Warp Gate malfunction had sent him to a completely different world, but it was highly likely that this was the world where Adriana Barbora Tsetse had lived.
Well, it doesn't matter, Jin thought. His life was a bonus anyway. His stomach full and his mind at ease, Jin got out of bed and put on his jacket. In his pocket were a ruby and a knife. He took out the ruby.
"Um, as thanks for saving me, please take this."
"What in the...!"
Martha was astonished when she saw the gem.
"It's a ruby, ain't it? I can't take something like this!"
"But this is really all I have to offer as thanks."
"I didn't save ye because I wanted a reward. Put that away, now."
Glowered at by Martha, Jin pulled the ruby back.
"But, if I don't..."
"Then stay in this house for a while and keep that child company. She’s been lonely since her parents passed."
Jin had been wondering why the girl only seemed to have Martha, but hearing that made sense.
"I understand. But since that's not enough, please let me help out with the chores as well."
"Hehe, that's fine then. Well, you can use this room for the time being."
As a way to repay the debt of being saved from the brink of starvation, Jin decided he would spend some time in this village.