Skeleton Knight, in Another World Volume 1 Chapter 1

By the time I noticed it, I realized I had no idea how I got here.

There was a sloping area covered in green grass. The sun was still high in the sky, so it might still be early afternoon. The wind blew through the grass, giving it the appearance of green water; a wave of grass flowed in my direction as I sat atop a large rock. The smell of moist soil and the grass mixed with the wind, and the fragrance drifted into my nostrils. The wind carried to the forest behind me, rustling the leaves on the trees.

I stand up unintentionally from the rock which I had sat on, and fix my eyes on the overwhelming expanse of the horizon. A view such as this couldn’t easily be seen in little old Japan, could it?

Finally, I notice my own appearance.

Decorated with the finest of details, a silver full body armor toned with white and blue, akin to those from some myth or legend, adorned my body.

A jet-black mantle blows in the wind; inside the mantle, small glimmers of light can be seen, invoking thoughts of a starry night.

On my back I carry a large round shield with an elaborate emblem in the center, as well as what can only be described as a divine blade which gave off an awe-inspiring aura.

This gear is far apart from my normal appearance, but I know it well. Even today, before I fell asleep in front of my computer after playing online games, this gear was equipped to my player character.

“What the hell?!”

I yell at the top of my lungs. Even though I know there is no one here to answer, I couldn’t help but cry out.

I slowly move the sword sheath to my waist and whip out the blade. A thin, blue, double-edged blade surrounded by light is drawn. The beautiful blade shines like the light of day. The length of the sword’s blade exceeds well over a meter, giving the weapon a seemingly heavy look. I take a stance with the blade parallel to my eyes, and swing it down.

“What the hell?!”

I scream again.

It’s light! The weight is such that I can hardly believe it’s made of metal. I lightly swing the unrealistic sword to confirm the weight. Then I swing the sword with one hand. Even though I’m equipped with body armor, I feel light. It’s as if I’m not wearing armor at all.

“【Flying Dragon Slash】!!”

While waving the sword around, I call out the name of a skill from the game. A beam of light emits from the sword, and is sent flying into the forest.

Suddenly, a handful of trees slowly fall within the forest. The leaves of other trees rustle, and the of the birds of neighboring trees all fly into the sky. A slightly dull sound echoes through the area as the trees hit the ground.

“Really, what the hell…”

Finally, I have the feeling that my thoughts have calmed down. But I still did not understand the situation.

The weapons and equipment that I have equipped were of mythical grade, the same as that of my character in the game I was playing.

It was truly a rarity to be fully equipped with mythical grade gear. There are a total of six grades of equipment: low, intermediate, high, masterpiece, legendary, and mythical.

The silver body armor I have on is the Heavenly Knight armor,『Belen’s Saint Armor』series. The armor is comprised of five pieces: the headgear, torso, waist, arms, and legs. Not only does it enhance defense and periodically restore a fixed amount of health, it also increases attack power, as well as increasing curse resistance. In addition, fire and light attribute damage are reduced by half. A set of truly broken gear.

And the mantle fluttering in the wind behind me is the mythical grade『Overcoat of the Night Sky』. It has the effect of reducing darkness attribute damage, also restoring a set amount of mana over time.

The shield that I carry on my back was the『Heavenly Shield of Titus』. In addition to high defense and knockdown invalidation, it raised all abnormal status effect resistance values.

Complaints about the broken Heavenly Knight series led to the administration patching it, but the effects of the armor remained ─ it was just that players could no longer use other accessories with the equipment. Consequently, the already limited number of users of the Heavenly Knight series further decreased.

Finally, in my hands I am wielding the『Holy Thunder Sword』.With its high attack power and agility boost, it’s a two-handed sword I am truly proud of. Like every other mythical class weapon within the game, it has its own special attack, with the penalty being that the player suffers a power reduction after its useage.

I return the sword to the sheath at my waist, then, with my right hand, I cast【Flame】. And just like in the game, a torrent of flames shoot out as if my hand is a flamethrower.

No… It’s different from the game.

If I’m not mistaken, the main occupation of my character was Heavenly Knight, and the subclass should have been Pope.【Flame】is a Magician’s skill and【Flying Dragon Slash】is certainly a Warrior’s skill. It’s not a skill my current character’s occupation should have been allowed to use in the game.

Why can a Knight use a Magician’s skill? Then, I had a thought: considering everything, what if this isn’t the game or a dream, but reality?

If it’s reality, then the skills that I could not use because of my class change should be fully available. For example, a Judo expert who started a boxing career is still capable of using Judo techniques.

With me often reaching the highest level of my occupations, am I able to use all the high-level skills that I had?

The conditions for gaining the Heavenly Knight class are that a character had to possess maximum level in the Magician, Priest, and Warrior occupations. In order to achieve that, I had to gain the occupations of Magic Knight, Advanced Wizard, and Pope. I did not learn all of the skills from each occupation, but I did learn quite a few of them.

If anything, if I am able to use all of the skills that I learned, I should be able handle anything that comes my way.

I wonder if I would have been able to survive if my main occupation had been fixed to Heavenly Knight. Frankly speaking, some of the highest-level occupations can’t really be used. First, there are only four technique skills available. And all of them are flashy skills that cause widespread destruction. Clearly it was a class only meant to fulfill the romance of the developers.

As it is, I am able to use the【Heavenly Knight Sword Techniques】that allows a two-handed sword be wielded with only one hand, but if I were to use both hands, wouldn’t it increase my attack power?

I’ve been in this area for a while now, but nothing will get done if I stay here. If this is indeed real, I need to find some people or a town and think of a future plan.

I try to invoke the Magician’s support skill,【Transfer Gate】. Pale light is emitted as a three meter wide magic circle appears…

In the game, all I had to do is select the name of a town and I would be transferred there. However there is no selection screen now. For a while, I think about what I should do. Incidentally, my vision darkens. And then I notice that the landscape spread out before my eyes has changed.

I traveled about three meters from where I was a second ago. Apparently, this magic can’t be used properly without a clear image of where I wanted to go.

However, I don’t know any locations in this world, It seems that I didn’t move because of this fact.

I give up…

Wait, there should be one more skill available for movement. The support skill,【Dimensional step】.

The skill lets me move to any location after I select it. In the early stages of the game, it was a skill that allows you escape the range of enemy attacks ─ a skill used when you were surrounded by enemies. But after the middle stage of the game, when the monsters and the boss’ attack range took up the whole screen, it was regarded as a useless skill. Am I able to use it? With no screen to click, I could just be wasting mana.

I set my eyes on the intended location and activate【Dimensional step】. The scenery changes in an instant. When I look back, I observe that the place I had just been is a great distance away. It’s probably about five hundred meters. In the game, no matter what you did, the skill could only take you to the edge of the screen. In reality, it appears that I can move to any location within my line-of-sight. Though I can’t blow off heads with beams like a certain Esper girl, it’s still a helpful power. With a cool-down time of one second, it can be seen as a very convenient movement method.

So I continually use【Dimensional step】to navigate the landscape.

As the day fades away, it seems that I’m moving in the southwest direction. After leaving the sloping area a little while ago, I see a large river ahead.

I transfer to the riverbank and look around. This river is about two hundred meters across. It seems to hold quite a lot of water. When I look at the river, the water seems to be transparent, and I see many fish swimming along with the current.

Why don’t I take a break and have a drink of water?

I remove my helmet. That reminds me, not only did I not feel heavy wearing the armor, but I also didn’t feel hot. Such a thought was in my head as I brought my face closer to the water.

At that moment, my mind goes blank──

“─Damn…”

My mutter is lost inside the noise of the water.

My vision focuses on the refection in the water. There are no eyes. In fact, there doesn’t appear to be a nose or even any flesh. In the dark eye sockets, the pale light of the undead can be seen. I stare back at the reflection without any emotion.

The water was reflecting the figure of an armored skeleton──

I completely forgot it. The kind of avatar I played the game with.

Your usual game avatar would be a humanoid ─ one that can be customized to suit a person’s own preference. The degree of customization was extensive: you could make a long-eared Elf, or even a pig-nosed Orc.

There were also special avatars that charged a fee in order to be obtained; one of the special avatars was『Skeletal Body』.

Despite the fee, “it won’t matter if I’m completely covered in armor,” is what I told my friends…

I actually wanted a golden skeleton avatar. With that, I would be known as the crazed hero of justice. When I searched about it later, the head of the guy was a skeleton, and from the neck down it was gold just like the costume of a professional wrestler. Nevertheless, I thought that it would be a completely golden skeleton for the entire time before that…

To escape reality, I had thought of the past.

This is very bad.

I can not remove my helmet in public with this appearance. In fact, if I do, I might become a target for monster subjugation.

My current future plans were just revoked.

I will live quietly and not stand out as best as I possibly can.

However, my body armor is quite luxurious, and it could attract attention alone… Yet, I can’t remove this equipment.

In this world I have nothing to my name except for this armor. I lack all my in-game items, and I have no money.

I have to carefully scrape together some money for the time being.

I shove my head into the water and drink. Since I’m a skeleton, did I try to drink out of habit? Where would the water that I drink go? In the first place, can I even taste the water?

I won’t worry about the small things anymore. The inside of my head was beginning to overheat. Even though I have no brain to speak of.

A skeleton laughs in a high-pitched voice in my head… Oops, my mind tried to escape reality again.

First, let’s reconsider the idea of looking for a city. Perhaps I will find some people living at the end of the river.

With such thoughts, I put my helmet back on and resume using【Dimensional step】. Since leaving the river, signs of a road has started to develop, so a village shouldn’t be that far.