The congregation of villagers around him just stayed where they were around him, filling up the nearby seats and some having to stay on foot. Travelers of any kind always excited these villagers who had an insatiable hunger for knowing more about the outside world. They were contented with just staring at the foreigner, unfortunately for Watanabe he was not content and was getting very uncomfortable. The crowd reminded him off all the awkward meetings in the office he had been in which was the last thing he expected and wanted to remember when he got summoned to another world.

Watanabe silently cursed the masked man and the author for getting him into this situation.

After another few minutes of uncomfortable staring, some brave soul who had noticed how uncomfortable Watanabe had become came to his rescue.

“Everyone, please, our guest has just come back from a long bout of arduous travel.”, said the clergyman. “You should let him rest and not use the temple as a place for your profane curiosities.” Not wanting to anger the clergyman and not wanting to have divine punishment cast upon them, the congregation dissolved until only Watanabe and the clergyman was left.

“Thank you so very much sir for saving me out of this grievous situation,” said Watanabe “I thought I was done for and would have to stand here all day being reminded of that one time everyone stared at me when I joined an online meeting without my clothes on.”

“An… On-rain… What?” said the clergyman, not knowing the about online technology which allows millions around the world to be embarrass themselves remotely.

“Online and offline meetings were an ancient tradition back in my home of Nihon.”, said Watanabe and wanting to not talk further about online meetings continued, “Most importantly sir, I would like to know the name of the one who has extended their generosity towards me and saved me from further self-cringing.”

“I’m known as Anton, though as I am a lay-preacher of Brassica you should refer to me as ‘Your Reverence’. I guide the believers of this here remote village of Sherifeld.”, said Anton and his curiosity getting better of him couldn’t help add “Also, what is an onrain meeting? Could you tell me of this honored ritual from your home?”

“Your Reverence” huh… That is a title too grandiose for some “lay-preacher” of a remote village, thought Watanabe while he was speaking. Also why did I mention online meetings?! Now he’s gotten needlessly curious, he also thought and tried to find a way how he could explain in a way that Anton could understand.

“Your Reverence, an online meeting is when people meet to discuss issues” said Watanabe, giving one of the most lackluster definitions of anything in the history of mankind.

“Isn’t that just a normal meeting then?” said Anton, “I don’t think that would qualify as some ancient ritual.”

Damn you holy man, why did I add the “ancient ritual” part while talking and why do you listen to everything I say, thought Watanabe.

“Well, while conducting this meeting the people of Nihon use an ancient device called a ‘personal computation device’ which allows the members of the meeting to talk remotely from very far away distances.”

“This… ‘Personal computation device’, is it like a big horn that allows you to communicate to others far away through a code of some sort?”, said Anton remembering what he once read about soldiers using such signals to communicate, “That is a very queer tradition, sir, to meet others through such methods.”

Alright, now that he has been satisfied in my answer, I should ask him some questions too, thought Watanabe. I have currently failed to find an Adventurer’s Guild or something akin to that in this village, Rule Three can be put on hold while until I find a major settlement. Now for Rule Four: Gather as much information about the setting from the guild as possible. In this case the guild can be a very roundabout metaphor for Anton.

“Your Reverence, since I have come from lands so far away and a culture so foreign to you, I would be glad if I could learn about as much as the land of the faithful that I am now in,” said Watanabe. The priest nodded and seemed cordial so Watanabe continued, “First, what sort of form does Brassica -or whatever their name is- inhabit? Is Brassica some sort of beautiful goddess?”

Watanabe received that answer immediately as he heard Anton laugh so loudly and heartily that he thought his eardrums would rupture. “Sir, women can’t even become a lowly lay-clergy like me, and you’d expect Brassica to be a woman too?” said Anton and pointed at an image in the ceiling, which showed to Watanabe what looked like two old men, one old man in white and one in green, “The one in white is Holy Theodore, blessed be His name, and the one in green is Brassicus Prima, the one and true god.”

For the Brassicus-knows how many times that day, Watanabe experienced great disappointment as he heard this. No women in the clergy either?! This means that the potential archetypes for members of my harem is fastly diminishing, thought Watanabe.

No kindhearted priestesses who will heal me after an epic battle with evil, no goddesses to grant me a cheat skills or legendary weapons, probably no knightesses with a hidden feminine side that will fight alongside me… Who wants to worship an old man anyways?! If I wanted to have to show worship to old men I would just go back to my job in the office, lamented Watanabe further as his future harem was seeming to get blander and blander each chapter, at least when I had to deal with old men at the office, I was getting paid for it!

“Sorry Your Reverence, back at home we had so many goddesses that I thought Brassicus Prima might hold a similar form as well.”, said Watanabe, trying to hide his utter disappointment.

* Ding! *

…now that we have had enough solid linear progression for one chapter we can return back to the still disappointed Watanabe.

Watanabe, now reluctant to ask more questions lest his [Disappointment] levels up again, leading to him gaining a new disappointing [Title], marched bravely onwards hoping to at the least find an island of hope in the sea of disappointment. “Sir… I- I have another question as well.”, he couldn’t hide his disappointment as he heaved a [Deep Sigh].

While he was giving the sermon, I couldn’t help notice that he mentioned an evil figure named King Vasily of the Fiyeletow, thought Watanabe slowly paddling himself towards an island of hope. Evil plus king equals a demon king, or some big bad evil guy akin to that. While it is disappointing that this figure is a king, meaning they don’t have a chance to enter my future harem, it’s assuring that an evil overlord does exist here at the least.

To Watanabe, a quest to kill an evil overlord was the quintessential activity for any people like him. Surely, even if the LitRPG mechanics were lacking and the cheat skills were not coming anytime soon, being able to labor towards a goal would have made him slightly satisfied at the least.

Not every story has the protagonist start overpowered, thought Watanabe, maybe the author is going for a slow burn and my powers and harem members will trickle in slowly while I work towards the epitome of my adventure.

Imagine, I work hard through multiple volumes, maybe gaining a new member to the harem every volume giving time for them to have developed personalities, and eventually end up saving the world as the fruits of my labor. How cool would that be?!

Watanabe had paddled to his island of hope through the sea of disappointment. He had set foot on dry land and now began building a metaphorical makeshift shack of his dreams for the future on the island, “Your Reverence, I heard the name of a certain King Vasily while you were giving your sermon.”, said Watanabe trying to ascertain the location of his future foe, “Do you have any information on where he is, for you see, I intend to battle that doer of evil and end his cruel reign.”

Fighting the big bad evil guy, that’s what I should strive to do!

Watanabe soon had a sense of foreboding due to Anton laughing heartily again, “Excuse me sir,” started Anton, “While I do admire your martial spirit, the loathsome scum that is Vasily has most fortunately disappeared from the face of the planet around 600 years ago.”

Watanabe now felt a large tsunami of disappointment wipe out his shack of dreams and destroy his island of hope, but the determined man he was, he held onto a metaphorical piece of driftwood left over from his shack of hope, “Do- Do you think that Vasily will ever return any time soon? Is there some prophecy related to him?”

Don’t worry me. It’s common for evil to be sealed and for it to wait for a chance to come back!

“Brassicus forbid, sir! The serene child of the Holy Theodore, blessed be His name, Grand Preacher Frederick I had a prophecy related to that wretch, telling us, and what he tells does not and cannot deviate even one letter from the truth, that he might still be among us leading the faithful to the wrong path and riling up heathens here and there.”, said Anton giving Watanabe chance for his metaphorical driftwood to drift further to dry shores, “But he shall not fully return in any fashion until the end days where he will lead all the nonbelievers to one final battle against the righteous forces of the Brassicans.” Watanabe had again started to lose his disappointment and even thought he might be starting to see another island of hope in the distance.

Maybe, if he returns soon, I can end up fighting him! Fighting in the end days sounds so cool!

“However, the end-days won’t come, according to Grand Preacher Frederick I, until at least a millennium has passed after the Holy Theodore brought the word of Brassicus Prima in its full clarity. Worry not dear sir, we are currently only in the year 629, which means that only 629 years has passed since those golden days of humanity.” With this, Anton had unknowingly given Watanabe a metaphorical kick in the groin.

I… I have to. At least wait. 300 years to defeat the big bad evil guy, huh…

Watanabe lamented internally as the sea of disappointment finally consumed him.

* Ding! *

…I previously said that we had enough progression for one chapter but I just couldn’t stop myself from giving Watanabe another level up. I have selfishly broken the perfectly balanced pacing for a simple rush of dopamine and I sincerely apologize to my readers who might be now displeased with the ruined pacing of the progression.

With the author’s sincere apology over, we will now return over to Watanabe.

Watanabe was now shaken to his core due to having all his hopes of an epic battle against the big bad evil guy crushed.

For the first time in his entire life, death and re-life, Watanabe would have preferred to be in the office to being where he was. At least Tanaka the next cubicle over was, at worst, only a bit dull to talk to, while Anton had made him go through a conga line of emotions that only lead to despair.

Tanaka, how I miss thee, occurred as a thought in his mind, a thought that Watanabe never thought would occur in his mind even if a myriad years passed.

Meanwhile, in some random office building in Japan:

“Hey, Tanaka, have you seen the fellow next to you? He was going to fill in important tables for me today.” said Takahashi.

“Oh… I didn’t even notice that he was gone today.” said Tanaka, “Maybe he’s sick or something?”

“No, in that case he’d at least pick up the phone but when I try to call him it says that his number is not available. I did manage to call him yesterday after work but he never answered the call.” said Takahashi, “Man, the manager is going to be so pissed, I can’t do anything without those tables.”

“Well, let’s just hope that he isn’t dead or something and comes back by the end of the week.” said Tanaka, tongue-in-cheek.

“I hope he’s still alive and kicking.” said Takahashi responding in jest, “I’ll be going then, to find someone else to finish these for me. See you.” said Takahashi, leaving Tanaka by himself.

…Wait, what was that guy’s name, thought Tanaka before quitting pondering and going back to her work.

Meanwhile, in some random village named Sherifeld not in Japan:

“Your Reverence,” Bloody hell. Watanabe could hardly speak now that he was this dejected “thank you for giving me your time and answering my questions but, as you said earlier, I need to rest for the road has left me tired.”

All my plans for getting overpowered have been thwarted, what am I to do?

Watanabe then asked for Anton to lead him to a place where he could sleep, Anton obliged and lead him to a small guest room of the temple containing a couple of beds. The bedding for them was made out of linen stuffed with straw and feathers, and while to Watanabe’s standard this was pretty shoddy bedding, to the standards of Anton this bedding was decent.

Watanabe would have also asked Anton why there was a guest room in a temple if he had the spirit left to do so, but instead he thanked Anton again before diving on top of one of the beds like a falling log and also quickly fading into a state of sleep.