Kenja ni Natta Vol 1 Chapter 2

Chapter 1-2: The Wrong Way to Use Magic

By the time I opened my eyes, I found myself lying down on a plateau.
A gentle breeze was carrying the scent of fresh gra.s.s, in the clear blue sky the dazzling sun was s.h.i.+ning so brightly that it seemed if it was trying to hara.s.s me.

It might be because I was basking in sunlight, but the area around my chest and abdomen was warm.
However my back was unexpectedly cold. Maybe it’s because of the moist soil and the dew on the gra.s.s, the dark grey jersey I was wearing was getting wet.
I thought that the moisture might have spread near my waist but, it seems like it didn’t leaked out that far.
Oh thank goodness.

「………… No, this isn’t “good” at all」(Ayame)

Based on how soaked my back was, I must have been pa.s.sed out here for quite some time.
In that time no one woke me up. Sure, I don’t look like a person who you would grow fond of, but I don’t think I have such an appearance where you would hesitate to touch me at all.

If that was the case then, from the time when the dew began chilling my back, I have been unconscious here without anyone finding me.
There were no signs of violence nor any hints of someone trying to burglarize me. Perhaps this place was its own biosphere, by now someone should have pa.s.sed by whether they be a kind, evil, or even the worst type of person. Since no one like that was able to find me, then as expected my way of thinking must not be wrong.

「The library suddenly vanished―― Moreover this is, there’s sufficient evidence to say that I’ve been sent away to some different world」(Ayame)

If other library-goers also got wrapped up in some sort of incident, then it’s a mystery as to why I was the only one who ended up safe.
In that case, it would be correct to think that I was the only one sent away to a different place.
Naturally that sort of thing was unbelievable, but in my situation I have no other choice but to give up and accept it as the truth.
The reality is that I have been left on this plateau without anyone else here.

「In any case, natives―― Although they might not be hospitable to foreigners, I have get in contact with at least somebody」(Ayame)

Whatever the case may be, I must figure out where this place is.
I don’t have a wallet or even identification papers with me after all. If I wandered into some unfriendly neighborhood, it wouldn’t be fun being treated like a suspicious person.
If this was some place on Earth, then I could somehow manage to communicate using English.
I could more-or-less speak English at a junior high level. Greeting someone and telling them where I came from, if it’s to that extent then I should be able to explain myself.

「Also anything, is there anything that seems useful――!」(Ayame)

The things I had on me were, my Library Card and my mobile Smartphone and, there is――

「Why if it isn’t that cryptic book. Since I remember frantically trying to grab onto something, I must’ve brought it along huh」(Ayame)

If I was going to bringing it along anyways, I wish it was a book where I could at least read the contents though.
While bitterly glancing over at that pile of papers enclosed by an iris color, I immediately averted my eyes.
At any rate, alright, I still have my Smartphone.
First of all by using this, I could call home or the police station―― eh THE BATTERIES RAN OUT!

Since I was in a state where I didn’t have any friends or even a girlfriend, although I try not to think about that too much, it seems like because I don’t use it very often, it appears that I had completely forgotten to charge the batteries.
If I’m not mistaken cellphones are, even if you don’t use them they will slowly consume the batteries huh.

「Looks like I’m completely cornered, what should I do」(Ayame)

Now that it was impossible to use my cellphone, the only thing I have left is this pile of paper that I can’t even understand.
Perhaps “Isn’t this thing is the real reason why I’m stuck here?”, that sort of unpleasant thought crossed my mind. But I doubt that those thoughts would do anything to progress the situation as it is.
Betting it all on my last ray of hope, I picked up the book and opened it.
Either way I doubt I’ll be able to read it though.

「…… Hmm, let’s see here, The method of creating fire by utilizing one’s inner [Od[1]]. The method on how to bring forth water―― Wa-Wait a minute!」(Ayame)

Even though they were letters not much better than if an earthworm squirmed around, for some reason I was able to understand the meaning of the words written there.
It wasn’t like I could read them. No matter how I looked at them, it was like was like a bunch of scribbles and symbols mixed together.
But I could understand. Whatever was written there, I was able to instinctively comprehend it.

「Maybe, if what’s written here is true――, that means, This was a book on how to use magic!?」(Ayame)

In other words it was a textbook or something like a manual huh.
Oh I see, it sure looks that way. What was written towards the beginning were things like 「How to make fire」, 「How to make water」, et cetera, fundamental things like that were written down. But farther you go towards the back there were strange magics written down.
Once you pa.s.sed more than half way through, it was already like something from a different realm.
From things like extracting pure [Od] from dead corpses, to things like how to make an entire race of people obey your commands. How to utilize the enormous amounts of Mana[2] dwelling in the soil, even magic that let you construct a small shelter was recorded here.

Maybe if this wasn’t something like a magic textbook, and instead it was merely the delusions of a Chuuni[3] gone completely out of control, that would be pretty amazing in itself.
Taking into consideration the size and number of pages there are an extraordinarily large volume of them. If a single person were to write all this, no matter how many years you had I doubt that it would be enough.

「…… Might as well try it out」(Ayame)

I’ve got some free time after all. Since I bet no one else is watching right now, I might be able to do some slightly embarra.s.sing things.
First is the basics―― Let’s test out some magic that converts inner Od into water.
The way to produce fire was on the page before this, but let’s go with water.
Although the probability of it working is low, I’m a bit scared of what might happen if I can’t handle the fire properly.

「Let’s see~ “The way to produce water. Stimulate the inner Od swirling inside your body, and thrust your hand out in front of you”」(Ayame)

Maybe you’re suppose to hold out both hands instead but, since I’m holding the book in one hand I only thrust out my right hand.

「The incantation is―― There isn’t any in particular huh. “Then inside your mind, imagine water coming forth from your hand”」(Ayame)

It’s like forming an image huh.
While still holding out my right hand, I imagined a situation where water was spewing out of my palm.
Water, water――――Water, water――water…

「…………It’s not coming out」(Ayame)

I shouldn’t have made any mistakes in my method. If I had to say『Stimulate the inner Od swirling inside your body』 I can’t quite grasp the meaning of that part.

「Guess it’s no use. Let’s give up on water and try out using fire then」(Ayame)

――Or at least that’s what I planned, but as expected the method of creating fire was essentially the same of the one for making water.
With both hands thrust out, I began imagining fire appearing from them.
I tried it for a while, but neither fire nor water came out of my hands.

「I still can’t quite understand what this “Odo”-thing is. Magic where you don’t need to stimulate Od to use it, Maybe there’s one like that」(Ayame)

I quickly flipped through the pages―― Found it. There really was one.
Utilizing the Mana sleeping within the Land, magic on how to produce fire was written here.

The way you used it seemed easier than the one before, but the preparation for it looked troublesome.
It appears that instead that「Stimulating Od」thing that I failed earlier, By ama.s.sing the Mana that drifted around in Nature, it seems like you could materialize magic by utilizing that.
And in regards to the method for gathering Mana, that sort of thing was clearly written here but―― Honestly speaking there’s no credibility to it.
Whether it be vegetation or a pebble or even some soil, either way as long as you had a substance from Nature in your hand, and if you imagined fire appearing then it looks like it would just come out. But I doubt that it would work that easily.

At any rate, let’s try it out.
I picked up a pebble that had fallen next to my feet, and tried placing it in my right hand.
And just like I did before, I began imagining fire appearing in it.

「Fire, Fire―――― Fire, Flame, Blaze!」(Ayame)

*Pon!* I thought I heard that sort of sound come out, but the pebble lit a fire about the size of candle.
Success―― I guess you could call it that. Or maybe this stone was smeared with oil beforehand, and the criminal used that to set it on fire and―― hey that’s not right, there wasn’t any criminal.

At any rate it was possible to set things on fire. Thankfully since the pebble itself wasn’t burning up, even if I held it in my hand for a while it seems that the flame wouldn’t spread to my skin.
Yea, this is pretty convenient. If I used a stone that was a bit larger, then maybe I could use it as a light when it became nighttime.

「But with this……」(Ayame)

I didn’t want to accept it as the truth, but at this point it’s quite clear.
Despite how advanced science was on Earth, it’s unbelievable to think that it would be so simple to use Magic like this.
In other words this book was the real deal, and that this place was a different world than Earth.

「Being transferred to a different world, looks like there’s no mistaking it huh」(Ayame)

Looking up in the blue sky, I saw the black shadow of what sorta looked like a wyvern[4] fly across like a shooting star.

Extra TL note: Everything’s a cliffhanger with this series, huh.

1.

TL note: This “Od” is written as [魔力]/[Maryoku] or [Magical Power]. However, it is p.r.o.nounced in j.a.panese as [オド]/”Odo” and refers to a hypothetical life force by the name of Od, Odyl, Odyle, etc. (The English p.r.o.nunciation of “Od” is the same as Odd).
Just think of it as inner/internal “Mana” (although Mana is a different term in this world)

Credit goes to Sumguy in the comments for pointing out that Odic force is a “real thing”. He also pointed out that Od is a concept used in the type-moon or fate series(Link)

2.

TL note: This “Mana” is written [マナ] or “Mana”. From what I understand, its like Od but from the environment instead. (note: I don’t actually know the difference between Od vs Mana. This is just my a.s.sumption based on the reading. Going by the type-moon system it seems to be true though)

3.

TL note: Ayame is referring to [Chuunibyou] which is “Second-year middle school disease”. If you don’t know here’s a [Link] to the urbandictionary definition. Essentially it’s someone “who dwells in their own super-powered fantasy world”.

4.

TL note: The original word is [飛龍] or “Fire Dragon” as I would translate it. Apparently it actually refers to a wyvern but since I don’t know that word we’ll have to see if there is a proper description of the “fire dragon” later on (Since dragons and wyverns have different physical characteristics and all).