When Yojuro finished speaking, Yosuke's eyes suddenly lit up, and he looked at Yojuro with the expression of someone who had just found a kindred spirit.
"Exactly! Just like in Guardian Hero! The protagonist slowly grows stronger and stronger until, in the end, he becomes a true hero.
Yojuro, you know that game, right? It's that super famous one from SEGA—you must've played it before!"
"Uh… yeah, I think I've heard of it…" Yojuro replied halfheartedly, watching the suddenly overexcited Yosuke. He forced a nod, but deep down, he had already decided: once they reached the city, he was going to part ways with him.
Yojuro didn't know how many other "transferred" people existed in this world. But if things followed the usual script, Shimada Yosuke might very well be this world's "chosen child."
The problem was… judging by his current abilities, Yosuke's combat strength was utterly pathetic.
If it would take him until who-knows-when to actually grow strong enough to stand at the top of the world, Yojuro didn't have the patience to wait.
For now, he had no idea if this world and his original one were connected, whether he could ever return, or if another "himself" still existed back in the Soul Reaper world. He had no answers to any of these questions.
When Yojuro suggested that they split up, Yosuke didn't object. Being a gamer at heart, he knew that if two teammates had too much of a power gap, then teaming up wouldn't be an advantage—it would just become a burden.
Clearly, Yosuke still treated this other world like it was just another game and hadn't yet realized the importance of clinging to a stronger ally.
Still, to make sure Yosuke didn't die before he had the chance to grow into a proper protagonist, Yojuro left him with two pieces of advice.
The first was to cover up his face, at least for now. While Yosuke wasn't exactly ugly—just plain-looking—his level of appearance, in a world filled with beautiful men and women, was practically equal to that of a half-orc.
The second piece of advice was about Yosuke's cheat ability, "Wild Talker."
Yojuro pointed out that if the ability allowed him to communicate with all things in this world, then perhaps the "things" weren't limited to just visible creatures. If Yosuke studied and experimented with it more, he might stumble upon some unexpected surprises.
After leaving behind these suggestions, Yojuro went on his way. At the moment, he was in no position to clear up Yosuke's confusion—he didn't even understand this world himself.
The one fortunate difference was that Yojuro could at least understand this world's language, so he wouldn't end up in the same awkward situation Yosuke had faced when no one could understand him.
As for where to begin gathering information, Yojuro decided on the most obvious choice: the Adventurers' Guild.
In any fantasy world of swords and sorcery, adventurers were a given. And where there were adventurers, there was always an Adventurers' Guild.
Relying on his good looks and eloquence, Minami Yojuro quickly found the local Adventurers' Guild. Registering as a "new adventurer," it only took a few words for him to leave the receptionist girl completely flustered and captivated.
This otherworld was called Granbahamal. Much like the real world, it was inhabited by humans, but also had elves and other races. Most of them were strikingly good-looking. Even ordinary villagers and passersby were generally handsome or beautiful. That was the reason why Yosuke had been mistaken for a half-beastman at first glance.
The circulating currency in this world was copper, silver, and gold. The exchange rate between copper, silver, and gold was one to ten thousand.
Yojuro also learned that this world currently had no Demon King. That meant the boss he would one day have to defeat was not a Demon King, but some other kind of being.
As for gods, the receptionist girl didn't know much. After all, she was just a guild employee.
But one thing did make Yojuro quite pleased—here, anyone with knowledge and skill could use magic. Mana wasn't innate; it could be trained and strengthened. There also existed "spells," incantations sealed into charms for one-time use, often to shorten chant time.
"Yojuro, this is your adventurer's card. Be sure to keep it safe. You can replace it if lost, but the procedure is very troublesome.
Since you just registered, you're only an E-rank adventurer, the lowest rank. Do you want me to help you find some safe, low-difficulty E-rank requests?"
So it really was true that good looks could put food on the table. In the past, Yojuro never believed it. But now, he couldn't deny it anymore. In fact, he even had to admit that freeloading might taste even sweeter.
"Miss Soya, while it's true that I've only just become an adventurer, please don't underestimate me. I already possess combat strength—I simply hadn't registered until now.
So could I trouble you to use your authority to let me accept some higher-level requests?"
By guild regulations, adventurers could only accept jobs that matched their own rank. This was partly for the safety of employers, but also for the adventurers themselves. After all, if one took on a job far above their level, the risk of death was extremely high.
"It's not that I don't want to help you, Yojuro, but it's far too dangerous.
Over the years, I've seen plenty of new adventurers. Many of them boasted about being excellent hunters or having great talent. They insisted on taking requests above their rank.
But unfortunately, their endings were rarely good. Some were killed by monsters, others survived but became permanently crippled.
Yojuro, the outside world is far more dangerous than you imagine. The monsters are stronger than you think. So let's raise your strength step by step, okay?"
Hearing her persuasion, Yojuro let out a heavy sigh. It wasn't that he was desperate to rise in rank—rather, he was worried that without some income soon, he might end up sleeping on the streets.
Both he and Yosuke had been suddenly thrown into this world with no local money. The adventurers they'd run into earlier were dirt poor too, and that so-called "compensation" had only been a sack of copper coins. Yojuro had thought he'd struck it rich at first.
But after splitting it evenly with Yosuke, the amount he kept barely covered his guild registration fee. What little was left were just a handful of copper coins.
At a purchasing power of a copper coin, Yojuro feared those few coins in his pocket wouldn't even be enough to buy the cheapest, lowest-grade bread…
°°°
A/N: Keep commenting your thoughts here and maybe do some reviews, don't forget to drop some stones, thank you.