The reason for Nine's actions over all this time is for one reason only.
That is to create a History of his Existence, so that he actually lived the years of his life, not just suddenly appearing one day.
When Nine got to this world in the first place, he realized his situation was dire.
With how he suddenly appeared in front of the guild door, he knew that at some point in the future, some would be curious about his past.
Which he cannot answer, since he had no existing history that he actually lived the years of his life before becoming an adventurer.
When Nine was walking towards that bench across the street, he was already making a plan on how he would create a history of his existence.
A part of that plan of his, was Money.
He needed enough funds to pay for his financial needs.
When the system appeared and gave him gifts, Nine was relieved, because during that time,
the system gave him an important factor in his plan, which is the Identity Template.
A proof that he is a part of this world.
But it wasn't enough, because Nine wasn't moving his mouth the same as this world's natives when he talked.
When Nine started understanding the people talking around him, Nine was able to tell that one day, people would differentiate him as an Otherworlder by the way his mouth moves when he talks.
So money was still one of the most important factors in his plan.
But, because at that time, Nine had already spent a day in this world, he decided that he would take a quest the next day.
Some miracle, he found a quest that very next morning, which gave him a large amount of money by simply cleaning up the sewage system of the town.
Completing this quest solved his financial problem, allowing him to move to the next part of his plan, which is to learn the language of this world.
And with this accomplishment alone, Nine completed what he wanted.
A history of his Existence, that he can use if someone were to ask about his past.
Of course, this plan is simply a temporary solution, Nine meeting Marie is an example of this.
The first time they met, Marie already deduced that Nine is an Otherworlder.
Completely destroying the idea of this very plan of his, that is, to keep the fact that he was an Otherworlder.
"Well, not like I'm expecting to keep this secret for long," Nine murmured.
Nine didn't have any expectations with this plan to actually work to begin with; the actual reason for all of this is to show the Authorities of this world…
that he is not a dangerous person they need to worry about.
"Isekai, a genre known for having an Earthling go to another world. The moment they get to the world, they'll have the strength no one can go against. Making them the most powerful beings in this place. Although people who have consumed this kind of media found it either bad or good, for me it's different."
***
I, who had consumed the Isekai genre in every form of media, couldn't help but feel disgusted by a factor of this genre.
This factor is how the MC is always seen as the Good guy, no matter what they do.
Tell me, have you ever seen yourself in a situation where you are cheering for the main character of an Isekai series for doing something amazing?
Of course you do.
There are many points where this happened, I'll give one.
An example of this is when the main character beat the Fat, Evil, wealthy merchant for stealing an items he wanted in the auction house.
So, to make this Evil merchant pay for his action, the main character would destroy the merchant's base and kill the evil goons of the merchant.
Save the pitiful woman captive in his bedroom, help her with her sexual needs, and finally burn everything to the ground.
And from this, the main character saves the next female character, who will be one of his harem members.
Then, have you ever put ten seconds into this moment and realized that the main character is committing the worst thing imaginable?
The example I have given just now, each time this was shown in the series, it would be from the main character's perspective.
What if we saw this moment from the Evil merchant's point of view?
Let's become this Evil merchant and see how the example I gave is from his position.
One day, you, the merchant, have finally become rich after years of working hard.
You have created your own business, and you are now known throughout the continent.
You have tens of workers in your care who do the work for you now and deeply admire you.
You are finally married to the lover who was with you all this time, from the time you were just starting, and finally on top.
But in this success of yours…
You have grown fat because of the lack of care for your body, due to the stress of making the deals for your business.
One day, an auction house worker invited you to join one of their events, promising that you'll find something you want at this event.
Being wealthy now, you decided, why not go?
Within this event, you found something you actually wanted to have. There can be many reasons for this.
Your wife wanted it, you found it beautiful, or you just wanted to show off how rich you have become.
But when you raised your flag, another person did so.
A young man with black hair, who looks around the age of 15–17, who seems to be starting his adventurer career.
The fight between the items that you two wanted lasted for a moment, from the original price of the item of 100 silver coins to over 10 gold coins.
Seeing the face of this young man change, you realized that he was lacking the money to overthrow you now.
And with this, you decided to buy the item you two have been fighting for, for 1000 gold coins.
Winning the bidding war. As the event goes on, you fight with other wealthy people for the items you want, and the things your wife wants.
Going home from this event, you and your wife decided to do it tonight, as a celebration for winning the bidding wars in the auction.
Leaving the room as your wife prepares herself, you hear a commotion happening in your house.
Leaving the house and going to where that commotion is happening, you learn that someone has broken into the storage house.
Where the goods for your business are, and this person is stealing everything in this place.
Hearing this, you decided to go to where this trespasser is, and on your way, you found your workers' corpses on the ground.
Their bloody and disoriented bodies shown being stabbed by a blade.
When you get to the place where this trespasser should be, you find the young man from before, from the auction house, fighting your workers to the death.
Seeing your people losing, you join the fight.
Before you knew it, you lost the fight against the young adventurer you had met hours ago, and he stabbed you with his blade, putting you on a death sentence.
You asked: "Why are you doing this? This is a crime."
Only for this black-haired adventurer to say something along the lines of:
"Crime? What I'm doing is Justice, showing evil people like you what your actions have consequences. I mean, look at yourself, you're fat and ugly, you're obviously a bad person. Stealing someone else's items will have some consequences." Then killing you.
Let's go with a situation where, after you were killed by this black-haired man, you somehow still kept seeing what he was doing after you got killed.
You watched as this self-proclaimed man of justice—
Who had trespassed into your private property, stole your goods for your business,
Went around in your territory killing every single worker of your business, while burning everything in his way.
Muttering: "All of you are evil people, for trying to kill me!" Acting like he's the victim of this situation.
Then suddenly, this black-haired man found himself in your bedroom. Where your wife is, waiting for you, in her lingerie.
You watched as this criminal, who committed all kinds of crimes, made his way to your wife and "helped her," when in reality, this is nothing but the worst thing a man can do to a woman.
Your wife, in shock that the random adventurer from the auction house, whom you fought for an item, is now doing her, acting like he's not doing anything wrong.
In this moment, you managed to hear this man's mind and hear the words: "It's not ra—pe if the body likes it."
After "helping her," this person, unbeknownst to you, is an Isekai person who thinks what he's doing is not a crime but a good act, and kidnapped your wife.
You watched as the last workers of your house chased after him to save your wife.
And within this chase, you look one last time at the home you built all these years, burned to the ground in one night.
You couldn't care less about anything else, but your wife being kidnapped by this person.
After some time, this person ran into a Holy knight, or someone part of the justice system.
But for some reason, when you thought this person would do the right thing to the criminal who committed all kinds of crimes in your home…
Instead of arresting this Isekai person, the Holy knight instead saved him from the workers of your house.
Claiming that he is innocent and your people are the bad guys for trying to kill him.
You watched as the world made you and your people the bad guys for trying to kill this so-called "Innocent man," who did nothing wrong.
That he is the victim of this story, and what he has done is the right thing to do.
***
"In a sense, the Isekai genre is not simply a genre where a story shows how someone will live in another world."
"But instead, tells a story that if someone disagrees with the main character's opinion, these people or this group are automatically bad."
"And everything that the main character does to these people is the right thing, and he cannot be the bad guy, because he's the victim..."
"Fuck, becoming one of them is disgusting no matter how I think about it." Nine felt disgusted being in the same situation as these Isekai main characters.
So, the reason for Nine not doing anything grand, and keeping doing nothing but a herb collecting quest, is to show the Authorities of this world that he is someone who can follow the law, who can live a normal life.
And not some person who thinks that he cannot be arrested or that the law doesn't matter to him, because he is an Otherworlder or an Isekai person.
*****
End of chapter 27 and the Start of Volume Two.