Debuffed Farmer

“I’d like to be an adventurer.”

“Alrig—”

My seemingly normal fantasy story experience was quite rudely interrupted by the appearance of a boy. He wasn’t one of the muscly men I was talking to earlier, in fact, it was someone completely different.

“Yo,” he said.

Whilst there appeared to be nothing special about the pre-school level dialogue tag above, it was emblematic of the sound of his voice. It was deep, hollow and articulate, something like that of a confident jock. It was something that was both nondescript and completely unique.

As I turned around, I noticed that he was a few centimetres shorter than me, dressed in half-formal clothing that did not fit the scheme of everyone around us. A black blazer was covering his beige, boring shirt. He had long black pants and plain, general shoes.

“Do you need something from me?” I asked.

“Nope, I’m just waiting behind you, that’s all.”

“Are you sure?”

“Why wouldn’t I be sure.”

He definitely seemed odd. He brushed textured black hair with his hand, eventually allowing it to fall back into its middle part. His person emanated a distinct, uncomfortable aura. Just from the way he looked, it seemed that he was incredibly conscious of his own being—awkwardly.

Regardless, I turned back around to the clerk.

“Yeah, I want to be an adventurer.”

“That’s fine. I’m just going to do a small test with you. Do you mind coming with me?”

…

She led me around to the other side of the counter and into a small office-like room. The ventilation was pretty bad and the humidity was high; still, this was where I was to do this supposed test. She pushed aside some stacks of paperwork which sat on the desk in the middle of the room.

“This is going to be pretty simple. All I need you to do is begin making EM-waves.”

“Is that all?”

“Yep.”

I did that.

“Alright, that’s all I needed. What was your full name?”

…

She began to fill out an Adventurer’s Card.

–

ADVENTURER’S CARD – Rin Takamiya

Universal Level Framework Quotient: 3.7

Class: Farmer (?_)

–

I guess the quotient was the level framework concept that I was reading about yesterday in History and Scientific Explanation of D-Waves. I had no fully-accurate scale for it but 3.7 did appear to seem like it belonged somewhere in the middle of the range.

Meredith explained some more things to me.

“You’re generally recommended to pick jobs that are close to your level. We won’t let you pick up any that are more than one point above your level. Anyways, bring the slabs up to the counter when you want to do them and you’ll receive your reward once we receive confirmation that it’s been completed.”

Well, it made enough sense to me.

I was making my way out of the guild building when I was stopped by the boy.

“It’s you again,” I said.

“I was signing up to be an adventurer, just like you.”

Another clerk probably helped him out. It didn’t seem like there was more space in that general area though.

“So, what’s your level?” he asked.

“Um, it’s 3.7.”

“Really? I was expecting more from you.”

He tucked his hands behind his back and took a few steps back. He was simply smiling as he looked off into the distance.

What the hell? Why is this guy acting so weird? Is this what I seem like to other people?

Enough questions. I don’t want to get caught up in things that’ll hurt my feelings.

“I don’t see why you’d expect other things from me. I literally don’t even know who you are.”

“Oh? Now that’s a bit weird isn’t it?”

I wasn’t dense. Everything he said hinted at the fact that he’d been reincarnated or transmigrated like me. Everything from his weirdly listless demeanour that didn’t fit with every other person I’d met in this world, to his subtly-mocking tone and condescending expressions.

Still, that’d make a bit too much sense though.

“Were you reincarnated?” I asked.

He had a look of surprise before laughing a little.

“What’s up with you? A bit of a nonsensical question to ask someone, isn’t it?”

“Well, you seem to be insinuating that you know who I am.”

“I do. That doesn’t mean I’m reincarnated, or any other conspiracy theory-like conclusion that you might immediately jump to.”

Was I wrong?

Maybe he was just a jock from the local high school who saw me walking around the city. Now, my tone makes it sound like I’m foreshadowing him to debunk my contention, but I don’t actually know.

It’s just a bit of an odd situation, like when you get pranked and your first response is to be like: bruh, what is going on? before you conjure up some conspiracy theories in your mind that may or may not be the truth.

“How do you know me, then?”

“You’re pretty well-known where I’m from.”

“Where you’re from?”

“It’s a secret.”

I guess my sneaky syntax didn’t squeeze it out of him. Still, it’s a secret is a bit elusive, don’t you think? If he was just from the local city or whatnot, he could’ve just said so.

I’m pretty well-known where he’s from?

“Do you know my name?” I asked.

“Of course I know your name, K.”

“K?”

“I can see you’ve misinterpreted what I said. I know you, Kay.”

He pronounced it the same way both times, but he seemed to denote different things. But anyway, the letter ‘k’ did not seem to ring any bells.

“I think you’ve got the wrong person,” I said.

“Nope, I haven’t.”

“I think you have, that’s not my name.”

“It is your name.”

“Don’t gaslight me.”

“Whatever you say. I’ll call you Rin, then.”

Huh?

What was this now?

Long time no see~

I looked over at the boy who was staring at me. This situation was getting confusing and my hands were getting cold. I needed to go harvest my beans.

I guess I’ll get his name.

“What’s your name then?” I asked.

“You can call me Cal, since you seem to like three-letter names.”

Huh?