Isekai Rebuilding Project: Volume 1 Read online

  “You’re the type who puts on a monster mask to do your dirty work.”

  “Got to give those meddling kids a chance.”

  “This time, they’ve already had their chance.”

  As we concluded our trivial conversation based on trivia, the receptionist returned with a man who seemed to be the character in charge. He was a portly man who appeared middle-aged, but it was tough for me to read the ages of the people here. I imagined I’d get used to it after a few years of living here.

  “It’s an honor, Hermits. My name is Garish. I’m in charge of the Lishua branch of the Adventurers’ Guild.”

  “Thank you, sir. My name is Eiji, and this is Tiamat. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  I mirrored the man’s bow. A polite first impression is something any Japanese worker learns to strive for, until the point it becomes second nature. I’d seen so many protagonists in fantasy pieces acting brazen toward people they’d never met before. Act that way in real life and most of their negotiations would end negatively for them. An adult thinks one thing, and says another. This isn’t even a noble concept, either.

  “I was told you’re interested in the formation of our guild.”

  “Mm. Unless I’m mistaken, this organization didn’t exist a century ago.”

  Tiamat was the one who answered. Whether or not she really had knowledge of this world from a hundred years ago, I didn’t know.

  “That is correct. The Adventurers’ Guild itself was only created about fifty years ago.”

  “Hmm. A fresh business, then.”

  Apparently a long-standing organization of fifty years was ‘fresh’ to Tiamat. Mister Garish didn’t seem offended, though. In fact, he seemed proud. An up-and-coming business managed to beat the competition. Perhaps he was boasting. At any time in history, traditions and name value are obstacles to someone.

  “How rude of me not to offer you a seat, Hermits. This way, please.”

  He lead us further in. We were the rude ones, showing up without an appointment. Such a polite welcome made me feel a little guilty.

  “Is this a good time? If it isn’t, we would...”

  Don’t ask me to finish the sentence. Take the trail-off to be a Japanese accent.

  “Oh, it’s most always a good time for me. My wife has been handling much of the business, lately.”

  Mister Garish gave a quick look to the receptionist. She’s the wife, surprisingly. A family-run business.

  “It’s so hard to move around these days. I’m taking plenty of rest, though.”

  Woah, woah, woah. So he’s sick somehow. More the reason he shouldn’t be speaking to us now.

  “In that case, you should rest, sir...”

  “I just feel heavy, that’s all. I’ve seen a doctor just to be safe, and I was told that it wasn’t any illness.”

  I had no idea what the standards for medical practices in this world were. At this point, I couldn’t decide whether to take the doctor’s word at face value. Still, upon reevaluating, Mister Garish didn’t look too well. While his stature was large, he was more swollen than portly. As I’m not an expert, I couldn’t discern more than that; but something was nagging at the corner of my mind. Lethargy and swollenness. ...It couldn’t be. That would be ridiculous. But the clues click. What did Tiamat say before we entered Lishua? That we could eat white rice here. White rice, lethargy, and swollenness. Was it what I thought it was? If I was right, the Japanese party who came here before me made a devastating blunder. If I recalled correctly, tens of thousands died from it each year. I became aware that my expression was turning more and more worrisome.

  “What’s going on, Eiji?” Tiamat asked, probably concerned.

  “...Mister Garish may be ill,” I said, with a face that must have made me look like the sickest man in the room.

  We were then shown to what looked like the Guild Master’s office that also seemed to serve as a meeting room, as it contained a couch and coffee table in addition to a desk. I was entirely uninterested in the interior or furniture of the room, however, as I desperately searched for a particular item.

  “Is something the matter, Sir Eiji?”

  “Um... Do you have a hammer? A small one will do.”

  “Hammer? What would you do with such a thing?”

  A confused expression crossed his face. It was only natural. Who in their right mind would request that of their host? But it was absolutely necessary. Apparently one can do the test with no tools whatsoever, but I didn’t possess such a skill.

  “Would this do?”

  Still with the confused expression, Mister Garish produced a hammer from his tool box on the shelf.

  “Then, sit on that desk please. Relax from the waist down so your feet dangle.”

  “Uh-huh...”

  Incredulity was written all over his face. If he didn’t consider me a Hermit, he definitely would have kicked me out. I must have looked insane.

  “Like this?”

  The Guild Master shoved some papers on the desk away and sat down. I reached out and made sure that his legs were dangling.

  “Mister Garish, I will lightly tap below your knee with this hammer. I just need you to stay relaxed.”

  “All right...”

  I assumed he didn’t know what I was about to do. Tiamat must not have known either, as she was watching with enthusiasm.

  I exhaled. Hit below the knee, where it’s a little dented. Just a tad of an upper swing. Like hitting a tennis ball. Pop.

  “...”

  It didn’t move. Did I do it wrong? One more time. No movement. It didn’t move for me.

  “Gr...”

  “Um... What are you doing, Sir Eiji?”

  A young man with sweat on his brow and a terrified expression repeatedly tapping a man’s leg with a hammer. What a bizarre tableau.

  “It’s called a tendon reflex. When I tap this part, your leg is supposed to jolt up.”

  “Well, but, what does that mean?”

  Mister Garish looked utterly confused. Of course he was. There was no way for him to know what the condition is called, what causes it, or how to treat it.

  A demon brought over by a Japanese person into a medieval fantasy world. Also known as the Edo affliction in Japan, it became an epidemic in the 1870s, feared as one of the two most deadly diseases in Japan alongside tuberculosis. Each year tens of thousands died from it. It wasn’t until the early 1980s when the annual death count in Japan dropped under a thousand.

  “Mister Garish, you are ill. You are afflicted with a disease that will cause your death if untreated.”

  As calmly as I could, I declared my findings. It was scary for a non-medical-professional like me to make a diagnosis. But I believed that this was something I had to do. Clean up after the mess one of my kind left behind.

  “What!? But the doctor said...”

  “Of course they wouldn’t know. None of the best doctors would, either.”

  It was a disease that wasn’t supposed to exist in this time period, well, this world at all.

  “Mister Garish. The disease you have is called beriberi.”

  6.

  Beriberi. A bizarre disease that was epidemic in Japan from the 1870s to 1920s. For a long time, its cause was unknown. First of all, it rarely affected elders and children, who had weaker immune systems. In fact, young and strong soldiers were often afflicted. The wealthier people, who ate better food, were afflicted more often. This happened at a time when the existence of vitamins was unknown. To boot, there were almost no examples of beriberi in western medicine, which had rapidly increased medical technology in Japan. A truly mysterious disease. Symptoms include lethargy, swollen limbs, and dulled senses. In the end, the disease is complicated by Wernicke’s encephalopathy or heart conditions, resulting in death.

  “Well, Mister Garish? Have you experienced any of those symptoms?”

  “...I have,” Mister Garish answered, after a moment of silence.

  That wasn’t good.
In modern times, beriberi isn’t a disease to be afraid of. Which may not sound right, but I only mean that it is curable. Since beriberi is caused by vitamin B1 deficiency, the treatment is to increase it. It’s not complicated. The problem wasn’t the complexity of the treatment, though. The problem was this situation where beriberi was already widespread. What to do...? What should I do?

  “...Sir Eiji. Am I going to die...?” Mister Garish asked me, pale as a ghost. He must have dedicated his life thus far to his work to earn the title of Guild Master at such a young age. Married a few years ago, his life was smooth sailing. Now, he was about to die from a disease he had never heard of. That wasn’t right. I could hear the frustration in his voice. Who could blame him? Most diseases are senseless. If two people share the exact same lifestyle, one could develop diabetes while the other doesn’t. Some people get cancer, and others don’t. That’s how it is. In the case of beriberi, though, it can be cured and prevented. It wasn’t like I was facing up against an infectious disease that required antibiotics to treat.

  “It’s all right, Mister Garish. We can cure it.” I gave a reassuring smile.

  “Are you sure? Eiji, giving false hope can be crueler than telling the truth,” Tiamat interrupted. She knew I was not a doctor and just a clerk, after all.

  “Beriberi can be cured with a change in diet.”

  “Oh?”

  “For example... Mister Garish. You enjoy your white rice, don’t you?” I questioned, searching for confirmation more than an answer. He returned a nod, looking curious as to how I knew.

  “And your liquor?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’re not the type to shy away from exercise.”

  “How do you know all this, Sir Eiji?”

  “Let’s see. I’ll say it’s because I’m a Hermit. First thing, I want you to change your diet until I formulate a cure.”

  “Yes, sir...”

  “No drinking. Eat as little rice as you can, and don’t exercise for a while.”

  His lack of vitamin B1 had caused beriberi; I couldn’t let him lose any more of it. Since vitamin B1 is required to process carbohydrates, he should cut down on his carbohydrate intake. Exercise wasn’t a good idea, either. Beriberi was common among athletes and soldiers because exercise boosts metabolism, and therefore burns more glucose, spending more vitamin B1. Cutting back on those things should help with the symptoms somewhat. Then, he just needed to eat more foods rich in vitamin B1. Specifically, protein like red meat and fish. There’s a good amount of it in soybeans too, but just by changing from white rice to brown rice, he should see drastic changes.

  I mean, none of that was necessary if you had a bottle of B1 supplements. I couldn’t expect something like that in this world, though, and I couldn’t go making this world dependent on modern medicine and supplements, either. Not if I wanted to avoid making the same mistakes as my predecessors who molded this world to be easier, more convenient, and better suited to their own needs.

  “...I understand.”

  “I hope to bring you some good news soon. Although, it might be better for us to have a title we can use when traveling to gather ingredients, for example. Can we register as adventurers, too?”

  “Eiji. You’re going to be an adventurer?”

  “You too, Tia.”

  “Me!?”

  “...You want to be adventurers, Hermits...?”

  “Yes. We can’t go hunting or shopping or anything if we cause a commotion everywhere we go by letting people know we are Hermits.”

  I shrugged. In short, I couldn’t deal with people reacting like Mister Garish or his wife had everywhere we went. Things would be easier if we were common adventurers.

  “In that case...”

  With a chuckle, Garish wrote us a letter. We had the recommendation of the Guild Master, it seemed. I was sure it would help with registering as adventurers.

  “Thank you. Then let’s hop to it.”

  Patting Tiamat on her shoulder, I exited the room. Thudding footsteps followed a few paces behind me.

  Back in the hall, we went through the registration process at the reception. The receptionist (aka Mister Garish’s wife) provided us with some details. Apparently, there were ranks in the adventurer world. A newly registered rookie started as an F-rank (the bottom) and climbed up the ladder by gaining experience and producing results. The top rank is S-rank. A common system found in many of the Isekai fantasies out there. In other words, it worked like a video game.

  “Come to think of it, it’s like classifying freelancers and part-timers.”

  There are many people in this day and age who can’t or won’t work a full-time job, and make a living by temp work or part-time work. This is a system that ranks those kinds of people, limiting the type of contracts they can accept and the pay they can take.

  If you want to work for our company, you at least have to be a B-rank.

  We don’t have any work for an F-rank. Try somewhere else.

  These conversations may be had if the system existed in modern-day Japan.

  “That’s gross,” Tiamat said, as if she had a bad taste in her mouth. It sure didn’t sound like a society where the freedom of job selection was guaranteed by law.

  “Well, I guess it is efficient in a way. No need to waste your time going to job interviews at companies you have no chance of getting into.”

  “Less waste but also less progression. Do you think the potential of a human can be quantified?”

  “You hit the nail on the head, Tia. This system is blasphemous to humanity.”

  I knew I had a sour face on as I looked at my newly acquired Adventurer Card. On it were my abilities, quantified.

  Strength — E

  Magic — F

  Intelligence — C

  Luck — D

  I was so grateful I could cry. That was all figured out by placing my right hand above a literal crystal ball, by the way. How incredible. Just like that, apparently they could figure out that I had no physical strength, no magical powers, not even good luck, and barely average intelligence. In other words, the card read that I was worthless. What a joke.

  “Just like a fortune teller machine, it’s not based on any facts. No sense letting it affect you.”

  “Uh-huh...”

  Well put, O’ Majestic Dragon. All of your stats are S. Very convincing. I just gave a half-hearted agreement. My stats didn’t matter, anyway. It’s not like I wanted to make a living as an adventurer or anything. First, I should look for any quests that mention symptoms similar to Garish’s. While I was limited to this area, I should be able to get a grasp of how widespread beriberi is.

  “Um. Sir Eiji...?”

  The receptionist called me back as I walked away.

  “What is it?”

  “I need the registration fee...”

  “Oof.”

  They charged a fee. It’s an unfriendly world we live in.

  “Tia.”

  “Why would you think I have any money, Eiji?”

  “...Saw that coming.”

  I was wearing the same clothes as when I was heading to meet my fiancée. Tiamat was naked. She’s a dragon, after all. Naturally, neither of us had any of this world’s money.

  7.

  “Ugh... I want to go home...”

  “You’re a grown man. Stop sulking already. It’s annoying,” said Tiamat.

  Of course. You’re not affected. You got off scot-free!

  As we were penniless, I had to sell something I was wearing. That was the only way. We couldn’t have borrowed money from anyone when they had no reason to trust us. Our saving grace, as it turned out, was a merchant that happened to be in the hall. He offered to buy the watch on my left wrist. I checked with Tiamat, and they counted each day in twenty-four hours, just like on Earth. As I didn’t want to adjust to a new system of keeping time, I was willing to accept this rather convenient fact. It was probably a concept imported by the Japanese before me, anyway.

&n
bsp; In any case, we couldn’t do anything without some money. Not even pay the registration fee to become adventurers. When push comes to shove... The thing was, that wrist watch was very dear to me. It was very dear to me. That’s right, I said it twice. An IWC Portugieser Chronograph. I’d wanted it so bad I saved up for three years. It wasn’t expensive for an IWC watch, but my model cost me about 650,000 yen. The price didn’t matter, though. I was in love. Love at first sight. I was born only to wear you on my wrist.

  “How lucky that you had something valuable on you.”

  “Yeah! You’re right, you know!? I know you’re completely right, but...!”

  The Portugieser was first crafted by the Swiss watchmaker for a seafaring Portuguese merchant. It’s full of that sense of wonder!

  “You can’t eat a sense of wonder, after all,” said Tia.

  After much conflict and self-questioning, I finally parted with my beloved watch. I had sworn not to wear any other watch as long as I lived... The merchant paid one hundred gold coins for it. Apparently that was a ridiculous amount of money. Tiamat explained that I should consider a gold coin to be the equivalent of about 10,000 yen. On paper, I turned a big profit. Again, that didn’t matter. The only thing was, even a merchant like him doesn’t carry that much cash around. I was given ten gold coins to start, and I was to visit his shop with the certificate later. This promise was made while the receptionist and the other members of the guild watched, so I doubted he’d breach it. Adieu, my dear Chronograph.

  Many of the quests posted on the bulletin board were, in fact, for gathering herbs. Most of those quests were made by treatment wards and mage doctors.

  “More than I expected.”

  “Of course, we don’t know that all of these are related to beriberi.”

  Some of them must have been for unrelated ailments or injuries.

  “Hm. So, which quest should we take?”

  “Just from what I can see, none of them.”

  I wasn’t an expert on medicine in this world, but I knew that herbs couldn’t cure beriberi. There would have been a chance if any of the quests had wanted soybeans or potatoes.