Chapter 1: “Maybe: Another World”.

When I woke up, a young golden-haired woman was peering down at me.

A beautiful girl… no, a beautiful woman would be more accurate.

(Who is she?)

Beside her stood a young man with brown hair, offering an awkward smile in my direction.
He looked strong and spoiled. His muscles were insane.
Brown hair and a spoiled vibe—normally, guys like that trigger instant rejection in me,
but strangely, I didn’t feel any disgust.
Probably because his hair clearly wasn’t dyed.
It was a clean, natural brown.

“——…——…”

The woman looked at me, smiled brightly, and said something.
What is she saying?
My head feels foggy, her words are hard to catch, and I can’t understand them at all.
Wait—maybe it’s not Japanese?

“——…——…”

The man replied with a relaxed expression.
Seriously—what are they even saying?

“——…——…”

A third voice came from somewhere.
I couldn’t see the person.

“Ah— uah—”

I tried to sit up and ask where I was and who they were.
Even as a former shut-in, I’m not that socially impaired—
I figured I could at least manage that much.
But what came out of my mouth was an indistinguishable groan—
half moan, half whimper.

My body wouldn’t move.
I could feel my fingertips and arms, but my upper body refused to rise.

(Could it be… aftereffects from the accident…?)

A horrible premonition flashed through my mind.
It was a massive crash, after all.
I must have been unconscious for days—maybe weeks—and only just woken up.
Full-body contusions, ruptured organs, spinal damage, hemiplegia… something like that.
Permanent damage is likely.
The reason I can’t understand the language—
maybe there were no doctors in Japan who could save me, or something.

“…——…——…”

The man looked at me with concern and said something.

“——…——…”

What is it? Talking about my injuries?

Come to think of it—who paid the hospital bills?
No way it was my siblings who kicked me out.
They probably think I’d be better off dead.
They might hold a bare-minimum funeral,
but they’d split the inheritance three ways while excluding me—total misers.
They’d probably skimp even on funeral costs.
Hospitalization? They’d pretend I didn’t exist.

So then… who…?

Oh—right.
There was one person I managed to drag into my life.
Maybe he saved me out of gratitude as my benefactor…

“…——…”

Before I could finish the thought, the man scooped me up.

Seriously—he’s lifting someone over 100 kg so easily…?
No—maybe I’ve been bedridden for months and lost a ton of weight.
That crash was brutal.
There’s a high chance my limbs are gone.
Waking up after being declared dead—only to find I’m a limbless torso.

(Living hell…)

On the first day I regained awareness,
those were the thoughts running through my mind.

—

A month passed.

It seems I’ve been reincarnated.

I finally managed to accept that fact.

I was a baby.
Being lifted and having my head supported let me finally confirm it when I saw my own body in view.
I don’t know why I retained memories from my previous life,
but it’s not causing any problems—so whatever.
Reincarnation with memories intact.
Everyone fantasizes about it at least once.
I never thought the fantasy would become reality…

The man and woman I first saw after waking up are apparently my parents.
They look to be in their early twenties.
Clearly younger than I was in my previous life.
From the perspective of 34-year-old me, they’re practically kids.
Having a child at that age—damn, I’m jealous.

I’d already noticed from the start,
but this clearly isn’t Japan.
The language is different.
My parents’ features aren’t Japanese.
Their clothes look like some kind of ethnic costume.

No sign of home appliances (a maid in uniform was wiping things with a rag).
Dishes and furniture are rough wood.
Definitely not a developed country.
Lighting comes from candles and oil lamps—not bulbs.
Maybe they’re just so poor they can’t afford electricity.

…Wait—could that actually be likely?
I assumed they had money since there’s a maid,
but if she’s actually my mother’s sister or something,
it’s not strange for her to help clean the house.

I did want a do-over,
but being reborn into a family too poor to pay electric bills…

Still—getting to suck on a beautiful woman’s breast for free is amazing.
Maybe because my body isn’t developed yet,
or because she’s my mother—
I didn’t feel any arousal at all…

—

Half a year passed.

After half a year of listening to my parents’ conversations,
I’ve started to understand the language fairly well.
My English grades were terrible back in school,
but apparently being immersed in your native tongue really does speed up acquisition.
Or maybe this body’s brain is just that good.
My memory seems abnormally sharp—probably because I’m still so young.

Around this time I also became capable of crawling.
Being able to move is incredible.
I’ve never been so grateful just to have a working body.

“If I take my eyes off him even for a second, he’s gone somewhere.”

“That’s good—he’s energetic.
Back when he was just born, he barely cried at all. We were worried.”

“He still doesn’t cry much, does he?”

That’s what my parents said.
I’m not at the age where I wail just because I’m hungry anymore.
Though when it comes to the lower half—I can’t hold it forever, so I just let it rip without hesitation.

Once I could crawl, a lot of things became clear.

First—this house is actually wealthy.
It’s a two-story wooden building with at least five rooms.
They employ one maid.
I initially thought the maid might be my aunt,
but her facial features are clearly different.

The location is rural.
From the window I can see peaceful farmland.
Other houses are sparse—only two or three visible across the wheat fields.
Very rural.
No utility poles or streetlights.
Maybe there’s no power plant nearby.
I’ve heard that in some countries they bury power lines underground,
but if that were the case, it’d be strange for this house not to have electricity.

(Too rural…
For someone who’s been steeped in modern civilization like me,
this is a bit…
Even in reincarnation, I at least wanted to touch a computer again…)

Those were my thoughts—until one lazy afternoon.

With nothing to do, I decided to look at the peaceful countryside view as usual.
I climbed onto a chair like always, peered out the window—and froze.

My father was swinging a sword in the garden.

(Wait—what? What is he doing?)

A grown man swinging a sword like that—is that really my dad?
Is he a chuunibyou?

(Ah—crap…)

In my surprise, I slipped off the chair.
My undeveloped hands couldn’t grip it properly.
My heavy head fell backward toward the floor.

“Kyaa!”

The moment I hit—
a scream.
My mother had dropped the laundry, hands over her mouth, staring down at me with a deathly pale face.

“Rudy! Are you okay!?”

She rushed over and scooped me up.
When our eyes met, relief washed over her face and she let out a long breath.

“…Phew, seems okay.”

(You really shouldn’t move someone right after a head injury, lady.)

I mentally scolded her.
Judging from how panicked she was,
I must have fallen pretty badly.
Hit the back of my head too—might’ve become an idiot.
Well, not much change there.
Still, my head throbs.
But I did try to grab the chair, so the momentum wasn’t too bad.
Since she isn’t panicking more, there’s probably no bleeding.
Just a bump, most likely.

My mother carefully examined my head.
Her expression said a serious injury would be catastrophic.
Finally she placed her hand on my head and—

“Just in case…
Divine power, rich nourishment—
grant strength once more to this weakened one.
『Healing』”

I almost burst out laughing.
Seriously—is this the local equivalent of “pain, pain, go away”?
Or is my mother also a chuunibyou like my sword-swinging father?
Warrior and priest got married, huh?

But in the next instant—
her hand glowed faintly,
and the pain vanished completely.

(…Huh?)

“There. All better.
Mom used to be a fairly well-known adventurer back in the day, you know.”

Sword. Warrior. Adventurer. Healing. Chant. Priest.

Those words spun wildly in my head.
What was that just now?
What did she do?

“What’s wrong?”

My father poked his head in through the window—
alerted by my mother’s scream.
He was sweating from swinging the sword.

“Listen, dear—Rudy climbed up on a chair and…
he almost got seriously hurt just now!”

“Come on—he’s a boy.
He’s gotta be that energetic.
Back when he was newborn he barely cried—we were worried sick.”

“He still doesn’t cry much, though.”

My slightly hysterical mother and my laid-back father.
A familiar scene.
But this time—maybe because I fell on my head—
my mother refused to back down.

“Dear—this child isn’t even one year old yet!
Worry about him a little more!”

“Sure, sure.
Kids fall and tumble—that’s how they get tougher.
And if he gets hurt, you can just heal him every time.”

“But what if it’s too serious and I can’t heal it… I get so worried…”

“It’ll be fine.”

My father said that, then hugged both me and my mother together.
My mother’s face flushed red.

“I was worried at first because he didn’t cry…
but with this much energy, he’ll be okay…”

He gave her a quick kiss.
Oho—showing off, you two?
Whistle whistle.

After that, they put me to bed in the next room
and went upstairs to work on making my little brother or sister.
I can hear the creaking and moaning from the second floor, you know—damn normies…

(But… magic, huh…)

From then on, I started listening carefully to my parents’ and the maid’s conversations.
I noticed many unfamiliar words.
Especially country names, territory names, regional names—
every proper noun was completely unknown to me.
Maybe this place is…
No—I can say it for sure now.

This isn’t Earth.
It’s another world.

A world of swords and magic.

…Yeah.
Not bad.
I’m embarrassingly excited despite my age.
To be reincarnated in a world like this with my memories intact.
Anyone who wouldn’t be thrilled isn’t fit to be a NEET.

All right—decision made.

I’m going to live seriously in this world.
No more regrets.
I’ll go all out.

—