Prologue: My Part-Time Job |
June 1st, 2088
My name is Cross Minato, with the family name being Cross and my given name being Minato. I am 15 years old, having just graduated from middle school and now starting my summer break. As one would expect from my name, I am half-Japanese and half-American. This is also reflected in my appearance: I have green eyes, dark brown hair and a perfect blend of facial features that make it impossible to tell my nationality. Sometimes I would catch people staring at me, probably because they were trying to figure out where I came from.
My mother is an elegant beauty from Tokyo while my father is a rugged rancher from Texas. I was born in the USA, although we moved to Tokyo when I was about 7. My mother is a corporate lawyer, while my father started an American steakhouse chain after moving to Japan which became surprisingly successful.
At this point, one would assume that I would say that I am a perfectly normal teenager. I wish I could say that but I won’t, since that would be a lie. It was the first day of summer break and I was alone since my mother was working a big case at the office and my father was on a business trip to Sapporo.
After eating a simple breakfast, I went to my room and started getting dressed in preparation for my shitty part-time job. It was a job I was doing in secret, so I was only able to work hours here and there when my parents weren’t around. But my parents are gone a lot, so I have ended up putting in quite a few hours.
I put on some light brown hiking pants with dark brown steel-toed combat boots and steel greaves. The leather belt threaded through my pants had leather pouches attached. Up top I had a green long sleeved shirt beneath a black chest-piece of a military riot armor along with some steel demi-gauntlets (fingers had flexible cloth with steel on back of hand).
I put a dark brown leather overcoat over all this and covered my face with a dark green bandana and motorcycle goggles. The bandana had a white insignia depicting a single mountain peak piercing through a layer of clouds. Lastly, I put on a tan combat helmet, causing my face and hair to be completely obscured. I fiddled with this chuunibyou outfit for a bit, adjusting the pouches and the additional equipment I had on.
Finally, I was ready to go and started to turn around to head towards the door. As I was turning I felt a brief eldritch sensation and after the turn my view was not what one would expect. Instead of my bedroom door, I was gazing upon a snowy evergreen forest. Apart from the sudden change, the scenery itself was unremarkable.
The pines were green, the falling snow was white, and the cloudy sky was a depressing grey. “What just happened!?! Where am I?!” were things that I did not say. I simply started walking through the forest until I came upon a dirt road. I continued walking on that road, weathering the cold wind that howled through as I headed towards a frozen mountain towering over the forest.
Ask 10 people what that man was and 10 people would respond: it’s a dwarf. I nodded in response to the dwarf’s query. The dwarf grunted and said “The mine shaft is over there, hurry up and kill that damn thing. It mauled 5 of my workers when it arrived and has shut down operations for five weeks now. I’ve had to throw in a slave every so often to make sure that pain in the ass didn’t come out to hunt.”
I didn’t respond and simply headed in the indicated direction while double checking my weapons. I had a leg holstered 9mm pistol on each side along with a ninjato sword on my back and waist, both of which were hidden by the overcoat. Lastly, I had a polearm slung diagonally on the back of my overcoat with the handle sticking out over my shoulder.
It had a 4-foot long blade with the staff portion being about 3 feet long. The blade had a modest curve with the single cutting edge located on the inside of the curve which ended in a sharp point. This polearm was known as a rhomphaia and was a brutal weapon that could hack and stab with great effectiveness. It stayed on my back due to a nifty clasp that was similar to a bear trap. After drawing the weapon, I could easily holster it again by pressing it to the clasp. Although I admit it took me ages before I was able to do that in one try.
At this point I arrived at the mine entrance where the monstrous troll lurked. I could smell the fetid stench from the worker’s corpses and heard echoes in the mine that indicated the troll was still there. I unclasped my rhomphaia and entered as the dwarf called out after me “I almost forgot, I threw in a slave a little before you came to stall the troll. If it’s still alive and able to work be sure to bring it out, so I can save some cost!” His heartless words echoed in the mine as I vanished into the flickering darkness thinking to myself “I hate this damn other world.”