I Shall Survive Using Potions! Volume 1 Read online

  Chapter 1: I’d like Some Perks for My Reincarnation, Please!

  Kaoru Nagase, twenty-two years old.

  An office lady with silky black hair that came down to her shoulder blades, stood at 158 centimeters tall (perfectly appropriate for her age), and always had a slightly—okay, a REALLY harsh look in her eyes. She’d graduated with a degree in science at a national university and found a job at a medium-sized company back in her hometown. It’d been half a year since she started her convenient life of commuting from home to her job, much to the joy of her parents, while she saved up money.

  She had a family of five consisting of her parents, a brother two years older than her, and a sister three years younger. They all got along well, though her little sister Yuki seemed a bit disappointed not gaining complete control over the room they shared even after Kaoru found a job.

  She’d finally gotten used to her work and was coming back home after finishing an hour and a half’s worth of overtime. Despite this, and without warning, Kaoru felt like she was about to lose consciousness, stopping where she stood.

  Not good, not good... If I fall over and hit my head or something, I’m done for. Falling over would be bad, so I’m just gonna crouch down slowly...

  But even without crouching down, the feeling of dizziness had passed in an instant. Just as Kaoru turned forward to start walking again, thinking it was a slight bout of vertigo caused by low blood pressure or something...she froze in place.

  “What...is this...?”

  The area in front of her—no, everything around her was completely white. An area devoid of anything else spread out before her. Frozen in place and unable to comprehend what was going on, a voice came from behind her:

  “You must be Kaoru Nagase, right?”

  Surprised, Kaoru turned around to find a man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He had golden hair and blue eyes, and was sort of like the physical embodiment of what every woman would consider to be a “good man.” He wore a white outfit that seemed like something an aristocrat from ancient Rome would wear, with a gentle smile spreading across his face.

  Uh-oh, this doesn’t look good...

  Kaoru was a fan of light novels, so she had a feeling she knew where this was going. The man introduced himself as “someone in charge of watching over this world,” like she’d been expecting him to. Put simply, it was like he was what humans would call “God,” or at least something close to it.

  According to “God” here, this whole incident was supposedly the result of some sort of accident. The world as we knew it actually existed along multiple space-time continuums (basically parallel worlds) as part of a “multiverse.” These parallel worlds usually existed without interference from each other, but every once in a while a space-time anomaly or deviation of energy or the like would cause different space-times to approach and affect each other. If these events took the form of small holes or cracks in the space-time continuum, then they could be taken care by dealing with the problem ASAP. At worst, however, these events could end up involving multiple worlds, and turn into a disaster of epic proportions. To protect against such events, there existed a race of beings beyond humanity’s wildest imagination who were so far advanced they could only be called “Gods.” These beings watched over the worlds and adjusted the balance of space-time as necessary. Because of that, any anomalies or deviations were spotted in a timely manner, which were then dispersed and taken care of before the anomalies could reach disaster levels.

  The incident this time was a result of this man going to disperse a small anomaly, just as he always did; but, unluckily for Kaoru, she’d gotten caught up in it as well. Her physical body had taken heavy damage, and though God rushed to recover her consciousness and soul, back on Earth, Kaoru was already considered dead.

  “I’m sorry, I’m so terribly sorry! I’ve never made a mistake like this in all my thousands of years doing this...”

  The man who claimed to be God appeared to be truly sorry as he bowed his head and apologized in earnest. A bitter smile crossed Kaoru’s face, as if to say these sort of things just happened.

  “I mean, you know, it’s fine... Well, no, it’s not, but there’s no way around it now, right? You just made a little mistake when doing your job of watching over the world. I guess I had a bit of bad luck this time too, that’s all.”

  With a light laugh, Kaoru explained how it didn’t hurt and that she didn’t suffer when it happened. All humans had to die eventually. But God had a pained expression on his face.

  “I’m humbled to hear you say that... However, as the supervisor for this world, it’s evident that I must take measures to aid you. As luck would have it, I succeeded in preserving your consciousness and soul, so it’s possible to have you live a new life through the reconstruction of your physical body.”

  “Wait, you can bring me back to life? Like, back to the same life I had before?” Kaoru asked him out of surprise.

  But God regretfully shook his head. “I’m sorry... Your physical body has already been declared as deceased and, erm...taken care of... This world is extremely fine-tuned, so if I were to forcefully use my powers to intervene, there’s a chance its balance would collapse and cause a massive distortion.”

  Aw man... So that means there’s no place for me there anymore... If I try forcing my way back in, then I’d just be causing trouble for everyone.

  Kaoru had quickly come to terms with the situation she’d been placed in.

  “My recommendation would be to start a new life in a different world. Even if we were to use a bit of excessive force on a world that hasn’t progressed as far, nothing much would change. And, luckily enough, there’s one such unadjusted world that’s quite similar to Earth... It’s likely that the same world split off at some point in the distant past due to a massive spatial distortion. My guess is that this caused a large amount of flora and fauna to mix between the two on a continental scale, and, as a result, the people, plants, and animals generally appear to be the same. The civilization there is far behind that of Earth, something akin to medieval Europe, but it’s a world where you could still live comfortably as a human.”

  God seemed desperate to send Kaoru off to another world. On top of there being no better way to go about this, it seemed he wanted to atone for his mistake and make it up to Kaoru, so of course he would be desperate...

  Understanding this, Kaoru resigned herself and agreed.

  “I understand. It doesn’t seem like there are any other good ideas besides that, so I’ll take you up on your offer.”

  “Oh, thank you! Then I’ll start the preparations right—”

  “Ah, hold on a second!”

  Though he seemed relieved and in a rush to start the preparations, Kaoru managed to reign God back in.

  “The medieval world would be far more dangerous than the modern world, right? Injuries, disease, crime, wars—those sorts of things would be more rampant. I don’t think a girl who doesn’t have a clue what’s going on being thrust into the middle of all that by herself would be able to scrape by. Like, at all. At best, I would end up as a slave or in a brothel. At worst, I could be dead the same day I arrive...”

  “...”

  A bead of sweat ran down God’s temple to his cheek. Kaoru couldn’t imagine his body having been built with such a bodily function, so he was most likely doing it on purpose to show some sort of psychological reaction. That was some real attention to detail.

  “Because of that...” Kaoru stuck her pointer finger right at God. “I’d like to request some sort of cheat powers!”

  “Ch-Cheat...powers...?” He didn’t seem to have a clue what was going on.

  “That’
s right, cheat powers! If a girl like me, who won’t know left from right, is going to live in this new world by herself, I’m going to need some special abilities, don’t you think? Oh! I’ll need to be able to understand the language and writing system over there as well. And since it’ll be a more uncivilized world, I guess the age women can get married would be a lot lower too. So if you don’t make me a bit younger, I don’t think I’ll be able to live a happy life, you know...?”

  Kaoru’s life was on the line here, so she was going to take this opportunity to go all in.

  “Y-Yes... I don’t completely understand...but very well. Reconstruction of your physical body and granting you powers falls under the authority of whomever is the supervisor for that world, so I’ll be sure to request they take care of you beforehand. You can talk over the details with them once you arrive.”

  “Please and thank you! Oh, and there are two favors I’d like to ask while I’m still here. Is that all right?”

  God nodded, agreeing to Kaoru’s request. “As long as they don’t lead to any problems, then yes, anything you like. You have that right, after all.”

  “In that case... First, as long as it doesn’t make me appear too different from the other humans in this new world, I want to take the body I have now—or, well, the body I had—and make it younger. I never got a chance to repay my parents back on Earth, so I was thinking I’d like to do that now by leaving their genes in this new world. Though, that’s only if I manage to get married and leave grandchildren for them...”

  While Kaoru laughed, God’s eyes were wide open, as if this came as a complete shock to him.

  “My other request is that I’d like to say goodbye to my family and friends. Since I died an unnatural death, I feel like that might leave some emotional scars... That’s why I want to let them know I’m all right, and to see them off with a smile. Oh, I’m not asking for something absurd like meeting with them in person of course. If I could have a minute or two to talk to them in their dreams, then that’d be enough. Even if they think it’s not real and it’s all just a dream, I’d be happy if I could make them feel even a little more at ease...”

  God nodded in assent, promising to grant her requests.

  “Then just as you asked, I will connect you to everyone’s dreams: one with your family, and the other with your two friends. It’s been ten days since the incident back on Earth, so please, take care not to leave any regrets behind. As soon as that’s over, I will transfer you to the new world. Once you arrive there, I will no longer be able to take any direct part in what happens, but I’ll be sure to tell the supervisor there to take care of you. I’m truly, truly sorry about all this. Now, may you have a good life!”

  With those words, God saw Kaoru off with an amiable smile.

  It’s only been ten days since then...

  Koichi lay in bed, thinking about his little sister who’d passed away the other day.

  The middle child of three siblings, it’d been half a year since she graduated from college. She loved to read, was knowledgeable of many things, and could be a bit of a tomboy. Though she looked like a cute girl, she always had this intense look in her eyes. She was more of a little brother to him, making it feel like he had both a little brother and a little sister instead of just two sisters.

  Even though he’d recently been laughing and joking with her as she retold her “incredible tales of valor” about her time at school and her workplace, he never thought she’d go off and die faster than their parents. Not to mention she’d died a mysterious and unnatural death, where her body basically exploded in front of a bunch of witnesses while she was on her way back home. This caused an uproar of course. People thought it could have been anything, from ultra-small explosives, a murder caused by stringing up piano wires, yōkai, or even the work of the devil. The insensitive mass media jumped on the unusual story, with a religious sham even trying to use it to scam people out of money, and so on and so forth...

  Things had finally settled down a little, but it’d be a long time before they settled down for good. Koichi had kept himself distracted because of how busy he’d been, but now that he had some time to himself, the sadness was beginning to close in.

  His parents and Yuki were probably going through the same thing. Even though they’d all gone to bed early, he kept hearing the sound of the toilet flushing or the refrigerator door being opened and closed. But now, everything was finally quiet.

  Tears ran down his cheek as he thought about his little sister. A flood of different emotions washed over him. Maybe it was because of his continuous lack of sleep over the past few days, but, before he knew it, he’d fallen into a deep sleep...

  “Aha, you’re here! You took forever to go to sleep, Koichi!”

  Oh, a lucid dream...

  I was sitting around a table with the other four members of my family. Looking at me with a smile on her face was my little sister, who should have no longer been with us. Though it had only been a mere ten days, I was overcome with a sense of sadness and longing.

  “Let me get right to explaining now that everyone’s here. Basically, I died because God made a mistake, and, as an apology, he’s going to send me to another world with cheat powers!”

  “What the hell kinda light novel is that supposed to be?!”

  I couldn’t help butting in with a sudden retort. Wait, this was my dream, so that would be my fault for the lack of imagination. That was kinda sad, me.

  “Did you make sure to have him take responsibility for what he did, Kaoru? You make sure to get him to compensate you!”

  I smacked my head on the table at my mom’s stupid joke... Wait, why did it hurt?

  “It’s all right, I made sure to have him promise me cheat powers, and some other stuff too! I’m getting resurrected in my own body, and I’m getting my youth back as well. I’m gonna make so many descendants for the Nagase household in this other world! Our family genes are gonna run rampant there!”

  “Well, well, ain’t that somethin’... Then it looks like you’ll be competin’ with Yuki and Koichi here!”

  Dad was almost as bad as Mom... No, maybe he was a bit worse.

  “Hey, Sis, could you send a hot prince or some super-expensive diamond back to our world?”

  Oh my god, Yuki...

  “Sorry, doesn’t seem like I can swing that. Ah, it’s almost time... All right, everyone, be good! I’m gonna be doing my best in my new world as well! Oh, and since I’m getting cheat powers, I can use them to keep myself safe and make some easy money! I’m pretty much guaranteed a stable future, so don’t worry about me all right? Welp... Dad, Mom, Big Bro, Yuki... Take care, everyone! Thank you for everything, and goodbye!”

  “Take care now!”

  “I hope you’ll be happy!”

  “Get yourself a good man, Big Sis!”

  “...You know what to do, right, Kaoru? Keep information about yourself a secret, and keep yourself safe!”

  “I got it, I got it! See ya!”

  Morning... Haha, was I stupid or something? Why would I tell her that? As if Kaoru wouldn’t know something as basic as that... Wait, am I stupid?! That was my dream, so why was I reacting to it like that? You know what, I should just go ahead and grab some breakfast.

  Getting out of bed, I headed straight down to the first floor. Everyone in our family wore pajamas to breakfast. We didn’t have to worry if we spilled food on them, and since we would go to the bathroom and brush our teeth afterward, we could avoid splattering our work clothes with toothpaste or getting them wrinkled. Very logical, if I said so myself.

  Dad and Yuki were already sitting at the table, so I sat down in my seat as well. They were already downing some miso soup, and Mom was still getting the plates of grilled salmon ready for them. But something about everyone seemed a bit off. They were fidgeting around, sneaking peeks at each other’s faces. It was an indescribable feeling of restlessness. What was the matter with them...?

  For some reason, at that time, pa
rt of the conversation from my dream had crossed my mind.

  “Our family’s genes are gonna run rampant there!”

  “Is our family a bunch of mice or cockroaches or something?!” I blurted out suddenly. What the heck was I even saying!

  PBFTTTTTT!!!

  Miso soup suddenly came spurting out of Dad’s and Yuki’s mouths and noses. Ah, yes, our family’s habit of wearing pajamas to breakfast had been proven correct!

  “Good grief, how nasty—OW, hot!!!”

  Behind me, Mom was picking up a plate she had dropped. Aw man, my grilled salmon...

  “Cheat powers in another world...” Dad murmured.

  “A hot prince and a super-expensive diamond...”

  “She told you that wasn’t going to happen...” Mom retorted to my sister’s mumbling.

  ...Silence. A hush fell over the room. Then...

  “...Haha...”

  “...Ahaha...”

  “““Ahahahahahaha!”””

  We laughed. The four of us laughed and laughed, and kept on laughing. Streams of water ran down our cheeks, but we paid it no mind and kept laughing. All of us were late for school and work that day.

  “Hey, you’re here!”

  There were two girls sitting around the small table in front of me.

  Oh, a dream, huh...

  One of the girls here was my close friend who had passed away ten days ago, the other being my close friend I had known since middle school—and who was now my only close friend left. I had cried my eyes out every day since Kaoru’s accident, but I’d finally been able to calm down a little. Maybe it was because I was still lingering on what had happened, or maybe it was because I’d managed to sort out my feelings, but now I was beginning to see her in my dreams...

  “I’m sorry for dying so soon, Kyo-chan. There was more I wanted to do with the three of us... I’m really sorry.”

  Unable to hold myself back anymore, I threw myself around Kaoru’s slender body, tears streaming down my face.