Chapter 2: Hot Start

“...... What the heck is up with this?”

When my consciousness returned to me, I found myself inside a jail cell. 

One side is a row of rusted iron bars. The remaining three walls are all stone. The ceiling is high, almost 3m up, with a small skylight. 

A dirty, old rag for a bed, and a hole in the floor seemingly for waste. This is all that encompa.s.ses my entire world. 

In addition, there are wooden shackles on both of my hands. 

Beyond the iron bars, I see another empty cell that looks exactly the same. 

“What a hot start……”

It is indeed true that ‘The Guardian’ did not specify my circ.u.mstances after the transfer. Perhaps some of the blame is on me, for not asking…… 

I didn’t ask because I somehow had the expectation of being in the middle of a gra.s.sy plain, or inside a forest, or even some ruins. 

“If this was a scenario written by a game master, then he must be someone with a terrible personality.”

I grumble to myself while standing up to confirm my situation. 

In this case, the ‘game master’ would be The Guardian, wouldn’t it? He didsay I’m free to do whatever I want, but I do not plan on taking him at his word and completely cutting loose. The reason is because there is absolutely no way that something this elaborate would be done without any purpose. 

Judging by the fact that light is coming in from the hole above my head, it must be currently noontime. 

Right now, I have on a snug pair of pants and a long-sleeved s.h.i.+rt. My feet are, surprise surprise, bare. 

My robe, my staff, and even the sling bag with my important spellbook inside are all nowhere to be seen. Even the rings that were supposed to be on my hands, all of which were magical items, have been stripped away. 

“Is there no limit to the figure of speech ‘suddenly and precipitately’...... Dying so suddenly, then going to a strange dimension all of a sudden, and even suddenly becoming a TRPG character……”

(T/N: In case anyone’s curious, the phrase used here is 急転直下.)

Feeling extremely tired, I lean against the wall and hold my head. 

“Haaaaa---- I’ve really come to a parallel world.”

I find myself worrying about my previous world, such as who will find my corpse, and my preparations for next week’s meeting being still unfinished. 

This might be a situation where I really should take action immediately, but I had to take several deep breathes to calm myself down. 

After being dazed for several minutes, my mind finally starts working. 

“Well, even without my items, as long as I can use my spells…… Speaking of which, I don’t have my spellbook either!”

The harsh reality that I realize once again causes me to go pale. 

“Not having my spellbook…… This is quite serious.”

Spellbook. 

This item is the most important thing for all D&B wizards. 

Wizards in D&B must read their spellbooks every morning in order to ‘charge [prepare]’ the spells that they will use that day. 

Furthermore, after a spell is used, it disappears from the wizard’s consciousness, and cannot be used anymore until it is ‘charged’ again the next morning. 

Rather, before even that, if I don’t have any spells charged at the moment…… and without my items also, that would make the current me nothing more than an ordinary person. 

Despite having been an ordinary person for 42 years, I feel a strong sense of discomfort. 

“Spells, do I even have any spells charged……”

Aside from the time spent playing D&B, I have never used a spell before in real life. When I scour the corners of my brain like I would for a math formula…… 

“Ah, found it.”

I do indeed find a sort of independent energy in a corner of my mind. This must be the spells that I have charged. Chants, or in other words, the processes to activate those spells, naturally pop up in my brain. 

Besides that, all of the knowledge that ‘Gio Margils’ had acquired have been imprinted into my own brain. I do have the ability to re-create my spellbook from scratch, but such an undertaking would require an enormous amount of time, money, and effort. 

“I should slip out of here. And while on the way, I should definitely retrieve at least my spellbook. In the first place, who is it that put me in here anyway?”

The growing sense of danger is apparently helping my mind to start working again. 

Escape is indeed important, but before that, I need to get an understanding of my current situation. 

I search my jail cell, but as expected, what I am looking for is not here. 

“Should I quickly use a spell and get out of here?”

What makes D&B wizards wrack their brains most is the choosing of what spells to charge for the day, and when best to use those spells. 

I (as in Gio) am a max level wizard, so I am able to charge 9 spells for each and every level from 1 to 9. Conversely, having a total of 81 spells makes things more complicated. 

If I want to open my shackles and my cell door, I have [Wizard Lock]. If I simply want to get away from here, then [Teleport] would do the trick. But then again, I don’t knowthe situation in my surroundings, so I cannot use [Teleport]. 

“For starters, let’s secure myself some peace of mind.”

Though I had a hard time deciding, I decided to use the [Invincible] spell in the end. 

This is a level 9 spell, considered the most difficult level. What it does is grant me complete resistance against all attacks with normal weapons, as well as all spells at least 3 levels lower. Duration is 6 hours. It is an absolute necessity when preparing for the worst situations. 

“Now then…… I wonder whether I can actually use my spells properly……”

After taking several deep breathes, I begin the ‘magical chant’ that I had repeated so many times back during the game.