A Boy from Another World

(A quick aside: since I'm a newcomer, the first version of the golden finger setting felt a little out of place, so I changed how the golden finger was presented in the earlier chapters. I may have missed some spots, though, so if any readers notice them, please leave a comment. I'll fix them as soon as I see them. If you find anything unreasonable in the story, please point that out too, and I'll do my best to improve!)

Anyway, given how prevalent AI has become lately, I want to stress that this book has had breaks in updates and all sorts of problems, but I wrote it entirely by hand!

Shinshi Era, year 24

Outside the Holy Capital of Strahl in the Central Countries.

"It's raining."

Rienta put the last dish, corn and pork rib soup, on to simmer, then stood absentmindedly at the kitchen window, looking out.

He suddenly remembered that his adoptive father, Heiter, had grown increasingly fond of sitting in the recliner by the door over the past few days.

He hurried to the front of the cabin and, sure enough, found Heiter's somewhat frail figure in the recliner.

Heiter, the legendary priest of the hero's party that had defeated the Demon King, was now no different from an ordinary old man at his age.

Rienta knew that the people Heiter worried about most were him and Fern, whom he had adopted several years ago.

Thanks to the golden finger that everyone who transmigrated to another world received, Rienta possessed a talent that amazed both the legendary priest Heiter and the thousand-year-old elf Frieren.

Magic That Heals Everything.

It was the reward a rudimentary panel had given him for successfully anchoring himself to this world, just after he arrived and was adopted by Heiter.

Looking at the gray-haired old man, Rienta said softly, "Mr. Heiter, let me help you inside. Be careful not to catch a cold."

Heiter, who had been gazing into the distance, looked away from the cliff where Fern usually trained.

"Oh, it's you, Rienta."

Heiter stopped Rienta from helping him, rose to his feet, and picked up the cane beside him. With a chuckle, he said:

"Don't worry. I'm not so old that I need help walking yet."

Rienta withdrew his hand helplessly and fell silent for a moment.

He knew Heiter was avoiding direct contact to keep him from examining his current physical condition.

After several years of study, the only thing separating Rienta from a top-tier priest was the amount of mana he possessed.

He had long been fully aware of Heiter's physical condition.

"I'll go see Frieren." Leaning on his cane, Heiter headed upstairs to the study.

Rienta returned to the kitchen in silence and stared blankly at the steam rising from the pot.

In the upstairs study.

Frieren was deciphering Sage Aiwisi's grimoire. According to Heiter, it contained Resurrection of the Dead and Immortality Magic.

Four years ago, Heiter had asked Frieren to decipher the grimoire and teach Rienta and Fern while she was at it.

If only I had a little more time.

That was what Heiter had said. As an elf, Frieren had a long lifespan, but she had accepted the request anyway, because she loved all kinds of magic, even if deciphering the grimoire would take years.

Heiter came to the study and looked at Frieren's back as she concentrated on deciphering the grimoire. He asked softly:

"Frieren, how is Fern's training going?"

He didn't ask about Rienta because, with his godlike talent, Rienta only needed to increase his mana to be able to heal everything.

Of course, that didn't apply to a life naturally running its course, which was also why he had been avoiding Rienta lately.

Frieren stopped writing out the translation with her quill.

"Fern has covered in four years what would take an ordinary person ten, but she's pushing herself a little too hard. That's not a good thing."

Heiter sighed. "Fern does like magic, though."

He knew that Fern was spending more and more time training.

Perhaps she felt pressured by the talent her older brother Rienta possessed.

But he was probably the one putting the most pressure on her.

"Fern is still a little short of becoming a mage who can stand on her own," Frieren said after thinking for a while.

Heiter asked no more questions, and Frieren continued deciphering the grimoire before her. She was nearly finished with her goal for the day.

For a time, both fell silent. The only sound in the quiet study was the scratch of Frieren's pen against the paper.

Frieren's answer made Heiter very happy.

Rienta's talent meant that the only thing limiting him was his mana.

So even though Rienta often said strange things about becoming a sword immortal and the like, Heiter wasn't worried.

And Frieren's assessment of Fern had gone from "she'll hold us back" to her being just short of standing on her own.

Frieren was deciphering the grimoire much faster than she had expected, and had already completed the vast majority of it.

After writing the last sentence of the day's translation, Frieren stretched.

Noticing that Heiter had not left, she said as she organized the translated pages:

"Heiter, I'll be finished deciphering this grimoire soon, but I'm afraid..."

Before she could finish, a dull thud sounded as someone fell. Frieren looked toward the sound, puzzled.

"Heiter?"

After settling the unconscious Heiter in bed, Frieren found Rienta in the kitchen, lost in thought.

"Rienta, Heiter has fallen ill. He needs your healing magic."

Although Rienta had sensed this coming, he hadn't expected it so soon.

Heiter had only just said he wasn't old enough to need someone's help walking...

In Heiter's room.

Rienta withdrew the "healing magic that heals everything" enveloping Heiter.

He had already healed Heiter's hidden injuries and illnesses.

But his healing magic could do nothing about the passing of life.

"Lady Frieren, Mr. Heiter didn't lose consciousness because he was ill."

Rienta offered no further explanation, only gazing quietly at Heiter on the bed.

"I see." Frieren's voice was somewhat calm.

The rain outside was growing heavier.

The two waited in silence for Heiter to wake.

After half an hour, Rienta realized that Fern, who usually came back around this time, had yet to return.

"I'll go find Fern. Lady Frieren, sorry for the trouble, but could you look after Mr. Heiter?"

Frieren said, "Mm."

Rienta had been to the cliff where Fern trained a few times, and using flight magic, he found her training there in just a few minutes.

"Fern, let's stop training for now. Mr. Heiter has fallen ill."

Though Fern was only a little over ten, her long purple hair already reached her waist. Despite the rain, the mana within her sent her hair streaming out behind her.

"I still haven't managed to shatter that rock."

With that, Fern fired another long-distance spell from her staff at a boulder on the opposite cliff.

Rienta came to Fern's side and cast a "spell that keeps out the rain" over them both before looking at the boulder across the gap.

The two cliffs were dozens of meters apart, and a huge rock was fixed in place by magic.

That was Fern's training objective: to break the rock.

The three elements of long-distance magic were the amount of mana, the force with which it was released, and the ability to control it.

Frieren and Heiter saw Rienta as a priest, but Rienta felt that a priest who couldn't fight at close range wasn't right, so he was also practicing swordsmanship on his own.

His talent as a mage was far inferior to Fern's.

Rienta had tried learning it for a while at first, but the results had been mediocre, so he had only learned a few simple spells.

Looking at the boulder, Rienta said softly, "You'll be able to do it someday. For now, let's just—"

"Brother Rienta," Fern interrupted him. "Lord Heiter's body can't hold out much longer, can it?"

Rienta remained silent and did not answer.

Fern gripped the staff in her hand tightly. It was a gift Heiter had given him, and Rienta had received a wooden sword as well.

"Lord Heiter wants both of us to be able to survive on our own. You've already done that, Brother Rienta, but I still can't break that rock."

Rienta didn't know how to explain it. His talent for magic might have been sufficient, but it was definitely no match for Fern's.

"Fern, even Lady Frieren acknowledges your mana control. All you lack is time, and I need time to increase my own mana too."

After brainstorming for a while, Rienta remembered how Frieren had once used Fern's mana control as an example when teaching him.

Fern put away her staff and gazed quietly at the boulder across the gap.

Seeing this, Rienta stood silently beside her.

The rain showed no sign of letting up, but Rienta's "spell that keeps out the rain" still gave them a dry place to stand.

After a while, Fern seemed to have figured something out and said softly:

"Let's go home, Brother Rienta."

Rienta's efforts to puzzle out what the girl was thinking came to an abrupt halt.

"Huh?"

Seeing that Fern was already heading toward the cabin, Rienta was somewhat baffled, but he also breathed a sigh of relief.

He hadn't been able to figure out what women were thinking in his previous life, much less a girl from another world.