Chapter 1 - Day of Descent and the 1,000 Chosen

Hiding in the dungeon filled with silence and death, I would strip the equipment from the now voiceless corpses of the explorers, and sell them to the black market. That’s how I somehow manage to get by in my meals.

At the burial chamber that’s intimate with death…

Cloaking myself in darkness, I curl up and hold my breath today as well.

So that no one sees me.

So that I don’t gather the attention of anyone.

And…

So that everyone forgets about me…

◇◆◆◆◇

From amongst the earthlings of various ‘births’, ‘upbringings’, ‘genders’ and ‘ages’; God has chosen 1,000 people to be sent to a different world —an isekai— that’s like the embodiment of swords and magic.

This madness, that enveloped the whole Earth and still continued to do so, began one morning in June when I was finally starting to get used to my high school life.

For me, Kurose Hikaru, this event will be a turning point in my life.

No, to be more specific…it would be the ‘incident’.

A humanoid shape that could only be described as a light silhouette suddenly appeared in ‘all the unused displays’ around the world and stated this…

[I am God.]

At that time, I was in my classroom, in the middle of my first class of the day.

The first one to notice what was displayed in the big TV of the classroom was a female student, and the next instant the sudden scream surprised everyone in the class, the words of ‘God’ had resonated in the weak speakers of the television.

[Descending in this manner must have been surprising for you all. I have been waiting for my dear children to grow, you see. The time has come.]

It was a tone of voice that felt as if it were seeping deep inside my heart.

A voice that could be taken as male or female. I couldn’t pinpoint an age from the voice either.

Even the female student that screamed had a dumbfounded face as she froze in place.

The teacher doing the class until now was suspecting it was some sort of prank or a malfunction, so they tried to use the controller to operate the TV, but ‘God’ didn’t disappear, and it was the same even when plugging it off.

The teacher went to check the state of the neighboring classroom, and it seems like that class as well had ‘God’ displayed on the screen of a smartphone someone had taken out.

[I have chosen 1,000 people from amongst you all. Selected people from the countries around the world mostly blindly. Of course, with no distinction between male and female either. Those that have experience in society, those that could still be called young boys, those at an advanced age; a variety.]

By stating 1,000 people, it confirmed that this phenomenon was not only happening in our school. This school doesn’t even total 1,000 students after all.

Even so, it is saying that this encompasses the countries around the whole world from all races and nations. This must be happening in the whole world in the literal sense of the word. It doesn’t feel real, but there’s no way something like this would feel real in the first place. To the point that I am even suspecting if I fell asleep in the middle of class out of boredom and am dreaming now. There were even students who pinched their cheeks to confirm.

[I will have those 1,000 people go to that ‘one other world’.]

Those words of God stirred up the class.

Another world.

Meaning, an isekai.

[By that one other world, I mean a different world that’s outside from this one that’s within my jurisdiction —a parallel world. To be more precise, ‘the one other world that was made reflecting your likes’.]

The classroom grew noisier at those words of God.

But I myself couldn’t get that excited.

Because if you think about it calmly, the likelihood of getting chosen, and the likelihood of someone in this school getting chosen, are like the chances of winning the lottery.

Babies and elderly are most likely going to be excluded, but there’s 7 billion people on Earth.

1 in 7 billion. If put in terms of the lottery, it would be like drawing the winning ticket in 1 or maybe 2 tries. On top of that, if there’s division between countries and races, the more disadvantageous you are if the population is high. It is on a level that you could even consider the chances to be 0.

1 or 2 japanese high school students might get chosen, and it is not like I am not interested at all in a world of swords and magic though…

[I will have the transferred people live their lives in that other world as they wish. There will be no demanding or forcing from us. You are free. However, the price of freedom is that there’s obviously the chance of death.]

Looks like this is not a story where they tell you to become a hero and defeat the demon lord.

I can’t tell what’s the aim of this ‘God’, but it can’t be helped to think of it as a being that’s outside human intellect.

[Of course, I don’t intend to have you go just like that. I plan on providing you with ‘Gifts’ that will help you in surviving.]

By the time I noticed, everyone in class was silently listening as if they had been entranced by the words of God.

When I glanced at my childhood friend who is sitting diagonally in front of me, she had a shocked expression just like everyone else, and had her eyes nailed at the television.

[I have also prepared entertainment for the many who will be left here. You will be able to watch the adventures of the ones who have journeyed off Live…in real time broadcast and cheer for them. I have created a specially set up site that everyone can access through a computer. Your support will directly become their strength. Isn’t that fun?]

This was the first time a sign of emotions was shown in the words of God.

By specially set up site, they must be referring to a website.

God is utilizing the internet to make a website?

I thought at first that maybe it might be God, but now it sounds like an ill natured joke.

Anyways, I am on the side that doesn’t want to go to a parallel world.

I can’t even function properly in this world, so I am not such a mature person that could live a fun life thrown in a world I don’t know anything about.

[The Chosen that gather specially high attention will be getting a variety of benefits, and will be assisted in ways that will make things easier for them. If you want to know more in detail about this, please check the specially set up site… Now then, about those most important 1,000 chosen people, I have placed a mark on them in a part of their body so that everyone can tell it is them. It is something that cannot be replicated with your technology by any means, so it should eliminate the possibilities of fakes showing up.]

The moment God said this, the whole classroom grew noisy in an instant.

A mark somewhere in their bodies…

I feel like it is devious how they didn’t even tell us the shape of it, but it is most likely something that you can tell it is that once you see it.

A number of the male students were even taking off their shirts to confirm.

[You are asking why I suddenly appeared and thought of this plan? Fufu, actually, I thought of this from the very beginning. The moment your civilization reached a certain level, I was thinking about giving you an interesting service, you see. For you people, a being like me with transcendental powers existing must be driving your religions mad, but…anyways, I don’t mind you considering this a reward from me to you. Enjoy it to its fullest. If you have any requests, I will receive them on the special site. I say that, but I am not taking requests to become a Chosen, okay? You might have suspicions of foul play in regards to the selection of the Chosen, but I swear to God that it was random. Fufu…get it?]

Despite calling itself God, it has quite the friendly personality.

Or maybe it is just acting that way.

Even while God was speaking, my classmates were searching for the ‘mark’ that might have shown somewhere on their bodies.

I knew the probability of me being one was close to zero, and most of all, only mood riders that get easily influenced by the atmosphere would go along with a sudden event like this, so I kept it to just flipping my sleeve a bit to confirm.

I am the type that doesn’t stand out in class.

The so-called anti-social guy.

Showing myself getting super excited from hearing the word ‘isekai’ would be ‘way too fitting’ for me.

[Right right, I forgot to say something. The mark is at your palm.]

Those added words made everyone -even the teacher- look at their own hands to confirm as if by reflex.

I also gave it a good amount of time before confirming myself.

(…Well, figures.)

There was no mark on my palms.

The probabilities were as low as winning the lottery in one try. The chances of not a single one in this whole school, or maybe even in this whole city being chosen are higher.

That’s how it works when it is on a scale of 1,000 in the whole world.

(Eh?!)

I am sorry for my classmates who are all excited here, but that’s why I thought not a single one of them in this classroom…no, in this whole school would be chosen.

—That is, until I saw the face of my childhood friend.

That girl -Souma Nanami- was looking straight ahead, placing both her hands on top of the desk as if she were hiding her palms.

Even though she was facing ahead, she wasn’t looking at anything —it is the face she makes when something unexpected happens and her brain blanks out.

And then, she turned my way as if making a *gigigi* sound.

A pale white face as if her blood had been completely drained from it.

With eyes on the verge of tears.

“Hi-chan… I…” (Nanami)

Within this still noisy classroom, there wasn’t anyone who was paying attention to Namami who was the same plain type as me.

That’s why there was no one who noticed her slowly raising the palm of her left hand this way, that has a mandala-like geometric pattern that was constantly changing its colors and even its shape as if it were alive.

God had, at some point in time, disappeared from the television.