1. New World

Jack was in the middle of Akihabara on a trip with the boys: himself and his best friends Dan and Pete. They always wanted to visit Japan since they were Grade A weebs, to a greater or lesser extent. After spending the day buying anime merch, they decided to visit the shady places home to Japan; maid cafes, soaplands, and pachinko parlors, to name a few.

"Man, that was wild. Did you see the back of the menu?"

"Deadass, 5000$ for a bottle of champagne? Sheesh, these people are making bank."

"I mean, the girls were hot, that's for sure."

The place they just left was a snack bar, a place where beautiful women speak to you while you drink and play games. Although they spend the night trying to communicate with the girls since they didn't know English and the guys didn't know Japanese, it was fun.

Since they were drunk, they decided to call it a day and head back to their rooms.

On the way to the hotel, they heard people arguing nearby inside an alleyway. The alley was dark as the only light was coming from the streetlights on the main street. The smell of pee and rotten food flooded their senses as they could see four figures in the dark. Two high schoolers were getting assaulted by the hooded figures.

In normal circumstances, they would call the police and walk away, no need to put themselves in danger for a stranger; however, the alcohol clouded their judgment, and consequently, they jumped in to save the kids.

"Hey, back off, tough guy!" Dan screamed as he pushed one of the robbers away. The robbers wanted to retaliate, but when they saw the 2-meter black guy built like a shit brick house that Dan was, they ran away in fear.

While they were running away, Jack caught a glimpse at the robber's clothes; they had the same uniform as the teens; they must be from the same high school.

"Oh no, that's bad."

"How so? We saved them!"

"We fucked up! They probably go to the same school. They are going to get their ass cheeks clapped when they go to school tomorrow!"

"Nevermind those guys, let's dip before we get into any more problems."

Before they could walk away, one of the kids grabs Jack's hand and starts speaking to him. Jack didn't understand a single thing since the guy was speaking in Japanese. The mistake must come from his Asian looks, being half Chinese and half American.

"Kid, don't thank me, just let me go. The police are coming!" But before he could do leave, a white flash blinded him, burning his eyes. When he could open his eyes again, he wasn't in that alleyway anymore.

He found himself in the middle of a dirt road right next to a forest. The dark, smelly alleyway changed into a countryside landscape, brimming with light and nature.

Neither his friends nor the kids were around. The first thought on his mind was that he blacked out drunk and was dreaming.

"Ouch!" He exclaimed after pinching himself in the face; if this was a dream, the pain felt very real. Or maybe.

'Did I just got fucking isekai'd? What?' While very unlikely if he would ever get transported to another world, it would be in Japan. He was no stranger to stories about being summoned or reincarnated in another world since he was an avid fan of trashy isekai anime and manga, but that is just fiction.

The thought of being summoned into another world was fascinating, but soon he noticed a problem.

'Wait, I didn't die, I didn't meet a god, neither summoned into someone's castle. I just popped out of existence, and no one is here to welcome me. Don't tell me I was fucking dragged by mistake when that kid grabbed my arm.' Most modern isekai stories are power fantasies, where the protagonist is obnoxiously strong, be it because he gets some cheat, gods help him, or he's the fucking chosen one. Since he didn't get any of those things, he might be just a nobody, and that's not good. What if this world was full of monsters? War? Famine?

'Let's worry about that later. I need to find out where I am. If I follow the road, I will probably reach a town.'

The walk was a breeze. The sky was clear, and the sun was at its zenith; the sunlight showered Jack's face, making him sober a little. He was still a little tipsy, but he regained most of his motor skills. While walking, something hit him.

'What if I'm the only one who got there? And what about the boys? Did they get dragged along too? Shit, I need to know.' Worried, he started to walk faster to see if any of his friends were nearby.

Suddenly, a scream broke his train of thought. Curious, he ran towards the noise to see what was going on. After seeing the situation, he decided to hide behind one of the trees next to the road.

In the middle of the road, bandits were attacking a carriage. The horse that was pulling the wagon was shot dead with an arrow, so they were stranded there, two guards versus ten bandits.

'Wow, so original, let me guess, they lose, and I have to come running down to save them... No shot! That's suicide!' He wasn't going to run unarmed into a fight, even less when they had the numbers, so he let the situation unfold without intervening.

The two guards had full body plate armor, whereas the bandits were practically unarmored, with some of them having leather chest armor. Contrary to what games and movies made you believe, a sword wouldn't be able to pierce chainmail, let alone a full body armor, so slashing at them was a loser's game. However, a battle-ax or polearm would be able to pierce the armor, but the bandits couldn't be picky with their weapons, having to use what they stole on other occasions. Even so, that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, but it does protect you from bleeding to death.

The fight was brutal, as the guards and bandits hacked at each other. They reached an impasse as the bandits were too scared to attack, and the guards couldn't leave the carriage to chase the kill.

One of the bandits managed to sneak behind David, one of the guards.

"Burning Hands!" He yelled as he touched David's back. The armor started to heat up, glowing bright red. By the time he could get away, it was too late; the armor on his back melted away, burning his skin. Although he managed to kill the guy who sneaked on him, the others overpowered him and stabbed him in his exposed back.

Since they had to defend each side of the carriage by themselves, they couldn't see each other. Michael didn't know what was going on until David's screams of pain alerted him. He got to see the last moments of his friend as the life in his eyes slowly faded away.

"I'm going to kill every single one of you!" He screamed in rage as he ran towards the group. One, two, three, he kept pushing forward, slashing away, killing them one by one. By the time he stopped, there were only two enemies left.

Everything happened in the spawn of a few seconds, and Jack was watching everything in awe, not only because of the carnage but because he just saw real magic happen before him.

'Can I do that? Please tell me I can do that.' He just confirmed what he suspected the whole time; this was a fantasy world where magic existed.

On the corner of his eye, he could see someone hiding, not too far away from the fight. The archer named Robin was aiming at Michael with his bow, ready to fire. Without hesitation, he took off his shoes and slowly sneaked towards the guy.

When Jack got behind him, he encircled the bandit's neck with his right arm, grabbed the biceps of his other arm, and placed his left arm behind his head, putting him into a rear naked choke, a technique that he learned from his friend Dan who was an aspiring MMA fighter. A rear naked choke done right will render his victim unconscious in less than 10 seconds, and lucky for him, he did get the chance to practice it.

Jack pushed as hard as he could with his elbow, hoping to choke him out as soon as possible. At first, the archer struggled: he tried to call for help, but he couldn't muster any sound. Then he tried to grab his knife, reaching his waist, but he was too startled and ended up dropping the knife. The blood flow on his head was getting lower and lower, falling unconscious after a few seconds. Jack loosened his grip, making Robin's body fall to the ground.

'Hell yeah, it worked!' But before he could celebrate, a strong smell penetrated his nose. 'Don't tell me...'

Robin thought he was about to die, so his body released everything he was holding in; in layman's terms, he pissed and shitted himself.

'Oh my god, the smell, I think I'm going to...' The smell combined with the alcohol made Jack puke on the poor guy. He wanted to steal his clothes since his clothes were too flashy compared to the others. However, that was no longer possible since filth was all over them.

The only clean things left were the bow and its quiver.

'Better than nothing, I guess.' He knew how to use a bow, but that doesn't mean he was good either. 'Now, what do I do with you? I don't want you to wake up and attack me from behind. Sorry pal, you need to die. I hope you don't have a family to take care of.' Jack took one of the arrows and pierced the artery in the guy's neck, making him bleed to death.

Even though he had never killed before, he did it without hesitation. Not like he was a psychopath or anything, he just valued his life over any morals.

Now armed with a bow, he walked closer to the action. Both parties reached an impasse; the guard was more skilled, but he was tired while the bandits were scared shitless, but they already invested a lot in the attack so they won't back down. And they had an ace in the hole, Robin.

"Robin! Robin! Shoot this son of a bitch in the head!" He yelled as Michael looked in horror, realizing that these two might not be the only ones left.

An arrow went flying over their heads, hitting a nearby tree. The bandit was relieved that Robin gave signs of life since he didn't do anything until now.

"Stop messing with him! The poor guy is going to shit his pants!"

"Yeah, you done fucked up bucket-man."

More arrows went flying their way, but they kept missing their target.

"Man, this shit is hard," Jack mumbled as he took another arrow out of the quiver. He was trying his hardest to hit the bandits in the head but failing miserably.

'Wait, this is not a game; this is real life!' He aimed for a headshot all this time, but an arrow to any body part could bring a man to his knees in pain.

Jack took a deep breath and looked for a more humble target, the guy's torso. He was running out of time since they were starting to get suspicious. With the string extended to the max, he released the arrow at full power. It made a whistling sound that echoed through the field, hitting the guy right in the groin.

Jack recoiled in pain at the sight of it; if you are a male, you will know what I mean. It was a critical hit, as the man fell and grabbed his dick in pain. Michel used that chance to finish him off.

Seeing that he was fucked, the remaining robber tried to run away, but Jack had other plans for him. An arrow went through his leg, making him trip and fall. Now he was unable to run.

Jack started to walk towards the limping man. When he got face to face with the bandit, he began to talk.

"Let me go, please. I didn't do anything to you. I only did this to feed my family!" He begged as tears flowed down his face.

Jack shrugged and looked at him dead in the eye.

"Tough luck, buddy."

As the bandit saw Jack picking up the sword he dropped, he knew he was about to die.