Ganersam Volume 1
Chapter 1

My name is William Foster.

I never had the chance to ask my parents what that name meant.

Until the very end, I had no idea what most of the things in my life meant.

I was a NEET, a common acronym used in Japanese media that meant someone who isn’t doing anything in their life.

I’m not Japanese, but I do like Japanese-related media.

Anime, games, light novels, those kinds of things.

Regardless, those things probably mean nothing now.

Because I am now dead... I think?

I’m a bit unsure, as I found myself in an empty room... assuming that I’m inside an actual room. I attempted to look around, but I couldn’t feel my head, nor could I see anything. It was all dark. As I was doing that, a light suddenly came from my front.

The light was so bright that I reflexively looked away. The bright light then fades away, revealing a figure within. The figure looked like a girl, the size of a teenager.

“Welcome to the afterlife, William Foster.”

A soft calm voice came from that figure. The figure approached me. She was modestly sized, bearing a face of a young girl. She had straight long black hair, wearing a white dress down to her knees. She had faint gold eyes, her body shining through the darkness.

“Did I die?”

I immediately asked. Looking around the room once again, I realized, there was no room. It was void, empty of anything and everything. The only thing there was this shining girl.

“Unfortunately, your short life has come to an end.”

She said, I could feel sorrow and sadness in her voice as if she was mourning my death.

I tried to recall what happened. I was going outside, heading to the minimarket close to my home. I was out of instant noodles, so I went out to grab some.

Then it dawned upon me, what exactly happened.

The classic way of death, a truck...

Nah, just kidding. This time it was not a truck, but instead, a white sports car. I didn’t catch the brand when I died, but it looked pretty expensive.

I was walking on the sidewalk, a bag of instant noodles in tow when the speeding driver (possibly drunk) lost control of his car and veered sideways.

Of course, I was in the way.

And of course, as any good protagonist does, I simply stared at it.

No screaming, no panicking, just your simple plain stare.

Well, at the very least, the one who hit me is probably rich, so my family will get the insurance money, not that they needed it anyway.

“How did my family and friends react?”

I continued. It’s natural for someone to be curious about the reactions of their loved ones after death. She looked at me as if she was trying to read my mind.

“Are you sure you want to know?”

She answered my question with another question. Is something wrong?

That’s definitely the case. If someone asked you after you asked them a question, something must be going on.

“Yes please.”

I replied firmly.

“Promise you won’t get mad?”

“Yes.”

She took a deep breath, and I waited in suspense.

“You see, people don’t get immediately transported here after they die. Usually, it would take a couple of hours to clear up the waiting list. It’s been seven hours, and neither of your parents planned on returning until tomorrow noon. Out of everyone in school, only the class representative and a couple of teachers came.”

"Sigh... I thought it was something more serious.”

I thought it had something to do with my homework folder and my browsing history. Hearing my words, the angel gave me a confused look, as if she wasn’t expecting my reaction.

“But aren’t you... oh, wait.”

Using her right hand, she brushed her right side. She looked at that area for a while.

“Never mind. I’ll continue.”

She said. I wasn’t surprised at all, to be honest. I’m not particularly close with anyone, so I couldn't really blame them. Actually, I’m still a bit happy someone did come, although probably by force.

The angel looked at me once more and gave me a soft smile.

“There’s no reason to be sad, William.”

She said softly.

“But I’m not sad?”

“... Are you not?”

“No, I mean, I kinda expected it.”

“Umm... well, let’s just pretend you’re sad that no one cared, and you’re currently weeping inside that nonexistent body of yours, anyway, moving on.”

The angel recomposed herself. She closed her eyes again, a small smile appearing on her cute face.

We remained silent for quite some time.

“Umm... William...?”

“Yes?”

“You’re supposed to say you regretted your life, come on, no need to be shy.”

I thought about it for a while. Maybe I did regret not forging better relationships.

I mean, I did die a virgin.

“Fine... whatifI regretted my life? Note the hugeif.”

“You don’t need to be such a tsundere. You could have a second chance if you want.”

All that bit just to say I could have a second chance?

“You mean being reincarnated?”

“Yes, exactly.”

She said with a soft smile.

Is this... an isekai? Am I finally going to be an isekai protagonist?

“So... am I going back to Earth, or am I going to another world?”

I asked, just to make sure.

“There’s this world that the gods created for experiments. It had your typical fantasy setting, like magic and all that stuff.”

“What are these experiments?”

“Well, stuff... that’s not the point, so continuing on...”

She ignored my question and continued.

“My Masters wanted people to go to heaven, but human sins are preventing them from that. So, my Masters decided to use this world as a second chance for those going to hell. The living conditions are better, so humans are expected to behave better. However...”

“By Masters you mean Gods?”

“Umm... yeah...”

“Better living conditions? Like what?”

“Like no bad things...”

“No bad things?”

That’s a pretty shallow answer.

“Yeah... also, why are your questions so unrelated to the main point of the quest?”

Quest?

She paused for a while and looked at me. Well, I could roughly guess what happens next.

“I mean, it’s the same plot, isn’t it? A bad demon or something is attacking, and you need people to help.”

The girl brushed her right side once again, and looked at that area for a while.

“Damn... I really should’ve taken notes. This one is a tricky one.”

“What?”

What did she just say?

“Anyway, yes, you are correct. The demons, who are angry due to the lack of sinners, manage to invade this world. Now the humans from this world are fighting a war against the demons, and you’re invited to assist them.”

I expected that, as fighting evil stuff is basically the center plot of most RPGs and fantasy.

“Why are the demons angry?”

“I don’t know. Stop asking for the backstory, I don’t know everything.”

I shook my head, deciding to just forget about that. They’re probably your average villains that have no goals other than being evil anyway. I mean, theyaredemons, after all. They won’t be called demons if they’re good things.

“But why didn’t the Gods do anything about this?”

“They tried before. I don’t know the details, but they failed. In the short time they went, major terrible things happened on Earth, so no, they’re not going there again.”

Major terrible things? I don’t know, terrible things happened all the time on Earth, so I don’t know what things could be bad enough to the point you would call them ‘major’.

“I see... Am I going to keep my memories?”

“Yes. Memories would only be erased if the person in question doesn’t want them. You’ll also keep any prior knowledge of the world before, so you’ll go in with the content of your brains intact, assuming there are any. Your brain will be slightly modified so that you could use magic easier and automatically learn the local language.”

“I see... are there any other bonuses? I mean, every situation like this has some kind of benefit for the protagonist, right?”

“Yes. You are allowed to ask for any one thing you want. Do note that there are terms and conditions applied.”

Am I going to another world, or am I just going to a random shopping mall?

I then thought of all the isekai stories I’ve read. The best possible request would be either a powerful skill or abilities or a powerful weapon or item. Things that are related to strength will be the best possible option, but my mind trailed off to that one light novel...

“Am I allowed to ask for a companion?”

While it’s true that being a hero would allow me to fish out a harem eventually, but I’m personally not an enjoyer of that idea. I joke about it often, but I really doubt my abilities to genuinely love more than one person.

I never tried loving anyone in the first place, so I can’t really speak.

I would love to have someone, though.

The angel smiled and nodded.

“Yes, as long as they don’t live in either worlds. You could ask a dead person in heaven to join you, but I really doubt someone enjoying life in heaven would want to come down.”

“Can I ask for you then?”

“M... Me?”

She asked as she pointed to herself. A small smile quickly appeared on her face, but she immediately shook her head, regaining her composure.

“The thing is, I’m not allowed to go down thereasan angel.”

“Oh, too bad.”

I sighed in disappointment. She is really beautiful, and unlike the goddess I read in that story, she actually seemed like a decent girl.

Well, she’s not eating chips while I’m thinking about my abilities, I knew that much.

I seriously reconsider my options. The things I choose here may actually change my life, although not necessarily for the better.

It’s a common thing for people to have a change of heart when they were gifted the most potent ability or item, turning them from the main knight in shining armor into the bald noble of the castle.

They’re always bald for some reason, and a noble.

Doing bad things resulted in hair loss, so don’t do them, kids.

Ok, that was a joke. Please don’t cancel me.

Anyway, while I will admit I certainly am not the most righteous person, I would prefer not to turn into the main antagonist other people need to fight.

But wait...

I think I’m thinking about it the wrong way.

At the end of the day, I’m the one deciding whether I would have a change of heart or not.

So what’s important now is getting an ability that would help me in this new world.

As I was thinking, one of her words suddenly caught my attention.

“You said that you can’t go down... as an angel?”

The way she says ‘as’ sounds odd.

No, not odd in the way you say ‘ass’, but a different kind of odd. The tone is a bit different. From my experience in games, I’ve learned that just a small change could mean something huge.

“You are correct.”

“Then... could you go down, as a normal human?”

She nodded and smiled.

“Yes, I could. Note that I would have the abilities of a normal human, though.”

“I’m fine with that, I think.”

Well, in the worst-case scenario, she’s still an angel, right?

“Alright then, let me tell my Master first.”

She cheerfully disappeared into thin air, before soon coming back with a different angel in tow. She then walked and stood beside me.

“Congratulations, Emma. Your dream to explore the world has finally come true.”

The other angel said while raising her arms. A large magic circle appeared below us.

“May God bless you on your journeys.”

All of a sudden, my vision darkened, and I can’t remember anything after that.

Actually, I could remember one thing.

I love Emma’s smell. When she stood beside me, her hair fluttered in the nonexistent wind, and I could somehow smell it.

It smells great.

Do angels use shampoo? If yes, then I need to replace that brand.

Anyway, back to being unconscious.