Wow! What a beauty! Her looks could definitely rival that ‘Fairy Sister’ who went viral online a while ago. The pretty girl scooped up a spoonful of porridge and blew on it by her lips, looking absolutely enchanting. It almost made me wonder if I was dreaming, but the pain down below immediately reminded me that this was reality.

Just as my little brother started to react, a sudden pain shot through that area. This place is no joke—my face turned green from the pain. ‘Could I have broken it too? I still need this to make a living in the future.’

“Don’t rush, the porridge has to cool down before you can drink it. Look at you, you’re so anxious your face turned green.” The pretty girl saw my face turn green and thought I was just eager for the porridge, so she quickly tried to comfort me. The group of plainly dressed uncles and aunties behind her all nodded in agreement, their faces as honest and simple as could be.

After blowing on the porridge for a while, the pretty girl brought the spoon to my lips: “Here… it’s cool now, have a taste.”

I obediently opened my mouth and enjoyed being served by a beauty. Unfortunately, this happiness lasted less than two seconds.

“Pffft~~~~~” As soon as the porridge entered my mouth, a fishy, foul smell hit me. For someone like me, used to eating rich food in the city, this stuff was nothing short of poison. I spat out the so-called porridge and immediately fainted.

“How did he faint again? Could the porridge still be too hot?” “Sigh! Poor thing… just woke up and fainted again, could this be his last burst of energy before dying?” Seeing me pass out again, everyone started chattering away, and the pretty girl even began to cry, upset that she hadn’t cooled the porridge enough.

Her crying made me, who was only pretending to be unconscious, want to open my eyes and comfort her several times. But then I thought, no way! If I wake up, I’ll have to drink that awful stuff again, and if I spit it out, these people will probably ask why I’m wasting food. Looking at their arms, thicker than my calves, I figured it was better to keep pretending to be out cold. I needed some time to figure out exactly where I was.

After a brief recollection, I came to a ridiculous conclusion: Could it be that, like the protagonists in web novels, I’ve ended up in some backward alternate world?

Sure enough, things were just as I suspected. When I pretended to wake up again and forced myself to finish that bowl of porridge despite wanting to throw up, I finally found out where I was.

This is a continent called Matelanya. On this vast land live orcs, elves, demons, sea people, and other races you’d only find in fantasy novels. Humans are just one of the many races here. Wars break out all the time across the continent. In this era of swords and magic, all kinds of creatures form their own mercenary corps, mercenary teams, and bounty hunter guilds to survive.

When I heard this was an age of swords and magic, I immediately got excited. Swords and magic! In fantasy novels, as soon as the protagonist arrives in a place like this, they’re all super powerful—geniuses in magic and martial arts. Every beauty on the continent falls head over heels for them.

Unfortunately, my excitement didn’t last more than a few minutes before the girl feeding me crushed it with a few words. According to her, the place I’m in right now is called the Forgotten Mountains. It got its name because, across thousands of square kilometers, it’s nothing but mountains and forests, with magical beasts roaming everywhere like cabbages by the roadside in the city. But these magical beasts never leave the Forgotten Mountains and rarely attack the natives living here. However, if the natives wander around too much, the beasts will eat them without hesitation.

I heard that years ago, a madman tried to claim this mountain range for himself, leading a powerful army to slaughter the magical beasts in the forests. In the end, the madman and his entire army became food for the beasts. His territory was then taken over by other countries, and since then, aside from the occasional mercenary team passing through, hardly anyone enters this place anymore.

What the girl said was basically telling me: Hmph! Kid, you’d better stay here and settle down—don’t even think about going out and fooling around.

Sigh! Looks like not everyone who comes to another world can make something of themselves—take me, for example! Seems like I’ll have to be a farmer for life.

For some reason, ever since I woke up, my body has been recovering at an almost frightening speed. In just seven days, all my broken bones had healed, my wounds were completely closed, and even more amazingly, I didn’t have a single scar left—not even the old injuries from street fights were visible anymore.

As I sat bored on the bed looking out the door, the girl who brought me food, Ashley Martin, came in carrying a basin of water. “Here you go, since your injuries are all healed, wash your face!” Ashley blushed as she glanced at me, then quickly turned and left the room.