The Leisurely Established Advertising Agency in the Other World Handles Nobles, Adventurers, and Merchant Guilds with Ease
The room suddenly fell silent again, leaving Taichi and Ayano standing frozen, their faces worn out from exhaustion.
“…Man, what a mess. Let’s sit down for now.”
“…Yeah. Standing around won’t help anything.”
Slowly, they both sat down, instinctively keeping some distance from the person responsible for this situation. Taichi hesitantly broke the silence.
“Hey, Ayano-san… are you really okay with this? I mean…”
“Are you trying to pick a fight?”
“Sorry! I won’t say anything else!”
“Honestly… What should we do?”
Ayano glared at Taichi briefly before returning to her normal expression and sitting cross-legged on the floor while muttering.
Yes, what should they do?
They had vaguely grasped why they were here thanks to information from an emotionless goddess who called herself an “executor.” But that was all they knew. They had no idea where in what kind of world they were, or what situation they were in.
The minimum Q&A capable goddess had disappeared without a trace after finishing her ‘work.’ There were mountains of things they wanted to say – complaints, questions, everything. Meanwhile, the root cause of all this was now just a pile of calcium.
“Well, it’s cliché, but we need to assess our current situation. We need to gather information.”
“That’s right. What should we do? Start with the immediate situation in front of us?”
“Yeah. But before that… Ayano-san, do you have any food or drinks? First, we need to check our lifelines since we don’t know our time limit. Oh, and let’s check what we have with us too.”
As he spoke, Taichi pointed to the carry-on case lying next to him and took off the backpack he’d been wearing, starting to check its contents.
Seeing this, Ayano also opened her carry-on case and began checking.
“Hmm, this is about it.”
After five minutes of each checking their belongings, they looked at the items laid out in front of them as Taichi muttered.
“It’s fortunate that neither of us was just coming home from a regular day at work.”
Taichi had planned to go fishing and camping directly after work, so he had several days’ worth of clothes and food, including canned goods, instant noodles, bread, frozen meat, eggs, water, seasonings, whiskey, and tea. Ayano, on the other hand, had been scheduled for an overnight business trip, so she had brought some snacks, tea, and multivitamin supplements.
Taichi’s supplies included:
– 2 cans of canned food
– 1 packet of retort curry
– 1 pack of instant ramen
– 2 cups of rice
– 2 slices of bread
– 500g of frozen beef and chicken combined
– 1 pack of sausages
– 2 eggs
– 1 bottle each of 2 liters and 500ml of water
– A small amount of various seasonings
– Whiskey in a flask
– Tea bags
All in all, not a bad amount.
Ayano’s supplies were fewer:
– 1 box of chocolate
– 1 bag of snacks
– 1 bottle of 500ml tea
– Multivitamin supplements
“If we ration carefully, we might last three days. The lack of water is concerning, though.”
“Yeah. Depending on where we are, we’ll need to prioritize finding water and food. Other useful things include my solo camping gear, fishing equipment, changes of clothes, toiletries…”
“My smartphone. Obviously, there’s no signal, but it has power, so standalone apps should still work. Also, my laptop can run standalone too.”
“I brought a mobile battery and a small solar panel meant for charging at campsites, so as long as we’re not running devices constantly, we should be able to keep them powered. Assuming the sun here works like Earth’s.”
“Right… We can’t assume the natural environment is the same.”
“No, but the Goddess said something about environmental adaptation, so basic survival should be fine. Breathing isn’t an issue, after all.”
“She also mentioned something about levels being halved?”
“Hmm—since we don’t know what we originally were, worrying about it might be pointless, don’t you think?”
“True…”
“So, next step: investigate where we are. But first, we should do something about those poor bones over there.”
“It’s certainly not pleasant…”
Both smiled wryly as they looked at the former summoner lying before them.
“For now, please rest in peace… Excuse me for a moment.”
After offering a perfunctory prayer and lightly pressing his hands together, Taichi began inspecting the remains.
“Hmm, they’ve turned completely into bones. What could have caused this? Scary… Do the size and shape of these bones seem similar to ours?”
“Hey, stop waving those around! Well… at first glance, they don’t seem much different from a skeleton model, do they?”
Ayano answered with a displeased look as Taichi, holding a skull in one hand and a hip bone in the other, swung them around while asking.
“What about personal effects?”
Sorting through the bones and items they wore, they found a deep crimson robe, a plain beige shirt, brown pants, undergarments, boot-like shoes, a small pouch made of some leather, two rings, one pendant, and a pale staff about 1.5 meters long.
“Considering they summoned us, it’s not surprising they look like a ‘wizard.'”
“Exactly. Robe and staff—their world’s common sense might differ, but to us, they’re definitely a wizard.”
Their impressions of the belongings confirmed the image of a stereotypical wizard.
“The clothing seems crudely sewn and old-fashioned. The fabric feels like linen, and the outfit consists of a simple tunic top, plain pants, and leather boots.”
“Yeah. I don’t know much about clothes, but they do feel old. When would these date back to on Earth?”
“I’m no expert, but… probably medieval Europe? Though ‘medieval’ covers a vast period, and lifestyles differed greatly between nobles and commoners.”
“I see. This gives us a rough idea of their civilization and culture. Still, judging by clothes alone is risky—it’s just one piece of evidence.”
“We only have one person’s information.”
“Exactly. For now, let’s postpone detailed inspection of the belongings and move on to examining the scene.”
Gathering the belongings and bones together, they surveyed their surroundings.
The floor they sat on, along with the pillars, walls, and ceiling, appeared to be made of milky white stone.
The space was about the size of a tennis court, with no windows. In the middle of the far wall, there was what looked like a door.
The floor where Taichi and Ayano had been summoned bore a complex magic circle-like pattern, but otherwise, the space was bare and empty.
“This room doesn’t seem to have anything other than that magic circle-like thing.”
“This is quite a boring room. Without windows, we can’t see outside. The only exit appears to be that door.”
“Yes, just there… wait, no windows?”
“A perfect sealed room, like a dungeon. Why does that bother you?”
“So why is it bright? There’s no lighting or windows.”
“Oh.”
Taichi only then noticed.
Indeed, despite being a windowless sealed room with no visible lighting, it was as bright as a typical Japanese indoor space.
Scratching their heads, they looked around again. Moving their gaze from the ceiling to the walls and then to the floor, they realized the shadows cast weren’t distinct given the brightness.
“Ah, is the whole place glowing?”
Holding his palm a few centimeters above the floor, they noticed the bottom side of his hand was almost as bright as the top.
“Exactly. There are hardly any shadows on the ceiling, so it must be slightly brighter up there.”
“Yet it looks completely like stone…”
“Whether it’s scientific or some magical phenomenon, there’s clearly some unique form of civilization or technology here.”
“Maybe just this place is special.”
“Yeah. Anyway, since that door seems to be the only exit, let’s investigate it. What if it doesn’t open?”
“Don’t jinx us.”
Bantering lightly, they walked to the door and examined it closely.
“It looks like the same material. No doorknob, though.”
“Hmm, maybe it’s a sliding door rather than a hinged one? No handle, but there’s a differently colored spot.”
The presumed entrance was about 3 meters tall and 1.5 meters wide, seemingly made of the same milky white material as the walls and ceiling. Instead of a doorknob, there was a 20cm square plate of a different color on the right side.
“Guess we touch this, huh? If it opens, it’ll be just like an automatic door.”
Smiling wryly, Taichi touched the plate with his right hand. It faintly lit up, and the door silently slid open to the left.
“Haha. An automatic door indeed.”
“Mysterious technology. No rails or anything…”
“Well, no use pondering it now. Looks like stairs ahead.”
Beyond the opened door was a small landing, leading to a descending staircase.
“We have to go down, but before that… Ayano-san, could you step back a bit? I don’t want to get stuck outside if it closes behind us. Let’s make sure it can be opened from the other side too. Not that I know how it closes.”
Rolling her eyes, Ayano stepped back a few meters as Taichi chuckled dryly. A few seconds later, the door silently closed.
“…Definitely an automatic door.”
“Oh, it closed alright. And there’s a similar plate on this side too.”
A faint voice from beyond the door indicated good soundproofing. Then, the door slid open again, soundlessly.
“Good, it’s not a one-way door.”
“Right. The stairs are dimly lit too. Shall we descend?”
“There’s no point staying here.”
With that, they began descending the stairs, which were about 1.5 meters wide, allowing them to walk down side by side.
Carefully stepping down about thirty steps, they reached a floor approximately five meters square. There were doors on the front and both sides.
The side doors resembled the previous room’s door, but the front door was notably different.
The presumed double doors, with a dull metallic sheen, looked robust and enormous, spanning the entire width and height of the floor.
“No doubt, this is the main entrance.”
“Different material, and it even has decorations.”
As Ayano noted, the door was adorned with intricate reliefs, clearly differentiated from its surroundings.
“Let’s try this one first. But…”
“What is it?”
“Well, suppose it opens and we find ourselves outside safely. There’s no guarantee the outside will be peaceful or safe, right? We could end up underwater or face immediate danger from large predators. These possibilities exist, don’t they?”
“There are no guarantees, but isn’t it just a matter of when? Let’s tackle the main entrance first.”
“Ayano-san is bold… Alright, let’s see if it opens.”
Though Taichi pointed out potential dangers, he wasn’t particularly hung up on them. He and Ayano began inspecting the door.
“Still, it’s massive. Don’t these reliefs give you a ceremonial vibe? I’d believe it if someone said this leads to an altar or temple.”
“Yeah, it feels that way.”
They spent about ten minutes examining the door but couldn’t figure out how to open it.
“Hmm, it’s unmistakably a double door…”
“Yes, there are faint scrape marks on the floor, suggesting it’s inward-opening and has been opened at least once.”
“Right. And the plates in the middle are likely key mechanisms.”
In the center of each half of the double doors, similar to other doors, were plates. However, these were engraved with fine geometric patterns.
When they touched them, the patterns lit up partially but nothing happened, fading after about ten seconds.
“Should we assume this requires multiple authentication methods?”
“Probably. The light stays on for a waiting period. Could it be something like a fingerprint, or perhaps a spell like in fairy tales? Anyway, let’s set this aside for now. There are two more doors.”
“Right. We can’t spend all our time here.”
With that, Taichi and Ayano headed toward the door on the right.