The Leisurely Established Advertising Agency in the Other World Handles Nobles, Adventurers, and Merchant Guilds with Ease
“First things first, we need to get out of here. I can’t imagine that we can return to Earth from this place.”
“It’s not like the possibility is zero, but I doubt we’ll find all the information or necessary tools to return here once we leave.”
This was the place that the man, who had devoted his entire life solely to the pursuit of summoning, had finally reached after spending 50 literal years on it.
So then? Would he have considered making preparations to send back what he summoned?
Would he have left anything at this location that could possibly allow those he summoned to return, even with a one-in-a-million chance?
Even these two, who knew nothing about the man now reduced to bones, could easily imagine that such a thing would be highly improbable—perhaps impossible.
Moreover, considering it took him 50 years just to perform the summoning, it’s unlikely he had any time left over to research how to send them back.
Therefore, as far as they could tell, the only option was to leave this place.
“We don’t have an unlimited supply of food and water, so even if we don’t leave immediately, we should secure our ability to leave sooner rather than later. That said, heading outside without any prior knowledge is frightening, so it would be good to learn a bit about what kind of world this is.”
“I agree. If we can understand even a little about this world, it will give us more options, and communication with the locals might go smoother. Though, the only resources available seem to be the books over there. Luckily, there’s also what looks like a map, so that might help a bit.
However, before diving into that, we need to figure out how much time we actually have. The priority is confirming the safety of the food here. If we can eat it, that gives us more time to read through the books and, most importantly, provides some peace of mind.”
Time is precious. It may sound obvious, but humans are less effective at using their time wisely when they’re anxious.
When you’re in a panic, you tend to focus too much on immediate concerns, wasting time on unnecessary actions and squandering precious moments.
Taichi, who had spent 20 grueling years at a major agency, knew this lesson all too well—it was ingrained in him.
Furthermore, as the old saying goes, “An empty stomach makes for poor fighting.” Meals are crucial when undertaking something significant.
History is rife with examples of battles lost due to severed supply lines. And on a basic level, hunger makes people irritable and impairs concentration.
The ideal approach is to secure food supplies to ensure physical and mental well-being before tackling any challenges.
“So, how do we proceed?”
“In the end, we’ll have to try eating it. But I don’t want to gorge myself all at once, so we’ll take it step by step. Oh, and I’ll handle the investigation alone. You, Ayano, eat the food from Earth. If both of us fall ill, that would be the worst-case scenario. Ah, but I’ll need the water.”
“Well, I could do the testing instead… but fine, I’ll leave it to you. Sorry for the trouble.”
“No problem.”
“Alright, first, we confirm the food. Then, we gather information from the books. Depending on the food situation, and considering time, we should probably skim through only the most important-looking ones.”
“We can’t afford to spend all our time on that. Next—though it can be done in parallel—we should sort through the remains of Bone Man. If the summoning was magical in nature, Bone Man might have been a mage. And if he was…”
“You mean, maybe there’s something like a ‘magic item’ lying around?”
“Bingo. There might be some kind of mechanism or gimmick involved, so it’d be wise to check it out, don’t you think?”
“Yes, I agree with that idea.”
“Got it. Then, the next step would be figuring out how to leave this place. Though, realistically, all we can do is re-examine that big door and inspect the smaller magic circle again.”
“I hope one of them leads outside…”
“Well, chances are pretty high that one does. As you mentioned earlier, Ayano, there wouldn’t be enough food to sustain us indefinitely if we were meant to stay cooped up here forever. There’s no sign of self-sufficiency either, so there must be a way to reach civilization. Whether we can figure it out is another story, though.”
“That part is unavoidable. We’ll have to do our best, though who knows if effort alone will be enough.”
“True. Lastly, I’d like to run a few simple experiments.”
“Experiments?”
“Nothing major. Just curious about basic physics and science—how much of Earth’s rules still apply here. Since magic exists, it’s possible Earth’s common sense doesn’t apply at all, right?”
“Now that you mention it, you’re right… Even with environmental adaptation, there’s no guarantee oxygen will always be present, for example.”
“Exactly. Who knows—this world might not even be round; maybe it’s on the back of a giant elephant. We can’t conduct thorough tests, and precision will be lacking, but we should be able to get a rough idea of whether this world is completely alien or somewhat similar to Earth.”
“Understood. Let me know if there’s anything I can help with.”
“Will do. So, shall we get started with the food inspection? Alright, time for my first taste of otherworldly cuisine. Where should I begin…?”