I am Luke, and currently I was on the balcony of my mansion, looking at the picturesque scenery of the sunset right in front of me.

Sitting in next to a round table full of delicious foods and drinks that I can choose depending on my preference.

You may think that my life was something to be envious about.

Who wouldn't like to have their own mansion where you can relax and look at the beautiful surroundings.

However...

"It's such a pity."

It's really a pity... After all, for someone like me, such a life can only exist in dreams.

I grew up as an orphan in Sylvestre County.

When we were kids, we are taught how to handle a sword or use magic.

It turns out, I have no talent in both.

The only thing I can do is dreaming.

By dreaming, I can live however I want but no matter how many times I dream at night, no matter how strong I am in my dreams...

'Everything will be over once I woke up.'

"If it's only possible to turn dreams into reality..."

No, there's no such thing as turning dreams into reality.

I, who always dream, knows it very well.

There will only be satisfaction once you accomplish something through hard work.

That's why I focused on reading books on the orphanage library when I was a kid.

Although there's only a few books there, most of it were stories about legends and history.

There are also some novels, and other story books that other people who grew up here have brought back as a souvenir from their travels.

I become engrossed into reading that I decided that I will, one day, write my very own story.

Crack\~

"Hmm..."

A faint sounds of cracking can be heard on the surroundings.

"It seems that it time for me to wake up."

I closed my eyes as the world break apart and darkness covered my entire body.

When I opened up my eyes, I was back in my room.

It was early in the morning and it's still dark outside, but I need to prepare as I need to go work.

I hopped out of the bed and wiped myself up beside the well at the back of the orphanage.

It was already sunrise when I finished my preparations.

"Are you going to work now?"

As I was walking on the hallway of the orphanage, Aunt May called out to me and gave me a lunch box.

"Take this with you, you can eat it later for lunch."

"Thank you, Aunt May!"

As it was a normal occurrence in the morning, I took the lunch box as I gave my thanks.

Aunt May is a middle age woman with brown hair.

According to her, she was also an orphan who grew up here and decided to remain on the orphanage to help taking care of the children.

After saying my goodbyes, I left the orphanage and walked towards the central area of the county.

It took me a few minutes to reach the post office where I work as a mailman.

I've been working here since half a year ago as a mailman and delivered messages to the nearby cities.

Every month, I would either deliver mails once or twice a month.

We use fast horses whenever we need to deliver letters to ensure fast deliveries.

There's also an express delivery which uses pigeon carriers to deliver messages.

I walked through the door of my workplace and saw a co-worker of mine.

"Good morning, Steve."

"Good morning, Luke."

Steve is my senior at this place. He's been working here for 3 years and basically knows everything about this kind of work.

He's also the one who taught me on what I need to do as a mailman.

Well, the work here was pretty much normal. You know, aside from bandits trying to catch your horse, there's actually no one who would try to loot you.

After the greetings, I placed my things on the locker and proceeded to my work.

The work was easy in normal days like this.

Sorting out mails, receiving guests and costumers, pretty much normal, time will just pass by and the next thing you know was it's break time or maybe closing time.

The day passed just like that and it's time for me to go home.

I checked my schedule before leaving the post office after saying goodbyes to Steve.

According to my schedule, I'll be delivering the mails the day after tomorrow.

The living this kind of peaceful life is not that bad isn't. Although it's kind of repetitive and boring but... that's just how life is.

Right now I'm walking on this usual road where I always pass by on the way to the post office and back to the orphanage.

Alright, I know that some people will ask about why I am still staying on the orphanage but that's because I still can't afford to rent an apartment much more a house.

Although there are several inns in the city, it's just too expensive for me to live there and it's not good for the long term.

And also, there's a vacant bed on the orphanage so Aunt May let me stay there for a little longer until I can get a place to stay and finally become independent.

Besides, my goal is to have my own house at least and not to rent a place. So I need to save as much money as possible.

Before I head back to the orphanage, I took a detour along the way and made it to the public marketplace.

I bought some vegetables so I can help on the expenses of the orphanage.

It's the place where I grew up after all, so I must help them even for a bit.

After shopping for a bit, I bought a skewer on the stall before heading back.

As I was walking down the road, I decided to take a shortcut and walked through the alley.

"You bastards! Do you know the punishment for what you are doing?!"

As I was walking, I heard an angry voice. As I was curious of what's happening, I decided to get near the location where the voice was coming from.

"Well, you see, punishment are for those idiots who got captured."

"Hehe, that's right there's no punishment for not getting captured."

As I peek into the corner of the intersection, I saw two guys surrounding a young girl.

'It seems that this is just a common robbery. I'm already here anyway, so I better help out.'

After observing them for a while, I decided to make a move.

I put down the basket of vegetables,then I took a deep breath before walking silently towards them.

As I was walking, I took a bite on the skewer before looking at the two thieves as if I'm looking down at them before speaking in a condescending tone.

"What are you two doing by surrounding a young lady?"

"Who ar-!?"

Without letting one of the thieves finishing his words, I continued speaking as if their words have no significance at all.

"I heard you saying that there's no punishment if you're not caught."

"I..."

I bit the last piece of meat on the skewer before making a short evil laugh.

"Hehe... It seems that the two of you needs to be taught a lesson."

It seems that this is enough, those two looks so scared now by the looks on their eyes.

"Tsk! Let's get out of here."

One of them said before walking away as fast as he can while the other guy followed him.

As I see them turn to the intersection up ahead, I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Huu\~"

It seems that I have talent on intimidating others.

You may not know but I learned that from the stories that I've read in the past.

Also, I can only do that to small time thieves like those two.

They're not very strong after all, so even though I'm weak, I can still intimidate them.

And most importantly, those two seems like a newcomer here so they didn't know that I'm weak.

"Umm... Luke?"

"Eh?"

As I was busy thinking on my own, I heard the young lady's voice calling my name.

I looked at her and realized who she is...

"Umm... H-Hi, sister Ellie."

Whaaa!! It's sister Ellie!

It's embarrassing to think that I acted like that in front of her!

I covered my face with both hands as I look away from her.

"Damn! I just embarrassed myself!"

"Hehe! That's quite a good acting you did there Luke..."

She laughed at me as she said that.

"Ugh, Don't say it... I just thought that I must help at least because I'll feel guilty leaving after seeing someone who was about to get robbed."

"Thank you for helping me Luke..."

"Ah!"

Hearing her thanking me calmed me down a bit.

I turned towards her before saying...

"It's fine, I just did what a normal passerby would do."

"A normal passerby won't meddle in other people's business."

"Ahem.. Ah! Right, the vegetables!"

Avoided her eyes as a ran towards where I left the basket of vegetables that I've bought before returning by sister Ellie's side.

Currently, I was walking with sister Ellie on the way to the orphanage.

Sister Ellie and I have known each other since I was 7 years old. It was the time that she was taken into the orphanage.

It's not like we are close to each other, we just became friends after living in the orphanage together for 9 years.

Sister Ellie was a year older than me so she left the orphanage earlier.

Just like me, sister Ellie can't fight. However, she's beautiful and have a good conversation skills so she was accepted as a receptionist in the Adventurer's Guild.

"By the way, Luke, you work as a mailman, right?"

"Yes."

"Um.. Do you know which place are you going to deliver mails next?"

"Hmm.. I've read my schedule earlier, it seems to be the Ash city. Why did you ask?"

Ash city, it was a place near the Ash lands which was said to be a dangerous place full of Devil Beasts so being an adventurer is a common occupation for people who live there.

Devil Beasts on the other hand, was said to be a monsters that came from hell.

As a weakling myself, I don't want to encounter them.

"Can I join you on the way to Rain city? You see, I need to deliver something to my friend there."

Rain City is the capital of Sylvestre County, which is between Ash city and Bluestone City where we live.

"Is that so? Then why don't I just deliver it for you?"

"Eh? You don't need to do that.. You see, I also have something to talk about with my friend... Anyway, can I go there with you? You see, I don't want to travel with unfamiliar people."

She changed the subject on her own before looking at me puppy eyed.

'Sigh\~' "Fine, you can go with me."

"Thanks!"

She smiled brightly while I look at her on the side.

What can I do? She's so beautiful that I can't refuse...

"Alright, if you're going with me, then you must rent a fast horse on the way to Rain city. I can't lose my job because I was late on the delivery."

"I know, don't worry."

Good... I want to say but I heard her mumbling 'reasons...' at the end.

Ugh... It seems that me, acting tough was exposed...

I awkwardly scratched my cheeks when I noticed that we reached our destination.

"It seems that we're here..."

"Right... Hello grandpa!

Grandpa Neil was the oldest person in the orphanage, he's a former adventurer and was famous swordsman in his prime.

He's the one who instructed the orphans on swordsmanship.

He was also the person who established this orphanage when he was in late thirties.

It seems that grandpa Neil just finished on teaching the kids his swordsmanship.

Now, he was already 83 years old and yet was still strong enough to teach kids.

"Ohh, it's the little girl, Ellie..."

"Good evening, grandpa Neil."

"Good evening little boy... Both of you, come inside."

We gave our greetings to grandpa Neil before entering the orphanage.

Everything went normally, we ate our dinner with everyone and chatted for a bit before going back to bed for a goodnight sleep.

I'm a rich man once again!

Alright, I know it's just a dream but can you blame me? I can relax in here for as long as possible, who won't get excited?

So, what am I gonna do now?

Maybe I should just travel around... After all, it took me quite sometime to create this picturesque scenery, it would be a shame if I don't travel for a bit.

And so, I summoned a fast horse next to me.

It's quite easy, after all I've been modifying this dream world for a long time.

It's not the same as saying 'I want a good scenery' and you got the result... I personally designed this whole place.

Of course, it took a lot of trial and error to make the place beautiful and not just a bunch of mountains, seas, animals, plants, trees and skies...

I made it so that it'll look beautiful no matter where I go.

As I began on my travels, I gazed upon the relaxing view in front of me.

There's nothing else to do after all, the horse will walk for me and eventually we would reach somewhere far away.

My journey lasted for several days, and I can say that I reached quite a far place.

Is there no end in a dream world? Actually, I don't know...

After all, several days of travel is not even a quarter of the entire continent.

So how can I know?

Anyway, it seems that it's time for me to wake up.

Crack\~

The horse was still walking ahead as the world began to be filled with cracks.

I closed my eyes as all of these happens.

When I opened my eyes, I'm already back in my... horse!?

Wait? W-what happened? Aren't I supposed to wake up now?

The surroundings are different from my dream world.

I'm still dreaming? Then why did the world cracked?

It seems that I'm currently in a dirt road. There are trees a few meters away on both sides of the road.

I looked back and noticed a cracked space that was fixing itself at a fast rate.

Did I come from that crack?

"Hehe, look at this kid wearing a luxurious clothes traveling alone."

"Right, It's basically screaming 'I'm rich kidnapped me! Rob me, please!' Haha!"

"Hahaha..."

As I was thinking about what's happening, I heard a voice of several people around me.

There are five of them walking towards me. I looked at them who were laughing, while holding sharp weapons in their arms.

'Hmm... It seems that my mind is quite messy and created something like bandits.'

Let me remove them first...

"Begone!"

I waved my arm as if sweeping across them.

However, unlike when I make things disappear in my dreams, this time they didn't disappear.

A gust of wind was created.

The strong winds slammed into their bodies like sharp blades.

"Ugh!"

"Ahh!"

"Ouch!"

It ripped their clothes, skins, and also broke their weapons.

"Eh!? They didn't disappear? Did I make a mistake? No... That's not possible, I've been doing this from when I was a kid so how can I make a mistake in controlling m-"

"Hey, you! I can see that you're an ability-user. It happens that I'm also one... A strong one to be exact. How about this, just leave that horse you're riding as well as your money, then you can safely walk away with your clothes on, what do you think?"

As I was wondering why those bandits didn't disappear, I heard a voice cutting off my monologue.

Among the group of thieves, I noticed that the person speaking despite his ripped clothes, unlike the others, he didn't have any wounds in his body.

However, what attracted my attention was not his threatening words and gestures but the thing he called me.

'Ability-user'

I didn't know what it means but... I guess its a person with ability?

Anyway, I'm getting irritated to these bandits. Just what was happening in me, why can't I make them disappear?

I looked at the bandit who said he was an ability-user before deciding to make them disappear completely.

"Just what do I need to do to make them disappear?" I sighed.

Unfortunately, the ability-user bandit heard what I said and it made him angry.

"You bastard! How dare you underestimate me?!"

He clenched his fist as ran towards me at a fast speed.

It seems that I really pissed him off...

'What a short temper... Unfortunately-'

"In my dream... I am the strongest."

"What!?"

The surroundings changed as the familiar scenery showed itself as soon as I muttered those words.

It was the dream world that I created.

As soon as my dream world showed itself, I felt a strong familiar sensation.

I didn't notice it at first but now I realized why I can't make them disappear.

The place where I met these bandits didn't feel like my dream world.

There's no feeling that nothing is impossible...

There's no feeling of omnipotence...

Just like what I am feeling now.

"Now, don't you dare run away after trying to attack me."

"Shit! A domain? Run!"

The ability-user bandit stopped on his tracks before trying to run away however...

It's like his body froze the moment he tried to do so.

"W-what's happening?! Why won't my body move?"

He was befuddled by what's happening.

The same thing is happening to the other bandits.

Their body stopped the moment they tried to step back.

"So, how about you explain to me what you are doing here before I turn you to dust?"

"J-just who are you?!"

It seems that he's still not on his right mind.

"Calm down..."

He immediately calmed down as soon as said so.

"Tell me who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I'm Bill, Iron Boar Bill. As you can see, we are bandits."

I relaxed myself as he replied to my question and the beautiful scenery of my dream world starts to fade away turning back to the dirt road.

The feeling of omnipotence is gone however, I feel like I can make it appear if I wanted to.

(Bill's POV)

"I'm Bill, Iron Boar Bill. As you can see, we are bandits."

As soon as I finished speaking, the surroundings returned to normal.

I can see the field of grass on my feet fade and turned into dirt road.

I regained control of my body however, I still can't move.

It's been a long time since I last felt this.

I realized that I'm shaking, I'm scared... I'm scared of this guy in front of me.

This was supposed to be a regular hunt but this frail looking guy turns out to be a expert.

What's more is that... If I'm not wrong, this guy just used a domain!

I've never seen a domain-user in my 45 years of life!

People says that ability-users are special but in front of domain-user, ability-users are just kids.

Domain-users are the most rarest existence in this world. To the point that even if ability-users spend their whole life, they won't be able form a domain.

Even I only seen them on history books, and records.

But damn it! What a bad luck!

There's a lot of people out there and yet I tried to rob a domain-user!

"Bill, you say?"

"Y-yes!?"

As I was complaining to myself, I heard the young man's voice and reflexively responded to the call.

"Tell me... Where is this place?"

"Eh?"

Did I heard correctly?

"Don't 'Eh' me, just answer properly."

"Y-yes, yes! I will answer... This place is the road that connects the Billford Duchy and the Sylvien Dukedom."

The man seemed to be thinking of something as I replied to his questions.

I was nervous and scared...

Would he kill me if I lied to him?

I hope not...

Is he not familiar to this place? Why else did he need to ask where this place is?

Maybe he's traveling and new to this area?

After thinking on himself for a while, the man finally began to speak.

"Is that so?"

"Y-yes!"

"Well then... Which direction is the Billford Duchy?"

"Ahem! It's on the direction where you came from, sir."

I think he's just messing around with me.

Why else would he ask such useless questions?

Besides, didn't he came from Billford Duchy since he was traveling on this road towards Sylvien Dukedom?

However, the next thing that the man asked made me realize that he really was messing with me.

"Aren't you a bandit? If so, then give me all your money."

********

(Luke's POV)

"Aren't you a bandit? If so, then give me all your money."

Well, what can I do? If this really is another world, then I must at least have some coins to spend.

Hmm.. Is it me or I just sounded like a bad guy?

Nope.. I'm sure it's just my imagination.

After all...

If bandits that attacks and robs other people are bad guys, then beating them up and making their lives horrible is a good deed right?

That's just the same as how the Empire gives punishment to criminals by imprisoning them or worse, death penalty.

Right, right! I'm definitely not a bad guy...

It's just how knights retrieve the thing that the thieves stole after they captured one.

Rather, I'm a benevolent person because I don't plan on capturing them or killing them.

"Um.. Sir?"

As I was convincing myself that I'm not a bad person, the bandit guy walked in front of me.

"Sir, t-this is everything we brought on ourselves..."

The bandit's voice trailed off as he speaks and hands me a 5 pouches of coins.

It seems that he took even the money of his bandit friends although I didn't tell him to do so.

But considering that they're all bandits, I guess all these money are stolen so I'll just take it.

I took the pouches and put all the coins in a single pouch before returning the others.

I did it calmly, before speaking to the bandits once more.

"You guys didn't see me, alright? You didn't encounter me here. If I any information about me spread out..."

'It must be because I've become famous' is what I'm planning to say as a joke to lighten up their moods but I didn't manage to finish my words because the bandit guy interjected.

"Y-yes, yes! We won't tell anything... Even we are tortured for information by anyone, we would not speak a single word."

'Tortured?'

It seems that we're having some misunderstandings here...

"I'm not threatening the you or anything just intimidating you to not say anything about me, alright?"

"Isn't it... just similar?"

I also realized that there's something wrong with what I said so I corrected it.

"Ah! I'm just making sure that you won't say anything about me."

'Doesn't that just sounds like he's going to kill us?' I heard the bandit at the back muttered and immediately shut up after I looked at him.

Am I that scary? I won't do such thing as killing a person if not really necessary.

"Ahem! Let's not mind the small details,alright?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Sigh, I better go now."

Without saying anymore, I urged my horse to run towards the Billford Duchy.

As I do so, I heard faint voices from behind me.

'Isn't that the direction of Billford Duchy? Is he going back there?'

********

It's been about half a day since I'm traveling on this road.

I can finally see a city up ahead.

The sun was about to set when I reached the city.

The Silver City

The city on the bordering the Sylvien Dukedom.

I paid a toll of 5 copper coins to enter the city.

It seems that the currency in this world is the same from where I came from.

Is this really, another world?

It feels like it's a dream and yet not a dream.

This place is so good to be a dream world. What's more the people I encounter feels like a real person and not a dream character.

I walked through the city, and asked some locals where I can find a good inn.

After a several minutes of walk, I reached this inn in front of me.

Most locals recommended this inn to me, so I chose this inn among the others.

It was called Peaceful Resting inn.

I wonder why that inn has such an nice but ominous name like anyone going here would rest in peace?

Let's just take it as a their bad naming sense besides, the locals said that it's a good place.

"Hello, sir! Are you going to order some foods or rent a room?"

I entered the inn and was greeted cheerfully by a young lady.

She has a long black hair, and a petite body.

She's not on par with sister Ellie in terms of beauty, so I think it's more appropriate to describe her as cute.

"Do you have a room for 1 person? Also, give me whatever meal you recommend."

"Yes, sir. Just find a seat first and we'll just deliver your food."

"Okay."

She bowed before heading in a room that I think was the kitchen.

I, on the other hand, took a seat on a nearby empty table.

I noticed that there's quite a lot of people eating here.

There are also voices coming upstairs, I guess they are done eating or maybe they ate somewhere else?

It didn't take long before the food was delivered on my table.

It was a meat dish. I don't know what kind of meat it is but who cares as long as it's delicious.

After eating my dinner, paid for the food and rent at once before heading upstairs.

I lied down the bed and began analyzing everything that happened.

I traveled in my dream world and the world cracked as usual when I was about to wake up.

Then, when opened my eyes, I was already in this world.

The sensation I feel in this world is real, however, it also feels like I am inside a dream.

I know that this is a dream because I've always been in one every night since I was a kid.

Then an idea came into my mind

'Wait? Is this another person's dream world?'

I remember before coming here to this world that I travelled quite a distance.

Then, I said I would search for the end of the dream world then...

Maybe the dream world cracked because I entered another person's dream?

Let me try going back first.

I closed my eyes, and thought of waking up, going back to reality or something along those lines.

Then, I heard a cracking sounds and when I opened my eyes, I was back in my bed in the orphanage.

I get out of the bed and found out that it was already sunrise.

I fixed myself up before heading out of the room when I saw Aunt May walking towards me and asked.

"You woke up on sunrise, do you not have work today?"

"Ah!"

It was only then that I remembered that I need to go to the post office and arrange the mails I'm gonna deliver tomorrow.

That day, I rushed myself and immediately prepared myself to go to work.

I was late for a bit more than an hour but since there's not much work to do, everything turned out completely fine.

The day passed just like that... I had a little conversation with sister Ellie before going to sleep regarding our departure the next day and that was it.

There's nothing that happened, unfortunately...

Alright, that was me daydreaming so, I slept and woke up in the inn where I stayed last night.