The first time Heron had seen a spreadsheet was in middle school, where he had used it for his favorite RPG video game. He had sorted the player classes, abilities and skills, and summoned units for organizational purposes. Mostly because his friends asked him to, but it was fun. Sort of.

  And then before he knew it, he had become a working adult. After graduating from a passable university, he started his career as a regular office worker who was paid to make spreadsheets—the work was completely soul-sucking and time consuming and had way too many numbers.

  Heron did not miss creating functions and troubleshooting macros on his many spreadsheets.

  But that was really the only skill he had. Besides getting yelled at by the small, shady company boss that he worked for, of course.

  Alice’s long red ponytail swayed in front of him as Heron followed her and Serafina with Lucifer still tucked in the crook of his arm who was still nibbling on its carrot. Avoiding the guard’s gaze, he trailed after Alice as the four of them passed through the entrance of the kingdom, past the lifted metal gate and stone walls.

  His eyes flitted down to see Lucifer’s white fur puffed as it chewed absentmindedly and stared at the paved stone ground that they were walking on. Though he hadn’t said anything nor addressed Lucifer in his mind, he had noticed that his friend had been rather quiet since they had landed rather than its usual chatty self.

  Besides its sudden random outbursts of requiring a carrot.

  I’m just hungry, that’s all.

  Heron raised a brow as he continued walking on the paved stone road into the city. While he couldn’t read Lucifer’s mind, he knew that Lucifer could read his. And the kind of answer that Lucifer gave him was just dodging the question that was circling in his mind. Normally, Lucifer was quite talkative, always having an opinion and sharing its thoughts and ideas about how things should be. Where was all that noise now?

  How rude. I’ll have you know I’m just saving my best ideas for later. Besides, I can do a bit of listening, you know? Didn’t you hear what those two were saying?

  Lucifer finished the carrot, the crunch and munch stopping abruptly as it spoke again in Heron’s mind.

  When we first met, somehow I knew how to begin a familiar bond with you. So to find out from them that it is normally cast by humans instead of dragons is news to me. As for dragons being issued to nobles? What are we, pets?

  Heron could feel Lucifer bristling as its white small ears flattened towards the back of its head. Wow, it was pretty cute when it was angry—

  Excuse you, I am not cute. I am ferocious and don’t you forget it.

  It puffed its chest out in pride. Heron heard Serafina snort from up ahead. While it was great and all that Lucifer hadn’t just zoned out and had carrot brain the entire time they’d been here, there were more pressing matters than familiar bonds, dragon pets, and auras. Didn’t they also mention something about warring times? It wasn’t hard to put two and two together, given that apparently there were only two kingdoms on this planet—Morningstar and Everlight—so did that mean the kingdoms were at war?

  Not fighting. Yet. We are under warring times as the tides have shifted recently, due to the ascension of the new king of Everlight. Serafina's voice murmured in Heron's mind.

  This sounded a lot like politics, which had never been Heron’s forte. Even in a fantastical setting. The only experience with politics he had in his first life was from video games, and he had definitely not gained any in this second life either.

  “It won’t be necessary for you to think about.” Alice’s voice was curt as she led the group towards the city hall. “Since you’re not actually some lowly pathetic noble that ran away from the problems of the kingdom and genuinely believes you’re from another world, you should see a healer before the end of today.”

  “I’m really not from around here—“

  “Say that to the healer.”

  Heron inhaled then exhaled slowly. There was no point in trying to argue with Alice; she seemed convinced that he was some lunatic that was probably homeless and somehow ended up on the tiny planet and decided to play farmer. Did she think he was lying? Where else could he have come from—

  Normal people do not have dragons bonded to them. Serafina’s voice was quiet as it spoke in his mind. Alice cannot hear me right now; I chose to privately DM with you. While I believe that you had somehow stumbled upon Lord Lucifer, my partner is concerned that you’re either an enemy noble or from another planet’s high society.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Well that seemed silly, Heron was the farthest from being invited to tea parties—

  To us, it seems far more likely you are the king of some far away planet than it is for you to have not come from this world at all. And the only reason I believe you is because I can read your mind. And you monologue a lot about your past life.

  Heron bit back the retort of how this society had literally given dragons an ongoing joke of private DMs because they yap so much that they’re essentially monologuing each time—

  See? You still retorted in your mind by thinking about not retorting in your mind. Too easy to read and clearly not trained like the kinds of criminals that we anticipate for.

  Serafina mused as she waddled side-by-side with Alice—who hadn’t spoken a word since her recommendation to Heron.

  Sighing, he admitted defeat in his mind before taking a look at their surroundings. They’d been walking for many minutes now and had passed the center square where it was busy for what seemed like the afternoon in the kingdom. Besides the houses that were lined up neatly and connected to one another like townhomes, there were also stands and stalls that lined up in the streets with humans and elves selling goods. The streets were busy with customers, onlookers, and passersby that strolled through the street market.

  Soon, they arrived at what Heron would expect to be the city hall of the kingdom. He didn’t ask why or how, but he could read the sign that clearly said ‘City Hall’ at the golden-colored plated sign plastered above the double doors. The building itself appeared rustic with a charming old feel to it. It was tall with plenty of windows on the first and second floor with decorative cone-shaped towers at the top corners of the building.

  As they walked up the staircase leading up to the front doors, Alice swung one of the doors open, leaving Serafina to hold the door with its paw as it gestured at Heron to enter. He gave Lucifer a squeeze which earned him a rabbit squeak as they entered together, trailing after Alice with Serafina following behind them.

  Inside the city hall, natural light entered the building through its artistic windows that reminded Heron of fancy glass from churches in his first life. It cast a subtle but soft glow into the room where it reflected off the polished wooden floors. Crossing the room, Heron’s eyes traced the decorative arches on the walls and the patterns cut into the wooden walls.

  He halted when Alice stopped in front of the tall wooden counter where a receptionist sat. The lady before them had gray hair and seemed on the older side of… elves. Or perhaps a half-elf? If Heron has to guess, she looked to be around her forties; no wrinkles or blemishes, it was hard to guess her age. The receptionist’s eyes trailed across the paper document that lay in front of her and… a feathered pen was floating mid-air?

  Clearing her throat, Alice spoke calmly. “We’re here to register for a working permit for a non-citizen.”

  The receptionist pushed her glasses up her nose, her gaze still drawn to the paper in front of her. The pen spun in a circle once, still floating mid-air.

  “A non-citizen, eh? Are they planning to work here and stay in the kingdom or are they planning to commute intergalactically?”

  Blinking, Heron opened his mouth then closed it. He did not know how to answer that and he had no idea what his options were. Ideally, he would prefer to stay on his tiny planet and work as needed—only to fulfill the criteria of belonging to this kingdom so he didn’t have to go to jail or be deported as an intergalactic criminal. Oh goodness, wasn’t he supposed to choose a profession? The receptionist didn’t have a computer, she had paper and a flying pen. Something told him he probably wasn’t going to be able to use spreadsheets in this world. He was going to have to choose a different profession than the one he had in his first life.

  Heron felt very in over his head about this whole ordeal.

  First, an elf and a dragon had thrown themselves into his potato field on the tiny planet he’d been living on for half a year.

  Second, he was labeled as a criminal when the only crime he technically committed was jaywalking when he tried to save the kid from Truck-kun in his first life.

  Third, he had been unwillingly dragon-napped once more off his planet into a whole new world except there was no magic flying carpet and now he had to actually work and probably pay taxes.

  Heron felt like he was getting scammed by the isekai god. At least he had cool magic powers like… summoning potatoes… which wasn’t really all that cool. Still, he didn’t want to be a hero or anything. Summoning potatoes worked just fine for him. He was happy to be some guy, maybe a background NPC compared to someone destined to be the main character.

  He raised his free hand and looked at the name plate. Nancy. That was a nice name. His eyes met the older elf and gave her the most pleasant smile he could muster, “I haven’t quite figured out my current living situation. Does it matter which one I pick?”

  “It would affect the badge that you carry around. If you are living here full-time for working purposes, you would have a provisional citizenship. If you are commuting intergalactically, a working permit would be more fitting.”

  “He’ll go with the provisional citizenship.” Alice interjected, shooting Heron a look.

  What? Did she just speak for him—

  Sir Heron, it is unlikely for you to continue to live on Planet-C5. If you want that to change, I suggest you listen to Alice.

  Grimacing, all Heron could do was nod in response. Nancy nodded in return as she filled out some paperwork with her magical flying feathered pen.

  “Name?”

  “Heron Saito.”

  They proceeded to go back and forth for the next few minutes. Nancy never made any side comments on the answers he provided, though she did raise a brow when he mentioned which country he came from. Finally, after filling out the previous basic information, she looked up and adjusted her glasses.

  “What profession are you applying for, Heron?”

  The moment of truth.

  While Heron hadn’t minded being an office worker, it wasn’t exactly his dream job or something he would consider his life’s work. It was a job that needed doing and what he needed to do to get by. The privilege of choosing what he wanted to be and what he wanted to do wasn’t something he had considered before. When he was a kid, he probably would have said a superhero—but reality was a kick in the nuts and salaryman it was.

  Even now, the weight of reality sat in the pit of his stomach as he gave Nancy a grin.

  “I think I’ll apply to be a farmer.”