New chapter of Single Old Man is out (1/1 chapter)

Hey guys, new novel here. I appreciate if you could spend time reading. Thank you very much!

Full Title: A Single Old Man’s Life in Another World ~I Won’t Get Married, Being a Free Single is the Best~

Synopsis:

Oda Gentoku, who was a town electrician and also a handyman, worked moderately while living a free life. He hated the “curse words” of getting married, having children, and creating a happy family because he grew up watching his father suffer with his wife. Marriage was a graveyard of life. He decided to remain single for life and to spend the money he earned solely for himself, enjoying his single life.  He enjoyed hobbies like fishing, motorcycles, and camping, and lived life to the fullest.

One day, during an electrical work job, he got electrocuted to death. He lamented that there were still many things he wanted to do, and to his surprise, he was reincarnated in another world!

This is the story of an old man who works at a construction company in another world and enjoys single life in another world.

 

 

The Single Old Man, Oda Gentoku

(Thank you for reading at bayabuscotranslation.com)

Getting married, having kids, and living a happy life… stories like that, you hear them a lot in the countryside.

Well, I won’t deny it. There certainly is happiness in getting married, living with a wife and kids. But… I think that living freely as a single person, without getting married, is also a form of happiness.

“…Alright, all done. Jii-san, it’s finished.” (Gentoku)

My name was Oda Gentoku. Age thirty-eight. A repairman in a moderately large town… well, a jack-of-all-trades, basically.

Today, I had come to the house of an elderly couple nearby. I got a call early in the morning, and they were making a fuss like, “Water won’t come out!!”. So, before my actual job began, I stopped by for repairs.

I explained the situation to the Jii-san and Baa-san.

“It was deterioration of the faucet and the filtration unit. I replaced them with new ones, so it should be fine now.” (Gentoku)

“Oh, thank you kindly. Not having water is a life-or-death matter, after all.” (Baa-san)

After handing the invoice to the Baasan and cleaning up my tools, the Jiisan spoke.

“Hey Gentoku. You not gonna get married? You’re in your mid-thirties already, a good age, right?” (Jii-san)

Here it comes… A classic countryside situation, nosy neighbors pushing for marriage.

Honestly, I was getting sick of it, but since they were clients, I replied with a cheerful tone.

“No way, no way. These days, just surviving on your own is tough enough. Besides, it was my Oyaji’s dying wish… He told me never to get married.” (Gentoku)

“What kinda nonsense is that? Getting married and having kids is the greatest happiness, isn’t it?” (Jii-san)

What kinda nonsense, huh…? I want to say that right back.

I packed up my tools and wrapped up the conversation.

“Well then, I hope you’ll keep us in mind going forward.” (Gentoku)

“Ah, hey… geez.” (Jii-san)

Alrighty then, time to head home.

—

Now then, once again… my name was Oda Gentoku.

I was the manager of “Oda Electric Works”, located in a reasonably sized regional city.

My main line of work was electrical construction, but around here I worked like an all-purpose handyman. Stuff like unclogging sewage, termite control, beehive removal, painting roofs… sometimes people would even bring their cars over saying, “My car broke down!!” even though this was also my house.

Basically, you could say I was the owner of a pretty profitable handyman business.

“Well then, that’s all for today’s work~.” (Gentoku)

I drank beer on the wooden deck in my yard.

With mosquito coils burning, I watched baseball on my tablet while snacking on edamame I had grown in my garden.

This, right here, is the absolute best.

“Puhhaa!! Being single is the best!! Gahaha!!” (Gentoku)

I really do believe that. I can spend the money I earn on myself, my hobbies are fulfilling, and I can do whatever I want with my free time outside of work.

My hobbies are bikes, camping, fishing, touring… I earn enough that even being away from home for a while isn’t a problem.

As I drank my beer, a thought crossed my mind.

“Ah~… come to think of it, tomorrow is Oyaji’s death anniversary.” (Gentoku)

—

My Oyaji had gone through a lot.

To begin with, even though he was a town repairman, my Okaa-san had a terrible spending habit, and all the money he earned vanished. Then, when Oyaji was struggling to get by just with the factory at home, they made plans to take out a loan from the bank to build a new workshop, and right after that, Okaa-san disappeared with the funds.

All that was left was an empty bank book and divorce papers. Oyaji had been stunned… I was about 12 years old at the time. At first, Oyaji had been depressed, but… the one who helped him was my Ojii-san. Ojii-san used up his savings to pay off the debt. He came to live with us, Oyaji and me, and helped out with the workshop. Oyaji had been an electrician, but it was thanks to Ojii-san that he became the sort of jack-of-all-trades he was later on.

I had grown up watching Oyaji and Ojii-san work.

Over time, Oyaji cheered up while living with Ojii-san. He took me fishing and camping, bought another motorcycle he used to love back in his student days and started tinkering with it.  Those days were a blast.

Ojii-san, surprisingly, had been pretty funky in his youth, and the three of us even went touring together.

Oyaji told me…

“They say getting married and having kids is happiness, but that’s not true. If you feel happy, that’s enough,” he said. “People always say ‘get married’ or ‘show your parents some grandkids’ like that’s being filial, but those guys talking that crap are garbage.”

…Well, maybe calling them garbage is going too far. That’s why Oyaji told me, “Live however you want”.

I grew up watching that kind of Oyaji. So… I had no desire to get married.

Sure, women are beautiful, I want to look at boobs, and I’m interested in erotic stuff. But the desire to get married and build a happy family? Not even a fragment of that exists in me.

I want to ride bikes, go camping, fish, read manga and light novels. I want to use my hard-earned money to travel, stay at fancy hot spring inns, drink good sake. And of course, do it all alone.

I’ve already decided. I’ll stay single for life. Earn money, spend it, and live how I please. I don’t want to end up like my acquaintances, working full-time with a monthly allowance of 10,000 yen, spending their weekends doing household service for their wives and kids. Just imagining it gives me the chills.

“That’s right. There won’t be much work at the end of the month… maybe I’ll take a two-night, three-day mini-touring trip. I wonder if I can book a hot spring inn in the neighboring prefecture with a nice dinner included.” (Gentoku)

Thinking that, I operated my tablet, accessed a travel site and started browsing inns.

—

The next day.

Today’s job was electrical work. Well, that was my actual specialty. I had done this kind of work many times, running electrical wiring through a house being remodeled.

I grabbed my tools and headed to the remodeling site.

“Hello~ Oda Electric Works here~” (Gentoku)

The ones who came out were a child, around elementary school age, and a young man. He looked like a young papa.

“Ah, thanks for coming. Sorry, but we’re counting on you today.” (Young Father)

“Got it. I’ll be coming in, then.” (Gentoku)

I entered the house and headed to the room under renovation on the first floor. It looked like it would be the kid’s room. My job was to install outlets and ceiling lights there. I would have to pull new wiring from the breaker panel. So, there’d be a short power outage.

“Alright, I’ll begin the work now. I’m going to shut off the breaker for a little while.” (Gentoku)

I shut off the breaker and began working. It was just another ordinary job.

Maybe I let my guard down.

“!?” (Gentoku)

I got electrocuted.

It doesn’t make sense. I sure I turned off the breaker. And yet, I got electrocuted.

I collapsed… and I understood.

Ah… that kid in the house must have messed around and flipped the breaker.

And so, during the work, I got electrocuted, and I…

—

“……I died.” (Gentoku)

Or so I thought but I was still alive. I shot up and looked at my hands.

“…Huh?” (Gentoku)

I should have been electrocuted, yet there seemed to be nothing wrong. Cracking my neck, I stood up, ready to scold that mischievous brat.

“…Huh?” (Gentoku)

Something’s wrong.

I should have been in the house under renovation. But now it was night. And I was standing in front of a brick warehouse for some reason.

…What? A dream? (Gentoku)

I rubbed my eyes, but it didn’t seem to be an illusion. Looking around, I saw several brick warehouses just like the one in front of me. I was wearing coveralls, and at my feet was my tool bag.

…Ahaha. What is this, a dream? No way, could this be… one of those isekai reincarnations that are so trendy now? No way. That’s just some delusion people have when they’re tired of reality. I mean, this sign…

There was a sign in front of the warehouse.

“Alexandrite Company”… what a weird name.

Wait, wait, wait!! No, hold on!! Something’s off. Why am I… able to read the sign…? This isn’t Japanese, or English. The letters look like squiggling snakes, and yet I understand it just by looking at it.

No way… don’t tell me, seriously, no way, no way no way…!?

And then suddenly, a light shined down on me.

“Don’t move!! Who are you!!?” (??)

The ones who appeared… looked like knights from the Middle Ages, each carrying swords. They didn’t look like cosplayers. The swords they carried seemed genuinely Western in design. Not understanding a thing, I raised my hands, my cheek twitching.

No way… is this seriously… isekai reincarnation?

And so, I… died from electrocution during electrical work, and was reincarnated in another world.

—

(Thank you for reading at bayabuscotranslation.com)