I witnessed my sister die in front of me. I told Kirameki that I wanted to listen to her written music and hear her play the violin. However, life didn’t grant me that wish. Instead, the world punished me and threw the two of us off the edge of the plank.

Kirameki did nothing wrong, and I had longed to be a brother to her. But… we died without getting the life we deserved. It was all for naught.

[Pirate System Activated.]

[Code: Unknown$*((^#@]

[Welcome, Arata Kazuto, to the world known as “Kepler”.]

However, it wasn’t over. Just like a wheel, our lives turned to a hundred and eighty degrees. And when the ship cruised in reverse, life gave us another chance to relive everything again. It was just the beginning.

[Character Name]: {Kazuto, Arata} [Title(s)]: {Novice}

[Species]: {Human} [Occupation]: {Slave}

[Age]: {18-year-old} [Class]: {Thief}

[Level 1] {Next Level-> 0/1,000 Experience}

[Stat points]-{0}

[STR]- 2 [VIT]- 2 [MEN]- 1

[DEX]- 1 [INT]- 1 [LCK]-50

[DMG]- 5

[M. DMG]-1

[CRT]- 0.1%

[H. RATE]- 100.%

[C. DMG]- 10.0%

[DEF]- 2

[P. RES]- 1.0%

[M. RES]- 0.0%

[EVD]- 1.0%

— [Health] --- {10/10 [+0.5 Hp regeneration per minute]

— [Arcana] --- {10/10 [0+0.03 Arc regeneration per minute]}

[Elements]: [Nothing]

**Note: You can only get Experience Points upon the extermination of Living Organisms and factors such as Completing Quests in the Guild, Organisation, or doing something that can enhance physical and mental capabilities. Your stats will also increase the moment you learn a skill or tirelessly train beyond your limits.**

***Moreover, the player, Arata Kazuto, cannot learn any magical spells besides [Corsair] and [Permanent Larceny] unless it is in the form of a physical ability passed by masters and the sort.****

: You have acquired magic!:

You have unlocked a skill!

* [Corsair!]- An active skill. Arata Kazuto, the player, can steal one skill from anyone for one minute! The duration increases, and the cooldown decreases as soon as your level rises. In addition, all spells stolen from the enemy will be amplified (currently at 1.3x) the normal power of the user you’ve snatched. Your damage will increase after gaining more levels!

- Mana usage: none

- Cooldown: 10 minutes

- Duration: 1 minute

Available upgrades will be received as soon as [Permanent Larceny] has been activated.

: Additional miscellaneous skill has been unlocked!:

[Mother Tongue] - Allows the player, Arata Kazuto, to comprehend and translate all languages via input and output inside the system. Written words will also be applied.

: Special Skills to be unlocked:

*[Permanent Larceny] - Ready to be activated. This is a onetime skill that allows Arata Kazuto, the player, to steal another spell until the kingdom comes. However, as soon as the player consumes the spell, Arata Kazuto cannot gain any more special skills, unless the ability involves physical prowess. Choose wisely.

[Additional notes. Today is the year 1421. Smarch, 23, the seventeenth month of the year.]

I knew that Kirameki and I died in the hands of a man wearing an extravagant suit and tie. And what awaited us was the afterlife… or something. BUT WHAT THE FUCK ARE THESE BOXES AND FLOATING TEXTS APPEARING IN FRONT OF ME? WHY DID I FEEL LIKE I WAS IN A GAME? WAS I REINCARNATED IN ANOTHER WORLD BULLSHIT?

AND WHAT ABOUT THIS FUCKING ELEMENT I RECEIVED? NOTHING?! WHAT WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?! Horrible. MY STATS ARE FUCKING HORRIBLE. I AM SO USELESS! I wanted to scream at the top of m y lungs, and I did. Nobody could stop me. Nobody. Not even my sister, myself, my dead parents, or everyone’s neighbours. Regardless, I put my emotions aside and focused on what was important. I needed to know where the hell I was and what happened after Kirameki and I bit the dust.

There were two things that left my eyes throwing question marks at every angle. And that was the skills I had secured… magically secured. The former was something compelling, especially if I was up against mages or wizards… if they exist in this world. And if I was truly transported to another world known as Kepler. I had to see it with my own eyes. I didn’t know the extent of my thievery mechanics, but maybe I could use it soon in battle. However, as much as possible, I would like to have peace of mind. Fighting wasn’t my style. But if I had to protect my sister again from an unforeseeable threat, I would have no choice but to kill anyone.

The latter one was a peculiar asset spell, I assumed, that could save me the trouble. I only had one thing in mind, and that was stealing the most overpowered shit in this world. Well, that was a bridge I had to cross if the time came. For now, I had to sharpen my senses for what was about to come.

As soon as I opened my eyes, these motherfucking goddamned transparent boxes with words inside greeted me. And these notifications were only applicable to a character in a game. And what did I fucking know? The system also welcomed me as a character, describing this world as Kepler, not Earth, which was the planet I knew of. After reading the bullshit numbers and stats of my character, I immediately turned to my side to look for Kirameki.

Nothing was more important than looking for my sister. If I did get thrown into a different world after dying, I wanted Kirameki to be with me. She was my life. Kirameki was the only one I had. So I wasted no more chances and looked for her, even if I had to turn this place upside down.

But I didn’t have to burn the world to find her. By the time I realised it, my sister was already sleeping on my lap, as she used the fat on my knee as her cushion. Kirameki snored like an angel. However, something was strange. Despite leaving our world as we knew it, she still seemed to have difficulty in her breathing. She used her shoulders to respire despite living in her dreams, and my sister had thin and more bones than meat in her body.

“K-Kira… Kira. Can you hear me? I’m sorry for waking you up, but I have to know if you’re alright.”

Even though we were transferred into this world, Kirameki inherited the sickness she had when she was still alive. Regardless of that fact, I still heaved out a thankful sigh, knowing we had survived. We cheated death. And that was the most important thing we had to appreciate.

Kirameki jerked her body and continued sleeping beside me. She refused to open her eyes. Well, since we hadn’t encountered any problem yet, I let my sister sleep for the time being while I studied our surroundings.

Kirameki was safe. And I will continue to bring my sister to the haven she deserved as long as I am alive.

It seemed that the place we were currently awoken was an interior made of wood. While looking around me, this place was meant to be a prison cell for someone. But from the size of this room, I imagined this place was bigger than it seemed. However, I had no evidence of it. Not until my eyes caught sight of an ingress leading upward. And the only thing I speculated this to be was… a ship. A fucking ship.

The room swayed back and forth. There was no earthquake, despite the sweeping motion. Chances were… we were tossed inside a ship. A brig of the ship. Thanks to the metallic bars in front of us, I surmised someone had placed us here accidentally and thought of us as slaves of some sort, which I knew they had been mistaken. We were free citizens. But as I skimmed at our surroundings, dozens of people dressed and trapped like us were stuck inside a cell similar to ours. ‘Were these people prisoners of war?’ I wondered. Nobody could answer my question.

“Hey! Do you know where we are going? Do you know what this place is?” I tried looking for answers from these people. But their eyes told a million stories. It looked like these individuals were not harmless but, at the same time, wanted nothing but to mind their own world. In short, they were broken. No words entered these people’s minds; thus, I let them be and pondered for other options.

Hence, the logical move I should make was to gather more intel about everything and everyone. But a cracking sound disrupted my train of thoughts. When I followed the origin of the sound, it came from someone above us, walking without a care for this world. Within a few moments, somebody came to fetch us and opened the hatch at the ceiling.

‘Finally, someone I could talk to, unlike these people already broken and cast down,’ I intoned, and waited for that someone to arrive.

But alas, this world never ceases to amaze me. As the shadow slowly formed its figure in front of me, a man wearing unusual clothing befitting a pirate said its introductions.

“There should be fifteen slaves here... so, three... Seven... Ten... Fifteen... Seventeen. Two additional slaves? Captain and I didn’t remember any extra people brought in the brig. Oh well. I’ll report this to the captain.”

It was a little odd, but the enigmatic body approaching us kept mumbling to herself. The voice sounded feminine. But I wasn’t one to judge. I just assumed it came from a girl, based on what I had heard in my previous life. And it was a woman.

“I can see you aren’t a broken man. I’ll crush ye barnacles if you try something funny or if I find out you’re a spy sent by the Kingdom.”

Kingdom?

Broken man?

Crush ye barnacles?

What the fuck is wrong with these people?