by Okina Baba
But even though that’s technically possible, you can’t get any further once you have it.
Raising the skill level of Appraisal only requires using it.
Every time you use Appraisal, your proficiency rises, and if you reach a certain level of proficiency, the level goes up as well.
However, it’s using the skill that’s the real problem.
On the one hand, it doesn’t require any magical power or energy.
I know what you’re thinking: “Couldn’t you just use it whenever you want, then?” It’s not that simple.
The catch is this: Whenever Appraisal is used, the user gets hit with a headache and a drunken feeling.
The degree seems to vary depending on the individual, but in the worst cases, some people will faint after using it only once, and even more talented users can’t Appraise more than two things at once.
Since each use is so rough, using the skill over and over to increase your proficiency would be incredibly punishing.
As a bonus, the Appraisal skill is worthless until it reaches a very high level.
And so, very few people bother acquiring it.
In fact, there are a handful of families that make a living serving as Appraisers, passing the skill down through generations.
So if you’re wondering how anyone checks their status, the answer is with Appraisal Stones.
An Appraisal Stone is a magic tool made through a special process, which allows the holder to temporarily use the skill.
The level of the skill allowed by one of these stones depends on its quality. The number of stones in the world that grant level 10, like the one belonging to the royal family, can be counted on one hand.
Naturally, you need special permission to use it, so basically only big nobles close to the royal family have any chance. Since I’m royalty myself, I can technically use it, but it’s not like I can do that whenever I want. I pester Anna the maid about it repeatedly, but it can only be used once you reach a certain age.
In fact, it turns out that your first time having your status Appraised is considered a special occasion, so nobility and the like always hold a big, formal ceremony for it.
And I had to go through that ceremony, too.
In addition to the Appraisal, this ceremony serves as the child’s debut to greater society.
Your Appraisal results are revealed to everyone present, and all the adults start judging your value right then and there.
I had more skills than the average person my age, so I knew it probably wouldn’t be a problem for me. But apparently, if your stats are super-low, your family might reject you, so that’s a frightening prospect.
Anyway, me and my younger sister, Sue, a child of the king’s wife born around the same time as me, were about to undergo our public debut.
Sue and I had to change into the ceremonial children’s clothes for the occasion and hear about the schedule over and over again.
The current king—in other words, our father—was also attending.
Aside from that, there would be a who’s who of other important people present, so making a mistake and embarrassing myself was not an option.
Despite being a kid, I was still a member of the royal family.
I was about to play a leading role in the ceremony, so I needed to carry the dignity of the royal family on my shoulders.
That was a heavy load for a former lower-middle-class commoner.
However, when I saw how majestically my sister was carrying herself next to me, I felt a determination to do things properly that bordered on impatience.
“Are you ready?”
I nodded silently in response to Anna’s final check.
“Then please proceed.”
Anna pushed us forward, and Sue and I walked side by side through the door to the ceremony hall.
As soon as we passed through the entrance, the ceremonial space loomed large before my eyes.
A red carpet extended from the door in a straight line toward a pedestal, behind which a man stood waiting.
A huge crowd of people lining the wall watched us in silence.
Everyone here was a high-ranking noble.
Sue and I walked across the carpet without a word.
Our steps were measured and dignified, the way we’d been taught to walk in anticipation of this very day.
I could feel the gazes of the assorted nobles piercing me, but I did my best to ignore them.
Eventually, we reached the front of the pedestal. Sue and I halted and knelt down.
Standing at the ready behind the pedestal was the king, our father, Meiges Derra Analeit.
“The Appraisal Ceremony will now begin.” The king’s majestic voice boomed throughout the ceremony hall.
Although he was my father, I’d only met this person a handful of times. He felt more like a high-ranking relative than a parent.
This only made my nervousness worse.
The king was still speaking, but I couldn’t quite process what he was saying.
“Now, Schlain Zagan Analeit. You may rise.”
“Yes, sir.”
I stood up.
“Let the Appraisal begin.”
I advanced onto the stepping stool in front of the pedestal.
Without the boost, I wouldn’t be tall enough at my current height.
A black stone was fitted in the pedestal.
This was the Appraisal Stone. Smaller than I’d expected. If I were an adult, it would fit in the palm of my hand easily.
Masking my surprise, I placed my hands on the Appraisal Stone.
Just as I’d been taught, I thought: [Appraise].
My status displayed with unexpected ease.
LV 1 Name
Schlain Zagan Analeit
Status:
HP: 35/35 (green)
MP: 348/348 (blue)
SP: 35/35 (yellow)
: 35/35 (red)
Average Offensive Ability: 20 (details)
Average Defensive Ability: 20 (details)
Average Magical Ability: 314 (details)
Average Resistance Ability: 299 (details)
Average Speed Ability: 20 (details)
Skills:
Skill Points: 100,000
Titles: None
[Magic Perception LV 8]
[Magic Operation LV 8]
[Magic Warfare LV 6]
[Magic Conferment LV 5]
[Magic Attack LV 3]
[MP Recovery Speed LV 7]
[MP Recovery Speed LV 7]
[MP Lessened Consumption LV2]
[Swordsmanship LV 3]
[Destruction Enhancement LV 2]
[Mental Warfare LV 2]
[Energy Conferment LV 1]
[Concentration LV 5]
[Hit LV 1]
[Evasion LV 1]
[Vision Enhancement LV 4]
[Auditory Enhancement LV 7]
[Olfactory Enhancement LV 2]
[Taste Enhancement LV 1]
[Tactile Enhancement LV 1]
[Life LV 5]
[Magic Mass LV 8]
[Instantaneous LV 5]
[Persistent LV 5]
[Strength LV 5]
[Solidity LV 5]
[Alchemist LV 8]
[Protection LV 7]
[Running LV 5]
[Divine Protection]
[n% I = W]
>
I could see my status.
At the same time, the results of the status appeared on a screen-like surface at the front wall. The screen was connected to the Appraisal Stone so it could display the results. Apparently, this world had no concept of “personal information.”
For me, the Appraisal results appeared in Japanese, but on the screen, they showed up in the language spoken here. I’d been wondering what would happen if it displayed in Japanese, but I guess the system accounted for that kind of thing.
Voices stirred throughout the room.
The king raised his voi
ce and attempted to calm the crowd, but the tumult continued unabated.
My status must have been unusual to warrant that reaction.
Honestly, I kind of figured something like this would happen.
My magic-related stats were relatively high. Anna had guaranteed that.
By comparison, my physical ability was appropriate for my age.
Well, it was still a lot higher than average, but it didn’t deviate from the standard as much as my magic.
So my stats were pretty unbalanced.
As for the skills, a voice called the Word of God informed me whenever I leveled up a skill or gained a new one, so I already knew about most of them.
But there were two I didn’t recognize.
One was Divine Protection, and the other had a name that looked like corrupted text.
Curious about these, I tried Appraising them.
What’s that?
The Divine Protection thing was crazy. Definitely a skill that could be considered cheating.
However, the phrasing “easier for you to gain the results you desire” must have meant that things won’t necessarily go the way I want every time. It was still an awesome skill, but I shouldn’t depend on it too much.
What I didn’t understand was the other one.
Its name and the results of the Appraisal were equally cryptic.
I had no idea what kind of skill it might be.
The fact that the highest-level Appraisal Stone available still yielded this result was especially mysterious.
If this Stone couldn’t tell me, there was probably no way to find out the details of this ability.
I didn’t get it.
“Isn’t that like the duke’s daughter?”
“Yes, that prodigy…”
“But His Highness is just as much of a prodigy as her…no, even more so!”
As the nobles continued their chatter, I heard repeated references to a “duke’s daughter.”
Was there someone else who had similar stats?
I thought Sue was the only one besides me…
“Quiet down!”
In response to the king’s exceptionally loud shout, the ceremonial hall finally simmered down.
The king handed me a piece of paper.
It was a record of my results, magically printed from the screen connected to the Appraisal Stone.
I accepted the paper reverently. Then I bowed and stepped away.
With this, my Appraisal Ceremony was over.
Now it was Sue’s turn.
Needless to say, another uproar filled the hall when Sue’s Appraisal showed results similar to mine.
However, unlike me, Sue didn’t have Divine Protection or any mysterious corrupted skills.
Aside from the minor uproar, the Appraisal Ceremony ended more or less without incident.
But our unusually high stats wasn’t the only cause of the disruptions.
Listening in on the nobles with my enhanced hearing, I learned that skill points were normally only awarded when a person leveled up, so having a hundred thousand skill points at level 1 like I did was highly abnormal.
Which reminded me: Sue had 0 skill points, too.
I figured this was probably because I was a reincarnation, but what really interested me was that the duke’s daughter was apparently born with skill points as well.
From what I could tell, her Appraisal Ceremony had been just a few days before mine.
And like me, she’d had incredibly high stats for her age and skill points that she shouldn’t have had.
Apparently, the duke’s daughter even had that garbled skill of corrupted text.
A certain suspicion began to well up inside me.
If my hunch was right, then I had to meet the duke’s daughter at any cost.
An opportunity came sooner than expected.
After the Appraisal Ceremony, a small reception was held in a separate venue.
The king brought Sue and me to the center of the hall, where we ended up greeting a line of nobles.
The guests were all accompanied by their children, who were mostly the same age as me or slightly older.
So basically, the purpose of this get-together was to introduce young nobles who were close in age.
And that was where I met the aforementioned duke’s daughter.
“It is a sincere pleasure to meet you. I am the eldest daughter of Duke Anabald, Karnatia Seri Anabald.”
She was a very pretty girl, with fiery red hair and an impressively strong-willed expression.
Her appearance alone was enough to grab my attention, but on top of that, my Magic Perception skill told me she had enormous magical power.
It was right about equal to mine and Sue’s.
Duke Anabald, by the way, was one of the most powerful nobles in the country.
His family had held important positions in the country for generations, and they came from a pedigree with connections to the bloodlines of heroes and the royal family.
People born into the duke’s family would all undergo a tough, thorough education, and they were brought up with the know-how to support the country.
Even so, the girl in front of me possessed a highly abnormal amount of magic.
It even exceeded that of the red-haired man at her side, who I assumed was her father.
“How do you do? I am Schlain Zagan Analeit. Yoroshiku.”
With a certain conviction, I pointedly spoke the last word, meaning “nice to meet you,” in Japanese.
The duke’s daughter’s eyes widened for a moment, then quickly narrowed.
Judging by that reaction, I was positive that my guess had been correct.
“Father. May I speak with this young lady for a moment?”
“Hmm?” The king’s response sounded a little taken aback.
This was only natural, I suppose, since there was still a long queue of nobles with their children standing behind the duke and his daughter, who were the first in line.
But I couldn’t afford to back down here.
“Must I not?”
“Eherm.” The king looked at me, then the duke, and then the line behind him before speaking. “Very well. But do not be long. You are to come back after a short while.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you very much.”
I grabbed the duke’s daughter’s hand like a child and ran off.
Behind me, I could tell that Sue was seething with fury, but I couldn’t worry about that at the moment.
I left the hall and entered a private room that served as a waiting area.
Nobles frequently left parties to discuss business and other private work-related matters, so there were always rooms like this near the assembly halls.
This place was supposed to be soundproof, and a guard was positioned outside the door, so we were safe.
“Whew. We should be okay here.” I was openly speaking in Japanese now.
“I can’t believe it. So the prince is a reincarnation, too…” The duke’s daughter replied in the same language. “Oh man… It’s been so long since I heard someone else speaking Japanese. I’m getting a little emotional, even.” She seemed as strong-willed as ever, but now her tone was rather light.
“So, if you don’t mind me asking, does the name Heishin High School ring any bells?” I tossed out the name of the high school I attended back on Earth.
“Yeah, of course. So you really were reincarnated into this world from the same high school as me…”
Just as I’d suspected, this girl was a former classmate of mine, dragged into this world by that mysterious crack in our classroom, just like I was.
“My original name was Shunsuke Yamada. What about yours?”
“Pffft!”
When I offered my name, the girl gave an uncontrollable snort of laughter.
; “Ba-ha-ha-ha! Heh, ha-ha-ha! You, you’re, you’re Shun?! Shun, a prince?! Ah-ha-ha… That’s not you at all, dude!”
She was roaring with laughter now.
I got a strange sense of déjà vu.
I didn’t recognize the girl in front of me, but her speech and behavior made her a dead ringer for someone I knew very well.
“Y-you’re not…Kanata?!”
“Yep.”
Now it was my turn to burst out laughing.
My former gamer pal, my bro Kanata, was now an aristocratic young lady.
It was like he’d been reborn as the exact opposite of his previous self.
“Hey, don’t laugh. Do you know how depressed I was when I first got reborn like this?”
“Sorry, sorry. You laughed too, though, didn’t you? Now we’re even.”
“I guess. Damn, though, I’m glad we met like this. I’ve been pretty lonely all this time.”
“Yeah. You and me both. I’m glad I found you.”
Kanata and I punched each other in the arm.
At that moment, tears started to spill from Kanata’s eyes.
“Whoa, wha…? Ah, geez, sorry. I swore I wasn’t…hic…gonna cry…hic…”
Kanata’s sobs grew stronger.
Before I knew it, I was crying, too.
I remembered what it was like when I first realized I had reincarnated.
I definitely couldn’t say that I didn’t miss my old life. If anything, I was full of regrets.
I was still at the height of my youth, and I wanted to spend more time hanging out with my friends. I never even got a girlfriend.
Besides, I felt terrible for not only dying before my parents, but even my grandparents.
When I realized I would never see my family again, my heart sank lower than you could imagine.
I was curious about the state of the school after I died, too.
I remembered the rift in the air and the moment it split open. If I died from that, what happened to everyone else? Kyouya, Kanata, Hasebe who sat next to me… Did they all die along with me?
The thought terrified me.
That morning had been perfectly ordinary, but now I could never see any of them again.