by Okina Baba
What an idiot.
Take a little while ago, for instance. I wanted to try to get the Expel skill, so I suggested we try shooting thread out of my butt. So she was all, “Great idea! Let’s try it right now!” and proceeded to fire it on the spot. Toward the magma.
She said it was “more force than I expected” or whatever, but what kind of idiot does that in the direction of magma in the first place?
Of course, the thread went straight into the inferno with a splat and ignited.
The flames were coming at me like a fuse! It was awful.
Luckily, the body brain cut the thread in the nick of time, but we were this close to my butt getting set on fire.
Essentially, she jumps at my suggestions like an idiot and takes them too far.
Or should I say takes them in the completely wrong direction?
I mean, what good is it making genius proposals if my body brain is too incompetent to enact them?
Couldn’t you think these things through a little?
Has operating the body all this time turned you into a meathead?
Are you stupid or what?
Yeah, I think she must be.
That’s why I, the information brain, have to keep things together.
My instructions mean life or death for both of us, after all.
Information brain, information brain!
What is it, body brain?
I was playing with Telescopic Sight and found a monster.
For real? It’s not in range of my Detection yet.
Heh-heh. Maybe you’re becoming obsolete, information brain?
Shut up, body brain. You couldn’t provide more information than me if you had a hundred eyes.
Bwa-ha-ha, enjoy that while it lasts! You’d better watch your back, pal!
Pfft, I’m not holding my breath on that threat. Go ahead and try to catch up with me!
Heh-heh-heh.
Ba-ha-ha.
So what should we do?
We’ll hunt it, of course.
Aye, aye, sir. Come on, guys! Battle stations!
Whoo-hoo!
Another day of roaming the Middle Stratum.
Hmm. I’ve been here quite a while now, but there’s still no end in sight.
Guess this really is the biggest labyrinth in the world.
If a human tried traversing it, they’d probably have to be prepared to devote their entire life to the endeavor, wouldn’t they?
But it’s a piece of cake for me, of course!
Yep, I’m the best!
Evolving made my stats a lot better, and my skills are coming along nicely, too.
Is there any enemy in the Middle Stratum capable of challenging me anymore?
And if not, doesn’t that mean I’ll totally dominate once I get back to the Upper Stratum?
Heh-heh-heh. I’ve spent a lot of time struggling just to survive, but things are really going my way now!
Once you’re not constantly one blow away from death, this gamelike world is actually kinda fun.
Oh? Ooh? Ooooh?!
Finally. I finally maxed out Appraisal!
Oh man, I’m so pumped!
Appraisal, the first skill I ever picked up, the skill that’s been with me through thick and thin, has reached its final form at long last!
I still remember how incredibly useless it was at first.
Then, each time it leveled up, there were subtle improvements.
What joy I felt as it gradually became more useful!
Especially when it shed its veneer of mere adequacy and became truly fantastic.
My dear Appraisal. No matter how much I complained about you, you kept working hard and growing.
And now, you’ve developed into a skill that anyone would be proud to call their own.
You finally made it! Waaah!
At last. At long last. I’m so emotional!
Thanks for everything, Appraisal! You and I are just getting started!
…Still, no evolution or derivative skills, huh?
No, no, it’s fine.
Just the fact that Appraisal hit its level cap is amazing enough.
I guess I was just kinda expecting some kind of wisdom-granting evolution or something.
No dice, huh? Since it’s you, Appraisal, I don’t mind either way, but…nothing at all?
I’m shocked.
…There’s seriously nothing?
…What’s that sound? It’s like radio static…
Huh? What’s going on?
Okay, this is bad.
I don’t know what’s bad or why, but this is definitely bad.
Compared with the other sounds, the ping! is so clear that I flinch.
What? What? Whaaaaaaat?
Okay, hold on a second. Something’s wrong. Something is very wrong here.
What’s going on? How did this happen? What do I do?
I’ve gotta calm down. Body brain, let’s take a deep breath.
Huff… Whew.
Okay. Let’s go through this step-by-step.
First, I started hearing that weird noise.
What was that? I have no idea.
Normally, I’d just say there’s no point in racking my brains over things I can’t understand, but this is a little too much to just let it slide.
I mean, this is clearly an abnormal situation here.
Yeah. Abnormal.
Here I’ve been going along all this time acquiring skills and stuff under the assumption that that’s just how this world works.
If this were still Japan, of course, their very existence would be abnormal.
Was it really all right to just blithely accept that skills exist here because “that’s just how it is in this world”?
Up until recently, I thought it was fine. But now I’m not so sure.
I definitely heard the Divine Voice (temp.) say this:
It’s like someone was watching me and made a new skill in direct response to my complaints.
If that’s true, the culprit must be this Administrator D.
And the term “upper” means that this D isn’t the only administrator.
So what exactly do these “administrators” manage?
That’s obvious. Skills.
It’s the only explanation I can think of.
The point is, the skills in this world are granted by a group who call themselves administrators.
But how? And why?
Naturally, I have no idea.
But I do know this much.
There’s something wrong with this world.
A shiver ru
ns down my spine.
I’m overwhelmed with fear, a different sort from what I felt when I ran afoul of the dragon.
Are those administrators laughing at me right now, watching me panic like this?
Terrifying.
The skills I’ve relied on all this time seem like a disturbing mystery to me now.
Am I wrong?
If my skills were given to me by these administrators, then I’ve been dancing in the palms of their hands.
Because the whole time I’ve depended on these skills to survive.
“Gamelike”? “Kinda fun”? I’m a fool.
How could I say that so lightly, when clearly the whole system was deliberately constructed this way by so-called administrators?
If these administrators really do manage the skill system, does that mean they’re watching the goings-on of this world as if it really is just a game to them?
And if so, doesn’t that make me just another character?
That makes them sound almost like gods.
What am I supposed to do now, knowing all this?
What do I do now?
RULING CLASS
Today we have extracurricular activities.
My activity, the exploration class, convenes on a small mountain close to the academy.
Though, “close” is relative, since it takes half a day just to walk there and just as long to get back.
Only students who have passed an exam administered by the academy can participate.
Among us first-years, a total of twelve people received permission to take the exploration class.
We leave the school early in the morning and arrive at the foot of the mountain just before noon.
There we have a final briefing session in the cabin at the base and eat lunch.
After lunch, we get divided into groups and start the ascent.
We’ll spend the whole day exploring the mountain, camp there overnight, and head back down the following morning.
In terms of danger levels, only the weakest, lowest-class monsters live in the area.
Before the exploration, the high school sent some personnel to investigate, confirming that no strong monsters had turned up.
Even weak monsters sometimes evolve and become strong, so apparently, they check before each lesson.
There are several objectives for these outings:
To learn basic survival skills.
To experience an environment inhabited by actual monsters.
To collect medicinal herbs and gain more knowledge about mountains.
The overall goal is to accumulate all these experiences.
Ideally, we’re supposed to do that by remaining safe throughout the trip.
There’s even a penalty if anyone tries to confront monsters directly.
If you are attacked, you can gain points based on how you deal with it, but going out of your way to attack monsters is strictly forbidden.
The class is divided into parties, each consisting of four students and one teacher.
The makeup of these parties is decided by lots, and unless there’s a major balance issue, there’s no switching places.
Unfortunately, Sue, Katia, and Yuri ended up on separate teams from me.
Even more unfortunately, I’m on the same team as Hugo.
Our party consists of myself, Hugo, Ms. Oka (aka Filimøs), and Parton, a knight’s son. The teacher in charge is Professor Oriza, our magic instructor.
Parton and I are more than just acquaintances, but we don’t quite have a proper friendship.
Parton’s father was a former baron, but he worked his way up to the peerage rank of count through his military accomplishments.
He also trained his son quite rigorously, so Parton specializes in physical-based skills.
His strength is also on the higher end in our grade.
Apparently, that’s still not enough to satisfy him, so he devotes himself very seriously to daily training.
He tends to act very deferential toward me, so while we talk sometimes, I don’t think we’re particularly close.
Professor Oriza is a middle-aged magic teacher.
He seems fairly unmotivated compared with the other teachers. That he’s only here because it’s his job is pretty transparent.
Clearly, he’s not a fan of dealing with trouble, so when Hugo and I were assigned to his party, he made no effort to disguise his irritation.
Seems like the fact that Hugo despises me is common knowledge.
However, since Professor Oriza is a teacher and all, his combat abilities are definitely high enough to deal with any issues.
Though he specializes in magic, he also has the skills for close-range combat, and his attributes are certainly high compared with any student’s.
If anything unexpected happens, the teacher has to protect the students, so it wouldn’t make sense for a weak teacher to accompany us on this field trip.
What does surprise me is Filimøs, formerly Ms. Oka, actually participating.
She often vanishes without warning.
It seems to me she’s working behind the scenes, but she won’t tell us what she’s doing.
If it requires her to skip class without permission, she must be pretty busy.
So I wasn’t expecting her to show up for a class that lasts almost two full days.
That said, considering my situation with Hugo, I’m pretty glad to have her around.
This way, if Hugo tries to pick a fight with me, Ms. Oka is sure to intervene.
“All right, that’s it for now. After you’ve all finished lunch, please break up into your groups and set out.”
The teacher in charge of the excursion concludes the briefing.
Once we’ve eaten, we’ll be heading out with our parties.
“Well, my dear brother, we must part for a short while. It’ll be terribly lonely.”
“Sue, it’s only for one day.”
“Even one day is too much to bear. When I consider what could happen to you while I’m not around, I doubt I’ll be able to sleep at night.”
“It’ll be fine, okay? They’ve already confirmed the mountain’s safe. Nothing’s going to happen.”
I pat Sue on the head reassuringly.
“Shun, be careful of Hugo, all right? He seems to have gone completely crazy in this world.”
“…Got it.”
Katia’s quiet warning before we part ways keeps echoing in my mind.
Crazy, huh…?
He certainly does seem more fixated on gaining power than ever.
By gathering so many promising young men as his followers, he’s basically building a base for a future army.
I’m sorry, but he’s like a kid playing king of the mountain.
He was always a bit self-centered and childish, but since he reincarnated, it’s only gotten worse.
Well, I’ll just have to be careful to avoid pissing him off with some minor misstep.
Apart from my own private worries, our exploration has been going smoothly.
We arrive in the designated camping area without running into any monsters.
“Sir Schlain, is this the camping point?”
“I think so. Looks like we got here earlier than planned.”
“Oh, young boys have sooo much energy. A little lady like me had suuuch a hard time keeping up, you knooow!”
“Yeah, right. Your stats’re pretty high, aren’t they, Oka? You should have no problem with this crap.”
“If you ask meee, a gentleman would pretend not to know that and treat a lady with kindness anywaaay!”
“I ain’t wastin’ my time fawnin’ over chicks, thanks.”
“Aah, I suppose some girls go for the bad-boy type anywaaay.”
While Hugo argues with Ms. Oka, Parton and I start setting up camp.
Professor Oriza simply watches us in silence.
“Sir Schlain, could I ask you to hold that, please?”
“Yeah, sure. Like this?”
“Precisely. Then if we just do this and this…”
“Gotcha. Hey, it’s done. Thanks, Parton.”
“Not at all. In fact, I apologize for troubling you to help. I ought to have done it on my own, but…”
“Parton. Social status doesn’t matter at the academy. So you don’t need to worry about it so much, all right?”
“That’s certainly part of it, but, Sir Schlain, I respect you on a personal level as well. I do these things of my own free will. If anything, there’s no need for you to be so apologetic about it.”
I’m taken aback by Parton’s frank gaze.
Why do he and other people—like my sister, Sue—feel compelled to fawn over me so much?
I don’t understand it.
After we finish establishing our camp, we’re still ahead of schedule, so we have a bit of time to kill.
We decide to check out our surroundings a bit.
Each of us will act independently, exploring in a small area without straying too far.
I’m somewhat opposed to the idea, but we agree to stay within hearing range of each other’s voices.
That way, if anything happens, the other members will be close enough to come running.
And that’s how I wind up alone on the mountain.
If you collect medicinal herbs and other edibles on your own, you can get extra points.
So I activate Appraisal, and now I’m looking for herbs.
Suddenly, I hear the sound of swords clashing.
It’s coming from nearby, where Parton should be exploring.
The sound is muffled, as if one of the swords is either specially forged or the wielder is using the Silence skill.
But with Auditory Enhancement, my ears pick it out clearly.
I make to dash toward Parton only to find someone blocking my path.
It’s Hugo.
“Yo.”
“What are you doing, Hugo…no, Natsume?”
Hugo greets me pleasantly enough, but it does little to ease my nerves.
“Oh, you know, I was just thinkin’ that now would be as good a time as any to get rid of you.”
Hugo’s voice is calm, but I can barely believe my ears.
I can’t help but gulp.
“You’re joking, right?”
“Do I look like I’m joking? You’re an eyesore, and I’m sick of it.”
At that moment, the light smirk vanishes from Hugo’s face.
“See, this world exists just for me… I’m gonna be the strongest guy alive and take over this whole place. So it don’t make sense for someone to be on the same level as me, or maybe even stronger, now does it?”