Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN)
chapter-4-7

4-7. Satou's Secret

Satou's here. I have finished doing self-analysis and self-development during the days of job hunting.

I'm reluctant to look back at it.

◇

I sit on the bed while putting the bag on the side.

Arisa is taking off her mantle as soon as she enters our bedroom, and when she started to take off her clothes too, I stop her with a chop to her head.

"Ouchie~ What, didn't you lust for me?"

"Let's decide that after 10 years."

"No way~ This is a chance to violate the precious body of a boy..."

While chattering pointlessly, Arisa still proceeds to wear her clothes back and sits on the opposite bed.

"You said something about consultation at noon right? Did anything happen?"

"Wonder where should I begin..."

"Why don't you tell me all about it? They said that the king has donkey ears~."

Doesn't that story end with everything coming to light?

"Then how about removing the thing that you don't want to say? Though I couldn't tell it to anyone anyway if you order me not to~."

"That's right..."

The disposable long-range skill that I had when I first got here?　Then I change the story a little by only telling that it was used to annihilate each communities of scale tribes.

I speak in quite a firm tone, but Arisa wryly smiles for some reason.

"What's wrong, I'm not bragging you know?"

"I understand, but unique skill is our trump card, you should hide it properly."

"Sorry, I'll be careful."

"Then, what is the consultation about? Were those scale tribe communities members of Liza's race?"

Arisa listens while hugging her knee on top of the bed. Since her new skirt is long, I'm relieved that her underwear isn't visible.

Liza's tribe lived in wetlands far away from here, they were wiped out after a dispute with the weasel tribe many years ago, Liza told me the story during the frog grill party back then. It seems that she was kidnapped by the slave-hunting human when she was wandering with her family. She also said that she and her family were fearful with Dragon Valley so they didn't dare to get close to it.

"No, it's not that, it's just that even though I accidentally annihilated a whole tribe, I don't feel any guilt. I feel like the guilt was easily and completely turned off like an ON/OFF switch. As if someone is manipulating my heart..."

If I didn't almost got manipulated by Arisa, I probably wouldn't think of this either...

"They call this Paranoia in my old life! but that won't satisfy you, right"

"It's different from paranoia, it's as if the feeling of 『Guilt』 is vacuumed into closet... It's hard to explain."

"Fuh~n? Weren't you originally cold-blooded?"

"Since I was a programmer I do like to think efficiently, but I don't think I was cold-blooded. When the game I made was made fun of (on the internet), I became depressed for days."

"Hee~ So you were a game developer? What kind of game was it?"

"I'll talk about it later. Rather than that"

"Do you want to know the cause for the ON/OFF switch feeling?"

Arisa who covered my words with hers, subtly smiles mischievously.

"Perhaps your MND (mental strength) attribute is too high?"

"It's certainly high but..."

"If your VIT (Durability) is high, you become able to take many hit right?　MND is the mental version of that. In the first place, you're purposely letting yourself be tormented by guilt, unless you're a masochist, it should disappear fast."

Is that so?

I thought that it was someone's doing, but it was merely a problem of my stat...

◇

"Then the next."

"Ou ke~y, come at m~e"

Arisa is playing around, but it's reassuring to have someone to confide in like this.

"Based on the logic earlier, if I have high INT (Intelligence) then I should have good memory, yet I feel like I become extremely more forgetful than before. What is the meaning of this?"

"Uwah~ eh~, you have amnesia even being this young?"

I'm about to chop her but Arisa quickly takes a guard.

Because her flustered posture looks cute, I'll let this one slide.

"I'm joking, even though comprehension and memory do go up with INT, it doesn't mean that they go up equally. If high INT means that you can't forget then there wouldn't be any careless scholars right?"

No way...

My mentor was a professor extremely close to getting a Nobel prize. His careless episodes, like a revolving lantern, cross my mind.

"...That means, I was really just being paranoid?"

"Looks like it~."

Arisa throws herself onto the bed and laughs.

Speaking of which, I originally became paranoid because of this girl's mind magic attempt...

Even while thinking that, I'm not childish enough to utter it on my mouth.

◇

"Hey Arisa."

"What? Do you want to get sticky?"

"I'll refrain from that."

This girl really likes to utter one word too many.

"What are levels and skills in the first place?"

"Like the ones from RPG, as it is?"

"Any other meanings beside that?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask when I met god, and he didn't answer when I tried to call him after reincarnating."

"Just tell me as far as you know."

"Right then, I guess you can call skill a condensation of experience and knowledge? When you have skill, don't you feel that you 『Somehow』 know the what and how?　Maybe it's close to intuition. For example, you could cook even without the skill, but if someone with high level skill cooks with the same ingredients and tools, he will make something more delicious."

I see... However, the appraisal and market price estimation skill are quite obvious though?

Also, 'that' is different too?　I confirm it with Arisa.

"How about something like the contract skill, which clearly demonstrates its effect?"

"Well, contract skill is a kind of magic skill. It has chanting and it also uses magic power for the contract. But it's still basically the same as other skill you know?　Even if you don't have the skill, you could still chant and use the contract spell if you have abundant magic power. However, like other magic skills, if you don't have the contract skill, the required magic power to cast the spell will be drastically increased and the success rate will sharply drop, making it realistically impossible."

I ask about skill level too.

"Here are the standards for skill level; level 1 is Beginner, level 3 is Full-fledged, level 5 is Skilled, level 7 is Expert, and level 9 is Genius. It is said that level 10 is Godly class~ but I've never seen it~."

Is that so, I generally raised my skills to level 10... No wonder I always got the market price right, and almost always succeed in haggling.

"Don't unique skills have level?"

"Nope. This was said by the god when I reincarnated, unique skill is a fragment of god power so there is no level. Master it well, he said~"

A fragment of god power?

Certainly Meteor Shower is befitting of its name, but beside that the others are subtle.

"What?! What's with that subtle expression?"

"No well, when you said that unique skill is a fragment of god power, I thought that my unique skill sure is subtle...."

"Enough to make that subtle expression on your face?"

Although I don't have proof for this confidence, I decide to tell her about [Menu].

Despite her behavior and speech, Arisa seems reliable, she looks to be useful if I tell her.

I don't intend to tell her in detail. I'll just roughly tell her about the functions.

"I'm telling because my unique skill is Menu with the same performance as the one Arisa and the heroes have"

"Well, I will listen if you want, but it's better if you keep it a secret you know?"

Arisa advices me.

"I don't mind, however don't tell a word to anyone. This is an 『Order』."

"Okkey~ I'll bring it to my grave."

Arisa kneels on the bed, and haughtily taps her flat chest.

"My Menu has Self-Status, Status Check, Hide Skill and Inventory like Arisa's skills."

"As expected of unique skill, it's a cheat~ But Isn't it really common for a unique skill?"

"That's not all. Although I can choose to allocate point at which skill, I can't choose to do so for all skills like Arisa. It's only available for skills that I acquire by experience."

"Uwah, isn't it a degraded version of unique skill?"

"The Hide Skill from menu is superior. It can hide any skills."

"Looks like it~"

It seems that Arisa has guessed it.

"I mean, didn't you use Appraisal skill in the city? Your line of sight was unnatural, and your decision was too accurate~."

Th, this girl, is she an agent from somewhere?!

"I'm good at observing people. And you also have crisis sensing skill right? Although your movement with the accident faker was really great, it was amazing how you notice it in the first place."

"That's also part of the Menu. I can understand the position of people nearby with the radar display. There's also map display. It also has an auto-mapping function. It gradually fills in accordance to my walking range. It was a big help inside the labyrinth."

"I see, it's truly 『Menu』. Didn't you think that you were inside a game for having such unique skill without any explanation?"

"I thought that I was in a dream instead."

"Well, it's unbelievable I know~." Arisa nods understandingly.

◇

While we're at it, Arisa-sensei also teaches me about level.

"...That's why you can level up by fighting or studying, so anyway, if you actively learn new things you gain experience. When the experience reach a fixed value then your level will be raised. It seems that experience goes up faster if you fight certain monsters."

It seems that she heard about the monsters thing from the soldier and knight on her homeland.

It gave far more experiences compared to monster they normally hunted.

"Hoo?　Do you know why?"

"Not at all, I've never fought a monster."

"But" Arisa continues.

"If it's master, then you should know right? From what I've heard from Liza and the girls, they raised 10 levels in 1 day in the labyrinth. That's higher than the result from my 7 years of desperate studies you know?"

"Certainly, it was an abnormal growth when you think about it."

"Isn't it~. That's why, in order to increase our survival chance, we should go to labyrinth city to level up~."

She said the same thing back at noon...

Come to think of it, she said another strange thing back then.

"By the way, what the heck is demon lord season?"

"I wonder if they don't call it that around here? In my country we call it for the season when the demon lord attack after about 66 years cycle."