CHAPTER 2: FIRST COMBAT AND SPECIAL POWERStandard
We leave the imperial capital and move along the road until we couldn’t see the gatekeeper. I told Kinos.h.i.ta-san about our plan after the gatekeeper is out of sight.
– Walk along the road and head towards a village or any other city.
– When demons comes out, I will fight. Kinos.h.i.ta-san has to stay behind me.
– We will runaway together if the number of enemies are 3 or more.
Kinos.h.i.ta-san was surprised when I said I’m going to fight 2 demons at once. Well, I think demons around the capital aren’t strong. According to the usual RPG’s…
The reason I set the condition when 3 or more demons come out is because I’m worried I wouldn’t be able to protect Kinos.h.i.ta-san. It is natural to withdraw immediately when enemy’s reinforcement come in the middle of battle.
I set a condition depending on the enemy’s strength. According to Kinos.h.i.ta-san, I will withdraw when I judge I can’t manage it. I will be fine on my own but it is impossible for me to personally observe the surrounding. I expected an objective judgment.
[But, could you really fight? If it becomes unreasonable, we should runaway…]
[In that case, I believe it is more reasonable for us to runaway to ensure our safety…]
Kinos.h.i.ta-san seems to want to avoid fighting. However, I have to make sure that when it happened, I couldn’t yield.
[For now, Let’s start with one monster. Even if I look like this, I still have some experience in martial art. I’m worried about the strength of demons in this world too. So, we should have another discussion after the first fight, okay?]
Because I’m not backing down, Kinos.h.i.ta-san has to agree.
[Understood. Let’s withdraw immediately when we think it is impossible. Safety First.]
[Understood. Let’s me test my strength with first demon that comes out.]
After that, a demon finally showed up after we walked for 10 minutes.
> Two wild goblins appeared.
Two goblins with clubs appeared in front of us and blocked the way.
Even in games, goblin is a common type of enemy, and this world’s goblin is a very ugly type.
[Gishaa]
[Hii~…]
Kinos.h.i.ta-san shrinks away as she sees the goblin’s shout. I’m certain they aren’t something good to see.
[That is a goblin. Because I’m going to fight it, Kinos.h.i.ta-san should fall back a little.]
[Alright~]
Kinos.h.i.ta-san backs away from goblin while I step forward. I face the right goblin who is swinging its club. I take the position so the other goblin doesn’t move forward while Kinos.h.i.ta-san stays behind me. I just focus on evading without attacking for 2 minutes.
Let’s attack them soon since if I take too long, other demons might join the fight.
I start to run toward one of the goblin and strike at its stomach.
[kurae!]
Dogo~. Gosu~. A great sound came from the fallen goblin. Uh, I defeated it. The goblin has died without disappearing is evidence that we aren’t in a game.
[Eh?]
Kinos.h.i.ta-san’s face becomes dumbfounded. I wonder if it might be something strange.
[Didn’t you just defeat it with just one punch? Why does it look so easy…? Was the enemy that weak?] [Spec: LOL one-punch man.]
About that. Just in case, I have nothing to say about my delusion but I guess it is safe now.
I could say this is a proof I can defeat goblins with “This”.
[I didn’t think about that at all. Goblins are famous low-grade demon in games, If Kinos.h.i.ta-san fights it now, it might not work like this, but I think it should take 2-3 hits before die.]
As for the club, it will be painful if it hits. The chance of death is high for a frail girl like her.
To talk about death. Kinos.h.i.ta-san’s face turns blue as I keep inquiring about it.
[Then, why? Why does martial art from our former world work really well?]
Well, I never thought about that… It is irrelevant to say it at this time. I think it is a bad idea to conceal it from Kinos.h.i.ta-san who is my companion. So let’s tell Kinos.h.i.ta-san about my secret.
[There is a reason behind this. I think it is useless to conceal it anymore, could you keep this a secret?]
I have a reason not to tell anybody, Kinos.h.i.ta-san also worried about that.
[Understood. I won’t tell anyone. So, please tell me.]
After I heard her declaration, I start to tell her my secret.
[Actually…I can see this world like a game.]
[……Huh?]
Uh. It is no good if I don’t give her another explanation. Kinos.h.i.ta-san also looks confused.
[In game, I can see my own HP and MP, offensive power and status. I can see it here too. Above all, I can confirm other people’s status as well.]
In a battle a little while ago, I confirmed the status of goblin first. And I chose to fight those goblins because when I compared their status with mine, I convince that I could win against them.
[There is a top-down map of this area like in a game. I can know the position of enemies with this too.]
Because I know the enemy’s position on the map, I don’t need to worry about Kinos.h.i.ta-san being attacked and enemies reinforcement.
[Like a game, I can compare my strength with the enemy and I also know where the enemy is.]
I made the explanation considerably short but Kinos.h.i.ta-san could understand it. Her comprehension is unexpectedly fast. This girl must have played a game to some extent.
By the way, this status and map are in my field of vision. It can be change between visible or invisible as I want, it doesn’t hinder my line of sight at all.
Because I know the position on the map, surprise attacks doesn’t work. Since I know HP from status, playing dead doesn’t work either. It is a little bit unfair.
[Well, that is unusual.]
[But is that related with defeating the demon in one blow? I think it is convenient but it has nothing to do with Shindo-kun’s strength.]
It is unexpectedly a little rude. But when you think about it properly, you will notice that.
Of course, I’m going to explain it too.
[That is a different power too. I s.n.a.t.c.hed away the goblin’s skill and status with my power. It lets me become stronger as much as I take while weaken the other side. It is possible to defeat them easily.]
I can take their skill and status while checking the status. I can comfirm the position with by using the map. There is no losing factor. My defeat condition is only when Kinos.h.i.ta is attacked when I fight with 3 or more demons.
While I’m giving an explanation about that, Kinos.h.i.ta-san’s face become astonished.
[How could Shindo-kun do that? I can’t do it at all. People from school didn’t say a single word about it too.]
Because other people didn’t know. I confirm a lot of people’s status in the imperial castle and capital, but n.o.body can do the same as me.
For this reason, I was driven out of capital obediently.
[By chance, Is this Shindo-kun’s blessing?]
[It isn’t.]
The blessing gift handling was really unexpected. This doesn’t diminutive that much. That isn’t something respectable too. My ability has different rule than this world’s rule.
[This is… a special power.]
[A special power.]
Kinos.h.i.ta-san mutters.
A special power, it was a power I received when I came to this world.
[It is better to let you see it firsthand than just explaining it.]
I take a memo pad and pen out of my breast pocket. All the bags are left at school in our former world, but thing on our body were summoned together.
[What are you doing?]
[Wait a minute, I will write my status.]
Name : Shindo Jin
Age : 17
Skill :
Special Power : [This is a simple version. Here.]
I hand it to Kinos.h.i.ta-san. Her expression becomes stiffer as she slowly read it.
[It is really amazing somehow. I want to hear about it more.]
[Then, First, let put aside the name and race. Because I know just from looking at it…]
[You are right.]
I was surprised when I saw the human from different world is written on race.
[What is about the skill? Are those blessings?]
[It is different. Blessings are one of a kind skill. Since the skill itself contains a natural talent or effort. The one which was given by G.o.ddess is a blessings.]
There are unique skill and rare skill too, but let set them aside for now.
[What’s the difference from special power?]
[Special power is power out of this world’s rule. It might look like skill but their effect is totally different. Because of this special power, I didn’t recived a blessings. I guess they won’t fit each other…]
It is outside the rule, in other word, a cheat. How could you received blessings with that kind of power?
[That and are Shindo-kun’s special power. Could you tell me what kind of power it is…?]I just explained it a little, but this time, let’s explain in a little more detail.
[ could read as give and take. it is possible to take skill and status from enemy and give it to somebody else. Do you know about status?]
[Yes, because I played game once… But specifications of status is vary from game to game, right? What about this world?]It seems Kinos.h.i.ta-san have knowledge about games to some extent after all.
There are various kind of status in games. I write it down again while looking at sub-column of status screen.
[These are the status of of this world.]
LV : Magnitude of strength.
MP : Magic point, decreased when use magic.
Endurance : Stamina, determines how long you could keep fighting.
Agility : Speed, determines how quick you are and evasion.
Resistance : Determines how much your magic and abnormality state resistance are.
Luck : It influence many events.
[They are a lot after all. They are basically the statuses I saw in games. Beside, you can take it away from others…]
[Of course, I can take from demons as well as from a person. Their value will become mine if I take it. Oh, there are also statuses totally difficult to describe, let’s leave it for the next time.]
By the way, Kinos.h.i.ta-san’s level and mine are 1. The experience from our former world doesn’t reflect in experience value of this world. However, even if we are level 1, our movement doesn’t seem to be worse when compared with our former world.
[Yes, it is okay. So you can became stronger as much as you took from the goblin.]
[No, I also took from the soldiers who kicked us out. Those goblins are using club right? They can’t have sword mastery or spear mastery.]
Both the goblins and soldiers had
. But I probably took it from those guys the most since they were fighting in a war.
By the way, the skills of people that I took until now are.Soldier A
Soldier B
Goblin x 2
Note : A green small ogre. Their weakness is top cla.s.s among the demons.[How did Shindo-kun do that while being taken away…? Come to think of it at that time, you did have enough time to do that.]
[Well, I already knew my special power at that moment. I though the summoning fellows were doubtful and I was at the limit of my patience at that moment.
As a subst.i.tute for consolation money. Well, I didn’t get their permission.
[Then, doesn’t that mean those soldiers become weak now?]
[Uh, There is a limit of what I can take. They may not die when being hit by a stone.]
Well, they should be fine if they were hit since they have armor. I have no choice because they were hostile with us. I thought I might have to kill them while being kicked out.
[That much…]
[I think that was a good chance because I won’t forgive them for being hostile against us. I prepared various things while being driven out from city. Of course, I prepared to kill anybody who is hostile to me too.]
I declare it firmly. It is my resolution to live in this world.
[It seems I’m still not ready to do that. I can’t do anything in this state… I’m very sorry.]
Kinos.h.i.ta-san is flinching while she says that. I will be in trouble if high school girl around here suddenly has a resolution to kill a person. If we become used to killing demons and people, we will have a problem when we return to our former world.
Me? I guess I will be alright since I’m proud of my adaptability.
[It is okay. You don’t need to go that far. It is my role to fight. So, should we return to the topic?]
[It seems to let me see system window. I can see game-like statuses. It has 3 functions as status check and compare ,map and help.]
I previously thought a game’s system window is really a cheat.
[Does it allow you to do that much?]
[Uh. It’s a convenient ability.]
I think we could gather enough information to live in this world by this power alone.
[I know the first two functions from our previous conversation, what about the last one?]
[I think it gives a quick response for any question. Just that alone is enough to be called clairvoyance.]
Kinos.h.i.ta-san could understand this. Since it is the same as having a cheat sheet in an invisible place.
[It’s amazing… Won’t they treat you like hero if you tell them about this?]
[P-Please wait a minute! Did you say brainwashed?!]
Kinos.h.i.ta-san raises a loud voice and looks at me. Oh, Kinos.h.i.ta-san didn’t notice it…
[Err…, I have no idea of anyone who want to protect me, so I didn’t notice that. …Everyone, dropped water on me when I was in the restroom, and pretended not to see me… …Even teachers were laughing sometime…]
I think I caught a glimpse of Kinos.h.i.ta-san’s dark past. Not just her bullying was known, it seemed they allowed it. I think that has nothing to do with the brainwashing.