Chapter 7

Chapter 07 – Skill Verification

Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes

Skill Verification

「Hmmhmhm~」

「Well, aren’t we in a good mood?」

The lady smiled as she watched Jill do her work fast and smooth, accepting quests and dealing with quest clearance reports . She had long, purple hair tied to both sides that ran down her chest . Her voice was gentle, and her eyes narrow and squinty, that sometimes just slightly opened . Her name was Gloria . With her two large bosoms, she was known as the Best Soothing Receptionist among the adventurers .

「…You’re right . I was in a good mood until you started talking to me . 」

「That’s mean . I just recovered from my cold . 」

Holding her cheeks, she heaved a sigh . The adventurers on the other hand were saying things like “Is she okay?” or “Is Gloria-chan not feeling well?” The two women were talking in low whispers, though, so the men couldn’t actually hear what they were saying . All they could see was the pleasant scene of two beauties talking to each other .

Gloria might fool the men, but she couldn’t fool Jill . She could see malice behind her gentle voice whenever they were talking . Not that Gloria would ever give herself away . As such, Jill was always wary around her .

「…I heard there’s an adventurer who made you, someone who rarely smiles, smile and cry . 」

「What?!」Jill blurted out loudly .

Her first guess was Hikaru, but she had no idea where the “cry” part came from . It must’ve been the adventurers . While they claimed that “information is life”, they were a bunch who loved gossip .

「No, you got the wrong idea . 」

「Is that so? So is it the other way around?」

「Hmm?」

「You’re in a good mood because you’re thinking about him . 」

Jill gave a start . As a matter of fact, she was relieved that Hikaru dropped by the guild today . She was aware of her mean attitude towards him and she wouldn’t have been surprised if he loathed her . Jill didn’t particularly care if men didn’t like her, but it was different with Hikaru . He was a young boy with no particular abilities . As for his looks, Jill thought he was cute, though he didn’t stand out much . The crucial part, however, was the inside . He was diligent and sincere when it came to requests . On top of that, he was honest . One could say there weren’t a lot of adventurers like him around these days . Jill was thinking how much fun her job would be if there were more like him . So yes, Gloria was right .

「I-I’m not thinking about him… I’m just happy because my shift ends at noon today . 」

「What? I’ll be alone in the afternoon?」

「I’ve been on duty since the day before yesterday because you pretended to be sick . 」

「I wasn’t pretending . *cough*」

That sounds so fake . The adventurers (read: idiots) could be heard saying “Is she all right?!” or “I’ll make her feel better!”

「Anyway, I’m leaving . 」

「Okaaay . 」

Jill was blunt around Gloria, but the latter was actually older . Turning twenty this year, she was of marriageable age in this world . The adventurers were aware of this so a lot of men would court her just like they did with Jill .

「Oh, and Gloria . 」

「What is it?」

「If an adventurer named Hikaru comes, don’t give him a request . 」

「Hmm?」

「I’ll be here tomorrow morning . Just tell him that . 」

「Okaaay . 」

With that, Jell left . She planned to pick out a quest for him . One could say she was showing favor to someone . But in doing so, Hikaru would steadily grow . Never again am I making him go to a forest frightened by a Green Wolf . Little did she know, it was just her getting the wrong idea .

「…Hmmm?」

Gloria saw Jill off with a smile, but that smile was now gone . Beyond her slightly opened eyelids, her purple eyes glinted sharply .

「Jill-chan sure is engrossed in this guy…」

In one part of town was a boy who had no idea what transpired at the guild’s counter . After having lunch in a food cart, Hikaru headed to the guild . An unfamiliar woman was on the counter . Though just like with Jill, men surrounded her just the same .

「What’s the guild up to gathering pretty women? Is there some kind of a statistic that shows there’s high survival rate for adventurers if the receptionist is beautiful?」

Nonetheless, Hikaru felt relieved that Jill wasn’t around . She looked exhausted . She must be off duty in the afternoon . I hope she gets a proper rest .

Hikaru walked toward the request board . The quests were separated by fields: Plant Hunter, Monster Hunter, etc . The category with the lowest number of requests was Bodyguard . Although most of them required ten or more adventurers .

There weren’t a lot of requests that a rank G adventurer could do . I think it’s still hard for me to get involved in fights… He scanned the board and found jobs like cleaning or shopping . These should be good enough . The reward is more like a tip, though .

「Are you looking for requests?」

Hikaru started . The purple-haired woman from the counter was standing next to him . She smells nice, kinda sweet .

Why would she… No, wait . Those are…

Then he realized that Gloria was carrying a bunch of request forms . She must be here to post new requests . She didn’t come here to talk to me .

…Makes sense .

Hikaru understood, but the adventurers did not .

「Hey, why did Gloria talk to that dude?」

「Isn’t he the guy that made Jill cry?」

「I heard he threatened Jill so she’d sleep with him every night . 」

Ridiculous statements were flying about .

Hmm…?

Gloria cocked her head slightly . She spoke to the boy who she guessed was Hikaru; the one Jill was enamored with . And yet, she didn’t feel anything special from him .

「Are you looking for a request?」

I just have to do some probing .

「What’s your rank?」

Hikaru showed his guild card, confirming Gloria’s guess . So his name really is Hikaru . The boy Jill warned Gloria not to lay a hand on .

…No family name . So he can’t be a noble .

It was not uncommon for adventurers to not have family names . There were plenty of ordinary citizens with family names . But for orphans or those who’ve left their families, their family names did not show up in their Soul’s Records .

He’s not a noble or a wealthy person . In that case, it’s his class…

Something unexpected occurred . Just ever so slightly, Gloria’s eyebrows drew together in a frown . The meek and gentle Gloria .

She thought Hikaru possessed a rare job class . Otherwise, there was no way that Jill, who believed that men were to be used, would give him so much credit . But to her surprise, his class showed “Wide Area City, Town, and Village Rescue God: Civilian”[10] . He was just an ordinary guy .

「…Hikaru-sama . Do you have any class besides Civilian?」

Normally, young boys like him would put on airs while showing them . If he had a unique class, it would be on his card . But there was a possibility that Jill told him to hide it . If she could, Gloria would check on her own, but only the owner can browse through his classes and choose from them .

「Why do you ask?」

「I’m a guild staff so please tell me . Jill knows too, right?」

If I bring up Jill’s name, he’ll probably tell me . But Hikaru simply shook his head .

「I have no other classes . 」

None? Only Civilian? …No . It’s Jill we’re talking about here . I’m sure she told him to hide it .

She already took the initiative, Gloria thought . If they’re so intent on hiding it, that only makes me more curious . Perhaps he has an extraordinary four-character job class for a newbie . Or a three-character one . In that case, I should tame him, not Jill .

「Hikaru-san, what about this request? You just have to deliver an item so it won’t take long . It’s perfect for a Civilian like you . 」Gloria said, handing him a request .

「Oh…」

Hikaru studied the request form .

「Not bad . Looks like I can clear it in half a day . 」

「All right . Please come with me so you can formally accept it . I’ll give you the details of the request so please wait inside the booth . 」

With a broad grin, Gloria escorted Hikaru . But behind that smile was something sinister .

Hikaru left the guild and walked .

【Quest Hunter】

…【Delivery】Deliver a letter to Kelbeck, a Magic Item Specialist living in Pond .

Gloria showed him a map of the streets . Since maps were apparently expensive, and what the guild had was special-made and detailed, they couldn’t lend it to others . So Gloria told Hikaru of the route to Kelbeck’s place in detail .

「That lady seems to be hiding something . 」

Hikaru came to that conclusion after judging Gloria’s attitude . It must be rough for Jill to be working with her .

「Jill’s easier to deal with since she’s simple-minded . 」

It wasn’t a nice way to put it . But Hikaru’s instincts proved to be correct . There was something more to the delivery request that Gloria gave him .

In that same moment, a lone receptionist was smiling behind the guild’s counter .

「Ufufu… Go and cause trouble then come to me in tears . If you do that, I’ll help you out . 」

Hikaru followed the route Gloria told him about . Unless something serious was going down, he realized it was better to not use Stealth when walking through town . People would bump into him otherwise .

Some of the streets he’d seen before, but most were new to him . Pond was a moderately sized town in the kingdom of Ponsonia, a kingdom where Roland lived his life as a noble . The town had a population of six thousand and sat next to the kingdom’s royal capital, Guy Ponsonia . It prospered as a base for goods that entered the capital so it was also called the “Royal Capital’s Leftovers” or the place where “Everything is Second-rate” . But if one looked at it differently, it was a nice, orderly town where the necessary stores were all within reach .

「Now then… this is a good chance to test out the effectiveness of my Stealth . 」

He couldn’t do it yesterday as he was starving . So he opted to test it while he was on his way to work on a request .

First, let’s turn it off .

「Hey there, kid! Would you like to buy some fruits?」

As expected, a man on his food cart called out to him .

Let’s turn it on next .

The results were a bit unexpected .

「Hello there, laddie . How about flowers for your mother?」

Life Obfuscation and Mana Obfuscation both didn’t have much effect . Which was pretty much expected . These two were used to hide oneself from certain detection Skills . Imperceptibility’s effects, however, were astounding .

「…… . . 」

People didn’t even so much as glance at him when he passed in front of them . He elicited some reaction when he waved both his hands or clapped them to make a sound .

「… . ? Hmm? Ohhh? How long have you been standing there, kid? 」

Once noticed, the Skills effects weakened . But when they turned away for even an instant, they wouldn’t see him again .

「Wha? Where’d he go? Maybe I’m imagining things…」

Perhaps there’s something like a curtain that covers me . An active camouflage and noise canceller… this Skill is quite incredible .

Imperceptibility had six different levels, from off to 1, 2, and all the way to 5 .

Is there even a point in setting it to level one? Well, whatever…

But that wasn’t all . There was still something even more incredible . The buff from the selected job class .

The moment Hikaru selected “Stealth God: Darkness Wanderer”[2], everyone seemed to act like he didn’t exist . Waving his hands in front of them or clapping close to their ears did nothing to draw their attention .

「I’m like an invisible man or something . 」

Hikaru didn’t think it would be easy to sneak into a women’s bath or that he could rob houses all he wanted . There would definitely be anti-burglar traps set around mansions – traps similar to those found in dungeons, which by the way also existed in this world . You’d have to possess a Skill to disable those traps first .

Sneaking into a women’s bath might actually be possible, but there weren’t any public baths in this kingdom . With the climate being warm all year, nobles and millionaires pretty much only had saunas .

Maybe… just maybe, I got myself something extraordinary . With this, no danger will come to my life ever again . Though there was still the possibility of an accident if people can’t see me .

…I can’t be too cocky . After all, I died in an accident . I just have to focus . With my Skill and class, and some caution, the risk of dying will be much less . Next, I need to check out the Soul Board . I’ve wanted to study it .

「Is there something there, Mister?」

By pure coincidence, Hikaru was reunited with the girl who gave him directions to the guild . He tried summoning the Soul Board but she couldn’t see it . If he moved his hands away it would simply float there . He tried carrying it and swinging it around with his job class and Skills turned off .

So she can’t see it, huh?

In that moment, Hikaru felt something from deep within the young girl’s core . He tried focusing on it .

【Soul Board】 Rana Valcon

Age: 4 Rank

4

「What?」

He could see it . Hikaru could see someone else’s Soul Board . If he moves away, about five meters, it disappears .

「What’s your name?」he asked, trying to stop his voice from trembling .

「…Why do you ask?」

She was being extremely cautious .

「Ah, I mean, I asked you the way to the guild before . I made it there and got myself a guild card . I wanted to say thanks and I thought it would be rude not to know your name . 」

「Hmm… My name’s Rana . 」

I knew it . It’s her Soul Board .

「…I see . Thank you . Here’s something to show my gratitude . 」

「Wow! So pretty! Money?!」

She was elated when he handed her one silver coin .

I’m just gonna experiment a bit . I’m sorry .

Apologizing deep inside, Hikaru opened her Soul Board once again .

【Unlock Soul Board? 1 point required . 】

「Yes . Do it . 」

「Do what?」the girl asked .

「Uh, you don’t have to worry about it . 」

The next moment…

【Vitality】

. . 【Natural Recovery】0

. . 【Stamina】0

. . 【Immunity】

. . 【Sensitivity】

I unlocked it . I even used one of her points . So not only can I see other’s Soul Boards, I can expend their points as well .

I thought for sure I could only configure my own Soul Board – my own Skill tree . This is amazing . I have full access to their Skill trees .

「…Thanks for everything . If you’re ever in trouble, I’ll be there to help you . 」

He felt it was not enough as an apology for using up her points, but still he gave her one more silver coin . The girl went home ecstatic .

「Now then…」

Hikaru started walking again .

「There’s one more thing…」

When he summoned his Soul Board, he noticed something . Perhaps it was because he hadn’t checked since he used them all up last time…

Soul Board Hikaru

Age: 15 Rank: 4

4

But his points had actually increased .