Appraisal Ceremony (2)

Krena had the talent of a Sword Saint. Gerda and Rodan both froze, their faces showing their disbelief. Allen stayed calm in the middle of it all and recorded Krena's status in the Grimoire's memo function.

(I had a feeling something like this might be the case. Honestly, I didn't think a swordsman's talent would be enough to explain strength that ridiculous.)

It had been two and a half years since Allen started playing knights with Krena. They played for an hour a day, and thanks to that, his Swordsmanship had reached Level 3. He'd gone through more than ten wooden swords, which had been snapped in half and replaced. Lately, he even made them himself.

All 31 children's appraisals were complete, and the results stood as follows.

・One Sword Saint (Krena)

・One Axeman (commoner)

・One priest (serf)

・One merchant (the village chief's son)

・Twenty-seven with no talent

(Looks like almost everyone has no talent. That's about one in ten, if you go by the odds.)

"Lastly, Allen, child of Rodan, place your hands over the crystal."

He was the last one. Rodan led him to the crystal, and he held his hands over it as instructed by the priest.

(So this is how my parents find out I'm a Summoner. Well, it's the will of the gods. Come to think of it, the god who sent me that message was the Creator God.)

Over the past five and a half years, Telesia had turned countless grasshoppers into light, but Allen had never told his parents he was a Summoner. One reason was that he couldn't explain what made him think he was one, even if they asked. Besides, there'd never been any need to explain it.

As he thought about it, the crystal shone more brightly than ever before.

"Wha—?!"

The elderly priest, Rodan, and everyone else stared in astonishment. Its light was even brighter than Krena's. They covered their eyes with their hands, as if they'd looked straight at the sun.

The light faded, and silver letters appeared on the pitch-black metal plate.

"Th-this can't be..."

The priest stared in shock. As if doubting his own eyes, he rubbed them and looked again.

"Um, Priest, what did the appraisal say?"

Rodan, unable to read the letters, asked the priest to confirm the results.

"Ah, well... I'm afraid he has no talent."

"I see."

Rodan had seen Allen playing knights with Krena, the Sword Saint, many times. He'd thought Allen's handling of a wooden sword was far beyond that of an ordinary child. He'd hoped Allen might have a swordsman's talent.

(Damn, Father looks pretty down. Well, having no talent is fine, but what is this appraisal result? Could the Creator God have slacked off on the job?)

Allen stared at the pitch-black metal plate in disbelief.

【Name】 Allen

【Stamina】 E

【Magic】 E

【Attack】 E

【Durability】 E

【Agility】 E

【Intelligence】 E

【Luck】 E

【Talent】 [Unreadable]

(My talent's all garbled!!!)

Every stat on the pitch-black metal plate was ranked E, and the Talent field was displayed in garbled silver letters. The priest couldn't read it either, so he seemed to have judged that Allen had no talent.

It seemed some of the commoners could read. Allen heard them whispering that not only did he have no talent, but his abilities were low, too. The murmuring carried to Rodan's ears. He looked at Allen as if to ask whether his son's appraisal really had gone so badly.

"Ahem. Rodan, Allen is your child. Raise him well."

Once the priest finished taking notes, the letters on the metal plate vanished. It seemed they recorded every child's talents, and Allen's appraisal results were recorded, too.

Rodan left the church with his shoulders slumped. Allen went with him.

(They're letting Krena go home even though she's a Sword Saint? No, they may talk to her later after seeing the appraisal results.)

Gerda and Krena followed Rodan out of the church, but the church officials did nothing in particular. Apparently, they were free to leave just like everyone else. On the way, Gerda tried to cheer up the dejected Rodan, but he barely responded.

The Appraisal Ceremony had started at nine in the morning. Even after the initial explanation and the appraisals of all 32 children, it was still before noon. On the way home, they parted with Gerda and Krena. Each family went back to its own house.

"You're my child. I'll raise you right, so don't worry. But your mother will be concerned, so let's just tell her you had no talent, okay?"

Once they were alone, Rodan spoke to him. He seemed to think Allen was feeling down. He was worried Telesia would become anxious if she heard that Allen's abilities were low, on top of having no talent. Allen was simply lost in thought, analyzing the appraisal results.

"Huh? Okay, Papa."

Allen answered with a smile. Rodan patted him on the head, and they continued home.

When they got home, they told Telesia the results. She gently stroked Allen's head and told him, "You're our child, no matter what."

Allen went to the children's room for his nap. His two-year-old younger brother, Mash, was sleeping peacefully, and Allen lay down beside him. Their beds had changed from wooden ones to futons. His parents had been so warm toward him that he felt something welling up inside.

(No, this has to be some kind of mistake by the god or the staff, right? The fact that it was garbled probably means the appraisal's metal plate didn't reflect my Summoner information either.)

Before falling asleep, he went over his analysis of the Appraisal Ceremony once more. He wanted to record it properly in the Grimoire.

(Well, I made my parents worry this time, but for now, I'll keep my Summoner status a secret.)

Since the Appraisal Ceremony hadn't revealed anything, he would have to keep analyzing Summoning while hiding it from his parents and younger brother. Once he'd finished organizing everything, he moved to another page he'd recorded earlier.

(Even so, every one of my stats was E. At least that confirms one of my test results.)

For the past five years, Allen had had a hypothesis he absolutely needed to confirm. The Appraisal Ceremony had given him an answer.

The result had certainly failed to live up to his parents' hopes, but having every stat ranked E wasn't entirely bad for Allen.

(Now I know whether I'm the only one in Hell Mode, or if everyone else is, too.)

He looked at the hypothesis section of the Grimoire's memo page and recorded the result.

Allen's Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1: The Hell Mode settings apply to everyone in this other world.

Hypothesis 2: The Hell Mode settings apply only to Allen. The people of this other world are in Normal Mode.

He erased Hypothesis 1 from the Grimoire.

(Now I know that I'm the only one in Hell Mode. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for every one of my stats to be E.)

Within a few hours, Allen had more or less finished analyzing the Appraisal Ceremony. First, he concluded that stat ranks represented something like expected values. Everyone was five years old, so there probably weren't huge differences between their stats. Their levels were likely 1, just like Allen's. He figured that stat ranks represented the amount an ability would increase when leveling up, or a person's potential for growth.

So why were all of Allen's stats E? He thought it was because he alone was in Hell Mode. Not only a person's potential and expected values, but also their growth speed had been taken into account, resulting in an assessment of one hundredth of their actual value.

Hell Mode's growth rate was one hundredth of Normal Mode's.

He'd lamented the trend of games becoming too easy and ended up reincarnating in another world. It was a world where he alone was in Hell Mode. It truly was a hellish world. And yet, something began to well up inside Allen. He felt something like a goal taking shape within him.

"I see. This is a battle against games that are too easy, too. I'm supposed to spend my life fighting them and show the value of really putting in the effort."

He chided himself for saying that aloud, then went down for his nap.

That day, at three o'clock as usual, he played knights with Krena. But the day didn't end there. His parents said they had something to take care of in the evening and went out. Telesia returned first, and Rodan came back more than an hour later.

"Huh? W-what happened, Rodan?!"

His face and body were covered in bruises. His face was swollen, as if he'd been punched. Telesia couldn't help calling out to Rodan in a loud voice.