Maseki Gurume - 017 part 2

I introduce to you, Ripple Juice.

Havent tried it, I dont even know what it's made of. Actually, before today I didnt even know this thing existed.

Now, on to the chapter, this  part took me literally all day.

　＊

It seems the most overpowered was Mother.

"Ain, I'm sorry, we've been talking for a long time, were you bored? "

"No, there's no way that's the case. After all, I felt as if all my questions had been answered at once."

"Then, it's great."

About one hour later, everyone's questions were finally solved, I guess? 

In the end, my mother showed she was a bit more of a cheat than I thought.

"Martha, can you prepare some tea for us?"

"As you wish."

"I'll help you too. Your Majesty, Princess, please excuse me."

His Majesty asked Martha to go prepare some tea, and Chris also followed to help her with it.

Certainly, my throat feels a little dry.

"Seriously, it seems that every child is loved by conflict in one way or the other."

"That must be, Your Majesty."

"That was certainly might be the case for you. ……Your Majesty, may I ask one question? "

"What is it?"

Seemingly having one question on his mind, Warren asked that to the King.

"It might be impolite to make a conjecture, but I can’t bear to not know, why did the Roundharts disinherited you, Ain-sama?"

"......My skill was the cause, Warren-san."

"Huh? Your skill……you say? "

Lloyd-san looked at me with a questioning face.

"Forgive me to keep asking, Ain-sama, but was it only the skill? "

"Yes. Neither by my father, who is a great general, nor by my grandmother, Isis………… My skill was not acknowledged by any members of the house, since House Roundhart was a military family. And then, my little brother Grint was born with the Holy Knight skill."

"Hmph......That's a bit strange, isn’t it, Lloyd-dono?"

While Warren-san kept looking at me with a questioning gaze, this time he talked to Lloyd-san.

"I expected it of Heim...... But now I'm convinced that the continent is lagging behind in many ways."

"Uhmm, what do you mean, Lloyd-san?"

"Ain-sama. I am the Grand Marshal that oversees and commands Ishtalika's knights. What skill do you think I was born with?"

Why would he ask me something like that? I'm sure it's something like a Holy Knight.

Are you bragging? Please spare me.

"……Something like a Holy Knight, right?"

"Ptff……kukuku, Lloyd-dono born as a Holy Knight, you say......HAHAHAHA! "

"Hey Warren-dono, you don’t have to laugh……I don’t really talk much about it, but the skill I was born with was 'Sewing'……"

Sewing? Sewing, like in, sewing clothes, that kind of sewing?

Was such a strong-looking man born with something like Sewing? Is this a joke?

"I'm a bit confused. Wasn’t it better to make clothes then?"

"While I ended up doing this, you might be right. I don’t like to brag about my own efforts, but...... after continuously training to the point of vomiting blood, I eventually became one of the strongest in Ishtalika's Knight Order."

Lloyd-san said he was one of the strongest.

His expression, seemingly extremely proud of himself, was so cool that I even felt a bit envious of him.

"It wasn’t something easy to do. But as I kept trying as someone who wouldn’t normally be suited for a knight...... I eventually reached the top of the Knight Order."

"Ain, I acknowledge Lloyd's strength and efforts."

I see, if His Majesty says so, it must be true.

"It should be good to show him your sewing technique sometime."

"Nu! "

"……So, here you have an example of this. Let me be clear with you. In the history of the Knight Order of Ishtalika, there have been people who have reached the position of Grand Marshal with their own efforts. I don’t think the Knights of Heim could do that. And if you dig even further, there should be no reason why it couldn’t be done in Heim in the first place."

Warren-san sure likes to talk a lot.

I haven’t seen the strength of the people in Ishtalika.

However, looking at their technical capabilities, there might be a considerable number of talented people.

"Umu. Ain-sama, this was why we were wondering about that."

"I too didn’t think it would be this bad until I went there, but in Heim, people are greatly segregated at birth. They never really give much thought to the subsequent growth afterwards."

"What, what a waste......What are your thoughts on it, Lloyd-dono?"

"Since they have to rely purely on their luck at birth, there might be no training or educational skills."

I thought that the skills you were born with were important in Ishtalika, but seeing there were those who reached the position of Grand Marshal with their own efforts made me feel a bit relieved.

Because I felt this was the place I was meant to be at.

I'll ask Lloyd-san to show me his Sewing skill later.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I've brought some hot tea."

While my head was on those topics, Martha-san and Chris-san returned.

"Well then, shall we go to the back room? Ain, there's a room behind here where you can take a break. Let's continue the talk over there."

"As you with, Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty, huh?...... well, we can leave that for later."

　＊

We were led to the back of the throne by His Majesty……A large cloth hung there, or rather, a luxurious item exquisitely embroiled with gold thread.

Hidden behind that cloth was a door, and past that door, a large room with several large sofas arranged inside.

"Everyone, please have a seat. We will now serve you some tea."

"Here you go Princess, Ain-sama."

While Martha-san handed out tea, Mother and I were guided by Chris and sat down on a sofa nearby.

I wasn’t able to take a long break after the meal, so I'm glad to be able to sit down now.

Drinking some of the tea that was handed over to me calmed me down.

"Haaa. This is a nice tea, Martha-dono. Well then, Ain-sama……If it's alright with you, would it be possible that you could you show us your status card? "

Warren-san asked me to show it to them, but I'm not sure if it's alright to show it this easily.

For now, let's send a glance to Mother.

"It's okay to show it to them, Ain. There's nothing in it to be ashamed of."

"Alright. Then, let's see……"

I took out my status card from my chest pocket.

I feel like I haven’t seen it in forever……But, there's no way my statuses have increased.

Ain

[Job] Houseless Child

[Level] 9

[Stamina] 235 =>180UP

[Magic] 341 =>300UP

[Attack] 74 =>52UP

[Defense] 40 =>19UP

[Agility] 95 =>70UP

[Skills] Toxin Decomposition EX, Absorb, Auto HP Recover, Gift of Training.

I couldn’t help but wanting to retort.

I don’t know when did my level increase, and it sort of feels like my status growth is quite strange.

Also, what's Absorb? When did I learn that?

I don’t know what the deal is with all this, but I can’t help but feeling overwhelmed. 

"M-Mother......"

"It's alright, Ain, there's nothing to worry."

"No, it's something else I'm worrying about, can you look at this first?"

And so, I handed my status card over to Mother.

" ! ? Ara……? I wonder what happened here......?"

Well, it's to be expected, it's a mysterious phenomenon that it's too much even for Mother.

"What's wrong, Princess?"

Ahh, this is a bother and Chris-san might've already noticed it, so let's just show it to everyone.

"I don’t know how this happened, but my stats have grown quite rapidly. However, since I don’t know the cause, I'll show it to you."

Saying that, I placed my status card in the middle of the table.

"What do you mean by growing rapidly……HOOO?"

"For a five years old, this is......moving in the direction of a Battle Mage that's good as a vanguard."

"Let me see it! "

The three men approached to see my status card.

The former two seemed to be surprised, and were most likely already thinking in my education policy.

But I wonder what kind of job is that Battle Mage that Lloyd-san spoke of.

"Fumu, these are not bad stats at all. It's a waste that they decided to disinherit you……This is!"

The King seemed to be surprised, ahh, did he see it?

He saw my Toxin Decomposition EX, right? I already know it's a failure of a skill, so please don’t be too surprised.

"Warren, Lloyd! Look at this."

"You mean the skill, Your Majesty? ......Oh my. Hoho, this is rather......"

"……We should be grateful to the Roundharts, Your Majesty. If things had gone poorly, this could have ended up as a huge 'thing'."

Following Warren-san, Lloyd-san looked at my status.

Please stop, this might be a trash skill, but it's not something worth getting into a fight with the Roundhart family, right?

"Olivia. Could it be that you thought about it this far?"

"Even in Ishtalika, there should be not a single person who can use it, that's why my Ain is such a great boy."

I don’t really get it, but thank you, Mother.

"……So, it's such a skill, after all."

Chris-san nodded convinced after looking at my status card.

Saying 'It's such a skill after all', please stop it, because it hurts.

"Hey, Warren. Before anything else, there are some documents that need to be prepared, you understand? "

"Of course. I'll start right away on those as soon as the talks are finished."

"Lloyd, check the level of the security in the castle. Raise it to where you see fit."

"Right away, Your Majesty."

Aren’t they giving this a little too much importance?

I'm somehow getting scared……

And what are these documents that they need to prepare?

"Martha and Chris. I think you should already know this, but treat this as confidential."

"As you wish."

"Yes."

"M-Mother, why the confidentiality?"

As expected, this is a bit too scary, so I turned and asked Mother, please help me out a little.

"Ain is an amazing boy, so it's alright."

"I don’t know what's amazing, but...... Okay."

"……Excuse me. Ain-sama, how much do you know about your skill? "

"About which one? If it's Toxin Decomposition, well...... I do know."

"No, it seems you don’t understand it at all! "

Whoaa, Warren-san suddenly raised his voice, taking me by surprise.

Feels like he's about to take a bite out of me.

"We're honestly grateful towards the Roundhart family. Who would've thought this could happen...... To disinherit a son whose ability could become so fearsome depending on how they use it."

"Ain-sama. Your skill might not be as incredible as you might want, but it isn’t as cheap of a skill as you might think. For a while now, don’t disclose it to anyone."

Following Warren-san, Lloyd-san somehow praised me.

I wonder what the heck is going on?

"……This is a skill that might not improve the stat values. Olivia……The Roundhart family, how to say it…………are they stupid? How did they not know how to take advantage of this skill? Isn’t there a limit to how stupid one can be?"

"You can speak with honesty, Father. The man in that house couldn’t understand how great it was. To be honest, I was very surprised at this."

"I suppose so. But even if the Roundhart is a warrior family, aren’t they being a bit too ignorant? "

They were currently speaking quite bad of the Roundhart family without stop. I couldn’t say anything since they were speaking of it as a matter of fact.

「…………When my mother-in-law, Isis-sama, learned of Ain's skill, she said in a murmur: 『A failure』. That's why I never gave them any explanation or advice on it. I didn’t feel like teaching them anything after that attitude."

After hearing the words Mother said, the King and Warren-san, as well as Chris-san and the others held their head in their hand.

"Princess. Then, ever since Ain-sama was born, you know their treatment towards him would be bad...... were you thinking about coming back to Ishtalika ever since then? Even with the Sea Crystals issue, don’t you think you were a bit too prepared?"

"Since I knew Ain wouldn’t be happy staying in that house. I think I could have made it so Ain's situation could've been a bit more 'favorable'. But I just wanted Ain to be happy. About the Sea Crystals, I was simply researching them in my free time, and at first, I did so thinking purely in Ishtalika. But I was glad that it could become useful for a time like this in the end."

Mother replied with a smile, as if she had successfully pulled of a prank.

"Seriously, the Princess is......"

"Martha-dono. I've lost count of how many times we've sighed today."

Both Martha-san and Chris-san were sighing.

"......Uhmm, you said it's amazing, but I'd like you to tell me why it is so...... If possible."

"……Gohon. Let me explain it to you, Ain-sama.

Warren-san cleared up his throat, it seems he will be explaining, ohh, please do.

"'Poisons' do not work on you, Ain-sama. This, you understand, right? "

"Yes, that I know. But it's only that they don’t kill me......"

Ahh, I made a Star Crystal the other day.

It seems it might be a valuable skill in that regard.

"Certainly. That is great on its own...... but I think Ain-sama's Toxin Decomposition EX will probably even destroy diseases."

"Diseases? "

"We still don’t know if it's just what the body classifies as poison, or if it's what you, Ain-sama recognizes as poisonous. However, we believe most of the diseases and poisons can be broken down. With this, many people can be saved."

"T-That's...... true."

"There are a number of poisons that cannot be detoxified. If we can detox them, the demand for such skill will happen."

That never even crossed my mind.

Since it has EX attached, I don’t think there will be a poison that can’t be detoxified, and the same might be the case for diseases.

"Another case would be a place that can’t be entered without being cleansed...... A dangerous, difficult to enter place that holds valuable resources within. There are many such places in Ishtalika. Although there are some that might be a bit too dangerous to allow Olivia's child to enter, there are many others that could be available, like securing a mine, or other similar."

"Hahahahaha! It sure helped the Roundharts were fools, Warren-dono! "

"Indeed, it helped they were 'big fools', otherwise it might've ended having a huge impact in their nation's power balance."

I feel a bit confused since the skill I thought of as garbage, turned out completely difference and I'm even receiving so much praise.

But even so...... not being able to realize its usefulness, I guess I was also a fool......

It's a complicated feeling.

"Speaking of which, Mother...... Some sort of absorption skill has been added, what is it?"

Since I started to feel a bit ashamed, I tried to change the subject.

"Ahh, about that, since you've grown up, your race skill has developed, Ain. It's okay, there's no problem with that. And about Absorb, it's a skill that you should've been able to use for a long time now, but it just appeared recently on your status card."

"R-Race? "

What is a race skill?

Are the humans in this world also able to use skills like Absorb?

I'm not sure I've used it before it was listed on the status card.

"Ain-sama, there are a few things I want to confirm about the Absorb skill. Is it alright if we talk about that? "

"S-Sure, what is it, Chris-san?"

Thinking about the Absorb skill, I asked Mother.

After that, Chris seemed to have something to talk about, and spoke to me.

"I'm sorry, but could you hold this and imagine it as a drink?"

What Chris-san picked up was a small magic stone...... It was about the same size of the ones I saw at the street stall in the Roundhart port city.

Seems like Chris-san has also that bad habit of having the image of a drink with a magic stone.

It was similar to the magic stone I saw before, and it also had a sweet smell.

Wasn’t the magic power of a magic stone poisonous? Well, I guess it's harmless since Chris-san gave it to me.

"Sure, I don’t mind. But, isn’t it better to just lick it instead of imagining it? "

"Y-You're licking it? The magic stone......? There should be no problem as long as you hold it in your hand, but if you place it inside your mouth......"

"Well, it's sweet and delicious like a candy, this magic stone."

……When I told them that it was like a candy, the air in the room came to a still.

"Princess. Could you explain this?"

"Hey, Ain? Licking magic stones is something dangerous...... I already told you about them before, right? "

I obediently decided to explain to my Mother.

"……It was at the street stall when I went together with you, Mother, at the port town and I was told about the magic stones. I reflected on my actions at the time. However, the magic stones gave off a sweet smell, so I licked one."

"I see……I understand, I'm not angry, Ain. That's why you don’t have to worry, I only wanted to know."

"Excuse my rudeness, Princess. Do you have any information about this magic stone sold at the port town?"

"That was a cheap magic stone of 500G, so it was probably one from a Big Bee."

If I remember correctly, a Big Bee is a large bee-like monster about 80cm in length.

It's not too aggressive nor it's too strong, but they have a strong fertility, and make big hives.

Therefore, they must be frequent targets of subjugation, and the magic stones obtained after said subjugations must be sold at places like that street stall.

Since the amount of those magic stones in the market is large, and they're not particularly strong ones, they're sold at the almost throw-away price of 500G.

"I see. Actually, this is also the magic stone of a Big Bee...... how does this one smell, Ain-sama?"

She then took another magic stone out.

And then, she brought it to me.

"This one smells like Ripple. Like Ripple with honey, and a sweet and sour smell of pulp! "

It smelled the same as Ripple Juice, making me swallow saliva.

"……So, this one smells like Ripple, huh? It's from a weak monster similar to the Big Bee, I see, so it has that smell……?"

While I was excited about the smell of the magic stones, Chris looked like she realized something.

……I wonder if it's going to be something bothersome?

"Ain-sama, I might be able to explain your rapid growth in stats."

For real?