Otoko Nara Ikkokuichijou no Aruji o Mezasa Nakya, ne? _side story 26 part2

I can't remember if I mentioned this before but the kanji used for skills and abilities in this is the same for both. So there's no such thing as Unique Abilities, just Unique Skills and Special Skills. That's why you'll occasionally notice me using them interchangeably. Occasionally they do refer to them as abilities but whenever they use the actual names both are referred to as Skills.  Just as a note because it could cause confusion in the wording this chapter.

Side Story 26 Part 2 - In the Case of Mitsuse Kenji (Age 29 at time of accident)

In the carriage on the way to the capital Randgriz, Hekusa offered his gratitude for being saved from close to the worst possible circumstances. In addition, while he told them how he was in Zokuis village since he was reborn and hadn't left since then and since there was nothing dramatic to it they seemed to have lost interest n Hekusa's upbringing and immediately asked about his Unique Ability. It seems that this was their real interest.

"Come to think of it Barnes, what's your Unique Ability?"

The most arrogant one, the first prince Belgridd asked. After hearing that Hekusa was confused for just a moment but quickly thought of it. Even when they showed statuses just now there wasn't a Unique Ability. In other words not just family and people of the village but other reincarnated Japanese people can't see Unique Abilities either.

Hekusa felt a bit of resistance to honestly responding. They're nobles. Not to mention two of them are the sons of Dukes that rule over this country. Even more so both of them are the eldest sons as he just confirmed on their status. In addition they even said that they're the heirs. Furthermore there's the eldest daughter of a Baron imperial court sorcerer. The last one is a commoner but seems to have known them for quite a while and is talking to them normally without any sort of reservations that can be felt.

I can't let myself be swallowed by the mood. I need to speak confidently here myself. If I can't then I'll be looked down on and spend the rest of my life wearing the debt of being saved. I'm already starting out on a minus relationship in terms of power to these four. No matter what I say when I was on the verge of becoming a slave(though my status hasn't changed yet I'm already basically a slave) I can't imagine that any more of a gap will open in the authority difference of our relationship but I need to somehow avoid becoming mentally below them.

In any case I need to earn some time. Even if it's just a bit I want some time to think.

"Umm, putting aside Unique Abilities, what kind of relationship do you all have?"

While pretending to not pay any mind to it, Hekusa carefully asked a question that sounds perfectly natural. My Unique Ability is the type that is effective when it comes to directly fighting between Japanese people. Just from what I can vaguely remember of God's conversation all Japanese people are born with different Unique Abilities. Even if it doesn't come to all of them, it would be best pull out as much information on Unique Abilities before I respond.

Of course, I have no intention of becoming enemies with the royalty and highest ranking nobles of this country that they are. It's a matter of selling the hands you have for as high of a price as possible. For that sake even if it's only a few types I need to get a grasp on a couple of their Unique Abilities first.

"Nn, come to think of it we had only confirmed our status. The first ones who met was Alex and I. I think it was around the time we were six years old. Around six years ago from now. Since he had the face of this cheeky as hell Japanese person I was~ quite surprised."

The one who called himself Senleid.Stahlz, the eldest son of the Duke said quite cheerfully.

"What are you saying, even though you were basically raised in a box and didn't even know how to look at Status until then.."

In regards to that prince Alexander.Belgridd replied while appearing to remember something that amused him with a broad smile.

"After that, I think it was around the start of last year? Ah, spring. We met Myul during a garden party."

Stahlz has completely decided to ignore what Belgridd said.

"Yeah, I was surprised at that time. When I told this guy about an idiot swinging a strange cloth on top of a tree and after looking at it for a bit he said, "Hey, isn't that the Japanese flag?" after all. It's my first time seeing a purple Japanese flag."

Belgridd didn't mind the quick talking he had done and jumped on Stahlz's conversation as well.

"Che..it can't be helped right? I only had wine. Of course it'll become purple. If you could think of a better method than that please tell me."

This time the commoner man named Myuneil.Sagal said while not looking very amused. It seems that his father is a squire that serves his majesty Agenol.Belgridd the current King and Alexander Belgridd's grandfather. Even though he's the same commoner, there's a difference of heaven and earth from Hekusa.

"After that, I think it was around summer? From a strange place we found out the possibility that the daughter of Baron Geguran the imperial court sorcerer might be Japanese. When we tried meeting we were surprised. She was Japanese and furthermore she could already use magic after all."

"Though my void magic is still only level 4. Barnes-san if you're interested I'll teach you as well."

While making a light smile the eldest daughter of a baron who introduced herself as Rentia.Geguran said. I see, so even the one who is the least familiar with them has known them for at least a year. It seems like it wouldn't be all that simple to enter their group. Rather it might be more convenient to put some distance between them in order to search for my older brother.

"Oh, that's right. Barnes-san it might be good for you to learn magic from Ren. Since Alex and Sel have their positions and they have a variety of things they have to do they can't really spend much time training with magic. I can't go to the capital all that often either. Even if I'm like this I have to do various things at my house as well"

"Nn..Certainly that's true. Sel and I haven't been able to properly training with magic. In the first place it's suspicious if we even have aptitude for it. Even Myul can only use two types of elemental magic other than void magic. Barnes don't you need to search for your older brother? In that case it might be somewhat convenient to learn magic as well. Since it seems that adventurers have to directly fight against monsters."

Magic huh..In Zokuis village the only ones who could use it was Viscount Garorias, his children, and some of the commoner squires. It's not as if there weren't no people among the serfs that couldn't use it as well. If you were to ask if I have aptitude, or rather talent with magic I don't know but if I can use then I'm sure it would become an effective hand. Thinking that Hekusa lowered his head to Rentia.Geguran.

"Geguran-san. Please teach me magic. I'll definitely become able to use, and I know it's not really something to promise over but I intend to put forth my utmost effort in learning it."

"Yeah, of course it's fine. Ah, that's right, about your Unique Ability, but what was it again? Mine specializes in using magic and it's called 【Magic Acquisition】. There's no level to this Unique Ability but for some reason last month in the area levels normally are it suddenly changed to (MAX)...It seems that this ability makes it easier to get a handle on how to use spells but even then it's difficult. Rather than that since last month when the level changed to (MAX) my mana recovery speed has been amazing."

"Yeah, come to think of it you said something like that. That it recovers at 10 times faster or something..My Unique Ability is called 【Super Recovery】. It's level 6 right now. Even if I get injured it recovers at a considerable speed. I don't even need healing spells."

After saying that Stahlz and Geguran looked at Hekusa. It seems that Stahlz seems to have some pride in his Unique Ability. It was only a short period of time but Hekusa was able to gather his thoughts for a bit. The amount of material gathered was insufficient but the conclusion he came to was that Unique Abilities are a life line in some meanings. It would probably be best to use a bluff or anything here.

"I see..that's amazing. What is Sagal-sans?"

"Hn? Mine is the dullest here. It's called 【Resistance: (Paralyze) {Paralyze Tolerance}】. Also, it's different from magic but there's a special ability..or rather skill, that's passed through the bloodline in my family called "Disguise"..

Sagal said it a bit embarrassed.

(I think it's pretty amazing that you can't be paralyzed though it's true that compared to these two it feels like a dull Unique Ability)

After all Unique Abilities are something like a life line or a trump card. It would probably be best to say it with full confidence.

"I see, everyone is quite amazing. My Unique Ability is geared towards disputes. Probably, if I were to properly train it then it would be a considerable advantage in conflicts. Kendo was a specialty of mine as well. My skill with the sword is pretty decent."

Kendo itself was something I learned from my older brother in middle, high school, and college so I have a decent amount of confidence in it. I didn't have any sort of connection with national competitions but even then I made it to the 4th dan and if I use a long weapon I won't fall behind someone very easily 1v1. Since I trained my body through field work if I get some proper nutrition and rest then I should be able to overwhelm people in the same generation as me.

Even though it was after the locusts, it's not as if I didn't do any combat training at all. I was able to do swinging at first and then I could watch the movements of Viscount Garorias and his squires as well. In the first place Kendo is a completely different style of sword fighting from the double-edged blades they use but compared to the style of sword fighting they use on Orth while wearing heavy armor and shields that focuses on thrusts it feels slow compared to Kendo.

"My Unique Ability is 【Skill Invalidation】. I've never used it even once up until now. In the past, according to what I heard from the God who appeared in my dream I can't use it unless another Japanese person who was reborn uses a skill nearby me but it seems it can invalidate the Unique Abilities of all the reincarnated people."

Though Hekusa was saying this, he's started to think that it might not be limited to just invalidating Unique Abilities based on the way God worded it. Probably, it can invalidate skills like those of non-humans, and ones like the Sagal families "Disguise" that he just mentioned.

"What!?"

Prince Belgridd's eyes went wide. Hekusa noticed, come to think of it I still haven't heard the princes Unique Ability yet.

"No, wait just a minute..you've never used it before...Then different from Ren yours should really be in the level 0 state...Barnes-san, you said you met God right? What does that mean? Are you lying?"

Stahlz said it while tremendously suspicious and moved closer to Hekusa. Hekusa couldn't understand what he was saying at all.

If you were to ask if he was lying then a portion of it was a lie but that was just covering up a portion of the effects of his Unique Ability. However, there's no way for them to know that at this point. Could it be one of these two used some kind of magic? No, these two didn't have any sort of magic skills. In that case either Sagal or Geguran would have had to secretly use some kind of magic and without realizing it I obstructed that, and these two used some method to convey that?

Hekusa was confused suddenly being approached over the parts he wasn't aware about and somehow managed to twist out some words.

"Ly..lying..That's rude! Under what basis are you saying something like that?"

While watching that Stahlz and Hekusa Sagal crossed his arms and opened his mouth.

"Well wait just a moment, Sel. We don't know if it's really a lie or not..in the first place we still haven't talked about God yet. In a situation like this it's unnatural that he would suddenly say he met God...{Status Open}..He doesn't have any skills..Hey, Barnes-san. I'm sure you're suddenly confused but I'll teach you. You can't meet God unless the level of one your skills increases. At the very least that's what the four of us thought."

"Eh?"

Hekusa was confused.

"I met God around the time I was 7 years old. I think it was the first time my "Disguise" skill leveled up. After all I hadn't used my Unique Ability even once up until then. Even then I was able to meet God. That's why we already confirmed that you can meet God even if it isn't your Unique Ability that levels up."

It was a bolt out of the blue for Hekusa. I couldn't imagine that they would retort on something like that.

"The other three than me all met God after their Unique Ability leveled up. In my case it wasn't the Unique ability but my special skill "Disguise" so I think that's for sure. Barnes-san, I don't think you've said any lies. However, I also think you haven't said everything."

"What does that mean?"

Geguran asked a bit curiously.

"For example. If he has some sort of special skill like my "Disguise". And it's similar to Unique Abilities in that it doesn't show up in Status. There's no way of investigating something like that other than if they report it them self. That might have leveled up. Also, there's one more possibility as well. It could be thought there's some kind of level factor other than Status...Ah~ everyone don't look at me with faces like that. It's just my imagination."

"Wai..wait just a minute. There's levels other than skills?"

Hekusa said as if he was panicking.

"No, I just said it was just my guess right? I don't know."

Sagal shrugged his shoulders.

"Wait..what Myul just said makes sense as well...There might be something like a level that can't be seen with {Status Open}...In the first place Unique Abilities can only be seen by the person them self and even the info about special skill levels can only be seen by each individual...It wouldn't be surprising even if there was info the person them self can't see.."

Belgridd covers his face with his left hand and holds his opened right hand towards Sagal while saying it with pauses.

"Ha~? What in the world is that?"

Stahlz said while making fun of it a bit.

Sagal the one who said it him self, was a bit shaken even though he said it. What is it? I feel like I'm caught on something...Level other than skills? Leveling up..And then he hit his knee as if he came to it.

"It's level! That's right, it's a level! If you mention leveling up, then there's level right!? He, Barnes-san leveled up!"

Everyone was looking at Sagal who suddenly raised a loud voice strangely. However, there was one person who responded in a calm voice.

"That's right. It's just as Myul said. It's a level. Barnes isn't lying, is what it means. Most likely, Barnes level itself increased. It happens often in games right? The so-called experience levels."

It seems that Belgridd and Sagal came to the came conclusion at almost the same time.

"What are you saying? Then are you saying if you level up things like "strength", "speed", and "luck" increase? That sounds retarded~"

Stahlz said it as if casting it aside but you could tell he had some expectations in his tone of voice as well.

"Wun, since I've never played a game I don really get it.."

Geguran doesn't really seem to understand and whispered that in a small voice.

"Hmph, well it's fine. Barnes, let's test your Unique Ability 【Skill Invalidation】. I want to know the effects of it. It would be troublesome if you struggle so just in case we'll tie you up. If, you start to feel hungry we'll feed you, and if you get tired it's fine if you go to sleep."

While Belgridd was saying that, Stahlz and Sagal were taking some rope out from under the seat in the carriage intending to tie Hekusa up with. Just Geguran was making a bluntly displeased face.

"Wh..What are!?"

"Ah, it's your first time using your Unique Ability right? Then I guess it's not unreasonable that you wouldn't know...In order to use Unique Abilities you use mana. If you end up running out of mana it's troublesome. This is just in case."

Stahlz and Sagal said that while spinning the rope around Hekusa.

"Now then..it should be about a good time. It doesn't seem like we can test 【Super Recovery】 with it so easily since it would be troublesome if that becomes ineffective. I guess 【Paralyze Tolerance】 is fine..Ren, use the spell {Paralyze} on Myul. After that, Myul try to resist it using your Unique Ability. Barnes you try to block that."

After Belgridd ordered that and Geguran said "it can't be helped" while preparing to use a spell on Sagal. It was only a matter of about 10 seconds before Sagal's body stiffened up and started shaking as if he had the chills. It's a symptom of paralysis.

"I'll count to three. Barnes, when the count down reaches zero Myul will try to escape the paralysis with his Unique Ability 【Paralyze Tolerance】. Use your Unique Ability 【Skill Invalidation】 to try and invalidate that. The method to use an ability is simple. Just concentrate on it like when you normally use an ability. Let's start..three, two, one, zero!"

Before the countdown started Hekusa noticed a strange and peculiar feeling from Geguran the moment she looked at Sagal. About 10 seconds after she started giving off this strange feeling it disappeared before the count down started. In addition once the count reached zero there was a different strange sensation. This time the source of it was Sagal.

(Is this the sensation of a reincarnated Japanese person using their skill? So it's something I can tell before I even use my Unique Ability...Alright, I'll try it out. I need to sell this as high as possible.)

Thinking that Hekusa concentrated on his unique Ability 【Skill Invalidation】 inside of his head. In that instant the strange feeling vanished. Simultaneously there was an intense feeling of accumulated mental anxiety and a strong fatigue that washed over. Somehow I can tell that I can use it once, but the second time would be difficult.

"Th..this is a Unique Ability..huh?"

He went into a daze because of the happening.

Belgridd, Stahlz, and Geguran weren't bothering to look at that Hekusa but rather observing Sagal's state. There wasn't anything that changed on Sagal. Just the same as usual his entire body was convulsing.

"Myulu, it's already fine."

Belgridd called out to him like that but there was no change in Sagal. Let alone that there seemed to be something like panic appearing in Sagal's eyes.

"Barnes! Stop the 【Skill Invalidation】!"

After being told that Hekusa tried willing things like "stop", "end", or "pause" in his head in a panic.
Several seconds later Sagal recovered.

"Buha!! Ah~ I panicked...It felt like I could still use my Unique Ability itself but it wasn't showing those effects...I thought I would end up having to remain under the effects of Ren's spell until the duration was up.."

All four of them looked at Hekusa with different looks.

.......................

During the three week period before they arrived at the capital, centering around Belgridd they progressively tried to analyze Hekusa's Unique Ability 【Skill Invalidation】. Since Hekusa's mana runs out after only using it a couple of times, they tried assuming various situations without having much conversation.

As a result of that the things that they learned was that the effect of the skill was about 10 minutes per level. However, depending on Hekusa's will he can cancel it mid-way through. Once he cancels it he can't restart the time on it. There's no other choice than to use 【Skill Invalidation】 once more. It was capable of invalidating all four of their Unique Abilities. The range of the ability is 20 meters per level centered around Hekusa.

Furthermore, once Hekusa uses 【Skill Invalidation】 unless Hekusa cancels the ability during the duration of the effect while all Unique Abilities can be used inside of the range, they won't have any effect. It was easy to tell this when it came to Unique Abilities with a continued effect. If Stahlz cuts his hand with a knife inside of the range of 【Skill Invalidation】 and tries to use 【Super Recovery】 then it won't have any effect.

Normally, 【Super Recovery】 is something that reduces the amount of time it takes for heals to fully recover but the moment it's used some amount of bleeding will stop. However, inside of the range of 【Skill Invalidation】 that wasn't the case. After that, once he tried leaving the effective range of it there was no need to use the ability 【Super Recovery】 and it would immediately start showing it's effect stopping most of the bleeding from the wound.

Thanks to this there was something new confirmed about Sagal's unique Ability 【Paralyze Tolerance】 as well. If just like the time with 【Super Recovery】 after he has the spell {Paralyze} cast on him he tries to use 【Paralyze Tolerance】 inside of the effective range it won't show any effect but the moment Sagal is carried outside of the range he recovers from the paralysis. In other words, while they only thought 【Paralyze Tolerance】 was used in the instant it was cast it they found out it actually had an effect duration.

Furthermore, in regards to magic skills but they established that these could be obstructed as well. They were unable to use magic inside of the effective range of 【Skill Invalidation】 during the remaining time of it's effect. However, just the same if a spell that has an effect duration is used the moment they're carried outside of the effective range it starts showing those effects.

Even if they use the spell {Light} on a rock inside of the effective range it won't shine but once they carry it outside it will suddenly give off light. And, here they found out something new again. If they use a {Light} which will shine for 5 minutes inside of the effective range and wait 1 minute before carrying it out, after that it will only give off light for 4 minutes.

In other words, the activation isn't delayed, inside the effective range you can still use Unique Abilities and magic. It's just that the effects won't manifest. However, in the case of magic, if it's an effect that comes from outside of the effective range it will still continue. If a shining rock is brought into the effect range from outside it will still continue to shine. If you bring a rock with {Light} cast on it outside of the range right after using it and it starts shining, then bring it back inside the light doesn't disappear. But, it's only obvious once the 5 minutes of the magic is up it disappears.

However, Hekusa remained quiet about an important point here. Before he even uses 【Skill Invalidation】, he can feel the sensation when reincarnated Japanese people use both Unique Abilities and Special Skills but he reported that the only thing he could feel was Unique Abilities. Since the feeling he gets differs depending on whether it's a Unique Ability or a Special Skill, one of the reasons is that only Hekusa can differentiate them.

The other reason is because he was able to feel reservations from Belgridd. Even though he's a former Japanese person, since he's still royalty his arrogant attitude is nothing to get angry over. It's believed he has a powerful Unique Ability fitting for royal so Hekusa himself accepted it to some extent. However, maybe it's because he has a Unique Ability that can turn that to nothing in an instant, a few days after that met Hekusa somehow started to feel a distance. It's not like he's openly avoiding me or looking down on me so it might just be my imagination.

Furthermore, there was one more thing that Hekusa felt unnatural. Hekusa wanted to have a conversation about nostalgic things in Japan but whenever Stahlz or Sagal start talking about things like that, Belgridd always tries to change the topic to something else. Particularly that tendency can be felt strongly when it regards conversations about age and occupation.

Since Stahlz and Sagal were in their 30s and I myself was just before 30 when I died. Geguran was even an elderly person. Most likely, I think that Belgridd was young? The things he's saying aren't all that strange and there's no young feeling to it so maybe around high school age? That's probably become a complex and after realizing that Hekusa decided not to touch on it.

By the time they arrived at the capital Hekusa's Unique Ability had reached level 3. Immediately after arriving, Hekusa was changed from commoner to salve at the temple, and then immediately released and became a Free Person. He was given a small house within walking distance from the royal castle and granted a horse as well. Also, as preparations he was given 20 gold coins to either hire some allies or buy slaves.

Hekusa felt a bit of resistance towards buying a slave but Sagal said "Either way it's the Prince's money so don't worry about it and just buy a slave." so he decided to buy one slave to look after his house and horse.

Several months after this, he started learning magic from Geguran, and that training continued for about a year before it started to bloom. If it wasn't showing any sign of going anywhere then he intended to completely give up and buy slaves or find allies to start searching for his brother in the royal territory and Duke Stahlz territory. After talking about that Belgridd was pleased and said, "It would be good for you to do that."

................

One year or so later, after acquiring three elemental magics excluding water and void magic Hekusa left on a trip to search for his older brother. As a job for adventurers under the pretext of an escort he hired 3 veteran adventurers. All three of them were skilled adventurers introduced through the government office under prince Belgridd's pressure.

Another year passed. About once in every six months Hekusa would return to the capital with a map of the area but it was limited to just meeting up with Geguran for a bit and then he would immediately leave again. Out of the four Japanese people, the three men all joined the white phoenix knight group and one of the reasons was it wasn't so easy to meet with them there.

He casually returns, drops off the map, and then leaves. In order to frantically search for his older brother Hekusa didn't want to return at all but there was no other choice than to think that couldn't be helped.

However, it was such a time as that he finally managed to meet his older brother. He was living a reasonably comfortable life as the third son of the lord of a village called Ridas on the Eastern part of Duke Stahlz's territory. In the range of reincarnation it was somewhere in the mid-way point between the Eastern and Southeastern area. The siblings talked about various things for a number of days.

"I see. Since I still haven't reached adulthood I thought it was a bit early but I guess it's about time for me to leave the house as well."

There's still another six months until 15 years old.

"Bro, is that fine? It's fine even if you don't hurry and overdo things. If I keep saying that I haven't found you yet I can still pull some more money out of them."

"Yeah, I'm sure that would work. But, they say to hurry with what's right. It would be best to start making preparations as soon as possible. It's necessary to gain as much information as possible while we're still young."

"Hn, well if bro says so.."

Once night on the trip back, after coming up with an adequate excuse they decided to stay not inside of the village but camp on the side of the road which was still reasonably safe, and after saying he would keep lookout himself he killed the three escort adventurers.
After spending close to a year as an adventurer Hekusa's sensation for murder had numbed quite a bit but even then laying his hands on the allies he had spent the last year or so with required quite a bit of resolve. Also, it was the first time he felt a bit of guilty towards the act of murder.

Chapter end