Volume 1 Chapter 2

Chapter 2 : Status Plate

It’s explanation time.

* * *

Since they all agreed to participate in the war, the students would have to learn how to fight. Even if they had a lot of extra power and potential, they were all just regular Japanese high school students that were used to peace. Suddenly fighting monsters and devils would not go well.

However, the church and parties involved had already predicted this circumstance, Ishtar said, this church is located on “God’s Mountain” and at the foot is the “Hairihi Kingdom” have arrange for this. The kingdom had a very close relationship with the Church, the god that they worshipped, was the God of Creation Eht and this country was founded by the family of Charm Byrne. The relationship was strong because the church supported this country.

The students went out the front gate of the church. They were going to descend the mountain and visit the Hairihi Kingdom. The church was located at the summit of “God’s Mountain”. When the majestic church gates opened, there was a sea of clouds there to greet them. Even if it was very high, they did not feel the effects of the high altitude. Maybe it was because the magic made it a more comfortable living environment. They were fascinated with the grand scene of the blue sky, the sparkling sun, and the sea of clouds.

Ishtar urged them to proceed, while boasting about something. Eventually a circular white pedestal surround by fences came into their view. The beautiful corridor was made of the same material as seen in the cathedral they approached the pedestal and rode on it.

On the pedestal, there were huge magic formations carved into it. Because there was a sea of clouds on the other side of the fence, the students gathered in the center restlessly.

Ishtar started to chant.

“The road that leads, opens for the faithful, “Tendou”.”

As soon as he said that, the magic formation started to shine. The pedestal started to move smoothly like it was on a ropeway, it moved diagonally towards the ground. Apparently, the “chant” empowered the magic formation engraved into the pedestal. The pedestal was most likely a ropeway. For the students, seeing magic the first time made them excited. When the pedestal broke into the clouds, it caused an uproar.

Eventually, it passed through the clouds and the ground could be seen. They could see a big town underneath. A huge castle was built into the mountain and the castle town spread from the castle. This was the Hairihi Kingdom. The pedestal lead them to the roof of a very expensive tower that was connected to the royal palace.

Hajime cynically laughed at the production value at display. To descend from the heavens through the sea of clouds, they were being presented as the Chosen of God. They just didn’t present the students in a good light, but also the members of the church.

Hajime remembered the pre-war Japan days. At that time religion and politics were closely tied together. There was a likelihood that it would lead to trouble later on. However, this world may be even more strained. After all, this world had the power to touch other worlds, all the while following the “Will of God”.

The possibility of them returning, all relied on saving the world on the feelings of their god. While looking over the Capital city and its view becoming clearer, Hajime suppressed the uneasiness he felt in his heart. Anyway, he was going to do what he can.

* * *

When they arrived at the Royal Palace, they were ushered into the throne room straight away. They walked through the corridors and could not help but notice the beauty of the decorations. Along the way, they saw someone dressed up like a knight. they also passed by some maids, everyone was fully uniformed. They looked at the students with awe. The students seemed to be popular or known already.

Hajime seemed uncomfortable so he stuck around at the end of the group. They arrived in front of a set of huge double doors that was designed beautifully, two Soldiers stood at attention on both sides of the door when Ishtar and the party came. Without waiting for a reply, they opened the door.

Ishtar just leisurely entered like it was the natural thing to do. Students filed in feeling a little uneasy, with the exception of Kouki.

At that point I entered the doorway too. There was a red carpet that led from the entrance all the way to a luxurious throne. On the throne sat a middle aged man that conveyed ambition and dignity. They all stood before the throne and waited. There was a woman next to the throne, that seemed to be the queen. Next to her was a 10 year old boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. A 15-16 year old Bishoujo was next to him, and there was a small 7-8 year old girl that accompanied her. There were people that looked like civil officers on the right side of the carpet, on the left were what looked like to be military officers.

Arriving in front of the throne, Hajime’s group stopped, while Ishtar proceeded next to the King. The King lightly kissed the Pope’s hand as a sign of respect. Apparently, the Pope was the top dog here. This just confirmed Hajime’s theory that the country was run by “God”, he sighed inwardly at that.

From there, they introduced themselves. The King’s name was Erihido S. B. Hairihi. Luruaria the Queen, Randell the prince, 1st princess Liliana, and 2nd princess Maribelle. After, the prime minister, Knight commander, and other high status people introduced themselves. It seemed that Kaori’s charm was universal because the young prince was gazing admiringly at her.

A banquet was held after and they were able to enjoy this world’s cuisine. The appearance of this kingdom was very similar to olden Europeans of Earth. The drink they served was pink in color but glistened like a rainbow, it was very delicious.

The prince seemed to take a liking to Kaori because he was often talking to Kaori, and this got a lot of the class boys fretting. Hajime did not expect much chance for the prince because he was just 10 years old.

In the royal palace, they were introduced to the instructors that would train them. They also would provided shelter, food, and clothing for all of them. The instructors were handpicked from the Knights, Imperial Court Mages, and much more. This would allow them to develop friendships for the forthcoming war.

After they were finished with the dinner, each person was lead to their own room. Hajime was not the only one to be amazed by the bed that had a canopy over it. Hajime was uncomfortable in such a luxurious room. Still the room allowed for all the strain and stress they got today to melt away. He laid on the bed and he slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Training and lectures began the very next day.

First, each of the students were introduced to a silver plate (12cm x 7 cm). The students looked at the plates curiously. Knight Commander Meld Loggins started to explain.

He thought it was good to have a constant attendance for training, he did not seem to be able to leave it to the students to clear up their mess. Besides Meld, there was the Deputy Leader, who just laughed and said it was going to be alright. Well the Deputy leader may be alright.

“Yoshi, did everyone get one? These plates are called Status Plates. Literally, these plates will show your stats and status. The plate also serves as an identification card. As long as you have this, you cannot get lost, so don’t lose it.”

Meld had a very carefree way of speaking. He had an open-hearted character, since they were going to be comrades was he going to speak formally to them. He advised that they talk to each other in a normal manner. They asked them to feel at ease. The students did not feel comfortable addressing their elders in such a nonchalant way.

“There are magic cravings on the plate. I will make a small wound with a needle on your finger, just drip a drop of your blood onto that magic formation. Then the owner of that plate will be registered. If you say “Status Open”, the plate will display you your stats. Ah, have you never heard of such a thing? I didn’t know that. This is a kind of artifact from ancient times. ”

“Artifact?”

Kouki asked the question because he was not familiar with the word.

“The artifact is a powerful tool that cannot be reproduced with modern means. It is said that they were created when God and his family still roamed this land. The status plate is one of the artifacts he left behind that cannot be reproduced. It is usually would be called a national treasure rather than an artifact, but it is distributed in the generally public. Because it was a very convenient ID card. ”

I see, so the student’s poked their fingers for their blood and smeared their blood onto the plates to activate the innate magic. The magic formation shined red for an instant. Hajime did the same with his blood and plate.

To see the stats displayed, he couldn’t help but feel like he was a character in a game. The other students were looking over their status seriously. The stats were than explained to them by Meld.

“Did everyone see? Let me explain. First, let go over “level”. The level will increase if you get an increase in stats. The max level for a human was 100. In other words, the level shows the base and potential that a human can reach. When you reach level 100, then you have achieved the potential of humans. It is very rare for someone to reach that though.”

Unlike games, leveling up does not mean getting extra stats in our case.

“Your stats can be raised by training, magic, or magical tools. Also, someone with a high magic stat allows other stats to increase faster. Although we don’t know the whole detail, it is believe that magical power somehow assists the physical body to improve.

Afterwards, look forward to the gear we selected for you. After all, you are the heroes. The national treasury is being used to supply you!”

From what Meld said, just because you kill a demon or monster does not guarantee your stats will go up. The stats will improve steadily with practice and experience.

“Next we are going to cover “Class”. Simply this is the talent you have. The skills you have at the end of your status is directly linked to the class you have. People who have a class are rare. The classes can be divided into two category: combat classes and non-combat classes. A combat class only shows up in 1 out of 1000 people with classes. Non-combat class only shows up in 1 out of 100 people. Out of those non-combat jobs there are about 1 out of 10 that have an extraordinary class. Most of the people in non-combat classes have manufacturing classes.”

Hajime took a look at his stats. Surely his class was “Synergist”. He was gifted the ability to “synergize”. Well, they were from a stronger world, so naturally he should have higher specs than a normal person from Tortus. Hajime just slightly smirked at that thought. After all he was glad to have talent. However his joy was short lived because Meld started to explain more about the stats.

“So…let’s see everyone’s stats. For example, the average person has stats of around 10 at level 1. Well you guys should have several times higher than that. So enviable! Please give reports on what your status plate says. This is so we can develop a training regimen that fits each of you.”

The average person at level 1 has stats around 10. Hajime’s stats lined up perfectly to display 10s on all of them. Hajime tilt his head and scratched at it as he broke out in an unpleasant sweat.

(Are? No matter how you look at it, I’m so average…so absolutely average. Not a cheat. I’m not “TUEEEE”(?) What about everyone else? Maybe it was like this in the beginning.)

Hajime clings to that hope as he looks around at the others. Everyone else had a bright face, nothing like how Hajime’s face was like.

Immediately responding to Meld’s request, Kouki steps forward to report his status.

The definition of a Cheat.

“Ho, truly a hero. To be at the same stats as me at level 1…I’m a little depressed. Usually a person only has 2 to 3 skills…unbelievable. Very reliable.”

“Iya~, Ahaha…”

Kouki scratches his head in embarrassment at Meld’s praise. By the way, Meld is level 62. His stats average at around 200, and this is considered top-level in the world for a human. However, Kouki is already at half his stats at only level 1. At this growth rate, he will overpass him quickly.

By the way, Skill can equate to talent and that is something that cannot be changed. The only exception is “Derivation Skill.” This derives from polishing ones skill for many years, this skill is acquired when the person can “break through the wall” to acquire it. It sounds easy, but it has not been done before, it would mean to get a boost in skill level in just one day.

It was thought that only Kouki was special, but the others had superior stats, although not as good as Kouki, they can still be considered cheats. A lot of the classmates had combat classes too. Hajime just looked at his class name. When trying to imagine his class, it was not possible to see this class in battle. Also, he only had two skills. One of them was the default language comprehension too. Truthfully, he only had one real skill then. Hajime just gave a dry smile at that. Because he had to report to him, Hajime handed his plate to Meld.

Until now, Meld had a great expression from seeing all those special status plates. To be able to have so many strong comrades was a joy. Meld’s expression retained its smile as he stated “Huh?” He beat the plate Hajime handed to him to see if it was malfunctioning, and held it up to the light. After staring at it, he returned the plate to Hajime with an unremarkable expression.

“Ah, this is. If you think about Synergists, it was a crafting class. It’s useful if you want to be a blacksmith…”

Meld described the class to Hajime with as much articulation as he could. The boys who did not like Hajime, would jump at opportunity to make fun of Hajime. The class was clearly a non-combat class. All his classmates had combat classes, Hajime would not be helpful in the future battles because of this.

While grinning, Hiyama Daisuke screamed out.

“Oi Oi, Nagumo. It can’t possibly be, but did you get a non-combat class? How can a crafting class fight? Meld-san, is this class rare?”

“…Iya, 1 out of every 10 crafting class is one. All the countries employ a lot of them.”

“Oi oi, Nagumo~, are you going to fight like that?”

Hiyama throws an arm around Hajime’s shoulder, this just annoys Hajime. If you look around at the students, the boys in particular were grinning at his misfortune.

“Sa~, I won’t know if I don’t try it out.”

“Jyaa, let us see your stats. The class isn’t that great, but you do have great stats, right?”

He could already guess the stats from the expression Meld had earlier, he just wanted to bully Hajime even more. He really is a bastard. His three lackeys also joined in on the fun. It was the typical behavior, the lackeys joined in with their leader while he picked on someone. The fact was though, Kaori and Shizuku had very unpleasant expression at the bullying.

If Daisuke liked Kaori, how was he not able to read her disdain for this kind of treatment? Hajime just handed the plate like it was nothing.

When he looked at Hajime’s plate, Hiyama laughed at it. He passed the plate to the others and his followers also joined in on the laughter.

“Fu~Hahahaha, what is this? All of it is so average.”

“Kya~hahah, all of it is 10. He is probably weaker than the kids around the block.

“Hi~hahahah, I can’t take it! He is going to die! He can’t even be a meat shield!”

Kaori started to approach the students that were laughing with an angry expression. However, before she got there, someone let out a voice filled with anger. It was Aiko-sensei.

“Kora-! What are you guys laughing at? Laughing at your fellow classmate is something I will not allow! I will absolutely not allow it! Return Nagumo-kun’s plate!”

Aiko-sensei tried to express her anger as well as she could have with her tiny body. The plate was reluctantly returned to Hajime after that.

Aiko-sensei tried to cheer Hajime up by tapping his shoulders.

“Nagumo-kun, don’t mind it at all. I’m also a non-combat class. Just like my class, my stats are average. You’re not alone, Nagumo-kun.”

At that, Hajime was handed Aiko-sensei’s plate.

Hajime look at the plate with dead-fish eyes.

“Are, what’s the matter? Nagumo-kun!” Aiko-sensei started to shake Hajime. Yeah, her stats overall was average, her class was also non-combat, but if only comparing magic it was hero level. She also had quite a number of skills. Resources were a big problem in wars. Unlike Hajime’s class, this was a very good alternative. Aiko-sensei was good enough to be considered a cheat.

This damaged him even more because he thought he was not alone.

“Ara Ara, Ai-chan stop sparkling…”

“Na-Nagumo-kun! Are you okay?”

Hajime was no longer responding, Shizuku just smiled wryly at it. Kaori runs up anxiously. Aiko just tilts her head in confusion. As usual, Aiko-sensei was somewhat of an airhead.

Although it did stop the bullying Hajime was going through, but it seemed that the future was going to be hard for Hajime.

* * *

Setting is haphazard.

Possibility of modification is high.