Skill Tree Goddess:Volume1 Chapter2

Chapter 2: The Deep Woods Feel Different When There are High Elves There

Part 1

Sismond Johnson was bored.

There was nothing for a 9-year-old boy to do in his small, peaceful village.

The grownups had told him to never leave the village. All of them had. They said the forest immediately outside the village was dangerously vast and deep. But Sismond knew it wasn’t all that dangerous. The village prospered as a midpoint used by merchants traveling from one major city to another, so many people came and went with monster bites being few and far between.

“Hm, hm♪”

The forest was a special place. And because the grownups kept telling him not to go there, it carried an immoral air instead of simply a mystical one. But most of it all, he was free here. This wasn’t like building a secret base in an empty part of the village.

That said, eating any of the wild plants would be too dangerous since he didn’t know which ones were safe. So he decided to do some fishing and started toward a gentle stream while making a rod out of a wingnut branch.

On the way, he glimpsed a golden gleam from between the dark forest trees.

It came from some hair. He also saw long ears.

(That’s an elf!)

This was a surprise, but he kept quiet. Because saying something might scare off the elf.

There were several different kinds of elf, but the ones with long ears were the rarest variety: the high elf. Glimpsing one even for a moment was something of a miracle. They were a sign of good luck found even in children’s picture books.

This one was an older girl with pale skin and long blonde hair tied back. The item in her hands appeared to be a longbow, but it had a lot of modifications here and there. She looked to be around 17 and her damp hair suggested she may have just been bathing.

And aside from the elf herself, Sismond couldn’t believe there was a shortcut here! He lived here and had never known. He doubted his friends knew about it either. This meant a lot. A shortcut no one else knew about was just as attractive as a secret base. Elves really were good luck.

Sismond Johnson followed the elf down the animal trail. He was careful not to make much noise as he stepped on and parted the underbrush. Where did this lead? He needed to know that if he was going to brag about the shortcut to his friends in the village.

…But he had never heard of a village of elves in this vast forest. Nevertheless, here was an elf. Then was she resting here while on a longer journey?

And then.

Sismond Johnson suddenly stopped. He had finally noticed. He took a look around.

“Huh?”

Where had the high elf girl gone?

And more than that…

“Where am I?”

Oops. Why oops? Because he had reflexively spun around to take a look. All the trees here looked the same, so he couldn’t even tell which way he had come from. Which way was the village? He couldn’t even find the road used by merchants. Could he even get home now?

And then he heard a sound. From behind.

A rustling.

Part 2

It was a pleasant morning.

Gilbezos was in his usual room in the usual inn.

“A little closer now, Gilbezos. There, caught you. And now your goddess will be cleaning out your ears★ Just lie on your side and rest your head here, okay? There, now that’s the perfect lap pillow★★★”

…Why?

After all that ultra serious stuff about stopping Brave Liar and keeping his promise with the king, how had his life reverted to the very brink of being a baby!? Was he cursed!?

“You don’t need to think about a thing. Just let your goddess handle it all while you enjoy your life. Hee hee. Look, look, I got so much from deep in there. Can you believe this? But don’t worry. I’ll clean it all out for you.”

“No! This kind of treatment first thing in the morning ruins people! B-besides, if I stay here in the peaceful city forever, I’ll never earn much LAW. If I want to earn enough for any real growth, I need to go fight in a dungeon where deadly danger is a constant companion!!”

“Really? And here I thought I was giving you a heart-stopping experience for a late bloomer like you.”

…He would prefer not to comment on that. What was with this sketchy lap pillow event?

“You’ve gotten so cold. It used to be I just had to pat my lap and you would rest your head there.”

“That was forever ago! When I was four or five!”

He needed to escape this strange LAW acquisition plan by switching to a more serious topic. Gilbezos Overridge did his best to slip out of the inescapable quagmire that was this goddess.

“Lady Seliphenia, open the Skill Tree real quick. I want to take another look at it. At the whole thing.”

In the past, he had mostly been choosing a combination of the skills Goddess Seliphenia suggested for him, but that wasn’t enough anymore. To better brainstorm ideas together, he wanted to know the Skill Tree better himself. He needed to be able to carefully choose his own skills.

“Hmm? Well, I can’t fault you for wanting to learn more. Okay, Skill Tree time.”

The goddess gestured as if stirring a large pot with a ladle in her hands and golden light flooded out of empty space. It formed the complex geometric patterns of the Skill Tree.

“Do you have to place it right in front of your navel?”

“Hey, you’re the one who kept complaining about how distracting it was at chest level.”

There were a few oddities among the complex gold lines. The blue flashing lights indicated the skill Gilbezos currently possessed.

“Ignoring the small buffs like HP+1 or AGI+3, the payback for all your current skills would get you about 4000 LAW. Starting from the bottom of the tree and moving up, that would not be enough to reach Rank 9.”

Learning a single Rank 9 skill required 512 LAW, but you couldn’t select one of those skills from the start. It cost a lot more LAW to climb the skill ladder starting at Rank 1.

As tracing the lines of the Skill Tree with a finger would show, climbing each rank required learning around 10 skills, even if they were only small buffs to HP or INT or whatever. So leaving even the Rank 1 zone required 20 LAW, but leaving Rank 7 required 1280 and leaving Rank 8 required 2560. The upper half of the tree was pricey.

In that case…

“Can I receive all my LAW back from those small buffs to HP and stuff too? That has to add up to something, right?”

If you really did receive payback for all of it, your Max HP would drop to 0 and you would drop dead on the spot. But if that’s what you want.”

Gh.

…Yes, all his basic stats like HP, MP, STR, and VIT came from those small buffs. That wasn’t something to take lightly.

“Come to think of it, there’s an HP buff up at Rank 9, isn’t there? …Wait, HP+1Billion!?”

Rank 9 really was overpowered. That was beyond excessive. With a billion HP, the enemy wouldn’t be able to tear through it all even if they had a type advantage, so you could brainlessly attack even the most powerful enemy and win in the end.

“I doubt that would work here,” said the goddess.

“?”

“We could see a couple of Brave Liar’s skills. And one of them was the bright and shining Rank 9 Certain Death.”

A top rank skill. And that name did not give him any warm and fuzzy feelings…

“What kind of skill is that?”

“If the skill user gets a critical hit, it will kill the enemy no matter how much HP they have left.”

So it was like a never-ending free-to-play death lottery? And even without getting a crit, the standard damage was still stupidly strong?

…Hold on. Just how overpowered could things get!?

“Now, now. No crying, Gilbezos. Smile for me. We’re still analyzing the enemy. We’re not fighting him yet.”

The tall goddess rubbed his head. From her position a head higher than him. …I wasn’t actually crying, but did I look like I was?

“Crits are rare, but they aren’t exactly unheard of, right?”

“Right. And since the skill is based on the critical hit determination of a standard attack, it can slip past the usual assumption that death magic doesn’t work during special boss battles. The legends say he’s slain at least 5 SSS-rank dragons, but I bet he used this skill. That means any plan based on boosting your HP or VIT won’t work.”

The short boy hung his head and trembled.

Why couldn’t that dark and pretentious man have at least one silly skill like “Brave Liar is still sleepily rubbing his eyes”?

“If you are going to battle Brave Liar, you need to first figure out what you’re going to do about Certain Death.”

That made sense.

First. That meant this was only the beginning and that monster still had much more beyond it.

Fire, water, wind, earth, other, light, shadow. Gilbezos doubted this would be a simple matter of figuring out which element to master.

“There are two ways of going about that. The first is to learn the Rank 9 skill Zombie HP. That one means you will survive even the most deadly attack with one HP remaining. That will give you a chance to just barely survive even if Certain Death hits you. Assuming you aren’t hit again before Zombie HP’s ten minute cooldown ends, that is.”

“Fine, but what am I supposed to do after getting my HP dropped to 1? That isn’t just a number – my actual body will be beaten down and on the verge of death. Who knows if I can even stay on my feet at that point.”

“It seems better than having it suddenly reduced to 0 to me.” Seliphenia laughed before continuing. “The second way is to learn all the AGI+ skills scattered across the tree’s lower levels, generally Ranks 1 through 3. Certain Death’s effect only kicks in if he gets a critical hit, so you will have more of a chance if you boost your odds of evading his attacks as much as possible.”

“So there’s nothing to fear if he can’t hit me?”

“Exactly. And your little body means your hitbox is, well, you know★”

…He was tempted to go with the passive safety of the latter option since he could escape unscathed that way, but it really came down to Brave Liar. If his speed and accuracy were absurdly high, that plan was meaningless.

Was there nothing else?

It seemed to Gilbezos like he would have more options if he could use Brave Liar’s abilities against him.

“Whether I’m going for a Rank 9 skill at the very top or a bunch of Rank 1 through 3 skills at the bottom, I need to decide on a goal.”

“If you want room to go either way, I would recommend having around 6000 LAW.”

Part 3

“Lady Seliphenia, let’s go visit the guild.”

Gilbezos was an adventurer – a homeless wanderer with nothing to tie him down. He felt pretty proud of himself for actually getting going during the morning. Then again, his daily cycle was a little out of sync with the world, so it just so happened to be morning when he was getting started this time.

He saw something in the distance. A thick chain stretched up from the ground and into the blue sky, where it attached to a floating sphere a few metora across. Those things were used to reach the flying land known as a Sky Territory, but what were they called again?

“What, are you interested in that ad crane?”

“Ad crane.”

Yes, that was it. He was always amazed that a non-flying creature could reach the sky. Even if that was the only way, wasn’t it frightening with just the one chain supporting you?

The capital was as lively and peaceful as ever.

The king had died. He would be given a funeral eventually, but word of his death still hadn’t spread far among the kingdom’s people. …Gilbezos hoped to settle things with Brave Liar before that happened. Even if there was no real need for it and it wasn’t part of his promise with the king.

He entered the guild building.

All the chairs and tables made it look like a grownup bar at first, but they didn’t serve alcohol here. Because combining alcohol with people carrying dangerous weapons was a recipe for disaster.

He sat in one of the grownup chairs that left his legs dangling above the floor and opened the large menu on the round table.

The list of guild jobs was divided into a few different menus. They made sure to keep the combat jobs separate from the rest.

For example, tracking down and arresting human criminals, slaying monsters, and even tearing down old ruins.

“Your goal is 6000 LAW. Now, what kind of job are you going to accept? Travel to the farthest reaches of the ocean and slaying a ship-swallowing kraken?”

“I’m through battling giant monsters like that S-rank dragon. One big target isn’t the only way to efficiently earn LAW in a short period of time. I’m looking for a dungeon full of lots of small monsters.”

“Even small monsters can be dangerous if enough of them manage to surround you.”

Gilbezos grabbed the hunting jobs menu and flipped through it.

The urgent and high-paying jobs were gathered near the start of the list, but the slits there were generally filled with job cards for big monsters. Which meant they were extremely hard jobs. The kind of job that would get you killed if you attempted them without sufficient preparation.

The ones with lots of small monsters tended to be toward the end. But he found something more in the middle.

“What about this?”

Something had apparently happened in a small village bordering a vast forest.

A child left the village when no one was looking and he was attacked by a monster.

If a monster successfully attacked someone once, they tended to do it again. And if that monster could communicate with its fellows, the entire pack could learn about the success. Something needed to be done before the entire forest became a danger zone and – more importantly – before a second and third attack occurred.

“Isn’t the reward a little small?”

“I’m after LAW right now.”

A lost child had been attacked by a monster. Talk about getting kicked while you were down. Gilbezos assumed the culprit would be one of the goblins or orcs that lived in the forests, but his eyes widened when he saw the listed hunt target. The goddess sounded amused as she commented on it.

“Oh? A high elf? Now that’s rare.”

“A high elf.”

Part 4

Gilbezos had hoped to hire a carriage through Queen Size to visit the village of Needspart, but all the horses were out of commission at the moment. Was the recent temperature change to blame? So he ended up traveling by bicycle this time. It was slow and exhausting compared to riding a white horse like a rich aristocrat would, but they were reasonably priced and required little upkeep. It was more than enough to reach your destination if there was a well-maintained stone-paved road leading there.

“Hee hee. Now this is the sweet shared ride of my dreams★”

The 18-looking goddess seated behind him seemed to be enjoying herself. But wasn’t she afraid to ride the bike seated sideways like that? Couldn’t her long skirt get caught in the wheel? Both their weights made pedaling the bike a lot of work for the boy. He blessed every gentle downwards slope they came across.

“Are you all right, shorty? If it gets to be too much, I can pedal for you.”

“…I can handle it.”

“Oh, you’re just sooooo cute★ Prove what a strong man you are to your goddess, boy★★★”

The village of Needspart was a fair distance away. They ended up having to stop for a break on the way (mostly due to Gilbezos’s lack of stamina). He sat in the shade and nourished himself with a sandwich and water from a leather bottle while chatting with the goddess.

“Hm? Lady Seliphenia, you smell kind of sweet. Are you hiding some snacks?”

“Hey- my, my, what a troublesome boy. Rubbing your face there isn’t going to get you anywhere, you know?”

“Sniff, sniff. I know elves are so rarely seen they border on mythical, but do they attack people?”

“Who knows. There are different kinds – elves, dark elves, half elves, and high elves – but every type is famous for being extremely prideful. Nhh. I’ve never heard of them eating people, but if someone was disturbing a forest they consider their territory, they might take offense and attack with bows or magic.”

“A forest. Like the one right next to that small village.”

“If they consider the entire forest to be their territory, then the villagers are entirely surrounded by enemy territory. Like being adrift on a small boat in a deadly sea with countless shark shadows visible in the water.”

It was best not to let the picture book image of elves influence him. The village’s lost child really had been attacked.

“Sismond Johnson. Maybe I shouldn’t have read his name.”

“Because now you empathize with him?”

The short boy breathed a heavy sigh and resumed his bicycle journey.

They didn’t arrive in the village of Needspart until the evening. It had a lot of stores and inns for such a small village, but that was likely due to being a rest spot between two major cities.

“We’ve come this far, so let’s see if they have any interesting local specialties. Like an exercise that makes you grow fast.”

“Have you still not given up on that empty dream? I like you better small.”

This might sound like a silly conversation, but hobbies were quite important to adventurers who had to keep their tension up when risking their lives exploring a dungeon or in combat when they were still exhausted from a long journey.

“I still say it’s a better hobby than yours, Lady Seliphenia. Y’know, that weird slimy stuff.”

“Oh, you mean my local massage cream collection?★”

But even if they had a hobby, travelers wanted to keep their luggage to a minimum. Some adventurers would carry a fishing rod or bow with them, some would study wild plants so they could find their own medicinal herbs and antidote roots in the forest or mountain, and others would collect handicrafts or sleep assistance items. And speaking of sleep…

“I suppose securing a base of operations would be our first priority.”

“Oh, this village has a Queen Size inn too. That’s convenient.”

They spotted the standard sign bearing the word “INN”. The chain had only been in business for a few years now, so it was incredible they had spread from the capital and made it all across the kingdom. Gilbezos had only learned of the inns after arriving in the capital. When in other towns and villages, he had used different hotels, inns, and mobile wagon lodging,… but that had all been wasted effort. Ignorance could be a frightening thing.

Gilbezos walked in the inn’s front door. Such a small village shouldn’t have many tourists, but right now the place was full of adventurers. They all wanted the guaranteed full restore to their HP and MP after spending the night in this mysterious facility.

“Hello, little adventurer. Will you be spending the night? Or are you here for a meal?”

The female owner at the counter looked to be around 18. She had pink hair, horns on her head, and an arrow-tipped tail slowly swishing side to side. From head to toe, this was someone he knew.

“What are you doing here, Enoisa? Hey, Enoisa?”

“I think you have me mistaken for someone else. My name is Eucesa Holysign. I’ve been running the Queen Size Inn Needspart Branch for a while now.”

In that moment, some kind of sharp crack formed in the overly smooth skin of her right cheek.

A dry sound followed. It resembled the young woman behind the counter slapping her cheek, but that wasn’t what happened. Had she just, um, rubbed some kind of cream into her cheek with her finger???

“Huh? Then do all the inn owners look the same? But, wait? That can’t be, can it???”

“Little adventurer, a one night stay will be 3000 yeno and a week long stay will be 18000 yeno.” The owner gave him a perfect business smile. “Or will you camp out and receive no healing at all? That will make exploration and combat much more difficult. Perhaps even deadly.”

He decided it was best not to ask any more questions. This felt like much too great a risk for something unrelated to the main quest. Learning Queen Size’s secret, earning the owners’ displeasure, and getting banned from using these mysterious inns that fully healed your HP and MP when you spent the night would make everything else so much harder.

After checking in, he tossed his bag in his second floor room and returned to the first floor.

There were a lot more people than when he first came in. With so many adventurers, the first floor dining room was full of armed people. There were only so many rooms in the inn, but a lot of people would visit just for the food or to exchange information.

“There’s a wide variety of people here.”

The ones armed with bows and machetes were probably material hunters. There were also some who looked like mercenaries or bounty hunters. Since they would be battling in the tree-filled forest, more of the adults had small weapons instead of giant spears or big swords.

In an extreme case of that, a group of girls in miniskirts and course cloths wrapped around their chests appeared to be boxers who fought with their fists instead of a weapon. Gilbezos had heard that bare-handed job considered even headbutts and kicks to be off limits. But why were they being led by a whip-wielding tamer dominatrix?

“Hmm, the vanguard boxers all have completely identical skills. That’s a sign of calculated growth. They might have been taken in as young orphans and raised this way. And the rear guard tamer plays a support role where she provides offense, defense, and healing with the Consumables Mastery skill that gives a 300% buff to all consumable item effects.”

“Why are you revealing our allies’ skills, Lady Seliphenia?”

“Yes, I wonder why.”

But that tamer used consumable items not just for healing but for things like fire type attack and applying the poison status effect? There may have been some reason why she went to such lengths to avoid using magic. For example, a bad past experience where she was beaten up by monsters after running out of MP deep in a dungeon or being inflicted with the seal status effect that kept her form using magic.

And despite this small village being so far from the capital, Gilbezos spotted a familiar store in a corner of the village.

The Necessities Emporium that dealt in weapons, armor, equipment, medicines, food, and more.

He took a peek inside.

“Shirayuri.”

As a shut in, the 10-year-old normally did business through a lattice window that hide her face like in a confessional booth, but she was willing to appear before Gilbezos.

“Are you okay traveling this far? Don’t you want to stay at home?”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m ‘okay’ with it, but the Necessities Emporium must always be found at the hottest event or dungeon.”

Her store summoning was a convenient piece of magic that could summon her base no matter where she was, but it could only summon it to her. It didn’t work the other way around, so Shirayuri would have to hike all the way to her destination on her little legs and summon the store to shut herself in and then repeat the process when it was time to move on. Quite the work ethic for someone her age.

“Also, Gilbezos, you forgot something.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Tah dah! Reyvaslafe Mk II! Pretty sweet, right!?”

As you can see, it was the sword’s maker, Shirayuri, who named it. It wasn’t a case of its owner, Gilbezos, being weird.

“Hm? How is it different from before?”

“It’s a completely new yet it was made to feel so similar in use that even the original owner can’t tell the difference and countless skills have been seamlessly worked in. Why do I need to spell this all out for you, you dummy?”

…Truly deadly power was actually a lot harder to use when you had too much of it.

Part 5

The Queen Size inns provided the exact same spirit of service in every one of their locations across the vast continent and he would likely just end up using Shirayuri’s Necessities Emporium for gear and consumable items. At that point, there wasn’t much need to thoroughly explore the village.

Yet as evening fell, Gilbezos Overridge was still wandering around the village.

“Looking for a good spot for a nap? I recommend the smooth lap of a goddess★ Try it just once and you’ll sleep like a baby for eight hours straight.”

“No, something is bothering me. The feel of this place is just…weird.”

He did sense the usual pre-battle jitters. It was oppressive. But something was missing.

The goddess sighed.

“One question, little boy. It was the high elves who struck first, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. One of the village’s kids was attacked while out in the forest.”

“Then why don’t I sense any desire for revenge?”

The boy fell silent. He took another look around the village and saw only smiles. The only discussions were about what to do with the reward for slaying the high elves or about swiping an elf bow since they were supposed to be of high quality.

The pleasant smell of cooking filled the air. The sounds of mugs filled to the brim with alcohol crashing together came from a restaurant. Maybe it was for the visiting adventurers, but young women in midriff-baring dancing outfits danced between the crowds of people. The shell bikinis and fluttering skirts were quite something.

Was anyone in mourning?

Was anyone too sad to eat?

Was anyone raising a war cry and swearing to avenge the killed child?

Not a single one. Was this why the place felt off?

“Everyone’s focused on the profit… They’re only talking about the money they’ll get if they defeat the high elves.”

“High elf slaves do fetch a decent price.”

“What are you talking about, Lady Seliphenia? The kingdom doesn’t have slaves. Are you stupid?”

“…”

…Uh. oh. A certain someone was pressing her fingers against the corners of her lips to force a smile! What could this mean!?

“Come here, little Gilbezos. Up you go. Oh, how fun★”’

“Gyahhhh! How embarrassing, you mean!”

“Now are you really sure there are no slaves? There are a lot of people with some, shall we say, unspeakable hobbies.”

“Wait a second. Put me down. I have a bad feeling about this.”

He happened to take a casual peek behind a row of shops on the main street(?) that wasn’t even 100 metora long.

“Oops.”

He spotted a boy of around 9 there. A year made lot of difference, so Gilbezos could tell.

The area back there appeared to be the boy’s secret base.

Gilbezos’s bad feeling was only growing. He wanted to discuss his feelings about the village with the goddess, but that wasn’t something to talk about in front of a 9-year-old child.

But what should he do now? This was awkward. As young as he looked, Gilbezos wasn’t exactly great at dealing with younger children.

“Hm, how about learning a merchant’s conversational skill? Magic isn’t the only form skills take. With the right combination of skills, you can become best friends with anyone in thirty seconds. Such good friends they will invest quite a lot of money in you.”

“…I’ll talk to him myself.”

Using skills to skip past a genuine human connection felt wrong somehow.

He walked up to the boy.

“I won’t ask what you’re doing.”

“…”

“But it’s getting dark, so you should head home. Could you tell me your name? That should make it easier to find your house.”

“Sismond.”

Gilbezos Overridge froze.

What was that?

“Sismond Johnson.”

The boy’s voice was terribly dry. It was an empty and unresisting voice that made it sound like the slightest nudge would knock him over.

But this didn’t make any sense.

This was Gilbezos’s first time at this village, but he recognized that name. The guild job listing had given that as the name of the victim in the high elf attack.

A small child had left the village and gotten lost in the forest when a high elf attacked him. The job had reached the guild in order to prevent the successful attack from encouraging more monster attacks. So why was the boy in question alive and well in the village?

Sismond Johnson, the boy who had supposedly been attacked, was alive right here.

He said something more.

With his head lowered, his body trembling, and his voice weary.

“It’s all my fault…”

Part 6

He had seen a high elf in the forest and followed after her.

Deep, deep into the forest.

After realizing he was lost, Sismond Johnson heard a rustling sound. From behind.

“What are you doing?”

It was a calm voice.

A high elf who knew exactly how to walk through the forest wouldn’t make a rustling sound like that. Like a bicycle’s bell or a wagon’s horn, that had been done to alert Sismond Johnson to her presence.

He turned around to see the same girl from before.

The long-eared high elf with her long and wet blonde hair tied back.

That alone nearly brought the 9-year-old boy to tears. But not out of fear. He had no idea which direction was which in the forest, but now he was saved.

“I will show you the way, so let’s get back to your village, shall we? The forest is dangerous at night. Even if you don’t run into a monster, you could take a wrong step and fall off a ledge.”

She took his hand and walked home with him.

No, she showed him the way home.

He glimpsed some lights in the forest, They didn’t come from any direction in particular and their number continued to grow. High elves would not normally carry anything as conspicuous as a torch, so they had to be doing this for Sismond’s sake. The lights flickered on the animal path and among the tree branches. He was surprised to find you could get through this way.

The high elf girl told him all sorts of things: which fruits were edible, what the birds flying by were saying as they chirped, and more. It was all so new and surprising for a boy who lived in such a boring village.

It was completely dark by the time they returned to the village, but Sismond was still glad. He now knew high elves really did bring good luck.

But the reality was different.

“What did you do to our child, monster!?”

No.

She was a high elf. She was good luck.

“I can’t believe this. How could you leave such a small child covered in wounds!?”

No.

Those were only the scratches he got from the leaves while parting the underbrush to chase after the high elf.

“Leave!! A filthy monster like you will only bring disaster to our peaceful village!”

No, no, no!!

The high elf girl said nothing in response.

She even seemed used to it.

Sismond remembered the look in her eyes when she returned to the forest. Instead of anger or fear, there was only pity there. Like she was watching a hopelessly foolish creature bring about its own demise.

She had saved him. He owed her his life. But he wasn’t able to help her.

His small size and young age didn’t excuse that failure.

While he felt utterly powerless in a corner of the village, he overheard the reason why no one would listen to him.

“Man, this is a stroke of good luck. We have the perfect excuse. Now one one will blame us when we attack those damn elves. Everyone will see them as wicked monsters.”

“The migrant ones run some kind of major business. Some kind of traveling caravan? Whatever it is, they’re in the middle of a long journey, right? So they’ll have tons of rare goods and hard cash with them. But more than that, we can sell the elves themselves. It’s two birds with one stone.”

“Oh, we’d better seal off those silly elves’ escape route before they can leave. It’ll cost a fair amount, but we should contact the guild too. To post a monster hunt job. We can leave all the bloodshed to outsiders. It’d be silly to get injured ourselves for a little extra income.”

This time, his world really did collapse around him.

The 9-year-old boy knew exactly what he had done to his savior.

Part 7

This wasn’t fun.

There was nothing to enjoy about this.

Was this why the humans seemed weirdly excited and amused despite preparing for a group battle with a group of dangerous monsters? This wasn’t a life-or-death battle. It was a one-sided pillaging.

Not only would the elves’ money and possessions be stolen, but their very freedom would be.

The villagers weren’t the only ones eager to get started. Had the visiting adventurers guessed at what was going on but pretended not to so they could join in? Because if they attacked and captured the high elves, they would all profit. That was all it had taken for them to turn their backs on their morals.

“It sounded like they were looking for an excuse, so had the villagers already known the high elves were around?” said the goddess. “And I got the impression this is far from the first time they’ve attacked rich merchants to steal their valuables.”

The small village bordered a vast forest. It had no major industry and prospered as a place for merchants to rest while traveling between major cities…but maybe there was more to it than that.

“What do we do?”

“Oh, Gilbezos. Have you already forgotten why you’re here? Your goal is to prepare for Brave Liar. So you need to earn up to 6000 LAW you can allot however you like.”

True.

But…

“Back then…”

He heard a quiet voice.

“I should have spoken up to the grownups. I should have told them I left the village on my own and that the scratches on my arms and legs were from the leaves…and so it wasn’t her fault. But I wasn’t brave enough. This is all because I was afraid of their loud voices.”

His head was drooping.

The 9-year-old boy was still trembling as he spoke.

“So it’s my fault.”

“…”

“It’s all my fault.”

Part 8

“I call that a threat.”

“My, how wonderful. Isn’t it a little late to complain now that you’ve already sided with the high elves?”

Part 9

The short, black-haired boy named Gilbezos Overridge parted the dark forest growth to travel at night. He wanted to distance himself from the human high elf hunting squad.

He had made a promise to Sismond Johnson.

He had told the younger boy he had done nothing wrong and that he wouldn’t let anyone send the high elves to hell.

So he couldn’t back out now.

“Well, as long as you’re after skills and not money, it doesn’t really matter which side you’re on. A serious fight to the death with other humans will still earn you plenty of LAW★”

“Yeah, I get the feeling this won’t end up being a safe sparring match.”

Very good. At least this wouldn’t end up being a complete detour from his path to battling Brave Liar.

“If I’m gonna do this, I’ll go all out.”

He wanted to rub dirt and mud over his body…but that wouldn’t matter. Not when the goddess by his side was sparkling so brightly. He wanted to believe the darkness of the night would be on his side.

Now that he had abandoned the guild job and chosen to save the high elves, he could not avoid battling with the humans in this forest. He was terribly outnumbered, so he first wanted to learn the lay of the land and gather information.

…He especially wanted to get some information from the high elves’ point of view. That was his top priority.

“Lady Seliphenia, is there a skill for silencing my footsteps?”

“A magical skill? Would you prefer a wind type or water type one? Fidget, fidget.”

So there was more than one. He ended up choosing one that eliminated the force of his steps by attaching something like a water gel to the soles of his shoes.

He kept close to the large trees in the darkness to sneak up behind a female high elf who was crouched and carefully aiming her longbow. He placed his small hand over her mouth.

“!?”

“Hm? She’s really skinny.”

Only after grabbing her from behind did he realize this high elf, who looked to be around 17 and had her long blonde hair tied back, had a different build from the curves he was accustomed to with Goddess Seliphenia and the inn owners. She was more slender, like he could directly feel the bones below her smooth skin.

…Even with his skill, he had managed to sneak up on her too easily and this skinny build seemed lacking in muscle, so were the high elves really going to be alright? They may have seemed like a reliable big sister from Sismond’s point of view, but maybe Gilbezos should adjust the all-powerful image the 9-year-old boy had given him of the high elves. He hoped they could do more than get abducted like they did in picture books so often.

“Mghh!!”

She was trying to say something, so this seemed like a good time to gather information. But he had something to tell her before removing his hand from her mouth.

“We are friends of Sismond Johnson.”

“…”

“Don’t yell. And rest easy. We are on your side.”

She obeyed him fairly readily.

The name Sismond Johnson still meant something to the high elves. That bond had not been lost. That knowledge alone pleased Gilbezos a little.

“I promised Sismond I wouldn’t let a single high elf go to hell. So I want to know the situation before battling the humans. What do you consider to be your win condition?”

He doubted it was to use military might to push back all of the ugly humans ruled by greed and lust.

The legends said high elves were expert archers and magic users, but he doubted that was enough to defeat all those humans. If they were part of a traveling caravan, they couldn’t stay on the move and never let any humans know where they were.

Eventually, the high elf archer replied.

“Our chief has the Rank 9 Group Flight skill. In her case, it’s limited to deep forests, but it allows our 300-person caravan to travel anywhere in the kingdom by floating up into the sky. In fact, it lets us travel to imperial territory beyond this continent too.”

That explained why the high elves were considered rare to the point of mythical. Their entire group could fly. Even if word of sightings began to spread, no one would ever find them by following their tracks like normal.

“Of course, projectile weapons and magic still pose a threat for a time after we begin to float, but we can escape being surrounded on the surface. That seems more likely to work than a needless battle of attrition.”

“I assume you’ve already begun preparations to escape with that overpowered skill? You high elves don’t need to waste your time holding off an army of stupid humans.”

“Yes, but it takes time to activate. And the entire caravan will be defenseless during that time.”

“Kh. How long will it take!?”

“Another hour.”

The short boy instinctually looked up into the sky and felt the back of his head buried in something soft.

The goddess standing behind him summed up the situation.

“So there is no need to defeat the entire human side. As long as the human wave is held back long enough to prepare for that large-scale travel spell, the high elves will not be defeated. And that means we win★”

The rules were set. If they could last an hour, they won. If not, they lost everything.

“Our base is located-”

“You don’t have to tell me! You gain nothing from doing so.”

He quickly stopped the elf. He was risking his life here. He of course wanted to know what he was protecting, but knowing would only make him try to protect that location even if only subconsciously. He wanted to avoid his own actions foolishly giving away that precise location within the vast forest.

“But then it isn’t fair! You could get hurt too. You need a refuge to run to if something happens to you.”

“Just use me as a convenient sacrificial pawn. You’ve seen enough of the ugly side of humanity it’s hard to trust me so easily, right? So just use this suspicious human who showed up out of nowhere. Even if I’m thrown out partway through, I’ll still have kept my promise with Sismond.”

The high elf looked ready to argue further, but they didn’t have time.

It started in the distance.

The dark forest itself seemed to be shaking.

Based on that, Gilbezos guessed there were 3000, 4000…no, more than that. Probably 5000 people.

…Did the attacking group outnumber the entire population of the village?

The high elf archer here may have been ready to fight, but she too was one of the people Gilbezos had to protect. He shoved her into the nearby bushes to hide.

…But what was he to do? Thoughtlessly charging on an army like that would be a bad idea.

“Lady Seliphenia! Can I rely on you!?”

“So even you feel the pressure this time, hm? Then you leave me no choice, shorty. Have some sweet guidance from a kind goddess★”

Fire Type Magic – High

Repeat Command

Group Targeting with Magic

Repeat Command MP Cost 0

Seliphenia formed two fists and then spread her arms to the sides. As if stretching a large spring. The golden light near her large chest was the Skill Tree, but checking her recommendations didn’t tell him what the skills were meant to do in combination.

“?”

Gilbezos combined the skills as instructed.

In that moment, something appeared directly above the dark, dark forest. But at less than 20 metora up, it was still quite close. The night sky vanished. The great expanse was blocked by a colossal fireball. The only thing above was an orange light like the glow of a smith’s workshop.

(W-wait…did this just endlessly cast fire type attack magic all at once? And with an MP cost of 0!? Plus the target was expanded to the entire enemy group, making it grow large enough to engulf all 5000 of them!? Group attack magic is hard to aim precisely, but that isn’t an issue with a big enough explosion!)

He wouldn’t even need to wait for it to hit the ground.

Because…

“The blazing fire will burn away all the air within 5 kilemetora. A small number of survivors can maintain some air to breathe using wind magic, but they have their hands full doing that and will be unable to make any other moves. So you can snipe them with some long-distance attacks and end it with the big explosion. This is the greatest skill my goddess support can provide! A safe and sure method of obtaining a damageless flawless win! Kya ha! What do you think, Gilbezos!? I’m shining like I’ve never shined before!”

“Wait.”

The absurdly powerful ultimate slaughter magic stopped just barely above the high elf hunting party.

Time froze.

And the fireball slowly shrank and lost its shape.

They could see the danger had passed, but their minds took longer to catch on and they cowered down.

“Why would you stop, Gilbezos you coward!? Do you just not have enough guts? Maybe I should go ahead and teach you some exciting new things back at the inn tonight to give you some more confidence!”

The overpowered goddess childishly puffed her cheeks out.

…While he would generally rely on her help, he did wish she wouldn’t push him toward ignoring his morals and killing with barely a second thought. That had been way too close. What would this world be like if she was working with someone less principled? Besides…

“If we slaughter all those adventurers, it’s Sismond who will suffer in the end! Do you want that 9-year-old to think all those people were killed because he asked us for help!?”

“…”

Goddess Seliphenia gave him a truly exasperated look for that one.

Her mouth formed a small triangle.

He knew it wasn’t the most important thing to focus on in this pressing situation, but he also knew he wasn’t wrong.

He wouldn’t place that burden on the boy’s shoulders.

“Then what do you propose?” she asked.

“I’m not letting even one of the high elves be hunted down to line someone’s pockets. That’s my top priority. And in addition to that, I will capture all of the humans alive. I made a promise, so I can’t back out now. And if I’m going to win this, then I’m going for an unequivocally perfect victory!”

“Hm, yes. But won’t that be impossible? It seems to me you’re just piling on extra victory conditions to increase the difficulty level far higher than necessary.”

“Making a promise can make the impossible possible. If I’m doing this, I’m not interested in a boring and gloomy ending where I kill everyone to stop them. I’ll do this in a way that doesn’t hurt anyone!!”

Part 10

“First they show off they can kill us at any time and then they stop? Are they messing with us!?”

“We still have a chance while they’re holding back, Penelope. Let’s sneak up and catch them off guard.”

Were those the boxer girls led by the whip-wielding tamer dominatrix? They looked like older girls in the 15-17 age range. Taking the vanguard with no weapons aside from their own fists seemed reckless. They were also talking loudly in the nighttime forest, so Gilbezos had no trouble hearing them from some distant bushes. …And hadn’t the goddess analyzed them already?

“(They use skills, but no magic. Their vanguard relies on physical attacks and their rear guard relies on consumable items. That’s an interesting way to use skills. I’ll have to remember it.)”

“(Stop appreciating the enemy. Those idiots don’t even realize they owe you for saving their lives. You really need to choose better who you force your kindness onto.)”

However, he couldn’t just stay quiet and let them pass.

The high elf chief wouldn’t finish preparing her Group Flight skill for another hour. The high elves would be overrun and captured if every wave of monster hunters wasn’t held back. Missing even one of them meant failure.

“Yes, I suppose so. But how exactly are you going to defeat them without killing them?”

“Lady Seliphenia, open the Skill Tree. Hurry, hurry.”

Status Effect Fury Magic

Repeat Command

Increased Odds for All Randomized Skills

Apply Magic Effect to Weapon

Relying too much on the goddess would lead him to chopping down all the humans with no guilt or stress, so Gilbezos made his own choices here.

He drew the sword at his hip.

But for once he wasn’t doing so to possibly take a life.

The sword glowed with a faint red magic light as he used it to strike the torsos of one and then another boxer with bandages wrapping the chest. There was no blood, but the effect was swift.

“Bh.”

“Ghhh…kh.”

He didn’t wait for them to collapse. He was done with them after the first hit anyway.

Gilbezos quickly moved away.

“I’m glad it’s working how I wanted.”

Fury was a status effect that caused anger within an enemy. Whether or not it took effect was up to luck and it’s only real effect was boosting physical attacks while also keeping the enemy from coordinating or using magic, so it wasn’t a very attractive option. However, it could be nasty when applied several times over and combined with other skills. When it had a 100% chance of success from a light touch of a weapon and it enraged them so much they passed out, you could either beat them up, draw on their face, or whatever else.

“Oh, no. Gilbezos is thinking naughty thoughts.”

“Stop that. A goddess shouldn’t be leading people down the path of evil!”

…Gilbezos, if you’re going to do this, why not do it in a way that makes everyone hate you? It does seem like the Skill Tree has plenty of options for some scummy detours if that’s what you want!!

But there were 5000 monster hunters. While he didn’t need to defeat them all, taking them down with his sword would take too long. Even if he used the Dual Wield Sword skill loved by samurai or the Expand Physical Attack Range skill commonly used by heavy warriors. He wouldn’t be able to keep up.

“What now?”

“Redefine my weapon.”

He had already seen the villagers use this to trap the high elves. And if they had used it, they couldn’t complain if he did too.

“By changing my weapon, my skills will instead apply to all the leaves in this forest!!”

Sismond Johnson had proven that simply walking through the underbrush in this deep forest would leave small cuts on your limbs. Then he would use “all of that” as his weapon.

Attack magic did not affect one’s allies, so it wasn’t a problem for his “weapon” to cover the entire area around him.

More and more people collapsed.

At a much more rapid pace than before.

…But it wasn’t all 5000 of them. Those who happened to have a fury resistance skill remained. And even though he had done something trickier than simply using Group Targeting with Magic, the hunting team would eventually realize how it worked.

“Did it fail?”

“Not yet. Lady Seliphenia, swap out the fury skill for paralysis!!”

He didn’t need to redo all of the skills. Fury wasn’t the only status effect capable of immobilizing an enemy without damaging them. He would be able to slip past the enemy’s resistance by switching to other status effects, like with the probability-based sleep and paralysis or by tearing through their stamina points to knock them out with the faint status effect.

He would frequently reshuffle it like that. That way he could mess with the enemy’s predictions.

…His biggest fear here was one of the hunters rationally casting status effect healing magic on their unresponsive allies! So he wanted to prevent that by causing as much chaos as he could!!

“Kh.”

This wasn’t all fun and games.

When he switched from fury to paralysis, Gilbezos’s MP dropped quite a bit. Had that counted as new magic that had to be recast on the entire forest? He did have plenty of MP recovery items, but he still couldn’t fight like this forever…

“Gilbezos, you’re out of variations. Want to expand your options by adding in petrification?”

“They’ll identify that on sight and know how to react, so let’s wait on that!”

This was all about deception.

He kept switching it up to keep that great army confused.

But the goddess noticed something.

“The reduction in enemies isn’t even. It’s slow, but someone is healing the others and bringing them back into the fight. You can’t just focus on taking out the priests who can use healing magic. There can be others who specialize in healing items like that tamer we saw earlier.”

“How many I defeat isn’t the issue. It’s how long I can stall them.”

Was this the end for that trick?

He had earned plenty of time for being up against 5000.

“High elf girl!!”

He shouted into the shadows.

He heard some rustling underbrush from shockingly close by and the blonde high elf emerged.

“If you need covering fire, just say the word.”

“No, it’s nearly time. I’ll hold them here, so you take your fellow elves and fall back!”

“But…I can still fight!!”

“Great, but what about that overpowered Group Flight skill your chief has? If you don’t get back in time, you’ll be left behind!”

He heard a gasp. Being all alone and surrounded by those greed-crazed humans had to be one of the last fates that high elf wanted to imagine.

“Damn, damn, goddammit! …Very well.”

“That’s more like it.”

“Also, my name is Sayuran. Sayuran Cuchanbern!”

The short boy smiled bitterly as he heard her departing footsteps.

This was goodbye, so learning her name accomplished nothing. It wasn’t as much as Sismond Johnson had, but had he created a bond with that 17-looking high elf even if it was thinner than a hair?

The goddess put a hand on her hip and filled her voice with exasperation.

“Sigh. Has it completely slipped your mind?”

“Has what?”

“Once the high elves depart with their Group Flight, you will be left here.”

…Yes, that was true.

Attacking Gilbezos wouldn’t get them anything, but those hunters would still be furious at him for ruining their chance at riches. If they surrounded and captured him…well, it wasn’t a pleasant thing to consider. In a forest this large, there had to be plenty of room to bury a body.

“But I made a promise, so I can’t back out now.”

“…”

“Lady Seliphenia, you should probably run away now. There’s no reason for you to stick with me to the end.”

“Are you trying to convince me to step on you?”

The bushes ahead of him rustled and their eyes met with terrible timing.

It was a complete coincidence. That dominatrix with the long whip was a special kind of tamer who specialized in kicking and ruling over human asses rather than monsters, wasn’t she? And if the goddess had been accurate back in the village, she had the Consumable Mastery skill that provided a 300% buff to all consumable items.

“Attention!!”

The tamer raised her voice while cracking her whip against the ground.

People immediately gathered from either side.

“Protect the tamer. After taking out so many of us, don’t let his childish appearance fool you.”

“We can just blame the elves for killing the damn brat. Crush him with everything you have!!”

The tamer was an item user, so she was his priority target.

This was perfect. Gilbezos himself charged right into the next wave.

Part 11

A great many wagons sat deep in the forest.

The collapsible huts and storehouses were still set up, but they didn’t need to be broken down. With the high elf chief’s Group Flight, the giant caravan made up of dozens or even hundreds of wagons and simple huts would be moved to another deep forest.

Just like it had worked in the past.

Not even the thickest castle walls or the tallest palace could stop the coming wave of greedy humans. The high elves all knew the only path to safety was to leave no trace of where they had gone.

Then the high elves would be safe. None of them would have to die.

They only had to abandon the outsider who was even now fighting for them.

“…Kh…”

Sayuran Cuchanbern, the high elf with her long blonde hair tied back, didn’t like it, but everyone could tell this was the best option. Even the boy himself had told her to escape.

“One more.”

Just then, something spilled from the high elf chief’s lips.

“We can take just one more with us.”

She was delighted.

So much so she thought her heart would stop.

But Sayuran Cuchanbern kept her head lowered and said what she had to say.

Because this was the correct thing to say in her position.

“But he is not of our blood. Inviting a human and outsider to our caravan is against our rules!”

Yes, that was correct.

And only someone with the right to create another answer had the strength to oppose an existing answer.

So only the high elf chief continued unshaken.

With the necessary resolve.

“He had no reason to fight. But he is still out there fighting for us. We fear capture by those greedy humans more than anything else, so how can we force it all onto him alone?”

No one said anything.

Ordinarily they all would have argued back, saying that was how they had always done things. That they didn’t do so proved they were conflicted.

The correct answer had been shaken. No, a new answer was being suggested.

“I have a question for you all,” said a calm female voice. The high elf chief looked young, but she had lived several hundred times longer than a human lifespan. “Can we really call him an outsider after he has done so much for us?”

Part 12

It was easy to get a hit in on a heavy warrior who used their weight and toughness as a weapon. With a hunter who used a bow or blowgun, you could keep them from firing by getting close. But a light warrior who could use the Evasion Up skill or a dancer whose dancing skills could lower your AGI, even the ability to knock them out with a scratch wasn’t enough. The term “mutual destruction” flashed through Gilbezos Overridge’s mind.

In the final moment, someone took his small hand.

And he was pulled back into the bushes.

Thinking back later, that must have been the very borderline of the skill’s effective range.

Crash!!

“???”

At first, the tamer with the long whip didn’t understand what had happened.

Her group had lost sight of their target.

“Where did that boy go? Everyone, be on your guard! He can hide anywhere with that tiny body. He might be lurking somewhere, waiting for a chance to strike.”

“L-look up,” said a heavy warrior in an enormous armor, voice trembling. “That light vanishing overhead must be the high elves! We’re going to lose track of them!!”

There had been a blank.

They weren’t moving all that quickly. But even in the short time they weren’t being tracked, the elves had put some real distance between them. The monster hunters felt like a small child watching their balloon float away after letting go of the string.

The tamer dominatrix stood completely still, her alluring lips quavering.

“W-wait, so, what happens now?”

“…”

No one said anything.

They likely didn’t want to answer. They didn’t want to make it real by saying it out loud.

“I paid a fortune in advance to prepare for this. If I don’t get any money out of it, I’ll be buried in debt!!”

Then that was what would happen. In that moment, the hunters became the hunted.

Just for good measure, arrows and magic poured down from the sky.

Like glowing rain.

Part 13

Crash!!

Gilbezos felt a tug on his arm and then saw a flash of light. His weight seemed to vanish. His feet left the ground. Only the boy and the high elves were enveloped in something like a large aurora. Yes, an aurora. Wasn’t that the light said to be emitted by the Valkyries’ armor? But while they could fly, it wasn’t exactly fast. With the people, wagons, and huts floating there, it was actually kind of scary. Without so many others floating with him, the short boy might have screamed.

They passed by over the enemies’ heads. They slowly but surely moved further from the ground.

However, the enemy was still too close for comfort.

If any of the hunting party could use long-range magic, the high elves could still be shot down. So the elves used their sturdy floating wagons and huts as shields while firing arrows and magic down into the forest as if they were trying to use up their entire supply. Whether those above or those below had the upper hand goes without saying. Not giving the enemy a chance to attack would probably be safest. As long as they didn’t attack the village too, the short boy didn’t care.

After about an hour, the battle had completely ended. They were quite high up now.

The sunlight was bright up in the sky and it was chilly too.

Still, they arrived somewhere. The air was different, as were the temperature, humidity, scent, and weight. They were surrounded by forest, but it was red. Were those the sugar maples which maple syrup came from? That meant they were in a completely different “deep forest”.

The short boy’s feet touched down. However, it wasn’t quite accurate to say he was now on “the ground”.

“Is this land floating? I don’t believe it. We’re on a Sky Territory.”

“The elevation would explain this chilliness. Brr★”

The goddess stood by his side. Like she had never left it.

Only Gilbezos had been tugged back in that moment, but she must have also taken a step back to cross the boundary and float up with him. Did she have the devil’s luck, or had she seen through it from the beginning as a god? Whatever the case, he was glad she hadn’t been left behind.

But a Sky Territory, huh? That was perfect for losing pursuit, but getting back to the surface wasn’t going to be easy. The ad cranes made with thick chains and giant leather balloons were vehicles to entertain bored aristocrats, so they were quite expensive…

“You won this time,” said the goddess.

She pointed out that this had ended differently from the battles against Balsta and Brave Liar.

“You took on 5000 humans and pushed back every wave for a full hour. It was a close one, but you achieved the win condition. Gilbezos, check your LAW. You’ll find something quite interesting there.”

“Please don’t tell me I didn’t earn anything because I didn’t actually defeat any of them.”

“This is more interesting than that.”

He nervously checked the number in the corner of the Skill Tree and found he had in fact earned a lot.

…Some boss battles against humans would still give you LAW even if it ended in a draw, so was this like that?

If he returned all his current skills for the payback, he would have a total of around 6500.

That was technically enough to reach Rank 9 at the top.

This was the first step toward a rematch with Brave Liar. This was one of the conditions needed to keep his promise with the king.

But.

That wasn’t what mattered right now.

Someone approached him. It was Sayuran Cuchanbern, the high elf with her long blonde hair tied back.

“Are you alright? And…oh, I don’t recall inviting two?”

“You idiot!!” Gilbezos shouted back without thinking.

He had fought and won and made it through…but so what?

“It had only been a day. There was something you should have protected over some day-old bond! If you high elves had that much courage, you could have taken that boy instead of me. You might have been able to free him from that village of pillagers…”

He was answered with silence. She didn’t even try to argue.

She hadn’t had the courage. Sismond had blamed himself the whole time, but maybe the high elves had as well. Maybe there could have been another path if they had made up their mind earlier.

But if the elves could look so bothered by it here, then that bond still lived.

So it would work out.

One day, they would surely smile and walk hand in hand.

Between the Lines 3

Archangel: “Archangel here!”

Lesser Demon: “Lesser Demon too.”

Archangel: “It’s time for that useful angelic meta talk where I provide some extra information where a certain goddess failed to explain things properly! Today’s topic is jobs and levels!”

Lesser Demon: “Jobs are tricky. There are times where the job in their stats is ‘gambler’ but their actual job is temple priestess★.”

Archangel: “The job in your stats is no more than an icon to show others what direction your strengths lie based on the types of skills you’ve learned. For example, priests are healing specialists, so you know right away what you’re dealing with, which is super reassuring and cute too.”

Lesser Demon: “It comes in handy when humans form parties or accept jobs at the guild.”

Archangel: “Someone with the dancer job doesn’t necessarily dance on stage, so don’t get the two confused.”

Lesser Demon: “Now let’s discuss levels.”

Archangel: “I previously mentioned that skills are ranked from 1 to 9. The sum of the ranks of all your skills becomes your level.”

Lesser Demon: “So it isn’t your total amount of LAW. …I feel like this system leaves room for numerical tricks.”

Archangel: “Skills are generally kept hidden, but people often display their total level so everyone can see it. That way they can be like, ‘Hey, I’m Level 100, so you’d better treat me right or else.’ ”

Lesser Demon: “This also lets you search out a weak rookie from a crowd and target them.”

Archangel: “That’s the dark side of the Skill Tree.”

Lesser Demon: “Goddess, it’s the fallen angel. This archangel here is criticizing you right now.”

Archangel: “Vwahhhhhhh!?”

Lesser Demon: “Come to think of it, Gilbezos never talks about level, does he?”

Archangel: “B-because the payback system lets him change what skills he knows. The way his level constantly fluctuates is unnatural and trying to keep track of what level he’s told to different people would be a pain, so he just never mentions it. Goddess, I am doing my job here!”

Lesser Demon: “And the truth is you don’t need to know anything about jobs or levels to fight and win.”

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