**Day 21 – Night – Inn – White Weirdo**
In the end, Meri-Meri?... The young lady got escorted back to the lord's mansion, and apparently a messenger will come by in a few days.
Class Rep was angry the whole time, but she finally stopped crying.
"Look, y'know? It's like... if it doesn't hit, it's not first prize, right? So it's fine? Kinda?"
"Ughhh, what kind of 'first prize' is it, if it doesn't hit?! Everything except the grand prize is a miss? Is first prize just tissues? Disposable?! Why would you do something that dangerous?!"
"No, seriously—I figured out the fatal weakness of weapon skills. It's okay now."
I spent forever explaining the weak point of weapon skills to Class Rep. That critical flaw... and its hilarious side effect.
"Weapon skills make you yell nonstop while doing intense exercise, so you get out of breath? But the diet effect is insane? That's what Captain Billy said? One more set?"
"Why is Captain Billy getting summoned here?! What about boot camp back in the original world?! Why 'one more set'?! I exercise every day, so it's fine!!"
Apparently it's fine?... No, never mind, Captain!
Levels still aren't going up. Even watching Class Rep and the others, it's hard to go from Lv 9 to 10, 19 to 20, 29 to 30—those cheat-level people struggle to level, so normal folks must take forever. That means leveling is super slow, bad guys probably feel like they can't level at all, or maybe they just don't want to. No "level-up hype" vibe here. My skills are basically saging me (wise old man-ing me?).
**Status**
NAME: Haruka Human Race
AGE: 16
Lv: 09
Job: --
HP: 120
MP: 122
ViT: 118
PoW: 117
SpE: 118
DeX: 116
MiN: 130
InT: 134
Luｋ: Max (Limit Break)
SP: 177
**Martial Arts**
"Staff Arts Lv7" (Up)
"Evade Lv6" (Up)
"Discern Lv6" (Up)
"Magic Wrap Lv6"
**Magic**
"Temperature Lv4"
"Movement Lv6"
"Weight Lv6" (Up)
"Packing Lv6" (Up)
"Four Great Magics Lv5"
"Wood Magic Lv4"
"Lightning Magic Lv3"
"Ice Magic Lv3" (Up)
**Skills**
"Health Lv4" (Up)
"Sensitive Lv4" (Up)
"Gymnastics Lv5" (Up)
"Walking Lv6"
"Control Lv4" (Up)
"Appraisal Lv6" (Up)
"Clairvoyance Lv6" (Up)
"Presence Detection Lv7" (Up)
"Search Lv7" (Up)
"Magic Control Lv6"
"Presence Conceal Lv5"
"Stealth Lv6" (Up)
"Concealment Lv6" (2 Up)
"Map Lv5"
"Focus Lv6"
"Physical Resistance Lv6" (2 Up)
"Magic Recovery Lv6" (Up)
"Stamina Recovery Lv6" (Up)
"Parallel Thinking Lv4" (Up)
"Serial Thinking Lv4" (Up)
"High-Speed Thinking Lv1" (New)
"Rapid Dash Lv2" (Up)
"Air Walk Lv2" (Up)
"Instant Speed Lv1" (New)
**Titles**
"Hikikomori Lv4"
"NEET Lv4" (Up)
"Loner Lv4"
"Magician Lv5"
**Unknown**
"Report-Contact-Consult Lv3"
"Jack of All Trades Lv4" (Up)
"Wooden Puppet Lv4" (Up)
**Equipment**
"Tree Staff?"
"Cloth Clothes?"
"Leather Gloves?"
"Leather Boots?"
"Cape?"
"Contacts?"
"Ring of Bound Souls"
"Item Bag"
"Bracelet PoW+2% SpE+1%"
"Black Hat" (New)
I showed up at the adventurer's guild every single day like a good little employee, yet my "NEET" level went up... to "NEET Lv4"... Does going to the guild not count if you're unemployed? Or does being unemployed make it keep rising? That's hopeless! No escape!
New ones popped up too: "High-Speed Thinking Lv1" and "Instant Speed Lv1." Sounds fast.
I'm probably getting faster. From a high-school-boy perspective, getting "faster" in that way would be a problem. Secretly, "Sensitive" went up too... but verification is impossible. Why? Because from a high-school-boy perspective, I've never tested it, so I don't know. No plans to test it either. No one to test it with. From a high-school-boy perspective, hope is fading... Gotta find Alchemy-san's shop somewhere in this world... Can high-school boys even enter?...
**Day 21 – Night – Inn – White Weirdo Girls' Meeting**
Today's training review session and reflection meeting: everyone discusses, everyone shares opinions, everyone thinks, everyone decides.
But still... inevitably... it always ends up being about Haruka-kun...
Especially today...
He finally did it.
Apparently fought high-level bandits and didn't get hit with weapon skills.
"Apparently" because he came back completely fine, no injuries at all.
But if those had actually landed on Haruka-kun, it wouldn't have ended well.
He might have died... he really might have...
"If it doesn't hit, it's not first prize," he says, but if it does hit, is that first prize? Makes no sense?
Anyway, he came back.
Anyway, he's alive.
Anyway, he didn't die.
Anyway, he says he's fine.
But...
But how long will he stay fine?
How long will he keep not dying?
How long will he keep living?
How long will he keep coming back?
What if tomorrow he doesn't come back?
Even today, he claimed he was just passing by and the victims dragged him into it—but that's obviously a lie.
There's no way anyone could catch up to Haruka-kun when he's seriously sprinting at full speed. How insanely fast would those bandits have to be to chase and entangle him?
He had that "just passing through" face, that "what a hassle" face, that "this has nothing to do with me" face... and he helped anyway.
Like he does, always.
Like with Odacchi and the others.
Like with Shimazaki-san and the others.
Like with us.
He helps while pretending it's a coincidence.
"What do we do? Assign watchers?"
"What do we do? Tie him up?"
"What do we do? Bind him?"
"What do we do? Glue him in place?"
Everyone's worried, trying to figure out how to do something... The glue person... well, she's thinking, probably.
But we all know we can't actually do that. We can't keep watching him, following him, surrounding him, staying on guard, escorting him, protecting him, staying by his side, restraining him, gluing him... We can't. We shouldn't. There's no justification for it. But we're anxious.
Even if we begged him, Haruka-kun probably wouldn't change.
And deep down... we probably don't want him to change.
**End of Day 21**