Chapter 8 - You can make me a slave! I'll never disobey!
"So basically, you defeated the demon lord and got sent home."
Yogiri gave a quick rundown of Hanakawa's excessively embellished story.
"Would you mind not just summing up my cheat adventure in another world like that!"
"Even though it was going nowhere at first there was more useful information than expected. So how exactly did you get back to our world?"
Right now the highest priority was adapting to the new world and surviving, but the ultimate goal was to return to earth. If nothing else, Yogiri wanted Tomochika to get back home.
"Well, about that. Last time's summoning was performed by the head magician of the kingdom of Iman with the condition of defeating the neighboring lands' demon lord; the moment we did that we were sent back home. This time I don't really understand what's going on."
"I never really cared so I can't tell, but did these guys ever disappear from school for such a long time, Dannoura-san?"
"Not that I'd know, although I think they were absent because of illnesses here and there."
"The time we spent here was around one year, but upon our return only a couple hours had gone by. The flow of time between this and our world appears to be different."
That was some more good news, Yogiri thought. It looked like they would have to spend quite some time in this world, but it sounds like the time discrepancy when returning home wasn't going to be too bad. Tomochika threw Hanakawa a question of her own.
"What's this about a demon lord? Shouldn't this world be peaceful now that he's dead?"
"Demon lords are the kings of demon kingdoms, but there's more than one of them and we only defeated the demon lord of the demon kingdom next to the Iman kingdom. I dare say Iman returned to harmony, thanks to us! Probably."
Apparently the plains they were currently in was part of the kingdom of Mani and quite far away from Iman.
"I wonder if we can also get back by defeating some demon lord? Well, guess we've got no choice but to ask the sage that summoned us about that."
Yogiri said so as he thought about the many unsettled questions.
Summonings may come with predetermined conditions, but that whole aspect was unclear. And assuming there really were conditions, they most likely wouldn't be easy to fulfill.
Sages summoning people from other worlds on a search for new sages. It didn't sound like something where they'd just let them go home.
"I'm not particularly trying to return home, personally… There's still my dream of a cheat harem in another world…"
Hanakawa mumbled, seemingly gotten used to the situation.
"So what's up with you guys quietly returning to everyday life after getting sent back?"
Given that they acquired that kind of power and going by their earlier attitude they seemed like the kind of people to do as they pleased even in their home world, yet Yogiri didn't recall anything noteworthy having happened.
"Of course the first thing we did when we got back was test whether we could still use our powers! But, well, we couldn't."
"And after being summoned back to this world you also regained your previous powers, huh. Are there any other guys like that in our class?"
"I only know about us three."
But if three people like that were among them then it was definitely possible that there were more. Yogiri made a mental note of it and asked another question.
"Are people's statuses something that's visible to anybody?"
"Aha, normal people can't! But then there are people like me who overleveled their analyze skill!"
With a smug grin Hanakawa went on a monologue of how exactly he went about leveling his analyze skill, but Yogiri didn't pay attention.
Even if it wasn't a common ability, they shouldn't be optimistic about the lack of the system in them going unnoticed. He decided to be prepared for people figuring out that the system wasn't installed in them.
"What is the rest of the class up to right now?"
"The second mission started and it looks like they left for the royal capital."
When they arrived at the city visible in the north they had successfully cleared the first mission. The second mission started right after, with the objective of achieving a heroic deed and becoming a sage.
"Heroic deed?"
"Something amazing that anyone would acknowledge. There's various acts that full under that category, but apparently the royal family's cooperation is indispensable for them, so they started heading to the royal capital while raising their levels on the way."
"Which is when you three slipped out and flew over here."
"No way I'd continue leveling at this point! Didst thou forget that I was robbed of my harem life and deported from this world when we defeated the demon lord the last time? Is it not only natural that I would enjoy myself and do whatever I please this time!"
"Enjoy yourself, eh. Well whatever. Are there any other cities around here?"
"The closest one is definitely the one further north. There's another one south from here, but it's quite the walk until there. I wouldn't recommend it on foot."
From there Yogiri continued to ask questions as he thought of them, mostly about this world and the system.
"That's about everything I wanted to ask. Dannoura-san, do you have any more questions?"
"Huh, me? Hmm. Hanakawa, you guys are strong right? Didn't you think about killing the dragon?"
Tomochika stared at him with reproachful eyes.
She must have thought that they could have avoided the current state of things if the three returnees had just defeated the dragon from the start.
"That… we were scared, okay? That dragon might've been doable, but that sage is crazy bad news! If her intention was having us clear her first mission then we had no choice but to obediently follow her plan."
"I admit it was scary when she did that thing with her hand, but was it that bad? I thought you guys were plenty strong as well?"
"You're only saying that because you couldn't see her status, Tomochika-tan! Her level was over one hundred million, and the most terrifying part was the way it kept going up by the second! No way we could take it up with a monster like that!"
"This whole talk about levels still doesn't tell me much."
Yogiri spoke as he tried imagining the strength of such a high level, but he didn't really have anything to compare it to.
"Higashida-dono was level 1000; I'm not that high, but nonetheless a solid 99."
"After hearing something like one hundred million a level in the double digits sure sounds shabby."
"Not like I can do anything about that! A human's limit is level 99, unless you have a skill that let's you break that limit or a class that doesn't have any level
requirements you can't go any higher!"
"Oh, I have another question. Everyone went along with what Yazaki-kun said, was that because he did something to them?"
"Yazaki-shi's skills, mhm. The General class has the skills 「Charisma」, 「Leadership」 and 「Strategy Drafting」. After approving of one of his plans, going against them becomes practically impossible, but the coercive power behind his skills isn't that special. If one of the participants considers themselves disadvantaged by the strategy his skill loses its effect."
Tomochika dejectedly dropper her head.
She seemed to be thinking of her friend Romiko Jougasaki. Going by Hanakawa's explanation, Romiko must have approved of the strategy of leaving behind those that didn't gain any powers.
"Hm, if it's about being disadvantaged then us four should have been at a massive disadvantage. Was our standpoint not even factored in because we aren't connected to the system?"
The leadership skill was most likely the ability to suppress minor dissatisfaction in order to allow for smooth action as a group. It may be unable to take effect if there was firm opposition against a strategy, but since the four that didn't get the system installed in them didn't have the right to disagree in the first place it carried out as drafted. Hanakawa agreed.
"That's probably what it was, quite indeed."
Without any more questions to ask they fell into silence.
Yogiri decided there was no more need for Hanakawa and pointed his hand towards him.
He could activate his power without pointing or voicing his intention, but this way it was easier to focus on his target.
"Wha! I beg thy pardon! Thee wouldn't be planning to kill me!? Not the Eternal Force Blizzard!"
"Don't give it a weird name. Anyway, let's wrap this up."
"Why!? Explain thyself!"
"Just feels like leaving you alive would turn into a bother."
"Don't just put it like that! How lightly doth thee thinketh of life and death!?"
"'Guess I better kill the guy with malice towards me,' about that lightly."
A quick look behind Hanakawa revealed the proofs of Yogiri's words, one leaning on top of the other.
"No such thing! I swear I bear no ill will towards you! Have mercy――!"
Hanakawa knelt on the ground with his head pressed into the grass, begging for his life. He even returned to a normal manner of speech.
Yogiri was a little troubled--it wasn't like he wanted to kill everyone he met, he just thought that someone with knowledge of his power running around freely might turn into an issue.
"T-that's it! A slave! You can make me a slave! I'll never disobey!"
Hanakawa said a word not heard often in everyday life.