Hell Mode: Volume 1, page 7
The senior clergyman continued, “Elmea, the God of Creation, grants opportunity equally to all. Those of you born as serfs might not be as familiar with the stories, but there are those of your status who have gone on to become champions of our country.”
The villagers stirred, buzzing with amazement at this claim. Many of the parents present today were hearing this for the first time, as they were here with their first child to reach five years of age.
The village itself had been founded ten years ago. The first two to three years saw rather meager harvests, which made it difficult to survive, much less consider children. By the fourth year, however, the development of the village had gradually gotten on track and the crop yields started stabilizing. Thanks to this, the families finally had the leeway to start having children. Rodin and Theresia were part of this group. In other words, the thirty or so children here, including Allen, made up the village’s first baby boom.
“As examples, Clasys the Saintess was born as a commoner. Dverg the Sword Lord, who is actively serving our kingdom even today, was born as a serf.”
As the clergyman’s voice reverberated through the room, the villagers became increasingly astonished, their murmurs buzzing louder in turn.
Ahh, I get it now.
Among the crowd, Allen was the only one who actually understood what the clergyman was saying. He thought back to when he was still choosing his preferences for this “game” on his computer. When he selected classes with lots of stars, such as Hero or Sword Lord, the game restricted the social classes that he could become to the lower strata. The setup was such that class and social class were inversely correlated. It was therefore impossible for powerful classes to be born from royalty or upper nobility.
Which means that what I saw as settings for character selection are the actual foundations of this world. So that’s why the people here are so thorough about testing even the serfs for Talents, which I assume refers to the job classes. So that no Talent-holder goes undiscovered.
As the senior clergyman went on to give a simple rundown of the Appraisal Ceremony, other clergy members carried over a crystal and set it up in front of him. The children were to place their hands on this crystal, after which the results of their appraisal would display on the pitch-black surface of a 170-cm-tall metallic panel that stood next to the clergyman.
Hmm, so the crystal won’t change colors or glow? The results of the appraisal will just show u— Wait, so it’ll be all public? Well, I guess there’s no hiding the results, not in front of this many people.
Soon enough, the Appraisal Ceremony began.
“Pelomas, son of Deboji. Step forward and place your hands on the crystal,” the senior clergyman said in a sonorous tone, reading from a parchment that likely contained the list of the names of all thirty or so children present.
The village chief Deboji led his son forward and brought him before the crystal. Upon being prompted again by the clergyman, the little boy laid both his hands on the ball. It emanated a faint glow that was sucked toward the metallic panel, which then displayed silver-colored lines of text.
Hold on a moment! So, it basically works like how my grimoire does?! Does that mean the function of the Appraisal Ceremony was just incorporated into my grimoire automatically?
“Wonderful! You have the Talent of a Merchant. Congratulations.”
* * *
Name: Pelomas
HP: C
MP: D
Attack: D
Endurance: C
Agility: D
Intelligence: B
Luck: B
Talent: Merchant
* * *
The village chief whooped with delight as he saw the Talent and threw his arms around his son, squeezing him fiercely. Pelomas also looked happy, albeit a bit smothered.
Is Deboji happy about Merchant specifically, or is he just happy that his son had a Talent at all? And the stats are displayed as ranks. I see.
Allen called out his grimoire and noted down the results of Pelomas’s appraisal. Another commoner boy was called up next. His father also brought him forward, and he placed his hands over the crystal.
Once again, silver text appeared on the metallic panel. The Talent field said “None,” causing the father’s shoulders to slump in disappointment. However, he then simply withdrew with no attempt to protest the result, as if understanding that the reading was absolute.
The appraisals continued. After Pelomas, most of the other children were Talentless and had stats that only went up to C at most. Because the senior clergyman was calling the commoners first, the serfs were still waiting. Those who had already been appraised were free to either return home or stay behind to watch the other children’s results.
“I did it, papa! I got Ax User! It says I’m an Ax User!”
The seventh child, a stocky little boy, rejoiced with his father when the clergyman informed them of his Talent.
* * *
Name: Dogora
HP: B
MP: D
Attack: A
Endurance: B
Agility: C
Intelligence: D
Luck: C
Talent: Ax User
* * *
Wow! That’s the first time an “A” has shown up in anybody’s Status. And he has a Talent! That can’t be a coincidence. Does this mean those without Talents naturally have lower stats? Just as he had done for all the others, Allen copied down this boy’s Status into the grimoire, jotting down his thoughts in the margins.
It was not long before the senior clergyman had finished appraising the commoner children and moved on to calling the serfs. Most of them also turned out to be Talentless. When one child was pronounced to be a Cleric, the clergyman told both the child and parent to stay behind afterward.
I still haven’t been called... Not that I mind—I’m glad I’ve got the chance to survey such a large sample of Statuses.
As it turned out, Krena and Allen were the last two children. While the majority had already left, a handful of families stood in the back of the chamber, having chosen to stay behind out of curiosity.
“Krena, daughter of Gerda. Step forward and place your hands on the crystal.”
“Okay!” The pink-haired girl approached the crystal, led by her father. She placed both hands onto it, beaming.
That instant, the crystal lit up far brighter than it had all day. The clergy and remaining parents all jolted in surprise. Even Gerda’s face was filled with astonishment.
When the light subsided, the metallic plate displayed the results of Krena’s appraisal. The senior clergyman started trembling like a leaf as he fell into an even greater shock, stuttering, “I-It appeared! I can’t believe it!”
“What is it?! Father, what does it say?!” Gerda asked pressingly. Like most serfs, he did not know how to read or write aside from the names of his family members. Everything on the metallic panel was gibberish to him aside from “Krena.”
“S-Sword Lord! Your daughter’s Talent is Sword Lord!”
* * *
Name: Krena
HP: S
MP: C
Attack: S
Endurance: A
Agility: A
Intelligence: C
Luck: B
Talent: Sword Lord
* * *
“Did he just say ‘Sword Lord’?!”
“A Sword Lord has been born!”
The inside of the church immediately fell into an uproar. Everyone kept exchanging looks between Krena and her appraisal results.
The girl herself, however, looked both disappointed and confused. “I’m not a Swordswoman?” she asked, her head tilted.
The pitch-black surface now displayed the words “Sword Lord” and stats that were head and shoulders beyond that of any other child so far, all in brilliant silver letters.
Both Gerda and Rodin were entirely petrified, seemingly having trouble processing the revelation. Allen was the only person still calm, occupied with recording his childhood friend’s Status into his grimoire.
I had a hunch this was how it’d end up. Honestly, there was no way she was just a Swordswoman—not with her laughably overwhelming strength.
It had been two and a half years since Krena and Allen started playing knight together. Although they did so for only an hour each day, it had still been enough to raise Allen’s Sword Mastery to Lvl. 3. The number of wooden swords that had been snapped now numbered more than ten. As such, he had taken to making his own wooden swords as of late.
After the appraisal was done for all thirty-one children, the final tally was as follows:
1 x Sword Lord (Krena)
1 x Ax User (commoner)
1 x Cleric (serf)
1 x Merchant (village chief’s son)
27 x Talentless
If I’m to make an educated guess from this sample, it means the large majority of people in this world are Talentless. Only roughly one out of every ten actually possesses a Talent.
“Lastly, Allen, son of Rodin. Step forward and place your hands on the crystal.”
Finally, it was Allen’s turn to be appraised. Rodin brought him before the crystal.
My parents will learn about me being a Summoner after this. Before, there was no way for me to explain to them even if I wanted to, so this makes for a perfect opportunity.
During the past five and a half years, even after Theresia had reduced countless Denkas into bubbles of lights, Allen had not told his parents that he was a Summoner. One reason was because he had no answer if his parents asked how he knew of his own class. Moreover, he had no need to run the risk of explaining himself.
When Allen’s hands got close to the crystal, it practically exploded in light.
“WHAT?!”
Once again, everyone reacted with complete surprise. The light was even greater than during Krena’s turn. It shone like a small sun, prompting several to throw up a hand over their eyes.
When the light faded, silver letters appeared on the black metallic panel.
“Th-This is...but...” The senior clergyman rubbed his eyes as if doubting what he was seeing.
Rodin, who could not read, asked apprehensively, “Um, Father, what is the result?”
“Huh? Oh, um... I’m sorry, your son is Talentless.”
“I...see...”
Rodin had watched Allen and Krena play knight many times before. The way his son handled his wooden sword was completely different from what other children the same age could do. This had given Rodin the expectation that Allen was a Swordsman.
Looks like my father’s disappointed about the result. I don’t really mind being “Talentless” all that much, but what I wanna know is what the heck is actually going on with my reading?! Was the God of Creation slacking off?!
Allen stared at the metallic panel, somewhat incredulous.
* * *
Name: Allen
HP: E
MP: E
Attack: E
Endurance: E
Agility: E
Intelligence: E
Luck: E
Talent: å☐¬å—šå£«
* * *
Why is the text in my Talent field all garbled?!
The silver text on the jet-black panel showed all of Allen’s stats as “E” and his Talent as unintelligible gibberish. The senior clergyman had likely declared him Talentless because the text did not mean anything.
There were a few commoners present who could read. Allen’s stats, when considered together with his lack of Talent, set off a wave of murmurs discussing how “pitiful” his Status was. Rodin, who seemed to have heard all those whispers, looked at his son with a face filled with shock.
“Ahem. Rodin, do not forget that Allen is still your precious child. Raise him well.”
When the clergyman in charge of keeping records of all the Status readings finished writing down Allen’s as well, the letters on the metallic panel disappeared.
Although the Appraisal Ceremony was already over, it was still before noon. Rodin left the church with Allen, his shoulders slumped as they started for home. Gerda and Krena quickly followed after them, the church staff making no move to stop them. Just like everyone else, they were apparently free to go. While on the road back, Gerda did his best to cheer Rodin up, but he was largely unresponsive to his efforts.
They let Krena go just like that? After all the fuss they made about her being a Sword Lord? Ah, no, they’ll probably come talk to her again another day, I imagine.
Because Allen’s head had been bowed the entire way, Rodin assumed he was depressed. When Gerda and Krena parted with them and he was finally alone with Allen, he turned to him and said, “Allen, you are my son. Don’t worry—I will raise you with everything I’ve got. However, mama will worry, so let’s still let her know what the father said, okay?”
“Wha—?” Allen looked up, then pulled a smile. “Oh, of course, papa.” Indeed he had been engrossed with his thoughts, but it was not from being depressed. He was simply preoccupied with analyzing all the new information that he had added to his grimoire this morning.
Rodin patted his head a few times before the pair continued home, walking in silence. When they got home, they shared the news with Theresia, who gently stroked Allen’s head and reassured him that he was still her child, just as Rodin had done.
Allen then headed into the nursery for his afternoon nap. He lay down next to his two-year-old brother, Mash, who was breathing peacefully in sleep. Their bare-bones wooden cot had been replaced with a proper bed. His parents’ warmth filled his heart.
Just before he allowed himself to fall asleep, however, Allen wanted to go over everything he learned from today’s Appraisal Ceremony and properly write down all the conclusions he could deduce.
I mean, this has got to be a mistake by some god or person in charge, right? The fact that my Talent was in garbled text must mean they either forgot or hadn’t gotten around to making sure that my class shows up properly when appraised.
I do feel bad seeing how worried my parents had been for me today, but since the Ceremony officially declared me “Talentless,” I guess I should probably continue keeping the fact of me being a Summoner a secret. That means skilling up out of my parents’ and Mash’s sight, same as before.
Once Allen finished deciding on the direction he would take his training going forward, he turned to another page in his grimoire that he had filled out a while ago.
On a different note, the fact that all my stats came out as “E” confirms something that I’ve suspected all along.
During the past five or so years, there was one burning question that Allen had desperately wanted to know. And today, he finally got his answer thanks to what he learned at the Appraisal Ceremony. While all his stats being “E” may have disappointed his parents, it was not necessarily all that bad an outcome for him.
Allen looked at the corner on the page where he had written:
Hell Mode and Normal Mode:
Hypothesis 1: Everyone in this world is in Hell Mode.
Hypothesis 2: I am the only one in Hell Mode, and everyone else in this world is in Normal Mode.
Allen erased his first hypothesis. I finally got the confirmation I’d been wanting so badly. That’s the only way to explain why I got “E” for everything.
Within the past few hours, Allen had largely finished analyzing the Appraisal Ceremony. First, he concluded that the ranking displayed for each stat was more of an indication of potential. With everyone being five years old, there shouldn’t have been that great a difference between the actual stat values between all the children. Chances were that most of them were, just like Allen, still only Lvl. 1. As such, the rankings were likely either an indication of how much a stat would increase upon leveling up or of the maximum value a stat could cap out at.
In light of this, Allen’s stats all being “E” was a strong indication that he was the only person in Hell Mode. The reason they were ranked so low was likely because both the potential and rate of growth were being considered, and he, being in Hell Mode, would be improving at a rate a hundred times slower than everyone else in this world.
In his past life, Kenichi had lamented how modern games had shifted toward undemanding gameplay. After being reincarnated into this world as Allen, he was the only person in Hell Mode. Some would consider this a hellish situation to be in, but the emotion that Allen felt welling up inside his heart was something else entirely. He felt as if he had discovered a goal to strive toward.
“I see, so this new life of mine is itself an act of defiance against hopelessly easy games. I’ll live my life to prove the worth of games with actual challenge!”
Allen finally went to sleep, slightly embarrassed that he had gotten so excited he spoke his thoughts out loud.
Later when 3 p.m. rolled around, he played knight with Krena as usual. However, that was not all that happened that day. Around dusk, Allen’s parents said they had business to take care of and left the house. Theresia came back not long after, but Rodin did not return until an hour later.
“Huh? Wait, what happened, Rodin?!” Theresia exclaimed in shock when she saw the bruises all over her husband’s body. His face was swollen where it looked like he had taken several punches. However, he said nothing and simply kept his head down.
Three days passed with Theresia repeatedly questioning Rodin after the bruises and him continuing to stay mum with a sullen face. On the fourth day, the answer came through Krena. As it turned out, he had gotten into a fight with Gerda. She did not fully understand the reason for the fight, but considering how it had happened on the same day after the Appraisal Ceremony, Allen suspected that it had something to do with himself being Talentless and all his stats being “E.”
Allen had been sending telepathic messages to the gods requesting clarification and rectification in regards to his appraisal results every single day since the Ceremony. He did so clutching his grimoire, but had yet to receive an answer, glowing page or otherwise. However, back when he had been Kenichi, he had once lost a piece of equipment he had spent a whole year crafting due to a server crash, something that was inarguably the game company’s fault. After that, he spammed the management staff on a daily basis until they finally used backup data to restore his item. In the same vein, Allen intended on praying to the gods every single day until they responded.
