NOVEL WEB Volume 1 2.02
Part 2
The Bar on the first floor of the inn——
It was the bar that they had a meal with Celes yesterday.
This place that was composed of timber that had a smoked-like luster definitely was a bar at night, but it could also serve food normally in the mornings and afternoons.
Last night, it was cleared out by Celes and there wasn’t anyone around, but this morning, it was crowded with people.
Diablo, Rem, and Shera had breakfast at the table they were somehow able to secure.
In the establishment, there were seven tables meant for four people and the counter, but they were already occupied.
There were also people standing around talking, and it was fairly noisy.
——They’re all demi-humans
Diablo tilted his head.
In the MMORPG Cross Reverie, there were six races that one could choose from at the beginning.
They were 《Elf》《Pantherian》《Dwarf》《Grasswalker》《Demon》《Human》.
Of these, the races other than human were called 《Demi-human》.
Going by Cross Reverie’s setting, a portion of Humans seem to discriminate against Demi-humans. Especially people like aristocrats. There were several scenarios where that was the theme of the cause of the trouble.
Although there is a large variety of Demi-humans, there was also the setting that about half of all the people among the races were Humans.
Come to think of it, there were a lot of players that also chose to be Human. It’s because their initial statuses were blessed.
——It’s strange that this establishment’s guests and employees are all Demi-humans. Is it a coincidence?
From the side, Shera’s face came near, and she talked with a whispering voice.
「......Rem is really scary.」
Rem was silent and stabbing her wooden fork with a force that seemed like she had a grudge against the potato. Over and over.
She seemed to still be mad about what happened this morning.
As expected, even Diablo opened his mouth to try and apologise.
「Rem, this morning was......」
「......I am not mad.」
It was completely a mad voice.
「But still......」
「I am not mad. Since I am not mad, I would like to have a different topic.」
*Gusah gusah*.
The pitiable potato was made into mashed potatoes by Rem’s fork.
She seems to be the type that silently and deeply gets mad.
It couldn’t be helped. Just as he was told to do, he changed the topic of the conversation.
「This inn is full of Demi-humans, and there doesn’t seem to be any Humans, why is that?」
「......Humans won’t stay in a Demi-human inn.」
Since she was still in the middle of slaughtering the potatoes, she was probably mad, but since used her usual cool tone, he couldn’t really tell.
「Fumu, so there are things like a Demi-human inn in this world.」
Though there were settings of things like “being discriminated” and “a lot of people that hate them” in the game, there was no actual showing of the discrimination being put into practice.
There were NPCs that had discriminative-like speech and conduct as part of the scenario, but......
Since the players were all human, that was probably natural. He hadn’t seen anything like a role play where people would discriminate against Demi-humans.
In this world, there seemed to be a gap between Humans and Demi-humans more so than in the game.
——It looks like I should be more cautious with Humans.
Being hurt for no reason was what the thing called discrimination was.
Though, if he had a special situation where things like being Human or Demi-human didn’t matter like Rem did, it would probably be a different story.
——The Demon King Krebskrem’s soul is sealed in her, huh.
Diablo gazed at her.
Noticing that, she quickly covered her chest with her hands.
It’s not like I was looking there, you know!? No, well, since this was after what happened this morning, he guessed there’s no persuasive power in those words. There’s no helping that he was being guarded against.
More importantly, going by Galak’s speech and conduct, he remembered one thing that bothered him. He used the vocabulary 『level』.
「Oi, you two. In this world, is strength measured by the concept of the thing called levels?」
Shera opened her mouth looking like it was hard for her to say it.
「A level......I......don’t have one, I guess.」
「......I am a level 40 Summoner.」
Maybe because she cheered up a bit, Rem pridefully said it.
As he thought, it seemed to be an indicator that reveals a person’s strength.
However, this was a world that had neither status windows, shows for when experience is earned, nor fanfare of level ups.
「What are the standards that determine your level?」
「......If you are a Magician, the Magicians Society has a standard that decides it. There is a method that determines levels. I don’t know about the details for other occupations, but there are things like an examiner in the Adventurers Association that decides it.」
「That’s right! That why, the reason why I don’t have a level is because I still haven’t done the Adventurer Registration, and if my level was measured, I’m sure it would be either 40 or 50!」
Her elf ears were moving about. So they can move.
Rem’s black tail waved left and right. It was just like how a person waved their hand saying “No way, no way” to refuse an idea.
「......No matter how you think about it, your level would be around 10......From the standard, 10 is low after all.」
In other words, it seems that the average level of this area is around 20.
Shera puffed out her cheeks.
「That’s not gonna happen! After all, in the Elven country’s Association, I was level 40!」
「......In the Elven country, was it a Magician determination?」
「Umm......That’s......as an Archer.」
「......If your level was determined, wouldn’t the Adventurers Registration know about it? If the registration was finished in some town, there isn’t a need to do it in another town.」
「I was at an age where I couldn’t become an adventurer, but I only had it determined. I did it with the impression of something like trying my ability. It’s because I was still a kid.」
「......So you were level 40 as a child. There’s no doubt in your talent as an Archer......Then why do you want to become a Summoner?」
「Archers stay all alone, you know!? If you’re a Summoner, there are a lot of cute Summoned Beasts, right! It won’t be lonely in places like the dark, night forests!」
「......So you wanted a cute Summoned Beast, is it......Is that so, is that so. In that case, you don’t need Diablo then. In the first place, he isn’t a Summoned Beast after all.」
「Strength is also important!」
It was an atmosphere that looked like a fight was about to start.
Diablo talked as if giving an order instead of mediating between the two of them.
「After we’ve had our meal, we’re headed to the Adventurers Association.」
Shera leaned forward.
「Alright! I’ll do the Adventurers Registration and then I need to make money! If I’m together with Diablo, I don’t have anything to worry about !」
「......Putting the stupid Elf aside, I was also thinking that I wanted to take Diablo to the Adventurers Association. I am interested in your level.」
Level 150 was, in the end, just talk from the game.
Just how was he in this world?
He wasn’t weak. That’s what he truly felt, but he was thinking that he wanted to know in detail how far his level went with this world’s standards.
With that decided, let’s quickly finish breakfast.
Diablo extended his fork to the potatoes that weren’t turned into mashed potatoes.