In the middle of the night. Arisa wake up from her sleep.

"Nee, master. Are you sleeping?" Whisper Arisa to Satou.

"What happen? Did you have nightmares or something?" With his eyes still closed Satou ask with a concern.

"Yes. I'm dreaming of the time when i became a slave" Said Arisa with a trembling voice.

Satou wake up and sit in the bed. Placing Arisa head on his lap and caressing her head.

"Just sleep. I'm here with you" Said Satou.

Arisa just silent and snuggling in Satou.

/Did she cry?/

"You can tell me everything if you don't mind" Said Satou so that Arisa calms down a bit.

"You will not hate me after hearing it right?" Asked Arisa with anxiety clearly visible in her voice.

"Yeah, i will not hate you with everything. I will love you. Because you're mine from now on" Satou said that to calm Arisa.

/This will be easy if i have mind magic like her/

'Partner, did you have a knowledge of mind magic?'

'I have, but you can't use it. It's just knowledge, not a skill'

After some more minutes. Arisa calm down. And she start telling Satou about her past.

***

Satou and Arisa sit side by side on the bed. With Lulu still sleeping soundly beside them. Arisa Start her story.

"My name Arisa Tachibana. I'm Japanese, just like you. More specifically, I'm a former Japanese person who
was reincarnated in the Kubooku Kingdom without losing my memories of
being Arisa Tachibana. Are you also a reincarnation? No, judging by that

black hair of yours, I'll bet you were summoned here as a hero. Am I wrong,
master?" explain Arisa.

/Her information base on menu didn't display her Japanese name or status as a
*former Japanese person*/

"What's the matter, master? You're quiet all of a sudden. Did you know you're
the second Japanese person I've met here?"

"I'm not an actual Japanese person. But you can say that I'm a Japanese too. And you said I'm not the first? So who's the first?"

"If you not a Japanese, at least with your figure you're an Asian. And for the first Japanese i meet is the hero from Saga Empire"

"From your perspective, did that hero strong?" Ask Satou.

"No, at that time he's still cannot be said as a strong person" Explain Arisa.

"So, what did you want to tell me? It's all right

if you don't want to talk about it."

Arisa was hesitant for a moment, then slowly started to speak.

"I tried to use my knowledge from my previous life to make my
hometown prosper..." She's silent for a moment and continue.

"But I failed. I was a princess back then, you know. It went well at first, but then I met with failure so unnatural that the
kingdom fell to civil war, and in the end a neighboring country captured me"

"What did you do?"

"Just normal agrarian reform. As the basis of my reign, I showed them
how to use humus, fertilizer, four field crop rotation, and other basic hacks"

/l
assumed that meant she'd used her advanced knowledge to improve the

agriculture of the kingdom/

"But how could that have failed so badly that the whole kingdom fell
apart?" Satou ask her.

"That's why I called it an *unnatural* failure. All the crops we planted in
the humus rich topsoil failed. The fertilizer that was in the decomposing
process was suddenly infested with bug type monsters, and the fallow fields

that were recovering their fertility with clovers and turnips failed and became
barren… That sort of thing."

/That certainly sounded like the kind of phenomenon you'd find in a
fantasy world, but since she'd appended the word unnatural, maybe.../

"Did you know the cause off all that?"

"Yes, but I didn't know that until much later. At the time, I felt terrible,
convinced it was because of differences between the soil in this world and the
one we came from. They started calling me with a names like *Witch of the Lost
Kingdom* and *Mad Princess*" explain Arisa.

"I like the Mad Princess one thought" Said Satou thinking it seriously.

Arisa smile hearing what Satou said.

"Still, if the perpetrator wanted to take over the kingdom, what would be
the profit in destroying it? That doesn't make much sense to me"

"They didn't care about the state of some impoverished kingdom. They
just wanted the *Withered Labyrinth* that was under the castle" Arisa
gnawed on the ends of her curled fingers in frustration.

"Once they took over
the country, they appeased the angry citizens by holding a public execution of
the king, the queen, and the crown prince"
Regret darkening her face, Arisa's eyes filled with tears.

"Then they gathered the remaining princes and princesses and said, *This
kingdom was destroyed because of your stupidity. You are not fit to be
royalty* On their orders, the royal sorcerers used a gift called *Geis* on the

children, starting with me. It curses the victim to be a slave until the day they
die. Believing that the kingdom had been ruined all because of my actions, I
accepted the curse and became a slave" Arisa start to crying silently.

I reached under the pillow to use storage and take out a
handkerchief to wipe away her tears.

"Why would they make you become a slave?"

"In order to carry out a ritual to revive the Withered Labyrinth I
mentioned before. Slaves can't fight back or run away, and unlike a contract,
there was only one person in the whole kingdom who could undo a Geis…"

Arisa grasped the handkerchief tightly in one hand and my own hand in
the other as she continued.

"Every month, on the night of the full moon, one of us would be sent into
the labyrinth as sacrifices for that terrible ritual…"

Her grip on my hand slackened.

"After a year, the labyrinth had been resurrected. The only two sacrifices
who survived were Lulu, my father's illegitimate child, and me, with my
violet hair. We were taken from the tower we'd been imprisoned in to a
nearby villa. I don't know why they didn't dispose of us on the spot… Maybe
they were keeping us as backups in case the labyrinth needed to be revived
again"

/If Lulu was the illegitimate child of a king, that must have made her
technically royalty by blood/

"Then, on the night of the next full moon, a tragedy occurred. A hell
demon appeared out of nowhere, destroying the castle and its surrounding
town. The villa that we were in burned as well, and Lulu fled with me into

the mountains. We had received an order not to leave the villa, but we're was realest from
the order when the castle was destroyed and the retainer who'd been registered as our master was killed. I thought for sure that I would burn to death there, but since I noticed

that Lulu's title had changed to Masterless, we were able to escape in the nick
of time. If I had been alone, I would surely have died there."

Arisa sat on my lap now, her hand entwined in mine. Her hand still
trembled though, so I let her stay there.

"After that, we wandered in the mountains until the slave trader Nidoren
found us, when we were on the brink of death. Slaves without masters can't
simply walk into a town, after all. I did my best to put up just enough of a

fuss to avoid being sold to some perverted noble or something. I thought a
hole would open up in my stomach from the stress alone"

"Is that also the time you manipulate him using your mind magic?"

"I didn't have much time to think. I just want to us to survive. Actually it's didn't matter who fond us. I will still manipulate them for our safety"

"I'm condemning you. If i on your shoe and have the same skill. Maybe i will do the same. But, if it's me. I will just manipulate everyone in the castle so they kill each other" Said Satou with a straight face.

"You're cruel master" Arisa said with a monotone voice.

"They try to kill me. Is it wrong if i doing the same?" Satou tilting his head.

"By the way, what was that hell demon's goal?" Ask Satou.

"I have no idea. Knowing demons, it was probably just looking for a
labyrinth where they could raise a demon lord, no?"

/Did that mean they were brood parasites, then? Like cuckoos?/

"Do labyrinths exist to foster demon lords?"

"There are scholars who claim as much, but the gods have neither
confirmed nor denied it. Still, just about every demon lord that's emerged so
far was first sighted near a labyrinth" Explain Arisa.

***

Arisa wake up and sitting on Satou lap, she then ask something to Satou.

"Master, can i ask something to you?" Ask Arisa.

"Yes, what is it?"

"From the state of your body, you are the one who was summoned here. Is that true? If that's true, then you are a hero sent by god to kill the demon king than?" Said Arisa.

'Host, you can use this chance to get knowledge about hero. She once meet a hero right?'

'Good idea'

"What's the difference in the first place?"

Satou answered Arisa's question with a question of his own.

"A reincarnation is a soul that died early in an accident or the like in the
previous world and was reincarnated in this world and born as a baby. Something like a second chance maybe. As for summoned, they're human that got abducted into
this world against their will by summoning magic. Heroes, for example. And usually they're on their teenage age"

'Abducted… That's a good interpretation from her host'

'It's not entirely wrong in the first place. And in their teenage just because they will be easy to manipulate'

"Do reincarnation always start as babies?"

"According to legends, it can happen to adults, too, but in this world it
only happens with babies"

"You seemed awfully sure about it"

"Of course, because that's what the god told me when I was reincarnated here"

"You met a god? Which one?"

"I didn't know, she didn't introduce herself. I said *she* just because that time her voice sound like a woman"

Satou silent for a moment.

"Than as for summoned. Is it someone that got called here in their original form? Like their clothes,
their possessions, their appearance…?"

"Yes, I've heard their clothes are the same ones they were wearing at the
time they were summoned. Appearance, too, of course"

"Is this just hearsay?"

"No, I heard this directly from a hero of the Saga Empire, so I don't doubt that
it's true. The Saga Empire is the only country that can summon a hero from a
different world"

/I wondered if I could figure out how to summon my own hero if I went to the Saga Empire? Then, I guess I should head there next once I was done sightseeing in the

Shiga Kingdom/

'Now, what should I tell her? Should I tell her the truth about our situation
or keep it a secret, partner?'

'Well, she could manipulate people's hearts and minds with that Mind
Magic of hers, but she was still the best lead we gotten so far. I think you can said some of it'

'Okay'

Satou explain his situation to Arisa.

"I see… Then I might not be either of those. I was taking a nap at that time, and when I woke up I was standing in a big wasteland"

"You didn't meet a god?"

"No such luck. But i think someone else meet the God"

/Dea is the one who meet with Kagura, so i didn't lie in here/

"Are you came out in the middle of a summoning circle when you got here?"

"Nope, I was all by myself physical"

/Yes physically I'm alone. But I'm one soul with Dea/

"Then did you start at a high level? Have infinite magic? Or tons of
skills?"

"No, I started at level one, and I only had ten magic points. I just have 4 one use only magic"

"Really? That seems incredibly unfair, don't you think?"

"That's true, that's why i said this world is a KUSOGE"

"If you in that condition, i think it's justified if you call it like that, master"

"All right, enough about me. Tell me about the skills you have and special abilities, too" Ask Satou

"Okay. Firstly, my
*Mind Magic* skill is level five. Pretty high, isn't it? I've put all the skill

points I've gotten since birth into it"

/…All of them?/

/Arisa was level 11. If it worked the same for her as for me, she should
have 132 skill points. Wouldn't ten points be enough to max out just one skill
like *Mind Magic*?/

"Arisa, I have a question"

"Ask me whatever you'd like! My bust size is—"

Satou pressing a pillow over Arisa's mouth to block this superfluous
information. He continued his inquiry.

"How many skill points do you get when you level up? And how many
points does it take to level up your *Mind Magic* skill?"

"Goodness, so violent. You should silent me with a kiss next time master. Moo. And for that question. Every time I level up, the skill points I get are
generally 2 dice 6. That is to say, one six-sided die rolled two times. So between
two and twelve, with an average of seven. And the number of points needed

to level up my *Mind Magic* skill is different for each skill level. More
specifically…"

/What did this mean?/

/There was a huge difference between the skill points i got when i
leveled up and the number needed to level up a skill/

/Was my case unique, or was there some kind difference of system to it?/

"Is something the matter master?" Arisa asked, looking anxious.

"No, it's fine. Just have something on my mind".

Arisa still look concerned, but she didn't pursue it.

/If what Arisa said was true, then my ability to learn skills was several
times—maybe even dozens of times—more efficient than that of the average person. In a way, it was just as big of a unique advantage as the "Meteor

Shower" and "Search Entire Map" skills/

/It would probably be best to make sure that I could trust Arisa completely
before I told her about all this. Until then, I'd just keep it a secret/

"Arisa, what happens when you learn a new skill?"

"I just choose one from the list to learn, of course."

/So that part was the same… No, wait. I felt like I might be
misunderstanding something here/

"So what causes new skills to appear on the list?"

"When my skill points increase. If you satisfy certain requirements, like
the number of skill points or a related lower skill, the new skill shows up.
They appear when you have half the required points, which is convenient for me.
I can decide whether to spend the points now or save them for a better
skill."

/Hmm, so that's different, too.
In my case, I learned skills just by performing a related action. Although
they didn't learn them quite as absurdly easily as I did, the beast folk girls

seemed to acquire them in a similar fashion/

Without mentioning his own situation, Satou commented experimentally that
the way the beast folk girls acquired skills seemed to be different from Arisa's
method, but she simply responded that there were special systems for
transferences and transmigrations. Although we'd gotten a bit off topic, he listened to the rest of Arisa's
explanation.

"*Self Status Check* is just what it sounds like: a skill that lets me review
my own status. It gives much more information than a Yamato stone. Most
importantly, it lets me manage my stats, like STR and INT, and choose how
to allocate skill points and stats point"

/Apparently, it was this skill that allowed her to select what skill to learn
from a list when she leveled up.
And she could choose how her attribute values were allotted, too? My
menu didn't have that feature/

/Or maybe because i'm on max stats point. So I can't see my stats point bonus and allocated it. I really need to evolve/

"*Hide Skills* allows me to conceal information about the skills I have.
Once it's been used, my skills will appear as *none*, even to Yamato stones
and *Analyze*, until I deactivate it"

/Did the fact that her skills appeared as *Unknown* in my menu mean I
had a different kind of analyzing skill?/

"*Status Check* lets me view the status of others. To be honest, *Analyze*
would've been better, but I didn't have enough reincarnation bonus points*

To test it out, Satou let Arisa try to read his status, but she got only the
information from his fake profile, just like a Yamato stone.
Arisa explained to Satou that *Analyze* was an analysis type skill like *Status
Check* but more comprehensive. Though for looking at statuses, it wasn't
much stronger than *Status Check*.
Incidentally, a god gave Arisa a *Hide Skills* to her, so even people with
any analysis type skills couldn't see through it.

/I guess that was why it showed up as *Unknown* even in my display, too.
Normally, once *Hide Skills* was learned, the other person just had to
have a *Analyze* skill level higher than the level of the *Hide Skills*

being used.
But my fake status menu, where I could edit the profile that others saw,

was even more flexible than Arisa's *Hide Skills*/

"*Item Box* is just as the name implies. It's an item storing system like
the kind in a lot of games. Unlike the unlimited inventory that's standard for
heroes, it has a limited amount of space, but it doesn't get bulky or heavy, so

it's still very useful."

/When I asked about the limitations, she explained that she could carry up
to one hundred different kinds of items, with the same kind of item stackable
up to one hundred units each. A very game like system. For amorphous items, like water, one unit was apparently equal to about
one liter/

/Arisa proudly noted that she'd discovered a loophole where she could
pack a lot of small items into a bag before storing them to get the same effect,
counting by volume rather than amount/

/My inventory system was more like the unlimited inventory that she
mentioned.
I didn't know if there was any difference other than the name, but it was
useful either way, so I didn't think it mattered/

***

"I'm getting thirsty from all this talking" Arisa was coughing a bit and holding her throat. 

Satou started to get up
to bring her some water, but she stopped him with her free hand.
Instead, she suggested a demonstration of her Item Box, so Satou just sit there and told her to go
ahead.

"Item Box, open"
Arisa chanted in a whisper and waved her hand theatrically, and a flat

black hole opened up in front of her.

/Is that the Item Box?/

/I didn't get any black holes or fancy effects when I moved things into or
out of inventory/

Arisa put her hands inside the black hole and promptly pulled out a jug of
water. She brought it to her lips and drank straight from the container; her
face in profile looked very proud.
Some water spilled over her lips and onto her bare chest. Even the way
she drank water was too risque for a girl her age.

/How old was she on the inside, really?/

"At least use a cup," Satou said, wishing she would mind her manners.

But she
informed Satou that she tried to keep her usage of the box to a minimum, since
each item taken out or put away cost her some MP.
She needed magic just for storing stuff? That was also a different from Satou inventory.

Arisa finished drinking and started to put away the water jug, so Satou asked
her to let him try doing it. It was sort of like putting something into a black
case in which he could faintly see the outlines of other items.

*Skill ITEM BOX acquired*

/I didn't really need a skill that was just an inferior version of Storage, but…/

/More importantly, I was curious whether one of her remaining abilities,
Never Give Up or Over Boost, had allowed her Mind Magic to affect me
despite our three hundred lvl difference in power/

"Well. You got a good deal, didn't you? Not many people
can say they have a slave with a skill like that!" Arisa chuckle.

"What else you have?"

"Urgh…"

Arisa grumbled something about Satou greed, making a show of being
reluctant before dramatically throwing up her hands in an *I give up* pose
like in a movie.

"I happen to have two Unique Skills, thank you very much!"

"Aren't I amazing?" She was striking a triumphant pose, so Satou ruffled
her hair a little more roughly than necessary. She seemed pleased about that,
despite her protests that satou would mess up her hair.

/But why did she refer to them as "Unique Skills" and not abilities, like her
status screen had said?/

Cutting off his line of thought, Arisa began her explanation.

"Even Lulu doesn't know about these you know. The first one is called *Over Boost*.
It uses up all my magic and stamina to increase the effect of a single skill or
spell many times over! Isn't that incredible? A skill befitting a heroine!"

/Actually, it sounded more like a one shot cannon/

"The other one is called Never Give Up. It's a power that lets me carry on
no matter how strong the opponent! Specifically, no matter how much higher
the enemy's defense or level might be, it gives my magic and attacks at least
a ten percent chance of affecting them! Amazing, isn't it?"

/That one was amazing, I had to admit/

"However, I can only use it up to three times. I do recover one use per
month, though"

/What a bothersome skill/

Later, she explained to Satou that even when the skill was activated, it was
no use against an enemy that had a complete resistance to something. For
example, there would be no point in trying to use "Flamethrower" against a
firedrake that wasn't affected by fire attacks.

"By the way, master, how many Unique Skills do you have?"