**Day 19 – Inn – White Weirdo Pervert**
"An unfamiliar ceiling."
Ah, I finally got to say it. I thought I might never manage.
I was starting to worry I'd live my whole life without even hitting the template.
It really is an unfamiliar ceiling.
No mistake.
Not an unfamiliar cave, not the middle of an unfamiliar forest, not an unfamiliar high school girl.
Even if the inn is called the White Weirdo Pervert, even if it's the White Pervert, the ceiling is still an unfamiliar ceiling.
This time it really is an unfamiliar ceiling! I looked at it before going to sleep and it's definitely unfamiliar!
Isn't it weird that it took nearly twenty days after coming to another world just to say this line?
Normally it should be from a castle, right? With a princess, right? Actually, everything was wrong from the start. Why was it an old man instead of a goddess? That was already a failure, and I was spacing out too.
Well, anyway, I made it to a town in another world.
Mission accomplished.
(Fin)
"Good morning~ Could you not randomly end things first thing in the morning? Besides, Haruka-kun, you only came along with us—you weren't even aiming for the town from the start, right? You haven't accomplished a single thing, so why are you ending it?"
Does this inn offer morning comebacks instead of a morning call? With jito eyes, no less. I'll take it, thank you.
My journey is still just getting started! So it's going to be an eternal "End of Part 1" or "To Be Continued"? Apparently it never ends.
I thought it would be otherworld survival, but it turned into countryside living? A story about catching fish and mushrooms every day wouldn't even last a week in a jump magazine. This world's probably about to axe it too.
"Morning~ Class rep. You're still the class rep today, huh."
"Why are you using it like a compliment? Why do you look like you just said something awesome? We don't change class reps every day, so of course I'm still the class rep every morning! Actually, we don't even have a class anymore, so how long are you going to keep calling me class rep?"
Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to know that in our school, calling the class rep "class rep" is the highest compliment.
The class reps from other classes? No idea. Never seen them. Never seeing them means I don't know if they even exist. We still haven't found the real vice class rep from our own class, so even if they exist I wouldn't know.
"So, what's up so early? Hungry? Can't wait for breakfast? Want some mushrooms?"
"Why do I always come across as a starving kid in your head? I'm not always hungry! I came to talk!"
Apparently I was wrong. She doesn't have a Gluttony skill. Instead… nope, never mind.
"Yesterday at the guild, we split up and gathered information. So… I thought I should tell you too…"
She started talking like it was hard to say, painful, as if it cut her own body even though it was about me…
"Ah, the level wall?"
"Eh? How do you know? Who told you? You already… know everything… don't you…"
As expected, she'd probably spent all night worrying about how to tell me about the level wall. About having to deliver bad news.
No matter how she phrased it, there was nothing that could be done.
The level wall was a rule of this world.
The easiest way to understand it was with equipment, especially weapons.
For example, take one sword.
This world has levels.
Swords have them too.
Even the lowest-grade normal iron sword is level 20. Only people level 20 or higher can use it.
Of course you can hold it and swing it.
The difference is skills. Even if you have Sword Arts, the skill won't activate without level 20.
And one of the most important things in this world is said to be Weapon Skills.
For a sword, "Slash" or "Thrust" are the basics.
They're just techniques for cutting or stabbing, but when they're Weapon Skills the power is completely different.
Conversely, even if it's your first time holding a sword, if you have "Slash" and enough level, it activates as a Weapon Skill.
And a level 20 Weapon Skill can't be received unless you're level 20 or higher.
That is the level wall.
The reason levels are said to be absolute in this world.
Just the difference in levels means you get hit by Weapon Skills. Defensive Weapon Skills make attacks ineffective.
In other words, no matter how strong I get or how high my stats are, since my level doesn't go up, I lose.
Monsters have Weapon Skills too, and in this world people casually kill other people. Without Weapon Skills, I'll eventually get killed.
Game over.
Death sentence.
It's already checkmate.
That's what she came to tell me so early in the morning, all by herself… so today she's still the class rep.
No one would want to say it, and no one could.
But if she didn't tell me it would be dangerous. Not knowing could cost me my life.
Even if telling me might make me hate her…
"Ah~ I heard it from the old guys. Um? The three old guys?"
"Ah, so the guild master Hakies from the adventurers' guild got lumped into the three old guys too? You don't even feel like remembering the guild master?"
"Thanks, class rep. You've got panda eyes."
She probably stayed up all night thinking about how to tell me, worrying about what would happen to me. She really has panda eyes.
"No, I don't have panda eyes! What kind of eyes are those?! Panda, not just dark circles! Why do you turn it into a full panda?!"
Apparently they weren't panda eyes. I wonder if Kumamon is doing well? Never met him. Probably? I don't think he was in our class?
・
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Then it was breakfast! Panda bread! Bread! Messy bread! Super hard but still bread! They apparently haven't made ja-pan in this otherworld.
"They have bread here~ Let's buy some flour and take it back! Time to gather ingredients! All the ingredients of this world shall be mine! Fuhahaha!"
"Why do you start trying to take over the world the moment you eat bread? That's a nuisance to the otherworld."
I got scolded by the gyo-gyo girl. Maybe because I didn't praise the fish? Come to think of it, she said her dad and mom were fish, so she must have strong feelings about it.
"Homesick? Can't be helped. It's okay. Your dad and mom are probably swimming along happily."
"Don't turn my dad and mom into fish—!"
I got scolded again. She did say fish, right? Mishearing? No way—fish-kun!? And mom too!? The original world seems even more abnormal than this otherworld.
"What are we doing today? Heading out first thing? Morning guild? Gonna do morning guild?"
Well, even if we're going shopping, the guild comes first. I still don't have any money.
"Why do you say 'morning guild' like it's Morning Mac?"
"Everyone was sitting at tables chatting while drinking something, right? There was a sign saying 'Now only 100 ele!' or something."
If one cup is 100 ele, then 1 ele is probably about 1 yen? There might even be a 100 ele shop. I wonder if there's a bookstore…
First, money. I had plenty of numbers, but they were F-rank magic stones, so they probably wouldn't fetch much.
Still, I don't need money.
At level 9 I can't use weapons, armor, or equipment. The only thing I can use is apparently a wooden stick. Which I already have.
Leather armor is impossible too, so I don't need money.
Well, since I'm not becoming an adventurer I don't need preparations anyway. I can't become one.
As expected, ingredients and cooking tools are what matter—especially seasoning! We have salt, and for some reason it never runs out! Villager A, how much salt did you buy?
There's no bookstore apparently, and no books? I want to read books though… Am I finally going to become a delivery runner?