Chapter 14

Summary of the previous chapter ------------------------------------------------------

After eating the wild boar we killed for lunch, we returned to town.

We sold the herbs we gathered and the boar, earning a decent amount of money.

"--- Well then"

After entering the room and waiting for a while, Haruka took out the bag of money, held it up, and smiled.

"We managed to earn about 18,000 rea! Clap, everyone!"

*Clap clap clap clap!*

We looked up at the bag and clapped enthusiastically.

"With this, we can survive in this world!"

"Yeah! This is what we earned ourselves!"

Of course, we can't live on this amount of money alone, but it's very reassuring to know that we can earn money on our own.

"Ah, I feel so happy. Or maybe it's a sense of accomplishment? It must feel like this when a new employee gets their first paycheck, right?"

Toya expressed his joy with a broad smile, and I probably had a similar expression. Even Haruka, who had been serious since we arrived, was now smiling and holding the bag of money.

"I've never had a part-time job, so I don't know, but I don't think there's a sense of accomplishment like this. This is a matter of life and death here!"

"Come to think of it, this is my first paycheck too... I've only ever earned pocket money by helping my parents."

Our high school basically banned part-time jobs, so none of us three had ever worked. In a way, this could be considered our first paycheck.

"Still, we earned more than expected, right? About 180,000 yen a day? If we can live on 1,000 rea a day for three people, it shouldn't be that hard, right? Maybe this world isn't so bad?"

Toya said this with a hopeful expression, but Haruka's expression suddenly turned serious.

"Too optimistic! Toya, you're way too optimistic! That lack of planning can be the difference between life and death!"

"R-Really?"

Toya, strongly negated by Haruka, asked with a nervous expression. Haruka nodded and explained.

"First, there's no social security in this world! No unemployment insurance, no injury insurance, no social insurance, no health insurance, no welfare! If you get injured and can't work, no one will help you. The same goes for when you get old. There's no pension, so you need to save money, buy a house or farmland, and plan your life, or you'll regret it!"

"O-Oh..."

Toya was taken aback by Haruka's passionate explanation.

"Haruka, I understand what you're saying, but isn't that a bit pessimistic?"

Feeling sorry for him, I tried to back him up, but Haruka cut me off.

"Pessimistic? Can you eat that? I don't want to see you and Toya starving to death in a corner of the city."

Haruka casually excluded herself, but I guess she would manage. Women are indeed more realistic.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't pursue your dreams, Toya. Whether you want a beastgirl wife or a harem, that's fine. But you need a secure life first. Don't get the order wrong, okay?"

"Understood!"

We shouldn't go against Haruka. We exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

"Good! In reality, the period you can actively work isn't that long. Your physical strength will decline in your 30s, and even more so in your 40s. Ideally, you should save enough money for the next 40-50 years of life and medical expenses in about 20 years."

Wow.

That's even more pessimistic than I imagined.

"Naoto and I are elves, so we can work longer, but we'll also live longer. For safety, we should save more than enough before Toya retires. Toya, if you want a wife, you need to earn twice as much, and for a harem, several times more!"

"That sounds tough... Should I think about how to earn a living after retirement? Can I even get a wife? Can I live on my own in old age?"

Toya, who had been talking excitedly about getting a beastgirl wife, now looked dejected. This must be the insecurity of not having a stable job. 'Freedom' comes with 'responsibility.' Without a safety net, failure means ending up in a slum, as a slave, or dead...

"Hey, what about the average adventurer? How do they handle this?"

"Huh? Average? Well... Do you really want to know? You might regret it."

When I asked, Haruka averted her gaze and hedged her words.

"Actually, that makes me more curious. Tell me."

"Alright... The average adventurer has no retirement!"

"Huh?"

What does that mean?

Like they work until they die?

"You die before you get old!"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously."

That's really pessimistic!!

If you're a somewhat successful adventurer, you can have a comfortable retirement with the money you've saved, or live a simple life in a village with a house and farmland. If you're not talented, you'll be eliminated, die on a mission, or end up as a slave or in a slum. Smart adventurers find a stable job at the right time and leave the adventurer life. Average adventurers who earn enough to live comfortably often can't stop in time, continue working even as their physical strength declines, and eventually die from overwork.

"In short, our goal is to achieve a certain level of success. Even with the average adventurer's earnings, you can manage if you don't think like Toya just now."

"Still, being as practical as Haruka is a minority."

Most young people lack planning. If people could save for retirement and live within their means, there wouldn't be so many consumer finance and credit card ads. Many probably think, 'I'll earn more eventually,' and end up like the 'average adventurer' Haruka described.

"So, don't use the cash we have now carelessly. I'll keep the wallet for a while, okay?"

"Sure. I want some pocket money, but I'm fine. What about you, Naoto?"

"Yeah, at least until we have some leeway. Maybe we should think about our life plans eventually."

"Hehe, as elves, it will be quite different from our previous lives. If you want, we can think about it together."

Haruka smiled.

◇◇◇

"By the way, among the skills we received, don't you think [Insight] and [Appraisal] are a bit different?"

After a light bath and dinner, we were chatting before bed when this thought occurred to me.

"Different? What do you mean?"

"It's hard to explain, but..."

The other skills can be understood as numerical representations of abilities we've acquired through training, but these two—strictly speaking, [Help] as well—feel a bit different. They show information that we shouldn't know, displayed in AR.

Our own status is also shown in AR, but this can be understood as a service provided by the evil god to help us understand our character creation. It's just displaying information we already know. In contrast, [Insight] shows status, and [Appraisal] shows item data, pulled from somewhere.

If the world is indeed 'like a game with levels' as the evil god said, it doesn't seem so strange, but in this world, status checks and item data are unknown concepts. If these skills were given to us as a service, the evil god's statement that 'there are no cheats' is problematic. Aren't these skills essentially cheats?

"Hmm, simply put, maybe this world has a skill system, and [Insight] and [Appraisal] are just skills that can be learned. The AR display is normal."

"Hmm. Oxygen existed before it was discovered, and the Earth was moving even when people believed in the geocentric model."

If that's the case, maybe there's a way to check ability values and experience points.

"But, what does it mean to get information with [Appraisal]? Is there some kind of Akashic Record that provides the information?"

"Hey, don't question the game system!"

"It's not a game!"

I countered Toya, who shrugged and shook his head dramatically. Should we think of it as a game system? But the 'evil god' did say it's 'like a game'...

"Maybe it's an external [Common Knowledge of Another World]?"

As I was thinking, Haruka snapped her fingers and said this.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Basically, when you get [Appraisal], it's like you've studied a certain amount of knowledge. When you need to recall that knowledge, it's displayed in AR for easy understanding."

...

"Sorry, I don't get it!"

Toya said firmly, and Haruka thought for a moment before explaining.

"Basically, it's not an external reference—ah, practically speaking, using [Appraisal] won't level up your skill, and you won't suddenly be able to appraise things you couldn't before. To expand what you can appraise, you need to study, like reading an encyclopedia."

"Ah, I see. So, it's like a 'Level 2 English Proficiency Test,' and if you want Level 1, you need to study."

"Exactly. The ability to recall information instantly and accurately is the skill's power."

To put it another way, it's like having a vocabulary book memorized, and when you need to look up a specific word while reading English, the relevant entry in the vocabulary book appears in AR. It's a kind of memory enhancement skill, which is quite convenient, but it doesn't feel like a cheat.

"Then, what about [Insight]?"

Unlike herbs, which can be studied in an encyclopedia, this isn't something you can learn that way.

"Yeah... Have you used it, Naoto?"

"Yeah, a bit at the guild."

Most people could only tell if someone was strong, but some showed skill levels. If [Appraisal] isn't pulling from an Akashic Record, what about [Insight]?

"Purely a guess, but if we think like [Appraisal], maybe the information shown by [Insight] isn't always accurate."

"Wait, what?"

Then, what's the point of the skill?

"Basically, it might be making a judgment based on various information, like 'this person seems to use a sword at level 2,' and displaying that."

"--- So, it's just quantifying your intuition, knowledge, and experience?"

"Exactly. It's like displaying in text what we can judge from experience, such as someone holding a sword, having calluses on their hands, and moving their weight like a seasoned warrior."

Haruka added, "Of course, this is just a guess," but she might be on to something.

"Hmm. The evil god said this world is 'like a game,' but isn't he trying to eliminate game-like elements?"

"Yeah. We can't check ability values or experience points. It's not very game-like, except for character creation."

"Still, thanks to character creation, we can survive. If we were brought here in our original bodies, we might have died from the boar today."

"In a way, we should be grateful to the evil god?"

We looked at each other and exchanged wry smiles.

Still, it's hard to be genuinely grateful with all the landmines.