Chapter 2: Obvious side characters

> "Otherworlders are special with all of them being guaranteed to receive an unique class. Be it a paladin, elementalist, or even a Hero. The moment they step foot into our world they are deemed as special by the World-Rune. There is nothing like an average otherworlder; they are all extraordinary. Otherwise, why would they have been given the privilege of a second chance in the first place?" Ronan, the head librarian of the royal library of Boreas, smiled. It wasn't often that the young ones asked him questions.

>

> "Indeed, sir. Yet I still have a lingering question, if I may ask: why are they deemed special? Why do they specifically arrive to this world?"

>

> He raised an eyebrow. "That is like asking why life exists. They are simply chosen by our god, and therefore are able to level up faster. But to be asking such a question at such a young age. You—." He raised his staff. "Wait a second. Who are you? Why isn’t my [appraisal] working?"

>

> Before the scholar could call for help, his head was cut off, and the girl turned to stare at the one observing her. "This planet is more bothersome to harvest than I thought. Congratulations, you have proved yourself a worthy obstacle."

>

> - ???

Alice was well aware of how otherworlders were dealt with, but something within her told her this one was different. "There is no need to go to such lengths. I do not believe this otherworlder is like the others. He is … new."

Zev's eyes widened. "I thought he was just one of Lutherion's lost puppets, but you think he is new? How could that even be possible?" He retracted his aura sword.

"I saw him leave from the same place the renowned Hero appeared when I worked late at night. That old building should be impossible to enter or exit without my approval. He must have arrived here by the grace of the Mirror Maiden — I am sure of it."

He scoffed. "The Mirror Maiden has been silent ever since the Hero's betrayal. I doubt that she is still alive."

"Then this otherworlder has to be her … backup plan then. If he can prove himself useful, perhaps we can avoid a third Void War?" Alice rose from her seat, slamming the desk. "Also, a sane otherworlder is not easy to come by. There must be a reason why the Hero keeps killing them. A possible weakness perhaps?"

Looking at her excited face, Zev sighed. "Alice, you are still so young. Even though you are a genius, an extraordinary being in your own right, you must understand that not everyone is like you. I met several otherworlders in my childhood, at the end of their era, and most of them were not all what they were made up to be. It could be possible that this otherworlder might prove useful, but is he worth the effort? How can you even be sure he won't turn feral like the others?"

Alice deflated and sat back in her seat. "You have a point, but I still think this is worth it. We don't know what his class is yet." At the end of the day, she was the one who made the final decision. "If he goes feral, I give you permission to deal with him as you wish. Now, finish your report."

"If you say so … The boy, he calls himself Tom. Of course, I gave him the identity of Tomassio Rossi as you requested. It was quite fortunate that their names and appearance are so similar. And if he dies we can use it to explain the real Tomassio's death," he added. "As I already said, from my assessment, he seemed like an average boy without any prior military training. He did not do too well on my test, so I made him stay at the commoner’s barracks for now."

Alice nodded and stood up to look out the circular window behind her. "Perhaps his powers are yet to be awakened?"

"Perhaps so? He did suggest so himself. Speaking of that, what do you intend to do with him?"

Alice contemplated for a moment. "Let us focus on the conflict with the demons. I can find no way out of this mess, but otherworlders are said to look at problems from a different angle. Why don't we send him on the next expedition? Perhaps he will finally be able to find what we are looking for?"

"Alright. But I wouldn't have my hopes up. I will do my best to aid you, even though you might not be completely sure what you are doing yourself." He coughed, ignoring her glare. "Perhaps we really do need to revisit our old motto for otherworlders: everyone deserves a second chance." Then he left her office.

Alice watched from the window as Zev walked towards the commoner's training grounds.

The former captain of the royal knights, the strongest knight in the entire kingdom whom even the renowned Hero would hesitate to confront, was loyal to Alice. And she hated him.

"Everyone deserves a second chance," she repeated. "That is exactly what I am trying to do. But what would he know of giving others second chances, after all, he was the one that—."

She shook her head. "Focus."

Perhaps things would have been different if she had told him, but deep inside she knew he wouldn’t understand. All she could do was to stall.

The Commander's Building was taller than any watchtower, and from her office on the top floor, she could watch over the entire camp and the surrounding areas. Alice scrutinized the faint image of the ginormous mountain in the distance. Skypiercer Mountain. No matter what she thought of him, it was a smart decision to settle at the peak of that mountain. No one would be able to reach him. But could this new otherworlder do it? This Tom? Had her greatest wish actually been fulfilled?

Alice knew that her time was running out, she needed to figure something out before it was too late. A way to stop his plans before everyone was forced to follow them. In the beginning, she didn’t even dare dream of rebelling against the order the Hero had created. However, ever since she first saw that otherworlder appear she found herself filled with newfound hope. That was how she realized that she wasn't loyal to humanity, or the Hero; if anything she was a slave to hope.

Alice lowered her gaze to the foot of the mountains. "If he truly has the ability to defeat the Hero," she whispered.

She locked her eyes onto the ginormous hole in the ground, the Void, dwarfing the world's biggest mountain several times in terms of size. One could see it all the way from the capital. A giant hole in the planet filled with gray smog. The fact that she was one of the only few people that knew the Void wasn’t natural was terrifying.

"Perhaps he could even defeat the creature that caused that?"

Alice sighed. Since when did she become so naive?

***

The barracks were not like the cramped-rooms-filled-with-bunk-beds sort he first expected. Three beds with each their own cupboard to store items, two windows to let the light in, a small kitchen, and a shared bathroom. This room looked more akin to a student dorm if anything.

"This is surprisingly comfortable for being in the middle of a war."

Hiro shrugged. "I was also surprised at first. Apparently, the commander wished that the commoners could also live in more comfort. Especially since this conflict has been dragging on for three years now."

Tom nodded along awkwardly. He wasn’t used to interacting with new people. It usually was just him and his little sister. However, this was his second chance at life. And if his isekai knowledge was correct, the characters you meet at the beginning were always the main side characters. "The silent and cool type," Tom guessed. "Might as well be nice to this one."

"I’m really sorry about the commotion I caused in the morning. I really don’t remember what happened the day before, I swear."

Hiro's eyes widened. "Huh, you sure are different from the rumors … Fine, I accept your apology."

Rumors? Whatever, that wasn’t actually him. He should probably play along with the rumors being exaggerated. "Great, thanks. I can’t believe I just arrived, and I am already the biggest loser. Why was everyone so keen on publicly humiliating me?"

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"You were just unlucky. These days nobles have been appearing blacked out from drinking all around the commoners' barracks. I don’t underestimate the arrogance of the kingdoms nobles, but this is odd. According to some, the head instructor for the nobles even encourages such behavior to alleviate stress."

There wasn't more to say, so Tom awkwardly cut their conversation short and focused on cleaning himself up. From his deductions, like almost every other isekai, this world was in medieval times, yet they had modern appliances such as a stove and shower. It didn't look like he was the first otherworlder in this world, but he still needed more information. One thing he found weird was that the bathroom had no mirrors, only a bucked you could see your own reflection in. This place must still have its own odd customs.

After showering and putting on a spare uniform Hiro had lying around, he went right back to getting as much information as he could about this world. Since he had no handy system to help him, his knowledge of isekai was the only thing he had going for him. Didn't Zev mention a war? If he had to go with the most obvious answer...

"So, Hiro. This may sound stupid, but could you remind me who we are fighting against? Let me take a wild guess: is it the demon king?"

Hiro sat on the bed reading a book and just nodded as a reply.

Tom was starting to get the hang of this world. The usual humans vs. demons isekai adventure. The revelation made Tom slightly more confident. The human king most likely tried summoning otherworlders, but the summoning went wrong and Tom arrived here; this naturally means he was going to be the strongest and coolest otherworlder of them all. Isekai logic for the win.

If there was a demon king, could there be any more tropes? Tom noticed that Hiro always wore his hood on, and his intuition from reading a lot of isekai light novels told him that there was always some beastkin. With the dark ascetic and the fluffy ears peeking out of his hood, he was obviously hiding some wolf ears underneath. Their room was also surprisingly clean, and beside his bed were two sheathed swords. One was an exquisite-looking sword, and the other was an ominous deep-black katana. Zev did hint at Hiro being talented, and he did receive special treatment. Yet he felt there also was something more to him. A hidden destiny or something would make sense to his character development.

"You don’t happen to be a secret beastkin prince or something?" Tom immediately regretted saying that. He just had a normal conversation, and then he messed it up. "Forget it, that—."

"How did you know?" His demeanor changed to a more cautious one.

Seriously? Did he actually manage to guess something right? God, Tom was awesome. "You are obviously a beastkin from those wolf ears you are hiding."

"Wolf—? I am jaguarkin!"

"Sure you are," Tom nonchalantly responded.

Hiro snorted in annoyance. "And about me being a prince?"

"Oh, you know the saying: people of higher class can recognize each other."

Hiro didn’t seem convinced by that answer. "So, you do remember—?"

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a door opening.

"Hiro, is that your friend?"

Tom turned around to see a buff blue-haired guy with blue eyes. This must be his other roommate, the second side character.

Hiro sighed. "What a drag. Why do I have to do this? Whatever, this is Mark, and that is Tom, our new roommate."

Mark enthusiastically shook Tom's hand. "Pleasure to meet ya. Didn’t hear new people were coming. You strangely look like that nobleman everyone has been laughing about today."

Hiro sighed again. He must do that a lot. "You moron, that is him."

"Oh, sorry. I meant no offense, lord … noble sir?"

"It’s fine, and please just call me Tom." Tom had no plans to play too well along with the nobleman’s persona. He was a terrible actor, so it would be best to be himself. Also, this guy had to be a sort of dumb but honorable kind of side character. But there has to be something more to it… Might as well just ask. "Hey, do you have a scary traumatic backstory?"

Mark scratched his head. "Erm, excuse me?"

Hiro sighed. "Don't let this guy psychoanalyze you. Mark, didn’t you come here for something? You usually start training after the assembly."

"Oh yeah! The vice-commander asked me to get my roommate. I thought he was talking about you at first, but he was probably referring to Tom now that I think about it."

Tom beamed. That's right, today he was going to learn his class.

He followed Mark back to the training grounds. Some of the soldiers curiously looked his way, but they were quickly reprimanded by nearby instructors for losing focus; the instructors did not heed their own warnings and eyed Tom. Some of the instructors observed him with a look of curiosity, others with disdain. They were probably wondering which of them would have to train him. And Tom hadn't even done much of anything yet! He was beginning to wonder if he could change his fake identity to a commoner, but he had a feeling it was too late.

In the obstacle course he failed at he noticed a girl effortlessly completing it. She had black hair, violet eyes ... and two horns protruding from her skull. Wait a second. Wasn’t that what a generic demon would look like?

The girl went over to some dummy targets and started hurling daggers. When she missed one of her shots, Tom swore he caught her flying in the air for a moment with black wings in order to throw another dagger. Tom looked around, but he saw no one else who seemed to have noticed.

She was a secret demon spy, wasn’t she? Her eyes were literally glowing in the middle of the day! Was she even trying to hide it?

It was odd, but Tom figured he was missing some world-building information. He must be having too many stupid thoughts after that one lucky guess about Hiro. Maybe she wasn't a demon? Wouldn't want to be accidentally racist.

For a brief moment, Tom met her gaze, and she cautiously observed him. He gulped and pretended he was looking at something else, before continuing following behind Mark.

Mark led him to a building beside the training grounds, where Zev was waiting inside with what looked like a priestess. Since she looked like a glowing lamp he figured she was another important side character. She was wearing a long white dress with her head covered similar to how a nun would. Some hair still protruded through the covering revealing snow-white hair.

"Vice-Commander sir, I have brought him."

They stood beside a long table filled with strange objects. Zev broke from his conversation and nodded at Mark to dismiss him. "Perfect timing. Tom, meet Ilona, she will be helping us test your attributes."

"Attributes?" Tom repeated.

Zev nodded. "There are three types of attributes. The first is Inherited Powers. Inherited Powers are those normally given to different species or traits that are frequent in certain families and tribes. Humans have what is called skill templates."

"What do you mean by skill templates?"

"Let me answer," Ilona said. "Since we humans are of a superior race we can unconsciously use what people call skills. They are sort of blueprints for how we can use our mana. Skills allow one to unconsciously use one's mana the same way every time. Of course, after the skill is unlocked by manually using your mana correctly."

Cool. So there were skills in this world. Tom was familiar with those.

"Then there are Bestowed Powers," Zev continued. "These are normally given by spirits or higher beings. Probably no use checking for that. And the last—."

"Sorry, but could you explain more about Bestowed Powers?" If he was going to learn about the power system of this world, he should ask proper questions. Knowledge is power after all. "You said something about higher beings."

"Higher beings are godlike entities or beings close to the power of the highest grade spirits. For example, Ilona here is a priestess lucky enough to be blessed by an archangel. That is an impressive feat."

Ilona blushed. "It's nothing special. It just strengthens my abilities to heal."

"Like some sort of saintess?" Tom suggested.

The example caused her to panic. "Saintess? No, no. It's not even close. There's no way I'm a saintess at all."

Tom raised his eyebrows. "She's totally a secret saintess," he murmured.

Ilona looked as if she was ready to spout several more specific reasons for why she wasn’t a saintess, but Zev cut her off. "Let's move on. The third is your Generic Attribute, which is your affinity to spirits."

"My affinity to spirits? Is it the same as magic?"

"Magic … I believe you are referring to magecraft," Zev corrected. "Indeed, in the past, the people of this kingdom used to call using skills magic, but over time that term was dropped. Scholars found that magic simply was tied to someone's affinity to spirits. The greater the affinity and understanding of the corresponding specialty, the more output one could unleash as a skill. That limited output is what one usually refers to as mana. Explained another way, think of mana as a byproduct of the authority of spirits living around us. When you use mana, you use the limited authority your soul is able to absorb from spirits, for a specific purpose."

"So, if there are skills and mana, what determines the strength of your skill? If I pour a lot of mana into a skill, would it be more powerful?"

Zev shook his head. "Not quite. How well you use your skills is determined by your combat experience, but its output is consistent. Trying to manually use mana is extremely difficult, so training and gaining skills from your specific class is the only way to get stronger skills, and thereby become more powerful. Although, in some cases it is possible to have more effective use of a skill than most, but that is mainly tied to ones affinities and understanding of the relevant spirits."

"I understand affinities may play a role, but what do you mean by understanding of relevant spirits?" Tom asked.

"Using skills is useful, but it also has constrains with skills being difficult to discover, the inability to build on the skill template further, and the risk of using all your mana. The amount of mana you are able to contain within your soul is a reflection of your understanding of reality, and in some cases if you understand the purpose behind the skill then you should be able to use it in more efficient ways. For example, use it twice in quick succession if one has the mana, or in extremely rare cases understanding the makeup of the skill templates and making small adjustments. Understanding why a skill exists is also normally how one discovers new skills."

That sounded interesting. So manually using mana was difficult, so that was why skills were so useful. Perhaps the cheat he would get as an otherworlder would be infinite mana, so he could constantly spam skills? Or perhaps being able to use all skill templates? "I think I get it. How do I find out my affinity — not that I haven't seen it before, just forgot since it has been so long," he quickly added.

Ilona moved a gray orb towards him. "Touching this orb will show your affinity to spirits."

Tom eagerly touched the orb, and something happened for once. It lit up with a white multicolored light, reminiscent of a rainbow.

Tom smiled, his heart racing from the excitement. "So, what is it like?"

"Hm." Ilona scrutinized the orb. "Average affinity, across the board."

"Isn’t that great? I can use all types of spirit spirits!"

Zev hummed. "That is correct. However, it isn’t all that great. Technically everyone can use all types of spirits, but it is better to have a strong affinity with one type of spirit instead of them all."

Tom's excitement dwindled. "What do you mean?"

"Like Miss Ilona here. She’s a light-spirit genius. It’s her specialty, unlocking the requirement for the healer class. However, since you are compatible with all types of spirits, it’s difficult to specialize. Even though you might use a light spirit, its power would be vastly weaker than someone who specializes in it."

"Then what class does my affinity unlock?"

Zev looked at Tom, smiling. "You are a natural-born observer."