The coachman had saved me from further arguing. The carriage stopped, and outside there wasn't an impressive display of maids and butlers, but only a few on both sides.
"Yasuko, take him to the judgment stone in the adventurer's guild. I will report to father." Fuyumi said before leaving the carriage. "Follow behind me." Yasuko cut the restraints off my feet, and I did as she told me. After stepping out of the carriage, my stomach rumbled, forcing me to act. "Can we take a short eating break? I don't think I'll last long without food."
"Right, you said you were starving… Here, take some of those." She handed me some dried-up meat. Not the tastiest meal, but enough to keep me going, and soon we were on our way through the forest. After walking for a while, we finally arrived in a medieval port town. We walked through many busy streets past all kinds of stores before arriving at your average-looking adventurer's guild. After walking in, we weren't greeted by a cute receptionist but by a middle-aged man.
"I would like to use the judgment stone." She calmly said, and the receptionist responded: "Please show me your license." Yasuko placed a card on the receptionist's desk. He shortly looked at it and instantly acted nervously. "I will get the judgment stone available right away." After activating a mechanism, a gap opened in the middle and a blueish gem shining brightly, being surrounded by floating text, popped out.
"Place your hand on the stone." I did as Yasuko told me, and after touching the stone, I felt a tingly sensation. "Measurements are done. Here is your report." I looked at the paper the receptionist had placed on the table.
Highest Rank
D+
Tank
F+
Physical Damage Close
E
Physical Damage Far
E
Magical Damage Close
D
Magical Damage Far
D+
Support
E-
That was definitively the most in-depth system I had ever seen. Where were my stats that led to the ranking of each category? Not even a single B or A. What did I have to suffer for in that weird crow cult to receive this low of a rating without even any information? This had to be the second-worst thing that happened to me. Yasuko turned around the paper, and I finally saw what landed me in those categories.
[̸̧͓̠̝̥̫̜̞ͧ̏ͣ̍ͤ͆̃͆͌?̶̧̟͍̯̝̌͗͋̈̃̂̔͋̾ͮ͘͜𝖊̢͇͇̗͉̰̓̍͌ͤ̆ͣͧ̔ͧ̽ͦ̈́𝖓̛͈̳̦̻ͮ̂̃͐̈͂̈́ͫ̄ͮ̏͆̚?̧̼̖̗̦͍͕̖̟̈́ͬ̽͌ͨ͋͘͟͝𝖉̸̡̻̖̱͕͂ͭͯ̊ͤ́́͟͢͞͠ͅ𝖎͈̜̞̘͕̮̟͈̯̆̔͐̔̈ͪ͘͜͝?̷̴̧̙̼͓̹͇͎͙ͣͪͥͮͨ̏͌͒𝖙̨̘͕̘͓̜̮ͩ̈͆̊́̑͌ͤ͂̾͟]̛̩͇̗̗̗͍̩̬͓͆̍̋ͮ͒͒̈́͝
Race
Human
Level
18
Class
—
Title
—
HP
136
MP
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
53
[Stats]
Strength
22
Stamina
24
Agility
25
Intelligence
28
Wisdom
18
Perception
28
Charisma
15
What's up with that weird glitchy-looking text? Could it have something to do with me overtaking this body? And why is my charisma so low? Is this system mocking me? I feel like these stats are even more useless than the other chart. If I had anything to compare them to, they might become useful, though. My thoughts were interrupted when an adventurer slammed his fists on the desk. "Hurry up, you got your slaves trash rating, so go somewhere else when you're done. Now that I'm looking closer at these stats, it seems you were scammed. How unfortunate."
Because my hands were still restrained, this man thought I was a slave, and my stats were lower than the average slave. "Mr. Receptionist, I would like to start the practical examination right away." He responded, "Certainly. but currently, we don't have a suitable instructor to conduct the exam available."
"Don't worry, we have a replacement. Hey rude guy, if you can win against my 'trash slave' I will give you 100 gold coins." He grinned. "Aren't you getting ahead of yourself? I won't take responsibility if he dies." Yasuko ignored him and switched her attention back to the receptionist. "Lead the way."
"Right away. Please follow me." The receptionist led us through the back door, and we arrived in some kind of arsenal with all types of weapons. Why didn't anyone mention the glitchy text? Did it only look different to me?
"Let me give you one last warning. I'm a B-rank. Once we're in the arena, I won't hold back." The adventure still kept his arrogant act up. However, if he really was a B-rank, then he had all the right to be confident. However, overconfidence quickly leads to downfall.
"Stop running your mouth, and instead, how about you help a lowly D-rank like me out by picking a weapon for me?" Bewildered, he looked at me before regaining his composure. "Slaves without manners need to be punished. I'll end ya worthless existence in the most painful way imaginable. There won't be anything human to your corpse after I'm done with you. It's too late to run now." He picked a double-sided great axe and walked through the door that led to the arena. How lucky I already had experience fighting meatheads with axes.
"Hey receptionist, give me the same weapon he picked." He responded: "Who do you think you are? A mere slave giving orders to a man of my standing. Your weak arms won't even be able to lift it."
"Give him the axe." Yasuko spoke calmly. "Right away, ma'am!" He handed me the axe. It certainly was too heavy to lift, so I just dragged it behind me towards the arena. "Are you that eager to die, picking a weapon you can't even hold?" The adventure looked like he wanted to kill me on the spot.
"I just thought I'd give you a handicap since you looked so pathetic." My mana reparations were complete, and I had already started casting. As expected, he didn't wait for the match to start and furiously dashed at me. "Your dead meat." Instantly I threw a fireball at his face, blinding his vision, then a water ball followed by an ice ball to his right foot. Just meters away from me, he started falling forwards. Quickly, I slid the axe in front of me. His face was falling directly towards it.
Centimeters away, I stopped him. His eyes were still pointing at the blade. "That could have been dangerous. Better watch your step. I let him fall down beside the axe. "You lowly slave. You cheated, I'll end you!" He got up and chucked a potion. He shouldn't have taken much damage, so it was likely some kind of buff. However, it didn't matter if he became stronger. In this frenzied state, he was easily predictable. Recklessly he charged again. Like before, I simply blinded him and made him fall over.
Before he could get up, I dragged the axe over and trapped his head in between its two sides. He still struggled, trying to get up, and screamed furiously. "I will end you and your ancestors and—" I kicked down on his head, knocking him out. This should have been enough to show that stats weren't everything. The receptionist looked at me bewildered, nervously looking at Yasuko and back at me before saying: "Congratulations, you have won. You have an amazing eye for talent, ma'am!"
"This should have been sufficient to get his practical rating." She said calmly. "Certainly, right away. Please follow me to the desk. I will get everything sorted out immediately."
We arrived back into the main hall, and the receptionist went to his receptionist desk and sent 2 staff members back into the arena to take care of the adventurer. "One more thing, ma'am. There has been a problem regarding the name. How do you call your slave?"
"His name is Ken." Afterwards he started operating a strange-looking typewriter until he placed another sheet of paper on the table.
Ken
Theoretical Rank
D
Practical Rank
B-
Adventurers Rank
C-
I got scammed again. My Adventurers rank should at least be B, since I defeated a B-Rank. Yasuko appeared to have similar thoughts as she slammed her fists on the table. "Is this some kind of joke? Why is his rank C- when he easily beat a B-Rank adventurer?"
"Please calm down, ma'am. I am already overstepping my boundaries by giving a theoretical D-Rank a C- Rank license. It's unthinkable to give a B-Rank license to someone with stats like his." And here I thought that this was a fair system. However, I proved my strength, and for now, I had no reason to become an adventurer, which meant I didn't care a lot about this license. I looked over at Yasuko, and she looked rather agitated. "Give him a C flat, and we'll leave."
"Ma'am, please listen I—" Yasuko stared him down and interrupted him. "I won't repeat myself, I said C flat." He timidly responded: "Right away, ma'am."
The receptionist switched his attention below the receptionist's desk. Likely operating yet another device to finalize the license. Why did Yasuko even care about the rank so much? Did they want me to take on quests to earn money? Depending on the circumstances, adventuring was an excellent opportunity to grow stronger or die. "Here is the license, ma'am."
"See, wasn't that hard. Let's go, Ken. We're done here." Yasuko took the license and walked out of the guild, and I silently followed her out into the port town, which the setting sun started painting orange.