Chirrup

Huh? What?

Chirrup

Kel, please.

CHIRRRUPP

OUCH! GODDAMIT WHO TAUGHT YOU HOW TO BITE?

Chirrup

“FINE. I’m up, I’m up!”

“Good. About time, I ain’t hired ya to sleep your way through the day.”

Normally, when I wake up, I like to take my time about it. Well, unless there’s mortal peril, in which case it’s all hands on deck, time to get moving, no time to dally, etc etc. But after having been hunted by a Calamity and nearly dying, I normally expect to have a slow start to the morning. Maybe some coffee, some toast, or whatever I have at hand that passes for bread and caffeine. Instead, I get to see Aastor’s annoyed face looking down at me as he peers over the bed.

“Yer uniform’s by the door. Breakfast was two hours ago, so get to the pantry and get some food in ya. Then, come see me.”

I’d barely gathered my wits about me before Aastor was on the way out. He paused at the door however, in that mystical “Oh I definitely just thought of something and haven’t had it in mind for a while, I swear” way that Mages often do. He scratched his chin, and called out.

“And bring that with ya, will ya?” He pointed at Kel, before finally actually leaving.

Great. It’s not that I was hiding Kel from Aastor. But I also wasn’t not hiding Kel from Aastor. I was really hoping to just ask Chanak about her in secret, and only tell Aastor if it became necessary. More and more, it was dawning on me that while I instinctively trusted Aastor, perhaps I shouldn’t trust my instincts. After all, the Butler class left a nagging, suspicious feeling in the back of my mind: Nothing that was causing alarms to blare, but just enough to make me feel uneasy about some things.

Still, the cat was out of the bag. Or the hedgehog, as she was. Instead of worrying about it, I decided to take a quick look at the room I’d been recovering in. I wasn’t sure if this was officially my room or not, but I could see Aastor’s “Welcoming Gift” leaning against a corner, and Kel had clearly made herself at home on a small writing desk, nearly tipping over a small bottle of ink. There was a shelf, filled with books. I didn’t know if there was anything interesting on there yet, but hopefully I’d have a chance to peruse the shelves later. Next to the bed was a large, floor to ceiling window that overlooked a large, unkempt pond. And boy, was it unkempt. So, I was clearly on at least the second floor of a large house or a manor of some kind. It was probably small by the standards of the only other building I’d seen so far, the Summoning Facility, but I had a hunch that Aastor wasn’t exactly hurting for money.

My routine kicked in almost immediately. Even though the System had taken away my skills, it didn’t seem to be able to take away my instinctive habits. Rolling out of bed, I began to stretch. I’d been taught to warm up and stretch every single morning. Getting caught unawares with muscle soreness could prove to be the difference between life and death after all. And as I stretched, I concentrated and brought up Isekai Hero in my mind.

“Profile.”

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ISEKAI HERO V2.0 Beta by XXXXXX

Name: Blanc

Level: 3

Class: Butler to a Disgraced Archmage

Employer: Magus Emeritus Aastor VII

Title: Boy

Fame: “Umm, who?”

Abilities:

As You Command (Lvl 15) Business at Hand (Lvl 15) Conversations at Midnight (Lvl 1) Duty Calls (Lvl 1)

Equipment:

1 X Chunk of Living Stone

Pets:

Kel, ????? Spark (Lvl 5)

Active Quests:

Day 1 Jitters (Employer Assigned)

Completed Quests:

Highway Robbery! No, Seriously! (Employer Assigned)

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Okay, so I’d gained some levels. Good. The leveling method in Isekai Hero had always struck me as being somewhat unfair. Abilities and Skills could level at any time, but the really good stuff only came with Class Levels, and those only happened after I slept for the night. I didn’t fully understand the reason behind the discrepancy at first, but I’d come up with a working theory in time. Abilities and Skills seemed to come from the System, in which case the System could control the effect that they had. But the Class was, to some degree, closely intertwined to me. Which meant that biological changes would often be made when I leveled up and my stats increased, or when my Class changed and my body adapted to whatever my new class was. And I guess being asleep was a necessary prerequisite for conducting biological changes, which I was somewhat thankful for. I didn’t want to feel the effects of accelerated muscle growth or intelligence enhancements while awake. That didn’t sound fun, it sounded downright painful.

The new Quest didn’t seem to have a time limit on it, so instead of taking a look at that first, I decided it was finally time to take a quick look at the Stats screen.

“Stats.”

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Name: Blanc

Level: 3

Physical Stats:

STR: 15 (D) | VIT: 15 (C) | DEX: 28 (S)

Mental Stats:

WIS: 15 (B) | WIL: 15 (A) | INT: 23 (S) | CHA: 15 (S) |

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I let out a low whistle. Well, I knew what the numbers meant, but I had no idea what the letters did. Another new addition, another complication to Isekai Hero. I didn’t need the System that I centered my life around to add additional depth and complexity, but apparently XXXXXX didn’t agree with me. I shelved my frustration aside, onto the large pile of things I wanted to “politely talk to” XXXXXX about.

Hopefully the Tutorial Tips still worked the same way. I mentally concentrated on the (D) next to Strength, and just a second later-

PING!!

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Tutorial: Stat Growth

Stat Growth is a new addition in Isekai Hero 2.0! We’ve heard your complaints about how it was too easy to grow all your Stats at the same time, leading to experienced players being nearly unbeatable in game, and we’ve introduced a patch to resolve this.

Different classes experience Stat growth differently!

F: 0 Points / Level

D: 1 Point / Level

C: 2 Points / Level

B: 2.5 Points / Level

A: 5 Points / Level

S: 7 Points / Level

For those who are unused to this System, you’ll get the hang of it! The new Stat Growth system lets you grow the Stats that are best suited for your class the fastest. That said, you can still grow ALL your Stats by undertaking Quests or Training in a way that influences a specific skill.

After all, Isekai Hero caters to player choice above all else!

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I didn’t know what to say for a few seconds. Who, in their right mind, had complained that a game of life and death was too easy? WHO? I couldn’t even begin to understand the thought process of whatever unknown player base Isekai Hero had, that had decided to artificially make the System less useful.

Instead, I just lay back in bed and screamed into a pillow.

Hey, they had pillows! My mind dimly registered all the things a pillow was a good indication of, including either advanced agriculture to make cotton, or animal domestication to get feathers. One way or the other, that meant either Bread or Meat. My mind then very quickly and much less dimly registered that I was starving. And as it turns out, starvation is a really, really good distraction from the fact that the source of your powers has been artificially handicapped by a bunch of idiots with a deathwish.

Groaning, I got out of bed, and took a look at the uniform Aastor had laid out for me. A very classic uniform, it had to be said. A sharp, black coat with tails, a white waistcoat, a golden pocketwatch, and pressed black pants. The material was exceedingly fine, not quite cotton, not wool, not silk, but something else entirely. It had to be native to Excelsia, since I had never seen it’s kind before. It had a faint glitter to it, but only when I looked close, and was extremely light. As I pulled the clothes on, I noticed that they had been sized to perfection. So either the Old Man had a really, really good eye, or whatever these clothes were made of also adjusted to fit me. Flexing a little bit, the clothes had enough give that they would allow me a fairly wide range of motion, and I could stretch and bend over without any noticeable tightness in the clothing.

And…pockets! A lot of pockets. The golden pocketwatch wasn’t actually functional, so I would need to talk to Aastor about it. But besides the little waist pocket that it took up, there were a number of discrete pockets all over the uniform. A small slit in my upper forearm on each side would be a nice place to conceal something long and thin, like a needle perhaps? I wasn’t very good at sewing, but I assumed it would be a learned skill. Of course the pants had pockets, just like normal. But as I put my hands into the pockets, I realized that each pocket had a small, hidden section that could conceal something extra. Odd. Why would I need to conceal things?

Still, the suit fitted beautifully, and the concealed pockets seemed to be designed not to break the cut of the garment. I’m not a vain person, but I had to check myself out in the mirror. It had been a long, long time since I’d worn anything this…refined. Gold plated armor looks stunning, but it lacks a certain…panache. It’s got all the subtlety of being hit in the head with a mallet, really.

Standing in front of the mirror, I opened my eyes, and practiced my best “No, Sir, that’s a foolish plan and will kill us all” smile.

God. I looked…hideous.

Turns out, a suit of clothes isn’t going to do much when there’s bits of dirt and twigs in your hair, bags under your eyes, and starvation all over your face.

Perhaps it would be best to wash my face before I went to the pantry. I wonder if they have hot water?

***

I was shivering as I left my room. Hot water had turned out to be a pipe dream, and I was furious about it. What kind of self-respecting wizard doesn’t have hot water in his house? As I marched out of my room, I was struck by the sudden realization that I had no idea where the pantry was.

And…from what I could see, Aastor’s domain was large. I was clearly on the top floor, since the windows

“Kel?”

Chirrup

“Any idea where the food is?”

Chi-Chirrup! Chirrup!

And she’s gone. Damn, she’s fast when it comes to food.

I ran after her. I didn’t know if hedgehogs actually had an accomplished sense of smell, but in the end, it was the best lead I had. If I got lost, hopefully someone would come by to help when they heard my pitiful wails of despair and starvation.

Kel was faster than I’d given her credit for. If my DEX hadn’t already been ridiculous for my level, I’d probably have been left behind within seconds. As it was, I was barely able to keep up with her, and my eyes were trained on her tiny, fuzzy body as she dashed through the hallways haphazardly.

So trained on her were they that I didn’t notice when I collided into someone. And as I tumbled away from them-

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WARNING:

Combat Detected. Entity is above your current Combat ability.

TIP: You should only fight creatures on your level! In Isekai Hero, Death is almost always permanent!

You can turn Tutorial Tips off in the Menu.

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