Class Change (Maika)

After several more monster subjugations, mock battles with Ursula, and fending off assassins sent by that B-Class Master, at long last…

"Yes! It's here!"

I leapt up in delight.

"It's a multiple-choice one again! Everyone, let's confer!"

I called Lyuka and Yuria over. It was a stroke of luck everyone was acting together today.

"For my part, I'm curious about Snow White… can either of you explain it?"

"… Lyuka, you want to do this one, don't you?"

Lyuka nodded vigorously. Her eyes were sparkling for some reason…

"Then leave the Ice Dancing Princess side to me, all right?"

When Yuria said that, Lyuka nodded vigorously again. She looked rather adorable…

So Yuria explained first.

"To start, you could call the Ice Dancing Princess the natural evolution of the Dancing Princess. It's a Top-Tier Job.

"The Dancer-line classes go by all sorts of names: Dancer, Performer, Dancing Princess, Dance Artist, and so on. Quite varied.

"They're basically all the same thing, all the same rank: Advanced Job. But among them, the Dancing Princess is treated a step above, the most exceptional. Check the shop and you'll see that even at the same rank, the Performer and the Dancing Princess can differ in price by a factor of two.

"It's a class that grants buffs and special effects through dancing. They're often used as Supporters, but Sword Dance has a reputation for very high attack power, so they can also be run as Attackers.

"Also, Accel Mirage, which raises Speed with each attack, is a fairly famous skill.

"Then, when she evolves, she gains a single character at the front of her name and becomes a Top-Tier Job. Most commonly, an element character is prefixed.

"One of my customers had a Flame Performer. I heard she was an Attacker who'd learned skills like Flame Dance, which scatters flames around her.

"Going one step further, at the Ultimate Job tier, you should be able to become something like God Performer, a class with 'God' attached. Said customer told me she was aiming for that.

"That's the Dancer-line classes, broadly speaking.

"If she wants to keep aiming higher as a Dancer, Ice Dancing Princess is the choice.

"… All right, I'll hand the baton over to the person who's been itching to explain."

"Mm, thanks for the explanation, Yuria."

I patted Yuria's head.

"… Then, allow me to explain."

Lyuka's tone was composed, but her excitement was plain to see.

"First, let me explain the Princess-line Garumon.

"Defining 'Princess' in this world by way of a dictionary entry…

"1. A title denoting an exceptional Garumon

"2. An NPC granted to B-Class rank 1–500 Masters who handles territorial administration on their behalf, a regional-lord NPC

"These are the two general usages.

"For 1, the 'Princess' in 'Dancing Princess' applies. It's because this title is attached that the class is treated a step above.

"For 2, this refers to the Princess-line Garumon, like Tiara, who served under Yamagata-shi."

"I see… wait, when you reach B-Class rank 1–500, you get more NPCs?"

"Exactly. At B-Class rank 1–500, you have to manage your territory. You're granted an NPC, separate from your secretary, to assist with that.

"That's the Princess. Princesses are also extremely capable as Garumon.

"However, recruiting a Princess as a companion has a far higher bar than recruiting a secretary, and you have to clear numerous conditions.

"Even among B-Class Masters, not all have one. Among current and former B-Class Masters, those who've successfully recruited a Princess NPC probably make up less than ten percent."

"… That's right. You have to craft a full set of Princess equipment. Subjugating monsters for materials, having a mage off in another place synthesize items, running here and there… it was a real pain."

Sawako offered her impressions.

"And the reason I went through all that to make Tiara my companion… well, he himself made excuses about Princesses being capable and strong, about how she'd help in the search for Kanan-sama, but in retrospect, no matter how you slice it, he was head over heels for Tiara, wasn't he. It had nothing to do with me, so I just left him to it."

"Heh… so Yamagata-kun was actually enjoying this world quite a bit, huh."

Well, Tiara really was awfully cute. If her breasts had been a lot bigger, I'd have been even more taken with her myself.

Hmm… maybe the position of B-Class rank 69 was more valuable than I'd thought. I'd gone and ceded it to Ursula, but…

No, considering it as the right to have twenty matches with Ursula, that's plenty.

… Let me give up. It just wasn't meant to be for me.

"Next… the less general usage."

Oh, Lyuka's explanation continued.

"The visitors who come to this world from other worlds aren't useful only as combat strength.

"They've brought many things to this world.

"Science, technology, culture, art… and among those things are stories.

"The many tales they told their Masters as bedtime stories.

"Those stories became wildly popular in this world too.

"And so, before anyone knew it, Garumon bearing the names of the princesses from those stories were born.

"This is a class called 'Fantasy Princess,' and so far nine variants have been confirmed.

"Cinderella

"Snow White

"Sleeping Beauty

"Briar Rose

"Little Mermaid

"Thumbelina

"Princess Kaguya

"Otohime

"Orihime

"These nine are all one-of-a-kind Unique Jobs.

"Once one is born, no other Garumon can ever take the same class. How one becomes one, the method is entirely unknown.

"The rank is, for whatever reason, Top-Tier Job, but it's a complete rank-misnomer class. It's thought to be equivalent to an Ultimate Job, or even a Legendary Job.

"They're special Garumon, with special abilities, and special strength.

"… I see. Since the Fantasy Princess is a Top-Tier Job, you can probably only attain it via class change from an Advanced Job. And it presumably required satisfying two or more keywords like 'Snow' and 'Princess'… is what I'd guess."

"I see. 'Snow' and 'Castle' sound the same in Japanese, so that might be among the conditions too.

"… If a class called Snow White exists, then no one would be more fitting for it than Yukishiro-san."

I was satisfied with Lyuka's explanation.

Seeing no need to drag it out further, I promptly selected Snow White.

"Just so you know, as a risk: the Fantasy Princess is not a Dancer. Of course, the previous class will carry over to some extent, but there's a possibility she'll play a completely different role from before."

"Even so, no problem. Whatever Maika becomes, all I need to do is think about how to make her shine as brightly as possible."

Two skills had changed. First, Demon Art - Cocytus.

On top of its colossal 100 damage, an Ice-line status ailment was tacked on. Just plain absurdly strong. The slowest-action drawback was a hindrance, but oh well.

Neue Accel Mirage. "Neue" meant "new," didn't it. It had simply become a 2-hit attack.

… Wait, beyond the damage, didn't this mean a 60% Speed UP every turn? Her attack count was increased from the start, and on top of that, the speed buff that doubles her attack count had gone up too.

If she accelerated with this and then unleashed Demon Art - Cocytus, even though it was slowest, she'd somehow end up acting twice, an utterly bizarre situation.

No, more than that. Combine it with Gale Dance and suddenly she'd be at 4-hit, 120% UP, able to aim for more than 2x Speed right off the bat. From there, doubling that, she'd hit 4x Speed for 3 actions and a possible 6-hit attack…

She was turning into one heck of a Speed Attacker… but was this stuff really a Snow White skill, or just a result of her past upgrades?

What I could call uniquely Snow White was the newly sprouted Trait. The Trait was interesting too. When incapacitated, she'd activate a skill and reliably revive.

A few enemies had used this kind of skill before. They called it Last Skill, didn't they. But did those come with guaranteed revival as well?

"The Last Attack family is famous for the so-called 'system-suspect' verdict, where 'landing the final blow with your last strike before dying counts as a win.' This Trait, even when it wins, leaves no suspicion at all."

Lyuka added the supplement.

"Mm, what's that about?"

"Last Attack and Last Skill are Traits where a Garumon unleashes a technique the moment she's incapacitated. With one combatant left on each side… or, at that moment, if you use an all-target technique like Demon Art - Cocytus and wipe out the opponent, who wins?

"The one who got finished first was the one who used Last Attack, yet the side that used Last Attack last is declared the winner. This came to be called the 'system-suspect' verdict."

"Heh… well, finishing them off with the final blow does kind of feel like a win…"

"And what made it an even bigger problem was the case where you defeat an opponent's Last Attack with your own Last Attack.

"A's attack finishes B; B's Last Attack finishes A; A's Last Attack activates. But there's no longer an opponent to attack. Yet A was declared the winner. 'Taking a meaningless action last and being called the winner, what's that supposed to mean?' 'No, the rule is unified: whoever uses Last Attack last wins.' 'In the first place, A was the one who reduced HP to zero first.' This came up as an agenda item at S-Class Conferences and the debate grew heated, but… in the end, as it stands, in situations where Last Attacks finish each other off, the side that uses Last Attack last is the winner.

"The state of using Last Attack is a borderline state of 'HP is 0 and recovery is impossible, but not yet incapacitated,' so under the standard of 'whoever is incapacitated first loses,' the conclusion is that whoever has 0 HP without being able to use Last Attack is the loser."

"I see… I'll keep that in mind."

"This was something I'd been planning to bring up if Naoto-san ever learned a Last Attack-line skill, but…

"Since this Trait restores full HP, no one's going to complain about it."

"I see… ah, if someone uses Resurrection via Last Attack and revives, can they never be beaten?"

"Ah… right. Resurrection can't be used on oneself. The success rate caps at 70% too, but…

"Still, if two people kept reviving each other via Last Skill and Resurrection, the battle would go on forever. Until Resurrection's use count ran out, at any rate."

"I see. So there's also a way to scrape by like that, dealing damage with other Traits to come out on top. The risk's awfully high, though…"

That little aside got a bit heated too.

"In any case… it's wonderful. As expected of a Legendary-tier Unique Job. It's absurdly strong…!"

Crap, my excitement was rising!

The downside was that her other skills paled by comparison… Wild Sword Dance was originally a really strong technique too, you know…

A 30% increase per attack would be ridiculous…

Beyond that, what I'd really want was piercing. But would Freeze trigger even when the target was guarding? If so, that'd amount to a powerful technique on par with piercing.

Anyway, while I was over the moon about all this…

"… LV50… isn't it. Naoto-kun."

"Ah… yeah…"

There was something even more delightful waiting now.

"Hey… Maika, when did you start liking me? What was the trigger?"

I asked on a whim.

I'd never actually asked her directly before.

"… When we first ended up in the same class in our third year of middle school… From the moment I first met you, Naoto-kun, somehow… I had a fairly favorable impression of you."

Maika answered.

"Of course, I was making sure not to have preconceptions or biases toward anyone, no matter who I was speaking with…

"But Naoto-kun, when I'd address you, you'd get bashful and tense up… and yet, you'd happily respond to the conversation.

"Your gaze and tone of voice in those moments were so gentle… You'd often say things like, 'Isn't it boring to talk with someone like me?' I thought you were a little self-deprecating, but… I could also tell you cared about other people. I had this vague thought, like, 'Wow, this person seems like he'd really treasure his girlfriend if he had one.'

"I'd never thought that about anyone else… So vaguely, but maybe I'd already started thinking about being your girlfriend.

"And the moment I clearly realized I liked you was pretty early on, too. I think it was around June."

"Eh, that early?"

"On a rainy day, Setsuna-chan came to school with an umbrella to pick you up, didn't she. To keep a beautiful girl like Setsuna-chan from causing a scene at school, you snuck around to meet her… but I got curious somehow and ended up following you."

That was… well, it was just a matter of leaving school at the same time. But for her, the academy's overwhelming idol, to follow a plain, gloomy boy like me around was a slightly odd thing to do. At that point, you could say she'd already been quite interested in me.

"And then, watching you and Setsuna-chan converse… Naoto-kun, you were talking with this very gentle expression, the same one you give me, the kind you give to the girl you adore, the girl you love."

"Ah… well, I love Setsuna a whole lot, after all."

"When I saw that… something inside me went 'pang,' you know. At the time I didn't understand why… I figured maybe my heart had skipped a beat just because I'd seen you being kind, the way you would after picking up an abandoned kitten…

"But now I understand. Ah, this is a lovely person who can pour love onto so many people, that's what I realized."

"Ahaha… well, that's not exactly the standard for praise back in our world."

"Mm, I know that… but, for me, that kind of person was the ideal. Everyone loves everyone, everyone happy. I always thought that's how it should be."

"In that case… what about someone like Hayakawa-kun? He's a handsome guy dating three girls, isn't he?"

"He's no good. He's the type who racks up girls like in some game and enjoys watching them compete and butt heads with each other. I really can't believe he loves all his girlfriends. There's no main one, that's why he does that sort of thing. The moment he gets a real one, it'll be just her."

She was watching closely, huh…

"Really, the moment romance gets involved, everything turns sour for some reason…

"I'd often get yelled at by other girls. That I'd stolen their boyfriends. That since everyone fell for me, I was awful.

"I'd just greeted them normally, I don't particularly remember doing anything…"

"No, Maika, just from saying hi, you've got way more destructive power than the girls around you confessing…"

"Fufu… so, Naoto-kun, you'd have fallen for me too if I'd just said hi?"

"Of course. I love you a whole lot."

"That makes me happy… Fufu, let me get back to the topic. The girls would cry and get angry at me, but…

"I really didn't get it. I thought, why would it matter if her boyfriend liked her and me?

"I didn't have any particular feelings for that boyfriend, but I do think you're free to feel however you want.

"Just, I knew that saying so would only make them angrier, so I kept quiet…

"What's the right thing to say in those moments, I wonder. Whatever I said would only make them angrier, it was a complete dead end, so I just smiled and listened in silence until they were satisfied…"

A peerlessly attractive girl like Maika, who everyone fell for, had her own peerless-girl woes, it seemed.

"But those boys, the moment they fell for me, they stopped loving the girl they'd been dating.

"That didn't make sense to me either. Why is it that you're only allowed to hold one feeling of love?

"Why do you lose the previous one? Isn't that love kind of shallow?

"… Ultimately, things like that meant I never developed the slightest interest in those boyfriends."

"In other words, Maika, from the start, you had this longing to become a harem member."

"Yes, exactly… Though when I was still in Japan, I didn't clearly realize it. I was the strict, conscientious discipline committee member who properly followed the rules and kept order. I'd cast myself in that role and tried to live up to it… so I took for granted that married couples should love only each other. That's what my head was convinced of.

"I'd never have admitted that I, in my heart, was wishing for something so immoral as 'let's all love each other together.'

"… Just, if back then Naoto-kun had said to me, 'Together with Kanan, Setsuna-chan, Haru-kun, and Sawako-san, I'll cherish Maika too,' would I have been honest with myself? I don't think I'd have been able to defy my own instincts, but…"

"Ahaha…"

"As I thought, even I didn't understand why I was so drawn to you, Naoto-kun. So I couldn't confess… or maybe that's just an excuse."

"No, I couldn't confess either… For me, you're nothing but reasons to fall for you, your beauty, your kindness, so I never wondered why, but there were circumstances, and I couldn't have confidence in myself… in the end, I just lacked the courage."

The two of us laughed together.

"Also… I didn't notice anything off about you, either, Naoto-kun. I'm so sorry.

"But you're a bit at fault too, you know. To keep anyone from worrying, you always wore a poker face, were always your usual self, always kind to everyone… no one could've noticed that."

"Ahaha… well, I did wear a fairly good poker face. Thanks to that, even now, my bluffing tends to work in combat. People from the other world show their emotions on their faces a lot, so you can read things like 'ah, they have no counter,' or 'looks like they have some secret strategy.'"

Asking high school girls to read a poker face honed for combat was probably too much.

"That's why for me, this is now my dream come true. The dream I hadn't even realized I had, the truly ideal situation.

"Naoto-kun, you're my ideal person. My ideal was a man with lots of slaves who loved every one of them with all his heart.

"… But maybe even that's just a justification after the fact.

"I just came to like you, Naoto-kun, and so I came to love everything about you… I think that's fine too."

That's what Maika said.

"Maika…"

I tightened my grip on her hand a little.

Hoping my joy, my love, would come through more clearly.