Two Reincarnators

Riding on Matsukaze's back, Ria and Serge conversed in hushed voices.

"I never thought I'd be saved by a fellow reincarnator. Is the reason Identify doesn't work on you also because of a Gift you received?"

Serge casually revealed that he could use Identify.

"Yeah. I've heard that even perfect Identify magic can't see my status."

When she had lived in the royal capital, Ria had known of several reincarnators, but she had deliberately avoided them.

Partly because this life was a new life, and being bound to her past life seemed somehow wrong. But also, more pragmatically, because getting involved with them seemed to offer no benefit.

The other reincarnators had only vague memories of their previous lives. Even with knowledge from another world, one could potentially achieve considerable accomplishments in fields like science, but according to Rufus, there was no one who possessed such clear memories.

However, this boy seemed different.

"Even if you manage to reincarnate, without a Gift related to memory, apparently you forget most of it while you're still a baby."

"That's news to me."

She had been told properly. That she would be reborn with a certain degree of her memories intact.

"Huh～? But Ria-san, you clearly remember everything, right?"

"I don't know if it counts as a memory-related Gift, but Dragon's Bloodline includes various Gifts within it. It's probably because of that."

"Dragon's Bloodline, huh. That sounds like such a cool Gift. How many points did it cost?"

"One thousand points."

"Whaa-!?"

"One thousand points. By the way, there were other options at the same point cost, like Demigod and Egg of the Overlord… and a few others, I think."

"Whaaat-! Whaaat!? One thousand!? They told me my two hundred points was already quite a lot, so what on earth did you do in your past life!? Commit mass murder!?"

The two following behind made puzzled faces at the boy shouting in an incomprehensible language.

"Lulu-san, what are they saying?"

"My specialty wasn't ancient languages, so…"

Lulu couldn't even distinguish Japanese from an ancient language.

"That's a terrible thing to say about someone. The goddess said it was because my soul's strength was high, and because I helped a lot of people, so I got more points."

"Huh～, so that increases your points too? In my case, I happened to run into a serial killer and we ended up killing each other."

That was quite something in its own way.

"So the Gifts I got were: Magic Talent at one hundred, Identify at fifty, Space-Time Magic Aptitude at thirty, Disease Resistance at ten, Poison Resistance at ten, Memory Organization at ten, Appearance at five, and after asking various questions, it totaled two hundred twenty-two points."

"Is Identify really that necessary? Can't you learn it pretty easily with magic?"

"With magic-based Identify, it won't work if the target has resistance. But with my Identify, unless they have See-Through Nullification or countering magic, I can see through them. More importantly, what else does Ria-san have?"

Serge asked with eager anticipation. Ria answered, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

"Just Dragon's Bloodline and Self Check. The rest I spent on raising my stats."

Serge's jaw dropped. His astonished expression gradually shifted to one of understanding.

"By any chance, Ria-san, are you the type who doesn't play games? You don't read light novels either, do you?"

"I played Dragon Quest up to III. As for books… I liked Futaro Yamada."

Given that she had delved into ninjutsu and traditional martial arts in pursuit of real strength, Ria's depth of obsession was probably greater.

After that, the two shared stories from their past lives. Surprisingly, Serge had died at the young age of twenty.

In exchange, he had abundant knowledge of games and the internet, so he had approached this reincarnation with considerable planning.

Rather than Gifts for close combat, he sought the romance of magical talent. And considering infant mortality rates, he had acquired Poison Resistance and Disease Resistance. He had certainly thought things through.

"In reincarnation novels, Identify and Item Box are essential skills. That's why I got Identify first, and then got Space-Time Magic so I could use Dimensional Storage."

Indeed, he was knowledgeable. A stark contrast to Ria, who had chosen based on intuition.

This Dimensional Storage magic had a fixed capacity like the magic bags that Ria and Lulu possessed, but the upper limit expanded based on the user's magic power, and furthermore, time didn't pass for items stored inside. Its performance was considerably different.

"Other common templates include getting points to acquire skills later, stealing other people's skills, or creating weapons you imagine."

"Creating imagined weapons sounds nice. Machine guns or nuclear missiles would be overpowered technology."

"But there are plenty of monsters that wouldn't be fazed by something like a machine gun, and there are even spells at the nuclear missile level."

"No, I want the sword from my past life. If I could create it from imagination, I've had good long looks at Masamune and Muramasa."

"So Ria-san is a sword-wielding protagonist? Well, I do admire Japanese swords a little too."

"I actually cut off an arm in my past life, you know."

Serge made an ambiguous expression. She understood how he felt.

"It was in traditional martial arts. I was practicing swordsmanship, and it turned into an actual duel. It wasn't a fight to the death, so when I cut off my opponent's arm, the witnesses stopped us."

"What kind of life did you lead? I mean, you killed those orcs so easily, but you're not even twenty yet, are you?"

"I'm thirteen. The first time I killed a goblin was when I was ten."

In this world, death was ever-present. Since people often butchered their own meat, taboos against killing were virtually nonexistent.

Even so, Ria's killing record was unthinkable compared to others her age. But since goblins and orcs were treated as vermin, there was no problem.

Continuing such conversations, the group arrived at Serge's village.

By the way, Carlos, who had been talking with Lulu the whole time, looked blissful.

From there, the proceedings were quite simple.

The orc corpse was brought out before the village chief and buried on the outskirts by the villagers. In a few years, it would make excellent fertilizer.

Serge received some praise but was thoroughly scolded by his parents. The fact that he maintained a calm expression throughout was impressive.

Then Carlos, deliberately presenting himself as a knight, stepped forward to negotiate with the parents.

The plan was to have Serge join as a traveling companion.

This had been proposed by Serge himself, and Ria had agreed.

Lulu and Carlos were opposed at first, but since they had seen Serge's magic, they understood he could be an asset in battle. Still, their objection was that he was too young.

"When I was ten, I was already raiding goblin settlements."

"Please don't compare others to yourself."

But Ria insisted firmly. What loomed in the background was the approaching Millennium.

In preparation for the crisis facing humanity, she needed to nurture as many potential fighters as possible.

Since their destination was the labyrinth city, the two were finally persuaded. That place was indeed ideal for safely raising one's level.

Negotiations with Serge's parents also concluded swiftly.

Carlos, a proper aristocrat of the Kingdom of Casalia, had expressed his wish to take Serge along as his attendant. Additionally, Serge himself was willing, and the village mage who had become Serge's master also supported this.

There was nothing more he could teach Serge. That's what the elderly mage said. Moreover, being a third son, Serge had never quite fit in with the other village children.

The next day, the group departed from the village.

"By the way, Nee-chan, are you actually a Casalian noble?"

"I hadn't mentioned it, had I? I'm royalty. My father is the king, but since my mother isn't even a concubine, I have no claim to the throne."

"Oh… what a cheat…"

Swaying on the backs of horse and donkey, the group headed toward the labyrinth city. Between here and there stretched lands inhabited by non-humans.

As they ventured into the territories of beastkin and demi-humans, the group found themselves growing increasingly excited.