I Was Caught up in a Hero Summoning, but That World Is at Peace (WN)

Chapter 2458 - Requested Item ⑯

Leaving the Central Cathedral, I walked side by side with Kaori-san as we talked. She did look worn out, as expected, but since she had said she was happy about things like becoming eternally youthful, her expression was an odd mix, she seemed exhausted and pleased at the same time, making it hard to put into words.

[……By the way, Kaori-san. I can already tell your answer from how you reacted earlier, but I’ll ask just in case. Do you feel like attending the tea party?]

[Kaito-kun, can you imagine this? If my stomach gets a hole in it, I won’t be able to drink black tea, you know. If you’re going to invite me, do it only when there aren’t gods or kings or people like that around.]

[Got it. Still, when all’s said and done, Kaori-san, you’ve really ended up becoming something amazing.]

[Seriously! Even if it’s limited to the Friendship City, having power on par with a Peerage Holder…… that’s just insane.]

[Hmmm, but that part’s only based on my own sense of it, so it’s not exactly certain, you know?]

She did feel close to Eta’s and Theta’s amount of magic power, but whether that directly meant her strength was on par with a Baron-rank Demon was hard to say.

[No, I feel about the same…… Even if I don’t know the exact benchmarks, I do think I’ve reached around that level. More than anything, the fact that my magic power increased fiftyfold is just way too ridiculous.]

[So that really is the most important part?]

[You probably already know this, Kaito-kun, but magic power has the biggest impact on combat strength and it’s also the hardest thing to increase.]

[Now that you mention it, my own magic power hasn’t really increased at all either.]

[Same here. I’ve been living here for over 10 years, but it’s honestly only gone up a little since the moment I was summoned.]

As Kaori-san said, magic power is extremely difficult to increase. At the very least, I haven’t felt any growth myself, and apparently, Kaori-san’s hasn’t grown much either since she was summoned as a Hero Actor.

Magic power has a major influence on the power of spells and the multiplier of physical enhancement, so it’s no exaggeration to say that magic power directly translates into combat ability. The reason my own physical enhancement is so lackluster is, quite simply, because my magic power is low.

[Magic power is heavily affected by innate talent, and it only increases bit by bit. Even Eta-san and Theta-san from your side must’ve taken hundreds, or even thousands, of years, on top of their natural talent, just to finally reach Peerage Holder levels of magic power. That’s why Olivia-sama’s blessing, which lets someone reach that level instantly even if it’s region-limited, is so incredible.]

[If your magic power becomes fifty times higher, then the actual increase in combat strength wouldn’t just be fiftyfold, right?]

[Exactly. The more magic power you have, the stronger your spells become, and the higher your physical enhancement multiplier goes…… Well, of course, there are exceptions, cases where, due to aptitude, someone can use magic far beyond what their actual magic power should allow. My Water Magic falls into that category. My magic power is only moderately high for a human, but when it comes to Water Magic alone, I can unleash power and scale that should be impossible for my magic power. That’s why I was able to push through even when I had a mock battle with Frau-san, who had more magic power than me and superior physical abilities. Without that special aptitude, I think I would’ve lost normally.]

That probably applies to Hina-chan as well. In terms of magic power alone, Aoi-chan has more, but thanks to the sharp, Otherworlder-specific aptitude she has, Hina-chan’s physical enhancement is overwhelmingly stronger.

In fact, Hina-chan’s physical enhancement, in terms of multiplier alone, is said to rival people like Sieg-san and Luna-san, who are among the strongest of the Humans. It really shows just how extreme the specialization of Otherworlder aptitudes can be.

[With magic power multiplied by fifty, I might actually be able to use Maximum Magic, at least when it comes to water magic.]

[I’m not very knowledgeable about that stuff, but is Maximum Magic really that difficult?]

[Of course it is. Maximum Magic refers to spells that go beyond the frameworks of lower-, middle-, and upper-tier magic. Their scale and power are on a completely different level. Most Maximum Magics probably have enough power to wipe out a small city. I think you’d have to be on the level of a Count-rank before you could use them. Normally, even if my magic power increased fiftyfold, I still wouldn’t be able to use them, but since my aptitude for Water Magic is so specialized…… maybe it’s possible?]

[I see…… Isis-san was firing them off like nothing though.]

[No, no, isn’t your comparison there ridiculous!? Death King-sama’s magic power is on such a different dimension that even comparing it to Count-ranks doesn’t make sense! Even if my magic power increased a hundred million times, I still wouldn’t come close, so of course she can spam Maximum Magic like that.]

In truth, the only time I’ve clearly seen Maximum Magic with my own eyes was during the battle between Isis-san and Iris-san. Well, it’s possible I’d seen it even before that, but that was the first time I’d witnessed it being used with it explicitly stated to be Maximum Magic.

Isis-san had used it so casually, but that was only because she herself is absurdly strong. Under normal circumstances, that kind of scene would be completely unimaginable.

[So the Six Kings really are on a whole different level huh……]

[The Six Kings are in a league of their own, sure, but from our perspective, even Count-ranks are already monsters. Baron- and Viscount-ranks aren’t at a level I can stand up to, of course, but I can at least understand that level of strength. But once you get to Count-rank, they’re people who are like “being able to react to light speed is just a given”, you know? That’s a whole different dimension…… Light speed is something you’d expect from only the very top-tier characters in battle manga, yet for them it’s basically the bare minimum. People say there’s a huge wall between Viscount- and Count-ranks, and honestly, I totally get it~~]

[……Maybe someday, Kaori-san might reach that realm too……]

[I won’t!? Or rather, I can’t!!! ……I shouldn’t be able to, at least. As long as you don’t do anything weird…… Whatever it is you’re thinking, can you not? I feel like I’d get involved with some strange god or something and get super-buffed…… I’m just someone who runs a set-meal diner, okay!? I don’t need to be able to react at light speed!!!]

[No, I don’t plan on doing anything like that……]

[Even if you don’t plan to, that kind of thing just ends up happening anyway, that’s what’s scary about you, you know]

At Kaori-san’s words, delivered like a cry from the soul, I could only give a wry smile. Well, honestly speaking, if I were to ask Shiro-san or Makina-san, it might actually be possible for Kaori-san to gain strength on the level of a Count-rank…… but there was no reason to do something like that.

Alternatively, if some Otherworld God were to take a liking to Kaori-san and grant her some kind of Blessing, something like that might happen as well…… but well, realistically speaking, that was almost certainly never going to happen.

<Afterword>

Serious-senpai : [……Wasn’t there a god who’s really close with Makina, and who was supposed to show up after the Berserk Gorilla?]

? ? ? : [But would that person even have any reason to personally take a liking to Kaori-san?]

Serious-senpai : [……Yeah, probably not.]