After Yukitaka maxed out his level2, he spent a while longer going into dungeons with the high school hero party, guarded by royal knights.
But after maxing out, nothing changed. Days passed, then a month, and when about three months had gone by, that day finally came.
Until then, Yukitaka had gotten the same treatment as the hero party.
When going into dungeons, he was given guards, top-quality armor and weapons, clothes and food, and even a manager and maids assigned to him.
Other than that, he was given a fancy room in the royal palace, and his treatment stayed the same as the hero party's.
He didn't know what the people caring for him really thought, but he could sort of pick up on it.
It was, "Isn't this guy totally useless? Just dead weight?"
But the Kingdom of Thordein hadn't treated Yukitaka this badly, because they weren't sure if he might get some crazy cheat power3 from being caught up in the summoning.
That was because of a legend in history: a country once made a quick call and banished someone, and that person awakened a cheat, got revenge, and the country was destroyed.
So for the past few months, they had handled Yukitaka carefully, but on this day, it seemed they finally hit their limit.
"Mr. Goto1. Per protocol, the royal palace has exhausted every available avenue regarding whether you might awaken a skill. Our assembled experts have repeatedly discussed and tested the possibilities of a hidden skill or a skill that awakens later, and the results have proven conclusively negative. At this point, it would be improper of us to keep you in this palace for our own reasons... So here's the matter: in our country's frontier, there is a village with sufficient culture to live without a skill, and with less discrimination than other regions. We have determined that you would be happier living a quiet life there. How does that sound?" the senior minister in charge of the hero summoning said, giving his reasons and proposing to send him to the frontier.
Of course, he probably didn't call it banishment openly, just in case something happened.
But the fact that he was unwanted had been clear for about a week now, from the mood the people around him gave off. Even the dullest person couldn't miss it.
So it was a proposal Yukitaka would gladly jump at, since he couldn't stand the mood anymore.
Yukitaka had worked as a salaryman, so he could read that kind of atmosphere, and he wasn't stupid, so he could guess the other side's real aim to some degree.
He understood that for the past week, the people around him had been deliberately making things uncomfortable.
They had also learned from history and the many documents left behind, so they analyzed his personality and took steps to create a situation where he would choose to go to the frontier himself.
Like the hero party, Yukitaka had cost a lot of money.
He understood the judgment that they weren't going to spend more budget feeding an incompetent, so it was a pretty reasonable decision.
But for Yukitaka, being sent to the frontier as a skillless nobody was basically being told to die.
He had felt that for real when he leveled up fighting monsters in the dungeon.
The high school group with skills was guarded by royal knights at first, but they quickly showed their ability and started killing monsters by watching and copying.
Meanwhile, Yukitaka had zero skill bonuses and was a total amateur with no martial arts experience, so instead of being useful, he was a great target and got attacked.
In other words, if he went to the frontier where monsters were common, there was a high chance the weak one-him-would be targeted first.
Thinking about that, it wouldn't be a slow life4 in the frontier. There was a high chance he'd die in no time.
"...It's over."
Yukitaka muttered quietly, then let out a sigh.
It was also true that in the uncomfortable mood the country had deliberately built up, he couldn't throw a tantrum and stay.
"Huh?"
The senior minister who had just given him the death sentence couldn't catch Yukitaka's words and asked again.
"No, it's nothing... I understand. I agree to go to that frontier village..."
Half out of desperation, Yukitaka accepted the senior minister's offer.
"Oh, is that so! Thanks to you, I feel relieved too... Please rest assured. We will prepare your living expenses for the interim prior to your departure, and we will return everything you were wearing when you came here. Naturally, we will be reclaiming what we previously provided..."
After saying that, the senior minister called a maid and had her bring the full set of salaryman gear Yukitaka had been wearing when summoned.
"Now then, as the saying goes, it is best to strike while the iron is hot5. We shall set your departure for three days from now. Please make your preparations by then."
The senior minister left the rest to the maid and walked off looking happy.
"A full suit, leather shoes, a business backpack and bag, an umbrella, a smartphone... They even saved the convenience store bag... Oh, but there's nothing inside. Well, it's been a few months, so of course the food is rotten..."
Yukitaka checked his belongings one by one.
At this point, Yukitaka was getting angry little by little.
The expensive clothes he was wearing now and the whole set of valuable equipment he used in the dungeon were all being taken back, which meant, literally, that they had decided he didn't need them.
"If I somehow awaken a cheat skill after this, I won't work for this country! ...Well, I'm grateful they tested all sorts of things for a few months and watched how I did... No, I was a victim from the moment I got caught up in the summoning! That was close... I almost justified them..."
Facing banishment, Yukitaka's emotions were getting a little unstable, but he kept those words inside.
Because the maid was nearby, waiting for him to change.
Yukitaka took off the high-quality clothes he had gotten used to, and silently changed back into his original suit.
The maid collected everything that had been given to Yukitaka, then left right away.
Now that his transfer to the frontier was decided, there was no more consideration for Yukitaka.
"Haah... Three days from now, huh..."
Maybe it was a habit from his suit-wearing days.
Yukitaka took his glasses from the case in his pocket and put them on.
His eyesight had already gotten better at the time of the summoning, so of course his vision looked blurry.
Then he remembered again that his eyes had gotten better.
"Ah... right, my eyesight got better..."
Yukitaka smiled wryly, thinking that habits soaked into your body stay even after a few months.
Then, when he tried to take off his glasses, a fancy-looking cup on the desk caught his eye.
"If I secretly sell this at a shop in town for money, would it help a little?"
A greedy feeling welled up.
That's when it happened.
Next to the cup, letters appeared.
"Huh? What's this... a high-class cup made by Takason Workshop, worth five silver coins? Wait... eh!?"
Yukitaka was surprised, took off the glasses that were causing his blurry vision, and looked at the cup again.
But unlike before, nothing showed up in his vision.
"......?"
Yukitaka tilted his head, then put his glasses back on.
And when he checked the cup again through the glasses, the same letters from before were showing.
"...Is this... no way... Could this be my skill!?"
Yukitaka realized that he could apparently appraise things through his glasses, and found hope.
Trivia:
- The legend about a banished person awakening a cheat and destroying a country is why Toldein kept Yukitaka for three months instead of kicking him out immediately, showing the kingdom's fear of that exact scenario.
- Yukitaka's glasses are not just a habit. They turn out to be the key to his appraisal ability, meaning his ordinary salaryman gear from Japan is the source of his only skill.
- The senior minister's happy reaction and the maid's instant coldness after the decision reveal that the kingdom's earlier kindness was never personal, just a calculated wait-and-see policy.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ The honorific -dono is a formal, somewhat old-fashioned title of respect used toward someone of lower or equal rank in a polite official setting. It sits between -san and -sama, and here it signals the minister's careful, distant politeness during a formal proposal.
2 ↩ Game term meaning a character has reached the highest possible level. In this world, leveling up normally grants skills or growth, so Yukitaka reaching the cap with no change is what proves he is truly skillless.
3 ↩ In isekai and game-like stories, a cheat refers to an absurdly powerful ability granted to a summoned or reincarnated person, often breaking the normal rules of the world. The kingdom fears Yukitaka might awaken one and take revenge if mistreated.
4 ↩ A genre term for a relaxed, peaceful everyday life away from fighting and hardship. Yukitaka thinks the promised frontier life will not actually be slow because he will likely be killed by monsters quickly.
5 ↩ A proverb meaning to act right away while the opportunity is good. The minister uses it to justify setting the departure in three days.
Notes:
• Yukitaka - First given name of Yukitaka Goto. He is a twenty-five-year-old salaryman summoned to another world without receiving a skill, who maxed out his level at 99 in half a day without gaining meaningful power, spent about three months at the royal palace before being pushed toward the frontier, and discovered that his black-rimmed glasses let him appraise objects.
• Goto - First given name of Yukitaka Goto. He is a twenty-five-year-old salaryman summoned to another world without receiving a skill, who maxed out his level at 99 in half a day without gaining meaningful power, spent about three months at the royal palace before being pushed toward the frontier, and discovered that his black-rimmed glasses let him appraise objects.