I remember a high school classroom that was almost remarkably unremarkable.
Then I recall the faces of each of the students there.
Shouko Negishi…
Hmm. Hmmmm. Yeaaah, I don't remember her.
I mean, I can remember all my classmates' faces, more or less. But her face and name don't seem to match, or rather, her name doesn't sound familiar in the first place. To be fair, I was never someone who held a lot of interest for the people around me.
I can't put a name to most of my classmates' faces. Not that I ever had to, since I hardly spoke to any of them. Sometimes they would try to talk to me, but when I froze up out of sheer surprise, they'd turn bright red, get mad at me, and leave. It's wrong to just suddenly start talking to outcasts like that. We'll freeze up because we have no idea how to respond.
To be fair, even if the interaction wasn't sudden, I'd probably end up doing the same thing—but still! Ahh, I do remember the name of that kid who was always bothering me, but that's about it. I certainly don't know any Shouko Negishis. If there were a way to check what her original face was like, it'd come back to me, but she obviously looks different now.
At the moment, all I can see is a lady holding a baby. Around them, their guards are watching, rigid from fear. How did this happen again? I was on the run from this demon lord freak with obscenely high stats and spotted a carriage being attacked by robbers, right? Pretending I never saw it would've made me feel hella guilty later, so I swooped in dramatically and wiped out the bandits.
While I was at it, I used Healing Magic to cure a guard who'd been struck down by a robber.
Then this lady jumped out of the carriage. And when I Appraised the baby in her arms, I got some seriously weird results. So here we are. Guess I'll look at the baby's Appraisal results again…
LV 1 Name: Sophia Keren/Shouko Negishi Status: HP: 11/11 (green) (details) SP: 12/12 (yellow) (details) Average Offensive Ability: 9 (details) Average Magical Ability: 32 (details) Average Speed Ability: 8 (details) MP: 35/35 (blue) (details) : 12/12 (red) (details) Average Defensive Ability: 8 (details) Average Resistance Ability: 33 (details) Skills: [Vampire LV 1] [Undying Body LV 1] [HP Auto-Recovery LV 1] [Magic Power Perception LV 3] [Magic Power Operation LV 3] [Night Vision LV 1] [Five Senses Enhancement LV 1] [n% I = W] Skill Points: 75,000 Titles: [Vampire] [Progenitor] > Hmm. Yep, it still shows two names whenever I look at it! And the second one couldn't be more Japanese-sounding! I don't recognize it specifically, but this baby must be one of my former classmates. She even has the "n% I = W" skill, so there's no doubt about it. According to what the self-proclaimed evil god D told me, all the students who were in the classroom with me were reincarnated into this world. It's been a pretty long time since I was reborn as a spider, but this is the first time I've encountered another reincarnation. Well, not much to do but accept it. I mean, this is a strange situation, but I guess it's kinda like running into a fellow Japanese person while traveling abroad. I wasn't close with anyone in my class, so that's about the level of emotion I feel after encountering one of them. What more do you want? I was an outcast. Let's put aside, for now, the fact that she's a fellow reincarnation. Besides, there's already plenty of weird stuff to unpack here. First of all, what's up with that race situation? How can you be a human and a vampire? Does this mean that she used to be a human but had her blood sucked and became a vampire or whatever? Although I have no idea whether vampire lore works the same way in this world as it usually did on Earth. For now, I guess I'll get some info on that with Appraisal. Well then. I guess vampires here are pretty much identical to what I know. Wait a second, though. It said that purebreds who are born vampires are called Progenitors? 'Cause, she's totally got the Progenitor title right there, sooo… What's going on? This child was born a vampire? Does that mean her parents are vampires or what? But according to Appraisal, the woman who's holding this baby is human. The lady's name is Seras Keren. Same last name as the baby bloodsucker. If you put two and two together, that means this lady is definitely the kid's mother. Her mother is human. Is her father a vampire, then? Maybe she has two races because she's half-human and half-vampire? Well, her father doesn't seem to be tagging along, so I don't have any way of knowing for sure. Everyone else here seems to be human, too. Which means this mystery isn't entirely solved, but I can't find out just by thinking about it, so let's put that aside for now, too. Next on the list of weird stuff: Why does she have so many skills? She's just a baby, meaning she should barely even be able to move on her own, never mind acquire a bunch of skills. What's up with that? She's got more of them than some weak monsters that live in the labyrinth! All I had when I was first born was Poison Fang, Spider Thread, Poison Resistance, Night Vision, Skanda, and "n% I = W"! …Now that I think about it, I actually had quite a few skills when I was born, too. Still, though. I had six to start out with, while this baby bloodsucker has eight. A difference of two skills. Two whole skills! That's a huge gap, you know! This isn't fair! Oh, wait a second, though. Did some of these skills come bundled with a title? A title always seems to come with two skills. Title Appraisal, go! Acquisition conditions: Be a vampire from birth. Effect: Cancels out the negative effects of being a vampire. Explanation: A title awarded to a progenitor of vampires.> Mm-hmm. Turns out she has four of those skills because of her titles. But I'm guessing she had both the Vampire and Progenitor titles from the moment she was born, so I guess it doesn't make much of a difference. Those are both pretty amazing titles, though. Vampire comes with the HP Auto-Recovery skill, which is super-handy. It's saved my butt plenty of times. Having it from birth would've been awesome. I'm so jealous it makes me wanna curse this baby! But the Progenitor title is even crazier. I mean, should you really be allowed to cancel out the negatives of being a vampire? Vampires in stories always have lots of weaknesses so that humans can still beat them. If you take those away, wouldn't that just leave a totally unbeatable bad guy? But I guess strength in this world is mostly determined by stats, so even without those weaknesses, I don't think anyone could be completely unstoppable. That being said, a vampire without weaknesses sounds terrifying. For one thing, that skill most likely means that she doesn't need to drink blood to survive. Or maybe breast milk counts as a substitute for blood? It's sorta made from the mother's blood in the first place, right? Well, not having to drink blood is big, but what's even scarier is that sunlight doesn't hurt her. At this very moment, the baby bloodsucker is totally basking in the sunlight without a care in the world. The ability to negate all your natural weaknesses is no joke. And on top of that already impressive title effect, you get two crazy skills, too. My guess is that it's a special skill that only certain races can get or something like that. There's no way I would've overlooked such a useful skill. Five Senses Enhancement is also quite useful, so all in all, the Progenitor title is insane. Wh-whatever! I've got the Immortality skill anyway! I can survive any skill however many times I want, not just one stupid chance a day! I've got nothing to be jealous of! Whew. I nearly fell victim to the green monster of jealousy there. …Hmm. Now that I look at it, though, I guess most of these skills are vampire-related. I mean, half of them came from vampire titles in the first place. Being born a vampire is a pretty sweet deal. Huh? Wait a sec. What's this kid's special reincarnation skill? I got Skanda as a bonus for being a reincarnation, so Dracula Jr. here should have one, too, right? Out of the eight, it can't be any of the four that came from a title. And "n% I = W" is a skill that all reincarnations have, so that's not it, either. Which leaves Vampire, Magic Power Perception, and Magic Power Operation, but those last two would make a pretty lame bonus skill. They're both important, but they're pretty easy to acquire down the line and not nearly as big an advantage as my Skanda skill. I seriously doubt D would have picked out something so plain. So by the process of elimination, her reincarnation bonus skill is…Vampire? Hmm? Hmmmm? Which means that the reason this kid is a vampire is because that's what she got for being a reincarnation? The description for the Vampire title did say that it gets added to your species when you get the skill. Wait. What's that supposed to mean, then? So it's entirely possible that this kid's father is a normal human, too? Man, that would seriously suck. Judging by this lady's clothes and their fancy carriage, she's gotta be the wife of some big shot. And their daughter is a vampire. Yikes, that's definitely not gonna end well. But knowing that schadenfreude-loving D, I wouldn't be surprised if it was all set up that way on purpose. I mean, I guess I can't say for sure, but don't come crying to me later if I'm right. It's got nothing to do with me anyway. I'm actually most concerned about weird detail number three: those skill points! What do you mean, 75,000? When I was born, I got only 100 lousy skill points. That's 750 times more! 750! Having a few extra skills is one thing. Sure, I'm a little jealous she came right out the gate with HP Auto-Recovery, Undying Body, and everything else, but I did get to start with handy skills like Spider Thread and Skanda. But those skill points? That's seriously not cool. With 75,000 skill points, you could pick up anything and everything that catches your eye! If I had that many skill points when I was born, I would've had a waaay easier time! This is so unfair. It's unreasonable. There is no god in this world! Oh wait, yes there is. A really mean-spirited, self-proclaimed evil one. Damn you, D! So this is just another one of your traps! This time I'm definitely protesting against this unfair treatment! On the one hand, you've got me, born as a wimpy spider monster in the world's biggest and most dangerous labyrinth. On the other hand, you've got this vampire baby who was born into a high-class family. That alone is a huge freaking difference. But whatever! I might've been born a monster, but I'm super-strong now! Who needs to grow up in the lap of luxury?! Not me, that's for sure! Well, I've gotten rather preoccupied griping about the injustice of the world. But to everyone else, I just look like a scary spider monster who's staring at a baby. That's bound to lead to some misunderstandings. Now, since I'm using Thought Acceleration, this whole inner monologue took me only a few seconds. Still, those seconds must have felt long to these humans. I was staring at the baby the whole time, and the baby stared right back. This Seras lady is desperately trying to tell me something, but unfortunately for her, I don't understand a single word of this world's language. If you'd like to talk, learn Japanese first, then get back to me, please. That being said, I literally can't talk, so I'd only be listening regardless! And even if I could speak, my social skills are so crappy that we still wouldn't get anywhere! I'm an outcast, all right? And we outcasts don't like being the center of attention. Between the baby, her mom, and their guards all staring at me, I'm actually extremely uncomfortable right now. A baby in a staring contest with a spider, a lady trying to communicate with said spider, and a bunch of guards standing around watching. What kind of weird setup for a joke is this? I wish I knew the punch line. This is just too weird. In fact, I can't take it anymore. I'm just gonna bolt. Yep. I'm taking off now. Miss Seras shouts something after me, but I'm just gonna ignore her. I hope that baby bloodsucker who turned out to be my fellow reincarnation will have a safe and happy life, I guess. And that D doesn't mess with her too much. Yeah, it'll be fine. Definitely seems easier than being reborn as a spider. When I was born, the first thing I laid eyes on was a cannibalistic bloodbath of my brothers and sisters, remember? I worked real hard to survive and eventually wound up being targeted by a genuine demon lord. Ha-ha! My spider life has been crazy from day one! …Yeah. She'll have an easier time than I did, I'm sure.