Captain Swallow's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, blood drinking? Are you a vampire?"
Alesha responded, speaking quickly due to nervousness. "Well, only kinda, I'm a half-vampire if you want to be precise, though I wasn't before I was summoned so I promise I'm not on the Demon King's side or anything, please don't kill me just because my species changed!!"
Unexpectedly, the Captain laughed, though her expression was still completely hidden by the white mask she wore. "You silly girl, you didn't even have to explain about your skill. I was just curious because I can train you better if I can understand what your skills do."
She put a hand on Alesha's shoulder and spoke in reassuring tones, something Alesha hadn't expected the woman to be able to do from how commanding, even harsh, she usually sounded. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you just because you're a different species than you were before, even if it is a worrisome one. It does explain your actions earlier, though," she chuckled.
Alesha scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, unsure how to respond.
Removing her hand from her shoulder, the Captain added, "I suppose we collectively, the servants of the Kingdom, forgot to explain to you all. In addition to assigning you a Class and Skills that befit your soul, the Goddess Helia also reassigns your species. The logic behind her species reassignment is completely lost to us mortals, however, and seems to have nothing to do with one's personality or preferences. It's been said that Heroes of ages past have often been dissatisfied with their newfound species, so you're not alone in that."
Alesha sighed, "Well, that's a relief, I suppose."
"Glad to hear it. Now, back to the topic of leveling up. Do you, perhaps, know why you didn't level up when everyone else did?"
Believing that her species being half-vampire was a much bigger secret than Gaia's curse, and hoping the Captain would allow her to use her Plunder skill often in order to compensate, Alesha briefly explained about the title "Hated by Gaia" and its effects. The Captain listened silently as she did so.
"That's… a rather serious problem," the Captain replied solemnly. "It renders your Class entirely useless, and if what you say is true, then any of our standard methods for compensating for your weakness would be rendered useless as well."
Alesha bit her lip. Had she made the wrong choice in trusting the Captain with this information? But what was she supposed to do? Her handicap would have become obvious soon even if she hadn't outright explained it just now. Hopefully, by showing her hand first, Alesha would earn some credibility and trust from the Kingdom.
The Captain folded her arms and tapped the fingers of one hand. "Thank you for telling me, Alesha, this is important information. I appreciate your trust. That said, I will need to discuss with my superiors how to proceed. For now, do not tell anyone else about this, understood?"
Alesha nodded, feeling relieved. Had that gone alright? She thought so.
After that, Alesha was instructed to join the others in their physical training, and the Captain went off somewhere else.
She felt sluggish as she went through the training. Everyone else was running fairly quickly, but Alesha felt slow. Everyone else could do pushups fairly well, but Alesha struggled. Of course, there was one exception to this; there was one other person who had as hard of a time as she did with the training. It was the overweight Holy Knight, Sheldon. The two of them sweated profusely and gasped for breath while the others exercised as if they had been doing so regularly for months. As the training went on, Alesha hated the "sun weakness" racial trait more and more.
----
Back in the Summoning Room, on the raised platform where the Appraisals had taken place, the King was deep in council with his advisors. They sat around a table while a scribe took notes of their discussion.
"Several of these Heroes might be worse than useless," Duke Wyrmhart said. "If they can't even get to a certain level of capability, all they might be useful for would be monster fodder."
"Quiet, Winston," the King said, having taken off his ostentatious crown. Among these people, he didn't have to put on quite as powerful of an image. He could simply be himself -- somewhat aged, with a neatly trimmed, pointed white beard, but still strong. "While that may be true, I'm more concerned with the fate of the strong. Let's go over the names of the Heroes' skills. Oliver?"
Priest Oliver retrieved some papers from an attendant. "Yes, Your Majesty," he replied, and listed off all the Heroes' skills, as recorded by the scribe responsible for doing so during the Heroes' Appraisals. While the normal Appraisal spell was unable to reveal more than the skill name, the hope was that the name of the Heroes' skills would be enough to clue them in as to what the skills would do. And if that was insufficient, they could always cast Greater Appraisal on the Heroes later. Doing so would break the societal taboo of not using Greater Appraisal on a person without permission, but the fate of the Kingdom was far more important than the Heroes' rights to privacy.
The King nodded when he was done. "Thank you, Oliver. The Heroes seem to possess a variety of incredibly powerful skills, which could be of great benefit to our nation…"
The Queen placed a hand on his arm, looking worried. "You don't fool me, dear," she said softly. "I know what troubles you. You fear the Heroes will turn their powers on the people after the Demon King is defeated, right?"
"Yes, and no," he replied, looking into her eyes and smiling sadly. "I wish it was that simple. I fear what would happen if the Heroes went on a rampage even before the Demon King is slain. I fear what would happen if they act carelessly and hurt the people during the course of their duties. I even fear what would happen were they to switch sides, joining up with the demons. They are strong, so strong it breaks the limits of what is logical, and the people have no way to stand up to that unreasonable strength if it is ever used in a way unbefitting of a Hero."
High Wizard Merlin spoke up in response to the King's worries. "Your worries are shared by the rest of us, my King. That is why we stole the forbidden arts from the demons in the first place, and why we are conducting this meeting now. It is easier to prevent such eventualities than to react to them when they occur. History has taught us that much, at least."
The King nodded and breathed deeply. "You're right as always, Merlin. Thank you. Let us continue."