So I’m a Fish, So What?

“Right in front of you... is the crystallization of human knowledge through the ages! It was obtained through the sweat and blood of our ancestors!”

With all the dignity I could muster, I elaborately bow and gesture with my hand towards a thick book that I had previously placed on an ornate table specially made for the royal family members.

Feeling three curious pairs of eyes gazing upon my grand figure, a smug smile unconsciously made its way onto my face.

“Soo, what’s this about, Katia?”

Seeing the prince, the princess, and their pet’s ignorant eyes beseeching me to bestow upon them the great blessing of knowledge, I slowly pick up the sacred book and slowly show them some of its contents.

“This—is a grand encyclopedia that documents all the discoveries humanity has ever made about supernatural abilities accessible to them, it is called The Skill Encyclopedia!”

Clapping sounds could be heard throughout the room as Shun, the fourth prince and my best friend in our previous life has his eyes glued to the book in my hands while Sue, his sister seems uninterested.

On another note, I swear I saw their earth wyrm pet clapping as well, but I’ll just hypnotize myself into thinking I’m hallucinating.

“This one’s a more detailed version belonging to the duke’s house, y’know? I spent a lot of effort convincing father to let me bring it here today. It has much more info than what you’d find in a public market.”

Handing the book to Shun, I do a quick scan of my status before sitting down on his left side. Sue has already taken her seat to his right side while the little wyrm, Feirune was resting in his lap.

I maxed out Appraisal during the past couple of months, so I get the same amount of information I saw back at my ceremony.

Yup, you heard it right. I went through the trouble of leveling it even though there’s a ready-made magical stone with the same effect.

Unlike what I’ve read and was taught, the skill doesn’t affect me negatively in any shape or form.

I used to get a mild feeling of discomfort when using it before, but even that went away as soon as I acquired that Heretic Nullification skill.

Since that happened, I made some changes to my future plans which included leveling the skill. Wouldn’t want to get caught by surprise in the wild after all.

Information is a double-edged sword, knowing your enemy makes any fight easier, but preconceived misconceptions can lead to fatal mistakes!

It’s safer to get practical information the moment you encounter a monster rather than depending on theoretical knowledge you read in a book beforehand.

“This is... amazing. Couldn’t you just get all the skill out there if you read this?”

“I’m afraid not. Human life is limited after all. It’s not a bad thing actually, you wouldn’t want heinous criminals with superman-level strength everywhere, y’know?”

“Ahh, right. That would exponentially increase the crime rate, I guess.”

It’s true. Although Shun’s naïve mind probably can’t comprehend it, the medieval monarchic system of this world is already struggling to maintain order.

Just imagine the chaos that would ensue if modern terrorists had the ability to conjure bombs out of thin air without any constraints.

Yet you must train yourself to gain the same ability for survival and self-defense, all laws and morals would disappear leaving nothing but the primary laws of the jungle to rule us.

The strong eat the weak, this is the one true rule that applies to all creatures, it only adapts and changes according to environmental factors.

Personally, I find it strange that an ordered civilization was formed under such conditions.

The only reason I could think of would be religion.

Maybe believers with similar faith came together to form a safe haven from the monsters in the far past which lead to other safe havens forming in other places, eventually becoming different kingdoms and empires.

“Katia, I believe there’s a huge problem with this system’s skills...”

“... So, you actually noticed it, huh?”

I didn’t expect Shun out of everyone to actually figure this out.

Sue curiously observed our solemn faces while Feirune seemed to sense the heavy atmosphere as she settles down.

Looking at all the skills in the first few pages and thinking about every appraisal result I’ve ever seen before—

“Skills in this world... are heavily biased towards combat. I’m not stupid enough to miss this.”

“Indeed. Every skill in here has some direct connection to combat. There are no crafting or similar types of skills.”

I couldn’t spot a single skill that didn’t affect combat in some way.

Another indicator is that you can only gain experience points through killing.

Killing animals, monsters, demons... and humans.

It’s as if the world itself cut off all methods of survival except for battle, you don’t even get small bits of experience for daily activities.

No... this shouldn’t be the world’s will; It should be the will of whoever made this system.

Yes, I truly believe there’s someone behind all of this, otherwise there would’ve been a similar system back on Earth.

I’m keeping this conjecture to myself though... It would probably be too much for Shun to take in, his face has already gone deathly pale after the previous discovery.

“Well, we have to get used to it anyways. We should try to become as strong as possible.”

Shun looks at me with a surprised face while Sue indifferently nods.

“I’ve heard the Demon Lord’s army is rapidly expanding its equipment and soldiers, soo... we might be called upon to battle someday.”

Deathly silence descends on the room, and Feirune starts shifting around nervously.

I gently take the book from Shun’s hands and start flipping through it until the heavy atmosphere is finally broken.

“It does not matter. I will become stronger and prevent any harm from befalling Oni-sama.”

My eyes widen as they dart to the source of the voice.

The second princess of the Analeit kingdom, Suelecia Analeit.

I peer into her eyes as if to see through her soul, but I find not a smidgen of fear or hesitation in them.

Unable to hold back, loud laughter escapes my mouth as if to vent all the emotions bottled up inside my heart.

Even though I had already made up my mind to become strong enough and find Tomoko, I’m still terrified of going through with it.

Maybe I would become used to taking lives after doing it a couple of times, but I’d never be comfortable with having to fight with my own life on the line.

“Yeah, that’s the spirit! Then, I’ll become strong enough to protect you and Shun as well, hahaha!”

Shun stares at me dumbfoundedly while I swear, I saw that freaking earth wyrm give me a thumbs-up gesture.

As for Sue, she nods at me with approval while I perceive her hostility towards me dropping a teeny tiny bit.

Jeez, little girl. I really don’t want to steal your brother, okay?

“Yes, we should all protect Oni-sama! That includes you as well, stupid lizard.”

Eh? We’re involving the poor dragon wannabe as well...?

Well, I guess it’s fine. She’s gonna evolve into an earth dragon someday anyways.

And again, I swear that ground lizard just made a Leave it to me gesture!!

The depressing atmosphere is long gone and Feirune moves to my lap as I resume reading about different skills with Sue.

However, there was one thing we unfortunately missed in our sudden burst of motivation.

While each of us was deciding on his/her future training directions, my best friend, Shun was silently watching over us with a complicated gaze and clenched hands.

 

 

As usual, our jolly group of noble reincarnations are being watched by some unknown existence today as well!

However, what’s unexpected is that the existence isn’t alone this time.

Next to this delusional loli is a modern tablet showing an ongoing video call screen.

Shown on said screen is an eerie dark human female silhouette with a pair of obsidian black eyes that shine as if they contain a starry sky.

“Youngsters nowadays are really promising, huh?”

“They truly are. However, I believe such words shouldn’t be coming from one such as you, right?”

“Ah, who cares! I’m really loving this new episode! I wonder how this story will develop, wahahaha!”

“You’re speaking as if you don’t already know the ending.”

“Well, I did join the production team and help change a couple of scenes here and there, so I’m really excited to see how they built upon it!”

The loli suddenly sits straight and morphs into a mature figure while her chaotic attitude is replaced by an alluring one.

“Also, a certain naughty girl twisted my request for their own entertainment, causing me to be unable to monitor some important places, so all of my predicted calculations went up in flames.”

“Surely, you should thank that person, right? They did help you stave off years of boredom after all, fufufu.”

As the first woman transforms back into a loli, she replies while back to her chaotic attitude again.

“Yep yep yep! Watching a real-life version of anime does get your blood pumping, doesn’t it?!”

“You kinda stole the hidden boss’s role though.”

“Being the hero’s final trial is cool, isn’t it?! I can say some awesome lines like You’ve truly exceeded my expectations and The plan went better than expected!”

“... There’ll be no stronger enemies waiting for them after defeating you though. Also, what would those ‘expectations’ and ‘plans’ you’re talking about be?”

“Ah...?”

Genuinely confused, the loli pauses for a while, trying to come up with an answer, but nothing comes to mind.

Suddenly, an eerie-looking book surrounded by black fog materializes in front of her along with a skull-tipped pen.

Opening the book, she quickly navigates to a page that has a special bookmark.

A title written in a mysterious runic script can be seen at the top of the page with hundreds of lines meticulously written below it in an unknown language.

The loli proceeds to seriously read through the lines while drawing small crosses next to some specific lines.

“... Are you for real?”

“You betcha!”

“You sure your head didn’t get smashed by something down there...?”

“How rude! This lady is absolutely sane!”

 “I’m pretty sure a sane person wouldn’t use the Magica language and Divantae runes for something like ‘Cool lines I wanna use some day’...”

“Says the one who failed to give those two scripts some cool names. I mean, what the heck’s up with ‘Magica’ and ‘Divantae’?! It’s so lame, it feels as if you didn’t even try!!”

“... Fair enough.”

And Just like that, another perfectly normal day passes under the ocean’s waves.