Published: March 21, 2026
Well, now that I had a goal, I still had no idea where to start.
I knew I should aim for something like the skill "brainwashing." That part was clear.
But I'd never seen "brainwashing" before.
Well, maybe it was better that I hadn't.
It would've been helpful to have something to reference, but the curse placed on the princess of Reytis Castle felt... different, somehow.
That was less brainwashing and more just a straight-up curse.
I couldn't explain exactly how it differed — I operate on intuition — but it was definitely not the same.
After worrying over it for a while, I decided to stop trying to figure it out alone.
No way I could do this by myself.
I should ask someone else.
First, Hosoyama — she’d actually acquired a skill on her own.
"Huh? How to acquire a skill?"
During lunch, I worked up the nerve to ask Hosoyama, who was doing gear checks a little away from everyone else.
She blinked when she looked up.
"So... I probably couldn't acquire 'gluttony' myself, but last night I asked Tsuda for advice, and I came up with something. The problem is I don't know how to turn it into a skill and I've hit a wall. Any tips?"
The last time she’d thought that hard was during the exam, when she crammed the material into her head in the minutes before the test.
Not that the result was any good.
"I see. You thought it was slow just to wash... Hmm, tips, huh. Well, I just practiced what the knights at the castle taught me."
I tilted my head.
We'd each been taught about stats and skills by whichever knight order or specialists were assigned to us.
So everyone learned different things from different people.
Tsuda probably didn't learn that lesson either.
If he had, he would've told me about it last night.
"Oh. I might not have heard that. The beast tamer's priority was deepening the bond with the animals they trained."
Apparently the person assigned to me wasn't good at teaching others.
Even without that, beast tamers are non-combat roles — they wouldn't have time to train people who aren't combat-capable.
The competent people were assigned to combat roles or to professions necessary for fighting, like Hosoyama.
Really, in a lot of ways it's a meritocracy — more like a profession-based hierarchy.
Even within similar professions, samurai and knights were treated differently, and probably healers and curse removal specialists were too.
I only realized after leaving the castle how glad I was to have gotten out.
"Is that so? Then let's share it with everyone later, just in case."
Hosoyama's fairness was dazzling by comparison.
On top of that, she was competent, kind, and good-looking.
I didn't even feel jealous anymore.
The world had clearly over-given both Hosoyama and Sato.
"First, what you need to acquire a skill is a strong heart. It's invisible and different for each person, so a lot of people get stuck here. For those of us who lived in a world where science advanced, it's hard to understand and it's not been explained yet. But the knights who taught me said stats and the heart are deeply linked."
Hosoyama trailed off and added that there are people who specifically research that sort of thing.
Come to think of it, Tsuda said something similar last night.
"So I just need to concentrate and think hard?"
"No, I think it's probably a momentary thing. It was like that for me, too."
I tilted my head. Hosoyama didn't seem to have any more to add, so she held up two fingers.
"Next. The second is magical power. Is it actually possible with your own magical power capacity? If you try to use magic above your capacity, at best you'll collapse from depletion and be near death; at worst your body will be blown to bits by forcing out too much magic. My 'gluttony' didn't consume that much, so I didn't worry, but if the skill you're thinking about would use more than your capacity, I have to stop you."
Her serious gaze made me swallow.
This was the first time I'd talked to Hosoyama this close, and the first time I'd seen her eyes up close.
They were like they might pull me in. I nodded, stunned.