Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Chapter 399: Aptitude and social standing

Allen told Princess Carmin and Iwanam what he had heard in the palace's audience hall.

Ignomas was sitting on the throne now, but used to be in charge of the knights and soldiers of Prostia.

He basically had a similar position as Albahar's General Hobah.

Ignomas had then rescinded his position and caused an insurrection in Prostia.

Now he sat on the throne, and the prime minister called him emperor.

Agiley had been prime minister for the late emperor as well, so he was a traitor.

No one had heard of Sinorom before.

Hearing that, Allen's impression about people in power and their actual skills began to shift.

Sometimes it felt like the power of Talents were inversely proportional to one's social standing.

This led to constant uprisings and rebellions in kingdoms and empires alike, where someone with a powerful talent would take over the throne.

Ever since working as a servant in the house of Grandvelle, Allen had learned that gaps in power produced by Talents could not be overcome, no matter how much one tried to Level Up.

In this world, a difference in Talent could translate to an increase of an order of magnitude in stats, which made it easy for anyone apt enough to start an uprising.

Allen had learned the history of various countries while studying at the Academy.

There had been many cases when someone of a low social rank crippled large countries.

And while there were records of it, they mentioned it did not happen too often.

The world was built on the concept that only a handful of people obtained powerful Talents.

So it was almost expected for influential people like kings or emperors to have deterrents.

The most basic one was to avoid having a tyrannical or idiotic leader, who would only make people unhappy.

If a ruler was oppressive, the people and serfs would eventually rebel.

And that included people with Talents.

Another point was to make sure those with Talents were treated well, so they would not rebel.

For example the hero Helmios had been born to a regular family, and now lived in a territory suitable for a duke, and he was also offered to marry the younger sister of Giamut's emperor.

But the hero was not the only one being treated that way. People with Talents of multiple stars, like Sword Saints, would be offered positions as royal bodyguards, pitting them against anyone who would try starting a rebellion.

Only someone with a Talent had the ability to stop someone else with a Talent.

On top of that, those employed by the royal house like knights and guards would often have better equipment than most adventurers or average people.

Sinking money into equipment was a good way to enhance one's stats many times over, though it was still not as extreme as what Allen did with his allies.

There was still the danger the military could revolt, so the armies were always divided equally and spread across the country, keeping a balance between forces keeping peace inside a country and from external threats, without giving either side too much authority.

Even if a rebellion were to break out, they could always ask for the help from other countries, and they understood how to deal with such a situation, given they lived in this world.

In a way, it was the duty of those in positions of power to make sure those with power in other countries remained in their position.

Similar strategies were employed by noble society as well, and not just the rulers.

Knowledge of how to deal with such situations was something else Thomas was learning in the noble school.

Still, there were times when coups were successful.

But that was something that also happened in Allen's past life without Talents.

He recalled situations when portions of a country's army, equipped with lethal weaponry, would employ their weapons to force their way into power.

It took them three days to finally understand Prostia's current status.

During that time, Allen searched through the palace, but could not find what he was looking for.

So he decided to switch tactics and headed to a different place in the palace he had found.

(Is it somewhere around here?)

Thinking about the links between aptitude and social standing, Allen checked one corner.

The first day he had the Fish D summon go through the windows on the ceiling, but today it was going through walls.

There was no window large enough for the Fish D summon around there.

Unlike most of the gorgeous rooms and hallways of the palace, this corner was dark, surrounded by thick walls, and only small windows leading into it.

It was hard to see the outside world from there, it felt claustrophobic, and the water was stale.

(There's a merman there. I guess it makes sense to have a watchman here.)

As the summon silently crossed through the wall, Allen sensed something.

There were two mermen in armor at the bottom of the stairs, so the summon silently hid inside the wall.

The Fish D summon's ability to burrow in walls truly came in handy for such situations.

"Hey, time to switch guards. If you sleep too much the warden will get mad again."

An unknown merman spoke.

"Hm? Hey, waitt, don't kick me!"

"Wake up already! It's time, go away."

"Oh, sorry. Got it, you're in charge then."

(Hmm, so there's guards in front of the prison. Well, no way around it then. I'll have to hurry before they notice.)

The Fish D in the wall opened its mouth, letting out the Bird A summon hiding inside.

The Bird A used its Special Skill, creating a [Nest].

"Hm? Who's…"

One of the guards noticed the movements and turned around.

But he falls unconscious before completing the turn.

The other guard also falls silently.

Allen had transported to the freshly made [Nest], then used the Insect E's Special Skill [Scales] to put both guards to sleep.

(Hmhm, it's just like I tested. The effect works pretty much the same when underwater. Though I guess that's something I need to verify in more depth in the future.)

"It seems to be going well, huh."

Shea had also come along with Homing Instinct, and whispered looking at the two sleeping guards.

"Yeah, I didn't need help after all. Let's hurry inside."

Shea had come along as fighting support if needed, but [Scales] had worked surprisingly well.

She was a nimble fighter, her weapon a pair of knuckle guards and very light armor, so she was perfect for a secret mission like this.

"Okay."

Allen had verified that his summons' Special Skills worked several hundred meters underwater without issue.

There were many things he had never tried doing underwater, so he was worried some things might not work out.

Allen thought back to when he first reincarnated in this world, and tested what he could do as a summoner. Maybe it was time he revised his testing methods once more.

Special Skills and Awakened Skills could be activated without issue, though there was always water resistance around them, meaning most summons except Fish type ones had clumsy movements.

They walked past the two guards, entering a room with many cells closed by iron bars.

It was the prison the two guards were watching over.

Allen looked at Shea, and she nodded.

"Come out, Haramis."

'''Yes.'''

Allen sent various Fish D summons to check the contents of each cell.

The Fish D summons that looked like large salmon swam around the cells.

(Oh? Is this him?)

There was a man with both hands tied with chains in one of the cells.

"Who are you?"

His clothes were tattered, but his voice sounded refined.

He looked like a flounder merman too, which was just how Princess Carmin described.

He seemed to be in his mid-twenties, around ten years older than Allen.

'Are you Lord Drescalay?'

Allen assumed he was Duke Drescalay, or more like the heir of the Drescalay family.

Julius Drescalay was his full name, and given he was removed from his position, 'Lord Drescalay' was the safest way of addressing him.

"Yes, that's me. Who are you?"

'We've come for you.'

"For me? What do you mean?"

Allen and Shea were running towards his cell.

They came up to the metal bars on the cell, and at closer inspection it turned out to be mythril.

On top of that, given he was tied with chains, it meant he had a Talent.

When someone with a Talent was imprisoned, they were secured that way to avoid any escapes, given they had higher stats and Skills. The cells would be made of resilient materials like mythril, and they were secured with chains.

Allen had studied how people with Talents were imprisoned when he built Heavy User Island.

"Hmph!"

<em class="chakra-text css-0">Creak creak

"Wha-?!"

Shea used her bare hands to pry the mythril bars open.

Allen and Shea entered through the gap and into the cell.

Duke Drescalay had a Talent, but he knew bending mythril with one's bare hands was hard.

Shea could only do it thanks to the rings and necklace she wore, which made her Attack 16000.

"Shh, lower your voice, we're getting you out of here. Is there anyone else you'd like to save?"

Allen spoke to him while Shea broke the mythril chains holding him.

"So you're on my side. Then please, I entreat you to rescue the empress and her children before me. They should be in the next cell."

Duke Drescalay was stunned, knowing bending and breaking mythril took inhuman strength, but he still mentioned those he wished to save.

"Understood."

If the empress was also being held there, it was worth looking for her.

"Who are you?!"

"Please try to avoid being so loud. We came to rescue you."

They looked into the next cell, seeing a woman in tattered clothes inside.

She looked rather afraid, but Shea opened the cell and got her out all the same.

Apparently the jail was quite full of people from the palace and followers of the old emperor, who had been jailed during the rebellion.

There were around thirty people who ended up being bust out from their cells, who gathered around the cell where Duke Drescalay had been kept.

"I guess this is all of us then. Shea, if you could."

"Sure."

Shea went to a wall on the opposite side of the door.

"What are you doing?"

"We'll destroy the wall. It'll be pretty loud, so watch your ears."

Allen answered Duke Drescalay's question.

(We have to leave a red herring.)

If all Allen wanted was to get them out, he could have done so without bending the mythril bars.

The Fish type summons could go through walls.

Allen could go into the cells and just break the chains that way, leaving next to no evidence.

But that would look extremely unnatural, and suspicion might end up falling on Allen and Prince Carmin who just arrived days prior, making the escape's timing very convenient.

If the cells were broken into, and there was a large hole in the wall leading out the palace, they would suspect someone in the palace had helped them escape.

Shea gathered strength into her fist and activated a Skill.

Based on stats alone, Allen could raise his Attack far higher than Shea's, but she could cause a lot more damage by activating a Skill.

"Demolishing Punch!!"

<em class="chakra-text css-0">BOOOOOOM

There was a loud noise, Shea's fist breaking through the thick walls and creating a path out of the palace.

The walls were reinforced with a mythril frame, but that did not stop her.

"Alright, time to go."

The opening was made, but he never mentioned using it.

Allen used the Bird A summon's Awakened Skill [Homing Instinct] and transported everyone to the house they were given next to the palace.

"Wh-where are we?"

"This is a safe place, empress."

The empress looked quite shaken, but Allen tried to calm her down.

"Empress, please come with me. We have new clothes for you."

Princess Carmin had prepared changes of clothes for the empress and all the mermaids rescued.

Iwanam was taking care of the males.

It was quite a large number of refugees, but Clebeur supported them fully.

"Alec, was it? Thank you very much for rescuing our empress."

(This doesn't really feel like an emotional reunion.)

Duke Drescalay merely gave one glance to Princess Carmin, his betrothed, and did not seem to have any intention of embracing her or anything.

But at least Allen had successfully rescued him.

"Actually, I rescued you because there's something I'd like to ask."

"Hm? What do you want to know?"

"See, I'm looking for a beastman called Bek. Do you happen to know of him?"

Saying that, Allen explained why he had rescued them.