Maid Chapter 168

Up until now, I’ve had various skills shared with me by various people. Skills like “Dark Vision,” “Far Sight,” and even the basic “Appraisal.” “Sprout” too, of course.

So, in theory, I can share “Share,” but I’m not too keen on it.

What Suzumoto suggested is quite reasonable.

By sharing with the Origin and then eliminating them, we might learn something through a comparative experiment.

We’d find out whether the issue lies with the Origin or with me.

If it’s my issue, Suzumoto can “Share” with the Origin, and I can eliminate them. But if it’s not that straightforward…

It’s quite challenging. The feeling that something precious is drifting away from me. Knowing that I’ll have to do it, yet not wanting to share “Share” with this person.

As expected, it failed. I tried sharing “Share” while holding two dog tags together, but Suzumoto’s dog tag didn’t show “Share.”

I attempted it with everyone’s dog tags, but it was mostly unsuccessful.

“…Maito, do you really not want to do this?”

In the end, I’m being scolded or apologized to with an indescribable expression on Suzumoto’s face.

“It’s complicated. Putting ourselves in each other’s shoes. You probably don’t want to assign us that role, and I don’t want you to have that role either.”

“I understand that.”

It’s just that this situation is difficult to reconcile.

I’ve been quite comfortable until now, and in times like these, it’s hard to avoid feeling that it’s about time I faced these challenges.

It’s just that I can’t easily come to terms with it.

I’ve been living so comfortably that I feel like I need to face these challenges to truly be on equal footing with everyone else.

This situation where I’m the only one who hasn’t been heavily burdened has made me feel uncomfortable.

After thinking about it for a while, Suzumoto proposed the following solution.

“I’ll give you all my skills. So, give me ‘Share,'” Suzumoto stated, and it was quite a shocking proposal.

I was taken aback, and Suzumoto continued, layering words upon words.

“…You’ll want to fight once you can. Ideally, I’d like you to refrain from that. That’s why I haven’t been willing to hand it over until now. But I’ll do it. So, you should also give up ‘Share.'”

Suzumoto’s eyes demanded an answer, and I had no choice but to respond.

“I failed earlier.”

“That’s because you didn’t want to share ‘Share,’ right? Until now, you haven’t been able to share combat skills with us because we didn’t want to share combat skills with you either, I think. It’s the same for you.”

As if to emphasize his point, Suzumoto held out his dog tag.

While part of me thought this was absurd, “Appraisal” felt exactly like that, and I couldn’t argue.

“If you’d like, I can give you mine too.”

“Do you want mine?”

The net was closing in, and I felt surrounded.

“…What if, Maito-san, you take everyone’s skills, share them, and then we all share them with each other again?”

I was searching for a counterargument when I received a fatal blow from Toriumi.

“That’s the ultimate plan.”

“It sure is.”

Yes, it’s the ultimate plan. We could become an unquestionable, ultimate group.

A samurai shooting beams, a ninja continuously firing ice magic – it would lead to interesting situations like that.

“Wow, that’s the ultimate! I want to shoot beams! Beam! Beam!”

“Oh, I want to do that too! Beam, beam!”

“Oh, but that’s my specialty…”

And then, there’s that issue. When everyone can do everything, the individual’s value diminishes to the extreme.

Living in a niche industry as a human makes life relatively easy.

To put it bluntly, in most cases, humans are either an upgrade or a downgrade of someone else.

However, if you have something unique that only you can do, you won’t become a complete downgrade of someone else.

Of course, you don’t have to be the only one who can do it; the fewer people who can, the higher the value.

But when everything is gone, especially in my case with no adjustments, I’d undoubtedly become the least valuable.

I’d become nothing more than a burden to everyone, which would be incredibly troublesome, given that you’re all so kind.

“Okay, let’s do it. Let’s all become the strongest.”

But we’ll do it. It makes perfect sense to become the strongest.

My personal anxieties can’t stop us.

In this world, anything is possible if you truly wish for it from the bottom of your heart.

Anything, without a doubt.

I brought Suzumoto’s dog tag closer, gave it a little spin, and then clashed my dog tag against it.

“Everything.”

The sound of metal colliding was satisfying.

And then, the mysterious luminescence appeared again.

“…It worked.”

I looked at my skill list, and it had become incredibly crowded.

Wow, it’s getting really cramped in there. Quite the festival.

The text size seemed to have outgrown its previous bounds, and it now scrolled endlessly like a never-ending sutra. It was so small that I couldn’t read it.

“…I didn’t need things like ‘cleaning’ or ’embroidery,’ though.”

“Even if you say that, I’ve already handed them over.”

You can also do some sewing, sewing.

“What if ‘disassembly’ turns monsters into meat all at once? Whoa, that’s scary.”

I have a feeling it won’t work on living creatures, but… Nah, I can’t imagine you guys using it to instantly turn monsters into meat. Whoa, that’s scary.

“‘Babysitting’? …What would you use it for?”

“Hunter doesn’t really seem like a child anymore…”

Yeah, you can each find your own uses for it!

And so, except for Kadomi and Kariya, everyone gained everyone else’s skills in an absurd situation.

It’s like a festival.

“I’d like to try it out a bit. Maito, are you ready?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

After confirming that there was ‘Share’ in Suzumoto’s dog tag, he offered to demonstrate. I got ready.

And while I did get knocked out by a direct headbutt once and had to be healed by Hagasaki, I managed to confirm the operation of ‘Share’ on the second attempt.

Oh, it’s the usual space.

“Maito, is this okay? Did it work?”

“Oh, you’re moving too.”

It seems that when ‘Share’ skill holders do it together, both parties can move.

And the burden is reduced as well. Oh, this is handy.

But then I thought…

“This is tough.”

Ah, it might be tough for people who aren’t used to it. Haha, I feel a bit superior.

“Shall we detach for now?”

“…How do you detach?”

“Well, it’s like pulling yourself back into yourself, kind of.”

With some advice and effort, I managed to successfully detach.

After detaching, we all confirmed the operation of ‘Share’ individually, and we could see that everyone was functioning normally.

Alright, this makes information sharing much easier.

“Now, what about Kadomi and Kariya?”

And we faced this issue. If we were going to test the skills, we wanted everyone to be present.

…But they’re still dead.

“…Should we resurrect them?”

“Alright, I’ll go do it.”

We had to bring them back to life because without that, we couldn’t share the skills.

“Maito, you can’t do it. Let me give it a try.”

Hagasaki said that, but… I didn’t want him to do it.

It seemed like he noticed the expression on my face, and Hagasaki smiled a bit.

“Hey, you seem to have forgotten, but I already know everything.”

…Oh, right.

That’s true. I did make the foolish mistake of sharing everything through ‘Share’ as an explanation when we were engulfed in flames by the Fire Dragon, so Hagasaki is fully aware of what’s going on with the contents of the glass.

“If you don’t know how to do it, you can ask me.”

In the end, Hagasaki said that and went to Kadomi-kun’s room.

And it seemed like he had wanted to try it for a while, so Hariu was the one to wake up Kariya.

If he’s out of MP and sleeping, you might have to lend him some, so I’ve already conveyed that.

…If Hagasaki didn’t know how to do it either, there would be no choice but to ask me.

A little while later, when I went to check, I found Kadomi sleeping and Hagasaki passed out next to him. Kariya was covering them with a blanket.

“Oh, Maito.”

“How are you feeling?”

Well, if he’s covering them with a blanket, they should be fine.

“In fact, I feel great. I apologize for causing any concern.”

Kariya seemed to be alright now.

Kariya is probably fine as well. He’s sleeping soundly, breathing peacefully.

…Oh, he’s starting to move around.

…Oh, oh no, Kadomi has turned Hagasaki into his pillow.

Ahhhh… this is…

Well, long story short, Hagasaki’s bones weren’t broken. His resilience is quite something.

However, as expected, he woke up. Kadomi woke up too. Even Hariu woke up.

So, um, Hagasaki was probably confused upon waking up and accidentally unleashed his ice magic.

…So, well, I ended up getting injured once again, even though I was completely irrelevant and had no enhancements. It’s a very unfortunate turn of events. Quite the spectacle!

By the way, for the next half-day or so, Kadomi followed Hagasaki wherever he went.

I was reminded of a mother duck and her ducklings.

“Beam!”

“I’m beaming too!”

“But I’m the original beamer!”

And so, in the evening, Kadomi and Kariya finally underwent the “Sharing” process with the rest of us, and we began testing out the various skills.

We chose the open area on the 3F north side, far from any people, as we were going to be shooting beams, and it’s better to avoid any casualties.

“Whoa! I shot a beam! What is this?”

“Wow, this is exhilarating!”

It seems everyone wanted to shoot beams first.

“I’m interested in ‘Cleaning.'”

“Why don’t you give it a try? Come on, we’re all going to be covered in sweat and dust after testing our skills so much.”

The President was curious about ‘Cleaning,’ so I offered him a broom.

“No, I’ll try it my way. After all, I am the ‘Mad Scientist.'”

He said something ominous, and then he walked over to Hagasaki’s location.

I wondered what he was up to, and then he splashed the contents of a flask all over Hagasaki.

“What are you doing!?”

“I disinfected it.”

“Ugh, it smells like alcohol.”

…

It piqued my curiosity, so I had everyone try ‘Cleaning.’

First up was Suzumoto.

“Cleaning!”

He swung his sword.

‘Cleaning’ turned into a slash and cut a straight line through the ground.

“It’s like ‘Erase Beam.'”

“But it’s hard to control the direction.”

…It didn’t get rave reviews.

Next was Hagasaki.

“Cleaning!”

In an instant, the air suddenly chilled.

Um…

“It seems like airborne particles condensed and fell along with moisture.”

An air purifier!

Next was President.

Well, what happened earlier was quite unique.

“Here goes. ‘Cleaning.'”

Suddenly, an invisible liquid filled the President’s flask.

“It looks like disinfectant alcohol. It might even dispense detergent or bleach.”

Impressive, Mr. President! No room for hesitation!

“Cleaning.”

Next was Kadomi.

As he swung his sword, it seemed like an invisible substance enveloped it.

When he brought down the sword, it seemed to disappear into the ground, just like Suzumoto’s.

“Oh, the usability seems great.”

It’s similar to Suzumoto’s, but it appears to be even more user-friendly.

“Okay, it’s my turn. ‘Cleaning!'”

And then, Hariu used ‘Cleaning.’

But, nothing particularly happened.

“Did anything happen?”

“Yeah, actually. I feel refreshed… It’s an incredibly refreshing feeling. This might even remove poison or paralysis.”

Well, that’s a pleasant surprise.

“Alright, then it’s my turn, right? ‘Cleaning.’ Here we go!” (Katori)

And when he said, “Here we go!” it turned out to be exactly that.

A Roomba. A Roomba was summoned.

It was cleaning the ground while going, “Whee whee.”

How cute. I want one.

“Now, ‘Cleaning!'”

Then, Toriumi also used ‘Cleaning.’

…Oh, something appeared in front of Toriumi like a large shield made of transparent, shimmering air, and then it disappeared.

“What was that just now?”

“Oh, it’s like a shield that erases things it collides with.”

Oh, that’s quite handy, but it seems to have a short duration, making it a bit challenging to use.

Finally, it was Kariya’s turn.

“Um, ‘Cleaning.'”

At that moment, a soft, glowing sphere appeared and floated in the air for a moment before it bumped into Toriumi and disappeared.

“…Oh, things seem cleaner now.”

I thought this one was the most similar to my ‘Cleaning,’ and later on, we discovered it could also cure status effects.

Hmm, high performance.

“In the end, everyone’s versions are quite different, huh?”

Even with the same skill, the effects vary, or they have subtle differences. ‘Cleaning’ is quite versatile.

So, our skills aren’t exactly that we’ve gained each other’s skills, but rather, we’ve gained a new skill for each combination of skills within the group.

In any case, we need to experiment further.

…And so, this is how we became the strongest group in our current situation.