After they had cried their fill, I watched Eta and Theta head back to work with radiant, joyful expressions. Once they were gone, Alice turned her attention to Aoi-chan and Hina-chan, preparing to wrap up the conversation.
"Well, anyway, that’s why neither of you will have any trouble at all even if you do become adventurers. This went on much longer than I expected, so I think that covers everything... hm?"
Just as Alice was about to finish, Aoi-chan tentatively raised her hand.
"...Um, may I ask a question?"
"...Fumu. Well, since I’ve explained this much already, I don't mind."
"Thank you. Well, my question is... earlier, you mentioned that Sieg-san and Luna-san haven’t quite reached the Peerage-class. Just how strong are they compared to the rest of humankind?"
Aoi-chan’s question felt like a natural follow-up to the earlier talk about Bell’s strength. Now that she mentioned it, I was curious as well. I had heard they were top-tier powerhouses within the Kingdom of Sinfonia, but I didn't know where they stood relative to humankind as a whole.
"Let’s see. It’s hard to say if they’re in the top five, but they are certainly powerful enough to be in the top ten."
"I see... Does that mean there are very few people in humankind who possess Peerage-class strength?"
"As far as I’m aware, there are only four members of humankind who possess Peerage-class power."
The number Alice was aware of could essentially be taken as the actual count. If that were the case, having only four people in all of humankind with Peerage-class strength felt like a surprisingly small number. Aoi-chan and Hina-chan seemed to think the same, as they both wore slightly puzzled expressions.
"Oh? You might think that’s unexpectedly few, but there’s an unavoidable reason for it. Much of this is my own conjecture, but the Human Realm has a shallower history compared to the Demon Realm or the God Realm... so to speak, it’s a young world."
"Ah, I was a bit curious about that too. I’ve lived for quite a long time, but I think it was only about nineteen thousand years ago that I first learned of the Human Realm’s existence. I’ve known about the God Realm for much longer than that..."
"Shallow Vernal-sama likely created it around that time. I’ve looked into it quite a bit myself, and I haven’t found a single artifact in the Human Realm that dates back more than twenty thousand years. No matter how generous the estimate, the history of the Human Realm spans less than two decades of millennia."
Alice paused there for a moment, glancing around at all of us before continuing her explanation.
"...This is a theory I’ve pieced together based on the information I’ve gathered, but it’s highly likely that the very first race born in the Human Realm was the Human Race. Then, other races like the Elves and Mermaids branched off from them. That’s why humankind tends to have more uniform ecology and appearances between their various races compared to demons."
"...Is that so? Even I didn’t know that."
"And as for this Human Race, they have far too many similarities to the humans of Kaito-san’s world... so I suspect they were created based on the humans from your world. It seems Shallow Vernal-sama and Eden-san have been acquainted for a long time, so she likely used the humans from Eden-san’s world as a reference to create the Human Race and then made various adjustments from there."
"Does that mean Shiro directly intervened and adjusted the Human Realm herself?"
"There’s no doubt about it. It’s naturally impossible for a world to start from humans, give birth to various races, have each establish themselves with distinct characteristics, and then unite as humankind to build the current civilization in just twenty thousand years. Normally, there would have been much more conflict between the races."
"Like the Demon Realm in the old days? Indeed, thinking about it that way, it wouldn’t be possible unless Shiro had been meticulously adjusting things... But for the Shiro of that time to be so dedicated feels a bit out of character."
"...Only Shallow Vernal-sama knows the truth behind that."
I wondered what that was about. I had a vague feeling that Alice might actually know something... but I supposed if she was choosing not to say it, it was probably information better left unasked.
"Anyway, that’s why humankind is still a developing race. In fact, even the longest-living beings among humankind are only about three thousand years old at most, which is incredibly young compared to the average age of a Peerage-class High-ranking Demon. Perhaps in another five thousand years, once the average level of humankind rises, the number of Peerage-class individuals might increase. But as of now, almost no one has reached that level except for special cases born as mutations."
"I see."
"By the way, the four members of humankind who currently possess Peerage-class power are... Laguna-san, the King of the Hydra Kingdom, who was born as a Special Individual of the Mermaid Race; Falce-san, the High Elder of the Elf Race, who was the first Elf in their history to evolve into a Special Individual; a Special Individual of the Winged Race living in the Arclesia Empire; and finally, Lilia-san, whom you all know well. Well, in Lilia-san’s case, she doesn’t have any traits that suggest she’s a Special Individual... her talent is simply extraordinary."
"Wait, what about her High-density Magic Power Constitution?"
Since everyone besides Lilia-san seemed to be the strongest Special Individual of their respective races, I thought Lilia-san was going to be called a Special Individual of the Human Race as well... but apparently, that wasn't the case.
"High-density Magic Power Constitution is a rare trait, but it isn’t unique to the Human Race; it’s a trait that occasionally appears in various races, including demons. Therefore, it isn’t a characteristic of a human Special Individual. My conclusion is that that person just has monstrous talent; she isn't a Special Individual."
"I feel like that’s amazing in its own way."
"Well, that’s true... Anyway, Aoi-san, are you satisfied?"
"Ah, yes! Thank you very much!"
"Well then, once again, that’s the end of the story. It sounds like you’re still considering whether or not to become adventurers, but it might be a good idea to ask Lunamaria-san or others with experience for advice."
After nodding at Aoi-chan’s words of thanks, Alice brought the conversation to a close and prepared to vanish... but she was stopped once again. Rather, it was Kuro who spoke up casually at that moment.
"Why don’t you teach them some things, Shaltier?"
"...Huh? No, why should I..."
"Well, you see, you already understand the things Aoi-chan and Hina-chan are misunderstood about, as well as the differences in perception between the otherworld and this world. You’re the perfect person for the job."
Kuro’s suggestion seemed like a brilliant idea. It was highly likely that there were discrepancies between the image of an adventurer held by my two juniors and the actual reality of the profession. However, explaining exactly how they differed was difficult. It required someone who accurately understood both our preconceived notions and the actual activities of adventurers in this world... in other words, Alice.
This girl definitely knew a lot about our world, and even setting that aside, she was such a skilled explainer that she was perfect for the role of instructor.
"...Aoi-chan, Hina-chan, lean in for a second."
"Hey, Kaito-san? What are you trying to pull? I’m getting a really bad feeling about this... You’ve definitely been picking up some weird ideas from Iris, haven't you...?"
Bonus: The origin of Dragon King Magnawell’s middle names, Baskus Lard Kartzbald.
In the primordial Demon Realm, long before the current era, it was said that three other Ultra-ancient True Dragons rivaled Magnawell in strength. After a tremendous battle for supremacy, Magnawell emerged victorious and became the Dragon King. It is said that Magnawell added the names of those three great rivals to his own so that he would never forget them.
This story is widely believed, especially among the Dragon King’s subordinates, but there is absolutely no truth to it. In reality, Magnawell simply thought it would be better to have a dignified-sounding name when he became Dragon King, so he came up with it himself.
The misunderstanding started when he mentioned to one of his subordinates that he had struggled—referring to the difficulty of coming up with names that sounded good. This was misinterpreted, and like a game of telephone, the story grew larger and larger until it spread to all his other subordinates.
Eventually, it reached the ears of a certain Phantasm King. Finding it amusing, the Phantasm King used her information network to spread the rumor throughout the Demon Realm. By the time Magnawell noticed, it was already widely recognized as a legendary tale, and it was impossible to deny or correct.
That said, as far as prestige went, a legendary story like that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and correcting it now would take an immense amount of effort. Ultimately, Magnawell accepted the situation and decided to go along with it.
...Well, that aside, he was still annoyed, so he blasted the Phantasm King with a full-power breath attack.