Our VR matches turned out to be quite a hit, and we swapped courses several times as the games went on.
"Phew! That was a spirited, top-tier battle!"
"...How can you say that with a straight face when you finished dead last in every single race? Though, I suppose the final few were close."
We had played about ten rounds, and Tre had finished at the bottom of the rankings for every single one, yet she seemed to be having the time of her life. Her skill was average at best, but she was visibly improving with every lap. If we went a few more rounds, she might actually manage to escape the cellar.
"Cento, this is quite a well-made toy, isn't it?"
"Yes. It's 'quite slow,' so it's tricky because your senses inevitably get out of sync."
"The timing is rather difficult..."
Cento and Sien were chatting with smiles, clearly enjoying themselves.
Tre leaned toward me and whispered, "Hey, Kaito. Do you hear what those two are saying?"
"They see a completely different world than we do..."
"Life is so unfair, isn't it?"
"It really is."
Even in a racing game where one could reach considerable speeds, the spec difference was such that it actually felt too slow for the two Count-class demons, making it difficult for them to control their vehicles.
However, the interesting thing was that the matches actually felt balanced. I was controlling a car at a speed I found fast, while they were controlling theirs at a speed they found slow. We ended up meeting in the middle for a solid competition, making it a very well-designed game.
By the way, Tre was... entirely on our side of the fence. I had suspected as much since our time playing tennis, but there was no mistaking it now: Tre’s physical abilities were on the same level as mine, which is to say, her combat power was non-existent.
Just then, Tre looked at me and gave a firm, theatrical thumbs-up.
"By the way, just so you know! My combat power hasn't budged since I was about your age. Don't go expecting any late-bloomer growth spurts!"
"Could you not crush my hopes for the future so casually?"
"I'm usually compared to a Slime, you know?"
"I feel a strange sense of kinship there. People use Slimes as a benchmark for me too."
I had heard that Slimes were harmless creatures that never attacked humans. Since they only needed water to survive, quite a few people kept them as pets. Because they were non-threatening, they weren't targets for extermination by adventurers or the Order of Knights, so you would occasionally see them bouncing around outside the city.
I often caught glimpses of them while taking Bell for walks, but since they would get spooked by Bell and flee, I had never actually seen one up close.
As I was reflecting on that, Tre glanced over and puffed out her chest with pride.
"However, don't go thinking we're exactly the same. Sure, a Slime is my benchmark, but I'm still a demon who's lived for many years! My combat power is 'equivalent to 4 Slimes'! Fufufu, even on the Slime scale, there are levels to this, I say! Levels!"
"You're naive, Tre-san... I have combat magic: Auto-counter and Auto-pilot. Setting aside Auto-counter since it's basically a suicide move, using Auto-pilot boosts my combat power... to the level of '2 Goblins'."
"What!?"
Tre recoiled with such over-the-top shock that it was almost comical.
"E-Equivalent to 2 Goblins, you say!? That’s a total cheat! That has to be a Friendship Treaty Violation!"
"Sorry, but I'm an otherworlder."
"Blast it! You're outside the treaty's jurisdiction!!"
Man, she was fun to talk to. Tre played along with even my most minor jokes with everything she had.
By the way, regarding the Goblins I just mentioned... they were also top candidates for the title of the world's weakest, right alongside Slimes. Apparently, they were extremely cowardly and would immediately flee from anyone larger than themselves; they would even run for their lives if they saw a human child. It seemed they wouldn't attack other creatures unless they were backed into a corner with no escape.
It was a far cry from the image I had of them back home, but they were reportedly herbivores and fundamentally harmless, so they weren't targets for subjugation either.
"G-Gunu... Not yet! I also have a 'one-of-a-kind' magic that no one else can replicate!"
"Oh? What is it?"
"Yeah! I can use magic to change the internal ratio of an object just by touching it."
"That actually sounds pretty powerful. Like, if you touched a person, could you change the ratio of the water in their body?"
"Exactly! Except for the tiny flaws that it doesn't work on living creatures and the time it takes scales with the size of the target!!"
"...Then what on earth do you use that magic for?"
"I can adjust the ratio of milk to coffee while drinking a cafe au lait."
Couldn't you just add more milk? No, wait, she could also decrease the ratio of milk... Why on earth was this person wearing such a confident smile over magic like that?
Regardless, I felt like I was starting to like the person known as Tre much more than I had at first.
Serious-senpai: "No special for Chapter 900?"
???: "Looks like they're planning a big one for Chapter 1000."
Serious-senpai: "...At this rate, that’ll be around the end of the year? Hmm, a massive serious arc..."
???: "...Well, dreaming is free, I suppose."