The Silent Pact of a Wolf Babysitter-Chapter 63: PRIME VALUE

Wait a second... I feel like I'm being used somehow...

Well, let's not think too much of the boring stuff. Time to get roasting!

I handed them another batch of fruit skewers.

They pounced.

Again.

Absolutely no manners.

Those girls...

Was... was my cooking actually that good?

I glanced at my hands.

'Could this... be my true calling?'

{No, Master. The fruits of Coastelle are inherently irregular compared to conventional fruits. Even without roasting, they'd still—}

(Ah!)

I immediately tuned out that unneeded commentary from the bitter Platform and looked toward my summons.

Tamayo had a little smear of fruit juice at the corner of her lips, sneaking glances at me like she was waiting for something.

The rest of the Specters looked—well, not so thrilled—but strangely content.

Actually they are very satisfied, but NO!

This isn't right!

Giving fruit to a battalion of carnivorous warriors after dragging them through war with a lizard-shaped Principality?!

What kind of shameful Master does that?

Alright, that's it. I'm going out again.

Another hunt. For meat. Real meat.

Platform!

{...}

(Hey, come on, Professor. I'm really sorry this time. Please, just... hear me out.)

{...What is it, Master?}

(Yay!! That's why I love you. We're never fighting again, okay? Now—have you figured out how Levi makes those ripples? I want to leave Coastelle and go hunt a giant crab or something.)

{My, but Master...}

(Hm? What?)

{I already figured it out a while ago. The very first time I witnessed her use it, in fact.}

(...Ehehe. I'm becoming angry, you know? Why was that kept from me? Even when I loudly complained about not wanting to burden Levi with ripple duty? I'm not shouting.)

{Let's assume I forgot and put this all behind us.}

So you knew you messed up?!

Anyway, Platform gave me the full breakdown:

Apparently, Coastelle connects to the outside world kind of like how someone underwater would interact with the surface.

If Levi hadn't opened the gate for us back then, we wouldn't have been able to enter or leave, even with this knowledge.

But now, if I simply imagine emerging from underwater, a ripple gate will appear and take me somewhere near our last known surface location.

She also said my Prime Value was more than enough to let me do this on my own.

Neat!

Now that I've got this under wraps, I turned to the others and casually told them, "I'm going out to bring misfortune upon a passerby in Pison."

I mean, obviously I'd have to walk a couple miles—two or three maybe—before I found anything worth hunting. So that something would have to pay a compensation with its life and flesh.

Okay, just one thing...

Platform? What the hell is a Prime Value?!

{What a shame, Master, for you to forget something so fundamentally crucial as PRIME VALUE.}

(No. No, no, no! Don't you dare start with me—I've never—wait... Prime Value. That's the thing, right? The number that shows how much time someone's got left before they die?)

{Pitifully wrong, Master. I am... disappointed.}

You understand you're completely far gone, when your own ability becomes disappointed in you. This is depressing.

After several minutes of begging, Platform finally reluctantly explained:

Prime Value is a number—or rather, a complex figure—that gauges both power level and existential significance.

And apparently... mine was so absurdly high, I could manipulate space despite not even having an official space-time affinity.

...Cool.

When I asked Platform what my current Prime Value was, she calmly replied:

{1,100,000 PV}

That was... a lot of zeroes.

But to make sure I understood how high that number really stood, I decided to size up the others.

I stood, slowly turning to gaze at every one of my friends...

...Eh?

Calling them "friends" just now made me feel a little embarrassed.

Warm, even.

{Focus, Master.}

Rude much.

By the way, if you want a full explanation of Prime Values—from newborn baby to cosmic apex—you'd need to check the auxiliary volume.

(That is, if our incompetent author ever gets around to publishing it.)

Author: I can kill, you know? I can kill a lot, you'll not eve—

My, do you hear the rambling of a toothless dog? Anyone?

For now, Platform granted me a vision:

Each person's Prime Value hovered above their heads, glowing like a mystic category overlay.

Naturally, Alicia, Levi, Trigger, and Tamayo all started fidgeting as my gaze landed on them.

First up: the lowest values in the group.

The Mumoko no Kiba averaged {200,000 PV}

Platform said a standard human's Prime Value sat between 300 to 10,000 PV. Sometimes even 50, 000.

So 200,000? That wasn't just overkill, it was pure wickedness.

A walking war crime, if dropped into a normal human city. You'd need about five 50,000 PV guys to deal with just one.

Well, humans were always weaklings.

Next, the Phantom Fangs. Their numbers fluctuated slightly but sat around {500,000 PV}

Which meant one Phantom Fang could wipe out a small nation's army—if the army wasn't clever and cautious.

Then came Hachiman, my boy. Solid, stoic Hachiman.

His readout: {620,000 PV}

Platform mentioned that even a small 20,000-point difference could translate into huge combat edges.

So while 600k and 620k looked close, one clearly had the upper hand.

And then there was Shizuka, the ever-lounging, apple-chewing, lazy furball of our group.

Her Prime Value?

{650,000 PV}

Yeah, she looked harmless. Like she was bored and only pretending to chew that fruit so I wouldn't nag her.

But I saw what she did to that poor owl-headed devil back in the surface.

She might be lazing now, but that girl is the Ice Princess of Death.

Although, it seems she's stronger than Hachiman, her brother...

Now, moving on—

Their leader: Trigger.

This beast was on a whole different tier.

{780,000 PV}

Hold up!!

That's dangerously close to 1,000,000!!

He could probably solo an entire legion of Mumoko no Kiba without breaking a sweat.

As expected of my right-hand man (Just ordained him, though.)

And then there's HER...

Tamayo.

Platform had already warned me she was creeping near my level.

Turns out, she had every reason to be arrogant.

The Dark Fox Spirit clocked in at a monstrous:

{920,000 PV}

920k? That's practically knocking on the doors of Supreme Lordhood.

...How in the four heavenly pieces is she a Summon?!

I mean—

Wasn't she supposed to be the Supreme Lord instead of me?

Just for context:

The source of this c𝓸ntent is frёeweɓηovel.coɱ.

A Supreme Lord is someone who commands multiple high-level Principalities under their rule.

Even though I do qualify, it doesn't feel that way.

Come on, it's me we're talking about.

The guy who got tricked into two horrible pacts in one day.

Tamayo is an utter monster.

I'm unworthy of her.

But then I looked at the two girls who'd basically become my responsibility by sheer accident:

Levi and Alicia.

I started with Levi.