I Was Caught up in a Hero Summoning, but That World Is at Peace

The quiz competition had reached question 23, with only two questions remaining. Aside from the high-difficulty ones, the questions weren’t particularly extreme, and somehow, relying on bits and pieces of conversations and experiences from various people, I had managed to answer correctly so far.

Since it’s a four-choice format, even if you don’t remember the official name exactly, as long as it sounds familiar, you can narrow it down, and even make educated guesses. You could say the format itself has helped a lot.

“Now then, only two questions remain. Let’s give a progress update, currently, there are only two participants who have answered every question correctly so far.”

“Whoa, a perfect score? That’s impressive. A pretty wide range of knowledge is required for that, and there were a lot of questions about the Otherworld that I’d never even heard of before. The high-difficulty ones were insanely tough too.”

“Indeed. And there’s a reason I’m mentioning this now. The person in second place currently has 20 correct answers…… which means the competition for the top spot is between just two people. I’ll reveal who they are at the end, but the ones with perfect scores should already know it’s them, so do give it your all for the last two questions.”

Wow, it’s a head-to-head fight for the top spot…… Also, whoever has answered everything correctly so far is seriously amazing. The high-difficulty questions were, of course, extremely tough, but for people from Trinia, the Otherworld-related questions must’ve been just as difficult.

Of course, it could be an Otherworlder like me who’s gotten a perfect score. But even in that case, they’ve correctly answered tricky questions like identifying Shiro-san’s expressions, names of the Kruels, and the Quoits Elite ranking…… That’s still seriously impressive.

“Alright, next up is…… oh! High-Difficulty Question 4. It’s the last of the high-difficulty questions.”

“Which means the final question will automatically be Otherworld Question 1. Now, will one of the perfect scorers drop out here……? High-Difficulty Question 4: In the Otherworld, there’s a type of pottery used at a Zen Buddhist temple on Tianmu Mountain in a country called China. These tea bowls are called “Tenmoku chawan”. Among them, there’s a class considered to be the finest, and all existing examples are designated as national treasures. What are these called? 1. Yohen Tenmoku Chawan, 2. Yuteki Tenmoku Chawan, 3. Konoha Tenmoku Chawan, Haikatsugi Tenmoku Chawan…… As usual, you have three minutes to answer.”

“No, this is so hard! Can the Otherworlder kids even answer something like this?”

“If they have any knowledge of pottery, it wouldn’t be surprising if they know.”

Whoa, I didn’t expect a question that’s so favorable to me to show up here. I actually remember this one because it came up when we brought some pottery made by Nebula to Shigenobu-san’s place. Aoi-chan explained it to me at the time.

The correct answer is 1: Yohen Tenmoku Chawan. However, isn’t this question way too difficult for someone from Trinia……? I mean, I didn’t even know it until Aoi-chan told me…… Well, the previous four high-difficulty questions were all related to Trinia…… Wait a minute, the high-difficulty questions in general…… There was one about the Kruels from the Human Realm, one about Shiro-san’s expressions from the God Realm, one about Magnawell-san’s weight from the Demon Realm, and now this one from the Otherworld…… RINGTOSS is kind of its own category, but it seems the quiz topics are structured in the same way as the question categories.

“……Alright, the answers are in, and both of the perfect scorers answered instantly without hesitation, and they got it right. Looks like both of them still have a shot at a perfect score.”

“Eh? That’s amazing……”

That other perfect scorer is really something…… Could it be Aoi-chan or Shigenobu-san? If so, it wouldn’t be surprising for them to answer that question instantly.

“Now then, the final question is from the “Otherworld” category…… Ahhh, of all things, this question had to be the last one huh……”

“Is it difficult?”

“Difficult…… well, not exactly. Hmmm…… anyway, let’s go. Here is the final question: In the home country of the past Hero Actors, including Kaito-san, what is most commonly consumed as a staple food? 1. Bread, 2. Rice, 3. Noodles, 4. Baby Castellas…… You have three minutes to answer.”

“……Eh? Isn’t this easy? Even I know the answer to this one.”

It really is an incredibly simple question, the answer is 2, rice. The question specifies it’s about the home country we come from, so rice is definitely the correct choice.

In fact, it’s widely known that Hero Actors prefer rice, and that’s why, even if only in small quantities, rice is cultivated in various countries. It wouldn’t be strange if everyone got this one right.

“……Alright, time’s up. And look at that, exactly what I expected. Who the heck answers faster than anyone else and gets it completely wrong…… especially when you had a perfect score up to this point, Kuro-san?”

[……Well, you know, maybe not right now, but in the future it could become a staple food. Baby castellas hold limitless potential, after all……]

“This isn’t about potential.”

Wait…… the other perfect scorer was Kuro?! And thanks to Alice’s exasperated tone, it’s painfully clear that Kuro chose that answer.

To knowingly pick the wrong answer faster than anyone else, as to be expected of the Baby Castella Demon. And somehow, I get the feeling she looks oddly satisfied about being wrong, like she’s at peace with it.

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<Afterword>

? ? ? : [There you have it. And so, while many of you guessed correctly, the other person with a perfect score was Kuro-san. She’s the honorary president of the world’s greatest magic tool trading company, naturally well-versed in things like magic crystals and the Kruels, and since she herself appears in the Quoits Elite Rankings, she checks the biannual updates. While she’s not quite on Kaito-san’s level, she’s been able to somewhat interpret Shallow Vernal-sama’s expressions for a while now, which is why she’s capable of saying things like “that smug look is really annoying”. She also has a rough grasp of her family member Magnawell-san’s approximate weight.]