Part 7 of 9
“The journey might be difficult for some of our elderly companions otherwise.”
Wrath glances at the pontiff.
As a noncombatant, his stats are low.
And given his age, it would be hard on him to walk through the labyrinth for so long.
“I guess we’ll take you up on that, then.”
Taking the initiative, I hop aboard one of the greater taratects.
…It’s actually a surprisingly comfy ride.
The eight legs give a certain sense of stability.
This should be a lot easier on the pontiff, too.
Ms. Oka is next to climb onto a greater taratect.
She’s got guts, that one.
I don’t see any hint of the fear of creepy-crawly creatures like spiders that more delicate ladies might possess.
Even Shun and Balto look a little dismayed, making her bravery even more impressive.
Still, I can’t blame them for being nervous. It’s probably the intimidating power of these monsters that has them on edge, not just their creepy appearance.
Even I have to fight to keep my knees from knocking.
I’m just putting on a brave front so that I don’t look cowardly in front of Shun, who’s like a little brother to me.
Honestly, why do I have to go through this…?
Shouldn’t the real Güliedistodiez handle this sort of thing himself?
But I’ve got to suck it up and carry on, or his determination will be for nothing.
I wouldn’t stand a chance in that fight, anyway.
Better to be daring and keep moving forward.
If I die, then so be it.
…I feel like I’m being more desperate than daring, but let’s not examine that too closely.
“Just get on. Don’t worry. If they wanted to kill us, we’d be long dead already. The fact that we’re alive means they’re not trying to kill us, at least not yet.”
“That really doesn’t make me feel any better…”
Smiling stiffly, Shun cautiously climbs aboard the greater taratect.
Sue steps forward to get on the same greater taratect as Shun, only for Katia to grab her by the scruff of the neck and force her to get on a different one.
Sparks crackle between the pair.
Please save that sort of thing for after this emergency is over…
Eventually, everyone makes it onto their own greater taratect, and we begin moving.
The greater taratects sprint through the Great Elroe Labyrinth at an incredible speed that must come with being a highly evolved monster.
But what’s even more alarming is Wrath, who’s leading the way.
He’s running on his own two feet, not riding a greater taratect.
He matches their speed, sometimes even slowing his pace.
Which means that if he ran at his full speed, he would outmatch even the greater taratects.
If he got serious, Wrath could probably kill everyone here entirely on his own.
It’s not like we didn’t know that going in, though. There’s no point worrying about it now.
Why are there so many frozen spots around, though?
Since when was the Great Elroe Labyrinth an ice cavern?
I mean, it must be the result of a battle or something. But doesn’t that mean two combatants capable of changing their surroundings like this were going at it in here?
…Our odds of survival are looking worse by the damn second.
It’s bad for the heart to feel like you might be struck dead at any moment.
And if I’m feeling like this, how is everyone else managing?
I glance around at the others riding the greater taratects, and…yeah, sure enough, they don’t look so hot.
“’scuse me, Mister Wrath. Could we take a little break at some point?”
“Hmm?”
Wrath turns around, slowing his speed to run alongside my greater taratect.
“Look at everyone’s faces. See how pale they are? I think it’s more of an emotional strain than a physical one, but if we don’t take a break, somebody might faint.”
“…Good point. All right, there’s a slightly more open area not far from here. We’ll stop there for a break.”
“Thanks.”
Before long, we reach the area in question and take a break, although I’m still not sure if everyone will be able to recover.
“Shun, are you all right?”
“Yes…well, no, not really. I’m sorry. I guess there’s no point in being stubborn about it. Honestly, I’m having a hard time.”
Shun takes a seat on the ground, still looking pale.
The others all look just as bad.
If anything, Shun’s complexion is on the better side.
The pontiff and Mr. Balto have gone past pale to the point of completely ashen.
Being surrounded by monsters that could easily kill you takes a serious emotional toll.
I’m sure the intimidation of the greater taratects is even harder on people like the pontiff and Mr. Balto, who have little battle experience.
If anyone looks relatively all right, it’s Ms. Oka and Elder Ronandt.
I walk up to the former and address her.
“You’re handling this well, all things considered. You’ve got real grit.”
“…No, I wouldn’t say that. If anything, I feel as if my emotions have come all the way around to the point of numbness.”
“Numbness?”
“Yes.”
Ms. Oka hangs her head.
“I took my students into custody, thinking that it was best for them. But it backfired completely. What was the point of everything I’ve done, then? It was all for nothing. After I realized that, I couldn’t bring myself to do anything anymore. But when I saw you and Ms. Anna fighting against that horde of monsters, my body just moved on its own. It’s not that I’ve recovered, not really. Even now, I can’t bear to think about anything too deeply. It’s more like I’m letting my body move on instinct while my head is still fuzzy.”
“I see…”
Clearly, I misread the situation.
Ms. Oka might be in a more difficult emotional state than any of us.
I have a rough understanding of Ms. Oka’s experiences and the details of her unique skill.
But allow me to say this much.
“Ms. Oka, you did nothing wrong.”
“Please don’t try to cheer me up…”
“I’m not. This is just my honest opinion.”
Interrupting her objections, I press forward.
“Listen. Your actions were not pointless, far from it. Everything we do results in change. Just by taking action, you have already altered the outcome. If you hadn’t done anything, things might have been far worse. So how can you say it was for nothing? Even now, most of the reincarnations are still alive. I wouldn’t call that ‘nothing’ at all.”
“…Do you really think so?”
“I do. Besides, I happen to think that there’s no point in beating yourself up over the past. Ms. Oka, are the students you wanted to save really the kind of people who would be happy to see you suffering like that?”
“Well…no, of course not…”
“Then it’s time to stop brooding and start looking ahead. The only ‘pointless’ action is continuing to cause yourself harm.”
“…You’re right. I’ll do my best.”
Though I’m afraid it came out as a lecture, I know that Ms. Oka was an adult in her past life, even if she looks like a child now. I’m sure she understood what I was trying to say.
Whether she can truly recover from this point forward is up to her.
For now, at least, Ms. Oka should be fine.
She seems relatively calm, for better or worse.
Since she’s already hit rock bottom, she can’t sink any lower, even if she isn’t bouncing back up yet, either.
That’s not exactly the ideal emotional state, but in an emergency like this it might be for the best.
There’s no way of knowing which actions will lead to the best results.
I can’t judge whether what Ms. Oka did was good or bad, either.
But even if I could, it wouldn’t help to hear it from someone else.
She has to find a way to sort through her feelings and accept it on her own.
Fortunately, the reincarnations I saw in the spaceship seemed to think favorably of Ms. Oka.
They didn’t look like they were uncertain; if anything, they seemed to feel guilty.
I’m sure they’ll be able to make amends as long as nothing goes terribly wrong.
That’s just one more reason we have to prevent humanity from being exterminated, in order to make that brighter future a reality.
With renewed determination, I leave Ms. Oka’s side to speak to Elder Ronandt.
“Humph. You’re not here to give me an old-mannish speech, too, I hope? I won’t hear it from a whippersnapper like you.”
“Ha-ha. I do have the memories of someone who’s lived far longer than you, you know.”
This person continues to view me as Hyrince, it seems.
A part of me is pleased, while another part is less than thrilled that he’s still treating me like a child.
“Memories? Pah! That doesn’t mean you experienced it yourself, though, eh? Memories that you can’t put to good use are just a waste of space.”
“I suppose you have me there.”
It’s hard to argue with that logic.
After all, when Elder Ronandt was attempting to craft a rune to teleport to D’s location and asked if I had any useful information from Güliedistodiez’s memories, I could give him no answer.
I do not carry the entirety of his vast memories, you see.
That would exceed the human brain’s storage capacity.
It is more that I remember certain important moments and details.
There are many holes, to the point where I sometimes have few memories of use when it would matter most.
“So, do you think you would be able to create the teleportation conjuring on your own?”
“…Not likely. At this stage, I believe the teleportation itself would work well enough, though there’s no telling where it would send me. Even if I did manage to make my way to D’s location, I’ve no guarantee it would be in one piece. I might come out on the other side as a lump of flesh, or some such nonsense.”
“Yes, probably best to avoid that.”
“I know, eh? That’s the best I can do on my own, though it pains me to admit it.”
While he looks genuinely frustrated, I think that’s still very impressive.
It is a difficult thing to use a skill in more powerful ways than its settings specify.
The system is not designed for that to be possible.
But a few rare geniuses like Elder Ronandt have found a way.
They don’t call him humanity’s strongest mage for nothing.
Most likely, Elder Ronandt really will succeed in teleporting to D’s location if he has the support of the system core.
I have full faith in him.
There’s probably no need for me to worry about Ronandt.
Next, I approach the two people who look queasiest of all.
“Are you all right?”
Slumped on the floor, the pontiff and Mr. Balto raise their heads weakly.
“It would be difficult to describe my current state as ‘all right’ per se, and yet I must not complain in a situation such as this. I shall see this through to the end even if I must crawl to get there.”
“I feel the same way. I must speak with the Demon Lord, if not the so-called evil god D as well. I cannot allow myself to collapse before that happens.”
Despite their deathly pale faces, both the pontiff and Mr. Balto have a sharp glint of determination in their eyes.
I suppose they’ll be fine after all, then.
Hopefully, this break will help prevent them from pushing past their limits and passing out.
They should last a little longer, at least.
Still, it’s strange to look at them together like this.
One is the Word of God pontiff, representing humanity.
The other is Mr. Balto, representing demonkind.
Under normal circumstances, the two would never meet.
But now, they are working together toward a common goal.
It would have been unthinkable not long ago.
“It is rather strange to be sitting side by side with you, I must remark.”
Evidently, the pontiff noticed the same thing.
“Indeed. If we had more time, I would rather like to sit down and talk with you a while.”
“Perhaps we ought to do just that, if we both make it through this battle safe and sound.”
The pontiff and Balto smile at each other.
Safe and sound, eh?
Knowing the pontiff’s personality…no, I should leave it at that.
I can’t be sure of anything just yet.
Now, as for the others…
Shun is surrounded by a swarm of girls.
Katia, Sue, Yuri, and Fei.
…I should kick that kid’s ass.
Better to just leave them be at this point.
You’re on your own, pal!
Which only leaves one more person…
Prince Hugo, who’s leaning against the wall with his arms folded.
He hasn’t spoken a single word since this group came together.
In fact, from what I can tell, he’s been like that for a long time now.
He almost seems more like a statue than a living person.
Honestly, I don’t really want to get near him.
I don’t know Prince Hugo very well, anyway.
The first time we met face-to-face was during the battle at the elf village, and we haven’t had a single proper conversation since then.
I don’t know how to approach someone who I’ve mostly only heard about secondhand.
“Hey, kid.”
So I decide to go the safest route and greet him casually.
At that, Prince Hugo gives me a glance, then drops his gaze back down as if he’s already lost interest.
He doesn’t even say a word.
Oof, he’s really going to ignore me like that?
I’ve had people ignore me out of envy before, but his attitude is as if he sincerely has no interest in me whatsoever.
The person who ignored me out of envy still paid attention to what I was doing, at least.
Prince Hugo doesn’t seem to care what I do.
Maybe he doesn’t care about anything at all, not even himself.
Like he really doesn’t think of himself as a living person.
“You’re too young to be acting like such a recluse, you know that?”
I can’t resist saying it, even if it feels nosy.
Though I expected he might ignore me again, Prince Hugo turns his gaze back toward me.
“How long I’ve lived has got nothing to do with it.”
“Oh really? But doesn’t it seem like a waste to be so pessimistic from a young age when you still have your whole life ahead of you?”
Prince Hugo snorts at that.
“Let me ask you something, then. Has the ebony god found happiness in that long life of his?”
“Well…”
Damn, I wasn’t expecting this kid to ask such a tough question.
“…I kinda feel for the ebony god, myself. Yeah, I know our circumstances are nothing alike. But I think we both know how it feels to have already passed the happiest part of your life, and there’s not a damn thing you can do to get it back.”
…I suppose he might have a point there.
Güliedistodiez’s happiest times were probably the daily life he led before the goddess Sariel was trapped within the system.
The days when he would frequently visit the orphanage Lady Sariel created, and the kids would all come to greet him, including the now Demon Lord Ariel.
Those irreplaceable moments are Güliedistodiez’s happiest memories.
But they can never come back again.
Even if the world does find peace, I doubt he will ever be as happy as he was in those days.
From what he says, it sounds like Prince Hugo feels the same way.
“Still, that doesn’t mean you should just give up on trying to be happy, does it?”
“I don’t care. I can’t be bothered to even make that much effort.”
It doesn’t sound like anything I say is going to get through to him.
Though he doesn’t seem to be doing this out of pure self-reproach like Ms. Oka, he’s clearly closed off his heart completely.
Prince Hugo certainly has done too many terrible things to be forgiven, and it doesn’t seem like he wants anyone to forgive him, either.
But from where I’m standing, Hugo is a victim, too.
An innocent youth in another world was killed because of this world’s problems, and reborn here only to be used to try to solve those same problems.
I’m sure it’s complicated for people like Shun who suffered at Hugo’s hands, but to me it still seems worth sympathizing with him.
When I think about it, most of the reincarnations have had some major influence affect their lives.
The reason they were reincarnated in the first place is primarily because of this world’s troubles, yet even in their new lives, they’ve suffered needlessly just by dint of being reincarnations.
And now, the fate of this world is in their hands.
Another grave sin perpetrated by this world, it would seem.
As a resident of that same world, I have no right to lecture any of them.
“I see. Don’t mind me, then.”
I attempted to lightly dismiss my own words so he wouldn’t overthink them and act out in some strange way.
Urgh. Honestly…
None of this is easy.
We each have our own lives and have walked different paths.
No matter how much has happened and how I might feel about it, worrying about things won’t magically lead to the right answer.
It’s entirely possible to worry about something for a long time and still come up with the wrong answer, too.
In many cases, there isn’t even a right or wrong answer at all.
Something might seem right from one point of view, only to seem wrong from another.
But we cannot simply stop thinking about anything, either.
Although life might be a little easier if we could worry about things a little less.
Really, what a mess…
I’d like to stop thinking about things myself…
“Ready to keep moving?”
But there is no time for that.
At Wrath’s prompting, we resume our journey.
I cannot stop thinking, not right now.
For what we carry on our shoulders is the fate of all mankind.
Bouncing along on the backs of greater taratects, we arrive at what’s known as the Bottom Stratum of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
I myself have once been to the Lower Stratum of the labyrinth, and that in itself was already a hellscape of dreadful monsters into which no man could ever tread.
The Bottom Stratum must be truly beyond human comprehension.
In other words, we may very well be the first humanoids to ever set foot here.
’Tis a shame we have no time to relish such a remarkable feeling.
“Hey, you made it.”
Demon Lord Ariel herself was waiting for us when we arrived.
She sits in a white chair that is probably made out of hardened spider thread.
Behind her stands Sophia and…I believe his name was Merazophis? With demon commanders on either side, she truly cuts the dignified figure of a true Demon Lord.
There are four small spiders at the corners of her chair, and for some reason, one of them is frantically flailing its legs at me specifically.
…What in the world?
Intrigued, I Appraise the spider despite myself.
The result shows that it is a monster called a puppet taratect with the name of Fiel.
…Hrmmm?
Fiel?
FIEL?!
That tiny spider is the little girl who was hanging all over me in the elf village?!
So this is that girl’s true form?!
Hah…now that is a surprise.
“Curious about my kids?”
“Hrm? I suppose you could say that. I’m just surprised to see this little one looking so different from the last time we met.”
“Yeah, no kidding. Her favorite outfit got burned up in battle earlier.”
Demon Lord Ariel addresses me amiably.
Outfit, eh…would you really call that an outfit?
Well, no matter. Clearly she is still the same on the inside, no matter how she looks.
That much is obvious from the fact that Fiel has now hopped onto my head and is poking and prodding my cheeks.
“Argh! Get off me, missy!”
“Fiel, behave yourself.”
Scolded by the Demon Lord, Fiel skitters away.
That rascal! Where is her sense of seriousness in this dire situation?!
Now she’s gone and ruined the whole mood!
“Elder Ronandt…”
Young Hyrince is staring at me in exasperation. But that wasn’t my fault, I tell you!
“Now then, shall we get started?”
“May I have a moment to speak with you first?”
Demon Lord Ariel attempts to get right down to business, only to be interrupted by the representative of the demons, Mr. Balto.
“Hrm. I’ve got nothing to say to you, but sure, I guess. Go ahead.”
“Thank you.”
Mr. Balto bows his head to Demon Lord Ariel. I wonder what he’s going to ask her?
I doubt any answer she gives will be what he wants to hear…
“Demon Lord, might I ask what exactly we demons meant to you?”
…Yeah, I figured it’d be something like that.
I fear her response is only going to hurt the lad further.
“What’s the point of asking me that? I don’t think any good will come of me telling you, y’know?”
“Even so, I want to hear it from you personally.”
The Demon Lord shakes her head and sighs.
“Then I’ll give it to you straight, okay? I don’t have any strong feelings at all about demonkind. That’s the honest truth.”
In a way, that’s harsher than saying that she hated them or some such thing.
Even after using them to her own ends and forcing them to fight a massive war against humanity not long ago, the Demon Lord doesn’t care one iota about demonkind.
How must Mr. Balto feel about this?
“I…see.”
Balto heaves a deep, long sigh.
“Thank you. It’s a bit of a relief to hear you say it out loud.”
“Oh? I was expecting you to have a few choice words for me, no?”
Even Ariel seems surprised at how quickly Mr. Balto backed down.
“Of course, I have much more than a few choice words. But that would hardly change your mind about the path you’ve chosen, would it? Surely you didn’t start all of this with such half-hearted conviction that you could be talked out of it. If you were not utterly devoted to your cause, that would be far more disrespectful to my fallen brethren.”
“Yeah, of course. I wouldn’t turn the whole world against me if I wasn’t damn sure about it.”
“Then I doubt anything I say would make a difference. Our paths have simply diverged, for better or worse. All that is left for me to do is to devote all of my efforts to demonkind as its representative.”
Oh-ho, I see.
He asked her that to clarify things in his own mind, not to try to make the Demon Lord feel guilty.
In that case, Mr. Balto is a remarkable man, worthy of representing demonkind.
“Gotcha… By the way, Balto. I don’t have any strong feelings about demonkind, but I do feel grateful to you for working so hard for me all those years.”
“…I am honored.”
Balto smiles back, somehow looking tearful and frustrated all at once.
“All right, then. Let’s get this party started for real this time. The system core is just beyond that door.”
Demon Lord Ariel points behind her.
A door looms in the wall.
Beyond it is the system core.
The place where the goddess Sariel is trapped.
“From here on out, if any of you make one wrong move, I’ll kill you on the spot.”
That statement is no lie, I’m sure.
The piercingly murderous glint in her eyes is proof enough of that.
I hear someone gulp quietly.
“If anyone turns traitor and tries to stop the destruction of the system, I swear I’ll make sure all of humanity dies after this, even if the ivory god’s side loses. I’m talking utter extinction, not just half.”
This, too, is no lie.
She would do it, no doubt about it.
Betrayal comes at a high price.
“I solemnly swear that we will do no such thing.”
“Yeah, I sure hope not.”
The Demon Lord doesn’t seem to trust the pontiff’s vow.
She did say in her speech during the world quest sequence that she doesn’t expect much out of humanity.
She’s never trusted us in the first place.
The only way to prove that we are trustworthy, then, is to make sure we do not betray her.
“Okay, let’s get going. Oh, right, before we go…catch.”
“Huh? Whoa!”
The Demon Lord tosses something to Schlain the Hero, who manages to catch it.
It’s…a sword?
“Oh, isn’t this the royal family’s sword?”
“What in the…?!”
Hyrince stares at the sword in shock, then at Demon Lord Ariel.
“That’s the Sword of the Hero. It’s the counterpart to the Sword of the Demon Lord, which only I can use. It’s a sword that can only be wielded by the Hero, and can produce a single attack strong enough to kill a god, but only once.”
Schlain looks back and forth between the Demon Lord and the sword.
“And also…hey, wake up. I know you’re in there, Byaku.”
“Leave me alone.”
“Wha…?!”
A voice responds to Demon Lord Ariel’s call.
Then a small white dragon slithers out of the sword in Schlain’s hands.
“Took you long enough, sleepyhead. Let me guess, you’ve been sulking because your favorite hero got killed?”
“Hmph.”
Byaku, who is presumably a light dragon, lets out a huff.
It appears that the Demon Lord hit the nail on the head.
“Well, I don’t really care why you were sleeping. Just protect the current hero there, will ya?”
“As if I need you to tell me that.”
“Whoa?! U-um, hello?”
Byaku twines around Schlain the Hero’s arm.
“That’s Byaku the Light Dragon. He’s an ancient dragon chief who’s been guarding the Sword of the Hero. Better keep him with you just in case.”
“Hmph.”
The light dragon huffs again, while Schlain looks bewildered.
“…Are you sure about this? Putting a powerful weapon in the hands of the enemy?”
“Fine by me. Even with the Sword of the Hero and Byaku both, we could still kill you all easily.”
The Demon Lord responds to Hyrince’s question with unshakable confidence.
As if she could kill us all with one hand tied behind her back.
What a frightening little lady.
“All you guys have to do is not double-cross me. Easy, right?”
That’s rich coming from someone who clearly doesn’t trust us as far as she can throw us.
I certainly have no intention of betraying anyone, though I can’t speak for the others…
It seems prudent to refrain from such foolishness, but I suppose we’ll see what happens, eh?
“Come on, let’s go for real this time.”
Still seated, the Demon Lord gives the signal, and Fiel and the other small spiders lift her chair and carry her forward.
Those must be the four little girls I saw in the elf village.
I’m sure of it, though I only Appraised Fiel.
If so, those tiny creatures are actually legendary-class monsters with stats in the ten thousands.
Carrying a chair would be a simple matter for them.
Still, I have to wonder why Demon Lord Ariel would go out of her way to have the little spiders cart her around like that.
Judging by her complexion, I suspect she is in poor health.
Her overall presence isn’t as strong as I expected, either.
It looks to me as if she’s in a significantly weakened state.
Not that I’m going to Appraise her to confirm that theory, of course.
The Demon Lord puts her hand on the door.
It lights up and gradually opens.
And beyond the door is…
“O-ooooh…?!”
So this is what it means to be at a loss for words!
The spectacle beyond the door is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
The floor, walls, and even the ceiling are covered in magic circles.
They’re so incredibly complex and artistically crafted that I cannot begin to read their meaning.
But I can tell at a glance that this is a truly stupendous working!
Incredible! Who knew such things could exist in this world?!
I am reminded yet again that my knowledge is still but a paltry sliver!
Oh dear. Everyone went on ahead while I was standing here awestruck.
I attempt to catch up to them quickly, yet with easy enough steps that I will not give away my flustered state.
One gets better at such maneuvers with age.
Then, when I catch up to where the others have stopped, I am struck breathless yet again.
There is someone in the center of the room.
Her lower body is gone, her upper body suspended in midair as if pinned to an invisible cross.
This must be none other than Goddess Sariel.
The savior of this world.
The pontiff falls to his knees in front of her.
Following suit, the rest of us kneel as well.
Yes, I see now.
Demon Lord Ariel’s wrath seems all the more justified upon witnessing this painful sight…
A few moments pass in that state.
Not one of us says a word.
“Proficiency has reached the required level.”
Only the voice of the goddess Sariel echoes in the room.
“All right. Ronandt, was it? Go ahead and start.”
“Hrm. Very well.”
When the Demon Lord finally breaks the silence, I obey and walk up to the goddess.
“Please pardon me for touching you, O Goddess.”
After asking permission, I place my hands on Goddess Sariel.
Focusing, I close my eyes.
You can do it, self. I know you can.
Just remember how you used the master-familiar connection to teleport to Schlain’s location.
This is no different from that time.
I must simply use the connection to the system to teleport to D’s location.
I will find where the evil god hides.
And I will follow the path to reach her.
I can sense it. Two powerful presences connected to the system.
But one of them is overwhelmingly larger than the other.
It’s so unknowably vast that it fills me with fear.
This must be the evil god’s presence.
The other one is likely the ebony god.
All I must do, then, is use this connection to teleport to the evil god.
I focus all my energy on constructing the spell.
Hrrgh! It’s consuming my MP so fast!
Teleportation always requires a lot of MP, but in this case, my entire stores might not even be enough?!
Nng! But I cannot fail!
I boasted to everyone that they could count on me.
I will succeed no matter what!
Gritting my teeth, I form the teleportation spell.
Stop screaming, brain! Surely humanity’s strongest mage can handle this much!
“I’m going to activate it! Prepare yourselves!”
This teleportation will take us beyond our world.
We must expect the unexpected.
That is why I shouted a warning before activating the spell, though I do not know if it made a difference in the end.
The teleportation spell activates, sure and true.
I did it, even if my MP is empty.
I quickly gulp down an MP recovery potion.
Though it’s far from a complete recovery, at least I’ve gotten a little MP back.
Only after that, and one deep breath, can I finally manage to look at my surroundings.
Everyone who was by my side before the spell went off is standing there safe and sound.
“It appears I succeeded, eh?”
“Yes, very well done.”
It’s clear at a glance that this is no ordinary place.
In fact, I cannot see anything at all.
There is only darkness as far as the eye can see.
And yet I can see everyone around me clearly, even though there is no light source in sight.
The people are visible, yet our surroundings seem empty.
What a strange sight indeed.
And in the midst of it all sits something stranger still.
A lone young lady, disturbingly beautiful.
I am certain as soon as I lay eyes upon her.
This must be the evil god D.
Our old world was unbalanced and unfair.
I knew that from early on in my previous life.
There are the haves and the have-nots, and those roles never change.
And even those who have can rarely win against others who have more.
It’s incredibly unbalanced and unfair.
And the girl named Hiiro Wakaba seemed to embody that unfairness.
I fell in love in middle school.
The object of my affection was a year ahead of me at the same school.
We met because we were in the same club.
It was my first love.
In retrospect, I think I was so excited about it that I got ahead of myself.
These days, I can’t even remember what he looked like, even though I supposedly loved him so much.
At the time I thought I was deeply in love. Now, though, I think I’ve forgotten his face because my feelings were just that fickle.
Even if I did study for a high school way above my level and manage to get in, just so I could chase after him.
I used to hate school and homework so much that when I finally studied seriously for an entrance exam, my mom actually got worried about me, funnily enough.
Looking back on that now, maybe that’s kind of a good memory.
We fought like hell at the time, though.
I mean, she asked me if I was “all right in the head,” you know?
Here I was taking school seriously for once!
Shouldn’t she be happy about that as a parent?!
All that aside, when I finally got into the high school I’d worked so hard and raised my grades for, I was hit with a swift reality check.
The boy I was chasing had started stalking a female student…
It’s fine that he rejected me when I asked him out.
I mean, it’s not fine, I was devastated at the time…but now I realize that it was pointless in the first place.
The guy was a total geek, although back then I thought of him as “quiet and mysterious.”
It’s not that he didn’t talk at all, he just wasn’t the assertive type.
I guess he was kinda like Shun in that way.
And in both cases, it turns out that kind of guy gets freaked out when someone acts assertive toward them.
Oh, I was assertive, all right.
I went after him like you wouldn’t believe!
Boundaries? Never heard of them.
I mean, I even followed him all the way to high school.
Talk about over-the-top, right?
Thinking about it now, I can’t blame him for being creeped out when a girl who wasn’t his type kept coming after him like crazy.
It’s easier to be frank about it now that I’ve left him behind me.
Not that I had any choice, since I’m literally in a different world!
But still, like, if someone you liked was stalking someone else, wouldn’t you be mad, too?
It’d be one thing if he was dating another girl, ’cause at least then you could give up properly. A stalker, on the other hand…
What’s worse, she didn’t even give him the time of day.
That girl’s name was Hiiro Wakaba.
Annoyingly enough, she was so gorgeous that I could understand why the boy I liked got obsessed to the point of stalking her.
She was number one by a landslide in the boys’ secret ranking of the hottest girls in school.
I was somewhere in the teens, by the way, which I’m still not sure how to feel about.
On the one hand, that means that out of all the girls in school from first-years to third-years, I was definitely pretty high on the list.
But on the other hand, isn’t it kind of a bummer that I didn’t quite make it into the top ten?
PS: It was some second-year boys who made that ranking, and the girls in their class are the ones who put it up for all to see.
It even made the rounds to every student in school, complete with photos attached.
And as much as it pains me to admit it, I could totally see why Wakaba was by far the best ranked.
Yes, she had a gorgeous face and figure, obviously.
But beyond all that, there was just something special about her.
Like something supernatural, or maybe paranormal.
She carried herself like she wasn’t even human.
That mystical aura of hers is what really grabbed your attention, not just her appearance.
And most people who saw Wakaba could be divided into two camps.
Those who feared her, and those who worshiped her.
Although honestly, I think it was a little bit of both for most people.
Maybe you could call it awe, I guess?
It’s just a matter of which of those two reactions was stronger.
For my former crush, it was definitely worship, which is why he wound up stalking her.
…You know, I was too heartbroken to think about this at the time, but why in the world was I so obsessed with the kind of guy who would turn into a stalker?
Then again, considering that I followed him to high school, maybe I was also kinda…
Nope! Not gonna think about that!
All I can say is that I was seriously short-sighted at the time, to the point where I blamed my rejection entirely on Wakaba.
Most of it was that I just didn’t like the girl who’d stolen my crush’s heart, although part of my hatred might have been that I was afraid of her, too.
…Yeah, I admit it. I was scared of Wakaba.
I hated the way she looked at all of us like we were ants beneath her feet.
The way she didn’t react to me in the least, no matter how much I bullied or harassed her.
She pissed me off, and scared me senseless.
So after I was reincarnated, when I was stuck inside that egg, all I thought about was Wakaba.
More than my old crush, more than my family, more than anyone, I thought about her.
Maybe that’s why, when we met the self-proclaimed Wakaba in this world, I could tell right away that it wasn’t really her.
Maybe that’s why, when we teleported from the system core or whatever to meet the so-called evil god D, it made perfect sense to me when I saw that it was Wakaba.
“Welcome.”
Wakaba spreads her arms in greeting.
This place is strange.
It’s pitch-black everywhere you look, except we can all still see one another just fine.
How can it be so dark but so clear at the same time?
In the center of that darkness sits Wakaba.
Several monitors float in the air in front of her seat.
“Ahh, I get it…”
This murmur of comprehension comes from Demon Lord Ariel, not me.
She’s sitting in a chair, too.
Hers is white and has a weird texture that somehow reminds me of a spiderweb.
Four small spiders are holding up each of the chair’s legs.
“Small” is relative here, since they’re still around the size of a tarantula from Earth, if not bigger, but compared to the giant things we rode to get here…well.
Anyway, these small spiders are holding up the Demon Lord’s chair and carrying it around.
At first I thought it was mean to make such tiny spiders carry her around, until I noticed that she obviously wasn’t doing very well.
For real, she looks like she’d barely even be able to stand without fainting dead away.
Is she sick or something? Either way, that definitely caught all of us by surprise.
“It’s an honor to meet you. I am Demon Lord Ariel. Please forgive my rudeness for entering your presence in such a disgraceful state.”
“No problem. Also, you don’t really need to introduce yourselves, or be so prim and proper. I know all of you perfectly well, and respect isn’t worth anything unless you really mean it from the heart.”
Is that her way of saying it’s no use trying to put on a polite act?
“Lemme ask you this, then. You’re Wakaba, aren’t you? What’s the deal with that?”
Getting a little annoyed, I go ahead and address her without respect. Hey, she asked for it.
It’s not my problem if a few people, like the pontiff and that demon guy, stare at me with their eyes bugging out of their heads.
“Right, I suppose I should introduce myself first for those who aren’t entirely in the know. I’m D, an evil god. That’s not my real name, of course. And I also spent some time at the same school as you reincarnations. At the time, I went by Hiiro Wakaba. Also not my real name, of course.”
Neither of them is your real name?!
Then can you really call that introducing yourself?
“Uhh…come again? You spent time as a student with the reincarnations?”
Hyrince cautiously ventures a question.
“That’s correct. And that’s when an attack trying to kill an administrator from this world came after me. It was actually intended for the ebony god, until Goddess Sariel redirected it by making me the target instead. As you can see, I’m perfectly unharmed, but all the students who got caught in the blast were killed. I suppose you could say it’s this world’s fault, and mine, that the reincarnations died.”
Hello?! It’s a little late for that big reveal!
Are you kidding me?! Seriously?!
“Excuse me? Are you joking? Can I punch this chick?”
“Fei! Cut it out!”
Shun hurriedly stops me when those words come tumbling out of my mouth.
Come on, I wasn’t really going to punch her, I swear.
But seriously, I spent so long feeling guilty in that egg ’cause I thought I was being punished for bullying Wakaba, only to find out it’s her fault we died in the first place!
I want my money back!
Can you blame me for getting the urge to punch her just a little bit?
“I felt bad about it, too, you know. That’s why instead of just letting you all die, I collected your souls, gave you skills, and sent you to be reborn in this world with your memories intact.”
“What, like that’s supposed to make up for it?”
“That was the idea, yes.”
“It’s not like we asked to be reincarnated, you know.”
“Does that mean you would’ve preferred to just die?”
“I mean…”
Well, no, but still…
Obviously I wouldn’t want to just die for no apparent reason and stay dead.
But I can’t say for sure if it was better that we got reincarnated.
Especially when we got caught up in all this “end of the world” stuff here.
“Couldn’t you have just made it so we didn’t die in the first place?”
Natsume speaks up.
That’s kinda surprising.
I didn’t expect him to take the initiative on anything at this point.
“In theory, that would’ve been a possibility, yes.”
“So why…!”
“Well, I was under no obligation to go that far for you. Reviving the dead is a whole lot harder than reincarnation, you know.”
Harder? So we got reincarnated just because she was feeling lazy?
“You can’t be serious…!”
“If you’ve got a problem, take it up with the people of that world. It’s not like I tried to kill you. I felt a bit of guilt and pity for you dying in an accident that wasn’t your fault, so I lent you a little hand, that’s all.”
When she puts it that way, it’s hard to argue back.
I know it wasn’t really her fault.
And I know we’ve got her to thank for the fact that we were reborn at all.
But still, still…!
“You’re saying this like you did it for our sakes, but that’s not actually true, is it? I bet you had your own goals in mind, and us getting reincarnated was just a bonus, right?”
“Right. Why do you ask?”
Wakaba doesn’t even try to dodge my question.
I knew it.
She definitely doesn’t seem to feel any kind of guilt, pity, or any such noble emotions toward us, that’s for sure.
The only feeling I get from her is that old familiar sense that she’s looking down on us like ants beneath her feet.
“It wasn’t any particularly lofty goal, though. I just figured I might give that world a little boost. Things were getting stagnant there, plus it looked like it was on a one-way path to destruction pretty soon. So I figured if I gave some souls from another world a little bit of power and sent them to reincarnate into this one, it might shake things up a bit.”
Wakaba looks at us with the cool expression of someone observing the behavior of lab rats.
Maybe that’s all we are to her, and maybe she sees this whole world as an experiment, too.
And if it all went under, she wouldn’t think twice about it.
“What were you trying to do in this world, exactly?”
“Nothing much. As I said before, I didn’t have any serious goals in mind, you know? Officially, I just lent a little support to help revive the planet on the ebony god’s request. Everything else was just a little personal project of mine. The same goes for you reincarnations. I didn’t do it out of any ill will, even if I wouldn’t quite call it good will, either.”
“What ‘personal project’?”
“I wanted to turn an entire world into a game. Then I wanted to see if anyone might find a way to become a god in that toxic gamelike environment. That’s about it.”
Wakaba’s calm comment belies the total insanity of the concept and scale.
She really isn’t like us at all.
The way she thinks is just too different from that of any normal human.
It’s to the point that just talking to her like this feels so wrong it almost makes me sick.
Even though we’re speaking the same language, I don’t think we’ll ever understand each other.
“I had high hopes for that Potimas Harrifenas, and for you, Demon Lord Ariel. I thought both of you might be able to attain godhood. Turns out I was wrong about that, though. Especially Potimas Harrifenas… Given his obsession with staying alive, I thought he might find a way to surpass the limits of the human vessel to achieve it, but it didn’t work out very well for him.”
“I shudder to think what would’ve happened if he became a god.”
Demon Lord Ariel looks blatantly disgusted.
As far as I can tell, Wakaba didn’t care whether someone was good or evil, only if they could become a god or not.
She just wanted someone, anyone, to produce results in her little experiment.
Something like that, anyway.
“Okay, enough about all that. What’s up with that weird copy of yours? The so-called ivory god?”
I change the subject before her thoughts on the previous one can drive me totally insane.
I want to know what the deal is with that weird Wakaba look-alike.
That’s basically got to be her puppet or something, right?
Seems a little excessive to pit it against the original ebony god if you’re trying to give the world a “boost,” though.
Not to mention, something feels off about that idea.
Would Wakaba here really get involved with such a proactive pawn?
“Ah, yes, my stand-in. If I was to reincarnate all of the students and one teacher present in that classroom, my seat would be left empty. In order to fill in that gap, I reincarnated the soul of a spider that just happened to be in the classroom at the time. Oh, and instilled it with memories of being Hiiro Wakaba.”
“Excuse me?”
That doesn’t even make any sense.
Confused, I look around at Shun and the others, not one of whom appears to understand what Wakaba is saying.
“What does that even mean?”
“Exactly what I said. It’s just a spider. So weak that even I thought it was just going to die right away. It only existed to prove that Hiiro Wakaba also got reincarnated. At first, anyway.”
I still don’t get it, or maybe it’s just not possible to understand at all.
That fake Wakaba wasn’t working for this one?
“So she’s not your pawn?”
“Oh no. That thing does whatever it wants. Amusing, isn’t it? The humans I had such high hopes for turned out to be a flop, and the creature I threw in as an expendable substitute is the one that wound up attaining godhood.”
Umm…o-kaaay?
To sum it up, that means the fake Wakaba became a god all on her own, and is fighting the ebony god of her own free will?
Part 7 of 9