Part 7 of 8
We’re basically starting an endurance marathon to see who runs out of strength first.
Oof. That’s no fun…
How many days is it gonna take for this to end?
No, it might even take months…
Probably not years, or at least, I sure hope not.
If it did come to that, I can guarantee I’d be the first to crash.
I gotta set things up so Black’s the one to go down.
The reason I was working so hard before I got tossed into this dimension was that I knew this battle was gonna take ages.
Since I’m gonna be totally preoccupied with this fight for a while, I wanted to hurry up and finish everything else I needed to take care of first.
Although I ended up letting Black get the first move because of that.
Plus, since I was in such a hurry, I pretty much just dropped the rest of my work in everyone else’s lap.
But there’s nothing else I can do now except hope they can handle it.
I’m worried, of course, but I don’t have a second to spare thinking about it.
After all, my opponent is Black, the strongest god in this world by a wide margin.
He’s the strongest opponent I’ve ever faced, too.
Frankly, it was probably a bad idea for a fledgling god like me to take him on.
But ever since I became a god, I’ve been training for this moment.
Don’t you dare assume that I’m gonna go down easily.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the outcome of this battle will affect the course of the entire world.
All right, let’s settle this once and for all, Black and White!
…I better set my backup plan into motion, though.
Suddenly, I found myself someplace unfamiliar.
“Ngeh?!”
I was so surprised that I blurted out a strange noise.
Huh?! Where am I?!
I was with Katia in one of the homes in the elf village just a second ago…
…and now, I’m on a sandy beach by the ocean.
The chair I was sitting in loses its balance in the unstable stand and falls backward.
Even in this situation, my well-trained body automatically reacts in time to keep me from falling with it, at the very least.
But what good does that do?
Even if I didn’t take a tumble, I still don’t have the slightest idea what’s going on here.
Standing next to my fallen chair, I stare blankly at the waves.
It’s the ocean.
The elf village is in the Great Garam Forest, deep inland.
It would take more than a few days to get to the coast from there.
And yet I wound up here in the blink of an eye.
I reach to the top of my head.
There, I feel something.
When I pick it up and bring it in front of my face, our eyes lock.
It’s a white spider.
I remember feeling something drop onto my head right before I arrived here.
None of my skills were able to detect it in advance, leaving me startled when I felt it land.
The next thing I knew, I was here.
This spider must be the culprit.
As for what it’s doing now, it’s just frozen in place.
It appears to be alive, but it’s as if its battery is dead.
I poke it with a fingertip and get no response.
“Do you understand me?”
I try talking to it, too, but it doesn’t respond to that, either.
If this is my only clue, I don’t see how I’m ever going to figure out how I ended up here.
I turn my attention away from the stubbornly unresponsive white spider, looking at my surroundings again.
In front of me is nothing but water.
The ocean stretches as far as the eye can see, without an island or coast in sight.
When I turn around, I see a forest beyond the beach.
I can’t tell how deep it goes beyond the trees at its edge from here.
But it can’t be very small, since I see more trees when I look left and right.
“…Uh-oh.”
I was already at a loss for what to do, but now I’m even more confused in a more literal and immediate way.
…For now, let me get my thoughts in order.
Before I wound up here, I was talking to Katia.
She was telling me about what happened after I passed out yesterday, and I was telling her about Taboo.
While we exchanged information, I was hoping I might get an idea of what to do next.
Then we heard the “Word of God.”
<World quest activated.>
<An evil god is plotting to sacrifice humanity in order to prevent the destruction of the world. You must either prevent this plot or assist with it.>
Katia looked surprised, too; evidently I wasn’t the only one who heard it.
I was similarly startled by the unexpected event.
You only hear the Word of God at specific times, like when you level up or gain a skill.
I’ve never once heard it announce anything like a quest.
Could this be the first time it’s happened in history?
At the very least, I’ve never heard of the Word of God making an announcement about a quest or something along those lines.
I would think anything that unusual would be recorded by the Word of God religion.
Although I suppose it’s possible such history could’ve been erased.
Considering that the Word of God has completely eliminated anyone with the Taboo skill in order to keep the information it contains from spreading, I wouldn’t be surprised.
But there’s certainly been no “world quest” in the time I’ve been alive, and I’ve never heard anyone from older generations mention it. This has to be an unusual event.
Even if there has been a world quest at some point in the past, I doubt it was within the past several decades.
Which means something extreme is going on.
…And yet.
“I guess I’m literally being excluded…”
I got teleported here right after that so-called world quest went out.
Just as I was being surprised by the world quest, this white spider landed on my head and surprised me even more, and then I found myself in this unfamiliar place for the biggest surprise of all…
At this point, I’ve gone beyond surprised to dumbfounded.
But I can’t just stand around in shock forever.
The fact that I was teleported here must have something to do with that world quest.
It seems like a natural assumption, timing-wise.
But who did this, and why? I can’t say for sure.
I do have some idea about the “who,” though.
Assuming this white spider did indeed teleport me here, it must’ve been the work of its master.
Its pure-white color reminds me of someone.
A girl as white as snow flashes across my vision.
Even Julius wasn’t a match for her—it wouldn’t be too surprising if she caused a situation like this.
But it seems a little hasty to assume that she’s this spider’s master just because it’s white.
I’ll just consider it a theory for now.
I certainly learned my lesson today that it’s dangerous to jump to conclusions and act without knowing the whole story.
…That’s right.
I really don’t know anything.
There’s far too much I don’t know.
So I’ve got to learn everything, one step at a time.
At least, that was the plan…
But I don’t think I’ll be able to do even that in this situation.
I’ve been thrown into some unknown place, alone, with no idea how to get back.
…Actually, am I even going to be able to survive like this?
Since I was dumped here so suddenly, I don’t have anything but the clothes on my back.
I’ve got no weapons, and nothing to eat.
If I don’t have food or water, won’t I die in just a few short days?
I’d better find a way to get both.
But I have no way of knowing if there’s anything edible in that forest…
The thought quickly makes me nervous.
I can’t just stand around here in a daze.
I’ve got to do something.
“Hmm?”
Just then, I think I hear something faint in the distance.
I listen carefully until I’m sure of it.
Not only that, but it seems to be coming right toward me.
At a fairly rapid speed, too.
“…Brotheeerrrrrrrrr!!!”
“Wah?!”
Now, I don’t think I did anything wrong by automatically dodging the shape that came flying at me from within the forest.
Once the would-be assailant landed face-first in the sand, I cautiously approached.
“…Sue?”
“Yes! It’s your beloved younger sister, Sue!”
For some reason, my previously missing sister Sue was right in front of me.
I had a lot of questions, but Sue insisted that we “needn’t stand around out here” and led me away.
She told me that the house where she was living was right nearby.
I wondered why she would live in a place like this, but sure enough, there was a clearing not far into the forest with a single house.
Even though none of it made any sense, I figured Sue would explain soon enough, and I followed her into the house at her request.
“Welcome to our little love nest.”
Sue muttered something strange as we entered. At this point, though, my mind was so completely blank that I didn’t bother asking what she meant.
I had so many questions and points of confusion that I figured it could wait until later.
Little did I know that I would regret that decision in just a few minutes.
“Now then, dear brother, you simply must live here with me. For ever and ever. Just the two of us.”
Not long after we entered the house, my sister drugged me, bound my hands and feet so that I couldn’t move, and prepared to take my clothes off.
Shun disappeared.
Shun…disappeeeeared?!
“Huh?! what?!”
The shock from hearing that world quest thing goes up in smoke.
My mind went blank for a second there, but I quickly come to my senses—there’s no time to waste.
Time to take action.
First, I run straight to Yuri’s room.
“C-can I help you?”
Yuri looks startled that I’ve charged red-faced into her room.
But! I’m here for the other person in the room, not her!
“Shun disappeared! This is your master’s doing, isn’t it?!”
“…Pardon?”
I bear down on the girl in the white robes—I believe her name is Phelmina.
She works for Wakaba and is currently one of the only people left in this building with any ties to her.
I noticed a few other white-robed agents hiding around here, too, but based on the exchange between Wakaba and Phelmina earlier, I think she must be the highest rank here.
I think Wakaba’s people must be behind Shun’s disappearance.
In fact, I don’t see how it could be anyone else.
With those white-clad agents keeping a close eye on him, I doubt anyone could have gotten past them to teleport Shun somewhere unless they were on the same side.
And judging by the timing, it has something to do with that world quest.
The world quest announcement came totally out of nowhere. If the culprit acted after hearing it, they would’ve had even less time to get past the secret agents.
After all, Shun disappeared right after we heard that world quest thing.
Wakaba and her people have to be behind this!
But we’re basically their prisoners of war right now.
I’ve got to get this Phelmina girl to connect me to Wakaba so we can talk things out peacefully!
“Where in the world did you send Shuuuun?!”
“Yikes, another crazy one…”
Aaaaaah!
In spite of my intentions to remain calm, I grabbed her collar and started shaking her!
Ever since I got the Parallel Minds skill, my thoughts and actions sometimes get out of sync like this.
I suppose that means I haven’t mastered the skill yet.
Generally, I keep the Parallel Minds skill turned off, but sometimes it turns on at the slightest provocation and starts running wild.
I imagine this means there are still traces of my more masculine self inside me.
Sometimes my mind and voice alike can get rather mixed up.
Oh, but this is no time to stand around thinking about such things!
All right, stay calm.
I-is it too late to settle things peacefully now, I wonder?
“Oh, dear Katia…”
While I stand there internally screaming, Yuri gently removes my hand from Phelmina’s collar.
“If you’re going to grab her, you ought to do it here.”
Then she guides my hand to her neck instead.
“It’ll be fine. If you give a little squeeze here, most people will start talking.”
“I don’t see anything fine about this…,” Phelmina remarks.
…Yuri’s words disturbed me so much that I’ve calmed down.
In fact, Phelmina seems rather calm for someone who’s being grabbed by the throat.
She’s still looking at Yuri coolly, and despite saying that it’s not fine, she hasn’t moved.
Her dignified demeanor is so impressive that I suddenly feel embarrassed at my own panic, and I quickly withdraw my hand.
Phelmina quietly rearranges her disheveled collar.
“…Now then. Would you mind explaining what’s going on here?”
Phelmina’s remarkable composure makes me picture her as a businesswoman dressed smartly in a pantsuit.
Urgh. This is a woman who can get things done!
Even though she doesn’t look that much older than I am!
While I feel strangely defeated, I can’t afford to lose any more face, so I explain the events that just occurred as calmly as I can.
Although there’s not much to tell: We heard the world quest announcement, then immediately a white spider (or something like that?) dropped onto Shun’s head, and Shun vanished.
“A white spider…? Please give me a moment to confirm.”
With that, Phelmina pulls something out of her sleeve: a small white spider.
So this group really was behind it.
“Did you hear that, ma’am? We have a complaint here… Master?”
Phelmina speaks to the small spider, but it doesn’t respond at all.
For the first time, her expression changes, turning a bit paler.
“I’m terribly sorry, but there appears to be an emergency. As soon as I’ve determined the situation at hand, I will explain. Please give me a moment.”
Then, before I can even try to stop her, she swiftly leaves the room.
In addition to her speed, her movements were so smooth that it was as if she slipped through my blind spot.
Even without looking at her stats, I can tell from the way she moves that Phelmina is strong.
I guess she didn’t get agitated about the fuss Yuri and I made because she knew she had nothing to worry about.
She must have concluded that we weren’t a threat, even if we attacked her two against one.
I might’ve been in danger if I was careless enough to antagonize her more.
But thanks to Yuri’s strange statement, we avoided that worst-case scenario.
When I think of it that way, perhaps Yuri actually said such a bizarre thing to bring me back to my senses.
“So how shall we wring the life out of the people who kidnapped Shun?”
No, I take it back. She’s still making disturbing threats with a sunny smile.
“We’re not going to wring the life out of them.”
“Really?”
“Certainly not.”
Yuri tilts her head in confusion; given her lovely features, I have to admit it’s a little adorable, or at least it could be.
But her eyes seem to be missing any highlights…
I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something unnerving about her.
Yuri always had a bit of a spooky side, but today it feels like her creepiness has been cranked up a notch or two.
…I think I’d prefer not to look into it too deeply.
Let sleeping dogs lie, and all that.
So forgetting about Yuri for now, what shall I do…?
I’m not going to “wring the life out of” Wakaba and her people, that’s for sure.
If I even tried, no doubt I’d be the one getting throttled instead.
But I don’t wish to simply sit around and wait, either…
“Ah! Shun was teleported away somewhere, right?”
While I’m lost in thought, Yuri speaks up.
“Erm, yes.”
“Then I think I know just the right person!”
“The right person?”
“Oh, yes! Elder Ronandt, the master of Spatial Magic!”
“Hrmm. No, I think not!”
Yuri and I were able to meet this Elder Ronandt right away.
As I suspected, Wakaba’s side seems to be preoccupied, such that we were able to leave our area of confinement without any trouble.
We didn’t know where to find Elder Ronandt, but we happened to run into Natsume and Fei as soon as we left the building, and the former knew his whereabouts.
After all, Natsume is still technically the prince of the empire, and Elder Ronandt is the top imperial mage of the court.
So we asked Elder Ronandt if he could help us go after Shun, but his response was as immediate as it was unfavorable.
“Why not?”
Yuri drew closer to Ronandt.
“You do not know where Prince Schlain is now, correct? Even I cannot help, without the slightest inkling of where he’s gone. Though perhaps we could follow his trail if you had an idea.”
“So we just need to find out where he is?!”
This time, Fei bears down on the old man, too.
As Yuri and Fei press close to him urgently, Elder Ronandt gracefully steps back and calms them before continuing.
“Even then, we may not be able to follow. Teleportation only works for places that the user has been before. I have certainly visited all manner of places, but if Prince Schlain is somewhere I have never been, then I still cannot help you.”
So we’re out of options?
If the man said to be humanity’s greatest mage, a better Spatial Magic user than anyone, says there’s nothing we can do…
“Ah!”
Just as I was thinking that we’d have to wait patiently like Phelmina told me, Fei suddenly smacks her fist into her palm.
“What about summoning?”
“Summoning? …Oh!”
After a moment, it hits me.
Fei has a contract with Shun!
Though she’s in human form now, she’s still a wyrm—essentially a monster—considered to have been “tamed” by Shun.
With that contract, Shun can summon Fei at will.
It’s a one-way street, but at least Fei would be able to go to wherever Shun is.
“But are you able to summon yourself to him, Fei?”
“…No, I can’t.”
Well, that’s no help.
It sounds like only Shun can summon Fei from his end, not the other way around.
“If Yamada hasn’t called Shinohara yet, doesn’t that mean he ain’t in any real danger?” Natsume grumbles.
He has a point, but…
“Shun may have forgotten about summoning entirely, I’m afraid.”
Shun has never actually summoned Fei before.
He always treats her like an equal, never like a servant or a familiar.
It’s possible he’s forgotten about the contract entirely, including his ability to summon Fei.
I had forgotten, too, after all.
“Besides, it’s also possible that he’s in such a predicament that he hasn’t had time to think of such things.”
“Would they really do somethin’ so indirect?”
Natsume’s doubts are valid; I also suspect that Shun’s life is not in danger.
If Wakaba and her people wanted to kill Shun, they could have simply done so without bothering to teleport him anywhere.
It’s safe to assume they moved him for some other reason.
“Hrm? You have a contract with Prince Schlain, missy?”
“Mm? Yes, what of it?”
“Hrmmm…” Elder Ronandt thinks for a moment. “Might I Appraise your status for just a moment, then?”
“My status? If you must.”
“Pardon me, then.”
Fei grimaces for a second, probably because of the discomfort that comes with Appraisal.
What does Elder Ronandt hope to find by Appraising her stats, though?
“Summoning… Teleport…hrmm. Perhaps if…oh? Oh! Could this work? Is it possible?”
He mutters to himself as he does goodness knows what.
“Oh-ho-ho! It just might work! It will! But of course! One must never assume something is impossible! Yes, I can do this!”
Um, hello?!
What’s with this guy, getting all excited out of nowhere?!
“Right here and now! A new chapter in the history of teleportation is about to unfold!”
Elder Ronandt spreads his arms wide.
“If you can be summoned, that means there is a pathway for teleportation there! We can use that pathway to teleport to where Prince Schlain is now!”
Wait, is that really possible?!
So that’s why Elder Ronandt was looking at Fei’s stats!
I guess he really is humanity’s strongest mage.
At first I thought he might be a bit off his rocker, but he’s amazing after all!
“Now then, let us go! To Prince Schlain!”
A moment later, the scenery changes around us.
“Nwha—?!”
I stumble backward at the sudden turn of events, but luckily, I manage to grab on to something that keeps me from falling.
But when I see what’s happening before my eyes, my relief quickly drains away.
What I grabbed was the edge of a bed.
And on top of that bed is a boy with his arms and legs tied, in the midst of having his clothes stripped off.
A naked boy who happens to be Shun!
And the girl taking his clothes off happens to be his sister, Sue!
“Wh-what in the world do you think you’re doiiiiing?!” I shriek.
How could I not shriek about that?!
“You mustn’t have relations before marriage! First, you must proclaim your betrothal to God!”
Yuri shouts, too, albeit with slightly unusual logic.
“Besides, you’re his sister! You can’t marry him!”
And now even Fei is flying off the handle…?
And I don’t think marriage is what’s important right now!
“Get away from him! Right now! How indecent!”
I give Sue a hard shove away from Shun.
She topples off the bed and breaks into a roll before quickly getting back on her feet.
“Katiaaaa… Things were just getting good… Why did you have to go and…interfeeere?!”
Her voice isn’t very loud, but somehow, it’s dripping with resentment and rage.
“It’s obvious! Because you haven’t declared your marriage intentions to God yet!”
Yuri, again, that’s not the problem here…
“You know that’s not it, right?! Siblings shouldn’t do something like that, period!”
“Another woman I don’t knooow?! Why must my brother be so faithless?!”
“Whaaa?! Oh, right! You haven’t seen me in this form before!”
Sue blows her lid at Fei.
Come to think of it, Fei didn’t learn to take human form until after Sue had gone.
I suppose since Sue only knows her as a little wyrm, it makes sense that she’d assume she’s a new woman.
Although she might still be angry even if she knew who Fei was.
When Fei was a small wyrm, she was quite close with Shun, staying in his room and sitting on his shoulder and such.
“At any rate, Shun is to declare his marriage with me to God, so I’ll be taking him back now.”
While Sue is baring her teeth at Fei, Yuri hops in and scoops Shun up.
“Stop right there! Why should he go with you?!”
How dare she take advantage of all this confusion?! What a thing to say!
She’s always tried to convert Shun to the Word of God religion, but now she’s showing her true intentions, it would seem!
Her attempts to convert him were already quite brazen. Does she no longer care what it takes?!
I grab Shun’s arm and try to pull him away from Yuri.
But Yuri latches on to him and refuses to let go.
“Get away from him!”
“Nooo!”
“Brother belongs to me!”
Sue joins in on the tug of war, too.
Shun looks pained as he gets yanked in three directions.
“Wait a minute! You’re going to tear him apart!”
Now Fei has jumped into the battle.
She’s right, of course, but I simply cannot back down!
“…Damn, Yamada. Looks like you’ve had it rough in your own way.”
“Ho-ho-ho. What a popular lad. But you must choose only one, okay?”
Natsume and Elder Ronandt are watching from the sidelines.
Shun looks to them as if pleading for help, but they’re both pretending not to notice.
But since Shun has yet to speak or move on his own in spite of all this, doesn’t that mean he’s been drugged?
“Sue! You drugged Shun, didn’t you?!”
“Just a mild anesthetic! I thought this would make it a done deal, but nooo!”
“Even if it was a done deal, God wouldn’t allow it!”
“Aaargh! Enough of this, all three of you! Shun’s body is making snapping sounds I’m quite sure it’s not meant to make, so let goooo!”
Things were truly getting out of control, with all four of us making a fuss.
But then…
<World quest sequence 1. Installing Taboo in all humanoids.>
We heard the Word of God again.
I’d forgotten all about it in the chaos since Shun disappeared.
But this was a divine revelation far too important to be ignored.
Immediately, an unbearable pain filled my head, and my vision went black.
“Sorry, he says…”
I gaze at the spot where Gülie and White disappeared.
I’ve known Gülie for a very long time, yet as he addresses me in what might be our final farewell, his last word to me is…“sorry.”
It’s so typical of him, I can’t help but laugh.
He’s always been like this.
Always looking apologetic, always feeling so responsible for everything that he takes on guilt for things that aren’t even his fault.
Such a stubborn, inflexible, awkward lug of a man…
I just hope this won’t be the last time we meet…
Sparing a small prayer for the safety of my old friend turned enemy, I shift my attention elsewhere.
“Well. Things have taken an unexpected turn, but that doesn’t change our course of action.”
Even if that world quest thing threw a wrench in the works, our ultimate goal remains the same.
Which is to say, we’re still going to bring about the destruction of the system and set Lady Sariel free.
We haven’t laid the groundwork all this time only to stop now.
Although most of that was thanks to White, and she’ll be taking care of almost everything from here on out, too.
That said, Gülie taking White away from us is a serious loss.
“Um, even if our course of action hasn’t changed, what do we do now?”
“I don’t think there’s much we can do at the moment…”
Unfortunately, we can’t do anything right away.
There are a few reasons for that.
The first is that there’s no telling what’s going to happen with this so-called world quest.
It wasn’t Lady Sariel who made this announcement.
I can’t imagine she would do anything like that to voluntarily meddle with the system, or that she even has the ability to do so.
It wasn’t Gülie, either.
So by process of elimination, that only leaves one possible culprit.
It must have been D.
I’ve never even met this administrator in person; frankly, I can’t read her at all.
It would be dangerous to make any moves when we don’t know what she might pull next.
I think our best bet is to wait things out and be ready to adapt on the fly.
The second reason is to feel out how the rest of the world is going to react to the world quest.
Certainly, it’s safe to assume that Dustin will turn against us like Gülie.
But what is he going to do?
I want to wait and see his reaction before I decide how to deal with him.
It’s a much more passive strategy than making the first move, but it’s the best I can do.
After all, our original hope was to destroy the system before the likes of Dustin and Gülie even caught on.
And before they realized that the backlash from destroying the system will kill around half of humankind.
If all went well, they wouldn’t have realized that until after it was already done.
Then that half of mankind would already be dead, and there’d be nothing they could do.
Now that the world quest has ruined that plan, it will be near impossible to keep things moving along in secret.
Dustin is sure to make a move; the only question is whether he has any means of preventing us from destroying the system or not.
If he doesn’t, we can simply ignore him.
But if he does, we’ll have to head him off with all our strength.
That’s why I need to wait and watch Dustin’s reaction to figure out whether he’s a threat.
The third reason is that we’ve just ended our fight against Potimas, and we haven’t even finished dealing with the aftermath yet.
It would be difficult to drop everything and leave here right away, especially with the reincarnations.
And then there’s the fourth reason.
This one is the most important of all: White’s absence.
White is the one in charge of actually destroying the system, and she’s got all kinds of other jobs, too: using her clones to monitor the situation across the world, teleporting us around, and so on, not to mention that she’s the one who actually came up with the plan in the first place.
In any event, White carries too much weight in this plan to go on without her.
There are so many things we can’t do if she’s not here that we’re basically stuck, and that’s the truth.
I explain all this to Wrath and Sophia.
“So realistically, all we can do is finish dealing with the aftermath of this battle and keep an eye on everyone else.”
Basically, all we can do is stick to the original plan.
“I see. That makes sense to me.”
Just as Wrath nods, Phelmina comes rushing into the room.
“I have a report.”
“Okay, let’s hear it.”
“Communications with Master have been cut off. Right after the world quest was announced, the reincarnation ‘Shunsuke Yamada,’ also known as Schlain, was suddenly teleported away. A witness stated that a white spider dropped onto his head before he disappeared.”
“That sounds like White’s work, all right.”
I’m guessing the reason communications with White have been cut off is that she doesn’t have the time or energy to spare for that.
If she’s fighting Gülie, not even White would be able to multitask.
But based on this report, she must have made some moves in the short time after the world quest announcement went out, right before her battle with Gülie began.
I do have some idea of where she might have sent Yamada.
“I see. She must have sent him to the love nest ahead of schedule…”
I actually feel a little bad for Yamada.
His half-sister Suresia, also known as Sue…
She was working with us under threat from White, but instead of simply using her, White decided to offer her a reward.
When we asked what she might want, she responded “a love nest where I can be alone with Brother.”
White readily agreed and prepared this “love nest” in some far-off place.
From her perspective, she was killing two birds with one stone: fulfilling Sue’s wish and sending the wild card known as Yamada far away as an added bonus.
Even I don’t know where this love nest is, exactly, but apparently, it’s so remote that it would be difficult to reach civilization from there without teleporting.
Now that she’s put Yamada there, he’s unlikely to make it out before we destroy the system.
Evidently, the place does have a small farm, weak monsters nearby for possible meat, and plenty of edible wild plants, so they won’t have any trouble surviving.
Even once the skill has been destroyed and his stats and skills are gone, he should still be fine.
This is all according to White’s standards of living, which of course makes me a little suspicious, but Sue and Yamada will have to contend with that themselves.
“There’s one problem, though… How do we explain this to Yamada’s army of admirers…?”
That Yamada is crazy popular with the ladies for whatever reason…
Even if it’s technically a reward for good work, we’re still basically presenting Yamada on a silver platter, regardless of his own wishes. I can imagine all too clearly how that’s going to turn out.
And I doubt the other girls will be very happy about it.
I mean, we just gave him away in some remote place without their knowledge…
But whether they accept that or not, there’s nothing we can do—even I don’t know where this love nest is.
All we can do is tell them the truth and let them decide whether to give up or leave no stone unturned in their search for him.
In fact, we’re not actually obligated to tell them anything. It might even be better for everyone involved if we cover it up.
“Well, that’s the long and short of it. I’ll leave it up to your discretion how much you want to tell them, Phelmina. But could you please tell them that his life isn’t in danger, at least?”
“Of course.”
I drop the responsibility of dealing with Yamada’s fan club on Phelmina.
His life isn’t in danger, and we don’t have time to put too much effort into this part of the plan anyway.
…Although I suppose his chastity might be in danger, if not his life.
Just then, I notice that Phelmina still hasn’t left.
She’s an exceptional soldier, who normally acts as soon as she’s given orders, but she hasn’t moved an inch…
Ah, I know why.
“If it’s White you’re worried about, she’ll be fine.”
“I see.”
The relief on Phelmina’s face confirms my suspicion.
She was worried about White because their communication got cut off.
I guess White’s pretty popular, too…
Shocking, I know.
White has been pretty awful to people like Sophia and Phelmina, yet they still seem to admire her.
…Then again, I guess you could say the same about me.
I used to see White as an enemy, but now I’ve become quite fond of her.
Maybe she’s just a naturally charismatic person.
Except everyone but me sees her as silent and mysterious…
I don’t think there’s anything charismatic about being so awkward that you have to keep all communication to a bare minimum.
Is she a genius at making people admire her, then?
Well, I guess that’s a silly thought to have when she’s probably locked in a life-or-death battle with Gülie at this very minute.
Here I was, hoping that Gülie won’t die, yet I’m not worried about White in the slightest.
But that’s only because…
“White is definitely going to win.”
I believe that with all my heart.
“So you don’t need to worry about her at all. We just have to do whatever we can on our end and welcome her back with a smile when she returns. It’s our job to keep her work from piling up any more than it already has.”
“Understood, ma’am.”
Phelmina looks relaxed now that her worries have been put to rest.
The situation isn’t actually over yet, but it seems like my words reassured her, at least.
“By the way, what is that thing doing?”
Phelmina’s eyes cool to absolute zero, as if she’s looking at some particularly disgusting garbage.
She’s looking at Sophia, who’s still wrapped up like a pupa.
“Ah… That’s right, I suppose she’s still tied up. What to do…?”
White…
If you had time to think about Yamada, you could’ve at least freed Sophia before you left, too…
A long time ago, when Wrath was wrapped up in White’s thread like this, we were having so much trouble cutting it that we had to set it on fire to get him out, with him still stuck inside…
Based on that example, I’m guessing we won’t be able to get Sophia out unless we set her on fire, too.
“Hmph.”
As we examine her, Sophia gives out a huff and turns her body into red mist, easily freeing herself from her bonds.
Wrath, Phelmina, and I all stare at her with wide eyes.
“You could’ve gotten out on your own all this time?”
“But of course.”
She puffs up her chest, as if stating the obvious. Why didn’t she just escape sooner, then?
“If I escaped in front of Master, she would have given me an even worse punishment, don’t you see?” Sophia clarifies.
My thoughts must have shown in my expression.
Now that she mentions it, that certainly makes sense.
Considering White’s personality, she would definitely get mad if someone escaped her beloved thread.
No doubt she would have come up with some needlessly elaborate method of ensnaring Sophia even more thoroughly so she couldn’t escape again.
When I think about it that way, she really is such a child at times…
Just as the mood in the room is starting to relax, something else happens.
<World quest sequence 1. Installing Taboo in all humanoids.>
“Huh?”
“Oh?”
Wrath and I are the only ones who manage to respond.
Sophia and Phelmina both collapse, grimacing in pain, even though they both have the Faint Nullification skill.
But thanks to the announcement that preceded this, I already know why.
“Well, that’s a bold move…”
I guess D doesn’t do things halfway, either.
Installing Taboo in all humanoids…
That’s the information that the Word of God religion has worked so hard to hide.
But this will render all their hard work moot in a matter of seconds.
Ha-ha… Yikes!
Boy, what I wouldn’t give to see Dustin’s expression right now!
The Word of God church must be in an uproar, or at least Dustin himself must be.
Most of the other humans have probably collapsed just like these two.
Only people who have already maxed out their Taboo skill, like Dustin, Wrath, and I have, will be unaffected.
The greatest strength of Dustin’s Word of God religion is that it’s a huge organization.
While Dustin is an exceptional leader, there’s only so much he can do on his own.
His power comes from being able to command such an enormous group, with believers all over the world, as he sees fit.
But right now, most of the humans who make up that organization are unconscious, due to the Taboo installation.
In other words, the Word of God church is more or less out of commission.
Naturally, that means Dustin’s defenses will be weakened, too.
This is the perfect chance to take him out.
Now, killing Dustin normally wouldn’t make much difference.
Thanks to the effects of his ruler skill, Temperance, he reincarnates with all his memories intact after he’s been killed.
It takes a few years for him to come back after dying.
Then it takes several more years for his new body to grow, but while he’s gone, the massive organization of the Word of God will fill the hole left by his absence and keep the world in its proper state.
Dustin’s absence creates a large void, but not so big that it can’t be filled.
It’s small wonder that Potimas could never destroy the Word of God organization.
Even without Dustin, their strength is scarcely affected.
But this situation is different.
If Dustin disappears at this crucial moment, the Word of God religion will become a headless, directionless mob.
Not only that, but it’ll create an opening for the ruler skill, Temperance.
We could clear up one of the all-important keys for destroying the system.
It wouldn’t end up in our hands necessarily, but this would at least even out a situation that’s currently to our disadvantage.
So this would be the perfect time to take Dustin down.
…But unfortunately, I have no way of doing so.
The only way we could make contact with Dustin right now would be through White’s teleportation…
Our truce with Dustin was only temporary until we defeated Potimas.
Now that we’ve finished that fight, White’s white-robed subordinates who were there as liaisons have already withdrawn from Dustin’s side.
Like Gülie, we knew that Dustin would oppose us if he found out the cost of destroying the system.
It would be like leaving pawns on the enemy side, which would be pointless as long as we have White.
I’m sure White could have easily erased Dustin herself, if need be.
His actual strength is no different from the average human’s, after all.
But since White is gone right now, we have no way of getting to Dustin.
It’s a perfect chance, yet I have no choice but to let it slip away.
Maybe we should have left someone in Dustin’s camp in case of a situation like this?
But we needed all hands on deck to fight Potimas, too…
Oh, well. I suppose there’s no point regretting what’s already done.
We might be missing a golden opportunity, but the installation of Taboo for all of humanity isn’t a bad deal for us, either.
If anything, it might work out in our favor.
The contents of Taboo could easily shake the foundation of the Word of God religion.
I imagine Dustin’s closest associates have been informed about it, but the average priests and believers don’t know anything, of course.
Once they awaken, the Word of God church won’t recover—it’ll only get more chaotic.
Perhaps Dustin will be able to settle them down in a short period of time, but it’ll still prevent him from reacting right away.
So it would be great if we could take advantage of this chaos…
But we still don’t know what developments the world quest will bring next, you know?
It said “world quest sequence 1,” after all.
That means there will be a “2,” and maybe more beyond that.
It’s very concerning that we have no idea what those might entail.
Especially when the first one was a large-scale move like installing Taboo information in all mankind.
The others might be just as big.
In fact, it’s probably best to assume they will be.
This is D we’re talking about, after all.
The Taboo installation alone is going to have untold consequences for humanity.
Once they all awaken, I can easily picture the hellish scenes of pandemonium that might unfold.
I wouldn’t be surprised if “sequence 2” forced all these panicked masses to start killing each other or something equally insane.
That would actually be ideal for our purposes, but I doubt it’ll be that easy.
So the best plan for now is to watch and wait.
Really, there’s nothing else we can do.
We can’t take very quick action in the elf village from here, anyway.
With White gone, our mobility is greatly limited.
It’s a painful reminder of just how convenient her teleportation abilities are.
Although even if White were here, it would probably be a tall order to move the remains of the demon and imperial armies, plus the reincarnations, all in one go.
If we could do that, things wouldn’t be so…hard?
It’s at this moment that I remember exactly where I am.
I’m on the spaceship that Potimas created.
A giant vessel that was designed for a long journey to search for a habitable planet, complete with residential quarters and manufacturing facilities.
Couldn’t this spaceship accommodate everyone who’s left in the elf village?
And since Potimas activated it yesterday in order to escape when he knew he was about to lose the battle, that means it has already accumulated enough energy to travel.
“Miss Ariel, I’m going to check on things outside. If everyone fainted all of a sudden, someone might have gotten injured.”
Wrath’s voice pulls me out of my reverie.
“Ah, good point. That may be necessary.”
Now that he mentions it, it’s very possible that someone could’ve hit their head when they fell unconscious.
They might have been carrying something heavy and gotten trapped underneath, or even passed out in the middle of washing their face and drowned.
“At any rate, we shouldn’t just leave them all lying around. Let’s take this opportunity to carry them all aboard.”
“Aboard?”
“Mm-hmm. Aboard this ship, that is.”
I give a slightly mischievous grin, and Wrath looks surprised for a moment, then nods with understanding.
“I get it. That’s a brilliant idea.”
“Right?”
Wrath’s sharp intuition is very useful at times like these.
Even if I get the feeling White also takes advantage of that usefulness.
“I’m going to stay here and figure out how to make this ship move. Wrath, you check up on everyone and start carrying the men aboard. For the women, Fiel should be hanging around outside somewhere.”
For some reason, Fiel’s been hanging around an old man from the imperial army by the name of Ronandt.
It’s a waste to have her just messing around at a time like this, so I might as well put her to work to make up for it.
“All right.”
“Thanks. I know it’ll be a lot of work, but I’m counting on you, okay?”
Wrath smiles wanly as he leaves.
Now then…
“All that being said, I’ve never even driven a car. Am I going to be able to operate this thing?”
We’re about to find out whether or not I can fly a spaceship.
“Nngh… mmf. Urgh…”
I hear a groan and look over to see Elder Ronandt wincing as he wakes up.
“Good morning. How are you feeling?”
“Hmph! Not very well, I must admit.”
Elder Ronandt drags himself up from the floor with a muttered “heave-ho.”
Something called the “world quest sequence 1” went into effect not long ago, installing Taboo into all people.
Because of that, Elder Ronandt and everyone else here but me all lost consciousness.
I was probably excluded because I had already maxed out Taboo.
However, since Sue had drugged me with something before that, I couldn’t move, either, until the poison left my system.
For a while, I had to just lie there while everyone had fallen to the floor.
Once I regained my ability to move, I went around repositioning everyone who was unconscious.
I felt bad leaving someone as old as Elder Ronandt on the floor, but there was only one bed. Hopefully, the towels I put underneath him were good enough.
If you’re wondering why I couldn’t put Elder Ronandt on the bed, it’s because that was already occupied by the girls.
Part 7 of 8