1 - A New Dawn
Good morning.
Yes, it’s a new dawn.
Though unfortunately, I wouldn’t exactly describe it as refreshing.
I spent the night in one of the intact homes in the elf village.
It’s the kind of elf house you’d see in a story, carved into a giant tree trunk.
Can you call that a tree house? Yeah, sure, why not? Probably.
Very fancy and fantastical and all that.
Big fairy-tale vibes, too.
I normally spend my nights sleeping in my own home, but I can’t resist trying it out for a night if you show me something like this.
But I can’t say it was a very comfortable night’s sleep.
After all, this is a postwar zone.
Thanks to Potimas’s stupid secret weapons, like the sea urchins and that pyramid thing, the formerly lush forest has been reduced to a wasteland.
Frankly, there’s a serious burnt smell.
This is pretty far away from the site of that battle, but you can still smell it from way over here.
Not to mention that there were battles with robots and mega-robots in this area, too, leaving plenty of scrap metal lying around.
Those robots clearly didn’t run on gasoline or other liquid fuel, so it’s not like that’s leaking out and stinking up the place, but the faint smell of metal and burnt parts is…less than pleasant.
Even if it’s not as bad as the stench from the burnt wasteland.
Man, I’d hate to have the Olfactory Enhancement skill at a time like this.
My sense of smell went back to normal when I became a god. Otherwise, I bet I wouldn’t have been able to sleep, no matter how much I wanted to, with that smell keeping me up.
Well, unless I just turned the skill off, I guess.
But there’s also the fact that it was elves who lived here.
That in and of itself is enough to make me a little nauseated.
Not to mention that we’re the ones who killed those residents.
It’s not like I’m afraid of ghosts or curses or whatever, but I can’t say it doesn’t make me feel a teeny bit uncomfortable.
And of course, I suppose I have to mention the stink of blood and guts and all that…
Overall, I would say it was just a really poorly timed stay in this particular home.
Maybe if I were visiting or on a trip or something I might have felt differently… Not in this situation, though.
I didn’t sleep well, and I think I had nightmares, too.
Since I just finally wrapped up a big job, you’d think I at least deserved a good night’s sleep.
Then again, I guess it’s to be expected, given that the “big job” in question was an elf genocide.
Yep, it was an all-out attack on the elf village.
Of course, the main goal was to take out Potimas.
It’s almost entirely his fault that this planet is in such a horrible state, you know.
Destroying the cause would hopefully rectify the problem at least a little.
That was the idea, anyway.
Although there’s also the fact that Potimas and the Demon Lord had some serious bad blood.
To be totally honest, I have mixed feelings about letting the Demon Lord finish Potimas off herself.
By battling Potimas, the Demon Lord was able to finally destroy him like she always wanted.
But it came at a serious cost.
The backlash from that battle has rendered the Demon Lord almost entirely unable to fight.
And that’s not all.
In fact, this part is way more important: The Demon Lord’s life span has been shortened to almost nothing.
Now, she already knew she wouldn’t live much longer, which is why she took on the role of Demon Lord in the first place.
Physically, her body doesn’t age, but her soul was already reaching its limits.
That was reflected in the Demon Lord’s stats.
All her stats and skills had long since stopped changing.
The stats and skills governed by the system are strengthened by absorbing a portion of the soul of a defeated opponent in the form of “experience points,” attaching that piece to one’s own soul.
Basically, the process forcibly expands your soul.
And the Demon Lord’s soul has already been blown up to the point of bursting like an overfilled balloon.
So it can no longer absorb the soul pieces called experience points, which is why her stats and skills can’t get any stronger.
And so the Demon Lord’s soul was unable to take on even more experience points.
Either her soul would explode, or its contents would start leaking out like a balloon with a hole poked into it.
Either way, the Demon Lord’s soul had reached its limits.
So she knew that she was going to die in the near future.
Except that’s by the standards of the Demon Lord, who’s lived a stupidly long time.
From a normal human’s point of view, I’m sure she still had plenty of time left.
But that was all used up in the battle against Potimas.
Now the Demon Lord looks like she could die at any moment.
Seeing her like this, I can’t help but wonder if letting her fight Potimas was really the right move.
Even if it was her wish, maybe I should’ve dug in my heels and refused.
But at the same time, part of me also recognizes that because the Demon Lord fought Potimas, I didn’t have to waste any precious energy.
It’s an invaluable victory that the Demon Lord won nearly at the cost of her life, yet here I am looking at it in terms of numbers.
Even I have to admit that’s a pretty gross personality trait.
Man, I suck sometimes.
Ugh… I’ve gotta stop dwelling on this, though.
What’s done is done, and I can’t change it.
I’ll reflect on what I’ve done, but I won’t sit around and regret it.
Because regret just means you’re rejecting the person you were up until that point.
No matter what happens, you’ve gotta accept it and use it as fuel to keep moving forward.
All righty, then.
I guess that means my first order of business is checking on our prisoners of war.
In this battle, we captured Yamada and the rest of his hero party.
The reincarnations who were being held in the elf village under the guise of protection.
And Ms. Oka, the last surviving elf.
That’s it.
In other words, it’s almost all reincarnations.
Y’know, since we killed all the other elves.
The entire race of elves was really just based on a bunch of Potimas clones anyway.
What this world knows as elves were all either Potimas’s clones, people who got remodeled into elves, or their children.
From what I’ve heard, the elves were abducting people even before they started kidnapping reincarnations specifically.
They’d turn the abductees into elves and have them make children with Potimas’s clones.
Otherwise, if it was just Potimas clones reproducing, there’d be some genetic side effects.
The children created in that way were raised as elves.
By nature, that means the majority of elves were blood relatives of Potimas.
Is that even a race, or just a bloodline?
Well, at any rate, what I’m saying is that exterminating all the elves was better for everyone in the long run.
The only exceptions are Ms. Oka and the half-elves.
Ms. Oka aside, it would’ve been a huge pain to take out all the half-elves, too.
Even I’m not all-seeing, you know.
There are places I can’t reach, and more that I’ve overlooked, I’m sure.
I do think it’s for the best to wipe out the elves as thoroughly as possible, but eliminating every last one outside the elf village here would be way too much trouble.
I was bound to miss a few here and there.
So basically, I’m ignoring anyone who cut ties with the elves and went off on their own.
Which includes the half elf in our pal Yamada’s party, too.
Apparently, she already died once, but that doesn’t count.
She came back to life, okay? All’s well that ends well.
Yamada might have gotten knocked out hard in the process, but that’s not my problem!
Don’t look at me!
Seriously, it’s got nothing to do with me!
So yeah.
I’m a little nervous, but I guess I have to check on how Yamada made out, huh?
It’s probably my fault that he passed out in the first place…
I bet it was you-know-what, right?
His Taboo skill finally maxed out?
What am I gonna do if that totally altered his personality or something…?
Aaah, I’m so nervous.
I guess I’ve gotta explain things to the other reincarnations, too, huh…?
Are we sure I can’t just get Mr. Oni to handle it?
Speaking isn’t exactly my strong suit.
In a way, this next quest is even harder than conquering the elf village.
I guess I should go scope things out.
The first thing I see when I leave the tree house is a mountain of corpses.
No, really. I’m being totally literal here.
The bodies that make up this actual mountain are what’s left of the imperial army that invaded the elf village.
With Natsume leading the charge, they fought the elves, and then got pincered in a surprise attack from the demon army behind them, leading to their utter downfall.
While of course there are some survivors left, from a military standpoint they’ve taken enough damage to call it more than a decimation.
It’s considered decimation if they lost at least 10 percent of their forces, right?
Or was it twenty?
Well, either way, this is definitely more than that.
The troop Natsume was leading directly faced off against relatively average foes like Yamada’s party and Ms. Oka; their losses were relatively few.
But the other troops all got stuck fighting Potimas’s secret weapons, to the point where some of them were completely obliterated.
And by secret weapons, I don’t mean the ones I fought, like the sea urchins, or the Gloria Omega the Demon Lord fought.
I mean the ones I’ve been calling robots.
No, not even mega-robots. Just the regular mass-produced cannon fodder.
But while they might seem like hunks of junk from my perspective, they’re a horrifying threat by the standards of most people in this world.
How big of a threat? you ask. Believe it or not, those robots were probably on par with Earth Dragon Araba, if not stronger.
We’re talking weapons that no number of ordinary humans could stand a chance against, and they’re mass-produced, popping up in droves from all over the place.
Yeah. I can see why most of these guys kicked the bucket.
And there you have it: a mountain of corpses.
I guess the surviving imperial soldiers and Mera’s men stayed up all night recovering them from the battlefield.
You mean while I was complaining about getting a bad night’s sleep, these guys were working overnight right after fighting a hard battle all day?
Okay, that’s my bad.
Sorry for complaining about champagne problems, guys.
I guess I was lucky that I got to sleep at all.
Turns out soldiers in this parallel fantasy world fight until they die, and if they don’t die, they get put to work all night. Worst working conditions ever.
Hey, all you isekai fans! Want to try getting reincarnated as a soldier in another world?
…Yeah, now I’m starting to feel really bad for them.
Although this was all part of the plan in the first place, since I always intended to use the imperial army as expendable pawns.
I even had Natsume gather soldiers from corrupt imperial noble families and such, specifically so it wouldn’t be a big deal if they died… But it’s their bosses who were at fault, not the soldiers.
I’m sure some of them were benefiting from those dirty dealings, but still.
Well, either way, they all played their parts perfectly well.
So I think they at least deserve to be properly mourned.
Obviously, they can’t carry all these corpses back to the empire, so they’ll either have to make do with mementos or cremate the bodies and bring back the ashes.
Either way, we’ll have to bury them with care and respect.
On the other hand, the elves’ corpses are nowhere in sight.
They’ve all vanished into my stomach.
Or the stomachs of my little clones, to be more precise.
Look, this is my way of showing respect to the dead, too, okay?
In the natural world, it’s only right to eat anything you’ve killed.
By eating their bodies, they become part of my flesh and blood.
Ah, the circle of life.
I’m sure Potimas would be thrilled to bits that his descendants became the flesh and blood of a god, too, no doubt.
“Good morning, Lady White.”
As I look out at the mountain of corpses, Mera approaches me politely.
“Have you eaten breakfast yet? I would be happy to prepare something for you.”
Okay, so he’s casually offering me breakfast.
I dunno about that one, chief.
Normally there’d be nothing strange about such an offer from an attentive guy like Mera, but right now, he’s here as an army commander.
Since we’re technically the same rank, it’s gotta look weird to his subordinates for him to make such a considerate offer to me.
And Mera’s usually good at keeping his personal life and his official duties separate.
He’d never make it so obvious to his men that he considers himself below me.
Okay, I really hope I’m wrong about this, but uh…
…Mera, you wouldn’t happen to be worried that I might try to eat these corpses, would you?
If my eyes were open, I’m sure they’d be very narrowed right now.
Mera seems to pick up on this. His gaze wavers a little.
It’s such a slight shift that no ordinary person would notice, but nothing gets past me.
How insulting.
But fine.
I really haven’t eaten breakfast yet. I guess I’ll take Mera up on his offer.
It’s the least he can do to make up for suspecting me like that.
Wait, what’s this?
I’m sensing a serious death glare, and even some magic, to boot.
Mera senses it a moment after I do and starts to move, but I raise a hand to stop him.
“Hrmph, just as I suspected. This much isn’t even a threat to you, eh?”
The person who was radiating a threatening aura calmly walks toward me.
It’s one of the imperial army generals. I think his name is Ronandt.
Most people might know him as Julius the Hero’s magic teacher.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Mera sends a death glare right back at Ronandt.
Thanks to skills like Intimidation, the power behind Mera’s threatening aura is off the charts.
Some of the demon and imperial soldiers working nearby turn pale or even faint.
Yet in the face of all that pressure, Ronandt maintains a cool smile.
Huh. Guess he’s lived longer than most other humans for a reason.
Mera’s stats far outmatch his on paper, but in terms of sheer presence, Ronandt somehow seems like a bigger deal.
“Why, I was only offering a greeting, my boy.”
“Aha. So they shoot magic at each other as a greeting in the empire, do they? I’ve never heard of such a custom.”
Mera only ramps up the intimidation factor in response to Ronandt’s aloof attitude.
You could practically cut the tension in the air with a knife.
Except there is one little thing that’s already cutting the tension quite a bit…
Um, am I allowed to ask about this?
Fiel, why are you hanging off Ronandt?
Since there’s a little girl clinging to his back, Mera just looks like some jerk glaring at an old man and his granddaughter.
What’s going on here?
I don’t get it.
Even Mera seems perplexed beneath his air of intimidation.
I mean, can ya blame him?
“What a petty fellow, to get so worked up over such a trifling matter. Indeed, this esteemed personage here has remained calm, eh? She clearly knew that I did not truly intend to use that magic.”
Yeah, sure, except the main reason I’m not moving is that I’m totally thrown off by the fact that Fiel is hanging off your back.
A smirking old geezer with a little girl on his back…
Seriously, what’s up with this guy?
“You see, I happen to have some shared history with your esteemed friend. Of course, my existence is surely of little consequence to her, but that is why I thought to introduce myself now, that she might learn my name.”
Um, okay. I already know your name.
Besides, you keep showing up in such memorable ways, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t forget you even if I tried.
“My name is Ronandt Orozoi. Head mage of the imperial court of the Renxandt Empire.”
He gives such a dramatic introduction that I can almost hear a DUN-DUN-DUUUN!
And then, Fiel pulls on his cheeks.
Now there’s an old man standing in front of me making a frog face.
“PFFT?!”
Mera lets out a snort.
I barely manage to hold back a spit take myself.
How’s anyone supposed to keep it together when you make a weird face at a time like that?!
Any professional comedian would kill for that level of humor!
I’ve got no choice but to laugh at this!
Shoot. I gotta get out of here or I’m gonna burst out laughing.
“Let’s go.”
“Erm, are you quite certain?”
I nod firmly at the utterly baffled Mera.
Quick, retreat while my abs and face muscles are still doing their job!
I turn my back on the old man, who’s still frozen with a frog face, and swiftly walk away.
“What have you done, you little rascal?!”
I pretend not to hear the person shouting behind me.
Mera keeps glancing over his shoulder at the geezer, but I keep striding away without hesitation, forcing him to follow after me.
It almost sounded like someone cried out, “P-please, come back!” behind me, but I’m sure it’s not directed at me.
Must be part of their new comedy act or something.
So obviously I shouldn’t go back there.
Oof, I haven’t even met with the reincarnations yet and I’m already exhausted all of a sudden.
No waaay.
While that run-in with a weird old man took the wind out of my sails, I still let Mera lead the way for the sake of breakfast, and we arrive at a tree house similar to the one I slept in.
The demon army does have tents and such for camping, but obviously a building with a proper roof is the more comfortable choice.
Even if some of the areas got razed to the ground, the excessively large elf village still has plenty of space for us to use.
There’s no reason not to take advantage, especially since it’s not like anyone else is using them anymore.
“Oh? Good morning.”
In the tree house, Vampy is elegantly eating breakfast.
The wooden plates, presumably belonging to the prior owners of the house, are loaded with all kinds of food.
The portion sizes are nothing crazy, since it’s just breakfast, but there’s certainly a wide variety of options to make your mouth water.
Bread, salad, fruit, steaks cut into bite-size pieces, scrambled eggs…
It’s a much more luxurious breakfast than you’d expect the day after a battle, and there’s Vampy, digging in daintily with a knife and fork.
What are you, nobility?!
Ah, I guess she really was born into a noble family.
“Please prepare portions for two more people,” Mera instructs his subordinate in the back.
Looks like they’re using this place as a special dining hall for officers and such.
The subordinate immediately withdraws farther into the back to carry out his orders.
There must be a kitchen back there, I guess.
And wait, two more people? Is Mera gonna eat with us, then?
It feels like it’s been ages since I saw Vampy and Mera sit down for a meal together.
Mera is technically Vampy’s servant, after all.
It must feel kinda weird for him to eat with his master.
Although it’s a little late for that now, since they always ate together during our journey from Sariella to the demon territory.
Plus, Mera’s official position as a commander technically outranks Vampy’s…
Hmm?
When you put it that way, isn’t Vampy the one out of place eating here?
Mera and I are both commanders, but Vampy doesn’t even have a rank, does she?
What do the demon army soldiers who don’t know anything about the situation make of this, I wonder?
Hmm…? Well, she does get officer treatment here. Maybe they’ve got some idea what’s going on?
As I reflect on these pointless matters, Mera pulls out a chair for me.
Huh?! I’m seated all of a sudden!
What a gentleman!
Is this the power of chivalry?!
By the time I’m done marveling, Mera is already seated.
On closer inspection, Mera’s face looks pale with fatigue.
I can’t blame him—he fought the elves all day, then cleaned up after the battle all night.
Doesn’t seem like he’s been eating much, either.
Otherwise, I doubt he would sit down to eat with me and Vampy.
He’d probably eat by himself to be polite.
I imagine there’s no one else here besides Vampy, because they’re all working or sleeping off their exhaustion, too.
It feels really weird to see two vampires eating breakfast at the break of dawn, though.
“Ms. Ariel is sleeping. Kyouya is guarding her. I’ve no idea where Phelmina is.”
Evidently guessing my thoughts, Vampy tells me what the rest of the usual gang is doing.
No idea about Phelmina, though, huh?
Knowing her, I’m sure she’s working her butt off, but that poor girl doesn’t leave much of an impression.
In fact, Phelmina is my subordinate. If anyone should know what she’s doing, it should be me, right?
…It’s fine! Nothing to worry about!
Yeah, for sure. Probably.
“Oh, and Kusama went to see the other reincarnations. I imagine they’re eating breakfast together by now, perhaps?”
Kusama, Kusama… Oh, right.
The kid who was raised by the church and sucks at being a ninja.
Turns out Kusama’s father is one of the pontiff’s secret intelligence agents, which is how the pontiff found out about reincarnations in the first place.
He also recruited Kusama himself as an agent and trained him.
We were introduced to him when we formed a temporary alliance with the pontiff against the elves.
He was relatively friendly with Mr. Oni in their previous lives, I think. They were chatting during the breaks between our meeting with the pontiff.
Not that I got involved much. People like Vampy and me can’t quite keep up with Kusama’s high energy.
Even back in his old life, Kusama was always kind of a class clown, life-of-the-party guy.
Shadowy types like me and Vampy can’t hang out with sunny types like him…
Why did someone loud and flashy like Kusama get a unique skill like Ninja? Probably because his name is “Shinobu” or some stupid reason like that.
Knowing D, it wouldn’t surprise me.
Funny, though…
As far as Kusama’s concerned, this is a big reunion with his long-lost classmates.
Kinda like an alumni meet-up?
I’ve got my own reasons for not being super excited to go reignite old friendships. I wonder what Vampy and Mr. Oni think about that, though?
“What?”
Vampy sounds grouchy, although there’s no way she knows what I was thinking.
Oh, right.
Come to think of it, she doesn’t have very good memories of her previous life, does she?
I guess that much is obvious from the fact that she’s eating here instead.
I’m still probably gonna make her come with me to explain things to the other reincarnations later, though.
Same for Mr. Oni.
Oh, speaking of which… I wonder what’s going on with Yamada.
Maybe he’s opened his eyes by now?
I wonder if Vampy knows anything?
“Yamada…”
“Excuse me? …Ah, I see. I imagine he’s still sleeping. At the very least, I haven’t heard anything about him waking up yet.”
After all these years, Vampy has gotten pretty good at guessing what I’m thinking, but she still gets stumped at times.
Like just now. She obviously didn’t understand what I was asking at first.
Her reading between the lines still has a ways to go.
Try learning from Mr. Oni’s example.
“If anything, I’d be a bit more worried about Hasebe, now that she’s recovered from the brainwashing. She seemed awfully disoriented, from what I’ve heard.”
Ah.
That’s a good point, actually.
Of the two reincarnations brainwashed by Natsume, Ooshima broke out of it without any help, but Hasebe was brainwashed this entire time.
What’s gonna happen when she comes to her senses?
Uh-oh…
Maybe it would help if I erase some of her memories and stuff.
“I’m told she’s being kept asleep right now. If you’re concerned, maybe you should go check on her later?”
Yeah, good call.
But first, we feast!
I chow down on the food being served to us.
Hrmm.
It feels weird to be eating like this right after a battle.
Guess that’s a perk of being a big shot.
I didn’t work through the night, but I still got to eat tasty food in the morning… I guess you could say I’ve got it made.
Forget about Mera next to me, Phelmina still out there working somewhere, and Mr. Oni, who probably hasn’t gotten a wink of shut-eye guarding the Demon Lord.
Keep up the good work, people.
While I’m on this excruciating tangent in my head, I finish eating breakfast.
Thanks for the meal.
Now that I’m done, I bid Mera farewell.
There’s still lots of post-battle cleanup to do: burning or burying the dead imperial army soldiers, dealing with the prisoners of war, and so on.
I know he’s been working all night already, but I’m gonna need him to keep at it.
As for Vampy and me, we’re going to see the Demon Lord.
She’s probably still sleeping, but we need to take Mr. Oni away from guarding her for now.
His communication skills are gonna be indispensable for our meeting with the other reincarnations.
Whether Mr. Oni is there or not has a huge impact on the likelihood of our success.
So here we are, in front of Mr. Oni.
I hadn’t explained any of this ahead of time, but thanks to his impressive intuition, he figures out what I’m trying to say through hand gestures alone.
So we’re able to bring Mr. Oni along with us.
Ael, Sael, and Riel are still guarding the Demon Lord. They’ll be fine without him.
Which reminds me, what was Fiel doing hanging off that old geezer?
Why is she sticking to that guy instead of guarding the Demon Lord?
It makes no sense.
Anyway, I guess that means we’re ready to head over to the reincarnations.
…Man, do I really have to, though?
I don’t wanna…
These reincarnations all knew Hiiro Wakaba.
As if that wasn’t already bad enough, I’m gonna have to actually talk to them to explain what’s going on.
What did I do to deserve this punishment?
Ugh, I totally don’t wanna go.
But I have no other choice…
Or do I?
When you reeeally think about it, I don’t actually have any obligation to explain the situation to these other reincarnations, do I?
Couldn’t I just let them run around in confusion without a word of explanation?
Maybe, maybe not…
Maybe so!
“Ms. White. You’re wondering if you can get out of this, aren’t you?”
Nngh!
Mr. Oni, are you a mind reader or something?!
Hrmmm…
UGH.
All right, fiiine.
Now that Mr. Oni caught me in the act, I guess I’d better buckle down and do it.
And so we arrive at the reincarnations’ tree house.
I evacuated them into my separate dimension during the battle with the elves, but as soon as the fight was over, I shoved them into this tree house.
Aside from Natsume, they’re all here, even Yamada and friends.
I feel bad for stuffing them all into such a small space, but it makes it easier for me to manage.
Besides, I at least tried to separate them by gender and such.
And I’ve got someone keeping watch on them.
Did I ask for their permission before employing a spy? Of course not!
I reach for the tree house door…but for some reason, even though it’s perfectly ordinary, it seems incredibly heavy to me.
Once they see my face, they’ll probably have a lot to say to me…
For one thing, I’ve got the face of Hiiro Wakaba.
Oh, and by the way, I didn’t let them see my face when I popped them into an alternate dimension and back out again.
From their perspective, they were suddenly tossed into an empty space, then thrown back out. That’s probably all they know.
So if I show up looking like Hiiro Wakaba, who presumably has some idea of what’s going on, they’re gonna start peppering me with questions! I can see it now!
Argh, I don’t wanna deal with that.
But I guess I can’t keep dragging it out like this, either.
Let’s do this! Just gotta barge right in.
So I open the door and find Kusama and Ogiwara tied up with rope.
SLAM.
I automatically shut the door.
Hmm?
Hmmm?
Hmmmmm?!
What the hell was that? Am I seeing things?
Is there a mage so masterful that they can make someone like me see such realistic illusions?!
Trying to make sure I didn’t make some kind of mistake, I slowly open the door again.
Sure enough, Kusama and Ogiwara are all tied up.
…Okay.
Um, sure.
Riiight. Got it.
For the sake of argument, I can see why they’d get tied up, I guess.
Kusama and Ogiwara were working for the Word of God.
Kusama was part of the attack on the elf village, meaning he was on our side, and Ogiwara is a spy who got caught by the elves on purpose to leak information from the inside.
Yep, he’s another reincarnation who fell under the pontiff’s influence.
Ogiwara has a unique skill called Unlimited Telephone, which can actually communicate even through the barrier that was around the elf village.
It’s way more impressive than it sounds.
That barrier was crazy powerful, given the stupid amounts of MA energy it used up.
The fact that this skill could ignore that barrier might not sound exciting, but it’s still amazing.
It’s just telepathy. But still: telepathy!
The inside information about the elf village we got from Ogiwara was seriously a huge help in putting together our plan of attack.
And I gotta hand it to him for getting captured by elves, imprisoned here in the village, and spending years in here for that sole purpose.
That’s just how we see it from our side, though.
To the other reincarnations, he’s basically a traitor. So I do kinda get why they would want to capture him and maybe interrogate him.
But, uh, why would you tie the pair of them up face-to-face like they’re hugging each other?
Isn’t back-to-back usually the standard in this kind of situation?
Why are they facing the wrong way?
Kusama and Ogiwara are both straining to turn their heads away, but c’mon, their faces are still touching.
If the angle was just a little different, they’d already be kissing.
And on top of that, why are the girls watching them and looking so pleased with themselves?
If there were cameras in this world, I bet they’d be having a whole photoshoot.
The only ones who seem sane here are Ms. Oka, the old class rep Kudo, and Kushitani.
No, wait.
Ms. Oka keeps saying things like “This is very unkind!” and she’s covering her face, but she’s still peeking at them through her fingers.
Kudo is practically bawling: “No, not like this. It’s only acceptable when it’s 2D. 3D is going too far!” Whatever that’s supposed to mean.
So the only sane one here is Kushitani!
Uhh, what in the…? What?
“Miss Wakaba! Please, help!”
As I’m staring dumbfounded at the whole bizarre scene, Kusama notices me and starts begging for help.
He sounds like he’s on the verge of tears.
Hey, don’t drag me into this!
At the sound of his voice, everyone else in the room turns to stare at me, too.
Stop it!
Why are you focusing on me at a weird time like this?!
Don’t look at me!
“No way.”
“Wakaba?”
“But I thought…”
“Is it really her?”
The reincarnations start whispering among themselves, still looking at me.
Finally, one of them steps forward as a representative.
It’s the former class rep, Kudo.
“It’s good to see you again… Erm, you are Miss Wakaba, aren’t you?”
That’s not actually true, but saying so now would only complicate matters, so I just nod.
At that, Ms. Oka is visibly shaken.
“Incidentally, is the person behind you Sasajima, by chance?”
“Yep, that’s right. Good to see you, class rep.”
“You as well.”
The tension leaves Kudo’s shoulders when she hears Mr. Oni’s mild-mannered greeting, as if the fight has gone out of her.
But she immediately pulls herself back together and looks at my other companion.
“Then by process of elimination, you must be Miss Negishi?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
When Vampy nods, there’s more muttering from the reincarnations behind Kudo.
From what I can hear… Well, most of it sounds like they’re all surprised at Vampy’s new look.
Kudo silences the chattering reincarnations with a loud clap of her hands.
“Well?” she says, sounding openly wary. “What do you want with us, then?”
I can’t blame her for being suspicious.
The reincarnations who were being kept here in the elf village are aware that the imperial army attacked.
But they don’t know anything else about the situation, and then I put them into an isolated space and popped them back out into captivity here.
What’s going to happen to them now?
What in the world is going on?
They have no idea, and now three fellow reincarnations have suddenly appeared. It’s only fair that they’d be cautious of us.
Other than that, the others just seem confused.
Along with Kudo, Shinohara seems on guard, too, as well as Tagawa and Kushitani.
The rest seem more bewildered than anything.
“Please don’t worry. We don’t mean you any harm.” Mr. Oni speaks before I do. “Ms. Oka might not believe us, but we’re not your enemies. I hope you can trust me on that much, at least.”
The room falls silent at Mr. Oni’s earnest plea.
A few reincarnations cast their eyes toward Ms. Oka.
But she doesn’t seem to notice, just opening and closing her mouth in silent confusion.
I’m guessing she’s trying to talk but can’t figure out what to say.
“We came here today to talk things out. There’s a lot we need to discuss.”
Mr. Oni looks around at everyone as he speaks.
Nobody says a word to object.
Yeah, I knew it was a good call to bring him along.
“Umm…before that, though, could you maybe untie us?”
“Shut up! Read the room, stupid!”
When Kusama raises a pitiful request, Ogiwara snaps at him.
“…I get why Kusama’s tied up, but why’d you tie up Ogi, too?” Mr. Oni asks point-blank.
Come to think of it, that’s a good question. I know they see Kusama as an enemy because he faced off against Yamada’s party at one point, but how’d they find out that Ogiwara is a spy?
As long as he kept his mouth shut, I don’t see why they’d figure it out…
“This idiot sold me out as a spy the second he opened his damn mouth…”
“Ahh…”
The idiot in question, also known as Kusama, sticks his tongue out with a sheepish grin.
No doubt he ran right over to Ogiwara and yelled something like “Our plan worked, Ogi!” revealing to everyone else that Ogiwara was on the same side as Kusama…
Yeah, I can totally picture that.
“…Well, let’s not just stand around. Have a seat and we’ll talk.”
Once Kusama and company have taken the tension out of the room, Kudo offers this suggestion with a tired-sounding sigh.
Unfortunately for them, Kusama and Ogiwara get left right where they are.
This tree house is a four-story building.
I don’t know if you can actually use “four-story building” to describe a structure carved out of a giant tree, but let’s not worry about that right now.
So anyway, the first floor is a dining hall.
There are a few tables, along with chairs to match.
But right now, the tables have been moved to the sides of the room, leaving everyone to position their chairs wherever they like.
This was at Kudo’s suggestion, claiming that it would be harder to hear us out with tables in the way.
So the reincarnations are sitting in a half-circle with me at the center, waiting for the conversation to start.
Yeah, I’m in the center!
Why me?!
You should’ve put Mr. Oni there!
He’s the one who’s been speaking for us this whole time. Why wouldn’t you just go with the flow and leave it up to him?!
But Mr. Oni smoothly ceded center stage to yours truly and stepped back to sit at my side.
I can see it in his eyes.
He’s saying I’m the one who should do the talking.
Thanks, but no thanks.
You don’t need to be weirdly considerate at a time like this!
Grrr… This is why Goody Two-shoes like him are the worst!
People who like to follow the rules refuse to be flexible in these situations.
I use my X-ray vision to peek at Mr. Oni without turning my head.
He’s not moving a muscle.
Clearly, he has no intention of doing anything until I talk.
Dammit.
Searching for help, I look to my other side.
Vampy is sitting there, looking rather sulky.
Doesn’t look like she’ll be much help, either.
Yeah, I’m screwed.
If I get her to talk, I bet she’ll make things even worse somehow.
I look straight ahead.
There, Kudo is sitting with her arms and even legs folded, looking straight at me.
She always had an intense stare in her old life, and those slitted eyes and pretty features have carried over into this one.
It’s seriously intimidating to have a girl like that glaring at you.
Maybe she has the Intimidation skill?
And next to her is Ms. Oka, looking fidgety.
Her gaze is whipping all over the place, her body squirming in her seat.
This is different from the other reincarnations, who are nervous because they have no idea what’s going on.
If anything, maybe Ms. Oka is even more worried about what’s going to happen next because she does have some knowledge.
I guess, from the others’ point of view, they really don’t know what to expect, huh?
Since we said we want to talk things out, I’m sure they gave in to the desire for an explanation.
But for Ms. Oka, the situation is a little different.
For one thing, she seems to know that Vampy and Mr. Oni were on the demon army side.
They were supposedly being attacked by the imperial army—and then two reincarnations from the demon army suddenly show up?
No wonder she’s taken aback.
Plus, Ms. Oka’s been fed a bunch of BS information from Potimas all her life. She has no way of knowing what’s right and what’s wrong.
So because of the knowledge she has, she’s even more confused than the other reincarnations.
Of all the other reincarnations here, the others with the most knowledge next to Ms. Oka are Tagawa, Kushitani, and Shinohara.
Tagawa and Kushitani only arrived at the elf village recently; before that, they were adventuring all over the world.
Not long ago, they participated in the human-demon war and went up against Mera.
In that way, they might have even more of a history with the demon army than Ms. Oka.
But the two of them seem calmer than Ms. Oka, ready to hear us out.
Shinohara, meanwhile, is leaning against the wall and staring at me rather than sitting down.
…Um, that’s a little scary.
Her gaze is even more intense than Kudo’s.
But it doesn’t seem like she’s going to start yelling at me.
The only other reincarnations who actually fought in the elf village attack aren’t here.
They’re all recuperating from injuries or exhaustion.
Honestly, it’s probably better that way for now. They’d only make things even messier if they were here.
Aside from the tied-up Kusama and Ogiwara, the other reincarnations each have various attitudes, but they’re at least looking attentive.
Besides Ms. Oka, it seems like they’re all willing to listen with an open mind.
This is the perfect chance to win over the rest of the reincarnations while Yamada and friends aren’t around!
But I feel like I’m surrounded by enemies on all sides.
Diagonally behind me on one side is Mr. Oni, sitting still as a statue.
On the other side is Vampy, who seems to be sulking.
Right in front of me is Kudo, pressuring me with her eyes to hurry up and explain.
Ms. Oka keeps glancing at me nervously, too.
And the rest of the reincarnations are all totally staring.
Can I run away, please? No?
Do I really have to explain things with everyone’s attention laser-focused on me?
I do, huh? Riiight, of course.
Umm, umm…
Let’s see. Should I start by talking about the weather?
Nice and sunny today, isn’t it?
Yeah, that’s not right.
But seriously, what should I tell them first?
These reincarnations have nooo idea what’s going on. I’ve gotta explain the whole thing from square one.
But where is square one, exactly?
Maybe I should start with the creation of this world, or rather the system?
Hmm…but that would probably just be confusing for them, since it’s probably not what they’re wondering about at the moment, huh?
What do the reincarnations want to know most of all right now?
When I look at it that way, maybe I should start like this?
“First of all, you’re all currently prisoners of the demons.”
“What?”
Kudo stares at me in shock for a moment, then her expression hardens.
The other reincarnations start muttering, too, and chaos ensues.
Okay, looks like that wasn’t the right call.
Since they’ve got people like Kusama, I assumed they at least knew a little bit of information, but apparently they hadn’t been told anything like this.
They didn’t even hear anything from the ones who actually fought us, like Tagawa?
…Ahh, they probably tied up Kusama and Ogiwara to try to get that information out of them.
Maybe I should’ve come a little later.
“Quiet!”
Mr. Oni stands and claps his hands, silencing the crowd.
“Don’t worry. Even if you’re technically prisoners, that doesn’t mean anything bad is going to happen to you. If anything, it’s more like we’re protecting you. So please don’t be alarmed. Like I said before, we really don’t mean you any harm. I hope you can at least hear us out to the end, even if some of it comes off as strange. Is that all right?”
Mr. Oni’s sincerity calms down the alarmed reincarnations.
Shinohara, Tagawa, and Kushitani still seem on edge, but otherwise it looks like they’re going to hear us out.
Phew. Nice one, Mr. Oni!
I guess even though they’ve been living in the elf village, they still see demons as the enemies of humans.
No wonder they got freaked out when I suddenly announced that they were the prisoners of said demons.
Welp, that’s my bad.
Thank goodness Mr. Oni smoothed things over for me.
“So…what do you mean, exactly? The three of you are working with the demons?”
Kudo rubs her temples as she asks this.
Normally, I would just nod, but this time even I can tell that wouldn’t be enough of an explanation to pacify anyone.
Come on, I’ve gotta say something!
Aah! Uhh! Umm!
…Hrmm. I didn’t really want to do this, but you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
I guess I’ve gotta put my pride aside for now and do the thing.
So I flip the switch.
“Yes, that’s correct. Incidentally, the three of us here are not human.”
As I speak, I open my eyes.
I turned off all my Evil Eyes so there wouldn’t be any negative effects from looking at me directly, but their unnatural appearance still makes the reincarnations gasp.
At the same time, Vampy and Mr. Oni also gasp at the sudden change in my attitude, but I’m just gonna ignore that.
“We three have been collaborating with the Demon Lord in order to achieve certain goals. Now, I’ll explain that in detail later. First, we should discuss the current situation.”
The words flow forth without any hesitation.
Part of me is surprised, even though it’s coming out of my own mouth.
See, I have memories that aren’t actually mine.
They’re the memories of Hiiro Wakaba, D’s temporary human form.
I can use those memories to recreate Hiiro Wakaba’s personality.
It’s what I call Hiiro Wakaba Mode.
When I’m in this mode, I can say what I’m thinking without any issues.
Hiiro Wakaba wasn’t a lousy speaker like me, after all. It would be strange if she couldn’t talk.
But this mode basically means I’m doing an imitation of D.
Me! Pretending to be D!
Seriously, it’s so humiliating!
That’s why I don’t like to do it!
But otherwise, I can’t explain things properly!
So I’m just gonna have to suck it up.
“First of all, I imagine you’ve heard that the imperial army invaded the elf village. We in the demon army attacked the elf village from behind them. The army that Natsume was leading was only a decoy.”
That makes the reincarnations stir again.
Among them, Ms. Oka looks especially pale.
“Would you mind if I listen in on this explanation, too?”
Just then, someone descends from the stairs to the second floor.
Ahh, dang it. He showed up.
With the worst possible timing, the person who’s just appeared, despite supposedly being unconscious, is none other than Yamada.
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