Interlude - Kunihiko Tagawa
…Yeah, I screwed up.
I don’t feel bad for getting pissed at the class rep, okay?
That’s on her for what she said.
But I definitely shouldn’t have flown off the handle and almost hit her.
The class rep was being kept under watch here for years, which means her stats are probably real low.
If I’d hit her with all my might, she could’ve actually died…
“What d’you think I should do?”
“I would just apologize.”
I awkwardly fled to hang out with Asaka, but she’s being kinda cold.
Couldn’t she at least try to mediate between me and the class rep or something?
“Oh, stop sulking and make sure you apologize today, will you? The longer you wait, the more awkward it’s going to be, you know.”
“…Fine.”
“I mean, not right now—you both probably need to calm down a bit first. Why don’t you go around lunchtime?”
“Yeah, I’ll do that.”
Sounds like Asaka isn’t going to bail me out of this one.
She can be kind of overly practical at times like these…
I guess this one is my own fault, though.
But that means I’ve got time to kill till lunch.
…Should I go do the other thing, then?
Asaka did just say that waiting out stuff like this only makes it more awkward.
This isn’t quite the same, but I think it’ll only get harder the longer I wait, too.
Guess I better suck it up and charge right in.
“Asaka.”
“…What is it? I don’t like that look in your eyes.”
“I’m gonna go see Merazophis.”
At that, Asaka presses her fingers into her temples. “To do what, exactly…?”
“Nothin’ really. I’m not gonna try to duke it out with him at this point, obviously. Especially since my weapon’s broke and all.”
My beloved katana got smashed up by that bastard Kyouya in yesterday’s battle.
…Right, it’s all smashed up.
My precious… Gone…
“Don’t get depressed when you’re the one who brought it up.”
“But my swoooord!”
That was my favorite weapon ever!
It was a memento from the time Asaka and I teamed up with a bunch of high-rank adventurers, working together to defeat a super-strong monster called a lightning dragon, then brought the materials to a talented blacksmith to finally create the ultimate katana!
Naturally, my first and best partner is Asaka, but that katana was a close second!
And now it’s been destroyed…
“Don’t cry on me.”
“I’m not crying!”
I’m certainly sad enough to cry, but I’m obviously too old to actually shed tears over an object.
“Your staff got broken, too, didn’t it? Aren’t you bummed out?”
“Weapons are bound to break eventually.”
There’s that practical side of hers again…
“Ugh.” She sighs. “You’re just going to talk to him, right? Nothing else?”
“Uh-huh.”
I can’t try and take on Merazophis without a weapon.
Even if I did have my sword, I’m guessing I wouldn’t stand a chance fighting him one-on-one.
So I’m not going to see him to try to pick a fight.
If I don’t attack him, I doubt he’ll start anything with me, either.
“All right. Let’s go, then.”
“You’re coming with me?”
“I’d be worried about sending you alone.”
“Can you leave, though?”
I glance over at the sleeping Ms. Oka.
Asaka is supposed to be keeping an eye on her recovery.
“I’ll tag in Chie before we go.”
“Ahh, Nanase, huh?”
Our fellow reincarnation Chie Nanase is a caring girl. I’m sure she can handle it.
Thus, we flag down Nanase before we leave and put her in charge of watching Ms. Oka.
As we walk out of the building, a girl in white robes gives an order with a wave of her hand, and I sense that another white-robed person is following behind us, but I pretend not to notice.
I’m not surprised they would monitor us.
I’m sure they won’t attack us as long as we don’t make any funny moves, though.
If they were gonna kill us, they would’ve done it yesterday.
According to Wakaba and the others, they kept us alive “out of respect for our shared past lives.”
It’s still possible that some other part of the demon army might try to attack us, but I doubt we have to worry about that.
My impression of the demon army so far is that they’re soldiers.
Faithful to their mission.
They coolly carry out their orders without any personal feelings getting involved, almost like some kind of machines.
I doubt they’d go against Wakaba’s orders when she clearly ranks above them.
And the same goes for Merazophis.
I don’t know much about him, to be honest.
We’ve only actually met three times.
The first was in our homeland, when he wiped out our clan.
He killed everyone but me and Asaka.
The second time was during the war against the demons.
As a demon general, he fought us when we were defending a fortress.
And the third time was yesterday’s battle.
Although that being said, the one we fought yesterday was only a shadow of his full self created by some skill or other; I’m not sure if it actually counts as meeting.
Still, maybe whether it was his real body or a shadow clone doesn’t matter that much, since his words and actions were his own.
Though we hardly exchanged any words at all.
Of these three encounters, he far overpowered us the first time, and we fought on a battlefield the other two times.
Naturally, none of these meetings left time for a long chat.
But after crossing blades with him twice, I’d say I’ve learned a little bit about him.
For instance, I’m pretty sure he’s a ridiculously uptight bastard.
He’s the very model of a perfect soldier.
He’d never go against his orders, and he’d certainly never wipe out a whole settlement of his own accord.
Which can only mean one thing.
Merazophis must have destroyed our clan because a higher-up told him to do so, right?
Wasn’t he just following orders?
That’s my theory.
All this time, I’ve been fighting toward the goal of one day defeating Merazophis, but maybe I had the wrong idea after all.
Honestly, what Wakaba and the others told us was so shocking, it’s kinda put a damper on the whole thirst-for-revenge thing.
I want to know more about them, and about Merazophis, before I think things over.
What do I wanna do next?
If I’m gonna figure that out, I need to have a talk with Merazophis first.
“By the way, do you actually know where Merazophis is?”
“Uh…”
We wander aimlessly around the elf village, until finally the white-robed person keeping an eye on us gives in and offers to guide us, and we manage to meet with Merazophis before noon.
…Guess those white-robes have a soft side after all.
Who the hell said they were like machines? …Right, I did.
“Now then. You say…you wish to speak with me?”
When we insisted on talking to Merazophis, we were led into one of the elf houses.
He had evidently been cleaning up after the battle, but he met with us there.
Now we’re sitting across from him at a table.
“Yeah. First, lemme introduce myself. I’m Kunihiko Tagawa, a reincarnation.”
“I’m Asaka Kushitani, also a reincarnation.”
“My name is Merazophis. I myself am not a reincarnation, but I happen to be close with three of them.”
We start by exchanging introductions.
Asaka and I are very well aware of Merazophis, but it’s possible that he didn’t even know our names.
And there’s one more thing I need to confirm.
“You might not remember this, but about ten years ago, you wiped out a village—more of a settlement, really—and we were the only two survivors.”
“Of course I remember.”
Merazophis nods.
Thank goodness. I didn’t know what I was gonna do if he said he didn’t remember.
I was afraid that even though this was a huge life-changing event for Asaka and me, it wasn’t even worth remembering for Merazophis, but I guess not.
Otherwise I might’ve had to punch him.
Although I would have at least tried to resist, since I did just tell Asaka I wasn’t planning to fight him.
…I dunno if I would’ve been able to hold back, though.
“That makes this easier, then. I want to know why our home and clan had to be destroyed. And I want to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth.”
“Hrmm…”
Merazophis seems genuinely thoughtful as he hears me out and contemplates my question.
Just as I suspected, he’s not some evil villain who decided to destroy a whole settlement for no reason.
There must have been some reason for it, and someone must have assigned Merazophis to carry it out.
“…What are you going to do with that information?”
“I dunno,” I answer. “I wanna hear it to help me figure out what to do.”
“Very well. But it is not a very pleasant tale. Are you prepared?”
“Sure.”
At my quick response, Merazophis heaves a sigh.
I guess this probably isn’t very pleasant for him, either.
He’s the person who killed my parents and the rest of my clan, yet something about his attitude gives me a positive impression.
At the same time, I have mixed feelings about it.
Like maybe if he was just some crazy villain, I’d be able to fight him without any kind of hesitation.
“Now then, where should I begin, exactly…? Just a moment.”
With that, Merazophis stands and leaves the room.
Then he comes back holding two mugs.
“Here. This will probably take a while.”
He sets the mugs in front of me and Asaka.
Damn, what a considerate bastard! Bet he’s popular with the ladies!
“…Thanks.”
“Much appreciated.”
Keeping my exasperated thoughts to myself, I thank him for the drink.
Asaka immediately picks up her mug and takes a sip.
She’s not the type to pass up anything that’s offered to her…
What if it’s poisoned or something? No, I guess Merazophis wouldn’t need such roundabout methods to kill us, which he clearly isn’t gonna do anyway…
I follow her example and take a sip.
It’s hot tea that tastes vaguely of apple.
“I’ll attempt to explain as objectively as I can, but I imagine it will still be biased toward a demon’s point of view. Try to bear with me.”
What Merazophis tells us next is certainly far from pleasant, just as he promised.
In fact, it’s downright depressing.
It was a lengthy explanation.
First, he explained the domestic conflict in the demon territory.
It was hard to tell what that had to do with our hometown being destroyed, but I’m sure he had his reasons for starting with that.
Asaka and I sat in silence and listened.
A rebel army, secretly aided by the elves, formed to resist the Demon Lord.
Ms. Oka was among those elves, he says.
But the rebel army was crushed by the official demon army, and the elves, including Ms. Oka, were left stranded in the demon territory, with no way to return to the human territory alive.
The biggest obstacle to their escape was the Human-Demon Buffer Zone, namely a tribe that lived there.
This tribe of despicable thieves would kill anyone they didn’t recognize on sight and live off their stolen possessions.
…That’s referring to our hometown, apparently.
For real?
That’s what demons thought of our clan?
I was stunned, but Asaka seemed fairly unsurprised.
“Well, they really were quite obviously barbaric, remember?”
“Whaaat…?”
I guess Asaka saw the people of our clan that way, too.
She tells me that she was hoping to get away from that settlement as soon as possible.
Come on…seriously…?
I always remembered the men of that tribe being strong, cool adults. Were those just glorified memories all this time?
The unexpected and unwelcome truth about our tribe sends me into a tailspin, but Merazophis still has more to say.
In order to get Ms. Oka safely over to the human territory, it was decided that the only option was to preemptively attack and destroy our hometown to secure safe passage.
“Wait a minute. Why didn’t you just make Ms. Oka a prisoner of war or something?” Asaka asks.
“I’m afraid that was impossible, because of Potimas Harrifenas’s particular abilities.”
I met Potimas, the patriarch of the elves, once before; it turns out he’s the reason this world is in shambles.
Plus, he has the ability to take over someone else’s body.
He can’t do it to just anyone, but evidently if someone meets the right conditions, he can erase their mind and operate their body like his own.
Ms. Oka falls into that category of possible hosts, so if they had kept her as a prisoner of war, Potimas probably would have taken over her body immediately.
“…Damn, that’s gnarly.”
“Yes. Which is why we were unable to lay a hand on Missoka.”
I knew from what Wakaba told us that the elves were garbage, but with that ability, Potimas seems even more evil than I realized.
He was such a piece of shit that it even showed in his abilities.
That’s crazy, though…
“So in a roundabout way, Ms. Oka is the reason our hometown got destroyed?”
It’s not Ms. Oka’s fault at all, but I still feel weird about it.
“There is that, but your presence there was a factor as well.”
“Huh? It’s our fault?”
“No, I wouldn’t describe it as your ‘fault’ per se. This was the border between the human and demon territories, as you recall. Once the war broke out, it would soon become a battlefield, and your clan would have surely perished. It is true that the situation with Missoka hastened its destruction, but there was also the goal of getting you two reincarnations out of the war zone and into a safer area as soon as possible, before the war began. Nor could we allow you to encounter Missoka, who was gathering the reincarnations under the elves’ control.”
“What…the hell? That’s…I don’t even…”
My words won’t come out right.
What is he saying?
That we’re also to blame for our clan getting wiped out?
I guess he let me and Asaka live because we were reincarnations, too.
“Ha-ha. What, are we reincarnations angels of death or something, then?”
“As I said, that tribe would have been caught up in the war and destroyed sooner or later, no matter what.”
Merazophis addresses me almost comfortingly as I laugh bitterly.
Stop it.
Don’t be nice to me when you’re supposed to be the target of my revenge…
“That is the long and short of the situation at that time.”
Merazophis concludes his explanation.
Just as we were warned, I feel decidedly unpleasant after hearing all that, but it made a lot of sense, too.
Now I finally know why someone ridiculously strong like Merazophis would suddenly attack our settlement without warning.
I spent years wondering where he came from, and why.
Not to mention why our clan was the target of such sudden destruction.
Now those questions have finally been answered for me.
Even if part of me suspects I was better off not knowing.
“…As you see, we had our reasons for doing what we did. But it does not change the fact that I personally destroyed your home and killed your friends and family. You have every right to despise me.”
With that, Merazophis stands.
“I cannot apologize, nor can I willingly offer you my life in penance. But I will not turn away a challenge from you, either. I will fight you whenever you wish.”
Just like that, he leaves the room.
Was he being considerate of us?
Were those final words an attempt to motivate me out of my obvious depression?
Seriously, I don’t want my supposed mortal enemy to be nice to me…
“…I came here to find out the truth so I’d know what to do next, but I’ve never felt more unsure, dammit.”
Asaka silently puts her hand on my shoulder.
The mugs that Merazophis poured for us are already empty.
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