Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? (LN) - Volume 16 - Chapter 12

Filimos

What in the world am I supposed to do?

After learning the deeds of Potimas and the elves, I realized that instead of protecting my precious students, I had only put them in danger.

And that everything I’ve done all this time has been in vain.

Then, before I had time to dwell on my regrets, this calamitous world quest arose.

I don’t want to think about anything anymore.

I just want to scream and cry, curl up under a blanket, and fall asleep.

And then wake up back in my own bed in Japan.

I want to open my eyes and feel the relief of knowing that this was all just a bad dream.

But none of that is going to happen.

This is reality, not a bad dream.

So there’s nowhere to run.

All I can do is hug my knees to my chest and try to close my heart and mind.

“Ms. Oka! Please, get a hold of yourself!”

Yet this situation won’t even allow me that much.

Miss Kudo grabs my hand, forcing me to my feet.

“Can’t we just fly away?!”

“I dunno how to control this thing!”

“I found the button that shoots laser beams! Fire, fire!”

My students’ shouts echo around the cockpit.

We’re currently inside a UFO-like flying vehicle that the elves apparently created.

The Demon Lord used this to get us out of the elf village.

Then she left, telling us we could use it however we wanted.

Tagawa and Kushitani declared that they were joining the ebony god’s side and left, and Kusama said he was going to check in with the Word of God church. Most of the remaining reincarnations have nowhere else to go since they spent most of their lives in the elf village.

Left with no direction, the reincarnations gathered aboard the UFO to have a meeting about what to do next.

Then, out of nowhere, monsters attacked the UFO.

More monsters kept showing up, and now here we are.

“Dammit! Why are there so many of them?!”

“Maybe because this is a product of Taboo?”

Why would all these monsters start attacking the UFO?

Probably because it’s an advanced technological weapon that shouldn’t exist in this world.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the monsters were programmed to be hostile toward such things.

Monsters are aggressive toward humans, but I’ve never seen nor heard of them attacking all at once with such determination, heedless of their different monster species.

Or perhaps the world quest had some effect on the monsters, too, causing them to attack.

It could even be a combination of both.

In the cockpit, my students scramble madly, trying to figure out how to control the UFO.

They seem to have at least found the defense controls, shooting beams from the UFO to mow down monsters.

Normally, that would be enough to make the other monsters scatter and flee; instead, they become even more aggressive.

A large monster slams against the UFO with a loud crash.

Since this UFO is much bigger than the monster, the impact doesn’t reach us in the cockpit, but the students still look shaken.

This must be a shocking experience for them since they never encountered any kind of violence in the elf village.

“Ms. Oka, please help us find a manual and figure out how to fly this thing! Your fellow elves built it, right?!”

Miss Kudo leads me over to what looks like a control panel and presses me into the seat.

But I didn’t even know that the elves could make such things, nor do I have any idea how to control it myself.

Still, time refuses to wait for me, and I can do nothing but watch blankly as my students frantically fire back at the monsters.

I really am a failure as a teacher…

I’ve got no words of wisdom for them in their time of need, no energy to do anything at all.

My mind is bizarrely blank, robbing me of any desire to move.

I can’t do this anymore.

“Ms. Oka!”

“Forget it, class rep! We’ve got bigger fish to fry right now!”

“But…!”

Kudo and another student are arguing about something.

But I still can’t move.

I don’t want to.

I’ve persevered long enough already.

And all of that was for nothing.

My efforts were in vain.

So clearly there’s no point in even trying.

Why bother moving when I’m clearly not good for anything?

“Oh god…”

I pull my knees up into the chair and cry.

I’m much too old to let my students see me in such a pathetic state, yet I don’t even feel any shame.

My mind must have gotten just as childish as my small elf body.

“Ah! There’s someone outside?!”

The surprised shout prompts me to look at the screen, where I see two people fighting the monsters as if to protect the UFO.

It’s a man using his shield to knock the monsters back, while a woman shoots magic from behind him.

Aren’t those Shun’s friends, Hyrince and Anna?!

There are way too many monsters for them to handle, even if Hyrince is a former member of the hero’s party and Anna is an experienced mage.

“Ms. Oka?!”

That thought prompts my body to move on its own.

Even though I’ve been sitting here refusing to do anything.

I run from the cockpit and toward the entrance of the UFO.

Then I open the hatch, jump outside, and realize I don’t have any weapons.

But I can still use magic.

“Get down, please!”

Sprinting up behind Hyrince and Anna, I cast a spell.

A fearsome gust of wind swallows up a swathe of monsters, clearing a path.

“Quick, come inside!”

“Don’t worry about us! Just hurry and take off!”

“We don’t know how to fly it! Please, come in with us! It should at least be safer than outside!”

“You what?! Ugh, damn her! She couldn’t even show you that much before she left?!”

Hyrince curses as he grabs Anna’s hand and comes running.

The monsters that avoided the wind blast chase after them, but Anna and I use our magic to hold them off.

We manage to make it back to the still-open hatch of the UFO, and all three of us jump inside.

Just as Hyrince reaches up to close the hatch, a monster tries to jump in after us.

I knock it back with another wind spell.

Then Hyrince pulls the hatch shut.

“Whew. Wait, no, I can’t catch my breath just yet.”

Hyrince heads deeper into the UFO.

I follow him, a little taken aback by his confident steps.

“That was awesome, Ms. Oka!”

Though I’m happy to hear my students cheer when I return to the cockpit, we’re not out of the woods just yet.

“Please keep shooting for now!”

“Yes’m!”

“Right!”

The students turn back to their respective control panels.

“Looks like you’ve finally recovered, Ms. Oka.”

I’m not entirely sure whether Miss Kudo is right about that or not.

I just reacted instinctively, and part of me fears that I might curl up and cry again at any moment.

Ignoring our exchange, Hyrince starts operating one of the control panels.

His hands move quickly, as if he knows exactly how to use it.

“Mr. Hyrince?”

Just as I start to address him, the UFO vibrates once and rises into the air.

“We’re flying?!”

“All of you, hang on to something!”

Hyrince’s shout prompts me to hurry over to the nearest wall.

Immediately, the UFO shoots into the air, shaking off the monsters and taking flight.

In spite of this sudden movement, the cockpit scarcely shakes at all—perhaps a testament to the elves’ technology.

Even if I hadn’t grabbed on to anything, I don’t think I would have lost my balance.

The ground shrinks beneath us.

Soon, the monsters are out of sight.

The students breathe a sigh of relief as they see this.

“Phew. Just in time.”

Hyrince, too, lets his shoulders slump in relief.

“Erm, Mr. Hyrince, who are you really…?”

Why in the world did he know how to operate this UFO?

Hyrince catches the meaning in my question.

And his response shakes me to my core.

“Ah, right. I guess there’s no use hiding it anymore. I am Hyrince Quarto, and that is no lie. But I have another face, as well. I’m also a part of Güliedistodiez, the administrator of this planet whom the world quest calls the ‘ebony god.’”

“When I say I’m a part of the ebony god, I mean that I am a sort of double that he created in order to watch and listen to humans, since he cannot be directly involved in their society. He’s been observing humanity through my eyes, basically. But it’s not a surveillance thing—more like a means of relieving many years of boredom, if anything. So honestly, I don’t serve any particular purpose in this world. This situation doesn’t change that. The only power I have of my own is that of a normal human, the man called Hyrince. Sure, there have been times when I synchronized with the ebony god and so on, but for the most part I’ve lived my life purely as Hyrince. And even though the ebony god can meddle with me, I can’t do a thing to him. So we’re not in communication at the moment.”

With that speech, Hyrince shrugs.

In other words, Hyrince was able to control this UFO because he has the ebony god’s memories.

Judging by Anna’s shocked expression throughout this explanation, she didn’t know Hyrince was connected to the ebony god, either.

“So to summarize, is it safe to say you are the human called Hyrince, and not the ebony god?”

“That’s a fine way to look at it. In fact, maybe it’s not so different from you reincarnations. If you think of me as a normal human with the memories of my previous life as the ebony god, you wouldn’t be too far off.”

I see. That’s certainly something all of us can understand.

“Does this mean that you’ll be fighting for the ebony god?”

“…No. Like I said, I only have the power of a normal human. I’m not strong enough to make a difference in this battle. So I wasn’t really planning on doing anything…until I happened to spot this ship being attacked, anyway.”

Hyrince chuckles awkwardly.

It doesn’t seem to me like he’s lying.

“But I guess I’m rooting for the ebony god, even if I’m not siding with him. I understand very well how he feels, since I have his memories and all.”

“You’re not going to side with him even though you understand his feelings?”

“It’s because I understand him that I can’t side with him, see. I don’t think what the ebony god’s side is doing is right. I doubt he thinks so himself, either. But he’s going to do it anyway, just because he has to, even if it’s not right. That’s why I’m rooting for him, but not siding with him.”

I see…maybe?

It sounds like the ebony god has a lot of complicated feelings, too.

Even from the perspective of a partial outsider like me, it’s hard to say that either side is right, based on the contents of Taboo. The situation is too complex.

I’m sure it’s even harder for someone like the ebony god, who’s right at the center of the conflict.

“Long story short, I’m not getting involved in this fight. So I don’t care that you have ruler authority or anything, Ms. Oka. I’ll just be the bouncer for this ship or something.”

Mr. Hyrince raises both palms to emphasize that he means no harm.

“I do want to talk to you alone for a minute, though. Is that okay?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

“Wait a minute, please.”

Miss Kudo interrupts my agreement and comes over to whisper in my ear.

“Can we really trust him?”

“It’ll be fine, I think.”

I don’t sense any ill intent from Hyrince.

“…I’m sorry, but we can’t count on your judgment alone.”

…I suppose I can’t argue with that, since I let Potimas take advantage of me for so long.

“If you’re worried, we can stay in sight. How about we stay on this side of the room? That way you can see us but not hear us.”

Hyrince’s suggestion makes perfect sense: The cockpit is large enough that our conversation shouldn’t be audible if we stand at the other end.

It would allow the others to keep an eye on us, too.

“That’s all right with me.”

“…Boys, if anything happens to Ms. Oka, go rescue her right away.”

The boys nod uncertainly at Miss Kudo’s command, although I doubt they’d stand a chance against Hyrince even if they all came after him at once.

He was in the former hero’s party for good reason.

By comparison, these students who barely raised their levels in the elf village probably wouldn’t be able to fight Hyrince at all.

If anyone here could be a match for Mr. Hyrince, it would be myself or Ms. Anna.

Now that we’ve let him into the UFO, if Hyrince had any treacherous intentions, it would already be too late to stop him.

If he does try anything, I’ll just have to handle it somehow.

Though personally…I think we can trust him.

Hyrince and I walk to the other side of the cockpit.

“Now, we can’t have anyone overhearing this. Let’s use Telepathy to talk.”

“All right.”

“Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear.”

Our conversation begins by way of Telepathy, though I can’t imagine what Mr. Hyrince wants to talk to me about.

What could be so secret that he would go to such lengths to avoid having the students hear it?

“I believe you have a skill that shows you certain information about the reincarnations. What does it currently say about their future?”

“How did you know that?!”

I’ve never told Hyrince about my unique skill, Student Roster.

It gives me brief information about my reincarnated students’ pasts, presents, and futures.

The reason I decided to keep them in custody in the elf village in the first place is because the “future” column showed that most of my students would die.

I used the “past” column to deduce their hometowns.

“It’s easy enough to guess. You were able to track down the exact locations of the reincarnations all over the world and bring them to the elf village for safekeeping, which means you had some way of getting information about them. And since you were certain that they had to be protected, you must have known something about their future. For instance, that they were going to die, perhaps.”

…He’s exactly right.

“And yet, you never told them this. Which means there must be a restriction that prevents you from discussing it. That’s the logical conclusion, anyway. Am I right? Ah, no need to respond if you can’t talk about that, either, of course.”

…That’s all correct, too.

“If you can’t say anything about it at all, that’s all right. But I would appreciate it if you could check what that skill says about the reincarnations’ futures right now.”

“…Very well.”

In all the chaos, I haven’t checked my Student Roster since the battle at the elf village.

At the time, it showed that all the students who have lots of skills were going to die by having their skills stripped away from them.

And it also said that Hugo—Natsume—was going to die in battle in the elf village.

But Natsume survived that battle.

The future has changed.

So it’s entirely possible that the other reincarnations’ described futures might be different now as well.

If anything, it’s very likely that they’ve changed, now that the world quest has been thrown into the mix.

Nervously, I close my eyes and activate Student Roster.

Information about my students appears in my mind’s eye.

And it says…

“Huh?! …Whah?!”

I let out two exclamations in a row.

The first is out of surprise at the information I saw in my Student Roster.

The second is at the shaking of the UFO.

“We’re under attack!”

One of the students shouts.

I look at the giant monitor in the cockpit and see flying monsters swarming around the UFO.

“They’re really still chasing us?!”

Miss Kudo’s cry echoes my own bewildered thoughts.

“Looks like we’d better discuss this later.”

“Ah…”

Hyrince starts to walk away.

It’s true, we should probably wait to talk until we’re not under enemy fire.

But if what I just read is true, then…!

I grab Hyrince’s hand.

“What is it?”

Hyrince turns around in surprise.

This is no time for chatting.

But I have to relay this information right away!

“No, wait! This is terrible! At this rate, mankind will be doomed!”

“What?!”

“We had it all wrong! The ‘evil god’ isn’t the ivory god!”

“…What do you mean?”

We had the wrong idea entirely!

We misunderstood about the “evil god” the world quest mentioned!

<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.>

That’s what the world quest announcement said.

The sequence that followed revealed the truth about this world, and that the ivory god was planning to sacrifice more than half of humanity to free the goddess Sariel.

Along with the fact that we could pray to help or hinder the ivory god.

Based on all that, we just assumed that the “evil god” referred to the ivory god.

But we were wrong.

<The Evil God D rings the final bell of judgment. Evil God D will exterminate half of humanity.>

For some reason, this was stated in my Student Roster.

“The Evil God D rings the bell of judgment! Evil God D is the one who’s going to sacrifice half of humanity!”

“…No way. Are you serious…?”

Hyrince covers his mouth with a trembling hand.

“That can’t be true…can it? …No, it can. This is D we’re talking about. If anything, that makes much more sense! Dammit! So that was the plan all along!”

He pushes his hair back roughly.

“No matter how the battle between the ebony and ivory gods plays out, D is going to sacrifice half of all humans and demons regardless!”

Wait, but if that’s true…what is the purpose of the battle that’s going on now?

“Why would this be in my Student Roster…?”

“That’s obvious. Because D is the one who gave you the Student Roster skill in the first place.”

“But even then, what was the point of sending me this message?”

“Maybe it’s supposed to be a hint? D is taunting us with a tiny glimmer of hope that we can avoid destruction somehow.”

But how would we even go about that…?

“Ah?!”

It seems the battle outside has progressed while Hyrince and I were talking.

There’s a blaze of bright light on the monitor, and I automatically close my eyes.

Then, when I cautiously crack them open, I see a familiar face sitting atop a wyrm.

“Shun?!”

“Shun!”

Hyrince and I exclaim almost in unison.

On the monitor, Shun and his friends had just defeated the flying monsters.