Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? (LN) - Volume 16 - Chapter 4

Balto

Ah, I see. My life is flashing before my eyes.

I accepted the memories flitting through my mind with surprising serenity.

The images that play out in my mind’s eye start with my childhood, move on to my adulthood, and reach the point of my working in the Demon Lord’s castle.

In accordance with my status as the eldest son of Duke Phthalo, an esteemed demon noble, I strode the path to success in life from a young age.

But I climbed the ranks because the demon race was in a dire shortage of staff, not because my hard work and capabilities had been acknowledged.

I am not saying this out of humility; indeed, I do believe I have worked harder than most.

However, I am equally confident that I fell short of the late Commander Agner of the First Army in every respect, my younger brother Bloe in physical might, Sixth Commander Huey in magical prowess, and Sanatoria in cunning.

The fact that I was overly successful despite being surrounded by people with superior skills is likely due in some part to my noble birth and the nature of the times.

Between the disappearance of the Demon Lord and the loss of much of the previous generation in the ongoing war with humanity, the demon race was simply shorthanded.

As such, I was not so much pleased with my promotions as I was utterly exhausted and swamped with work.

I devoted my every waking moment to restoring the battered remains of the demon race.

And that did not change even when the current Demon Lord took her throne.

In fact, I only became even busier.

All of my efforts toward internal affairs and replenishing the troops were sent back to square one when we were forced into a large-scale battle with the humans.

I found this shameful, of course, but I could not defy the Demon Lord.

Since we could never hope to win if we rebelled against her, our only option was to fight against the humans, against whom we at least stood a sliver of a chance.

In the end, that war was a draw.

Three commanders—Sir Agner, Huey, and my brother Bloe—were never to return.

I do not even wish to estimate the lives lost.

But many of humanity’s strongest were defeated, including their hero.

One thing is clear: There was significant damage to both sides.

All according to the Demon Lord’s plan.

The Demon Lord’s goal was not victory for demonkind.

She sought only for there to be as many deaths as possible, human and demon alike.

I finally understood why after hearing her speech in the world quest broadcast.

Even so, I have opinions of my own.

Demons have long fought against humanity.

Indeed, we have been at war as far back as the earliest recorded history.

It has gone on so long that our race was at the very brink of being beyond recovery.

All for the sake of this world.

To serve as its fuel.

To atone for the sins of those who once used a massive amount of MA energy to turn themselves into demons out of personal greed.

I do think it is unfortunate that all this still was not enough.

But I find it hard to forgive her for dismissing demonkind’s years of effort as “carefree” and declaring that she expects so little out of us.

If that is true, what have I worked so hard for all this time?

Why did Bloe have to die?

What of Sir Agner, and Huey, the many soldiers who died in that battle, and all those demons who died in all of history before then?

Is she saying that all of that was pointless?

And that she will take even more from us, as if she still has not taken enough?

When I relive the moment when I heard of Bloe’s death, when I cried alone in a room, I am filled with a terrible rage.

And the sequence of memories continues from there.

This next one was right after the world quest was announced.

“What in the world is going on…?”

I hung my head in the meeting room.

All of these unprecedented events were taking place while the Demon Lord was away on business.

Of course I was in despair.

“Why are you asking us that, hmm?”

Sanatoria shook her head and sighed as she responded, looking unimpressed with my attitude yet equally perplexed herself.

There were a few other commanders in the room, too.

But some of them had perished in the previous battle, while others still were traveling with the Demon Lord.

That left only four of us here.

The Second Army Commander, Sanatoria.

The Third Army Commander, Kogou.

The Fifth Army Commander, Darad.

And, of course, myself.

This meeting, of course, was about the world quest announcement that we all suddenly heard.

What did it mean by telling us to either prevent or assist an evil god’s plot?

And what exactly is a world quest anyway?

Nothing like this has ever occurred in the history of demonkind, as far as I know.

“…Please tell me each of your opinions.”

I managed to squeeze out a question without raising my head.

“How? We don’t have nearly enough information to form an opinion. It all sounds like nonsense to me, and no amount of discussion will bring us any closer to the truth.”

Sanatoria’s opinion, as it were, was more than fair.

She was absolutely right.

<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.>

Though we all heard this sudden announcement, I frankly had no idea what it meant.

As far as I could tell, it seemed that all of demonkind heard this announcement, too.

I hadn’t received reports from the entire race, of course, so perhaps it was limited to the vicinity of the Demon Lord’s castle.

Or it could be that all demons heard it, but not humans.

But I had no way of finding out for sure right away.

Not that we would necessarily make any more progress even if I did find out.

Who in the world is this evil god, anyway?

How are we supposed to either hinder or assist them?

There wasn’t nearly enough detail to understand the situation at hand.

And without more information, there was no way of knowing what choice to make.

Perhaps the Demon Lord would know more…

It was terrible timing that this should occur while she was away.

“Even so, surely we ought to do something. The populace is in an uproar.”

I myself didn’t know what was going on.

The average citizens were confused and at a loss.

Many of them must be frightened, too.

After all, the contents of that so-called world quest sounded deeply unsettling.

We’d only just concluded a massive war with humanity.

In the worst-case scenario, the public’s pent-up frustration might reach a breaking point and lead to mass riots.

There was already plenty of opposition to the government, thanks to the compulsory enlistment of troops and the subsequent war.

The only thing keeping it at bay was the public’s deep-rooted fear of the Demon Lord.

Now that she was away for the moment, any small spark could set everything aflame.

As such, we in the government needed to make some sort of announcement regarding this world quest business to prevent a full-on uprising.

“Sure, but we don’t know any more than they do, right? And we can’t go running our mouths without information to back it up. It doesn’t seem wise to come out and admit that we’re totally in the dark, either, does it?”

“…Good point.”

That in itself could be the spark that sets off the powder keg.

The citizens would think us utterly incompetent.

And considering that we really didn’t know anything about the current situation, they might even be right.

“…Do you have any thoughts, Kogou?”

“Huh?! Oh, uh…sorry. I don’t get all this complicated stuff…”

Sure enough, Kogou didn’t appear to have any bright ideas. I can’t say I was surprised.

“Darad?”

“Hrmmm. Were these ordinary times, we ought to look to the Demon Lord for instructions, but I suppose in this case we cannot.”

Darad crossed his arms and sank into thought.

Though he is a staunch supporter of the Demon Lord, he is otherwise a sharp-minded tactician.

But it seems even he could not make a decision about this on the spot.

Nor could I, evidently…

“But as you say, Sir Balto, we cannot sit idly by. Our best course of action for now is to issue an announcement that we are investigating further and instruct the populace to remain calm.”

“…Yes, that may be the most pragmatic choice.”

We could at least give the impression that we are investigating the matter, even if it would be little more than stalling for time.

It should be somewhat effective, if not enough to quell all the malcontents.

“Perhaps we should go on high alert and increase patrols in the city?”

“But won’t it set people off just as much if we put too many soldiers out on patrol?”

“True enough… Let us send soldiers from door-to-door under the pretense of surveying the populace, then. We do need to find out whether everyone heard that announcement, at any rate.”

“That’s not a bad idea. Then we can increase the number of soldiers on the streets without raising too many hackles.”

“And we can also use that opportunity to demonstrate that we are investigating.”

Thanks to Darad’s proposed solution, we began to figure out an initial plan of action.

It wouldn’t solve the root of the problem, of course; still, we should at least be able to keep the ensuing chaos in the city to a minimum.

“Can I entrust this to the Second Army?”

“Of course.”

“That’s all well and good for here in the city, but what about everywhere else?”

“As much as I would like to do the same elsewhere, we simply do not have the manpower. At best, we could perhaps send a single messenger on horseback to each major town.”

“Hrm. The Fifth Army can handle that, then.”

“Thank you.”

Our discussion was proceeding smoothly.

I had no idea what we were going to do before I started the meeting, so I was relieved that we’d at least managed to come up with emergency measures.

Even if one of our number was doing little more than sitting silently in a chair.

“The main problem is that we still don’t know what’s going on with this alleged world quest.”

“Right.”

That message was most likely a divine communication from on high.

It must be of the utmost importance, then.

Which means it would be unwise to stay in the dark about its meaning.

“Honestly. Now what should we do…?”

I couldn’t stop myself from letting out a sigh and a grumbled complaint.

Just then…

<World quest sequence 1. Installing Taboo in all humanoids.>

“…What?! Ah! Guh?!”

Another announcement echoed from out of nowhere.

Before I could process what the words meant, my head was assailed with terrible pain, and I slumped over the table.

Unable to bear the discomfort of what felt like boiling hot water being poured directly into my brain, I soon lost consciousness entirely.

Ah, yes, now I remember.

When we woke up, we all knew exactly what Taboo truly meant, and then learned the Demon Lord’s true motivations through the “world quest sequence 2” and onward.

It was then that I decided to choose.

To fight.

From there, things unfolded quickly.

I personally went on our fastest horse to the human empire to issue a cease-fire, while Sanatoria stayed behind to recruit volunteers and form a new army.

Where I feared that our proposal of a truce would be met with opposition, I instead found ready agreement, and we were even granted permission to use the empire’s teleport gates.

From the speed of their decision, I could tell that they, too, were past the point of picking and choosing their allies.

“If I wished to call myself a loyal retainer of the Demon Lord, I ought to try and stop you.”

Before I left, Fifth Army Commander Darad said this to me in a low voice.

“…I suppose this means I was not worthy to truly become her loyal retainer, then.”

He gave a lonesome-sounding laugh.

We commanders were never in perfect agreement, of course.

There were some, like Sanatoria, who tried to rebel against the Demon Lord, while others, like Huey, were cowed into submission by her might.

But virtually none of the trueborn demon commanders ever held full loyalty to the Demon Lord deep down.

Not even First Commander Agner, nor myself, had sworn ourselves to serve her out of devoted fealty.

If we did not serve her, demonkind would be doomed.

And so we had no other choice.

Among all of us commanders, Darad was the only trueborn demon who harbored heartfelt loyalty toward the Demon Lord.

Part of this was due to his family’s historically deep commitment to whomever was appointed Demon Lord.

Now, Darad was born into that family during an era when the Demon Lord’s throne was vacant.

So I can only imagine how he felt when, after dreaming for so long of serving a Demon Lord, he was finally given the chance to serve by one’s side as a commander.

All I know is that his loyalty was sincere.

And yet even faithful Darad was not permitted to fight alongside her at the last.

When the Demon Lord left to attack the elf village, she brought only those commanders whom she had personally appointed.

Darad’s loyalty never got through to her.

Then the world quest was announced, the Demon Lord’s true intentions were revealed, and she began to set the stage for the final battle.

“Go on, then. I will take charge of maintaining the peace in our territory.”

Torn between his loyalty to the Demon Lord and his responsibilities as a demon noble, Darad ultimately decided to abstain from the fight entirely.

Just as he said, if he were to see his fealty through to the end, it would no doubt be his duty to stop me now that I’ve chosen to oppose her.

But at the same time, Darad is a noble with vassals of his own.

I am sure he could not bear to deliberately let them die.

Having said that, no doubt he was equally unable to turn his sword against the Demon Lord.

I cannot call his decision half-hearted.

Before I set out ahead of the rest to make contact with the humans, I instructed Sanatoria to recruit only those who were willing to fight for our expedition.

We’re going up against the Demon Lord.

If we fight her, we’re likely to die.

Dragging reluctant soldiers into a battle in which they know they’ll die would only slow us down.

So we will bring only those soldiers who know that they’ll die and are determined to fight anyway.

And the demon army that was thus formed was larger than I expected.

“That’s a lot.”

“It sure is.”

Sanatoria responded to my candid observation with a lazy drawl.

This, too, was an unexpected development: Sanatoria came with them.

“I thought you were going to stay behind.”

“…Yes, well, I’m already starting to wonder why I didn’t.”

Sanatoria sighed, but it didn’t look like she was going to run away.

“I was a world-famous actress, you know.”

“You looked at your reincarnation history?”

“Of course. I take it from your response that you did as well?”

“A little, yes.”

The Taboo menu includes a reincarnation history.

It contains a complete log of all the previous lives one has lived.

I suppose you might say it recalls memories that are embedded in your soul.

When you choose each life, you can actually recall the memories of that time.

I selected the memories of my first life, and that alone brought back an enormous amount of memories.

It was so intense that I thought my mind might implode from the shock of remembering so many things at once.

Fortunately, I only experienced a bit of dizziness, not enough to pass out.

But if that happened from just one round of memories, I imagine recalling all of them would be dangerous.

No doubt my Records skill is the reason I got off relatively lightly.

More importantly, this must be why a non-combat-related skill like this exists in the system at all.

“I starred in quite a few movies, as it happens.”

“That’s impressive.”

“But none of them survived, of course.”

Any kind of recording mediums deteriorate quite quickly within the system.

While books and such can survive by way of transcription, there is no such method for preserving films and the like.

Not a single one of the films starring Sanatoria’s first life as an actress is anywhere to be found in this world.

“My final moments were awfully anticlimactic, too. When I saw those memories, I wound up feeling sad all of a sudden, wondering what the point of my life was. Which made me feel like I’d better not run away from this fight now. Awfully unlike me, isn’t it?”

“…I suppose.”

“And you?”

“What about me?”

“Well, it’s hardly fair if I tell you all this and you don’t give me a single detail, is it?”

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

“Oh, come on.”

With a sigh, I adjusted the position of my glasses.

“I was royalty in a rather large kingdom.”

“Really? You were a prince?”

“More or less. Still, the government was led by a parliament. I didn’t have any real power.”

Unlike my present life, in which I manage the demon government almost entirely on my own, I had no power whatsoever in my first life.

All I had was my duties as a royal.

It was a strict, stuffy life, nothing more.

“Even so, I loved my motherland, and all of its citizens.”

That land didn’t even exist anymore.

“So this time, I want to do everything I can to protect them.”

Even if it means biting the hands that fed us.

Even if it costs my life.

I gaze out at the swarm of black shadows enshrouding the earth.

Every one of them is a spider monster.

And at their heart is enshrined the strongest of them all: a massive queen taratect.

Though we’re still some distance away, I can already feel fear rising at the terribly imposing sight.

Nearby, I hear someone swallow hard.

Or perhaps the sound came from my own throat.

We of the demon army have issued forth to the field where lies the entrance to the Great Elroe Labyrinth.

The spider army, led by the queen taratect, is positioned directly in front of that entrance.

Far from the demon army, a human army is in position as well.

Given that we are sworn enemies who were trying to kill one another until not long ago, we could hardly set forth to fight side by side.

However, we managed to create a pincer formation around the spider army.

Though we cannot entrust our backs to each other, we still found a way to fight cooperatively.

A fearsome thunderbolt drops toward the queen taratect.

This signals the start of the battle.

The taratect army surges forward, as if the ground itself is moving in waves.

“Prepare the massive magic! Shields, at the ready!”

I shout.

“Not yet! Hold! Wait until they get closer!”

The tide bears down upon us.

A massive swarm that invokes visceral revulsion.

“Fire!”

On my signal, our allied forces unleash massive magic.

The spells mow down the oncoming surge of spiders.

But the next wave of taratects is already close behind.

“Next round! Fire!”

This, too, was within my calculations.

The massive magic spells shoot forth at deliberate intervals.

Even so, the taratects keep coming.

It’s only a matter of time until a wave gets past the massive magic and reaches our front line of shieldsmen.

“Don’t be afraid! Each of them is weak on their own! Remain calm and deal with them one at a time!”

It’s safe to assume the spiders do not fear death.

But the same is true of our side, too.

“We stake our lives for the future of demonkind!”

“Balto! Balto! Come on, get a grip!”

My eyes snap open.

What was that?

…Oh, right, my life was flashing before my eyes.

Does that mean I’m dead, and this is the afterlife?

“Balto! You’re finally awake?!”

“Nngh… Sanatoria? Did you die, too?”

“Have you lost your mind?! I’m still alive, and so are you!”

As my consciousness gradually returns, my mind clears, and I finally grasp reality.

I’m…alive?!

“Urgh! What’s going on?!”

“The front line hasn’t fallen yet. Kogou is holding it steady.”

I jump to my feet at that, only to be rewarded with a fresh jab of pain behind my forehead.

An attack must have struck my head during battle and knocked me out for a moment.

I’ve been doing nothing but desk work for so long that I’m no longer in prime condition for fighting on the front lines.

What’s more, I haven’t even had time for training lately. My strength has definitely dulled.

I shake my head to pull myself together.

When I finally refocus on the battlefield, the situation is far from favorable.

Everywhere I look, soldiers are locked in battle with spider monsters.

Our battle formation hardly matters anymore.

The spiders have jumped across every line, infiltrating our ranks with ease.

On top of that, the larger, evolved individuals have far higher stats than the small ones.

While there aren’t as many of them as the smallest kind, the mere arrival of such a large monster inevitably breaks through the lines.

Then a swarm of smaller spiders pours in through that opening.

The result is a chaotic melee in which friend and foe are all jumbled together.

As I take all this in, my legs nearly give way beneath me.

That’s not a good sign. I must not have fully healed from the damage yet.

I instinctively reach out and grab something nearby for support, which helps me avoid falling right back down onto the ground.

But my eyes widen when I see what I’m holding on to.

It’s the corpse of a gigantic spider monster.

…Ah, that’s right.

This thing charged toward me and struck me on the head…

Someone must have defeated it after I was knocked unconscious.

Which means Sanatoria was likely the one who took command of that fight.

“Thank you, Sanatoria.”

“Don’t mention it.”

I shake my head again, trying to concentrate.

Then I reach up a hand to my still-throbbing forehead and use Healing Magic.

“Actually, Balto, the healers are running low on mana. If you can use Healing Magic, could you focus on that instead?”

“The mages?”

“Mm-hmm. These things aren’t much of a threat individually—it’s the poison that’s the problem.”

“Ah…”

That certainly is a problem.

As far as I can tell, the small spiders are fairly weak.

Any of our soldiers can easily defeat them with a single blow.

However, there are so many of them that it’s impossible to wipe them all out without taking any hits at all.

Their stats seem to be low enough that being surrounded and bitten by them wouldn’t cause much damage. But if those fangs are poisonous, that’s another story entirely.

“All right. I’ll go around and cast antidote spells.”

“Thanks.”

I rushed around the battlefield, using antidote magic on the sick-looking soldiers.

The small spiders aren’t a major threat.

They’re light and can jump long distances, enough that they were able to make a mess of our ranks at first, but once we’ve learned the pattern, dealing with them is simple.

As long as we stay calm and stick to a strategy, there’s no problem.

Their stats are so low that even a bite would barely amount to a scratch.

If someone gets poisoned, I or one of the other mages can heal them.

And so we gradually rebuild our ranks, and with help from Kogou’s frenzied fighting on the front lines, we manage to make steady progress in battle.

The biggest difficulty is the larger spiders, and the even larger ones that seem to be a more evolved variety.

These giant, evolved spiders are strong enough to take out several soldiers at once, but our men and women are already fighting fiercely with the assumption that they might not survive.

Their reckless attacks, heedless of injury, are able to take down even these giant spiders.

Morale is still going strong, even as several soldiers are sacrificed in the process.

If anything, our troops only grow more determined as time goes on.

A strange and powerful fervor spreads through the ranks.

It’s so strong that they don’t even seem to care about their own lives.

Normally, it would be dangerous to let this kind of fervor take control of the battle.

As much as it’s producing results, it’s also increasing the number of deaths due to desperate, self-sacrificial attacks.

If we were focused on the future, it would be better to withdraw and have them cool off.

But these soldiers are here to protect what’s precious to them, even if it means throwing away their futures.

So I must let this fervor take control.

We must surpass our limits, and keep pushing forward, forward!

Even I am beginning to lose myself to the feverish haze.

But then something douses the flames.

“What’s that?”

I might not have noticed it if I was fighting directly instead of focusing on giving orders and healing the poisoned or wounded.

It only caught my attention because I was keeping an eye on my surroundings to better inform my instructions.

Something strange was happening near the entrance of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.

In that area, an intense battle was unfolding between the queen taratect and some ancient dragons presumed to serve the ebony god.

The rumbles and flashes of thunder and lightning reached as far as our side of the battlefield, and I could see fire dragons flying through the sky, raining fireballs on the ground below.

It was a downright hellish scene, taking place not just in reality but right before my eyes.

And a strange shift was occurring there now.

As I took a closer look, I saw a tidal wave of white burst forth from the Great Elroe Labyrinth.

Not water—but a swarm of white spiders.

“N-Nightmare’s Vestiges!”

This was a monster the human side warned me to be wary of in advance.

They said that even the hero’s party struggled to defeat a single one.

How can there be so many of such a powerful monster…?

The white wave gets swept up in the battle between the queen taratect and the ancient dragons, only to break through that hell and keep spreading across the battlefield.

They made it through that hellscape?! Our men can’t even get close!

I-it’s all over.

There’s no way we can win.

The thought that we’ll all die in vain rattles around my head.

“I-I’ll take the rear! Everyone! Run for it!”

As I stare in shock at the oncoming swarm of Nightmare’s Vestiges, a voice calls out from the front lines.

It’s Kogou.

“…! All units, retreat! Quickly!”

Kogou’s shout brings me back to my senses, and I call out an order.

The swarm of Nightmare’s Vestiges is still far away.

We can still get away if we move now!

“Hurry!”

I shout for the soldiers to retreat faster.

Then I see one group stepping forward in the opposite direction.

“Kogou!”

It’s Kogou’s squadron.

“Mr. Balto! The rest is up to you!”

“Kogou! Rrgh…!”

I swallow the urge to tell him to run and remain focused on evacuating the troops.

Kogou is a simple-minded man who worked his way up the ranks with nothing but sheer physical strength.

And yet he was always timorous and balked at the idea of fighting.

But that fainthearted man joined this battle of his own free will, and now, he’s volunteering to bring up the rear, knowing that he likely won’t make it out alive.

I must not let such resolution go to waste.

From far behind me, I can hear the sounds of battle.

And screams of death as well.

Even so, I cannot turn back.

“Retreat! Run for it!”

I keep raising my voice to spur the soldiers on, trying to get as many people out of here alive as I possibly can.

I’d like to ask you a question, Demon Lord.

Do you still see us as disposable, even as we fight so desperately?

Must we all die for your goals?

Would you truly say that demonkind’s days of atonement were all in vain?

Tell me.

“Damn it all!”

I’m not sure who shouted that curse.

Perhaps it even came from me.