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Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 6.1




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THE DARK SECRETS OF THE OTHER WORLD 

“Thank you for everything.” 

We bow our heads to Basgath. 

After leaving the Great Elroe Labyrinth, we stayed overnight at Basgath’s base. 

And now, early in the morning, we’re leaving for the elf village. 

This is where we part ways with Basgath. 

“Don’t mention it.” 

Basgath nods. 

“Are yeh sure I can take all the earth dragon parts, though? They’ll sell for a fortune, y’know.” 

“Of course. We can’t afford to bring anything that would slow us down anyway. Think of it as our thanks for all your help.” 

“Well, all right, then,” the guide says with a grin. 

“Mr. Basgath. Would you perhaps—?” 

“I’m just a simple guide, boy.” Basgath responds before I can even finish speaking. 

He seems to know what I was about to say. 

Basgath is a seasoned warrior. 

That became very clear in our time in the Great Elroe Labyrinth. 

Moreover, he has incredibly good judgment thanks to his abundance of experience. 

To be honest, I wanted him to come with us. 

But Basgath promptly declined. 

“A guide’s job is just that—to guide people. Besides, I’ve already retired. There’s no need for an old man like me to stick my nose where it don’t belong anymore.” 

He chuckles a little. 

But then his face grows serious again. 

“Boy. This is just a gut feelin’, but I think something big’s gonna happen soon. I got no proof, o’course. But that fear’s been hangin’ over me for the past few years now. This mess yer caught up in now might be a harbinger of things to come.” 

That makes sense. 

It’s not just what’s happening with Hugo. 

The massive war with the demons. 

The Hero title being passed on to someone new. 

There’s been a lot going on with the world lately. 

“I just hope that guidin’ yeh all here has made the world even a little bit better. Then I’ll feel like I’ve done my part and then some.” 

Basgath holds out his hand. 

“We’ll do our very best to make sure that happens.” 

I grasp his hand tightly for a firm handshake. 

“My job is just navigatin’ the labyrinth. But I think yer job is much bigger, boy. Good luck.” 

These words encourage me a great deal. 

After parting ways with Basgath, we continue on our journey to the elf village. 

Riding on Fei’s back, it’ll take about two days. 

We’ve arrived at a town on the edge of a region called Sariella. 

Before we enter, Fei turns back into human form and dons a loose cloak to cover her wings. 

This is on top of wrapping them around her body, too. 

Otherwise, her wings would draw attention. 

This might be a fantasy world, but there aren’t any races like beastfolk or anything. 

Which means there’s no humanoid species that has wings. 

I’ve imagined that if anyone were to catch sight of her wings under her cloak, they’d probably be either curious or suspicious. 

But apparently, the situation is more serious than I thought. 

“The people of Sariella all worship the Goddess. And in the legends, the Goddess has white wings. Who knows what they would do if they saw Fei’s wings?” 

Ahh. 

According to Ms. Oka, in the worst-case scenario, they might even attack her for falsely impersonating the Goddess. 

It’s more likely that they would do the opposite—namely, try to worship her—but our teacher doesn’t want to take any chances. 

Since people in this region fervently believe in the Goddess, they have a unique way of thinking. 

Because of that, their relationship with the Followers of the Word of God is rocky, to the point where they’ve waged war on one another in the past. 

I myself don’t subscribe to the Word of God religion, but they’ve been in charge of the hero for generations. 

If they found out that I’m the new hero, I might get dragged into unnecessary conflict. 

So it’s best if we avoid standing out as much as possible. 

I hate to put Fei through that kind of discomfort, but it’s our only option while we’re in this region. 

Because knowing what I know, I can’t help but feel that all of this world’s religions are extremely shady. 

“This world was essentially created as part of a game among gods.” 

This was the day before we left for the elf village. 

With that introduction, Ms. Oka launched into an explanation. 

“First of all, since we’re bringing Hyrince and Anna to the elf village, I would like to tell them about our true nature. Is that all right with you, Shun and Katia?” 

What she meant was that she was planning to tell them that we’re all reincarnations. 

I nodded right away, but Katia seemed less convinced. 

“May I ask whether that is connected to the elf village?” 

“Yes. I’ll do my best to explain why.” 

Ms. Oka nodded firmly. 

After thinking for a moment, Katia nodded as well. 

“Shun, Katia, Fei, and I are all reincarnations. We were born with memories of our lives in another world.” 

At first, Hyrince and Anna just looked confused. 

Fortunately, though, the concept of reincarnation does exist in this world, so they accepted it with more explanation. 

“I guess that does explain a few things,” Hyrince said at last. 

“But…Ms. Oka, was it? What does that have to do with what we were discussing before?” 

“It’s related to the elves’ predictions and my desires,” Ms. Oka responded. 

“First, as I’ve already told Shun, the elves have been looking after the reincarnations for some time. The reason is a combination of what the elves have predicted and what I implored them to do. Naturally, my desire is to make sure all the reincarnations are safe. As you all know, this world is very dangerous, full of monsters and even hostile demons. The world we came from was peaceful, so none of us are accustomed to fighting. That’s what makes it so difficult for reincarnations to get by in this world. I’ve been protecting them by taking them to live in safety in the elf village.” 

That couldn’t have been as easy as she made it sound. 

Searching the world for reincarnations, without a single clue to go on. 

And as she said herself, this world is a dangerous one. 

When I was still just a child, Ms. Oka was bustling all over the world, gathering the reincarnations. 

I was sure that journey was harder than I could imagine. 

If anything, our teacher’s excellent magical ability is proof of that. 

“However, the elves’ plan was slightly different. They want to make sure that certain powerful beings cannot use the reincarnations for their own ends. These beings are called administrators, but you could also call them gods.” 

That put things on a much larger scale all of a sudden, but I guessed that it had to do with her statement about this world being a “game among gods.” 

“This may seem sudden, but let me ask you all a question. What do you think ‘status’ is?” 

“It represents our strength, right?” 

“That’s correct. But why do you think such a thing exists?” 

“Well, because the Word of God made it that way.” 

Hyrince answered Ms. Oka’s questions naturally. 

But Katia and I realized the meaning behind her words. 

People who were born in this world would probably never question it. 

Not status, or the “Word of God,” or any of it. 

It’s just something that’s existed for them since the moment they were born. 

But we reincarnations know of a world where this “status” doesn’t exist. 

To us, having stats and such does seem strange. 

“That’s right. ‘Status’ was indeed created by a god. Now, do you know why that god created it?” 

For that, Hyrince didn’t have an answer. 

“In the world we came from, we didn’t hear any ‘Word of God.’ There were no levels, stats, or skills, either. If you worked hard, you could certainly increase your abilities, but not in any form that was visible as a numeric value. For us reincarnations, having levels, stats, skills, and so on is very unusual indeed.” 

Hyrince seemed surprised at Ms. Oka’s words. 

He’d always taken their existence for granted, so it never seemed “unusual” to him. 

“By all rights, levels, skills, and stats are not necessary for a world to exist. The world we came from functioned perfectly without them, so it’s plain to see that much.” 

Right. On Earth, we lived without those things just fine. 

I was starting to get a faint inkling of why Ms. Oka brought up this subject. 

Basically, these “administrators” created levels, stats, skills, and the like for a particular purpose. 

That was probably what she was getting at. 

“Ms. Oka, what was the gods’ goal in creating all this? To get people to fight?” 

Clearly, Katia had come to a similar conclusion. 

In fact, she’d gotten a step further than I had. 

To make people fight… 

That hadn’t occurred to me. 

But now that she mentioned it, I realized that all the skills in this world were battle related. 

As if to encourage people to fight. 

“That’s right. In this world, the more you fight, the more your levels, stats, and skills improve. And if you lose a fight, you die. The more battles there are, the more deaths there are.” 

That made sense. 

Lots of battles meant lots of casualties. 

But I couldn’t figure out why she was explaining something so obvious. 

“And when a living thing dies, the power it’s built up until then is collected…by the administrators.” 

Now that information was shocking. 

Rationally, from what she’d said so far, it made sense that this would be the reason the administrators created levels, stats, and so on. 

However, the whole thing was so absurd that I could scarcely believe it. 

“The administrators force people to fight in order to gain more power for themselves. That is why humans and demons are pitted against each other. And why they have designated representatives in the form of the hero and the Demon Lord. To be honest, when I heard that Shun had become the hero, my vision went dark.” 

When she turned the subject toward me, I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. 

The hero was a representative of humans, chosen by the administrators? 

And a part of their plan to force humans and demons to fight? 

“Ms. Oka, how credible is all this information?” 

It made sense that Katia would ask that question. 

Her story was consistent, but given its almost fairy-tale-like nature, it was possible that it was exaggerated or even made up entirely. 

“It has been passed down among the elves since ancient times.” 

“Does that mean it’s true, though?” 

I couldn’t blame Katia for sounding increasingly alarmed and annoyed, either. 

Just because the elves had believed it for a long time didn’t necessarily mean that it was true. 

“Frankly, I don’t know for sure whether all of this is true, either. However, I can confirm that the beings called ‘administrators’ are real. I’ve seen one of their subordinates with my own eyes. Besides, the elves believe this quite seriously, to the extent that they’ll endanger themselves to secure the reincarnations.” 

If Ms. Oka saw one of the administrators’ subordinates, then I was sure administrators actually existed. 

But what did this story have to do with the elves’ desire to secure the reincarnations? 

Before I could ask, Ms. Oka was already explaining. 

“We reincarnations have powerful skills and a large amount of skill points from birth. If used well, they can become very strong indeed. Like us, for example.” 

Ms. Oka looked pointedly at Katia and me. 

Katia, Fei—who wasn’t with us at the time—and I have certainly all had skills and excess skill points since we were born. 

We’re living proof that these advantages can help us get stronger much more quickly than the people around us. 

“And when one of us dies, the administrators steal all that power. The elves fear that, so they do not want the reincarnations to gain so much power. So we’ve been gathering the reincarnations and keeping them isolated so that they don’t train up their skills and stats.” 

Why were the elves so desperate to keep the administrators from gaining power? 

Desperate enough to gather reincarnations from all over the world… 

“In that case, wouldn’t it be better to dispose of the lot of us before we get too powerful?” 

Katia’s question made my breath catch in my throat. 

It wouldn’t be too surprising for things to take that turn, from what we’d heard before. In fact, it would seem only natural. 

From what our teacher had explained so far, the elves considered these “administrators” enemies. 

If they were that concerned about reincarnations getting too powerful, simply getting rid of them before they got the chance would be much easier than quarantining and monitoring them. 

But until Katia spoke up, that possibility hadn’t even occurred to me. 

“Not to worry. Potimas, the elves’ chief, had the final say that the reincarnations should be kept alive. Although even I don’t know why he decided that.” 

Sophia killed Potimas when we fled the capital. 

He’d been staying in the kingdom as a friendship ambassador of the elves for a while, but I’d never heard until then that he was also their chief. 

From what Ms. Oka said, I guessed that meant he had a lot of power. 

He chose to keep the reincarnations alive, but since he was now dead, we’d never know his motives. 

“I’m sure that Potimas had some plans of his own. He was a very analytical person, so I doubt he would have chosen to spare the reincarnations’ lives out of sheer kindness.” 

It sounded like Ms. Oka must have known Potimas pretty well. 

That would make sense. He was her father. 

“Shun, please don’t make that face. Yes, Potimas was my father, but we hardly had a familial relationship. He and I were simply using each other and nothing more. So though it may sound heartless, I’m not too broken up about his death.” 

I wondered what kind of face I was making. 

Despite her tight smile, Ms. Oka looked upset to me. 

“To return to the matter at hand, the elves’ aim is to overthrow the administrators. To that end, they intended to stop the war between humans and demons, then mediate a better relationship between the two races. Without war, people won’t fight, and they won’t need to raise their skills and stats. Which means that the power the administrators gain would also be weakened. That may sound like a drawn-out plan to humans, but since elves live much longer, they have the time and patience to carry it out. In fact, I’m told that they were able to stop the battle between the previous hero and Demon Lord in that way.” 

But the story doesn’t end there. 

“Eventually, however, both of them disappeared. The elves suspect it was the work of the administrators. And now, the current Demon Lord seems to be working with them. Otherwise, there would be no reason to instigate such a large-scale war.” 

I’ll never forget Hyrince’s expression in that moment. 

It was part anger, part suffering, part something that I couldn’t quite place. 

Hyrince fought in that very war. 

And all his comrades, including Julius, were slain before his eyes. 

Learning that it was simply for some “administrators” to gain more power must have been hard to swallow. 

Even I couldn’t accept that my brother was killed for such a futile reason. 

I don’t want to believe that Ms. Oka’s story is true. 

I mean, how could it be? 

My older brother wished for world peace more than anyone. 

But if what Ms. Oka says is true, then his role as the hero was to lead humanity into war. 

He only took up his sword to put an end to the fighting. 

But according to Ms. Oka, he did the exact opposite. 

He was playing right into the hands of the administrators by taking part in the war. 

I won’t forgive them. 

I can’t. 

They might as well exist just to trample on my brother’s beliefs. 

If all this is true, then I can’t just let the administrators get away with it. 

I’m sure Hyrince feels the exact same way. 

That would explain his dark expression. 

“When I wasn’t at the academy, I was away helping the elves try to avert the war. No matter what their reasons, I still owe them a great debt for protecting the reincarnations. But all those efforts were in vain, for the war has already started.” 

“So that’s why you were gone so often…” 

Ms. Oka rarely showed up in class at the academy. 

And now we know why. 

She wouldn’t tell us specifically what she was doing, but knowing her, it was because she didn’t want us to know what she’d been through. 

“I believe that the administrators figured out what the elves were doing. They disposed of the demon that was secretly working with the elves. And most likely, their goal in recent events was to take out Potimas, as well as the humans who were allied with the elves, like Shun’s father and Leston.” 

“Wait a minute! Wasn’t Hugo responsible for all that?!” 

Ms. Oka’s phrasing seemed to indicate that the administrators were behind everything that happened recently. 

Clearly, that was no mistake. 

“This doesn’t change what Hugo did, but I think he’s most likely being used. The fact that Sophia was with him is proof of that.” 

Sophia. The girl who outmatched us so easily. 

Ms. Oka took a deep breath and revealed the truth: 

“Her name is Sophia Keren. And in her previous life, she was Shouko Negishi. She is one of the reincarnations who has sided with the administrators.” 



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