TEACHER
We return to the elf village via teleportation.
“Hrmmm. This is certainly unexpected.”
As I look at the back of the small, despairing figure in front of me, I murmur to myself quietly enough that she cannot hear.
Though as she trembles with her hands pressed to the ground, I doubt she would hear me anyway.
This little girl’s name is Filimøs.
I, Potimas Harrifenas, am her father.
However, she is usually called Oka.
She has been reincarnated into this world after coming from another, retaining her previous memories, which is why she prefers to be called by her old name.
It’s a symptom of her lingering regret and attachment to her old life.
Oka’s feelings about her old world seem to be quite strong.
Otherwise, she would never have had the idea to gather the other reincarnations from all over the world, for no other reason than that they are from the same place.
Even with the skill she has that would suggest such a thing.
Oka’s unique skill, Student Roster, conveys information about the reincarnations.
The skill gives only specific information, and only about reincarnations, so it is not a terribly user-friendly skill.
On top of that, the information it gives is incredibly sparse, leaving much to be desired in the way of details.
Frankly, the skill is completely useless.
Or at least, it would be, were it not in my hands.
I have a powerful organization at my command that I have built up over many years: the elves.
If I use them well, I can make great use of even that limited information.
We have now succeeded in gathering more than half the reincarnations.
The only other individual who would have been able to make such good use of Oka’s skill is most likely the Pontiff of the Word of God religion, Dustin.
If Oka had fallen into his hands, it would have been very inconvenient indeed.
To that end, I must profess thanks to whatever divine intervention delivered Oka to me.
Thus far, things have gone rather swimmingly, but it will likely be more difficult from this point on.
It’s safe to say that this most recent incident was a failure beyond even my imagination.
“Why…?” Oka murmurs in a trembling voice.
I cannot see her face from here, but it is easy to tell that she is in considerable shock.
From what she has told me, Oka’s old world was a fairly peaceful one.
By comparison, this experience must have been too shocking for her to bear.
After all, aside from Oka and myself, our entire party was slaughtered.
To make matters worse for her, that situation was caused by one of her fellow reincarnations.
From her perspective, one of her own students perpetrated this massacre, which must be difficult to swallow.
Reincarnation though she may be, she is still a child of less than thirty years between her two lives, so perhaps this was too harsh a thing for her to witness.
What happened exactly?
The simplest explanation is that we were attacked by an ogre.
But on a deeper level, it was actually the result of all kinds of complicated, interwoven circumstances, making it difficult to get the full story.
Even I cannot grasp everything that took place.
It began, I suppose, when I planned to tease Ariel and her companions.
Yes, tease.
A childish act, I must admit, but there is no more accurate way to describe it, as it held no deeper meaning.
Since Ariel travels with two reincarnations, I thought it would be amusing to introduce them to Oka and force them to fight each other.
Ariel has a surprisingly compassionate side, despite appearances.
And she cares deeply, too deeply, for her companions.
So if her companions were forced to clash with one of their own, it would no doubt be distressing for her.
In the end, distress is the most I expected to accomplish, since I doubt it would be enough to enable me to deal with her.
That is why I must describe it as teasing.
All it would accomplish is reveal the depth of my resentment, as such an action is entirely cost-ineffective.
But I suppose, after the humiliation they put me through, I had to do something of the sort for my own peace of mind.
It was especially spiteful to wait until Oka had grown a bit before carrying out the plan, if I do say so myself.
But when I finally attempted it after two years, there was an unexpected problem.
It was all well and good when the vampire girl attacked us at first.
In fact, that was exactly what I wanted.
I was not certain what would happen if I allowed Oka to try to speak to her first as she wished, but I hadn’t imagined that she would just attack blindly.
Although I suppose I knew Ariel had already raised the vampire girl to be distrustful of elves.
In fact, I am not sure why I didn’t expect to be attacked.
Still, from my point of view, the girl’s speedy and decisive reaction was even better than I could have hoped.
If we had teleported away a second later, Oka would have died.
That normally would not be a problem, but if Oka died before they figured out who she was, then I’d lose my chance to torment them successfully.
That would be a bit of a shame.
However, Oka’s value has gone down considerably since she was first born.
Thanks to the information from her Student Roster skill, we’ve collected most of the reincarnations.
And we already have a general idea of where the others are.
If we wanted to capture them, we probably could, but it would be foolish to lay a hand on the children of royalty or other powerful families too carelessly.
We already have more than the sample size we need, so there is no point in going after the others needlessly.
Besides, Dustin has already made his move with the hero. It would be unwise to take any more actions that are too obvious.
And if we can no longer make any serious moves regarding the reincarnations, Oka’s value is considerably lowered.
She still has value, but it would be no major blow to lose her.
She’s useful to have around, but it’s not particularly a problem if she’s not.
That is Oka’s current value to me.
So I thought it would be fine if she died in the process of this teasing, but…
“Oka.” I address the still-trembling girl. “Was that really a reincarnation?”
At my question, she jumps to her feet.
Raising her head, she looks at me with a face still red with tears.
“Erm! That, well… I-it’s just…”
She opens her mouth, but the words that come out are nonsensical.
I suppose she doesn’t know what to say herself.
But amid her stammering, I suspect that some part of her is still trying to cover for that creature.
Shall I summarize her probable thoughts?
That was definitely a reincarnation, but she believes he had a reason for acting that way.
“Oka,” I repeat coldly as she continues to mumble. “Give up. That thing was no longer human.”
Oka freezes up in shock at that.
I’m sure she knows that herself, deep down. She simply does not wish to admit it.
Watching her dazed expression, I let my mind drift back to what happened before.
We led a unit of elves to the abandoned village at the foot of the Mystic Mountains to lie in wait.
It was originally built to help the empire conquer the Mystic Mountains, but for some reason or other, all the villagers died, or so I am told.
Because of that incident, no one ever comes near the empty village.
However, if Ariel and the others are aiming to cross the Mystic Mountains, they would have no choice but to pass through the village.
It sits directly in front of the entrance to the mountain range, after all.
Even if they tried to avoid it, we would be able to figure that out from the abandoned village.
It was the ideal place for an ambush…until that thing showed up.
“GRAAAAH!”
The ogre howled as it ran straight down the road toward the village.
Were it any ordinary ogre, this would not be a problem.
Because Oka was with us, I brought only ordinary elves without any special weapons.
However, they were still skilled fighters specializing in magic.
After all, they were meant to take on Ariel, even if I did not expect them to win.
They were really present only for my peace of mind. They were moderately useful yet ultimately expendable soldiers.
There was no reason they shouldn’t have been able to handle an ogre.
And yet, Oka and I were the only survivors.
Even I would have fallen if I were not in a body that could use Spatial Magic.
I had heard that it defeated some adventurers, so I knew it was no ordinary ogre, but I never expected it to be that exceptional.
I already had my suspicions that the ogre might be a reincarnation.
There was one reincarnation on Oka’s Student Roster who fit the description.
The information contained on the Student Roster is the reincarnation’s place of birth, current condition, and the time and cause of their death.
This one was born in the Mystic Mountains, its condition had been fluctuating wildly these past few days, and its time and cause of death were constantly being revised.
When a reincarnation’s condition fluctuates, that means they are in the midst of a battle.
And each time the time and cause of death are updated, it means they have avoided the possibility of dying in their current battle.
The death information already tends to be vague, and it often doesn’t end up coming true.
But when it changes that frequently, it means the reincarnation in question is repeatedly coming close to death.
Taking all this information into account, I strongly suspected that the ogre in question was a reincarnation.
After all, it was constantly getting into battles near the Mystic Mountains and using decidedly un-ogre-like strategies to defeat adventurers.
I was all but certain, but I decided to prioritize Ariel and company instead.
For even if the ogre was a reincarnation, there would be little point in bringing it to the elf village.
Reincarnations are difficult to keep as pets unless they are powerless.
If this ogre has already defeated multiple adventurers, it would be far too difficult to control.
This is why I chose not to tell Oka that the imperial army was attempting to subjugate the ogre, and I even thought it might be for the best if they succeeded.
Oka was quite concerned about the creature and had talked me into promising that we would search for it after dealing with Ariel.
Either way, I agreed because I assumed that she would no longer be able to worry about the ogre after encountering Ariel, although it has certainly come back to bite me now.
Especially because I have no doubt that Dustin was involved in the matter.
For the ogre to just happen upon us with such impeccable timing is all but unthinkable. No doubt someone was manipulating the ogre behind the scenes.
My guess is that Dustin’s beloved pet project—those covert operatives of his—was responsible for guiding the ogre straight to our location.
I must admit, though they are my enemy, they are infuriatingly competent.
However, since we were able to confirm that the ogre was a reincarnation in the project, I suppose I shall let it pass.
After all, my goal was only to tease Ariel and her little friends.
It was not a particularly constructive plan, nor was its failure a terribly big loss.
When I Appraised that ogre, it unmistakably had the n% I = w skill held only by reincarnations.
The ogre is without a doubt a reincarnation, then.
And one who we certainly cannot control.
If I brought out the Glorias, which I have kept hidden from Oka, then I would undoubtedly be able to defeat it.
However, I have no interest in keeping a mindless beast as a pet.
That thing was no longer human.
Soon, it will forget that it was ever human to begin with.
There would be no advantage in having a thing like that in our village.
“Still, isn’t there anything we can do?” Oka asks, as if in response to my thoughts.
No doubt it was a coincidence, but the timing is so precise that it startles me slightly.
But that doesn’t change my answer.
“No, I think not. As you saw, that thing was not human, and it didn’t appear to hear when you spoke to it. Judging by that rampage, I doubt it even has intelligible thoughts any longer. I know not whether it is because it was reborn as an ogre or for some other reason, but it has completely transformed into nothing more than a mad beast. There is no saving a creature like that.”
Not that I was interested in saving it anyway.
“But still! There has to be a way!”
“There is not. Even if there was, I have no intention of capturing that monster. It would be a waste of time and resources.”
Oka’s tear-streaked face turns dumbfounded at my bluntness.
“Besides, would you truly defend it after what you saw it do to our people?”
Personally, the loss of a few expendables matters not to me, but Oka is far more softhearted.
If I point out that she is continuing to be selfish after all those losses, it will no doubt be effective.
Besides, unlike me, Oka sees those expendables as individuals with value.
During the expedition, she spoke with every one of them, even forming a sort of friendship.
It seems that in most of society, it is the norm to mourn the death of someone you knew.
Attempting to capture that ogre would mean incurring just as many losses, perhaps even more.
Since she sees each expendable pawn as a person, that would be a difficult call for Oka to make.
Sure enough, Oka closes her mouth and hangs her head again.
Turning my back to the silent girl, I begin to walk away.
This strategy was a complete failure.
And if Ariel’s group makes it into the Mystic Mountains, they are undoubtedly heading for the demon realm.
I do have some connections there, but it will be much harder to interfere with them than it was before.
So I have no choice but to call off my harassment attempts for now.
In which case, it is best to start taking action on other fronts.
Time is valuable, after all.
I cannot afford to waste a single second.
There is much that needs to be done. Where to begin?
“But I… I’m still his teacher…”
I hear Oka’s soft whisper behind me, but I pay her no mind as I walk away.
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