Chapter 8 — You Don’t Think You Might Have Already Done That, Do You?
“It looks like I read you guys fairly well. Don’t worry, no matter how rude you are, I have no intention of killing you. You should be prepared to lose an arm or two, though.”
The students were clearly in shock, the room rapidly devolving into a state of total chaos. It must have been a powerful blow to them, having relied so much on the Gift until now.
Sitting on his throne, the king smirked at the uproar, but when things failed to settle down, he quickly lost his patience.
“All right, can you shut up now? Or should I do two or three more of you?”
The students immediately fell quiet. Aside from Yogiri and Tomochika, the entire group was clearly on edge.
“Ugh, at this rate you won’t remember anything I say anyway. Fine, I’ll explain a little before we get to the main topic. Making sure you understand your situation is part of the contract, after all.”
He must have felt there was no point in talking about the upcoming feats yet. With a sigh, he began to explain.
“Although the Sages act like they rule over this world, we aren’t their subjects here. So we don’t have their support, or anything that lets us put restrictions on the Gift. You know that much, right?”
Yogiri remembered hearing that the Gift was restricted within the cities. But that must have only applied to locations where the Sages’ own subordinates were in control.
“Of course. We’ve already confirmed that our Gifts work within the capital.” Suguru Yazaki, who held the class of General, had spoken up for the group. Unsurprisingly, Yogiri had to ask Tomochika what his name was.
“I thought you might have. If you knew you couldn’t use your powers, you wouldn’t have behaved so badly, am I right? The reason you can’t use your abilities right now is simple...I possess a power of my own which weakens the Gift. That power extends throughout the entire capital, but as you get closer to me, it becomes stronger. So relax, it’s not like your skills are gone forever. Once you are farther away from me, I’m sure you’ll be able to reattach his fingers.”
Once the students understood that the restrictions on the Gift were a localized phenomenon, they managed to recover some semblance of calm.
“That should be enough for now. If you want to know why or how much your powers have been weakened, ask someone else. Now, on to the main topic. Listen carefully; I don’t have time to explain this to you over and over.”
The candidates did as they were told, giving the king their full attention.
“In order for you to become Sages, you must accomplish great feats. In this kingdom, there are two such feats for you to attempt. The first is to repel a potential invasion by the Argandan Empire.”
At that, the group began to stir again. If their opponent was an entire country, was their training so far worth anything at all? It was natural that they would be uneasy.
“Uhh, I don’t know why this thought occurred to me...and it’s only the vaguest of vague hunches, but against all odds...you don’t think you might’ve already done that, do you, Takatou?” Tomochika murmured.
? ?
Turning back the clock a little, we return to the ruins of the Swordmaster’s tower shortly after Yogiri and Tomochika left.
“At this rate, I’ll have to just take a dump in front of you fully nude!”
“What the hell are you talking about?!”
A teenage boy was wailing prostrate on the ground, while a child stared down at him.
The one crying was Daimon Hanakawa. He was a Japanese high school student who had been summoned to this world by the Sages.
The other was a spawn of the Dark God Albagarma, the last of his kind, named Lute. The rest of the spawn had been wiped out, leaving him the sole survivor, but he didn’t fully understand what had happened there. So he was currently trying to extract that information from the last person left at the scene.
“But that’s it for me! Logically speaking, rationally speaking, there is nothing I can do to survive this situation! You’re just going to kill me after I answer your questions anyway, right?! There’s no way I could even run from you, let alone fight! Even though you look like an innocent child, you’re actually a merciless, cruel killer who would destroy me like an insect and say something like, ‘Wow, how strange! I didn’t think he’d die from that,’ aren’t you?!” Hanakawa howled pathetically.
Lute had hoped to use him as a source of intel in order to avenge his master, but at this rate, he wouldn’t get anything of value. “So why were you pressing your face into the ground like you were willing to do whatever it took to survive earlier?”
“Oh, did you see that?”
“Of course I did.”
“Well...I can’t really argue with your interpretation of that, but I had no idea what to do at the time,” Hanakawa admitted awkwardly. “The only thing I can do now is strip down and remain defiant!”
“Why, though?!” Hanakawa began to take off his clothes. “Seriously, don’t!”
“Oh, are you telling me to take an epic shit with my clothes on? I see, you’re more interested in watching people do that sort of thing clothed!”
“I’m going to say this just in case, but you better not. I’ll kill you instantly.”
From Lute’s perspective, Hanakawa was simply trash. The difference in their strengths was so great, there was nothing the otherworlder could do to so much as scratch him. But even to a spawn of the Dark God, disgusting things were...well, disgusting, and he was as confused as the average human would be by Hanakawa’s nonsensical behavior.
“Fine, I promise not to kill you out of spite, so relax.” As reluctant as he was, Lute tried to get the teen to see reason.
“Truly? But will you not just kill me anyway while saying that?”
“No. There’s no one left to provide this information but you, so I can’t afford to.”
“Really, now? Are you not the type of evil child who will forget your promise the moment you grow a little angry? You aren’t impulsively going to kill your only source of information without thinking about what to do next? I feel like you might do it just to make yourself seem less ordinary!”
“All right, fine, then I’ll kill you.”
“I’m sorry! As soon as I saw I had a chance to live, I let it go to my head!” Hanakawa pressed his forehead harder into the ground.
“So, you said earlier that there’s a guy who can kill people just by thinking it. That’s pretty hard to believe in and of itself, nevermind that he could kill my lord as well.”
“Yes, but...!”
“Yeah, I get it. I know that at the very least you believe it to be true. Putting the details aside for now, I recognize that this Takatou is likely related to what happened here. Of course I plan on killing everyone who was present, just in case, but I should probably kill him first.”
“Umm, that’s fine and all, but the issue is how you plan on doing it. If Master Lute could kill Takatou, it would be like a dream come true, and I’d be able to sleep peacefully at night again! And if I could have Tomochika for myself, that would be even better!”
“If this Instant Death ability of his is some sort of fake, I have to assume that I’m fighting someone with enough raw strength to kill my lord. In that case, there’s no way I could win.”
“So what will you do?”
“It’s easy. I just need to get help from someone who’s even stronger than my lord was.” As he spoke, Lute pulled something from his pocket. It was a golden tube that had been warped and twisted into an intricate shape.
“What is that?”
“I took it from my lord’s body. It’s the key to a seal.”
“The word ‘seal’ gives me a bad feeling about this. You plan on setting something free?”
“My lord was the older brother of a pair of gods, meaning he has a little sister. He wasn’t willing to put up with her insolent behavior, so he ended up catching her off guard and locking her away.”
“But if she was weak enough to be locked up by the Dark God, wouldn’t that make her weaker than him?”
“She is a completely overpowered being, but she had a weakness for my lord alone. She would do anything that he said.”
“Ahaha, I see. So he deceived her. But once that seal is broken, won’t she be mad with rage? Well, if there is someone like that out there, I will leave it up to her and bid you adieu!”
With those words, Hanakawa began to scurry away, still on his knees and bowing low to the ground, but Lute stepped over and grabbed the high schooler’s hair to foil his escape.
“And just where are you going?”
“I’ve told you everything I know now, so if you aren’t planning to kill me, I thought it best to get well out of your way! I feel it is preferable for garbage like me to ensure that I never curse your eyes with my hideous visage ever again!”
“Whatever. I don’t know anything about this Takatou guy, so I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”
“Err, well, my mother said I shouldn’t follow strangers. And won’t it be embarrassing for you if we’re seen together? People might start spreading rumors!”
“Ahahaha, a stranger? Don’t be so cold. We’re friends, right?” Pulling Hanakawa up by his hair, he forced him to meet his eyes.
“Noooooo! Please, spare me! Being pulled around in order to revive someone who is even stronger than the Dark God is beyond my capabilities! Seriously, why does this always happen to me?! After being used like a tool by that tomboy, now it’s a kid?! I have no interest in such people! At least give me someone who wears women’s clothes! Even if they’re a cross-dresser, at least I’d be able to accept it a little easier!” Hanakawa wailed desperately. The fact that Lute was a powerful being he could never hope to match had apparently slipped his mind.
“You want a woman? I don’t really care what I look like, so sure.”
Lute had no desire whatsoever to strive to meet Hanakawa’s needs, but changing his appearance was easier than breathing. So he did, following his own whims, taking on the appearance of a village girl he had seen in the past.
“Oh! Ohhhh! That’s much better than the tomboy! Just seeing you in that form makes me think it’s okay to go along with you!” Hanakawa’s eyes were sparkling. He had already forgotten the perilous situation he was in.
“Well, since I don’t need to reproduce like humans, I don’t really have a gender.”
“Hm? So...what does that mean? You have both parts?”
“Why would I have either?”
Hanakawa suddenly slammed a hand onto the ground, hard enough to make the dirt shake. Startled, Lute let go of his hair.
“That is incorrect!” Hanakawa roared.
“Uh, are you crying?” Lute was confounded by Hanakawa’s uncharacteristic display of vigor.
“Genderless is the absolute worst! What’s the point of a ‘dick girl’ without a dick?!”
“You said as long as I looked like a woman, you’d be happy, right?” Lute couldn’t figure out what the hell this whiny human wanted.
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