by Okina Baba
Eventually, after we lived as shut-ins for a while, the path out of town was finally reopened.
Word is they chased away that ogre.
I’m a little concerned that it’s “chased away” and not “killed,” though.
Especially since, as it happens, the army chased the ogre into the Mystic Mountains.
“Well, if that’s not foreshadowing…”
The Demon Lord frowns seriously.
“But the Mystic Mountains is a whole region made up of an enormous mountain range. It’s awfully unlikely that we’d run into it, no?”
Vampy rolls her eyes, but the Demon Lord clicks her tongue.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. So naive. Sophia, you innocent little angel. You’re underestimating our ability to attract trouble like a magnet.”
The Demon Lord looks smug, causing the bloodsucker to roll her eyes even harder.
Sure, if you think about it logically, the odds of us running into one ogre in a big ol’ mountain range are pretty low.
But when you think about all the trouble we’ve gotten caught up in on our journey so far, then yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re gonna run into it!
“Either way, it doesn’t change our plans. We’ll just hope we don’t run into it, but I don’t really care if we do.”
The Demon Lord shrugs off the subject and starts getting ready to depart.
Some random ogre isn’t any threat to the Demon Lord, so what does she care?
It’s probably best for us to head into the mountains before we get mixed up in any more funny business in this town.
From what I’m told, there’s at least one adventurer in this town who thinks we’re a bunch of demons, and they’ve even told the imperial army about their suspicions.
If we hang around here too long, we might get into a scuffle with the army, so we’re heading for the hills before that happens.
“Come back anytime!”
The innkeeper lady smiles brightly as she sees us off on our way out of town.
Since the inn could’ve gotten destroyed because of us if things went south, I guess the Demon Lord paid her a little extra for her trouble.
But from the innkeeper’s perspective, we were just good customers who left a generous tip, so it makes sense for her to treat us so nicely.
Whew. I’m really glad the inn didn’t get destroyed.
Not long after, we make our way to an abandoned village at the foot of the Mystic Mountains without any trouble.
We had no problems getting out of town and none on the way here.
I was afraid we’d have trouble with the army during the former or with the elves during the latter, but it was actually a perfectly peaceful journey.
Maybe too peaceful, in fact?
Honestly, at this point I’m almost a little disappointed that nobody’s coming after us.
But as soon as we arrive in the village, that feeling vanishes.
The state of the abandoned village is…disturbing.
Based on the information we gathered before coming, this place was attacked by someone—most likely that ogre—and got destroyed.
No one has tried to rebuild it since then, so the ruins have just been sitting here abandoned.
Part of the reason is that as soon as the village was built, it was basically treated as a base camp for anyone trying to pass through the Mystic Mountains.
Since this place was destroyed, it was just taken as even more proof that the Mystic Mountains are too difficult to pass, so nobody wanted to fix it up.
We knew all that going in, but even if we hadn’t, it’s not too surprising that there’s no one here.
Most of the houses are run-down, and there are dark-red stains all over the place.
If you think about the reason this village is now abandoned, the identity of those stains becomes all too apparent.
This must have been a horrifically violent tragedy.
Given these conditions, no normal person would want to try to live here again, even if some of the houses were intact.
“Hrm. Guess we’ll stay in one of these houses for the night.”
But I guess you can’t exactly say that any of us is normal in this group.
Leave it to the Demon Lord to want to stay the night in a village that’s almost certainly haunted.
But yeah, I guess I’m down to stay here, too.
If it’ll keep me out of the wind and rain, I’ll stay in a haunted house or village or whatever else.
I hate sleeping outside in the cold!
“Wait a minute.”
Just then, Vampy starts sniffing the air and making a face and calls out for us to stop.
She’s sniffing all over the place like crazy. Are you a dog or what?
“I smell old blood and fresh blood. Why do you think that is?”
Hrm?
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a vampire can tell the difference.
Wait, but what does she mean, fresh blood?
The old blood obviously has to be from the villagers who were killed here.
So who does the fresh blood belong to?
Does that mean someone else has died here since the village was abandoned?
“Oh, you noticed? I think it’s the smell of elf blood.”
The Demon Lord sniffs casually as she responds.
Wow, so we’ve got an even bigger blood expert than the vampire here.
So it’s elf blood, huh? Got it.
…Wait, what?
“I bet they were lying in wait here for us. But it seems like someone else attacked and wiped them out. I guess it must’ve been the ogre that was fleeing in this direction, no?”
Oh wow. That’s…uh… Yikes.
Talk about bad luck.
I guess if you’re going to pass through the Mystic Mountains, it’ll almost certainly be by way of this village.
And since there’s no one else around, it’d be easy to attack us and get away with it.
It’s the perfect spot for an ambush.
But before we got here, the ogre that was being chased down by the imperial army showed up and attacked them instead.
Sucks to be them.
I’d almost feel bad, if they weren’t out to kill us.
“You’re saying they lost to the ogre?”
Vampy sounds surprised.
Hey, that’s a good point, actually.
Those elf bastards got done in by an ogre?
I dunno what kind of forces they brought with them, but if they were planning to take on the Demon Lord, they must have prepared accordingly.
And they still couldn’t beat that ogre?
Uh, maybe this thing is scarier than I thought.
“Yeah.” The Demon Lord nods. “Based on the evidence, that’s the only explanation I can think of.”
Gotcha. So the elves were definitely beaten by that ogre.
If it was an orc, you’d have the makings of some steamy fanfic here.
No, I guess it’d work with an ogre, too.
One pile of elf smut, coming right up.
There might even be some BL potential, since Potimas literally got ripped a new butthole two years ago.
By me, that is.
Why am I letting my mind wander in such a stupid direction? No matter how scary strong that ogre might be, I’m sure there’s no way it’d be a match for the Demon Lord.
She’s easily the strongest being in the world.
The only way to stand a chance of beating the Demon Lord would be to have power outside of the system.
You know, like Güli-güli or Potimas.
But Güli-güli’s a special case, and even Potimas couldn’t necessarily beat her.
No matter how strong the ogre is, as long as its strength is defined by the system, it doesn’t stand a chance against the Demon Lord.
Otherwise, it’d be a serious problem for me, the Demon Lord’s favorite freeloader!
“Hrmmm.”
The Demon Lord strokes her chin, as if she knows I�
�ve been silently praising her.
There’s a hint of more complicated emotions in her expression, though.
She’s clearly deep in thought about something.
I don’t want to interrupt her brainstorming session, so I look around at the abandoned village again.
The traces of blood on the walls are fresh, hinting at a brutal massacre.
But now that I think about it, that’s all there is.
If the Demon Lord or the puppet spiders went all-out in battle, the damage would be way worse than this.
Every last house would be demolished without a trace, and there might not even be any blood left at all.
Because when these guys fight, they literally obliterate their enemies.
There wouldn’t even be bodies left to bury.
I should know, since the Demon Lord actually did blow me to bits once.
Man, I seriously thought I was a goner that time. I would have been, too, if I didn’t have the Immortality skill.
Once you’ve seen that kind of insanely destructive power, a situation like this where there’s proof left behind seems totally banal by comparison.
It’s clearly the aftermath of a battle, but one within the scope of human comprehension, at least.
If Potimas had busted out the kind of weapons he used in the battle against the UFO two years ago, the kind he would probably use to deal with the Demon Lord, it wouldn’t look like this.
Those weapons are on the level of insanity, too.
If they’d been used in the battle, I don’t think this village would still be standing.
In fact, no matter how strong the ogre is, I don’t think it would’ve bested the elves if they had those weapons.
Which means that the elves were lying in wait without any fancy weapons.
Hrm? Is it just me, or does something smell fishy here?
Between this and the previous attack, I just can’t figure out what Potimas is trying to do.
For our first contact in two years, it certainly doesn’t seem like Potimas is seriously trying to kill us.
Potimas should know better than most that you can’t beat the Demon Lord with some half-baked plan.
So if he set up an ambush without any weapons, it’s almost like he wasn’t expecting to win.
Like he was just wasting manpower for no reason.
But why would Potimas do something so pointless?
It’s not like I know him that well or anything, but I’ve got a certain sense of his personality.
Based on what I know about him, these actions don’t make any sense.
It’s almost like I’m missing some key piece of the puzzle.
The Demon Lord’s current attitude just adds more credibility to that theory.
Has she noticed something that I haven’t?
As I look at her, she keeps glancing toward me and Vampy, then quickly averting her eyes.
“Well, this means less enemies for us without us having to do any work. Let’s just say it worked out in our favor, hmm?”
What’s up with that?
It’s an awfully vague, half-hearted stance for the Demon Lord to take.
She’s definitely gotta be hiding something.
“It doesn’t seem like there are any elves or ogres around, so this place is probably safe. Let’s spend the night here and start making our way through the Mystic Mountains tomorrow, shall we? This’ll be our last chance to take a nice, long rest for a while, so make sure you really recharge.”
In the end, the Demon Lord doesn’t tell us whatever it is she’s keeping to herself.
Well, if she doesn’t think we need to know, then she’s probably right.
I’m sure there’s nothing I’d be able to do anyway, so it’s probably best not to ask.
It would be some time until I finally found out what the Demon Lord was hiding.
About the despicable plan that Potimas had for the reincarnations.
Was it for the best that I didn’t find out at the time, or was it a terrible mistake?
I still can’t say for sure.
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.
&
nbsp; 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.
