I took a moment to control my ragged breaths and calm my breathing.
Finally stopping the intense, all-out exertion, my body recognized the need for rest, and my muscles screamed with fatigue.
But it wasn’t over yet.
It wasn’t over.
“President, we’ve succeeded in securing the ‘object’.”
Even as I connected telepathically, the sounds of battle continued from all around.
Even though it was a clone, the god was now prostrate on the ground.
No, to be precise, I could feel an atmosphere of confusion from the enemy’s side.
But perhaps they didn’t want to admit defeat, it felt like the battle was still ongoing.
If that’s the case, then all I have to do is the next job.
“Well done, Jin’ō. Then, we’re ready on this end too. Shall we begin immediately?”
The Sun God collapsed as if his spirit had left him.
By severing the connection between the god’s clone and the god’s main body, the entity controlling this body had disappeared.
A god cannot become a god.
If this clone were to move, it would create two Sun Gods, so there was no will to control this clone.
Therefore, the clone, a mass of immense energy, would not disappear immediately, but if left alone, this giant body would eventually dissipate into magic power.
Because collapse hasn’t come yet, there are things we can do.
This was a secret strategy of the President’s that I didn’t know about.
The fleet of Kaido’s ships began to advance slowly.
And the wave of magic power I felt from the main camp’s direction.
“A notification to all armies: withdraw from the combat zone immediately. I repeat, withdraw from the combat zone immediately. This is a Class 1 order from the Demon Lord.”
And then the President’s own notification to all troops.
This prompted me and the Demon Lord’s Army to begin a swift retreat.
The only exception was Instructor Fushio, who was still fighting the Seraph, ranked first.
I glanced up at the sky and our eyes met for a moment.
If he conveyed with his eyes that I shouldn’t interfere, there was nothing I could do.
I shook my head.
“Valse-san, please take me to Suella. I need to retrieve Suella and return to the main camp.”
“Understood.”
I mounted the Giant White Snake, controlled by my contracted spirit, and headed towards Suella, who was seeing Tofam off.
The faster the Giant White Snake moved, the greater its speed.
We accelerated rapidly, leaving the combat zone.
“I found her.”
“Please retrieve her.”
On the way, the white snake, having passed by, dashed towards Suella, who was being protected by spirits.
“I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Ah, you worried about me.”
There was no need to stop.
She was also a member of the Demon Lord’s Army.
It was a simple matter for her to leap onto the body of the white snake as it sped past.
She gracefully leaped aboard, adjusted her position, and tumbled into my arms.
Even though it was a clone, she embraced me tightly, as if to confirm my safety after fighting a god.
I gently returned the embrace for a few seconds.
“The operation has entered its final phase. I don’t know what comes next, but Suella, what is the President planning?”
With the god’s clone defeated, Tris’s chances of victory were clearly gone.
I thought they would conquer the country and bring the war to an end, but that didn’t explain what was said during the previous armistice with the former empire.
“Wouldn’t Valse-sama understand better than I do?”
Still in each other’s arms, Suella looked at Valse, who was sitting on the head of the white snake.
She had not moved from her spot since the battle ended, her gaze fixed forward, not looking back at the battlefield.
“I understand, but I don’t want to say.”
She nodded at Suella’s words, but without looking back, she only affirmed.
As if to connect, she showed a resolute will not to teach.
“Either way, I’ll see it later. In that case, there’s no need to ask.”
“No, Contractor-san. I have no intention of showing you that.”
From her attitude, I sensed that something bad was about to happen.
Rather, she had created a magic circle using the tunnels and installed cursed objects in them.
It was like declaring that something bad was going to happen.
“That Demon Lord withdrew all his soldiers from the combat zone. Only the Undead King and a will-less Golem remain.”
It was natural to be convinced that something was about to happen, to wonder what it was, and to be curious.
However, Valse-san said it was better not to know.
“It’s better if fewer people understand, just like the Demon Lord said, wasn’t it?”
“…”
Those words were not spoken to be mean to me.
Rather, they were spoken kindly, as if she were concerned for my safety.
I let out a sigh as the puzzle pieces began to fall into place, and I had a vague idea of what was about to happen.
This was what you could call giving up on thinking.
The phrase “curiosity killed the cat” flashed through my mind, and I understood that thinking I needed to know everything was arrogant.
“I’ll follow your advice. Let me know when it’s safe.”
“Do so. You have loved ones. Even if you have gained extraordinary power, there are still things that are better left unknown.”
It was wiser to stop here rather than to delve deeper and get hurt due to prioritizing intellectual curiosity.
Valse nodded, seemingly agreeing, and looked back slightly with a smile of relief.
I wondered how terrible something must be for her, who always seemed so breezy, to be relieved, and decided not to think about it any further. Just then, heavy footsteps echoed nearby.
I had sensed them with my presence, so I didn’t say anything, but when a loud thud announced their approach, I instinctively pulled Suella behind me and activated a space magic with one hand, reaching for the object I had stored inside.
As I revealed my horrifying appearance, with my arm from the elbow down submerged in another dimension, the Oni and the Giant landed right in front of me, just as I expected.
“Jiro! Sake!”
“…”
Knowing what he wanted the moment he opened his mouth, I pulled a sake barrel for the instructor from the other dimension and silently handed it over.
The instructor took it, smashed the lid of the sake barrel, which could easily hold a hundred liters, and guzzled it down all at once, as if drinking from a mug.
“Phew, sake after a fight tastes great.”
Ignoring the Giant King who was silently watching me, I wryly smiled at the gentleman enjoying his after-work drink and then, with a silent gesture of a sake barrel from the other dimension, I visually asked the Giant King.
“I’ll take it.”
It was half a joke, but thinking about it calmly, he too had been working non-stop on rushed construction. He would likely want a drink after work.
“…This is delicious.”
“It’s whiskey from a sake brewery introduced by an acquaintance of mine. Just that costs about five stacks of bills.”
The Giant King drank it down like the instructor, then quietly commented, and I wryly smiled. Reaching into the other dimension again, I produced some snacks and offered them. Two large hands reached out, and a small feast began on the white snake.
“It seems the tide of the battle has been decided, but will the war end?”
“…It won’t.”
However, it was a sad reality that this wasn’t quite a victory celebration.
I didn’t want to dampen the spirits of the two gentlemen enjoying the delicious sake, but there was no point in deceiving them here.
The instructor, after taking a sip (lighter than usual for him), frowned as if bothered and denied my question.
A moment ago, he had the air of a salaryman just finished with work, but now his atmosphere was completely like a wake.
Aware of the somber mood, I glanced at the Giant King, and as I expected, he also shook his head.
“Humans may give up, but gods don’t, is that it?”
I could accurately grasp his intent.
“That’s right. In fact, after suffering such a crushing defeat in this battle, he can no longer back down.”
The god is aware of his position above humans.
No, it’s better to say he has pride.
This absolute superior was thoroughly defeated by an inferior species this time.
Would that god be content and withdraw?
Could a god be satisfied with a battle that might decide the fate of the world, or rather, the ruler of the world?
No, absolutely not, I thought.
I couldn’t imagine that god, a mass of arrogance, would readily admit defeat.
It was so easy to imagine that I scratched my head a little roughly.
“Therefore, the Demon Lord also intends to finish this without holding back.”
“Probably. Well, I don’t know what he’ll do, though. He’s planning something on such a large scale.”
The flow of war was entirely in our favor.
To decide victory or defeat, the Sun God had to be utterly defeated and forced to admit defeat.
Trouble still remained.
Knowing that there was still one more battle, the instructor, who would normally say he was looking forward to it, now showed not so much the enjoyment of battle, but rather…
“It won’t be a half-hearted attack.”
I saw a hint of genuine curiosity.
He was purely interested in what would happen.
He was probably forced to retreat by the President’s order.
Oniō Raidou was that kind of being.
He followed orders from those he acknowledged, but otherwise acted according to his own beliefs.
If there hadn’t been an order, he would have remained on that battlefield until the end.
“You probably know about the Giant King, don’t you?”
“…”
When I asked the Giant King, who was the person in charge of digging the tunnels and setting up the cursed objects to draw the magic circle, he responded by drinking his sake silently, swallowing his words.
It was a declaration that he had no intention of speaking.
The instructor didn’t say it was boring.
He was satisfied with simply intuitively realizing that something was happening.
“Contractor-san, we’re approaching the main camp.”
During our conversation, we had arrived near the main camp.
“Is that so? Stop me here. I’ll walk from here.”
It was too much to arrive at the main camp on this giant snake.
Should I stop here and send it back?
“Also, please wait a little before sending it back. I want to observe the battlefield for a while longer.”
No, if something was going to happen, it would undoubtedly be troublesome.
If I knew that, it would be better to have them wait, even if it meant a little inconvenience, so that I could respond quickly.
“Understood.”
The instructor and the Giant King jumped off, clutching their barrels, and were already walking towards the main camp.
Suella and I jumped off, and I wryly smiled at the spirit who, on the coiled and resting snake, began to munch on rice crackers from who knows where. I also started walking towards the main camp.
“Ah, I’m tired. If this were the end, I’d want to take a bath and relax.”
“I’ll give you a light cleansing. It’s just for your peace of mind, but I think it will make you feel refreshed.”
I stretched my arms to loosen my body, and felt the faint light from beside me wash away the dirt and sweat from my clothes.
“Yes, we’ll probably be busy once we return.”
I felt a strong magic power near the main camp.
That was the Empire’s mage corps.
The Demon Lord’s Army mages were gathered there, about to cast a ritual spell.
I was cautioned not to think about what was happening.
“Let’s grab a quick meal before that. After all this time, I want to eat something solid instead of a potion.”
“Yes, I agree.”
For now, I’d try not to think about it.
Today’s word:
There are things it’s better not to know, and it’s best not to try to find out.
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