That night, Sahzan visited my room.
“Alright! As promised, I’m going to have you show me, Soma!”
As soon as she entered, Sahzan panted. This wasn’t some preamble to a “By the way, look at this. What do you think of it… ‘It’s so… Snowpaon…'” situation. Sahzan’s objective was an item I possessed.
“This is it, right?”
As she said that, I held up the slate I had taken from the library.
“This record will be left to those who possess the qualities of a hero, for when the time comes. If you wish to inherit the will of the ancient hero Alex and defeat the Evil God, follow the path of the ancient heroes and witness their destiny. >>Episode 1>>Episode 2”
As the archaic description suggests, it’s the ‘Evil God War Video Record,’ depicting the journey of a past hero to seal the Evil God. Sahzan, who is fond of tales of Evil Gods and heroes, is apparently fixated on this record.
However, only humans with the ‘Player’ attribute can play back this record. In this world, that means only me and Maki. Sahzan, who desires it the most, cannot watch it directly. Thus, we had a promise that I would watch the video in her stead and tell her about it. But this wasn’t the only issue with the slate.
“Hey. If it’s about the slate, I’ll tell you the whole story properly, so tomorrow, let’s go to Stardust Flare…”
“No. You will tell me the whole story, until the end of Episode 15. Until then, Stardust Flare is on hold.”
The recorded video on this slate has fifteen episodes in total. And once the slate is activated, it cannot be used again for twenty-four hours. In other words…
“It will take at least two weeks until I can watch this to the end.”
“So?”
I wanted to say, “You can’t wait that long, can you?” But Sahzan, as if welcoming it, replied in an unusually cheerful tone.
“…Alright.”
It seemed there was no backing down. I nodded and moved away from Sahzan to sit on the bed. Seeing this, Sahzan, for some reason, approached me with a displeased air.
“Wh-What is it? Even if you’re unhappy, you don’t have to run away.”
“Why are you suddenly getting grumpy? I’m not running away from you, I just want to get into a more comfortable position.”
If this were like the game, only my sight and hearing would enter the world of the recorded video while I was viewing it, but my other physical senses would remain unchanged. Episode 1 alone takes an hour to watch to the end. Standing still for that long would be quite taxing.
“Well, if that’s the case, fine.”
Saying that, Sahzan leaped onto the bed and came behind me.
“Hey! What are you doing getting on someone else’s bed without permission!”
I protested, of course, but Sahzan wasn’t listening. Rather, she leaned over my back and excitedly pointed at the slate.
“That’s not important, come on! Hurry, hurry!”
“It is important, and you can’t even watch it yourself…”
I grumbled, but Sahzan paid no mind.
“Honestly, you truly don’t understand! There are no complete records of the Evil God War from that era anywhere in this country! Even the historical materials in my house did not depict the heroes in their true forms. Do you understand how valuable this historical material is…?”
“Okay, okay! I’ll teach you properly now!”
I couldn’t stand being yelled at by her ear any longer. I resolved myself and reached out for the slate, but my hand stopped just before touching it.
“…Hey? Is it okay to start from Episode 2?”
“Obviously not! From the beginning! From the beginning!”
“Ah, I get it, I get it! Then stop shouting in my ear!”
Also, the mask is hitting my face, it hurts, it’s scary, and it’s stuffy. I want to finish this quickly and relax.
(Though, you know…)
The first episode of this video record is a gut-wrenching ending where everyone except the Hero Alex dies. It’s hard to understand because there’s no audio, and there’s only one BGM track. It’s not something I’d want to watch multiple times.
As I hesitated, Sahzan, impatient, finally reached over my shoulder.
“Ugh, you’re so slow! Come on, hurry up!”
She grabbed my finger and forcefully tried to make me touch the part that said “>>Episode 1”.
“Wha! You’re sudden—”
My back shivered at the cool touch of Sahzan’s finger. The next moment,
“—Huh?”
The scenery of a rustic village spread out before my eyes.
“I have seen it… I think.”
I was overwhelmed by the sheer realism, but the scene before me was indeed what I had seen in the ‘Evil God War Video Record’ in the game. However, it wasn’t exactly the same. Compared to what I saw in the game or during promotions, everything had evolved. Beyond the high video quality, it was a world of truly superb visual beauty and completeness, as if staff had poured in a generous budget and production time into that unfinished footage. The character conversations, which were silent movie-like, now had proper voices, and the BGM, which had been a single looping track, was replaced by natural sounds, making me feel as if I were truly living in that era. It was the first time I’d encountered a change in item effects from the game, which was confusing, but I understood it was likely a compensation for parts of the game that were not implemented.
Still, the content itself was unchanged. I’m sorry, Sahzan, but I tried to look at the scene unfolding before me absentmindedly, without getting too serious. After all, it was confirmed that everyone in this village would be massacred by the Evil God’s forces. By that, I mean her childhood friend Milia, who says, “You know. On the night of the next harvest festival, I have something I want to tell Alex… Will you listen?” the taciturn father Ridonia, who says, “…However, my dearest treasure is you,” and the mother Nina, who smiles gently and says, “That’s right. By the time the New Year arrives, you’ll be an older brother… Heh. Would you prefer a sister or a brother?” and the boy with the bowl cut, Alex, who says, “Hey, Alex, teach me how to use a sword! When I grow up, I’ll become a great swordsman who won’t lose to you!” I knew they would all be killed in about thirty minutes.
“Seriously, that old man, he’s clumsy but he has to be so thoughtful.”
“Come on, you can’t talk about Dad like that.”
“But…”
“I’m happy. That I can walk like this with Alex.”
“Seriously, you really are…”
So, even when the protagonist’s conversations entered my ears without permission, I felt nothing…
“Today was fun, Alex.”
“Was it? It felt like nothing special, just the usual.”
“Yeah. But, it’s nice when there’s nothing special.”
“Is that so? I don’t get it.”
“Heh heh… Hey, Alex. I hope days like these last forever.”
“Milia?”
“Even though it’s an ordinary day, there are small joys and sorrows, and we can talk about them and share them…”
“You’re acting strange, Milia. We’ll always be together, right?”
“Heh heh. That’s right, isn’t it?”
Felt nothing, felt nothing…
“…Hey, Alex.”
“What is it now?”
“I’m happy. …Thank you, Alex.”
“No, no, no! I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you—!!”
Even if I tried to drown it out with a loud voice, my own voice couldn’t be heard while watching the video record. I desperately tried to push away the interactions filled with death flags that were being forced upon me, while thinking about something else in the back of my mind. Yes, my biggest concern right now wasn’t the content of the story. It was true that the depressing development was depressing, and watching it with this quality was tough, but I was somewhat resistant to it. The problem was me.
—Just now, no, it’s been like this since this video started—my back feels heavy.
And it’s not just heavy; it’s a little warm, and it sometimes wriggles. What’s more, it shakes when the scene gets exciting, and it tightens when the scene is cruel, and as the scene progresses further, to the scene where they build graves for the massacred villagers…
“Waaah!?”
Something hot and drippy fell on my neck. No matter how much I screamed, my voice wouldn’t reach my own ears while watching the video, but I was a little embarrassed that I involuntarily cried out in surprise. However, with that, I was certain. This was a specification that certainly didn’t exist in the game, or rather, it was a single-player game, so there was no way to test it, but perhaps…
“Ah. …It’s over, huh.”
Eventually, Episode 1 ended with the young man Alex, whose hometown village was devastated, vowing to defeat the Evil God. The virtual reality, as real as reality, ended, and I returned to the real world with the same abruptness as when it began. Yet, the heaviness and warmth on my back remained unchanged from when I was watching the video. So, with a certain conviction, I turned around and said,
“Hey, Sahzan. Perhaps… Waaah!!”
The sight that met me startled me.
“Ugh. Uuaaaaah…”
Sahzan, that Sahzan, was dripping water profusely from the mask’s eyeholes. Pouring down from the eye area of the mask, and bombarding my neck with drops, was Sahzan’s abundant tears.
—Sahzan had watched the video with me and was sobbing uncontrollably.
As I had suspected, Sahzan had apparently watched the video record with me. When I asked her a question she could only answer if she had watched it, she answered accurately, so there was likely no mistake. Why Sahzan, without the Player attribute, could also watch the video was a mystery. Last time, Sahzan had indeed tried to activate the slate herself and failed, so it was confirmed that she couldn’t operate it alone. Considering that, it was plausible that if one were in physical contact with the person playing the slate, they could simultaneously watch the recorded video.
“…Are you calm now?”
When I spoke, Sahzan, who had finally stopped crying, replied with an uncharacteristically shy, “Yeah.”
“Then, that’s fine.”
I was flustered by Sahzan’s unusual demeanor, and our conversation faltered. After a period of silence,
“Um, thank you.”
What Sahzan said next was even more unexpected.
“I never thought I’d be able to see something like this. It was amazing.”
Her words, brimming with excitement, so pure and unadorned, somehow unsettled me.
“Oh, ah, no… I didn’t intend to do anything, really.”
“But, without Soma, I would never have been able to see this. …So, thank you.”
“Ah, ah…”
It was too honest, almost unsettling. Seeing Sahzan so different from her usual self, a simple question slipped out.
“Speaking of which, why are you so fixated on Evil Gods and heroes?”
Thinking back, she seemed to have an unusually strong obsession with Evil Gods and Demon Lords in some places. I wondered if this seemingly uninhibited person had some kind of objective. It was a question asked lightly, but…
“…My clan is a prestigious family line connected to the heroes who saved our country.”
What came out was a more profound statement than I had imagined.
“My clan takes pride in having protected this country and this world. And I have no intention of denying that.”
I was speechless at the unexpected words. If they were a prestigious family line deeply involved in the country’s preservation, they were far more than just descendants of minor heroes. They possibly were a major noble family in this country, one involved in its very core.
“Originally, I’m not in a position to be on this journey. However, I have the talent for dark magic, the greatest in several hundred years, so my selfishness is tolerated. Even so, if I can’t achieve results in the next few years, I’ll have to return home. And then, I’ll have to marry someone… a suitable partner, have children, and then I’ll never be able to travel freely again.”
“That, is…”
I thought it was just like a noble lady from a story. A lady who escapes her stifling home, disguises herself, lives in the world of commoners she admires. But there was a time limit, and the end was an arranged marriage decided by her parents. If we didn’t consider gender, it was the exact setting of all the bold daughters found in fictional works.
“… I absolutely hate that. So, I need power. Enough power to make my clan acknowledge me.”
However, Sahzan was ultimately different from the ladies in stories. Behind the mask, her eyes, which held a strong light, wavered.
“Wait a minute, though. Is merely defeating the Demon Lord not enough?”
After all, Sahzan was part of the party that defeated the Demon Lord. I thought that was a strong enough proof of power. When I said that, Sahzan pouted as if sulking.
“That’s your fault, you know. If defeating the Demon Lord in that way got out, there’s no way my power would be acknowledged.”
“That… well, I guess so.”
“It’s no good to win with cunning tactics. You have to defeat them with actual strength.”
Of course, the water strategy only worked because of the special conditions of that place, so it wasn’t very meaningful. At least, they wouldn’t acknowledge my power.
“Besides, my target isn’t the Demon Lord. It’s something much more evil than that.”
“Something more evil than the Demon Lord… A Fragment of the Evil God, you mean?”
Sahzan nodded, and something came back to me. That was during the Altar of Sacrifice quest.
“Then, could it be that when you defeated the Fragment of the Evil God in the underground labyrinth, you called me a rival…?”
“Ah. That’s right. I had been tracking the whereabouts of the remaining three Fragments of the Evil God for a long time. To find and… destroy the Fragments of the Evil God.”
As if trying to destroy something invisible. Sahzan spoke while clenching her fists until they turned white. Seeing that, I also thought. Excluding the Altar of Sacrifice, which we’ve already defeated, there are three remaining Fragments of the Evil God. Perhaps, if I watch this record until the end, I might find out where they are sealed. Or, in the worst case, if I tell them about the fragment that was placed as a secret boss in Ramur’s underground, that problem would be solved. However…
“Hey, Sahzan. This is difficult to say, but…”
—You can’t defeat the Fragments of the Evil God. I intended to tell Sahzan that clearly. But Sahzan stopped me with her hand.
“Don’t worry, I know. I know that with my current ability, I can’t defeat a Fragment of the Evil God. …But I will never give up.”
“Sa-Zan…”
There was no trace of the chuunibyo Magician I was used to. Instead, standing before me was a proud hero, cursing and lamenting her unfair destiny, yet facing it with an indomitable spirit.
“I’ve already decided. No matter what happens, I will never give up. So, someday, one day, I definitely—”
The black-clad hero, with a small, thin, but determined voice, said,
“—Steal into a strong party and have them defeat the fragments for me!!”
She declared her ultimate parasitic intention with great cheerfulness.
There is a major announcement in the activity report! If you have some free time, please take a look.
