I had forgotten, but Volume 4 is being released at the end of this month.
If I don’t sacrifice too much of my humanity, the serialization is scheduled to reach a conclusion by then.
That day, something was noisy from the morning.
“…What are you guys doing?”
The dolls who lived in the mansion, the woman with long hair on all fours, the red handprints, and the expressionless girl with blue hair were making noise like “katatatata kishibanshi banswiiiing” as they vied for sparkling objects.
“Wait, what exactly are you doing, Ringo?”
As I looked more closely, or rather, even without looking closely, it was obvious. Ringo was shamelessly joining the scramble among the mansion’s residents.
When I asked, Ringo stopped dead and tilted her head for about three seconds before looking at me.
“…Training?”
“No, I don’t know either,” I replied with an unclear answer.
However, as I watched, I could more or less understand what Ringo meant.
While fighting over the sparkling items, Ringo moved freely, making full use of her Skills and Skill Cancels.
It was quite something that the mansion’s residents were following along by moving Ringo’s joints in reverse or throwing each other, but surprisingly, this might actually be good practice for combat.
…Yeah, but now that I think about it, they’re fighting over the mansion’s keys.
“It’s fine, but come back after you finish before breakfast. And be sure to bring the keys too.”
“…Mm. I’ll do my best.”
Ringo nodded slightly and returned to the key scramble with full of motivation.
I guess the rule is that I can’t get the keys back unless I obtain them myself.
It would be troublesome if the keys were lost, but since Ringo, who had been down lately, seemed happy, it was probably fine.
(Well, in the worst-case scenario, I can just call Bear and it’ll probably be fine.)
By the way, Bear seemed too scared of Layla and had retreated into my Adventurer’s Bag, refusing to come out.
It’s a bit strange that my bag is his hiding place, but he’ll probably come out with a cheerful face once he gets bored.
“Well then, I’ll go to the dining hall first.”
I left the place while wishing Ringo luck.
“Huh, is it just you?”
When I arrived at the dining hall, I found Sahzan sitting at a table with a recording slate and a notebook, writing something with a serious expression.
“Hoh. Is that you? Layla is inexplicably overly enthusiastic. Breakfast will take a little longer.”
“…Is that so?”
I could vaguely guess, or not guess, the reason Layla was so enthusiastic…
“What’s with the sudden grin? You’re creepy.”
“I-I wasn’t thinking of anything, you know.”
“Thinking of what? What are you suddenly talking about?”
I averted my gaze from Sahzan, who was sending a suspicious look from behind his mask, and pointed at the notebook open in front of him.
“M-More importantly, it’s unusual for you to be writing. What are you writing?”
When I brought it up, Sahzan puffed out his chest and showed me the notebook.
“It can’t be helped. If you insist, you can look.”
I hadn’t said I wanted to look, but arguing here would be troublesome, so I took the notebook saying, “Yeah, yeah.” The notebook was a typical Japanese school notebook, nothing unusual. Well, the fact that a notebook exists in a medieval-like world is already unusual, but there were ironically many bullet-pointed items written in rather round handwriting.
“These are the information about the Evil God that I’ve compiled clearly from the visual records of the Evil God War, by me, the great me. This information is supposed to be top secret, but your efforts were also significant in writing this. As a special privilege, I’ll let *you* see it.”
“Oh. Is that so…”
I peered into the notebook, thinking he was more diligent than he looked, and froze.
“No, what is this…?”
Sahzan snorted with displeasure at my awkward expression.
“Hmm? What is it? Did you not watch those visual records properly? They’re all special abilities that the Evil God is said to use!”
At his words, I looked at the notebook again, at the names of the special abilities written there.
Flash of Slaughter
Roar of the Annihilator
Dimensional Destroyer
Lingering Death Memories
Harbinger of Calamity
Severed Dense Fog
The made-up English-sounding, haphazard special ability names are also debatable, but more than that…
“Why do the Skill names, which were supposed to be only in katakana, have these chuunibyou-esque kanji names?!”
I seem to recall the Evil God in the visual records mentioning the names of its techniques, but since there was no subtitle track, there were no kanji names or furigana attached to the technique names. Moreover, what is “Flash of Slaughter”? Couldn’t “Murderous Beam” have sufficed? Well, it is… cool.
“Honestly. You’re an unenlightened one too.”
Even though I asked a perfectly natural question, Sahzan replied as if I were an idiot.
“It’s just an image, of course. More importantly, when you were watching the visual records, didn’t you see it? The kanji names that flash in your mind when the Evil God uses a special ability?”
“Stop it! If I see it again, I might get those ideas too!”
What am I supposed to do if “Roar of the Annihilator” pops into my head when I see the final episode today! The serious scene would turn into a gag in an instant.
“Of course, these kanji names are my original work. In reality, I should be charging you a usage fee, but for you, I can let you use it for free…”
“I’m not using that! If I do, it’ll only be in my head for a little bit!”
After shouting for a while, I let out a sigh. Talking with him always leads the conversation in strange directions. I calmed myself down and returned the notebook.
“Still, you’re still planning to fight the Evil God even after seeing that?”
It’s something that should be praised that he still hasn’t lost his will to fight after seeing a battle that resulted in deaths. …I honestly don’t think Sahzan’s power is enough to win.
“Naturally. Defeating the Fragment of the Evil God has been my goal for a long time. Besides, I told you I have faint memories of the battle with the Evil God, didn’t I?”
“Ah. Memories of Nameless, left in the bracelet, was it?”
At my words, Sahzan glanced at his bracelet.
“Yes. However, there are almost no memories left from when he called himself Nameless. Nameless was a rank for a magician who abandoned his name and served the royal family. After the Evil God War, the Hero gave him a new name befitting his role. Most of what remains in the bracelet is from after that, and most of the memories related to the Evil God have been intentionally lost from the bracelet.”
Was it a battle he wanted to forget? Or was there another reason?
“However, there is one thing. He left a message for us descendants about the Evil God.”
“Oh? What was it?”
When I asked, Sahzan said in an uncharacteristic serious voice.
“—You must never fight the Evil God.”
I swallowed hard. Judging by the visual records, Nameless was the greatest magician in the Nekoneko world. Although his attributes were specialized in light and fire, inferring from the power of the magic he used, he probably possessed greater magical ability than Sahzan. For someone like him to say “never fight,” the Evil God must be an incredibly formidable opponent.
“I’ve written down the Evil God’s abilities, but I suspect there might still be hidden abilities.”
“…Is it okay? Fighting an opponent that your ancestor told you not to?”
When I asked, Sahzan laughed it off.
“Hmph! I am the descendant of a great Clan and the world’s greatest dark magician, the Great Magician Sahzan! …Besides, if I find out I can’t win after investigating, I can just stop.”
“You truly are…”
I couldn’t help but feel pathetic, but his usual attitude strangely reassured me.
“In that case, today’s final episode is it. It might reveal those hidden abilities, and perhaps we’ll see your ancestor’s unknown past. For you, it’s an episode you absolutely cannot miss.”
“…Right.”
However, Sahzan’s momentum suddenly weakened. With a hesitant attitude, as if something was bothering him, he looked down.
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy? You were so engrossed in watching the visual records. And now it’s finally reaching its climax…”
“It’s not that I’m not looking forward to the final episode. I do want to see it.”
Sahzan looked somewhat sulky, and I tilted my head.
“Then why the strange reaction? I went to a lot of trouble to show you this…”
Just as I was about to continue, Sahzan abruptly stood up. He spoke harshly, as if annoyed.
“You really are dense! I couldn’t possibly be happy about it!”
“S-Sahzan?”
Taken aback by his sudden outburst, Sahzan blurted out.
“Once we watch this, the final episode, our promise will be over. After that, you guys… you’ll be returning to your original world. That’s why I…!”
But then… Sahzan’s heated words suddenly stopped. Sahzan stared to the side with an even more dumbfounded expression than I had. My gaze naturally followed.
“Ringo…”
There stood Ringo, holding the mansion’s keys, dumbfounded.
“Ah, i-it wasn’t… ”
Sahzan tried to say something like an excuse, but it didn’t come out as any meaningful words.
“…The keys. I-I thought… I’d return them…”
With a pale face, Ringo staggered towards us, speaking in broken words. Her attitude was unmistakable. It was clear that Ringo had overheard the conversation about me returning to my original world, which Sahzan had just said.
I couldn’t keep it hidden any longer. I took a breath and looked directly at Ringo. Ringo, whose gaze met mine, shuddered as if frightened.
“I’m sorry for not telling you all this time. Uh, I…”
I tried to tell Ringo everything. But it didn’t happen.
“Ringo!?”
Ringo did something I never would have expected. The moment I started to speak, Ringo tightly closed her eyes and shook her head as if she didn’t want to hear it. She quickly grabbed the slate from the table, hugged it, and ran away.
“W-Wait for me!”
As I shouted, her shoulders trembled for a moment, but Ringo ran out of the room.
“Damn it!”
I hurried after her. My agility parameter is higher. I should be able to catch up if I chase her now.
“R-Ringo-san!? Soma-san too?!”
“Sorry Ena! Later!”
I passed by Ena, who had her eyes wide open in the hallway, and chased Ringo single-mindedly. Ringo noticed my pursuit and turned back, but she didn’t stop, running up to the second floor.
“Wait! My story…”
She burst into a room with a door that was open and slammed it shut. I desperately chased after her, but I was a step too late.
“…I’m done for.”
I scratched my head in front of the door. Then, Sahzan and Ena caught up from downstairs.
“Soma!”
“Soma-san!”
I waved lightly at the two calling out to me and turned back to the door in front of me.
“This place is…”
“Yeah.”
The room Ringo had fled into was the same “Thief-Be-Gone” room that Sahzan and I had entered before. Due to the intruder-repelling mechanism, the door could not be opened from the inside or outside without the mansion’s keys that Ringo possessed – a trap room. What a sudden soap opera development!
It’s like a dream… Which means, a miracle awaits ahead!
And so, an unexpected consecutive update. The next update will be tomorrow (scheduled post)!
