“Yes… what happened so long ago. We’ve analyzed past records and thoroughly examined the archives of the rituals bureau, but that era… the Taisho era was relatively peaceful compared to the periods before and after it. So, we couldn’t figure out who would have such deep hatred for Japan to want to destroy it during that time. If it were around the Bakumatsu period, I think many people would have died with such sentiments.”
The Bakumatsu period… well, the Meiji Restoration was a complete negation of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s system.
Many samurai, famous and unknown, who did not approve of it died in droves, and the Meiji government was born upon a mountain of many corpses.
If someone from that era… a samurai from the Shogunate side, had reincarnated and had a chance for revenge against the Japanese Government, which is the lineage of the Meiji Government, they would have gambled their entire existence to deny modern Japan.
Even doing something like that wouldn’t be all that strange…
The Great Emperor was in Japan as a Japanese person over 100 years ago… around the Taisho era in terms of years.
Certainly, there were world history events like World War I around that time.
Japan was more like a supporting character, in a position to gain from the spoils. Taisho era… like Taisho Democracy, or the person on the 100-yen bill used until the Showa 40s… like Taisuke Itagaki? And then, the Great Kanto Earthquake… I guess that’s about it?
Even if they weren’t Japanese, if they were born in that era and hated Japan… perhaps from Korea or that region? …Well, Ms. Kashima and the others couldn’t figure it out, so it’s probably useless for me to think about it.
“…So in the end, Ms. Kashima and the others couldn’t figure out who the Great Emperor was? And the reason for such hatred… is that it?”
“Well, yes. We couldn’t figure it out with that line of investigation, but for the gods of this world, it’s possible to send modern people who have met their death to past worlds. And based on that premise and other information, the identity of the Great Emperor Kazmaier has already been revealed.”
“W-What are you talking about! Sending dead people to past Otherworlds… Could it be that Otherworld Reincarnation thing! W-What in the world… And more importantly, who is he… the Great Emperor…?”
“I will explain this with the caveat that it is purely a hypothesis. It seems that the person known as the Great Emperor Kazmaier was a young man named Kazuma Miura in Japan… Mr. Takakura, have you heard of it? …The Shibuya LPG tanker truck explosion incident that occurred about five years ago… where an LR grand tanker truck drove into a pedestrian paradise, exploded, and burned, taking the lives of nearly 100 young people unnecessarily…”
“…I think I’ve heard of that. It was a major accident that happened in broad daylight at the Shibuya Station scramble crossing on a holiday. I wasn’t particularly interested in Shibuya, but a tanker truck exploding and burning at the always crowded scramble crossing… It was a tragically rare accident in recent years.”
An LPG gas-filled tanker truck overturned and crashed into a line of people waiting for the traffic light, causing a massive gas leak. The smoke from a cigarette of a rude person nearby ignited it, causing it to explode and burn.
As Ms. Kashima said, there were nearly 100 deaths, and hundreds more were injured, both seriously and lightly. It was a nightmarish major accident.
Some idiot ran a red light without hesitation, even though cars were passing by, and was hit by a dump truck… As a result of that major accident, that idiot was severely criticized by name.
Furthermore, despite causing such a major accident, the culprit calmly survived and said, “It’s not my fault, I survived because I had the right to live. Those who died only had the value to die there, they were just a disposable crowd,” and then, on the day he was discharged from the hospital, he was stabbed to death from behind by a parent who had lost their child in the accident. It was a sickening accident.
“Yes, it’s a famous accident… And the cause of it was… that Kazuma Miura. He ran a red light while using his smartphone and ended up being hit by a dump truck, engulfing a high school girl who tried to save him… Then, the LPG vehicle following behind, trying to avoid the dump truck that braked suddenly, overturned, involved many pedestrians, and exploded and burned. That’s how it happened. As a result, he was apparently reincarnated into a lower-level being, a slime, as a form of punishment, and that’s what became of him…”
“Huh?! They reincarnated that scumbag into a slime…!”
“…I agree that he was a scumbag. Well, it was said to be a form of punishment… but in light of the outcome, it just seems like an unnecessary act, doesn’t it…”
Being reborn as a lower-level creature and exiled to another world… if you think about it that way, it’s definitely a form of punishment. But it also means that one can control the era and time into which they are sent. However, unlike “isekai transfer” where one’s body is carried over between worlds, reincarnation allows for much more flexibility.
And Lady Seleneis also said… that the God Race are multi-dimensional beings that exist simultaneously in the past, future, and present, and are therefore virtually immortal. Looking at Jariterum, I don’t think they are capable of such impressive feats. But even a god, in a sense, is a being that surpasses human intellect.
Still, getting hit by a dump truck while running a red light with a smartphone… what a suicidal-like end to life. Cars don’t account for idiots who blindly jump into traffic, not looking where they’re going. It looks like a suicide, that’s all. And then, to say they had the right to live.
On top of that, to be stabbed to death by the bereaved family. A large amount of medical expenses and the doctors’ efforts were wasted, and police officers were deployed for security when he was discharged, so who knows how much it cost.
However, it seems he misunderstood many things and kept making arrogant remarks, looking down on the dead. Everyone wondered why this person didn’t die… and then, one of the bereaved family members, with a hidden knife, stabbed him from behind. Severely damaging his lungs, liver, and aorta, Kazuma Miura died in front of the cameras, drowning in his own blood. Well, it was a broadcast accident during a live broadcast. His last words were something like, “You guys who called me a scumbag… I’ll definitely…” But he died before he could finish, making his last words as lame as possible.
Naturally, he became the target of online mockery, but the dead tell no tales, and he had no hands or feet. His last words were laughed off, and if he had just died alone, he could have been nominated for a Darwin Award, but he was a disappointing fellow to the very end. He was scorned and forgotten within about six months.
In the end, the bereaved family member who murdered Miura was deemed to be not in a sound state of mind and was acquitted, and the incident faded into obscurity. Furthermore, Miura’s crime was clearly a matter of accident responsibility, and it wasn’t a case where being a pedestrian would excuse him. According to witness testimony, the high school girl who died in his place tried to grab Miura’s outstretched hand, but he threw her towards the approaching dump truck, using her body as a cushion to avoid fatal injuries. It was clear that Miura had unscrupulously sacrificed someone trying to save him to survive. He accumulated “evil deeds” magnificently. It was a fitting end, and he deserved to go to hell.
But, come to think of it… the guy I shot, the delinquent or whatever, apparently caused an accident with his motorcycle while rushing to a pachinko parlor’s opening, and involved many elementary school children… his death also seemed to be ignoble. If that’s the case, then the Great Emperor’s past life was also filled with ignoble deaths. More than anything, his pattern of behavior in this world makes sense if he was the scumbag “Kasu” from his past life. However, if the Great Emperor is not a transfer from Japan but is reborn… a reincarnated person, then that’s where I get stuck. After all, Raterum didn’t seem to know the Great Emperor’s true identity either. He himself said that he suddenly appeared in this world about 100 years ago. Even if it was his doing, it was certainly beyond his calculation that a mere weak slime would grow to establish its own empire.
Still, being reincarnated as a slime and establishing a country… it sounds like a popular slime reincarnation story, but he’s not as cute as those characters. But, Raterum, even if he caused flashy deaths involving others in Japan, would he be reincarnated as punishment… is he that cunning? I can’t say for sure without asking him, but I don’t think he is. …More than anything, there’s no reason for him to do such a thing. In the end, it was like he brought disaster upon his own world. Why would a Goddess from another world summon the soul of an idiot who died in modern Japan and reincarnate them as a slime? It makes no sense, is clearly full of malice, and it’s more convincing that he did it out of amusement. Raterum, although Lady Seleneis calls him an idiot, he doesn’t seem to be an inherently malicious being. He has a desire to protect this world and is always concerned about its future. That much is confirmed from what Monjirou and Manager have said. Jariterum is also foolish, but not evil. By the way, the reason Monjirou and Manager were summoned to this world is… “Our wavelengths matched.” …Apparently. This is what Jariterum told me directly. In essence, it’s like a lottery. When Raterum receives a signal from someone on the verge of death, he appears beyond the barriers of worlds and presents them with two options in their final moments: die as you are, or transfer to his world and become an apostle. Well, Monjirou made a free dive from about the 5th floor of a police station. Manager was actually running towards me at the time and was about to be crushed by a falling shelf when he encountered Raterum. The conditions are apparently quite complex and mysterious… but sometimes it hits the mark. And sometimes it misses completely. In other words, Manager should have been crushed by the falling shelf and died then, and I would have bled out and died without any help in that situation. Thinking about it, Raterum is also our benefactor. And though I heard it later, I was supposed to be among those who didn’t win the lottery, but he apparently gave me the blessing of immortality, the ability to revive even after death. However, you can’t know that without dying once, so I thought, “At least explain it to me properly…” But that’s why the idea of reincarnating Kazuma Miura as a slime as punishment feels off. Firstly, even if he indirectly took many lives in Japan, punishing him in this world feels like the wrong approach. But, come to think of it, that Demon God Roa… he also reincarnated that guy who died in Japan into this world. The guy was resurrected as a sacrifice to be killed by me, but he was undoubtedly a reincarnated person. Moreover, Roa also said that the guy had accumulated deep evil deeds in his past life. This is purely a hypothesis, but if Demon God Roa’s ability is to revive evil humans who have committed grave sins in another world as reincarnated individuals…
