Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? Volume Chapter 18

I quietly leave the room so as not to disturb the pair while they’re embracing each other.

I guess this means they’ve worked things out?

This is probably best for both of them right now.

Although in the future, they’ll probably have to maintain a bit of distance lest they become super-codependent.

There are still some small kinks to work past, not to mention the big problem of what they’re going to do from now on, but at least mentally they’ve figured it out for now.

Although it sits a little weird with me that White is the one who helped Merazophis dispel his worries.

I never expected her to be so sensitive to other people’s feelings.

Although I guess looking back on her memories, she’s always been weirdly good at guessing what people are thinking and feeling.

I mean, is she a con man or what?

She absolutely refuses to communicate most of the time, sometimes misleads people, and yet is also good at figuring out their feelings. It’s a complete mystery.

When she totally won over the puppet taratects, I seriously didn’t know what I was gonna do.

Actually, that’s not quite accurate. If anything, that’s the moment I knew I had no choice but to keep trying to reconcile with her.

At this point, I don’t think I can get rid of White anymore.

I still don’t understand the root of her immortality, for one thing.

If I try something without figuring that out and she gets away from me, I don’t think I’ll ever catch her again.

White has Teleport, after all. It’s a breeze for her to run away from me with a spell that lets her instantly be transported to anywhere she’s been before.

If she wants to run away from me, I have no way of catching up to her.

That would be all well and good if she decided to focus only on running away, but knowing her personality, I guarantee she’d launch a counterattack sooner or later.

Which means she’d probably use that particular guerrilla warfare of hers again to whittle away at my forces.

I have no way of catching up to her, yet she can launch an attack whenever she wants.

I still wouldn’t lose to her.

But I don’t think anyone else stands a chance against something like that.

If it came down to it, all my forces except for myself would be obliterated.

I don’t see how that’s any different from being defeated.

As it stands, the puppet taratects are already becoming attached to White.

If we wound up fighting, I don’t think she could turn them against me, but they’d definitely be reluctant to attack her.

Seriously, what a dangerous opponent she is.

That’s why I decided to give up on killing her and take her in as an ally instead.

She might be a huge nuisance as an enemy, but if she’s on my side, she’ll make an extremely dependable ally.

That’s why I’ve been trying to win her over and slowly close the distance between us.

Being nice to the vampire servant-and-master pair is all part of that plan.

She seems to have taken a liking to them, after all. If I look out for them, hopefully White will start to think better of me, too.

My kindness might be for a calculated reason, but I think I’ve still managed to be useful to them.

The rest will depend on what path they choose.

If they decide to come with me to the demon territory, I’ll keep looking after them, but if not, we’ll say our good-byes on the spot.

That might seem a little cold, but I have things I need to do. I can’t stick around here forever.

I keep walking after I leave the room until I end up outside the inn.

Then I keep retracing my steps until I wind up near the restaurant where we ate earlier.

Walking a little farther, I reach a tavern and step inside.

“Were you waiting long?”

“Not at all.”

I take a seat at a table, and greet the person sitting across from me.

The Word of God pontiff, Dustin.

This wasn’t a planned meeting, but I figured he would be waiting at the nearest tavern, confident that I would come back.

As proof, there are already drinks for two waiting on the table.

I pick up one of the glasses as if it’s the natural course of action and down the contents without waiting to clink glasses with him.

“Wouldn’t you like to have a toast first?”

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“No.”

Dustin sighs, but I ignore him.

“We’re not on such friendly terms that we can casually share a toast.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

That being said, we’re both talking in a much lighter tone than before.

We didn’t meet up again like this to keep having tense exchanges, after all. We met up to complain together.

This man and I share a deep bond.

After me, he’s spent the longest time dealing with that piece of garbage Potimas.

However, our relationship isn’t easy to sum up in a word.

If Potimas is my enemy and Gülie my ally, this man lies somewhere in the middle.

In some contexts, we share a common goal, but in others, we’re on opposing sides.

It’s too complicated to say whether he’s an ally or an enemy.

Given recent events and how they affected the vampire duo, I’d say he’s leaning toward the enemy side.

But we also share a common enemy in the elves, so on that front, we can sometimes work together.

In this case, though, I can’t go carelessly revealing information to him.

Potimas is definitely after the reincarnations.

If I give this man that information, I’ll also have to explain reincarnations to him.

And if he learns about reincarnations, he’ll definitely try to use them somehow.

The man sitting across from me will do whatever it takes to achieve his goal.

His goal of protecting humanity.

He created the Word of God religion for the sole purpose of accomplishing that goal—not out of any so-called faith.

Religion just happens to be the most efficient way to gather a lot of people.

That’s why he’s out to put an end to the Goddess religion, a rival religion that happens to include a less-than-convenient truth.

It’s all for the sake of protecting humanity.

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If he has to kill some of those very same humans in the process, he’ll do so without hesitation.

This man has no problem with sacrificing the few so that the many might live, so if he thinks reincarnations can help protect humanity, he’ll gladly use up as many as he can get his hands on.

Which is why I won’t be telling him a single thing about reincarnations.

Knowing him, he’ll figure it out on his own soon enough.

And once he does, well, there’ll be no saving any reincarnations he finds.

Yes, I’m keeping quiet on the topic of reincarnations, but I don’t plan to do anything more to help them, either.

If they happen to be within my reach, then sure, I’ll look after ’em in my spare time, but I have bigger fish to fry.

I’m not gonna go out of my way to save every last one of them.

I can’t ignore my duty, which is to lead the demons to attack humanity, of course.

In that respect, this man is most definitely my enemy, I guess.

“So, should I take your parting words from earlier as a declaration of war?”

“Do whatever you want. Either way, the fact is that I’m the Demon Lord now.”

“So the time has come at last, has it?” Dustin sighs heavily. “A crisis that threatens all humanity.”

“Yep. Which is why I dunno if you should really be wasting time on the Goddess religion right now, yeah?”

Quite frankly, I don’t much care what happens to the Goddess religion.

Whether people want to believe in the Goddess, worship me as a Divine Beast, or forget all of it and just pray aimlessly, it’s no skin off my back.

You wanna destroy them? Feel free.

But there is a possibility that the vampire duo is gonna stay in this country.

If that happens, it’d obviously be better for them if there’s no war.

Since I’ve looked after them for a while now, I think I’m allowed to put a little pressure on him to avoid that.

“Indeed. I will need to make preparations. After I have crushed the Goddess religion, of course.”

Hoo boy. No dice, huh?

For whatever reason, he seems to be dead set on wiping out that religion no matter what.

“Ah. Gotcha. Well, good luck with that, then.”

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“Oh? You accepted that rather more readily than I expected.”

“Yeah, ’cause I don’t really care either way.”

“It seems to me you might have some emotional attachment there.”

I snort at that.

Why should I have any attachment to the Goddess religion?

The basic premise of their stupid creed is that if they pray hard enough, the Goddess will do something about their problems.

Send up prayers of gratitude to the Goddess, and she’ll watch over you!

Give me a break.

These morons already forced the Goddess to do everything, and now they want to demand even more from her? It pisses me off.

In that respect, the Word of God religion actually has more going for it.

And the man before me is at the forefront of that.

Because he made a religion based on a firm understanding of the system, the secret behind this world.

Honestly, the claim that raising your skills and levels will let you hear the voice of God more clearly was a pretty genius idea on his part.

And spreading that word as the basis of a new religion is an even more impressive move.

Most of humanity knows about the Word of God religion now.

Even if they aren’t all believers, so many people are aware of it now that it’s basically common knowledge.

His ability to take a ridiculous claim like that and ingrain it so well that it becomes common knowledge is what’s truly dangerous about Dustin.

Manipulating the masses.

He influences people’s thoughts without their even realizing it, guiding them in whatever direction is most convenient for him.

It’s not a system-based skill or any kind of external power like that. He’s just naturally a masterful speaker.

Humanity’s most brilliant invention is language.

And this man happens to be brilliant at exploiting it.

All he had to do was raise his voice, address the people, and guide their minds.

People gathered, drawn in by that voice, and elevated him to ever higher positions.

Just like that, Dustin gained unparalleled power.

How is that possible? It’s simple.

It’s because he’s right.

Everything he says is overwhelmingly, undeniably right.

For humans, that is.

Because his goal is to protect humanity.

The man is so determined to protect humanity by any means, so unshakably right, that the people he wishes to protect can’t help but admire him.

If anything, the Goddess religion is strange for continuing to oppose him.

They’re an outlier from the rest of humanity.

From Dustin’s point of view, the time to correct that anomaly has come, nothing more.

But frankly, since I’m not a human, it doesn’t really matter to me what humans do.

Even if it is a little tragic how many of his own kind this man plans to eliminate in the process of protecting them.

“Well, you managed, didn’t you?”

“I suppose. Though it has been a long time since my heart pained me so.”

Merazophis’s words really did get through to him.

He might have been prepared to hear angry accusations, maybe even to be killed.

But I’m sure he never expected to be told that his life is trivial.

“Trivial, indeed. It seems that somewhere along the way, I’d begun to overvalue myself. Imagining that my single life might be enough to assuage their feelings was hubris of the worst degree.”

“Yeah, your life’s not worth much. No wonder they noticed that you don’t care if you die.”

This man is not afraid to die himself.

Rather, his fear is the collapse of peace among humanity.

Thinking of humanity as a whole, he feels there are some humans, like the Goddess religion followers, who can be discarded for the greater good.

And he considers himself among that disposable number.

His own life is of trivial value to him.

The life of someone who doesn’t care if they die doesn’t amount to much.

Especially someone who knows that even if they die, they’ll eventually be resurrected.

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Dustin has a skill called Temperance.

Its effect is reincarnation with one’s memories intact.

Even if he dies, he’ll be reborn somewhere in the world, inheriting all his memories from his previous lives.

For this man, death is not the end. It’s nothing more than a single punctuation mark in his endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

And when he was arrogant enough to assume that such a brief pause was a sufficient peace offering, Merazophis shot him down.

It was pretty refreshing to witness, to be honest.

But at the same time, I felt a little bad.

“Must be rough to be criticized by one of the very people you’re trying to protect.”

Even if each of his lives might be trivial, when put together, the countless lives of the man called Dustin have immeasurable worth.

And they come with the equally immeasurable weight of resolution and regret.

Along with the pain of having to take the lives of humans in order to protect all of humanity.

“Nevertheless, I must do it.”

Dustin’s voice is full of anguish but also the determination not to stop.

His unwavering intent is to walk the path of purgatory with his own two feet.

That’s why I believe this man is a force to be reckoned with.

Fit to fight with as an ally yet worthy of the highest vigilance as a foe.

“Not to change the subject, but do you know of any skills besides Immortality and your Temperance that might basically make someone immortal?” I ask casually.

Since Dustin’s Temperance skill makes him immortal in his own way, I figure he might have an inkling as to White’s inexplicable quasi-immortality.

“Hrm? Strictly speaking, my Temperance is by no means immortality, but… Let me think. Perhaps Potimas’s Diligence would fall under that category? Since it means that he himself does not die, it may be close to immortality in a way.”

I see. That makes sense.

No matter how many times I kill each new Potimas that shows up, the real deal is still safe and sound behind the barrier in the elf forest.

In the sense that he still lives even though I’ve seemingly killed him, Potimas could be called immortal, too.

But it’s not exactly immortality, since the selves he sends after us do die, just not the real Potimas himself.

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In which case, Dustin’s not really immortal, either, since he dies and is then reborn.

Hmmmm.

I still can’t figure out the mystery of White’s immortality.

Sure, she has the Immortality skill, but Abyss Magic should’ve blown her away.

It doesn’t make sense. How did she recover from that?

I just don’t get it.

Was the White I killed some kind of copy, like what Potimas uses?

…No, that can’t be it.

The only skill she has that makes anything like copies would be the Egg-Laying skill. But that makes the weakest duplicates possible.

Even someone as exceptional as White shouldn’t be able to easily make a clone so strong that it could hold its own against me pretty well… At least, I don’t think so.

Although it’s scary that I can’t say for sure.

“What makes you ask such a question?”

“Oh, just wondering,” I answer evasively.

White is my biggest problem at the moment, but I don’t want to let him know that.

I’m sure he’d only make things worse.

I don’t know how exactly he would do that, but it’s scary in itself.

How many unpredictable, unavoidable situations do I really need to deal with?

Can you imagine how I feel getting dragged around like this?

…The tiny part of me that thinks it’s a little bit fun is probably a vestige of “former body brain,” the Parallel Mind that fused with me.

I guess former body brain was always getting forced to do annoying jobs like descaling and stuff…

Hmm?

Parallel Mind?

Fused with me?

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“Aha!”

Thud! I stand up so fast that my chair falls over.

I see. So that’s how it is.

I get it now. The reason White seems immortal.

Duh! How did it take me this long to figure it out?!

I already had a hint—in fact, I had all the information I needed to find the answer!

She uses the connection among souls to send her Parallel Minds to other bodies, encroaches on their souls, and takes over the whole operation.

Just like what happened to me.

I managed to survive without being taken over and instead wound up fusing with the Parallel Mind she sent in, but I could’ve lost completely if I let my guard down.

If the takeover succeeds, that means the invader has basically stolen the victim’s body.

In fact, their very life and existence would get stolen.

And if one of her Parallel Minds can do it, I’m sure White herself can do it, too.

Parallel Minds, Egg-Laying, copies, Dustin, Potimas.

Put all those ingredients together, and you’ve got the recipe for understanding White’s immortality.

In other words, White took over one of her own “clones,” a baby made with Egg-Laying, to resurrect herself—a pseudo-reincarnation!

Destroying someone’s body won’t actually kill them if they can swap into a new body.

Since she managed to evade my soul-destroying Abyss Magic, that means as long as she has a spare body somewhere, she can ditch her current body on the spot.

It all makes sense. She must’ve escaped from her body right before the Abyss Magic hit.

She’s not controlling a clone from her main body, like Potimas.

And she’s not dying completely and being reborn, like Dustin.

She’s trading into a copy of herself, so if her real body dies, the copy just becomes her new body in a perfect succession.

It basically uses the best points of both Potimas’s and Dustin’s quasi-

immortality.

…Yeah, come on, how was I supposed to figure that one out all by myself?

Even with all the information in front of me, I don’t know who else would put two and two together.

How did it take me this long to figure it out? More like, how did I even figure it out just now?

“Is something the matter?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Dustin looks up at me in surprise, since I stood so abruptly.

But I’ve got no time to waste on him right now.

“Anyway, you just do whatever you want, ’kay? Because I’m certainly going to. I guess the next time we meet might be on the battlefield, huh?”

“I would like to avoid that, if at all possible.”

“Ha-ha. See ya later.”

With a short farewell, I shoot out of the tavern like I’m fleeing for my life.

I’m sure Dustin will take care of the bill. Right now, I just need to be alone and think.

I wander the streets aimlessly as my head spins.

But no matter how long I think about it, I reach only one conclusion: It’s impossible.

The question is whether I can kill White.

And the answer is no. I can’t.

With her method of immortality, I have no way of killing her.

It’s already pretty difficult to kill someone with the Immortality skill.

You have to either use Abyss Magic or attack their soul directly with a Heresy-attribute attack. Those are the only two options.

But since White has Heresy Nullification, that leaves only Abyss Magic.

The sole way to kill White would be to catch her by surprise and use Abyss Magic before she can run away.

But she’s so fast, and Abyss Magic takes a long time to prepare.

So that’s already a stretch.

The only reason I was able to pull it off before is because all kinds of conditions were working in my favor. But even then, she still got away.

I would need to catch her unaware and hit her before she can run away…but that’s impossible.

There’s no way I could prepare to invoke such a huge spell without White noticing.

It would be almost impossible to catch her by surprise.

So I’m already screwed here.

But let’s say, for argument’s sake, that I somehow manage to hit her with Abyss Magic.

That still doesn’t mean she would die.

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I mean, how do I even know where her main body is?

White has the Parallel Minds skill, a skill that divides your consciousness into pieces.

All the minds that are created by that skill are equally the user’s consciousness.

You could say that every one of them is the real thing, the real White.

So what if each of them gained a body?

If I’d been taken over completely by the Parallel Mind known as the former body brain, I would’ve become a second White.

A Parallel Mind with a body of its own.

Isn’t that every bit as real as the original?

The same person, just with a different body.

It’s a paradox: a single individual that exists multiple times.

But it’s still very possible.

If White has given her Parallel Minds their own bodies, that means there are multiple Whites in existence.

For all I know, the one I’ve been keeping an eye on is just one of several.

And in order to kill just one of what might be a multiple set, I’d have to get so lucky, it’d be nothing short of a miracle. The odds are so bad.

It’s no use. I can’t kill her.

I heave a sigh.

What a monster she is.

How can I possibly kill her?

Taking her on as an enemy means nothing but risks, with no benefits to speak of.

I thought that if I figured out her secret, I could find some faint glimmer of hope, but instead it crushed the possibility of ever beating her into nothing.

Okay. I give up.

I can’t kill White.

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I can’t kill her, so it would be foolish to make an enemy of her.

That leaves only one option going forward: I have to get her on my side for real.

If I can get a beast like that under control, she’d be the most powerful ally imaginable.

It’s not gonna be easy.

Naming her doesn’t seem to be letting me control her, for one thing.

I didn’t just start calling her White for funsies, you know.

There’s a skill in this world called Naming. If you have it, it’s supposed to give you power over any person or creature you’ve named.

But giving her the name White doesn’t seem to have had any effect.

She’s probably just too strong.

I mean, I did it knowing it was a long shot at best, so the fact that it failed is no big deal.

The problem was when White tried to give the puppet taratects names.

They were already getting attached to her, so if she had named them, she might have been able to steal them away entirely.

Here I’m trying to get White on my side, and instead she almost steals some of my own forces from under my nose.

The scariest part is that, judging by her reaction, she didn’t even realize she was doing it.

I have to win her over somehow, in spite of how she manipulates people without even trying.

It’s a pretty tall order.

But I have no choice but to do it.

At any rate, my course of action is clear.

“Ugh… I’m sorry. It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to avenge you.”

I apologize quietly.

In my mind’s eye, I’m picturing the queen taratect White called “Mother.”

Not to mention the puppet taratects and the queen’s subordinates who were all felled by White’s hand.

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My own kin, all of them lost.

But I can’t kill White.

So I have no choice but to accept her.

That means I have to give up on getting revenge for the queen and White’s other victims.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”

Please forgive me. Just like Dustin does, I had to sacrifice you for the greater good.

I’m sorry for being a terrible mother, who can’t even avenge her children.

Somewhere in town, I hear a hymn of the Goddess religion.

I’m not exactly a believer, but for whatever reason, I offer up a prayer.

Goddess, please let my lost kin rest in peace.

I know more than anyone how futile that wish is, but I continue to pray for it nevertheless.