Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? Volume Chapter 5

I’ve been watching everything go down by way of my clones, and damn, this is crazy!

Talk about a jam-packed event!

From Yamada’s perspective, his cute little sister suddenly killed the king, then Natsume suddenly reappeared despite supposedly being exiled.

Plus, the first prince Cylis worked with Natsume to pull off a coup d’état and pinned the blame for the king’s death on Yamada.

Talk about a bolt from the blue, at least for poor Yamada, y’know?

Sadly, we had no choice but to frame Yamada and force him to flee from the capital.

Poor guy…

Hmm? I can’t say that when I’m the one who set him up?

Yeah, I guess you’re right…

But still, if I hadn’t made all this happen, things might have taken an even more tragic turn.

Natsume would’ve tried to get revenge on Yamada and Ms. Oka one way or another, I’m sure.

And the eldest prince, Cylis, might’ve acted on his inferiority complex toward his younger brothers and obsession with the throne even without our intervention.

Not to mention, Potimas was corrupting the highest echelons of the kingdom’s ruling class, too!

There were already bombs all over the place.

So all we did was make those bombs go off in the most convenient directions and times for our purposes.

I got rid of the bombs for you! You’re welcome!

See? I did nothing wrong!

…What do you think? Are you buying that?

No? It’s still on me?

Hrm. Oh, all right. I’ll admit it.

I did quite a few things wrong!

Like, we totally killed the king.

And even if he was being controlled, that poor girl who killed him might be seriously traumatized about that.

Yes, I know I’ve done some nasty things!

But I won’t stop!

I mean, I kind of can’t.

There might be a smarter way to go about this, but this is the very best I could come up with.

At any rate, we used this chaos to get rid of all the kingdom officials who were under Potimas’s control, and Vampy got rid of Potimas herself.

As usual, it wasn’t his real body, so he’ll probably pop up in another body soon enough, but I think we at least managed to root him out of the kingdom.

With that, our mission is more or less complete.

Now all we need is for Yamada and friends to get away safely.

Without an entire kingdom behind him, Yamada shouldn’t be able to do anything too crazy anymore.

We just need him to hide out someplace until everything’s over.

Or so I thought, but it seems like he’s having a hard time with the people Natsume brainwashed.

He can’t seem to do anything against a mind-controlled Ooshima.

Hrm. I thought Yamada was strong enough to knock out Ooshima fairly easily, but maybe I overestimated him a little?

No, I guess this is more about emotions than strength.

He probably can’t turn his sword on someone who’s been his friend since our previous lives.

Still, though…

“Katia! Come back to your senses!”

“How very rude. My senses are fine, thank you. You are a traitor, and traitors must be punished.”

What is this, a lovers’ quarrel?

Ooshima shoots Fire Magic, and Yamada cancels it out with Water Magic.

It looks cool and all, but since I’ve gotten used to seeing all kinds of crazy next-level battles, this isn’t all that exciting.

Yeah, they’re definitely giving it their all, but it kinda lacks the proper tension somehow…

So it just kinda ends up looking like Yamada and Ooshima are playing around, from where I’m standing.

Again, they’re really fighting their hardest, okay?

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But when you’ve done battle with legendary-class monsters and that the like, well…y’know?

Except, as I’m kinda half-watching with a rude level of disinterest, I end up reacting too late.

WHA—?!

Ooshima blew up on purpose?!

It’s a suicide attack to shake off Natsume’s brainwashing!

Wait, but that definitely looks like a fatal wound to me…

Oh crap… Now I’ve done it…

I didn’t think someone would blow themselves up just because they couldn’t escape the brainwashing on their own…

“Katia?!”

Yamada runs over to the collapsing Ooshima and catches her before she hits the ground.

But since Ooshima took the full brunt of her own all-out attack, with no defenses, anyone could see that she’s hurt beyond saving.

Shoot…I didn’t think this would happen…

I guess I underestimated the strength of Ooshima’s will.

I can’t believe you were able to resist the brainwashing from a Seven Deadly Sins skill, even for a second…

That goes beyond unexpected.

Ahh, I’m sorry, Ms. Oka…

As I apologize silently, a soft light envelopes Yamada and Ooshima.

Healing Magic, huh? That’s not going to do anything n—

Wait! This isn’t Healing Magic!!

What Yamada’s doing definitely isn’t Healing Magic at all?!

Somehow, Ooshima’s unmistakably mortal wounds are healing up.

“Ah…Shun…?”

“Katia, are you back to normal?”

“Huh? My wounds…?”

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“I healed them.”

“You’re…so…ridicu…lous.”

“Stop trying to talk. We’re getting out of here.”

Ooshima and Yamada start getting flirty, but I can’t worry about that right now.

What just happened was so shocking that my real body jumped out of my seat.

Ooshima’s wounds were definitely beyond saving.

In fact, I’m pretty sure Ooshima was already dead by the time Yamada caught her.

Normal Healing Magic can’t fix fatal wounds right away, and even Miracle Magic, the advanced version of Healing Magic, can’t bring people back from the dead.

There’s only one skill that might be able to do that.

The Seven Heavenly Virtues skill Mercy.

That’s the only skill in this world that can bring someone back from the dead.

And to think that Yamada of all people would have it…

Well, okay, I guess I had some idea that might be the case.

I actually knew that there was a human with the Mercy skill, although I didn’t know who it was.

But the Seven Heavenly Virtues skills, like the Seven Deadly Sins skills, are really hard to get.

I don’t think most human in this world could get it even if they deliberately tried.

Which means it’s even less likely that someone would acquire it by chance.

That’s why I figured there was a good chance that the person who had Mercy might be an outsider in this world: a reincarnation.

And if anyone was going to get Mercy, it probably would be Yamada.

In fact, part of the reason I had Natsume brainwash reincarnations like Ooshima and Hasebe was to figure out if any of them had Seven Heavenly Virtues skills.

Ooshima and Hasebe both turned out to be a bust, so by process of elimination, either Yamada, Ms. Oka, Tagawa, or Kushitani must be the holder of Mercy.

Personality-wise, it wouldn’t be surprising if Ms. Oka had it, but since I’d never seen her use it to revive a murdered elf, that ruled her out.

That also left Tagawa and Kushitani, but Yamada seemed like a more logical fit.

But the only way to find out would be to use Appraisal on Yamada or get him to actually use it, and I couldn’t very well just drop a dead body in front of him for that.

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I guess this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since I got to see him use it because of this (un)lucky break.

Although I already had a hunch it was him, I hadn’t figured it into my plans since I couldn’t find out for sure. Now that I know, this might be a big opportunity.

The cost of using Mercy is that one’s Taboo skill levels up.

Mercy makes bringing back the dead possible, which is difficult even in the system of this world.

But once you’ve revived the dead, you’re confronted with Taboo, which reveals the true nature of the system.

Once you find that out, you’re bound to realize what it really means to bring back the dead.

D is a sick bastard, as usual.

Always out to break people’s hearts.

But maybe I can use that to my advantage.

I’ll lure Yamada in and have people die in front of his eyes.

No doubt he’ll bring them back from the dead.

And then his Taboo level will go up.

Eventually, when it maxes out, Yamada will learn the truth of this world.

And then he’ll be faced with a choice.

Will he stand against us? Or join hands with us?

I suppose pretending he didn’t see anything is an option, too.

No ordinary human can carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.

And if he chooses to oppose us, then I’ll crush him, of course.

But I don’t think Yamada could do that.

He’s a lower-middle-class kid, after all.

Sure, he’s a hero or whatever now, but originally, he was just a normal boy.

So I’m sure he can’t take on the fate of the world.

I’ll push him into finding out the truth and get him to give up.

Yep. I was gonna have him escape and hide out somewhere, but now I’m changing the plan.

We still need him to get away from the royal capital for now, but I think I’ll have Yamada see a bit more action after all.

My thoughts race as I form a new plan.

Now that Ooshima is down, the biggest obstacle to their escape is gone, so that part should be easy.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

EXCUSE MEEEEE?!

Uh, Vampy? What do you think you’re doing?

Why exactly are you standing in their way like some kind of big final boss?!

“Oh, here. Present for you, Ms. Oka.”

“P…Potimas?!”

“I-it can’t be!”

And now you’re dramatically tossing her Potimas’s head?!

Obviously, that’s gonna freak everyone out!

Vampy! Seriously, what’re you thinking?!

She licks some of Potimas’s blood off her hands.

“How disgusting. Perhaps his rotten personality made his blood taste bad?”

Ew, don’t lick that blood. It’s dirty! Go on, spit it out!

“You did this…to Potimas?”

“What other explanation could there be?”

“But you…!”

“You’re not going to say I could never kill anyone, are you? You’ve done plenty of killing yourself, after all. This isn’t Japan. The same rules don’t apply here, and you know it.”

Debating with Ms. Oka is all well and good, but what are you planning to do next?

What the heck? I did explain that we were going to let Yamada and friends escape from the capital, right? She didn’t forget, did she?

So why do Ms. Oka and the others look like they’re about to fight Vampy?

“Ms. Oka, you want to fight me? Oh, stop. Master told me not to lay a hand on you.”

See?! I knew it! I did say that, didn’t I?!

Then why are you standing in their way now?!

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Even those softies are gonna try to fight you if you do that!

“But I suppose you give me no choice. It’s not my fault if it’s just self-defense, right?”

IT TOTALLY IS, DUMBASS!

N-no, no, it’ll be fine.

I’m sure even Vampy is still planning to let them go in the end.

And if it comes down to it, Phelmina will step in and stop her on my behalf! I think!

Just then, a chakram goes flying toward Yamada.

…Wait, what? Isn’t that Phelmina’s weapon?

Vampy alone is too powerful for these guys to take. If you add in Phelmina, there’s no way for Yamada and company to win at all, is there?

Clad in black, Phelmina stops Yamada from trying to back up Ms. Oka.

An identically black-clad Wald swoops down on Hyrince, who’s holding Anna.

They’re not dressed in white like usual because that would stand out a bit too much for undercover work in the kingdom.

People are starting to figure out that white clothes equals the Tenth Army anyway.

I don’t know if anyone in this kingdom is aware of that, but just to help avoid being found out and to fit in with Cylis’s soldiers, I had them wear black.

None of that matters right now, though.

Vampy keeps canceling out Ms. Oka’s magic, slowly but surely closing the distance between them.

When Vampy got the Envy skill, she also got a title that granted her the Divine Scales skill.

It’s an advanced version of the Dragon Scales skill that dragons and wyrms have.

Its effects are twofold: adding scales to the user’s body to increase their defense and interfering with the weaving of magic.

So it raises physical defense while also dealing with magic attacks by hindering their casting.

It’s a powerful skill, one of the best defenses there is.

And as far as magic goes, by combining it with the similar effects of the Dragon Barrier skill, it can all but cancel out most magic.

Since Ms. Oka seems to have a magic-heavy build, she’s a terrible match for Vampy.

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Throw in the huge difference between their stats, and she pretty much has no chance of winning.

Vampy clearly realizes that and is slowly, lazily walking toward Ms. Oka.

Ms. Oka tries to stop her with Wind Magic, but since magic doesn’t work on Vampy, it’s literally just dust in the wind.

“Ahh!”

Finally, Vampy grabs Ms. Oka around her slim neck.

Seriously, what the heeeeell?!

What’s wrong with you?!

At this rate, the adventures of Yamada and friends are gonna meet an untimely end right here!

Argh! If it’s come to this, I have no choice but to show up and save them as some mysterious stranger!

But just as I’m starting to seriously consider this half-baked plan, a white wyrm comes flying in.

Isn’t that…?

“Fei?”

Yamada’s words overlap my thoughts as he addresses the wyrm.

Fei is Shinohara, right…?

She used to be an earth dragon, but since she made a summoning contract with Yamada the hero, she took a special route to evolve into a light wyrm.

Since it’s a special evolution, she entered some kinda cocoon thing for quite a while, but it looks like the evolution finished just in the nick of time.

Seriously, talk about perfect timing!

…A little too perfect, don’cha think?

Maybe this is Yamada’s Divine Protection skill at work again?

“Yeah, you’re just in time.”

While I was thinking about all that, it looks like Yamada and Shinohara were communicating telepathically.

“Shun! Mount that wyrm and get out of here!”

As the third prince Leston shouts, everyone jumps into action.

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“Don’t worry about us! Shun, and Hyrince, too! Take Miss Oka and run!”

“Shun! Let’s go!”

Hyrince runs toward Yamada, carrying the unconscious Ms. Oka and Anna.

“Do you think we’ll let you escape?”

Vampy steps in to stop them.

Uh, hello?! You’re supposed to let them escape!

Seriously, what are you doing?!

Luckily, while Shinohara uses her dragon breath to keep Vampy and the others at bay, the others get on her back, and she flies off.

Phew. They managed to escape.

Ah, that last breath attack burned Wald pretty good…

Well, he’s probably not gonna die.

Vampy and Phelmina promptly knock out Leston and the rest who stayed behind.

Phelmina quietly says something to Vampy, who brushes her off impatiently.

That’s it, Phelmina! You tell her, girl!

But I’m gonna have to punish Vampy myself, too…