Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? Volume Chapter 20

The day after we arrive in the elf village, Ms. Oka brings Katia, Fei, and me to a certain location.

Honestly, I didn’t really want to leave Anna alone when she has such horrific trauma associated with this place.

However, considering where we’re going now, we thought it was best if only us reincarnations went.

When I explained all this to Hyrince, he told me confidently that I could count on him, so we left Anna and him behind.

Our destination is a special protected area.

The place where the reincarnations are kept in order to protect them.

“Ms. Okaaaa, are we there yet?”

Fei complains.

I suppose we have been walking for a pretty long time.

With Fei’s high stats, I doubt she’s actually worn out from that. But none of us realized it was this far away. I can’t blame her for being a little bored.

“Just a bit farther. The elf village is quite large, you know. Please try to be patient.”

Frankly, it’s so large that I don’t know if it should be called a “village” at all.

But I suppose that makes sense when you consider that most of an entire race’s population is concentrated here.

It’s so massive that it would take an entire day to travel from one end to another.

When you think of it that way, the distance to the reincarnations’ area might even seem small by comparison.

“Still, I can’t believe there’s a barrier big enough to cover this entire place. It must take some incredible magic.”

“Yes. Thanks to the barrier, the elf village has never been attacked before.”

“How exactly does it work anyway?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know that much about it myself.”

Normally, I’d expect Ms. Oka to know these things, but I guess it is a matter of national security.

“What I do know is that it’s so strong that even an attack from a queen taratect can’t affect it. In the long history of the elves, it’s never once been broken.”

It can withstand a direct hit from a queen taratect?

That surprises me, but it also makes sense.

The queen taratect is in the strongest class of monsters.

When one appeared in a battle between humans and demons a while ago, it trampled both sides indiscriminately.

And the queen taratect’s destructive power permanently altered the terrain around that Great Elroe Labyrinth exit.

If one of those same monsters lives in the Great Garam Forest, it’s only logical that the barrier would have to be strong enough to hold it off.

Otherwise, the history of the elves would probably have ended by now.

“Considering how long they live, the elves must have a pretty long history, right? How far back does it go, exactly?”

“I don’t know. But from what I’ve heard from my grandfather, who is the eldest in the village at five hundred years old, the barrier already existed in the time of his own grandfather.”

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

I can’t imagine living through that much history.

In fact, much of the history of this world has been lost.

This is partly because books are often destroyed in the constant wars between humans, and unlike on Earth, paper here degrades very quickly.

Since it’s difficult to preserve books, the history we do know is extrapolated from the few remaining documents or passed down through oral tradition.

And it’s hard to say how much of that is true, since many of them seem to contain fictional stories and fairy tales.

In which case, the long-lived elves might be important living witnesses to history.

However, since the elves are so closed off from the rest of the world, most of them probably never even leave the elf village, meaning they might not know that much about human history.

“Do you think Hugo can get through the barrier somehow?”

That barrier has been protecting the elf village for such a long time that it’s like a part of history itself.

Does Hugo really think he can break through something that powerful?

Does he know something we don’t?

“I’m not sure. However, just because it’s never been broken before doesn’t mean it’s impossible. We mustn’t rely on it too much.”

If anything, it sounds like Ms. Oka is assuming the barrier might break.

That gives me the impression that Hugo knows some way to break it.

And Ms. Oka must know about it, too.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had us go on such a dangerous journey through the Great Elroe Labyrinth to defend the village.

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Not if she thought its barrier was unbreakable.

I remember Katia’s warning again.

Ms. Oka is still hiding something.

At this point, I think Katia is probably right.

There’s clearly a line somewhere between what she’s telling us and what she’s keeping to herself.

“From what you’ve told us, it’s hard to imagine any human could break such a barrier. Do you believe Hugo has some kind of secret weapon?”

Katia cuts in sharply.

Of course. If it’s obvious to me, then it must be doubly obvious to Katia.

“Again, I don’t know. However, he most certainly knows that there is a barrier around the elf village. Surely even Hugo wouldn’t bring such a large army here if he wasn’t confident that he could break through the barrier. I suspect that he must have some kind of method in mind, though whether it will actually work is another story.”

Her analysis certainly makes sense.

I can’t find a single contradiction in that logic.

Still, it’s not quite enough to dispel my doubts completely.

Katia, too, narrows her eyes while Ms. Oka isn’t looking.

Fei says nothing, unable to keep up with the tension between the lines of the conversation.

I keep quiet, too, afraid I’ll mess things up if I say any more.

“Ah, there it is!”

Luckily, just as an awkward silence starts to fall over us, our destination comes into view.

I mentally heave a sigh of relief.

That kind of battle of wits just isn’t my forte.

Instead of being full of trees like the rest of the forest, the area Ms. Oka points at is a brightly lit clearing.

In most of the forest, the huge leaves and branches block out the sky.

But in this one area, instead of trees, all that’s growing are vegetables.

It’s a farm.

Tending to the field are a few young boys and girls, right around our age.

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There seems to be livestock, too, with a few more people taking care of them.

Noticing us, one of the girls stops working and approaches.

“Welcome back, Ms. Oka.”

“Thank you.”

The pair exchanges greetings in Japanese.

This girl really is a reincarnation.

But although hearing Japanese should warm my heart, there’s a slight chill in the air somehow.

The girl’s greeting was very curt.

And Ms. Oka’s expression seems rather stiff as well.

“So? Are these three new victims or what?”

The girl’s words make the atmosphere even colder.

“Victims? Of course not.”

“Well, that’s your opinion. From my perspective, you’re definitely the villain… But whatever. You three, what are your names? I mean from there, not here.”

Coldly rejecting Ms. Oka, the girl turns toward us.

She looks at Katia and me, then turns suspicious when she sees Fei.

“I’m Shunsuke Yamada.”

“Mine is Kanata Ooshima.”

“I’m Mirei Shinohara, as if you didn’t already know.”

“Huh?”

She furrows her brow, but I can’t tell whether it’s because Katia is a woman now or because Fei’s appearance is incredibly similar to how she used to look.

“Wait a minute. Ooshima?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow…”

Her reaction seems involuntary.

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“Excuse you! What kind of reaction is that?!”

“You’re right, sorry. It just surprised me, that’s all.”

“Well, now that you know who we are, shouldn’t you introduce yourself, too?”

As Katia sulks a little, Fei cuts in with slightly narrowed eyes.

“As if I can’t already tell from your attitude.”

“Fair enough. It wouldn’t be very polite to ask your names and not return the favor, would it? Sorry about that. I’m Sachi Kudo.”

“I knew it.”

Fei sighs rather irritably.

Sachi Kudo.

The girl who was our class rep.

We weren’t particularly close, but she stood out in class because of her blunt nature.

Since she was monstrously strict about the rules, she had a lot of enemies, too.

And since Fei tended to be a bit of a mess in various ways, they butted heads pretty often.

“Why do you look so much like your old self, Ms. Shinohara?”

Apparently, Kudo did notice that Fei looks a lot like she did in her previous life.

Since it’s been such a long time, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of us forgot one another’s faces, but I guess she remembered an old foe.

“Oh, y’know. I guess even death couldn’t take away my beauty.”

“Give me a real answer, please.”

Fei’s 100-percent lie is even more obvious because of the silly pose that comes along with it.

Kudo immediately shoots her down.

Now that’s a nostalgic exchange.

“Seriously, I dunno why I look like this, okay?”

Fei refuses to drop her jokey attitude, and Kudo continues to glare at her suspiciously.

“Mirei?”

“Huh? Is that really you?”

A few others notice our presence and drop their work to join Kudo in gathering around us.

Two of them notice Fei’s appearance and call out to her.

“Hmm? Wait, is that Ai and Himi?”

“You guessed it!”

“Oh my god, so it really is you, Mirei?! Wow, it’s been sooo long!”

Reunited with their old friend, the girls jump up and down with excitement.

Fei was the center of a particularly flashy group of girls and had a lot of friends.

It’s been more than ten years, yet they immediately clump together and chatter away like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

Honestly, I think that level of sociability is pretty impressive.

“At any rate, let’s not keep standing around out here. Everyone, let’s put today’s work on hold for now and go inside.”

Kudo directs the first half at us and the second at everyone else.

“Are you coming, too, Ms. Oka? Not that you’re particularly welcome.”

I can’t help but feel a twinge in my heart at her harsh words.

It was clear from the beginning that Kudo strongly dislikes Ms. Oka, but I can’t understand why her rejection is this intense.

Since she was the class rep in our old world, Kudo spent a lot of time with Ms. Oka, and I seem to remember them being pretty close.

Something must have happened between them in this world to cause such a large rift.

As I dither uncertainly, Katia calmly looks around at the situation as a whole, while Fei stares right at Ms. Oka.

“Right…I understand. Well, I would hate to put a damper on everyone’s reunion, so I’ll take my leave here.”

With that, Ms. Oka quickly turns away.

Her expression looks as if she’s forcing a smile while holding back tears.

“Let’s go.”

Ignoring our teacher, Kudo starts walking.

Looking around, I see that several of the other students are looking at Ms. Oka with hard-to-read expressions.

But nobody makes any move to call out to her.

As we start off in the opposite direction, I steal a glance at Ms. Oka as she walks away.

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I’ve never seen her look so small.