Tagawa
I scratch my head without thinking.
...Honestly, even hearing that, it just doesn't feel real.
I was already struggling just to wrap my head around what Wakaba-san told me directly a little while ago.
Now you're gonna drop another bomb like this on top of that? That's way past capacity, you know...
"...What are we gonna do?"
"What do you mean what are we gonna do? Can we even do anything about it in the first place?"
The scale of this thing is so massive I can't even imagine what we're supposed to do.
It's basically the same as being told a giant meteor's gonna crash into the world tomorrow and wipe out all life...
Do we gotta fly into space on some Armageddon-style spaceship and drill into the meteor or something?
...Wait, meteors have nothing to do with this!
Crap, I'm getting so confused I don't even know what I'm saying anymore...
"Do you... want to do something about it?"
"...That's a tough one."
A god I've never seen or heard of — well, actually, I might've heard divine words from one... but whatever, that's not the point.
Anyway! When someone asks me if I wanna save a god I've never even met, my honest answer is... not really.
The goddess's circumstances that were apparently written in the book Wakaba-san left behind, and the reasons why the person called the Demon King wants to help her — sure, I get it. Makes total sense.
If humanity is the one that created the cause of this world's collapse, then Wakaba-san's side has the moral high ground, I guess.
But still — wiping out half of humanity is too much, isn't it?
And apparently the people most likely to die are the ones with the most Skills?
Doesn't that mean all my adventurer acquaintances are gonna die...?
"I know Wakaba-san's side is right. I know that, but... when it comes to people I actually know dying, I can't just go 'oh, is that so?' and leave it at that, y'know?"
"...Yeah."
Fortunately — if you can even call it that — apparently we reincarnators don't have to worry about dying, thanks to Wakaba-san's goodwill.
So the reincarnators who are holed up in this
Wait, but if humanity gets cut in half, wouldn't we be affected too eventually, what with reconstruction efforts and all that?
I can't even grasp what "half of humanity" really means, so I have no idea what would happen after that.
Actually, wait — thinking about it, the System apparently governs Skills and Status, right? What happens when it's gone?
For us humans, we'd probably just go back to being ordinary people who can't use magic or anything — like we were before reincarnation. But what about the Monsters?
If the Monsters get weaker too, fine. But if they don't, how the hell are we supposed to fight them?
AAARGH! I don't get it!
There's too much to think about and I can't organize any of my thoughts!
Seriously, what the hell are we supposed to do!?
I end up slumping into a seat with my head in my hands.
"...Hey, by the way — how much of that is actually true?"
"Huh?"
I turn toward the voice and find Urushihara lounging in a chair with that arrogant look of his.
Everyone here except for the bedridden Hasebe, and the ones who wandered off somewhere — Shun and Kanata — is present. That leaves the rest of us reincarnators gathered together.
Urushihara, now the center of attention, continues.
"Everything written in that book, and everything we've been talking about just now — none of us can actually verify whether any of it's true, right? So if there were lies mixed in, we'd have no way of knowing."
"...Now that you mention it, that's fair."
I got so swept up in Wakaba-san's presence that I just accepted everything at face value. But the truth is, we have no idea whether any of it is real.
Being lied to is entirely possible.
"Shino. What's your take on this?"
Urushihara turns to Kusama.
Kusama is the most knowledgeable person here when it comes to that sort of thing — he's a spy for the God Word Church.
Ogi, also a spy, might know something too, but he's been undercover in this Elf Village for years. Kusama probably has more up-to-date information.
"Huh? I dunno."
"...Excuse me? Are you kidding me?"
Kusama's dumbfounded response earns him a sharp glare from Urushihara.
"No! I'm not kidding! That's right! Yes!"
His Status should be way higher than Urushihara's, yet he's sitting there ramrod straight out of sheer terror...
This guy, even after reincarnating, he's got the eternal errand-boy mentality — more like a lackey complex...
"I didn't ask about it in that much detail either! That's right! Yes!"
"Really? You're not lying?"
"I'm not lying! Right, Ogi!?"
"Don't drag me into this!?"
"O-ghiii? Whatcha got?"
"Ah, yes. It's not a lie. That's right."
Ogi, you bastard too...
Well, I guess it can't be helped — Urushihara's intimidation is off the charts even without any Skills.
"What we know goes as far as 'the elves are gonna be wiped out.' Seriously, we don't know anything beyond that. We did hear that the world was in danger, but we never heard anything about what to do about it."
"...So the world being in danger is actually real?"
If that part's true, then doesn't everything else gain some credibility too...?
"Ugh. In the end, how much of it is even real?"
"It's all true."
An unfamiliar voice.
That's when I finally notice the door's open and someone's walked in.
...Just because I was flustered, I didn't even notice. Way too careless, man.
The person who entered was a girl I'd never seen before, followed by Negishi, Kyoya, and — of all people —
"Oh. Most of you are meeting me for the first time. My name is
Hearing those words, I immediately stood up.
Asaka, sitting right next to me, tensed up in an instant.
"Now, now. Calm down. I have no intention of doing you any harm. White-chan — I guess it'd be easier to say Wakaba-chan. Wakaba-chan is a bit tied up right now, so I came to give you the full explanation instead."
The Demon King smiled serenely as she spoke.
Appearance and demeanor alike — if someone hadn't told you, you'd never guess she was the Demon King.
But she commands Wakaba-san, Negishi, Kyoya, and even Merazophis. She can't be ordinary.
...Though she does look surprisingly frail for all that.
Can't judge a book by its cover, I guess.
"So, I want you to listen to my side of things, and then make your choice. Which side you'll stand on — that is."
And with that, the Demon King laid the choice before us.
Note: The Urushihara in the web version and the book version have different origins, so please consider them essentially different characters.