235

“Do you understand what that means?”

“Of course. If you are a sage, then you should understand what is necessary right now.”

“That is not what I mean,” the old man said, shaking his head.

At that reaction, Kashial let out a bored breath.

“Old Osba. The ‘taboo’ is not something that destroys the world. If it became taboo because its use was mistaken, then this time, we need only avoid making a mistake.”

Kashial spoke to the old man called Osba, who was lending his shoulders to the two sleeping old men beside him.

It was true that “domination” had succeeded in temporarily stealing my consciousness.

If used well, it might become a way to defeat the major, but… there was no way the Ultimate Lifeform would be weak to magic, and I remembered clearly that this part had been properly noted in the materials I had seen.

I would buy time with desperate resolve, and when domination stopped his movements, we would take his head with a blow from the spirit sword.

That was my plan, but if we did not even know whether it would work in the first place, the odds were poor.

“This is not the imitation Lady Kirishia revived. We have obtained the real thing.”

“Kashial! Don’t tell me you uncovered it!?”

“If it was truly that dangerous, then you should have burned it. Meinas, our ancestors foresaw this day. Is that not the more natural way to think?”

Apparently, Zesat had dug up a grave or something and obtained a book or some other record about the taboo.

I felt like I was being left out, but for now, I listened and tried to determine which side I should take.

“Is that Zesat’s collective will? Or is it your own decision?”

“You may interpret it however you like. But I have no reason to be criticized by someone from Corner. Shuvard knew, you know? I wonder how he learned the secret of the spirit sword?”

Meinas-baasan clenched her fist and fell silent before the laughing Kashial.

The old man called Osba then interrupted.

“Kashial. Why was the ‘taboo’ made taboo? Surely you do not mean to say you do not know.”

“Oh, I know. And I learned it. I learned the reason it became a ‘taboo.’ Ridiculous… for a truly ridiculous reason, the wisdom of the past nearly ended up lost.”

Kashial laughed self-mockingly and continued.

“The elves of old did not know what it was. That was why they declared it taboo and sealed it away. Because they did not understand it? For that reason alone? Then I will revive it and use it correctly. With the power of the ‘soul,’ we will overcome this crisis!”

“So it’s not domination!?” I shouted in my heart.

That meant my simulation from just now had been wasted, but depending on the ability of this “soul” or whatever, things might still turn in a good direction.

In that case, I raised my hand slightly.

“I have a question. Can you defeat him with this soul technique?”

“I do not mind starting with you.”

From his provocative answer, I could tell he was quite confident.

However, I still did not know the essential part—what kind of magic this “soul” was.

So I sent a glance at Number Six, who had been silenced.

Noticing my gaze, she answered as if she had no choice.

“The ‘soul’ is a taboo that touches the soul.”

It was a short explanation, but I somehow understood.

I wondered whether something that spiritual would really be all right, but… with him being that confident, perhaps there was some decisive move.

Should I shift toward cooperating with him, then?

My hesitation lasted only a short while, because Osba-jii-san’s next words made me abandon that thought easily.

“Kashial, do you intend to replace him?”

(Huh? Don’t tell me souls are the kind of thing where if you swap them, it turns into some manga-like body exchange?)

Then there was no point.

The goal was to eliminate the major—the Ultimate Lifeform that possessed the Nemesis Code.

Therefore, I would proceed without cooperation.

“I did consider that as well. However, if I think about handing over someone’s body to a monster, that would hardly be the act of a sane man.”

“Then maybe I can cooperate,” I thought, my opinion spinning around inside my head at full speed.

Could he defeat him or not?

Just give me that certainty already.

If they could defeat the major even without my cooperation, then depending on how we did this, it might lead to the best possible result.

I had been busy giving up and finding hope over and over again, but I would like to reach a conclusion soon.

Inside my head, I was banging on the table and urging him to hurry.

Come on, tell us your method.

“A monster with a powerful body… indeed, depending on how it is used, it has value. However, I do not think it is worth obtaining even by sacrificing one of my clansmen. That is why we have decided to destroy his soul.”

The destruction of the soul—I did not know exactly what that meant.

However, it was not difficult to imagine that it would also lead to the death of the body.

I did not know in what form the major would meet his death, but if that could stop him, then I had no choice but to take that method.

That was why I stood up and was about to offer Kashial my cooperation—and then I clearly saw the moment his heart was pierced.

“I forbade it.”

Saying only that, a girl pulled out the sword that had pierced Kashial from behind.

The unknown girl, who could have been anywhere, held a spirit sword in her hand.

It was the one I had taken from Alberto, and the one wielding it was a young short-haired girl who looked only in her early teens.

(No, where was she!? Since when!? I felt no presence at all. I didn’t even notice her approaching!)

Kashial collapsed before my eyes as I was thrown into confusion by the girl who had suddenly appeared.

His mouth opened and closed, and he stretched his hand toward the girl, but she herself was no longer looking at Kashial.

The one at the end of her gaze was Osba—the old man called a sage.

“Dispose of the rest yourselves.”

At the girl’s words, Osba merely prostrated himself.

No one even tried to touch on the fact that she had killed one of their own.

The girl started to leave as if her business was finished.

On her back, which was turned away from us, was a bow.

That bow also radiated an extraordinary pressure, and I finally recognized that she was the spirit bow user.

(I thought that was the pressure of the sword, but no matter how I think about it, it’s on a completely different level from the ones I know. If she can use the bow, can she use the sword too?)

Could that be the privilege of someone who possessed the talent called the Spirit’s Chosen?

Since Kashial had been killed and she had ordered his clan to be disposed of as well, we could no longer rely on the taboo.

In that case, this girl should be the one to protect the village.

I resolved myself and spoke to her.

“I have a request, assuming you are the spirit bow user.”

“I refuse.”

She rejected me without even turning around.

For now, I chased after her as she left, wanting her to at least hear me out to the end.

“Listen to me until the end. A crisis is approaching this village. This is to prevent it.”

However, no matter what I said, the girl showed no sign of stopping.

“I will also be participating for my own reasons. So cooperate with—”

“I refuse.”

This was exactly what people meant when they said there was no room to negotiate.

It would not be good to go too far from the assembly hall, so I would force her to stop here.

“Please, listen to me.”

When I said that and stepped in front of her, she finally stopped.

“The opponent is someone connected to the old Empire. His principle of action is likely hatred toward the elves. At this rate, this village is in danger.”

“Karma. We have no leeway to waste power on such a trivial matter.”

“Everyone here might die, you know?”

It was true that because there had been a war, they had killed and been killed.

However, that had been two hundred years ago, and the Empire no longer existed.

The way she spoke, as if it did not matter whether everyone here died, made me unable to understand her.

“Are you going to abandon your own people?”

“Harm caused by taboo is precisely karma. It is a trivial matter in which we have no reason to be involved.”

Our conversation was not matching up.

I felt that way probably because I lacked information about elves, but even so, I could not understand why she would abandon the people who lived here.

“You have enough power to save them, don’t you? Then why…”

“What we save is only this world. Our only mission is to ensure the world continues to exist.”

As I lowered my posture and tried to persuade her by peering into her face, she stretched her hand out before me.

“Disappear.”

With only that one word, I was blown away.

Just before I lost consciousness, the sight I saw was her relaxed hand, and her thumb holding back her middle finger.

Then, from my head being flicked, I understood what she had done.

A forehead flick—with that one blow, I had been sent flying.

When I regained consciousness beyond the private house I had destroyed, it was already dark around me.

I rose and pushed aside the timber that had become scrap wood.

The uneven trail in the ground told the story of how pathetically I had been blown away, and even though I did not know how many times I had spun, I could only smile wryly at how sturdy this body was, since I had no serious injuries.

“Looks like you have awakened.”

When I looked toward the voice, there stood the old man who had been called a sage.

Apparently, he had been waiting for me to wake up.

“You are… Sage Osba, correct?”

Osba-san nodded, but the two old men behind him also pointed at themselves and began insisting, “Me too, me too.”

Sorry, but I did not know your names, so I honestly asked.

“Mm-hmm. Honesty is good.”

The slightly plump old man who nodded as he said that introduced himself as “Odel,” and the thin old man introduced himself as “Zebis.”

Apparently, they were long-lived elves called sages who did not belong to any clan.

“And so, why were you sages waiting for me?”

“Though it may have been for your own convenience, it is true that you tried to keep us alive.”

“In that case, we must answer that in kind.”

“Therefore, we thought we would teach you a little.”

The way each of them spoke in turn looked quite practiced.

I could not help imagining that they probably did this all the time, but there was not much time left.

However, if they were elderly, and elves on top of that, the value of their information would be high.

After being shown that much power, if she would only cooperate, everything would go well.

Hoping that it would become material for persuading the Spirit’s Chosen, I decided to accept the sages’ goodwill.

And then I would come to know.

The greatest sin that made the “taboo” truly taboo.

Why the girl who was the Spirit’s Chosen did not protect the elf village.

How insignificant my existence was in this world.

The unknown underside of the world was easy to understand, and cruel.