Chapter 457

457 – During Reincarnation (side: Partner)

…I find myself walking through a space of total darkness. It seems this is a forest. Turning my head to the side, I can just barely make the occasional tree.

What is this place? My memory isn’t clear. For some reason, I feel irritated.

Perhaps because I zoned out, it’s mostly automatic, but it seems I am the one who is moving our body. Is my partner slacking off? I look towards him, and… The space from his neck up is strangely hazy and impossible to make out.

Hey, where’d you go? Huh? Is this a dream? I don’t remember too clearly, but I’m sure I wasn’t in a situation where I should be sleeping. What happened to me? If I remember right… We were betrayed by that bitch, and then were chased by the Demon Lord bastard… We ran out of strength to run, and then… And then…

Aah, that’s right, I died.

Around me, I notice many others who are similarly walking forwards. They consist of all kinds of monsters and humans. None of them have any colour, and are entirely black and white. Perhaps they have no unaware of their surroundings, they are single-mindedly walking forwards with hollow expressions. As they walk, their bodies seem to melt away. About half of them are shuffling forwards after having become like walking mounds of mud. A few who are unable to keep walking melt away entirely and sink into the ground.

“Gaaa, gaaaAh!”

I cry as loud as I can. But none of them show any reaction.

“GaaaaAh!”

It’s no good. They’re not reacting at all. I have a faint idea as to what this place is. This must be the world after death. I try activating a skill as a test, but there’s no response at all. It feels like the way to use it has been plucked from my head.

But, I’m different from the others. I still have my sense of self, and I can choose to stop walking. Maybe I can even return to my previous world.

I glance behind me. Rather than being simply dark, it appears completely pitch black. I probably can’t return the way I came. I didn’t expect to be able to, so I accept it easily.

I continue forwards inside the unchanging scenery, looking around as I walk. I wonder what happened to my partner after that. I can only vaguely remember, but I think that the Demon Lord should have been on the verge of death after I bit into its shoulder. I’d like to hope that it all went smoothly after that, but…

Suddenly, I spot a human kid beneath a tree, clutching his head and crying. Perhaps it’s that you can keep your original shape as long as you have lingering attachments. In turn, I clearly recall the appearances of my partner, the nightmare, Aro and the treant, and then sigh out.

I stop proceeding forwards and walk up to the kid. Perhaps scared, he stops crying and looks up at me in surprise.

“G-god of death…?”

If such a guy was around here, I’d beat them up to force them to return me to life. It seems that I can’t take the form of a human any more, so I lay down next to the kid for some a while. I pretend to nibble at him, put him on my head, and generally try to entertain him. Soon, his wariness of me fades, and he begins asking me all kinds of questions. I shake my head at appropriate times in response.

Without anything else to do, I decide to keep walking forwards with the kid on my back. We can’t turn back after all. Even if we went to the side, it seems there’s an invisible wall that prevents us from going very far.

The further we proceed, the thinner the crowd of dead around us becomes. They’ve all lost their shape and have become like muddy slimes. That reminds me, I wonder if that Demon Lord came here too. Looking around, I don’t see any sign of them.

I can’t imagine the Demon Lord would fade away quickly, but if all the world’s dead were sent here, then there would have to be a lot more. They might be split up between several places. Alternatively, this could just be a dream I’m seeing as I die, and there’s no point in thinking about it.

“Who are you looking for? Your friends?”

The kid calls out from my back. I shake my head.

After that, the kid tells me about himself. What sort of country he were born in, what sort of house they lived in. I’m not particularly interested in the topic, and don’t fully understand matters of the human world, but he talks away regardless. I nod my head and make noises at the right times to encourage him. The kid seems happy just to be able speak, so it should be plenty. It’s not as though I don’t understand anything the he’s saying, after all.

The gaps between the kid’s narration gradually grow longer, until eventually they cut off entirely. Upon realising that some time passed in silence, I glance at my back to find that he’s is nowhere to be seen. I hadn’t noticed that the sensation of him against my back had faded away.

I face forwards, and pick up my pace a little. Now that I think about it, I realise that not a single one of the mud-like people remain around me. All I see now is a black and white grassy field spreading out in front of me.

After I continue to walk for a long while, I come across a tree in the middle of the path. Another kid is sitting with her back against the tree. For a moment, I think she must another ghost, but she turns her expressionless eyes towards me and stares at me as she stands up. Something about her is unsettling.

【It is a pleasure to meet you. I am [Laplace] – I am this world itself, and the guardian of its laws.】

…What, are you God’s Voice? You hiding away here as you toyed with us?

【The one you call [God’s Voice] has forcefully inserted their way into my voice and is a different entity entirely.】

Ah? If you’re a guardian, then why don’t you eradicate them?

【I can only make decisions in accordance with the instructions and value system that I was imparted with, and I do not have authority to act otherwise.】

【There is a little leniency, but fundamentally I am unable to commence anything with respects to the world above.】

【As I have no free will, they could not predict what means I would use if I only had a purpose.】

【Fearing that I would take unnecessary actions, I was restricted to only granting approval to higher authority in accordance with a fundamental value system, and to defending myself.】

The kid says some things that I don’t fully understand and walks up to me. If my partner was here, he might have understood a bit more.

【As a result, I cannot return you to your previous world. 】

【All I can do is calculation, approval to higher authority, and self defence.】

【However, I can grant you a small yet effective skill.】

The kid reaches out a hand to me, and a red light blooms in my head before fading away. I glare at her.

What’s that supposed to do? I can’t use skills here, can I? For that matter, what can I even do now? In the first place, what do you even want?

【Within the limitations of the behaviour granted to me, I am only doing what seems like it might accomplish the objective.】

【It might be fruitless. But, just for a bit, would you mind waiting here?】

The kid raises her upper body slightly to point down the path.

【Of course, you are free to continue on beyond.】

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