The Simple Job of Only Perishing to the Hero - Book 10: Chapter 12: (2)

「Ohh, ohh! So that teeny one over there was here too!」

「Vermudol. I, hate this person.」

Seeing Ykslaas, who became visibly displeased from being called teeny, hide behind Vermudol, Agnam laughed sounding like he found it interesting.

「Agnam, do not make fun of her too much. That child is that one……」

「Ou, I know. That bein’ said, that doesn’t mean that treatin’ her gingerly is the right thing ta do, does it.」

Seeing Agnam answer like that to Raidolg’s intercession, Ykslaas went 「You knew?」 and made a puzzled face.

「More accurately, I should say that I was made ta know. I certainly am a God, but I ain’t all that knowledgeable about souls. That is basically Philia’s jurisdiction after all.」

「And the result of that, is this great strife. Being indifferent just because you are not well-informed about it is not something I can find admirable.」

「Yer about the only one who can say somethin’ like that ta me, Vermudol. It’s been a long time since Wyrm was interested in the world, while Aklia’s been doin’ her best with maintainin’ the seal on the Wentas (Warped God). Atlagus is basically sleepin’ all the time, Dagulas shuts himself away, and although that geezer Raidolg looks like that, he’s the one lackin’ common sense the most. Then, the only serious one, Philia, is like 『this』, see? And ta finish things off, tremendously tactless.」

Vermudol breathed a sigh, and shrugged his shoulders.

「That isn’t something to boast about.」

「I ain’t boastin’. But, I’m just sayin’ that a breakdown would’ve happened eventually no matter what.」

Indeed, that certainly would be the case.

Even after Philia had created the enemies called 「Demon Kings」 using Shuklous and Gramfia, and forcibly corrected the distortions of mankind, the people completely forgot their bonds in the extremities of time, and a new trigger called the 「Demi-Human Argument」 was created.

Was always seeking an 「enemy」 other than themselves already a core habit for mankind?

If that is the case, then just as Agnam said, a breakdown would eventually come.

「In other words, does that mean that you are affirming Philia’s method?」

「I ain’t affirmin’ it. But, I ain’t denyin’ it either. It’s fine if I just leave it ta the ones concerned with it.」

「How irresponsible.」

「I ain’t gonna deny that either. But, in reality, I’m also in distress with this current world. The Izektia are just too belligerent.」

「Embarrassingly so.」

The man wearing pitch black armor……or rather, the person who seemed like that, who was standing in wait behind Agnam, said that sort of thing.

He wore full body armor that had a design and luster resembling a rhinoceros beetle, and had even more metal armor worn on top of that.

But, Ichika noticed a strange point about that man and twitched her brow.

「Vermudol-sama. That helmet……no, that is……」

Looking closely at what Ichika pointed out, anyone could understand that it wasn’t a helmet. The thing that looked like a helmet was a Human sized head that had a shape that closely resembled a rhinoceros beetle.

「So it was a Bug-Human?」

The rhinoceros beetle man quickly reacted to Azorto’s words, and was about to immediately spring at her.

However, he was stopped by Agnam’s spread out hand and maybe having become calm due to that, he got down to a knee and lowered his head.

「Sorry ‘bout that, Jou-chan that Atlagus brought. These guys dislike bein’ treated like bug humans. As for the reason for that, there were a couple things that happened……see.」

「No, I also said a bit too much. Those aren’t words I should be saying on our first meeting.」

When Azorto said 「Sorry」 and apologized, the rhinoceros beetle man said 「I’m Garosso」 and curtly gave his name.

After watching that scene, Vermudol turned his gaze back to Raidolg.

「So in other words, this was the plan that you prepared.」

「That is how it is. Excluding Dagulas who is still cleaning up this Dimensional Gap, with this, all of the Gods and the members of mankind that are under their protection are all present.」

「No, I am already done.」

The one who appeared making their footsteps resound together with those words was a single man.

His black, slightly long hair was simple and couldn’t be called well-ordered even as flattery.

Majesty could be felt from his slightly grown out black facial hair.

His black eyes looked somewhat philosophic, seemed like he was looking at Vermudol yet not looking at him, and had a mysterious brilliance carried within them.

The old fashioned armor that he wore was an article that emitted abnormal magical power.

That man, who held a two handed sword with a pitch black sword blade, thrust his sword into the floor and walked over.

「The cleaning up of the Alva in this special airspace has been completed. There were also some that escaped into the normal world but……I can’t deal with those.」

「Hou, as expected of you, Dagulas.」

Dagulas did not respond to Raidolg, who said that to show his appreciation, went straight to being right in front of Ykslaas, and stared down at her.

Ykslaas also looked up at Dagulas──at the figure of the God that she had worshipped in the past, and muttered 「Dagulas-sama」.

「……One who was once my beloved child. Do you resent me?」

In response to that question, Ykslaas answered 「No」.

「I do not have the right to resent you. That nation falling to ruin was due to the foolishness of my past self. I had blindly believed that we could come to a mutual understanding with others that pointed hostility towards us by pointing love and affection towards them, and that ugly ideal had brought an end to everything.」

That’s right, mankind surpassing Philia’s expectations and running wild and the Spirit Kingdom Rukletio’s downfall was due to the naivety of Philia’s calculations……but it was also a situation that could have been avoided if the Elements had put more awareness in the thing called the 「nation’s defenses」.

Coming to an understanding even without fighting──The naivety that didn’t even try to acknowledge the fact that such an ideal could only exist within dreams was also the cause for the Elements being destroyed.

「……There were more things I could do. That is what I had been thinking this whole time.」

It couldn’t be seen from his expression, but regret could be heard in his voice.

Ykslaas looked up at that Dagulas, and expressed a smile.

「Then, by all means, direct those thoughts towards the future. I, have already started walking towards it.」

While gazing at the one who he should have protected in the past, Dagulas nodded.

「……Is that so.」

「Yes.」

He was the God of Darkness that she had wanted to meet the whole time.

However, after meeting him, there is surprisingly nothing to say, that is what Ykslaas thought.

That was most likely because, she had met Vermudol, gone to the Zadark Kingdom……and had something born within her heart.

「Are you happy?」

「Dunno. I will have to think about whether I am or not. But, I certainly don’t get bored.」

While saying that, Ykslaas grabbed the hem of Vermudol’s clothes.

Although Vermudol peeked at that for a bit, he didn’t say anything and looked at Dagulas just like that.

「……It seems that is how it is.」

「I see. In that case, can I leave her to you?」

「I shall undertake that. It will only be within the range that my power can reach though.」

「That is fine.」

After nodding, Dagulas went past beside Vermudol just like that and headed to right in front of Raidolg.

「The cast is all present, right? Putting on airs is a bad habit of yours, geezer.」

「Fumu, indeed. Then shall we get started.」

Together with Raidolg’s words, a gigantic round table appeared at the center of the room.

Just when they thought that only the object had an Airspace Transfer done on it, a dog-eared woman came crawling out from underneath the round table.

Speaking of her age, she was around 20 years old.

She had white hair that went to about her shoulders, and yellow eyes.

Her body firmly had muscle on it and made her look warrior-like, and she had an appearance of cloth clothes and leather armor which emphasized being easy to move in.

「Raidolg-samaa. You really work your workers hard.」

「It’s one of the easier jobs, isn’t it. Come on, Rubia, you get ready as well.」

「Ehー」

While saying that, the woman clicked her heels together and took a saluting pose.

「Everyone, nice to meet you. I am the Temple Knight of Light, Rubia. I will be in your care.」

「Th, the Temple Knight……of Light……?」

Opening her eyes wide, Celis muttered that.

He wasn’t here in this place, but Celis had heard the rumor that a Temple Knight of Wind had been created in the Jiol Forest Kingdom.

However, this was her first time hearing that there was a Temple Knight of Light.

In response to how Celis was bewildered and didn’t know what she should do, Raidolg made a gentle smile.

「You do not need to mind that matter. She has come in place of the representative of another country.」

「Y, yes.」

「Now then! That is how it is. Everyone, have a seat.」

While being prompted to the seats that Rubia set up, everyone sat down, and at the end, Philia sat down in the remaining seat while being hesitant about it.

It was unknown as to whether the fact that Vermudol and Philia were in positions where they were directly facing each other was on purpose or a coincidence, but it was probably perfect in a certain way. If they were next to each other, neither one of them could deny the possibility of a development where they suddenly try to destroy each other.

「But still. What’re we gonna talk about, Jii-san.」

「That’s true. The reason why you gathered us……I heard that it was a talk about what would happen from now on, but we have yet to be informed about the exact details.」

Raidolg nodded at Agnam and Altalgus’ words.

「Umu. It is literally a talk about things from now on. I am sure that everyone knows, that everything has reached the limit. The method that does not involve the people as much as possible, it is already headed towards a breakdown. If you look at Philia, that fact is clear.」

「That’s……!」

「Keep silent, Philia.」

Philia sank into silence from Raidolg’s sharp look, and together with a light sigh, Raidolg continued.

「Philia’s plan has already been used by that Demon God, and it is most likely guiding things in the direction that it desires.」

「The direction that it desires, huh. To begin with, we don’t know what the Demon God’s aim is, right?」

Wyrm, who reacted to the words 「Demon God」, threw that at Raidolg with a serious face.

Come to think of it, even at the time of the trial, Wyrm had strongly reacted to the words 「Demon God」……is what Vermudol recalled.

「Indeed. However, I can only find it awfully eerie that Demon God has only shown its shadow. In that case, would that not be proof that things are advancing according to its scheme?」

「I see. You certainly can put it that way.」

When Vermudol deeply leaned his body into the back of his chair, he folded his arms and slowly looked around at everyone.

「……But, you can also say that isn’t the case, can’t you.」

「I can’t understand what you mean by that. I ask that you say it a bit more concretely.」

After Vermudol nodded at Garosso’s dissatisfied sounding words, he turned his gaze towards Raidolg.

「Just now, Raidolg said that the Demon God not showing its figure was proof that things were going just as the Demon God desired but……I don’t think that it’s someone what would be satisfied with something like that.」

That’s right, the Demon God……or at the very least the Demon God that Vermudol had met, didn’t have the slightest look of craving something.

It did not desire anything from Vermudol, who it should have sent out, and what it desired of Ichika, who it had given assistance to in a way that looked like it was just a whim, was just for her to support Vermudol.

And after that, it didn’t meddle with anything, and although it wouldn’t lend a hand, it also didn’t get in the way.

If he were to speak honestly, he was clueless as to what it wanted.

Even though it possesses a means of coming to this world even without Vermudol expressly summoning it, there were no signs of it doing that.

If the Demon God had apprehensions over disturbing the balance of the world with its advent, then it would have been good enough for the Demon God to make it so that Vermudol would accomplish its objective. However, it didn’t do that either.

Speaking even further, the Demon God should possess the power to 「do anything as it liked at any time」.

It created Vermudol who was the Demon King, and would bring about grave effects on the world just by appearing. If that sort of existence thought about doing something to the world, everything would be completed with just its own power.

Despite that, why has it not done that until things reached this stage?

「It is clear that it is not an existence that is bothered by the balance of the world. In that case, why doesn’t it come out to this world? If it has a desire, then why doesn’t it just grant it itself?」

「That is……」