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Sephfox

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A.I.R.RConsciousnessDataset

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No place in the world boasted as many weaponsmiths and merchants, and yet it sounded like the farthest point in the universe from any kind of conflict. A bit ironic, maybe.

I supposed that even in this world, you could afford to be neutral only if you had the muscle to back it up.

Compassion is its own best reward, and all that. I'll get karma back for it someday.

Really, though, what was that? I was completely undamaged. Was that skill name just for show?

I looked down at them, wondering how they were ever going to clean up their undergarments after this—trying to keep my new reality at bay for just a few more moments.

Curse that damned minister! He rubbed his forehead as he imagined himself taking a hammer to the man and sighed. A lot of sighing lately.

They seemed to prefer letting other people use them instead. That was how they wound up entrusting their shop to someone who stole it from them, falling into the trap of an apprentice jealous of their natural talent, getting bullied by the government after they botched a ministerial request…

Mildo, the taciturn third brother, had denied a request from Vester to build a house for him. The minister had taken it personally, badgering him about it to the point that Mildo had had to go into exile with Kaijin. Sounded like a stupid grudge to have.

Promises are made to be kept.

Honestly, it was getting a little frightening. No way they could've known, but...what if they had? Or was that just my paranoid, lower-middle-class upbringing coming out?

Why did I have to be so mean to people all the time? Not even my death and rebirth had cured me of that habit.

You create a lot of problems for yourself otherwise. All the bravado in the world wasn't going to solve them, was it?

As far as the minister was concerned, Kaijin could make a comeback in the military and threaten his position at any time. That kind of thing. Didn't he deserve the death penalty, really? Maybe not, but...

I concluded that it must've been a coincidence.

I was a tad nervous about that as I opened the door to his punishment room.

Being king around here seemed like a terribly lonely job to have.

Fear, pure fear, dominated Vester's head.

When did I go wrong? When I grew jealous of Kaijin, or before...?

He didn't know. All he knew was that he had betrayed the king's trust.

Food one can look forward to is one of the first steps toward an advanced culture.

I wondered how much he had to sacrifice to maintain that ideal in reality. In a way, it was frightening. It took a lot of spirit, I'm sure, to be a leader like that.

I wanted to be the sort of person who could manage that.

But it was true—having someone take an interest in me and listen to my story made me happy. It left incontrovertible evidence that I had been alive all this time. I could throw out my chest and proclaim to the world that I had lived, even if it was just in someone's memory.

The droplets slipping down from behind the mask must have been my imagination. I made myself believe it was true as I watched her leave. Because I know I'll see you again... The thought made me want to grow stronger than ever before.

If I abandoned them, I would be no different from my demon lord. So I worked as hard as I could to be an ally to the weak.

Rose-colored glasses would just get in the way when you were leading a pack of monsters. You had to keep a cool head around them.

It was amazing how I could think about killing people as if I were wondering where to go for lunch, though. It came as a surprise, but—hell—it beat hemming and hawing over every life decision I made. Kept it simple.

Helping out someone in need is a nice thing, you know?

Pardon us, I guess. I just didn’t expect we’d be saved by a monster tribe.

They were, after all, growing by leaps and bounds. I wasn’t expecting every diplomatic effort to go perfectly with these hobgobs. Settling down back in my tent, I began patiently waiting.

Was building this town near the cave mouth a mistake?

These guys were a lot more good-natured than I gave them credit for at first.

No country had any legal right to this land, so it wasn’t as if anyone could force us out.

Well, what if I told you that there used to be loads of it…and I swallowed it all up?

What they didn’t know couldn’t hurt them.

I was a bit concerned about the wood and other supplies we had piled up, but there wasn’t much I could do for it now.

Whether that theory was right or not didn’t matter right now. The problem was the force behind those attacks.

It was just that— It had been several years since I'd retired from the adventurer life. I was a full-fledged teacher, leading the next generation of our trade as I helped out the society with its work.

I figured that I should believe in her. That her iron will could clear the darkness in her soul and transform her into a great woman.

All I could do was pray for Hinata's continued safety.

For someone charged with training new recruits, nothing could have made me happier.

The world I was born in had almost been razed to the ground by war. Had it recovered to the point where it could create people like him—people who never seemed to have a care in the world?

I felt the satisfaction of a job well done.

Hopefully he was willing to forgive this one final act of selfishness.

I had never heard of anything like it on this planet. It was a bizarre settlement. But it was bursting with energy. The residents, despite being monsters, truly seemed to enjoy working on it.

Still, there was something inviting about the space this slime created. The strange creature somehow made me recall memories of my own hometown. My heart felt full.

Ifrit had been waiting for this moment. I could feel his will taking over mine. It's happening… I'm going to ruin all of this, too… If only, one last time, I could just—

Thus, the girl was reunited with her mother. It marked the end of what had been a long, long journey.

And if I didn't need to reproduce—I was still fuzzy on that, but if I didn't, then why bother with genitals at all?

Was I letting myself get in such a panic? I'd just have to accept the truth about what happened down there.

But to Gobta, it was just another day.

Having a full stomach did wonders for Gobta's spirits.

In the end, he decided to pick up a tree branch he found at the side of the river, let it fall to the ground, and travel the way it pointed.

Nothing could have made him happier.

When it came to romance, goblins never took things slow.

Concepts like beauty and ugliness would normally be dependent on the race or species one belonged to. There were no absolutes.

It was with that new goal in life that Gobta spent his single night in the Dwarven Kingdom.

Gobta was too busy trying to widen the gap to care.

Maybe I shouldn't have tried to act all cool back there— There was no point regretting it now.

He felt as if he heard a voice that rang like bells. That he heard that voice, that he *could* hear that voice, felt like salvation to him more than anything else, so—

I guess if I keep this up, it's no different from locking myself up in my room back home.

With a knife involved, fighting was out of the question. No matter how you might train yourself, if you were stabbed, it was all over. All things in life are transient.

Oh, so there are rats in this world, too, Subaru thought. I hope they aren't big, like monster rats or anything.

It wasn't fear that overwhelmed him; it was more the feeling of emptiness that this would all end without him accomplishing anything.

In the midst of this overwhelming despair, feeling as if he had been abandoned by everyone and everything...

That's an otherworldly fantasy for you. Everyone has quite the severe view on the concept of empathy.

Am I just going to be abandoned here in this alley? was the negative take. Well, I suppose I was going to die, and now I'm not, so I should be super grateful, was a more positive thought.

You can't do anything about what you don't know.

If you live like that, you're just going to keep losing until there's nothing left.

She's cute when she's stubborn, but it's foolish to let your stubbornness get the best of you and make you lose sight of your goals.

I mean, it didn't look like they were dangerous or anything.

It was only safe because I had them under control. If you had done that to an inexperienced spirit mage, it would have been awful. In the worst case, the spirits could have gone berserk and… BAM.

Well, to put it one way, I may look pretty cute… but it would only take two seconds for me to turn you into a pile of dust.

I would never use Puck for something like that. If I were going to be violent with you, I'd handle you myself… Ugh, it really looks like they aren't going to answer me anymore.

So you don't know where you are, you don't have any money, you can't read, and you have no one you can count on. I'm starting to think you're worse off than I am…

Taking another look at you, you actually look like you're in pretty good shape. Um… Uh… Subaru.

I don't really get what you mean by 'cooped up in your room,' but you're from a high-ranking family, aren't you?

If I'm wrong, just tell me I'm wrong. If you don't, it's just going to be more embarrassing for me.

You don't have to think that hard about it, you know? If it's something you can't talk about, I won't question you any further.

Let's just calm down a minute.

You know, that kindness of yours is a great virtue, and given the fact that I myself was saved by that kindness I really don't want to say this, but do you have any idea what situation you're in right now?

But don't you see, Subaru? Look at her, she's crying.

If you don't want to stick around with me, that's just fine. Thanks for everything you've done, Subaru. I'll figure this out on my own…after I help that little girl.

Even if we got my badge back, I'm sure I would have regretted not helping that girl. Don't you think it is better to both help the girl and get my badge back?

Now we can be in a good mood as we continue to search.

If we run around without some sort of plan, we won't get any results.

"So in other words you don't want to be in front. That would really, really make it easier on me, though." Satella sighed yet again in the face of Subaru's energetic readiness to flee.

"All right! Let's do this! It's about time I do something to show you what I'm made of!"

"What are you so excited about all of a sudden? I can see up your nostrils."

However, this little episode had a different ending than the last few.

"I'm sorry for pushing you so hard, Puck. I'll do my best from here on out, so you just get some rest."

At her core, Satella was too direct and honest herself. If something was twisted or bent, she couldn't help but try to set it right.

This was a girl who could not bring herself to lie for any reason.

After all...it was just night a minute ago, wasn't it?

It was enough to make him feel like he was going crazy.

The feeling of guilt was even stronger than the feeling of pain he had felt when he himself was attacked.

Subaru thought back to Puck's words right before he disappeared. The promise Subaru made with that cat certainly wasn't a joke.

At the very least, he didn't want them to be.

In this world, evil never triumphs!

Last time we came here I was talking with Satella, and my eyes were on her most of the time, so I guess it's no surprise I don't remember the way very well, damn it,