Prologue
Satou here. I’ve had many troubles in my life, but very rarely did I solve any of them by toughing it out alone. Even if you’re the one who ultimately has to make the decision, I think it’s important to consult with other people first to get viewpoints besides your own.
“LEVEL THREE HUNDRED AND ELEVENNNN?!”
Upon hearing my explanation, the lilac-haired Arisa screeched so loudly that it hurt my ears.
I had worried my friends during the battle against the Dogheaded Demon Lord, so I decided to tell the two biggest worrywarts, Arisa and Liza, about my real level.
Since I’d already told Arisa about some things, like my Meteor Shower spell and the fact that I’d defeated Doghead, I hadn’t expected her to be nearly that surprised.
“Calm down.”
“How am I supposed to calm down?! You’re level three hundred and eleven!”
I’d been level 310 for a long time, but when I defeated Doghead, I finally got enough experience to level up again.
Unlike Arisa’s wild reaction, Liza of the orangescale tribe calmly accepted it, although she did seem surprised.
“Impressive as always, master.”
It was a little unusual to see her looking this pleased.
She seemed to be in a very good mood, judging by the way her tail was flicking the ground.
Even the scales around her neck and hands seemed to glitter, as if reflecting her emotions. Perhaps she was unconsciously using a skill like “Magic Power Armor.”
“Aaaargh! Seriously, Liza?! Now’s not the time for that ‘impressive, master’ line! Come on—act more surprised!” Arisa bellowed, rounding on the lizard girl. “Even the ancestral king Yamato and the first emperor of the Saga Empire were only around level eighty-eight or eighty-nine, you know? Same for all the strongest Heroes in history! But master is more than three times that?!”
“We’ll have to work much harder if we want to be of use to master, then.”
Liza nodded meekly.
The difference in their reactions was probably because only one of them had information that showed just how out of the ordinary my level really was.
Liza in particular usually hunted enemies far above her level thanks to her boosted armor, so she probably didn’t have a good sense of how the amount of experience needed to level up drastically increased as one’s level went higher.
To her, even level 311 probably seemed like something she could eventually achieve with enough hard work.
“Calm down, Arisa.”
Once she calmed down a little, I went on to warn the pair to keep my level top secret.
“I know, I know.”
“Understood, sir. I shall protect this secret even at the cost of my life.”
The two of them agreed at once.
Since it didn’t seem to be a problem, I figured I’d call the others over and tell them about it as well, but Liza and Arisa stopped me.
The others knew that I was a Hero and could use chant-less magic and so on, and they had never once let that information slip to anyone else. So I thought it would be fine, but…
“Tama and Pochi are still children.”
“If some crafty adults asked them leading questions, they might answer without thinking.”
…their reasons were certainly valid.
“And it would be mean to inform everyone but those two, so I think it’s better if you don’t tell the others, either. We’ll just say that Liza and I dragged the information out of you, okay?”
Liza nodded in agreement with Arisa.
That was fine, I suppose; if I was off fighting a tough enemy, as long as Liza and Arisa confidently insisted that I’d be fine, the other kids probably wouldn’t worry too much, either.
“Although even if the information did get out, I’m sure people would think we were full of crap anyway.”
I smiled wanly at Arisa’s joke, then used the Space Magic spell Return to bring us back from the labyrinth vacation house to the labyrinth hot springs, where the rest of our group and the elf teachers were staying.
“I still couldn’t bring it up…”
I had yet to talk to Arisa about the matter of the God Fragments.
My reasoning was that there was no point worrying her with a situation I had no solution for yet.
In the back of my mind, part of my conversation with Doghead echoed.
A seedling child who carries God Fragments within her…
The resulting discussion about reincarnations like Arisa certainly didn’t explain everything, and a lot of my conclusions were based on guesswork, but I’d definitely gained a few key pieces of knowledge.
To summarize, Arisa and other reincarnations had something called “God Fragments” within them, which had the potential to turn them into demon lords.
But according to what the Undead King Zen had told me in the Cradle, abuse of Unique Skills was the trigger for such destruction, so it didn’t seem like Arisa was in any immediate danger of turning into a demon lord just yet.
“Have we heard of God Fragments, you ask?”
“Nope.”
“A purple light that appears when a demon lord is defeated… Sorry, no, I’ve never seen such a thing.”
I tried asking the elf teachers if they knew anything about God Fragments and reincarnations, but I wasn’t able to get any new information.
“Daisaku the Hero rarely spoke of defeating demon lords, and we elves are always told to go back to our own forests unless there’s a Season of the Demon Lord or something along those lines.”
That was Hishirotoya, one of the more articulate elves.
“I see… Well, sorry to trouble you.”
“Not at all. When I get back to Bolenan Forest, I’ll see if anyone there knows.”
They gave that reassuring promise as I left their room.
Once alone, I used the Space Magic spell Telephone to contact the high elf of Bolenan Forest, my beloved Miss Aialize.
She’d been alive long before the demon lords appeared in this world, so I thought she might know something.
“…Satou!”
As soon as the call connected, she said my name in a high-pitched voice.
“Hello, Miss Aaze. Do you have time to talk at the moment?”
“Yes! Of course! Now is perfect!”
Her soft, soothing voice was a balm on my anxious heart.
I asked Miss Aaze the same questions I’d posed to the elves before, but she could only give the same answer they did.
“I’m sorry, Satou.”
“Please don’t apologize, Miss Aaze. You were kind enough to go out of your way to the World Tree’s memory storehouse for me…”
Miss Aaze had left her home to go to the World Tree to connect with her stored memories in the hopes that her demi-god self might know something.
“I’ll come visit again soon.”
“You’re always welcome. I want to congratulate Mia and the other girls, too, so I’d be thrilled if you could give me a few days’ notice before your visit.”
Though I was reluctant to part from her, I said my good-byes to Miss Aaze and ended the call.
I tried asking the high elves of the other clans, too, but unfortunately, none of them knew anything about God Fragments, Unique Skills, or the potential of those to trigger a transformation into a demon lord.
The elves often holed up in their respective World Trees, and thus they didn’t seem to know much about reincarnations in general.
I even tried calling the mysterious stalker girl who had shown up when I was fighting the Dogheaded Demon Lord, but she didn’t answer once.
It’d be nice if there was some ancient, long-lived reincarnation who had all the answers, but this wasn’t a story, so I doubted it would be that easy.
There was nothing in the documents I had on hand, either; I concluded that the only way forward was to keep seeking as many ancient documents as I could find.
“There you are, master!”
As I was fretting alone in my study, Arisa appeared.
Her energetic voice cheered me up a little.
“The elves are doing Water Magic art in the hot springs! Let’s go watch!”
“That sounds fun.”
Shaking off my gloom, I headed to the hot springs with Arisa.
Since we’d defeated the floormaster so quickly, we were planning to stay and celebrate in the labyrinth for five days or so. I decided I could spend some time resting up in the hot springs while giving serious thought to how best to go about gathering more documents.
There was no point rushing—as they say, good things come to those who wait.
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