My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! - Volume 3 - Chapter 20

Chapter 20 — Interlude: Why Don’t We Increase the Difficulty, Then? 

There was a small mansion set aside in the capital that served as one of the many bases Sion used while operating on the surface. The fact that a Sage used it was kept a secret. There were plenty who would seek a fight against the Sages, after all. Not many would actually pose a threat, but fighting them all the time was still an unnecessary bother. 

Deep within that mansion, Sion was relaxing in an extravagantly-decorated room, lying lazily on the sofa. Her attendant, Youichi, was standing in front of her, giving his report. 

“The candidates have made their way to the sixth level of the Underworld. At this rate, reaching the seventh level is only a matter of time.” 

“I see. Perhaps it was too easy for them.” 

Sion hadn’t sent them to repel the invading empire or conquer the Underworld for the good of humanity. The tasks were just things that she’d believed would be nearly impossible for them to manage. Accomplishing their objective in and of itself meant nothing. Even if one of them had the makings of a Sage, their actual abilities were still lacking. They needed more suffering, more desperation. More of an awakening. 

“Why don’t we increase the difficulty, then?” she suggested. “Let’s cause them some grief.” 

“I don’t think defeating a Dark God is all that easy...” Youichi remarked with a frown. He must have thought she was considering something devious. “Anyway, some of the candidates have already been killed. That itself is nothing strange, of course, but the manner of the deaths are.” 

“Go on.” 

“They’re now dying in town. And it appears that someone is hunting them. From what I’ve heard, it is one of their classmates, Ayaka Shinozaki. Apparently, she was one of the students left behind on the bus.” 

The ones who had been abandoned as dragon bait were those who had failed to properly receive the Gift. In order to push the others towards the idea of leaving their unfortunate classmates behind, Sion had personally emphasized that fact. 

“So, of the four students left on the bus, three survived? That makes me curious about the last one.” 

“Yeah, I went to take a look. A male student’s body was still there. Just in case, I retrieved the remains and removed the vehicle.” 

“Hmm. From now on, I suppose I should be more careful with those who fail to receive the Gift.” Normally, an installation failure was simply a matter of poor compatibility. A few such candidates popped up each time. Until now, there hadn’t been a real issue with ignoring those cases, but given the problems these apparent failures were causing this time around, she would have to be more careful in the future. 

“Should we dispose of her?” Youichi asked. 

“If she wants revenge against her class, I don’t see an issue. That should serve well enough to increase the difficulty for them.” 

“All right. What have you decided to do about the boy?” 

“Truthfully, I’m still not sure...” 

Sion had more or less determined where Yogiri Takatou was, and she had a general idea of his abilities from talking to Hanakawa. She had come up with numerous ways of dealing with him, so killing him should have been no problem, but she couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of unease. If he wasn’t causing any trouble, she figured poking the hornet’s nest was a bad idea. 

“Him killing Sages doesn’t count as causing a disturbance? I don’t think we can just let him be.” 

“But if they were weak enough to be killed, they deserved it, don’t you think? If they weren’t strong enough to handle him, it was their own fault. And as far as people killing Sages, I feel like the Hedgehog is a bigger concern.” 

This had all started because of that damn “Hedgehog,” a lustrous black figure covered in blades from head to toe. It was the reason the number of Sages had been decreasing, which had led Sion to summon the new candidates in the first place. Almost everything about the creature was still a mystery, so they had plenty of work to do on that front. 

As she was thinking things over, a knock sounded. Youichi was immediately suspicious...understandable, since the knock had come from Sion’s empty bedroom. 

“Ah, this is the work of a Transporter, isn’t it?” Sion mused, motioning for her attendant to open the door. 

A young man in a school uniform stepped through. 

“You are Haruto Ootori, one of the Sage candidates, right?” Youichi asked, more for Sion’s sake. She never bothered to learn their names until it became absolutely necessary. 

“I understand how you got here, but how did you know to come here?” 

The boy’s skill allowed the user to connect the doors of any two buildings, but you had to have knowledge of both locations to use it. The existence of Sion’s hideout was supposed to be a secret. 

“Well, we’ve run into a bit of an issue, so I tried using my Problem Resolution skill,” Haruto answered casually. 

“Interesting. So, a Consultant is capable of such things once his skill reaches Rank Four. It almost feels like cheating.” 

While she didn’t remember their names, Sion could easily tell their classes just by looking at them. As the name suggested, the Problem Resolution skill taught the user how to solve any issue they were facing. The General class had a similar skill, but it was limited to combat applications. The Problem Resolution skill provided answers for a much broader range of situations. 

Although Sion had been the one to install the Gift in them, she had no way of knowing what sort of classes they would ultimately receive. The potential of the Consultant class was also an unknown. But that was exactly what she expected of a candidate; someone who could only operate within the scope of common knowledge would never qualify to become a Sage. 

“Well then, how can I help you?” 

“If I may be frank, we don’t have enough time. I’ve come to ask if we can have an extension on our deadline.” 

Sion had given them a time limit of one month to complete their objectives — the amount of time allotted for at least one of them to become proper Sages. 

“Ah, well. The time limit was simply to encourage you to work hard, so if you’re still aiming to become Sages, I don’t particularly mind.” The main thing she had wanted to avoid was them becoming complacent and idling their days away. She never had any intention of cutting them off if they were making an earnest effort. 

“Then...” 

“But just extending the time limit is a little boring, don’t you think? It would be a bit of a pain if you thought things were that easy. Ah, I have an idea. Can you get rid of Yogiri Takatou for me?” 

“Takatou?” Haruto echoed, clearly surprised. Though calm and collected as ever, he was clearly suspicious. 

“Are you saying you won’t betray your classmate?” 

“No, we’ve already cut him off once. He doesn’t seem particularly useful, so I have no problem with doing so again, but...” 

“You’re wondering if doing something that simple is sufficient to earn an extension.” 

“Exactly.” 

“It won’t be that easy, you see...” 

Sion proceeded to tell him everything she had learned about Yogiri Takatou so far. 

“So, normal methods of trying to kill him will result in us dying, then.” 

“Do you think you can do it?” 

Whether they actually succeeded or not, she wanted to see him try. She was looking forward to finding out what his Problem Resolution skill would come up with. Using it, they might finally be able to figure out how to deal with Yogiri. 

“Understood. We’ll give it a shot,” Haruto agreed. 

He seemed to show no signs of being afraid. Apparently, he felt the task would be possible.