by Okina Baba
“+++++++++?”
The man says something else.
Could you please speak Japanese?
Otherwise I’m not gonna understand.
No hablo…whatever language this world uses.
The man frowns.
Hmm.
Well, he doesn’t seem hostile at the moment.
But what do I do?
I don’t understand him, and even if I did, I can’t talk.
I could probably communicate in writing, but all I know is Japanese.
Either way, we wouldn’t be able to understand each other.
This is a problem.
The man seems a bit flummoxed as well.
As we stand in awkward silence, something suddenly drops onto the ground between us.
It’s a smartphone.
Huh?
Wait a sec.
It’s weird enough that a smartphone exists here at all, but how did it appear in front of me like that?
This thing just popped up out of nowhere without my Detection picking up anything!
“Hello? This is Administrator D speaking.”
A voice suddenly comes out of the smartphone.
Two voices, in fact.
One speaks in Japanese, and one is a language I’ve never heard before.
No, wait, is it the language the guy was speaking earlier?
“******?!”
Ah, the man sounds really surprised.
Which means the other language is the one he was speaking before: the language of this world.
“Yes. This is D. Ms. Spider, please wait a moment.”
Oh, okay.
I was asked to wait, so that’s what I’ll do.
The voice on the smartphone speaks with the man in this parallel world’s language.
It’s a woman’s voice.
A very beautiful voice, but deeply unsettling for some reason.
It’s that sort of thing.
She speaks in a flat, emotionless tone that’s kind of frightening, too.
What’s going on here?
Just hearing her voice is enough to make me tremble.
With each new statement, the man’s expression changes.
The changes are pretty minor, but I can see his eyebrows furrowing or his eyes widening.
Eventually, the conversation seems to reach a stopping point. The man heaves a long sigh and turns around.
Then he teleports away with Spatial Magic, just like that.
Leaving me alone with the mysterious smartphone.
“Thank you for waiting. I’ve had a word with my friend there, so he shouldn’t be bothering you anymore.”
Oh, I see.
Wait, who are you anyway?
“I am D.”
Oh, okay.
?!
Wait, what?!
Did you just read my mind?!
“Yes. I did.”
That’s an invasion of my privacy!
“Well, since you can’t speak, I had to take temporary measures. I wouldn’t normally go so far as to read your mind.”
Normally? So does that mean you’ve been monitoring me this whole time?
“‘Monitoring’ isn’t the most pleasant way to put it. I think ‘spectating’ would be more fitting.”
Whatever.
Either way, you’re a stalker, right?
“I suppose. I simply never get tired of watching you.”
D… Now I remember.
I heard that name when I got the Wisdom skill.
“Yes. That was a reward for how hard you’ve worked. I’m pleased you seem to be making such effective use of it.”
So what’s your goal here?
“Amusement, that’s all.”
Huh?
“Simple amusement, nothing more. I have no deeper motives or purpose than that.”
Seriously?
“Yes. After all, I am this world’s most evil god.”
Everything about this sounds absurd, but for some reason, it doesn’t seem like you’re lying.
It’s like I really am hearing the thoughts of an evil god who thinks of me as a plaything or something but bears me no ill will.
Given how much my body is shaking of its own accord, I guess I might actually believe that the person speaking really is an evil god.
“Of course I am. As an evil god, nothing pleases me more than watching people struggle and suffer.”
Then was this whole world made for your entertainment?
“I’m afraid not. From this world’s point of view, I am an outsider.”
What’s that supposed to mean?
“I’m afraid I cannot tell you any more. If you knew everything, it would be quite boring.”
So you’re just going to keep toying with me.
“Indeed. So please continue to entertain me by struggling with everything you have. Perhaps then you’ll find the answers you’re looking for?”
Why, you…!
“Well, until next time.”
The smartphone disappears.
Without the slightest hint of a distortion in space.
That was my first encounter with Administrator D and the Administrator called Black.
A MAN’S FINAL STUBBORNNESS
How did this happen?
I watch the other me with only vague consciousness.
The other me is flinging magic at Shun without a moment’s hesitation alongside the soldiers around me.
My magic won’t work on Shun, though.
There’s always been a difference between our capabilities.
It was a small difference at first, when we were little, but as we grew up, the difference grew as well.
There were times when I was jealous of his talent.
But when I saw how earnestly Shun worked to constantly improve himself, that jealousy turned into pure respect.
Ah, come to think of it, he was like that in our old lives, too. When he has a goal, he pushes toward it without hesitation.
In his past life, that enthusiasm was focused on games, but in this world, it was always his brother Julius, the hero.
The combination of his innate talent and his drive to reach an even higher goal is what led to the scene before my eyes.
The Flame Magic I’m using is a ranged attack that burns everything in a wide area.
It’s not as powerful as bigger spells, but it can still do a lot of damage if you use it against a group of targets.
But Shun cancels it out with magic of his own, going as far as protecting the soldiers around him from harm.
He’s both as stupidly strong and as stupidly softhearted as ever.
Only an idiot would go out of his way to protect his enemies.
I try to smile wryly, but contrary to my will, my face only contorts into a hateful expression.
“Katia! Come back to your senses!”
“How very rude. My senses are fine, thank you. You are a traitor, and traitors must be punished.”
Words that I would never think come out of my mouth.
But deep down, I know.
It’s the real me who’s saying these words.
There have been plenty of signs, ever since I was a child.
In my old life, I was a man.
In this life, I’m a woman.
I have the soul of a man, but I’m living as a woman.
It doesn’t quite match up.
Like water and oil, there’s always been something that refused to mix properly.
And as I grew, that feeling only deepened.
As I entered puberty and my body began to transform further into a woman’s, it became all the more obvious.
It wasn’t just my body.
My inner self was gradually changing.
I didn’t even notice.
But when Shun was attacked by Hugo, I realized something was different.
At that moment, I was so upset that even I didn’t understand why.
When I realized Shun could’ve been killed, it was like
my vision went blank.
At first, I thought it was just because Shun was a close friend from my old life, maybe the only close friend I had in this new one.
But from then on, whenever I saw him, I felt strangely uncomfortable.
I didn’t know what that feeling was exactly.
All I knew was that I desperately didn’t want to lose Shun.
And that feeling grew stronger every day.
When I’m near Shun, I feel restless and uneasy.
And yet, when he’s not with me, I feel lonely and equally uneasy.
Either way, whether I’m with him or not, I feel strange.
I was bewildered by my own instability.
It was like I was being controlled by emotions I didn’t understand.
But to be honest, I already knew what that feeling was.
I just didn’t want to admit it.
Originally, I was a man.
Now I’m a woman.
I think that was around the time my heart finally broke in two.
Whenever I saw Sue or Yuri hanging off Shun, my heart began to splinter.
Still, part of me refused to admit it.
My heart and mind were at odds with each other.
But the scales had already been tipped in one direction.
The soul is dependent on the body.
My old self couldn’t outmatch my new feelings.
So the part of me watching myself fight Shun now isn’t what remains of Katia.
It’s what remains of Kanata Ooshima.
I think it’s because the traces of my old spirit still remained that I was able to resist Hugo’s brainwashing a little.
After that first incident, Hugo was strictly monitored, though Shun doesn’t know that.
My family took the lead in building a surveillance system to keep watch over him every single day.
And yet, somewhere along the line, we started to see suspicious signs in the reports.
We used only people we could trust for the surveillance.
People who would never betray us.
Nevertheless, information that was unquestionably false began cropping up in the reports.
I had the personnel changed.
In retrospect, that might have been a bad idea.
Shun inherited the Hero title and left the academy.
After that, other changes happened in the blink of an eye.
Yuri was the first to start acting strange.
She was always so obsessed with the Word of God religion, yet she suddenly stopped mentioning it at all.
Next was Sue.
She’s never been the type to show her emotions, so I didn’t notice the change.
Thinking back now, she started saying even less than usual at some point, but by then I was too distracted by the other changes to notice.
Something was starting to go terribly wrong.
I realized that, but I didn’t know what was causing it.
I was called by the duke’s people who were observing Hugo, became caught in their trap, then was ultimately brainwashed by Hugo.
It was only later that I finally understood.
By that time, most of the duke’s people had already been brainwashed by him.
And now, I’ve ended up fighting Shun.
Hugo’s brainwashing is terrifyingly powerful.
In a way, it’s a miracle that even a tiny portion of my normal consciousness remains like this.
I’m sure everyone else who’s been brainwashed now simply admires Hugo from the bottom of their hearts.
And even though I’m still faintly aware of what’s happening, there’s nothing I can do.
But still.
Even if there’s nothing I can do, I can’t just give up!
A man has to protect his pride, you know!
I try to rouse my hazy mind into action.
While my main consciousness is focused on composing a magic spell, I use all my strength to interrupt the construction.
Sabotaged by its own creator, the spell misfires.
I put all my power into it, forcing it to go explosively wrong.
“Katia?!”
Shocked, Shun runs over to me.
He catches me just before I fall to the ground.
But I can tell that the life is already draining out of me.
I attacked myself at point-blank range with the full strength of my own magic.
There’s no coming back from that, huh?
But I’m fine with that.
This is what I was trying to do anyway.
Through my blurring vision, I see Shun’s desperate expression.
Wow, what a face.
Makes me want to laugh.
Unlike before, this time my face does what I tell it to.
At least I’ll get to die laughing.
My consciousness starts to slip away into the depths, but it’s suddenly yanked back up by a warm light.
“Ah… Shun…?”
“Katia, are you back to normal?”
“Huh? My wounds…?”
The injuries from my spell’s misfire are gone.
“I healed them.”
Shun’s response is simple.
So much for that. I thought I was dead.
“You’re…so…ridicu…lous.”
“Stop trying to talk. We’re getting out of here.”
He lifts me up in his arms, carrying me bridal-style.
All at once, my heart starts pounding so fast that it feels like it might explode.
Despite the dire situation, my face flushes.
Ah, it’s no use.
I can’t fight it anymore.
What was left of my male spirit probably died just now.
As of this moment, Kanata Ooshima has truly become Karnatia Seri Anabald.
MIDDLE STRATUM CLEARED
I eat.
And eat.
And eat.
It’s bitter.
So bitter.
Bitter, just a little sweet, and sad.
I’ve been proceeding through the Middle Stratum without any incident worth mentioning since my encounter with the self-proclaimed “evil god” D or whatever.
I still don’t really know what that was all about.
The possibility that it was the real thing and not just “self-proclaimed” scares me.
At any rate, since D could read my mind, I know they must be far, far stronger than I am.
If D really did give me the Wisdom skill, they must be an administrator.
But either way, that doesn’t really change anything.
I don’t even understand what an administrator is.
If I had to guess, I’d say they probably manage the skills that exist in this world.
But that’s only a guess, and even if it’s true, I don’t know what the significance is.
Before I acquired Wisdom, it did cross my mind that all these skills and stats were very gamelike, but I didn’t really question it.
This is a parallel world, so I just assumed that’s how things are here.
But if there are “administrators” who manage the skill system, there must be some purpose behind it.
I wouldn’t think that if skills just existed as a natural phenomenon of this world, but when you throw in beings with intentions of their own, I have to assume there’s some deeper reason.
Otherwise, why would someone make such a big, elaborate system?
Ugh, I dunno.
If D really is an administrator, I guess it’s not impossible they’d make this whole thing just for the sake of entertainment…
That would explain all the gamelike mechanics, too.
But no, there must be a much deeper goal far beyond my understanding!
Otherwise, that would mean this whole world exists as a sideshow for D’s amusement.
I don’t like the sound of that.
Who would just r
oll over and accept it if they found out they’re only a plaything?!
But I do know one thing about D.
The smartphone, the fluent command of Japanese…several signs pointing straight to Japan.
D must be somehow connected to Earth.
In which case, D might also know why I was reincarnated into this world.
If there really is a “next time,” maybe I’ll try asking about it.
Although I have no idea if D will give me a clear answer.
Aside from that, I don’t have enough information to do anything but speculate.
So I have to conclude there’s no point in racking my brains about “D,” “administrators,” and all that jazz any further.
Honestly, it’s not like I can do anything about it anyway.
If beings that can control the skill system want to mess with me, I doubt I could put up much resistance.
Trying to go against an administrator would be like trying to stop a meteor from destroying the earth.
That’s not the kinda thing I can win against.
Not just D, either. The dark guy who showed up in front of me earlier seemed way more powerful than me, too.
Since he used that mysterious language I’d never heard before, I’m guessing he’s a native of this world.
Though since Appraisal didn’t work, I couldn’t confirm if he’s human.
There’s always someone stronger.
And there’s no limit to how far up that goes.
I feel like I’ve been made even more aware of that now.
No matter how much I improve my skills and level up, that’s all just transient power given to me by the “administrators.” If they felt like it, they could take it away anytime.
Never mind a contest of strength. I wouldn’t even be able to qualify for the game.
Well, there’s no point in worrying about all that now.
I might as well forget about evil gods, administrators, and everything else unless they bother me again.
In the meantime, I’ll just keep concentrating on escaping the Middle Stratum.
And I’m not likely to suddenly lose all my skills and levels unless I get more involved with those guys (I hope), plus there’s no harm in raising them anyway, so I might as well keep doing that.
I can’t quite shake a little bit of anxiety, but this is all I can do, so I might as well do it to the best of my ability.
So I keep walking through the Middle Stratum, working on my skills as I go.
I inspect my skills as I proceed.