[…..Hey Ed, can you really hear me?]
Inside the plain yet quite sturdy cell made of plants, the voice of a man named Hamokin reached my relaxed, lounging ears.
However, Hamokin’s figure was not here. He should be whispering in the bushes over five meters away.
[I can’t believe it. Hey Ed, if you can hear me, wave your right hand.]
“……………”
Without saying a word, I slowly waved my right hand. A guard who came a little later after that stared at me with a suspicious face, but turned away boredly when I gave her a casual smile.
[Eh, can you really hear me? Honestly, it’s a little creepy……]
“……!”
At Hamokin’s rather unwelcome words, I inadvertently grimaced. By the way, the reason why I could hear Hamokin’s whispering voice was because I was using the Banishment skill [Leak the Talk] which enhanced hearing.
To be frank, since it only improved my hearing, I can’t reach Hamokin with my voice, but it’s not a problem if I just get him to unilaterally explain this world to me. Of course, new questions will arise, but I can just ask them at some point. There’s no need to rush and finish everything tonight.
[Well then, let me talk…… We’ve always lived in this forest. Up until a little while ago, we were also living in this village. Hunting beasts, gathering fruits, we were living peacefully. But ten years ago, a black star fell in the east of the forest. A black miasma came out of the star, and touching it made people and beasts go crazy. A black demon wrapped in a black miasma. Very strong and dangerous. So, we fought the black demon. Not like now, men and women, we fought together. We were comrades. But……]
“……?”
Hamokin’s voice, which gradually became weaker, stopped there for a moment. I can’t read his expression from here, but he’s probably feeling disheartened.
[Five years ago. A shining star fell on the village. It fell on Donatela’s house. From that day on, Donatella changed.]
“Dona……?!”
“Huh? What is it?”
“No, nothing!? I was just a little drowsy. Don’t worry.”
“……Hmph! Frightened by sleepiness, men are indeed weak!”
While covering up the fact that I inadvertently raised my voice, I desperately suppressed my surprise inside. I remembered the name Donatella…… Well, listening to Hamokin’s story was a priority. When I fluttered my hand, he resumed after a while.
[Donatella was a quiet woman originally. But after the shining star fell, she suddenly started hating men. At first, everyone in the village tried to calm Donatella down. But her absurd story somehow spread among the women in the village, and we were driven out of the village. Donatella now is strange. We want to beat her and return to the village. But we don’t want to kill her. Donatella and the women are not our enemies. We are comrades. So we help the men who were caught by her. We need to fight, and get her to listen to us. We also have to fight the demons that come from the black star. That’s our situation. Ed, did you get it?”
“……………”
After hearing Hamokin’s story, I waved my right hand to show my understanding and then clenched my fist tightly. Then, the presence of Hamokin faded away. As long as I don’t intend to escape from here, it’s the end for tonight.
Now that there’s no one to talk to, I organize the information in my mind. Fortunately, there’s nothing else I can do right now, so I have plenty of time.
(I see, black stars and shining stars, huh…… And Donatella…)
I fully remembered when I heard her name. This is the 36th world. Indeed, it was such a world here…… However, the atmosphere is way too different.
First of all, I didn’t appear in the middle of such a suspicious ceremony. I simply appeared alone in the forest, and the village was just as Hamokin said, a very ordinary one where men and women intermingled.
And most importantly, Donatella’s atmosphere was significantly different. Donatella, whom I knew as per Hamokin’s words, was a woman with a strong will yet mild and timid. She definitely wasn’t a person who would say ‘Unbabo’ while vigorously shaking her hips.
Even if they say the faces were the same, the character and even the physique and the atmosphere were completely different, so I’d rather believe that they were twin sisters who only have the same face.
(Is this also a distortion of the world…… But it seems like it can be managed.)
Compared to the world of Harris that had been extinguished, I think the current situation of this world was still salvageable. The black star… the timing of the Demon King’s appearance and his abilities, and even the timing of my arrival in this world were the same as before. The only difference was Donatella’s personality.
Of course, there were issues, like how the Hero’s personality has completely changed, and for some reason, men were being excluded, but compared to a situation where all of humanity had been wiped out, it’s much easier to handle.
(In that case, it would be easiest for me to rely on Tia to guide Donatella and have her defeat the Demon King, but… hmm)
The changed Donatella seems to be quite brave and warlike, and for some reason, she seems to welcome Tia as the Hero. If so, it seems not too difficult to defeat the Demon King by pushing Tia forward as a collaborator, and then me quietly lending a hand.
But, the easiest solution somehow seems wrong. The cause, of course, is the catalyst for Donatella’s change.
(What, is this your doing again? You really never do anything good.)
I raised my right hand and looked at the tip of my fingers. In my consciousness, it feels as if that something white from Harris’ world was compressed into the tip of my middle finger, and indeed, it’s numb. I was completely accustomed to it and it doesn’t even hurt anymore, but it’s still unpleasant.
(It seems to be inside the Hero this time, so it won’t increase, right? Or if I collect this, will Donatella’s personality return to normal? Wow, it seems very likely.)
I don’t know how to extract it from the Hero, unlike with the Demon King, but it’s clearly a cause, so I might need to think of a method.
Of course, it means that another non-removable foreign object would increase in me. The thought of something that causes power to run wild or flips personality increasing in me is quite horrifying, and I’d like to throw it away somewhere right now if possible, but I don’t know what to do if it even comes along when moving from the ‘white world’ to another world.
(It might be more dangerous than I thought. I really need to think about dealing with it… sigh, more and more things to think about.)
Initially, I just had to accompany the Hero party and be banished. Now, I have to defeat the Demon King, and now I’m even asked to eliminate the mysterious external factor.
Of course, that’s just me increasing the things I have to do, so the option of doing nothing and silently getting banished is not gone. But having come this far and knowing various things, I can’t satisfy myself by not knowing everything and just passing by.
(If I just wanted to travel around the world, I could just lie here for half a year and be banished casually. But the time when I was satisfied with that has passed. It’s a burden I took on willingly. I’ll see it through to the end.)
The white moon shining in the sky. If I hold my right hand up to it, I feel like the tip of my finger is tingling. The God who resides beyond was watching us today as well… what a taste.
(Watch me. I won’t let it become like the 22nd world. I’ll round up everything… and make you regret meddling unnecessarily.)
It was a quiet declaration of war. A testament to clearly hostile feelings towards an entity that didn’t matter before. Hearing the festive voices from afar, I smirked defiantly and solidified my determination.