The Answer Is Up to You (8)

But Menou’s desperate charge was in vain. Though Menou’s strength and magic were already spent, Estellera didn’t even need to touch her. Estellera simply pointed a palm at her and unleashed a shockwave of magic, sending Menou bouncing through the air before slamming into the ground.

“The Demon King old man... Is he inside that black-armored giant?”

As he helped Menou up from where she’d been slammed into the ground, Kagami gazed at the black-armored giant and murmured this without changing expression.

‘It isn’t a black-armored giant. It’s an ancient extermination weapon created to destroy humanity, controllable only through the Demon King-sama’s immense magical power: 【Messiah】. Its strength rivals that of a Hero above Level 400... Do you understand? No matter that you’re Level 999, you’re no match for it.’

“Destroy humanity, huh... Then why are we being allowed to escape?”

‘...What are you getting at?’

“Nothing. Anyway, the Demon King is being forced to ride that thing, the Messiah, against his will, right?”

‘That’s right. And this is the power of the Demon King-sama when he gets serious. You humans can’t hope to stand against him—not unless you’re a Hero above Level 500.’

Estellera looked at Rex with an ugly, mocking smile. At that very moment, Kagami smiled as if relieved for some reason and murmured, “I see.”

“Then I’ll save the Demon King along with Salmaria.”

As soon as Kagami said this, Estellera’s expression turned puzzled, and Estellera hurriedly shifted their gaze from Rex back to Kagami.

‘Save him... What are you talking about? You’re human, and the Demon King-sama is someone you’re supposed to defeat, aren’t you? Besides... haven’t you figured it out yet? You can’t defeat the Demon King-sama.’

“I don’t care if he’s the Demon King or not. He doesn’t want to fight humans, but he’s being forced to, right? And the Demon King is my best friend Alice-chan’s dad. So of course I’m going to save him.”

Perhaps the words had been unexpected. Estellera’s mouth hung open in surprise, and Estellera fell silent for a while.

‘You’re friends with a demon? I wondered if there was something going on since you were traveling with Alice-sama, but... you don’t see demons as enemies? ...I see. No wonder you haven’t come to kill the Demon King-sama even after reaching that level. Not that you ever could have, but... Give up. No matter how things turn out, you can’t do it.’

“I’m not giving up.”

The moment Kagami answered, his fighting spirit flared in his eyes once more. There was no fear in his gaze—only firm resolve, as though he were certain he could find a way. Kagami stared straight at Estellera.

Immediately afterward, Kagami once again whipped up the wind around him and raced toward the black-armored giant, Messiah, at gale-like speed. Stunned by this seemingly reckless act, Estellera said nothing, only watching Kagami run off with a puzzled expression. Before even a few minutes had passed, Kagami was slammed into the rock wall again.

“P-Potion, please...”

He seemed to have learned how to brace himself, and the damage looked lighter than before. Still, seeing Kagami battered and asking his allies for help, Estellera’s puzzled expression deepened, and Estellera furrowed their brow.

“All right, I’m going again. The potions are still working just fine.”

Once fully recovered, Kagami raced off toward Messiah again at gale-like speed as if nothing had happened, undaunted. But before even a minute and a dozen-odd seconds had passed, Kagami was slammed into the rock wall once more.

“All right... It hurts so much I’m tearing up. This is insane. But I got one punch in—I definitely saw a dent in its armor. What do you think? I can hurt it!”

As he spoke, Kagami downed the potions Kururu, Tina, and Alice handed him, their faces worried and silent. Then he stirred up the wind around him and charged again, only to be slammed into the rock wall once more in less than a minute.

“...What is it?”

At that moment, Rex noticed a strange, indescribable feeling. It was the same peculiar sensation he’d been feeling somewhere in the back of his mind ever since meeting Kagami.

“The potions aren’t working as well... I’m not fully healed yet, but I can still go.”

Kagami immediately charged toward Messiah again. But just then, Rex realized what had been bothering him.

“Did he... dodge?”

Everyone who had been watching Kagami wore expressions of shock.

Messiah threw a punch so fast it was hard to imagine coming from such a massive body. Until now, Kagami hadn’t been able to react and had been sent flying every time. But this time, he dodged it at the very last moment, then struck Messiah in the head. Rex clearly saw Messiah flinch.

“He’s getting... faster?”

Estellera noticed the change, so slight that it had been impossible to detect, and murmured this. Rex had been thinking the same thing.

Another question occurred to Rex: Was Kagami really weaker than a Hero below Level 300? Rex could wonder about this because he was a Hero himself, though of course he had no idea how strong a Level 300 Hero actually was.

But when Rex imagined reaching that level someday, he wasn’t sure he could move as well, judging by how much he’d grown with each level so far. For some reason, Rex felt Kagami might be his equal... or even stronger.

“Kagami-san!”

Just then, though Messiah seemed to falter for an instant, its massive hand caught Kagami and hurled him with far greater force than before. Kagami crashed into the rock wall, sending shattered pieces flying as dust billowed around them. Alice cried out in alarm and ran toward him.

‘You... What did you do?’

Seeing that Kagami was still alive after taking such a tremendous blow, Estellera let the words slip out.

“Nothing... I’m just... working hard.”

Kagami took the potion Alice handed him. Though it had clearly grown less effective and his recovery had slowed, he was still badly battered as he slowly got to his feet and answered Estellera.

“That’s enough... That’s enough, Kagami-san! You don’t have to... You don’t have to try so hard anymore!”

“You idiot... Alice’s dad... I have to... save him, don’t I?”

With his eyes half-open, Kagami gently patted Alice’s head as she worried over him. Though he staggered, he took a step forward, about to ask Kururu and Tina for potions so he could go after Messiah again.

“Kagami-san... Please, stop. It’s useless now... You’ll only die.”

“The potions aren’t working anymore, either!”

But the two of them realized that giving Kagami any more potions would only encourage him to keep doing something reckless, so they didn’t hand him any.

“Seriously...? Then I’ll take a little break and go again.”

Those words left the two of them at a loss. No matter what they said, this man wouldn’t change his mind. How could they save him?

“Why are you so determined to keep fighting?”

Meanwhile, Parna couldn’t help wanting to ask why Kagami was so fixated on this—why he was so determined to keep fighting.

“You can use healing magic... Wait, you still had magic left?”

“I retreated right away, so I’ve got a little left. It’s not advanced healing magic like Tina’s or Kururu’s, so it won’t do much. More importantly... Tell me why you’re fighting so hard. Tell me what you know, what you’re thinking, and why you keep taking on such a reckless challenge. And tell me why you don’t see demons as enemies. Do it now, or... I’ll stop healing you.”

Parna held up a faintly glowing palm toward Kagami and glared at him as if to say she wouldn’t let him get away. The others had apparently been wondering about it, too, because they all turned their attention to Kagami. Seeing this, Kagami seemed to give in and...

“It started when a monster killed my dad. I was so frustrated. Why was I a Villager? Why was I so weak? But then I found a way to get stronger, and I started seeing all kinds of things.”

He let out a sigh as he said this. Then Kagami continued.

“What is a role? Who decides it? Why do monsters drop money? Why does the money we get from defeating monsters become currency, and why can we buy things with it? The thing I understood least of all was the Status Window that’s just always there. What is it? Nobody notices it, but why does it show up? Is it there to tell us what suits our station? Levels don’t make any sense, either. You defeat a monster higher-level than you, gain experience, level up, and get stronger? And the way you grow stronger is different depending on your role? Why? Skills are the same... Why do you suddenly get one at 100?”

Only Estellera’s expression changed at those words. The others weren’t quite sure what Kagami was talking about. Those things were so ordinary, so commonplace and accepted as fact, that they couldn’t understand why his questions were strange.

“I realized it when my mother was killed by humans. Humans and demons aren’t really any different. We’re just fighting because that’s how the world works. It was simple once I thought about it. In this world, the most efficient way to live is to defeat monsters and grow stronger, then use the money you get from them to support yourself and buy equipment.”

At those words, Rex and the others began to sense that strange feeling, if only faintly. They could feel, quite clearly, as though they were being led toward something.

“We don’t question it because it’s normal. We don’t even notice that we keep fighting as if we’re being guided. We don’t realize that the roles we’ve been given are restricting how we live...”

At that, each of them thought back on their own lives.

Tina had been born a Priest, so she’d been sent to a monastery and trained there. The same was true of Parna. Because she was a Mage, she’d read countless books, learned spells, and worked to strengthen her magic. Kururu, despite being a princess, had been born a Sage, so everyone expected her to defeat the Demon King, and she’d spent her life training. Rex was the same. Because he was a Hero, he’d been bound by the conviction that he had to do it himself, leaving no room for him to choose another path.

“Rex, watching you bound by that sense of duty—‘I’m a Hero, so I have to do this!’—I felt sorry for you deep down.”

Comparing Kagami’s words to his own past, Rex couldn’t bring himself to answer such a harsh remark. In truth, he’d thought his own life of nothing but fighting was a pitiful one.

“What value is there in a life bound by your role?”

Takako was the only one who truly understood those words. She knew the value of a life lived along a different path, after leaving behind the road of endless fighting and finding other things she could do.

“We should be allowed to become what we want to be. But the world’s system tries to stop us. When I reached Level 999, still dissatisfied that I couldn’t escape the Villager’s mold, I was devastated. The Status Window had stopped showing the experience needed to reach the next level.”

‘Then... why do you keep fighting so hard?’

At some point, even Estellera had begun listening to Kagami. It didn’t matter that they were enemies; Estellera simply wanted to know what this unprecedented person who had reached Level 999 had discovered.

“I was frustrated. I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I thought it was unforgivable. I wanted to get stronger—stronger and stronger. That’s when I realized I’d gained a new Skill when I reached Level 999... It gave me the answer to the question I’d been asking about this world all along.”

At that moment, Kagami brought up his Status Window in front of him. Estellera stared in shock at the Level 999 display and the stats shown there. The individual stat values clearly weren’t those of a Villager.

They weren’t quite on par with a Hero’s, but they were likely about half as strong as a Hero would be at Level 999. Those were not the stats a Villager was supposed to have.

The Status Window display then changed, and one of the ten Skills Kagami possessed expanded on the screen. It read:

Skill: One Who Challenges God

Effect: The holder’s growth will never stop. Experience gained will become power beyond all limits.

“Someone created the system that governs this world. So I’ll find them and beat the crap out of them. We’re not puppets—we’re free!”

They were stunned. There was nothing else they could do but stare in shock. Even Estellera, who’d been wearing a confident expression all along, murmured, “How can this be...?” Estellera trembled with astonishment.

That Skill had given Kagami two revelations: that there was a being called 【God】, and that he had found a fragment of the means to defy it.

“I’ve found a clue, you know? There’s an item that’s been untouched ever since the distant past, when this world became what it is. The same person has kept it all this time, and it’s being sold for 10,000 gold. The item’s name is blank, too. Well, I’ve got no proof—just a hunch—so I figure I’ll buy it someday if I get the chance.”

Thanks to Parna’s healing magic and his own Skills, Kagami had recovered his strength. As he spoke, he looked toward Kururu, Tina, and Alice, who’d just been advising him to give up.

“So even if people tell me to give up because that’s the answer, I absolutely won’t.”

He declared this firmly.

“The answer is up to you.”

Then Kagami turned around and faced Messiah, still approaching from far away at a leisurely pace.

Then he murmured, “I’m out of healing, too... This is my last shot.” Instead of charging in to try to punch it as he had before, he lowered his stance as if concentrating his energy, and a visible white aura began pouring from his entire body.