Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? 327

Is a spider’s pen mightier than a sword?

327 – I wish I had the Persuasion skill!

Oi, oi, oooi! Hey, Miss D, isn’t your timing just really awful? I’ve not yet been able to explain our situation to the reincarnators properly, then you toss a bomb into this situation that is stuffed with suspicion. Well naturally, anyone would be doubtful. If our positions had been revered I’d be thinking “woah this person is bad news!”

「What is the meaning of this?」

Sensei asks me that with trembling lips. She had been incapacitated until just earlier, so her lips were pallid. Since she is now aware of the hidden true side of the elves, sensei is on unsteady ground and currently doesn’t know what to believe. It wouldn’t be surprising if she now doubted all the information that she has heard. My original plan had been to slowly win over sensei’s confidence and have her transfer the Ruler Authority of Charity over to me. So doesn’t this mean that a mission which already had a high degree of communication difficulty has gotten even harder!?

That’s right. Sensei, you had the one of the Ruler skills didn’t you – Charity. On top of that you had taken control of the Ruler Authority as well. In a way, I’m at even more of a loss as to what to do about you than the pope. I’m being blunt here! I’ve got no plan at all when it comes to sensei! Well, I mean, you know? I’m at a total loss as to what to do about you!

The pope is easy to understand, right? That person will never waver of course. While being strong-minded is worthy of respect, in a situation where you don’t agree with each other, no matter how great a person they are all you gotta do is confront them head-on.

But sensei is different. Unlike the pope, she’s not taking action based on a full understanding of the situation and instead she has lived thus far based on Potimas’s ulterior motives and having crossed paths with the reincarnators. Of course, the reincarnators being taken into protection was according to sensei’s own will, but it goes without saying that there were other intentions at work. Various things were twisted by Potimas. While sensei does have Ruler Authority, she doesn’t have accurate knowledge about the world and simply took action for the sake of the reincarnators. Because of that, when it comes time to explain what is going to happen to the world from now on, frankly I cannot predict how she will react. That’s exactly why I had intended to slowly take time to explain things to her and have her hand over the Ruler Authority. That’s all my plan boils down to! In other words, I have no plan for what to do in the current situation! Time for Plan B! Ahhh!? There’s no such thing!

What’ll I do? Seriously, what’ll I do?

「Sensei, stay calm. Wakaba-san, you too. There’s no rush but I would like an explanation of the situation though.」

Kushitani-san works to calm down sensei, and while at it also allows me to compose myself. You’re a capable woman, Kushitani-san!

That’s right. Let’s calm down for while. Firstly, for me to verbally explain everything is… impossible! There’s no way that someone tongue-tied like me can explain everything from start to finish. Particularly with these momentous yet super complicated circumstances.

Thus, the option of verbally explaining it is rejected! I can’t do what I can’t do. It’s human to know when to give up. Okay I’m not human, but don’t mind such trivial details. Rather than getting hung up on what I can’t do, it’s more efficient to switch course to a different plan.

Gnn. Without explaining things verbally, is there a way I can communicate the situation without being misunderstood? Ah, there is.

I give an additional project to my clones working in another dimension. They promptly carry it out, delivering the finished product here via space transition. I’m now holding a single book in my hands.

This book was created by turning my threads into paper. This bookmaking began as a way to convey orders to the pope or Argnar, but this technique has been refined so that it’s capable of creating a book in an instant. As things are now, I’m confident that this could fill a library within a day you know. Don’t go creating useless techniques? Well, it turned out to be useful in practice though!

Sensei and Kushitani-san are surprised to see the book suddenly appear in my hands. Felmina-chan, who has been erasing her presence, is used to this sort of thing and isn’t surprised. I hold out the book to sensei, who nervously accepted it.

「Should I read this?」

I nod. Since I created that book in a hurry, things like the information contained within Taboo or what I am going to do from now on are written out without concealing anything. That’s because I think that if I made a poor attempt at glossing over things, then it would likely just cause trouble in the future. Will sensei now cooperate with me, or perhaps reject me? I won’t be able to find that out without lifting the lid on this information. However, whatever happens, that is sensei’s choice. I will respect her decision. In addition… if she decides to stand in my way, then I better resolve myself for the worst.

Sensei’s gaze switches back and forth between the book and myself. However, once she realises that I’m not about to show any other reaction, she made up her mind to open the book and began to read. It will take some time for sensei to finish reading, but I’ll wait here until then.

Snap – suddenly that dull sound resounded from inside of me.

I lose all the strength in my body, but the hand grasping my neck doesn’t allow me to fall down. The hand that had suddenly appeared behind me had seized my neck and smashed the bones. As if it was somebody else’s problem, I realised the situation.

「I’ve no doubt that wasn’t enough to kill you.」

I hear a voice from behind me. It’s a voice that I’ve heard before. Or rather, there’s only one person on this planet that I’m aware of who is capable of doing this.

I’m violently pulled backwards by my seized neck. Since my neck, or to be precise the part of my body that transmits instructions from my brain to my body has been destroyed, I’m currently unable to resist that. I might be a god but if my flesh is destroyed then that’s enough to be real damage. Since I’m a newbie god, that’s all the more prominent. My focus might have been on sensei, but to think I actually received a surprise attack. Perhaps I’ve gotten rusty without realising it.

I’m dragged backwards, then tossed to the side. However, the place where I fall is not the tree house in the elf village that I was just in, but onto a road in a modern looking town that I’ve never seen before. Space transition. Or rather, I guess this is not somewhere in the real world, but a zone created in another dimension. While quickly performing recovery on my injured neck, on looking up I saw the expected man with jet-black armour that fits him like clothes. Administrator, Kuro, Gyuriedistodiez.

「Do you remember what I told you before?」

Kuro asks me that while looking down on me. Even if you say that, I don’t know what time you’re referring to you know.

「If you attempt to do something irreconcilable with my beliefs, then I will surely stand in your way.」

There’s no way that my thoughts reached him, but Kuro repeated what he had said back then without pause. That was what Kuro had said to me when he came visiting right after I had left the Elro Great Labyrinth.

「It seems that time has come.」

Saying so, Kuro takes a stance.

No, no, no! Excuse me but isn’t this development a bit too fast!? This development wasn’t within my expectations! This and everything is D’s fault! Damn you D!

Translation notes:

Gyurie is referring back to chapter 153 with his line, though I’ve changed the wording.