"Guahh!"
My exquisite roundhouse kick lands flush on the vampire girl, and she clutches her side before collapsing on the spot.
A roundhouse kick so precisely calibrated that it inflicts just the right amount of damage without sending her flying from the sheer inertia. A craftsman's kick, if I do say so myself.
I'm quite impressed with my own performance, honestly.
"That's… that's unreasonable!"
The vampire girl, now sprawled face-down on the ground, is saying something, but I can't quite hear her?
I bind her with thread and drag her along, scraping.
Normally she'd end up covered in scrapes and abrasions from this, but hey—with your defensive stats, it shouldn't be a problem. By all means, go ahead and kiss the ground as much as you like.
"Shiro! Wait a minute!"
As I drag the vampire girl along, Oni grabs my shoulder and stops me.
"I know
Huh?
Oni starts spouting nonsense, so I stare directly at his face.
My ten eyes, normally kept shut, lock onto Oni's gaze.
He flinches slightly under the intimidation of my demonic eyes but endures it and opens his mouth again.
"Your explanations are insufficient. We've been acting based on the sparse things you tell us, but there's a limit to that. We're lacking in communication—reports, coordination, consultation. Sophia's slip of the tongue was caused by your failure to explain properly."
Spinach?
That sounds delicious.
I mean— So what exactly are you saying?
Oni wants me to explain more?
Me? You want me to explain?!
Yeah, no. Not happening.
"Shiro?"
"Hey, hold on!?"
I ignore Oni and start walking again. He looks bewildered, and the dragged vampire girl raises her voice in protest.
"Shiro, were you even listening?"
"Yeah, exactly! This treatment is totally unjust!"
I ignore both of them as they squawk and shout.
The vampire girl is flopping around, trying to escape her bindings, but I ignore that too.
Did you really think you could escape my threads with that?
Did you not know?
No one can escape from a god.
I continue dragging the vampire girl toward my destination.
As usual, the vampire girl is making a racket, but Oni had apparently given up midway and was now following along quietly.
He's silent, but the fact that he's still following along tells me he hasn't accepted any of this.
"This is…"
But that silence was broken the moment our destination came into view.
On the opposite end of the spectrum from Oni opening his mouth, the vampire girl shut hers the instant she saw it.
Well, it's overwhelming, I get it.
When you've got a colossal UFO right in front of you, that's a natural reaction.
My destination—this UFO.
The spacecraft that
Ignoring the two of them as they stood there stupefied, I step right inside the UFO.
The dragged vampire girl comes along, of course.
Oni hurries to catch up so he doesn't get left behind.
Still bound, the vampire girl and Oni both gaze around the interior of the UFO with wide-eyed curiosity.
It's absurdly large, so traversing the inside is a bit of a trek, but I don't think you'd ever get bored just looking at everything.
After all, this UFO was designed with long-distance space travel in mind. It has all the facilities needed to make that journey a reality.
Seeing all of that, just touring it would be entertaining enough.
Well, I'm sure from an outside perspective, the sight of the vampire girl shuffling along bound in her shrimp-like pose while taking in the tour is incredibly surreal.
I understand that it's the only way to see certain things from that position, but I really think a lady shouldn't be doing that.
Huh?
Who tied her up, you ask?
That's a separate matter from this matter.
The sightseeing tour ends once we reach my destination.
At the deepest part of the UFO—my destination—there were the Demon King, seated at a monitor, and Mera, the Demon King's bodyguard.
Mera, who'd been pulling an all-nighter, looked like she might collapse standing up.
"Oh? Welcome."
The Demon King noticed us and greeted me.
She had woken up while we were in that meeting with the reincarnators and made her way over to this UFO.
Well, that's exactly why I came here too.
"Did Sophia do something again?"
"Again? What do you mean 'again,'
Huh? What is this girl even saying?
It's scary when someone lacks self-awareness.
See, even the Demon King is grimacing.
"And Shiro, you shouldn't pick on Sophia too much, okay?"
It's not bullying!
This is called educational guidance!
"So, what did she do?"
"Well, you see—"
For some reason, the Demon King directed her question not at me but at Oni, and Oni answered without any hesitation whatsoever.
Yep.
That's the correct response.
It's correct, but being told I'm unreliable like that still stings. I can do it too, you know!
I just choose not to!
I really can!
"So that's how it is, huh."
After hearing the full story from Oni, the Demon King made an "aw, geez" face and looked at the vampire girl.
"Well, Sophia bears some blame for letting it slip, but Shiro, who failed to explain properly, bears greater responsibility."
Objection!
There's no way I'm at fault!
I didn't do anything wrong!
"Really though—can you truly not return to Earth?"
The Demon King's expression turned serious as she asked me.
"No," I answered bluntly.
"Mmm. If Shiro says it's impossible, then I suppose it is. But why is it impossible? You never actually told anyone the reason. That's why Sophia let it slip. You understand the importance of information, right? And only you, Shiro, who knows everything, can determine which information holds value. You need to consider Sophia's position—she can't even tell the difference between true and false information because she was never given any."
As the Demon King gently admonished me, I was doing everything in my power to keep my mouth from puckering into a flat line.
Are you my mother or something?
Oh wait, you're my grandmother. Sorry about that.
"Shiro, you always try to handle everything alone, so you're terrible when it comes to cooperating with others. You don't need conversation with other people. There's no reason for it. If you put your mind to it, you could do it all by yourself. You're a born loner, through and through."
Harsh words, but I can't exactly deny them.
"Then again, I can't really blame you. Before I met Shiro, I wasn't exactly great with people either. Maybe it's just the fate of those who possess extraordinary abilities."
The Demon King, after all, had been the strongest being on this planet with no equal—when looking at Status alone. Her spider subordinates were, at their core, extensions of herself, born from the Demon King's egg-laying Skill.
"Still, Sophia and Lars are your comrades. Just because you're not good at communication doesn't mean you should avoid them. Don't you think it's better to face them properly?"
Huh?
Comrades?
Hmm?
Comrades.
Hmmm.
Oh, right.
The vampire girl and Oni—they were my comrades.
Noticing that, huh? Demon King, are you a genius or something?
Wait— I'm confused, and I don't really know why!