"And so, the ogre vanished into demon territory. And they all lived happily ever after."
"Nothing happy about it. We didn't actually kill the ogre, you know."
I said that to the youth sitting across from me.
I studied his reaction.
The boy was cheerfully stuffing his face with snacks.
His appearance matched his age, but what lay inside certainly didn't.
After all, this boy was a Reincarnator.
"So, from your perspective, was that ogre a Reincarnator?"
"Dunno. He attacked me before I could even talk to him."
The boy's current name was
Sajin possessed a unique Skill called "Ninja," granting him abilities specialized in espionage and assassination.
That was precisely why I had sent Sajin to make contact with the ogre, which I suspected might be a fellow Reincarnator.
The result: negotiations failed.
More accurately, it never even got to negotiations.
"I nearly got killed. Was that guy really a Reincarnator?"
"That's exactly what I had you confirm by making contact."
A unique ogre specimen that had appeared near the border between the Empire and demon territory.
Combat ability that far surpassed a normal ogre, the cunning to set traps and annihilate adventurers, and above all, an unknown Skill that allowed it to forge demonic swords — even from these fragmentary pieces of information alone, it was safe to say the ogre had a high probability of being a Reincarnator.
Reincarnators were born with something akin to a unique Skill that no one else possessed — like the Ninja Skill Sajin wielded.
That Skill, combined with the mysterious n%I=W Skill whose effects were still unconfirmed.
These two things were proof of being a Reincarnator.
The reason I had noticed this fact was largely because of Sajin.
Sajin had been born as the son of a subordinate in the shadow division directly under my command within the Divine Language Church.
In other countries, it was customary not to perform Appraisals on nobles until they reached a certain age, but children born into the shadow division were Appraised early and had their abilities measured at regular intervals.
We had performed the Appraisal to assess the condition of a newborn, and that was when Sajin's abnormality was exposed.
Being born with an extraordinarily large number of Skill Points — something that should be impossible under normal circumstances.
Furthermore, he possessed two Skills from birth.
And both were Skills no one had ever seen before.
I immediately exercised my sovereign authority to examine the details of those Skills and to verify whether any other beings with similar Skills existed.
The results revealed that within our country alone, two infants besides Sajin possessed the n%I=W Skill.
The fact that one of them had been abandoned at the church might have been some twist of fate.
I stationed my direct subordinates at the church, ordering them to provide surveillance and protection.
Simultaneously, I quietly assigned surveillance and protection to the other child as well.
Looking back, perhaps I had already sensed some kind of premonition even then.
That premonition turned to conviction when
Children with this Skill were beings that would profoundly influence the world.
For the elves to take action — that was how significant it was.
They didn't move for trivial matters.
When the elves moved, the world itself was about to shift.
The children who carried n%I=W were worth that much.
And it was confirmed when Sajin, despite speaking only in fragments, became capable of conversation.
What Sajin spoke of — the concept of Reincarnators.
It was a shock.
Humans from another world being reborn in this world.
Could such a thing truly exist?
If it could, then it pointed to the existence of a supreme administrator.
A being even above Lord Black Dragon — the System's creator.
An entity dwelling in lofty heights, known only by the symbol D.
Were Reincarnators sent into this world by that being's will?
That was the only conclusion I could reach.
Otherwise, it was impossible for beings to be born into the world with Skills and Skill Points already in their possession under the System.
If that had occurred unintentionally, it would mean a critical flaw had emerged in the System.
Given what I had witnessed in Lord Black Dragon's demeanor during our last meeting, that was inconceivable.
If such a grave problem had arisen, that being would never have left it unaddressed.
"Old man, you're spacing out again."
"Oh, pardon me. I get lost in thought and tend to neglect everything around me."
I needed to pull myself together.
Ah, right — we were discussing the ogre.
"Whether or not it's a Reincarnator, given the ogre's current state, we have no choice but to deal with it. The Empire's judgment to push it onto the Demon race if it proves beyond human hands is not incorrect."
"Is it, though? That ogre's dangerous. Could they even kill something like that?"
"According to reports, even a surprise assault by two of the Empire's top fighters couldn't bring it down. However, the fact that it fled suggests it was cornered to some degree. It's not a creature that's impossible to kill."
At least, at its current stage.
The growth speed of Reincarnators could only be described as abnormal.
Watching Sajin made that abundantly clear.
He had been born with high Skill Points and a unique Skill, and on top of that, his mental maturity progressed rapidly — the result being that he absorbed knowledge far faster than an ordinary child.
Despite still being an infant, he already possessed abilities comparable to a specially trained adult.
If he continued growing at this rate, he would acquire power beyond what any ordinary human could match.
The same could be said for the ogre, if it was indeed a Reincarnator.
Moreover, its rate of growth was on another level compared to Sajin.
At present, it already possessed enough strength to escape from the Empire's finest fighters.
The Empire's elite could individually slay a threat-level Monster equivalent to Class B.
The fact that they had failed meant the ogre's threat level was, at minimum, Class A.
Considering future growth, the longer we waited, the more dangerous it might become.
"If the Demon race kills it, there's nothing more to say. Ideally, they'd take some damage in the process before the ogre is eliminated."
"Think it'll go that smoothly?"
"If it doesn't, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The ogre matter is shelved for now. Let's focus on our own business."
"Right. Our enemy took the bait."
"That's excellent."
"All we can do now is pray that Ogihara does his part."
I was protecting two Reincarnators.
Sajin, and an orphan named Yurin.
And I was keeping a third under surveillance — Ogihara Kenichi, currently going by the name
I had secretly made contact with Ugio and taught him the arts of espionage.
Then, under the guise of the family emigrating abroad, I had him expelled from the country.
To create an opening.
With his surveillance removed, the elves abducted Ugio.
It was a gamble I expected to fail half the time, but it seemed the elves were far more obsessed with Reincarnators than I had imagined.
They had to have known the danger — that our side might have orchestrated the exposure — and yet they abducted him anyway.
Which worked perfectly in our favor.
"I hope things go well."
Even if the purpose was to probe the elves' inner workings, I was asking Ugio to cross a perilous bridge.
If something went wrong, the aftermath would leave a bitter taste.
"Oggi'll pull it off without a hitch."
Sajin's casual tone made me exhale in exasperation, but I simply prayed that the other Reincarnator would successfully infiltrate the heart of the elves.