"Hey Shiro, you got a minute?"
The moment I got home from the Shingon-kyou compound, Oni-kun stopped me with that request.
Honestly, I still had the Tenth Army work the Demon King had dumped on me, so it wasn't like I had time to spare. But Oni-kun's expression was dead serious, so I figured I'd better prioritize this.
I also wanted to ask him about that sudden declaration of joining the war — what he really meant by it. Plus, the timing might work out.
So I sent Fermina ahead and told her to handle the work I'd been saddled with.
Hang in there, Fermina.
The vampire girl watched Fermina trudge off with that resentful look on her face, wearing a smug grin for some reason.
And then, naturally, she just followed along after us like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
What is this kid even after?
"So? Where are we going?"
And you too — why are you here, Demon King, acting like this is completely normal?
At this point it felt stupid to even point it out, but I was only talking with Oni-kun, so it's not like anything interesting was going to happen, right?
…Right?
As it turned out, we ended up in the Demon King's room.
Oni-kun had looked a bit uncertain at first, but when he saw that I'd already reached a state of complete resignation, he seemed to pick up on something.
With a single sigh, he began.
"First, this. The information on reincarnators that the Shingon-kyou has gathered. Kusama showed it to me."
He handed me a simple memo.
True to Oni-kun's word, it concisely outlined the current status of every reincarnator the Shingon-kyou had tracked down.
Not bad.
Honestly, I might have underestimated the Shingon-kyou's intelligence-gathering capabilities.
The memo listed all of our classmates by name, with nearly accurate information.
Five people at the Human race academy, including the teacher.
Twelve in the Elf village.
Two operating as free adventurers.
And then Kusama.
The vampire girl and Oni-kun were listed too.
The only unknowns were the three who had died.
If you're dead, there's nothing to investigate, so you could say they'd looked into everything that could be looked into.
I already had a hagi that Ogiwara in the Elf village was a Shingon-kyou spy, but it seemed like they'd been getting quite a bit of information from that source.
Wait, isn't this the kind of information that shouldn't be casually leaked?
Kusama, was it really okay to hand this over to Oni-kun?
Well, not my concern.
Understanding how they knew about the Elf village's inner workings made sense. But they'd also pinpointed the two adventurers moving around freely.
The Shingon-kyou information network was not to be underestimated.
For Oni-kun, it appeared Kusama had identified him by face, and for the vampire girl, they'd apparently deduced it through process of elimination.
The "probably" was likely because of that exception — Oshima, whose gender had swapped.
It was also possible that the vampire girl herself was a reincarnator whose gender had changed.
Although, in her case, she was probably just what she appeared to be.
"Shiro, how does this line up with what you've already figured out?"
Hmm.
Oni-kun was giving me a probing look. Come to think of it, I hadn't really shared much about the other reincarnators with him. I'd mentioned that Yamada and Oshima were attending the Human race academy, and that was about it.
I had no reason to keep this secret, so it was fine.
I added a few notes to the memo and handed it back to Oni-kun.
I wrote down what I knew about the reincarnators. Though since the Shingon-kyou had already uncovered almost everything, the only real addition was confirmation that the three unknowns were dead.
Oni-kun received the memo, followed the new lines with his eyes, then closed them for a moment.
Maybe he was saying a prayer for the three who had passed.
"Is this everything you know?"
I nodded.
I did have a split-body keeping tabs on the reincarnators, so I knew all sorts of trivial details about their daily lives — but if I started relaying all of that, there'd be no end to it.
For all practical purposes, the important information was already in the memo.
Like, for instance, that Oshima had transitioned.
"The part about Oshima Kanata becoming a woman — is that true?"
Ah, he was going to ask about that.
Of course he would.
Oni-kun and Oshima had been close friends, after all.
He'd be curious.
"She's become a beautiful girl."
My attempt at reassurance fell flat. Oni-kun's expression grew complicated.
Even the vampire girl, who had shown zero interest in reincarnators up to this point and hadn't participated in the conversation, was pressing her lips into a tight line.
As a girl yourself, you shouldn't be making that kind of face!
Still, I couldn't exactly blame her.
On the other hand, the Demon King's eyes were sparkling with interest.
"I see. I see…"
Oni-kun murmured, still wearing that conflicted expression.
Yeah. I decided it was best not to mention things like how Oshima had been slowly becoming more aware of Yamada lately.
Having your longtime male friend secretly become a woman was already shocking enough. If he learned that same friend was also starting to develop romantic feelings, it would blow past Oni-kun's emotional capacity entirely.
I could vividly imagine D somewhere, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.
The vampire girl deftly slipped the memo from Oni-kun's slackening grip and glanced at it with an air of disinterest.
Like, she wasn't particularly curious, but since the subject happened to be reincarnators, she'd take a quick look.
And the proof was that she barely spent any time on it before handing it back.
For the vampire girl, reincarnators were nothing more than strangers she'd had a minor connection to in the past.
The memo returned from the vampire girl was promptly snatched from Oni-kun's hands.
By the Demon King.
I didn't see why the Demon King, who was an inhabitant of this world even if a bit of my soul happened to be mixed in, would take any interest in reincarnators.
"Shiro-chan, are any of them the type who could become a threat to the Demon race?"
Ah, so that was where his interest lay.
Ideally, I'd want all my fellow reincarnators from Earth to live peaceful lives. But if any of them turned hostile, the Demon King wouldn't show mercy.
"Yamada Shunsuke, Oshima Kanata, Natsume Kengo, Hasegawa Yuka, Tagawa
I rattled off the names of those who, by my assessment, possessed above-average strength in this world.
The ones at the Human race academy were all strong.
The two adventurers, having real combat experience, might actually be stronger than the academy group.
Plus, as a bonus, Kusama.
When Yamada's and Oshima's names came up, Oni-kun flinched.
Well, having their names come up here meant they could potentially become targets of the Demon race going forward, so that reaction was understandable.
But there was no need for that worry.
"Don't lay a hand on them."
I made that declaration to the Demon King.
If anyone touched the reincarnators — the teacher in particular — the Demon King would not get off easy. Not even the Demon King.
"That's up to them, isn't it?"
The Demon King showed no sign of backing down either.
Fair enough. From the Demon King's position, if reincarnators became hostile, he'd have no choice but to respond.
But I had no intention of changing my stance.
I narrowed my eyes slightly and focused the pressure behind my gaze.
The Demon King's smile vanished, replaced by a stern face as he read the shift in my demeanor.
A tense atmosphere filled the room.
The vampire girl and Oni-kun swallowed hard in unison.
"Fine. I won't personally interfere with any reincarnators. But as a military organization, we can't just ignore them if they become hostile. Is that acceptable?"
It was the Demon King who relented.
I closed the eyes I'd opened slightly to signal acknowledgment.
The tense air began to ease, and the vampire girl and Oni-kun let out the breaths they'd been holding.
If the Demon King moved personally, reincarnators were as good as done. Even the vampire girl and Oni-kun, working together, couldn't defeat the Demon King. And even if the vampire girl used her Skill of Envy and Oni-kun unleashed his Skill of
The other reincarnators, who fell far short of even the vampire girl and Oni-kun, wouldn't stand a chance even in a group.
"If it comes to that, I'll handle it."
I prayed it wouldn't come to pass, but if a reincarnator turned against the Demon King's army, I was the safest option to respond. Otherwise, someone might accidentally get killed.
Oni-kun let out a breath of relief, as if he'd sensed my intentions.