Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?

Final Battle ⑩

Author’s comments: Sensei’s (Oka-chan’s) perspective

I gaze at the results of Student List, my unique skill. Written briefly within Student List are the causes of death of the one time students, in the past, in the present, and also in the future. With regards to the past, their place of birth is written and this description never changes. However, with regards to the present and the future, changes do occur. The important aspect here is their causes of death in the future.

In order to avoid the causes of death written here, I have taken various actions thus far. Because it used to be the case that most of the one time students were due to die when young. In addition, their cause of death had been written down as: death by skill deprivation.

With the proclamation of the World Quest, and having gained Taboo, we were able to understand the meaning of that. Deprivation of skills, meant that the System would be gone. In addition, when that happens people wouldn’t be able to endure the skills attached to their soul being forcibly ripped off, causing them to die. The students whose cause of death had been written as death by skill deprivation, were the children with many skills. Most likely, the more skills one has, the greater the risk becomes. In short, in order for the children with many skills to survive, the collapse of the System must be prevented. So I had thought, at least.

「So they came after all, huh.」

When I saw the scenes displayed on the monitors, my shoulders slumped. I had hoped this wouldn’t be the case, but, this is the reality we’re facing, as proven by these scenes.

「Sensei. This isn’t the time to be depressed, okay?」

「I know that.」

At Kudou-chan’s words I forcibly regain my mood from its depressed state.

「I sure hadn’t expected that we’d be having a battle in a spaceship.」

「Gets you excited doesn’t it.」

「”Enemy ship detected!”, like.」

「The enemies aren’t ships and this isn’t in space either though.」

The students who had been under protection in the elf village are chatting excitedly. However, I know that they’re making banter in order to relieve their nervousness. As their living conditions in the elf village meant that they were kept away from threats such as monsters, this will be their first battle with life and death at stake after all.

「Everyone - you are okay with using the controls, right?」

「Of course.」

「Okay.」

The children sitting in various seats respond to Kudou-chan’s confirmation check. Various monitors are set up before them, and they have become able to handle the various roles allocated between them. Handling the guns installed on this UFO, and handling the unmanned fighters.

Where we are right now, is inside the UFO that was hidden in the elf village. Together with Demon King Ariel-san, we came next to the Elro Great Labyrinth, but naturally this UFO wasn’t able to go inside. As such, monitoring it was left to us, and we are flying high in the sky near the Elro Great Labyrinth. Then… the enemy came.

The enemies are displayed on the monitors. Many figures are heading towards us, flying through the sky. Those figures were fantasy creatures, something we could never have seen in the flesh in our previous lives. Dragons.

『Death by dragon attack』

After the proclamation of the World Quest, there was a change in the cause of death of the reincarnators here. The children with few skills who had been under protection in the elf village used to have a future cause of death that was blank. The thing that had changed was that their cause of death became this. Conversely, the reincarnator children with many skills who went to fight had their cause of death become blank. I don’t know what this blank entry signifies. I would like to think though, that it means that nothing will be written after the System goes away. If that’s the case, then that means that the children with blank entries will survive. I hope that’s the case. However, I can’t afford to worry about that. As first of all, we have to overcome the cause of death that’s before our very eyes.

I think back to the conversation I had with Demon King Ariel-san before this started.

「……Killed by dragons?」

「Indeed.」

There is a restriction on the Student List that I can’t reveal its existence to the other reincarnators. The information gained from it can’t be directly communicated to the reincarnators either. However, that limit goes away when discussing it with a third party. Therefore, I conveyed to a third party that the students would be killed by dragons, specifically Demon King Ariel-san.

「Dustin is after the reincarnators? What for?」

Demon King Ariel-san listened to my explanation, and then thought for a while.

「……I have no idea what his ultimate aim is. I can come up with several hypothesis though.」

Then, Demon King Ariel-san seemed to decide to not consider it any further.

「I understand your situation. In short, can I take it that you intend to side with us?」

「Yes, you can. There is no other choice.」

「So, in return you want us to repel the dragons and protect you, right?」

「Yes.」

「I see, I see.」

Demon King Ariel-san nodded as if convinced.

「Well, from the very beginning we were always going to take the reincarnators under our protection you see. There’s no problems in that regard.」

「! Thank you very much!」

「However!」

Demon King Ariel-san interrupts me in a strong tone, to restrain my delight.

「Even though we had intended to protect you from the start, that cause of death still appeared. In short, it’s highly likely that we cannot protect your group perfectly.」

「……Yes.」

That seems likely.

「In addition, we can barely afford to split up our forces any further to be honest.」

「No way!?」

「So here’s the situation - you have to fight even if you’re by yourselves. After all, this is ultimately all about yourselves.」

And so, we decided to fight.

And back to the present. We will use this UFO which is the secret weapon of the elves, and counter-attack the dragons. Apparently this UFO was made as an immigration ship to carry Potimas to space, in order to migrate to another planet. Then, the ever cautious Potimas equipped this UFO with what could be called an excess of defence mechanisms. Using those, we shall repel the dragons ourselves. Fortunately, this UFO has enough energy stored that such a thing should be possible. Since that energy has already been stored, it should be fine to use it how we like. It is something that has already been extracted from the planet, so it seems that it’s now too late to be able to return it.

Demon King Ariel-san has sent us a child called Ael-chan as combat support and observer. She looks like a young girl, but she apparently has power equal to that of a high ranking dragon. With Ael-chan at the forefront, there are four other children of the same Puppet Taratekt species. With Ael-chan included, that’s five of them. The original plan was for it to just be Ael-chan, but after hearing my story Demon King Ariel-san gave us some additional personnel. Those on Demon King Ariel-san’s side surely cannot spare anything, so I can’t thank them enough.

「Alright! Everyone, let’s do this!」

Everyone responded “yes!” in unison. With Potimas’s support, I locked up everyone in the elf village. They surely haven’t forgiven me yet. However, I shall worry about that later. Right now, I will do everything that I can do. I sortie the unmanned fighters that I’m in charge of. Then, I have them launch towards the flock of dragons. Because I am a teacher, I won’t allow anything to happen to the students!