“You’re Hakui Iroha, right? Could you leave the two of us alone, for now?” The elf girl asked Iroha with a gentle smile.
“Eh…? Uhn…” Iroha tilted her head, “Have we met before?”
Iroha too seems to think that it’s strange that this elf girl knows her name.
“Sorry, I’ll explain it all later, but… At least for now, can you give us some space?” The elf girl insisted.
“I don’t mind it, but if you mess with sis…” Iroha started saying.
The elf girl giggled, “Don’t worry. I care as much about Teacher as you do.”
Ugh… This is so frustrating. She seems to know a lot about us, but I have no idea who she is.
Explain the situation already, alright!?
“For now, can you tell me your name?” I asked the elf girl.
“… Ah, sure. From your point of view, this is still the first time we’re meeting, after all. I understand that, but it still feels weird.” The elf girl’s words just made me more confused, “I’m Koikawachi Momoka. I may look like this, but I’m Japanese too.
“When Phase 1 ended, you got an achievement that gave you the Elf Potion, didn’t you? I drank an Elf Potion myself.”
Oh, there was an achievement like that indeed, but… “How do you know I got the Elf Potion…?” I asked.
For a second, Momoka did not reply, but then she looked me in the eye and said, “Since we’re here, why don’t we fly a little?”
Huh? Fly?
On the next moment, I noticed that my body started floating, “W-w-what is this!?”
“Don’t worry, I just borrowed the power of the Divine Beasts a bit.” Momoka replied.
Though the words ‘don’t worry’ were not very effective when paired up with ‘borrowed the power of the Divine Beasts’… It certainly didn’t get rid of my uneasiness at the very minimum.
But at the same time, when faced with this kind of overwhelming power, trying to resist would surely be futile, so I just went along with it.
We stood over a hundred meters above the rooftop.
“The wind is a bit noisy… Pause.” Momoka then stopped the flow of the air around us, by using magic that seemed to be as easy as breathing, “Now we can talk in peace.”
“Why did you even go this far?” I asked her.
“Well, it’s the kind of thing that would be troublesome if other people heard it… Though Iroha doesn’t seem to have acquired skills that enhance the five senses just yet.” Momoka explained.
“You were wary of Iroha eavesdropping…?” I asked.
“Of course, though she’s not the only danger. You never know for sure if there aren’t other players lurking in the surroundings.” Momoka replied.
I don’t get why she needs to be this cautious though…
“Well, I’d like to go straight to the point, alright?” Momoka took a deep breath, sat cross-legged mid-air, and stated plainly, “I’m a reincarnator.”
“Reincarnator…?” I had a hard time understanding what she meant, “Like, someone who has reincarnated? For real?”
“Yes.” She replied.
Wait, so that means that she… What’s going on here?
“To put it simply, I experience this ‘world-end’ situation once. That should make things a bit clearer to you, right?” Momoka explained.
“I see…” I feigned calmness, but I was about to drop my sword from the shock.
“The Space-Time Magic X spell allows you to reset your life and restart again from when you were a baby. That’s how I started over.” Momoka told me next.
“Is this why your level is so high?” I asked.
“I wish that was it, but Space-Time Magic X seems to reset my level too. The reason my level is currently this high is because I used a hyper-efficient leveling method.” Momoka replied.
Hyper-efficient? For real? To this extent?
“Of course, I plan on teaching it to you too, Teacher. After all, you were the one who figured out this leveling method in the first place.” Momoka told me.
“So… The reason that you call me ‘Teacher’ is because…?” I left the last words of my question unsaid.
“Of course. We met in our previous lives.” Momoka nodded.
“Though it was already Phase 4 by that point, and I had no memories of my previous life back then… It was a very different situation when compared to what things are like now.” Momoka told me.
Ugh… She just casually dropped the ‘Phase 4’ words…
“… So, I suppose this situation is gonna continue getting worse, right?” I asked her.
“Yes. Things are calm right now, but once Phase 3 starts, things will get tough again.” Momoka replied.
“Care to be more specific?” I asked her.
“Many of the powerful ‘hostile life forms’ will become active and start attacking people once Phase 3 starts. The zombies scattered around the city will also start gathering near the center.” She explained.
“Ugh…” This seems bad.
“Do you remember the announcement about the start of Phase 2, that mentioned zombies that were hiding? There are still plenty more of those, and they’ll start moving all together once Phase 3 starts.” Momoka said next.
“Uuugh…” This seems really really bad.
“And the most troublesome part are the flying monsters, as those can easily bypass barricades.” Momoka concluded.
“Goodness…” The future seemed to be filed with nothing but despair… “By the way… When are we getting to Phase 3?” I asked.
“In about three months.” She replied.
“What date, specifically?” I asked next.
“That’s something I can’t say for certain. I don’t get why, but this world is slightly different from the one I experienced.” Momoka told me.
“Different?” I asked.
“Yes. The time that Phase 1 ended was slightly different from last time, so talking about a specific date for the end of Phase 2 is impossible.
“Instead, we should just work with the assumption it will happen roughly three months from now.” Momoka replied.
Mmmm… I folded my arms and pondered.
The content of her tale was so far-fetched, that I didn’t even care that I was floating in the sky anymore.
“So, in other words… You’re here to avoid a future crisis?” I asked her.
Momoka tilted her head a bit, seemingly troubled about my question, “Of course, there is that too, but… There is something even more important than that.”
“More important?” I asked, parroting her words back to her.
“I want to solve this situation on a fundamental level. To do that, we need to raise our levels and become stronger.” Momoka told me.
“Oh? So there is a concrete fundamental solution to this problem that can be achieved by leveling?” I asked her.
“There is. That’s why I came back in time.” Momoka replied.
Oh my. That’s reassuring alright.
“In order to save the world, there are people who must be killed.” Momoka stated.
She clearly used the word ‘kill’ there…
Not ‘knock them out’, nor ‘make them submit’… Kill.
“One of them is the one who manipulates the hostile life forms in this city. The person whose job is Demon Lord.” Momoka told me.
For real…? A Demon Lord…?
“The other is a Player who has perfected the good karma. A Player who will receive the job of Hero.” Momoka said next.
Huh? “Wait, hold on a minute. I get needing to kill the Demon Lord, but we’ll have to kill the Hero too?” I asked.
“Yes.” She replied plainly.
If we think of RPGs, a hero should be an ally of justice… And in here, the hero will be someone who has perfected good karma…
“Doesn’t this make us the bad people?” I asked her.
“Unfortunately, there is no other choice.” Momoka sighed, “The Hero and the Demon Lord have a unique skill called ‘Immortality’. As long as one of them is alive, they’ll forever keep on reviving in a special space called the ‘Save Point’.”
A Save Point… This is just like a game, isn’t it?
Well, it’s not like it matters much at this point.
“And the only way to finish off someone who has the Immortality skill, is to use the Special Sword Skill X. Teacher, you’re the only one who can do it.” Momoka told me next.