287 ā This jijii is somewhat unfathomable
Iāve come to the royal castle in the Kingdom. I took up position in a vacant room secretly, so that the humans within the castle wouldnāt notice. Well, thereās only a limited number of people within the castle currently, so it would be fine even if I wasnāt so sensitive about it though.
I had already used Natsume-kun to clear out people from the castle beforehand. Whether itās the Kingdomās crown prince or queen or whatever, theyāve been temporarily evicted, leaving it in a mostly empty condition. And so, Natsume-kun has been able to prepare a suitable defense force of his own choosing. Well, since the objective this time is to make Yamada-kun resurrect the dead, itās not the case that we need to prepare for a proper defensive battle though.
Erm? That was the case, right? Doesnāt there appear to be someone real familiar looking here? Unless Iām mistaken, the strongest person in the Empire is here though. Yep. No matter how I look at him, the jijii over there is someone Iāve seen on several occasions. The first time I saw that jijii was in the upper layer of the Elro Great Labyrinth. He was together with those fucking knights who burnt My Home to the ground. Then afterwards, donāt ask me why but he came to apply for an apprenticeship and so on. Ahh, so nostalgic. At that time he was a real oddball ossan, but in the years since then heās had a class change to being a jijii.
Hmm-mm. That jijii was the one who shot and killed the shota of the 6th Army in the Great War, right. It should be obvious that heās currently the strongest person in the Empire, so why is he here? Huhhh? Natsume-kuuun? This isnāt according to plan, surely?
Oh boy. Isnāt this is plainly bad? After all, isnāt that jijii is stronger than Yamada-kun, basically? What to do.
Ah well, whatever. Thereās no way that Yamada-kun is going to die anyway. In the worst case he would simply retreat, surely. Itās not like this is a particularly important operation anyway.
If Yamada-kun is unable to get past the jijii then the third prince and other hostages will die. If Yamada-kun does get past the jijii, then providing that he also resurrects the dead quickly enough then the hostages will be saved. Even so, thatās only so long as resurrecting the dead causes Potimasās parasitic soul to be torn off though.
The third prince has Potimasās soul attached to him. The thing that Potimas had set up amongst the leaders of the Kingdom. Those such leaders of the Kingdom have already been purged, aside from the third prince. While this does mean that I still donāt know what Potimas had wanted to do with the Kingdom in the end, rather than letting him do whatever he likes, I would rather clean things up with a big purge. Thus, taking advantage of the disturbance in the Kingdom they were all killed off, but then I suddenly had an idea on seeing Yamada-kun resurrect Ooshima-kun. The idea that maybe by dying once could Potimasās soul be ripped off? After all, once youāre dead itās the end. With regards to the System, no matter what, once youāre dead the soul is pruned of everything thatās unnecessary. In which case, Potimasās parasitic soul should also be pruned off.
But well, I canāt say anything for sure without actually carrying out an experiment. Yamada-kunās resurrection of the dead seems to call back the soul before itās completely taken away by the System. I think it probably wouldnāt succeed unless the resurrection is performed before the pruning work begins. So, Potimasās soul might also be resurrected without any pruning being done. Well, if that happens Iāll just have to get rid of them again. The fate of the third prince depends upon Yamada-kunās resurrection. He might not even get far enough to try that unless he can get past the jijii though!
Really, what the heck is the jijii doing here? This is Natsume-kunās miscasting right. All he had to do was prepare a reasonably decent force, so whyās he deploying the greatest force within the Empire I wonder. Does he hate Yamada-kun that much?
That Yamada-kun is currently approaching rapidly, riding on a drake. Riiiding ooon a siiilverā¦ ah, I better stop there else itāll be dangerous. Or rather, Iām impressed that heās invading by riding on a drake at high altitude. While I can also fly around the sky at will you know, perhaps because I experienced diving into those deep shafts in the Elro Great Labyrinth Iām not really good with heights. If itās necessary I can also fly up into the sky, but I donāt think I would want to fly too high up. Itās best for humans to have their feet on the ground. Not that Iām human though.
Now then, how is the jijii going to take on Yamada-kun? Answer: anti-aircraft fire. O, oookay. Jijii, youāre unreal. He shot directly at Yamada-kunās group despite them flying at such high altitude that they would barely be visible with the naked eye.
Just reaching that far is amazing. The effective range of magic depends on the strength of the practitionerās magic offensive ability, and also how much MP they decided to invest. Also, just how well they have properly mastered casting magic. Simply activating magic while depending entirely upon the skills is no good. It is absolutely necessary to precisely grasp the flow of the activated magic and understand where to invest extra MP. In that regard, the jijii has considerable understanding it seems. Based on status values I remember the jijii having, thereās no way his magic would reach so far. For him to be able to do that means that he must have packed in a considerable amount of extra MP. That ossan who once came to apprentice to me has grown so splendidly. Itās not like I actually made him my apprentice, but somehow Iām feeling rather touched.
But, well, after travelling such a long distance the strength of the attack weakens. The magic flying towards Yamada-kun is easily intercepted and countered. Or rather, itās amazing that it was countered by Yamada-kunās magic, even though heās technically the Hero. Still, despite Yamada-kun and co trying to take covert action it was easily seen through. Jijii, just what are you. Is he really human, this jijii? The pope for one this jijii for another, arenāt the old men amongst the humans quite suspicious somehow? Like, I wouldnāt be surprised if I was told that human old men were actually a different species you know?
Or rather, this is bad. Isnāt he seriously trying to shoot down Yamada-kun?
ļ¼»Ah, damn. I canāt win this.ļ¼½
ļ¼»I quit, I quit. Weāre retreating.ļ¼½
My concerns were betrayed by the jijii himself. He said what were apparently complaints by telepathy to all the people who appear to be his pupils, then activated a group teleportation. Theyāve teleported somewhere.
My mouth is agape. Eh, why did he withdraw then? It seems that Iām not the only one who canāt follow the situation ā Yamada-kunās group is also perplexed. Well, I guess?
But still, jijii, if you had continued like that you would have won, right? Since you have enough ability to do a group teleportation without effort. Going by my memory, during the encounter at the Elro Great Labyrinth I think you needed quite a lot of time to be able to activate a group teleportation. In the ten-something years since then, it seems heās improved his skills considerably. With those skills he should have been able to even take on the Hero and his entire group.
Just why did he withdraw? Heās unfathomable. Well, itās fine though since itās convenient for me. I donāt feel satisfied somehow though.
Ronant at the time of āP, please wait!ā : status values of 1500 in magic types, 300 in physical types.
Ronant at the time of the elf village war: status values of 4000 in magic types, 400 in physical types.
I published this before as well, but since itās important here it is again. This jijii, heās grown too much.