A Wild Last Boss Appeared! Volume 2, page 16
・Archer: 100
・Monster Tamer: 100
【HP】: 55200
【SP】: 5301
【STR (Strength)】: 3750
【DEX (Dexterity)】: 2920
【VIT (Vitality)】: 3009
【INT (Intelligence)】: 2003
【AGI (Agility)】: 2444
【MND (Mind)】: 4980
【LUK (Luck)】: 2711
【BAD STATUS】 Half-Winged
【BAD STATUS】 Mark of the Vanquished
I reflexively averted my eyes after seeing Merak’s stats with my Observing Eye.
“...So his wing was taken.”
Wings were a symbol of pride for the heaven-winged. If Merak was like me on the inside, he probably wouldn’t mind that much. He would have ‘lost’ half of a limb he never had in the first place, so he’d probably be like, so what? At the very least, he would probably think it was way better than losing an arm or a leg.
However, if Merak was a true resident of this world... If he was the same as Megrez...
...Most likely, there would be nothing more cruel.
Even while being the hero of the heaven-winged, he could no longer fly. He might’ve been able to substitute heaven-arts for his missing wing, but in the end, a substitution was just that—a substitution, not the real thing.
“Yes. The Devil King stole a part of each of their bodies when he defeated them two hundred years ago. Megrez and Phecda each lost a leg. Merak lost a wing. Alioth lost an eye, and Mizar lost an arm. And Dubhe lost all his fangs and claws...”
“...How cruel. By the way, what happened to Benetnasch?”
“She didn’t participate in the battle in the first place. Once you were gone, Miss Lufas, she spent some time like a walking corpse before finally cooping herself up in her coffin.”
“What the hell is up with her?”
I couldn’t really describe what I felt after hearing of the tragedy that happened to the Seven Heroes and the strange actions of Benetnasch.
In the game he was referred to as the “Devil King (lol)”, but in real life I guess he’s actually really scary. I suppose that’s what you should expect out of the official last boss. Well, if he could be beaten one-on-one, then he wouldn’t be the official last boss.
No matter how lacking in leadership the Seven Heroes were, they had still managed to defeat me, so they were definitely stronger than me.
“Stop, citizens! We are playing into the devilfolk’s hands by hating each other and warring against one another! Why won’t you all try to get along?!”
Merak was desperately calling out to the crowd, but it had no effect on the insurgents.
No, it probably did. If it didn’t, then they most likely would have already started to fight. Just having a hero standing between them was something. But it wasn’t enough to get them to stop.
It was easy to see that, as things were now, something would eventually spark another explosion.
Now then. What should I do...?
“Stop right there!”
While I was worrying about what to do, someone else dropped in between the two sides. Yes, literally dropped.
Cutting through the air high above, the figure dropped in a straight line along with the sound of a thunderous explosion, and the ground crumbled where they landed.
Of course, there should be no need to say who it was.
She had light brown hair and doll-like looks. And that wasn’t a metaphor. She had her sky jets deployed out of her back, and in her right hand she held a devilfolk-seeming man who was beaten up so badly it was almost pitiful.
Libra, one of the Twelve Heavenly Stars, had arrived.
“So you made it, Libra.”
I couldn’t stop myself from doing a fist pump.
She’s here! The main golem is here! Now everything’s over! Just as she’d promised, she brought the devilfolk with her. She did perfectly.
Now, all that’s left is to expose him as the mastermind behind everything and end this.
“Y-You are... That figure. No way...”
Merak, who of course knew Libra, was staring at her, surprised. However, Libra stopped him from talking with a hand. Then, she started nonchalantly spouting lies with so many holes in them they might as well have been Swiss cheese.
“No, I am simply a golem that was passing by. My name is Bluzefsky XVII.”
“Umm, weren’t you Copernicus IV...?”
“That is also true.”
Hey Libra, stop changing fake names. Even the townspeople are calling you out.
Libra tossed the devilfolk man she had captured before both sides. “Now, you may do with this man as you please, whatever that may be!” she announced in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear.
...
“...”
......
“......”
.........
“.........”
Uhh, hey.
No one’s gonna understand if that’s all you say.
Look, Merak’s frozen, and the other townspeople are all like, “What the hell did she just say?”
Like...shouldn’t you say he’s the mastermind or that he’s the one who incited this war or something?
There are way better ways to put it. Right?
But Libra wouldn’t say anything more.
It seemed like the crowd was curious about the devilfolk guy. Several of the white-winged people recognized the guy’s face and were turning pale.
But as it was, this situation was frozen.
—e’s useless... It’s like she’s completely worthless at talking...!
I facepalmed and made Dina go forward. “Dina, you really do have to go. The situation won’t progress as it is now.”
“Y-Yes. Leave it to me!”
Yeah, it looks like I really will have to rely on her for diplomacy. Though I’d do it myself, if only I could appear in front of people.
Dina jogged over in between the two sides, raised her hand, and yelled for their attention. “First of all: everyone please calm down, and listen to what I have to say. I’ll start from the conclusion. That man over there is named Jupiter, and he is one of the Seven Luminaries under the Devil King. There should be several people among the white-winged who remember his face.”
The devilfolk were humanity’s greatest enemy. So bringing up one of their leaders, the Seven Luminaries, was enough to gather everyone’s interest. Dina first said something to gain as much notice as possible and gather all their attention. That should have been her plan.
Now everyone’s gazes were pinned on Jupiter, and the nature of the noises the crowds were making changed. The atmosphere was overtaken by doubt, bewilderment, fear, and hesitation...
The situation was that one of the Seven Luminaries was present, and some of the most powerful people in town knew him by face. That fact seemed to have cooled all their heads.
“Right now, all of you hate and are trying to destroy each other. But please think. Just who would most stand to benefit from this?”
She’s good... I think.
Dina started with the conclusion and gave them a shock. Then she told them that they were playing into the devilfolk’s hands. By doing that, she managed to drive a wedge into their actions. Certainly, by doing it this way rather than explaining in proper order, what she said might get through better to people who were excited.
Now that it was in front of them, they couldn’t just ignore it.
“That’s right. The ones who stand to gain the most are the devilfolk. Their aim is to have you all kill each other, thereby destroying the country. Please, calm down and think. Just who is it that you all should really hate?”
I couldn’t help but realize that I was scrunching my face while in hiding.
So she went with ‘who you should really hate.’
People often said that nothing came from hate, but if negative emotions like that were so easy to get rid of, then nothing bad would happen in the world. However, spreading and changing the vector of a person’s hate was much easier. It was one of the defense mechanisms in the field of psychoanalysis. Its name was substitution.
People had needs, and if they couldn’t fulfill those needs, their mental state became unstable. That was why people had many different methods of dispelling those needs that couldn’t be met in order to protect themselves.
Right now, they wanted to destroy the other side’s town. However, realistically, the country would be destroyed if they did that, and that would benefit the devilfolk. And in the midst of that situation, the devilfolk behind it all was tossed in front of them with a “Here you go.”
He was a perfect target for their hate—their unfulfillable desire.
Yeah, I understand. There’s no other way.
Also, he actually was the mastermind behind it all, so Dina wasn’t wrong in the slightest. Above all, I was the one who’d told her to do it that way.
So what I’m feeling right now is just...mistaken emotions brought about by my senses as a normal person. This wavering is just insignificant feelings.
...They should be, at least.
“You... YOUU!”
While I was fighting my emotions on my own, Jupiter, who had gone quiet, suddenly shouted loudly. His face was distorted with even more hate than the two crowds had before, and he glared at Dina as if she had killed his parents.
I guess he just realized what kind of situation he was in? It feels kind of different, though. He probably realized that Dina was trying to make him into a scapegoat.
He continued to shout angrily. “I see! No wonder Libra returned so quickly! You were... You were planning on taking me down from the beginning. WEREN’T YOOOUUUUUU!!!” Jupiter shouted before using wind and running.
Isn’t this bad...?
I reflexively prepared myself to cut in.
He’s certainly fast. He was fast... But he was slow to me. Even from this distance, I could easily come in between the two of them.
However, it seemed that I wasn’t needed.
Libra stuck her arm out from behind Jupiter and pierced through his body.
“Ah... Ghah...!!”
“I will execute you summarily if you attempt to attack someone without my permission. I believe I have warned you of this.”
“W...ait... Listen, all of you...!”
“I will not. You have already fulfilled the conditions for elimination. Revoking agreement to allow you an audience with my master to plead for your life... I will deal with you myself.”
Apparently Libra allowed him to beg me for his life in order to get him to come quietly. But I also wondered if he would be killed by the crowd before that could happen.
...Ahh, whatever. That’s probably not true.
He’s level 300. He probably wouldn’t die.
Or he might have extracted that promise just before he would have died. However, that promise was undone when he tried to attack Dina, so he was executed. From their conversation, I guessed that was what had happened.
“No...ooo...! You all... All of you... By her...” Jupiter was trying to say something, but before he could, Libra cut off his head.
Wow, no mercy. I don’t know whether I should call her reliable or terrifying, even though she’s a friendly.
Libra dropped her foot down and crushed his head, which had fallen to the ground, and she expressionlessly brushed away some filth that had gotten on her dress. There was not a single hint of emotion on her face; it was as if she’d just crushed a bug.
Pitifully enough, Jupiter’s crushed body disintegrated on the spot. He didn’t even leave a speck behind.
...I’m so glad Libra’s a friendly.
Still, I’m kind of concerned about what he said at the end.
There was no doubt that he was tricking everyone from the start. Libra captured him and dragged him out in front of the townspeople, and we made his crimes clear. Everything had gone according to plan.
However, there were his last words and the fact that he looked at Dina with such hate. I couldn’t help but feel that there was something else going on.
...I’m totally missing something, aren’t I?
It’s definitely not just my imagination.
＊ ＊
We’d just barely managed to prevent a clash between the white and black towns. However, the situation itself was unfortunately a far cry from being resolved.
It was true that we had avoided open conflict, but we hadn’t solved the underlying problem of their hatred for one another. In fact, their relationship had actually gotten worse now that it was known that the people of the white town were voluntarily assembling a militia to kill the people of the black town, even if they had been tempted by the devilfolk. And there was nothing we could do about it.
This country’s king was Merak. So as long as he did not gracefully hold the two sides together, there would probably always be a chance of civil war.
Well, I’m saying that with a smug expression like it’s someone else’s problem, but it doesn’t look like the world’s gonna let us pretend like this has nothing to do with us now. We reaped what we sowed, though. I was the one who’d ordered Libra and Dina to do all this, so of course I didn’t regret it, but the look Merak was giving was really harsh.
I was still hiding in the shadows and watching events unfold, but Merak’s gaze bored into Libra.
Well, of course he’d be suspicious if a golem that was said to have been destroyed just appeared out of nowhere. On top of that, golems could only be repaired through an Alchemist’s skill, so there were a very limited number of people who could have repaired Libra.
An Alchemist who could go all the way to the top floor of the difficult-to-conquer (in this day and age) king’s grave, repair Libra and bring her outside, and on top of all that spread false information about her being destroyed? Well, that could only have been either me or Megrez.
And as for people who would actually have done it... Yeah, it’d just be me.
Well, Dina was the one who actually spread the fake info. That was probably how he started suspecting my presence, at any rate.
“Hey, golem... Err, Bluzefsky XVII, was it?”
“No, I am Copernicus IV.”
“... Yeah, either way is fine. Can I have you accompany me back to the castle? Of course, that lady and any other companions you may have are welcome to come with you.”
Merak’s strong wording wouldn’t allow her to say no.
But in response Libra replied smoothly and without even a hint of change in her expression. “I refuse. You do not hold the authority to give me orders.”
“D-Don’t say that. It’d make me really happy if you were to come.” As soon as Libra came out strong in the conversation, Merak weakly retreated.
Hey, king. You fold real quick, don’t you?
As things were, Libra would just continue to say no unless I gave her the order, and Merak couldn’t come out boldly enough to force her to... Oh well, I guess I have to go.
After I’d made up my mind, I put on my robe (Cross-dressing? Ahh, I already gave up on that...) and showed myself in front of Merak and the others.
“Now, wait. The king took the trouble of inviting us. Why don’t we accept?”
“If you say so, master, I have no objections.”
As soon as I said so, Libra easily agreed to go to the castle and quickly stood diagonally behind me like that was her established position. Dina and Aries both jogged over to my side as if saying that this was all of us.
Technically, Aigokeros was also hiding in my shadow, but there was no reason to tell Merak that.
“Thank you... Well then, let us go. There’s a lot to talk about.”
Although I knew he was putting up an act in front of his people, I couldn’t feel any sort of majesty or presence you would expect from a king looking at Merak as he walked in front of us.
I had still felt some of that from Megrez, though.
Just what had happened to Merak?
It was bad enough that Aries even whispered to me, “Is that person really Merak?” That was just how un-kingly he was.
I just couldn’t feel any sort of confidence from him.
How was he in the game? The Merak I knew was...always calm, and he was always the one to hold the group back from bad ideas.
He would never strongly assert himself or his opinions. However, he didn’t just go with the flow. Whenever people clashed, he would mediate between them and gently remind everyone of their strengths and weaknesses.
It was the same in battle. He was never the type to go out in front and win glory himself. The heaven-winged as a race were suited for battle, but they were also well-suited for back-line roles like the Acolyte class. So there were two types of heaven-winged builds—one that fought in front while buffing themselves and one that was completely specialized for back-line support.
Merak was the latter. He would never have the spotlight or solo a fight. However, Merak’s presence would drastically raise or lower the difficulty of a battle. He would always send support precisely when you most needed it. I suppose you could say that he could read the situation?
Mysteriously enough, the support you wanted always came flying to you before you even messaged him for it. He was that kind of guy. So I always thought that he was an amazing person. I always thought him to be the kind of guy who could control a room and always knew what the other person wanted.
...Was I overestimating him? Instead of being able to step back and see things from a wider perspective, it was that he couldn’t go forward. He wasn’t reserved, he just had no confidence. He seemed calm, but in actuality he just had no autonomy. He wasn’t reading the situation, he was just thinking of what he couldn’t do.
Is that how it was? Did I just assume that he was really amazing and build up a mistaken mental image of him? If that’s the case, this is bad.
I was only ever a king in a game, so I didn’t know anything about how hard it was. In other words, I was a novice. Even if I am Lufas Maphaahl, I’m just a normal person inside. But even I knew that a king with no confidence was bad.
Not to mention, having a king who wouldn’t assert himself really wasn’t good in a situation where a fuse was already lit. A king that could use his authority to calm both sides down, even if he did it a little forcefully, was needed here.
