Blood 11 When I reincarnated, my classmate turned into a monster. What should I do?
Bad.
Not joking. Really bad.
Appearance-wise, it's just an ordinary stir-fried vegetable dish.
But the aftermath of its preparation is terrible.
Scattered on the cutting board, on the ground—clearly not just leftovers. What remains looks unmistakably like the disassembled remains of a human.
Not a joke.
I understand, instinctively, that this meat must be what it is—because of the vampire nature.
To eat it calmly, knowing this... impossible.
Especially knowing it's someone I knew.
"Hey, you're Wakaba-hime color, aren't you?"
The girl ignores my question, silently lifting the stir-fry to her mouth.
She's unmistakably Wakaba-hime from my previous life.
Her facial features, her aura—different now. Above all, her entire body is white. But no mistake.
Since I reincarnated here, time has passed. I've thought about it all.
Perhaps there are other reincarnated ones besides me.
I do not fully understand how I came to be reborn into this world.
Dead—yet the cause of death remains unclear.
Her constitution was frail, but not to the point of death.
Possibility of sudden death from conditions like myocardial infarction or cerebral hemorrhage—symptoms may not be noticeable until fatal—made any prognosis impossible.
Yet, seeing other former classmates appear before me like this, I realized it was not as I had thought.
In novels, there are stories of entire classes being transferred en masse to another world. Perhaps collective reincarnation exists as well.
The classroom exploded suddenly.
It was a vague thought, but seeing the figure in Wakaba-hime's color suggested otherwise.
Wakaba-hime's color has changed little from her previous life's form.
The change in facial features and demeanor could be attributed to over a year's passage of time.
Shiro’s appearance—unclear, but not easily dismissed.
Slight changes, yet it feels less like reincarnation and more like a direct transfer.
Yet, the fact that this being calmly consumes humans is incomprehensible.
Always unpredictable—never understood what was going through their mind—but what is this one truly thinking?
“Shiroo? You’re being spoken to?”
The girl who introduced herself as Ariel shook the shoulders of the figure in Wakaba-hime’s color.
No response. Continued eating.
The shaking intensified.
A sharp, rhythmic jolt—impact struck the face.
Wait—was that just now the self-proclamation of a Demon Lord? Seriously?
“Right cross capable of toppling the world. Gakku.”
True seriousness?
“No, well, enough joking. If you don’t speak seriously, we can’t proceed.”
Ariel stood up abruptly, grasping at Wakaba-hime with a voice tinged with weariness.
"Troublesome."
"Eh?"
She had finally spoken—then uttered something like that.
"Ah. Then, a tale so moving it brings tears to the speaker and listener alike. Let me tell you my story, shall I?"
She stood up without warning, thrusting her fist toward the sky and striking a pose.
Though they’d only just met, could she survive on charisma alone?
"Reborn after dying once—a spider monster. Fell into the world’s largest, worst labyrinth: the Elro Great Labyrinth. Escaped cannibalistic siblings, nearly killed by a frog, fought a serpent to the death, and finally fell into a hole. There awaited me a fearsome earth dragon slumbering deep beneath the surface. Barely escaped—Gah!"
"Long."
Wakaba-hime yanks Ariel’s hair, tossing her aside amidst wild, heated gestures.
What is this farce?
First, organize what Ariel said.
Died once—so Wakaba-hime also reincarnated, like me?
Elro Great Labyrinth—name I’ve seen in books.
They say it’s a colossal maze connecting continent to continent.
Born there?
“So, you’re a reincarnated soul, reborn as a spider monster, escaped from Elro Great Labyrinth?”
Melazophis delivers the summary precisely.
“Yes! That’s right!”
Why English?
Melazophis frowns, eyebrows knitting in confusion.
Wait—hold on.
Why is English actually being used?
“Um… can Ariel actually speak English?”
“Hm? I can speak. Ah, there’s a deep reason for it, but you don’t need to worry about that now.”
Still, the remark only piques curiosity. No indication she’ll elaborate.
“The spider creature from the Elro Great Labyrinth. Could it be… Shiro?”
“Ah, yeah. That’s Shiro.”
Yes?
What?
Yes?
Wait a moment.
What?
The divine beast—wasn’t that the white spider who appeared when I was attacked by thieves?
The spider who settled near the city?
The one who triggered the war?
“Let me be clear—war wasn’t my doing.”
She reads the question in my expression before I speak. Wakaba-hime speaks first.
‘But if it weren’t for you!’
Whether I was here or not, war was inevitable. The Church of Divine Words sought to destroy the Goddess Faith. I was merely used as a catalyst for the conflict.
To clarify—The Church of Divine Words aimed to drastically weaken the Goddess Faith. They likely considered even total annihilation of entire nations. The fact that only one city was destroyed makes this outcome relatively minor.
"But, but!"
The only conclusion is that luck was against us. The world is full of injustices.
Ariel speaks with detachment. Yet, a storm of unresolved emotion swirls beneath.
"By the way, Your Divine Beast, you take human form. Is that an illusion or some other technique?"
“No, Shiro evolved into a humanoid form through a special process. The essence remains that of a spider creature, but it’s not a matter of changing appearance. Incidentally, is the resemblance to my previous form a design feature? I’m not entirely sure myself.”
Melazofis shifts the topic.
Melazofis isn’t exactly calm beneath the surface.
I glare at Wakaba-hime, who maintains a cool demeanor.
“Shiroori.”
‘Huh?’
“That’s your current name. Don’t call me Wakaba-hime.”
I don’t fully understand, but I grasp the meaning.
I don’t wish to be called by my past name either. Perhaps this one feels the same.
We’ll use Shiroori as the name.
Whether it’s acceptable or not is separate.