301 Dreamt of a nightmare where I hadn’t appeared for half a year

Good morning.

It is morning.

The adjective "refreshing" does not apply, regretfully.

The place I spent the night is the house in the elven village, which remained intact.

A treehouse carved from within a tree, resembling the homes of elves in stories.

Treehouse? Yes, well, not incorrect. Probably.

Incredibly fantastical. Excessively whimsical.

And fairy-tale-like.

Normally I stay in my own home when sleeping, but seeing this, one might be tempted to spend a night here.

Unfortunately, the comfort level was poor.

After all, it is a battlefield.

Thanks to Potimas’s secret weapons—Uni, pyramids, and others—what was once a lush forest is now a scorched wasteland.

Frankly, it smells of ash.

Even though we're far from the scorched wasteland, the smell still reaches us.

Moreover, the elves were the ones originally residing here.

Just that... something twists in the chest.

Moreover, the original inhabitants were killed by my hand.

It's not that I'm afraid of ghosts or vengeful spirits, but still—something about the atmosphere makes me uneasy.

The conclusion was that, before even considering the comfort of the household, the timing was simply too poor.

A stay for travel might have changed things, but not under these circumstances.

The mattress was uncomfortable, and the dreams were unpleasant as well.

It would have been reasonable to rest well after finally completing such a significant task.

The great task in question was the mass slaughter of elves, so awakening in good spirits was clearly impossible.

A great task—destroying the elven village.

The objective, of course, was to kill Potimas.

The state of this world—this chaotic mess—was largely his fault.

Topple the source of corruption. Correct the distortion, even slightly.

That is the task at hand.

Though, in truth, Potimas also bears the weight of the Demon King’s vendetta.

The Demon King had entrusted the final reckoning to him, and that decision left a complex feeling.

In battle against Potimas, the Demon King finally achieved his long-desired goal—delivering the final blow.

But the cost was severe.

The backlash of the fight left him nearly unable to fight.

Worse still, the Demon King’s lifespan had dwindled to near its end.

He had accepted the role of Demon King knowing his time was short.

Physically, he was immortal.

But his soul had reached the brink of exhaustion.

He foresaw his death approaching soon.

Yet this was the perception of a Demon King who had lived absurdly long.

From the perspective of an ordinary human, he still had ample time remaining.

That changed abruptly after the battle with Potimas.

Looking at the current state of the Demon King, death could come at any moment.

Seeing this, he wondered whether it had truly been wise to force Potimas into combat.

Perhaps it would have been better to refuse outright, despite the Demon King's insistence.

Yet simultaneously, the thought arose in his mind: thanks to the Demon King engaging Potimas, he had avoided wasting energy needlessly.

A victory of value, gained as the Demon King neared death—yet he was already attempting to quantify it in numerical terms.

This was, he admitted, deeply base of him.

Self-loathing.

Well, I suppose I should shift my mindset.

The past cannot be altered.

I will reflect.

But regret is not felt.

To regret something means denying the self one was prior to it.

No matter what occurs, accept it—use it as fuel to move forward.

Now then.

Then, to move forward, I'll check on the prisoners first.

The group of heroes captured in this battle included Yamada-kun among others.

And the reincarnated souls confined here under the guise of protection, within this elven settlement.

And the teacher, the sole survivor among the elves.

End.

Essentially, only reincarnated individuals.

The elves were all slaughtered.

Elves are a species based on Potimas's clones.

Potimas's clones, or those individuals modified into elves, or their descendants, constitute the race known as elves.

It appears the elves had been abducting reincarnated individuals prior to the recent incidents.

Use the abducted person to改造 into an elf, then force them to create a clone and offspring of Potimas.

Having only Potimas's clones would cause excessive genetic imbalance.

Raise the child born in this manner as an elf.

Due to their nature, most elves are kin to Potimas.

Race? Or bloodline?

In any case, it would be better to eradicate the elves entirely.

Exceptions are the teacher and the half-blood.

The teacher, of course—but involving oneself with a half-blood would be troublesome.

My eyes are not infallible.

There are shortcomings. Omissions exist.

It would be best to eradicate the elves entirely, but eliminating every one outside this elven settlement will be a difficult task.

There’s no helping it if some is missed.

Therefore, those unrelated to the elves were ignored.

Thus, the half-elf in Yamada-kun’s party was also ignored.

That half-elf supposedly died once, but it was a no-cast, no-cast.

Alive again—so it’s fine.

Yamada-kun collapsed, but I don’t know!

I don’t know!

I don’t care what happens!

Yes.

I’m a little afraid to look, but I have to see what happened to Yamada-kun…

Probably my fault.

Was it?

Likely the Taboo reached maximum capacity.

What now? If I go check and he’s gone mad…

Ah, scary.

Also, I’ll have to explain this to the other reincarnated ones…

Can’t just leave it to Oni-kun.

Opening my mouth is a burden.

A quest of higher difficulty than the fall of the elven village awaits next.

Gloomy.

For now, observe the situation.