313 – The princess does things her way
On returning to the interior of the tree house, there was the sight of Kusama-kun and Ogiwara-kun tied up. With the way they’ve been bound, their situation is one of being constantly forced to face each other as if embracing. I had thought it was just Ogiwara-kun who was sitting in a seiza when I left earlier, but why has he been tied up with Kusama-kun again? ……Yeah. Let’s just ignore this. Walking ahead of me, vampire girl ignores this as well anyway.
Vampire girl returns to the seats where we had been sitting earlier. However, she stands there with her arms folded rather than sitting. However, she seems to silently urge me to sit, so I’ll take a seat for now.
「Okay then. We shall be resuming now. Is there anyone missing? There is? If there is then would someone please go call them.」
While vampire girl claps her hands, she raises her voice so that everyone in the room can hear her. While she is speaking in a relatively loud voice, it’s mysterious and amazing how she manages to keep an unimpaired air of refinement about her. Huh? When did she become so imposing again?
In response to vampire girl’s voice, the reincarnators who had been chatting until then become quiet. At the same time, Kudou-san gets up from her chair and leaves to go up the stairs. Yamada-kun and others haven’t returned yet, so it seems she’s gone to call them. On ascertaining that, vampire girl once again takes a stance of standing with her arms folded.
Oni-kun looks on at that with a quizzical expression. Yep. I fully understand oni-kun’s feelings. In situations like this vampire girl has never been at the forefront after all. Also, when vampire girl takes the initiative to do something, it’s normally a sign that something worthless is about to occur anyway. Oni-kun glances at me as if trying to ask me something. However, I have nothing to say!
After waiting for a while, Kudou-san returns with Yamada-kun and the rest. They each take their respective seats.
「Then we shall resume.」
Perhaps because vampire girl has taken on the role of facilitating the discussion, a different sort of tension fills the air. Compared to the air of tension previously, where there was a deep sense of worry about being unable to tell what would happen next and a dread about all these unknown people being around, the current tension seems to be purely because of the overpowering presence of vampire girl. Huh…? It somehow seems that the air of tension towards me is worse? Incomprehensible.
「I shall start off by telling you this – your situation is one of where you have been saved by us and you must understand that we have the power of life and death over you firmly in our grasp.」
Wha!? She somehow started by tossing out a bomb.
「Wait a moment!」
「Silence. Do not interrupt.」
Yamada-kun stood up as if to protest, but vampire girl silenced him. Physically.
「Gah!?」
I think it’s most likely that the only ones in this place who could understand what had just happened, are oni-kun and I. Even with Ooshima-kun and Tagawa-kun who are amongst the reincarnators who can fight to a certain extent, it probably wasn’t possible for them to follow vampire girl’s movements. As to what vampire girl actually did, she simply closed up to Yamada-kun and knocked his legs out from under him. However, it was simply the case that the speed at which she knocked his legs out required a degree of strength that was in no way normal.
Yamada-kun collapsed while knocking back his chair. I guess she held back somewhat, as Yamada-kun’s legs don’t appear to be broken. If she hadn’t held back, rather than his legs being broken, it’s more likely that the lower half of his body would have been blown away.
「We are providing you with this information out of kindness, or rather, out of a sense of courtesy. Do you understand? We, are, providing, you.」
Facing the collapsed Yamada-kun who is groaning in pain, vampire girl speaks to him as if addressing a little child.
「To put it bluntly, saving you was simply incidental to us while we destroyed the elf village. We could simply abandon you without giving any explanation at all. However, out of kindness for our relationship from our previous lives, we decided to grant you an explanation. That’s awfully kind of us, don’t you think?」
I don’t think a kind person would suddenly knock someone off their feet though. Or rather, such a person wouldn’t make statements that could be taken as a threat, such as having the right of life and death in their grasp.
「Hey.」
「You keep silent as well, Kyouya-kun. It’s your fault that this got derailed, so could you refrain from throwing the situation into further disorder?」
Taking the frank advice offered, oni-kun is silenced by vampire girl. That’s not something that should be said by the one who messed this place up right now though!
「You think you have the right to know? There’s no way that’s the case. You are currently in a situation where you are like prisoners of war. On top of that, you are refugees without a native country. So whether we let you live or die basically depends upon our mood. Is that understood?」
In contrast with the sweetly smiling vampire girl, the expressions on the faces of the reincarnators suddenly worsens. Previously the atmosphere had been like an extension of a class meeting, but with disturbing words like kill or live being tossed around, it seems that they’ve noticed that the situation they’re currently in is more dangerous than they had previously thought. Yep. Though the method used to make them understand was overly forceful though! What’s going to happen in this frozen atmosphere!
「That way of speaking…」
「Be silent already.」
Yamada-kun was about to say something again, but his face is ruthlessly kicked by vampire girl.
「Stop that!」
「Quit interrupting already.」
When Ooshima-kun moves to stop her, vampire girl slaps her in the face, knocking her down to the floor. What are you doing to a girl’s face!? As to whether Ooshima-kun belongs in the “girl” category or not, well, whatever.
「If you have any complaints then please leave. We have no responsibility to give you an explanation after all. If you say that you don’t want to listen then you can simply not listen. If you want to listen then be silent. It is a waste of time for you to talk.」
The room becomes as silent as the grave. Yamada-kun silently goes to Ooshima-kun’s side, and apart from applying Treatment Magic to the damaged parts, he doesn’t make any movements. It feels like even the breathing is quiet.
「Very good. Then listen in silence. I will not accept any questions along the way. Once you have heard everything, I will accept questions at the end. Until then, listen in silence. Okay?」
Nobody attempts to make any objection to vampire girl. These methods are completely from a reign of terror! Certainly this might be effective for explaining the situation, but aren’t the impressions afterwards are going to be so bad that it’ll be painful? How is this going to turn out? Actually, I don’t care anymore.