The Great Sinner Rises Again

“............Mm......”

Giovanno woke when a single cold drop fell from the ceiling and struck his forehead with a pichah.

“Mmgh............”

With effort, chains jangling, jara jara, he raised himself up.

Having slept on the bare cave rock without so much as a cloth, he ached all over.

The chains were heavy and he couldn't lift his arms, but he managed to stretch, rolling his shoulders and neck, and let out a yawn.

(............I'm alive.)

That was the thought that drifted, hazily, through his mind.

Having committed grave sins and been sentenced to banishment, he acknowledged himself as a man who ought to die, yet he did not wish to die......

Unable to resolve himself to die, he had wandered the forest, met a mysterious girl, and been given meat that kept him alive.

She was a mysterious girl.

She was a cursed child, bearing the black hair and black eyes that symbolized misfortune, and yet it seemed to him that she gave off a boundless strength, a commanding presence.

She had seemed like a lump of pure vitality, a girl simply overflowing with the power to live.

And he himself—how wretched he was.

Unable to die, unable to truly live.

Still continuing to waver......

“......For now, I suppose I'll get up.”

Now, finding himself about to be swallowed once more by a dark, damp whirlpool of thought, Giovanno slapped his cheeks lightly to snap himself out of it.

He had decided to put a lid on the conflict churning in his chest and just start doing something, anything.

“Mm...... mmm? But, where did that young lady...... Emi get to......?”

And he noticed immediately.

The mysterious girl who had shared her fire and meat with him yesterday, who had given him a future called ‘today’, was nowhere to be seen.

He looked around, glancing here and there.

All the cave held was the burnt-out campfire.

And the floor, absolutely drenched in blood, must have been where the Mountain Topopolock's carcass had lain.

Now, not a single piece of meat...... not even a fragment of bone remained.

Turning around, he saw the cave entrance.

The rain had completely stopped and the clouds had vanished, for a warm light was filtering from the entrance into the interior of the cave.

Now, even after looking around like this, the girl called Emi was indeed nowhere to be found.

“Could it be...... that it was a dream......”

Confused, Giovanno muttered this while gazing up at the ceiling.

And there...... was Emi.

Emi was asleep, stuck to the ceiling, by some means Giovanno couldn't begin to fathom!

“WHOA!!?”

At Giovanno's startled yell, Emi's eyes cracked open, and she dropped to the floor, spinning round and round.

“......You're awake......?”

Then, rubbing her eyes grumpily, she gave a huge yawn and stretched.

“Wh, what are you doing, on the ceiling!?”

“With an old man, I just met...... sleeping side by side, I don't want that.”

As she spoke, Emi clenched and opened her fists, rolled her shoulders, rotated her hips, did a few squats, and hopped up and down.

(No, what I asked was ‘how can you stick to the ceiling’!?)

“So...... old man, last night's answer, did you decide?”

“......!”

Now that a little limbering up had woken her completely, Emi opened her big, shining black eyes wide and stared at Giovanno.

‘Last night's answer’ referred to the answer to the question of whether or not he would teach Emi 【Invisible Hand】.

Giovanno had been given meat, and the girl before him had demanded he teach her his special ability to repay the favor...... but he had put off answering.

“It's not hard. When I want to see it, you use 【Invisible Hand】. That's all. I watch it, and learn on my own.”

Can a special ability be learned just by watching?

Giovanno didn't know, but for this mysterious girl, it surely was so.

The girl pressed him in a flat tone.

“You look weak, old man, so while I learn the special ability, I'll protect you. After I learn it, too, I can take you, to some human village.”

This was a girl who could hunt a Mountain Topopolock that huge.

There was probably no lie in what this girl, Emi, was saying.

Just by showing this girl 【Invisible Hand】, he could keep his life, by now a candle guttering in the wind, safe.

“............”

“Hey, there's nothing, but upside, right? Why won't you nod?”

The pressure emanating from Emi gradually grew stronger.

She was starting to get irritated.

Her expression didn't change one bit, but the air around her made her feelings plain.

Especially to a weakling like Giovanno.

He could no longer postpone his answer.

Giovanno let out a sigh and began to pour out his feelings.

“Young lady...... I am, you see, a great sinner......”

“I can tell by looking. Chains, clanking.”

Giovanno smiled bitterly, head still bowed, and went on.

“I committed an unforgivable, grave sin, and was banished to this land. I am, you see, a man who ought to die.”

“............”

“Your offer, young lady, I am truly grateful for. With your strength, I would surely be able to live on. I would, end up surviving. But......”

Here, Giovanno raised his face and stared at Emi.

He had an exhausted look on his face.

“Is that, all right...... now that I can actually choose that future, I just, can't help but hesitate......”

His voice had grown terribly thin by the end, but Giovanno said it all.

When hungry, one longs to be filled.

When cold, one longs to be warm.

When cornered, the body commands: live.

But once those needs are met, hesitation immediately wells up.

Was he really allowed to live?

Even now, it was the same.

He was still hesitating.

He wished, ‘I want to live’, and yet the moment a way to survive turned up, he agonized, ‘But is that all right?’

That was exactly why Giovanno couldn't simply accept Emi's offer.

Giovanno let his shoulders slump powerlessly and looked down.

There was no trace of the wicked count who had done evil with a straight face and plunged so many people into misery.

There was only a shabby, grubby man, tormented by that useless thing called a conscience, which had wandered off when it was needed and only now come back, a man who could find no worth in himself whatsoever.

Hearing the words such a man squeezed out.

Emi......

“LIKE I CAAAAAAARE!!!”

she bellowed!!

Her voice was so loud that the whole cave rattled and shook!

“Eh, ehh!? ‘Like I care’, you say......”

“I! AM TELLING YOU, TO TEACH ME THE SPECIAL ABILITY!! YOUR LIFE, YOUR SINS!! I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THAAAT!!!”

“EEEEEEEEEH!!?”

By now, Emi's irritation was maxed out!!

Because he mumbled some mumbly stuff, she waited a whole night for him, and he's still mumbling mumbly stuff!!

A terrifying 【Intimidation】, unthinkable from such a small body, came blasting out and slammed into Giovanno!

In his sheer terror, Giovanno scooted backward on his backside in spite of himself.

“If you want to die that badly, die after I learn 【Invisible Hand】. If you're scared to kill yourself, I'll kill you. Oh, I know, with my version of 【Invisible Hand】, I'll crush you to mush. Good idea.”

Emi walked up to Giovanno, grabbed him by the bangs, hauled his face up to force their eyes to meet, and rattled off those horrifying words.

This was no bluff.

This one would do it. Once she made up her mind, she'd do something like that without batting an eye.

Emi's 【Intimidation】 had driven that home to Giovanno completely.

“Or, what'll you do? Die now? I don't mind, you know? It's a waste, but then that can't be helped. It'll be over in an instant, okay?”

Saying so, Emi set the edge of her hand against Giovanno's neck like a blade.

She set it slowly, quietly.

And yet, for some reason, as if a sharp blade had been pressed against him, a thin line of blood flowed from Giovanno's neck.

“Hih......”

“What'll you do?”

“Ah...... ah......”

“What'll you do?”

Giovanno's mouth flapped open and shut as he trembled.

He knew he had to say something, but he was so terrified that nothing meaningful would come out.

“Okay, then. Time limit: ten more seconds. Ten, nine, eight, seven......”

But the monster in front of him paid his state no mind whatsoever, and now she had even started a countdown!

“I...... I!!”

Somehow, Giovanno wrung out the words and tried to speak.

But in the end, that effort never bore fruit.

Because.

Zu...... mishi, zuzu, zu......

That sound began to echo through the cave, and then......

ZUGASHAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA!!!

An indescribable roar and tremor struck Giovanno, and he lost consciousness.

◇ ◇ ◇

“............Mm......”

Giovanno woke when a single cold drop fell from the ceiling and struck his forehead with a pichah.

“Mmgh............”

With effort, chains jangling, jara jara, he raised himself up.

Then he looked around, trying to work out just what had happened to him.

But all there was, was total darkness.

He could see nothing.

“【Ignition】”

But just then.

A small fire lit up next to Giovanno.

He looked over to see Emi holding a small fireball she had made on her palm, lighting up their surroundings.

(A special ability......!)

Using a power like magic without an incantation.

In other words, Emi was a special-ability user.

Since she wanted to learn Giovanno's special ability, she likely had other powers she could use as well.

The way she had been stuck to the ceiling earlier might also have been the power of a special ability.

But that aside.

“Just what happened......?”

Getting an answer to that came first.

“Probably, a landslide. Yesterday's rain, the ground? Got loose. The cliff collapsed, the cave, got sealed.”

Emi answered the words that had slipped out of Giovanno in her usual flat tone.

Her face was as blank as ever.

Neither terror nor confusion could be read from it at all......

“Okay, so, now that you're awake, old man, let's pick up where we left off. Six, five, four, three......”

“WAIT, HEEEEEEY!! THAT COUNTDOWN, IT'S STILL GOING OOOOOOOOON!!!”

Giovanno screamed in spite of himself!

While keeping the edge of her hand against Giovanno's neck, Emi tilted her head slightly.

“Well, obviously.”

“What do you mean, ‘well, obviously’!? That was a landslide!? We've been buried alive!? How can you, be so calm!?”

“Something like this, to me, is a trifle.”

Emi declared it with breathtaking arrogance.

Giovanno was struck dumb in spite of himself, lost for words.

“More importantly, old man, what are you panicking about?”

“What......!?”

“If you want to die, no need to panic, right?”

“!!”

“If you want to die, no need, to warm up at the fire. No need, to eat meat. No need, to panic about the cave-in.”

Hit right on the mark, Giovanno froze.

Emi withdrew the edge of her hand and continued speaking while staring into Giovanno's eyes.

“‘I ought to die’, and so on, you whine and whine. But, the moment you say that, old man, it means you want to live.”

“............”

He had nothing to say back.

If he truly accepted, from the bottom of his heart, that ‘he ought to die’, he should just die.

A reckless argument, but true enough.

Giovanno wanted to live.

That was something he understood himself.

But he had never imagined he would have it pointed out by such a young girl, of all people.

“But, I have grave sins......”

“I SAID, THAT STUUUFF!! TO MEEE!! WHAT DOES IT MATTEEER!!”

Emi yelled again, her voice full of fury.

“YOU, LIVE! LIVE, AND TEACH ME THE SPECIAL ABILITY!! SINS OR WHATEVER, THAT STUFF, I DON'T CARE! YOU DEAL WITH IT LATER, SOMEHOW!! IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, THEN LIIIVE!! TEACH ME, THE SPECIAL ABILITYYYYY!!!”

Emi's furious voice ricocheted around the sealed cave, booming and booming, shaking Giovanno to his very bones!

And Emi's claim was!

Refreshingly!

Thinking of nobody but herself!

It wasn't a sermon dressed up in pretty words!

It was nothing more than forcing her own ego on him!

But precisely because of that, her words flew straight as an arrow, and they struck clean through the heart of Giovanno the villain, who had been going round and round in circles!

“Kuku...... haha, hahaha...... HAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

For some reason it was unbearably funny, and it felt so good...... Giovanno roared with laughter.

“......Old man, what's wrong? Did you go crazy?”

“Shut it! You're the one who made me laugh!”

“The one who laughed, is you, old man.”

“Hahaha! Well, I can't argue with that!”

He wiped his tears on his shoulder and caught his breath.

Since his sins were exposed and he was captured...... no, perhaps since he became a count, but in any case, Giovanno had never laughed this hard.

He felt somehow refreshed.

Giovanno turned back to Emi and spoke.

“I'm weak, you know. I can barely even exercise.”

“Is that something to brag about.”

“And you'll protect someone like me?”

“That's the deal.”

“I'd like to eat tasty meat like yesterday's, you know?”

“Easy to hunt.”

“I'm getting on in years, so I'd like some vegetables too.”

“Any grass you can eat is a vegetable. That's my personal theory.”

......Giovanno bowed his head.

“I, still want to live. Protect me, Emi.”

“That's, the wrong order.”

Emi grabbed Giovanno's head, forced it up, and then...... this time she bowed her head.

“I will humbly learn your special ability, 【Invisible Hand】. I look forward to your guidance.”

A brief silence fell between the two of them.

“Well now, Emi, you've suddenly gotten polite.”

“And you've suddenly gotten brazen, old man.”

“I'd completely forgotten until now, but I'm a villain, after all.”

Such a trivial exchange was strangely funny, and Giovanno roared with laughter again.

Emi's expression didn't change, and she didn't crack a single smile, but in contrast to the dangerous air from before, she gave off a satisfied vibe.

“But, well......”

After laughing for a while, Giovanno looked toward the darkness where the cave entrance had been and let out a sigh.

“Whether living or learning, it all starts once we get out of here, though......”

“I told you, didn't I? That something like this is a trifle. That I'll protect you, old man.”

Leaving the bewildered, shrugging Giovanno behind, Emi walked over to the rock-blocked entrance.

The small fireball that had been illuminating the surroundings until then vanished.

Instantly, the inside of the cave was filled with darkness.

“Old man, wait there.”

With those final words, Emi fell silent.

And then.

Mishi...... mishi......

A sound like the very air was creaking began to echo through the darkness.

“Cover your ears.”

(To a man with both hands bound...... what an unreasonable demand!)

Doing as Emi's next words told him, Giovanno covered one ear with his shoulder and the other with 【Invisible Hand】.

And then, the very next moment!!

DOGOOOOOOOON!!!

A tremendous boom shook the cave once again!!

“Guh......!?”

Giovanno squeezed his eyes shut in spite of himself!

As the echoes of the boom died away, he timidly opened his eyes, and what leapt into view was...... he had no idea what she had done or how, but there it was: the cave entrance, gaping wide open once more.

Beyond the cave, the outside world spread out before him, bathed in warm early-summer sunlight!

“Caves, are dangerous, because of this. A base, should go somewhere flat?”

Emi had gone out of the cave first and was mumbling something to herself there.

Then, glancing back at Giovanno, who was stunned inside the cave,

“Old man, hurry up and come out,”

she urged.

Giovanno.

Giovanno slowly began to walk.

Toward the shining world.

Toward the dangerous demon realm where monsters writhe.

Toward the girl, unfathomable, horrifying yet beautiful.

Toward the girl, selfish, overbearing, and yet honest, and straight as an arrow.

He began to walk.

Into a new, life!!

I think there are three elements to the “serves you right” for Giovanno.

The “‘serves you right’ for the feelings of ‘The Omake Reincarnator’'s readers”, the “‘serves you right’ under criminal law”, and the “‘serves you right’ for the feelings of the people of Pokkeroce”.

The “‘serves you right’ for the feelings of ‘The Omake Reincarnator’'s readers” is the comeuppance this story's readers want for him, and I think that's already been settled to some extent by how he suffered until he thought he'd die.

Readers know he's a bad guy on paper, but they don't know the people who actually suffered because of him.

So they can probably sympathize with him a little.

The “‘serves you right’ under criminal law” has been resolved by the fact that he was sentenced to banishment.

He was lucky enough to survive, but he was still banished.

But the “‘serves you right’ for the feelings of the people of Pokkeroce” has not been resolved.

The people Giovanno enslaved, the ones who suffered because of him, would never forgive him for just this much.

If you felt something murky about his rising again, that is probably the cause.

But Emi doesn't care about any of that, not one bit.

She is completely selfish and self-centered.

The knowledge she brought over from her previous life keeps her in check to some degree, but ‘selfish and overbearing’ is exactly right.

She doesn't get many chances to deal with people, so those bad sides of hers rarely show, but she's actually pretty lacking in common sense.

As long as she is happy, that's fine.

If necessary, she doesn't mind harming others.

That's the kind of child she is.

She's not someone who preaches human morality.

But Emi is incredibly positive about one thing: living.

The will to live.

I think this will, horrifying yet beautiful, which no one can easily deny, is the core of what makes Emi the protagonist.

......What am I even saying.

Pardon me.

See you again in the rest of Arc 12.