Author: Himezaki Shiu	Original Source: Syosetu
Translator: Jiro	English Source: Re:Library

Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

“Did she go?”
“It’s possible that she’s just hiding her presence. But she did say that she wouldn’t intervene, so we probably shouldn’t worry about it.”
“She said she’s on par with a god. Thinking about having a God watching is a bit strange, but I guess it’s fine…”

I sighed and relaxed my tense, stiff body. Taking big, deep breaths helped me calm my mentality somewhat. Still, the thought of being watched was not a pleasant one.

Since this was Toriyama we were talking about, I didn’t think he would interfere with us taking Fraus down. I also didn’t believe he would kill us after coming all this way just to say he wanted to help us, so I figured we were safe. Even if he was watching us, I couldn’t afford not to speak at all, so I decided to talk to Monobe without worrying.

“What should we do with our plans now? If what the girl said is true, we should think of a safe plan.”
“You’re right. But we’ve already gotten to the point where the plan will be set into action just by us giving the word. We’ve been working on not getting involved, but we can at least change our hiding place.”
“I did prepare one just in case. We’ve been staying in this part of the castle because it would’ve been the closest, but you’re right. We should change places.”

I didn’t know if what the girl said was true. But if we were going to die anyway, doing a bit of legwork wasn’t all that bad. While there was no guarantee her words were true, I decided to believe they were. There was no point in her lying about that kind of thing… or maybe there was, if it was Toriyama. But living even one second longer didn’t seem like a bad thing either.

Above all, it would have felt like a waste to die before the princess returned.

“Also, I’m curious. Why doesn’t Toriyama try to destroy Fraus himself? The way he, or rather, she is now, it shouldn’t be hard at all.”
“I don’t know. If he’s holding a grudge, then it should be towards the heroes, but given that he hasn’t done anything on that front as well, I can only assume that he stopped caring after being reincarnated.”
“I see, so he probably doesn’t care but is glad to see those whom he holds a grudge against suffer, kind of thing?”
“Probably.”

Indeed, right now, it was best to look at the girl and Toriyama as two separate entities. Maybe he’d become like this due to dying once. There was also the matter with the heroes, his classmates. Although he hadn’t done anything to them, they were currently being treated very badly.

As for me, I just wanted to rub it in their face, saying, “Serves you right.”

I thought that was fair, given they killed off Toriyama so easily, and I also believed that Takuma dying so soon was also natural. Maybe he died because they killed off Toriyama?

No way, right? You wouldn’t normally think that. But given the state Toriyama was in back then, I doubt that he would’ve thought normally.

Then again, if it were me, if I were in Toriyama’s place, whom would I resent more? Would it be Fraus or my classmates? Between the two, it would probably be the classmates. Even though we were summoned, it was our classmates who directly caused him harm.

When you’re being mistreated, the resentment usually goes toward the one standing right in front of you, the one directly responsible, even if the root of the problem lies elsewhere, like the Fraus Kingdom. After all, it’s the person in front of you who becomes the face of your suffering.

It might have been different for Toriyama, but to me, this way of thinking made more sense. He had been protecting us, and despite that, he was betrayed. And then, to make matters worse, the people of Fraus, who were the main culprits behind it all, still had the nerve to ask him to forgive the very classmates who had bullied him. Of course he’d refuse. To him, it must have seemed like complete nonsense.

“If that’s the case, then maybe Toriyama took revenge on our classmates by having them experience terrible things after he died.”
“Iori, what are you saying?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I just think I realize why Toriyama decided not to take his revenge on Fraus.”
“Why doesn’t he?”

Monobe asked, and I replied by starting with, “This is just a guess, but the premise is like this. First of all, you felt a difference in the way the girl thought as opposed to how Toriyama thought, right?”

“I did.”
“The current situation is that our classmates are in quite a sorry state. From what we’ve heard, it’s fair to say that quite a few of them have already lost their will.”
“I can see that.”
“And I think that this might just be the situation that Toriyama was going for.”
“I can also see that being the case.”

Monobe began to think about something, but I wanted to move forward with the plan as soon as possible, so I continued with my theory.

“In other words, Toriyama took his revenge on our classmates by dying and making them lose their protection. It might have been his very last resort, but I do believe that he had been resolved to die quite a long time before that.”
“Can you normally have that kind of resolve?”
“Normally, no. I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it. But I’ve seen something similar on the news.”

There were, in fact, real people who just couldn’t stand being bullied.

“And it was even worse for Toriyama because he was not only being bullied. He was being betrayed by the people he was protecting. I can’t even imagine how he must have felt at the time.”
“You’re right about that.”
“So, in Toriyama’s mind, Fraus was probably just a stage to get our classmates to suffer, which is why he decided not to destroy the kingdom. If he did, it wouldn’t be any fun. But maybe he just doesn’t care anymore, given that the world will soon cease to be. And if that’s the case, then it’s safe to assume that the world’s collapse is closer than we thought.”
“I agree with that.”

Monobe said, agreeing with the fact that the world would soon collapse. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it, but strangely, I felt somewhat relieved that the end might be near.

“Or maybe it’s all because she’s separated herself from her time as Toriyama and doesn’t want to interfere too much with what Toriyama did in the end. But either way, I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”
“In that case, let’s begin.”
“Fraus needs to disappear before the world collapses. But we also need to move before we start anything, so let’s begin tomorrow.”
“I wonder how long it will take us.”
“Didn’t you say that at the earliest it would take a day?”
“I can’t predict what will happen.”

It was basic to be prepared for unforeseen circumstances, but there was nothing we could do. The only thing left was to protect ourselves. Now, it was up to those who still wanted to take action to somehow bring the kingdom down. With that, we began our plan.

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