Author: SS Samurai	Original Source: Syosetu
Translator: rm31439	English Source: Re:Library

Shortly after noon¹, Kanata, Sakura, Shuu, and Rir were standing by in the castle, just as planned. While they waited for Loukis to make his appearance in the throne room, Kanata had a conversation with Sakura via messages.

[Hm~, it’s probably what we guessed, after all.]　
[When you think about it, it has to be about the Black God.]　

Kanata went over what Dace had been telling them in their meetings over the past nine days.

[I wonder, can we beat it? Shuu is also here, so it’ll probably work out…]　
[No matter what, we have to fight with our full power. Unless we win, we can’t go home, but that might not be the issue²… Oh, he’s here!]　

When the kids noticed Loukis enter the room, they stopped sending messages. The king was wearing a dazzling, heavy set of armor, and was sporting an uncharacteristically serious expression… or at least that was what he himself thought.

It didn’t leave much of an impression on Kanata. The only one who showed a reaction was Rir, who seemed a bit frightened.

“You did well to come here, Sages. Today… I have something important to talk about.”

Loukis’ voice, containing just a hint of dignity, conveyed a sense of urgency. It made the ears and tail of the wolf girl, who felt very out of place right now, stand up in fear once again.

“Alright, let’s move to the main topic… The Black God, Surtr, will come back to live. This has been verified by Dace’s predictions.”

Everyone present, other than the sages and the masterminds behind the plot, felt dread at those words. Some looked as if the world was ending, while others fainted on the spot, due to excessive despair.

In this atmosphere, Kanata was the first to raise his voice.

“Do you know the specific day it will happen?”
“I do. It will be tomorrow at noon… Dace!”

The seeress wordlessly picked up Gungnir and stood next to Loukis.

“Tomorrow at noon, the seal on Surtr, who is in this spear, will come undone,” the king continued.

A buzz started around them. This was the first time the kingdom’s big shots – the minister and the other officials, and even Kruzel and Kyrian – heard of this.

It also surprised Kanata. He hadn’t expected the foe they were to crush to already be here. Moreover, it was inside Gungnir, the very spear he had been training to use.

Shuu was dumbfounded, and used Psychic Magic, to pull Rir, who was shaking in fear, to his side. Then, he secretly took her trembling hand.

Kanata put his mind into overdrive, forced himself to calm down, and intently glared at Loukis.

“Why, pray tell, didn’t you mention the Black God was inside the spear until now? …Will you excuse this with a simple ‘I forgot’?” he asked.
“Indeed, I forgot to tell you…” Loukis replied with a grin. “Does the fact I didn’t tell you, change anything about you having to defeat it?”

When he heard that, Kanata was about to object, but then swallowed his words. He realized that he wouldn’t gain anything from arguing with the king.

“…Is that it? I’d say I apologized sufficiently,” Loukis said, never changing his expression and appearing completely unashamed.

Kanata had long felt that there was something off about the king, but this made him seriously suspicious. Not paying any mind to the fact that more than half of the people, who’d been present in this room, had already snuck out secretly, he asked Loukis another question.

“If the Black God is inside the spear, what are we to use to reseal him?”
“The very same spear. After the Black God has appeared, you will recapture him and seal him once more with it.”

This had Kanata³ at a loss. It was as if the king’s words were at odds with his actions. In trying to skillfully point out this contradiction, Kanata could only rely on his own smarts.

“Mr. Loukis, do you truly want us to defeat the Black God? Wasn’t the information that you should have given us well in advance, to achieve that, either lacking or too late? Wouldn’t failing to relay said information inconvenience you, too? Did you really forget to tell us?”
“I… I think so, too!” Shuu agreed with Kanata.

When both of them raised their objections, the king shot a glance at Dace, seemingly pleading for her help. The seeress, not giving off any discomfort, took a step forward and spoke.

“Kanata, my boy. In truth, this will only be the second time Surtr is brought down, so there is little prior information. Won’t you let this pass?”
“…Really?”

Those words convinced Kanata. What she said was clearly strange. Not having any precedent was a very different issue than not giving information in advance.

Come to think of it, Kanata thought back. They only recently told us what we are supposed to defeat, and, for some reason, they attached conditions to the potions, which you’d expect to be available to assist in the sages’ growth.

Kanata put his mind to work and recalled other things in great detail.

“-Should you succeed, praise shall await you, o Sages, and-”

Taking advantage of Kanata’s silence, Loukis held some kind of speech, but it never even reached the boy’s ears.

He suddenly realized there was something off about the time when the king had soiled himself. Kanata had noticed Loukis wetting his pants, when Shuu shot off his magic. However, he hadn’t thought it important enough to mention, so he hadn’t even told Sakura.

Among them, the most scared one had been the king himself… In other words, why was that cowardly king, who should view the Black God’s resurrection with nothing but dread, not displaying any of that? Kanata continued that train of thought.

“-With all that being said, Sages, go defeat the Black God and-”

“…Oh.” Kanata mumbled when the king was about to finish his speech.

Sakura knew the boy had a tendency to get lost in thought, and she didn’t miss his almost silent murmur.

[What’s wrong? Are you thinking about something?] she asked him via message.
[Yep… give me a moment, alright?]　

After that ambiguous reply, Kanata raised his hand with a *whoosh*.

“With these words of encouragement- What is it, Kanata? Is there something else? There’s no need to worry, as long as you prepare. Make sure to bring enough-”
“No, that’s not it. This will only take a moment.”
“…What is it?”

Loukis thought it strange, when he saw the boy grin happily for some reason. With everyone’s attention on him, Kanata, reflecting on why he hadn’t noticed earlier, addressed Loukis, or rather, Loukis and Dace.

“Erm, could it be… that you are trying to use the Black God for something?”

TL notes:
Unless the author messed up the timeline (wouldn’t be the first time), we should now be on the same day as the events of chapter 341 to 343. In other words, shi̲t is about to hit the fan.

With the king and Dace acting more and more suspiciously, Kanata is finally starting to connect the dots. The big question is, will exposing the antagonists’ plan do any good, or will it merely worsen the situation?

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Footnotes:

It says “before noon” in the original. Likely an error.
Not sure about this. The original is 勝たなきゃ帰れないとか、そういう問題じゃないかもしれない -> “if (we) don’t win, (we) can’t go home and so on, probably isn’t that question/problem”. It might mean winning isn’t an issue, or that there’s some bigger issue.
It says “Sakura” in the original. I assume that’s an error since this part focuses on Kanata’s thoughts.