After I told her the world would end if the Soul King existed, Shihoin stopped the daily ambushes she used to perform like clockwork.
Though, calling them 'ambushes' is a stretch when all she did was hide in a tree and launch a Hectopascal Kick at my head.
Either way, it was a welcome change for me, so I didn't think much of it.
Worry? Why would I worry about that tomboy? Even in the original story where I didn't exist, she handled herself just fine, ending up as one of the Great Four—or Five—Noble Families with plenty of strong descendants.
My goal is simple: stay out of the original plot as much as possible and live how I want. If I can save some people from pathetic deaths, I will; if I feel I shouldn't, I won't.
Yeah. I shouldn't meddle. I just need to look after myself.
"So, how has Shihoin been lately?"
...But I couldn't help being a little curious.
If it had been some random guy, I would've told him to look after himself and moved on. But Shihoin, despite her wild nature, was like a cute little sister to me. Feeling slightly concerned, I went to ask the one person who would likely know.
"...Why are you asking me that?"
My disciple looked at me, letting out a sharp breath through his nose as if he couldn't bring himself to sigh openly in my face.
"Because you'd know her better than anyone else here."
I was being serious.
There are currently four people living in this forest: me, my disciple, Shihoin, and that Shiba fellow who joined most recently.
Among us, who would know the most about Shihoin?
First, let's exclude that Shiba guy, since he arrived last.
Actually, even if he had been the first to arrive, he's the type to only talk about himself and wouldn't notice what Shihoin was up to anyway.
That leaves me and my disciple. And frankly, I don't have much interest in how others live their lives.
I'm not proud of it, but it's the truth.
How could a guy who finds it a chore just to look after his own lazy self have the spare mental energy to worry about others?
Anyway, all that aside.
In the end, only my disciple is left. It doesn't mean he definitely knows, but he'd know much more than me or the Shiba guy.
"I fail to see why you are so certain, Master."
At my words, my disciple looked at me with a sour expression. He looked as though he found my absolute confidence absurd.
'Hmm. True, they've never actually been seen hanging out together.'
But seeing how my disciple, the Shiba guy, and the Shihoin woman—along with a few others—eventually cracked open the Soul King's back in the original story and became the Four or Five Noble Families, they had to have been intertwined somehow.
Excluding my disciple, who feared the Soul King's power, Shihoin and Shiba both trusted and followed the King who had saved their lives.
If he could shake those two with mere words and persuade them to join his side, it's safe to assume he can read them like an open book.
"So, why are you inquiring about Shihoin?"
Even if I brought this up, my disciple would probably just play the 'I'm just a private individual' card and maintain his ignorance.
I can see it now.
"It's nothing much. She seemed to have something on her mind, so I gave her a bit of counseling. But then she suddenly stopped her daily ambushes. I thought you might know something, but if you don't, then never mind."
"...Counseling, you say?"
My disciple spoke as he lowered his eyes.
In that split second as he bowed his head, his gaze turned chillingly sharp. It was the look of someone clearly about to stir up some trouble.
He was probably thinking about what to do with Shihoin now that she might have leaked his plans.
Or perhaps he was thinking about what to do with me, since I seem to know everything about his schemes.
Neither prospect sat well with me.
"Hey, hey, hey."
When I tapped him on the shoulder with the back of my hand, he flinched and jerked his head up.
"Ah."
"Kid, look at those eyes. They're so scary I can barely talk to you. I don't care what you do, but stick to two rules. One: Don't annoy me. Two: Don't cause any unnecessary ruckus in this forest. Got it?"
"...Understood."
"You're so smart that even your 'understood' sounds ominous. Anyway... yeah. I'm leaving, so keep things within reasonable limits."
As I turned around and waved my hand, I felt his gaze following me with a subtle intensity.
A stinging sensation pricked at my heart—it wasn't that he was planning what to do with Shihoin for blabbing. It was that he was trying to figure out what to do with *me* for knowing.
Ugh, damn it, it was the latter.
Things would've gotten a lot more annoying if I had poked further.
"Sigh... This is why smart bastards are so annoying..."
They could just say things directly, but they have to overthink and make everything complicated.
If I hadn't explicitly said I didn't care what he did, I might've ended up taxidermied right alongside the Soul King.
'But still...'
Chuckling to myself as I walked, I suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky.
I am called his Master, after all. A little lesson in manners shouldn't hurt, right?
* * *
Watching my Master's receding back as he trudged away, I bit my lip.
'How much does he truly know?'
I already knew that he was aware of my plan to seal the Soul King.
That was unavoidable. After all, it was Master himself who provided the catalyst for that plan through his woodcarvings.
Not simply negating and killing the Soul King's existence, but a being that looks down upon the world... In other words, by pulling a god down to our level, we make him a 'piece' that composes the world, thereby establishing a firmer and safer universe.
'It's only natural he knows that much. But...'
But there was one massive variable in this plan.
The existence of Master himself.
Master could sabotage or overturn this plan whenever he wished.
A single whim from him could turn everything I've built into nothingness.
That was why I had factored in Master's interference and whims into my calculations, performing them thousands—no, tens of thousands of times to establish a plan that would yield the best possible result.
Therefore, Master simply knowing about the plan wasn't the issue.
The puzzling part was...
—I don't care what you do, but stick to two rules. One: Don't annoy me. Two: Don't cause any unnecessary ruckus in this forest.
The fact that Master knew everything and simply let it slide.
Even the fact that I wouldn't touch him, and the fact that my plan involved 'peeling' this entire forest away from the world to leave it floating for eternity.
It made it even more incomprehensible.
'Just how much do you know...!'
If you know all that, why don't you stop me? Why don't you resist?
It is different from the Soul King. The Soul King is closer to a phenomenon; I know he is indifferent even to his own death.
But Master... that entity is different.
He feels joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. He is a deeply emotional being. Why then, knowing his own safety is at risk, does he take no action?
'Is it a manifestation of confidence that he can stop anything? Or is it a bluff because he has no way to stop it?'
It was as I was glaring at him with gritted teeth.
I felt my entire upper body, from my neck to my hips, explode—it was as if I couldn't withstand the pressure and had literally been reduced to a mere handful of blood.
"...Guh-hk!?"
My breath hitched, and with a spinning sensation in my head, my legs gave out.
A sharp ringing filled my ears, and my vision went black for an instant.
"Huff!"
The moment light flooded back into my blurred vision, my heart, which had stopped for a fleeting moment, began to pound again.
Startled, I pressed my hand against my chest, feeling the heavy thud of my heart performing its duty.
'My heart... it was beating all along...'
No one explained it to me, but I knew.
What just happened was the result of my senses sharpening to the extreme upon sensing a lethal threat, causing my body to react as if it had died.
And that threat of death was because my body, unable to withstand the killing intent sent by the entity standing before me, had instinctively surrendered to death.
The area beneath my eyes trembled uncontrollably.
'He is on a different dimension.'
Thinking his whims would derail the plan?
"Ha..."
I was arrogant.
I was far too overconfident in myself.
I shouldn't have been worrying about the plan going awry; I should have been worrying about how to stay alive right now.
As I lowered my head and swallowed hard, a voice drifted down from directly above me—I hadn't even noticed him approaching.
"You shouldn't glare at your esteemed Master like that."
"...I apologize."
That thing... no, Master, had the power to kill me easily, yet he chose to remain as my 'Master'.
While terrified, I felt a terrifyingly deep sense of relief at that fact.
"You don't look so good. Go inside and sleep if you're tired."
"...Thank you... for... your concern..."
The touch of his hand patting my shoulder was undoubtedly gentle.
But my body could only tremble helplessly at the contact of such an incomprehensible existence.
* * *
I had just finished teaching some manners to my disciple, who was suddenly sending killing intent my way, and was taking a stroll through the nearby forest.
Just then, I felt someone approaching the forest.
At first, I thought the Soul King was bringing someone else, but I couldn't sense the Soul King's presence.
'Who is it?'
My head was already a bit cluttered, so this was a welcome distraction.
With that thought, I headed toward the source of the presence, but the presence suddenly turned around.
"...What?"
Did they sense me?
To think someone had such excellent spiritual sensing abilities.
Curious, I moved closer, but they suddenly changed direction again.
This time, they were heading right toward me.
"What is this guy doing...?"
Just in case, I stopped in my tracks. The presence coming toward me immediately veered off in another direction.
After that, the presence turned seven more times before finally coming to a dead stop.
At this point, I didn't even need to look to know.
'This person has absolutely zero sense of direction.'
The owner of this presence wasn't reacting to me at all; they were just a hopeless, direction-challenged mess.
"Sigh..."
I should go see who it is. I'm curious, and I can't just leave them out there for days; it'll start to bug me.
Trudging over to where they were, I found a black-haired woman crouching on the ground.
"I'm going to die here..."
What kind of person tries to die in someone else's front yard?