Chapter 160

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-- Chapter 160
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borisdrakoni (Spoiler):

Inciter More Evil Than the Gods

Hajime finally managed to wake up and sees everyone worriedly clustered around him.  A man going through a similar experience would surely mutter, “Ah, I've died.  This must be heaven.” finding himself surrounded by so many beautiful girls.  Seeing Hajime wake up, Myuu, Shia, Kaori, Tio, and Shizuku called out to him with tears at the corners of their eyes.

Hajime apologized for worrying them and thanked Kaori for healing him.  Kaori was crying in relief since she had been worried when his heart temporarily stopped.  Shia was still angry at Hajime so he said he was sorry again for going on a rampage.

Myuu asked him if he was alright now.  Hajime apologized to her for showing her a bad side of him and told her that she was already stronger than him.  Myuu giggled and told him it was because she was his daughter and buried her face in his chest, proud and embarrassed at his praise .  Hajime patted her on the head.

Tio said that it was best that Hajime was safe, but it was regrettable that she couldn't do mouth to mouth.  Hajime retorted, asking what she was trying to do while he was on the boundary of life and death.

He then asked Shizuku why she was looking away with an awkward facial expression.  She replied that she had also wanted a kiss for that reason.  Since the fact that she did not even try to use a pretext of CPR as an excuse went unnoticed to her, Hajime reflexively wanted to insert a tsukkomi wondering where the yamato nadeshiko went.

Shia and Kaori also looked away into the distance.  Everyone apparently had wanted to attack Hajime in his sleep, though it apparently ended only in an attempt.  Since the Majin tribe were still perplexedly kneeling down, not much time had passed since Hajime lost consciousness.

With the current atmosphere Hajime again felt Yue's absence and recognized the other girls who are also supporting him.  Painting over the memory of his bitter defeat with the smiles of his reliable companions, Hajime made a new vow to himself.  Looking up at the sky with a difficult to describe expression, Hajime thought of his beloved who was gone.

Seeing Hajime like that, Shia and the other girls start to call out to him, but it was Myuu who struck preemptively.

Myuu, with a smile mimicking Yue, told Hajime that it was alright.  Like the time when mimicking Hajime to show her courage, this time to comfort Hajime she thought she just had to imitate Yue.  Hajime was touched by his brave daughter's encouragement, but he was still making light of her.  If she was to do something she would do it thoroughly.  Looking into Hajime's eyes, she put her small hands on his cheeks, and...

“In place of Yue-oneechan, Myuu will make Papa energetic.”

“No, Myuu, what are you...”

Hajime could not prevent it, but due to slightly averting his face Myuu kissed the edge of his lips.  The girls raised a shout, while Tio praisingly commented that Myuu was a frightening child for catching even Hajime off guard.

Seeing Hajime pushed down by a little girl, everyone was in an uproar.  Remia came up commenting on Myuu's boldness, but said that she shouldn't aim at the husband's lips, since they belonged to Mama.  Shia retorted saying who is the “husband” and what “Mama's possession”, asking her not to casually slip being a married couple into the confusion.

Kaori hastily pulled Myuu apart from Hajime, though Myuu looked dissatisfied and threw a bit of a tantrum at being interrupted.  From the classmates, words like “king lady killer”, “Lolita complex”, and the like floated, but Hajime ignored them.  Meeting Remia's eyes, he wordlessly communicated the need to properly educate Myuu later.  There was one perverted nature he absolutely never wanted her to learn.

Shaking his head at the unpleasant image, Hajime transmuted a sword from the stonework.  Made super dense by compression, it was also given the wind claw attribute, giving it an overpowering feeling.  Shia and the others widened their eyes in surprise at this action while the Majin tribe stiffened.

Kaori anxiously called out to him, but Myuu from Remia's arms said it was safe.  Seeing Hajime with his usual atmosphere, Kaori breathed a sigh of relief.

Like a small time thug, Hajime threatened the Majin people to extort information out of them about the gods' world and the gate that could take them to it.	From behind him, comments about Hajime being like a gangster and a villain are coming, although Myuu seemed to think it was good, astonishing the others.

Since they were just normal people, Hajime gave up on getting any useful information out of them.  He created a cage and added Space magic to it so that they could not easily escape.  The Majin people breathed a sigh of relief that at least he wouldn't kill them.

Returning to the others, Hajime produced a table and chairs for everyone.  Hajime, Shia, Kaori, Tio, Shizuku, Suzu, Ryuutaro, Aiko, Liliana, Remia, and Myuu sat at one side while the rest of the classmates sat at the other.  Myuu wanted to sit on Hajime's lap, but was held by Remia who read the air properly.

Hajime started off talking about Yue being possessed by Ehito and the plan to destroy the world in three days.  Shia continued that it is necessary to go to the gods' world to rescue Yue, but the golden gate created by Ehito could not be passed through and they needed another means to get there.  Tio brought up the crystal key, but Hajime sighed, saying that it would probably have been possible if he still had the key, but without Yue he could only create an inferior version of it.

Since Aiko and the rest didn't know what the crystal key was, Shizuku sadly explained, and after a moment of silence they raised a shout of astonishment.  Some of them started badgering Hajime to make another key immediately, but Aiko quieted them down after seeing Hajime get irritated.  They raised another fuss when Hajime told them his first priority is now to get Yue back, but he used Overpowering to make them quiet, reminding them that since Ehito was targeting Earth next nowhere was safe.

Getting back to the talk, Hajime says the degraded crystal key may not be able to overcome the restriction on entering the gods' world.  Regrettably they might have to wait the three days for the invasion to begin.

Suzu, with a dark expression, asks if he can win while remembering not being able to do anything against Ehito before.  Hajime answered easily that he will win.  Suzu got a little angry and asked him how he can say that.  Her spirit seemed to have started breaking a little.  Eri who she wanted to reunite with had not noticed her at all.  The demonic beasts she had called had been slaughtered by the apostles.  The illusion magic of Ehito of being torn to pieces had planted a deep fear in her.

Hajime asked her if that was it.  To her confusion, Hajime reminded her and the others who were feeling despair about going against a god about how he who was called incapable, and climbed out of hell with his own power.

Hajime put on his usual fearless grin and declared that he would absolutely get Yue back and kill Ehito.  The hunter and the hunted were now reversed.  Suzu, having such a Hajime staring right into her eyes, trembled and blushed.  Hajime told her that if she could not keep going, that he would end everything.  The implication was that if Suzu kept fighting, he would leave Eri to her, otherwise he would take care of (kill) Eri himself.  He looked over at Ryuutaro and Shizuku wordlessly transmitting the same choice to them regarding Kouki.  To the classmates who saw Hajime, some shrank back, others looked at him with flushed faces and stars in their eyes, and others put on a look of determination.

Suzu broke out of her funk and told him to leave Eri and Kouki to her.  Ryuutaro also got his spirits up and was determined to bring Kouki to his senses.  Shizuku stated her desire to punish Kouki for his ridiculousness and beat Eri down, and while blushing said she would follow Hajime wherever he went.  Most of the class was surprised since they didn't know about Shizuku's feelings, though some of the girls had guessed it.  Some of the girls looked at Hajime with blushed cheeks and called him a modern Don Juan.

Confirming the group that will attempt to invade the gods' territory, Hajime tried to move the talk along, but was interrupted by Liliana who asked him what would happen if the kingdom is attacked while their strongest war potential was in the gods' realm.

Turning to her, Hajime declared his hatred for Ehito, saying that he would not let anything go the god's way from now on while laughing evilly.  He would also slaughter the apostles, Fried, and the demonic beasts.  With a cramp in her cheek, Liliana asked if something could be done about a large army of apostles invading.  Hajime told her he would come up with a concrete plan later, but he would provide artifacts to the soldiers, adventurers, and mercenaries to strengthen them.

Lily mentioned that the number of people they could gather in three days would be limited, but Hajime said they would go around the world collecting people using the gate.  Tio confusedly asked if all of the artifacts weren't currently destroyed.  Hajime responded that he had buried some of his important items underground at Schnee Snowfield prior to being transported to the castle.  These included the gate key, compass, proofs of capture, holy water, and Kaori's body.  Though Kaori's body should be dug up soon since it would become a real burial if the ice melted.  Kaori was in a hurry to reclaim her body, but Hajime calmed her down for the time being by patting her.

Hajime brought up another issue of getting people to believe them about the world ending in three days, but he proposed a solution of creating an artifact with Reproduction magic to show people the image of what happened there.  He planned to show it to Catherine, Ilwa, Lor, Ranzi, Alfrerick, and Gahard whom he had all met before and thought they could easily help gather war potential.  He also planned to use Aiko to stir up the people using the story of the imposter Ehito using imitation apostles.

After a bit of back and forth, Aiko was convinced Hajime had talent as an inciter and manipulator.  Some of the girls were muttering “Hajime-sama”.

Hajime said that the fight for the human race needed a strong leader for which the king of a single country was insufficient.  The only one able to do it was Aiko-sensei.  He asked if she could do it.

At Hajime's words, Aiko trembled.  She asked him what he said at the end.  He responded that he asked if she could do it, but she said not that.  He had called her “Aiko-sensei”.  He asked if there was a problem with that, but she said before he had only called her “Sensei”.  Hajime inclined his head asking if that was the case.  Aiko asked him to say it again, but this time to leave the “-sensei” part out.

The classmates raised another commotion at this unexpected turn of events.  Hajime wanted to put in a tsukkomi thinking about his position.  Shia, Kaori, and Shizuku shared a look and a wry smile.  Hajime finally gave in and called her Aiko directly, and she got fired up, determined to show off a social studies teacher's characteristic.

Hearing the classmates muttering about him being an eroge protagonist, Casanova, etc made Hajime's cheek cramp.

Coughing, Liliana interjected that she would also work hard, repeating that until Hajime called her Lily.

Sighing, Hajime finally moved the conversation forward.  Everyone switched to a more serious atmosphere.

He summed up their plans.  Yue is his top priority.  Though the invasion would begin in three days, he and his group will try to pass through the gate into the gods' realm.  Eri and Kouki would be left to Suzu and the others.  The rest would intercept the apostles that invaded.  He then announced the schedule for the next three days.

Hajime, Kaori, Remia, and Myuu would go to Orcus to mass produce artifacts.  Keeping Myuu and Remia close he wanted to prevent a hostage situation from happening again.

Shia would go to Miledi to get her cooperation and any information she might have.  She promised to clear the labyrinth in half a day if she couldn't find a shortcut in.

Tio would go to her hometown and enlist her people's help.  Though she might have trouble going that distance in three days, Hajime said they would make it work out with the artifacts somehow.

Shizuku would go to the empire since Gahard favored her and he probably still held a grudge against Hajime over the collar.  She was a bit shocked to be sent to the side of another man who was pursuing her, but Hajime told her that if Gahard joked around, she should tell him that “If you court Shizuku Yaegashi, Hajime Nagumo won't keep silent.”  Blushing, she told him that surprise attacks weren't fair.

Aiko and Lily would go to the king's capital and collect war potential, inciting the crowd so they could fight against the apostles.  Additionally the regular citizens should be evacuated.  Hajime then instructed some of the classmates to help with building fortifications.

Suzu and Ryuutaro would go to the Sea of Trees to get help from Alfrerick and the Haulia.  Afterward they should join him in Orcus to continue strengthening using Transformation magic with the monsters in hell.

Finishing out a few more details, Hajime finally gave all of them a rousing speech, charming them with his wild ferocity.  To his final words that he will grasp victory, a loud roar was returned.

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