Chapter 173 – Side Story: Memorandum of a Certain High Government Official ①
Year 20X1
July, the 15th
All mankind received an Email of the 【World Salvation Project】
The afore-mentioned mail was considered to be a massive spam mail, but the situation took a sudden turn at 5 p.m. The leaders of all nations received a threatening mail, stating 『Please forward an official recommendation to take the aptitude test to all your citizens. If you fail to comply until 6 p.m., the Minister of Defense will die. If you still haven’t done it by 9 p.m., the Prime Minister will also lose their life』. The countries (including our own), who didn’t comply with the demand, all were faced with the death of their respective Ministers of Defense at exactly 6 p.m. As a result, all nations recommended their citizens to partake in the aptitude test. This day would later become known as 『Cataclysm』.
July, the 16th
Inviolable areas appeared all over the world.
The number of inviolable areas increased in density in proportion to the populace density in the respective region. More than 90% of Tokyo turned into inviolable areas.
July, the 17th
It was decided that any further governing has become impossible in Tokyo. The governmental function were relocated to the Autonomous District 『Megafloat』 which had been established on the reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, and allowed the sheltering of one million people. 800,000 people altogether, including high government officials, scholars, and celebrities, migrated there. With all transportation facilities destroyed, the remaining Tokyo residents migrated to the adjacent prefectures such as Chiba, Ibaraki, Saitama, and Gunma.
July, the 25th
A certain country dropped a nuclear weapon on an inviolable area. The targeted area remained completely unharmed. It just increased the land where humans couldn’t live any longer.
August, the 16th
10 a.m. All mankind received a revelation from Goddess (temporary name). It revealed ‘Domains’ to be the official name of the inviolable areas. The revelation was one-sided, not allowing for any question from our side.
An application called 『World Salvation Project』 was installed on the smartphones of the humans who took the aptitude test (to be called Law from now on) as a present of Goddess. After this it became possible to invade the Domains.
A part of the humans became capable of causing magic-like supernatural phenomenons referred to as Special Abilities.
Going by a JSDF investigation, only 12 people could invade a Domain at a time.
6 p.m. – Because of an independent action by high military authorities of the JSDF, belonging to the hardliner faction, 12,000 soldiers were dispatched into the Domains scattered all over the country. The outcome was terrible. The number of casualties totaled to 3,876. Several of the hardliner officials took responsibility for their reckless plan, and resigned.
The existence of fantastic life-forms ― monsters, living inside the Domains, was confirmed. The fact that 『Science, the crystallization of knowledge』 ― or in other words, modern weaponry, including guns, didn’t work against said monsters was also established.
August, the 19th
The first Japanese, who leveled up, appeared. It was sudden and unbelievable, but it seemed as though humans could raise their levels by killing monsters, which would then allow them to boost their physical abilities by assigning BP to their Body stat. Moreover, the existence of treasure chests inside Domains was confirmed. Some of them contained weapons and armors that proved to be effective for battling monsters.
After this day, the number of people invading Domains in their quest for honor or money started to rapidly grow.
August, the 23rd
One week passed since the 『Goddess’ Revelation』.
Fortunately our citizens didn’t starve thanks to food production through the cutting-edge biotechnology of our country, but in some of the undeveloped countries, people successively starved, and there were even some countries who covered their food needs by eating the monsters inhabiting Domains. However, some of the food and beverage, which had been part of daily life before the 『Cataclysm』, became luxury items.
August, the 27th
Eyewitness reports of monster hordes ravaging the land outside their Domain in Yokohama reached us. Many people, who had believed that the land outside the Domains was safe, lost their lives.
With this incident as a trigger, the number of people invading (leveling in) Domains further. According to statistics, close to 70% of all humans started to enter Domains. Furthermore, local governments and prominent enterprises began to support (headhunt) excellent Domain crawlers. Even my workplace, the Japanese government, began to assist excellent citizens actively hunting in the Domains of Tokyo.
September, the 14th
America succeeded in the world-first Domain liberation. Two hours after them, Germany also succeeded. Since this day, the great news of Domain liberations all over the world started to flow in.
September, the 15th
Our country also succeeded in its first domain liberation. The ones achieving this great feat were JSDF members in Hokkaido. Afterwards, news of successful Domain liberations in the prefectures of Kanagawa, Fukuoka, Osaka, Kobe, Aichi, and Miyagi followed in succession.
At this point, a lot of information about the Domains’ interior, such as the monster types, the trap types, and the existence of rest areas, had been gathered and published.
September, the 18th
We were informed of the surprising fact that Demon Kings might be former humans by a human who had liberated a Domain with the support of the government. Demon Kings were former humans…? The number of Demon Kings existing in Japan was approximately 16,000. Assuming all of them were former humans…none of their family members noticed their missing? It would be one thing if there had been at least a single missing report, but we never received any such reports. Maybe they were foreigners then? However, according to the reports, the Demon Kings resembled Japanese people. Did they come from the future? Extraterrestrial life…? If it’s this broken world…it’s not impossible as a theory. The mysteries revolving around the Demon Kings only deepened. We asked the state-supported humans whether it would be possible to negotiate with the Demon Kings, but received a negative answer.
November, the 1st
The government’s leader board started an important project that would affect our future ― the 『Demon King Capture Operation』.
November, the 7th
It was confirmed that Demon Kings couldn’t be extracted out of their Domain. The project’s outlines were revised, changing them to incapacitating a Demon King within their Domain.
November, the 19th
Even after failing with the incapacitation of a Demon King, we managed to obtain crucial information.
It appeared Demon Kings created monsters by using a smartphone. In other words, stealing the smartphone from a Demon King was going to become the key factor for the project’s success.
Create monsters with a smartphone? Does it mean that the theory of Demon Kings being former humans is correct?
December, the 3rd
We succeeded in incapacitating a Demon King. Since it wasn’t possible to write down the Demon King’s name, we dubbed him A. We were able to extract various pieces of information from Demon King A.
① Demon Kings are former humans. The reason why we don’t possess any of the Demon Kings’ personal information of their time as humans is founded in a complete erasure of their existence (memories of them)
② Just like with humans, Demon Kings also have the concept of leveling. The number of floors in a Domain reflects the Demon King’s level. The level of Demon King A was 2.
③ Demon King A’s level was 2, but his abilities rivaled a human above level 15.
④ The monsters created by Demon King A couldn’t leave his Domain.
⑤ We tried to analyze the smartphone owned by Demon King A, but we couldn’t unlock it, no matter what kind of method we applied.
⑥ Demon King A could use the Internet.
The last point ⑥ caused a heavy controversy. Posts by people calling themselves Demon Kings had been frequently appearing on the Internet. Although it didn’t apply to all of those posts, it was still deemed for a part of them to have truly been posted by Demon Kings.
Learning of this fact, some people insisted on severing all communication lines. However, it was impossible to precisely cut off only the Demon Kings. Seven base stations currently exist in Japan. The range covered by a single station is extremely wide, and if we were to shut down such a station, the people living within its range would be cut off from the Internet as well. In our modern times, the Internet has completely permeated into the daily lives of all humans. You could say that living without the Internet had become next to impossible at this point.
Even when we tried to specify the Demon King’s IPs, the very existence of the Demon Kings had been wiped from our records and memories. The logic behind it was unknown, but even when we inquired the ISP about the logs corresponding to Demon King A’s IP, they found no information. However, it was still possible for Demon King A to use the Internet. Are the Demon King traces actually existing with us just being unable to recognize them? It was a setting with too much of a bad taste to call it divine work.
Plans to shutdown a part of the websites with a big spread were also put forth, but the backlash by the citizens would be endless…and above all, the information exchange across the Internet by people daily striving towards the liberation of Domains had become the norm.
In the end, as a result of extended conferences and consultations, we maintained the status quo, respecting the opinion of the people working on Domain liberations.
Chapter 174 – Side Story: Memorandum of a Certain High Government Official ②
December, the 25th
Around the time when it had become rare for monsters to ravage the areas outside their Domains ― the worst possible incident, which would later be labeled as 『Disaster of Christmas Eve』 by a certain country, took place. A swarm of monsters, which had launched an attack on a military base, pillaged a large amount of weapons, including guns. Then a horde of goblins equipped with guns started to massacre our citizens.
December, the 28th
Is the number of monsters capable of leaving a Domain limited? Since the horde of gun-wielding goblins only numbered 30, even if that alone was already quite a big number, the people representing a certain country concentrated their efforts and killed the horde.
Year 20X2
January, the 15th
At great cost of life, we succeeded in liberating the Domain inhabited by the monsters who had pillaged the weapons. Public opinion shifted towards 『Modern Weapons』, which couldn’t harm monsters but still worked against humans, doing no good and a lot of harm. A certain country, which prided itself as world police, claimed that now wasn’t the time to fight among humans, and took the initiative in disposing of its 『Modern Weapons』. All countries in the world, naturally including ours as well, followed suit.
It was truly ironic that the abolition of nuclear weaponry, which had been advocated over many decades, came true with the war against the Demon Kings as a trigger.
February, the 7th
We succeeded in incapacitating the second Demon King. Since it wasn’t possible to write down the Demon King’s name, we dubbed him B.
Demon King B’s level was higher than Demon King A’s, namely 5, and he became a big help in solving many mysteries.
① The monsters capable of leaving a Domain are only the Demon King’s close aides, called 『Kin』, and the subordinates of those kin. The types and numbers of a kin’s subordinates are decided by a mysterious value called a kin’s LP.
② Demon Kings can evolve once they reach level 3. Demon King B had evolved into a Demon King (Beast)
③ If Demon Kings raise their Knowledge stat, they will be able to obtain knowledge about the rules for Chaos in the 『World Salvation Project』. Because Demon King B’s Knowledge was at D, we couldn’t gain any crucial information from him.
④ If a kin, who left its Domain, touches the 『True Core』 of a Domain ruled by another Demon King, it becomes possible to take over the Domain. It clarified the mystery of recently observed Domain unifications.
It’s a digression, but Demon King A was finished off by the Prime Minister after having served his purpose. The Prime Minister leveled up drastically. He allotted all of the BP he obtained to Knowledge.
May, the 3rd
The first person to have reached level 50 in Japan appeared among the Tokyo citizens supported by the government. Once someone became level 50, their class evolved. The person in question evolved from a Swordsman to a Magic Swordsman.
The effects of evolution were tremendous. Your abilities would increase dramatically, and you would also obtain several new Special Abilities.
The Japanese government notified all local governments of its plan to rear humans towards level 50. A law for the administration to shelter all people, who exceeded level 50, was passed. The government hoped for this bill to help with the strengthening of the citizens, and at the same time, to prevent information disclosure to the Demon Kings.
Year 20X3
July, the 15th
Two years passed since the appearance of Domains in this world ― the beginning of the 『World Salvation Project』. The high adaptability of humans was as astonishing as ever. At the time when Domains appeared all over the world, mankind fell into a state of panic. They were presented with powers on the day of 『Cataclysm』, and one month later, succeeded in liberating their first Domain. After three months had passed, the number of people, who began adapting to the completely changed world, grew, and once a year had passed, many people had adapted to the new circumstances. And nowadays, this kind of world has been accepted as the norm.
Having said that, Japan changed drastically over those two years. The winners and losers became clear. The winners called heroes who had gained experience in liberating Domains and killing Demon Kings. The winners called blacksmiths who would produce weapons that could easily cut through monsters. The winners called supporters who would back those fighting at the forefront, despite not joining the battles themselves. The winners called leaders ― the ones organizing and rallying all humans together.
Organizations, which were famous for their anti-Demon King efforts, existed in many places all over Japan. Going beyond simple fame, the JSDF unit stationed in Hokkaido’s Higashi-Chitose. The Hiraizumi’s local government in the Iwate Prefecture. The JSDF unit stationed in the naval base of Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture. A major company located in Nagano City. The yakuza across the whole Kansai area. Students living in Kyoto City. Believers based in Izumo City of the Shimane Prefecture. Kure’s city administration in Hiroshima Prefecture. The yakuza all over Kyushu. And lastly, the Japanese government located in Tokyo’s 『Megafloat』. In addition, many other organizations consisting of student bodies or local governments are active all over the country.
The ones clearly split into winners and losers aren’t just us humans either. The Demon Kings made it even more clear who’s to be counted as a winner.
13 Demon Kings classified as Hazard Rank S exist in Japan:
Masaya ― a Demon King who’s been rapidly expanding his dominion from Hokkaido’s Sapporo City.
Sumire ― a Demon King who’s been expanding her dominion from Tohoku’s Sendai City.
Keisuke ― a Tokyo Demon King recognized as the highest leveled Demon King in Japan, despite his low number of domains.
Yui ― Yokohama’s Demon King who’s feared by the people for her clever traps and her militaristic leadership.
Nameless (Alias) ― a Demon King of the Nagano Prefecture, who’s shrouded in complete mystery.
Hayate ― a Demon King who occupied all the car factories located in Toyota City
Yoichi ― Kobe’s Demon King who is said to have equipped all his monsters with exceptional arms.
Ginga ― Osaka’s Demon King who’s said to hold the highest level within Japan, rivaling Kanto’s Keisuke.
Shion ― a Demon King who’s been expanding his dominion from Hokuriku’s Kanezawa City.
Hibari ― Nara’s Demon King who hasn’t allowed anyone to return alive after seeing their appearance through their overwhelming magic power.
Luna ― Hiroshima’s Demon King who’s overrunning the lands around her with staggering numbers of forces.
Arata ― a Demon King who’s been expanding his dominion from Shikoku’s Sanuki.
Mei ― a Demon King of Fukuoka City who’s been repeatedly staging fierce battles against the humans.
What makes those 13 Demon Kings such a pain for us is their active approach to pick fights with us, even without any aggression from our side, although they’re all beings we would originally like to leave alone by putting up a 『Stay away』 warning.
Those 13 Hazard Rank S Demon Kings are all calamities requiring us humans to fight them.
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