Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou

The three officers of the student council were always busy. It was not that President Lily Shiraishi was irresponsible. She simply felt she could ignore the more formal aspects as long as she did the bare minimum of what was needed, so the odd jobs were always left to the vice president, treasurer and secretary.

“I don’t have enough tomato juice, arinsu,” said Ootake Michie as she stared at a mana screen.

She always had white skin, red eyes, and an unhealthy appearance, but she currently looked especially sickly.

“There’s some tomato juice on your desk, gya,” said Kamiyama Kanna while pointing to Michie’s desk.

She had a boyish or even wild appearance, but with her hair disheveled and the exhausted look on her face, she went beyond wild and looked more like a castaway. Her mana screen also displayed a large amount of data.

“The tomato juice you bought doesn’t have any salt, arinsu!”

Michie pounded on the desk and the can of tomato juice with a straw in it bounced up a bit.

Kanna grimaced in annoyance.

“You can’t put salt in tomato juice, gya. It has to be unsalted, gya. Natural is best, gya.”

“Can’t you do something about that naturalism of yours, arinsu? When I’m tired, I want salt. I won’t give that up, arinsu.”

“How about you let your sweat dry and lick up that, gya?”

“You must really want me to pluck out all of your hair, arinsu.”

Michie and Kanna stopped moving as they glared at each other.

Having noticed the situation’s downward spiral, the third member spoke up.

“Guga.”

She was a tall, bespectacled L’Isle-Adam with long black hair. Like many L’Isle-Adams, she gave a cool impression and her expression rarely changed. However, there was something in her tone that left no room for argument.

Michie and Kanna both leaned back in their chairs.

“I suppose it is my fault for being so exhausted, arinsu.”

“And I realize I’m being irritable, gya.”

“Guga, guuga, guga, guga,” continued the L’Isle-Adam whose name was Arnoul.

Michie smiled in amus.e.m.e.nt. She and Kanna could understand what she said.

“I see. You’re right, arinsu. We do need to get out sometimes, arinsu.”

“Come to think of it, we haven’t had a day off in a while, gya.”

“That’s because of what happened during the Zero War, arinsu. We haven’t gotten any rest since then, arinsu.”

“We’ve been busy cleaning up even though we were injured too, gya. The president is so cold-hearted, gya.”

“Then how about we cut loose for once, arinsu?”

“Sounds great, gya!”

Michie and Kanna were excited.

“Guga.”

“Arnoul, don’t worry about paying for anything, gya. This can count as an apology for punching you while you were being controlled by Zero, gya.”

Kanna beat her chest proudly and Michie looked over with admiration.

“You sure are generous, arinsu.”

“No, I mean the two of us will pay for her, gya.”

“Really? Well, fine. If it’s for Arnoul, arinsu.”

Michie looked surprised at first, but she quickly grinned.

Kanna smiled as well, but her expression soon grew serious.

“But we still have to worry about the president, gya.”

“She’ll never allow us a day off, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

They all crossed their arms in thought, but they could not find anything to say. Finally, Kanna shook her head.

“Thinking about it isn’t going to help, gya!”

“There’s just no way to get a day off out of her, arinsu.”

Michie also spread her arms in defeat, but Arnoul opened her mouth to suggest something.

“Guga, guga.”

As if influenced by those words, a glint entered Kanna’s eyes.

“We just have to make a run for it, gya.”

Michie nodded with a serious expression.

“The president is dealing with a call. This is our chance, arinsu.”

Michie and Kana exchanged a grin. They kicked away their chairs simultaneously, turned around, and rushed for the door. As the door burst open, they slid out into the hallway and ran. Arnoul walked calmly, yet somehow matched the other two’s speed.

But they all came to a stop when a voice called out from behind them.

“Hey, perfect timing. I just got an odd call.”

They did not need to turn around to know the voice belonged to Lily Shiraishi.

They began moving once more and quickly dashed forward.

“…Hey, wait! Where the h.e.l.l do you think you’re going!?”

Lily’s arm extended, but those three were used to it. They quickly turned a corner and escaped Lily’s pursuit.

Lily was left behind, not knowing what happened.

“What’s with them? …Dammit, they’re ditching their duties, aren’t they? When they get back, I’ll torture them with my grandmother’s soy sauce rice crackers until they wish they were dead.”

She grimaced.

“But what was with that request? ‘A L’Isle-Adam servant at my house headed toward the academy while saying she would defeat the demon king’?”

She pulled out her student handbook and searched for who she wanted to call telepathically.

“I doubt those three will answer, so I’ll use the public morals committee. And he’s the one that started this in the first place, so let’s see if he can actually help society recover.”

She then telepathically called Sai Akuto.

“The president must be mad, gya.”

“We already made up our minds, so we can’t worry about that, arinsu.”

Kanna and Michie sighed with dark expressions as they entered the city, but Arnoul shook her head.

“Guga.”

“You’re right, arinsu,” said Michie with a nod. “We should forget it and just have fun, arinsu.”

“I see, gya,” said Kanna.

They were quick to switch gears and Kanna quickly filled with energy.

“Okay, let’s have some fun, gya! Let’s start with a light snack of udon and pizza, gya. And then…”

“But you always turn into your beast form after seeing something resembling the full moon like the egg in udon or a pizza, arinsu. Also, that’s a lot more than a light snack, arinsu.” Michie sounded annoyed, but she still smiled. “But pizza does sound good, arinsu. Come to think of it, a new pizza place was opened by the winner in a compet.i.tion for spinning pizza dough in one hand, arinsu.”

“Then let’s get pizza, gya. I won’t look at it until its cut, gya. And pizza has the tomato you love so much, gya.”

“And I can pour as much red tabasco sauce as I want, arinsu. Come to think of it, Italian food has a lot of red things, arinsu.”

“I can’t wait, gya!”

The three smiling girls began walking, but Arnoul suddenly spoke.

“Guga.”

“Eh? Someone’s behind us?”

“No, don’t turn around, gya.”

Michie and Kanna sounded nervous.

Someone was following them.

“I don’t want to get dragged into a commotion after taking this day off, arinsu.”

“Hm. That’s a L’Isle-Adam, gya.”

Kanna’s nose twitched as she used her sense of smell.

All three of them held power in a school filled with violent students and they had been involved in more than one war in the past. They looked cute, but they were highly skilled at combat. They estimated their pursuer’s abilities without turning around.

“But she’s really bad at hiding, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

“Hm. She’s a farming model rather than a combat model? Oh, is that why I smell dirt, gya?”

“I don’t know what she wants, but it shouldn’t be a problem for us, arinsu.”

“Yeah. If it comes down to it, we can do something about it, gya. But it’ll be a problem if she follows us, gya. Let’s lose her and then have some fun, gya. We’ll meet at the soba restaurant in the shopping district.”

The three then ran off. They split in three directions at the corner and slipped into the crowd. They would have lost even a skilled pursuer, so a non-combat L’Isle-Adam could never keep up.

Finally, they gathered at the soba restaurant one by one.

“We lost her just fine, gya.”

“Now we can relax and eat some soba, ari-… What happened to Italian, arinsu!?”

“Guga.”

“I reflexively chose the easiest place to meet up, gya. If we eat some soba, drink some sake, and look around for some new clothes, we’ll be hungry again soon enough, gya.”

“You should skip the sake, arinsu.”

The three of them opened the menu and ordered something light. Finally, sweet soba, normal soba, and buckwheat porridge were lined up on the table.

“Do you mix the wasabi into the soup or put it on the noodles, gya?”

“I’ve never really paid attention, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

“You can only eat the buckwheat porridge? Oh, that’s right, gya.”

The three of them reached for their bowls and continued their ridiculous conversation until they noticed the other customers being oddly noisy.

“Huh?”

“What’s with her? Does she want to eat?”

“Don’t look!”

All of the customers were looking in one direction and muttering amongst themselves. They were looking toward the window the three girls sat at.

“I have a bad feeling about this, arinsu.”

Michie hesitantly turned toward the window.

“Gya!”

“Guga.”

Kanna and Arnoul cried out.

A L’Isle-Adam was pressed up against the window.

“That’s the one that was following us, gya! I thought we lost her, gya!”

“Guga.”

“I see. She’s been going around and peering into all the shops and restaurants, arinsu!”

Behind the L’Isle-Adam, people at other shops and restaurants were watching her uneasily. She was drawing their attention.

The L’Isle-Adam looked like a little girl with slender arms and legs. A close look showed she had the same well-featured face as most L’Isle-Adams, but she did not seem to be tending to her looks. Overall, she looked like an energetic rural child.

“So… Who is she, gya?”

“Wh-who knows… Now that she’s gone this far, I can’t even guess, arinsu.”

Kanna and Michie exchanged a glance and stopped moving.

The L’Isle-Adam stared at the three girls like a child wanting a trumpet or a hovering kingfisher targeting a fish in the water. Her expression hinted at a reckless enthusiasm within her. It was an unusual expression for a L’Isle-Adam.

She reached a hand behind her back and pulled out a small sickle. She then left the window and entered through the automatic door. Needless to say, she headed straight for the three girls.

“Wh-wh-what is it, gya!?”

“If you want to say something, calm down and say it, arinsu.”

Without listening to Kanna or Michie, the L’Isle-Adam swung up the sickle.

“My name is Monami! I have come to defeat the demon king! I will first exterminate the demon king’s three underlings!”

The L’Isle-Adam that gave the name Monami charged toward Kanna and swung down the sickle.

“Toh!”

But it only produced a quiet and silly noise.

Kanna had stopped the sickle by catching the blade between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand.

“C-calm down, gya. No one as cute as us could be the demon king’s underlings, gya.”

“Liar! You’re wearing the uniform!”

Monami struggled, but Kanna lifted the sickle and her along with it.

“The uniform?”

“The school uniform?”

Kanna and Michie exchanged a glance.

“That’s the uniform of the demon king’s underlings! So I’ll exterminate you!” shouted Monami.

“Say what you want, but I still don’t get it, gya.”

Unsure what to do, Kanna fell silent. Michie then elbowed her in the side.

“A-anyway, let’s head outside, arinsu. We’re causing trouble for the restaurant, arinsu.”

“R-right.” Kanna nodded. “It looks like we are, gya.”

The customers and workers were staring at them.

Kanna pa.s.sed her wallet to Arnoul, grabbed as much soba as she could stuff into her mouth, and walked outside with Monami still hanging down from her hand.

“Hey! Let me go, you coward! Fight me fair and square!”

“Yes, yes. I understand, gya. But let’s head somewhere else, gya.”

“Um, I apologize for the inconvenience, arinsu.”

Kanna and Michie continued bowing to the other people even after leaving the restaurant.

As Monami showed no sign of quieting down, they exchanged a troubled glance.

“Guga.”

Arnoul left after paying and she pointed to the other end of the shopping district.

“Good idea, arinsu. Let’s go the park, arinsu.”

“That would be best, gya.”

Monami continued to struggle as they walked to the park.

“Let me go! Cowards!”

“You could always just let go of the sickle, gya,” suggested Kanna after arriving in the park.

“Oh,” said Monami in sudden realization. “You’re right.”

She let go, fell to the ground, and pointed confidently at Kanna.

“Heh heh heh heh. Now that I’m free, you don’t stand a chance. Prepare yourself!”

Monami tried to rush at Kanna again.

“I told you to calm down, gya.”

Kanna swung her hand. The fingers still held the sickle and the sickle’s handle pa.s.sed within a few dozen centimeters of Monami’s face. But Monami jumped backwards with a frightened look.

“A weapon!? You coward! I get it now. You told me to let go so you could steal my weapon! How dastardly! But I should have expected no less from the demon king’s underlings!”

“No, we aren’t his underlings, gya.”

Kanna was getting annoyed, but Monami had lost her temper.

But then Arnoul stood in Monami’s way.

“Guga.”

“Nh, you sure are big!”

Monami flinched back.

“Guga, guga, guuga.”

“Are you also saying you aren’t the demon king’s underlings?”

Monami could understand Arnoul’s words. And Arnoul then started using a compressed language that other L’Isle-Adams could understand.

“Guga, guuga, guga, guga, guga, guguguga.”

“Eh? The demon king goes to the school that uniform belongs to, but he hasn’t taken over the school? And there are a lot of other people who want to exterminate the demon king, but they have all given up after failing? Really?”

Momami repeated what Arnoul was saying.

Arnoul had also conveyed a lot more information to her, but it seemed Monami had only understood that. But that was enough.

“I see…” She looked down with a sad look. “I just wanted to defeat the demon king. I shouldn’t have done that to you three. I apologize.”

Monami bowed deeply.

“As long as you understand, gya. If you’ve learned your lesson, stop doing stupid things, gya. Don’t attack anyone else just because they’re wearing this uniform, gya.”

With that, Kanna returned the sickle.

Momami stored it at her waist and began trudging away.

Michie gave a bitter look as she watched her leave.

“I feel like we did something wrong, arinsu.”

“What else could we have done, gya? Also, if she’s a L’Isle-Adam why is she a small child and why is she so stupid, gya?”

Kanna pouted her lips.

“Guga,” responded Arnoul.

According to her, child L’Isle-Adams were created for old people with no children of their own and no one to look after. However, they would often change owners due to their purchaser’s death. And when one stayed in one place long enough to gain a sense of self, no one would buy them and they would end up helping with light work such as gardening.

“Also, there’s a good chance that this one has some kind of defect, arinsu.”

Michie’s tone was dark.

“But she must have an owner, gya.”

“Guga.”

“Even if she does, we can’t contact them right away and her telepathic communication ability is probably broken, arinsu?”

Michie shrugged at Arnoul’s explanation.

An awkward silence followed.

“W-well, let’s go eat some pizza, gya. I can’t taste the soba anymore, gya.”

Kanna forced a smile.

“Guga.”

“Th-that’s right, arinsu,” said Michie awkwardly. “Even Arnoul is saying we should avoid having anything more to do with her, arinsu.”

She and Kanna wrapped their arms around each other’s shoulders and began to walk.

“Let’s enjoy skipping out on work, gya!”

“Let’s enjoy our day without the president, arinsu!”

Their motions were exaggerated, but they had a dead look in their eyes as they went window shopping. Their laughing voices sounded empty.

“Ah ha ha. This is fun, gya.”

“It really is, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

The amount of silence naturally grew. And during that silence, they heard a horrible sound behind them.

Crash!

They turned around with a very bad feeling about what they would find. As expected, they found Monami. And even worse, she seemed to have tripped while charging toward a man sitting outside a café.

“Gya, gya…”

“This is horrible, arinsu…”

Kanna and Michie held their heads in their hands. The man was clearly not just a normal café customer. He wore a brightly-colored suit and had lots of oddly-colored metal accessories jangling about.

“Prepare yourself, underling of the demon king!”

After knocking over one of the café’s seats, Monami began saying the same things as before.

Luckily, the man was simply taken aback and had yet to grow angry.

Kanna and Michie exchanged a bitter smile.

“Should we do it, gya?”

“Do we have any other choice, arinsu?”

Michie nodded and Kanna began to run. Kanna jumped in, grabbed Monami, and immediately turned around. Michie then jumped in, fixed the chair and table, and bowed too quickly for anyone to argue.

“I am so very sorry, arinsu! Bye!”

She then ran off even more quickly than Kanna had.

“Sigh… I can’t believe this, gya.”

“We told you to stop that, arinsu.”

After escaping to somewhere or other, they began lecturing Monami while Kanna held her.

But Monami merely looked displeased and said nothing.

“Guga.”

Arnoul finally gave in and asked a question, but Monami repeated what she had said before.

“But I have to defeat the demon king.”

“And we told you to stop, gya.”

Monami shook her head.

“I have to defeat him.”

“Y’know, if you really think that, why are you attacking people indiscriminately, gya? Do you not actually know who the demon king is, gya?”

But Monami denied Kanna’s accusation.

“He is Sai Akuto of Constant Magic Academy.”

“If you know that, why are you going around randomly, gya?”

“The demon king has lots of underlings. It’s only natural to defeat them and build up experience.”

What she said did have a logic to it, but she showed no sign of growth and she was targeting the wrong people.

“He doesn’t have that many underlings and the empress is currently suppressing his power, gya.”

Kanna continued arguing, but Monami refused to believe her.

“He has underlings all throughout the city and a lot of the students are his underlings.”

“We already told you that isn’t the case, gya.”

Kanna was unsure what else to say, but suddenly Michie clapped her hands together.

“Then how about we guide you, arinsu?”

“Eh?”

Both Kanna and Monami let out voices of surprise.

Michie then whispered in Kanna’s ear.

“I don’t know the exact situation, but this is just a child’s game, arinsu. If it comes to it, we can call in Sai Akuto and have him play with her a bit, arinsu.”

“I see, gya.” Kanna agreed. “Okay, gya. We can help you, gya.”

She lowered Monami and beat her own chest.

“Help me?”

“That’s right, gya. We’ll take you to Sai Akuto, gya. We’ll fight him with you, gya.”

Kanna sounded confident.

With Akuto, they could attack with their full strength and not have to worry. And seeing the intensity of those attacks would surprise Monami enough that she would believe the demon king had been defeated.

However…

“Then let’s go! Come with me.”

Monami took the lead and began walking. She was acting like she was the leader.

“We said we would guide you, gya.”

But Kanna could not get through to her.

“Like I said, we have to do this in order. I know where his underlings are. This just means I don’t need to build up experience. You’re really strong, after all.”

She took long strides forward as she spoke.

The other three quickly followed.

“Eh? You know where his underlings are, arinsu?”

“That’s right. I looked into it. Now, come with me, underlings!”

Monami delightedly raised her sickle and walked on.

“Wait… Where are you going, gya?”

“I already told you: to where the demon king’s underlings are.”

She was walking down a normal residential district.

“Why are we here, arinsu?”

Michie was confused, but Monami stopped in front of a small apartment.

“What? Is this it, gya?”

Monami did not answer Kanna and she walked swiftly up to the apartment. She picked a block off the ground, held it over her head with both hands, and smashed it against the window.

Crash!

“Gya!

“Ee!”

A great sound of destruction rang out, causing Kanna and Michie to cry out in surprise.

“What the h.e.l.l are you doing!?”

A man in a baggy shirt stuck his head out the window. His head was shaved. In fact, he did not even have eyebrows. He was clearly not a normal person.

“R-run away, gya!”

“This is not good, arinsu!”

Kanna and Michie began to flee, but Monami acted before they could.

“Toh.”

She let out a silly cry of effort and stabbed the tip of her sickle into the skinhead’s head.

“Gyaaaaa!”

“Eeeeeeee!”

Kanna and Michie screamed even louder.

Blood flowed from the skinhead’s head. He had only been stabbed a tiny bit, but he did a wonderful job of bleeding.

“What the h.e.l.l!?” he roared.

Kanna and Michie glanced around in preparation to run, but Arnoul muttered “guga” and pointed past the road. An angry-looking man was running over. It was the man Monami had tried to attack at the café.

“Is he related to this, arinsu?”

“Wh-what are we supposed to do, gya?”

While Michie and Kanna muttered in confusion, the skinhead grabbed Monami and lifted her up.

“Let me go! Stop that!”

“Don’t look down on me, you brat!”

The skinhead gave an amazingly angry look and it was clear something bad was going to happen to Monami.

“Sh-should we do it, gya?”

“I-I’m not sure, arinsu.”

Kanna and Michie sweated.

It was not that they were not confident in their ability to win. They were worried about what would happen to an opponent whose ability was not past a certain point.

As they hesitated, Arnoul swiftly ran up.

“Guga!”

She s.n.a.t.c.hed Monami away and knocked away the sickle that the skinhead was attempting to pull from his head and stab into Monami.

“Tch! Who the h.e.l.l’re you!?”

With that shout, the skinhead reached out his right hand. The hand glowed and he fired a mana sphere toward Arnoul.

“Guga!”

Arnoul easily deflected it, but the man’s use of magic meant Kanna and Michie could act.

“If you’re attacking in the city, it means you’re black magicians, gya!”

“In that case, we need not hold back, arinsu!”

The two girls exchanged a nod and moved to the left and right.

“Dogyaaaan!”

Kanna gained a beast’s right paw and blasted away the skinhead’s attack.

“Take this!”

Michie created a gust of wind and scooped the other man off his feet. She circled around behind him and attacked the back of his neck. He immediately pa.s.sed out and collapsed to the street.

“If they were black magicians…”

“…it means they really were that kind of person, gya.”

Michie and Kanna exchanged a glance.

“Guga.”

Arnoul lowered Monami and spoke to the other two girls.

“Guga, guga.”

“Eh? What does that mean, gya?”

“Are you saying Monami isn’t completely lying, arinsu?”

“Guga, guuga.”

Arnoul then gave a summarized version of what Monami had told her.

From what she had seen of Monami’s list of the demon king’s underlings, they all worked for a group that maliciously bought up land.

“And they’re threatening Monami’s family to buy their home, arinsu?”

“If that’s the problem, we just have to turn them in to the knights, gya.”

Kanna was relieved.

“That’s right, arinsu. They were probably name-dropping the demon king in their threats, arinsu. If they were the only ones doing anything illegal, this solves everything, arinsu. Now, we don’t have time, arinsu. We need to report them, get Monami home, and get some pizza for dinner, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

Arnoul cut into Michie’s happy plans.

“Eh? It isn’t that easy, arinsu?”

“Guga, guuga.”

“They’ve bribed the knights, arinsu? They’re backed by an illegal group that just wants to commit crimes and doesn’t care about the ideals of the black magicians, arinsu?”

“That isn’t good, gya.”

“I guess just going to the knights is out of the question, arinsu. And come to think of it, there isn’t a knight in this city the president hasn’t punched, arinsu.”

“I doubt they’d be happy to see us even without the bribe, gya. And the knights wouldn’t want to take on this group without preparations, gya.”

Michie and Kanna’s expression gradually darkened.

“Well, can’t we just report them, gya? And then leave…gya?”

Kanna forced a smile.

But Michie was not smiling.

“We obviously can’t, arinsu. They’d go to Monami’s home to take revenge, arinsu.”

“Well, yes… But what else can we do, gya?”

“We have to handle it ourselves, arinsu.”

Michie shrugged.

“Guga.”

Arnoul pointed behind them.

The man Michie had knocked out had stood up and was making a telepathic call while running away.

“This just got a whole lot worse, gya. Now we can’t attack their office, gya.”

“Monami, Take us to your home. If you don’t, it will be destroyed, arinsu.”

“So this is Monami’s home, arinsu.”

“To be blunt, it’s…falling apart, gya.”

“Guga.”

Even Arnoul agreed.

The property was large, but the home in the center was a wooden single-story building. It was made luxuriously, but it was simply too old. The sign called it the Sasahara Inn and it looked a lot like a haunted mansion.

“But I can see why they want the land, gya.”

Kanna looked around. The area alone was an oasis of green in the middle of the city. They seemed to own a rather large nature park.

“If they quit being an inn and opened a restaurant, they could probably make a lot of money, arinsu.”

“No matter what they do, it doesn’t go well. It’s so bad that they have to eat the vegetables I grow over there.”

Monami pointed toward an orderly vegetable garden by the side of the building.

“Why can’t they make any money, gya?”

“That isn’t the problem right now, arinsu. This is a difficult place to defend, arinsu.”

Those three girls were used to fights, so they could immediately tell how poor an area this was for defending. The other side could travel while hiding behind the trees and they could also set fire to the house.

“This isn’t gonna be easy, gya.”

“Guga.”

As they spoke, a nice-looking couple exited the inn. The wife was quite round and the husband was tall and slender.

“Monami!”

The wife ran over.

“Um, about this, arinsu…”

Before Michie could say anything, the wife bowed.

“Thank you so much. You are from the academy, aren’t you? You brought her back just like we asked. She ran off after saying she would defeat the demon king.”

It seemed they understood the situation. That sped things up, but they did not seem to fully understand.

“Um, there’s more, gya…”

“Yes?”

“It seems, um… Monami-chan attacked and angered the demon king’s underlings…well, they weren’t really his underlings, gya.”

Kanna gave her troubled explanation, but the wife only blinked and did not seem to understand.

“Oh… Is that so?”

“No, you don’t understand, gya. Um, to put it simply, some dangerous people will be coming to burn down the house, gya.”

Kanna’s blunt explanation finally made the wife panic.

“Ehhhh! Wh-wh-what should we do?”

“We can only fight, gya. We’ll handle it, so you hole up somewhere in the house and hold onto Monami, gya. She’ll try to fight if someone doesn’t stop her, gya.”

Kanna handed Monami over to the wife.

The wife clung to Monami and began bowing.

“I do not know how to thank you.”

“You can think about that later, arinsu. Right now, you need to get inside the house, arinsu.”

As Michie urged them on, the husband and wife took Monami inside.

“Now, how will they try to attack, gya?”

“Guga.”

“Yeah. They’ll probably decide crushing the house is faster than threatening, gya.”

“No matter how it happened, we were the ones that attacked them, arinsu. They should go pretty far, arinsu. They probably know the knights won’t show up if they only destroy the house, arinsu.”

“But they saw us, gya. They’ll probably focus on taking revenge against us, so they’ll try to pick a fight with us before going after the house, gya.”

“Guga.”

“They might destroy the house to draw us out, arinsu? It’s dangerous, but we’ll have to split up and surround the house, arinsu.”

The three of them made their plans.

Once they finished, they sensed something out of the ordinary running through the surrounding trees.

“They’re here, gya.”

“Split up, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

The three of them ran in three different directions.

It was evening and an incantation gun fired to signal the beginning of the battle.

It was fired toward Kanna who was protecting the rear of the house.

“An explosive type, gya!”

She had been caught off guard, so she had successfully evaded the bullet but was caught in the intense explosion.

The explosion shook the ground and smoke rose into the sky.

To check on his handiwork, the black magician who had fired appeared from the trees while holding an incantation gun.

He expected to see Kanna collapsed on the ground, but when the smoke cleared, he saw a large four-legged beast. It resembled a giant wolf.

“What!?” he cried out in surprise.

“If you’re gonna do that, I’ll go all out from the beginning, gya!”

Kanna let out a roar in her beast form. She quickly charged toward the black magician, immediately knocked him to the ground, and knocked his weapon away.

But the other black magicians changed their tactics when they saw that. They fired mana spheres and incantation guns from the trees while moving around.

“Gya, gya. Just because the academy students aren’t easy to kill doesn’t mean it’s okay to fire your weapons like crazy, gya.”

Kanna complained, but she still kicked off tree trunks, jumped through the air, and knocked three to the ground without setting foot on the ground herself.

However, the attacks continued.

“It looks like defeating me is their only goal now, gya.”

Michie was feeling the same as Kanna.

“These guys must have had a run-in with the president before, arinsu.”

In the city, Lily Shiraishi was known as the “long-armed demon” by knights and this sort of person. The name came from her habit of stretching her arms and punching anyone she didn’t like. It was not surprising that the knights and this sort of person hated her. They had likely remembered the trio who followed the president and hated them as well.

Just like Kanna, Michie was forced into a hard fight. She was calling in mechanical bats and attacking with them. That should have given her quite an advantage in this environment, but it seemed some of the black magicians were quite skilled. They had noticed the weak point of the mechanical bats and had started using magic to create ultrasonic interference. That meant Michie could only control the bats she could see.

“If I call the bats back toward me, I can protect myself and the house, arinsu. But…”

She was hiding behind the incinerator, so she was not being fired on like Kanna was, but this was no different from hiding behind cover and firing back and forth. And if it came down to a war of attrition, the side with greater numbers would have the upper hand.

“This isn’t good, arinsu.”

Arnoul was having a difficult fight as well. She was forced to fight an excavator that the black magicians had brought with them, and she was doing so bare-handed.

“Gugaga…”

She held the bucket and blocked its path forward, but even with her ridiculous strength, that was the most she could manage. And while she could not move, the black magicians fired mana spheres and incantation guns from a distance. She was resisting with a defense field, but it used up a lot of mana and could not defend against all of it.

“Gugagaga… Guga!” she screamed.

The excavator’s arm moved back and forth and Arnoul could not resist its strength while using some of her own power for defense.

The bucket lifted her up and tossed her away.

“Guga!”

After being thrown to the ground, she felt something soft on her back, so she looked behind her. Kanna and Michie had been tossed over at the same time.

“Uuh… Th-this isn’t good, gya.”

“At best, we have our hands full just protecting ourselves, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

The three girls exchanged muddy glances.

But before they could do anything, they were surrounded by ill-bred black magicians.

“You underestimated us, little ladies.”

A man with a white suit and a pompadour who seemed to be the leader stepped forward.

The girls remained silent and the man in a white suit continued speaking.

“Well, I don’t want this to get any more complicated, so let’s settle this here. We won’t kill you, but we need to make sure you cry nicely.”

He used his chin to gesture to the other men. Three men stepped forward, grabbed the girls’ hair, and forced them to their feet.

“They might call for help. Break the inn’s lock and force your way in.”

On the leader’s instructions, a few men began kicking down the door.

“S-stop…” groaned Kanna, but another man silenced her with a punch to the gut.

“Gh…”

She grimaced more from the humiliation than the pain.

“Stay quiet. We won’t kill you. We brought enough people to fight a war because we thought your president was coming, but it looks like we lucked out. It’s too late to call her now.”

As the leader said that, the men successfully kicked down the inn’s door.

“Gh… We should’ve called the president, gya.”

“We were skipping out on work, so we couldn’t, arinsu.”

“Uuh… I just wanted some pizza, gya. Why did this have to happen, gya?”

Kanna lamented, but no one was listening.

Except for one person.

“Oh, dear. It looks like nothing will make everyone happy here.”

The black magicians frowned at the voice from behind them.

“What kind of gutless s.h.i.t are you going on about?”

The man in a white suit had a.s.sumed one of his men said that, but he froze in place once he turned around.

“Wha-…? That’s the real deal!”

“The real deal?” muttered the other black magicians.

The person the leader was referring to groaned with a difficult expression.

“If you’re gonna be that surprised when I show up, I’d prefer you didn’t use my name in the first place.”

“Eh? Then…”

The black magicians frantically moved away from him.

“You idiots! This is no time to chicken out!”

The leader pointed at the newcomer – Sai Akuto – and gestured toward their three hostages.

The black magicians began pressed incantation guns against the girls’ faces.

Akuto grimaced.

“This is why I said nothing will make everyone happy.”

In the very next instant, the arms of the men holding the girls spread to either side. It was as if their bodies had moved against their wills.

“H-hey, what the h.e.l.l are you doing?” fearfully asked the man in a white suit.

“I-I don’t know. It feels like some ridiculous strength is holding me.”

The leader turned back toward Akuto.

Akuto nodded with a cloudy expression.

“I’m doing that, but I really don’t want to. Of course, I doubt you care about what I want, so let’s keep this short and free of explanations.”

“Wh-what the h.e.l.l are you talking-… Eh!?”

The leader tried to fire some magic, but his movements were stopped. His arms spread on their own and it looked like he was hanging from a cross.

“Impossible… You can’t have enough mana strength to hold this many people at once!” shouted the leader in confusion.

He still had no fear in his expression which brought a look of disappointment to Akuto’s face.

“If you understand that, then can you guess what I’m thinking right now? In other words, can you guess what you have to do for me to forgive you?”

Akuto let out a sigh.

The leader and his men seemed to finally catch on. They all gave obedient smiles and began apologizing.

“W-we’re so very sorry for using your name. It’s just that your name is so respected in the world. I know! How about you make us your official underlings?”

Akuto shook his head without even bothering to listen to the end.

“No. That isn’t what I want.”

There was no anger in his voice, but the man in the white suit let out a tremendous shriek. His right arm twisted and produced cracking noises.

“Gyaaaah! I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Th-that wasn’t what I meant… W-we will back off from this entire incident… So…”

“That isn’t it either.”

Akuto spoke like a parent scolding a child and he turned toward the leader’s left arm. This time, the man’s left arm twisted much too far. Another scream rose into the dark sky.

“You’re apologizing to the wrong person. Do you really not understand that?”

Akuto waved a hand and all the black magicians floated up into the air. They then all lined up side by side in front of Akuto as if they were sucked toward him.

Their expressions were frozen in terror, but Akuto spoke much like a teacher.

“Now, does anyone know what the right thing to do is?”

Unsurprisingly, none of them dared say anything. Surrounded by silence, Akuto shook his head in annoyance.

“You’re supposed to apologize to those three.”

He waved his hand again. Five nearby men’s arms twisted and five screams burst out.

Those whose arms remained untwisted frantically began apologizing.

“I’m sorry! I-I’m sorry!”

But Akuto immediately rejected those apologies.

“Apologizing after you’re told to is worthless!”

Another five arms or legs twisted.

The black magicians writhed about on the ground after having their skeletal structure destroyed.

“Now, does anyone know what you should do?” asked Akuto once more.

But once again, no one responded. As he repeated the question again and again, all thirty of the black magicians eventually began writhing on the ground and giving pathetic screams.

“H-how frightening, gya.”

“I-is this what you call a lecturing criminal, arinsu? No, this is even worse than that, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

The three rescued girls gathered together and trembled.

“Why don’t you understand? Why can’t you do something as simple as apologizing properly and then swearing to live a proper life?”

Akuto shook his head with a dark look.

“W-we swear! We swear already!”

The man in the white suit was in tears.

But Akuto shook his head again.

“Again, doing it after I tell you to is worthless.”

He began to twist some more limbs, but he realized there were no more limbs left to twist.

“Well, whatever. What matters is that you truly understand. That’s what it comes down to.”

As he muttered those words, the black magicians floated into the air again. Mana gathered around their twisted limbs and they visually returned to normal. Their pale faces even regained their color.

They gained relieved smiles and shed tears of regret.

“Th-thank you. We understand now. We’ve had a change of heart.”

The leader quickly prostrated himself before Akuto.

In that instant, Akuto’s eyes glittered in displeasure.

“I told you in the beginning that you’re apologizing to the wrong person. This is just you apologizing because I hurt you!”

Akuto shouted angrily and twisted the man’s entire body this time.

“Gyaaaaaaaah!”

The gruesome sight caused all the other black magicians to tremble. The three girls were at a loss for words as well.

Akuto looked down on them coldly and spoke in a troubled tone.

“I will twist you and heal you as many times as it takes for you to understand. If even one of you fails to understand, the responsibility will lie with the entire group. Do you understand?”

The black magicians were unable to speak.

“I’ve seen this kind of unreasonableness before, gya.”

“That was our PE teacher during elementary school, arinsu.”

Kanna and Michie trembled, but they could only watch the scene playing out before them.

Human bones broke, human bodies were bent in all sorts of horrible ways, and then they were regenerated. It was like peeking into h.e.l.l itself.

When the destruction and regeneration reached its third cycle, the people of the Sasahara family noticed something was odd and cautiously peeked out from the destroyed front door.

“Eeeee!”

“Waaaaaah!”

Just seeing it was enough for the wife and husband’s legs to give out.

Not many could remain sane after seeing the demon king standing coldly before a group of ill-bred men who writhed in a pool of blood after their skeletons had been crushed.

“It’s the real demon king!”

“A-at least spare us our lives!”

After shouting that, the two fainted.

Seeing that, Akuto finally reflected on the situation. He walked over to the three girls and scratched his head.

“Sorry. I should have chosen a better place for this.”

“…I think this goes beyond that, gya.”

“Y-you went a little overboard…arinsu.”

“Guga.”

They all shook their heads in confusion.

Then a stone flew their way. Akuto deflected it with a hand just before it reached Kanna.

“Monami,” muttered Michie after looking toward where the stone had come from.

“Wahhhhh! You really do work with the demon king! Otherwise, you wouldn’t do something so horrible in front of the house and knock out my masters! And the house is damaged, too! Leave! Leave!”

As she cried and shouted, she frantically threw stones.

“Um…”

Kanna prepared to say something, but Michie stopped her.

“Don’t worry about it, arinsu. The issue was resolved, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

Arnoul stood up and urged the other two to do the same.

Kanna nodded and stood. After walking a bit, she turned toward Monami, but Monami only threw a stone at her.

“Ah… Sorry. This was my bad. I’m not sure what to say… Well, I’ll help clean up.”

With a dark look, Akuto began loading the black magicians in the bucket of the excavator they had brought. He then lifted the excavator on one shoulder and walked in the opposite direction of the three girls.

With a bitter smile, Kanna watched him leave.

“He really isn’t normal, gya.”

“I feel stupid for taking this all so seriously, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

“But he will probably clean everything up, gya.”

They gave the Sasahara Inn a parting glance while trudging down the nighttime streets.

“This was one h.e.l.l of a day off, gya.”

“Technically, it wasn’t even a day off, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

“Yeah. We tried to slip out, but… Ah! It’s past curfew, gya!”

“Ahh! You’re right, arinsu!”

“Guga, guaga, guagaugaugau!”

“Arnoul, don’t get so fl.u.s.tered, gya! Oh, but now the president’s definitely gonna punish us, gya.”

“Sigh… I only wanted some pizza, arinsu.”

“I was planning to torture you with my grandmother’s soy sauce rice crackers until you wished you were dead, but instead, you get to camp outside tonight.”

When the three girls arrived back late at night, Lily Shiraishi gave them a look that made it seem like she had an itch she couldn’t reach.

“C-camp outside, gya?”

“Yes. In other words, you get no dinner, you get no beds, and you don’t get to go into town. Sleep in the mountain on the academy grounds. That’s all.”

“Um… Is that really all, arinsu?”

“You sure are insistent! If you want, I can give you morons an even greater punishment!”

As Lily shouted angrily, the other three obediently scattered.

They found a gently-sloping area of the mountain and looked up at the stars together.

“Ahh, how did it end up like this, gya?”

Kanna complained while sitting on the bare ground and Michie pouted her lips.

“Complaining won’t help, arinsu. It will only make you hungrier, arinsu. Also, you’ll still look fine if you get dirty, but I would much rather stay clean, arinsu.”

“You’re already plenty dirty from the fight, gya. Don’t worry about it, gya.”

“Honestly, it p.i.s.ses me off that we lost, arinsu. If you had only-…”

“Guga.”

“Ahh, you’re right, arinsu. Fighting will only make us hungrier.”

Michie rolled on her side while ignoring how dirty it was making her cape. Then she continued complaining.

“Ahh, pizza… Mozzarella and Gouda… Tomato paprika salami…”

“Quiet, gya. You’re making me hungry.”

“But!”

Michie thrashed her arms and legs around.

Someone then called out to them.

“Excuse me…”

“Hm?”

The turned toward the voice and found Akuto climbing the mountain with a large bag.

“Wh-what is it, gya?” asked Kanna while half averting her gaze.

Neither side was at fault, but what had happened was still awkward.

“I dealt with the issue. I even protested to the knights. Anyway, it’s all taken care of. But… I heard what you said back then,” he said awkwardly.

“What we said back then?” asked Michie.

Akuto lowered the bag and began gathering stones.

“Yeah. You wanted to eat pizza, right? I also heard the president wouldn’t let you have any dinner.”

“What does that have to do with gathering stones, gya?”

“Even a simple stove can cook things. I thought I’d make a pizza. I brought some dough and the ingredients.”

Akuto arranged the stones into three sides of a square and opened the bag for the girls to see.

“Oh!”

“Ah!”

“Guga!”

Their eyes sparkled and they began to speak.

“Amazing, gya! I can see why you’ve won over so many girls, gya!”

“This hardworking side must be the secret, arinsu!”

“Um, I won’t give you any if you keep saying that.”

“Just kidding, gya! I just wanted to say I was falling for you, gya!”

“That’s right, arinsu! Now, bring on the red food!”

“Why red? Anyway, go gather some wood.”

“Guga.”

“Then pack dirt between the stones.”

Soon, Akuto began cooking the pizza. In a few minutes, he had completed a large, round, well-cooked pizza.

“Gya! Gya!”

“Oh, oh!”

“Guga!”

The three girls grew excited when they saw the pizza and Kanna carelessly turned into her beast form when she saw its round shape. They gathered around the pizza like starving children and continued eating until all the ingredients were used up. They ate three pizzas in total.

“Well, I’ll be sleeping in my dorm room.”

After eating a slice or two himself, Akuto thanked them and started to leave.

“Eh! Sleep here with us, gya!”

“That’s right, arinsu! In fact, hold us as we sleep!”

Kanna and Michie grew ridiculously excited, but once Akuto left, they quickly grew sleepy. Michie and Arnoul lay on Kanna’s stomach as she curled up in beast form.

“Oh, I just had a thought, arinsu,” said Michie as she looked up in the sky.

“What is it, gya?”

“I wonder if the president lightened our punishment because Sai Akuto spoke with her, arinsu.”

Kanna fell silent for a moment and then gave an impressed-sounding voice.

“Oh, you might be right, gya. But…Even with horrible people like those black magicians, a good person wouldn’t smash their bones and lecture them, gya.”

“You’re right, arinsu. Well, let’s not worry about it and just sleep, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

“Ah, but I am worried about Monami, gya.”

“We never dealt with that misunderstanding, arinsu. But thinking about it won’t help, arinsu.”

The three then fell asleep.

But in the morning, someone climbed the mountain to wake them.

“Wake up.”

It was Sasahara Nozomi, the maid janitor who had was already becoming famous within the academy.

“Nn…”

Wh-why are you here to wake us up, arinsu?”

The three looked up at her with puzzled looks and Nozomi held out her work handbook.

“I got a message. I forwarded it to the student council president and she told me to show it to you and to wake you up while I was at it.”

Nozomi displayed an image on the handbook. It had a message written in terrible handwriting.

“The president must have contacted them, gya.”

“Good. Now I don’t have to worry, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

The three of them gave relieved smiles as if they were feeling ticklish.

“Why did that ridiculous letter make you grin like that? She’s so stupid that she manually wrote the message and had my mom send it. She can’t do anything other than dig up potatoes.”

Nozomi looked confused and Michie’s eyes opened wide.

“Eh? Your mom? Ah! Come to think of it, that run-down inn’s name was Sasahara, arinsu!”

“Yeah, that’s my home. Sorry it’s so run-down, but it won’t be for long. I’ll use my genius money-making scheme to turn it into a tall building. I’ve already made the preparations. I convinced a group to threaten people into selling their land using the demon king’s name and then I told the demon king about it. One that happens, the demon king will attack them and win. Once it’s known as land protected by the demon king, its value will rise and selling a portion of the land will make me tons of-… hm?”

Nozomi noticed an unusual atmosphere and looked toward the other three girls.

Their faces were as monstrous as someone who was facing their parents’ killer after pursuing them for ten years.

“So you were behind all this, gya.”

“I think it’s time for the president’s grandmother’s soy sauce rice crackers, arinsu.”

“Guga.”

“Eh? Wait. What are you doing? Why are you mad?”

Nozomi fearfully backed away from the three who gradually approached.

Neither Nozomi nor the other three ever spoke of what happened after that.