About a thousand years from when Yuuki’s gang fell into a predicament.
Just like Yuuki predicted for Rosé, this world experienced several wars and monster exterminations, and a new culture was born amidst the destruction.
Magic was refined into Magecraft¹ and developed into a craft that anyone who received training for a license could use, despite talent and individual differences.
At the same time, this means that there’s a struggle between those who used it for crime and those who wants to stop them, the police organisations in this world racked their brains everyday handling the illegal mages’ crimes.
¹ «TN: mahou (魔法) vs majutsu (魔術)»
There yet exists the ruins of the Isky residence whose time has ended, and was being carefully preserved as a nationally-designated cultural a.s.set.
On a black, diffusely shining stone monument, these words were written.
[House of the Hero Glenn Irish Isky]
Underneath it, long descriptions of his exploits were carved.
It was also known that the change of the country’s name from Ivan to Isky happened in his time.
Two young women entered the gardens where Rosé and Yuuki once walked.
Flowers bloomed there, not like how they were in the old days, but more beautifully, the trees planted for defense had been removed and in their place a lawn was laid down and with the addition of playground equipment, it became a park for the citizens to rest.
One of the women walking on the park, a woman of just over twenty, was wearing a Faith of the Born Light habit², her silent movements giving a sense of the depth of her moral sense, born out of her religious piety.
What’s curious is that there were rabbit ears growing out of her head, but none of the pa.s.sers-by seemed to pay them any attention.
The other woman was very young, a cute little girl that seems to have just reached ten years of age.
Her rough military-uniform-like clothes did not match her looks, but her semi-long hair tied up with a rubber band and pastel colored accessories attached here and there gave a sense of innocence appropriate for her age.
However, her att.i.tude, oozing confidence out of her entire body betrayed that, giving her an adult atmosphere rather than a childish one. It’s almost as if she was a career woman in the shape of a little girl.
² «TN: nun uniform»
“Did you know how our Nikka Choir began?”
As they walked, the nun asked the little girl.
“Yes, Sister Lilipa. It was named after Sister Nikka who took down the Demon Queen with Hero King Glenn”
At the little girl’s answer, Lilipa slowly nodded.
“The war a thousand years ago was grand. After becoming King, Glenn-sama devoted himself to fighting his deranged wife, Demon Queen Rosé, and made the harsh decision to take her down himself”
It was a historic incident known by every person with general education in this country, nay, this whole world.
As history records it, Glenn married Rosé and spent several years living their days in happiness.
However, after her father, King Ivan was taken ill, her mind started to go mad and she finally got her hands on forbidden magic and became a frightening monster.
The magic of Rosé who was called a Demon Queen was incredible, she dominated the whole world in the blink of an eye and started an age of darkness.
The ones who opposed her were Sister Nikka, who received a revelation from heaven, and Rosé’s former husband Glenn.
The war, known as the Great Demon Queen War, lasted several years, then Glenn, in tears, shot down Rosé and laid her to rest in this land.
“Our Nikka Choir’s mission is to spread the teachings of the will of heaven so that a tragedy like that never happens again”
“That’s wonderful work”
Seemingly pleased at the young girl’s backchanneling, Lilipa smiled.
Then
“— Renbo-san. Will you join us to carry out this mission together?”
She offered her hand to the young girl.
“A superior magecrafter like you is exactly the strength that we need. What do you say? Will you protect the world’s peace together with us?”
The young girl, Renbo, returned her smile and said.
“Unfortunately, I’ll have to refuse”
†
“Oi! Renbo!”
Renbo, who was relaxing alone at the park’s bench, was approached by a young boy.
He was just slightly older than her.
He was a blonde handsome boy, you wouldn’t be blamed if you mistook his gender because of his gender-neutral features.
Rabbit ears swayed from his head.
“You were meeting with nee-san, weren’t you! Could you possibly…!”
“I made su–re I refused her”
Renbo replied, mixed with a sigh.
“Ah, good”, the boy said, catching his breath.
Seeing him, the young girl also sighed.
“I’m an idiot too, aren’t I, taking Aparu’s conspiracy theory seriously, to even turn down an elite job”
“If it’s you you can go anywhere you like, right? Just forget about the choir. What they’re doing isn’t about singing songs. They’re practicing magic weapons to suppress their own thoughts. To begin with…”
“Hey, Aparu”
“… what? HAH! No, stop—we’re in public!”
Sensing something, Aparu turned pale and shouted.
” ‘Footstool‘ ”
“NNNUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHH!”
With a single word from Renbo, he dropped his hands and feet on the ground in tears in the miserable pose known as all fours.
“Yoissho,” Renbo rested her feet on his back, and went back to relaxing.
By some strong compulsion, she turned her friend into human furniture.
… In public, at that.
“If only you’d cure yourself out of this fetish, you’d make a good friend”
“Really? Well, I don’t feel like curing it”
Disregarding the commotion around her, Renbo talked at Aparu’s back.
“So, once you finish training school, where are you going to go?”
“You’re asking for someone’s future plan while exposing his disgrace!?”
“It’s more exciting to blur the boundary between normal and abnormal. You understand that much, right?”
“And you’re even asking for my agreement on top of all that…”
*haah*, Aparu sighed, and said,
“I’m going to be a ‘dimension police‘”
“Eh. You’re going to the lower world!?”
The ‘Lower World’ is what the other world is recognised as in this age.
Yes, our world that was called the ‘World Given Light’ in Rosé’s time had after the months and years pa.s.sed become observable from this world and is now common knowledge.
It lies on the other side of the scenery you see with your eyes, if you have fulfilled certain conditions, it flips like turning the page of a book, the world was that close by.
However, Renbo’s society had cut off and prohibited contact with the Lower World.
The reason was because it was clear that once exchange was established, political disputes regarding race, religion, and economics would return.
But in this world there are criminals who defy this rule and illegally travel to that world.
In order to control them, there were the ‘Dimension Police‘ that Aparu was aiming for.
Their job is to integrate into our world and when those people came, to conceal their existence and forcibly deport them back.
“You don’t know what kind of place it is but you seem so eager to go”
“I can study for that. Most of all, I want to see them. The people without magic cores, the ‘world given light’…”
“Hmm….”
Renbo pondered a bit, looking cute as she does.
“— Alright, I’ve decided to go as well,” she declared to the human furniture.
“Listen, you, we don’t go there to play, you know”
“I know, I’m just saying what’s on my mind. It’s just as well, I’m getting bored with this world”
*nnnh*, Renbo stretched, then she stood up.
” ‘Wait five minutes and you may stand‘ ”
“Well, thanks”
After giving her friend a new order, Renbo walked away.
“Lower World, huh. Somehow I feel I’m going to have a wonderful encounter there”
With that sort of presentiment bouncing in her chest, Renbo walked a new path, leaving Aparu still on all fours.
A side story in the form of a tie-in
The escapades of Renbo and Aparu after becoming dimensional police will be submitted separately as Ride on Me!?³ Please check it out.
³ «TN: »