“If I die, Nadia will be exposed to danger. Could you please place her under your protection?” As Tiger Man tries to protect the young loli princess even in the face of imminent death, Russell raises his voice in a panic. “W-wait, what the heck?! Hey, Tiger Man, what do you mean you’re going to die?!” Belial tilts her head quizzically at Russell, who she’s meeting for the first time. “This is your first time meeting him, isn’t it, Lady Belial? This is Russell, whose hobby is cross-dressing.” “Oh, the one who showed Lilith his dick. I don’t have anything to say about anyone’s hobbies, but don’t try to show me your junk, okay?” “Well, that’s a terrible first impression you’ve given her! It’s not MY hobby to cross-dress, and I didn’t want her to see it! …H-huh? I-I can’t stop trembling.” Russell, like Rose, seems to instinctively fear Belial, and he begins to tremble. Belial suddenly raises her voice as Russell tries to hold his ground and stand in front of Tiger Man to plead his case. “Making excuses is beneath you! Why would you dress up like that if you didn’t like it?! I have no interest in shaming anyone for their kinks, so be proud of who you are and what you like!” “N-no…! It really isn’t my…” Belial hikes up Russell’s skirt, even as he insists on arguing. “You can’t wear shorts like this under your skirt and claim that it’s not something you enjoy. Don’t live in denial. It’s fine. It looks good on you, and you look cute. Be more confident in yourself.” “She isn’t listening to me at all…” Even as Belial pats his head, Russell grips the hem of his skirt tightly, eyes welling with tears of frustration. Tiger Man then raises his face. “Lady Belial, you just said you won’t shame anyeowone for their kinks.” “…I didn’t say that.” The pervert who had forced a cross-dressing chimera to offer his lap to him as a headrest, then had a little girl feed him pudding, seems to have found the faintest glimmer of hope shining at the end of the tunnel. The sicko mutant jumps to his feet and points his finger at Belial, shouting angrily. “It’s nyeot frair for a Kisaragi Supreme Leader to go brrack on their worrrd! Lolicons are people, too! Making a little girl feed me a little pudding is hardly something I deserve a death sentence for!” “You idiot! You kidnapped a child! I sent you out here as the ace in the hole to back up the Combat Agents because you’re the most powerful of the mutants, yet somehow you’ve caused the most problems!” Russell trembles, cowing as the two begin to fight, and looks over at us pleadingly. He probably wants us to intervene, but there’s no way a rank-and-file Combat Agent can step in and stop a fight between the most powerful Supreme Leader and the most powerful mutant. Tiger Man, who seems to have given up any pretense of contrition, then pulls Russell over to him and sticks his tongue out tauntingly at Belial. “Besides, Lady Belial went and hiked up Rurrrssell’s skirt, too! I’ll send a report to Kisaragi telling them that you peeked at a boy mrrraid’s panties!” … “You know that evidence can be destroyed, right? When did you delude yourself into thinking you can beat me?” “I’m nrrrrot thinking I can win. But I can at least send some reports to Kisaragi befrrrore you can kill mreee! Mrrr!” As the two of them face off, looking for an opening, I hear a large number of people approaching the room. “There’s people coming. Maybe go for a temporary cease-fire?” “Mrralready knyeow that. Frrrrom the sounds, there’s mrraybe ten to fifteen and they’re all arrrmmmed.” “There’s fourteen. One of them isn’t carrying a weapon. That Lydia girl is bringing her soldiers here.” …… “You can’t even tell that much? Dummy! Moron!” “You’re a Supreme Leader, but you can brrre such a brrrrat!” These two fighters, perhaps because their titles have “the ultimate” or “most powerful” in them, can sometimes be a lot of work to handle. “And why the hell did you do something this stupid in the first place?! You knew sex crimes against children result in a death sentence!” “I tried to explain on that front, but you wouldn’t even try to listen to me! Also, I swear on anything holy and unholy that I haven’t actually done anything to her! Meow!” “They’re about to enter the room! Can’t you two get along right now?!” As I yell at the two of them, the room door is thrown open. Just as Belial predicted, it’s a party of soldiers led by Lydia. Lydia, having taken a quick look around the room, then raises her voice. “Where’s Nadia?! I swear I won’t hurt her, so tell me where she is!” “And then what, mrr? You’ll just demrrand that she give you the throoone!” Lydia glares at Tiger Man’s comment. “Yes, of course! I need to take the throne, not Nadia, not Madia! Even if I take the throne, my brother will become king soon after, so you stay out of it!” Lydia’s desperate plea seems to have tipped Alice off to the fact that not everything was as it seemed. “What do you mean your brother will become king soon after? What are you planning to do with the throne?” Lydia swallows a breath at Alice’s calm question, containing her emotions and turning to her soldiers. “…Leave the room. I need to explain things to these people.” Lydia orders the soldiers to exit the chamber even as they object to leaving her alone with potential hostiles. Once the room is empty except for members of Kisaragi and herself, Lydia says with a thoroughly exhausted expression: “I need you to finally, actually, listen to how the Grunade Kingdom was established.” She smiles a wistfully sad smile as she speaks in a soft, scratchy voice. 5 After hearing Lydia’s explanation, Alice says: “So this kingdom has used an artifact generation after generation to protect it from monsters, but it needs sorcery stones as fuel. A single stone can only run the artifact for a hundred years. It’s almost time to replace the stone, but only the ruler can switch out the stone. So Princess Lydia was throwing a tantrum because she wanted to replace the stone herself.” “I mean, when summarized, that’s what it boils down to, but the way you phrased it makes me sound kind of stupid. Can’t you make it a little more…” Alice summarizes Lydia’s ten-minute story in less than twenty seconds. “If you want to be the one to swap the stone so much, then you should just say that. Then at least your brother might listen to you.” I say this wondering why she couldn’t have done such a simple thing, to which Lydia smiles sadly. “The artifact is one of those mixed blessings where the person who swaps the sorcery stone usually ends up dead. That’s why, typically, an old king will do the exchange as his final duty to his kingdom.” “Killing you for switching batteries? That sounds like the mother of all lemons. Is it just leaking out current?” “N-nn, I already explained the reason for it earlier in quite a bit of detail…” ……Wait. “So basically, you want to take the throne because you don’t want your brother or sister to die, and you intend to swap the stone and die for them?” “I thought I’d been saying that the whole time…” At that, all of the Kisaragi personnel in the room smirk. “Aha, so you’re a tsundere, eh? Well, hate to break it to you, but the tsundere boom’s over.” “I have no clue what it is you’re talking about, but I understand that you’re mocking me!” Still, if that’s the case, it changes the calculus. “So what’ll it be, Tiger Man? Do you really want to keep Nyowdia on the throne?” “Of course nyeot! If you wanna replace the stone, then I’m leaving that up to you, Llllydia.” He really is harsh to everyone but lolis. It’s then that Belial notices the throne at the far end of the throne room. Her eyes shine like a kid in a candy store’s, and she heads over to the throne, practically skipping on the way. She had given up quickly on understanding Lydia’s explanation, and, I suppose in an effort to listen to it later to get the gist of it, had placed a digital voice recorder down to record the explanation. Belial sits without hesitation in the chair that only the country’s ruler is supposed to sit in. “W-wait! Where do you think you’re sitting?!” Lydia looks shocked and confused as Belial engages in an act of lèse-majesté that would have resulted in instant execution were there a living king. Sometimes even I’m taken aback the things she gets up to. “Lady Belial, you can’t sit there. That’s a spot for really important people to sit.” “I’m a really important person in Kisaragi, aren’t I? If you don’t like it, then you can try to force me to get up.” Well, yeah, she had mentioned wanting to become the queen, but this is maybe taking this whole acting-on-a-whim thing too far. “Tiger Man, can I get your help? I’ll take the right, and you can approach from the left.” “Mrrrkay. Lady Belial, you’re being farrrr too irresponsible given the circumstances. Mrrrm.” As we approach to drag her off the throne, Belial sits regally upon the throne and issues her edicts. “You there, the rank-and-file lackey with an uppity face. If you don’t offer us tribute of a pork bao within three seconds, you’ll be executed.” “You really can be a menace… C’mon, Lady Belial, we’ll be in a lot of trouble if one of those uptight soldiers sees you like this.” “Big women are awwwfurrrl. Yep, lolis are better, mrrrm!” Having started her little playacting as queen, she points her finger at Tiger Man. “The beast that made a risqué statement. You creep us out and thus are sentenced to death.” “Oh yeah? Well, with Six by mrrry side, we can put up a decent frrright!” As Belial does as she pleases, even Alice looks a bit exasperated. “Hey, you sure about that, Lady Belial? I can’t just let it go.” “Oh, c’mon, tell her, Alice. If I’m being honest, I wanna sit on that chair, too. You can’t be the only one to get your way, Lady Belial.” “Meowlice, use your logic to shoot down Lady Belial’s arguments until she breaks down crying!” Yet, for some reason, Alice also looks exasperated with us as we try to egg her on. “Lady Belial isn’t playing around. She’s saying she’s going to take the throne and do the sorcery stone swap herself. I can’t allow our irreplaceable Supreme Leader, who we’re borrowing from HQ, to do something that dangerous.” “What?” Everyone present lets out an exclamation of surprise at Alice’s statement. “…Didn’t Lady Belial just sound surprised, too?” “Nope… W-well, yeah, I was surprised. Y-y-know, because Alice understood what I was trying to do.” Oh, that’s the face she makes when things go in an unexpected direction and she doesn’t know how to deal with it. I suppose I have no choice, I’ll step in and… “Lady Belial, are you sure about this? You’re large, unreasonable, and a troublesome boss, but we can’t let you do this.” “Th-that’s right. I don’t know you very well, Lady Belial, but you’re one of the most important people in Kisaragi, right? Something this dangerous should just be left to this country’s people.” Tiger Man and Russell follow up with statements of concern over Belial’s safety before I can say anything, but these are the sorts of words that are really effective, given how dedicated she is to taking responsibility. Lydia, who has been quiet up to this point, forces a sad smile to her lips. “This is a responsibility for a member of the royal family to bear. I very much appreciate your sentiment, and I thank you for the kind offer, but that’s all it can be. I do have one thing to ask of you instead… Please keep the truth of all of this from my brother and sister.” She says the words most likely to hit Belial right between the eyes. 6 —The Midgard Mountains. The artifact at the heart of all this trouble lies hidden within this mountain range that stretches for several miles near the Grunade Kingdom. “Nyope nyope nyope! Nyoooo way, that’s definitely impossible!” “Stop mewling, Tiger Man! A Kisaragi mutant has no business saying the word ‘impossible’!” Having approached the Midgard Mountains, we listen to a detailed explanation of what we’re there to do, because, well, we can’t very well be horsing around with our lives on the line. “Tch, so it’s not to do with exchanging the stone killing you at all! If that wasn’t the case, you could’ve mentioned it earlier!” “N-no, I tried multiple times to explain… N-never mind.” Lydia slumps, emotionally drained from her explanation, while Belial looks as lively and enthusiastic as ever. Tiger Man, who was meowing noisily just now, then says in a perfectly sober and serious voice: “I think we should just give up on this country and make one of the older kids the king. Mrrr.” “Will this beast only be tamed by my sister? I think I look pretty similar to her.” Lydia pouts at Tiger Man’s statement. “Mrr. Yeah, you do look alike. Bruuut, I don’t have any interest in old meo-aids.” “W-who are you calling an old maid, you disrespectful cur?! I’m only nineteen! Now try saying that again!” “Mrr. Yeah, you do look alike. Bruuut, I don’t have any interest in old meo-aids.” Lydia punches Tiger Man’s stomach several times after the mutant frankly repeats his previous line word for word. Alice, who had been using some sort of measuring device to investigate something, declares: “There’s no doubting it now. The princess is right—this mountain range is alive. It’s a giant clump of life-form readings.” There was a reason why dragon worship was widespread in the Grunade Kingdom. There was also a reason why monsters wouldn’t approach the country. It’s because Grunade took advantage of the fact that monsters wouldn’t approach Midgard the Primordial Dragon, and it used an artifact to keep the creature in a deep sleep. The result was a holy land that would repel all monsters other than dragons where a small town was built, which then grew into a city, then became an entire kingdom. The reason why whoever exchanged the stone would die was because the moment they replaced the stone, Midgard would wake for a brief moment and kill the individual who replaced it. As for replacing the artifact’s stone, so long as the person possesses a magic device that only the king possesses, it can be done by someone who isn’t related by blood to the royal family. Due to the artifact’s very loose restrictions on use, Alice proposed making an irredeemably awful criminal the king temporarily, but— “Hey, Lydia. Leave the rest to me, the queen. I’m good at hunting giant lizards. I’ve killed a bunch of lizards since I got to this planet.” “By lizards, do you mean Bursting Lizards? Comparing those to the Primordial Dragon is…” Lydia can’t hide her concern as Belial insists on referring to lesser dragons as lizards. Belial’s in a good mood, having convinced Lydia to temporarily make her queen by arguing she’d at least make sure things worked out okay. Tiger Man, who has been raising a bit of a fuss, seeing Lydia and Belial’s exchange, slumps his shoulders. “Fine…I’m committing to this, nyeow. I’m gonna spend mrrrost of the Evil Points I have to support you, mrrm.” …… “You’re a mutant and a leader. You’re standing on the frontlines with me.” “Nyopenyopyopenyopenyope!” Seeing Tiger Man resume meowing, Lydia looks a bit troubled. “Um, what do you mean on the frontlines? I thought Lady Belial was going to swap the stone for me…” Having listened to Lydia’s explanation, Belial had very handsomely offered to take care of everything. Lydia evidently took that to mean Belial would be taking on the task of swapping out the stone. But if that was all that Belial was planning to do, Tiger Man wouldn’t be raising this big of a fuss… And just then… “Boss, I brought them as you asked!” The ones waving their hands as they arrived in the Midgard Mountains were Rose and Russell carrying Nadia between them. “Mrrm?! What are you doing here, Nyodia? It’s dangerous here, you should go hrrrome. Mrr.” “The lizard lady told me I could come watch you being really impressive, Mr. Tiger.” Hearing that, Mr. Tiger glares at me, the one who gave the lizard lady her orders. “C’mon, Mr. Tiger, Nyodia’s watching. Hoping to see just what you can do.” “You better be ready for what’s coming your way once this is all done. I’m going to put all sorts of things in my report to Lady Astaroth, mrrr!” Mr. Tiger puffs out his chest as he tries to threaten me, but in those terms, I have the high ground. “If I report your crimes from this whole incident, Tiger Man, the retribution squad’s going to come looking for you.” “There’s nrooo way I’d actually do something like that to mrrry best friend Six! When we get back to Hideout City, I’ll take you to a good bar!” My best friend meows and wraps his arm around my shoulder to play off his last comment as a joke. “Stop playing around, Tiger Man! Hurry up and commit yourself, dammit!” Receiving both Belial’s chastising and Nadia’s hopes, Tiger Man looks up. “Frrrrine. On mrrry prrride as a mutant, I’ll deal with this purrrimordial dragon or whatever! Mrrrm!” Alice shakes her head even as Tiger Man declares his readiness. “Lady Belial, this isn’t gonna work. I checked this thing’s mass, you won’t be able to do anything to it without using a nuke or something. It’s impossible to blast apart an entire mountain range without a huge arsenal of weapons. And you don’t have your teleporter, Lady Belial. You can’t even order weapons right now, right?” As Alice says, if we’re really going to fight an enemy that’s the size of the mountain range in front of us, yeah, that doesn’t sound doable. But right now, we’ve got the most powerful, most tenacious boss in Kisaragi with us. “Listen to me, Alice. No one in Kisaragi should ever use the word ‘impossible.’” Belial then crosses her arms across her chest and looks up at the Midgard Mountains, stepping out in front of the box-shaped machine that’s probably the artifact. When I look over the rest of the Midgard Mountains, I can see the faint outlines of a dragon. Meaning the giant life-form several miles long is really about to start moving. “Mutant Tiger Man, here’s your orders! Once Midgard the Primordial Dragon awakes, buy me three minutes of time!” “Improssible!” Belial glares at Tiger Man for his immediate rejection of her orders. “Say that it’s impossible again, and I’ll give you a beating.” “It’s impossible if I don’t gigantify.” Tiger Man goes sprawling as Belial follows through on her threat. “You really punched me! I did say ‘if I don’t gigantify.’ You’re always so damned unreasonable, mrr!” “Well, I mean, you mutants can’t use gigantification until you’re near death, right?” I guess that was just Belial trying, in her own way, to help Tiger Man gigantify. Tiger Man is struck dumb for a moment, but then murmurs out his next sentence as a last gasp of defiance. “Gigantification heavily consumes a mutant’s lifespan, and we’re told we should only use it once. But I’ve already used it twice, mrrrm…” “I see. Just shut up and do it.” “Totally unreasonable!” Belial forces Tiger Man to shut up, then turns to me standing toward the back. “Combat Agent Six! Send a memo to Kisaragi HQ asking for all the nitro cartridges they’ve got!” “Seriously? If you take that much nitro, I can’t take any responsibility for what happens afterwards.” How in character for Belial to put her own body on the line when she’s making her subordinate Tiger Man do the same. Clasping her arms together over her head, Belial stretches out her back and then begins warm-up exercises. As I send the order to Kisaragi, I think back to when Belial helped me loosen up my body by stretching with me until the morning. I guess the Belial from then and the Belial from now are the same at the most basic level. Although she had been so tame and skittish before her enhancement surgery, she now says… “Alice! If anything happens to me, explain the situation to Kisaragi HQ! I should have about half a million Evil Points saved up. Say that it’s my last command, and as a special exception, have them transfer my points over. Use those points to deal with the Primordial Dragon before it manages to fully wake up!” She, the person who, since receiving her surgery, has tried more than anyone to protect her allies… “Half a million points? Are you serious?! Just what did you do, Lady Belial? Well, with that many points and every option on the table, the dragon…should be killable… Would it be? Maybe…?” …is now fully committed to taking out a monster so big, so powerful, that even challenging it seemed foolhardy, all for the sake of a princess she’s just met, a princess of a country that had been an enemy. “U-um… You can’t possibly mean to defeat Midgard? Midgard the monster that’s worshipped as a god, and is said to end the world once awakened…?” Lydia looks up in disbelief, prompting Belial to lightly pat her on the head. “Once I do, that means you and your descendants won’t ever have to risk your lives swapping out stones, right?” She smiles gently, and Lydia’s face flushes as she stands there in shock. Yeah, even when she’s lost her memories, she’s still the same person at heart. So unabashedly generous, the sheltered girl, who would have lived quietly and calmly had the world been peaceful, turns her back to Lydia and calls out loudly: “Step forward once the artifact’s sorcery stone is removed, Mutant Loli-man! But before we do that, call out your crimes that caused this whole incident!” “I abandoned my post of defending the hideout, then kidnapped a princess who was still a minor and stole a national treasure! I assaulted knights who invaded the woodlands, and committed countless violations of orders by interfering with the invasion plans of Alice and the others, and increased the ranks of enemy countries, mrrrm!” You can’t deny the man is pretty bad when he’s got a list of crimes like that. It’s not an exaggeration to say this entire affair is all his fault. “Ordinarily, execution is a fitting penalty for all of that, but if you survive this encounter, you’re absolved of all of your recent screwups! Your beloved lolis are behind you. Don’t you dare back down, even if it kills you!” “Hrmph. You may be an unreasonable, violent, and toxic boss, but you’re always so damned good at motivating us to frrright!” Belial knocks the sorcery stone from its place on the artifact. As everyone waits, something toward the bottom of the mountain range opens. Based on the fact that it seemed to move to focus on something, that must be Midgard opening its eye. Standing in front of the artifact, Belial wobbles for a moment when that eye stares at her. Watching from a distance, Rose yells out at the top of her lungs: “Lady Belial, that’s no ordinary eye! It’s an evil eye that can kill the weak-willed with a single gaze, so please be careful!” Having heard words that sound like something out of a cringy eighth grader’s notebook, Tiger Man steps forward as if to protect Belial. We can feel Midgard awakening as the ground below us begins to shake. Two of Earth’s greatest beasts face off against a life-form far beyond the size of any reasonable scale, one the size of an entire mountain range. Russell looks at their backs like a child looking at the hero he admires and calls over. “Don’t you dare lose, Tiger Man! You’re the ultimate mutant, aren’t you?!” “Tiger Man! Lady Belial! If you need help, call! I can at least buy you two seconds by really, really trying!” I really don’t think she could last that long, but Rose, drawn in by the two of them, offers her cheers, holding her fist up. The ground shakes so much that we can’t remain standing, and Lydia takes her little sister’s hand and kneels as though in prayer. “Super-giant hostile life-form, Midgard the Primordial Dragon. If we can kill this thing and send its samples back to Earth, it’ll be a gigantic profit!” Even Alice the android seems to be infected by the heat of the moment and urges them on. “Lady Belial, here comes the nitro cartridges! The rest is up to you!” Belial, who has been waiting behind Tiger Man with her arms crossed, injects the just-arrived nitro cartridges into her neck without a moment’s hesitation. “Mr. Tiger! Go get ’em!” Nadia, evidently feeling something in the air, adds her own voice to the fray. Tiger Man’s broad back twitches, and the Midgard Mountains slowly begin to move. When the Primordial Dragon turns its body, the rocks that had been deposited upon its body begin to rain down like avalanches, but they’re all blasted to pieces by Belial’s giant explosion! “I am Tiger Man, King of the Woodlands and leader in the Kisaragi Corporation! So long as I have the cheers of the lolis behind me, dragons don’t scare mreee!” “I, Belial of the Hellfire, Supreme Leader of Kisaragi Corporation, have come from a distant world to hunt all the hostile life-forms and invade this planet!” With a thunderous cacophony like a volcanic explosion, the giant mountain range flings off the earth and rock that was crusted onto its body, giving a great roar as it rears up! In terms of time, the fight lasted all of three minutes. However… “Everything’s been completely blasted away…” Rose murmurs in a shocked stupor, but no one responds. No, it’s probably more accurate to say no one can reply. “That was more than I imagined. I didn’t think it would be this much.” The one who finally voices some agreement is Alice, the only one here who’s spotless, thanks to hiding behind me. By “more than she imagined,” does she mean the legendary monster Midgard or Belial’s combat ability that managed to defeat even that monster? “Forget that. You need to stop hiding behind me every time something happens.” “Aw, don’t be like that, partner. You know if I take damage, the whole neighborhood’s gonna have a bad day,” Alice says before she starts gently wiping the dirt off my face with a towel, but that’s definitely not enough to fool me. I take another look around, but thanks to the Primordial Dragon Midgard’s rampage, there’s nothing there. The trees that had been growing in scattered clumps and the smaller mountains were blasted away. And on this ground, which has been reduced to nothing but a giant empty space, lies the giant body of Midgard itself. Lydia, having confirmed that it’s stopped moving, stares up at it in shock. Even as I stand there having trouble accepting what’s just happened, Belial appears covered in dirt. It seems she must have broken her right arm, hanging limply by her side. She calls out to me: “Six! Ready a bath!” I hand a moist towel to my unreasonable boss, who demands the comforts of civilization out here in the middle of nowhere. “We’ll have to wait until we get back to the hideout. Besides, if you take a bath in a place like this, I’ll be guaranteed to peek. I might even come and join you in the bath.” “Well, that’s another thing to add to my report. Go and get chewed out by Astaroth.” Alice injects Belial’s broken arm with medical nanobots as we banter, and nearby, a badly wounded Tiger Man smirks with a pale, deathly expression as he’s taken care of by two lolis. And— “For them to actually take down the Primordial Dragon…” Lydia murmurs in shock, staring up at the sprawling body of Midgard. A bright-eyed Rose climbs atop Midgard’s corpse and begins gnawing on it. “Good thing microwaving did the trick! If that didn’t work, we would’ve had to order a shipment of nukes!” “That’s definitely not an order I’d let you place. Well, in any case, well done.” What Belial calls microwaving is a name Lilith gave to a move spawned from pyrokinesis. From what they told me, it works by directly heating a life-form’s cells instead of attacking them with flames. It’s basically a finisher that works like the heating mechanism in a microwave. Because it looks grotesque when used on living creatures, it’s a big move that Belial doesn’t like to use much. When Midgard awoke, it first took aim at Tiger Man. Having already been badly injured when Belial hit him, he didn’t hesitate to use his trump card, burning his own lifespan to gigantify and grab Midgard’s head. Belial climbed onto the rampaging dragon’s head, then used all of the available nitro cartridges to nuke its brain, leading us to our current situation. After she finishes wiping the dirt off her face, Belial starts walking to Lydia, who’s dumbstruck. The princess, seeing the raw power wielded just moments ago, trembles and is unable to move. Everyone stops what they’re doing to watch as Belial approaches the princess. As we watch with our breath held to hear what unreasonable, impossible demand Belial will make for this act of stupendous achievement… “Hey, Lydia. As you can see, I’ve killed the Primordial Dragon that’s been causing you so much heartache.” Lydia’s caught in dumbfounded awe as Belial makes it sound like she hasn’t done anything of real consequence. “Y-yes! Um, to receive such a blessing, and to have been shown that level of power, our kingdom will happily pay whatever amount that you choose to ask for—” Belial grins from ear to ear, cutting off Lydia with a laugh. “Can we call it even for all the crap Tiger Man caused, like stealing the national treasure, kidnapping, and all the rest?” At the unexpected words, Lydia looks at Belial as though she can’t believe her eyes. Then, looking upon Belial as though she were a hero who arrived when all hope was lost and saved the day: “…Y-yes. Yes, of course!” Lydia smiles brightly, an expression of pure joy appropriate for someone her age, a smile unburdened by the constant tension that was, until then, a fixed feature on her face. 7 “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?! Y-y-y-you slew M-M-M-Midgard?!” When we return to the palace in triumph, Adelie greets us with an expression of utter disbelief. “Yep. I’m told it’s the thing responsible for killing generations of kings in this country. So we’ve solved the problem for good.” Adelie’s shifty-eyed confusion says everything we need to know about just how remarkable Belial’s achievement is. “What were you doing, then? Did you know that someone had to die every time the stones were replaced? You’re supposed to be a hero; isn’t killing that thing your responsibility?” “What are you talking about?! You told me to look after Princess Nadia! I was playing with her in the castle when the chimera came to pick her up, so…! Besides, Midgard isn’t supposed to be something people can kill!” Oh, she’s been making herself useful in looking after Nadia, I guess. “Even we’d avoided dealing with it directly, trying to manage it from a distance… W-what should I do? The death of the Primordial Dragon is going to have an incalculable impact on the world! …I—I need to get going…” Adelie looks dazed as she murmurs some tantalizing information while wandering out of the room, but she’s not the priority right now. We’re currently inside the throne room— “Lydia, can you at least explain what’s going on?! Why was Midgard slain?! I thought you went to change out the sorcery stone!” The princess, looking relieved now that the problem has been taken care of, is being interrogated by the prince. “I’m saying that now that my objective is complete, I’m handing you the throne. Sometimes you’re just a little too sentimental, so make sure you fix that… If you have a cynical person among your retinue, you should make them one of your close advisors.” Seems the prince doesn’t know that the person exchanging the sorcery stone usually dies in the process. And this tsundere princess doesn’t seem inclined to explain something that’s no longer an issue. “Lydia! Do you really think you can throw the country into a whirlwind of confusion and just walk off the stage like that? And I have no cynical people in my retinue! The most cynical person in this kingdom is, without a doubt, you, my sister!” She chuckles softly at Madia’s string of insults, then shrugs. “Then, in exchange for giving you the throne, will you make me your chancellor?” “Pardon…?!” Lydia smiles in amusement, her teasing tone clearly enough to… “…Lydia, are you serious about abdicating your claim?” …tell the prince that she isn’t kidding. The prince looks troubled and confused as he turns to face us. “Even if I asked you what happened, I’m sure you wouldn’t tell me, would you?” No, I don’t have any objection to just blabbing, but… Well, the tsundere princess is putting her index finger to her lips with a smile, so I guess the nicest thing to do here is to say nothing. As we stay quiet, Lydia gives us a weary smile. “We now owe a lot to Kisaragi’s people. Our kingdom will be facing a great deal of challenges from here on out. After all, we no longer have the benefits of our proximity to Midgard. Like other lands, monsters will come back to our territories.” “Yes, what a terrible headache this will be. What are we to do…?” As the prince cradles his head with a troubled expression, Lydia chuckles. “In the grand scheme of things, it’s not such a serious matter. It would have been one thing if this were back when the kingdom was founded, but with our current resources, we should be able to handle it. It’s not like the time of our ancestors, who wandered the land looking for a safe place to call home. Thanks to their efforts and those of succeeding generations, we now have strong walls and skilled soldiers…” Lydia smiles as though a great burden has been lifted from her shoulders. “There’s no need to worry about monsters. I’m here, after all.” At Belial’s remark, Alice lets out a sigh of admiration. As I sit there hoping for an explanation. “You know our line of work, right, Princess Lydia? What Lady Belial’s trying to say is this,” Alice says, then nudges me with her elbow, which instantly clues me into what she’s trying to say. I repeat the words I once said to the Grace Kingdom. “What Lady Belial is trying to say is this: Care to hire some Combat Agents?” Lydia breaks into a happy smile at that remark, and the prince lets out a sigh of resignation and shrugs. “Nope. Why are you trying to look cool? I’m saying I’m going to stay in this kingdom.” Belial, not even bothering to read the room, starts going off on a ridiculous tangent again. Having had my cool line ruined by Belial’s remark, I offer my objection. “So what DID you mean, then? Don’t say you’re going to stay here as an advisor or guest!” I say, rather more harshly than needed, trying to hide my embarrassment. “Why would I bother being a guest? I’m already the queen, aren’t I?” Belial asks, ridiculously, as though this were the simplest thing in the world. As I’m trying to figure out how to knock this childish leader down a peg: “……That’s true, Lady Belial hasn’t returned the throne even after exchanging the sorcery stone,” Alice says almost to herself, resulting in Lydia and the prince both freezing in shock. “…U-um, Lady Belial? Even as a joke, it’s a bit in poor taste, is it not? Lady Belial, you’re the hero who defeated Midgard to save us, aren’t you?” “Hiyah!” “Oww!” “Lydia?!” Belial suddenly slaps Lydia’s cheek at that question. “What a terrible thing to suddenly do! Poor Princess Lydia’s all crying now!” But Belial puffs out her chest as though to tell me that I’m wrong. “You’re such a dummy, Six. Do you not know the whole thing about sticks and carrots? That was a stick for pretty much blackmailing you guys into working. It’s extracting a cost as an evil corporation.” “Um, considering how much trouble Tiger Man caused, I think it would’ve been fine to just provide Princess Lydia with carrots. Also, be honest, you slapped her because she called you a hero, didn’t you?” It’s true that an evil corporation relies on its reputation, and that it’s important to make sure no one gets away with disrespecting it, but I wish she’d at least read the room a bit. “L-Lydia, are you all right?! Why did you hire these ruffians…?” Lydia holds back tears for a moment from the pain of Belial’s slap, but she’s evidently amused at the fact that her brother, who was her enemy just a few hours ago, is worried about her, and she begins to chuckle. “See? Look at her, the stick worked, didn’t it?” “No, I think she’s just a masochist.” “I don’t have such predilections! I just couldn’t help but chuckle because of the circumstances!” Lydia then clears her throat and straightens her dress. “Yes, you’re correct, I hadn’t properly apologized to Kisaragi yet. I apologize that, in my desperation, I used such awful methods to force you to work for me. But thanks to your help, my brother’s come around… I really do need to thank you.” “Lydia! …You seriously owe me an explanation later for suddenly giving up on the throne you were so fixated on, and with everything that happened with them.” The prince, who looked so troubled by the events unfolding in the throne room, then turns to Lydia and offers her a weary smile. “Hiyah!” “Guh?!” “Madia?! I guess Belial really doesn’t like reading the room, because she slaps the prince this time. “You really can’t go around just doing that, Lady Belial. Now what upset you?” “The fact that they’re trying to bring this whole thing to a close like it’s a beautiful, touching ending. I told you, I’m the queen… But, well, I guess I’ll give you the throne back, but in exchange, you’re going to become a vassal of Kisaragi. Make sure you pay your tribute.” “W-wait, why would we ever listen to a demand like that?! Just who are you people?! You suddenly come in and cause all sorts of problems, then demand that we pay tribute?! Our country, the Grunade Kingdom, is a great power with a proud history! This is going too far!” What the prince is saying is perfectly reasonable, but logic has no place when dealing with Belial. “Proud history?! There’s nothing to be proud of, given it’s a history built on the sacrifices of people. Countries like that deserve to be destroyed. Hell, I’ll go and destroy them myself. After all, I’m a Supreme Leader in an evil corporation!” “Wha…?!” Belial smirks maliciously, prompting a stunned silence from the prince. Despite the frightening statement from Belial, Lydia begins to chuckle. “Vassalage, mm? Since you hold the throne, I suppose we have no choice. That, and if you really wanted to, you could easily destroy us, Lady Belial.” “Well, vassalage isn’t all bad, you know. If you’re ever in trouble, just call us. It doesn’t matter how far away I am, whether it’s another continent or even another planet, I swear I’ll come and save you.” Belial suddenly looks and sounds the part of a white knight, and Lydia blushes. The thing about Belial is that even when she seems so unreasonable, she has that innate charisma to suck people onto her side. “All right, guess I should give you a carrot to go with that stick.” Belial then presses an object into the hesitant Lydia’s hand. “This is a tool called a digital voice recorder. When I go home, press the button here that says ‘play.’ Also, make sure you press that when all three of you siblings are in the same room.” The prince tilts his head quizzically at Belial and Lydia’s exchange. “Once you all listen to this recording together, question your little sister as to why she asked the Tiger Man, who came to steal the national treasure, to kidnap her as well.” As I watch Belial say all of this with a malicious grin, I think about what’s probably contained in that voice recorder. 8 “And so after all the complications, we managed to elegantly defeat Midgard the Primordial Dragon, solved the problem that a princess had been grappling with on her own, and made Grunade submit to us.” It’s been a week since we returned from the Grunade Kingdom. Having taken the time to recover from our journey, I’ve found refuge in Viper’s office to avoid my boss’s daily barrage of unreasonable demands. Viper pauses her pen and smiles gently over to me. “Well, it sounds like you made quite the impact. Everyone’s already talking about how you and the others defeated Midgard.” Alice smirks as she processes her own paperwork. “Thanks to that, I think we can rest assured that the countries and city-states that submitted to us will stay loyal. Seems Midgard was a really famous monster around the continent, and we’ve had a constant stream of well-wishers. Even the cities and villages that had been on the fence have come to ask for our protection.” Thanks to Belial’s rampage, we’ve dramatically expanded our influence, and our name’s become famous throughout the lands. In the end, everything turns out for the best. Could it be that Belial did everything knowing this would be the outcome? “Um… That reminds me, Mr. Six. Do you know where Heine went? I haven’t seen her for days…” “Oh, we left Heine with Snow in Grunade. I’m sure they’ll eventually work out their differences and come home.” “W-why would you leave them there? W-well, so long as they come back safely, it should be fine…” There’d been continued tension between them since their little dust-up, so we decided to force them to get back to Grace on their own. Nothing builds friendships like shared struggles. For the sake of having one less complication, I’d rather that those two become friends again. Just then: “Hey, Six, get over here! Alice works, too! Help me!” Our peaceful little day is shattered as Belial’s voice thunders out from the direction of the training grounds. Alice and I exchange glances and head over to find Belial trying to disentangle from Grimm, who’s clinging needily to Belial’s waist. “This is your underling, right?! Do something! She’s a serious nuisance!” Belial had looked like death from the side effects of using all those nitro cartridges, but after a couple days, she’d gotten over her nitro hangover, and her broken arm from fighting Midgard had healed cleanly, leaving her to interact with the local hires, but— “Everyone’s so mean to me! Why? Why do I always get forgotten?! How many times has it been that I wake up and everything’s finished?! Come on, take me with you already!” “You need to be complaining to Six, not me! We had no choice, you were dead!” Grimm, who had died because Belial had forced her to wear socks, is throwing a tantrum. “That’s exactly it! You killed me, why are you so cold to me?! Lady Belial, you’re a Supreme Leader, so you’re like a mother-in-law to me, aren’t you?!” “Nope.” Belial flatly rejects that argument, but Grimm clings on with a tenacity unique to the undead. “Besides, you were supposed to be dead. What are you doing getting back up? From now on, you can call yourself the Mutant Zombie Woman.” “N-no, that title’s not cute at all! Let’s see… If you’re going to give me a title, why not make it sound all shimmery and cute like something to do with being a saint…?” Belial quirks her finger to summon me over after she shoves the zombie woman and dreamily contemplates alternative titles for her. “Six, get me some steel wire. I’ll tie her up and leave her lying around to keep her out of my hair.” “D-don’t! I’m pretty vulnerable to being physically restrained like that! I understand! I won’t complain anymore! So please…” I tie up Grimm using the steel wire I ordered, and Belial gags her to silence her. Belial then gestures for me to follow her. I leave Grimm tied up on the training field and follow Belial, ending up in the teleportation room. Wait, she’s not thinking of heading back to Earth right as she’s finished healing, is she? “Are you going back already? I mean, Tiger Man is still recuperating in the hospital, so you’re more than justified in staying awhile longer, Lady Belial. You can be like Lady Lilith and spend a little time slacking off here! Let’s enjoy life for a little bit.” “Don’t compare me to Lilith, I can’t slack off now that my body’s finished healing. That, and I’ve already been summoned back to Earth. The cricket-type superheroes, who are enough of a pain on their own, are evidently looking at forming some teams. That’s a lot to deal with, even for me.” Well, yeah, that’s a seriously bad situation. How bad? Honestly, it makes Midgard seem like a small inconvenience by comparison. Still… “Why do you always play hard to get, Lady Belial? This is the first time I’ve seen you in ages, but we’ve been so busy, we didn’t even get to properly sit down and have a chat. Why don’t you just stay here? I’d love to actually be able to go out and enjoy this world with you.” When I can’t help but say what I really feel, Belial looks at me, her expression torn. “…You know, you really are a natural charmer. I bet you said something like that to Lilith, too. She was all happy when she got back to Earth.” “You’re the charmer, Lady Belial. I didn’t say anything of the sort to Lady Lilith. I didn’t try to stop her when she left.” I mean, I couldn’t see Lilith being all that useful even if she had stayed behind. If anything, she probably would’ve been all sorts of a pain in the ass, what with how needy she can be. Belial smiles softly, evidently sensing what I’m thinking. “Got it. Well, you and Lilith are more like brother and sister than anything else…but that’s the sort of line you should be saying to Astaroth, not me.” “If I ever said something like that to Lady Astaroth, she’d get mad at me, telling me to stop being such an idiot and get back to work. As it is, she already seems to be in a bad mood whenever I see her face over video chat.” Belial furrows her brow, a mix of emotions playing out on her face. “…Astaroth’s pretty socially clumsy, but you’re almost as bad.” She then holds her collar closed for a moment, letting out a slow breath. Belial’s face suddenly takes on a serious expression, and she straightens, before calling out: “Here are your orders!” At Belial’s announcement, Alice and I stand at attention. “This time, we’ve been able to greatly expand Kisaragi’s influence. But we’re still far too short on land. A message from Astaroth: The Earth has little time left. Speed up the invasion.” What do you mean, Earth has little time left? Why do you people always leave me hanging with these interesting statements? Then again, if I learn more, I’m pretty sure I’d have nowhere to run to, so for now, I’m happier staying ignorant. Belial smiles softly as if reading my thoughts from my expression. “Don’t worry about how things are going over there. You just need to work hard, but not risk your lives. For the sake of Tiger Man’s sacrifice, make sure you guys stay alive.” “Tiger Man’s just recuperating in the infirmary! Why are you so eager to kill him?” Tiger Man, despite his third gigantification, managed to cling to life, and he’s been sleeping off his injuries as Rose and Russell look after him. Alice says he should wake up soon, but since we brought him home without saying goodbye to Princess Nadia, you can bet there’ll be a hassle or two to deal with when he wakes up. Belial puts her hands on Alice’s and my head and roughly tussles our hair. “See ya, guys. It wasn’t long, but it was pretty fun. Since I gotta make some preparations to face the cricket supes, I’m gonna head off now.” “You did whatever you felt like doing and it was only ‘pretty’ fun? C’mon, Lady Belial, you need to let your hair down a little. Why are you always living your life in a hurry? Don’t make us worry about you so much.” At my question, Belial seems about to speak, forcing a troubled smile to her lips. “…Well, there she goes. I was hoping we could spend time like we used to, go out partying, maybe engage in a little cuddling…but I guess Lady Belial’s always been hard to get.” In the end, Belial didn’t say anything before stepping into the teleporter and heading home without another word. “…That’s how it looked like to you, eh? Well, I’m thinking Lady Belial knew that there’d be trouble if she stayed any longer.” “Yeah, she did mention that the cricket superheroes are about to form teams. ‘Trouble’ is not a strong enough word for that.” As I worry about everyone back on Earth, Alice looks like she has something she wants to say. “That’s not the kind of trouble I meant, but, well, that’s fine… Now, Six, have you noticed?” “…? Noticed what?” Alice gazes at the now empty teleporter. “Based on the fact that she ultimately managed to greatly expand our territory and solved the drama between the Grunade royals…I’m pretty sure Lady Belial’s gotten some of her memories back.”
Chapter 102
43 min read