Chapter 77

CHAPTER 3 Our Barbaric Neighbors 1 A week after the crazy woman was arrested for the second time, the agents sent to scout Toris a second time returned. “Well, you gave us all sorts of crap for the last report, so we used a relatively large amount of Evil Points and gathered lots of useful information with high-precision optical telescopes. Here, take a look at this.” We are all gathered in the conference room as the scout team, looking pretty disheveled, plops a thick-bound sheaf of reports down on the table. Alice flips through it before opening her mouth to comment. “‘As a country rich in water crystals, Toris uses its plentiful water supply to create a large number of leisure facilities such as public pools and giant bathhouses. Perhaps because the primary mode of transportation in the city is boats along its many canals, people prefer to dress in light, thin clothing just in case they fall into the canals. Because the massive deposits of water crystals underground occasionally erupt in geysers, the people of Toris are often showered by these geysers…’…So when do you actually get to the useful information?” “That was all useful information! Especially the part about Toris citizens wearing skimpy clothing and getting wet!” Alice tilts her head quizzically as the agent smacks the table for emphasis. “…So are you saying that we should sell swimsuits in Toris? I mean, sure, clothes that dry quickly, plastic umbrellas and raincoats, and hair dryers would probably sell well, but I reiterate: Is this really useful information?” Alice has her head tilted in confusion, but she is totally missing the point. “I see, so there’re tons of women wandering around with wet T-shirts in Toris!” At my comment, the other Combat Agents perk up. “They really did bring home useful information! Hey! I’m going on the next scouting mission!” “Screw you! I wanna go, too!” “Leave infiltration missions up to me. I’ll draw up a superaccurate map of Toris.” My selfish colleagues get into a shouting match and begin physically fighting over who will go next. I join the fray, too. Obviously. Sick of watching us fight, Alice speaks up. “If we conquer Toris, you’ll be able to see those women in wet T-shirts every day, you meatheads.” Well, well. It seems my partner really is as high-spec as she claims to be. “So you are a genius after all! Now use those smarts to figure out how to conquer Toris. Let me preface that by saying it has to be an operation with zero Combat Agent casualties.” I ruffle Alice’s hair. Rather than putting up a fuss, she simply nods. “Leave it to me. I’ve already got a plan written up. In war, numbers are everything. So I’m going to clone you lot and send in those clones to—” “Why do you always come up with these morally questionable schemes?! No bioweapons! No nukes! No clones! Every life is precious! C’mon, isn’t there something more along the lines where we get to slack off but still enjoy the fruits of the conquest?” As we all reel back in revulsion at the ruthless android’s proposal, Alice shrugs and replies: “If such a thing existed, we’d already be done conquering Earth. The easiest shortcut is to continue developing Hideout City. We may have gotten some land pretty quickly on this rock, but Hideout City is our only real accomplishment so far. Now’s the time to secure our gains, build up our strength, and make this place a true safe-ops center.” The Combat Agents, myself included, let loose with a stream of jeers and boos as we have the delicious treat yanked away from us and replaced by boring routine work. “Fine, whatever. We’ll set aside developing the city and proceed with invading Toris. But you’ll need to tell Viper that we won’t be able to fulfill our promise of securing living space for the demons until we finish our invasion. Tell her that we’re sorry but she’ll have to wait a little longer…” “Don’t use Ms. Viper to guilt trip us! Fine! We’ll work on development!” “How awful! Ms. Viper’s been working her ass off because she wants to repay Kisaragi for saving the demons!” “She wakes up earlier than everyone and stays up working later than everyone else. And not only does she do so without complaint, she even puts on a smile every day. We can’t possibly tell her that…” Seems like these guys can’t stand the thought of upsetting Viper, even though they’re cannon fodder for an evil organization. Obviously, I can’t break that news to her, either. The android that’s extremely good at manipulating people, noting that we’ve calmed down, makes her pronouncement. “Then we’ll stick to our policy of working on the governing. Also, the useless scouting party needs to head back to Toris and get some useful information this time… Dismissed!” “Dammit, scouting missions are dangerous! Fine! We’ll definitely bring back important intel this time!” We start filing toward the exit after the scouting party leaves in a huff, but it’s then that Alice says, “Oh, right, I need the rest of you to come help me with something.” She says it casually, as though asking us to run a simple errand. Combat Agent shouts ring out across the giant lake in the woods. “Ahhhhhhhhh! New enemies incomiiiing!” “More enemy life-forms detected!” “Something’s growing out of the ground! Watch your legs!” “Detecting several dryad types, orc types, gorilla types, and several new species! We can’t hold this! Retreat!” The Combat Agents who accompanied Alice are fighting the endlessly spawning monsters in the forest. A short distance away from the hellish battle scene— “B-Boss! There’s way too many of ’em! Even with everyone in Hideout City, we won’t be able to eat ’em all!” “Gah, we’re not here to secure food, you idiot! Just leave the monsters where they fall!” As Rose’s voices concerns that are completely off base, I shout at the top of my lungs in Alice’s direction, “How much longer is setting up the tow cable going to take, Alice?! We can’t hold out much longer!” At the center of the lake, Alice is currently connecting a tow cable from the Destroyer to the wreckage of the giant robot. Having surveyed the wreckage the other day with Rose, Alice declared that she was going to salvage it. Since the giant lake is deep in the woods, we can’t take any heavy equipment with us, so we had to drag out the still-recharging Destroyer, but— “We can’t just leave them here! The laws of nature demand we eat the enemies we defeat!” “Hey! Leave the feral orcs alone! No orc meat allowed in Hideout City!” Rose, who has been dragging a supopocchi by the tail while hauling a feral orc on her back, suddenly throws her body to the ground. Something thrown in Rose’s direction slams into the orc’s head…! “Boss, there’s someone else here! The Bashin tribe’s showed up!” “Eeeeeep! That orc’s head looks like something out of a splatter flick! Throw the damn thing away!” I can’t help but let out a scream on seeing the gory remains of the orc on Rose’s back. Just then, the low bass of a heavy engine rumbles through the area. None of us turn to face the source of the engine noise, something every Kisaragi employee finds to be a comforting sound. Instead, we look in the direction the ax came from. “The Bashin tribe are civilized. If you’re polite to them, they won’t attack us! Smile! Smile at them!” With that, I turn and smile at the bushes only to be greeted by an ax thrown in my direction. “What do you mean ‘civilized’? They’re totally ready to kill us! Actually, in my case, I sometimes enter the woods looking for food, and usually there’s a high chance I get attacked by the Bashin tribe. They’re an evil tribe!” “B-but we’ve been able to come to an understanding with the Bashins of late! Vi would interpret their spirit language, and…” It is just then that I remember. Oh, right, they—! “The supopocchi! Rose, leave the supopocchi! That’s their main source of food, so if you leave the supopocchi alone, the Bashin won’t attack us!” “I can’t follow that order, Boss! A Kisaragi Combat Agent letting someone else take their prey?! You should be ashamed of yourself for that suggestion!” Why the hell are you picking now of all times to show some Kisaragi spirit?! That’s totally out of character for you! When I look around for covering fire, my useless colleagues have already started retreating upon hearing the Destroyer’s activation noise. Rose moves to guard the enormous pile of monster corpses behind her, then spreads her arms and tries to intimidate the enemy bushes. “Raaaaaaaaaaawr!” Rose’s attempt at intimidation looks like a child doing her best to scare away a wild animal, but I guess something about her stance is keeping the opponent in the bushes on their guard, and there’s no sign of them leaving. …No, after a rustling noise, a small Bashin tribeswoman hiding her face behind something that looks like a hockey mask steps out of the bushes with an ax in one hand. The tribeswoman who stands in front of Rose is dressed like a Neanderthal. She is wearing various animal skins and has strange patterns tattooed on her arms and legs. The lone tribeswoman—based on her long, dark-brown hair and figure—appears to be a girl in her teens. “So you’ve come, Ms. Bashin! Why do you always try to take my prey?!” “Pretty sure it’s you that’s been coming and intruding on their hunting grounds.” Based on Rose’s remarks, it sounds like she knows this young Bashin tribeswoman. “When I enter the woods, this girl usually shows up. So far, we’re tied for wins and losses. But I don’t feel like I’m going to lose today!” “…It sounds like you and Little Bashin are rivals. Why the hell are you forging weird relationships with people when I’m not around?” I can’t see her face, but it looks like she’s about the same age as Rose. …Just then, I don’t know what occurs to her, but the girl put down her ax and then tauntingly quirks her index finger at Rose. I can’t understand what she’s saying, but it’s clear what she’s trying to communicate. She’s challenging Rose to a fight. Rose sets down the orc on her back, balls her hands into fists, and drops into a stance. “I don’t really get what’s going on, but I won’t lose today, especially with you here, Boss!” “Huh…?! Two against one? Are you sure you’re okay with that…?” “…?!—Ah!” Apparently she understands what Rose is saying, and the girl appears to be raising an objection despite not being able to raise her voice. And seeing that I also dropped into a fighting stance, the girl looks around worriedly and trembles. “It’d be one thing if this was a duel, but this is a fight for survival to secure my dinner! Fighting two on one may not be fair, but might makes right! So let’s end this today!” “Man, your morals fly right out the window when food gets involved, don’t they? …But fine. I guess we’re employees of an evil organization, after all.” Seeing that I was intent on joining the fight, the girl then smacks her mask with both hands. Seems she’s steeled herself for the fight, and she picks up the ax she’d set on the ground, drops into a stance, and— —cowers as the Destroyer’s front leg lands right next to her. Then comes Alice’s voice from inside the Destroyer, amplified by the loudspeaker. “Stop playing around, you idiots… Begone, savage!” “…Tch! ……Tch, tch!!” As the leg waves around to shoo her away, the girl lets out a silent shout and flees— It seems she was the only member of the Bashin tribe in the area. There is no sign of axes flying in our direction after Alice chases them off, and Rose insists loudly that she’s going to take all the monsters home. So we tie the monster corpses to the Destroyer and somehow manage to get them back to the city. And when we arrive back at Hideout City, there is a woman who looks starry-eyed at the giant robot towed by the Destroyer… No, at the giant pile of monster bodies tied to its steel frame. “There’s so many monsters that’ll make good money! Alice, leave dealing with those to me! I’ll use my connections, the strength of Kisaragi, and my authority as a former knight commander to get a good price from the merchants!” Snow, who has started calling herself the ‘Governor’ and ‘Deputy Lord of the City,’ starts appraising the value of the dead monsters. “No can do, Ms. Snow. I’m going to eat all these monsters!” “Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no way you could eat all those monsters. The innards can be used for medicine, while the skins and bones can be sold at a respectable price. If we had all that money, we could use it to help develop the city… H-hey! Doing that won’t change anything, Rose! Stop gnawing on me!” As Rose fights like a wild animal to avoid losing her prey, there is a group gathering to have a look at the wreckage of the giant robot that has been dragged here by the Destroyer. It is about one size-class smaller than the Destroyer and slightly resembles the Sand King. There’s algae growing on various parts of its body, perhaps because it has been submerged in the lake for so long. If it was created to fight the Sand King, why was it at the bottom of a lake instead of in the ground? The planet’s mysteries just keep getting weirder. “All right, your name’s Mr. Mogero. I’m going to fix you and make you look all new!” Alice cheerfully pats the robot mole’s armor and gives it a name. I guess she feels a certain kinship with it because it’s a robot, even if it’s from a different planet. “Well, you can fix it if you want, since you’re the one who picked it up. But make sure you care for it, so it doesn’t go on a rampage or anything… I mean, I’m sure it’ll be pretty hard to repair a completely alien robot in the first place…” After all, a different world means different culture and technology. We’d have to take the robot apart with large-scale crane equipment, figure out what’s broken, look for parts that seem compatible and adjust them to fit, and then do test runs… It’s a long, long process that’s already giving me a headache. I shrug at Alice, who is full of childlike wonder now that the giant robot is finally in front of her… “The hell are you talking about? Given that you’re not doing anything in Hideout City, you’re gonna help fix Mr. Mogero, Six.” “Wha…?” 2 With no enemies to fight at the moment, we begin pouring our efforts into fortifying Hideout City. Even the sections of Hideout City without any residents are now equipped with proper plumbing and multipurpose buildings. The demons inhabiting the city all have homes now—albeit simple ones—and there are plenty of them out working in the farm fields we cut out from the forest. Still, because the fields are near the woods, monsters still show up the moment we let down our guard. The scenes of Combat Agents chasing off monsters as the defensive walls go up around the farming sector are the epitome of planetary settlement. We also have heavy equipment bulldozing a path through the forest to connect the city with the giant lake where Mr. Mogero was found. It is a scene that would probably drive environmentalists into a homicidal rage. I watch such scenes unfold from afar and speak to Alice as she continues her repair work. “Looks like it won’t take more than six months to finish the industrial sector. According to Vi, the demons that had been scattered around the world are gathering at Hideout City, too. I mean, here we have cheap labor, a lot of land, and plenty of resources, too. Yeah, I think I’m pretty much over Earth. Couldn’t I just have found my own kingdom here?” “If you became king, there’d be a coup within three days. I foresee a future where you end up in an intense fight with the Retribution Squad sent from Earth.” It has been a week since she started repairing Mr. Mogero. It was a soggy rust bucket when we first found it, but it has since been restored to a brilliant sheen. “Hey, it’s starting to look pretty good. Is it gonna start moving soon?” “Doesn’t look like it. I repaired the broken components, but he still won’t start up. It seems that he’s powered by the sorcerer stones or whatever. But he hasn’t responded to any of the stones I’ve gathered.” Alice gently strokes Mr. Mogero’s armor as she speaks, like she’s soothing a baby. “Ah-ha! I bet it’s designed just to listen to its creator’s orders. Or maybe only members of a specific bloodline can run it.” “That only happens in manga and anime. I’ve never heard of a real-world security mechanism like that.” As Alice and I apply a coat of wax to Mr. Mogero’s armor, a beaming Rose appears with something in her hand. “Ms. Alice! I’ve finished my math homework! It’s finally all done!” Having now formally become a Kisaragi Combat Agent, Rose is in the process of training her brains to catch up to her combat ability. To that end, Alice has been regularly giving her homework. The idea was to start small with elementary-level math problems, but… “…Nearly half of the answers are wrong. Start over from the basics.” “W-wait, hold on, Ms. Alice! If you put it a different way, it means half of the answers are right! So that means if I only do half of the basics again, I should get them all right!” Rose brings out her unique brand of statistics and tries desperately to argue her case. I decide to give her a hand as a fellow meathead. “Alice, you should start by praising her for her successes. As someone who responded really well to positive reinforcement back in the day, you can trust me on this one.” When I was a kid, my mom cried tears of joy when I stopped putting crawfish I’d caught in the fridge. “And that is what you get when you repeatedly take the easy way out.” Alice points straight at me as she speaks. “…Listen, Rose, if you don’t study and work hard while you’re still young, you’ll end up like him in the future.” “I’m tired of studying, but…I guess I’ll put in a little more effort!” “All right. Grit your teeth, Rose. Let’s settle once and for all who’s head is stronger.” As I try to head-butt her, Rose slowly begins to back off. A demon merchant who supplies Kisaragi with food runs over to us the moment he catches sight of Alice. “I finally found you, Ms. Alice! Someone’s flooding Grace Kingdom’s market with cheap water crystals! Now’s the time to buy them cheap and flip them for a profit!” Alice tilts her head quizzically at the sudden bit of useful information. “Water crystals… That special mineral produced in Toris? Did the ones who invaded them start dumping them? But why would they flood the market with them and charge next to nothing?” Alice murmurs to herself and falls deep into thought. Rose smiles innocently at her. “So that must mean the people who took over Toris are nice people! They’re sharing their leftover water crystals with us!” …No one’s that charitable. There must be a catch. Alice then nods slightly, as though she has come to a conclusion… 3 <Evil Points Acquired> “Hey, hey, hey! Who the hell gave you permission to open a shop here?!” “Eeep! I—I sent an application form to the landowner…!” I listen to the Evil Points announcement in my head as I loom over the woman in front of me. In Grace, we find the stall selling the water crystals, but… “Don’t give me this complicated talk of application forms! Where the hell did you get these rocks, huh? Go on, spit out your source!” “I—I—I—I can’t reveal that! It’d impact my credibility, and supplier information is life and death for a merchant…!” The woman tries her best to hold her ground while glancing nervously around for help. But the people of the city, evidently aware of who I am, all pass by, pretending not to notice… As I tower over the woman who is on the verge of tears, Alice gently places her hand on my arm. “Let’s try talking to her first, okay? Are you all right? I’m sorry about my companion. He’s usually not such a bad guy, but… He’s been swindled before, so he gets really aggressive against shady merchants.” Alice affects a pained expression, then approaches the woman I’m intimidating and gently takes her hand. The woman, her eyes brimming with tears, seems to relax a bit at Alice’s words. “I—I—I see. Then I guess that can’t be helped… B-but I’m a legitimate merchant.” I want to complain about being described as an extortion victim, but it seems Alice is attempting to play the good cop here. The good cop, bad cop routine forms the basics of Kisaragi negotiation techniques. “A legitimate merchant. Still, it’s a bit odd, isn’t it? Water crystals are a precious mineral found in Toris. But we currently don’t have any relations with them. And if you can’t talk about your supplier, it’s only natural that people suspect you of smuggling…” “See? She’s doing shady business! To secretly conduct business with an enemy country we’re not trading with, how suspicious! I’m going to pass you off to the greedy knight who loves taking credit for things!” “P-p-please wait! I haven’t smuggled anything; please believe me! Um, by greedy knight, do you mean Lady Snow?! Tell anyone but her, please! If she gets ahold of my weaknesses, she’ll squeeze me for all I’m worth!” She’s more scared of Snow than she is of me. Just what the hell has that corrupt chick been doing? Kisaragi may be an evil corporation, but recruiting her might have been a mistake. The woman, terrified, looks around cautiously before saying softly, “So just between us, the water crystals were given to me by a certain person. It seems like their intention is to support this kingdom from the shadows, seeing as we’re chronically short on water. They’ve been handing out water crystals to various merchants and telling us that they want the crystals distributed cheaply to the people…” Wait, what? Is this a campaign from some sort of charitable organization? …It’s now that Alice murmurs to herself, “They’ve already got operatives in this kingdom. What a nuisance.” I don’t know what she’s talking about, but thinking is her job. Which means what I ought to do is… “If you got them for free, then you won’t mind if we confiscate them, eh? Give us all your water crystals, dammit! We’re taking them because you’re kinda shady! We’ll be the ones to distribute them to the kingdom! If you want them back, then you can go and prove that you obtained them legitimately!” “Th-that’s not fair. I may have gotten them for free, but they’re mine now! Please, miss, stop this man!” As I hear the Evil Point chime, I once again tower over the woman. The woman turns a pleading gaze to Alice. “To sell imported goods in this kingdom, you need to report where you acquired them, how much you acquired them for, and your sale price. What do you intend to do about that?” “Oh, I just don’t report any of that. That way I don’t have to pay any taxes. It’s killing two birds with one stone.” The woman’s knee-jerk response to Alice is shockingly brazen, but she soon comes to her senses. “What was that about doing legit business, Ms. Tax Dodger?!” “That was just a slip of the tongue, sir! Please, just pretend you didn’t hear anything!” As the woman throws herself over the water crystals, I respond cheerfully with a canned response, wiggling my fingers in delight. “Hee-hee-hee, you can scream all you want, but no one’s coming to help! Now, don’t resist!” “Ohhh, so confiscating the water crystals is just an excuse and what you really want is my body! Fine, if you wanna do something pervy, go ahead and do it! In exchange, I’m keeping the crystals!” I smirk at the woman as she screams something ridiculous at the top of her lungs. “Relax, I’ve got my pride and honor as a man. Sexual assault is strictly prohibited. Just hand over the crystals. Also, you’re not my type. C’mon, hurry up!” “How rude! I’m not going to hand over this amazing opportunity! I already decided I’m going to sell these crystals and make a fortune! If seduction won’t work, then how about money?! I’ll give you ten percent of the sales, so help me dodge my taxes!” “…Hey, Six, look at the price she’s selling the crystals for. Despite being told to sell them cheaply, she’s actually charging an arm and a leg for them.” Damn. Not only is she planning to dodge taxes, but she’s ripping people off. “Paying taxes is a citizen’s duty. I bet we’ll find all sorts of dodgy things about you if we dig around! I’m going to report you to the proper authorities!” “Heeeelp! Someone help meeeeee!” Right at this moment— “That’s enough!” As the woman (who turned out to be a lot shadier than a simple tax dodger) screams, someone with weird tastes decided to respond. Just as I’m thinking this series of events feels oddly familiar, Alice and I turn around to see— “…What the hell are you doing here?” “I was helping an old man in the city carry a ton of luggage. That’s when this lady came up to me and told me I had promise. Then she asked if I wanted to help her bring justice to the world!” Standing before us is Rose, with a sunny smile on her face. And next to her is Adelie… “Ah, so we meet again, Agentsix! Thanks to you, I spent a long time in jail! The police spent every day lecturing me. I’m definitely going to repay you for that!” “The reason you got lectured was because you’re a criminal.” “I’m! Going! To repay you for that!” Adelie ignores my quip and repeats herself, angrily enunciating each word. “…Hey, Six, who’s this weird woman?” “Someone I’ve met but don’t know. She’s some oddball named Adelie.” Alice looks at Adelie like she’s a curious specimen, before clapping her hands together in recognition. “Ah, so she’s the white-armored weirdo from the reports… Now I get it.” I don’t know what she gets from our exchange, but Alice turns toward Adelie. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Adelie. I’m Six’s partner, Alice Kisaragi.” “Thank you for your polite introduction. I am Adelheid Krueger, the Umbral Savior. You can call me Adelie or Ms. Justice… Now.” Adelie then points at me and speaks in a ringing voice. “Agentsix, you’ve finally shown your true colors! You’ve entrapped me multiple times and turned me over to the police, but…now that I’ve caught you in the act, you’re not getting away this time!” “You kept getting caught on your own. I don’t remember setting any traps for you.” “Now that! I’ve caught you! In the act! You’re not getting away this time!” Adelie once again ignores my quip and smiles triumphantly. “Your crimes are blackmail and attempted sexual assault. You’re trying to steal the water crystals that I magnanimously provided to this kingdom’s people! That’s undeniably evil!” “Ah, so you’re the source of water crystals. And you’re admitting to being connected to the merchant who’s trying to sneak away, right?” At Alice’s observation, Adelie tilts her head quizzically. The merchant, who has somehow sneaked away with the bag of water crystals on her back, reels at Alice’s observation… “Ah, she’s making a break for it! Rose, that lady’s attempting to dodge her taxes! She’s a criminal! Chase her!” “Ohhh?! U-understood! I’ll go get her!” I watch as Rose runs after the fleeing merchant before I hand Adelie the price tag that had been on the water crystals. “Didn’t I tell you what my job was? I’ve been given the authority to arrest people in order to preserve the peace in this city. That woman’s crimes include tax evasion and running an unauthorized business, but it seems she’s committed additional crimes. We’ll find out more after an interrogation… This also makes you a coconspirator.” “No, that’s not true, Comrade Agentsix! Please listen to me, friend! So Rose, the person I recruited, was one of your people? She’s a really good girl, with a great sense of justice. A rare find, indeed. Also, I’m sorry for doubting you, Agentsix, when you have subordinates like her. You are an ally of justice. I was right about you after all.” Adelie starts nervously offering excuses after seeing the price tag, while Alice efficiently sends off an order memo and obtains a set of Kisaragi-manufactured handcuffs. “Adelie, was it? I have a fair sense of who you are, but tell the details to the cops. All right then, it’s time for us to get going.” “Wait, please listen to me! …Oh?! Wait, I don’t feel an evil aura coming from you. You look like a child, but what are you, exactly?!” Adelie drops into a battle stance as she backs away, trying to avoid getting handcuffed by Alice. Exasperated, Alice lets out a sigh and speaks. “…What the hell is an evil aura? There’s no way you could sense anything like that.” “No, I know! It’s the sixth sense of justice! My sense is right about twenty percent of the time. When someone catches my eye, I then unmask them with this!” As though she has drawn a firm conclusion, Adelie draws out her crystal ball. Wait, 20 percent accuracy? That’s basically random chance, isn’t it…? “This is a karma-measuring crystal that reads the person’s soul. So if you’re going to insist you’re not evil…!” Alice grabs the crystal ball before Adelie can finish her explanation. Obviously, the crystal ball that reads souls or whatever shows no reaction. “…It doesn’t turn black when Alice touches it, but what does that mean?” “…If it’s not turning white or black, I guess it means she’s neutral? I’ve never seen this before…” Alice mercilessly cuffs Adelie’s wrists as Adelie stands there in confusion. “Stop playing with stupid toys. It’s time to go.” “Wait, hold on! I shouldn’t have done that! I’m sorry for doubting you; please forgive me! Please, if the police arrest me again, I won’t get out for a long time! It’s really hard to deal with the interrogator’s exasperated tone when he says, ‘You again…?’.” We haul Adelie off toward the police station as she howls in protest. “<Hey, Six, I’ve never met them myself, but are the Heroes on Earth at least a little better? The superheroes that threaten Kisaragi can’t be all like this, right?>” I keep silent, since Alice asks in Japanese. “So just what the heck is she anyway? She’s always going on and on about justice, so it’s clear she’s not someone we can coexist with, but…” Having returned to Hideout City, I mutter to myself as I lie on my cheap bed. While we were able to deliver Adelie to the cops, it seems the tax-dodging merchant was able to evade Rose’s pursuit. Because of that, I suspect the merchant might be quite the skilled operator, but given that Rose had meat-skewer sauce around her mouth when she came back, she is being interrogated by Grimm on suspicion of accepting a bribe. At my random muttering, Alice, who followed me to my room and is sitting on the couch as she cleans her trusty shotgun, speaks. “She’s an agent of the mystery faction that wiped out the Toris royal family. She’s done a lot of weird things like flooding the market with cheap water crystals and trying to crack down on crime in the city, but there’s no doubt that she’s one of theirs.” …?! “Seriously? We lost Toris to someone that useless?! We were outmaneuvered by that?!” “No, I’m pretty sure she’s one of their rank and file, not a leader…” Alice sounds oddly unsure of herself. “…But she’s an agent? When I heard they took down Toris, I figured they were really strong, but they must really be short on help if they’re recruiting people like her. I mean, getting arrested three times when you’re sent somewhere as a spy is a pretty remarkable bit of incompetence.” “I can’t comment on that. I mean, I’ve got an agent in front of me who was sent to this planet as a spy, screwed up, got caught, and nearly ruined the mission.” Since I’m a man who doesn’t dwell on the past, I have no idea what Alice is talking about. “Anyway, figuring out her identity will have to wait until the investigation is over. I know she’s been arrested twice already, but I let the authorities know she might be a spy. She probably won’t be troubling us for a while.” “I dunno… As a Combat Agent, my gut is telling me that we haven’t seen the last of her…” 4 It’s been two weeks since Adelie began her third stint in jail. Hideout City’s residential area is filled with rows of prefabbed mass-housing units, and the commercial district is now handling various types of foodstuffs, helping to relieve our supply shortages. As for the giant lake not too far from Hideout City, we’ve slowly been building a road in that direction while doing our best to avoid upsetting the Bashin tribe. Around the Grace Kingdom, there are countries other than the demon realms and Toris. We’d been building up relations with those countries, with Alice taking the lead on the matter… Basically, everything is going according to plan so far. “So surrounded by a huge group of Heroes, the mutant Panda Man says, ‘Attack me if you want. I’ll accomplish my goal even if I have to force my way through every last one of you.’ Those words were intimidating enough that none of the Heroes lifted a finger to stop him…” “Wow! Panda Man’s impressive!” “He’s so cool! I wanna meet Panda Man and cuddle him, too!” We’re all in Viper’s room, aka my favorite hangout spot. There are two chimeras listening intently to my story of Panda Man’s accomplishments. “A-and was Panda Man able to safely go to the zoo and hug the kids?” “Yeah, the kids were ecstatic. They got to hug Panda Man and even squish his paw pads. I seem to recall the mutant tiger man watching them enviously from the shadows…” “I wanna squeeze Mr. Panda Man’s paws, too! I’d gnaw on them if I could!” As the two chimeras are getting all excited, Viper, who has been hard at work, tilts her head and comments: “Um… I think the Heroes didn’t attack Mr. Panda Man because they were being filmed by those ‘television cameras’…the ones filming the Washington Convention you mentioned earlier. I believe the Heroes would’ve gotten yelled at by all sorts of people if they attacked Mr. Panda Man while in front of the cameras.” Viper’s observation riles up the two chimeras, who are totally starry-eyed over Panda Man. “Viper, what a terrible thing to say! You’ve been thoroughly corrupted by Kisaragi…” “That’s right, Ms. Viper! There’s no way Mr. Panda Man is that much of a schemer!” “I—I see, my apologies! Yes, you’re right. It was wrong of me to make judgments about Mr. Panda Man’s character without having met him! I’m sorry!”