Bonus Short Stories

Aesthetics Beget Sacrifice

“Oh yeah, Naiz. Have you ever thought about getting a weapon?”

The party was taking a short break at a desert oasis when Oscar suddenly asked Naiz that.

“I don’t need one. Well, not for now, anyway.”

“But you used to be a warrior, right? I’m pretty sure desert warriors don’t fight bare-handed...”

“True, they don’t. Most of us used swords. The standard weapon was a curved greatsword. Some use spears, but I always preferred the sword. It’s what my father taught me how to use.”

“So then, why not use one? I can make one for you if you want.”

“Thank you, but I’m fine. The dagger I’m carrying will do for now,” Naiz smiled slightly and shook his head as he responded to Oscar’s words. Then, he went on to explain that he was trying to master his magic as fast as he could, which was why he was purposely avoiding using a sword. Furthermore, he’d also been taught hand-to-hand combat by his father, so he was confident in his fighting skills even when bare-handed.

“I see now. That makes sense. But if you ever feel like you want to use a sword again, just ask. I’ll make you the most powerful magic sword you’ve ever seen.”

“When that time comes, I’ll be counting on you.”

It’s amazing how casually he says he’ll make me an artifact-class weapon... Touched by Oscar’s generosity, Naiz’s smile grew bigger. Miledi chose that moment to butt into the conversation.

“Oh, I want a weapon!”

For a few minutes now, Miledi had been standing off to the side, hopping up and down in excitement, her eyes sparkling in anticipation. She’d clearly wanted Oscar to ask her if she wanted a weapon too. It’s amazing how obvious she is about her desires, Oscar thought ruefully to himself.

“You’re a pure mage, aren’t you? I’m pretty sure you don’t even know how to fight at close quarters.”

Most of the time, Miledi crushed her enemies flat or sent them flying before they even had a chance to close in on her. On the off chance someone did manage to get near her, Miledi could reorient her gravity, flying through the air faster than the eye could follow. Her predominant battle strategy consisted of maintaining her distance and flattening enemies with gravity magic.

“Who cares if it’s not practical, O-kun! I just want a weapon like your black umbrella! It looks really cool!”

“Hehe, you’ve got a good eye, Miledi.”

Blushing slightly, Oscar adjusted his glasses. He was weak to people praising his fashion sense.

“Very well, Miledi. I’ll give you a weapon so awesome it’ll blow your mind. Naiz, you’re getting one too. Even if you don’t use it, you should have a cool weapon to show off.”

“Yaaaaaay! You’re the best, O-kun! I knew you wouldn’t let me down!”

“I don’t believe weapons need to be flashy to be functional...”

Though Miledi looked excited, Naiz couldn’t help but be a little worried. He rubbed his eyes wearily and prepared himself for the worst. Oscar fished through his Treasure Trove and presented his two comrades with their new weapons.

“Is that a circle with a hole in it?” Miledi tilted her head quizzically as she looked down at the weapon Oscar handed her.

“It’s called a chakram. It’s used by the tribes who live on the snowy tundra on the southern continent. They use these to hunt. If you throw it, it’ll loop back around to you. Also—”

“Whoa! That sounds cool! Hiyah!” Miledi exclaimed as she threw the chakram before Oscar could finish his explanation. She was one of those people who’d rather learn from experience than read a manual. The chakram traced a neat arc through the air and turned to return to Miledi. As she reached out to catch it—

“Whoa, it multiplies!?”

The chakram split into ten. One of the new chakrams slammed into Miledi’s forehead, cutting it open.

“Milediiiiii!” Naiz shouted. On the other hand, Oscar just adjusted his glasses and continued.

“Also, I’ve modified it so that it splits into multiple weapons mid-flight. However, it only multiplies on the way back, so you need to be careful when catching it. If you’d listened, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“This isn’t the time to be explaining things, Oscar! Look, she’s bleeding even worse than when we fought an apostle. Oh no, she’s collapsed! And she’s lost consciousness! Hang on, Miledi, I’ll heal you!” Naiz screamed as he pulled out the chakram stuck in Miledi’s forehead and hurriedly cast healing magic on her. Thanks to his speedy first-aid, Miledi was back in action in no time.

“H-Huh? Belle? I just saw Belle standing on the other side of a river. She kept shouting, ‘Don’t follow me, Miledi-chan!’ What was all that about...”

“I think that shaved a few years off my life...” Naiz sighed in relief. I bet Bell was just as panicked when she saw Miledi on the other side of that river.

“As I suspected, these chakrams are too dangerous for you Miledi. Here, try this instead.”

“Hey, O-kun, did you just say ‘as I expected’? You did, didn’t you? Hey, answer me!” Miledi tugged on Oscar’s sleeve as she begged for a reply, but he was too busy choosing Miledi’s next weapon to answer. And so, she turned to Naiz, and the two of them exchanged a worried glance.

“Here, put this on instead, Miledi.”

“What’s this?”

Oscar had pulled out an assassin’s katar. The handle was meant to be strapped to the wielder’s wrist, and they had to flick their wrist and use mana to push the blade out.

“Isn’t it cool to flick a dagger out of your wrist!? Go on, try it! No need to be shy!” Oscar’s eyes shone with excitement as he said that.

Oh shit, we’ve flipped his switch, haven’t we? Miledi and Naiz thought simultaneously. Too late, they realized they were being used as guinea pigs to test out Oscar’s new weapons.

“Y-Yeah, it is cool! B-But, I don’t think a weapon like this is for me. Actually, on second thought, I don’t need a weapon after all.”

“No, Miledi, you do. You absolutely do.”

“Uh, okay.”

Oscar had no intention of letting this precious chance to test his weapons slip past him. Seeing the determined look in his eyes, Miledi reluctantly took the dagger and then turned and pushed it into Naiz’s arms.

“M-Miledi!?”

“Man, you’re right, this really is cool! But I think it suits Nacchan more than me!”

“This is what I get for saving your life!?”

Miledi looked away and whistled innocently.

“She’s right. Naiz, this is the perfect weapon for you. Go on, equip it. Weapons are meaningless unless they’re equipped, after all.”

Desperate, Naiz turned to plead with Oscar. However, when he saw the look in Oscar’s eyes, he turned back to Miledi. Unfortunately, Miledi pointedly refused to meet Naiz’s gaze and just said, “Ahh, the weather’s great today.”

To think I call these people my friends... Sweating, Naiz reluctantly strapped the handle onto his forearm. And then, as instructed, he poured mana into the apparatus and flicked his wrist. Boom! There was a thunderous explosion, and Naiz flew through the air.

“Nacchaaaaaaaaaaaan!”

“Hmmm, did the self-destruct function misfire? I’ll need to investigate this.”

Miledi used gravity magic to bring Naiz back to earth, then shot Oscar a terrified look. He cocked his head and said, “What? There’s no point in a weapon that doesn’t have a self-destruct feature.”

“O-kun’s a mad synergist!”

As Miledi cast healing magic on the smoking Naiz, she thought back to her previous battles with Oscar. Come to think of it, when we fought that three-headed dragon in the Greenway, his black umbrella blew itself up...

“Hah!? Where am I!? I could have sworn I saw my father yelling something from the other side of a river...”

It appeared Naiz had seen a vision of his family as well. Like Belle, Naiz’s father had likely been yelling at him to turn back.

“Now then, I have a few more weapons I think you guys would love...” Oscar said as he pulled out cool-looking weapons one after another. Naturally, they were all prototypes, and they obviously all came with a self-destruct function.

“I’m so glad you guys are willing to help me test these weapons. Only ancient magic users are sturdy enough to handle these.”

Miledi and Naiz paled and took a few steps back. They knew what was coming was going to be bad if Oscar was emphasizing their sturdiness.

“What’s wrong guys? Here’s the next weapon I want you to test,” Oscar said as he brought out something that resembled a scythe. But unlike a normal scythe, it seemed to have a pulse, as if it were alive. Miledi didn’t like the look of that one bit.

“Go on, it won’t bite!”

There was something terrifying about his smile. Naturally, both Miledi and Naiz wanted nothing to do with that scythe.

“Nacchan, you take it!”

“Miledi, it’s all yours!”

They both tried to use each other as a scapegoat and ran as fast as their legs would carry them. Such wonderful friendship. Afterward, multiple explosions rocked the peaceful desert oasis, and both Miledi and Naiz were sent flying multiple times. No one could escape from Oscar the mad Synergist.

Girl Power!

This happened around two weeks after Miledi and the others started living on the Melusine Pirate Crew’s ship island. By that point in time, the three Liberators had become good friends with the pirates.

Oscar stood within one of the ships’ kitchens, an apron tied around his waist. He’d been feeling a little peckish, so he’d gone down to make himself a small snack. As he was about to start cooking, Meiru and Miledi walked in with pale-faced Chris and Naiz behind them.

“What’re you guys all doing here?”

“O-kun, I’ll be borrowing this side of the kitchen. This is a fight I can’t afford to lose.”

“Huh?”

“Oh my, Miledi-chan. Do you truly believe yourself capable of besting your older sister?”

“What’s going on here?”

Miledi and Meiru exchanged glances, sparks flying from their eyes. Miledi was grinning fiercely, while Meiru wore her usual gentle smile. Chris walked over to Oscar and quickly whispered what was going on.

Apparently, Miledi and Meiru had been chatting and the topic of girl power had come up. One thing had led to another, and the two had started arguing about who had more girl power.

“I-I get it now. Though, I can’t tell if they get along or not... By the way, Chris. I get that you guys got dragged along as judges, but why do you all look so scared?”

“You’ll see soon enough...”

Oscar cocked his head in confusion, but he quickly realized why Chris and his men looked so grave.

“Let us begin with a cookie-baking contest!” Meiru proclaimed as she pulled a sack of flour out of the cupboard... and dumped its contents onto the countertop. She then threw a brick of butter into the flour, added some eggs, and poured handfuls of sugar over the entire mess. And after all that, she started stirring the concoction.

“Meru-nee, I’m pretty sure that’s not how you cook...”

“Whatever do you mean? I admit this is a bit difficult to mix, but I see nothing wrong with my cooking.”

Rather, she wasn’t really mixing it at all.

“It’s this accursed butter’s fault!” Meiru muttered under her breath as she tried to force the ingredients together. In an attempt to melt the butter, she shot a fireball at her ingredients. And after a while, she realized she didn’t have enough water, and so summoned an entire waterfall to dump into the smoldering flour-butter-sugar mixture. Next, she added raw fish to her cookie batter.

Why the hell is she putting FISH into her cookies!? The guys all thought simultaneously. Apparently, this was Meiru’s “secret ingredient” for her cookies. Since she was chopping up the fish herself instead of using preserved meat, the batter was getting drenched in blood on top of everything else. The ship’s kitchen was beginning to look like the ninth circle of hell.

“Th-This is so wrong...” Oscar muttered, terrified. It appeared Meiru’s cooking methods aligned more with her real personality than the facade she normally kept up.

So this is why Chris and the others were so scared... It seemed Meiru’s opponent was just as horrified by her blasphemous baking as everyone else. Miledi watched with a stiff expression as Meiru created her abomination. Meiru’s cookie batter resembled a dying slime as she continued adding a plethora of absolutely unnecessary ingredients, giving it an even more ghastly appearance.

Is she trying to summon a devil or something? Oscar thought to himself.

On the other hand, Miledi had made a perfectly normal batch of cookie dough, which made Meiru’s attempt at cooking look even more pitiful. Before long, Meiru’s cookies, if they could even be called that, were ready. The dark red biscuits looked like they’d crawled out of the depths of hell.

“Enjoy, my dear judges!” Meiru smiled gently as she said that. Normally, any man would have been overjoyed to receive handmade cookies from such a beautiful woman. However, in this case, everyone was trying to push each other forward. No one wanted to be the one to test those poisonous cookies.

“Hmph, cowards, the lot of you. Fine, I’ll eat them.”

“First mate!”

Chris stepped forward, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. At that moment, he looked positively heroic. First, he sampled one of Miledi’s cookies. While her cookies had come out a little misshapen, they seemed normal otherwise.

“Mmm. Yeah, these are good. A bit too sweet, but I’m sure the kids would love ‘em.”

Normally, this would be around when Miledi would start gloating. But she just gave Chris a quiet “Thank you.” She was too sad over what was about to happen to him to boast. Grinning confidently, Chris picked up one of Meiru’s cookies. Everyone held their breath as they watched him bring it to his mouth.

“Heh... Take care of everyone for me, guys,” Chris said as he slumped to the ground.

“First maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate!” the other pirates screamed.

“Oh Chris, you sure love to exaggerate. Surely they couldn’t have been that delicious!”

“Like hell they were delicious! Look at him, Meru-nee! He’s foaming at the mouth! Don’t worry Chris, I’ll heal you! Hang on...! Wait, my healing magic’s not working!?”

In the end, Meiru was forced to use restoration magic to save Chris’ life. She seemed utterly confused as to why Chris had needed healing, and why her men were all cheering for his safe return. As the commotion died down, Oscar walked over and spoke to them.

“I baked some cookies too. Would you guys like to try them?”

“Oh, you too, O-kun? Let’s see how well yours turned out...” Miledi trailed off as she saw what Oscar’s cookies looked like. The other pirates also fell silent as they turned around and beheld his creation. Oscar had cut his cookies in animal shapes. There were cat cookies, bunny cookies, dog cookies, and even mouse cookies. Each and every one of them looked unbelievably cute.

“Oh, I made some fruit sauce to go with them, too. They’ll taste even better if you dip them in it.”

Everyone was stunned. Not only had Oscar made cute-looking cookies, but he’d even made a dipping sauce to vary up the taste a little. In fact, he’d also brewed some black tea that paired perfectly with the cookies. Miledi sucked in a huge breath and held it. A few seconds later she shouted, “So this is what girl power looks like!?”

The onlooking pirates and Naiz nodded simultaneously. Miledi and Meiru’s contest to see who had more girl power continued, but no matter which event they picked, the results didn’t change. For example, during the embroidery contest, Miledi was able to embroider a respectable design. While she was no expert, she’d been taught the basics during her nobility days, and she was no slouch with a needle. On the other hand, Meiru somehow managed to tangle the threads together into one super-thick cord and got the needle stuck into her cloth, eventually creating some Frankenstein monster pattern that didn’t look appealing by any stretch of the imagination. Clearly, Meiru had no skill with needle and thread. Incidentally, the strange monster was supposed to be a kitten, but no one could tell. Probably because it looked like it had tentacles. Right as their match was wrapping up, however, Oscar happened to pass by. He was carrying one of Miledi’s dresses. It was one that had been ripped up pretty bad during one of their previous fights, and Miledi had honestly been debating just tossing it. However, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to do so and had thrown it into Oscar’s Treasure Trove instead. As a favor, he’d repaired it for her and had come by to return it.

“Umm... O-kun, is it just me or did you make it look even cuter than it was originally?”

Oscar had added flower patterns to the dress to hide the stitches his repairs had made. In order to keep the overall appearance from becoming unbalanced, he’d also added ribbons to the dress to make the flowers fit. And though the color of the dress was supposed to have faded a little, he’d somehow managed to make it vibrant again.

“Really? I just fixed it up since I was repairing my coat anyway. To be honest, it’s not very high-quality work. If you’d wanted to buy a new one after seeing this, I wouldn’t have minded, but I’m glad you like it.”

Oscar had been raised in an orphanage, so he was used to repairing torn clothing. Plus, he was dexterous by nature, so he’d had no problem learning how to mend clothes in a way that looked cute, or clean even the most stubborn of stains.

“Are you secretly a mother or something!?” Miledi took the dress from Oscar and sucked in a huge breath before screaming those words. Everyone around her nodded.

Next up was a contest to see whose room was cleaner. Meiru had just shoved all of her things into a corner of her room, so while it was technically clean, it didn’t look very nice. Miledi, on the other hand, had kept her room tidy since she was mooching off of Meiru’s kindness. However, after two weeks of habitation, there were small patches of uncleanliness here and there, like stains or dust piles. Upon seeing Miledi’s room, he’d cleaned it until it was spotless with all the speed of a consummate professional. His orphan upbringing had equipped him with all the skills necessary to manage a household. On top of that, he was naturally skilled with his hands and serious in everything he did, so it made sense that his standards for cooking, cleaning, and sewing were so high.

In the end, the rankings for girl power were as follows:

Meiru: Too crude, no girl power to speak of.

Miledi: average in all fields, and thus average girl power.

Oscar: Possesses so much girl power he may as well be a mom.

“And so, Oscar wins the girl power contest! Out of all of us, he’s the most mom-like!”

The Melusine Pirates cheered Chris’ proclamation.

“I don’t understand,” Oscar, Miledi, and Meiru muttered simultaneously.

Secrets, Buried Pasts, and so much More

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

A young girl’s crying voice rang out. Wondering what was wrong, the Liberators Marshal and Mikaela rushed over to her.

“Oh my, this is terrible!”

“H-Huh? What’s going on?”

Few things surprised Marshal, but what he saw managed to stun him. Ruth was standing in the hallway, seemingly at a loss for words, while Susha desperately tried to console her younger sister, Yunfa, who was bawling her eyes out. A short distance away, Corrin was on the ground. Upon seeing the puddle of liquid further down the hallway and the dampness around Yunfa’s legs, Marshal could more or less guess the cause of Yunfa’s distress.

Despite how precocious she was, Yunfa was still a little girl. It was hardly surprising that she’d start crying after accidentally wetting herself in public. The question was, how had something like this happened? Mikaela rushed over to comfort Yunfa, while Marshal turned to Ruth.

“Hey, Ruth, what happened here!?”

“Um, I wanted to help strengthen the village’s defenses... so I tried making some of the booby traps Oscar told me about...” Ruth took a few steps forward, angled his body, and stomped his foot on the ground as he said that. The flagstone he’d stepped on sunk a few inches, and a sawblade whizzed past his neck. A second later, countless spears shot out of the walls, floor, and ceiling. For a booby trap, this was overkill.

“Are you crazy!? I’m a former soldier and even I’m scared of traps like that!”

“But Oscar told me ‘there’s no value in a trap that doesn’t kill its victim. Make sure you layer multiple traps onto each other so that there’s no way for them to escape.’”

“Your big brother’s insane, you know that?”

For some reason, that made Ruth blush with pride.

“Haaah... Let me guess, Yunfa accidentally triggered one of your needlessly dangerous traps?”

“I’ve dulled all the weapons just in case. Also, as long as you don’t move, none of the attacks will hit you, so it’s not dangerous. But I know stuff like this is still dangerous, which is why I was working on it all on my own.”

Susha, Yunfa, and Corrin had spotted him while he was in the middle of working on his traps. He’d warned them not to come any closer, but that had only spurred Yunfa’s curiosity. Thinking Ruth was hiding something naughty, she’d ignored his warning and rushed forward. And in doing so, she’d triggered his trap and been grazed by a plethora of deadly weapons.

“You apologized, right?”

“Of course I did. Even if it’s not my fault, a guy can’t ever let a girl cry. Besides, it’s partially my fault Yunfa had to go through something so embarrassing, so I’ll keep apologizing until she forgives me.”

“I-I see... Damn, you’re even manlier than I am.”

That’s probably one of his older brother’s teachings too, huh? Marshal wondered what kind of person Oscar was while he watched Ruth dismantle his traps. Most of the village’s residents, Marshal included, hadn’t actually met him yet. Meanwhile, Mikaela managed to get Yunfa cleaned up and calmed down, so the whole group moved to the dining hall to continue their conversation.

“Ruth... If you ever tell Naiz-sama what happened here, I’ll kill you.”

“G-Gotcha. I promise not to tell.”

Blushing slightly, Yunfa glared at Ruth. She knew she was at fault for ignoring Ruth’s warning, so she’d already accepted his apology and forgiven him. But even so, she needed to make sure Naiz never found out about that incident. Besides, half the reason she’d accepted his apology was that he’d gotten down on one knee and begged her to forgive him while all the adults were watching. She’d been so embarrassed she’d said yes just to get him to stop.

Ruth’s esteemed older brother, Oscar, had taught him that when he apologized to a girl, he had to get on his knees, look her in the eyes, and apologize with all the sincerity he could muster. However, to most of the girls watching, it had looked more like Ruth was proposing than apologizing. At that moment, the older women had all realized that Ruth would be a natural ladykiller when he grew up. They quickly began thinking of ways to seal Ruth’s powers before they blossomed, while also speculating on whether or not his mentor, Oscar, was also a natural much the same.

Unfortunately, while Yunfa had forgiven Ruth, she was still embarrassed. Currently, she was hiding in Susha’s arms, her tiny body curled up into a ball. Susha patted Yunfa’s back comfortingly.

“Cheer up, Yunfa,” Mikaela said and held out one of the snacks she always kept handy. However, Yunfa just groaned and retreated further into Susha’s embrace. At a loss for what to do, Mikaela eventually decided to sell out her leader in order to improve Yunfa’s mood.

“Don’t worry, Yunfa. When Miledi first joined the Liberators, she had an embarrassing episode too!”

“Huh?”

Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Hold on, you’re not supposed to—” Marshal stuttered, but Mikaela was a friend to children first and foremost. Her loyalty to Miledi came second.

“I’ll spare you the details for the sake of her honor, but it was one hell of an incident, let me tell you.”

“I-I see. So even Miledi-oneesan wet herself... But that doesn’t make it any less embarrassing that I did it too!”

“No see, Miledi’s secret was way more embarrassing than yours ever could be. You see, for a time there were rumors that a ghost haunted the village streets at night. People heard mysterious panting late at night, and attributed it to a ghost.”

“A-A ghost?”

Yunfa and Corrin paled. Even Susha covered her mouth in shock.

“Seriously, stop it! If you say any more, you’ll be betraying Miledi!” Marshal shouted. But Mikaela couldn’t be stopped. She really enjoyed talking about Miledi’s youth.

“But in truth, the panting belonged to Miledi! You see, that girl would sneak out every night and do exercises that were supposed to make your boobs grow bigger! Only, she never realized people could hear her panting.”

Yunfa and Ruth burst out laughing. Susha snickered as well, while Corrin pulled a face. Kind as she was, she couldn’t help but sympathize with Miledi.

“Anyway, you know what else—”

The children avidly listened as Mikaela regaled them with tales of Miledi’s dark past. Eventually, Yunfa muttered, “If Miledi-oneesan did all that, then maybe what I did isn’t that bad after all...”

It seemed Mikaela’s stories had done the trick, as Yunfa was feeling a lot better. Mikaela’s stories grew more and more damning, and after a while, Marshal cut her off before she spilled something that would really make Miledi cry if she knew the kids knew.

“B-By the way, do you have any stories of Oscar’s childhood mishaps?”

In a way, Marshal was just as cruel as Mikaela since he was using Oscar as a scapegoat for Miledi.

“Hm? Well, if I had to say, he got called a loser because he was hiding his powers. He’s so cool, that’s the only thing I can think of!”

“Yeah, he never did those kinds of embarrassing things.”

In Corrin’s mind, Miledi was already a failure who’d embarrassed herself far too often.

“Come on, there’s gotta be something, right?”

Ruth and Corrin exchanged glances. As they struggled to think of something, Marshal added, “Surely he’s done something embarrassing.”

As far as Marshal was concerned, there was no such thing as a boy with an innocent childhood. Eventually, Ruth did come up with something, but it wasn’t the dark past Marshal was expecting.

“Come to think of it, there is one weird thing.”

“Oh, do tell.”

“We lived in the slums, so bad guys would always try to pick fights with us. But every time they did, he would take them to a back alley, and after a while, the bad guys would come back out and apologize and everything. He’d like, made them into good guys.”

The two adults fell silent.

“Yeah, that was really surprising. There was this one guy who called me a shitty brat, but after he had a talk with him, the guy started calling me Lady Corrin. It was actually kinda scary.”

He totally threatened them, didn’t he?

“Oh, and every time I visited his house, there would be different girls there.”

“Oh yeah! Usually, whenever he was out, there’d be girls waiting around outside his house. And whenever I mentioned he was my brother, they’d start giving me snacks and pocket money and stuff.”

“They changed every month or so, too. Whenever it looked like it was a rich girl, we’d all take turns going to his house so we could get free money.”

Ruth and Corrin grinned at each other. You do realize those rich women were trying to get with your brother, and you just sold him out, right? Marshal lamented. The group continued to pass the time by swapping stories about Oscar and Miledi.

Ten days later.

“Hm? O-kun, Nacchan, we got a letter from the Liberators back home...” Miledi said as she pointed up to the bird soaring toward them. It was Cream, carrying a letter in its beak as usual. The bird alighted near them and Miledi took the letter out of its pouch. Oscar and Naiz gathered around her and the three of them read the letter together. Normally, they loved reading letters from the kids, but this time the contents were anything but enjoyable.

“Miledi-oneesan, I heard from Mikaela-sensei that you used to do exercises to make your boobs grow. Are you still doing them? Do they work?”

“Oscar-oniisan. I heard from Ruth that you’re good at breaking people. Especially men. Is that true?”

“Miledi-san, is it true you like erotic novels? Do you have a huge collection?”

“Oscar, my teacher said the girls who used to hang out at your place were all your lovers. Is that true? Marshal said it was amazing you could make so many different women fall for you.”

It was obvious from what the kids had written that they’d spilled Miledi and Oscar’s secrets to each other. Both of them ignored Naiz, who was backing away slowly

and put the letter back into its envelope with trembling hands.

“Mikaelaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuth!”

They simultaneously shouted the names of the ones who’d betrayed them.

She’s a Siscon

“Stooooooooooooop! Meru-nee, you suck!”

A few weeks had passed since Andika had sunk, and the residents were getting used to living on an island of ships. The past few days, Miledi’s screams had become a staple on this replacement island.

“Oh my, such naughty words. A naughty girl like you deserves to be punished, don’t you think, Miledi-chan?” Meiru said as she pinned Miledi’s arms behind her back, and played with her cheeks. A flush spread across Meiru’s cheeks as she watched Miledi struggle to break free. There was a sadistic undercurrent to her gentle smile as she basked in Miledi’s cries. At this point, everyone had gotten so used to Meiru bullying Miledi that no one butt in even when Miledi begged for help.

There was, however, one girl who always came to watch the spectacle. Though she didn’t seem to be enjoying it necessarily. In fact, she seemed positively annoyed. Sulking, the girl in question trotted up to Meiru.

“Nee-sama.”

“My, Diene. What is it?”

“Diene-chan, help me!”

Diene ignored Miledi’s cries and said, “If you want to play with someone’s cheeks, please play with mine!”

She squeezed her eyes shut and spread her arms wide. Her pose was an odd mixture of determination and resignation.

“U-Um, Diene? It’s not what you think. I’m not really bullying Miledi-chan...” Meiru hurriedly made excuses for herself. She didn’t want her beloved sister to think she was a bully. Even if it was the truth.

“Take that, you bully! How does it feel, Meru-nee? Knowing that your only sister thinks you bully people? You mad? Are you, Meru—”

“Please shut up, Miledi-san!”

“Oh, uh, okay. Sorry... Wait, what?” Miledi had thought Diene had come to save her, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. In fact, Miledi had never heard the kindhearted Diene say “shut up” before. Something was strange.

“Nee-sama!”

“Y-Yes?”

Even Meiru was a little taken aback by Diene’s aggressive attitude. A hint of desperation entered Diene’s voice and she shouted, “My cheeks are soft too! I’m sure they’ll be able to satisfy you, nee-sama!”

“I’m sorry, I’m not quite sure I follow.”

“Bully me, nee-sama!”

“I think you need to calm down, Diene.”

Diene was shouting so loudly that they were starting to attract attention. For once, Meiru looked nonplussed. She cast Miledi aside and worriedly knelt down in front of Diene. Miledi slumped to the ground, looking like a woman who’d just been abandoned by her abusive boyfriend.

“How can she treat me like this,” Miledi whimpered to herself. However, no one paid her any mind.

“Umm, Diene? You can’t tell people you want them to bully you. Why would you even think that?”

If there was some dark trauma bothering Diene, Meiru knew it was her job to fix it. Diene bit her lip, and after a brief moment of silence, replied.

“Because you’re bullying Miledi-san every day. She might call you Meru-nee, but I’m your real sister, and you don’t even bully me.”

“Of course not, I could never do anything to you that you wouldn’t like, Diene.”

“But you’re fine with doing things I don’t like, huh!?” Miledi screamed. Once again, everyone ignored her.

“I wouldn’t hate it at all! I want you to hug me from behind and squeeze my cheeks like you do to Miledi-san! It’s not fair that she gets to hog you all the time!”

Meiru nodded in understanding. I see now, she wants me to pay attention to her too, and not just Miledi-chan... Her lips curled up into a dopey grin. Her sister’s jealousy was so cute that she couldn’t maintain her facade.

“Oh Diene, you’re just so cute!”

As requested, Meiru circled around Diene, hugged her, and started playing with her cheeks. Her siscon tendencies had come to the fore. However, Diene and Miledi possessed fundamentally different personalities. While it was possible to treat Miledi as a joke character, the same couldn’t be said of Diene. Which was why, in time, Meiru’s rough treatment of Diene’s face devolved into loving caresses before long. She stopped pinning Diene’s arms as well, and just hugged her normally. As expected, Diene wasn’t satisfied with this.

“Nee-sama, you have to be rougher!”

“Oh my,” Meiru muttered, completely at a loss for what to do.

“Gufufufu. Diene-chan, I never knew you had such weird fetishes. If you like pain so much I can—Owww. Meru-nee, that hurts! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, just stop!”

Meiru pulled Miledi’s cheeks as far as they would go as punishment for insulting her precious sister. Crying, Miledi desperately apologized. Seeing how easily Meiru hurt Miledi, Diene once again felt left out. She disentangled herself from Meiru and started shivering.

“O-Oh my. Diene, what’s wrong?” Meiru didn’t stop torturing Miledi even as she asked that question.

“Waaah... Even though I’m your real sister, you’re only ever paying attention to Miledi-san! Nee-sama, you cheater!” Diene whined as she dashed into the ship’s cabin.

“D-Diene! You’re mistaken! It’s not what you think!” Meiru responded in a rather cliche manner. Then, she chased after Diene, looking like a husband who’d just been caught cheating. As expected, she didn’t even spare a second thought for Miledi, who she’d abandoned.

That evening, Diene came to visit Miledi.

“Miledi-san, I know this is presumptuous of me to ask, but how do I become a little sister like you?”

The fact that she was asking her rival for advice instead of getting jealous showed just how forgiving Diene was at heart. Smiling at her forthright honesty, Miledi scratched her head and tried to think of some useful tips. After a few seconds, a lightbulb went off in her head. Had Oscar or Naiz been present, they would have warned Diene not to listen to Miledi when she looked like that.

“Well, you see, there isn’t just one way to be a good little sister.”

“Wh-What does that mean?”

“There are types of sisters. Both you and I belong to different types, so learning my techniques won’t help you at all. It’s like a swordsman trying to learn magic!”

“I see now!”

The truth struck Diene like a bolt of lightning.

“Please teach me what kind of little sister I should aspire to be, Miledi-san. I want Nee-sama to notice me.”

“Fufufu, very well, your passion has moved me. I shall impart to you the grand wisdom of little sisters.”

There was no stopping Miledi now.

The next morning, Diene went to see Meiru. The pirate captain had been up all night, worried that Diene might hate her now.”

“Good morning, Nee-sama.”

“Diene! Good morning. About what you said yesterday...” Meiru wanted to resolve the misunderstanding as soon as possible, but Diene held out a hand to stop her. She concentrated for a few seconds, then gave Meiru the most charming smile the world had ever seen.

“Nee-sama, I loooooooooooooooooooooooove you!” Diene exclaimed as she jumped into Meiru’s arms and planted a kiss onto her cheek. Then, she pulled back and observed Meiru’s reaction. For some reason, Meiru’s smile had gone stiff.

“Thank you, Diene. I love—”

Before she could get out the “you too,” Meiru collapsed, blood gushing from her nostrils.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Nee-sama!?”

“There’s no better way to die,” Meiru muttered as she lost consciousness, a dopey smile still plastered to her face. Other pirates burst in upon hearing the commotion, and when they saw Meiru drowning in a pool of her own blood, they also screamed.

“Cap’nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!”

Miledi watched from a distance, snickering to herself. Naturally, when Meiru found out she was behind all this, Miledi’s laughter soon turned into screaming. A few hours later, Meiru held both Diene and Miledi in her arms, though Miledi had lost consciousness from the incessant teasing. Needless to say, Meiru treasured both of her little sisters equally, just in different ways.

Searching for my Beloved Synergist

Three people stood in front of a small village inn that stood at the edge of the Crimson Desert. Two guys and one girl. The guys looked like hardened adventurers and were both creeping up on thirty. One had his hair cropped short, while another had an unruly mop of it. Standing between them was the girl, who at first glance looked like a simple villager. She was dressed in traveler’s garb and had striking indigo hair, which she’d bound in a short ponytail. Her eyes were small and cute.

“Good afternoon.”

The girl flashed the innkeeper a charming smile as she walked into the building. She looked so cute that she’d make for a perfect poster girl for any establishment.

“Welcome, travelers. Looking for a place to stay?”

The innkeeper, Kantas, stroked his voluminous mustache and smiled amicably at his guests.

“Actually, we’re looking for someone, sir. Have you seen anyone who looks like this?”

“Oh, on a search, are ya? Must be tough, having to look for people at your age, young lady. Let’s see who yer looking for.”

Kantas figured the two adventurers flanking her were probably guards she’d hired. He leaned forward and looked at the poster the girl held out. The picture on it was surprisingly detailed, and there was even a field of roses filling the background. The man on the poster looked on the young side. He had a refined air about him and wore a pair of black spectacles over his sparkling eyes.

“W-Wow, you sure can draw, young lady.”

“No, I’m nowhere near good enough! This picture doesn’t even bring out a tenth of Oscar-san’s overwhelming eminence! In fact, I’m ashamed to have ever drawn something so unflattering!”

“I-I see. My apologies.”

Kantas was so shocked by her outburst that he started using more polite speech.

“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating a little there?”

“Well, Aisha-chan does think awfully highly of Oscar.”

The girl was none other than Aisha, the waitress of the restaurant in Velnika that Oscar used to frequent. And the two adventurers with her his friends from the capital. The man with the cropped hair was Losere, while the man with the mop head was Scardy. The two of them sighed and exchanged glances. According to Aisha, Oscar had given her a tearful farewell on the eve of his departure, but she knew he wouldn’t be able to bear the loneliness, and so she’d set out to search for him and support him in his solitary quest. Of course, all of this was part of Aisha’s delusions and hadn’t actually happened.

She’d been hunting for him for a few months now, and Losere and Scardy had gotten used to her frequent rants about how amazing Oscar was. She’d roped them into helping her in her quest by begging them in tears, and at this point, both of them were completely disillusioned by her.

Incidentally, Aisha’s job was Artist, which was why she could draw so well. Apparently, she hadn’t been aware of her talents until her love for Oscar had awoken them. Or at least, that was what she said. And finally, after countless dead ends, she’d managed to catch Oscar’s trail.

“Hmm, can’t say I’ve seen anyone around with such sparkly eyes, but...I think I remember those glasses. Actually, I think that guy stayed here.”

“You’ve gotta tell me more!” Aisha leaned closer to Kantas as he shouted those words. Most guys would have loved to have a cute young girl come onto them, but Kantas just backed away. Not because he didn’t find Aisha pretty, but because her attitude was scaring him. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she was panting in excitement.

“S-Sure. I’m pretty sure he stopped by around two months ago.”

“Two months ago. Did he say where he was headed?”

“Yeah, he said he was going to the desert. He was traveling with this pretty lady companion and—”

“Was that girl Miledi-san!?”

“Oh, yeah, probably. I don’t remember her name, but that sounds about right.”

Overwhelmed, Kantas straightened his back and responded as best he could.

“I knew it, the two of them are together! I can’t believe thy eloped... No, wait, they can’t have! I’m sure there’s another reason why they’re traveling together!”

Sweating profusely, Kantas timidly asked, “Um, young lady. May I ask what your relation is to that bespectacled man?”

“I’m his wife.”

“Like hell you are.”

“Stop spreading lies about Oscar. You’ll ruin his good name.”

Losere and Scardy stopped Aisha before she could slander Oscar further. The longer this search dragged on, the scarier her obsession was becoming. However, Aisha was a maiden in love. She wouldn’t be deterred.

“Innkeeper, Oscar-san and Miledi-san didn’t share a room did they?” Aisha’s eyes glimmered with a fierce light as she asked that question. On the other hand, Losere and Scardy were curious if Oscar had finally ascended the stairway to adulthood, so they stared at Kantas with unbridled anticipation. Unable to withstand the pressure, Kantas confessed the truth.

“Th-They... did.”

Aisha slammed her fist onto the countertop with such force that the wood creaked. If she’d hit it any harder, it might have splintered.

“Give me the same room they stayed in!”

“Y-Yes, ma’am!” Kantas obediently yelped as he handed over the room key. Naturally, Losere and Scardy rented out a separate room.

“Sorry about that, innkeeper. Girls in love are like crazed beasts.”

“You two must have it rough...”

The two adventurers and the innkeeper shared a tired smile.

The next morning, Aisha and her escorts plunged into the desert. After numerous close shaves with death, they finally arrived in the city of Chaldea. There, they learned from an apprentice irak merchant where Oscar had gone.

“Oscar-san? Yeah, I know him. See this irak? She’s called Suzanne. Her old owner, Naiz-san sold her to us because he was joining Oscar-san on their journey.”

“This Naiz-san is a man, correct?”

“Huh? Of course he is, I just called him ‘he,’ didn’t I? He’s as manly as they come, too. I think he’s a soldier. That’s probably why Oscar tried so passionately to persuade him to join them on their journey. Oscar-san seemed really happy that Naiz-san was finally joining them.”

“What... did you say?” Aisha looked as though she’d been struck by lightning as he asked the man to repeat himself.

“I know Oscar didn’t go out with too many girls, but I didn’t think he was actually gay!” Losere muttered as he exchanged a glance with Scardy. Had Oscar been present, he probably would have asked the young merchant apprentice to pick his words more carefully.

“Um, was there this really pretty blonde girl with them?”

“Oh, you mean Miledi-san? Yeah, she was there. She was saying something about how the three of them would have so much fun now.”

If the apprentice had added ‘on their journey’ after that, there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings. However, Aisha nearly fainted as she thought the merchant boy was implying the three of them were having heated threesomes every day.

“First the slender Oscar-san, now this muscular Naiz-san... How far will you fall, Miledi-san? And Oscar-san, you already have me, so why are you turning to men now!?”

As expected, his words caused a very unfortunate misunderstanding. Naturally, imaging such acts was too stimulating for a pure young maiden, so Aisha eventually collapsed from a massive nosebleed, causing the merchant boy to back away and her two adventurer guards to drag her to an inn to rest.

A few days later, Aisha and her party arrived in the town of Liv. They were once again able to find information on Oscar, this time from a certain restaurant. However, this time, things went differently. When Aisha unveiled her glowing bronze statue of Oscar to the shop owner, he screamed.

“Th-Those glasses!? I-I have no idea who you’re asking about!”

The man tried to feel his shop. However, Aisha blocked him off and used her intimidation skills to force the owner into talking. He explained how during their stay, Oscar and Miledi had attracted a lot of attention. They were both good-looking and foreign, and it seemed to everyone that they made for a harmonious couple. When he’d mentioned that last part, Aisha had slammed her fist into the innocent restaurant owner’s wall. The cracks that formed represented the cracks in her own heart. Afterward, the owner went on to explain how the two of them had started getting close to a pair of local sisters. At that, Aisha stamped her foot so hard the stone floor cracked. Finally, the owner went on to explain how Miledi had kicked a bishop to death, and Oscar had slaughtered a bunch of templar knights. At that, Aisha finally fell silent.

“Huh, what do you mean?”

The owner tried to escape while she was still confused, but Aisha once again trapped him. This time, even Losere and Scardy wanted to know the details.

“Holy shit... Oscar, you’re insane. What’re you thinking, turning into a heretic?”

“H-Hey Aisha. I think it’d be better for you if you returned to the capital,” Loser suggested. His argument was a logical one. However, Aisha spent the rest of the day mulling over what she’d heard and eventually came to the conclusion that...

“It’s the church who’s at fault! We need to hurry up and find him so that we can help him!”

“Why did it come to this...”

Losere and Scardy attempted to escape their charge’s clutches, but Aisha wasn’t about to let them run. She had plenty of blackmail material on them that, if she made public, would ruin their careers forever. They were now faced with the choice of abandoning their jobs, or continuing to search for Oscar and hope that the excuse of “We’re looking for the heretic so we can punish him,” would fly with the clergy.

The choice was clear. The group obtained information that Oscar had traveled west to the ocean and headed to the port city of Epona. There, they learned plenty of other things that caused more misunderstandings with Aisha, such as the fact that Miledi had stripped, Oscar

had grabbed her by her kneesocks, and that Miledi had then been eaten.

“Come, Losere, Scardy! It’s time to depart!”

“Someone please save us...”

“I wish I had the courage to just tell her no...”

Aisha continued her quest to find Oscar, unaware that she’d just sailed by the ship he was on. It would be much later that Aisha learned Oscar had long since left Andika, and hurriedly returned to the mainland. No one, not even god, knew if she would ever catch up to her beloved Synergist.

They Exist in Every Age

“Haaah... Haaah... That was close.”

A young girl, probably only ten years old, ran through a forest. Her breathing was labored and her face pale. She was clearly exhausted. Her dirty brown pants were ripped in places, and her hair had leaves and twigs stuck in it. Her white blouse was stained with dirt and dust, and the robe she’d worn over it was shredded to the point where it no longer retained its original shape. Were it not for the velvet ribbon tying her blonde hair, anyone would think she was a street rat.

“We’ve spotted the target! She’s a hundred and twenty meters out!”

“They found me!?”

A barrage of fireballs shot through the trees, heading straight for the girl.

“Spatial Severance!”

A black sphere appeared in front of the girl, distorting the fireballs’ trajectory toward it and absorbing them all.

“Release!”

The fifty or so fireballs it absorbed were compressed, and then shot back out toward their casters. They obliterated any trees in their path and hit the ground around the mages, sending up explosions of dirt and rock. The shockwaves sent the girl’s pursuers flying backward.

“Ah...”

Stumbling and barely conscious, the girl bit her lip and kept running. However, her legs were at their limits. Her pace flagged, and her pursuers began to catch up to her. In the distance, she heard the sound of running water.

“Guess it’s all or nothing!”

Despite the levity in her voice, the girl was desperate. She ran with all her might, and finally cleared the endless expanse of trees. In front of her was a deep gorge. The girl turned her back to the gorge and looked into the forest. Her pursuers were close enough that she could see them through the trees. They had dark skin and pointed ears, signaling that they were demons. Furthermore, they were all wearing matching uniforms and were extremely coordinated. One of them spotted the girl and shouted, “You damn brat! I’ll catch you if it’s the last thing I do!”

“What was thaaat? I can’t hear youuuuuu!” Miledi cupped her hands to her ears and taunted the demon. She could obviously hear him, but the way she said that was just so annoying that the demon couldn’t help but get riled up.

“You’re fucking dead!”

His goal had changed from capturing her to killing her.

“Commander, I understand how you feel, but we can’t do that! Our orders were to capture her alive! I want to kill her too, but we really can’t!” one of his subordinates shouted. Meanwhile, the girl had finished preparing her final spell, and she grinned at the demons.

“Hellblaze!”

A wave of fire shot out from the girl’s hands. The demons skidded to a halt, stunned. However, they quickly got over their shock and deployed their barriers. And while their barriers managed to deflect the flames, they only served to keep them safe. The forest, on the other hand, was burning quite nicely.

“Good luck putting out those fires, demons! You’ve gotta take care of nature, right?”

The arsonist winked at the demons and fell backward down the ravine. As these demons were soldiers, they couldn’t afford to ignore a fire threatening to burn down a huge swathe of their land. As much as it irked them to give up the chase, they had no choice but to focus on the problem at hand. It pissed them off even more that the girl had created a fire just big enough that all of them were needed to put it out before it spread, but no bigger. Trembling with rage, the demon pursuers shouted, “Damn you, you braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!”

They then quickly got to work on putting the fire out. Meanwhile, the girl who’d leaped off landed into the river flowing below and sputtered to the surface. She’d just barely survived that encounter. Consciousness hazy, she left the current carry her away from her foes. And after a few minutes of floating, she squeezed out the last of her strength and swam to the riverbank and crawled onto shore, too exhausted to even stand. Drained beyond belief, the girl fainted the moment she escaped the water.

“Belle...” she muttered in her sleep.

Ten minutes later, someone came across the unconscious girl.

“Oh my, this is terrible! Miss! Are you alright!?” the girl who found her yelled.

Huh, where am I? Am I alive? It’s so warm, and it feels like I’m floating...

Eyes still closed, the girl tried to make sense of her surroundings. She possessed far greater mental fortitude than anyone her age should. After collecting as much information as she could from sound and touch alone, she slowly opened her eyes.

A monster stared down at her. It had a terrifying, horribly lacerated face, no eyebrows, angry eyes, and thick lips. The girl’s eyes widened and she screamed.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

She’d never screamed this loudly before. For some reason, the monster staring down at her screamed back at her and leaped backward. The monster’s well-toned biceps flexed as it hugged itself. It seemed the monster had been just as surprised by the girl as she was by it. The strangely effeminate monster had dark skin and pointed ears and was wearing a very cute dress. Upon taking in its full appearance, Miledi once again screamed, “Aaaaaaaaaaaah, it’s a monster!”

“Who’re you calling a hideous, unspeakable, horrifying, disgusting monster, huh!?”

The monster’s reply was so loud the walls shook, terrifying the girl so much that she fainted again.

Ten minutes later, she opened her eyes once more. This time she had the presence of mind not to scream at the monster—or rather, demon. According to the demon, they were neither male nor female, but a new gender entirely. Incidentally, their name was Jingbelle. Jingbelle explained how they’d happened to find the girl collapsed on the ground, and the girl bowed in thanks.

“Thank you so much for saving me, Jingbelle-oneesan. My name’s Miledi. I’m just your normal everyday genius mage.”

“My! What a splendid introduction!”

This was the first time anyone had been impressed with Miledi’s introduction. This Jingbelle person gets it. Even though they’re almost bald, they’ve braided what hair they have left into a ribbon, so I guess I should have known they had good taste.

“Hey Jingbelle-san, why’d you save me?”

Jingbelle was a demon. They should have had no reason to help a human like Miledi. In response, Jingbelle told Miledi their story. Apparently, even though they were a demon, Jingbelle had no aptitude for magic, and because of that, they’d been ostracized from demon society. Even if Jingbelle didn’t go into the details of the persecution they’d suffered, Miledi could tell just from their expression that they’d had a hard life. But as a result of their upbringing, Jingbelle had come to realize that judging people by their race was a foolish thing, and had begun training to get back at the society that had discarded them. Eventually, they grew so strong that they could compete with mages using physical strength alone. And at that point, they’d grown even more disillusioned with their people and left. It was because they didn’t judge people based on race that they’d decided to save Miledi. After all, human or demon, a girl in trouble deserved help.

“I see... Thank you so much, Jingbelle-san. I wish I could repay you, but I really need to go.”

Miledi then explained her situation to Jingbelle. She’d lost to a certain nun in a fight and had come to the demon country seeking strength. Demons were known for being the strongest mages on the continent, and she’d been hoping that one of them would be willing to tutor her. But when she got to the demon country, she’d been attacked before she’d even had a chance to explain herself to the demons. Irritated, she’d started taunting them, saying things like, “Hahaha, you guys can’t even catch a single human girl? Pathetiiic!” or “Hey, how does it feel, getting the tables turned on you by a child? You mad? Huh?” or “I’m just a normal genius mage, nothing suspicious about me!”

She kept defeating the demons the kingdom sent after her, so eventually, the demon lord mobilized the army, putting Miledi in a tight spot.

“You can’t be so reckless, Miledi-chan. You’re still so young!” Jingbelle leaned in close as they said that, and Miledi awkwardly apologized.

“As long as you understand. Regardless, you’re not leaving the house until you’re fully healed. Don’t worry, despite how I may look, I’m quite strong.”

“Huh? But Jingbelle-san, I thought you couldn’t use magic?”

Jingbelle replied with a straight face, “If I can’t rely on magic, I just have to rely on my muscles.”

In truth, Jingbelle’s pecs of steel and fists of fury were powerful enough to repel intermediate level magic on their own. Jingbelle could easily defeat an entire battalion of mages. You know what, maybe Jingbelle-san’s a monster after all. Belle, the world’s a strange place.

Years later, Miledi finished telling her comrades about that very tale. She pointed to the dress she was wearing and said, “Back then, I used to wear really boring clothes. Jingbelle-san said it was heresy for a cute girl like me to not wear clothes just as cute and made this dress for me. Apparently, sewing dresses was their hobby. They even wrote down instructions on how to replicate this pattern, so I can just show them to any tailor and get copies made if I need them.”

Miledi did a little twirl, showing off her admittedly cute skirt. Upon hearing the origin story of Miledi’s favorite dress, Oscar and Naiz both thought to themselves: Who cares about the dress!? I wanna hear more about Jingbelle-san!

It seemed a being who defied common sense lived in a tiny corner of one of the demon’s forests.

The Mascot Killer

“Sniffle... Sob... The ocean’s scary... Sniffle...” Miledi sobbed quietly in a restaurant situated in a quiet corner of the port city of Epona. Oscar and Naiz both gave her looks of pity.

“Cheer up, Miledi. Today just wasn’t your day. I’m sure the next time you go for a swim, it’ll go much better.”

“Do you really think that, Oscar?”

Before Oscar could reply, Naiz interjected.

“How many times have you tried to swim only to be swallowed up by sea monsters and spit back out? There’s no way this is a coincidence, Miledi.”

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Miledi’s sobs grew louder and she flopped down onto the table and thought back to all the horrific experiences she’d had at sea. Like Naiz had said, every single time she’d gone into the water, monsters had flocked to her. They’d stripped her swimsuit off, swallowed her whole, and covered her entire body with sticky saliva. For Miledi, who’d been looking forward to playing in the ocean more than anything, this had been a huge blow.

“I mean, you’ve got a point Naiz, but still...” Oscar muttered. While he didn’t disagree with Naiz, he still wanted to cheer Miledi up somehow. Incidentally, the reason he was so desperate was because Miledi’s whining had prevented them from being able to order, and he was extremely hungry. He didn’t care how it happened, he just wanted Miledi to stop crying.

“Don’t worry, Miledi. Next time Naiz and I will keep an eye out for monsters. We’ll kill them before they get close, so you can swim all you want.”

“Sniffle... Will it really go that well?”

“Of course it will. Trust us.”

“You sure?” Miledi asked, acting uncharacteristically pessimistic. Her eyes were red from crying, and she lacked her usual baseless confidence. She kept shooting Oscar worried glances, still not convinced it would be fine. Normally, any guy would feel an overwhelming urge to protect her when they saw a girl acting so frail, but Oscar was not just any guy.

“Oh, give it a rest already, Miledi!”

Miledi’s eyes widened in surprise and her unspilt tears went back up her tear ducts. Oscar adjusted his glasses and added, “Stop trying to act all cute! What happened to your normal annoying as hell self!? All that happened is you nearly died a few times, so what’s there to get this depressed over!? Pathetic! Don’t you realize your annoyingness is the core of your identity!? Without it, you’re not Miledi anymore!”

“O-kun?” Miledi said as her eyes narrowed in anger, and a vein pulsed in her forehead. The other guys in the restaurant all glared at Oscar.

How dare he call her annoying right after she narrowly escaped the jaws of death!?

“Now Miledi, annoy me. If you’re not being annoying, you’re not you. In fact, your name is synonymous with annoying.”

“Hey, Oscar if you—” Miledi started using Oscar’s name, so she was obviously fuming. However, Oscar was unfazed. He fearlessly raised a fist and gave a rousing conclusion to his speech.

“Go back to be being our annoying mood maker. I want to see that stupid, arrogant grin of yours again. Without it, you’re not Miledi. Acting all meek and depressed like a normal girl just doesn’t suit you—”

Heavensfall!”

Oscar squealed as a wall of gravity crushed him. He fell off his chair and was flat on the ground, unable to resist the pressure. Miledi ignored Oscar and turned to Naiz with a sweet smile.

“I’m hungry! Nacchan, let’s order something!”

“S-Sure. By the way, Miledi, Oscar’s starting to lose consciousness. He’s foaming at the mouth and everything...” Naiz tried to suggest Miledi calm down, but she was having none of it. Oscar’s life was only saved because one of the waitresses started screaming when she saw his prone body on the floor. But though Miledi released her Heavensfall, Oscar remained unconscious.

“A-Are you okay!?” the young waitress screamed as she ran over to Oscar.

“Leave him alone, he’s fine,” Miledi muttered.

“H-He doesn’t look fine at all! He’s foaming at the mouth! Ah, he twitched! Get a hold of yourself, sir!”

The waitress lifted Oscar’s head up and rested it in her lap. What a kind girl. Her dark brown hair was tied up with a scrunchie, and she looked like the epitome of a nurturing young woman. Plus, she had quite a sizable bust. When she knelt down to nurse Oscar, her two melons quivered, attracting the gaze of every man in the room.

“Ugh, where am I...”

“Ah, thank goodness you’re awake! Should I call for a healer?”

Oscar stiffened up for a second when he saw an unfamiliar face, half-hidden by boobs, looking worriedly down at him. But a second later, he grasped the situation and relaxed.

“Oh, sorry for worrying you. I’m fine, though. Thank you so much for looking after me...” Oscar said as he got to his feet, brushed himself off, and bowed to the waitress. His impeccable manners left the young waitress flustered.

“O-Oh, I didn’t do much...”

“No need to be humble. Your kindness is much appreciated. Allow me to give you my thanks. Someone as beautiful as you must surely be this establishment’s mascot?”

“I-I’m not...really...”

Oscar flashed the waitress a dazzling smile. Still sitting, she covered her cheeks with her hands as a blush spread across her face. Oscar held out a hand to help her up. Feeling like a noble lady being escorted to a ball, the young waitress took Oscar’s hand and gracefully got to her feet. Oscar then tried to pull his hand back, but the waitress wouldn’t let go. It was then that Oscar realized everyone in the restaurant was staring at him. His two comrades appeared to be glaring at him as well.

Huh? After a brief moment of confusion, Oscar realized what this scene reminded him of. Back in Velnika, the atmosphere had often been like this whenever he’d helped his favorite restaurant’s mascot, Aisha, out with something. Feeling a little awkward, Oscar yanked his hand back. Naturally, the waitress refused to let go, and as a result, he pulled her closer to her, causing her to grow even more flustered.

“Um... Is something wrong?”

“A-Ah, no! My name is Meenu. I’m nineteen years old and don’t have a boyfriend! Also, my shift ends in an hour!”

No one asked you any of that! Oscar thought. And all of the other patrons, including Miledi and Naiz, were thinking the same thing.

Meenu looked up at Oscar, her eyes twinkling with anticipation. She clearly wanted Oscar to invite her out on a date. However, Oscar fell silent, and he heard a number of people clicking their tongues within the crowd.

“Hey, Nacchan, how come O-kun manages to be popular even after passing out in a restaurant?”

“I guess his looks plus his attitude?”

Oscar’s outfit made him look like a young nobleman, and the fact that he was courteous to everyone, even insignificant waitresses, made him seem approachable and kind. On top of that, he looked both intelligent and handsome.

“Actually, whenever we stay at an inn that has a young girl working there, she always asks me to pass on notes to Oscar.”

“What, I never heard that before!”

“Well, they’re always trying to be secretive about it. I’m thinking before I joined your group, they just went up to his room to give him those notes directly. Everyone’s pretty wary of you, you know that Miledi? They all think you’ve claimed Oscar, so they only make moves whenever you’re not paying attention. A lot of them have asked me about your relationship along with more info on both of you.”

“Wow, I never even noticed! Also, how come all these restaurant and inn mascots know all these high-level strategies anyway!? O-kun’s too popular for his own good!”

Meenu seemed to have overheard Miledi, as she turned to the leader of the Liberators with tears in her eyes. Apparently, while Naiz and Miledi had been having their hushed discussion, Oscar had firmly turned Meenu down. Seeing as she didn’t stand a chance, Meenu focused the brunt of her jealousy and disappointment on Miledi, who she believed was responsible for her defeat.

“Waaah, I can’t believe you’re so close that you call him by nicknames like O-kun... I should have known I never stood a chance! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Chef, they want three daily specialllllllllllls!”

“Oh god, I’m getting deja vu!”

Incidentally, Oscar had placed the order, and he’d been as nonchalant about it as back in Velnika. Seeing the same scene play out again, Miledi quietly muttered, “From now on, I’m calling you the mascot killer.”