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!”

The chimeras nod with satisfaction at Viper’s contrite apology.

“See, look at this picture, Viper. There’s no way this supercool Panda Man would be that nefarious!”

“What are you talking about, Mr. Russell? Mr. Panda Man is adorable, not cool. Just look at him! He’s got that cute little puffball tail that makes you want to nibble on it. When I meet him, I’m definitely going to nibble on his tail, or maybe his ears…”

Thinking back on it, both Panda Man and Koala Man always made sure there were TV crews around when they were facing off against the Heroes.

They always gave envelopes to the TV crews once the battles were over… I wonder what that was all about.

But never mind that…

“Hey, Russell, should you be slacking off in here? I know you’re the Kisaragi Corporation’s maid and mom figure, but your actual job is creating water, right?”

This chimera still looks like a girl when dressed as a maid, but he doesn’t seem to mind being loved by everyone. It also looks like he’s grown pretty fond of the outfit, despite his protests.

“Since there are cheap water crystals being sold in the city of Grace, I’ve got less work to do. That woman really did mess with what I’m doing. Us chimeras are created to be useful to people, so we actually kind of like working…”

Seriously? I wondered why he was so willing to work despite being a former member of the Demon Lord’s Army’s leadership. But if that sort of disposition is coded into a chimera’s DNA, then it makes a bit more sense…

I can’t help but glance at the other chimera scarfing down snacks next to Viper.

“…What is it, Boss? Is there something you wanna say to me?”

“You’re the same kind of creature as Russell, right? Is there a difference in personality between male and female chimeras?”

…I defend myself against Rose, who sets aside her snacks and lunges at me. The sirens suddenly started going off in Hideout City.

“An attack by monsters or savages? But everyone seems to be in a bit of a panic, all things considered.”

There are several types of alarms, and depending on how urgent the situation is, the sirens will repeat more quickly.

“Ha-ha! It’s finally my time to shine, Boss! I mean, I’m not just eating and sleeping all the time for no reason! I’m preserving my strength for moments like this! It’s time to show everyone the power of a combat chimera!”

Rose, who was grappling with me, then leaps out the office window.

We’re technically on the second floor, but I guess that doesn’t matter to a combat chimera.

As he watches Rose leap out the window, Russell shakes his head with a fond sigh and stands up.

“She’s so reckless, it makes me wonder if we really are the same species. But it’d be good to show people our true power. I feel like no one’s been taking us very seriously lately. I need to show everyone that I used to be a member of the Demon Lord’s Army’s Elite Four…!”

Russell smiles at Viper as he speaks.

“…? Oh yes, please be careful, Russell. You’re wearing a short skirt, so don’t move around too much, okay?”

“I didn’t ask you to worry about that! That look I gave you meant that you, Viper, the former Demon Lord, should show off your power, too!”

5

In the woods a short distance from Hideout City.

As demons look on from a distance, Rose has her tail raised in an intimidating pose, while countless Bashin tribe members face off against her.

“Oh damn, that’s a huge group! Where are the Combat Agents?! Why aren’t they here?!”

Even thinking about numbers, there are way too many of them here.

In the worst case, we can resort to sweeping them aside with machine-gun fire, but given that the Bashins are practically naked, the result would be a gory mess.

Among the residents of Hideout City looking on from a distance are the demon children.

It wouldn’t be good for their emotional development to witness a machine-gun massacre.

As though detecting my anxiety, Viper speaks up in response.

“The Combat Agents are all off working on the road to the giant lake. Ms. Alice is in the city conducting trade negotiations, while Ms. Snow went off to the city boasting about how she was going to buy up food and supplies at a cheap price…”

And of course, I bet Grimm’s asleep. Dammit!

“…Tch! …Tch!”

Facing off with Rose is a large Bashin tribesman as well as the Bashin girl we encountered a while back.

It seems the girl wants to communicate something and is appealing to Rose in her muted tone.

“I don’t quite get it, but you’re here to fight again, right? Fine. I’m Rose: Combat Agent and chimera of the Kisaragi Corporation! I accept your challenge!”

“—! !”

The young Bashin girl shakes her head intently from side to side, but Rose pays no heed, sucking in her breath—

“Drown in a sea of hellfire…! Sleep for all eternity! Crimson—”

Rose falls over and rolls on the ground, fire spilling from the corner of her lips after I smack her in the back of the head.

I guess having her fire breath interrupted midcast causes her to lose control of the attack.

“Aaack! Wuh are you doingth, Bothh?! If I wasn’t a combat chimera, I’d have nasty burns inside my mouth!”

“Um, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to breathe fire at all if you weren’t a chimera, but hang on a sec. They don’t look like they’re here to fight.”

Yes, while the Bashin tribe are all carrying weapons, none of them look like they want to attack us.

I thought they might have been here to protest our construction near the giant lake, but that doesn’t seem to be it, either.

It is then that the Bashin tribesman begins to mumble…

“Ummm. ‘Is the white-armored woman who keeps interrupting this girl’s rite of passage one of your people? If so, we would like to know why she keeps getting in the way…’ is what he’s asking.”

White armor…? Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.

Since she’s not one of us, I let Viper know the Bashin tribe can deal with the interloper however they see fit.

“‘In that case, we’ll deal with her on our own. We’re sorry for troubling you with such a large group.’”

The Bashin tribe is a lot more civilized than I gave them credit for.

If anything, our chimeras who refuse to let down their guard are more savage than they are.

“I don’t quite get it, but I guess you solved everything by talking? I’m always competing for prey with that girl, so I wanted to finish her off here, but…”

“Aww, how boring. I was hoping I could toy with these savages…”

Yeah, based on what Rose and Russell are saying, they’re totally the savages.

And I think we are done, but…

“!”

…Little Bashin, who was quiet up until this point, begins to plead her case.

Having noticed, the Bashin tribesman murmur something to Viper.

“…Um, he says, ‘We have nothing else to say as a tribe. But…we wanted to ask the chimera girl a question. Why does she also continually interrupt this girl’s rite of passage?’ to Ms. Rose.”

At Viper’s interpretation, everyone turns to look at Rose.

It seems that Little Bashin can’t speak the spirit language yet, so Viper can’t interpret what she’s saying.

“What’s a rite of passage? The thing is, whenever I find a delicious-looking supopocchi to hunt, that girl shows up and gets in my way. So ask them why she does that!”

“—! !”

Little Bashin emphatically shakes her head, and the tribesman murmurs again.

“‘Members of our tribe are considered adults when they can hunt a supopocchi on their own. That’s what we call our rite of passage. We do controlled breeding of supopocchi in our forests by hatching their eggs, but the chimera girl comes into our forest territories and takes the ones that are ready for harvesting…’”

“You’re totally in the wrong here, Rose! You’re hunting animals they painstakingly bred!”

“B-but the forest belongs to everyone! You can’t just claim a piece of it for yourself! Besides, I don’t know what the difference is between wild and human-bred supopocchi! If they’re that important, put your names on them or something!”

As Rose lashes out, the little Bashin girl shakes her head again.

“—. …”

“‘Because of this world’s climate, supopocchi eggs can’t hatch naturally without human intervention. All the supopocchi in this forest were bred by humans.’”

“We’re going to apologize to them. I’ll order some gifts with my Evil Points to make up for it.”

“W-w-wait, Boss! How was I supposed to know about the life cycle of a supopocchi?!”

I make sure to grab Rose, since she’s trying to flee as the situation turns against her, and order a gift package of confections from Kisaragi—

“‘No, it’s enough if you recognize our breeding efforts. We did cause you problems when we were doing our drive hunt with a giant pack of monsters, so…’”

I figured they were trying to interrupt our construction efforts, but they were just doing a drive hunt.

Still, it sounds like Rose has been taking their animals not just once, but multiple times…

“I know this isn’t much, but please accept this both as an apology and as a greeting from your new neighbor.”

“‘Oh-ho, thank you for being so polite! But we only have our hand axes to give you as a gift in return. Please, accept this…’, Mr. Six, I’ve heard that axes are the second most important thing to the Bashin tribe, next to their lives. What should we do…?”

Having been offered the ax in exchange for the sweets, I have Viper tell them that I can’t accept such an important item as a gift, but the Bashin tribesman is adamant that he can’t accept our gift without providing one in return.

After a moment’s thought, I have Kisaragi send me two tomahawks.

I don’t know what they prefer, so I order one each from two major weapons manufacturers, Flowning and Smith & Johnson.

“I’ll accept your ax. These are personal presents from me. Go ahead and choose the one you want and take it. Also, the girl seems pretty close in age to our chimera, so I hope they can be friends.”

“‘Such a beautifully crafted and functional weapon! Despite being made entirely of metal, it’s easy to grip and the weight balance is nearly perfect… Ohhh! And this one’s designed perfectly as a throwing weapon…!”

“…You can go ahead and keep them both.”

Since the Bashin tribesman is having trouble choosing between the two, I insist he take both.

The tribesman holds each ax in either hand and freezes, and after several long moments spent in thought, hands one to Little Bashin.

Given that he then bows his head and urges the little Bashin girl to thank me, maybe he’s her dad?

Little Bashin stares, transfixed by the ax before she cradles it to her chest and looks up at me.

“Thank you…very much…”

She speaks softly, but in words I can understand.

“Since they’ve taken two axes, giving them the sweets as well would be too much, right? I’ll go ahead and eat this.”

“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!”

“Dammit, we’re trying to clean up your mess, you idiot! Hey! Stop fighting, you two!”

6

After Rose and Little Bashin spend some more time chasing after each another, it feels like we’ve gotten to know our neighbors a little better.

I’m giving a report in my room to Alice as she returned from spending the last few days negotiating with merchants gathered from the various neighboring countries, but…

“If they love axes so much, we could probably hire them as mercenaries by offering them tomahawks. Since we’re short on combatants back on Earth, it might be an option if things get bad enough.”

Alice makes this proposal while lounging around on her bed.

“They don’t seem like bad people. Little Bashin comes out to play every once in a while, and she seems to be a positive influence on the chimeras.”

I ask for the girl’s name, but evidently the tribe considers itself a single entity, and they have no concept of individual names.

Rose decided to call her Ms. Bashin, while the rest of us have started calling her Little Bashin.

Though she utters the occasional word we can understand when playing with Rose, it feels like it’ll still be a while before we’re able to communicate properly.

“So the problem is the crazy one in white armor.”

“Yep, seems they released her at some point.”

It sounds like Adelie has even started causing problems with the Bashin tribe while we aren’t looking, and it feels like past time to settle things with her.

“Seems the police put her through rigorous interrogation, but she didn’t break in the end. There’s no doubt she’s related to the ones that took over Toris, so let’s collect some evidence to prove she’s a spy and have her hanged.”

“Again with the violent solutions. I mean, I know espionage is a capital offense in most countries, but that’s going too far. I’m nice to pretty women, after all.”

But even as I say that, I just can’t feel a hint of attraction when I look at her. At first, I thought it was because she wasn’t my type, but could it be that…

Just as I’m pondering Adelie’s secrets, someone opens the door to my room.

A demon merchant who does business in Hideout City appears on the other side in a panic.

“Ms. Alice, come quick! Ms. Snow’s been captured in the city of Grace…”

Alice and I get up to deal with what feels like our daily routine of damage control.

“So you’ve finally shown your true colors, corrupt Governor Snow! I had been investigating various crimes in this city, but it seems you’re at the heart of it all!”

“Wh-wh-wh-wh-what basis do you have for that accusation?! To accuse someone you just met of crimes! How rude!”

Having been shown to the city’s main square by the merchant, we find Adelie pointing an accusatory finger at Snow in front of a large crowd of onlookers.

I approach someone in the crowd…

“Hey, what’s going on here?”

“Mm? Oh, you’re one of the black suits in charge of law enforcement. That woman decided to call out Lady Snow, who’s been flaunting her authority as governor to get her way. People have been suspecting Lady Snow of rigging bids on public projects and accepting bribes…”

Given Snow’s personality, I can say there’s no doubt that those allegations are true.

“Hey, Alice, we’re totally at a disadvantage here. We should ditch Snow and retreat.”

“Yep, agreed.”

Alice and I try to go home after we grasp the situation, but Snow, who has been looking around for help, spots us before we can leave.

“Six, Alice, help me! This rude woman is calling me a criminal!”

“I’ve already got the evidence! Just surrender and come along peacefully!”

Help her? Why? We know better than anyone that she’s guilty.

Alice and I turn away from the pleading Snow and try to hide in the crowd.

“C-curse you, Six—I’ll remember this! Is the evidence those papers you’re carrying?! It’s true that they’re signed by me, but that’s easy enough to forge!”

“What?! They’re not forgeries. They’re definitely authentic…!”

Snow decides to abandon any pretense of playing innocent and goes on the offensive.

“For example, someone could have brought me a blank sheet of paper and told me, ‘I’m a fan, please give me your autograph!’ and then filled in the contract text on the rest of the sheet at a later date! Or maybe by using the ink of a camouflage octopus that fades away after a certain amount of time and getting a signature on a harmless contract before rewriting it later! There’s plenty of methods like that!”

“<Hey, Alice, she’s definitely used those tricks before, hasn’t she?>”

“<It feels like it’d be better to just leave her and go home, but…>”

As Alice and I exchange whispers in Japanese, Adelie, on the defensive from Snow’s counteraccusations, produces something from her fob.

It’s—

“If you’re going to make that claim, then we’ll use the karma-measuring crystal to…”

“Lady Snow made a run for it! After her!”

“So she’s been engaging in corruption! Apprehend her!”

The moment she sees the crystal ball in Adelie’s hand, Snow makes a run for it.

The corrupt governor runs not toward the distant Hideout City, but toward the royal palace.

Evidently she’s come to the conclusion that she can’t outrun the mass of people to get to Hideout City, so she decides to use her connections from her last job.

The fact that she makes that decision so quickly probably means she already planned out her options in case she was exposed.

“H-hold up, Snow, you corrupt governor who uses the taxes earned by the blood and sweat of the people to line her pocket! I, Adelie, the Umbral Savior, won’t let you escape! …H-hey, don’t run away! At least say something snarky before you flee…!”

“…”

Snow wants to avoid wasting her breath on a remark, and she keeps running without a word.

Her ability to just roll with the situation is pretty admirable, honestly.

“Hey, Alice, I’m starting to think Snow’s an even better fit for Kisaragi than I am.”

“If she became a full employee, I bet she’d climb the ranks pretty quickly. I really don’t want to give her a teleporter… I’m pretty sure she’d start selling things she’s not supposed to sell just to make money…”

Alice sighs and produces a small radio.

“I guess we can hedge our bets…”

As Alice calls in to Hideout City, she and I chase after Snow as she makes a serious run for it—

7

When we reach the palace, Adelie faces off against the guard in front of the tightly locked castle gate.

“Hand over the corrupt governor! I’m going to punish her in the name of justice!”

“What are you talking about? Do you even know where you are?! And while Lady Snow is temporarily assigned to Kisaragi, she’s still a knight of this realm. I can’t just hand her over to some random person!”

I guess Snow has more of a following than I thought. The guards won’t yield an inch to Adelie.

…I really don’t want to deal with her again, but Snow’s still technically serving as Hideout City’s governor. If things keep going the way they are, we can’t pretend we’re not involved.

As Adelie holds out a weapon that looks like a police baton, I call out cheerfully to her from behind:

“Hey, Adelie. Seems you’re going on and on about justice again.”

“I-it’s you, Agentsix! …Look, I’m chasing after a great evildoer today. Since nothing good ever seems to happen when you’re around, do you mind going home?”

Pretty sure it’s your own fault that nothing good ever happens to you.

I reply to Adelie as her expression soured the moment she turned and saw me.

“I understand you’re a serious person who loves justice. But even if Snow’s a villain and an evil, oppressive governor, it’s not up to you to get involved, is it?”

At these words, Adelie produces something and shows it to me with a confident smirk.

“Agentsix, can you still say that after seeing this? Yes, I’m a member of the Hiiragi Agency of Order, the Defenders of Justice and Truth of this world! I’m Adelheid Krueger, the Gray Savior! Bow before me, surface dwellers!”

Adelie flashes a card that shimmers white-gold.

As Adelie displays the card with a triumphant expression, Alice, who Adelie underestimated, reaches up and swipes it.

“?!?!?! W-wait, what are you doing?! Give it back! That’s really important to me. You’re a good girl, right? Give it back, please!”

Ignoring Adelie’s pleas, Alice holds the card up to the sun.

“Wow, it’s made completely out of platinum. Nice find.”

“Platinum’s expensive, right? So if we sell that, we can pay for drinks tonight!”

“Please give it back. Without that, I’m no different from anyone else! …Wait, I’m a member of the Hiiragi Agency of Order, and that doesn’t mean anything to you? Shouldn’t you be more afraid of me?!”

Adelie’s eyes well with tears as she tries to take back the card.

“Um, I’ve never heard of them.”

“Whaaaaat?!”

Adelie let out an odd noise, completely at odds with my response and she freezes in place.

“…Wh-why? Wasn’t it part of the legend? When humanity was threatened by the Demon Lord and on the edge of extinction, the Chosen One, granted power by the gods, would save this kingdom. And the Chosen One would be guided by the heaven-sent agents of Hiiragi and bring peace to the world…”

“Um, well, I’m a foreigner, so I don’t know anything about that. Does the legend passed down in this kingdom really mention Hiiragi or an agency of order?”

The legend is probably the Grace Kingdom’s story about the Demon Lord and the Chosen One.

I kinda recall hearing something about that when Alice and I first came to this kingdom.

Hearing my remark, Adelie looks back to the guards behind her.

“W-well… Of course they’re mentioned, right? You’re from this country. I’m sure you learned of the legend as a child, right? That the servants of the Hiiragi would bring about world peace… Right?” she asks with a hopeful expression to the still-wary guards.

“No, I mean I learned about the Chosen One coming and defeating the Demon Lord, but there was nothing after the defeat of the Demon Lord. Just your usual happy ending.”

“Hiiragi? Hiiragi… Hiiragi…”

“Nope, never heard anything about you guys…”

“This is what’s wrong with you backward surface dwellers! At least make sure you pass down your legends correctly! …No, I misspoke. Sorry! Dammit, calm down, Adelie. It’s too early to give up even if they didn’t pass down the legend correctly…!” As she says this, Adelie begins to ruffle her own hair before she widens her eyes in realization.

“Oh! The oracle! There should be a famous oracle in this kingdom whose family has been doing that for generations! Have that person prophesize the future of this kingdom right now. Then you’ll discover the truth!”

Hearing that, the guards tilt their heads and exchange glances.

“Oracle? Oh, the person whose prophecies all ended up missing the mark? The one who said the Chosen One would defeat the Demon Lord, despite the outcome being completely different…?”

“Oh yeah, that person… If I recall, Lady Snow chased them out of the country because the prophecy was wrong. I think she called them useless. Pretty sure they’re in another country by now.”

“Whaaaaat?!”

Oh, right, I seem to recall Snow mentioning that.

“Ch-chased them out?! …Calm down, Adelie, it’s not time to get angry yet! It’s too early to determine that this kingdom is evil because of the actions of one foolish woman…!”

Adelie mutters to herself and places her hand over her chest to calm herself.

It is then that one of the guards claps his hands together as though remembering something.

“Ohhh, I knew I’d heard the name Hiiragi somewhere!”

“Yes, yes. So now you remember?” says Adelie with hope in her eyes.

“Remember the tribe of barbarians in the woods that used the weird light to attack you? This lady’s part of that tribe.”

““Ohhh!””

“How dare you call me a barbarian! Those surface dwellers are our servants. When people acquire power beyond their control, they’re the watchmen that stop them! Calling them savages is an act of evil!”

Adelie grows visibly agitated at the circular discussion, glaring at the gate that stands in her way.

She then crosses both arms in front of herself and lets out a heavy sigh.

With that, a blue static electricity starts to spark around Adelie’s body, and her feet begin to glow!

“<Alice, there’s something wrong with her! I’ve seen that glow before! That’s what happens before the Heroes use one of their finishers!>”

“<I’ve sent for reinforcements from Hideout City, but I guess they won’t get here in time. All right, Six, time for you to man up! Treat her as a Hero-class threat!> ”

My voice breaks into a squeak when I call out in panicked Japanese. Alice responds with a tense declaration:

“<The moment she attacks the castle, use that opportunity!>”

“Justice Attack…! Umbral…”

Just as Alice and Adelie are speaking—

—the castle gate opens slowly, cutting through the tension.

“I decided to have Snow taken into custody since she was assembling the castle’s soldiers despite being assigned to Kisaragi, and look what I find… Just what is going on here?”

Princess Tillis, the effective ruler of this kingdom, appears with a group of soldiers carrying a hog-tied Snow.

Having fled into the palace, Snow was planning to counterattack by using her authority as a knight.

Adelie, who has canceled her attack, looks back and forth between Snow and Tillis.

“You’re…this kingdom’s ruler, Princess Tillis, yes? I am Adelie, the Umbral Savior, member of the Hiiragi Agency of Order. I would like you to turn over that hog-tied bundle who had been engaged in acts of corruption and oppression in this kingdom.”

“Your Highness! You must not listen to this woman! She’s an agent working against this kingdom! She’s trying to drive a wedge between us! You should punish her for espionage!”

At Snow’s desperate attempt to save herself, for some reason Adelie’s expression tightens.

“Please believe me, Your Highness! My hunches are often correct! I didn’t grow up and survive in the harsh slums for nothing! I was the one who first realized that the mouth-breathing moron, Six, was a spy back in the day! I bet this woman is here to use all sorts of flowery words before she’ll repay the kingdom’s kindness with treachery! Yes, just like that man!”

“<Hey, Alice, shouldn’t we shut her up?>”

“<Eh, Tillis already knows you were a spy. We can just give that idiot a lecture later. Seems like the reinforcements I called in are finally here.>”

Alice, who was watching the events unfold, points her thumb behind her.

“Tillis was already well aware that this weird woman was an agent. While her actions up to this point were misdemeanors, she’s now been caught in the act of attacking the royal palace. We have a fair sense of who you serve, but now’s about the time that you fess up to everything, don’t you think?”

When I look over at the direction Alice is pointing, there is a group of Kisaragi Combat Agents, including Heine and Russell, hurrying over. They apparently rushed over from Hideout City.

“…I see. The reason you didn’t crack down on the corrupt governor was because you wanted to force me to act. I suppose I can only say, ‘Bravo; well done.’”

While I never intended to set any traps of that sort, reading the mood, I nod. In response, Adelie looks vexed as she points her index finger at me.

“But I can’t just surrender in the face of evil! If I, the heroic woman the kids look up to, am doomed to a pervy treatment after getting captured by evildoers, it’s only right that I go out in a blaze of glory instead…! Once I’ve taken as many of you as I can down with me, I’ll self-destruct and blow this hive of villainy to smithereens!”

Holy crap, she’s no Hero!

The villainous hog-tied bundle tries to squirm away after the guards put her down. Meanwhile, the Combat Agents who arrived surround Adelie.

As if in response, Adelie sucks in a deep breath…

“Justice Attack…”

“It seems there’s a misunderstanding here. I’m already aware from reports that you are an intelligence agent serving the organization that conquered Toris. But there is a reason I ordered you released despite that fact.”

Caught off guard by Tillis’s words, Adelie pauses.

“…H-how long have you known I was an intelligence agent?”

Adelie’s expression is one of shock.

“From the very start. When you were captured by Sir Six and interrogated, you were far too suspicious, so I had one of my own operatives tail you.”

“You had seen through me from the start?! …Tch. I only lost because I underestimated the surface dwellers as being backward and primitive…!”

“You know, given how much she goes on about justice, she says a lot of prejudiced stuff, doesn’t she? Like she’s totally assuming the people of this kingdom are beneath her by calling them backward surface dwellers.”

“Yeah, she’s just like you and Lady Lilith, who kept going on about how you were going to be invincible against the primitive locals.”

As Adelie frowns in displeasure, Tillis offers her a smile.

“We never had any intention of fighting a war with Toris. Unfortunately, we wound up in a war over a small matter concerning the trade of water crystals.”

With that, Adelie’s eyes widen in surprise before she speaks to Tillis in a serious tone.

“…Meaning you wanted to talk to the ones who had taken Toris… Us…”

“That princess is a piece of work. She just called putting your dick on the head of a country’s ruler’s a small matter.”

“You know, even though you’re an android, you still have the appearance of a young girl. You shouldn’t really say words like dick so casually.”

“Dammit, stop it with the dick remarks! We’re trying to have a civilized conversation here! …Meaning, you don’t have any intention of fighting us despite the fact that we’d absorbed Toris.”

Adelie—who has said dick more than anyone here—narrows her eyes as though trying to determine Tillis’s intent and waits for her answer…

“Attacking the castle?! You’ve gone way too far this time, Justice Woman! Russell, I’m leaving the support to you!”

“All right, but that means I’m leaving the front lines in your care! Time to punish the lady criminal!”

The former Demon Lord’s Army’s leadership who had arrived at the castle gate raises their voices as they prepare for battle.

“So this is the weird woman that we’ve been hearing all those rumors about!”

“Yeah, you can definitely tell with a glance that she’s weird! I heard she’s an oddball that likes sleeping in jail cells!”

“Not only was she causing trouble for the citizens, now she’s attacking the castle! What a piece of work!”

Next came the shouts of derision from the Combat Agents who arrived a few moments later and Adelie’s eyes quickly filled with tears.

Seeing my colleagues with weapons in hand, Tillis steps in front of Adelie as though to protect her.

“Please, all of you, be still. I’m currently speaking with Ms. Adelie. Please lay down your weapons.”

With that, she stands between Adelie and my coworkers.

“…Wh-what are you doing? Why are you doing this?” Adelie asks with confusion, even as she seems to relax a little bit. Tillis smiles in response.

“What I seek is for my kingdom’s people to live in peace. Conflict produces nothing. Don’t you think it’s a foolish thing?”

“Y-you…”

While Tillis is as much of a schemer as Alice, she really does care about her people.

Finally in the presence of a proper, merciful ruler, Adelie drops her guard and closes her eyes.

“…It seems I was mistaken. The demons, who I had believed were evil, showed me souls that were purer than any I’d seen before. And you, the one known as the scheming princess, are, in fact, the noblest of them all. Heh… I almost feel like the villain here…”

“…Tch. Seems like everything worked itself out. I wanted to get her back for her calling us evil demons over and over, but…”

“Well, I mean, it’s true that we’re former members of the Demon Lord’s Army’s Elite Four. It seems like she’s sorry, so we should just let it go this time.”

At Heine and Russell’s remarks, Adelie looks at the ground apologetically.

“I’m sorry things got so out of hand, but…if you can forgive my offenses, I, Adelie, agent of Toris, or rather the Hiiragi Agency of Order, would like to speak to you as a diplomat representing my agency. What say you?”

At Adelie’s proposal, Tillis smiles and nods.

“How impressive, Your Highness, to forgive this spy woman! Hey, Adelie or whatever, you better apologize for calling me a corrupt governor! Also, you soldiers that tied me up, get over here! I’ve got a bone to pick with you all!”

Noticing that the tables had turned, the hog-tied bundle at Tillis’s feet suddenly adopts a pompous attitude.

Those words stir something in Adelie’s mind and she bends down to address the bundle.

“Oh, we haven’t punished you yet. But it turns out that the policies conducted by this kingdom all had deeper meaning. I’m sure there’s a deeper purpose to your actions up to this point. I was ready to execute you if you were truly an evil person, but…”

Snow lets out a surprised gasp and freezes as Adelie chuckles dryly.

“…Your actions did have a deeper meaning, right?”

“Y-yes, of course. I am Snow. I’m one who once served as knight commander of the Royal Guard in this kingdom. There’s no way a petty villain could rise to that rank, is there?”

Snow speaks with a sharp, professional expression and matches Adelie’s gaze as she speaks.

Adelie then takes out the crystal ball from her fob and presses it to Snow’s cheek.

““……””

As the crystal ball turns a refreshingly honest shade of black, Snow and Adelie exchange troubled glances.

Briefly freezing in place, Adelie then turns to those of us watching the scene unfold.

“Yup, black! It’s black! You’re all almost refreshingly dark hearted! You’re all corrupt! I was right!”

Well, duh. We’re employees of an evil organization and former leaders of the Demon Lord’s Army.

“Hold on a moment. Yes, the crystal ball turned black! But they’re not bad people at heart!”

Tillis desperately tries to defend us, but with all the Kisaragi agents causing the crystal ball to give off an eerie black glow, even the soldiers look a bit uneasy about defending us.

“If they weren’t bad people at heart the crystal ball wouldn’t turn black! It’s looking at the color of their souls! …For all of you to make it react this way, ah, you must all belong to an evil organization! In that case…!”

“‘In that case,’ what?! War?! If you’re going to declare war just because the other side has evil people, then that makes you far more evil!”

Tillis must think the situation is getting dicey and decides to go on the offensive.

“You declared that the orc farms are evil! Yes, when viewed from ignorance, it may seem exploitative. But in this harsh world, feral orcs can’t survive on their own! Which is why they come willingly to us for help. And they tell us that they want to live in peace and work as farmers…”

“I… I…”

Adelie mumbles and seems to back away. Seeing an opportunity, Tillis presses the attack.

“You what?! Orcs can happily live out their natural lives! We get their labor and their meat in exchange for protecting them! Why do you get in our way if everyone is happy with the arrangement?!”

“I-I’m sorry…”

As Adelie is cornered by Tillis’s argument, Tillis declares proudly, “I’m Cristoseles Tillis Grace, the eldest princess of the Grace Kingdom! If you have complaints about my kingdom’s policies, then feel free to air them to me!”

“O-oh, ohhh…”

Adelie is on the verge of tears; Tillis has overwhelmed her with her argument.

“…But I’ll stop bullying you now. If you cannot trust the others, then surely you can at least try trusting me? What did you see in the faces of the country’s people? Did they appear to be a people oppressed by an evil government?”

“I… N-no…”

Even Adelie has to admit that this kingdom’s government isn’t a bad one.

If I’m being honest, I was totally repulsed by the orc farms, and I still can’t get used to the idea of eating sentient beings. But the vast majority of this kingdom lives happy lives filled with laughter despite the harshness of the world.

“If you cannot trust me, then place your crystal ball on my hand. But if you can find it in your heart to trust me…then why don’t we start by learning more about each other?”

Tillis offers her hand to shake, smiling gently to Adelie.

At which point, Adelie looks apologetically at Tillis and places the crystal ball in her hand.

[Status Report]

The development plan around Hideout City has been progressing steadily, and the construction for the infrastructure around the giant lake is about 70 percent complete.

We succeeded in making contact with the local savage Bashin tribe and while we’ve only succeeded at forging a verbal agreement, we’ve negotiated a mutual nonintervention pact.

Little Bashin sometimes comes to play at Hideout City.

While she’s not much of a talker, her reactions are really entertaining when we give her candy.

Based on those things, our invasion plans as the Kisaragi Corporation are proceeding well.

However, it appears that the princess of the Grace Kingdom, our ally, has been declared an evil being by a weird woman claiming to represent the Hiiragi Agency of Order.

As the branch manager of the Kisaragi Corporation Grace Kingdom branch, we’ll be raising our alert level against the Hiiragi Agency of Order, as they claim to be servants of justice.

P.S.—Among the strange items we’ve found on this planet, there’s an item I’d really like the Supreme Leaders to try touching.

Currently, Tillis has caused the item to shine a sinister black, darker and more chilling than I have ever seen. But I’m sure Lady Lilith could top that with little to no effort.

Reporting Operative:

Combat Agent Six, Who Isn’t The Absolute Worst Person In the World, According to the Crystal