Chapter 4

Detective in a Pickle: Suppose You Gathered Suspects Without Getting Briefed on the Crime Itself

Meanwhile, the fake detective Marie was listening to Coba’s rundown of the facts while desperately trying to find a way out of this mess.

What should I do? She said to buy time, but we’re talking Alka. She’ll never come back. She’s forgotten all about who’s behind this. She’s just enjoying the hot springs while I get wrung out like an old rag… Argh, I want a bath! I want to wash Lloyd’s back!

Not the most focused chain of thoughts, but hey, it was all part of her charm.

“At first, we thought it was an isolated incident, but over the last few months, the number of victims has risen sharply… Are you listening, Detective?”

“…Uh, you mean me? I’m listening!” Marie squeaked.

She’d seemed a little out of it, which made Coba worry.

Right, I have to learn the facts here. I don’t even know what I’m dealing with… Maybe my trained gray matter will actually be able to crack the case!

Her mind made up, Marie listened closely.

“A number of victims from the hotel staff and neighboring residents…”

“Oh?”

Occasionally confused by Marie’s surprised responses to the available information, Coba finished his explanation.

“Those are all the facts I’m aware of related to these incidents.”

“Hmm.”

“Which is why we’re so flummoxed by it all… Detective?”

Marie was staring into space, frowning, her mouth pursed. Coba leaned in, looking concerned.

Aha! I have no clue.

On the inside, Marie had already given up on finding the culprit. Perhaps it was not her brain cells but her mental discipline that needed honing.

No. There’s no way I could possibly solve this case! But I can hardly admit I was lying now!

She had to find a way to get out of this while preserving her role as a detective. There was only one thing she could think of…

Right! The hapless detectives in mystery novels! I’ve just gotta spout crap like they do! It’s like when they try their best, but it still doesn’t work out. Poor loveable, hapless detective! They might be disappointed by this new performance, but it’s better than getting caught lying!

Marie decided the best way out of this was to come up with a deliberately ridiculous solution. In mystery novels and manga, detectives who give wrong answers don’t get yelled at much. Everyone just shakes their heads.

Maybe, Marie thought, it’s actually a good idea.

Her plan clear, Marie started psyching herself up.

No time like the present! Just act nothing like myself, and I’ll be fine!

It was more like her usual self, but…well, consider this part of her charm, too. Or her haplessness.

Her expression went from serious to disappointed to filled with hope.

“Uh, are you really doing okay?” Threonine said. “I mean, if Lloyd trusts you, I’m sure we can, but…”

“Yes,” Marie said. Imagine a crash zoom to her face. “I have seen the path I need to take.”

Her cryptic declaration drew dubious looks from everyone, but Marie was way past caring. She began prattling nonsense while looking extremely proud of herself.

“From what I’ve heard, there are no signs of any humans or weapons around, so you believed it to be the work of a monster…but that’s what the culprit wanted you to think. It was all a scheme to avoid suspicion.”

“Oh-ho! But how would one go about draining the life out of someone without leaving any trace behind?”

Threonine’s argument made perfect sense, but Marie’s manner remained confident. Someone improvising for her life was not so easily dissuaded. Marie just carried on rattling out the first thing that popped into her head, heedless of how ridiculous it sounded.

“They jumped! Using powers far beyond that of your ordinary human, they leaped from treetop to treetop, scrambled up the hotel walls and back to their room, leaving no trace behind, then carried on as if nothing was out of the ordinary. It’s elementary, really.”

Complete crap.

Marie was fully expecting everyone to go, “What’s elementary about it?” Or maybe even, “So it is a monster!” She looked to see how Threonine and Coba were taking this.

But their reactions…

“Well, if you know that much, you’re very good indeed, Detective.”

“Hmm…I did have my doubts, but I can see why Lloyd vouched for you. Sorry for testing you.”

They seemed very convinced. Marie had not seen that coming.

Whaaaat? Why are they acting impressed? What the hell is this case?!

They were both clearly looking at her expectantly. Marie was forced to pile on the lies, hoping to get herself back on the hapless track.

“Uh, um…so, well, anyone could guess that. Even an amateur!”

“No need for modesty, Detective. A brilliant deduction proves both your knowledge and the extent of your investigation.”

Marie was starting to realize she might be in real trouble here. She had to add more crappy deductions before she drowned in the swamp.

“…That’s when I realized the culprit’s real motive!”

“Real motive? What?”

They were hanging on her every word.

“Namely: world conquest!”

““World conquest?!”” Coba and Threonine harmonized.

“Yes… They’re using the stolen life power to create minions and spread their power across the continent. The culprit will become a demon lord, an enemy of mankind…I think!”

Marie wrapped things up, her deductions—or ramblings—somehow drawing to a close.

If I say something that absurd, nobody will believe me! They’ll think I’ve got mental problems and decide they want nothing to do with me! They’ll take back what they just said! They’ll send me to see a good psychiatrist and throw me out!

Marie prepared herself to be evicted, leaning forward, ready for someone to angrily grab a fistful of her robe.

But these efforts proved in vain, as Threonine and Coba both said: ““Makes sense!””

In harmony again! Had they met under different circumstances, these two might well have become best friends.

Whaaaaat? Howww? Whyyyyyyyyy?!

Marie’s eyes were ready to pop out of her head. But neither man noticed. They both folded their arms, groaning.

“Yes…right here on the road connecting Rokujou to Azami. If they increase their numbers…”

“…Using the illegal cultivation to fund their army while waiting for their chance to strike… It doesn’t take much thought to see how that would work. This is how they were preparing their invasion…”

A terrifying torrent of words was pouring out of them, and Marie’s eye was starting to twitch.

What’s going on here is so much worse than I imagined! This isn’t a case for a detective at all! Call in the damn army!

She didn’t need honed brain cells or mental fortitude. She needed an exorcism—a legitimate one.

Of course, the two of them both knew that treants were behind all this, so they’d found her words very convincing. As nobody else knew that simple fact, though, the crowd still looked very dubious.

Realizing this, Coba attempted to explain.

“Actually…and please don’t be alarmed…”

He explained the illegal treant cultivation, that someone infected with the seedling was among them, and that this person’s physical powers were greatly enhanced.

“““What?!””” Guests and staff alike were horrified. So was Marie.

“…Why were you surprised?”

“Er, uh…just going with the flow?” Marie suggested, a cold sweat forming on her brow.

Wait! You have to tell me these things! Illegal treant cultivation? I can’t play a hapless detective if I accidentally get it right!

These unexpected developments had Marie at her wits’ end.

Coba was doing his best to calm the assembled guests.

“We’ve kept this under wraps to avoid inciting undue concern…”

But if there was someone infected by a treant close by…… The guests and staff were all starting to eye one other suspiciously.

Any minute now, someone would say, “I won’t be in the same room as a monster! I’m going back to my room!” That would ensure their own doom.

The restaurant was abuzz.

Seizing his chance, Threonine’s voice echoed through the dining hall.

“But fear not! This detective has already identified the culprit! They’ll drag this villain out into the light of day! Where the iron fist of justice can pulverize them!”

His booming voice echoed in the pit of their stomachs, and the crowd visibly relaxed, sighing with relief.

Marie did the opposite, drawing a quick, panicked breath, her heart beating a mile a minute, her chest swaying from the sudden expansion.

He raised the stakes! And I’ve got no escape!

This was a crisis. Her plan to worm her way out with trumped-up nonsense had backfired completely, and now she was teetering on the edge of a cliff.

Coba approached her, frowning. He was convinced Threonine was the criminal and the whole speech about iron fists was just an attempt to confuse the issue.

“Detective, I think it’s high time you got down to business. Who is this villain? Who must be crushed beneath the fist of justice?”

That’s what I wanna know!

“Mm, it’s about time we learned the truth. Lay it on us, Detective,” Threonine pressured, moving closer to Coba, eyes like daggers. They gave the impression of two boxers before a match.

Stuck between them like their referee, Marie was totally lost. She had no way of knowing each was convinced the other was the culprit.

“Who did this, Detective?!”

“End this farce! Make your accusation!”

She gulped nervously.

“Uh, the culprit is…”

““Yes?!””

Marie just stopped caring at all.

I don’t know the dumb answer! I’m just gonna point at someone at random and insist they did it! The little hag said she could reset everyone’s memories later, right?!

She pushed the scowling men out of the way, pointing at nothing in particular.

“The villain behind these assaults…is you! Probably.”

All eyes followed her finger. And the unfortunate victim standing there…

“Me?”

It was Selen’s father. Despite the sudden accusation, he was staring back at Marie, completely calm.

“I see… I’ve been putting people in comas, have I?”

His voice was so quiet, Marie was already getting ready to prostrate herself before him, apologizing profusely for her error.

But before she could, Threonine raised his voice.

“That was a blind spot…the master of the Hemein family. He’s certainly in a position to head up the illegal cultivation! I was convinced it was the owner here, but…”

“You were? And here I thought it was you, Lord Threonine.”

Having convinced themselves of the real culprit, they advanced on Selen’s father.

Finding himself cornered, the man frowned. “My family involved in illegal cultivation…for world conquest?”

He adjusted his collar, calmly facing everyone.

His confidence just seemed to make Threonine angry.

“Yeah, your family’s been spreading their wings lately—on the profits from treant wood!”

“Yes, we have been doing well for ourselves—but trading in treant lumber itself is not illegal, as I’m sure you’re well aware.”

“Hngg, and here I thought Coba did it,” Threonine raged. “But you framed him while cultivating and selling it yourself!”

“Um, if we could just calm down and discuss this rationally?”

Threonine wasn’t listening. He began aggressively interrogating Selen’s father.

“That’s not all! Why arrange a marriage with my idiot son now? Were you hoping to rope the Lidocaines into helping you spread the treants, using our knowledge of the area? Start explaining! Leave nothing out!”

Threonine’s meaty hand had grabbed the front of Selen’s father’s shirt. They were both local lords, but one was a soldier and the other a businessman. The physical difference was considerable.

But Selen’s father remained undaunted.

“You are sorely lacking in rationality, Threonine.”

“I’m what—gah!”

Selen’s father had grabbed Threonine’s wrist.

“Hngg…gggh!”

Threonine was turning bright red, struggling—while Selen’s father showed no signs of anything at all. Threonine was forced to release him.

Threonine’s wrist had turned somewhat purple. He, Coba, and the crowd were clearly rattled; Selen’s father did not give the impression of having that kind of strength.

“How are you so strong? What have you—?”

“It’s no big deal,” Selen’s father said, as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. He took a seat on a nearby chair. “Now, let us all discuss this like civilized men. I have plenty of questions myself. Detective, will you grant me a little time?”

“Er…yeah, sure,” Marie stammered, surprised to be dragged back into this.

Selen’s father began speaking.

“About the rumors of illegal treant cultivation…”

A little earlier, the “idiot son” had made his way to the kitchen.

“Passed out in the sauna and waking up in nothing but a bathrobe,” Allan muttered. “Throat parched, and I’m starving… This is awful.”

There seemed to be some sort of fight going on in the restaurant where the doors were closed, so Allan had gone to the kitchen instead, hoping to at least snag a bread roll. But…

“Th-there’s no one here?”

Alone in the kitchen in his bathrobe, Allan had been hoping he could promise to pay later…and then spied a steaming pot on the stove. Gulping, he took a look inside. There was soup in the pot—no promising chunks of any kind but a strong herbal aroma wafted up from the concoction.

“…I’m really sorry. I can’t wait,” he said to no one in particular. He picked up a nearby ladle. “You can tell this is a first-class-hotel soup! Looks simple, but that scent has layers.”

Allan quickly took a sip, like the owner of a ramen shop taste-testing his wares. He had that kind of expression.

Gulp, gulp, gulp—Allan was so thirsty, he started chugging the soup like a post-workout sports drink.

“Richly flavored—really grows on ’oo, I fink…”

One sip of that balm could numb the mouth, and Allan had downed enough to spread the effect through his entire body. He collapsed on the spot.

As his consciousness faded, Allan swore he’d file a complaint with whoever made the dish later.

The only sound left in the kitchen was the forlorn bubbling from the soup pot.

Meanwhile, Lloyd was in the outdoor bath. This was a hot spring set aside for suite guests only, so no one else was around. He felt a little uncomfortable enjoying such a luxurious facility just because he had taken Allan’s place.

“Should I really be relaxing? Especially given how hard Riho’s been working…”

He was here to work but had been thrust into a role that had somehow led to him enjoying a hot spring. Naturally, he felt guilty about that.

“I’m lying to a lot of people… I should at least find out who’s behind these coma incidents and make everyone feel safe. Hmm?”

Lloyd suddenly felt eyes on him from outside. He moved over to the window, staring out into the darkness.

“I feel like someone’s watching me…or is it my imagination?”

Deciding to get back in the water, he peeled off the towel at his waist and turned around.

“Yoo-hoo! How’s it going, buddy?”

Alka, the kid-sized grandma, burst in, brushing through the curtains like a boisterous regular, naked as the day she was born, her childlike body on full display.

Unfortunately, Lloyd had been caught just between removing his towel and resubmerging in the steamy bathwater.

“…………” (Lloyd was flustered.)

“…………” (Alka’s eyes locked downstairs.)

“……………Ah.” (Lloyd turned red.)

“……………Pssht!” (Alka sprayed blood from her nose.)

All in 0.5 seconds.

Lloyd had his crotch covered in a fraction of a second, but Alka’s superhuman reflexes activated, allowing her eyes to catch a clear glimpse of his nether regions.

With a look of ecstasy, Alka twirled her nude body, spraying nose blood all over the bathroom floor.

The rest of the girls came running in a moment later. Some had managed to wrap themselves in bath towels, some had not—all were definitely naked.

“Wha— Why are you all here?!” Lloyd shrieked.

“Th-there’s a good reason, Lloyd!” Riho yelped, making sure the towel around her was tight. She was bright red. “Chief Alka said she wanted to check out the suite bath—”

But Selen burst past her, moving like the wind, eyes like hearts.

“Sir Lloyd! The two of us are basically family! Bathing together like family is only natural! You can do whatever you like in a hot spring as long as it’s only us here!”

This was clearly a problem, but so was Phyllo’s total lack of effort to cover any of her ridiculously taut martial artist’s body.

“…Master and student are also like family…and we will someday marry…”

Bringing up the rear was Mena, sailing in with complete aplomb, holding a single washcloth vertically so it just barely covered upstairs and downstairs. That had to be somebody’s fetish.

“So why is Chief Alka knocked out? Did she slip and fall?” Mena asked.

Lloyd turned bright red again. “……Eep.”

Selen pounced on that response. “Did you just squeak, Lloyd? You can’t mean—”

Riho’s eyes narrowed. “She…saw you, Lloyd?”

Super-embarrassed, Lloyd nodded.

“……Let’s just bury her,” Phyllo suggested, grabbing Alka by the scruff of her neck.

“Why does Alka have all the luck?! It’s not fair! Sir Lloyd! I demand you show me, too!”

“Hang on! There’s no fair or unfair when it comes to nudity!”

“Don’t worry! I’ll make it fair! You can look at me naked all you like! Touch me if you—”

Riho was about to further debate the semantics of fair, but first…

“……Mm?” Phyllo suddenly stared into the distance, as if she’d noticed something.

“What’s up, Phyllo?” Mena said, concerned.

“…There.” Phyllo suddenly hurled Alka out the window.

Rustle, rustle! Snap! Srack… Foosh. Flap, flap, flap. Caw, caw.

Alka went crashing through the trees and slid across the ground, and then the forest’s silence was filled with flapping wings and bird cries.

“Phyllo, I sympathize, but if you’re gonna throw someone naked from this height, you should really tie a rope to them first,” Selen scolded.

She sympathized a little too much…

Riho and Selen both chastised Phyllo, but it was pretty clear she was preventing them from torturing Alka themselves.

“You threw her pretty dang far, Phyllo… Why?” Mena asked, not once taking her eyes off the direction of Alka’s descent.

“…They ran.”

“Huh? Who did?”

“…Whoever was watching.”

“Er… This is a family bath. Most peeping toms are going to be after the women’s room.”

“Chief Alka and Selen are the biggest peepers, and since they’re here with us, that means… Well, one is dearly departed, I guess.” Riho crossed herself to pay her respects.

Alka isn’t dead, though.

“Invading the bath is actually worse than peeping… Who’s trying to peep on Lloyd?”

“Marie’s busy now,” Selen muttered gravely. “Could it be…Allan?”

Yeah, no. He had been knocked out again.

The actual peeper was Kikyou, who’d been watching Lloyd in the bath through binoculars.

Of course, unlike some people (read: Selen and Alka), she was not motivated by carnal desire.

Convinced Lloyd was infected by a treant sapling, she had determined that the only way to find out where it was attached to him was to stake out the bath, where he was most likely to disrobe.

“My plot to put the balm in the soup, administering it orally and flushing out the seedling, failed… And the lie I had to use to get the chefs out of there was really forced… But who were those girls?”

While she’d been making the soup, Alka and Marie had burst in and intoned, “LEAVE!” in a death growl, their faces twisted in rictuses of horror—symptoms of their Lloyd deprivation. Kikyou’s decision to flee the scene had definitely been a wise one.

“Argh, and I left the balm behind… I’ll have to fetch it later— There!”

Her binoculars had finally caught Lloyd nude.

“Doesn’t seem like the balm is working at all… I guess I had to smear it exactly where the sapling is… Ugh, with the light stones reflecting, I can’t see anything—the steam’s in the way, too…”

The seedling must have been attached to his crotch, and Kikyou strained her eyes trying to get a good glimpse of it, following his every move.

“Oh, he’s a good boy. Washing up before he enters the bath… All I can see is his back… Oh! Argh, he’s in the water now. So close!” she shrieked, getting worked up.

What am I even doing?

Part of her was shaking her head at the mess in which she found herself, objectively observing her actions.

Instead of doing this, I could just tell him the truth… Worse comes to worst, I’d end up killing him, but…

If the seedling matured, hordes of people would die. The life of one boy was a small price to pay.

I wish I could think like that.

“My dream’s come true at last!”

……Dammit.

Lloyd’s bright smile kept echoing through Kikyou’s mind.

“If your dream’s come true, then protect yourself!” she grumbled, clutching her head. Then she focused her attention on the bath again.

But what was going on now? She’d taken her eyes off it for a second, and the place was swarming with girls!

“Wait, do I have the wrong bath?”

But Lloyd was still in there, so it had to be the right place… Kikyou squinted, watching the scene carefully.

No one was getting in the water. They were all just standing and talking.

“What are they doing?” Kikyou wondered.

She was still puzzled when one of the women suddenly looked right at her.

“Huh? Did she see me? At this distance?”

Then something white came hurtling right toward her.

“What? Oh, crap!”

Kikyou scrambled to avoid the flying object and lost her balance, falling out of the tree.

“Oww… What? That looked human…”

Then a figure appeared from the forest. Had they heard the noise and come to look?

“…Who’s there?”

Anyone coming from the depths of the forest had to be—

“Erm. Oh? What are you doing here? You’re hotel staff, right?”

It was Threonine’s secretary. He was looking at Kikyou with surprise and seemed somewhat nervous. His clothes had leaves and twigs stuck to them, like he’d been following an animal around…not what you’d call an evening stroll.

“What are you doing? It’s dangerous to walk outdoors at night.” Kikyou pretended as if she didn’t know who he was—to disguise her own connection to Threonine.

“It doesn’t make sense for me to be here, does it? I’m aware of that. Damn that witch… She was lying about having taken care of things! I had to hurry and check, but everything was fine!”

What was he talking about? Frowning, she leaned in for a better look.

“Are you hiding something?” she asked, taking a wild stab in the dark.

This rattled the secretary far more than she’d expected.

“I-I’m not hiding anything! This is just a perfectly ordinary cypress!”

“A cypress? You hid something in that tree? Step aside!”

She pushed him back, checking the trunk. There was a hollow inside it and a really twisted tree stuffed into the opening.

“I-is this…?”

“The illegally cultivated treant.”

The secretary’s tone had changed completely.

Kikyou gasped.

All trace of fluster had vanished—as if he knew he’d been caught red-handed, so there was no point keeping up the act.

“You’re aware of the treant?” he asked.

“Y-yes…I’ve heard…rumors…”

Why was he asking her? The secretary just chuckled.

“Don’t bother. I know exactly who you are. The odd-jobs girl Threonine hired. Kikyou.”

She went tense, pulling a knife from her pocket.

But the secretary didn’t move. It was as if all emotion had drained from him.

“Don’t worry. I’m only telling you this because I wish to make a deal.”

“A deal?”

His eyes gleamed behind his glasses. “I know how much Threonine is paying you. I’ll double it.”

“Well…that’s certainly underhanded.”

As if he’d expected her to say that, the secretary took a document out of his pocket.

“Details of the transactions, making Threonine out to be the dealer. I’d appreciate it if you could give this to the police and leave me out of it.”

“You’re certainly prepared. So has your goal always been to drag Threonine down? He was pretty mean to you…”

This seemed to touch a nerve. All his pent-up frustrations with his employer erupted out of him.

“‘Mean’ barely covers it! That man was a warrior. He favors anyone strong over anyone with actual business skills, and we suffer for it! Even after promoting me to secretary, he doesn’t treat me any differently! So I started cultivating treants! I’m going to turn his beloved mountains into a treant horde and make his rivals, the Hemeins, rich in the process! Then I’ll pin the whole thing on him, while myself becoming a being no one can touch—!”

This was getting more and more disturbing, with the latter bits sounding downright supernatural.

“Wh-what do you mean by that?”

The secretary twitched. Then he was eerily calm again, as if the fit had never happened at all.

“You feel obligated to turn me down? Missing this opportunity will be your loss, odd-jobs girl.”

He seemed confident she would take the document. His eyes said so.

Kikyou felt no anger. Her expression said this all made sense to her.

“Comes with the territory,” she muttered.

Then Lloyd’s face fluttered into her mind.

“My dream’s come true!”

I can never focus on any one thing, but he knows what he wants to be and worked toward that…and I went above and beyond to try and save him.

It felt like she’d only just come to terms with her own actions.

She looked back at the secretary, feeling the warmth of the evening wind brushing past her cheeks.

“Ever since I was a child, I wanted to be an actress.”

“An actress?” The secretary looked momentarily surprised but quickly recovered. “I see. Very well, I’ll arrange for some theater troupe to take you in. I have that power now…”

Kikyou shook her head. “But I can’t do it. I’m not right for it. What I think always shows on my face.”

And her face looked like she was staring at some foul thing. A moment later, she’d circled around behind him.

“What are you—?!”

“If you think my being an odd-jobs girl means I’ll do anything for money, you’re sorely mistaken! Hell, the whole reason I do this is because I don’t want hardheaded, arrogant assholes like you telling me what to do!”

The secretary had not expected this invective from her at all. “I see,” he said ruefully. “Let’s find out if you still refuse once you see this.”

He began writhing as if ripples were running up his emaciated back—then something long and thin sprouted from its surface.

“Roots?” Kikyou yelped.

She didn’t have time to dodge. They were already wrapped around her legs.

Kikyou could feel the strength leaving her body. Fatigue and weariness spread up her legs, and she couldn’t fight the roots. They dragged her, lifted her up, and then slammed her to the ground.

Once that was done, the roots released her.

“Gah!” Kikyou gasped. All the air was knocked out of her lungs.

The secretary glared down at her. “With the amount of life energy I just absorbed from you, you won’t be walking anywhere soon.”

The roots wrapped around his body, making him look like a house abandoned for decades. Slowly, they took the form of a tree over six yards tall, with the man’s tired face in the center of it.

The tree began moving, leaves rustling.

“Are you surprised? This is the treant power I’ve been harboring inside me, but not just any treant.”

“So you’re the one infected? No! I should have guessed whoever was responsible would do that to protect himself… Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Now, back to our negotiations. My offer has changed. Obey me, or I’ll turn you into fertilizer for my children! Once I’ve taken this form, there’s no holding back.”

“…Oh, geez.”

Kikyou saw that boy’s smile again.

He had such a gentle smile and such absurd physical strength…

He was immune to poison…and able to detect someone sneaking up behind him…

“What’s the matter? Too frightened to speak? You hardly seem the type.”

“……”

“Come, give me your answer! I’m not going to wait long.”

“Shut up, I’m thinking.”

“Oh, right, sorry.”

Her voice had such steel behind it that the treant secretary reverted to old habits. He’d always been rather meek.

But Kikyou’s mind was racing so fast she didn’t even notice how pathetic he was.

Of course I never realized… I mean…I mean, that boy’s obviously impossible!

She was going back over everything Lloyd had done. None of it was normal.

She’d assumed he was infected with a treant, but now that she knew it wasn’t true, he was even more of a mystery.

“Is he even human?”

Based on the evidence she’d seen, she found herself deeply unsure.

“Heh-heh-heh, that’s a difficult question,” the secretary said. “In this form, I can hardly be called human anymore. Yet…I’m a new form of a life, a—”

“Quiet! I was talking to myself!”

“Oh, right, sorry.”

The secretary’s leaves rustled despondently.

As if she’d forgotten the urgency of her predicament, Kikyou turned to the half-tree secretary, speaking with the tone of a shopkeeper scolding a part-time worker.

“You only put that sapling in yourself?”

“Don’t worry, this diabolical power is mine alone! But it is every bit as strong as—”

“Argh, then I’m back to square one! It would have been so simple if there had just been two! Go get a second one ready!”

“Oh, right, sorry?”

The secretary’s roots rubbed together awkwardly. Even in this monstrous form, he couldn’t keep his head up… She was starting to feel sorry for him.

Unsure why she was so mad at him, the secretary fell silent. These kinds of situations were hard to handle. He clearly had the advantage here, so why was she acting like this? His head tilted to one side inside the trunk.

Then there was a rustling noise… Someone was pushing through the brush.

Both turned to look.

“I could have sworn the chief landed this way…”

The boy with the gentle smile, Lloyd, stepped into the clearing, steam rising off of him, clearly tracing Alka’s trajectory.

Still sweating from the bath, he looked like he was on a post-soak stroll…but Kikyou stared at him as if she were seeing a monster.

…Why is he…? No, he was just in the bath… How did he cover that much ground already?

It had only been a few minutes, and this was far enough away that she’d needed binoculars to see him. Since he wasn’t infected by a treant, this was his natural ability…

A shiver ran down her spine.

Meanwhile, Lloyd was still toasty from the bath. He looked happy to see her.

“Oh, Kikyou! What’s up? What brings you here? Did you see the chief come flying past? She’s naked, so I’m worried she’ll catch a cold.”

If this “chief” had gone flying past naked, a cold seemed like the least of her problems…but that only fueled Kikyou’s fear.

The secretary had been equally floored by this sudden arrival, but he recovered, showing his bizarre form and attempting to intimidate Lloyd.

“Hmm, and just who are—?”

“Who are you? Tell me the truth!”

Kikyou stole his line.

The secretary was getting rather upset. “I wanted to say that!” He rattled his leaves mournfully.

“Um…I’m Lloyd?” Lloyd was completely confused. Everyone here seemed to be on a different page entirely. “Did you forget me or something?”

“Oh, right!” the secretary said. “The bellboy who brought the meal alongside the hotel owner. But why are you—?”

“Why are you here?! Spit it out! How did you get here?! How did you cover that distance?!”

Once again, his line had been snatched away.

“Let me talk!” the secretary complained, another sad rustle running through his leaves. This whole treant parasite thing had been reduced to the goofiness of a kid forced to play a tree in the school play.

“Uh…I walked? But what’s with this guy?”

Lloyd finally addressed the treant-infected secretary.

“Heh-heh-heh, curious, are you? Yes, as might well be expected! Behold my sinister form!”

“Oh, you’re the secretary! How’d you end up like that? Wait…”

“Clever child—yes, I’m sure what you’re thinking is correct. And you can imagine what’s going to happen to you now.”

“You’re…preparing a party trick?”

“Yes! The illegal treant cultivation was all my— Huh?”

“It’s a great concept! Dressing up as a cypress to impress Threonine—wow, it’s really realistic!”

Lloyd’s danger meter hovered at zero. He was stroking the secretary’s bark as if petting a neighborhood cat or dog.

“To hell with him! What are you! Tell me the truth!”

“Uh? I’m just me? What’s gotten into you, Kikyou? Did you follow up the magazine with a philosophy book?”

“That’s… Ha-ha!”

First, Kikyou ignored him; then Lloyd dismissed him as a party trick—the secretary was at the end of his rope.

“I’ve given myself overwhelming power! I’ve become a new species! Getting treated like this…it’s just not acceptable!”

His upper torso had remained largely intact, but the trunk was starting to swallow it up. Before he knew it, the secretary had grown much larger than the trees around him.

“You’re— What the?! He’s huge!” He heard a muffled voice through the trunk.

“Nobody ever notices me… They even forgot to bring me a moist towelette in the restaurant…”

Sounded like old traumas were digging into him, and he’d bottled all that up into pure hatred—a classic human failing! But this was hardly a laughing matter.

“Oh…but that doesn’t matter now. I am the Tree Demon Lord, the Erlking! I will cast off the shackles of the past, seek light and water, lay down roots, make myself a bed, and cover the world with my offspring!”

“D-Demon Lord?” Kikyou squeaked.

“Too late to fear me now!”

True. Perhaps she should already have been afraid.

Following this muffled threat, the secretary-turned-Demon-Lord began extending his roots. They pulsed like pumps flushing something into the ground. A moment later, small treants hidden within the surrounding cypresses all began growing at once.

They tore their way out of their hiding spots, and in the blink of an eye, treants surrounded them.

The muted voice sounded pleased.

“I used all the nutrients I stored. The results are adequate…and where they aren’t…”

“Oh, is this all part of the party trick? I know you want to make it real, but you can’t go growing treants for that! It’ll cause problems for the neighbors.”

“Problems?! That’s such an understatement!”

Lloyd looked like he was scolding someone for feeding stray cats. Kikyou’s mind simply couldn’t keep up with this, and her entire face was starting to twitch.

“Oh!” Lloyd said. “So that’s why you’re here, Kikyou! A guest was up to something, and you came to reprimand them!”

“Huh? What?”

Lloyd grinned, striking a pose—the one Kikyou had taught him.

“Don’t worry! Cleaning up these weeds is my job!”

“Mwa-ha-ha! Weeds? Party tricks? I see, the fear has made you take leave of your—”

Lloyd punched through a nearby treant.

“—senses…but…but this makes no sense… Oh, crap!”

As Lloyd dispatched treant after treant, it became clear that the Demon Lord was the one who should be afraid.

In very little time, Lloyd had cleaned up all the treants in the area.

Fear had Kikyou paralyzed—she simply couldn’t process the situation. She just watched Lloyd go at it, her jaw hanging open.

“If we don’t need to harvest the wood, even I can handle this!”

Treants were a common source of firewood in Kunlun, but the only way to ensure treants left lumber behind was to defeat them before they noticed you. In other words, in Kunlun, “gathering firewood” was a stealth mission. If you defeated the creatures after they noticed you…

Pshhht.

“The treants… They’re turning into smoke…”

…they would vanish, leaving behind only a pile of ash that twinkled in the moonlight, turning over earth where the roots had been yanked out.

“Definitely no firewood left… The villagers would all laugh at me.”

“…Lloyd…just who are you?”

“I’m Lloyd Belladonna! A military cadet of Azami— Wait, where’d the secretary go?”

“……He’s gone! No…!”

Kikyou quickly scanned the area, looking for any sign of the Demon Lord. In the distance, she could hear trees falling over—in the direction of the hotel.

“He said something about being low on nutrients… That’s really bad!”

Kikyou tried to pursue, but with her life energy drained, she couldn’t move.

Lloyd saw her struggling and gently put his arms around her.

“Don’t force yourself. I’ll take care of it.”

“But everyone in the hotel will—”

“Yes…if he starts running around the hotel at night dressed like that, we’ll be flooded with complaints! That wouldn’t be good at all.”

Kikyou gaped at him, flashing him a look that said he was way off base.

“I’m only here for the weekend, but I’m also a cadet. I’ve always dreamed about being useful to people—so leave this to me. I know I don’t seem all that reliable, but…”

Kikyou listened to him quietly.

“…if I do my best when people need me, then I think someday people will come to appreciate it. I’ve always been a wimp, never confident in anything but housework, but I did my best to cook, clean, or do anything else I thought I was capable of, and I’m starting to find my way forward. I may still be just an inexperienced cadet, but one day…I’ll be a proper soldier, and—”

There was a loud crash from the hotel. They could see the Treant Demon Lord, even bigger than before. Nearly a dozen yards tall, it was growing uglier and uglier.

Lloyd’s eyes widened at the sheer size of it.

“Wow, at a time like this? A monster?! Is this because I was fighting?”

No, Lloyd, it was the secretary. And he wasn’t just a monster.

He was a Demon Lord.

“About the rumors of illegal treant cultivation… You’re not about to tell me the treant lumber I’m purchasing from the Lidocaine family was cultivated illegally, are you?”

“What?” Threonine squawked. “You’re buying that from us?”

“Yes—there was a chance my daughter might become part of your family, so I was hoping to alleviate that concern here.”

“So you and Threonine are responsible for the illegal cultivation that’s led to these comas?” Coba bristled, ready to go after Threonine again.

But Selen’s father restrained him. “Now, now, let’s not jump to conclusions. This has been bothering me for some time.”

Coba couldn’t conceal his surprise—Selen’s father had stopped him quite easily.

“A-are you…a martial artist of some kind?” he asked.

“I’m embarrassed to admit it,” Selen’s father replied, turning his eyes to the floor. “But this is for my daughter.”

“Your daughter?”

“The Cursed Belt Princess…you’ve heard of her? That was my Selen. We were told it would take considerable power to remove the belt, so…I spent some time training.”

He rolled up his sleeve, revealing wiry muscles underneath.

“Bulking up too much would intimidate people, interfering with business, so…anyway, Selen’s belt was removed in Azami, so all this muscle is going to waste now.”

Sheepishly, he rolled his sleeve back down.

“S-so,” Threonine said. “The marriage arrangement wasn’t a trick?”

“A trick? No, nothing like that. Now that her curse is lifted, there’s no reason to have her in the army. It would never do for her to get injured in service…and I’ve heard rumors of a dangerous stalker in the country. I decided it was best to arrange a marriage at once.”

Those rumors were probably about his daughter.

“…Thanks to that cursed belt, the other local lords look down on us. Only the Lidocaine family agreed to consider the arrangement.”

Selen’s father bowed his head low.

“O-oh…that explains it…”

Threonine had only taken him up on the offer to obtain info on the illegal cultivation, so this left him feeling rather guilty.

“And as we’ve conducted business here repeatedly, it seemed like the best choice for the prospective couple to meet. I was hoping to verify the cultivation was legitimate while I was at it.”

“No, wait, wait. This is all news to me! You’re sure you’re buying the lumber from us?”

“Yes, from a young man who identified himself as an agent of the Lidocaine family…although this does explain some inconsistencies, Threonine. It was odd that the representative kept insisting I know who I was dealing with. I wondered if you were drunk.”

“I know nothing of this. I’m telling the truth!”

The conversation was going nowhere fast, but just then, the restaurant doors slammed open, and a large man appeared carrying a pot.

“Who made this soup?!” he roared.

It was Allan. He’d recovered from the numbing effect of the treant balm in the soup and now was here to complain.

Coba and Threonine. The two burly men took one glance at each other and then glared at Allan.

Allan saw his father with a large crowd, clearly in the middle of something.

“…Sorry to interrupt!” he said, trying to quietly back away.

But Threonine stopped him.

“Are you responsible?”

“Responsible for what, Dad?”

Allan was lost enough already without having baseless accusations leveled at him. There were tears in his eyes.

“I knew it made no sense! My fool of a son, the toast of the Azami army? You bought your way up with the money you raised selling treant wood!”

“What the hell are you talking about, Dad? I’m doing my best!”

Marie, confused to see someone she knew clutching a soup pot in a bathrobe, called out, “Allan! What are you wearing?!”

“Er…Marie! Why are you here?”

“I could ask the same! And…why the pot?”

Allan glared down at the pot balefully.

“Listen to this! I drank some of this soup, and my entire body went numb! I thought I was gonna die! I’m gonna give the chef a piece of my mind if it’s the last thing—”

“…Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Marie!”

It totally was, but while she hung her head, Selen’s father decided he should calm Threonine down.

“No, Threonine, not that boy. The one I met had a dark tan…”

“What? Then…who…?”

A scream arose from the crowd. Someone was pointing out the window. Coba turned to look and saw…

“What the hell is that? A tree monster?! A treant!”

The giant secretary was rushing toward them.

Coba grabbed a phone, calling the front desk. “Hey, it’s me! Sound the alarm! There’s a giant tree monster headed this way!”

“Dammit! The sapling matured! Kikyou failed?!” Threonine wailed.

“…Selen!” her father shouted, looking anxious. But his voice was drowned out in screams.

“Argh,” Marie wailed. “Get the hell out of the bath and come back here, you tiny hag!”

“Calm down!” Allan cried. “Don’t push! Keep it orderly!”

Swearing under her breath, Marie began helping Allan guide the crowd out of the restaurant.

“Dammit! We need to evacuate the place,” Coba swore. “First these comas, now they’re after my hotel… I will have you arrested for this!”

But Coba’s voice was lost in the high-pitched shriek of the hotel alarms.

While alarms echoed through the halls, Selen, Riho, Phyllo, and Mena were standing on the roof of a souvenir shop near the lake. They’d been staring in the direction Alka had been thrown and saw the treant rise up out of the woods and go on the attack. They’d hastily dressed and rushed to intercept.

“Up close, it’s even bigger.” Riho gulped. “Damn, where’d this thing come from? There’d better be a reward…”

The sight of the creature silhouetted against the moon was enough to frighten even her.

“Calm down. Stick to the plan, and we’ll be fine,” Mena said, her voice much lower than usual. The other three listened intently. “First, the bait—someone needs to lure it away from the hotel toward the lake.”

Mena pointed toward the dock where boat rentals were moored. It was a decently open space that offered a few buildings to stand on and appeared tailor-made for flinging big spells around.

“Then, I’ll bind it with water magic—but I dunno how long I can hold down a Treant Demon Lord. Before I try, Riho, charge your mithril arm with a fire spell and hit it hard.”

“Roger that. What happens after you bind it?”

“The weak point is the core—the living thing it absorbed. We’ll have to attack that. But there’s a strong chance the core will be immune to magic, so that’s where Phyllo comes in.”

“……Mm.” Phyllo nodded.

“Of course, it may not be so easily bound and might not die just because we hit the core once, but we just have to hold on long enough for Lloyd or the chief to get back.”

“Yeah, if either of them comes back, we’ll be fine,” Riho said, doing warm-up stretches. “Right. I’ll be on top of that tree there. Good luck!”

“……Mm.”

Riho and Phyllo turned to go.

“Wait!” Selen yelped. “I heard her say ‘bait,’ but she wasn’t specific!”

“Well, Selen, no time to waste!”

“No, no, no, no! Why am I bait?! That’s perfect for someone as durable as Phyllo!”

“You’ve got the cursed belt auto-guard! And you can use that to yank yourself onto roofs or into trees if need be,” Mena explained.

“I heard you hooked it onto a chandelier to throw yourself into Lloyd’s arms earlier today! You’re turning into a monster!” Riho called out to her.

Selen groaned, but Phyllo patted her gently on the back.

“…Don’t worry.”

“Phyllo! Will you take over for me?”

“…I’ll gather your bones.”

“That’s worse than what I’d feared! You want me dying?!”

“…You threw yourself into my master’s arms? …How indecent.”

“You got drunk and did way worse! You’re far more indecent than I am!”

The ground shook. The Treant Demon Lord’s roots were writhing, and it was picking up speed.

“We’re outta time! Positions, everyone!”

“Mm.”

“Good luck, m’lady!”

“And the day started off so lovely! Argh, fine! I’ll show you all what I can do!”

Grumbling, Selen dashed off after them, headed toward the shore.

There was a lot of gravel around the lake that crunched under Selen’s feet as she ran. She reached the spot Mena had indicated and stopped.

“Yoo-hoo! Massive tree! Come this way!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

“You tell him, Selen! You gotta be even meaner if you want him to take the bait!” Riho called from a tree nearby.

“Hngg… Y-you’re an idiot! I think!”

“Is that your best smack talk? Only the brokenhearted would call someone an idiot on a lakeshore! You gotta really twist that knife!”

Riho seemed much better at insults.

“What does ‘smack talk’ even mean?! I wish it was you doing this…”

Selen rummaged through her vocabulary, doing her best to taunt the giant tree.

“Um…you’re ginormous! Really slow! And dumb! A big dummy!”

“They’re starting to overlap a bit! Point deduction!”

“Big talk for someone in a tree! You half-wit! You human failure! You’re um…um…bald!”

The treant had been ignoring her, relentlessly moving toward the hotel, but at this last comment, it swung sharply in her direction.

“I just have a big forehead!”

That sharply receding hairline had definitely been bothering him. The Treant Demon Lord charged at Selen.

“Aughhhh! It’s after me! Riho! Mena! Heeeeelp! Please!”

Selen broke into a headlong run, not a glance in either direction.

“Heh-heh-heh! Payback for all the good times you helped yourself to earlier!” Riho said. Then her smile faded. “Right…my part’s up next.”

She turned to the approaching tree, deploying a spell. Her mithril arm began gleaming.

“An inferno in my hand…”

That was when the unexpected happened.

“Fl— Yikes!”

Before she could yell “Flame” and complete the incantation, something stabbed through the air where she’d been. She barely managed to scramble aside in time.

“That’s was close… Were those…leaves?”

Watching from a distance, Mena swore. “Tch… An auto-guard that reacts to magic power?”

As a test, Mena tried using a small fire spell, and the creature didn’t miss a beat—a giant branch swung and sent leaves flying her way.

“Yikes! Crap! It even reacts to short chants!”

As Mena was starting to realize magic wasn’t an option, Phyllo ran past Selen and kicked the giant tree.

“Hah!”

Thud… It made a loud noise, but the treant didn’t slow at all.

“……Then a combo.”

Phyllo rained blows on it, which might have slowed it slightly, but they definitely didn’t stop its advance.

Grimacing, Riho ransacked her pockets, looking for options.

“Crap…we’re gonna take too much damage before Lloyd gets here… There’s gotta be something…”

But the only thing in her pockets was the free book of matches she’d found in her room.

“Damn, that won’t be enough… It’s fire, sure, but…”

A match wasn’t exactly going to do any real damage. And while Riho weighed her options, the treant’s roots crept toward her.

“Riho! At your feet!”

“Crap!”

Roots were sprouting up beneath her. She quickly dodged, grabbing the tree’s trunk.

Her vision was immediately filled with treant roots, whooshing through the space she’d been and chasing her up the trunk.

“Damn… It’s gonna take out one foothold after another… Go away!”

She was dodging the onslaught for now, but the tendrils showed no signs of tiring.

“How can I get out of this? I can’t use magi— Augh!”

Riho had jumped to avoid the roots, and they’d swept sideways, sending her flying through the air. She’d been nearly at the top of the tree, so this was going to be a long fall—one that could easily prove fatal. Even as she fell, though, Riho’s mind was in overdrive.

Something was running toward them from the hotel at tremendous speed. It was…

“Neigh!”

A horse? The horse Riho had groomed so carefully was dragging a wagon after it, right under her falling body.

Poof! The soft canopy of the high-end wagon caught Riho safely.

“A canopy? I’m saved…and you’re…!”

“Neigh!” (Translation: “Sorry I’m late!”)

It was a beautiful black horse with intense eyes.

“Weren’t you in a pen…? Augh!”

Riho looked toward the stables, spying a broken fence and the horses she’d looked after…all looking rather red-faced.

They’d worked together to break out and help her.

“…Okay, I love horses again!”

Riho hopped off the canopy and gave the horse’s mane a good rub.

“Mm? What’s that smell?”

It was a distinctive, oily odor.

She followed the scent and checked inside the canopy…and gaped.

“Bottle bombs?!”

Three whole cases of them. The horse’s charge had knocked a few over, and the inside of the carriage was soaked in volatile oil.

“M’lady… You bought waaaay too much. Heh.”

But just this once, she’d done a good job. Just this once. Riho picked up a case and started running toward the treant.

“…Mm!”

Meanwhile, Phyllo was fending off a vicious root attack somehow, clearly about to reach her limit.

“…Each strike is weak, but…there are…so many…”

If she splintered one, another would hit from the side, and if she deflected that, from above, below, in front of her—roots flew toward her from every direction.

“…If it would just flinch…”

…then she could put her back into a big hit and knock it down, but the onslaught didn’t give her time.

“Phyllo! You okay?” Selen called out.

“…Not really… I need an opening…”

Then something exploded at the center of the treant.

“Magic? I thought you couldn’t chant!”

Both turned to see raging flames…and hear glass shattering, followed by another explosion.

“…Bottle bombs… Very powerful ones…”

Phyllo sounded almost shocked. Normal bottle bombs didn’t explode like this. Even someone as stoic as Phyllo was surprised. These used a combination of special oils and magic stones, proving to be far more powerful than those known to mortals. Behold the terrifying power of Kunlun…well, of Shouma, anyway.

“Who the…?”

Both turned to see where the bottle bombs were coming from.

“Serves you right, rotten treant! Time for some slash and burn!”

Riho was gleefully applying matches to the bottles and flinging them at the creature. If you tried slash-and-burn agriculture with these napalm-esque bombs, you’d transform the land so badly, no one would ever want to farm it.

“…”

The sight of Riho in full-on terrorist mode left Phyllo and Selen momentarily stunned.

“…We can win this,” Phyllo said, seeing the onslaught dying down. She dashed between some roots, approaching the trunk. “…Hmph. Hah!”

Putting her back into it, she hit the treant with her strongest kick, knocking it off balance.

Thud. Thud. Thud…

The treant staggered, flailing its roots frantically to keep from falling over.

“Tch, it still isn’t going down. Aah!”

The enemy had suddenly jumped, like an old drunk avoiding a fall by abruptly transitioning into a backflip. The comparison isn’t far off, given the age of the secretary inside the thing…

But the landing didn’t go so well. Off balance, the treant was forced to grab the hotel for support.

“…That’s…the restaurant,” Phyllo warned.

“Father!” Selen yelled.

Before she could think twice, she was racing toward the building.

Inside the restaurant, Marie’s murder mystery dinner party had ended—rather forcibly—in a shower of rubble and dust. The guests looked up to find the wall caved in and a giant, dubiously colored tree leaning against the hotel.

“A-augh! M-my hotel! We only just renovated!” Coba wailed.

“Damn… How dare you… My family is heavily decorated! On the honor of Threonine Toin Lidocaine, this shall not stand!”

Threonine picked up a nearby chair, ready to charge the treant.

“No, don’t! That’s just a chair! This thing is dangerous! Keep your distance!” Marie called, but her warning fell on deaf ears.

She tried to grab Threonine, but he brushed her off.

“Unhand me! That thing besmirched the Lidocaine name, and I’m gonna make it pay!”

“Dad! It’s not safe! Stay back!” yelled Allan.

Threonine threw the chair, but the treant’s bark was like iron. The chair bounced off harmlessly.

“Lord Threonine! We’d better retreat and let the police handle this!”

“Dammit! Where’d my secretary go?” Threonine roared. “He’s supposed to be fetching the police! How long is that damn fool going to keep us waiting?”

At this, the side of the treant’s trunk opened up, and the secretary’s face loomed over them.

“You called?”

““““…………””””

A deathly silence settled over the scene, like when the best man’s speech turns out to be about the groom’s philandering.

“Y-you?!” Threonine croaked at last. “What does this mean? Did the treant take control of you?!”

“No,” the secretary said.

“Th-then why are you inside it?!”

“Because I’m the one who was illegally cultivating the treants!”

This silenced Threonine completely.

“You had no idea, did you? You never do! You pay no attention to your subordinates, always trying to do everything yourself. That’s why I concocted this plan! As long as I didn’t get caught, I’d get rich—and if I did get caught, I could pin it all on you!”

“That’s no reason to do something this stupid!”

“Stupid? I agree! But how could you understand how it feels to have no future? Threonine—I’m going to consume you now.”

A treant root shot toward Threonine, trying to run him through.

“Look out!” Allan shoved his father out of the way, then wrapped his arms around the root, holding it still. “Run, Dad! Hraghh!”

“Fool! I’ll just drain your life away!”

A faint light wreathed around the root Allan was clutching, siphoning his strength. He staggered but managed to remain on his feet, throwing off the root and recovering.

“Allan! Are you okay?” Marie asked.

“A little dizzy,” Allan said, grimacing. “But I’m tough enough to handle it! And they don’t teach cadets in Azami to abandon unarmed civilians in a time of need.”

“A-Allan…”

“Yeah, I’m a screwup, and I ain’t too bright—but I’m not scared of monsters anymore.”

Allan had once been great at fighting people but too afraid to go up against monsters. He’d entered Azami’s military with the goal of getting promoted before anyone made him fight monsters.

Threonine had been well aware of this, and it was a big part of his contempt for his son. “I see,” he whispered, clearly regretting his harshness. “You’ve grown.”

“And I know my master won’t abandon us at a time like this!” Allan grinned.

The secretary at the treant’s core scowled.

“Out of the way! Let me kill that man!”

“Hell no! I’ve been trained to do the opposite! I’m Allan the Axman, and I’m gonna chop your ass down!”

Allan reached for his back, trying to grab his favorite ax…and…came up with empty air.

“Ah! I’m unarmed!”

Allan had been wearing nothing but a bathrobe ever since he collapsed in the sauna, but only now did he realize it.

“…”

There was an awkward silence.

“Die!”

“Hang on! They didn’t teach us how to fight monsters bare-handed! Dammit!”

“I knew my son was an idiot!” Threonine roared.

Allan desperately dodged the treant’s attacks and started throwing anything he could get his hands on. Chairs. Tables. Paintings from the walls. And…

“Take that! And that! And that!”

“Ha-ha-ha! What a clown!”

Allen threw the soup pot he’d brought with him. Balm-infused soup splattered the creature.

“Ha-ha-ha…ha?” The secretary’s muffled laugh faded. He felt a wave of heat spreading through him. Steam began gushing out of his body.

“Ha? Ha? Ha?”

He lost his balance, staggering against the hotel, then toppling over backward.

Whumm…

The Treant Demon Lord withered away, as if its core had been removed. Its branches and leaves drooped toward the ground.

“…Seriously, who made that soup? That’s definitely not fit for human consumption!”

“Ah-ha-ha, seriously… What was in that herbal paste?” Marie asked, standing right next to him. Her laugh sounded very hollow.

But the giant root receding from the projectile soup seemed to have actually calmed everyone down.

“The leaves are withering! Riho! Now’s our chance! Hit it with ice after my water spell!” Mena yelled.

“Ice?” Riho confirmed. “Oh, I get it!”

She stopped throwing bottle bombs and jumped on the horse.

“Unhitch the wagon, and…you ready to go?”

“Whinny.” (Translation: “You betcha.”)

The horse shook its mane for emphasis, and Riho gave it a rub in return.

“Your real talent has been wasted pulling wagons around, huh? Right, on my signal, do a quick lap of the treant.”

“Whinny.” (Translation: “No problem.”)

As Riho and the horse conferred, all the water in the lake began to spray, gathering together.

“Time to take out my frustrations!” Mena said. With the situation in their favor, her tone had regained its usual impishness. “Water Snake!”

As Mena finished her spell, the mass of lake water took the shape of a cobra, which slithered across the lake’s surface, headed for the treant.

When it reached is target, it wrapped around the withering plant.

“Right, let’s go!” Riho snapped the reins, and the horse whinnied in reply. It galloped swiftly around the treant while Riho held her mithril arm aloft.

“Diamond Dust!”

Ice shards chilled the air around her, then began rocketing toward the treant. They shattered against it as the horse ran a second lap. In no time, the area was filled with soft rime.

“Got it!” Riho cheered.

“Don’t jinx it!” Mena yelled. “It’s still alive! The core ain’t exposed! We gotta do something about that, or…!”

Roots were crawling out from beneath the immobilized treant.

“Damn, this thing don’t give up!”

“It can’t move, but it’ll start draining life from everything around it! Find that core and destroy it!”

“The final stretch! Let’s do this!” Riho roared.

The horse let out its loudest whinny so far.

Selen reached the area around the restaurant at top speed.

The collapsed treant had limply backed away, drained of color, like a flower someone had forgotten to water.

While Selen had been running, Mena’s and Riho’s spells had gone off, immobilizing the monster. Selen was relieved, but the restaurant was in such bad condition, she couldn’t entirely relax.

“Did everyone get away safe?”

She used her belt to nimbly hoist herself to the restaurant level. There was a terraced area, a sort of outdoor café. The night wind blew past deserted tables and chairs, knocking them together.

“This area seems fine…but where’s my father?”

Selen’s eyes locked on what looked like an exposed wine cellar. The wall had collapsed, and blood-colored spirits were staining the floor.

She found her father lying there, buried beneath barrels and rubble. The floor had opened up, swallowing him.

“Father!”

Hearing his daughter’s voice, he answered, his voice barely a whisper. “That you, Selen…?”

“Father! I’ll get you out of there!”

Selen began frantically moving furniture out of the way, but the wine casks and rubble were too heavy for her to budge.

“…You can’t. Just…get to safety.”

His breathing was ragged, which only made her more desperate.

“What are you talking about? If we don’t get out, you—”

“Divine retribution… I should never have tried to force this marriage on you…”

“Don’t try to talk!”

“…I’m really glad the belt’s curse was lifted. It had been so long since I’d seen you…I didn’t know what to say.”

“…” Selen said nothing, desperately trying to move the debris.

“What are those…roots?!”

Flailing against its bondage, the treant’s roots had spread out, searching for life energy. Seeking the power it needed to free itself, it was after anything and everything.

One root noticed them and came writhing in their direction.

“Tch!” Selen fought it off with rapier and belt, but when she deflected it, it just tried to go around her to grab her father.

Again, her belt went wild, stopping it, but more roots came, surrounding the collapsed wine cellar.

“Go! Forget about me…,” her father rasped.

Selen spoke quietly but firmly.

“There’s a boy I’m in love with. He always insists that he’s weak, but helps people with a smile.”

She spoke of the boy who’d released her from the curse that had left her face wrapped in a hideous belt, who’d saved not just her, but Marie and Riho as well.

“I want to be a soldier to help people, like in my favorite novel.”

Slashing at the advancing roots with her belt, Selen narrowed her eyes.

“I want to see the world as he does!” she yelled. “If he says he wants to save everyone, then I want to, too! That’s why I’m a cadet in Azami! And Selen Hemein will not give up!”

“Selen…”

Between her rapier and the belt, Selen was doing everything in her power, but there was only so much she could do to protect someone who couldn’t move.

“…!”

Her knees buckled, and she staggered.

“Not yet… Not yet!”

Just as all seemed lost…

“Sorry I’m late!”

Like a gust of wind slicing through the night air, a boy appeared…in a simple linen shirt and canvas pants, with russet hair and gentle eyes.

“…Oh!”

He looked just as he had when she’d first reached Azami, the day he’d saved her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, smiling. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“…No! I’m just like you, Lloyd! I’m a military cadet! I can handle a little punishment!”

Lloyd grinned wider, then kicked aside the roots nearby—literally sent them all flying with a single kick.

The roots crumbled, filling the air with an earthen smell. Selen was used to Lloyd’s prowess, but her father was gaping. As most people would.

Seeing Selen’s father trapped, Lloyd lifted the barrels off of him like they were made of paper.

“You’re…the boy from the marriage arrangement? Lloyd, was it?”

“I owe you an explanation on that one. Later, though! Selen, get your father to safety! I’ll…”

His eyes glinted, focusing on the bound treant.

“I’ll go defeat that monster!”

Actually, it was a Demon Lord.

“Lloyd!”

A familiar voice came from the crack in the floor. Lloyd looked up.

“Marie?”

He took a quick hop, landing one floor up…and found more familiar faces.

“Oh! Lloyd!”

“Owner! You’re okay? And, Allan! You’re feeling better?”

“Lloyd?! What are you doing here?”

Threonine, meanwhile, couldn’t believe someone had just jumped between floors.

“L-Lloyd? Who are you?”

“Don’t worry! I’m just a part-time bellboy, but I’m also a military cadet from Azami!”

“You’re…with Azami?”

“I’m just getting started, but we’ve been trained not to abandon anyone in a time of need!”

“Lloyd, listen, we’ve weakened the treant. Now we just need to hit the core…”

Threonine reacted with horror. “What? He may be good at jumping, but you can’t ask a child… Right, Lloyd?”

“Huh? I can do it.”

“Lloyd!” Threonine grabbed his shoulders. “Don’t be ridiculous! Look how far it is!”

The creature was roughly a hundred yards from the restaurant. No normal jump could carry him that distance.

“Anyone can leap that far,” Lloyd stated, as if it was obvious.

“Lloyd,” Marie said. “It’s almost down. Everyone weakened it for you, so…”

“Got it! I’ll do my best! I think I can beat a treant-like monster.”

“No, no, wait…er, what?”

Without even a running start, Lloyd leaped.

He rocketed through the air like he had wings, directly toward the fallen treant.

“What? Magic? Is that magic? Is he a mage?!”

“Afraid not, Threonine. That kid’s no mage. That’s pure physical strength,” Coba said calmly.

“Dad! That’s my master! The one who helped me get past my fear of monsters!”

“Your master… Him?!”

Before Threonine could recover, Lloyd landed on the treant trunk. He scrambled up and placed his ear against the bark.

“Hmm…in here?”

He began easily peeling the bark away. Everyone watching looked relieved.

“Lloyd’s here! We’ve won against this thing now,” Riho said, petting her horse.

“Been a while since I went on a ride that exhilarating,” Mena joked, her old self again.

“…Mm,” Phyllo said, extending a thumbs-up.

“…” Selen just gazed in wordless rapture.

As his friends watched, Lloyd finished peeling back the steel-like bark and began tunneling into the trunk like it was made of tofu.

Finally, he dragged out the gray core—the petrified secretary.

“Is this it? Okay! Let’s do this! Hah!”

One mighty swing, and a crack ran up the Demon Lord’s torso.

As it did, the treant’s trunk turned to dust, swirling through the night sky.

Like stardust returning home, the dust drifted upward. It was a beautiful sight.

And where the treant had been…remained the secretary, covered in sap. Like a middle-aged man freshly hatched from an egg, he was dripping with goo—a rather hideous display.

Lloyd looked puzzled to find the secretary here, but then he looked down at the sap on his own fist.

“It really only took a single punch! I guess I really hogged all the glory, huh…”

He clenched his fist again, clearly pleased with himself.

“But I beat my first monster! With my friends, even I can do it!”

It wasn’t a monster! It was a Demon Lord! Well, this wasn’t the time or the place to point that out.

“With friends, nothing is too difficult!”

This experience was a valuable one for Lloyd.

A scene away from those friends for now… Back to the lakeside.

Alka awoke to the sensation of cold ground.

“Hmm?”

She appeared to be buried. The cold was all around her. And she was naked. Alka tried to figure out how she’d ended up like this.

“Did Marie bury me as payback for her daily struggles?”

She then heard a cheery voice from above.

“’Sup, Chief,” he said. He was a tan young man, dressed like a delivery boy, looking down at her from a treetop.

Alka frowned up at him. “Shouma… Where have you been?”

“Mm? All over.” He brushed off with a shrug. Then he laughed. “Ah-ha-ha. I’ve been all over the world, but you’re the only person I’ve ever seen lying on the ground naked, sound asleep! Didn’t want you catching cold, so I buried you there.”

“You did this? You never did treat me with any respect!”

“Yeah, sorry! You’re too dumb to catch a cold. Also…” His pleasant smile never wavered, but his tone got real low, with genuine anger behind it. “You can’t die, ’cause you’re immortal.”

“Where’d you hear that? Not…!”

Shouma peered at her surprised expression through some sort of tube. “Mm, lovely! How passionate!”

“You’ve teamed up with that man? You know working with him could spell the end of the human race!”

“What’s wrong with that?! The destruction of mankind! What an exciting twist!”

The gentle smile only made Shouma seem all the more frightening. Alka let out a long sigh and flexed.

The ground shook, cracking open. Nearby animals fled as if from an earthquake.

“Whoops, if I let you catch me here, my plans will be ruined!” Shouma turned to leave. “The treants worked out well enough, but that Demon Lord attracted way too much attention! Wish these extras would stop showing off, seriously! Well, now that the Holy Sword’s been pulled, there’s plenty of other ways.”

“What are you planning on using that sword for?! You fool!”

Alka scrambled out of the ground, but Shouma was already gone.

“You’ll find out, Chief! It’ll be real passionate! Say hi to Lloyd for me!”

Only his voice drifted from the forest depths.

Brushing mud off her bare form, Alka glared grimly after him.

“Shouma… Why would you work with him? Achoo!”

The serious vibe was totally ruined.