Chapter 2

A Blow to Confidence: Suppose a Teacher Was Trying to Teach Einstein

A river wound through a valley carved between sheer cliffs.

A man in a straw hat stood on a small wooden boat, waiting for ferry passengers.

In the distance was a verdant bamboo thicket and the Sacred Mountain, its peak hidden in the clouds. The Ascorbic Domain was entirely composed of scenes that looked like a traditional ink wash painting come to life.

The valley was as peaceful as it was splendorous.

Vroooooom! Vroom, vrooooom! Blaring engine noises like a biker gang, a steamship was hurtling up the river—wrecking the view and making the ferry leap like a rodeo ride.

On this earsore of a ship were our heroes.

“Come on! Faster! Faster!”

“Ma’am, any faster than this, and the ship’ll—!”

But Selen paid no heed to the crew’s warnings, shoveling even more coal into the furnace.

“Yo, m’lady! What the hell are you doing?!” Riho shouted.

“Augh! If this ship would only rock more…!”

Ten minutes earlier…the exact same ship was headed upstream at a much more relaxed pace, allowing everyone the luxury of enjoying the scenery: the mottled sunlight as they passed beneath a wooden bridge, fish leaping from the water, the ever-changing, ever-beautiful sights on the banks…

“Nothing like booze with a view!” Marie said, her eyes never actually leaving the drink in her hands. She’d been sent along as the resident apothecary—after all, people had been poisoned. Meanwhile, Micona had stayed in Azami to spend time with Marie, and she was probably whining like an abandoned puppy by now. Our thoughts and prayers.

“Are we sure we can trust this witch?” Anzu muttered. “I know booze is the best medicine, but she’s had a lot.”

Riho heard this and came over. “The potions she makes are far better than the average market stall. She knows her stuff.”

“I’ll take your word for it, but can she handle herself? She can barely walk straight! I’ve heard the drink goes to your head on a ship, but…she’s about to fall overboard…”

Marie raised her glass, clinking it against someone else’s. Clearly three sheets in the wind.

“Marie, we’re not here for pleasure,” Lloyd reminded, looking after her no matter where they were. Such a good boy.

“Marie!” Anzu called. “The ship’s a-rockin’! Might wanna sit still.”

Marie wheeled around, breathing a cloud of booze vapors. “Anzuuuuu! Drink wiff meee!”

“I would love to, normally, but… Whoa!”

The ship bucked quite hard, well beyond rockin’.

“That was a big one! You okay, Marie…?”

“Auuuuuuugh!”

A heave that big, and even someone sober was liable to get knocked down. Lloyd and Phyllo made it look effortless, but in her drunken state, Marie had no defenses against this sort of thing.

Off-balance and staggering, Marie flailed her arms for a handhold…and found Lloyd.

“Marie… Gah!”

She managed to pull him down with her. She was so drunk, she wound up lying on top of a boy. Yeah, it already sounded like a crime in progress.

“Ahhhhh!” Selen screamed. “Who said you could do thaaaat?!”

Seeing the incident unfold had sent her right into stalker mode. As soon as the rocking died down, Selen wheeled on Anzu.

“How far till the next bit of turbulence?!” she hissed, no light in her eyes.

Anzu shook her head. “Don’t worry, it’s all smooth sailing from here, Selen.”

Clearly, she’d mistaken Selen’s question for concern about future dangers…but Selen was not someone who could be contained by such rational notions.

“Oh no.”

“Uh…yes?!”

“Then I’ll have to make some!”

“Make… Wait, what?!”

“All the coal! To me! I’ll wreck this ship if I have to! Make these decks heave! Throw myself on Lloyd! And join the nautical mile high club!”

Thus, Selen began shoveling coal. All so she could stage a lucky “incident” with Lloyd.

She was certainly dedicated to her cause. Riho tried her best to stop her but was struggling to stay upright at all.

“Urp…m’lady Selen…please slow us down! This is bad!”

Selen was past hearing words. She threw even more coal on the fire. She only stopped shoveling when the rocking got so bad that even she got seasick.

“Urp…I guess that’s fast enough to make the ship rock… Ah! Now I just have to use it to propel myself into—”

“……Not happening.”

“Why not, Phyllo? Urp… At this speed, the effects will be even more dramatic than—”

“……We’re already here.”

“Huh?” Selen blinked at her.

In the distance, they heard Anzu screaming. “Hard to port! Crap! That’s not enough! We need sherry!”

“Lady Anzu! Port and starboard aren’t liquors!”

Thanks to Selen, the steamboat ended up doing a drift turn into the wharf. The rainbow in the spray was gorgeous.

Without enjoying the view one iota, the crew from Azami had safely reached their destination.

“O-oh no! Urp…I sacrificed my semicircular canals for nothing!!!! Urp.”

“Quit screeching, Belt Princess… W-we all feel sick…” Allan staggered onto the dock, and the others soon followed.

“Allan! Don’t look this way! Your face is making me even more nauseous!”

“M-my plan failed… I can’t…puke in front of Sir Lloyd… There are lines no girl can cross!”

“Bleeeeeeergh!”

“…Aaaaand Marie just crossed that line…”

So much for “safely.” Marie had clearly sustained critical damage…but perhaps she should learn to drink in moderation. She was emptying the contents of her stomach into the river like how a slot machine sprayed coins when you hit three sevens.

“Oh? What’s wrong with everyone—? Uh-oh, Marie!”

Lloyd, however, was completely unaffected. He wound up patting Marie’s back.

“I—I want Sir Lloyd patting my back…but not surrounded by that sour smell. Argh, I feel like I just paved the way for my rival…”

While most of the party was barely able to sit upright, Phyllo was totally fine.

“……You all need…to train your inner ears for balance…”

Meanwhile, Anzu was pointing ahead to their destination…while on her knees, clearly struggling to stand upright herself.

As the last of them successfully staggered onto dry land, they found…

“Wow…that’s…long.”

…stairs. A long, long, long stone staircase stretching as far as the eye could see. The kind of staircase that gave you a stitch in your side just looking at it.

“This is the famous Ascorbic staircase! One of the hundred unmissable landmarks of the Domain. We’ve also got the famously pointy mountain, Rapier Ridge, and the Bamboo Backwoods, both beloved by tourists—”

“I-it’s a tourist attraction? I mean, it certainly is an overwhelming sight, but…” Clutching his nauseous stomach, Allan looked up at the loooong staircase.

“Warriors wishing to practice with us must first pass this trial! It’s part of the training! New recruits are forced to go up and down these stairs, from the temple to the town, to procure food! Not while seasick usually. Sorry for springing this on you.”

“You’ve got nothing to apologize for, Lady Anzu. It’s all this idiot’s fault.”

“I hardly deserve that insult! I merely acted on a maiden’s… Urp!” Selen held it in.

Despite Anzu’s pallor, Lloyd’s eyes had lit up at the mention of training.

“I see! This is part of the training! I’ll do my best!”

And with a smile, he picked up everyone’s luggage. The sheer quantity of it would shock the weight-lifting champion of the world, and Anzu was clearly floored.

“L-Lloyd?!”

“Climbing normally would hardly count as training! That would be far too easy! You at least need to be carrying something.”

“T-too easy…? You’re seriously gonna carry all that?!”

He went bounding up the stairs, carrying not only the baggage, but Marie (who was in no shape to walk) and Selen (who was just catching a ride).

“Um…” Anzu forgot that she was sick. It was like she’d leaned over the rail to puke, but the sight of the dolphins and whales was so enrapturing that it cured her seasickness.

She’d known Lloyd was strong but hadn’t quite grasped how off-the-charts he really was.

“If you’re surprised by that, you’re in for a rude awakening,” Riho warned.

Anzu grinned. “He’s something else, huh? I guess we’ve got this rite in the bag.”

She watched Lloyd vanish into the distance, nodding to herself…and then remembered the other half of the deal.

“But I’ve gotta find a way to train him…train a kid who doesn’t even call these stairs a challenge. That’s a high bar…”

She started her own ascent, but her steps were heavy, like she had a burden of her own to bear.

Not long after, Lloyd came running back.

Anzu was only halfway up the stairs herself and had no clue what he was doing here.

“What’s up, Lloyd? You forget something?”

“Er, Anzu, you’ve got company up ahead.”

“I do? You don’t mean…” Scowling, Anzu raced up the rest of the stairs.

The grounds of the temple served as the home ground of the Kyounin clan. It was a gravel garden so well maintained, you might mistake it for a park. In the distance, you could hear a waterfall stemming from a river that came all the way from the Sacred Mountain itself.

And in the center stood the Kyounin clan’s temple—an imposing building of vermilion pillars and expertly laid tiles. It stood out against the green of the bamboo around, making tourists and challengers alike gasp in awe.

In the mornings, swordsmen sighed, and by the evening, they were whimpering—that was the song of the Ascorbic Domain. Those who came to challenge the masters of the blade gasped at the sight of the building, and by the time the day was through, they were begging for mercy.

On the stones of the temple grounds, a woman in a red dress was sipping tea.

She appeared to be around twenty. The dress and her hat belonged in a fancy ball, or on a castle balcony.

Ka-clunk! The sound of a bamboo fountain did not at all jibe with her vibe, and she’d clearly brought her own table, chair, and amber-colored tea.

“Who’s the lady in the fancy dress? Friend of yours?”

Judging by her folded arms and frown, Anzu knew exactly who it was.

“We’ll never be friends. Whatcha doin’ in my house, Renge?”

Renge glanced over the brim of her teacup and then smiled. “I see you didn’t bring any elegance back with you, Anzu.”

“Nothin’ elegant about parking yourself in the middle of the path!”

Anzu’s rage was pointedly ignored. Renge rose to her feet and curtsied to everyone behind Anzu.

“My name is Renge Audoc. Head of the Audoc clan. A pleasure to meet you.”

This only served to piss Anzu off more.

“They ain’t pleased to meet you. Why are you here?!”

“For tea! A moment of elegance I would never dream of missing.”

“That’s not what I was asking! State your damn business! Not that I can’t guess…”

Renge drained her cup, looking thoroughly poised. “Then I hardly need explain. Withdraw from the Sacred Mountain Rite, Anzu.”

“Hell no. Even if I have to fight on my own, I’m still a match for the entire Audoc clan.”

“I thought as much. But what if it wasn’t just the Audoc clan?”

Someone jumped down from the temple roof.

…A macho man, heavily tanned, muscles bulging everywhere. He wore a cape and a masquerade mask…and a pair of briefs. An outfit so deviant that it silenced all.

He threw his cape aside, pumped his thighs and ass, and flashed his pearly whites.

“Mwa-ha-ha! Call, and I appear!”

“Dammit, Nexamic!”

The macho man wiggled his butt from side to side, wagging a finger and clucking his tongue.

“Do the whole name, please! My name! Is! Tigeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer! Nex! A! Miiiiiic! Top star! Number one of the Tiger clan! Master of fists and bodybuilding! My best feature is my hamstrings!”

“““……”””

The hotter he burned, the colder the glares.

“What are you even doing here, Nexamic?!”

“As my hamstrings lead me! So does my whim! Concern for the future tiger cubs led me to this spot!”

“We’ve formed an alliance,” Renge announced, taking another sip of tea.

Nexamic turned toward her like he was disputing a ref’s call.

“Renge! Why would you say that?! The hamstring story is so much better! Remember to ham it up!”

“The Audoc and Nexamic clans are working together,” Renge said, ignoring him completely.

“But you hate each other!” Anzu exclaimed, baffled. “Why would you…?”

She headed toward the half-naked muscle man, leaving her confused guests watching from the sidelines.

“At least try to be elegant. It only takes a moment of thought.”

“Mwa-ha-ha! We aim to prevent the Kyounin despotism! Our past is water under the bridge! Sweat pouring from a brow! We’ve clasped hands! Locked biceps! Hi-yah!”

“…………” Anzu was clearly already getting fed up with his antics…and getting worried about her own enemy, Renge. “You really oughtta reconsider this alliance…”

“As long as I tolerate his appearance, personality, and odor, he is an extremely useful ally.”

“Yet you can’t even bear to look at him? He’s literally the opposite of your favorite ‘elegance.’”

“Yes.” Renge pointed dramatically. “And I find you being in charge of the Ascorbic Domain so intolerable, I would team up with the least elegant man alive! A little BO is nothing in comparison!”

This amounted to a declaration of war.

“Lady,” Anzu said, shaking her head. “I know I called you a country bumpkin once, but are you still bearing a grudge? Even then, you wouldn’t shut up about elegance. Your desperation is painfully obvious.”

“What?! You’re a bigger bumpkin than I’ll ever be! Just because you can pull off a kimono doesn’t make you stylish! And that’s not the point! Don’t drag up old history!”

Renge widened her stance, arms folded. Not…an elegant pose.

“So what else is this about?” Anzu asked.

Nexamic was clearly feeling left out. “Mwa-ha-ha! We’re here to deliver an ultimatum, Anzu Kyounin!”

“So spit it out already. Damn.”

“You’re teaching the way of the sword to women and children, so that even the weak can defend themselves!”

“So what?”

“That is wrooooong! Women, children, and the weak should first get themselves some muscles!”

“Not everyone can just—”

“Your musculature dismissiveness is unethical! The gods will not stand for it! Nor will my muscles!”

Don’t bring the gods into this, please.

Nexamic was back to his posing routine, flashing teeth and hamstrings.

“What an appalling stance,” Riho said.

“Everyone here is like this,” Selen whispered.

“No, no! They aren’t, I promise! The majority are totally sensible!”

“Muscles to all! Spreading kindness adorably! Tiger! Is! Cute!”

“I’m afraid I’ve lost my composure. I must have another cup of tea and restore my elegance.”

“Stop it, both of you! You’re destroying the Domain’s reputation! And after all the hard work we did to make ourselves look marketable…”

Anzu buried her face in her hands, trapped between the muscles and the tea set. This must be a tough place to rule.

“Never fear! When I am ruler, it will be even more marketable! Drug-free muscles everywhere! The most marketable, unproblematic market of all! And I! Am Tigeeeer Nexamic!”

Anzu gave him a look of contempt. “Unproblematic? With what you did to my students? …What did you do?! Fess up!”

“Mwa-ha-ha! All the Kyounin warriors were bewitched by the power of my hamstrings!”

“We poisoned them.”

“Renge! The hamstring story is way better!”

“I put poison in some tea and handed it over, and nobody suspected a thing.”

“Oh, you’re seriously going to just confess to that?”

“She must really not want to get lumped in with the macho man.”

“Why did they team up, then?”

Nexamic was doing some double-biceps poses. “Mwa-ha-ha! The tiger hunts at night! With all his might! Remember that!”

“That’s lions…”

Tigers only had a hunting success rate of about 5 percent. They’re actually pretty crap at it, FYI.

But this dude didn’t really listen to other people. That’s probably why the contingent from Azami was just watching events unfold.

Renge poured herself a new cup of tea and offered a proposal. “It’s functionally two against one. The Audoc and Tiger clans would be more than a match for the Kyounin clan, even if your students were up and about. Ready to withdraw?”

“’Course not.”

Renge seemed surprised by this confidence. “So your guests…are here to bail you out, I assume?”

She took another look at the group from Azami, nodding, and then rose to her feet.

“I spy the cause of your confidence! The reason why you remain unflinching in my presence! The rumors were true!”

““The Dragon Slayer—Allan!””

“……Huh?”

Allan found two fingers pointed at him and started paying attention. Between the seasickness and the sickeningly long stairs, he was so tired, it had been all he could do not to puke.

“…Er, why are they pointing at me?”

“You weren’t listening?” Riho scoffed.

Renge and Nexamic were still carrying on.

“Azami’s living legend! The man who buried dragons with his aura alone and who summons the heroes of ancient times! Allan Toin Lidocaine! I can see why you’d be so confident. A solution even I deem elegant!”

“Mwa-ha! His muscles alone seem to be two or three notches below me, but clearly, the energy hidden within that body is beyond my imagination! I can feel it radiating off him!”

“……Get it now?”

“Urp…not really…”

As Allan fought off another wave of nausea, Renge came over and hesitantly bowed.

“It’s an honor to meet a legend in the flesh, Allan. While I have your ear, might I offer a proposal?”

“A proposal?”

“Yes. More specifically, would you care to join the Audoc clan in the fight to come? We are both masters of the ax, and you would be most welcome.”

Renge was already trying to convince Allan to switch sides—clearly assuming he was the cleanup hitter and MVP. Him turning his back on this team would strengthen her team and weaken her opponent’s tactic, which certainly worked in the baseball world.

Between his upset stomach and his complete lack of understanding of the subject at hand, Allan answered with silence.

“Naturally, not for free. You may name your price.”

“I’ll teach you how to make the Nexamic Clan Special Strength-Training Protein! Tips on becoming the cutest tiger possible direct from yours truly!”

“And naturally, we’ll provide plenty of the Audoc clan’s custom tea blend.”

“Huh? I mean, I could go for a cup of tea, sure.” Allan seemed to be under the impression that she was a maid offering him tea.

“It’s a deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeal! How elegant! Tea is justice! Tough luck, Anzu!”

Renge had gone into a bowlegged fist bump, and behind her, Nexamic expressed his delight in a classic Sergio Oliva pose, serving up a real gun show.

“Mwa-ha-ha! You should have stopped us, Anzu! But the rite and the muscles are ours!”

Anzu’s response to all this?

“Oh, go ahead, take him.”

It was to put up no resistance at all. Naturally! Lloyd was all she cared about.

“…Er? You’re sure?”

“Yep. Take your spoils and run, thief,” Riho urged.

“Removing his bulk gives the rest of us more room,” Selen said.

“……We don’t take returns,” Phyllo added.

It almost made you feel sorry for Allan. This harsh treatment was making Renge and Nexamic suspect a trap, however.

“This is all a bit too easy,” Renge muttered.

Meanwhile, the only one trying to stop Allan was Lloyd.

“Hold on, everyone! This is Allan! He’s one of our best!”

This was more the reaction Renge had expected, and she was visibly relieved—and launched into a speech she’d clearly had prepared.

“This is survival of the fittest! The ultimate in elegance! Your words have no meaning!”

“Mwa-ha-ha! We’ll take care of him!”

“Oh, thanks, sorry,” Allan said. “You’re carrying me because I’m sick, right?”

The macho man had thrown him into a princess hold, and Allan was putting a very positive spin on this. It was obviously a distress-inducing predicament, but Allan was not in any state to resist.

“Can you defeat our alliance with the remainders?” Renge crowed. “They seem like a drab bunch. We’ve clearly already won!”

“Yeah! Not a muscle between them! A heap of puny string beans! I have to assume they’re all meat-dodging, rabbit food-eating vegans!”

“……Not true. I love kebabs… And Riho loves donuts…,” Phyllo corrected.

“Dammit, don’t bring that up now!”

Riho’s panic drew smiles from Marie, Selen, and even Lloyd. Clearly, they were onto her.

“Mwa-ha-ha! Say what you will! Toodle-oo! You shall repent your sins!”

Cape swirling, laughing wildly, Nexamic left the scene, Allan cradled in his arms.

“We’ll accept your surrender at any time. Let’s settle this with elegance.”

Renge folded her chair and table, shouldered them and the box with her tea set, chugged the rest of the tea pot on the basis that it shouldn’t go to waste, hoisted up the hem of her skirt, and stalked away.

“So elegant…”

The contingent from Azami all shook their heads. At this point, Marie finally remembered she was here to treat Anzu’s students.

“Forget Allan! Where are my patients?”

Lloyd, though, was still flustered by Allan’s requisitioning.

“Are…we sure we should just let them take Allan?”

Anzu waved a hand airily. “Don’t worry, they won’t hurt him. And…”

“And?”

“…from the way they’re acting, there’s something else going on here. If we have one of us in their camp, we might find out what.”

“What do you mean?”

“Two clans that would never even speak to each other forming an alliance…and accusing me of despotism? Someone must be filling their heads with nonsense. And making a mess of things.”

Anzu shook her head, muttering under her breath.

A few hours later, in the home turf of the Audoc clan… The area was covered in thick beech trees, and the region was known for the shiitake that was cultivated on their felled trunks.

As the struggles for control of the Domain heated up, the axes initially used for woodcutting grew into proper combat tools, and the region became known as the holy land of the axmen. For all their leader’s obsession with tea, they grew nothing of the sort, and it was all imported.

But more to the point—in the depths of that forest lay a small, hidden cave.

At a glance, it looked like a bear’s den, or perhaps a bandit’s hideout. If this were a JRPG, you would expect to find a handy consumable—rather than a rare item—and feel pretty confident that the chest containing it would respawn regularly. It gave off that sort of vibe.

The back of this cave betrayed those expectations. There was a proper floor, couches, and a table—even a computer. A very cozy little room, less like a cave than a manga café.

Nexamic and Renge were standing on those floorboards.

“Mwa-ha-ha! Our scheme—”

“—was carried out with the utmost elegance.”

““Lady Eug.””

They bowed to a girl who looked maybe fourteen years old. She was wearing a white lab coat, wrestling with some sort of machine.

She was surrounded by a pile of drills and other tools, many of which were clearly beyond the technological level of this world. The girl shoved this pile out of her way and sat down cross-legged on her worktable, baring her canines in a broad grin. She had the specific type of arrogance that made you sure she’d throw a fit any time she lost, even if it was a game of Othello or no-stakes poker.

There was a lollipop in her mouth—but this was actually an item designed to restore her magic.

“You pulled it off, then?” Eug asked.

“Yes! My hamstrings charmed the crowd!”

“What did you actually do? And stop pointing your ass at me!”

Nobody wanted a forty-something dude yanking his cape aside and sticking his butt out at them. Eug was as old as Alka but appeared to be a teenager, so the visual was quite unfortunate, and her scolding was extremely warranted.

“Don’t worry, the Kyounin clan’s students have all fallen prey to the poison you provided. The effect is lingering most elegantly.”

“Nice. Glad it came in handy.”

“I then demonstrated the teatime of confidence. Tea is the epitome of elegance, after all.”

“Hmm, yeah, I think your elegant shtick could probably use a little more variation, but…let’s call it a job well done.” Eug nodded approvingly, despite their one-note buffoonery.

Proud of his success, Nexamic twirled his cape, striking a pose.

“And! Anzu returned with backup from another land! But my adorable love was so strong, it swiped her allies away! Our sole remaining threat is the top of the Kyounin clan, Anzu herself! And she’s no match for the topless Tiger Nexamic! No strings attached! And! Hamstrings!”

“Put some clothes on.”

“She had several ringers with her, but not an elegant soul among them, so I deemed them of no consequence. They also seemed more green tea than proper tea.”

“…Odd basis,” Eug muttered. She was a coffee person herself.

This was hardly her only gripe, but…

No point bickering. I need them on my side if I’m gonna pull this off. She grit her teeth, forcing herself to smile.

“But why are you helping us for no reward?” Renge asked.

“Renge!” Nexamic roared. “You’re not that foolish, surely!”

Was this a rare glimpse of actual intelligence? “Huh, you—,” Eug began, sounding momentarily impressed.

“Surely, it’s muscles! She wants some! Don’t worry, Eug! This Tiger will put together a workout routine just for you!”

“Hell no, dumbass!” Eug yelled, cutting him down.

“Aha! Then! You must have no tolerance for evil! The evil called—Anzuuuu!”

“Eug, are you sure that Anzu’s planning on making the Domain a part of the Profen Kingdom in return for a permanent position of power for the Kyounin clan?”

It seemed Eug had fed Renge a nonsensical story about Anzu selling out her own home.

“Yep, yep, that’s why she’s been palling around with Profen so much. Laying the groundwork.”

“Curse you, Anzu… You were once a better woman than that…”

“Renge! We must thwart our ruler’s ambitions! And shatter her antimuscle campaign! Two birds with one stoooone!”

“Yeah, sure, sure. More importantly, is it true the victor of this contest gets to enter the Sacred Mountain shrine?”

Completely ignoring all babble about muscles, Eug went right for the thing she cared about. What purpose did she have with this shrine?

“Yes, a baptism by the Sacred Beast in that shrine allows you to serve as the ruler of the Domain for four years.”

“That’s what I wanted to know! That’s all that matters. You can go now! Good work.”

Like a hostile boss, that “good work” was lip service only, but neither of her minions picked up on the details. They bowed respectfully.

“Very well! I’ll let my muscles cool down!”

“I must serve our guest some tea—be well!”

“Oh, I forgot! I’ll welcome him with muscles and protein! Mwa-ha-ha!”

When they were gone, Eug rolled her eyes. “Ugh…seriously, having to work with those clowns is so stressful.”

She rolled her lollipop around her mouth. Her eyes were on the ceiling of the cave as she talked to no one in particular.

“But if I start griping now, I’ll never finish—at least they’re easier to manipulate than Sou and Shouma.”

Eug hopped down off the table and collapsed on the couch—facedown, head in a cushion, kicking her legs behind her.

“Auuugh, if only I had Alka’s physical strength! I’d be free! I could do whatever I wanted even in this backwater world! No—”

She stopped kicking and flipped over on her back, gazing into the distance, lost in the past.

“If the experiment had succeeded…none of this would have happened.”

The unpleasant memory made her crunch down hard on her candy.

“Whoops, can’t do that—don’t want lose all the magic I’ve got stored in there.”

Eug got up and carefully put the sucker in a test tube–like container for safety. Then she sighed again.

“Even if I can’t have physical strength, if I at least had a little more magic…I wouldn’t have failed in Azami, wouldn’t have had Lloyd after me for the dumbest reason… Mm?”

She sensed eyes on her.

Eug spun around and found someone in a bunny costume poking their head around the corner.

They were a very cutesy pink bunny, entirely out of place here. They even moved adorably, like they had been well trained at an amusement park, their every gesture honed for maximum appeal.

They came bounding out, waving both hands, and called out to Eug in an extra-cutesy tone. “Yoo-hoo, Eug! Long time no see!”

“Eve…”

Eve spun the suit around, giggling…and this made the bunny head fall off. The person inside hastily put it back on—this sequence was not at all cute.

“Close one! Almost went out of compliance.”

“Compliance with what?”

“Personal guidelines? Eh-heh-heh.”

The bunny made a show of being extra adorable, attempting to recover. Her name was Eve Profen. Her gender wasn’t entirely clear. Despite her appearance, she was in charge of the kingdom of Profen—though no one knew what she really looked like. From her voice and the occasional glimpse of the person within, you could maaaybe tell she was female.

She skipped squeakily over to Eug and patted her shoulders. “You look tired! The plan not going well?” She sounded like a boss trying to have an open discussion.

“It’s going fine! We’ve taken most of the Kyounin clan out. And the Audoc and Nexamic clans have allied. They bought my lie—hook, line, and sinker.”

“A common enemy sure melts the snow fast!”

“Times may change, but people don’t.”

“But what about the key to all this? Still no sign of the Sacred Beast?” Eve poured herself a cup of tea and settled down on the couch. Rather than gripe about this, Eug poured a cup for herself and got some snacks ready. Clearly, they’d known each other awhile.

“If you can’t find it, Eve, this demon lord must be unusually cautious…”

Eug offered Eve some cookies. Eve slipped a hand out from a slit in her costume and ate one through it. A bizarre spectacle.

“Munch, munch, gulp… This shrine can’t be opened with brute force, which sure makes it a primary suspect. We think this demon lord is the lab chief?”

“If it is, we definitely want her on our side. She was always a little difficult, but…”

“No worse than Sou and Shouma?”

Remembering how worked up their love for Lloyd had made those two, Eug winced, but then she shook her head, banishing those thoughts.

“It’s clearly set up so you have to follow the proper procedures. Even if it isn’t the lab chief, it has to be one of the stronger demon lords. A card like that would help us plunge the world into chaos and help force it to advance.”

Eve nodded. “This means we’ve gotta hurt Anzy,” she said almost sorrowfully. “I got all chummy with her hoping to learn more about the Sacred Beast. She’s so nice! It’s almost blinding.”

“Don’t worry. As long as we can get this beast-slash-demon-lord, Anzu can have the Ascorbic Domain.”

“That would be optimal. Argh, I can’t wait to get civilization back! Can’t even use this electric kettle in public.”

Eve poured herself a new cup using water that had boiled in no time at all.

“Getting this demon lord would be a huge step toward that. After all, it’s strong enough that neither of us can get to it on our own!”

“Right. And if it is the lab chief, then the holy sword—the Last Key’s system is as good as decoded! A huge boost to our plans.”

Eve took the eyes off her costume, stuck an arm out of it, picked up her tea cup, and drank it through the eyehole.

“So much for compliance… That’s a genuinely terrifying way to drink things.”

“But not against my personal guidelines!” Eve threw a peace sign out the eyehole. This was a creature so eldritch, it would make any child cry.

Eug shook her head, and Eve put the eyes back.

“Other than this demon lord, do you have the pieces in place to plunge the world into chaos?”

“We’re growing treants in the Ascorbic bamboo forests. Tricky to raise them here, but promising. If they succeed, we’ll be mass-producing some nasty monsters. Standard weapons from the current technology level won’t scratch them.”

“And once the Jiou Empire unleashes a wave of monsters, everyone will be begging for our newfangled weaponry! …It all makes sense!” Eve waved her arms happily, and Eug grinned.

“The longer the war goes on, the more they’ll want better weapons. They’ll study and improve the ones we give them. The new weapons will be a stepping-stone to putting that new tech on existing weapons and spreading it. Ten years from now, every home will have an electric kettle.”

“Yesss! So—have you invented the weapons that will spark this surge in science?”

Eug gave her a look like Who do you think you’re talking to?

“I had the dwarves make a hundred self-propelled artillery units. Then we got a thousand submachine guns and automatic handguns, a bunch of transceivers, and other things that’ll help with the war effort, all stored in the cave on Rapier Ridge. That’s a holy ground, so the locals never go near it, thankfully.”

“Bravo!” Eve said, flopping her paws together. “If they accept automotive and telecommunication advances, that’ll be a huge step! Computers! Appliances! Cell phoooones!”

She was starting to sound like a commercial.

“Once they’re ready, we can start on planes or the like,” Eug noted. “If we can make this war last a century or two…”

“Necessity will force them to research a hybrid of magic and science the world over! We’ll have technology far beyond what we once knew! The stuff of dreams! Flying cars and everything the movies promised!”

“As a scientist, I hate relying so much on other people, but I’ve got a lot on my plate.”

“There’s only so much you can do on your own. But if the entire species works together, with the ultimate scientific power, this time—!”

“We might be able to control the Last Dungeon device.”

“Yes! I can’t wait! Come! Heave! Ho! Up and at ’em!”

Eve was dancing wildly. After a furious jig, she pulled something out of a hip pouch.

“And I have a present for you, Eug.”

She danced back to Eug, holding out two large eggs.

The aura on them was so ominous that Eug gasped. “No way! Two demon lords?!”

“Captured them wandering around. Thanks to that egg you made! Should shore up your forces.”

“Thank you, Eve. I owe you one.”

“One of these was calling himself Satan! Gotta expect great things with a name like that!”

At the mention of “Satan,” Eug’s face fell, like she’d just learned her birthday present was a knockoff.

“Oh…I know him. He was wandering around outside Kunlun, and the children threw stones at him until Alka showed up to drop a meteor. Battle ended before he even showed his second form…but he’s definitely on the wimpy side.”

“You don’t say? Guess the name was a lie.”

“Demon-lord names aren’t really very useful to determine that sort of thing. I think some of the staff who got mixed up in this mess are just borrowing bits of trivia from video games…and don’t really get the implications… They were never the type to study.” Eug took a sip of tea, thinking. “I believe Satan is…Seta. From the year before me.”

“Oh, same division?”

“Smart guy, but crap at presentations. Alka and I had to bail him out every time. His bedhead always made him look like he had horns, so we used to tease him, calling him Satan. He joined the project because he was worried about global warming and rising sea levels.”

“Well, we definitely solved global warming and diminishing resources. Outwardly.” Eve pointed at the eggs. “The other one was a turtle on fire, called itself Surtr. Any ideas?”

Eug shook her head. “Not from that alone, no. Not like I knew everyone at the lab…and there were people who weren’t even researchers.”

“Yeah. Like me!”

“So this Sacred Mountain beast will be vital. Anyone strong we can’t identify? Better to have them under our thumb before their memories return. If their minds come back, we might have to shove them into these eggs, and they’d be useless to us. Like Vritra—Director Ishikura. He only left the egg because Selen called out to him, which proved the hypothesis. And if the beast is the lab chief, it’s all the more important we make her ours. I could never tell what that woman was thinking.” Eug rolled the egg around her hand with a frown.

Eve leaned her elbows on the table, nodding. “It’s tricky, huh? If they get their memories back and think like us, then they’d be an asset…but there’s no telling if they’d be willing to go along with our nefarious schemes.”

Eug squinted at that phrase. “I’m not trying to rule the world. I just want to elevate it. And to make that happen, I have to take charge. Who would want to be king of a fantasy world?”

“I know, Eug. You just want to try again. But Alka…” Eve shook her head and got up to go.

“Leaving already?”

“I am the king of Profen. But don’t worry, I’ve got time. After all…”

She struck a pose like a politician making a speech before a crowd.

“…I used to be the president! I’m making good use of old skills! The power of experience!”

“And experience suggested that costume was a good idea?”

“That and a few other things. I was pretty famous, after all. Didn’t want any demon lords seeing me and getting their memories back.”

“Fair. You were famous for a lot of reasons that could well jog memories.”

Eve poked her with a finger. “And if demon lords remember things, they look less like monsters and more like people. Makes them harder to capture. And there’s a wide range, kids and grown-ups…”

“They take on the human forms they had at the moment in time that was most precious to them.”

“Make sense. So for you, that was when you were fourteen? You started college then, right? You skipped so many grades! That was when you first met Alka.”

“………” Eug answered with silence.

“Meanwhile, Alka wound up looking nine years old. Your lifelong rival’s most precious memory was of something else. Must have made it feel like you didn’t matter. Then again, her reason being what it was…”

At this point, Eve saw Eug’s face crumpling and hastily tried to patch things up.

“W-well, I’m sure if the experiment succeeds this time, she’ll reexamine that, too. It’s a real shame she isn’t with us on this, but you can’t let it get you down. You go get this shrine open and secure the Sacred Beast! Buh-bye!”

And with that, Eve was gone.

“…Sigh.” Eug let out a long exhale, like a heartbroken teen.

“Yeah…every time I see myself, I remember the shock of meeting her. Meeting a genius greater than myself.”

Eug turned her gaze toward the spot where Eve had been sitting…and remembered the bizarre sight of a young arm reaching out from the gap in her costume. Eug frowned.

“Eve’s strongest memories…aren’t from being the president, but from when she was much younger…”

Meanwhile, back at the Kyounin territory…

Inside the gorgeous temple, the solemn main hall had been filled with makeshift beds, like a field hospital, with the clan’s best fighters all groaning in agony.

Marie and the servants were tending to them, to a chorus of regrets and lamentations.

Once they’d finished changing the wet towels, Marie looked at the medicine she’d brought with her and her patients in turn. She seemed worried.

“…What’s wrong, witch?” Anzu asked.

Marie shook her head. “I prepared medicine based on the symptoms you mentioned, but…I’m afraid it doesn’t seem to be helping.”

“A poison that won’t kill ’em, but keeps them out of the fight for a while. That’s a very specific effect,” Anzu said, scratching her head.

“I’ve never seen these exact symptoms before. Where did they get this poison? You’d need advanced knowledge of the field…”

“And those two both have muscles for brains. There’s definitely someone behind all this, dammit. You’ve gotta be exhausted, though. Take a break. And thanks.”

Anzu led Marie to a reception room.

There, they found the rest of the contingent from Azami looking worn out from the ship and the stairs and the encounter with Renge and Nexamic. Well, especially with him. You don’t often encounter a weirdo of his magnitude.

“How’d it go, Marie?” Riho asked, munching on a rice cracker.

“No signs of improvement. Gimme one of those.”

“Sweet or savory?”

Marie took a sugar-crusted one and angrily bit into it, frustrated by her inability to heal the students.

“Thanks anyway, witch,” Anzu said. “Don’t take it so personally.”

“What was their problem?!” Selen fumed. “They just ran their mouths off, doing whatever they wanted, and then turned around and left!”

“Just like you do!”

“Who taught them their manners?!”

Everyone gave her a look, hoping she’d take the hint and be a little more self-aware, but Selen remained staunchly oblivious.

“The chiefs of the Audoc and Tiger clans… They were certainly characters.”

“……Are they really clan leaders?”

“I’m afraid so. They really are in charge, to our nation’s shame.” Anzu scratched her head and launched into a longer explanation. “First, the barrel of muscles, Tiger Nexamic. Master of fisticuffs, head of the Tiger clan. That clan has spent years honing the art of unarmed combat, but somewhere along the way, they started placing far too much emphasis on raw muscle. They’re strong enough, but…a bit off.”

“……I feel like their mental fortitude is stronger than their muscles,” Phyllo commented.

“And the lady in the red dress is Renge Audoc. Only daughter of the ax-wielding Audoc clan’s previous leader. We’ve been at odds since we were kids…but she’s actually strong.”

“From what I’ve heard, she can fell any tree with a single swing of her ax.”

“Then they grow shiitake from the fallen trees. And since she always goes bowlegged when she swings, I used to call her ‘bowlegged mushroom girl,’ and that made her real mad…and once she was in charge, she went for a drastic makeover…”

“I’d be mad, too.”

“So basically, she dresses like that to try and change her clan’s image. She’s got all her students in tailcoats, too. Must make it so hard to fight in those outfits…”

“I cannot believe she had the nerve to say we had no elegance! In what world are Sir Lloyd and I not elegant?!”

Selen was smoothly dissing everyone else by omission…which was probably what had got her dismissed in the first place.

“Sorry about that.” Anzu bowed her head as ruler of the Domain. “But even with our history, I don’t know when she got that hostile.”

“So…what format does this Sacred Mountain Rite take?” Riho asked.

“It’s a divine ritual, offering a battle up in honor of the Sacred Beast. We draw straws on the specific battle type; there’s a bunch in there from serious duels to more gimmicky stuff.”

“You…draw straws?”

“Yep. All down to the will of the mountain. And the head of the clan who wins five battles running is the next ruler.”

“I can’t imagine pulling that off solo,” Selen remarked.

“If it was a one-on-one battle, I could handle it.” Anzu nodded. “But if I pull a three-legged race, I’d be instantly disqualified. Hence, me needing your help.”

She slapped her hands together like she was bowing before the Buddha.

“I can’t wait!” Selen exclaimed, leaning forward. “But in return, if there is a three-legged race or any other event that would place me in direct physical contact with Sir Lloyd, you have to agree to let me take part.”

Her motives were transparent, but Phyllo just gave her a look of pity.

“That nonsense aside,” Riho said, “Lady Anzu, don’t forget that you promised to train Lloyd.”

“I’ve got that covered,” Anzu assured, slapping her chest. “He’s even worse than I thought, and it’s a daunting task, but don’t you worry.”

Lloyd came back in, carrying some food. “Meal’s ready, everyone! My first time ever making sushi!”

He was holding a huge tray with a dazzling variety of seafood. White and red fish, shrimp, shellfish, even some egg—it was a sushi platter designed to make everyone forget about the battles waiting for them the next day.

“Wow, so this is sushi? It was worth coming here for this alone.”

“……It’s good.”

“This would pair great with sake!”

“Augh! If only Sir Lloyd was grown-up, I could get him drunk…or I’d get intoxicated and make him look after me!”

“Man, m’lady, you are dedicated to that cause. Don’t break laws when you’re abroad!”

Anzu looked pleased by their reactions. “Heh-heh, enjoy it all you like. Remember, if you move here, you can eat this every day. Hoo, that hit the spot!”

Anzu had knocked back a shot of sake. Lloyd was on his knees next to her.

“Lady Anzu, I can’t wait to train with you tomorrow!”

He was so tense about it, she instinctively reached out to rub his shoulders.

“Stay loose there, kid. Don’t worry, I’ll make you way stronger.”

“You will? Thank you so much! Thank you!” He was so delighted, it made Marie worried.

“Lady Anzu,” she whispered. “Are you sure you should be promising that?!”

“You oughtta loosen up, too, Marie. Lloyd’s crazy strong, but I know more about wielding a sword. There’s definitely things I can teach him. Maybe he’ll awaken to the might of the blade and become a legendary swordsman! Leave both our names in the history books!”

Odds were the booze was fueling this confidence, but it was only making Marie look grimmer. She’d worked with Lloyd long enough to know just how easily he thwarted optimism. Especially her own.

“He’ll exceed your wildest expectations…,” she grumbled.

“Good! Let’s establish a legend for the ages!”

Marie’s warning shot had clearly failed to find its mark. She scratched her cheek awkwardly.

“Well, let’s just hope he doesn’t leave you crying tomorrow.” She looked anxiously back at the door to the main hall. “And I really want to know who’s capable of making that poison.”

Meanwhile, there was one person every bit as excited as Lloyd.

“Eh-heh-heh! Tomorrow, I’ll put my plans in action!”

Selen. She was staring at Lloyd like a crafty strategist. Almost certainly up to no good.

Next to her, Phyllo finished her meal quickly and gazed up at the moonlit sky, lost in thought.

Riho brought her a cup of cold green tea…and pressed the side of it against Phyllo’s cheek. “Ha!”

“……!”

“Geez. You wouldn’t usually let me do that… Still troubled, huh?”

“……Mm.” Phyllo took the tea and sipped it.

“Well, if it’s burnout, then hopefully, the training tomorrow will help you find a new goal.”

“……” Phyllo answered with silence, and spotting that, Anzu staggered toward her.

“Yep, yep! Worried about the future? Join my students here, Phyllo! We’ll all aim for greater heights together!”

“Her worries aren’t an opening for an invite, Lady Anzu.”

Riho and Phyllo both glared at her, but Anzu just slapped their shoulders.

“Just trying to help!” she cried. “What do you say?”

“……I already have a master.” Phyllo glanced at Lloyd.

“Fair enough,” Anzu said and moved on.

Phyllo turned her gaze back to the moon. “……I found Mom…so why am I so lost?”

Regardless of their varied emotional states, the next day, they’d all get a taste of training in the Ascorbic Domain.

The morning of their second day in the Domain…

On the temple ground was a gravel-paved training field. Anzu narrowed her eyes against the blinding sunlight.

“Perfect day for training.”

If it was raining, she would have said, “Training to fight in the rain is practical! Perfect day for training!” If it was snowing, she would have said, “Make the snow your ally! Perfect day for training!” So basically, no days were imperfect in her book. Like a team captain who’s always trying too hard.

The contingent from Azami was lined up before her. They weren’t wearing their usual clothes or their cadet uniforms, but the Kyounin clan’s traditional training gear.

The boys wore clean white gi—a typical martial-arts uniform—with a hood. These doubled as sturdy travel wear. A popular item for all times of the year, they were often thought of as what to wear when you just didn’t care or a default look when you were in a hurry.

Meanwhile, the girls’ uniform were significantly cuter in red.

The tops had subtle flowers embroidered and even a few frills. Below that, they wore formfitting leggings of the same color. An outfit designed for breathability and ease of movement but with an added fashion-conscious layer, they’d been the top-selling item in the Ascorbic Domain’s clothing industry for three years running.

Riho had already altered the outfit to her own liking, sleepily rubbing her eyes. She pinched the red fabric.

“I hear the ladies in the more dubious East Side shops wear this to drum up business.”

It certainly was a fashion choice with many practical advantages! Professionals must go through crates of them.

“Definitely falls under too much information, Riho. Makes a ruler sad.”

Anzu grimaced, hanging her head. She was glad for the sales but would rather they be used for their intended purpose rather than to spice up an adult-oriented drinking establishment.

Meanwhile, Lloyd looked thoroughly pleased with his white garb, moving his arms around, chuckling.

“This is so comfortable! The girls’ version looks perfect for fighting, too!”

“Never change, Lloyd,” Riho said.

Lloyd looked confused. He’d passed by these dubious shops on many occasions and remained thoroughly untainted by them. May he stay a pure boy forever.

The stalker gunning for his affections also stayed true to herself, regardless of the country she was in.

“It leaves a bit too little to the imagination, but the freedom of movement is worth it! This way, Sir Lloyd and I can grabble to our heart’s content! But if I’m up against him… I know! I’ll just call it an emergency endurance test!”

“Cut it out!” Riho shouted, slapping her.

Anzu made a show of clearing her throat. “Ahem! Everyone ready? All right! Being worked up this early ain’t a bad thing, but it’s time we focus.”

The sun had cleared the horizon, beating down on them. The misty morning had clearly done a class change to the blistering midday sun.

“…Sorry.” Phyllo bowed. She had a hoodie on over her red training gear.

“You’re so serious, Phyllo!” Selen said, impressed.

“Everyone is, compared to you.”

“We’re already losing focus… Geez, every one of you has nerves of steel,” Anzu remarked, sighing.

Lloyd, though, was hanging on to her every word—totally focused and ready to go.

“So sorry, Lady Anzu! What should we do?”

Deeming him exactly the right amount of tense, Anzu laughed approvingly. “That’s how it should be!”

At the same time, that was itself a burden.

“Heh…I let the booze get to me and promised the moon, but he’s gonna be a challenge,” she muttered.

He’d let a kodachi bounce off his forehead without sustaining any damage. His physical abilities were so beyond the pale; what could you even do with him? Even underplaying it, she was like a house cat compared to him.

Anzu felt like a first-time director trying to give acting techniques to an award-winning veteran star.

“But…I can’t go dashing his hopes, either. These are the holy training grounds, and I’m the ruler of it.”

She met Lloyd’s eye and made up her mind. She put the force of a training instructor in her voice. “All right, kids, you ready?”

“““Aye, aye!”””

Riho shucked off her sleepy vibe, and Selen her rapturous delusions, both ready to train.

In the shade nearby, Marie muttered, “She’s the real deal,” impressed by Anzu’s demeanor.

“Good answer, fledglings! Normally, we’d kick things off with some distance running and push-ups, building the bodies you need, but you’re all soldiers! Let’s assume you’ve got that covered.”

“Yes, I have run far too many laps already.”

“I know for a fact that you’ve snagged Lloyd with your belt and let him drag you for plenty of those.”

“The point of running is to improve your heart and lungs, so I am merely training my heart by clinging to Sir Lloyd and feeling it race.”

“I think your heart is already plenty strong!”

They were already back to bickering. Anzu rubbed her forehead.

“…So what are we doing?” Phyllo looked a bit desperate.

Anzu recovered and glanced toward Marie.

“Right, right, this box… Ugh, it’s heavy.”

“Thanks, Marie.”

“No problem. I’m your assistant today! What’s in this heavy thing?”

“These.” Anzu answered. She reached in and pulled out—a sword.

“Swords! Real ones?! Can we?” Lloyd asked, eyes sparkling. No boy can resist.

“You betcha.” Anzu grinned. He’d taken her bait.

Selen and Riho spotted a hint of craftiness.

“Lady Anzu, what are you up to?”

“Planning on using these swords to make Sir Lloyd realize his own strength?”

Anzu nodded confidently. “He’s got physical powers beyond mortal ken, but the way he carries himself is amateur hour. If we get a few stances and forms in him, he could very well get even more ridiculous.”

“Even more than now…?” Marie gulped.

“Just a possibility. If he learns how to carry himself and then crushes his opponent in the rite, he might finally get a little confidence. And if that helps him realize his own strength… All right, let’s practice!”

Anzu started passing out swords.

Selen took one from her and held it up, staggering from the unexpected weight.

“Whoa, that’s pretty heavy! You wave these things around?!”

It was several times the weight of the rapier she usually used.

“Yep! So maybe show a little more respect.”

Riho held up her own blade…to her eye, so she could appraise it better. “This isn’t too shabby.”

“Yeah, the clan blacksmith made it. Puts his soul in each hit of his hammer! Can’t lump that in with the crap you find in souvenir shops in Azami and Rokujou.”

“Wow…can I take it with me?”

“Sure, call it the price of doing business.”

“Whoo-hoo! You’re the best, Lady Anzu!”

Riho was now as excited as Lloyd, for very different reasons. Money was clearly the key to her heart.

Meanwhile, Phyllo seemed reluctant to take a sword at all.

“……Swords…”

She’d trained in hand-to-hand combat all this time, so picking up a blade and switching to armed combat now…

Well aware of that feeling, Anzu grinned and handed her a blade.

“Don’t get cold feet here. I ain’t saying you need to become a swordswoman. I’m saying trying something new will help you gain some perspective. A change of pace, you know?”

Phyllo nodded and took the blade. “…Mm…like this?”

“Yep, looking good. Take a few practice swings.”

With Phyllo’s height and training, her form was already beautiful, every bit as impressive as Anzu’s own.

“Oh-ho,” Anzu said.

“……Mm?” Feeling Anzu’s eyes on her, Phyllo looked back. “…Well? Anything off?”

“Quite the opposite. You’re looking great. When people who don’t know better start waving a sword around, they make a whooshing noise with every swing. But your form is already good.”

“……Mm.” Phyllo took this praise with the same serious expression she always had.

So Anzu brought the topic from the previous day up again—the one about her becoming a student here.

“I know I was drunk yesterday and half joking, but you should give serious consideration to studying here.”

“………”

“If you’ve lost your purpose, then help me with mine—master the Kyounin arts and help make us the top clan in all the world.”

“……But…” Phyllo glanced at Lloyd. Her master.

“I know, and I’m saying it anyway. He doesn’t realize what he can do, right? So your relationship is one-sided. That makes him less your master and more the target of your admiration.”

“……My admiration…”

Lloyd had learned Pyrid the Fierce God’s style direct from the man himself. As a practitioner of that style, it had seemed natural for her to see him as her master—especially since he was clearly stronger than her. She’d never questioned it before, so being told it was nothing but admiration came as a shock.

“Admiration isn’t a bad thing! I wanna help you with that…but I also can’t stand seeing someone of your talents going to waste.”

“……Even so…”

Seeing her still stuck on something, Anzu patted her shoulders. “I ain’t gonna force you. But leave it in the back of your mind… Mm?”

Clank, clank. Anzu turned to see what the noise was…

…and found Riho with a sword in each hand, one under each arm, and a fifth one in her mouth. Truly a wild sight.

“Er, uh…what—what are you doing?”

Riho took the sword out of her mouth, grinning. “I’ve decided to become the world’s first quintuple wielder!”

“Quin…”

“And to do that, I’ll be taking all five of these swords home with me! With each blade of this quality…I’ll be rich!”

Anzu had not expected her to take the free-sword notion to this extreme and was forced to doff her hat.

“You sure know how to bleed people dry, but…you’ll hurt yourself doing that, so knock it off.”

“I’m not so easily swayed! My mind is made up! I will master the five-blade… Mm? I haven’t used that sword yet! I’ve changed my mind, Anzu! I’m gonna be a master of the sextuple blade!”

“…I thought you said your mind was made up.”

Riho had equipped the sixth sword between her thighs. She now looked like a very confused circus performer.

It was like she’d combined the passion of a veteran housewife taking advantage of every discount with the craftiness of a gamer who’d found a new exploit, equipping swords all over the place. Anzu couldn’t help but laugh.

“I only said you could take the one, but…whatever.”

She decided it was time for her to give a demonstration.

“Eyes up here! What matters most is your strength of will—what you want to protect and what you want to win. If you have a clear goal in mind, then no matter the person, your soul will harbor a blade.”

“…A strong will…in the soul…” These words seemed to speak to Phyllo.

Keeping her mettle raised, Anzu turned to face a distant bamboo thicket.

“If you want to cut down a faraway tree…then place that will in your soul and your blade…and transform it with your slice!”

She exhaled…and drew her blade too fast for the eye to see. There was a brief pause, and in the distance, a tree began to lean—bamboo leaves rustling as it fell. Everyone locked their eyes on the severed trunk. It was cut clean through.

Anzu bowed.

Marie, Selen, and Lloyd all started clapping—even Riho managed to do so, despite the six swords.

Phyllo rarely showed any excitement, but now she was clapping excitedly. “……Bravo.”

Anzu raised a hand. “That’s nothing,” she said modestly. “It’s a trick you can pull off after testing your mind with mental puzzles, your body with ceaseless training, and of course—strength of will. All of you could do that someday if you work hard enough.”

Someday. It was an optimistic phrase that visibly perked Lloyd up.

“All right, Anzu! I’ll work hard!”

“That’s the spirit! Start by practicing your swing!”

“Okay! Here I go!” Lloyd threw himself into practicing his draw, copying Anzu’s motion.

Riho and Selen started whispering to her.

“Promising start. If he trains like this and gains some confidence…”

“…and scores some decisive victories in the rite, he might actually start to assess himself accurately.”

Anzu nodded, proud of herself. “After swinging a sword long enough, you learn how to handle these things. Keep the compliments coming, though!”

“This is great, Lady Anzu! If Lloyd realizes how strong he is, he’ll start accepting high-difficulty quests with me!”

“If he recognizes his strength, he’ll recognize the strength of my love! I want his confident arms around me!”

Selen was instantly so deep in fantasy that Phyllo had to step in.

“……That’s one thing that will never happen.”

Delusions shattered, Selen turned angrily toward her. “And why not?! Gasp! You’re not suffering under the conceited illusion that he’ll fall for your paltry charms instead, are you?!”

“…No…I…have no such charms…” Phyllo looked so dejected, it took the wind out of Selen’s sails.

“Wh…what’s wrong with her?”

“Ugh, is she still stuck on that…?” Riho just rolled her eyes.

But Anzu was a die-hard big-sister type and jumped right in.

“Being all harsh on yourself gets you nowhere. Strength of will! Be like Lloyd and throw yourself into this.”

She pointed at the boy, who was clumsily swinging his sword. He’d clearly almost never held one before, and it was hard to say he looked cool—more like a kid who’d just watched an anime, trying to imitate the moves the characters used.

“……Mm.”

But it seemed to resonate with Phyllo. Her expression went from half-empty to half-full.

Anzu looked pleased to see this, but when she glanced at Lloyd’s flailing, her smile stiffened. “He may be a monster, but…this sure shows his age. Better at least teach him how to swing that thing.”

She took a step toward him to start correcting his form.

“Lady Anzu! Don’t!” Marie yelped, looking alarmed.

Startled, Anzu glanced her way. “What’s wrong, Marie? You’ve turned very pale—”

Snk. As she turned, something scraped her cheek.

“Mm? Did a bug sting me?”

She reached up and touched it…and found blood on her fingers.

“What—?”

Snk. Something hit her kimono. When she glanced toward the sound, she saw a neat cut in the cloth.

“It tore…but why here? Wait—” Anzu’s eyes went wide, and she looked at Lloyd again.

The boy was wildly swinging a sword around. Each swing he took was causing cracks in the pavement. And these were gradually getting larger.

Anzu quickly jumped backward.

“I was watching Lloyd this whole time since it was just so cute,” Marie explained. “Then I heard him mutter, ‘Think I’m getting the hang of it,’ and he started swinging harder and now he’s doing the whole iai thing…”

“He’s actually creating shock waves from that wild flailing?!” Riho yelped.

The ground at her feet cracked.

“Uh, Lady Anzu!” Selen screeched. “What happened to the mental puzzles? Or the strength of will? I thought you needed that stuff! But he’s doing it already!”

“Without… That’s ridiculous…”

Lloyd was really getting into it now and swinging even harder.

“Uh, this is bad news,” Marie whimpered. She’d lived with Lloyd awhile and was speaking from experience.

Heedless of the worried looks he was getting, Lloyd followed up the flurry of wild swings with a finishing move of his own creation.

Rummmmmble…

All the tiles on the roof of the Kyounin clan’s temple were blown away.

Lloyd’s arm was fully extended…and his eyes screwed tightly shut. He was completely unaware of the devastation his swing had caused.

The servants inside were running about with naginata poles, yelling, “What’s this?!” They were clearly assuming the Audoc clan had attacked.

“Mm? Do I hear people yelling? Nope, stay focused.”

Lloyd got ready to start flinging around indiscriminate long-range attacks again.

Marie and Anzu threw their hands up. ““Stop! Stoppp!””

Lloyd blinked at them, and Anzu took his sword away.

“Sorry, it’s too dangerous! Far too dangerous!”

The note of genuine panic in her voice—and the fact that she’d taken his sword away—made Lloyd visibly deflate.

“S-sorry. Right, nothing more dangerous than a wimp like me waving a sword around. I was just having so much fun—I’m sorry.”

“Th-that’s not the problem, right? Lady Anzu?”

“Right!” Anzu clarified. “First, let’s start with a wooden sword! I got it backward! These are for seppuku! Switch to wood!”

She went around taking everyone’s swords away. And then handed out some wooden blades.

“Okay! Let’s all recover and try again! Super-fun wooden-sword time! Swordplay starts and ends with wood! Lots of depth to it! Are you buying that, Lloyd? Please say yes!”

“S-sure, okay! It was so nice of you to let me hold a real sword first. I appreciate the gesture!”

He’d certainly spun that in a positive light.

“Hokay, wooden swords!” Anzu said. Surely, he couldn’t produce any shock waves with those.

Meanwhile, Riho was staring dejectedly at the wooden blade. This clearly wouldn’t be worth selling. “If I have to use wood, one is plenty…”

“……Already done with the sextuple wielding?”

“Don’t dismiss wooden swords,” Anzu said. “I meant what I said! We all start with wooden blades.”

She started hitting a straw dummy.

“When you strike like this, you feel the hit in your hand. It echoes up the wood to your palm. Do that enough, and it starts to feel like the wooden sword is a part of your body.”

“……A part of…my body?”

“Yep. And you’re a martial artist yourself, so you know how much force you can put out when your whole body’s working in unison.”

“……I do… Each muscle…in sync. A burst of power…”

Anzu folded her arms, grinning. “Right now, your will and your body aren’t in sync. Best cure for that is to beat the hell out of a dummy.”

“……Beat the hell out of it?”

“Until you can’t even think. Until you get so tired that you collapse on the spot and can’t get up. Then ask yourself—do I want to keep going? Why? When you’re that tired, your true motives come floating to the surface. When I’m stuck on something, I grab a wooden sword, head into the bamboo thicket, and hit trees until dawn. Give it a shot.”

“……Mm.” Phyllo nodded and headed toward the bamboo thicket.

“But you’ll miss out on tomorrow if you go overkill! Okay, you lot try these dummies out. You too, Lloyd.”

“Okay! Got it!”

“Your stance… Your hands go here. Like you’re squeezing the hilt. Then you swing down like so.”

“Uhh…”

“It’ll be a bit awkward before you get the hang of it, but it’ll come in time. All right! Smack away!”

They all began striking the dummies.

“This certainly requires a lot of energy.”

“I’m definitely not meant for swords.”

Selen and Riho were already grumbling.

Lloyd, meanwhile, had yet to hit his dummy. He was staring grimly at it.

“At the military academy entrance exam…I failed big-time with a dummy. But this time!”

He had failed the dummy test…because he’d pulverized it, but his hits had been too fast for the test proctor to see, and it had been chalked up as an accident.

The painful memories were lending him strength now.

“This training is designed to hone my swing… Gotta make a smooth, clean strike…as strong as I can!”

“Good luck, Lloyd!” Marie called.

Lloyd put his full might behind a swing.

“Yahhhhhhhhhhhh… Augh!”

Slpp.

“““Huh?”””

The wooden blade had gone rocketing out of his hands. He’d been so stressed, sweat had greased his palms.

His horrified yelp made everyone turn and look…

…Foom. With a sound beyond description, the wooden sword broke the sound barrier, leaving a sonic boom in its wake as it rocketed off toward the upper atmosphere.

Everyone looked to the sky, like they were following a golf ball.

Boom! And the wooden sword…knocked the tip off the famous bladelike peak of the Rapier Ridge. Like snapping the tip off a utility knife.

“Auuuugh!” Anzu wailed. “The Rapier Ridge! One of the hundred sights of the Ascorbic Domain! A tourist attraction!”

There were now only ninety-nine tourist attractions, and witnessing that moment had snapped Anzu’s heart like the wooden sword had snapped the mountain peak.

“I-I’m so, so sorry! I totally let the blade slip out of my grasp… Is it in the thicket somewhere?”

Lloyd started searching in the wrong direction.

“L-Lloyd, I don’t think it’s there…,” Marie said.

“Really, Marie? But I heard some strange noises from that direction….”

“You did? Oh, right…”

Thwack! Crashhh… Rustle. Thud. They were clearly the sounds of something getting hit hard, and it collapsing…and they kept repeating…

The sounds of Phyllo training. The look of horror on Anzu’s face somehow got even worse.

“……Hah! …Hah!”

“Eaugh… Th-the entire thicket…”

Phyllo had taken Anzu’s advice extremely literally and was beating the hell out of every tree in sight. Her raw strength was so great that even with a wooden sword, she was taking out a sturdy bamboo tree with each strike. Like a bear pissed because someone interrupted its winter sleep.

Running out of trees in one thicket, she moved toward the next…but that thicket was…

“Auuuuuugh! The Bamboo Backwoods! Another of the hundred sights! Another tourist attraction, gone!”

Yes, this was the famous thicket behind the Kyounin clan’s temple. Phyllo was so absorbed in her training, she failed to realize she was ruining the view.

Thwack! Crashhh… Rustle. Thud. Mowing…no, terraforming her way through the tourist attraction, Phyllo soon made it possible to see what lay on the other side.

“Yo, Phyllo! Don’t cut that thicket!”

“……Huh?”

“Er, um…yeah, she’s sure something… Take your eyes off her for one minute…”

Anzu sounded like a mom who’d let their kid help with the gardening only to realize they’d mistaken the veggies for weeds and pulled them all.

Now there were only ninety-eight tourist attractions, and witnessing that moment left Anzu looking…almost bemused.

“……Oh…not here? Sorry.”

“Well, it’s my fault for not specifying…and for underestimating your strength…”

“Don’t look so sad, Phyllo!” Lloyd cried out. “I messed up, too! We’ve just gotta try and make up for it!”

“……Mm!”

It was cute how they were both so fired up, but…

“No matter how many swords I drop, I won’t give up!”

“……If this thicket is off-limits, then where…? Maybe that pretty garden?”

Their next lines were just ominous. Lloyd’s especially. Depending on the angle, it could result in fatalities.

Deciding it was best to prevent further damages, Anzu leaped in. “No, no, no, no, you’re good! Please, no more!”

She looked so exhausted and limp that Lloyd instantly jumped to the wrong conclusion.

“Oh…I can’t even swing a wooden sword. You must be disappointed.”

“No, no! That’s not it, Lloyd! W-we just need a break! A nice long rest! Okay?”

“Okay! Then after the break, we can practice—”

“Nope! You’re both super strong! Clearly! Wooden swords won’t be nearly good enough! So, uh…after the break, we’re gonna go straight to the next training session!”

“I thought you said we should start with wooden blades…”

“Look, if he keeps going, we won’t have a temple to sleep in tonight.”

No more wooden swords for Lloyd.

“Oh no…I haven’t even taken a proper swing yet, and we’re already on the next step? I’ll be left behind…”

Somehow, he’d managed to convince himself that he wasn’t keeping up, making him feel down.

A little earlier, at the Audoc-Tiger clans’ joint training grounds…

They were hosting the drills on a desolate clearing, with only a few scattered tufts of grass and paltry pieces of training equipment—each side brought their own.

These two forces had only just allied…and barehanded brawlers and ax-wielding avengers didn’t exactly have compatible fighting styles. There was no training they could do together, and these training grounds were mostly used when both sides needed to meet up. Like a schoolyard.

The assembled fighters’ classes were obvious at a glance.

The Audoc clan was in suit-like formal wear ill-suited to athletics.

The Tiger clan was basically naked—very athletic, but lacking all concept of shame.

If you added their outfits together and divided by two, you’d probably get normal clothes. If modern humans saw this scene, they’d assume someone was filming a variety show.

Renge and Nexamic stood at the head of their respective clans—with Allan between them.

“Why is this happening?”

He’d been hauled out here without so much as a by-your-leave and was now feeling extremely uncomfortable. Rubbing his eyes, he tried piecing together the timeline.

Uh…yesterday, I was feeling sick and thought some of Anzu’s people were taking me to the infirmary, so I went with them and fell asleep the moment I hit the pillow…and the next thing I knew, I was here. Cool. That clears up absolutely nothing.

Until moments before, he’d been convinced he was about to meet up with his friends. But instead, this half-suit, half-nudist co-op brigade had rolled in, and his mind was still reeling.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Renge enthusiastically exhorting both rows of students.

“Like we said yesterday! With elegance! The dragon slayer himself has joined our side!”

“Er, I have? Nobody told—”

Before he could finish, Nexamic’s bellow drowned him out. “Rejoice! Let your throbbing muscles throb in perfect harmony!”

“Er, harmony?”

“““Yeeeeeeeeeeeeah!”””

Allan’s feeble protests were drowned out by the roar of the crowd.

“At long last, we can elegantly pulverize the detestable Kyounin clan!”

“Mwa-ha-ha! With Allan on our side, a single gluteal flex will turn them all to dust! I swear this to you! I swear it on my hamstrings!”

Allan was starting to get his bearings.

So I accidentally went with the enemy? Why didn’t anyone stop me? …Not one of those girls would even care. And it’s my fault for being too sick to think…

While Allan was regretting everything, the speeches bellowed on.

“Now it’s time for the Dragon Slayer Allan’s joint training exercise!”

“Huh?”

“Sorry for springing this on you, Allan. But our two camps have been struggling to work together, and we need you to galvanize things! Elegantly!”

“Elegantly?”

“It’s rare we get an opportunity to be trained by a living legend! Do you have your post-training protein ready?!”

“Protein?”

Allan was used to dealing with outrageous personalities, but these two were so forceful, he was reduced to mindless parroting.

“Charm us with your elegant dance!”

“Charm us with your cute muscles!”

The guidance they were providing was, uh…definitely gonna be read the wrong way by at least one person in any crowd.

Allan decided that this was getting nowhere and maybe he should try honesty.

“Um, sorry, I’m not nearly as strong as you think I am. I’m actually pretty weak.”

He tried to make this sound grimly factual, but they just took it as humility.

Renge’s reddish eyes flashed with respect. “Such modesty! I’d love to take the dirt under your nails, brew it in some tea, and make Anzu drink it! Maybe then, your humility will rub off on her!”

“…What? Uh…”

Allan was getting used to dealing with exaggerated stories of his exploits—in that he’d learned no one would ever believe a word he said.

Guess I’ll just take a swing or two? If they figured out my actual skills, they’ll probably let me go.

If words wouldn’t do it, he’d just have to use actions. Demonstrate his weakness! A very optimistic approach to negativity.

“Hmph!” he said, taking a few swings. “Hah! Take that! And that!”

He was using standard training moves so ordinary, a stir ran through the crowd.

“Surprisingly normal.”

“I can tell the difference! I think!”

“Uh…maybe if he took those clothes off…”

“Or put a proper suit on…”

At the least, none of them were impressed.

Renge wasn’t head of the ax clan for nothing. She was giving his thoroughly ordinary swings a long, hard frown.

“…Hmm. How drab.”

“Renge!” Nexamic bellowed. “He’s at a level our eyes cannot begin to comprehend!”

“Let’s hope so…”

C’mon! Figure it out! I suck! Just admit it and let me go back to my friends!

“Is he actually wea—?”

Seconds before his wish came true…

Boom! Ruuuuuumble…

…the sound of shattering rock filled the air.

“H-hey! Look at that!”

Someone pointed, and everyone turned. The tip of the famously pointy Ascorbic landmark, the Rapier Ridge, was collapsing.

…You guessed it. This was caused by Lloyd’s wooden sword.

“R-Rapier Ridge?! But how?!”

Neither the Audoc nor Tiger clan had any way of knowing the truth.

And the timing of it was uncanny. They all hit on the same explanation.

“““He destroyed a mountain with a practice swing!”””

“No, no, no, no! Wait, listen—!”

Allan put up a hand to deny the claims, but Renge grabbed it, eyes glistening.

“That was magnificent! Elegant! I am ashamed I ever doubted you!”

“Mwa-ha-ha! My pecs are shaking with awe! Chant his name!”

“Allan! Allan! Allan!”

Of all the times for that mountain to exploooode!

He was mad at the mountain, but the source of this misunderstanding was the kid he admired most. Having blown his one chance at escape, Allan was forced to resign himself to his fate.

Allan was not the only one at a total loss.

“Oh man… Two tourist attractions…gone…”

Anzu was in mourning, her spirits as broken as Rapier Ridge.

“Come on, Lady Anzu. I feel you, but you’ve gotta pick Lloyd back up.”

“That’s right! He’s now less confident than before he came here! You’re in charge, aren’t you? At this rate, he may well refuse to join the Sacred Mountain Rite! And then what will happen to my three-legged race?!”

Riho and Selen’s lectures got Anzu’s mind back on the task at hand.

“Right… Got to protect my title, or there’s no point in any of it. I can do it!”

“Can you? Is there a way to train Lloyd that will satisfy him without collateral damage? In my experience, if you let him actually do anything, the results will be beyond your wildest expectations.”

The note of grim urgency in Marie’s voice only made Anzu grin. At the least, outwardly.

“I do! There’s one thing I can do that Lloyd can’t. Yo, Lloyd! Change of scene!”

“Where are we going?”

“The next training ground!”

She took them to a riverbed. Water ran from the Sacred Mountain over several gentle waterfalls, out across the breadth of the domain.

“What a nice river! What do we do here? Swimming?”

“Oh? Why, Lloyd, are you not a good swimmer?” Anzu asked.

“Uh, no. I’ve only just learned to dive for a full hour. The average time back home was six hours, so I’ve still got a long road ahead.”

“……Ba-hem.”

Lloyd’s ideas—well, Kunlun’s—were so far removed from those of mere mortals that Anzu wound up in a coughing fit.

Everyone but Lloyd quickly circled her.

“Hang in there, Lady Anzu. If you’re surprised by that, you’ll never survive this.”

“You’ve got a training idea that’ll work on him, right?”

Anzu got a grip but did not look all that confident. She decided to brief the girls first.

“The next activity is just crossing the river…without getting wet. Water Walking.”

This was pretty absurd.

“Can Ascorbic people do that?” Marie asked, incredulous.

“Not a lot of us. And even those who can mostly spread cloth on the surface and run on that. I use the secret art, Scattered Blossoms, to make myself light enough that I can cross without the cloth.”

“……I’ve done it with cloth before…but even then, only after a lot of practice…”

“Geez, you never cease to amaze.” When Riho said it, it somehow sounded like a backhanded compliment. “If Phyllo can’t do it without the cloth, then this might be a challenge even for Lloyd.”

“Ascorbic people train for a year to Water Walk using cloth, but I bet Lloyd can manage it while he’s here. Without the cloth.”

“High praise indeed…and you’re probably right.”

They’d all seen him in action up close, so they believed he could handle any training.

“If he sees me do it without the cloth, goes, ‘If I try real hard, I can do something that amazing, too!’ and succeeds, then he’ll gain some confidence. Then maybe someday, he’ll figure out that normal people can’t run on water and then start to realize how wrong he’s been about everything.”

With everyone on board, Anzu next turned to Lloyd.

“Okay, Lloyd! Next activity!”

“Er, okay… Huh?”

Anzu had turned to demonstrate her Water Walking…but a gust of wind blew past and snatched the towel out of Marie’s hands.

“Oh…ohhh!”

The towel landed in the center of the river.

“Oh, I’ll go get that,” Lloyd volunteered and walked across the surface of the river to get it.

“How did you do thaaaaat?!”

He came back across the water like this was totally normal, but hearing Anzu scream, he stopped, surprised—and still didn’t sink.

“H-how?!”

“What the heck? How are you doing that? How are you standing still?!”

“Er, um… Everyone back home can do this? You just vibrate your feet a bit to stop yourself from sinking, or stay floating just by yelling!”

That last phrase left everyone speechless.

“I-is it weird? Our chief once made a habit of taking naps on the ocean… I guess you don’t see that in the city much…”

“Naps? You…can fall asleep like that?!”

This was so off the charts that Anzu’s legs buckled under her.

“So, Lady Anzu! What sort of training will we do on this river?”

Lloyd looked at her expectantly…while standing on the water, unaware he’d just torn up her plans and sent them downstream.

“Er…uh…” She was groaning like a zombie, clutching her head. Finally, she blurted, “Ah! Such a shame! I was planning on going farther upstream and having you practice climbing the waterfall! But the flow’s a little too light for that. The training won’t work out! We sure have had less water lately. Too much sun! Sorry!”

She was trying to lie her way out of it.

“She’s throwing in the towel.”

“……Totally.”

“Abjectly.”

“Can’t say I blame her.”

What else was she supposed to do? He could already do the thing she’d meant to teach him! The girls all gave her a look of pity, and Anzu seemed ashamed of herself.

“Ugh, I was so confident…and the waterfall thing is just a stupid lie. Nobody could possibly do that,” she muttered, hanging her head.

Naturally, Lloyd bought the fib at face value. “Leave this to me!” he cried with supreme confidence. “Is that all? You should have just said so!”

“No, no,” Anzu said, her voice dead. “I mean, it would be nice if there was more water, but with all this sun…”

“Just say the word, and I’ll make it rain!”

“Huh?”

“Just you wait! I’ll make it rain enough to raise the water level here! But will that cause problems for the neighbors?”

“Er, uh…probably not…”

“Got it! I’ll just use finesse!” Lloyd started writing something on Marie’s towel with his finger.

“Ha-ha, make it rain? Didn’t think I’d hear any jokes from you, Lloyd. It’s a joke, right?”

She turned to the girls, seeking confirmation. None of them were laughing.

“I…so want that to be a joke, but…can he really? Really?”

“He totally can,” Riho replied, slapping her shoulder. “He restored a river run dry from drought!”

“Ha! Ha-ha-ha. You’re all hilarious! This some sort of inside joke?”

The drawing on the towel started glowing, and Lloyd flung it to the sky.

A few minutes later, the sun vanished as dark clouds gathered around the Sacred Mountain.

“I’ve been practicing,” Lloyd explained. “Now I can make it rain in a specific location for a short time! The chief called it the guerrilla downpour rune.”

“Guerrilla downpour…rune…,” Anzu echoed. This was drowned out by the roar of water.

The river’s level rose, threatening to burst its banks.

“Is this the right amount, Lady Anzu? Or do we need more?”

Lloyd was talking about the rain like he was asking if he’d put enough rice in her bowl.

Feet growing wet from the spray, Anzu just stood there. “How is this…?”

“Lady Anzu! Look out!”

The sudden rain had caused a flash flood.

“Whoa! So the training is to fight against this current? I’m not great at swimming, but I’ll do my best!” Lloyd enthusiastically started swimming upstream.

“You’re kidding… How do you label this ‘not great’?!”

“Uh…Lady Anzu! Evacuate! We need to evacuate!” Phyllo grabbed Anzu before the waters swept her away, and they somehow made it to safety.

The “finessed” water volume caused no fatalities, but…

“You gotta be kidding… Nothing makes sense anymore…”

…the unreasonable flood seemed to have swept away the last shred of Anzu’s reason.

Once again, a little earlier, at the Audoc-Nexamic clan’s camp…

The impressive effects of Allan’s practice swing (hilariously enough) had both camps all fired up about this training exercise. Who wouldn’t be excited to receive instruction from a man who’d just blown up a mountain?

People were doing squats, swinging axes, oiling their bodies till they shone, or enjoying a relaxing teatime… Honestly, 30 percent of them were doing things fundamentally unrelated to training, but they were certainly super into it.

“Sir Allan! How’s my ax swing look?”

Stronger than any I’ve ever done…, he thought. “Not bad at all!”

The man in question looked pleased as punch and kept on swinging.

“Sir Allan! How are my abs?!”

Ridiculous. “Not bad at all!”

“Sir Allan! How’s my oil-polished body?! It gleaming enough for ya?!”

Uh… “Not bad at all!”

Allan had long since given up on saying anything else, but everyone seemed satisfied.

The happier they get at half-hearted compliments, the guiltier I feel…

If he was actually getting paid for this, it would amount to a duplicitous self-help seminar. Just as Allan was getting scared of the blowback if they ever figured out the truth, he heard voices raised in anger.

“Who do you think you are?!”

“You want some of this?!”

He turned to find a suit-wearing Audoc clansman and a half-naked Tiger clansman scowling furiously, both looking ready to throw down at any moment.

“Not elegant at all… What’s got into them?”

“You there! Your muscles are overheated! Take a cooldown!”

The conflict didn’t die down—and the topic?

“Sir Allan belongs with the Audoc clan! He’s elegant! And wields an ax!”

“Nonsense! Look at his body! He belongs in the Tiger clan! My muscles say so!”

Apparently, they were fighting over him.

“Hngg… I hoped we’d avoid outright brawls today, though I can’t blame them for fighting over Sir Allan! But displaying such vigor before the man himself is hardly cute.” Nexamic shot Allan a sheepish grin.

“S-sure…”

“Sir Allan.” Renge smiled, standing next to him. “It falls to you to silence this squabble. Simply make it clear that the Audoc clan has the advantage and is right for you.”

“Renge! That will never do! His strength, his masculine odor! This is a man meant for the Tiger clan! Right, Sir Tiger Allan?!”

“Huh? Uh…”

“See? You’ve put him on the spot! How dare you just add Tiger to his name! It lacks all elegance!”

“Renge! You’ve got Sir Allan’s arm in a hold, trying to use your feminine wiles! Do you truly deem that elegant?!”

“I—I am not! You bumpkin!”

Allan just wanted them to stop fighting over him and was feeling deeply sorry he’d allowed the Azami military’s dumb PR stunt to go this far.

“Listen, both of you—and you…,” he said weakly.

Words from the mountain-shattering dragon slayer instantly silenced the conflict. Everyone snapped to attention.

““Yes, Sir Allan?!””

He racked his brain, trying to find words that would stop this conflict. “Uh…so…I don’t think there’s any point in fighting here. I think you should let the past be water under the bridge.”

Nexamic and Renge looked unconvinced, and that vibe spread out through their clans…

Both the Audocs and the Tigers appeared ready to throw down, and neither clan leader seemed inclined to stop it.

Why was this happening to him? It was all so unreasonable! A sudden wave of frustration washed over Allan. “I said! Stop fighting! Let floodwaters sweep the past away!”

Instantly…there was a roar. The sounds of rushing water shook the very earth, and all eyes turned toward it.

A distant river burst its banks.

“Whaaaat?!”

Even at this distance, the deluge was clearly carving boulders and sweeping them downstream, swallowing up entire bamboo thickets. A few minutes later, the flow subsided, and the river returned to normal.

You guessed it. This was all because Lloyd had used a rune.

But nobody here had any way of knowing that, and the sight blew their minds.

“Sir Allan mentioned floodwaters…and the river flooded!” someone whispered.

With that, everyone got on board.

“That explains it! The river marks the border between our territories! He’s swept away the division between our clans!”

“Let the floodwaters sweep it all away! Gone are the conflicts between us! Here to stay is mutual understanding!”

“And he only flooded a river with no farms or houses next to it! He must have targeted it specifically!”

“How would I even—?” Allan had only just now learned all that information, but before he could protest, Renge grabbed his hand.

“With your incredible magic, you have shown us the path forward! How elegant! The most elegant of elegance!”

“I heard you also summon the heroes of yore…so I guess floodwaters are as easy to you as before-breakfast bicep flexes! Color! Me! Impressed!” Nexamic turned, barking instructions at both clans. “Take Allan’s lesson! Let it resonate! Tonight, we feast! A feast to celebrate peace between our clans!”

“““To Sir Allan!”””

“Thank you, Sir Allan. With you here, we can forge lasting peace!”

Not only was he not allowed to go home, but he was also now the bridge between the two clans. Allan was really starting to panic.

As Lloyd’s rain magic left Allan high and dry…

“He’s destroying common sense as easily as he destroys landmarks!”

…Anzu was clearly panicking just as bad.

“Lady Anzu!” Marie yelled, shaking her. “Remember, you’re a confident ruler! Snap back in character! If you allow yourself to get demoted to hapless, you’ll never seem capable again! Look what happened to me!”

“I’ve lost all confidence… I’m not fit to rule…”

“Get it together! You are the ruler! Quit your whining! Rulers don’t whine!”

Marie was desperate to keep Anzu from repeating her mistakes.

“A very convincing argument, right, m’lady? Wait, where’s Selen?” Riho asked.

“……She left.”

There was no sign of her.

“Come to think of it, she’s been up to something all morning… Seemed like she was working on a plan yesterday, too.”

As Riho pondered this, Lloyd came swimming back from the waterfall. Despite the boulders being swept downstream, he looked like he’d been out for a light jog.

“I’m back! I guess it wasn’t enough? The water level dropped real fast. What do you think? Should I make it rain again?”

Everyone violently shook their heads. They’d had enough guerrilla downpours.

“Th-that’s plenty! You’re good!”

“Huh? Did I do something wrong?”

Their objections had been a bit too forceful, and Lloyd started to suspect he’d screwed up again.

“No, we’re just all tired,” Riho added. “The Audoc and Tiger clans wore us out! So we’re thinking, we’ve had enough for the day. I mean, Anzu’s so tired, she’s actually lying down…”

Anzu was flat on her face, weeping her eyes out.

“My confidence… If there was just one way I could defeat that kid…but there isn’t!”

“You’re still whining! Lady Anzu, stop that!” Marie was shaking her, desperate to stop the birth of another permanently pathetic character.

“Tired…? That…seems a bit beyond tired…”

“…It won’t kill her. Master, you should dry yourself… Here. Towel.”

Deeming this something that should not be seen, Phyllo successfully dragged Lloyd away from them.

“Nice work, Phyllo… Geez, where’s m’lady Selen when you need her?”

“Oh? You called?”

As if she’d been waiting for her cue, Selen came walking in from the direction of the temple, carrying a large pot. She’d put an apron over her red uniform, going for that newlywed chic.

Riho gave her a dubious frown. “I wondered what you were up to—but I didn’t expect you to be cooking.”

“The Ascorbic Domain is for training! And training means bridal training! And bridal training means cooking! Therefore, I have prepared Selen’s Special Extra-Nutritious Stamina Soup for Sir Lloyd! Enjoy!”

Selen proffered up her new soup, but since it was only for Lloyd, nobody seemed very interested.

“A bold move,” Marie muttered.

In her arms, Anzu was now sucking her thumb.

“I see that look on your faces,” Selen said. “I am perfectly aware that Sir Lloyd is a far better cook, and cooking isn’t a skill that can be learned overnight, so if he eats this, it will only turn him against me.”

“Uh, yeah…,” Riho said.

“But right now, while he’s tired from training? A golden opportunity! A nutritious soup at this moment would be like water at the far side of a desert! Am I right, or am I right?”

“……I understood all those words.” Phyllo seemed disinclined to compromise further.

“If I can get him to say I’ll make a good wife someday, that’s essentially a roundabout proposal!”

“““…Yeah, that won’t happen.””” All three girls gave Selen a look of pity.

The pot she’d placed in front of them was…beyond description.

It was less a soup than a stew and one of those country-style deals where the ingredients had been simmered to mush. The color was like she’d added red food coloring to some sweet-potato skins and boiled that, or possibly like the secret ingredient was ink.

It was a genuinely alarming shade. If there was a frog of this color, it would 100 percent be poisonous. Birds of prey would ignore it on instinct.

Was it shocking pink? No, given the odor of the concoction, poison pink was perhaps more apt. If a brand known for selling out on launch day made a smartphone this color, they’d all stay on the shelf. The employee who’d proposed this color option would find himself hounded and cornered.

One look at it had rendered them incapable of speech.

Selen was insisting this was technically soup, so Riho summoned all her courage and inquired about the recipe.

“So…what kind of soup is this? Did you…try it yourself?”

“Of course I did! It’s delicious! As creamy as it is spicy!”

“……Really?” Phyllo seemed unconvinced Selen had actually sampled it.

“I swear, it was very good! Certain I had found the way to Sir Lloyd’s heart, I adding the secret ingredient—a love-potion. My love was so passionate, I upended the entire bottle!”

“Not much of a secret ingredient if you just tell everyone, is it? And if you add the whole bottle, it’s not a secret ingredient—it’s the soup base!”

The idiocy of this love-crazed admirer knew no bounds.

“Hear me out, Riho! It is not just a love-potion! There are a multitude of invigorating ingredients included! Love-potion, plus nutrition! And one aphrodisiac after another!”

“……You never cared about nutrition… Just your carnal instincts…”

Selen ignored Phyllo’s comment entirely.

“Selen.” Marie sighed. “Do you know what love-potions are?”

“They make your heart race if you try them!”

“Yes. Because they’re poison.”

“Po……” That silenced Selen.

Marie might be a horrendous cook, but she knew her potions.

“Dubious books of black magic may claim you can make love-potions from blackened newt, but they’re not entirely wrong,” she explained. “If you swallow a newt’s poison glands, it’ll certainly make your heart beat faster.”

“O-oh…,” Selen stammered, tears welling up in her eyes.

This was Marie’s field of expertise, and she was just getting going.

“Since ancient times, frog poison has been used as a cardiotonic. It can help with palpitations, but it’ll make your whole mouth go numb. Because it is poison.”

“Urp…” Selen was just making noises now.

“Essentially, you’re using poison to aim for a suspension-bridge effect. Do you understand what you’ve done here, Selen?”

This last line was clearly intended as a warning not to do it again.

“Aha!” Riho exclaimed, seizing her chance to kick Selen when she was down. “So you made a nutritious soup with great confidence and then ruined it with a bottle of poison! I should arrest you for attempted murder.”

Her entire morning’s labor gone to waste, Selen hung her head.

“Oh no… Oh no… Poison? That explains why it was such a weird color… I’m ashamed of myself now.”

“Oh good. You did notice the color!”

Marie seemed relieved that Selen possessed a shred of sanity.

“No matter how many times I’ve fed Sir Lloyd anesthetics, they’ve never worked! I should have known better than to pay top dollar for this poison!”

“““That’s what you’re worried about?!”””

She’d also confessed to an unpardonable crime, but everyone found themselves weirdly impressed.

Meanwhile, Lloyd rejoined them. He’d been busy drying his hair and had missed most of the conversation.

“Did I hear something about a stamina soup? Those are great when you’re tired!”

“Er, Lloyd…” Marie tried to stop him, but before she could, he smiled, picked up the pink soup…

“This looks great!”

…and he took a sip without the slightest hesitation.

“Er…”

“Oh…”

“……that’s—”

Not the least bit concerned by the color, Lloyd kept right on drinking. Riho, Marie, and Phyllo all watched, wide-eyed with horror.

“See for yourself, ladies! This is love! The kindness to eat a bride’s gross food without complaint! The lynchpin of any marriage! Our certificate is as good as signed! In this instant, we may not be legally wed, but our souls are as one!”

Meanwhile, the soup’s creator…had fully recovered, spinning everything in her favor. Feeding your beloved literal poison was reduced to “gross food,” but clearly, the consequences would be far more dire. That was only common sense.

But Lloyd had long since burst free of the prison of common sense. He finished chugging his bowl of poison and gave his verdict.

“Ah-ha-ha! Can’t say I’m a fan!”

That was all he had to say?

“Uh, Lloyd… Are you feeling fine?”

“Sure? Hmm… My mouth is burning a little.”

Lloyd’s internal organs were so superhuman, they could neutralize any poison! An invincible liver!

Selen was now aware that love-potions were poison, but hoping the effect would at least get her to first base, she stepped in close.

“Well, Sir Lloyd? Is your heart racing? Do you like it?”

“Hmm,” Lloyd considered. “I’m sure some people would like it, but it was too much for me.”

He offered just a rational assessment. It seemed there was no physiological effect at all.

“Congrats on wasting your whole morning, m’lady.” Riho grinned.

But Selen’s eyes were not yet dead. “Love-potions never work on someone who already loves you. I have proven that theory!”

“A theory you’ve never mentioned before.”

“Perhaps this is a roundabout way of encouraging me to make an even more impressive meal made with love! He has faith in my potential!”

“Words are wasted on you.”

Criticism rolled off her like poison rolled off Lloyd.

But Anzu had heard Lloyd say the soup was too much for him and leaped to her feet. She’d been lying facedown in a riverbed, so you could see rock marks on her face.

With great gusto, she launched into a spiel about the importance of food.

“Lloyd! Don’t be picky! Eating is an important part of training!”

“Oh, Anzu! That’s right! You can’t get strong if you’re fussy about food.”

Apparently, Anzu had decided this dubious claim was her ticket out of the pathetic-character zone.

“Yep! Food is the basis of everything! The way of the sword is the way of food! Everything so far has merely been an appetizer!”

“I-it has?!”

Anzu, the Sword God herself, was insisting swords and food were one and the same. This was the sort of statement that would be a front-page headline in every weekly magazine and a topic of ridicule on every news discussion show.

“……Do you even hear yourself?”

“So desperate to get out of the sadness zone. I get that…”

“……The moment you get desperate…you’re already doomed.”

But heedless to Phyllo and Marie’s chatter, Anzu bulldozed on. “What are you eating here?” she asked, hand on Lloyd’s shoulder. “Pickled plums? Cilantro?”

“This.” Lloyd held up a shocking pink liquid clearly not classifiable as food.

“…That’s…poison…,” Anzu said.

Clearly, she had experience identifying poisons. Maybe it went with the job.

“Uh…you ate that? And…just called it a bit much?”

“Well, she went to the trouble of making it. It’s pretty spicy! Left my mouth burning. Wasn’t a fan.”

“Spicy…”

Nobody else would claim they “weren’t a fan” of poison.

“Well…I suppose from the color alone, it could be just like…too many beets, or…”

Maybe it wasn’t poison. Maybe her instincts were wrong. With that faint hope in mind, Anzu looked at Marie.

Marie silently shook her head. Warning her not to eat it.

“Whaa?!”

So it is poison?! she tried to yell, but the words wouldn’t form. In that moment, she permanently joined the ranks of pathetic characters.

Oblivious to all this, Lloyd delivered a finishing blow. “I’m sure you can handle everything! Even this spicy soup!”

“Urp.”

He’d blocked her escape as if he were born to do just that. Anzu was clearly going to wind up eating this no matter what she did. No backing out of it now. Her mind and body realized this fact, and…

“To hell with it. Let’s chug this thang.”

…she decided to jump on that sword herself.

“Ah! Lady Anzu!” Riho yelped, but Anzu brushed her off and gripped the pot’s handles.

“Just you watch, Lloyd! It looks gross as hell and is definitely so poisonous that even holding it in your mouth is inadvisable! But with my training—”

She lifted the entire pot to her lips and poured the pink liquid in.

“““Lady Anzuuuuu!”””

Screams echoed down the riverbed.

Anzu gulped away, then tossed the empty pot aside…

“You bore witness, Lloyd?” she said, proudly raising an eyebrow, a bit of pink dribbling down her chin.

“I—I did! It was very cool!”

“Good! The rest is in your hands.”

Psshhhhhhhhht! A spray of pink shot out of her nose and mouth, and she passed out.

Riho and Phyllo carried her back to the temple.

“Welcome to hell,” Marie said softly. Now they were partners in pathetic-ness.

While Anzu was busy passing out, Eug was in her cave laboratory in the Audoc clan’s territory.

She was doing an analysis of the demon-lord eggs Eve had given her.

On the walls around her were signs of wild beasts rampaging and desiccated cicada corpses. Eug had clearly been doing demon-lord research here for a while.

“Satan…is just what I figured. Nothing really stands out. How like Seta… Surtr, though… A fire turtle? That could have applications.”

Delighted, Eug flashed her canines, rolling Surtr’s egg around her palm.

“Demon lord–encasing capsules… One of my finest inventions. I figured they’d be tricky to mass-produce, but the Ascorbic specialty, the Mastema Fruit—it’s perfect for sealing them! Superstitious beliefs that the fruit could ward off evil became Words. I bet this is how Edison felt when he found filaments in bamboo!”

Eug showed no qualms about this comparison.

“If I keep pushing this research, I’ll even be able to seal Alka one day! Mwa-ha-ha!”

She was in a very good mood. Getting her hands on two new demon lords had her so happy, she was actively humming.

“It’s all going far too well… Yes, I should have used Sou and Shouma as Alka bait from the start! That way, they can’t interfere with my plans!”

She slammed one last key and was done typing. Eug hopped up from her desk like an office drone at five and did a few cute stretches, making her body pop.

“Almost scary how well it’s going! Welp, life has highs and lows. That’s how it maintains balance! That last round was a nightmare. Hope I never see that boy’s face again. The logic-defying power of innocence is basically my natural predator.”

“That boy” referred to Lloyd, of course.

Eug scowled at the thought, then slapped her cheeks, banishing him from her mind.

“Gotta make my wish come true, surpass Alka, and prove I was right…!”

She left the cave and began scaling the mountain. On her feet were a pair of jet boots, and these allowed her to thread the rocky shards.

She was headed for a cave halfway up the mountain, one even more hidden than the first cave. If this were a game, it would be an Easter egg hidden there by a crafty developer.

“Gotta do a little maintenance on the self-propelled artillery units. If those don’t work when we hand them out, modern convenience won’t make much of an impression.”

Eug landed on the side of the mountain, far above where man dared tread. She glanced around, trying to locate the cave where the artillery was hidden.

“This area is considered holy and is off-limits—which means people are afraid to come up here. Makes it a perfect hiding spot! As if there’s gonna be any divine retribution… Where is that cave? I used the Rapier Ridge as a landmark, but… Huh? Why is there a wooden sword here?”

Eug kicked the sword aside, glancing around. She couldn’t seem to find the pointy peak they’d called the Rapier Ridge. Because Lloyd had blown it up.

“Huh? Am I lost?”

Nope, she was in the right place. Just look a little higher.

“Oh, there it is—the Rapier Ridge peak. What the…? I see, it just collapsed and buried the cave.”

She nodded to herself. The tip was stuck right in the cave’s entrance!

“Wait! That ruined everythiiiiiiing?! Nooooooooooooooooooooo!”

No one was here to witness her majestic double take.

Yes, when Lloyd snapped the tip of the mountain, it had flipped neatly upside down and landed in a cave—the very cave Eug was using to hide all her weapons.

Her yell of horror echoed through the mountains, and she sank to her knees in despair.

There was a long silence. Eventually, she recovered enough to run up to the buried cave entrance and peer in through the gaps around the upended peak.

It was a very tight fit, like the red-bean filling in taiyaki. The gaps were only wide enough for the smell of spilled fuel to leak out—even without a visual inspection, it was obvious everything in the cave had been crushed flat.

“Just extracting them all will take forever…and then the repairs on top of that… If this were an appliance shop, they’d be saying, ‘It’s faster to buy a new one than to get it fixed,’ and actually mean it, like, not even trying to pad their quota at all.”

Furious, Eug punched a nearby rock…and then hopped up and down, clutching her throbbing hand and cursing her luck.

“Who could have predicted a landslide? This place has been unchanged for centuries! Why would it suddenly collapse?!”

That wooden sword she’d kicked aside… Well, nobody would ever imagine that could cause this.

What had happened while she was buried in research? Searching for a cause, she moved to the edge of the cliff, scanning the area.

Nature’s splendor sprawled out before her.

“Wait, what’s that?”

She found some trees tipped over—like someone had taken a bucket and flung some water around.

She narrowed her eyes. “Did a guerrilla downpour hit the area? Causing the landslide?”

She looked farther downstream…and discovered the flood had also washed away the bamboo thicket she’d been using to cultivate treants.

“Did it—?!”

Fearing the worst, Eug broke into a run.

When she reached the thicket, her fears were confirmed—the waters had ruined everything. Selective breeding had made this monster exceedingly delicate, and the roots were all rotting.

Eug hung her head like a farmer who’d lost their crop to the blight.

“How…how?”

All the days she’d spent laboring over this crop flashed before her eyes. It had been positively therapeutic; tending to the bamboo thicket had helped her recover from wrangling Sou and Shouma’s erratic behavior.

“Dammit! I figured Azami…and Kunlun weren’t involved, so I relaxed…and brought divine retribution down on myself! Can’t I have one thing go right?! But you can’t beat nature, I guess. Just gotta regroup and try again!”

Well, none of this was nature. It was all her natural nemesis, Lloyd.

Eug had no way of knowing she was soon to come face-to-face with said supernatural phenomenon.

The evening after Eug’s grief-stricken resolution… The Kyounin clan’s territory was bathed in moonlight.

One woman was swinging a wooden sword.

Not Anzu—she was in bed, downed by the double whammy of poison soup and loss of confidence.

“……Huh… Hah!”

It was Phyllo—dripping with sweat, so absorbed in her swings that she never stopped to wipe her brow. She’d taken Anzu’s advice to heart and decided to practice until she wore herself out, and that had taken her long enough that it reached this hour. She was staring at the void, swinging a practice sword—but it did not appear to be going well.

Not because she was tired, or unused to wielding swords.

“…I don’t get it…”

Phyllo had no clear image of whom she was fighting. It felt like she was simply stirring the darkness with the tip of her blade. She’d spent her life knowing how her opponent would react to each blow that she unleashed, but she’d lost that and was badly adrift.

She felt blind, like she was playing a board game, but nobody had explained the rules. She had no clue what to do or how to win.

All she had was a vague unease, verging on panic.

Fresh off the success of rescuing her mother, the backlash had her flummoxed.

“……!” She swung again, trying to banish all these negative emotions.

“Phyllo,” Lloyd said, coming up behind her.

“…Master.”

Lloyd had seen her practicing alone and brought her some rice balls. “Getting hungry?”

“……I guess so.”

He smiled like a mother and pointed to the river, reminding her to wash her hands.

“……Ow.” She’d torn the skin off her palms, and they were still bleeding.

Lloyd had figured as much and took some bandages out of his pocket. “Let’s get some ointment on those first. Marie made it, so it’ll work wonders.”

“……I’d rather eat.”

“Nope.”

“……Meanie.”

Lloyd laughed and patched her hands up “You’ve punched people with magic stones and barely hurt yourself, Phyllo. Weird to see your hands this torn up.”

“……It’s not going well…so I’m gripping too tight.”

“I know the feeling! When it’s going wrong, you just end up going ‘Uhhh!’ about everything.” He scrunched his whole face up as he made that noise, which got a smile out of her.

“……It doesn’t make sense,” Phyllo said, staring down at her hands. “Everything turned out well…and that makes me anxious. Does that ever happen to you? This…shapeless fear?”

“All the time.”

“……Didn’t even think about it, huh?”

It was almost refreshing.

“Fear and anxiety are with me whether things are going well or not. I’ve just accepted that fact. I think that’s how it works for most of us. Some people feel it more than others—I certainly do.”

He winced at that thought.

“But as an old hand at dealing with anxiety, I’m thinking this round of it is probably caused by some sort of realization.”

“…Like?”

She’d rescued her mother and “lost” her purpose—which was a form of realization.

“I started trying to be stronger and manlier because I realized how weak I was. I feel like the anxiety has been with me ever since.”

“……Oh.”

“Knowing what the problem is makes it easier to be positive. If you know what to do, you just have to do your best. Here, your rice ball.”

“……Mm…thanks.” Phyllo took a bite, reflecting on this.

We rescued Mom…but if this isn’t because I’ve lost my purpose…is it because I’ve realized something and have yet to become aware of it? Is there something I’m trying to avert my eyes from? Hmm.

She was slowly knitting her brow together.

“Figure something out?” Lloyd asked, peering into her face.

“…Well…I’ve realized I really like salmon in rice balls,” she said for lack of a better answer.

Elsewhere, by the light of that same moon, the Audoc and Nexamic clans were holding a feast at their joint training ground.

The Audocs had felled trees with their axes, and the Nexamics had built campfires from the wood, and both clans were shoulder to shoulder around these, laughing and drinking.

Both camps were already pretty sure they had this rite in the bag.

With Allan on their side, what could go wrong? He’d unified them, and all they had to do was destroy the Kyounin clan to achieve lasting peace.

With this crushing trust weighing on him, Allan was at a total loss. Like a newbie employee asked to perform a trick at his first office party.

“I wanna run, I wanna run, I wanna run…”

All these misunderstandings had blown his chance to escape, and he felt like a novelist on a deadline or a novelist right after a new volume went on sale or a novelist who’d just submitted an outline, ready to throw everything away and just run as far as his legs would take him.

Completely oblivious to this, Renge offered him some tea.

“Come, Allan! Knock it back!”

It was definitely nonalcoholic. Judging by her stagger, she’d definitely had some of the hard stuff earlier.

“I wanna run away…”

Her attention was only making it worse. He’d always been nervous around women, and feeling like the trust and attention were based on a lie was just making him scared about the consequences once the truth came out.

“Mwa-ha-ha! Renge! You’re getting a bit too close! Try to be less obvious!” Nexamic had an apron on over his bare muscles, one stop down from the infamous naked-apron look.

“Obvious, how?” Renge retorted, turning bright red. “I apologize, Sir Allan. I lost my composure… Do you object to my company?”

“Uh, I dunno about object, but, uh…”

“Mwa-ha-ha! Don’t put him on the spot, Renge! Come, Sir Allan. We’ve got the famous Nexamic Clan daikon-radish miso soup over here! It uses radishes the size of my hamstrings!”

Nexamic allowed his hamstrings to peep through the apron. It wasn’t actively malicious, but…

“Oh? Trying to tempt Sir Allan with your creations?”

“Don’t worry, Renge! We’ve put your shiitake mushrooms in it, too! We’ve named it the alliance memorial soup!”

Allan wasn’t feeling up for any sort of soup, but he took a sip anyway. He drank for a long time, then let out a sad sigh, staring up at the moon.

Renge and Nexamic started whispering to each other.

“Hngg? Does he seem like his mind’s elsewhere?”

“I’m sure he doesn’t wish to fight his friends,” Renge explained. “He is as kind as he is elegant.”

“Aha! A man who would stop our petty squabble with all his might would naturally be opposed to conflict with his own people!”

“At this rate, he may wind up leaving us in time. Elegantly. And then…”

“Hmm. Our alliance exists because of him. If he leaves, it will all fall apart.”

His strength kept them together—and if he did depart, who knew how many would choose to follow him instead? That thought made Renge cross her arms and legs and groan.

“What a pickle.”

“Your accent’s slipping, Renge.”

“Aw, shuddup. You try thinking for once, Tiger Nexamic! Use that tiger brain… Ah, I’m sorry.”

She’d clearly been spiking her tea, and the booze was revealing her real personality.

At her urging, the nearly naked apron man in his forties did try thinking. With an indomitable grin.

“If he doesn’t wish to fight his friends, the answer is simple. We get them all on our side or have them bow out first.” He flexed so hard, his apron burst off him.

“Nexamic, that’s…”

“You guessed it! Tomorrow, I’m gonna hit up Anzu’s place and grab the others. If they refuse…then my hamstrings’ll silence them.”

“Is that really what Allan wants?” Renge glanced his way. Allan looked exactly as dumb as he always did.

“Don’t feel bad. I’ll handle the dirty work… You handle the future of our hamstrings, Renge.”

“I will refuse that elegantly. I would have accepted tea, however.”

“But you must! Hamstrings are far more romantic!”

They laughed, like they were sharing an old joke.

“To the Audoc clan…”

“…and the Tiger clan…”

““…and our future.””

Oblivious to all this, Allan was only worried about his own future.

“What’s gonna happen to me? When they find out, I’m dead meat…”