Toriaezu Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu - Volume 4

Volume 4: Bargain Sale on Magic Power

—

The Iyet Republic.

They say that a hero lives there, and not the kind one finds in fairy tales. No, it’s a living, breathing hero.

Everyone knew about him. Just the sound of his name made recognition flash across their faces. Even so, no one talked about him, so learning anything about him was impossible. His legend was dying behind a veil of mystery.

This is where that hero was—

—

That night, Ryner Lute could be found in a pub filled with dingy faces. Despite it already being nighttime, his black hair was still in full bedhead mode, and his eyes looked like he never quite woke up. He was curled up against the wooden table in a way that’d put an oyster to shame.

He didn’t have to open his eyes all the way to acknowledge his surroundings. A bunch of tattooed macho men with bald heads and scarred-up faces were surrounding and staring at a woman who sat next to him.

Ryner sighed. “You have some nerve, making every waking moment a pain in the ass like this…”

One of the men began to speak. “Hey, baby. Leave this loser behind and come play with us. We’ll definitely leave you feeling satisfied.”

“He’s right. Men like us are the best fit for beautiful women like you. You’re in the dead center of our territory. You’ll be a lucky girl if you hang out with us.”

“……”

The woman was silent. Then her eyes flicked to Ryner. They shared a look.

She really was beautiful, with her pretty face, blonde hair, and almond-shaped blue eyes. It was impossible to find fault in her appearance. It was a little weird how expressionless she was in this situation, but… no one said anything because she was just so beautiful.

Ryner grimaced once their eyes met. “Why’re you looking at me, Ferris? Don’t tell me that you want me to save you?”

Ferris nodded. “A man always saves a woman when she’s threatened by ruffians in novels. If I remember correctly, this is what he says: ‘I’ll do anything it takes to send my angel back to her home on the moon! If I don’t, then this world will… this world will…!’, right?”

“…Yeah, but do scenes like that really happen in pubs? Anyway, I’m not doing that. I’m tired, so do your best.”

The men around them laughed meanly. “See? Listen to his bullshit. You belong with us. We’ll make you feel pleasure that a worthless man like him could never give you.”

“Mm. True, a man like him lacks the ability to get anywhere with me. After all, the only thing he uses his power for at night is attacking young girls.”

The pub’s energy changed to an uproar.

“What!? That bastard raises his hand against kids just like he does!?”

“I can’t fucking believe it! That’s a sensitive topic around here. I won’t forgive anyone who raises his hand against a kid!”

Ryner sighed deeply. “This shit again… I keep telling you, I’ve never done that—”

Ferris interrupted him. “Hmph. So he says, despite the wretched things he did just recently…”

“Augh!? I don’t want to hear about that kind of horrible thing!” Ryner said. “Just stop it!”

Ryner’s protests fell on deaf ears. The men had murder in their eyes.

“…I’ll never forgive you,” one of them said.

Despair was written all over Ryner’s face. “What the hell happened to my life…? How can these guys of all people be calling me a villain?”

“Because you’re useless,” Ferris said without hesitation.

“Don’t say that!” Ryner yelled. “Ugh, this sucks! They’re seriously gonna attack me!”

The macho men took the table that Ryner was sitting at and broke it easily.

“Whoa… We’re really doing this?” Ryner asked. “They really believe what that woman’s telling—”

Ryner didn’t get to finish. His eyes met that of the macho men, and if looks could kill…

“Kill the demon who attacks children!”

“We’ll hurt you just like you hurt them!”

“…You’re all bullies,” Ryner muttered with tears in his eyes.

The men completely ignored Ryner’s fragile mental state. Instead, they let out their own battle cries.

Ferris was next to speak. “Playtime is over. Gain control of this pub and force them to tell you everything they know.”

“…Force them?” Ryner repeated. “You could’ve just asked them like a normal person… Ugh, it’s too late for that.” His motivationless eyes flicked up to the bodybuilders. “Anyway, sorry. Please pass any grievances onto this demon woman.”

Ryner moved his body with ease. One could hardly see the lazy way he’d been moving from before; now, the best way to describe his movements was ‘smooth.’ The only thing that didn’t change was his tone of voice.

“Alright, let’s do this…”

And so a battle began.

Moments later, the pub was stricken by tragedy.

Ryner and Ferris were the only ones left standing. Fifteen men – the macho men and the bartender – were collapsed on the ground, or hanging out of the window, or halfway inside of the wall.

Ferris nodded, satisfied.

Only one man had somehow managed to stay conscious despite everything.

“Now, then,” Ferris began. “Any more resistance would be futile. Do you understand that? Then answer my questions.”

“Huh? Resistance? What are you saying? That man targets children.”

“I already said that playtime is over. How much longer are you going to keep at that nonsense?”

“N-nonsense…?”

Ryner sighed. As always, things had veered into territory best known as absurdity.  “Ah, so anyway, we’re studying the things you can find in fairy tales and picture books and stuff. We heard that there’s a legend of a hero circulating in this village. We’ve been looking for info on him.”

The macho man tensed. “H-hero… I don’t know anything. Nothing. Nada.”

Ryner shrugged. “Yeah, that’s how everyone reacts when we ask them. That’s why…”

Ferris took over. She unsheathed her sword with alarming speed and held it to the man’s neck. “Enough boasting. Hurry up and tell us everything you know. Or else.”

“…Yeah, that’s about it. We couldn’t really pull this sword out in broad daylight,” Ryner said. Then he thought about it for a moment. “No, wait, we do that all the time. I’ll pretend like we don’t for now, though, so anyway, tell us what you know. Or else.”

“I-I can’t… ah! Wait! Blood just… my neck’s bleeding, wait, I’ll tell you everything!”

All Ryner could do was sigh for the millionth time that day. But hey, it worked.

“There’s a massive technical school here in the Iyet Republic,” the man said. “It’s called The Hornet Academy.”

“A technical school?” Ryner repeated. “I don’t care. We just want to hear about the hero—”

“This is about the hero, so shut your mouth and listen,” the man interrupted. “Anyway, at first that technical school trained chefs and fishermen and the like… useful stuff. All of its graduates were pretty good at what they did. But then this guy came along and started teaching there, and that’s where things got weird,” he said.

“He got a bunch of talented people together and made a new course. It was something straight out of a fairy tale. It taught heroes and the people who support them – mages, knights, martial artists and the like – about how to exterminate the Great Demon King’s magical items… It was called the ‘Shanni Heroic Development Course.’”

“Hey, wait, wait,” Ryner said. “The Great Demon King? Magical items? Where did that…?”

He totally ignored Ryner’s question. “No one would possibly join a stupid course to make a hero who’d destroy magical items though, don’t you think?”

“Ah… right. Continue.”

“But kids did join. Stupid children who loved fairy tales and theater. The children used a simulation to learn how to fight the demon king and learn about cooperation and responsibility. The parents enrolled their bright kids… and then the problems came.”

He continued. “The professor went rogue. The professor said that they were actually a hero, and in one fell swoop turned the kids into part of an organization ruled by the teacher. It was an operation with the same scope as the Fiurelle Group, which controls all information, or the beautiful master swindler, Holy Estella, who runs the Believers Association. These too can be considered their own type of heroism.”

All interest suddenly left Ryner’s expression. “The Fiurelle Group and Estella, huh… Just hearing their names makes me lose motivation.”

He remembered those names. How could he not?

So there was Ferris, right? The absolute queen of sheer audacity. Then there was Milk, his insane pain-in-the-ass childhood friend who wanted to marry him. And then there were these two organizations, too. His painful memories were apparent on his face, but nobody said anything to comfort him.

“And the group of so-called heroes did all kinds of horrible things,” the man continued. “They said it was for the sake of justice, so it was the peoples’ duty to cooperate to ‘save the world,’ all while raiding fields and stealing money and land from those who need it. We tried to resist, but the kids were too strong. I don’t know what they did to them. They had dreamy eyes and attacked us, yelling, ‘We’re going to save the world!’ The worst part is that the professor is a pedoph—”

Ryner looked to Ferris, exasperated. “So what should we do? It doesn’t sound like this has anything to do with the Heroic Rel—”

“Hm,” Ferris interrupted. “It seems that we’ve finally found the first of this country’s heroic legends.”

“……Seriously?” Ryner asked, caught off-guard.

Ferris, at least, looked like she was having fun. “It was a joke. I don’t feel the need to get wrapped up with Iyet’s strange organizations any more than strictly necessary.”

“So you just like bullying me.”

“Naturally.”

“Oh, right. Well, arguing is useless at this point, so…”

The man spoke from Ryner’s side. “People as strong as you guys are might be able to crush their so-called heroes! So I’m begging you, please! Save this town’s children!”

True, it was a massive problem that definitely needed solving. The town was in crisis. The kids were in danger.

Even so, Ryner mostly just looked sleepy. “Ahh, man, that sucks. Would be nice if some ally of justice came along to help you out. But see, if I ignore my work, the real evil ruler Ferris would attack m—hey, uh, I lied! That wasn’t true! So if you could kindly remove your sword from my neck…”

“Mm. I still haven’t accomplished my most important task of eating the dango I purchased this afternoon, so I can’t help either.”

Having said their piece, Ryner and Ferris both turned to leave, even though the town and its children were in danger.

The man watched them go. “I knew there was no god in this world…”

—

A few days later.

“Yaaaay, look at all these people!” Milk Callaud said, looking this way and that as she walked through the town’s bustling shopping district.

She had a small figure, big eyes, and a cute flaxen ponytail that waved as she walked. Everything about her was childish… Nobody would think that she was the leader of a Taboo Breaker squadron from Roland, despite being flanked by four men in uniforms. She was only sixteen and had that air of innocence about her, after all.

A kind man followed her. He had white hair despite only being twenty-five. “Be careful so you don’t get lost, okay?”

Milk puffed out her cheeks. “There you go again, Luke! I’m not a kid!”

“I understand, Chief. You’re a good girl, so you won’t get lost.”

“Huh? Good girl? I am?” Milk asked, perfectly satisfied with his response. “Eheheh!”

Luke nodded, pleased, as if he was happily watching his own child grow up. Milk’s other three subordinates watched them with the same smiles.

Absolutely nothing about this scene betrayed the fact that they were elites working on a job laced with death.

“Hey, Luke! Let’s go check that market out!”

Yup, they were elites alright…

“Alright, Lear, since we finally have access to a kitchen for the first time in a while, shall we cook ourselves a meal?” Luke asked.

A cool man with sharp features responded. “That sounds nice. What do you think of buying some fish? I’ll investigate and find out which fish are in season here in Iyet right now.”

A boy named Moe who looked like he was just a little older than Milk responded. “Yay! Luke and Lear make the best food!”

A willful boy about the same age as Moe was next to speak. “So true.They’re on a whole different level than you, Moe.”

“As if you’re any better, Lach,” Moe said, indignant.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough of that,” Luke said with a motherly tone. “What do you guys want to eat?”

“Curry!” Milk, Lach, and Moe all yelled in unison.

Lear pressed his hand to his forehead at their childish outbursts. “I can’t believe you guys, asking for the same thing every single time.”

Lately, their complete lack of urgency was nothing short of amazing considering their line of work.

“Curry it is,” Luke said. “We’ll buy everything we need, so Chief, you should go play and work up a good appetite for dinner.”

“Yeah! I’m really looking forward to it!”

Luke nodded. “Lach, Moe, you two are in charge of carrying everyhing.”

““Okaaay.””

“I’ll research the best seasonal ingredients,” Lear said.

“Please do,” Luke said. “Alrigh, Chief. We’re off.”

“See you later!” Milk said and waved them an exaggerated goodbye. “Aah, I’m really excited to eat curry today,” she said to herself. “Luke and Lear are really good at cooking. I can barely wait. It’s gonna be hard keeping my mind off of it all day… oh, I know! I’ll sing a curry song! Cur, cur, curry’s super good! You get the potatoes all together, and the car… rots… ugh, crap, now I’m even more hungry!”

She looked a little stupid singing to herself as she walked alone. She left the bustling street and followed a brick road into a residential area, where she saw a sign.

“Huh…? What’s that?” Milk said and tottered on over. “Huh? Wow, amazing! Is this for real!? I have to go see it!”

Her eyes sparkled with curiosity and she set out in a run.

By the way, this is what the sign said—

Wait, you. Do you want to save the world? Let’s band together and defeat the great evil! You could be the third savior! —The Heroic Organization. We’re located at—

—

Time passed, and now it was night. Luke, Lach, and Moe were waiting at a table, tense, with cold curry before them. Silence weighed heavily on their hearts.

Luke stared at the clock. It was 7:30 at night, and Milk’s curfew was six o’ clock. Milk was a good kid. She’d never stay out late. Not unless something happened…

Lach suddenly stood up fast enough for his chair to fall down with a loud sound. “Shit, Lear’s still not back!”

Lear was out investigating the situation. Milk had left the market at some point in time, and he was gathering information on when and why she’d disappeared so that he could make the best choice possible for getting her back and offer that up to Luke. Lear was a pro at that kind of thing.

They thought that everything would be okay if they left Lear to do his thing while they waited for Milk at the table in case she came back on her own while he was out.

This was highly improbable , but it was possible that somehow Milk had lost track of time and was still out there playing. She was only sixteen, the perfect age to play outside. Time to relax was crucial in a line of work as harrowing as theirs. Luke would understand if that was the case, just this once.

“It’s okay if that’s what happened, so please just come back…”

The door opened to reveal Lear. “We have a problem,” he said.

Luke’s expression, normally kind, hardened.

—

They moved fast. Abnormally so. Not a single word of their usual banter was uttered.

What Lear told them was dangerous indeed. He had found out that Milk had approached a group called the Heroic Organization’s stronghold. Luke groaned the more he heard about the rumors surrounding the organization’s behavior. Their use of children was inexcusable. Then, on top of everything else, he heard that their leader Shanni was a pedophile who targeted young girls.

It was no surprise that Luke broke out in a run the second the words left Lear’s mouth. “We’re short for time,” he said, his voice steady despite it all. “We have to go before he lays a hand on Milk… We’ll find their stronghold and take everything from them.”

“Yes, sir!”

It was the first time in a long time that they let their true power show.

—

Their stronghold was on the edge of town. Their grounds were surrounded by a massive wall staffed by a suitable amount of watchmen. The gate itself had a whopping eight people acting as guards. They were muscular with a nasty look in their eyes. And they were all adults.

Luke looked to Lear. “What does this mean? I thought that the Heroic Organization was made up of kids that Instructor Shanni was rounding up.”

Lear nodded, never tearing his cold expression away from the guardsmen. “Yes, that’s correct. But their organization is no longer the small group that it once was. Its focus is the children who completed his special course, but it looks like he also employs ruffians like them for jobs like this.”

“I see,” Luke said with a grave expression on his face. “So that means that the children are stronger than those men…”

That meant that they couldn’t go easy on their foes, children or not. Their chief Milk Callaud was a sixteen year old girl, but despite that, she was strong in a way that Luke and her other subordinates weren’t. Mentally, though…

That aside, the wall was thickly coated in black. Luke had no idea what power may lie behind it. It was possible that their leader was many times stronger than they were… no, it was likely that they were. It was one of the most powerful organizations in the entire country, after all. He couldn’t imagine what it was like to get wrapped up with them without knowing what he did…

It was even capable of destruction.

Luke looked around to his subordinates. Lear, Lach, Moe. They all shared the same information. They were overflowing with resolve, as if they weren’t phased by the prospect of danger at all. Even Lear, normally calm and collected, didn’t seem too bothered.

A small smile found its way to Luke’s lips.

This organization was holding their precious chief captive. It didn’t matter how dangerous it may be. There simply was no other answer but to save her.

Luke raised a hand lightly. “I’ll take the role of Chief Luke for the first time in a while now. Lach, Moe, you’ll take the left. Lear and I will go together. We’ll take the main gate in eight seconds. We’re going to save our princess!”

“Let’s do this!”

Lach and Moe shot away from where they stood, effectively disappearing just as their duty required them to. Luke confirmed that they’d left, then took off after them. He took the right side of the gate.

They rapidly crossed the distance to the gate. The guardsmen still hadn’t noticed their presence.

Lear was counting behind them. “Four, five…”

The guards finally noticed Lach and Moe.

“Th, the hell are you…?”

“Seven… and there’s eight on the dot,” Lear finished, his voice even until the end. He lightly patted the guardsmen. Somehow they flew up like feathers in the air.

“Guah!?”

“We’re on top!” Lach said from afar. Then he whacked a guard with the palm of his hand with a sound, sending him flying with his showy attack. He hit two guards who’d been stationed behind him and they all collapsed in a pile together.

Moe was jumping around innocently. “Bam, take that! What do you think? Do I look like Chief Milk right about now?” He might have looked like he was dancing, but the reality was that he was swinging punches and kicks… and just like that, the last of the eight guards was defeated.

Luke, meanwhile, was drawing with light at his fingertips as he ran. “I wish for thunder – Lightning Flash!”

Thunder shot from the center of his magic circle. It broke straight through the massive gate with ease… but by the time the dust cleared, they were already gone, having used the dust to hide their entry to the Heroic Organization’s base.

They showed extraordinary skill. Chief Luke had his team moving as one and wouldn’t stop until he reached his objective.

Lear followed directly after Luke, flanked by Lach and Moe, who took care of guards as they appeared while Lear analyzed the battle as it happened. Nothing could stop them. They’d fought their way through the revolution just like this, too.

Suddenly, countless circles of light appeared before them. Then fire shot from the centers and fired towards Luke and the others.

“Disperse!”

The fireballs exploded. They threw themselves down to avoid the aftermath.

Moe groaned. “Uwaah. Iyet’s magic is surprisingly scary.”

“This isn’t the time for that,” Lach said. “They’re good. Things’ll get rough if there’s a lot of them.”

“Trueee. So what should we do?” Moe asked.

“What’s the plan?” Lach asked.

They both looked at Luke.

Lear tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear, then turned to Luke as well. “We’re finally here, face-to-face with our foe’s main force. Though we can’t see them yet, since they went for a surprise attack…”

Even so, they could tell that their enemy was strong. They weren’t just foot soldiers. Say there were ten of them – if so, there was a possibility that even Chief Luke may fall.

That was Luke’s assessment of the situation after that single attack.

His subordinates might not have noticed the presence of their attackers, but Luke had. He’d known that they were there. They’d used magic to warp their perception of light in the area, but they were unmistakably there.

Luke faced their enemy. “Will you come out for me? Or should I attack you from where you stand now?”

The enemy responded. Their magic stopped, and the strange swirling lights stopped to reveal reality; slowly, slowly their enemies appeared before them.

Luke balked. “Wh-what…?”

It was unbelievable.

Their enemy was… a girl of about seventeen years old, the same as Lach and Moe. She’d dyed her short hair in a pink so hot that all one could think when they saw her was ‘um, why?’… and no matter how he looked at it, her hair didn’t match her dark black eyes. Her smile was bursting with energy, but instead of looking youthful, it was more like she was a businesswoman who sold her smile. And her clothes…

To make things simple, she wore bunny ears. Her clothes were colorful and covered in pom-poms. She was carrying scepters with hearts on them, one in each hand.

It was an outfit that’d make even a five year old child feel embarrassed, but here she was, swinging around her scepters with a smile. “Here I am, number one in the Heroic Association’s Magical Girl Branch! Pretty Meruru, at your service! I’ll punish bad kids with my Lovely Miracle Scepter! ☆”

And then… she posed!

It was all that Luke and the others could do but stare in a daze as Pretty Meruru pointed at them.

“Is this… okay?” Lach whispered. “Is it really okay for someone to live like that? She’s my age…”

“……”

Nobody responded.

It was silent for quite some time.

Then.

Pretty Meruru twirled her scepter around a second time. “Umm. I’m Pretty Meruru, at your serv…”

““You don’t need to say it again!””

Luke shook his head to try to clear it. “Ugh, enough! We don’t have time for this. We h-have to focus on Chief Milk. Where could she—”

Then, another voice suddenly echoed through the building. “Hey! Looks like you lost little ignorants are in a pinch.”

“Huh… Who…?”

Luke and the others turned around to face a man. He had a handsome face and green hair, but it was impossible to tell what was going on in his head. His smile was confident, and his armor… was rainbow.

The Taboo Hunters stared. What else could they do? It was just so gaudy.

Moe was the first one to speak. “This is crazy! What’s with these guys? They’re so colorful that I don’t know where I’m supposed to be looking. Wait, is that the whole point of that armor? Like, to distract us?”

“No fucking way,” Lach muttered.

The rainbow man’s eyes widened, and he shook a hand at them. “No, no, not another word. I understand what you guys are trying to say with just one look. Your uncertainty. Your sadness. There’s school tomorrow, but you’re exhausted. You don’t want to go. I’m sure that you yourselves have already realized it. It’s a bad omen. The demon king’s coming back. The world is on the verge of ruin once more!”

“Huh? How are those two things related…?”

The green haired man shook his head and paid no mind to Luke’s question. “Ah-ah, say no more. I see all. Calm your hearts. The hero Shanni, savior of our world, won’t let the bad feelings get to you! Now, you boys who have lived carrying that uneasiness until now! If you join my Heroic Organization, we’ll take care of everything! Let’s save the world together!”

So said the so-called Shanni as he waved his arm around with a sparkling smile.

Luke and the others took a step back. It was Shanni’s eyes that did it for them. He was getting totally carried away, intoxicated on himself and staring off until the distance.

There wasn’t a hint of coherence in his words, but even so, they realized one thing.

He was dangerous. Very much so.

On top of everything else, this man was said to be a pedophile… and he was keeping Milk prisoner…

It was enough to make even Luke lose his composure. “So you’re the pedophile Shanni. Where’s Chief Milk!? I’ll never forgive you if anything happened to her! Free her!”

Luke,” Lear said from behind him, “he doesn’t seem like someone who will listen to words.”

So he said, but they had to do something. He could lay his evil hands on Milk at any time…

“Hm? You know Milk?” Shanni asked. “Also, pedophiles are disgraceful. I’m not going to touch her. And she came of her own free will.”

“Huh?”

“There’s no way that’s true,” Lach said. “Chief didn’t say anything about this to us. She’d never come to a place like this all by herself.”

Shanni raised his eyebrows. “Ah, I see. So you’re the subordinates she was talking about. But that’s weird. You should’ve gotten our message. ‘Milk will be with the Heroic Organization for a while, so I wonder if you’d be kind enough to come here to see her?’ Our resident witch actually took that message. So, Meruru. What’s going on?”

Meruru had never stopped posing. Only now did her expression break. “What!? I did deliver it! I gave it to Mew Mew, our magic alley cat, and he meowed and ran off with it! I’m sure he delivered it…”

““You call that delivering!?””

Meruru didn’t even get the chance to finish before Luke and the others’ voices drowned hers out.

Shanni alone nodded, deep in thought. “I see. You definitely delivered it, then. Something must have happened to our magic alley cat…”

“To Mew Mew!? Don’t tell me that the demon king got to him!”

“Anyone could come to that conclusion.”

“……”

Who exactly was the so-called demon king? Everyone was thinking it, but no one had the energy left to ask…

“Still, it sounds like Chief Milk is okay,” Lear said.

“Yeah, when I think about it, there’s no way that Chief Milk would get kidnapped that easily,” Moe said.

Lach sighed. “We spent way too much time worrying about her and yelling about how we had to save her before it was too late.”

Everyone looked relieved.

Even Luke finally smiled when he looked around at his team. “Still, I’m worried that we weren’t too late. Ahh, we got really worked up about this. There is just one thing, though – we’ll have to scold Milk for this.”

“Wow, Luke, you can do that? I think you’ll go soft on her before anything gets done.”

“Uuh… that is a problem. She’s just too sweet…”

Everyone nodded in understanding. In the end, they were all doting fathers…

“In any case, we’d best go meet her n…”

Lear’s words trailed off as someone stepped onto the scene.

Luke’s eyes widened. “I-it can’t be,” he whispered.

A girl of sixteen. An expression brimming with confidence. Fluffy bunny ears, a flaxen ponytail. Big, sparkly eyes… and a petite body dressed up with frills and pom-poms. She had a scepter with a star on the end, and waved it around as she spoke.

“Ta-da! Look, look, everyone! I’m Magical Girl Pretty Milk! Yay! I’m a pretty girl from a ma-ma-maaagic land! Pretty ☆ Lovely! Yaaay! ♡”

Somehow, she had even more energy than Meruru.

Shanni nodded in satisfaction. “Oh, you’re finally ready. My vision’s perfect, and I could see that you’d be great at this. Your expression is natural – you’re a girl trying to act more mature than you really are. Not just that, but you’re a professional poser. It’s like you’re not embarrassed at all. She’s a magical girl that only comes around once every thousand years!”

Meruru was sad, yet happy all the same. “I lost. Badly. A washed-up magical girl like me could never change the world. I’m counting on you, Pretty Milk.”

“Yeah, Milk will do her best! Because she’s from a magical place!” Milk said and broke into song.

Luke crumpled to the ground. “We were too late…”

For some reason, the hero Shanni’s expression turned serious. “Anyway, Milk. I’m so glad to see that you’ve successfully made the career change to a magical girl, safe and sound. Now will you tell me about that man you mentioned before?”

Milk’s expression changed to match his. “Huh? You mean, about Ryner? Eheheh. So, um, see, we said that we’d get married back when we were kids… but then he suddenly started running away from me! He’s running around with a girl who’s got beauty for brains! But she’s definitely deceiving him, so I’ll use my magic to put his head on straight!”

Shanni looked to Meruru with a grave look in his eyes. “What do you think? This man promised to marry Milk, who is still a child, then turned around and ran off with a beautiful woman instead… that means…”

Meruru nodded. “He’s the demon king. He’s seducing women and children, and keeps his hands full with every type of girl.”

“Exactly! W-well, I feel like an actual demon king would be keeping preteens around, but anyway, agreeing to marry fourteen or fifteen year olds like Milk… if we let an enviable guy like that live, the whole world would fall into darkness! This is the second coming of the demon king, so come on! It’s time to stand up and fight, Meruru, Milk!”

“Yeah!!”

With that, Shanni, Milk, and Meruru ran off. It was all that Luke and the others could do to stare on after them, too shocked to do a thing…

Next up: Demon King Ryner’s Revival!

—

Speaking of the Demon King Ryner…

“Uwah, I understand! Just put your sword away, c’mon, I’ll die if you don’t. I’ll really die.”

“Mm. And I intend to kill you.”

“I’m telling you, don’t kill me! Ugh, I just… I hate my life…”

Why did he have to die to be revived…?