Chapter 6
A Dance with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight for this Prince
Part 1
After thorough negotiations with Sylphie that went on for quite a big chunk of the evening, I met up with Arue-sensei again to Teleport us back to the village.
As we Teleported back, I noticed that we ended up at the same spot we left, when we teleported out of the village. When I focused on that spot, I sensed Arue-sensei's mana anchored on the ground.
"...Can the Teleport spell only teleport the user to a previously marked spot?"
I tapped at the spot where I felt Arue-sensei's mana.
"So you can sense mana now, huh? Good. You're at a seven year old Crimson Demon child's level of mana control now."
Is that a compliment, or not?
"As for the answer to that question, yes, you can only teleport to the spot you've marked before, and you're limited only to three locations, unless you specialize in teleportation magic, then maybe you can increase it by one or two."
"How interesting."
I couldn't really use Teleport, so this information was pretty useless to me, but the more you know.
I said goodbye to Arue-sensei and thanked her for her hard work. After that, I headed home to tell Komekko-chan about the good news.
When I went back, I found Komekko-chan slouching on the kitchen chair as Yuiyui-san looked over her work from behind.
Komekko-chan perked up and looked at me, eyes begging me for good news.
"Congratulations, Komekko-chan, the request for a practical trial has been approved."
She leapt from her chair in joy, then proceeded to rip her textbook in half.
"Yes! Yes! The Devil doesn't have to study anymore!"
She was a bit too eager to celebrate.
"Hold on, the practical trial might be more up your speed, but they said that they'll make it incredibly difficult to compensate."
"Even if they told me to blow up the moon, that would be way easier than trying to get a passing grade in Arue-sensei's class! The Devil is overjoyed with this development!"
I knew that she was disillusioned by her own academic skills, but she was overexagerrating way too much.
Also, if Komekko-chan says something like 'blow up the moon', there's a chance that she might actually be able to do it if she put her mind to it.
But for some reason, she just can't pass her tests.
This is taking the term 'mental block' to an extreme level.
"I would have preferred it if you graduated from the school under normal circumstances, but I guess any method is fine as long as you actually pass…"
Yuiyui-san said, hanging her head in defeat. After a whole day trying to tutor Komekko-chan, she arrived at this conclusion.
"So, what will the practical exam be about?"
"I'm not sure. The village chief will probably have to come up with something."
"Maybe I'll have to face Haru-sensei in combat?!"
I imagined Haru-sensei turning Komekko-chan into a child using [Youthful Transformation] and spanking Komekko-chan until she gave up.
"...I think you have a better chance if it doesn't come to that."
Haru-sensei is hidden boss material, after all.
Komekko-chan was made to sleep early in preparation for the practical exam. I didn't know when they would make her do it, but it could be as early as the next day.
While Komekko-chan slept in her room, Yuiyui-san was in the kitchen, drinking some tea.
"Can't sleep, Yuiyui-san?"
She looked at me, then seemed to remember our embarrassing moment, and glanced away.
"...Erm… Thanks for keeping that incident a secret, Revi-kun."
"It's not like I'd want to talk about it, anyway."
"I know it's unreasonable, but somehow, I feel kind of insulted that you don't want to brag about almost doing it with me."
Who am I going to brag about it to? Komekko-chan will kill me, and Hyoizaburo-san will make me feel so guilty that I'd want to die.
…Unless he's more open-minded than I thought.
I shook my head, clearing such thoughts away.
"How do you feel about Komekko-chan's chances?"
I asked, in an effort to change the subject.
"She seems confident enough. Then again, she was confident about the written exam, too."
"I hope that seeing Komekko-chan like this hasn't changed your perception of her too much."
"I guess I kind of placed too much of my hopes on her. That was probably pretty bad of me to do."
"Not everyone is perfect, I guess. I mean, the world would be pretty boring if we didn't have any flaws to offset our strengths."
"...It seems you have way more flaws than strengths, though?"
I thought she said that we had a truce?!
"It's because I have a lot of flaws that I know what my true strengths are."
Yuiyui-san looked at me intently.
"That's actually a bit cool and wise…?!"'
"Thanks, but you don't need to look like you're going through an existential crisis just because I said something smart."
She sipped her tea, then regarded me seriously.
"About my daughter, what do you plan to do with her?"
She finally asked this question.
Traditionally, you'd think that the father would want this kind of man-to-man talk with the guy his daughter is interested in.
However, it was clear who actually wore the pants in this family.
"...Like I said, I can't do anything right now. I'll have to discuss it with our friend… I already have a kind of relationship with her."
"A kind of relationship? If that relationship is flimsy enough that you can't properly define it, then why don't you just go ahead and take Komekko?"
"...I thought you didn't want me to take Komekko-chan?"
"I can disagree with her all I want, but I'd be even more disappointed if I raised her to be a quitter. She won't quit on you, no matter what I do."
What a complicated family this is. How can they be this blunt and evasive at the same time?
"It's not like I don't want to date Komekko-chan, but I want to make sure that the party stays together."
"So you'd rather keep your party together, with cheap compromises, than dedicate your life to making my daughter happy?"
She glared at me while setting her cup of tea down on the table.
"With all due respect, Yuiyui-san, Komekko-chan probably loves the party as a whole more than she loves me as an individual, so I think I'm making the right decision here."
She blinked twice, then sighed.
"Why is it that I can't seem to win an argument against you?"
"One of my only strengths is the skill to use any means necessary to win petty debates, after all!"
"...You have a trashy personality, you know that? Well, at least you're not as bad as the first son-in-law."
"I'll take that as a compliment. Now if you really want to fall asleep, you can keep arguing with me until you pass out!"
"No thanks. I'm falling asleep already. Good night, Revi-kun."
"Good night!"
"Oh, one more thing."
She turned around, as she was about to leave the kitchen.
"...No matter how strong Komekko-chan may seem, she's still a girl. If she makes her move on you, no matter how you think about preserving the ties in your party, don't hesitate. She's surprisingly delicate, you know?"
"I-I'll keep that in mind."
She nodded, then headed upstairs.
Part 2
The next morning, Komekko-chan and I went to the village chief's house.
We already had breakfast at her place, but Komekko-chan still ate all the food that the village chief offered her.
"We've decided on the trial that will test Komekko-chan's competency."
"Does the devil need to blow up the moon?"
"You do realize that this test is to determine if you're qualified to wield magic safely, right?"
"...The Devil retracts her previous statement."
The village chief sighed and pulled out a map. He pointed to a place in particular.
"Do you know what this place is, Komekko-chan?"
He tapped on a spot on the map.
"That's a place in the forest around the village, right?"
"...It seems you don't know. You are aware of the Moguninnin, yes?"
He said a strange name that I wasn't sure I could properly pronounce.
"Ah, yes… The Bomber Majin Moguninnin was defeated a while ago, during the village chief trial, right?"
"Yes… As you know, my daughter Yunyun passed the trial and became next in line as the village chief… hehe…"
He made sure to mention this unrelated information while fishing us for compliments.
I chose to bite.
"Oh, wow, how amazing."
"Well, it's not like Yunyun nee-chan defeated the Bomber Majin, right?"
"T-That's not important! The results have already been decided on, OK?!"
He seemed pretty defensive about this.
"A-Anyway, for some reason, after a Moguninnin has been defeated, a new one will take its place. This wouldn't be a problem since we Crimson Demons think that Moguninnins are cool, but apparently the kingdom thinks that super powered beings made out of almost impenetrable magic steel is a danger to the general public. Or something. Pfft."
Is that something to really 'pfft' about?
"So is my trial to beat this new Moguninnin that showed up?"
"Partly, but there's also another task that you must do."
He tapped the same place he referred to earlier.
"A year ago, we discovered a place that we initially figured to be a dungeon, but it seems to be a facility of sorts, similar to the secret one we have in the village."
"Wait, there's a secret facility in the village?"
Is this another exaggerated story?
"Indeed. Now, after thorough research, we discovered that this facility is actually a self-automated factory for Moguninnins. It's the reason why a Moguninnin always appears after one is defeated."
"T-That sounds cool!"
Komekko-chan got excited about the story the chief was telling about this facility.
"Upon hearing about our discovery, the kingdom asked us to completely deactivate this facility. This caused a lot of arguments in the Crimson Demon clan, since the Moguninnin is very popular as a mascot character."
Why are they making a murder weapon into a mascot?
"Since there is a lot of political tension around the matter, we Crimson Demons have refused to deactivate the facility's systems. They're a bit complex, anyway, and no one has the time to spend the time deactivating it."
Were they too lazy to deal with the problem, or did they really think that the Moguninnin was a precious existence that should be protected? I couldn't really tell what was going on in the minds of these people.
"So Komekko-chan's trial will be to defeat the new Moguninnin and deactivate the system, huh?"
"Correct. This trial will allow her to show that she can not only use magic effectively in combat, but that she also has the necessary control to deactivate a complicated system. Plus, since it's a trial issued by the kingdom, I won't have to deal with the 'Free the Mogu' faction who wants us to protect the Moguninnin.
"Won't they be mad at Komekko-chan if she deactivates the system?"
"That's the genius in this plan. Who the hell can get mad at Komekko?"
He was right about that.
"Plus, Komekko-chan is viewed as the face and representative of the clan. Her sister had that spot before, until she revealed herself as an Explosion magic user a while back. If she's the one who deactivates the facility, then the Free the Mogu faction will be satisfied by that outcome, since it's cool and badass, after all."
Just how wishy-washy was this political movement?
"So Komekko-chan gets to pass and get her magic license, the kingdom gets what it wants, you get to pretend like you had no choice but to let the kingdom deactivate the facility systems, and the Free the Mogu faction gets the cool ending they want."
"Yes, everyone wins!"
"Alright, so let's skip to the outcome where we screw up. What happens?"
"...Well, if Komekko-chan somehow messes up while fiddling around with the system, then the facility will make an army of Moguninnin that will go rogue and slaughter a lot of innocents. That can be cool in a way… We can rename the Moguninnin to the T*rminator series!"
"How is that cool?! You think the loss of innocent lives is cool?!"
"You just have to make sure you don't fail."
I looked at Komekko-chan, but she seemed as confident as ever.
"Leave it to the devil! This is a piece of cake!"
I was pretty sure I heard those exact same words before.
Part 3
Since this trail was similar to the one that decides the next village chief, Komekko-chan was allowed to bring one assistant on her quest, as was customary for the village chief trial.
Of course, she chose me to come along.
Since it would take at least half a day to travel to the facility, we packed some camping equipment and a few days worth of rations in case we got lost along the way.
I brought my magic crossbow along, while Komekko-chan had her enchanted gloves like usual. I noticed that she also brought a sword along.
"What's with the sword?"
"Well, we don't know what kind of abilities this new Moguninnin has, so it's best to be prepared. Plus our little sword duel the other day made me want to try using one!"
Iris will worry about Komekko-chan stealing her identity again if she starts using a sword.
Well, I hope it doesn't come to that.
Seeing us off were Arue-sensei, as well as Yuiyui-san and Hyoizaburo-san.
"Good luck, you two! Make sure to use my magic crossbow well, Revi-kun!"
Hyoizaburo-san said, giving me a thumbs up.
"Make sure to protect Revi-kun, Komekko."
"Leave it to the devil, mom!"
Why am I the one being protected?
Well, let's be honest here, I will be the one being protected, I thought.
"If you two ever find yourself in grave danger, use this."
Arue-sensei handed me a rod.
"This is a magic item that will shoot out a flare into the sky. We will send a rescue team once you send it up."
I pocketed the magic item. Komekko-chan was too prideful to call for help, so I made sure to keep it instead.
After our parting words, Komekko-chan and I went inside the forest.
Komekko-chan happily skipped along, acting like we were on a date instead of traversing through a monster infested forest.
With [Farsight], I was able to spot a monster up ahead. It was a hybrid between a bear and an owl. While it had the body of the bear, it had a large owl's head.
I held a hand out when I spotted this strange creature. When I described its appearance to Komekko-chan, she said,
"Oh, that's an Owlbear. It has high awareness and good eyesight, like an owl, but it also has the physical strength and speed of a bear. It's a truly frightening predator! Let's go and hunt it!"
Even after describing how dangerous this creature was, Komekko-chan happily moved forward, intent on charging at this creature straight on.
"Wait, Komekko-chan! I want to try something…"
I took out my magic crossbow. This magic item I bought from Hyoizaburo-san had the function of absorbing a spell or magic energy and empowering the loaded bolt with it.
I could get Komekko-chan to store one of her spells or even her demonic energy into the bolt, which I could use to snipe down a target from faraway.
It essentially combined our strengths together, my superior vision and range and Komekko-chan's destructive firepower.
"What spell should I use?"
"We want to kill it right away, so let's go for something that will give us the best chance for assassinating it on the spot. We also don't want to alert any of the other monsters around."
"...But the devil wants to fight!"
"We need to conserve our energy for the Moguninnin, right? There's no point wasting our energy on these random monsters."
"I guess you're right… So, should I use Vanir Style Death Ray like last time? That seemed to work."
"Yeah, but I want to try something. The Death Ray is a projectile, so I'm sure it'll work, but I want to see if close-ranged spells also work with these bolts…"
"What do you have in mind?"
I instructed Komekko-chan, then had her store the spell into the crystal on the magic crossbow.
After the preparations were completed, I readied the crossbow and took aim.
I aimed carefully with [Farsight], pointing the crossbow sights at the Owlbear's direction.
"[Snipe]!"
Once I thought I had a good shot, I released the bolt.
Once the bolt got within range, the Owlbear noticed it but it was too late.
The bolt transformed into a bright sword made out of pure magic energy. The Light of Saber infused bolt struck through the Owl Bear's head, making it fall limp.
I felt like I cast the spell myself, even though I was only borrowing Komekko-chan's power.
"Whoa… That's cool! The sword pierced the Owl Bear's head!"
"Eh?! That sounds cool, but the Devil can't see?! That's not fair! Ah, but it looks like I got experience points from the kill?"
Komekko-chan said, as she checked her Adventurer's Card out of habit after defeating the monster.
Since it was Komekko-chan's spell, she ended up getting the experience points.
That's only fair, I guess, but I kind of wished that I'd get a share of that EXP, too…
From that point on, anytime I spotted a dangerous looking monster from afar, I'd ask Komekko-chan to load up my bolts with a spell. We tried using different spells. I also discovered that I could ever use magic bolts that were already enchanted.
I tried combining Komekko-chan's spells with my different magic bolts. I noticed that the magic bolt effects didn't make much of a difference, though, since Komekko-chan's spells usually surpassed their firepower.
For example, the fire bolts I had were simply overpowered by the Fireball spell that Komekko-chan loaded them up with.
We spent about half a day going through the forest. We stopped for a lunch break along the way. It was around noon when we finally found the facility the chief described. I confirmed the location on the map.
"I think this is the right place…"
We were looking at a cave with a sign that said 'Secret Moguninnin Facility' outside of it. The sign was probably a recent addition put in there by the villagers, since I doubted that a secret facility would have a sign outside it announcing that it was a secret facility.
The villagers probably thought that the sign was cool.
"So this is the facility… Then, let's go!"
"Hold on, we're entering just like that?!"
"...What are we supposed to do? There's only one entrance, it's not like we can scout the area."
She had a point, but I didn't feel like barging into a suspicious place like this, just like that.
"Alright, lead the way, Komekko-chan!"
"Roger!"
She didn't seem to mind that I cowardly stayed behind her, using her like a human shield.
Part 4
The outside looked like an ordinary cave, but the inside was filled with unknown machinery and wirings on the walls.
It was the kind of technology I saw while looking around the remnants of old Norse. I looked around curiously, trying not to be awed by the sight of advanced technology.
"...I wonder if this technology is somehow tied to Regina-sama's old kingdom? I sense some similarities…"
"The Devil doesn't really know about that stuff."
"Say, I should have probably asked this earlier, but what can you tell me about the Moguninnin?"
All I knew is that they were self-automated murder machines that were pretty powerful.
"Moguninnin are considered the mascot of the village. They never attack villagers unless they are directly threatened… However, they do sometimes pull pranks when they see couples going on a date, for some reason. The Bomber Majin Moguninnin had an attack similiar to Detonation magic, and it will say weird things like 'Normies should just blow up!' while attacking couples…"
The village was already facing a population problem, and yet the couples that were trying to court each other had to deal with the Moguninnin's harassment. Why is this thing still considered the mascot of the village again?
"And apparently these things keep coming back when one of them is defeated, huh?"
"Yes, that's why the trial to become village chief uses the Moguninnin, because they're powerful enough to match the magic power of Crimson Demons, but they also don't use lethal force against aggressive Crimson Demons, for some reason. There's also the fact that a new one appears even if one is destroyed. They're very convenient!"
It almost seems as if they were designed that way, to test a Crimson Demon's strength.
We walked a while, surprisingly not encountering any traps or enemies, but I did get the feeling that I was being watched since we entered.
While I was thinking that we wouldn't encounter the new Moguninnin or any form of resistance, I sensed movement in the darkness up ahead.
A metallic body moved to us with surprising quickness. Its movements were fluid and natural, as if it were made out of flesh and not metal.
Its metal frame had a light blue finish that was still shiny and unblemished. This really was a new model.
It had two pointed components sticking out from the side of its temples, which looked like rabbit ears. It also had big, pupil-less yellow eyes that glowed.
The parts that weren't covered by the light blue metal platings seemed to be made out of a softer, more malleable material that was colored pink.
"Whoa! This new model has a cute feeling to it! The previous Moguninnin looked cool, but this time, the facility made a cute model, huh? I like the new direction that the Mogu line is going. This will appeal to all genders and ages, for sure!"
"Why are you talking about it like it's some toy and not a weapon?"
While I was wary of the Moguninnin, Komekko-chan was gushing over it excitedly.
The Moguninnin looked at Komekko-chan.
"...Scanning… DNA scan reveals target is a female Crimson Demon… Nin Nin… Computers reveal that DNA matches with previous scans… Possible connection with the one named Megumin that has surpassed magic power threshold… Nin Nin…"
"Eh? This thing just mentioned my onee-chan!"
"Do you know if she encountered a Moguninnin before?"
"...One time, when she had her first taste of alcohol, she went on a rant about how she beat up a Moguninnin before. The Devil thought that she was bragging like always, but it seems that she's telling the truth!"
While we were talking, the Moguninnin turned its eyes on me.
"Scanning… DNA scan reveals target is not a Crimson Demon… Nin Nin… Target is not displaying hostile action… Nin Nin… Caution level: Moderate… Nin Nin…"
Its high pitched, tinny voice and constant 'Nin Nin' was starting to piss me off.
"The Moguninnin seems to be leaving us alone, so let's keep going inside."
"Aright…"
While being wary of the Moguninnin, I followed Komekko-chan as she went deeper in. The Moguninnin didn't move, but its yellow eyes watched us as we went deeper into the facility.
We kept walking further in. We saw more strange machinery, and the sense that we were being watched seemed to increase.
After a few minutes of walking, we reached the end of the narrow hallway and ended up before a door. The door had no handles, but there was a panel with a glowing red hand print on it.
We stopped in front of the door and looked at the glowing hand.
"...Maybe you're supposed to place your hand on it?"
Since the Moguninnin implied that it didn't see Komekko-chan as a threat since it was a Crimson Demon, I thought that she was the best bet to put her hand on the panel.
"Alright! This looks cool!"
Without any hesitation at all, Komekko-chan placed her hand on the panel. There was a flash of light, then I heard a click.
The door slid open for us, revealing a large space inside.
At the furthest end of the spacious room, there was a mysterious machine that had a lot of buttons and a large glass panel over it. The glass panel emitted light and displayed words on it.
Main Computer - Select a Category:
-Database
-Facility Surveillance
-Facility Controls
-Reports
-Homework Folder
-Emergency System Shut Down
We curiously examined this complicated looking machine that was apparently called a computer.
After fiddling around with the buttons, we learned how to use the computer.
"I guess we should just go down the list and choose 'Database' first…"
Komekko-chan nodded. She selected the Database category.
There were a lot of subcategories that appeared on the screen. Since we didn't have time to look over at them, we picked out the most interesting looking ones.
Crimson Demon Creation Part 1:
Contrary to the name, Crimson Demons are actually normal humans–volunteers who wanted to participate in an experiment to produce Super Mages with superior magic power. The red eyes and barcode birthmarks are merely for cosmetic purposes.
"...Eh? Crimson Demons are just normal humans? Well, I don't think being a result of some crazy science experiment is normal… Also, what's this about barcode birthmarks?"
"If you're interested, the Devil can show you later?"
Komekko-chan gave me a flirty wink while saying this. I audibly gulped at the insinuation.
"A-Anyway, let's look at the other information…?!"
Crimson Demon Creation Part 2:
Due to the project leader's wishes, a secret mutation was added to the Crimson Demon gene. Female Crimson demons have an almost 100% chance to be born as beautiful women, however, Crimson Demon men don't have the same mutation. Furthermore, Crimson Demon women are also likely to be born as geniuses. Crimson Demon men don't have the same mutation.
"Eh? What's up with this project manager guy?! Isn't it obvious that he's trying to build a harem of beautiful genius girls?!"
"T-The Devil has been living a lie… I thought that my good looks and smarts were a gift from the heavens, but it turns out I'm just a genetically enhanced super human?! Wait, that's actually really cool?!"
Her mood changed mid sentence.
Also, what's the difference between being blessed by the gods and by a random scientist. In the end, it's not fair for the rest of the unprivileged people!
Or so I say, despite being born into royalty.
The rest of the database was filled with unimportant facts about Crimson Demons, but I spotted one that seemed interesting.
Crimson Demon Creation Part 9:
The initial goal of the Crimson Demon project is to create a super soldier that exceeds the known human limit for magic power. The first batch of Crimson Demons, while displaying naturally high magic power, wasn't able to reach this threshold. However, it's possible that after several generations of Crimson Demons, someone might come out that will surpass this magic power threshold. In order to record and observe the appearance of this Crimson Demon, a facility that creates robots that function to supervise the growth of the Crimson Demons has been made. The project manager was pressured to call these supervisor robots as 'Moguninnin' upon the request of the most beautiful Crimson Demon woman at the time.
This project manager guy sure was a pushover.
He fell victim to his own creation.
More importantly, my suspicion that these Moguninnin were tasked to challenge and observe the growth of Crimson Demons wasn't far off the mark, after all.
"Fumu… So the Moguninnin are tasked to find the Chosen One, huh…? Perhaps the Devil is this Chosen One who will surpass the human limit for magic power…?!"
Komekko-chan got excited about the idea.
After finishing up all the articles in the Database category, we checked out the Facility Surveillance and Controls categories.
The Facility Surveillance was pretty straight forward. Somehow, the computer showed us different areas of the facility, showing us moving images. The concept of a moving picture surprised me. I imagined magic cameras that were able to capture moving images like this. Those things would probably sell a lot!
These moving picture cameras were also probably the reason why I felt like we were being watched as we explored the facility.
Unfortunately, the Facility Controls category couldn't be accessed unless we knew the password. After trying out all kinds of codes and phrases, we gave up.
We had more luck with the Report category, though.
"Oh! It seems that reports made by the Moguninnin are stored here! Look, the report it made about us earlier is stored here!"
True to Komekko-chan's words, the report about us was there. Even the official reports had the 'Nin Nin' added on. Was that really necessary?
Along with the written report, there was also a moving picture attached to it. It seemed that these moving pictures were called 'videos', according to the report.
The video showed me and Komekko-chan in the Moguninnin's point of view. We heard ourselves talking, with Komekko-chan gushing about how cool the Moguninnin us, while I was shaking in fear and apprehension the entire time.
Eh? Did I really look like that much of a coward all the time?!
While I was having an identity crisis seeing myself in the eyes of another person for the first time, Komekko-chan glanced through the various reports and found her onee-chan's name.
"Look, look! My onee-chan is listed here!"
She pointed excitedly at her onee-chan's name. She excitedly played the video that was attached to the report.
In the video, we saw her with Kazuma-san.
For some reason, Kazuma-san was carrying a pair of black panties in hand.
"...Explosion!"
In the short clip, we saw the Moguninnin being blasted away by Megumin-san's Explosion magic.
The clip was accompanied by a written report.
Target known as Megumin has exceeded the magical threshold. The facility now gives her administrative controls. Moguninnin will now prioritize observing the target.
Komekko-chan stared at the words in the report in awe.
"Wow… The Devil knew this from the start but… Onee-chan sugoi…!"
She hopped around excitedly after reading the report.
Megumin-san actually had enough magic power to surpass the human limits for magic power… That was both really impressive and really scary!
"Since Megumin-san didn't know about this facility, or the Moguninnin's purpose, the Moguninnin couldn't fulfill their mission in observing her…"
"It's sad, but the Devil will have to shut down this whole system in order to pass the trial. The poor Moguninnin will never be able to fulfill their purpose…"
"That's really depressing when you say it like that."
I felt a bit bad for what we were about to do to the Moguninnin, but it wasn't like they were real people.
"What's this Homework Folder category about?"
I pointed to the next category, below Reports.
"...The Devil isn't really interested in this one."
"That's because it has the word homework in it, huh? Why don't we just check?"
Komekko-chan reluctantly checked inside.
We found a bunch of videos with suspicious titles attached to them.
"...Big Breast JK Crimson Demon Taking Bath in River While Taking Off Uniform Unaware Hidden Cam Voyeur Amateur Gonzo."
I read one of the titles around while starting to sweat.
All of the videos had a ridiculous title like this.
Komekko-chan, while having an unreadable expression, started reading one of the titles.
"...Scandalous Gonzo Of An Amateur Married Crimson Demon Busty Beautiful Wife Sleeping With Ugly Bastard Boss."
I glanced away as if it were somehow my fault that these kinds of videos were on here.
And what's up with those titles?!
What in the world is a 'gonzo' anyway?!
"...It seems like these are videos of various Crimson Demon women engaging in intimate acts."
I couldn't find another way to explain them without sounding like some kind of degenerate.
Based on the perspective of the videos, it seems like the Moguninnin are the ones who are taking the videos.
Does this mean that the aforementioned project manager was secretly spying on the Crimson Demons?
"T-These nasty videos must be destroyed! We need to shut down the system immediately, Revi!"
Komekko-chan found yet another reason to shut down this facility.
"...W-Well, perhaps we shouldn't be too hasty? I find it hard to believe that these videos didn't have any kind of scientific purpose at all? What if they're actually there to track the genealogy of Crimson Demons over the years, as well as to observe the mutation that gives you guys high magic power?"
Komekko-chan looked at me skeptically, then opened one of the videos to see if I had a point.
"...What's your name?"
"My name is Kurinko…"
"How old are you?"
"I'm *bleep* years old…"
"Is this your first time doing this?"
"Yes."
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No, I don't."
"Why did you want to do this?"
"Well, I want some extra pocket change, so I thought I'd give this a try!"
"Why don't you show us what's under those clothes, then."
"Okies~!"
The title of the video was called 'JK's First Casting Couch Gonzo Pretty Face Innocent Uniformed JK Making AV Debut'.
It featured an energetic looking young girl sitting on a black leather couch while an unseen interviewer asked her questions.
I was sweating a lot while Komekko-chan waited for me to answer.
"S-So, the next category is the Emergency System Shutdown, yes?"
I had no choice but to change the topic.
"Yes, the Devil has a trial to finish, after all…"
She moved to the last category.
According to the chief, in order to shutdown the system, one needed to manually override the magic circuits.
It was a similar exercise to what I had been practicing on the side.
However, when we saw the nature of the magic circuit that we needed to override, I saw that the practice I had been doing was child's play compared to what Komekko-chan needed to do for her trial.
"...Wah. This looks complicated. Well, better get started, then!"
Her optimism was something else.
"Hold on, I think we're forgetting something, Komekko-chan?"
"Hm? What is it? Don't tell me you're trying to save those lewd videos again?"
She looked at me suspiciously.
"The Devil can give you better play than those nasty videos…"
"...I'll hold you to that when the time comes, but that's not it. The chief said that we'd have to defeat the Moguninnin, too…"
"Well, if we override the system, the Moguninnin will also shut down. Maybe we don't have to…"
Just as Komekko-chan said that, I saw a flicker of blue light from the corner of my vision. When I turned around, I saw the light blue Moguninnin suddenly appear in the room, as if it had teleported there.
"...Unauthorized access to the shutdown system detected. Removing intruders from high security areas."
The Moguninnin extended its right arm towards us. Eight tubes appeared on its arm. Before Komekko-chan and I could react, the Moguninnin shot two green crystals at us.
The crystals didn't do any damage, but when they made contact with us, we felt the room spin, until the movement stopped.
When we opened our eyes, we found ourselves outside of the cave again.
"E-Eh?! What happened?"
Komekko-chan said, looking around in disbelief.
I noticed that there was a big green crystal underneath our feet. I didn't notice it earlier because it was hiding underneath a patch of grass.
"...It seems like the Moguninnin forcibly teleported us outside the cave."
"Those crystals it launched at us must be some kind of teleportation trap, then. Or at least, they work in a similar manner."
"So, what are we going to do? It seems like we'll have to defeat this Moguninnin to shut down the system, after all."
I was just glad that it didn't take lethal action right away.
"Isn't it obvious?! Of course we'll just have to come back and beat that thing up! The Devil will surpass onee-chan's magic power score!"
While declaring this, she charged back into the cave while laughing maniacally.
I had no choice but to follow her back inside.
Part 5
"What do we do about this Moguninnin? It can just forcibly teleport us out."
I said, while facing the door that led into the control room again.
"It shot those shards at us, right? That means we should just avoid getting hit!"
"Easier said than done."
Komekko-chan kicked the door open and came inside without a care.
The Moguninnin was still there. It turned its head around, its yellow eyes looking at us.
"Intruders have returned… Will take action to remove them again… Nin Nin…"
The tubes emerged from its arm again. Two green crystals shot out at us, like last time.
This time, we anticipated the attack and dodged the crystals.
"Hah! The same trick won't work on the Devil…! Eh? Where did it go?"
The Moguninnin disappeared, even though we were looking directly at it.
Before I could look around the room, I felt something touch my back. I looked around and saw a green crystal against my back.
The Moguninnin had appeared behind us, using the crystals it shot out earlier.
Komekko-chan and I found ourselves back in the entrance again.
"Gah! That's annoying! And the fact that it's not even trying to hurt us makes the Devil angry!"
She stomped her foot angrily. Komekko-chan had quite a temper, especially when things didn't go her way.
"Calm down, Komekko-chan. We just need to get used to its patterns in battle. Now we know its first few moves. Just stay aware of where the Moguninnin is teleporting and where the crystals are at all times."
"Good point, Revi. Let's do this!"
"Actually, I got an idea…"
We came back in for our third try.
"Intruders detected once more…"
It shot out two crystals at us. This time, instead of dodging, Komekko-chan and I held out a piece of debris that we found laying around.
The Crystals teleported the debris instead when the crystals made contact with it.
"We did it! This thing isn't so tough after all! Good job, Revi!"
Komekko-chan was all smiles as I found out a way to counter the crystals.
If the crystals touch the debris first, then it won't be able to teleport us away.
"Calculating counter measures…"
The Moguninnin launched two more crystals. Komekko-chan and I held up more pieces of debris.
However, as the crystals were mid-flight, one of them disappeared.
The crystal that wes heading towards me turned into the Moguninnin.
"What the… Urk!"
A metal fist dug itself into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me.
I was sent flying away across the room.
"Revi…!"
"Threat level upgraded… Must not harm Crimson Demon, but the foreign target will be disposed of… Nin Nin…"
Since we came up with a way to counter the teleportation crystals, the Moguninnin decided to take lethal action against me.
"Y-You dare to hurt Revi! Well… I must admit that the teleportation trick you used is cool. You're using these crystals as mobile teleportation points, huh? That's really cool! I know, I'll name you Vanishing Majin Moguninnin!"
"This unit has no ego to flatter… Nin Nin… Adjusting name to Vanishing Majin Moguninnin… Nin Nin…"
The Moguninnin seemed happy with its new name.
While recovering, I took out my magic crossbow.
"Komekko-chan, lend me some of your power…"
"Roger!"
We already had lots of practice doing this. Komekko-chan stored one of her spells into the magic crossbow's crystal.
I shot a bolt covered by a brilliant light at the Vanishing Majin.
The bolt transformed into a sword made out of magical energy, a flying Light of Saber.
The Vanishing Majin shot a crystal into the air, teleporting to it.
However, the Light of Saber bolt turned around and changed course.
It shot up and struck the Vanishing Majin on the leg, destroying it.
I stored Komekko-chan's Light of Saber inside a homing bolt.
The Vanishing Majin landed on one leg, looking at its damaged body.
"Leg has been destroyed… Nin Nin… Activating repair sequence…"
It shot a crystal to a wall, teleporting itself there. A part of the wall opened, and a new leg came out, held by metallic constructs that looked like tentacles. The metal tentacles attached the new leg on the Vanishing Majin.
"It can fix itself? This isn't fair…?!"
Since we were in a facility that created Moguninnin, I should have expected this to happen, but I was still surprised.
"Threat level of intruders is increasing… Nin Nin… Updating to a higher level of threat response… Nin Nin…"
I only managed to piss it off.
It aimed its tubes at me, launching eight crystals at once.
The Crystals were scattered around, not giving me any chances to predict where the Vanishing Majin would appear.
Thankfully, Komekko-chan stepped in front of me.
"[Devil Trigger]!"
The summoned manifestation of her contracted Devil appeared in an avatar of red, demonic energy.
Its muscular arms spread out and in a brilliant display of speed, it managed to deflect all of the crystals in the air, aimed towards me.
However, as the crystals were deflected away, one of them still came crashing down to where I was.
I looked closer and saw a thin wire attached to it, leading to Vanishing Majin's finger. With a flick of its finger, it brought the crystal down at me.
In the same moment, it teleported to that same crystal.
"Eeep?!"
I covered my face with my hands as the Vanishing Majin appeared above us.
"...! Hoost…!"
Komekko-chan commanded the manifested devil to protect me. I saw it block the Vanishing Majin's way, crossing its arms to form a barricade.
The Vanishing Majin was stopped in midair, but it held its right arm out.
To my surprise, the arm shot out of its body, propelled by a burst of ignition.
It curved around the manifested Devil, in a trajectory to punch my face off.
"Oh nyo, you don't!"
Komekko-chan took her sword out and slashed at the arm, stopping it from clobbering me.
With its attacks all countered, the Vanishing Majin backed away, its flying arm returning to reattach itself.
"Intruders are very competent… Rocket Arm was countered… Nin Nin… Crimson Demon is interfering… Threat level reassessed… Crimson Demon will be considered a threat as well… Nin Nin…"
I sighed in relief, seeing that the crisis was averted, but the Vanishing Majin's words didn't encourage me at all.
It stated that it was going to attack Komekko-chan, too.
I couldn't use her as a meat shield anymore…
"Revi, I have a feeling you're thinking something a bit scummy…"
"Must be your imagination, Komekko-chan!"
The manifested Devil returned to Komekko-chan's shadow. She was improving in the length of time she could keep it summoned, but she couldn't keep it up forever.
"We might be at a stalemate with the Vanishing Majin, but that's only if it doesn't have any more tricks."
Komekko-chan nodded, while idly spinning the sword she used to protect me.
"I doubt the Devil's Fireball will do much damage to this thing's armor. And it can repair itself, anyway."
"So, how do we beat this thing?!"
"We'll just have to cut it up into tiny pieces until it can't repair itself anymore!"
She makes everything sound easy.
"Oh! The Devil actually has a smart idea this time!"
So she admitted that her idea of cutting the enemy into tiny pieces wasn't smart, huh?
"What is it?"
She leaned in and whispered to me.
"...That might actually be smart?!"
"You don't need to sound so surprised."
I took out my magic crossbow and let Komekko-chan enact her plan.
The Vanishing Majin, after taking a short period to reassess its strategy, launched its arm into the air again.
This time, the arm that held the tubes was up in the air.
From its vantage point, the arm launched eight crystals at us again, the rocket arm changing locations and angles to shoot each crystal.
It was making it hard for Komekko-chan to summon her devil and deflect the crystals, since the crystals were fired from different angles.
Komekko-chan brought out the devil and deflected the crystals that she could. Whenever the Vanishing Majin teleported to one of the crystals that wasn't deflected, Komekko-chan would block its attack with her sword.
We were fighting on equal grounds, until…
"Urk… I can't keep up the [Devil Trigger]...!"
The summoned devil began to fade away, with Komekko-chan unable to keep it active for a long duration.
The Vanishing Majin took this opportunity to close in on us, seeing the summoned devil fade away.
"...Well, the Devil only used up half of my demonic energy, after all!"
I smiled, as I raised my magic crossbow.
"[Devil Trigger Shot]!"
I fired a bolt that contained the other half of the demonic energy.
The demonic energy that was cloaking the bolt transformed into the summoned devil in midair.
It collided with the Vanishing Majin, an arm of demonic energy grabbing the Vanishing Majin by the throat.
The summoned devil let out a sadistic smile, then unleashed a barrage of punches with its free hand, pummeling the Vanishing Majin's face.
Since the Majin was being tightly grappled, it couldn't move.
The summoned devil ripped the armor around its chest. Inside, we saw a green crystal amidst a series of circuitry. That was probably the main teleporting crystal.
The rocket arm shot out a final spread of crystals, but before the Vanishing Majin could teleport away, Komekko-chan closed one eye.
"[Vanir Style Death Ray]!"
She unleashed a concentrated beam of demonic energy to shatter the main crystal into dust.
The Vanishing Majin stopped moving, defeated.
The summoned devil, Hoost, gave us a thumbs up.
"Nice one, Hoost!"
Komekko-chan gave him a congratulatory slap on the butt before he disappeared.
I guess he was waiting for that.
Part 6
With the Vanishing Majin defeated, all that was left was to shut down the system.
I said 'all that was left', but it was still a complicated task.
"Wah… This magic circuit is really complicated…"
We examined the magic circuit inside the system. One needed expert mana control in order to access the system through the circuits.
Komekko-chan had good mana control, but even she couldn't do anything about the complicated circuitry.
"Komekko-chan, from my personal experience, rather than imagining your mana going through the circuits, it's actually better to fill the circuits all at once."
"...Huh? But you'll just overload and break the magic circuit if you do that. We want to override the system and gain access to it, not break the whole thing. Who knows, maybe we'll have some use for it later?"
Just like what I did with the wand when I faced the Silver Wolf, Komekko-chan thought that I wanted to overload the magic circuits.
"No, what I'm talking about is something different. You imagine the circuit in your head, and fill the image in your head with mana all at once. Instead of trickling your mana in through the circuits, it's more like stamping a copy of the circuit with your mana, at all once."
"...I guess that makes sense. If the Devil fails, then this whole thing will explode, though."
"Huh? The Devil is worried about failure? Is this really the girl that charmed me?"
"...I charmed you?"
In my excitement to cheer her up, I let that slip out.
"W-Well… It was kind of obvious, wasn't it?"
Before I started to rekindle my interest in Iris, I couldn't deny that I was crushing hard on Komekko-chan.
Ever since I met her, I was blown away by her confidence and self-assured aura.
It felt like she could do anything she set her mind to.
"Fine… The Devil will do it your way. But you have to promise me something…"
"What is it?"
"You'll grant any request I ask of you if I succeed, alright?"
I gulped, seeing a serious look in her eyes that looked like they wouldn't take no for an answer.
"A-Alright. I guess that's fair. It'll be my reward for you passing your trial."
"And if I fail, I want you to comfort me by granting three of my requests…"
"Wait, why are you getting even more requests even if you fail?"
That didn't quite add up.
Even so, I had no choice but to agree with her unreasonable conditions. That was just how Komekko-chan was. You just had no choice but to go along with her many whims.
I kind of liked going along with her whims, though.
After taking a deep breath, she placed her hand on the circuits.
"...!"
Her eyes focused, her mana flooded in all at once.
We waited, the seconds passing by.
"System shutting down… Going offline… Making backups of the Homework Folder…"
Why is it prioritizing the porn stash?
After emitting a low humming noise, the system went dark. The lights in the facility turned off all at once.
Komekko-chan succeeded in her trial.
"We did it!"
Komekko-chan let out a shrill cry of joy as she hugged me.
I hugged her back, giving her a congratulatory pat on the back.
"See? I told you, the Devil can do anything she wants, right?"
I said, earning a giggle from her.
"You know, I don't think I really believed those boasts I was making before. It was kind of just what my clan did, you know? Boasting about everything, claiming to be a genius at everything…"
I felt her grip on me go tighter. I let her talk, while slowly rubbing circles on her back.
"...I didn't really know if all my talk had any truth in them. It's not like I really accomplished anything yet. And when I failed the magic license exam… That really hurt my pride, you know?"
I remembered her distraught look when she had to tell Yuiyui-san that she failed the test. I saw the frustration and shame in her eyes when she got disciplined by her mother.
…During that night, at the river, when she practically confessed to me, I felt like she wanted me to comfort her. Not just emotionally, either. She wanted to cross the line with me, to make her forget everything that happened to her that day.
I didn't feel like it was right. Not only was I worried about what Iris would say, but I didn't want to take advantage of Komekko-chan's emotional state. It just didn't feel right.
In this moment, though, when I felt all her worries disappear, when I felt like I was seeing Komekko-chan as she usually was, overconfident to an excessive degree, but having the genius and talent to make up for it, an extraordinarily blessed prodigy of a girl, I felt like it was the right time.
"Hey… Komekko-chan, what was your request?"
She backed away from me and stared into my eyes with glowing crimson orbs.
"I want to be more than friends. I want to be lovers."
I felt my heart skip several beats.
Even with Iris, I didn't really receive a proper confession from her.
I gave her plenty of confessions, but none of them were really sincere, just the deluded, empty words of some punk kid who didn't know any better.
I could feel Komekko-chan's emotions, her trepidation, her excitement, her optimism, the fear causing the tremble in her bottom lip as she waited for my response.
I wanted to give her a proper response. Saying 'I like you too' just felt cheap. I don't think I even knew if what I felt for her was actually love and romance and not just an inflated sense of admiration for this amazing girl.
"Hey, Revi…"
"W-What is it?"
"You know, I'm not the brainy type like you and Iris. I think we already established that. I'm more about emotion and feel, now instead of then and tomorrow. Hesitation, mulling over thoughts in your head until it hurts, struggling for answers, that stuff will just make me feel like you don't feel the same way, if you overthink things. I'm not a patient girl, I don't have time for clumsy words. I only need one kind of answer from you."
"...What is it?"
"Just show me with your body, the things you feel about me."
Komekko-chan wasn't Iris.
Iris would probably need a whole paragraph from me to explain my feelings for her.
Just like how Komekko-chan hated studying and preferred learning by moving her body around, that was how she wanted to experience love, too.
Komekko-chan showed her everything to me, in this village she grew up in. Many years from now, the training grounds filled with practice dummies and the trees that we climbed and watched the sunset on, that was probably the memory that would pop up when I thought of Komekko-chan.
An energetic girl who grew up hunting crawfish by the river, running around in the forest.
This was the Komekko-chan who stole my heart.
I didn't say anything more. I took her hand, led her out of the darkness of the facility.
Then, in the forest drenched in silver moonlight, we set up the tent and spent the night together.
Part 7
When I woke up, I was laying next to Komekko-chan in the tent.
I smiled and watched her drooling, sleeping face.
I walked out, not bothering to put on any clothes.
I enjoyed the morning chill on my skin and stretched my arms out.
What a beautiful day!
On the branch hanging over our tent, I looked at a pair of birds doing the deed.
Ara… Going at it this early in the morning, this pair of literal love birds. I'm not mad, I'm a normie just like you, now!
I did a little dance, shaking my butt around.
After my moment of manic joy passed over me, I went back to the tent to dress up.
Komekko-chan was stirring awake, sitting up while hiding her bare skin with the blankets.
Oh my, choosing to be modest after everything we did?
"Hello, Kome-tan~!"
I hugged my lover, giddily laughing.
"..."
She didn't respond and just rubbed her bleary eyes.
I started to get worried.
"E-Eh? What's the matter, Komekko-chan? Don't tell me that you weren't satisfied?!"
"Are you kidding me? You pushed me past the point of being satisfied. Seriously, how could you have that much endurance?! I can't even feel my legs?!"
"...Komekko-chan, you don't need to flatter me that much. I'm not the kind of guy who needs cheap reassurances on his bedroom skills, alright? Next you're gonna say that I reached so deep inside that your lungs hurt…"
"No, I'm saying that there's something definitely wrong with you… You should get whatever condition you have checked out!"
Since she mentioned it, Arue-sensei did say that there was something abnormal in the way I attracted women around me. Something about some weird pheromone?
But Arue-sensei didn't say anything about my stamina in the bedroom… Well, not like she knew what I was like in the bedroom.
Not like I knew either until my night with Komekko-chan.
Still, for a girl who was famous for her physical abilities and high stamina, if she was saying that there was something abnormal about my stamina, at least in bed, then that was probably something I had to look into.
After all, I couldn't even hold a planking position for more than four minutes or so during my workouts, yet I held that same planking position and added even more movements with Komekko-chan last night…
Maybe I'm just one of those people who perform when it matters most?
Maybe it's adrenaline?
No, I performed way better in bed than I did in any of my battles when my life was literally in danger.
…Maybe my brain was so perverted that it considered bedroom activities more important than the preservation of my own life.
"Ahem… Well, that aside, I was hoping that our morning after pillow talk would be more romantic than this…"
"Ah… Forgive the Devil. Do you wanna cuddle a bit, then?"
"S-Sure…"
We giggled as we laid back onto the bedrolls, hugging each other.
For thirty minutes, we chatted idly while cuddling. I played with her silky hair while we talked.
I couldn't get enough of her smooth skin, the softness of her body, everything about her.
My hand drifted down and felt her round bottom, idly touching it as we talked.
"You really like that part, huh?"
"...Is it weird that I do?"
"Not really. It's pretty common to like that part. At least you're not obsessed with my feet, or something like that. I heard some people even like armpits."
"I thought that this was supposed to be a romantic pillow talk, why are we talking about feet and armpits?"
"Gah! Sorry, I guess the Devil tends to think about weird things to say."
"It's fine. I don't think I'll ever get bored of talking with Komekko-chan."
"Because the Devil is interesting?"
"Because it's fun to tease you about the weird things you say?"
"Hey, I'm the one who's supposed to be teasing you?!"
"Sorry! I forgot my role in this relationship for a second!"
I apologized once Komekko-chan started pulling on my ear.
"...So, what are we going to tell Iris?"
Komekko-chan said, her smile fading a bit, as she started thinking about what to do about that situation.
"You're really doing a poor job on the romantic pillow talk thing, Komekko-chan."
"Sorry, but I still can't help but think about it, you know?"
She laid down on my chest while I thought about Iris.
"Just leave it to me, Komekko-chan."
I said, giving her a reassuring smile.
"...The Devil is also obligated to explain things to her. I can help you sort things out."
"I have a feeling that she'd want to talk things out alone with me. You can talk to her about it after, but I have a feeling that I should be the one to talk things out with her first."
After all, I was the one who couldn't wait.
I gave my first time to Komekko-chan, even though I knew that Iris still had a bit of an inferiority towards Komekko-chan.
Even though Iris cared about Komekko-chan, things like romance tends to make people a bit crazy.
I'm the source on that one.
"...Ugh. Knowing Iris, she'd say something insane like 'let me sleep with some other dude too, then we'll be even'."
"That's horrible, but that does sound like something she'd say."
Komekko-chan had a good understanding of Iris's twisted personality, too.
After chatting for a bit longer, we packed our things and made our way back to the village.
Komekko-chan was holding my hand the whole time, making sure to parade our new relationship around to the rest of the village.
I saw some lonely girls looking at her with jealousy, but Komekko-chan only seemed to get happier because of that.
She's kind of twisted, too.
When we got to her place, Komekko-chan practically kicked open the door.
"Mother, father! I've completed the trial! Praise your daughter! Depending on how big the feast you've prepared is, I might accept your apologies if you beg hard enough!"
Yuiyui-san was in the middle of laying food and plates out on the table, with Hyoizaburo-san helping her.
"That's great, Komekko, but tone down the enthusiasm for a bit."
"Y-Yes mother."
Komekko-chan immediately turned quiet when her mother glared at her.
The shift in tones in Yuiyui-san's voice were subtle, but Komekko-chan could read them well.
Must be years of conditioning.
"Congratulations, Revi-kun! I knew you could do it!"
"Thank you, Hyoizaburo-san, but your daughter is the one who passed the trial, you know?"
This guy really grew to like me.
I pray to the gods out there that they'd give this guy a real son already.
They don't look that old, maybe there's still time.
"Actually, Revi-kun, you got a letter sent in while you two were away. It's from the capital."
Komekko-chan was already wolfing down her food, so I took the letter and read it on my own.
Dear Revi Elroad,
What the hell are you doing taking so long, punk. You're only supposed to be in that damn village for a few days. Don't tell me you're flirting around with Komekko-chan? Or maybe with some Crimson Demon girl I don't know about?
Anyway, I'm not sure if this will somehow be intercepted by the wrong hands, so I'll keep the message simple. Come back to the capital when you get this letter. We found something important.
P.S. I missed you
P.P.S. You probably cheated, huh? Punk.
From your lovely princess,
Iris
Lovely my ass.
I sighed and put the letter down.
"...Seems like we'll have to head back immediately after you get that magic license, Komekko-chan."
"Eh? But I was planning to hold this huge 'I told you so' parade around town. You promised!"
"I already fulfilled a bunch of my promises to you. We're both in deep shit if we don't come back this instant!"
I gave her Iris' letter. She paled while reading it.
"I-I guess we better go back…"
Part 8
Before leaving for the capital, Komekko-chan and I ended up at Haru-sensei's office again.
However, unlike last time, the mood wasn't so tense.
In fact, there was a good mood going around as Arue-sensei and Haru-sensei handed Komekko-chan a framed certificate.
"Congratulations, Komekko. You worked hard for this."
Haru-sensei said, as she awarded Komekko-chan with her diploma.
"Wah… I finally graduated!"
Komekko-chan cried tears of joy as she hugged the frame.
"...Normally we give out some kind of award based on academic merits, but… Well, here you go."
Arue-sensei placed a 'You Tried' star on Komekko-chan's shirt.
Komekko-chan seemed happy with it, though.
Haru-sensei took out a card that looked like the Adventurer Card the guild gives out.
"This is your magic license, Komekko-chan. Make sure not to lose it."
"Thanks! The Devil will make sure to uphold the safety practices and all that!"
"There's no need to lie. Just promise me not to blow anything up in the capital, or they'll come for our heads."
So blowing things up in any other city or town is fine?
Haru-sensei was probably just trying to mitigate the damages Komekko-chan was bound to cause.
You can't stop a volcano from erupting, after all. You can only get out of the way.
"Here's a license for you, too, Revi."
I was surprised when I received a license as well.
"...Why do I need this? I don't have Advanced magic?"
"We know what you can do with that magic crossbow. You can pretty much absorb Advanced magic and use it. You'll need some form of certification, too."
Magic's only real weakness was that most spells were limited by range. Since I could shoot a stored spell with a crossbow bolt, now, they were probably worried that I'd start firing off magic artillery like a madman.
"If you want to craft magic items and such, you'll also need a license for that."
"They're really cracking down on these restrictions, huh?"
"If we want to integrate with the kingdom, these things are necessary."
I thought about the growing political tensions that Arue-sensei alluded to. It seemed like a joke, but the 'Free the Mogu' movement, and the factions that didn't like the restrictions on magic, seemed like real concerns.
The Crimson Demons didn't strike me as the type to rebel against the kingdom, but they were an unpredictable lot who did crazy things like launching spells at the Demon King castle while having a barbeque outside it.
Furthermore, they might rebel and commit acts of arcane terrorism just for the fun of it.
"So… Revi and I need to go to the capital soon. Is there anything else you need, Haru-sensei?"
Komekko-chan asked, after putting her license in her wallet.
"There is something else, but only Revi-kun needs to hear this. You're dismissed, Komekko-chan."
Komekko-chan blinked at Arue-sensei's words, but nodded and left the office.
I scratched my head, wondering what they needed to talk to me about.
"Revi-kun, remember what I said about your… Unusual tendency to attract females around you?"
I felt a bit embarrassed having Arue-sensei talk about this to Haru-sensei.
"Erm…"
Haru-sensei sighed, holding up a hand.
"It's alright. I've been informed. I won't ask for the details, don't worry about that."
Haru-sensei gave me a 'I don't want to know' look.
"About that… I also discovered that I might have an irregular stamina when it comes to… Well, bedroom matters…"
"I said I don't want to know?!"
Haru-sensei blushed like a maiden, even though she was probably old enough to be a young mother.
"Hey, this is important! If you're a principal, then you shouldn't be ashamed when a student of yours is confiding medical concerns to you, right?! Even if I say that there's a weird tingling in my private parts, you shouldn't even hesitate to pull down my pants for me and check it, right?!"
"W-Well, I suppose… No, what are you making me say?!"
It was really fun to tease this innocent woman.
Rather, since I had ascended the steps to the stairs of adulthood, the subject was less awkward for me to talk about.
"I don't know how your strange pheromones and this… supposed stamina are related to each other, but I did discover some documents that might interest you."
She took out a folder, giving it for me to read.
As I looked over the notes inside, she said,
"There have been a few individuals, maybe three or so, who have visited the village before, who share characteristics with you, Revi. All of them have red hair, and all of them managed to cause the women in the village to go into a frenzy."
As she said this, Arue-sensei gently took a clump of my hair in her hands. She played with it, giving it a look of interest.
"What does this mean? Back where I came from, my red hair is used as political ammunition against me…"
"...? What do you mean by that?"
"Ah, nothing."
They still didn't figure out that I was the prince of another nation. I didn't really feel like explaining that this late into the game, and I wasn't really sure if it was relevant to anything, anyway.
"So what does it mean, that these individuals with red hair are popular among Crimson Demons? Doesn't it just mean that Crimson Demons are attracted to exotic things?"
"There have been a lot of men with exotic features who visited before, but none of them had such an effect on Crimson Demon women like you did. Even when Kazuma-san and Mitsurugi-san visited, they didn't have such an effect on us."
I knew Kazuma-san, but who was this Katsuragi she was talking about?
"Well, if we only know this much, it's not a lot to make any definite conclusions."
I wasn't even sure if there was anything worthwhile to investigate, in the first place.
Why can't she just accept the fact that I'm a popular ladies man?!
Isn't it a bit insulting that she assumes there's some kind of scientific reason behind it?
While I had these thoughts, I put the notes away in the folder and returned it to Arue-sensei.
"In any case, I guess I'll keep this in mind. Maybe there's some information back in my castle in Elroad…"
I looked at them to see if there was a reaction, but they didn't even bat an eye.
In this village where the fisherman would say things like 'I caught a hydra today', when he was just talking about a big tuna, they were probably used to hearing tall tales.
I sighed and shrugged my shoulders.
"Well, thank you for the information, Arue-sensei. You were a big help during my stay here."
"You were a big help, too, Revi-kun."
She gave me a wink.
"...I thought I said I didn't want to hear any details."
I turned to Haru-sensei, who was muttering to herself.
"Thank you for everything, Haru-sensei. Here, please take this as a sign of my appreciation."
I took out a check and gave it to her.
"Oh! Thank you, young man, it's not really necessary…"
"It's fine, just a little something from me. Please accept it."
"Then I won't be rude. Thank you for your donation to the school."
After giving them the check, I bowed to them, then headed outside.
Outside the door, I saw five girls carrying buckets. I didn't see them there earlier. They were probably sent there by their teacher.
"...! It's Revi-kun!"
"Kyaa! You're my idol?!"
"Revi-kun! I… I love you…?!"
…Perhaps Arue-sensei had a point.
This wasn't natural at all!
"T-Thank you for your support…"
I gave each of them a head pat, since they couldn't move their arms.
They let out squeals when I headpatted them.
Once I was done giving my adoring fans some service, I saw Komekko-chan waiting for me at the end of the hall.
"Popular as always, huh?"
She pouted, after seeing me with those girls.
"Not as popular as you. Let's go?"
I held out my hand for her to take.
She smiled and held my hand.
"Let's go! The Devil will protect you from Iris's wrath!"
"...I told you that I'd deal with the matter, right?"
"Ah… I thought that Revi was just feeling good about himself and said a bunch of things he didn't mean. I'm sorry for questioning your resolve."
Komekko-chan said, giving me a sheepish smile.
…Even if I suddenly got popular, I'm still a punching bag in the end, huh?