When Magical Mari-chan and her companions left the inn the next morning, they were greeted by the sight of a bustling crowd standing around the entrance of another house. Eavesdropping as subtly as they could informed them that several sailors and merchants had apparently fallen victim to the appetite of a monster who acted under the cover of the night. While they were extremely weak, their lives weren't threatened. Concerned locals wanted to initiate a witch hunt against monsters, while a larger part of the population wanted an investigation to find out the culprit of this assault. The sailors themselves were too ecstatic to comment, and said they only wanted to find who was responsible to get a second round. When the crowd noticed the magical girls (and fortunately failed to notice the obviously disguised monsters), they asked for their support to help find the culprit, but Magical Mari-chan insisted that they had an important mission that could suffer no delay.
When they left a bit later, the only human of the group noticed that both Granberia and Rigeo were glaring at a Daji who had decided to drop her disguise, happily smirking. She took notes, but decided to forget about it. They had to focus on their mission and go to Lady's Village first and foremost, after all…
…Except that one of the victim was the owner of the general store. Once again, the party was forced to go to their destination on foot.
After a few more hours of crossing through barren plains, the landscape around the party changed to make way for a greener pasture, with lush groves and rivers crossing through the visibly more fertile plains. However, as they progressed through the forest past the infamous Succubus Village, they noticed some not-so-subtle signs of an ambush ahead. They initially shrugged those off, thinking that nobody would be stupid enough to face one of the companions of the heroes that saved the world, one of the legendary Heavenly Knight, a nine-tailed kitsune, and the magical girl who was somehow leading this strange lot.
As such, they were completely dumbfounded when a large group sprang its trap. Around twenty men equipped with orichalcum gear jumped from bushes around them. Several of them charged screaming while a small group of archers supported the assault from afar and mages weaved time spells around the party in an attempt to slow them down. A surprised Rigeo saw several projectiles harmlessly pass through her, while Granberia reflexively parried the assault of the first assailants that reached her and Daji used a counterspell, instantly turning the magi's attacks against themselves. Rigeo then disappeared like a shadow, and the next instant a series of moans echoed amongst the archers. By the time Magical Mari-chan reacted, all their assailants had been incapacitated by her partners' efforts, and Daji was lewdly licking her lips while staring at the bandits-turned-victims.
"Mmmh… That would make for quite a feast, wouldn't you agree?"
Rigeo groaned while Granberia recoiled with a disgusted expression.
"Let us interrogate them first. Only rich adventurers can parade around with orichalcum equipment, and if our opponent is that resourceful they're probably working for her." Granberia effortlessly lifted one of the men by the throat. "Did that Eska send you to get rid of us?"
"Who's… Eska?"
"A succubus that is planning to destroy the world with a dangerous book…" Granberia dropped the man and threateningly pointed her sword at him as he attempted to crawl back. "Now tell me!"
"We don't know anything about that! We've just been asked to clear any suspicious groups between Lady's Village and Grangold in exchange for a large amount of money."
"Really?" Granberia glared at them. "Then who employs you? Speak!"
"It was an anonymous request done by the merchant guild! And when we saw you, we thought we had to deal with a hostage situation!"
"Oh." Granberia's relaxed her grip on her blade before sheathing her weapon. She then looked at her companions: a cute-looking magical girl, a weak-looking succubus, a shameless kitsune courtesan who could hardly look more evil if she tried, and herself. "Then you're not involved with the crisis at hand in any way…"
Daji gleefully rubbed her hands together. "Well, I'm going to exercise the right of the victor if you don't mind! I didn't have the time to taste the locals so much since I arrived there!"
However, Magical Mari-chan found the courage to interpose herself between the obviously hungry kitsune and her mostly unconscious victims.
"Wait! We already showed them the power of justice and grudges! They have no reason to return to their evil way!"
"They're not evil, they're mercenaries. They might have shown a poor judgment, yes, but they're not evil."
Magical Mari-chan froze in front of the conundrum that had suddenly appeared: they weren't actually evil, they weren't helping their opponent… In that case…
"Then we should join force to fight the unjust foes that threaten this world!"
"No, thanks… Defending justice doesn't pay well, and I think I speak for everyone when I say nobody is interested in joining someone who just kicked our asses."
Another gruff voice echoed from afar. "Also the power of magical girls is too dangerous and not really effective…"
"Sooo, yeah…We'll do just as fine on our own, no offense."
"Do whatever you want with them then I don't care."
A still smiling Mari-chan turned her back on everyone and resumed her walk down the road. Rigeo, confused, decided to follow her right afterwards, and while Granberia wanted at first to help the men in danger, a single devilish smile from the kitsune was enough to dissuade her and make her leave.
Once it was clear nothing and nobody would save him, the man resigned himself to his fate and lied down on the ground, enjoying the sight of the blue sky in what would be his last moments.
"You know… I won't mind losing my life between your thighs. I mean there are worse monsters out there that would rape, kill and eat me. And they don't always do that in that order."
"Mmmh, there are so many of you, and you seem quite eager, maybe I should release the beast…"
The man couldn't see Daji, but he felt an electric discharge close by. He tried to sit up to see what was happening, but he got instantly pinned by a six-legged purple and white fox-like beast that was panting over him, even drooling as he started to struggle.
"I'm not okay with this! I'M ACTUALLY NOT OKAY WITH THIS!"
Daji caught back the trio happily humming to herself as they arrived in sight of Lady's Village. Granberia groaned while Rigeo looked completely focused. Magical Mari-chan was as enthusiastic as ever.
"Now we will kick those villains out of their lair! Let's prepare for a fight!"
"Wait! If they're aware of us, they'll flee as soon as one of their guards see us…"
"Good point Rigeo! …I don't have any disguise though."
"I'm not one for infiltrating a village of lofty nobles."
Daji dramatically sighed, basking in how dependent the group was to her.
"I guess it is up to me to infiltrate the village then."
Daji transformed once again, her short dress becoming a long pinkish cascade of slime covering all her lower body while a large round dripping lady hat appeared on top of her head. Finally, her hands became covered by long purplish glove.
"Well, as a woman of my stature it is only fair that I mingle with people of this class. Do not worry, I shall bring you news soon."
She heared some muttering about being even more unbearable than usual, but she ignored them and entered the village alone. Her appearance didn't attract more than haughty glance from other residents who all looked like noble women wearing fancy dresses. Sometimes they had an insect-like lower body or tentacles coming out of their skirt and sometimes they showed no signs of their nature as monsters. The disguised kitsune focused on the largest mansion which undoubtedly belonged to the past leader. Had she joined the hero's party too? The purple haired young man had a certain knack to make people want to rally to him, after all.
Daji focused as she examined the different villagers as well as the building itself: No other villagers seemed to be on that succubus' plans, and they were all milling around as one would expect of a bunch of rich ladies with nothing to do of their day. The mansion itself had been thoroughly warded, though, and Daji couldn't hear and feel anything from its inside. As she got closer, a shiver ran up her spine and informed her that the place was also likely filled to the brim with magical traps and other merriments that would ruin an intruder's day. It looked like they would be able to launch a direct assault against them, but she would have to warn her allies first. As she made her way back, she heard the familiar soon of a gun cocking, and quickly checked her surroundings, alarmed. Was Kazuya chasing her again? When she looked around her, she couldn't see any men around or any sign of someone panicking. As she couldn't feel any more signs of the man's presence, she shrugged and took a few detours to lose whoever could be following her before returning to her group… And she swore when she noticed that her partners had disappeared. She returned to her original kitsune form and hesitated between letting go of them to indulge again in her usual hedonism or trying to catch up to them to at least warn them about the traps ahead. Deciding that there would be no harm in getting them even further indebted to her, she decided to track them by their scent. Those reckless idiots had indeed apparently charged in without her, and certainly without a plan either.
She dashed back to the village and saw that indeed, in the few minutes she has been missing, the place had devolved into chaos as local monsters were fighting a mix of succubi and Nightmares. Daji snarled, and wrapped her tails around the first Nightmare she came across before releasing her, the latter having an ecstatic expression on her face. She then used them to slam another succubus on the ground, and when the latter got up, she unceremoniously kicked her across the street. The kitsune then let her senses run wild in an attempt to discern her allies, but the clashing spells made any attempt to find them impossible. The only signature she could recognize was the one she was the one she was the most familiar with, and unsurprisingly, the man was surrounded by a large pack of succubi and nightmares. While he was pushing the formers back with his impressive shooting skills, he was forced to keep fleeing as the latter ones tried to grab him and completely ignored his bullets.
"Why and how did he get involved in this?"
Daji rushed by his side, and in a dance of tails all the nightmares got incapacitated in throes of bliss while the few remaining succubi fled in surprise. As the situation around them calmed ever so slightly, Kazuya pointed his gun at Daji who groaned.
"Come on, Kazuya, I would have at least expected a thank you from you."
The man didn't lower his gun. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm actually helping one of the hero's companions and the locals clear up the mess left by the remainders of the Alliance in case this wasn't obvious… Now, may I return you the question?"
"I was looking for you…" Kazuya lowered his gun, but kept glaring at her. "You did destroy the Pocket Castle, and you need to answer for your actions and for the damage you caused."
"That was an accident! I said we would work together after you and that morsel of a hero beat me back in Yamatai!" She smiled mischievously. "Don't tell me you forgot?"
Kazuya blushed slightly and looked down. Daji lecherously licked her lips.
"Once we're done with that little mess, you better make it up by showing me aaaall those nice expressions you make when with a monster."
"…Fine." Kazuya shamefully turned away.
"Oh, come on, I'm not telling you I will reduce you to a twig! I'm more careful than Lampas and Mukuro! I know how to take care of people… And those around us still need our help by the way, so if mister hero would help me cleanse the place from those nuisances, I'd appreciate it. They're coming from the manor."
Kazuya groaned, but obliged, starting to shot succubi once again.
As Daji progressed toward the manor, she enjoyed the sight of the locals banding up to push back their opponents. The monstrous noblewomen were surprisingly powerful, and were gradually pushing back their opponents.
"Heurgh, my favorite dress got torn because of you." She saw one of them backhand a succubus before casting a spell that froze her opponent solid. "I hope those imps from that village upstream have a good excuse for that mess! Seriously, why-"
Daji ignored her as she started an extremely long rant, prefering to rather focus on her other allies. She found Granberia and Rigeo fighting side-by-side, transformed in magical girls. The former was taking care of any succubi that came close to her with an expertly-wielded umbrella while the latter was once again raining spells on Nightmares. The kitsune pulled out her sword and slashed at the back of a succubus that was trying to take on the duo from behind before helping them finish off their opponents in a few seconds. The other monsters were too surprised by the impressively large kitsune that had apparently spawned from nowhere to take them down. Once she was sure that nobody would get in the way, she almost barked at the duo.
"What happened? Why didn't you wait for me?!"
Granberia barked back. "That magical girl said that justice didn't wait, and as soon as she didn't see you reappear, she rushed in and got captured!"
Daji swore loudly and described thoroughly what she was going to do once the magical girl was freed, shocking even the usually stoic Granberia. A few more gunshots interrupted her, and she could see Kazuya take care of more opponents with the support of the local monsters.
"Let's force our way in then! And no magical girl bullcrap this time, fight with all your might!"
With the three powerful monsters jumping back in the fray, the fight which was already in favor of the locals became a short skirmish as Daji and Granberia fought with a renewed vigor against the succubi, respectively using their skills in magic and with a blade. In front of this vicious assault, the band of succubi started panicking, and groups after groups disappeared as they teleported away. Eventually, after most succubi and Nightmares either surrendered and fled, the group led by the pseudo magical girls and Kazuya stormed the manor and found an unconscious Magical Mari-chan lying on one of the sofa. The magical girl hadn't even been restrained. A surprised Kazuya raised an eyebrow.
"I can't imagine why you would involve yourself with someone like her."
"Pure necessity. Surely someone like you has heard about those monsters that keep persisting in trying to bring a world of pleasure thanks to a little someone's book?"
"I heard about it through Mephisto… Thank you for helping us."
Daji lecherously licked her lips again as she stared at Kazuya. "I'm sure you will make up for it."
Granberia groaned. "Another victim for a purple demon…"
Kazuya raised an eyebrow. "Another?"
Daji smirked. "She's referring to Alma Elma, one of her friend who's accompanying the hero and also happens to be purple-haired. The succubus queen… You remember her?"
"She's really a queen?"
Granberia glared at Daji as she nodded. "Yes… Now, sorry, but we have to interrogate those succubi… Maybe they know where their partners fled."
"We would have more chance of obtaining the location by examining the aftereffect of their teleportation spell. But feel free to do what you want."
Neither Granberia nor Daji got any result from their examination: The succubi captured hadn't been given any details, and they had prepared counter-spells to hide their destination. Daji smirked each time she looked up, as Kazuya was still eyeing her with a mix of shame and desire. Well, she would made sure that he relaxed later… In the meantime, she saw Magical Mari-chan starting to emerge from unconsciousness under the man's caring eye. Last, she could occasionally see some of the monsters scowl or whistle disapprovingly at the damage the home of their leader had taken before leaving.
Rigeo sighed. "There's no clue as to any possible backup plan they had… We have no idea as to where they could act next."
Daji shrugged. "Last time, our targets were this village, another near Yamatai and finally Finoa. Feel free to check these places, I'm out!"
"Waaait…" Magical Mari-chan sluggishly got up. "You can't do that… People still need our help and justice!"
Daji chuckled as one of her tails grabbed Kazuya's waist even as she didn't slow down. "Nope, I did my good deed for the week, I don't owe you anything, and I'm out to relax for a bit!"
Even if Kazuya was enjoying the tails' comfort, he still retained some clarity in his thoughts. "You still destroyed the Pocket Castle…"
"And sucked dry a lot of people in the meantime."
"It was an accident and they survived! Now, if you will let me enjoy-"
"Didn't you promise you would always fight by our side and stop attacking people?"
"I didn't indeed. I said I would gladly enjoy fighting by the side of man once again after so much time… I didn't say that I wouldn't have a little fun!"
Kazuya struggled and freed himself from Daji's tails before holding her at gunpoint. The kitsune raised an eyebrow with an amused expression.
"Come on Kazuya… You don't want to stand against me, do you?" She showed off her curvaceous body.
"I'm not standing against you. I'm simply asking you, for once, to at least help us to compensate for what you did."
"I don't remember you being so forceful… But I suppose we can play more roughly if you want!"
Daji turned again into her beast form, surprising everyone save for Kazuya. Granberia hesitated to pull out her sword as the kitsune's earlier blackmailing came back to her mind, but eventually she decided to support the man. Rigeo and Magical Mari-chan soon joined his side too, the magical girl accusingly pointing her wand at the transformed beast.
"You're using the power of a magical girl to your own selfish end! I shall punish you in the name of justice!"
The beast started panting in anticipation while her past companions joined by Kazuya steadied themselves as their opponent stomped the ground while growling menacingly. She jumped at Kazuya in an attempt to pin him down, but Granberia intercepted her and held strong, and Rigeo's support helped her to push back the large beast in a wave of fire and pleasure. Daji growled, and jumped back into a dance of claws and tails that successfully struck away an already weakened Mari-chan, and Kazuya barely managed to dodge her in time before a strike from Granberia singed the beast's side. The transformed kitsune then fully focused on Granberia and attacked her extremely fast with her numerous limbs. However, the dragonkin managed to once again hold her own against the assault, even riposting with her most powerful technique.
"Vaporizing rebellion sword!"
Fire waves surrounded the transformed Daji who was forced to protect herself before the violence of the attack kicked her across the room, and she needed a moment to reposition herself. The monster glared at the party, and, in the blink of an eye, started dashing toward the exit.
Then the transformed Daji suddenly whined pathetically and placed her front paws over her head, stopping herself short of entrance. The next instant, the small silhouette of Tamamo appeared by the entrance, surprising everyone.
"That's quite the strange party we have here…"
She was scowling, observing the beast before slapping her with her fan, incidentally making the other monster recoil in a primal terror.
"I don't know what impressed my other self so much. You left such a glaring weakness in the defense of this form, taming wolf girls on Ilias continent would take more effort than you. Granted, you got weakened a bit..." She then looked in front of her.
"What are you doing here?"
Kazuya and Granberia had asked the question simultaneously.
"I was busy interviewing one of the Seven Heroes who was residing in Succubus Village, which didn't yield good results since…"
"Lauratt doesn't talk. Sorry about that."
"Aww, it's okay! …I'm getting used to it. Anyway, I noticed a magical mess from afar and I detected a nine-tailed kitsune other than me, soooo… Sorry by the way, I'm Tamamo and I wanted to interview you and your partner at the same time if you don't mind."
"I…" Rigeo hesitated for a moment as she looked at the kitsune. The latter seemed a bit mischievous, but her motherly aura instantly put her at ease each time she looked at her. "Very well, I will accompany you."
"I'll also borrow that huge beast if you don't mind! I need to interview her and after what you told me, I don't think I'll get a better occasion to get her under control!"
Still shocked, Kazuya nodded. As Tamamo left with the duo in tow, Magical Mari-chan gasped in shock.
"Wait! I still need their help for-"
Tamamo glared at the magical girl with all her might, instantly stopping her.
"You. Don't push your luck. I will make sure there won't be more than four magical girls in this world. Good bye."
The strange trio teleported away. After a moment, Magical Mari-chan loudly exclaimed herself.
"That was a glorious day for justice! …Now I'm off to take a drink."
The magical girl exited the mansion, leaving behind her a bewildered duo. After a few more minutes of awkward silence, Granberia's knightly nature returned and she recovered her composure.
"I apologize, but I never properly introduced myself. I am Granberia, Heavenly of Fire at the service of Tamamo's friends."
Kazuya kept for himself that he only talked once with the kitsune.
"I am Kazuya, one of the…" He hesitated for a moment. "Seven heroes of the world."
"A title befitting of someone as noble as you. I do not know many men who would have turned away this temptation."
"I…" Kazuya hesitated once again. Examining the dragonkin confirmed her that she was as powerful as most members of the Alliance he had faced, as if the demonstration of her skills earlier hadn't showed him already. "Thank you."
Granberia briefly glanced on the side before she continued.
"I have a request to make to you. As you look like a man of honor, may I count on you?"
Kazuya hesitated for a moment. He felt as if the dragonkin's gaze was piercing through him, and he was afraid of both choices. What would she ask of him? And if he refused, what would she do to him now that they were alone?
She threateningly stepped a bit closer.
"Well?"
"I accept."
Granberia nodded, acknowledging his answer. A small blush appeared on her face as she grimaced.
"…Not a word about what you saw today."