No Game No Life - Volume 12 - Chapter Pr

 PRELUDE

 “Do no harm unto others…”

It’s safe to assume those who use a worn-out phrase like this have never played video games. They probably can’t even wrap their minds around the fact that there are winners and losers in gaming.

…Let’s say, for example, that you’re a Good Samaritan. One day, you go to a food court, grab some lunch for yourself, then sit at one of the publicly available tables. As you eat your lunch, you notice the food court begins to fill up with customers, and eventually, you see a person who seems at a loss because there are no more seats.

From the simple act of you taking that seat…you’ve impacted someone else’s life in a negative way.

Is this anyone’s fault? You needn’t worry, for it certainly isn’t yours, being the Good Samaritan you are. You had the right to take the open seat, but through exercising that right, you caused someone else to lose out…

 I’m sure you enjoy winning games when you play them. Even if your win is at somebody else’s expense.

How about getting into a good school? Pretty great, right? Even if your acceptance into the school means somebody else was rejected.

Fundamentally speaking…it’s impossible to live your life without harming others. Society is just one big game of musical chairs—a zero-sum game.

By you gaining something, somebody else inevitably loses out on that same something. This concept isn’t even limited to society. So long as we live our lives at the expense of others, the act of living is a burden in and of itself…

 There’s really no denying it.

No matter how mindful you, the Good Samaritan, are of what’s best for others, there are those who will despise you for acting that very way, and this makes your existence alone a burden for them…

So I must ask: When you go around saying “Do no harm unto others,” do you really believe you have indeed lived your life without bringing harm to anyone else…?

If you can answer “Yes” with confidence, then I’m sincerely jealous of you. You’ve probably had an easy life, since you’ve made it this far being oblivious of whose heads you’ve been stepping on.

 Do no harm unto others.

If there is one way to do this—and there surely is one—then it’s:

Never to be born in the first place…

The Kingdom of Elkia sat on the western part of the continent of Lucia, and this was its capital, Elkia.

A red moon sat high in the sky, but there were no stars that night. They were dimmed out by the countless lamps and torches that dotted the lively, celebratory capital.

On the central canal that connected to the bay, Dhampirs and Sirens were singing together in harmony.

On both sides of the same canal were large groups of Werebeasts, all bedecked in yukata as they shouldered large palanquins and marched down the promenade.

Behind them were the Dwarves, mounted happily on bipedal humanoid robots as they followed thereafter.

Numerous steel airships floated above the capital, shining lights of their own on the large crowd.

There were also Flügel present, floating leisurely among the Phantasma, Avant Heim, through the brightly illuminated, starless sky.

Finally, the Fairies followed, too, adorning the entire cityscape, including the few Ex Machinas present, as they went.

 It was a large parade, one that captured the eyes of all in attendance while simultaneously making them doubt what they saw.

With the parade tightly packing the streets below, the buildings that lined them were filled to the brim with spectators.

Those spectators, along with the large swaths of people following behind the parade, weren’t limited to Immanities.

There were citizens of Oceand, the Eastern Union, Hardenfell, and Avant Heim who followed, as well as citizens from the newly independent Fairy nation, Spratulia.

Members of the various nations made themselves proudly apparent with flags, national colors, and insignia as they each chanted a celebratory song while they marched.

They were all headed for the same destination—the city square in front of Elkia Royal Castle, where a group of Immanities in traditional attire awaited their arrival.

The march culminated in the moment when the national flags were raised together by delegations gathered from across the world…

 The seven flags for each race were held up under a single flag for the Commonwealth.

It was a sight no one until only recently could’ve ever imagined. Especially in the city of Elkia, which had quickly manifested into the symbol of multicultural coexistence for Disboard.

Who would believe that only a year ago, this was a destitute nation on the verge of collapse? Nobody had even dreamed this possible since the establishment of the Ten Convenants—no, since the dawn of the Ixseeds.

A fortunate stroke of serendipity brought these nations together to turn a new, inconceivable page in history.

Each sentient being present there, on that day, that night, in that city had a hand in turning that page. They all looked to one spot as they arrived—the castle balcony.

There stood the seven representatives of each of the races. They were who made this unseen dream a sure reality—yes…

The leader of the Werebeasts, a golden-haired fox-woman with two tails—the Shrine Maiden.

The last male Dhampir, whose lovely youthful face melded with the night sky—Plum.

The Siren queen, who seductively swayed her scaly tail back and forth—Laila.

The firstborn Flügel, who gently touched down on the earth with unmoving wings—Azril.

The Ex Machina there on the Befehler Einzig’s behalf, a cybernetic girl whose creation superseded all knowledge—Emir-Eins.

The Dwarf representative there on the chieftain’s behalf, a young girl with mithril hair and bright orichalcum eyes—Til.

The Fairy representative, a tiny, traitorous maiden who showered flowers about as she danced—Foeniculum.

And finally, an Old Deus, small in stature, who swooped down miraculously out of thin air—Holou.

Each representative was either their race’s agent plenipotentiary or its equivalent by proxy. However…none of them was the true star of this historic night. The roaring cheers and applause grew even louder when the final two figures made their appearance on the balcony 

The first was a young man who wore a dark blue tailcoat that glistened in the night sky and a crown meant for a queen around his arm like an armband.

The second was a small girl who wore an evening dress that sparkled like a starry sky and used a crown meant for a king as a hair clip.

That’s right—the grandiose parade, the thunderous applause, and the cries of joy that shook the earth were all for these two.

The event was to mark the first-year anniversary of Elkia’s royal siblings’ coronation.

An event that for the older brother, Sora, simultaneously and inadvertently marked:

The crossing into his nineteenth year as a virgin…

 It had all started one week earlier.

“We’re going to throw a memorial ceremony to mark the one-year anniversary of your coronation as Elkia’s monarch—next week.”

Sora and Shiro were preoccupied with a combination of reading Jibril’s archives and playing video games in the royal library when their young redheaded friend, Stephanie Dola, hit them with this news.

“…Next…week…? Seems…sudden…,” said Shiro.

“I get that I don’t know how these things work, but you’d think it’d take a lot longer to prepare for an event like that, no?” said Sora. “And even if I don’t know how these things work, it’s fair to assume that you probably need to ask for our approval beforehand…?”

Sora and Shiro shared their dissatisfaction with narrow glances, to which Steph responded with a serious look.

“Would you have approved it if I’d asked beforehand?”

“Nope. Not a fat chance in hell.”

“That is why I went behind your back and have been diligently making preparations on my own!  ”

It was no mystery, either, how she’d pulled it off. Sora and Shiro were rulers with zero interest in politics—setting up such a ceremony unbeknownst to them was laughably easy.

Sora and Shiro quietly clicked their tongues at Steph in unison, whose confident grin suggested implicitly she’d accomplished just that.

 Steph’s a tricky girl. She’s really starting to figure us out.

“The Commonwealth of Elkia is one of the world’s two major alliances. As its leading power, we will invite the world’s leaders to a grand celebration marking both of your coronations as Elkia royalty. It’s a chance for us to show the fellowship between the multiple races that make up our member states both domestically and internationally—something that has substantial political and economic significance. I have already picked out outfits for the both of you and have authorized a strict schedule for the day of, which is—”

 “You two ain’t weaseling your way out of this one,” yeah, yeah…

Without saying it explicitly, Steph prevented any way for them to back out of the event. However, her long, drawn-out speech was lost on the siblings, who were staring blankly into space.

“Man…it really has been a year since we were transported to Disboard…”

“…Hard…to tell…if time flies…or if it’s…super slow…”

Looking back on it…a lot had happened since the two arrived here in Disboard, the world on a game board.

Though mostly through going with the flow, the siblings ended up the dual monarchs of Elkia—this world’s Immanity nation that was an inch away from ruin.

They went on to form a Commonwealth with the Eastern Union, bringing Oceand, Avant Heim, and Hardenfell into their alliance, as well as finding new allies in Old Deus, Ex Machina, and Fairy. Just as Steph said, the Commonwealth was one of the world’s two major alliances. This much had happened all in one year.

As Shiro had just mumbled, this past year had been both long and short at the same time……

 Wait, what…?

Hold the phone. A year—a whole friggin’ year has gone by—?!

“ Um, hello? I’m explaining how the ceremony is going to play out… Are you listening?”

Sora and Shiro, who obviously would never pay attention to an explanation like this, were in no position to listen even if they’d wanted to.

The two of them scrambled to take out their cell phones, glaring at the screens as they lit up.

The screens, each individually maintaining the calendars of their original world, showed:

“WHAAAT?! I turned nineteen ages ago?! How the hell did I miss this?!”

“…No, no, no… My height…and bust…haven’t budged…even a millimeter…?!”

What does this mean?

That Sora, who had long introduced himself as an eighteen-year-old virgin, had at some point—long ago, in fact—regressed into a nineteen-year-old virgin, and Shiro had turned twelve without growing physically by any tangible metric.

The two recoiled, lamenting over this unsavory news to the skies above:

But wait! It’s not over yet! I refuse to accept this harsh reality!!

“Y’know what! Our birthdays were renewed the day we were reborn in Disboard!! Yeah, that’s it!! I mean, surely that’s what our documentation says, right?! Steeeeeph?!”

“……!! Yeah…! What Brother said! I-I-I’m still…an eleven-year-old!!”

 This world didn’t share a calendar with their old world. The two siblings, born of a different world, didn’t even have a birth certificate when they came to Elkia!

The only documentation they had was the official documents they had forged, er, made for their initial coronation, which had the day they arrived in Disboard marked down as their birthday!!

This means I’m still an eighteen-year-old virgin, and Shiro is still a flat-chested eleven-year-old!!

The two vehemently made this case to Steph, who quietly nodded along and said, “I suppose you’re right, which means that four days before the ceremony, or two days from now, will be your birthday. Thus, the ceremony will double as a celebration of both the one-year anniversary of your coronation and birth—hey, are you two listening to me?!”

Sora and Shiro obviously weren’t listening, and they were absolutely not in the right headspace to listen, either.

So—not only did we manage to completely miss our birthdays from our original world, but in two days, we will unequivocally and irrefutably be Sora, the nineteen-year-old-virgin, and Shiro, the flat-chested twelve-year-old…

Steph’s voice sounded distant to the mortified Sora and the teary-eyed Shiro…

 And so came the fateful day, a memorial ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the siblings’ coronation into Elkia royalty.

The event started with a magnificent parade and lasted for seven whole days of ceremonious grandeur.

The first major event to be held was a sharing of traditional performance art between each of the Commonwealth member nations. The leaders of each race and nation met individually, sharing their salutations and congratulations while partaking in big banquets.

This was topped off with each of the agent plenipotentiaries and their proxies coming together to give joint declarations, saying things like “Our nation maintains amicable relations with the Kingdom of Elkia and all other nation-states and races under the Commonwealth,” and “We shall spare no effort in fostering mutual growth henceforth.”

Through cooperation on the Dwarves’ and Fairies’ parts, each of these speeches was broadcast throughout the entirety of the Commonwealth.

 Everything moved perfectly according to Steph’s thoroughly planned schedule, thanks to her meticulous coordination with the other nations.

It should be obvious that Sora and Shiro were not permitted to wear their usual attire for the length of the festivities.

Sora wore a tailcoat, and Shiro an evening dress—both utterly stifling garments.

Speaking of stifling, the two had to stifle their phobias against socializing and making eye contact while they desperately fought off a seemingly endless chain of boredom, trembling, and exhaustion.

Each of the agent plenipotentiaries—the Shrine Maiden and Plum in particular—had to stop themselves from laughing at this part of the show.

This continued until the hellacious seven-day period came to an end ……

On the seventh night of hellaciousness, Steph was walking Sora and Shiro—both with lifeless eyes and dragging their legs like zombies—through the halls of Elkia Royal Castle when she announced…

“Congratulations to the both of you! Up next is the final—or should I say—main event!!”

“…There’s…more…? And wouldja mind tellin’ me just where in the hell do you get all of that energy…?”

“…I need…sleep… Steph…when are you…sleeping…?”

Steph had spent the entire seven days at the siblings’ sides.

In other words, she was on the same by-the-minute schedule that she prepared for them—in fact, she was managing the entire ceremony from behind the curtain on top of this. Naturally, she should’ve been leagues busier than the two hosts of the ceremony…??

The siblings looked at her with suspicion, and Steph, tapping into her unknown source of vitality, responded with a big smile.

“You two are forgetting about the biggest event of them all: your birthday party!!”

 Right.

The two were indeed told that this ceremony was a joint celebration of both the one-year anniversary of their coronation and their birthday.

Despite this, there hadn’t been any birthday festivities yet—

“I truly am sorry for making you have to suffer through all those boring events, which is why I’d like to finish with a bang! I’ve arranged for a private birthday party between us and those who personally wish to celebrate your birthdays!!”

A private birthday party… Okay.

Steph surely was saving the best for last as a surprise for the two. It was probably her way of thanking them.

But:

“Right…our birthdays… Well, at least Shiro is probably excited for hers…I bet…”

“…I’m turning…twelve… Even though…I haven’t grown an inch, I’ll be…twelve…”

“Why are the two of you acting like being thrown a birthday party is the end of the world?!” Steph hollered.

Sora looked deathly ill while Shiro muttered to herself in delirium.

What was supposed to be a big surprise ended up draining what little light was left in the siblings’ empty eyes.

“I, um…perhaps packed the ceremony schedule too tightly for the two of you—yes, that must be it. I-if this is the case, then I’ll explain it to everyone and we can hold it another—”

“Oh…no, Steph. It’s not that, per se…”

Sora shook his head, stopping Steph from wincing from all the guilt she felt, and said:

“Birthdays are only fun until you turn eighteen…”

…………,

“……………Huh? Really, now…?”

Sora had spoken with such assurance that Steph was now doubting her own worldview on the matter.

“I’m surprised you didn’t know this… Here, let me fill you in…”

He took a deep breath before continuing.

“To start off, what do you think are the merits of getting older?”

“…? Merits…? Well…there are plenty?”

“Yup. That’s because getting older unlocks more rights.”

More rights, specifically:

“Physical growth, mental development, and more autonomy over what you’re allowed to do.”

“…Although I…didn’t grow…a smidgen…,” Shiro mumbled resentfully, but her nodding suggested that she agreed with the latter half of her brother’s assessment.

“Autonomy, or even more simply, freedom. Freedom to sign a contract, to get a driver’s license, to move out of your parents’ house, to work and save money—basically, the freedom to live your life as you see fit!”

“…! …The freedom to…get married! Only…six, more years…!” Shiro added excitedly; it sounded as if she’d found a reason to live again.

That reason was lost on Sora, who just nodded, glad that his sister was now over her mental slump.

Marital freedom was another big one—it was, in other words, sexual freedom.

Or more aptly—the freedom to interact with sexual media and content!

“You see, Steph!! All I ever wanted to do when I was a child was to grow up fast!! This sentiment hit me like a truck during puberty when I began dreaming daily of turning eighteen!! For it was the momentous day I would be able to take into these hands pornographic games, hentai, doujin, and watch porn online all on my own—the ultimate form of freedom! I counted the months—nay, days—until the fateful moment I’d come of age!!”

“Everything you’ve said so far has to do with sex! Do you not have anything else to look forward to?!”

“Nope! Nothing!! A man’s brain is composed of sixty percent horny thoughts!!”

“You’re saying that’s a fact?! No, wait—I’m pretty sure that only applies to you and you alone, Sora!”

The remaining 40 percent of male thoughts are taken up by wealth and social status—essentially, a man craves being attractive to hot women! And the sole reason is that on the other side of successfully finding an attractive mate, it is sex that awaits a man! So logically, in a broader sense, it’s fair to say that a man’s mind is 100 percent occupied with pursuing sex!

Sora then took a step back and, recognizing that there may be a slight variation on an individual basis, made the humble decision to refrain from speaking in hyperbolic terms.

“It should be clear by now that all birthdays until the age of eighteen are indeed without demerit!! Therefore, no person in their right mind would ever argue against throwing a party to celebrate a birthday with a party before that cutoff!! But dare I say—!!”

Sora had kept up this impassioned speech until this point, when his enthusiasm took a sharp nosedive.

“Dare you say what…?”

Steph gulped as she posed that question to Sora, whose expression was now devoid of all emotion despite having been so animated only seconds ago.

All that awaited beyond age nineteen were cigarettes and alcohol…minutiae that were of no interest to Sora, and even if they were, the unlocking of these new rights ended at the age of twenty.

And what awaited beyond twenty? Beyond thirty? Beyond forty?

“There’s virtually nothing new—no freedom nor rights—to be gained beyond the age of twenty.”

In fact, it was worse than that—!!

“You have to work and pay taxes—obligations! That’s all you get from there! All while your body withers away and your mind loses its flexibility as each year creeps by!! What was once a life where every new day was a day you looked forward to becomes sullied by immense mental stress! The time you must spend at work takes away your freedom to do what you wish while you simply count the days until you perish!!”

“It’s far too soon for you to be worrying about your age, Sora. I also implore you to refrain from making such scathing remarks about adulthood until after you’ve fulfilled even one of your current obligations—you’ve been king for a year without doing anything!”

“…There’s one more benefit…waiting for you at…twenty-five, Brother…when I turn eighteen… Although, it’s also more of…an obligation, at this point…”

Sora took Steph’s apt retort and Shiro’s ambiguous remark and tossed them to the wind.

He stood firm with his belief that not a single birthday beyond eighteen was of any worth!!

 Shiro may have had her reasons for getting one year older, but what reason was there for Sora to celebrate turning nineteen?

Once he’d finished making his case and despair threatened to overtake him:

“Soraaa! You’re putting way too much thought into this! A birthday is just a celebration for living another year—it’s really that simple!!”

Steph retaliated after realizing she was getting caught up in Sora’s momentum, but:

“Okay. Then riddle me this, Steph: What does it mean to live?”

“ Ughhhh… What is it this time…?” Steph grumbled at this new philosophical question Sora had so abruptly posed.

 What does it mean to live…?

From the moment a person is born, it is determined that, at some point, they will die.

For a human being, assuming they lived a fortunate life and are blessed with good health into their old age—they live up to around one hundred and twenty years old, at the very most.

Conversely, a person could die tomorrow—or at any second, for that matter. There’s no stopping an unforeseen, untimely death.

Therefore, is one’s life not but a countdown to their death that starts from the moment they’re born?

If this is the case, then what does it mean to live?

“ I’d argue that to live…is to have hope.”

“…………”

“It is what you do, or try to do, and what you continually strive for. I think that’s what it means to live.”

This life we live, or…more poignantly, the death we live for will come eventually, and once it does—after we rot away and turn into soil—we’ll learn that it was all meaningless.

With this, an inevitable death, in mind…is to live not to strive for what you hope for?

A person who has no intention of doing anything, no desires to be fulfilled, who simply lives for the sake of living—

—surely can’t be considered actually living their life but simply in the process of their long-winded death…

“On that note, let’s take a moment to reflect on this past year that is supposedly worth celebrating…”

This year—when Sora became king surrounded by a diverse group of bona fide babes. Despite these optimal circumstances—it ended with Sora girlfriendless and still a virgin.

In other words, Sora surmised that, in all likelihood, he would spend the next ten, no, hundred years—a pathetic virgin.

This last year amounted to nothing more than a proof of concept for him— So! Where in the world was he to find…any hope…?

“So you want me to spend this day celebrating yet another year lived? By my definition, a year without hope is a year not lived, so there’s nothing to celebrate at all… In fact, you could even argue that we may as well hold my funeral…”

Sora’s level of resignation was almost endearing, but Steph wasn’t convinced.

“…I’m starting to find it almost remarkable how fixated you are on finding a girlfriend to the point where it has caused you such despair…”

“…You know, Brother… You could have, a whole harem…if you weren’t such a…wuss…”

Shiro had now joined Steph in wincing at Sora in astonishment.

It was around this time when the group made it to the banquet hall, at which point Steph, perhaps having grown tired of Sora’s antics—

“Aaarghhh! Either way, you’re coming with me!! We’ll find out if it was worth celebrating after we go through these doors!!”

—tightly gripped Sora’s hand and opened the doors.

 And what awaited the three was…

“Sora! Shiro! Happy Birthday, please!!”

The moment they entered the banquet hall, a single voice drowned out the rest of the room’s idle chatter. It belonged to a tiny Werebeast girl with a big set of ears and a fluffy tail who leaped toward the trio—Izuna Hatsuse.

“……………………”

Sora and Shiro were at a loss for words as they took in everything.

It was just as Steph told them: Those who personally wished to celebrate the siblings’ birthday were present.

They saw Izuna, who was embracing them both, along with Emir-Eins, Til, and Holou.

Jibril was there, too, her halo aglow. They were all clapping at their arrival.

 Sora was surprised to see Izuna’s grandfather, Ino Hatsuse, as well as Plum, too.

Ino’s presence made sense; he was probably there to keep an eye on his granddaughter. Plum, on the other hand, was almost certainly there to accompany the oversized water jug he sat on.

“Oh! Foeniculum said she’ll come, too,” Steph added. “She left me this note about how she’s ‘a teeeeensy bit busy stirring up interracial love throughout the city!’ and will join us later.”

The siblings continued to stare blankly—

“But that’s neither here nor there! Let’s get the birthday boy and girl to their seats.  ”

—until Steph tugged at Sora’s hand, bringing him to a seat at the end of a long table.

Sora and Shiro took in their surroundings once more—the banquet hall was much livelier than usual.

It was filled with paper and ribbon decorations—most likely made by the guests present—along with bright tapestries and a generous assortment of colorful candles and flowers.

And on the table where they were sitting was something Steph must have made herself: a smorgasbord of food that managed to look far more delicious than anything they’d eaten in the past week—

“Master? My apologies; is there something that is not to your satisfaction?” Jibril asked.

“Huh—? Oh, no… It’s not that. Not that at all…”

“…We’re just…um…so surprised…or should I say…”

Looking back on it, neither of us have ever had our birthdays celebrated like this before. We never even had this many people who wanted to celebrate our birthdays on a personal level.

The siblings didn’t know how to react to all the applause and festivities, so they just sat there dumbfounded when—

—someone came forward and elegantly pinched the hem of her skirt on either side.

“Celebration: Master and Little Sister, this unit wishes to commemorate the anniversary of your births on this day from the bottom of her ‘heart.’ Congratulations.”

Offering a curtsy that went even deeper than usual, Emir-Eins continued:

“Small gift: Einzig has prepared a present on behalf of the Ex Machina for Master. Please accept it. Hee.”

She spoke as if her expressionless face were blushing, but then:

“Hey—?! I thought I told you to wait until after dinner and the cake to give your present!!”

“Affirmative: This unit did not consent to said request. Victory goes to the one who makes the first move. This unit prioritizes gaining favor with her master above all else.”

Steph stepped in to try to stop Emir-Eins but was easily shunted away by the Ex Machina, who proclaimed her intent on taking the initiative in the battle of love—when something else happened.

 Ping.

A high-pitched notification sound could be heard coming from Sora’s and Shiro’s phones. On their screens read the words UNKNOWN FILE RECEIVED.

The phones weren’t asking if they wanted to receive the files but were declaring their reception after the fact… This meant that the devices the siblings brought from their own world were remotely tampered with seamlessly to forcibly receive a third-party file… A glaring lack of security.

Sora tapped the notification, showing his Ex Machina companion a dry smile of resignation while wishing she wouldn’t use her technological manipulation on him.

The moment he laid eyes on the contents of the folder that was sent to him, however—

—Sora felt alive again…

“Report: Analysis determined copulation between Master and this unit impossible due to Master’s and Little Sister’s wishes. However, Master’s prior remarks and actions established that deeds of self-pleasure do not infringe on said wishes. Additionally, what Master assumably desires above all else is the replenishment of pleasurable images previously removed from Master’s device by Ex Machina.”

What the siblings saw on their screens was precisely that—a present producible only by hypercomputation. Emir-Eins had hyperanalyzed the ecology, conscious and subconscious thought processes, and behavioral patterns of Sora and Shiro, filling in the holes where she needed.

What was on his phone screen was perfection—sweet, dear perfection!

“Concern: Do selfies taken by this unit…qualify as fuel for Master’s…deeds of self-pleasure…?”

The images sent to Sora were of the beautiful mecha-girl, which showed her…well, to put it in less direct terms…baring it all—and the collection took up copious amounts of data.

There were hundreds upon hundreds of images and high-quality videos that used up 10 percent of his phone’s storage.

“Yes, Emir-Eins. Thank you. I’m almost certain I have lived my life for this very moment…”

Sora had made a great leap from the depths of his depression to show a newfound hopeful outlook on life.

* * *

He gave a thumbs-up with a smile as bright as the daytime sun and thought:

I can make it through another year with these!!

“You gave that long-winded speech about what it means to live only to find that meaning instantaneously…?”

Steph was clearly fed up, but her remark was—as expected—ignored.

Sora, whose will to live had heated up faster than a cup of instant noodles, stood tall and with great vigor—before it hit him.

“Hm?! Wait a tick… You didn’t send these to Shiro, too, did you?!”

His brain finally processed the fact that his sister’s phone had emitted the same ping as his own. He hurriedly turned his attention to Shiro, who was in his lap, staring silently at her device.

“Negative: Little Sister has no desire for selfies taken by this unit. Sending aforementioned data to Little Sister would be unethical. Concomitance: It is forbidden for these images to be seen by anyone but Master. Report: Einzig has prepared age-appropriate data for Little Sister. Nicht zu wichtig.”

Emir-Eins’s answer made Sora feel ashamed of himself. His fully bionic companion had successfully prepared the perfect present for him. Why in the world did he expect her to ever overlook something simple enough for a mere human to worry over?

No longer concerned, Sora felt bad about ever doubting Emir-Eins, whose gifts left nothing more to be desired—but this still begged the question.

“…? Okay, but…what exactly did you give Shiro to have her so—?”

“Brother…could you…pipe down…? I need to…focus…”

Shiro cut Sora off, rapidly swiping her finger across her phone screen.

“Confirmation: Master’s previous world—Japan—has no age restrictions on text-based media.”

Emir-Eins stepped into the conversation once more to answer Sora’s question.

“Disclosure: Little Sister received a twenty-thousand-word novel, carefully written by Einzig in Master’s original language.”

Let me get this straight… A mechanized race has finally tried its hand at literature…

It made sense: Ex Machinas were more humanlike than humans in many ways.

What piqued Sora’s interest next was what exactly it was about the book that had Shiro so glued to her screen.

“Summary: An erotic novel about Einzig and his beloved Spieler. Einzig gave this unit strict orders to send novel to Master, but this unit rejected them based on her own judgment. Just to Confirm…would Master like to…read the novel?”

“Who’d even want to read something like that? You made the right decision, Emir-Eins—but why is Shiro so into it?!”

Is the book that interesting?! Enough to be that engrossed in it?! A book by that hunk of junk?! About me and that hunk of junk—?!

“…They got you down…to a tee… The Ex Machina are…seriously legit…”

 As difficult as it was to believe, Shiro was largely satisfied with her present…

The Ex Machina had come to understand a side of Shiro that not even her brother yet knew.

“Assertion: A present has meaning only if its recipient enjoys it.”

Emir-Eins puffed out her modest bust with pride and gave a thin smile. Her words, however, were not for Sora’s and Shiro’s ears, but for the person standing behind them.

“…………”

With cross-shaped pupils set in amber-colored eyes, Jibril stood back and watched the exchange, seething. Emir-Eins’s grin twisted into a sneer as she continued, all the while ignoring the Flügel.

“Query: Paraphernalia held by Irregular Number: skull of an unknown life-form that offers a ninety-six-point-seven percent chance of mentally disturbing Master; and an ancient Flügel text decipherable by neither Master nor Little Sister. Total: two items. Why would one offer such articles on a birthday? This unit is left perplexed.”

“…Erm…?!”

“Hey, uh…Jibril? Presents are more about the thought that goes into them than the actual—”

Whatever present Jibril chose, there wasn’t a doubt in the siblings’ minds that they were important to her.

Jibril stood there trembling, unable to come up with a retort. Sora tried his best to defuse the tension, but—

“Affirmative: It is the thought that counts. Effort must be made to think about what the recipient of a gift will feel upon receiving it. Ergo, an issue of effort.”

Emir-Eins agreed with Sora, but before he could get a word in edgewise—

“Inevitability: A gift without sufficient thought becomes an imposition. A burden. Foolish.”

—she then turned to Jibril and flashed a perfect smile, like one would expect to see on a doll.

With an overtly well-calculated tilt of her head, Emir-Eins asked in a mechanical fashion:

“Query: Are the two aforementioned items meant to be gifts for Master and Little Sister?”

“ ”

“Correction/Self-Evident/Apology: Impossible. This unit was aware of the strikingly low IQ of the Flügel race, but Master’s self-proclaimed number one servant has spent a year with Master. Ergo, this unit never expected Irregular Number to offer a gift so lacking in proper thought and effort. Allow this unit to express humble regret for the remarkable error in judgment: My deepest apologies.  ”

 ……,

A brief moment of silence passed. What was likely only a few seconds felt like an eternity due to Emir-Eins augmenting her own voice to sound exactly like Jibril when she gave her apology, which successfully enticed a rise out of the Flügel, bringing her homicidal urges to never-before-seen levels.

“Master…Lord Shiro…it pains me to have to ask for permission to do this at the celebration of your births, but may I borrow your tablet and excuse myself from the festivities for a moment? I will be back in ten…no, five minutes. My deepest apologies.”

Jibril weighed her urge to dismember Emir-Eins against her desire to properly celebrate her masters’ birthdays, and apparently, the latter won out. She took the tablet into her hands before giving a bow and vanishing into thin air.

And then:

“Report: Sequence for collecting selfies for Master’s enjoyment from Irregular Number now complete. Master: Requesting a reward for the hard work that went into making this possible. Pet me…?”

 Evidently, goading Jibril into taking her own set of selfies was a part of Emir-Eins’s present.

Sora was patting Emir-Eins’s head as gently as he could for her outstanding plan when he had a thought:

 Jibril and Emir-Eins sure have gotten closer lately…

“You’re taking forever, please!! I have a present, too, please!!”

Izuna had been waiting diligently when the two cut in line to give their gifts, and she’d finally run out of patience.

She pushed Emir-Eins out of the way and stood before the two siblings.

“Sora! Shiro! Here’s a present from me! Take it, please!!” she shouted while holding out a folded strip of long, thin paper.

What appeared to be a chain of handmade tickets had the following spelled out in poorly written Immanity:

“A ticket to do whatever you want for a day…? Huh…? You’ll do whatever we want?”

“…Izzy…you mean…whatever…we want…?”

“Izuna, you—WHAAAAAT?!”

Ino Hatsuse let out a shriek when he heard Sora and Shiro read the contents of the tickets aloud.

Izuna, however, paid no attention to her grandfather’s outburst:

“I thought long and hard about what would make you guys happy… I thought about it a whole lot…but I couldn’t come up with anything… Sorry, please…”

Her ears and tail drooped in sorrow when she said this, but they sprang back up as she continued:

“Which is why you’ll decide for me, please! Sora, Shiro! What’ll make you two happy, please?!”

There was a spark of pride in Izuna’s tone as she told them of her compromise.

This brought about a second shout—no, a loud howl, while also being a yelp, that shook the banquet hall.

“I-Izuna?! You’ve never given your granddaddy a coupon for so much as a back rub!”

“? Why the hell would I give you a back rub, Grampy? You’re so freakin’ strong, you don’t even need one, please. Go to a damn masseuse if you wanna get rubbed that bad, please.”

“That’s not the problem here!! A granddad wants his granddaughter’s cute little hands to bop away at his shoulders is all—no, that isn’t the issue here, either!!”

Ino stifled a heartfelt scream and wiped his tears before pointing at Sora and Shiro and sternly howling—!

“Tickets to do whatever they want?! What were you thinking, Izuna?! Who knows what atrocities these two glorified apes will come up with for you to do—? Guh?!”

 The old man must’ve tried to take the tickets out of Sora’s and Shiro’s hands, because he was shunted backward.

However, the tickets had been given to the siblings by Izuna and were now their property.

The Ten Covenants prevented Ino from plundering them, but they didn’t stop him from baring his fangs and growling.

 Return the tickets to Izuna, now. Or else I’ll challenge you to a game and make you give them back, even if it kills me—!!

The way he menaced the two made his intent clear, but—

“Grampy…you’re pissing me off, please…”

Rage contorted his cute granddaughter’s amiable expression.

“Do you seriously think Sora and Shiro would do any nasty shit to me, please?”

“…Argh…”

You’re probably right, Ino thought.

Sora and Shiro held themselves to a strangely high moral standard—Ino never really thought they would do anything indecent to Izuna. He was actually surprised by how much trust he placed in the two Immanity deep down.

However—that didn’t change anything. While he knew they wouldn’t do something fishy to Izuna, he was certain they would think of some cockamamie way to abuse the tickets.

“Also, stop calling them apes, Grampy! It’s goddamn rude, please!!”

“ Ugh… Aaaargh?!”

Izuna was asking her granddad to stop berating her friends… No—in fact, she was asking more than that. With his nation being a part of the Commonwealth, a multiracial republic, he needed to respect the other races.

Once his beloved granddaughter pointed out his poor manners, the old man hung his head low in shame. He may have not been entirely off the mark, however 

 Ha…Mwa-ha-ha-ha…

“Thank you, Izuna. We’ll take our time to think of a good way to put these tickets to use, okay?”

“…Thanks…Izzy…  ”

“Sounds great, please! Just tell me what to do whenever the hell you want it, please!!”

Her pure eyes glistened as she said this. It was clear how much she trusted the siblings. They answered her gaze with a big smile—one that was deceptively wicked.

Mwa-ha-ha-ha… Izuna Hatsuse. Such a clever little girl—yet so naive! It’s a shame to have to pull one over on you like this, but them’s the laws of nature in this world! It’s trick or be tricked!

For once in his life, Ino Hatsuse was unequivocally right about something—!!

 People betray one another. No bonds, memories, or shared history can keep you safe!!

That’s right! Now’s a good chance to teach you not to trust others so easily.

 Remember how I said I needed time to think about how to use these? Psh! Gimme a break!

I knew I’d use four of the five tickets for torture the moment you handed them to me—!!

You heard me: torture! The first ticket will involve: water…!

I know—we can have Steph help us give Izuna a bath and make sure to wash every inch of her!!

For ticket number two—how about some bondage…?!

Once she’s nice and dry after her bath, we’ll hold Izuna down and give her a thorough brushing!!

Just think of the fluff! She’s already so fluffy as it is!! We’ll make her even fluffier, whether she likes it or not—heh, but we’re not finished with our torture yet!

You guessed it—the third ticket will be used to imprison her…!

She’ll be forced to play games with Shiro and me until she can barely keep herself awake, all while we enjoy her amply fluffed fur…!

And for our finisher, ticket number four—abuse!

We’ll share her fluffy tail as a pillow for the night—!!

Mwa-ha-ha-haaa… We’ll save what we’ll do with the last ticket until we see how she’s reacted to the first four…

Ino had no way of knowing what atrocities the two had planned for his granddaughter, but it was written all over their faces that they would do something.

The three shared a stare-down, Ino with a death glare and the siblings with wicked smiles, when from the side—

“Are you finished yet?! It’s my turn, it is!!”

—with a big plop, Nýi Tilvilg placed a giant, nicely wrapped gift onto the birthday table, causing it to creak under the present’s weight.

The tension in the air was lost on Til, a Dwarf with tanned skin, orichalcum eyes, mithril hair, and two horns protruding from her forehead.

“There’s only one gift suitable for a birthday, just one!! A special selection of craft ale, brewed by Hardenfell’s finest brewery, the house of Valgrave—!!”

Til ignored the fact that the entire room was largely caught off guard by this abrupt presentation. With the biggest of smiles, she unwrapped the box and unpackaged a number of bottles, each roughly the same size as she was.

By the time she was finished, there were twenty giant bottles up on the banquet table. The bottles were so massive that it was doubtful the entire room could work together to finish a single one, let alone an entire table full—

“Oh, right! I know the drinking age in Elkia is twenty, so the bottles for King Sora and Queen Shiro are nonalcoholic, they are! Ale made by the Valgraves is always delicious, it is! You have my word!!”

Til’s plan was to make Sora and Shiro happy by finding the best-tasting drink there was, and for there to be enough for the other guests to enjoy to make the party even better…!

The way she puffed out her flat chest made it clear that she was very confident she’d picked the perfect present.

However:

“…Oh, wow. Uh…thanks?”

“…Yeah… Thank…you?”

…………,

“Wh-what the?! Could it be that my present didn’t make you happy at all?!”

Til was absolutely astonished by the lack of enthusiasm in Sora’s and Shiro’s responses.

“Er, no… It’s just…we’re not too interested in alcohol…”

“…It smells, gross…and nobody likes…a drunk…”

“And nonalcoholic beer is pretty much, like…bitter-tasting juice? Never really saw the point of the stuff.”

“Wha-whaaaat?! A-are there truly Ixseeds who don’t drink?!”

 The idea of there being a living thing with no interest in ale was beyond the realm of Til’s wildest imagination.

She stood there, trembling, until Steph put a hand to her cheek in thought.

“I’ve never drunk alcohol before, either, but it doesn’t exactly have the best reputation…”

“Nor have I—though us Werebeasts don’t drink much in the first place,” said Ino. “With the exception of Milady Shrine Maiden, who is quite the drinker, alcohol tends to be too strong for our palates…”

“Consideration: Ingestion of alcohol results in intoxication. Finding leisure in delusion is a meaningless pursuit.”

Sora, Shiro, and Steph weren’t of legal drinking age, so setting their opinions aside…

Alcohol was rejected on the premise of race by the older Ino and even written off completely by Emir-Eins as meaningless.

 These people can’t be serious, they can’t!!

Her orichalcum eyes as wide as saucers, Til was at a loss for words at their shocking response. Sora, observing this, felt inclined to ask:

“I’m confused. Didn’t you always tell Veig that he reeked of liquor? I assumed you didn’t drink, either—”

“The chieftain smells bad because he never takes a bath!! There’s nothing wrong with drinking regularly, there isn’t!! No, really, you gotta listen to me. This ale tastes incredible, trust me!”

An impassioned Til tried to persuade Sora, who was clearly reluctant to change his mind.

“I can tell you’ve never had any liquor before, I can!! H-here! Big Sis’ll show you how it’s done! Now, Sir, Ma’am! You too, Lady Steph! Take a swig of this nonalcoholic ale!”

Unable to accept her gift’s less-than-stellar reception, Til busted open one of the bottles and began pouring glasses.

She had an intensity about her as she approached Sora, Shiro, and Steph with what would be their first-ever drinks, causing them to fold to the pressure and each take a glass.

Sora mumbled to himself as he took a sip:

“Fine…but they call this peer pressure back in my world. Also, Til, we get that you’re technically older than us, but just how serious are you about the whole big sis thing—? WT actual F?!! This tastes friggin’ amazing!!”

Everything changed as soon as his lips hit the glass.

“Oh? Is this alcohol?” said Steph. “Well, I suppose it isn’t if it is nonalcoholic…”

“…This…tastes awesome… What the…?”

“Heh-heh-hehhh! See what I mean?! Even if it is Valgrave-brand ale, it’ll never taste as good as the real thing, it won’t. You have a lot to look forward to next year, King Sora!!”

Sora, Steph, and even Shiro all found the drink quite delicious. Til puffed out her chest in pride once more.

 Whoa. And to think the real thing tastes even better…?

If that was the case, then there was indeed a lot to look forward to on his next birthday.

“Report: Alcohol ingestion causes temporary decrease in frontal lobe function among living organisms. Confirmed long-term side effects include brain shrinkage and decreased liver function. Master, this unit recommends against the habitual consumption of alcohol—”

“Shut your trap!! No one asked for your stupid bullshit robot opinion!! Thbbft!!”

Til interrupted Emir-Eins’s objective evaluation with uncharacteristic ferocity.

“Water’ll kill you, too, if you drink too much of it! Is life worth living if you don’t have the time or money to have some booze every now and then?! Thbbbbbbfft—!!”

Somehow…there was a powerful persuasion to Til’s argument.

“Well well… Though it does have a strong taste to it, it has amazing depth and richness… Lady Nýi, the Werebeasts would enjoy this ale of yours. Might you be interested in exporting it to us? You’d make a lot of money.”

“ Reception: This unit recognizes her lack of knowledge. Taste bud receptors now evaluating surprising new data… This stuff’s good.”

“Heh-heh-heh… See? See?!”

Not only Ino, but Emir-Eins, too, praised the amazing taste of the Dwarf ale.

Its taste was enough to have them do a complete one-eighty on their initial opinions, which prodded Sora to inquire:

“…Hey…think I could get a little sip of theirs, too…?”

“Of course you can’t,” said Steph. “It would be highly inappropriate for a king to break his own laws.”

“You know what? You’re right; I’m the king—which makes me the law! Starting from now, I declare Elkia’s drinking age to be nineteen!!”

“That’s not how that—!”

Sora was willing to go full despot if it meant he could get a taste of that sweet Dwarven ale—but Shiro had her sights set on a separate set of morals:

“…Mm… And I’m, the queen… So the legal age, for viewing pornographic material…and getting married…will be lowered, to twelve years—”

“Welp!! I guess it’d be outrageously selfish to allow such heinous bending of the rule of law!! A monarch is subject to his own law, the same as his people—an important part of a society founded on law and order! I’ll have to wait until next year, Til!”

Sora, who spontaneously made a transition into the wise ruler of his nation, finished his declaration by chugging down a cup of the exceedingly delicious nonalcoholic ale.

Perhaps thanks to the booze Til provided, the party guests began digging into the food while the presents continued to roll out.

…Starting with a special gift…

“Myyy, I didn’t think biffles like us had to prepare presents like thiiis.”

The Dhampir boy, Plum, showed an alluring feminine smile from the top of the wooden lid of the massive water jug he sat on, only for a voice to be heard coming from inside it:

“Hey?! Why isn’t this darn thing opening?! I’m the present, my dear.   I’m all ready for you inside here. Will somebody let me out already?! Or could it be that my precious Sora is sitting on top of my jug?! Playing hard to get, are we?! Oooh, I like it!!”

The jug rattled back and forth while the muffled voice of Laila, the Siren Queen, could be heard shouting from inside it.

“Hark! Sora and Shiro! Dost thou truly find thyself content with a gift such as this?! Holou danceth as she always doth! Hypothesis—art thou tricking Holou yet again?!”

 What is a present? What be it that bringeth Sora and Shiro joy?

The Old Deus, Holou, placed great thought into this question, but was unable to come up with an answer of her own.

When she decided to ask the siblings point-blank, they answered without hesitation: a special birthday live show.

It wasn’t long after she left before Jibril returned to the party with goods of her own to contend with Emir-Eins’s. These were: a tablet filled to the brim with highly stimulating selfies and the rarest, most valuable book she could find written in a language Shiro could understand—both of which were accepted graciously.

“Wow… I heard that the cuisine in Hardenfell was too flavorful for our palates, but…this is very good.”

“I thought you Werebeasts were crazy when I heard you ate fish raw, but I could eat this stuff all day, I could!”

“This seafood is goddamn tasty, please! What do you call this shit, please?!”

“It is an Oceand dish. It seems it’s been flavored using Eastern Union spices.”

“…Doubt: Oceand is an underwater city. How does one cook underwater?”

“Ah-ha-haaaa! You’re riiight about that. Sirens—who get their seafood by opening their mouths and letting fiiish swim in—have no concept of gourmet. We Dhampir, howeverrr, appreciate the luxuries of life, such as fine diiining. I’m quite fond of how this dish came out.”

“Hey! Why am I the only one not getting any food or drink?! Will you hop off already?! I’m fine and dandy with my beloved darling playing hard to get, but the rest of you best not try me!”

 The banquet table was surrounded by members of different races, all enjoying a meal together.

Watching the sight unfold before him, Sora took the time to do some soul-searching about his stance on birthdays.

The food was good. The (albeit nonalcoholic) ale tasted great.

He was looking forward to using Izuna’s present, and what wasn’t there to like about his favorite god/idol superstar, Holou, giving him a private show?

To top it all off, he had pictures of Emir-Eins and Jibril to enjoy—these were going to be saved for later.

Maybe birthdays were better than he was writing them off to be…

“Wait a minute…we haven’t gotten a present from Steph yet.”

 Obviously, Sora was well aware that the entire banquet, including most of the food and drink from each member nation, had been arranged by Steph. That she was the one who’d tested out all the recipes, found all the ingredients, and prepared them in a way that each partygoer could enjoy. The party itself was a present not only for Sora and Shiro, but for the participants as well.

With this in mind, Sora, who was too embarrassed to thank Steph for everything in a more straightforward manner, tried to flush it out of her with a small jab, as she wasn’t the type to gloat about doing this all on her own, but—

“Ah, yes. I was going to save my gift for after dinner like I had planned, but…,” she said with a wry chuckle. “I guess there’s no point in doing that now.”

To Sora’s surprise, Steph excused herself to go get their gifts.

A short moment passed before she returned with two small, neatly wrapped packages.

“These are for you, Sora and Shiro. Happy Birthday.”

Steph held out the packages, which the siblings took and opened.

 Inside, they found something they hadn’t seen for seven days.

It was an “I   PPL” T-shirt and a pair of jeans, along with a black sailor outfit. The same old—actually, no—brand-new versions of their usual outfits. Clothes that should’ve been very dirty after a year of being worn continuously.

“I thought that these outfits must mean a lot to the two of you, so I had our seamstresses work on repairing them.”

“ ”

Steph said this like it was nothing, but it was cause for the siblings’ eyes to widen. Polyester didn’t exist in this world—or as far as Sora and Shiro knew, at least. They shouldn’t have even had the right fabric to test any dye or sewing methods on. As such, it would’ve been faster to re-create the clothes from scratch. This was likely what the seamstresses insisted, but Steph convinced them to try nevertheless, before eventually, perhaps with the help of Eastern Union textile expertise, successfully repairing the clothes.

In fact, an image flashed in the backs of Sora’s and Shiro’s minds of Steph joining the seamstresses to try to repair the clothes herself.

Steph, not the type to draw attention to any effort she made behind the scenes, however tremendous it might be, bashfully cleared her throat before speaking up.

“A birthday is when you say things you are normally too embarrassed to say.”

Steph shared another reason to celebrate a birthday with Sora, who only just earlier had rejected the concept wholeheartedly.

What’s worth celebrating is behind these doors—that’s what Steph said earlier, and she was about to explain what exactly that was.

“This past week, and everyone and everything in this room, are the fruits of your year spent here.”

Steph smiled gently and motioned throughout the banquet hall: This was the Commonwealth of Elkia, the nation the two siblings had started.

“ ”

Elkia, a kingdom where food was once scare, now was the host nation for a multiracial, multicultural banquet. Foods from each nation lined the table that the racially diverse guests happily shared together. This was all made possible by Sora and Shiro.

In other words:

In a world where everyone put their own priorities first—a world of war and deception—these two showed the world a glimpse of a dream, where people could share each other’s losses. Where they could accept each other, and compromise, and come out better for it in the end.

The siblings showed the world a glimpse of this dream, and that it could be a reality.

Sure, they weren’t finished yet. They had only just begun, and many problems stood in their way.

What mattered was that the journey had begun, and Sora and Shiro were the ones who made the world take that once-thought-to-be-impossible first step—

“There’s something I want to tell you. Something I will tell because it’s your birthday. Something I have to say.”

Her sincere words were for Sora and Shiro alone…

“Sora. Shiro. Thank you for being born, and thank you for being alive.”

She smiled. Overwhelmed, Sora and Shiro quickly scanned the room.

Jibril, Emir-Eins, Til, Izuna, and Holou were all looking at them. Even Ino and Plum—sure, they probably had their own opinions on the matter—seemed to be largely in agreement with Steph.

The people at this party were here to cross racial lines and celebrate their birthday, together.

“……………………”

Still taken aback, the siblings came to the same conclusion:

 We were never as ambitious as you make it sound.

We just got summoned here by Tet, who challenged us to his game—and we aren’t the type to back down from a challenge. Then we went around challenging anything we didn’t like. We’ve only ever lived how we wanted to live in this world—and had fun playing games, that’s all.

If that was as ambitious as their companions were making it out to be, then it was only thanks to Steph and the rest of the partygoers, who seemed to agree with her—not something the siblings did deliberately.

This world had been full of gamers before the two ever got here. If it hadn’t been either of them, then somebody, somewhere out there, would’ve eventually accomplished what they had so far.

That said, it was Steph who spent the most time accompanying the two on their antics.

If she and the rest of the elite gamers at the party that night felt this way, then…

“…Oh, yeah…uh…I dunno what to say…?”

“…You’re, uh…welcome…?”

 “Thank you for being born, and thank you for being alive”…

Sora and Shiro never thought the day would come when they could ever be thankful for anybody but each other.

Which was why their response to Steph’s words came out bashfully. They sounded like they were asking a question:

“But, erm—! How should I put this? Was that entire seven-day ceremony really necessary? We almost kicked the can from exhaustion before making it to our birthday.”

 Sora and Shiro were pretty embarrassed by everything. Everyone at the party was grinning—it was rare to see the siblings acting like this—and Sora tried to wave away all the eyes that were on him and his sister.

Asserting that this party alone should’ve been enough was simply a semantic trick Sora used to hide his bashfulness—but.

“Well…you see…,” Steph began, averting her gaze in hesitation before Ino answered for her:

“It was necessary, indeed…as unfortunate as that may be…”

While there was no doubt in Sora’s and Shiro’s minds that Steph’s…appreciation for them was sincere—

“We needed to let the world know in a big way that we, the Commonwealth of Elkia, are a powerful entity with unbreakable bonds and a force to be reckoned with. Some propaganda, if you will.”

 The member nations needed to use their assembly, even if the main goal was to celebrate the siblings’ birthday.

Ino continued to speak for Steph, who was gnashing her teeth from the overwhelming guilt.

The room, once filled with joyous celebration, took on a more solemn overtone as Ino continued…

“You see, the Commonwealth is at a clear disadvantage in the war being waged against us.”

Sora and Shiro had already begun revolutionizing the world in the same way that Ino’s master, the Shrine Maiden, once dreamed of doing before eventually abandoning that dream. The two rekindled her hope in that dream—however.

 By Ino’s estimation, it wasn’t long before the Commonwealth would be brought to its knees…

…………,

“Sorry for the wait!   Foeniculum, cute as ever and at your service!!   And have I got a present for you!! Something perfect for all the love that’s in the air in Elkia tonight— Er, hey? What gives? Why the long faces, people? Did one of yous get caught cheatin’? Let’s hear the sweet deets. Who was it? What races were they? Deh-heh-hehhh!”

A small girl poofed out of nowhere in Fairy fashion—it was Foeniculum.

The entire banquet was glaring at Ino Hatsuse for committing the cardinal sin of ruining the party. A sucker punch from his granddaughter—“Stupid Grampy! Read the damn room, please!”—spurred Ino to drown his sorrows in a glass of ale. Foeniculum quickly took that as a sign to engage in some alcohol-fueled shenanigans of her own……

 With that, the celebration was in full swing, and it was soon dark outside. The birthday party eventually disbanded once Shiro and Izuna began nodding off in the dead of night.

Sora carried Shiro on his back, taking her from the castle garden to the room they shared. Shiro, tuckered out after a long night of fun, changed into her old school uniform that she received from Steph, only to conk out soon after. Sora, on the other hand, made extra sure that his little sister was sleeping like a log before similarly changing into his favorite “I   PPL” T-shirt but only to forgo donning his newly repaired jeans. Pantsless, he cautiously double-, then triple-checked his surroundings.

“Nothing to my left or right… Back and front, up and down are clear… I don’t hear anyone nearby, either all right!”

He checked everything and everywhere he could, especially the depth of his younger sister’s sleep—something he spent a good thirty seconds on—to make sure he was finally and fully alone.

In the darkness of the room, two sources of square light shone faintly. One from his phone and the other from his tablet.

 What was he about to do in the sanctity of his bedroom? This should be fairly obvious.

He had two devices loaded with hot-off-the-press pictures of Emir-Eins and Jibril to work over—!! And it would be entirely out of line to neglect at least taking a look at his birthday presents on the night of his birthday! Wouldn’t it?!

But Sora was a gentleman and a scholar. He held out his phone and tablet with the sincerest of looks. He was in a bit of a bind, for he had to make a choice! Which device would he peruse first?!

His two close female companions had poured their hearts and souls into preparing these two collections, and prioritizing one over the other presented an unavoidable conundrum—Sora was absolutely torn by this.

As fate would have it…his right hand had business elsewhere, leaving him just one open hand—but two devices!

Forced to make the bitter decision over which device to start with, Sora held out the smartphone and tablet, when—!!

“Um, King Sora…? You should really wear some pants. You’ll catch a cold, you will.”

“………………………………”

Sora was neither shocked nor surprised by the sudden sound of a Peeping Tom’s voice coming from behind him.

Instead, he was calm and collected as he lazily turned around to discover that Little Miss Til had found her way not only into his room but to a spot right behind him.

“Nýi Tilvilg…”

“Yes! What is it, Sir?”

“Here’s the deal. I’m pretty tired after such a long week, but I have this one last thing I gotta work out before I hit the hay. I’m really sorry, but unless this is super important, do you think you can save it for another day? Hm?”

 FML, I can never get to the good part, as usual. I knew this would happen—it’s why I kept my boxers on!

Sora, unsurprised by Til’s appearance, made an implicit request for her to leave his room, yet…

“Uh, I can’t tell if what I have is more important than whatever it is you need to do—”

…Til, the self-proclaimed grubby mole, the sensibility-less Dwarf, was unable to pick up on the situational cues at hand.

“—but what did they mean by the Commonwealth being at a disadvantage? The way I see it, we’d clobber the Front in a battle, we would. How are they even a threat?”

 …………

“Ah… Right… So that’s what you wanna talk about…”

 Til’s concern was indeed far more significant than whatever lingering task Sora was about to whack away at.

With a deep sigh, the nineteen-year-old reluctantly pulled on his newly repaired jeans, and…

“…Honestly, you moles really need to learn to read the room…”

“Objection: Interruption of Master’s important task as well as this unit’s observation of it. Now demonstrating extreme disappointment.”

“…Til? There’s…a little something, called timing that…you really ought to learn about… ’Kay…?”

Jibril and Emir-Eins both materialized out of nowhere. They were joined by Shiro, who sluggishly propped herself up from what was—despite Sora’s meticulous multifold checks—evidently her feigning being asleep.

The end of Sora’s long first year in Disboard culminated in this moment. He stared at the ceiling with a single question on his mind: Does privacy even exist in this world?

He lamented over the trampling of his right to himself, though the concept was relatively modern even in his original world.

“D-did I do something bad?! I—I don’t wanna die, I don’t!!”

“No, Til. It’s the exact opposite. Tonight, you’ve saved me. D-d-don’t worry, now it’s my turn to save you…!”

There was palpable hostility emanating abundantly from the Flügel, Ex Machina, and twelve-year-old Immanity.

Sora was thankful for Til, who was shrieking in fear. She managed to inadvertently protect what little dignity he had. With quivering knees, he placed himself between her and the three girls menacing her…

“Now that that’s over with…I guess we’ll start from the top with the current state of Disboard…”

Once Jibril, Emir-Eins, and Shiro were calm, Sora sat Shiro on his crossed legs and began to explain.

“I—I see, I do…,” said Til. “But, um, do you think it’s really okay for me to be here…?”

The three angry ladies still looked murderous where they were seated next to Til, who was sitting up straight as if on needles. To keep the attention off Til, Sora purposefully ignored her remark and continued:

“First… As was mentioned earlier, the world has been split into two factions: the Commonwealth of Elkia, and—well, quite frankly…the rest of the world that isn’t in the Commonwealth: the Anti-Elkia Commonwealth War Front.”

 The Anti-Elkia Commonwealth War Front, or what was known colloquially as the Front.

The Front was spearheaded by the Elves in Elven Gard and included Dragonia, Gigant, Demonia, and Lunamana, in addition to multiple Phantasmas. It was a massive wealth of power brought together by one goal: the dissolution of the Commonwealth and dominion over its nation-states—which would amount to their individual destruction.

On the other hand:

“There’s also us Immanity. Our only nation, Elkia, has split into two factions: those who believe in the Commonwealth—the Kingdom of Elkia—and those who side with the Front—the Republic of Elkia.”

While Sora and Shiro were still the rulers of Elkia, and thus, the kingdom’s agent plenipotentiary…they were no longer the agent plenipotentiary for the Immanity race.

Immanity was divided, and those who marched under the flag of the Front sought one goal: the end of the Commonwealth—which meant absolute war. A war that wouldn’t end until one of the sides perished—the world was headed for all-out, total war.

Well, it would be, were this Sora’s original world. Things worked a bit differently in Disboard, which meant:

“You’re right, Til. The Front is barely a threat at all. And that’s because they aren’t united.”

 While the world had been divided into two factions, so long as the Front’s primary goal was destruction of its enemy…it was more of an angry mob than anything else.

In the event that they succeeded in their goal—disbanding the Commonwealth and gaining dominion over its nations, and thus, the Commonwealth’s destruction—what would become of half of the world’s resources, territories, and Race Pieces? What, would they split everything down the middle? Even stephen? That would be ridiculous, and the entire world knew it. As such, a clever name for their so-called alliance wouldn’t change the fact that each race individually sought to claim as big a piece of the Commonwealth as they could.

In other words, there was deep-seated inner conflict within the Front. Not only that, but in the event the Commonwealth did fall, the only remaining threats for the races that made up the Front would be each other.

There was virtually no chance of there being any semblance of unity within the enemy forces. To make things even more difficult, they needed to fight in a way that concealed their strongest powers from each other, too.

All this, in addition to the fact that the lead nation of the alliance, Elven Gard, was on the brink of collapse…

“So yeah. There’s pretty much no way in hell we’d lose to them in a head-to-head battle.”

Four times. That’s the number of times Hardenfell and the Eastern Union had challenged the Commonwealth to large-scale war games after war was declared on the Commonwealth, and the number of times Sora and Shiro, with the help of Flügel, Ex Machina, and occasionally Fairy—to use Til’s phrasing—clobbered their challengers.

As per the Ten Covenants, the challenged reserved the right to decide the game. Should the Front have to fight on the Commonwealth’s terms, it would put it at a tremendous disadvantage.

Could what amounted to an angry mob work together, share their secrets, and overcome this…? It was clear that their chances were nonexistent. Which was why four times was enough to know that—

“Inevitability: The Front’s battle will not be waged against our alliance but our civilians.”

Emir-Eins hit the nail on the head. Since the Front didn’t have a shot at winning a war game, the only attack it could make was economical: by hitting the Commonwealth’s individual corporations and private citizens.

With that said…

“…Doesn’t that make them even less of a threat, though…?” Til offered.

The Commonwealth was by no means inferior to the Front in terms of trade and economy, which made it increasingly difficult to persuade any Commonwealth businesses to defect. Or at least that should’ve been the case.

“Here, Til. Lemme ask you a question.”

Clapping his hands once, Sora said this with a big smile before continuing.

“Imagine a game where two teams are against each other. Team A is strong, but they die if they lose the game. Team B, on the other hand, is weak, but they probably won’t die if they lose. Now, which team would you want to play on?”

“B! B! B! Definitely B! ’Cause I don’t wanna die, no I do not!”

Til sat up in attention as she replied. Sora’s smile never wavered; he nodded and agreed with her.

“Right? That’s what most people would do. So in this scenario, Team A is the Commonwealth and Team B is the Front.”

“Huh?”

With the stress of everything beginning to appear in Sora’s smile, Emir-Eins and Jibril took his place to continue.

“Explanation: The Front’s declaration of the Commonwealth’s destruction created a situation where its member races could not fight at full capacity. Conversely, it created an environment where it is easy for members of the Commonwealth to betray it. On a civilian level, this environment poses a critically severe problem.”

“…It comes back to how we were forced to neglect the republic’s rebellion.”

The Elkian parliament—what was once the Commercial Confederation laden with spies for the other races—was the first group to betray the kingdom by declaring independence and forming the Republic of Elkia. It was a watershed moment where the kingdom, namely Sora and Shiro, needed to come down on the movement with an iron fist.

 Swift and sure punishments and rewards were the foundation of ruling over a kingdom. Letting treason slide would shake a nation at its foundation.

Sora and Shiro, however, were unable to come up with a way to punish the rebels without anyone dying, which forced them to look the other way.

Conversely, the Front was heralding the destruction of the Commonwealth, where the worst-case scenario was forced servitude in its member nations.

This contrast was out in the open for all to see, making the stakes clear for all. Namely:

“…Siding with the Commonwealth…means destruction… If we lose…”

“It stands to reason that siding with the Front, however, isn’t as life-or-death, whether they win or lose—”

This was the point.

“From a risk management perspective, it’s far too dangerous for anyone to want to stay on our side.”

This meant that the Commonwealth was forced into a position where it couldn’t take the initiative.

Making no effort to hide their agitation, Sora and Shiro muttered their next lines.

“Basically, the longer we wait, the more people we bleed…until it’s kaput.”

“…How…annoying…”

This reality was all too clear in Steph’s reports. Thanks to Steph’s overwhelming competency and rapid execution of political tactics—the most recent coronation ceremony being a good example—the Kingdom of Elkia was able to appeal its national security to the public, narrowly preventing any further loss of civilians even if it failed to win over the landowners.

Things were even worse for the Eastern Union, though.

Until only half a century ago, the Eastern Union was entrenched in a series of tribal civil wars that spanned over 6,000 years. With the treason committed by the republic going unpunished, it called into question the Shrine Maiden’s power to keep those tribes bound together. Though there had been no public disaffections thus far, there was suspicion that many groups had connections with the Front.

When it came to Oceand, the presence of the Dhampir made it possible for them to switch sides at any time.

Even in Avant Heim, support for the Commonwealth within the Council of Eighteen Wings was beginning to sway due to the stagnation of the conflict.

Perhaps surprised by what she’d learned about the inner workings of the member nations of the Commonwealth, Til responded:

“…Wow, I never figured everyone had so much baggage to deal with, I didn’t…”

Sora offered the astonished Dwarf a nod of solidarity. “Yeah, that’s why I can’t stand politics. But just so you know, you guys are the weird ones…”

The Fairies and Foeniculum knew exactly what they were getting into when they joined the Commonwealth, and it was safe to assume Einzig and the Ex Machina wouldn’t go back on their promise.

But the Dwarves? There wasn’t the slightest hint of a rebellion among them, and the reason for that was:

“Anything to ‘fock’ the Elves isn’t a healthy worldview to live by… Just how much do you hate them anyway…?”

The Dwarves’ collective insanity aside, the point was that the Commonwealth was slowly falling apart.

Til didn’t seem persuaded, though. With her head cocked to the side, she returned to her original question.

“That doesn’t change the fact that the Front is still weaker than us, it doesn’t. Why not go on the offensive and show ’em who’s boss? Especially those talking plants. What better way to teach them a lesson than knocking them down a few pegs?”

 Though a member of the Commonwealth herself, Til appeared to despise the Elves enough to occasionally suggest their destruction.

“I think it would be easier to get the world on our side by showing them the Commonwealth is undefeatable, I do…”

Sora showed a strained grin as he nodded in agreement…

 She was right, after all. While the Ten Covenants made it so that whichever side was the challenger was put at a tremendous disadvantage, this had always been the case for every victory Sora and the group had racked up until this point.

As the Front’s inability to cooperate made them weak, then why not take them on individually, just as they had up until then?

Sora needed to answer Til’s highly pertinent question.

“You’re right. We need to go on the offensive to change the situation. I can see the holes in our enemies’ defenses, too. Shiro and I have already thought out a couple of ways to approach this, and we have some of the groundwork set in motion, too.”

“So then why…?”

This had Til hopeful—but both Sora and Shiro, and even Jibril and Emir-Eins, were either averting their eyes from her or looking visibly pained.

“…It’s just not that easy.”

“What? Why’s that…?”

Instead of answering the question, the siblings gritted their teeth in frustration.

It was true the Front had neither strategy nor unity on its side. Normally, destroying it would be easy, but—and this was a big but—it made one devastating move that was in full effect.

 Its declaration to destroy the Commonwealth… This was made knowing that Sora and Shiro would let it go unpunished. It was also behind the establishment of the republic, the sole purpose of which was to absorb citizens who sought to hedge their risk in the conflict by defecting.

Sora and Shiro were wary of the person behind this, and that kept them from acting. It was the perfect first move, and it was entirely deliberate.

 This was the reality of the situation. One man had snatched the initiative right from Sora and Shiro and kept a tight grip on it.

The siblings were thinking this over…but then:

 Ka-booooom!!

Their train of thought was derailed by a massive explosion that rang throughout Elkia.

The explosion could be heard coming from far outside the castle walls. The residential area, to be exact. Ten seconds before it happened, Jibril and Emir-Eins—likely having sensed something was wrong—averted their gazes to far off in the distance for a moment before taking flight.

Everything was happening all at once, which had Sora and Shiro bewildered. The sound of the blast finally reached the castle—

“Wh-what the frick was that?! What’s happening?!”

“…Was that…a meteor crash…?”

“Oh…OH?! I’d, uh, better run… Er, no, there’s no time, there isn’t. Here, Ma’am, let me borrow the inside of your skirt real qui ACK!!”

While the siblings were concerned with the blast itself, Til appeared to have an inkling of what had caused it. She jumped to her feet and scurried toward Shiro in a panic.

A screaming Til tried to take refuge in Shiro’s skirt, but an arm jutted out of the shadows and grabbed her by the nape of her neck before she could.

Everything was moving far too fast for Sora and Shiro to follow with their meager human eyes, leaving them to have to put the pieces together based on what they saw after the fact, necessitating a few more seconds.

Apparently, someone else had made their way into the room, likely through the window. They could tell it was a man wielding a dagger in his left hand with a greatsword sheathed on his back.

The man—who had rust-colored mithril hair and crimson eyes—lifted Til by the base of her neck with his right hand. He must’ve demi-shifted here, and with such incredible power making him look much larger than he actually was…

“‘Hello, hello, if it ain’t my fockin’ niece… It’s been, what, three months?”

His voice gave it away—the man was…

“Found myself a nice little asteroid, declared it Planet Big Boobs, planted myself a fat flag, and came back, ya hear? Are ya happy now?!”

“Oh nooo, that’s it for my peaceful life, it is! Sir, Ma’am, I need your help ……… Er, uh, whoa! Uncle…! This is the absolute worst you’ve ever smelled, it is!!”

Til welcomed her uncle with a shriek.

“Aaah, shut yer fockin’ trap! I dunno what you expected; there ain’t no water in space. Heck, there’s no spirits! I didn’t have the luxury of using what little drinking water I had to wash myself, thank ya very much.”

“Wait, so that makes it…three months since your last bath?! I can’t believe this, I can’t! Your face was filthy enough, it was! Go take a bath before coming to see me again! Thbbft, thbbft, thbbft!!”

“ ”

Here’s what had happened: The Dwarf man, whose genius was lauded as reaching heights that would never emerge again, had made a heartfelt proposal to Til a mere three months earlier—only to be rejected outright, leaving him a broken man.

He was let down hard and told to go to the planet of big boobs before ever talking to Til again.

Something he evidently did by becoming the first Ixseed to achieve space flight, finding a small asteroid, planting a flag, and naming it appropriately. Which made the explosion from only moments earlier the sound of his ship landing.

But that was neither here nor there—the man had just returned from space!

Whatever unprecedented genius he had etched into history before was just outdone by a long shot. The world’s most powerful Dwarf. A monster of sensibility. A god-level spirit arms smith and a living prodigy.

The agent plenipotentiary of Hardenfell: Veig Drauvnir!!

Back from space, his first attempt to woo his beloved Til was shot down faster than the speed of light. Veig assumed the fetal position, doing everything in his power to keep himself from tearing up… It was a sorry sight to behold.

“Hey…ya best bud’s back from space… I wanted to make it in time for yer birthdays…”

After a brief moment, Veig turned to the siblings. He was talking in between sniffles.

“I’m real sorry… I didn’t have enough time to getcha any presents… Here’re a couple o’ rocks I picked up on Planet Big Boobs and some moon I made a pit stop at…”

Veig chucked two pebbles toward Sora and Shiro.

 A rock from an unknown asteroid and a rock from a moon…

Sora and Shiro accepted the small gifts that likely had quite literal astronomical, historical, and scholarly significance.

“R-right. Thanks, I guess. Um, welcome back…?”

“…Be strong…Veig…”

Til was behind them, still dry heaving from whatever she smelled. Her lack of sympathy for Veig made Sora and Shiro do their best to smile and thank him…

“Right… I’mma go wash up. I’ll be back real quick… Sorry, but mind if I borrow your pond? Dammit… I even gave up drinking and smoking while I was in space…”

After his triumphant return from the cosmos, he’d come to see his beloved niece, Til, only to be rejected… He looked down and slumped his shoulders, which carried the weight of his immense talent, sniffling as he made his way to the door, when—

“Yeah, sure thing. But wow, your timing is as impeccable as ever.”

It really was superb. This man’s senses always led him to the best move.

Sora stopped Veig before he could leave. The Dwarf couldn’t have come at a better time.

“There’s something I want to talk to you about. If you’re willing to keep your shorts on, let’s go over it while you wash up.”

“Oh…?”

It had to do with the question Til posed only moments earlier.

Sora wanted to know about the mysterious person who seized the conflict’s initiative from Sora and Shiro, leaving them unable to act.

He asked Veig:

“What do you know about Auri-El Violhart?”

The Elf agent plenipotentiary and leader of Elven Gard:

Auri-El Violhart…

This man not only saw right through the poison Sora and Shiro had laced the well with, but was trying to use it against them.

He was also the first person to unequivocally defeat Sora and Shiro…to make Blank lose.

“I’ve researched everything I could about him, and even though I should have enough intel for what I want to know, something about the guy just doesn’t make sense.”

Sora had information on Auri-El Violhart. It wasn’t even difficult to find. Information on his family, his history, and his upbringing was all there.

No matter where Sora looked or whom he asked, he only ever received one answer:

 For better or worse, the man is perfect.

Sora’s instincts, however, rejected this. His gut told him this couldn’t be the case.

Until he and Shiro could learn who Auri-El really was, the war with the Front would be fought in the palm of the Elf’s hand.

Should Sora ignore his instincts and go on the offensive, he knew whatever he did would be used against him again, and this time, for good.

Sora was sure of this and, therefore, couldn’t act on a whim.

“Veig, I’ve read that you’ve fought the guy directly three times before. Not only that, but you’ve won two of those three battles.”

What better person to ask than Veig, someone who’d engaged with Auri-El before?

He had fought Auri-El Violhart in close combat—close enough to likely contest his own soul against his.

So what did the man whose sensibilities and instincts were on an entirely different level think about him?

“Hm…? Oh…that guy…?”

Veig removed his shirt and approached the castle pond, unperturbed by the question.

“Let’s see. Settin’ aside the fact that he’s another blade of that useless long-eared grass…”

Veig muttered his response under his breath:

“…If I had to say it, I suppose he’s the world’s most annoying man, by a big fat margin.”

He shared his instincts—the truth—with a fatigue that came from the pit of his stomach …………

 At the same time, just outside Elkia Royal Castle’s main gates.

Jibril and Emir-Eins sensed a large quantity of mass plummeting toward the ground from a high altitude—Veig’s space shuttle.

They knew this almost immediately, but it was no longer significant to them.

Their initial scan of the area led them to a new spirit response, which they shifted directly to.

And then—

“My, my. I surely hope a pathetic little Demonia didn’t expect to infiltrate Master’s castle.  ”

Jibril’s piercing hostility was aimed toward an empty space. However:

“Analysis: Unknown specimen determined to be the final of Demonia’s Nine Nightmares—Schira Ha the Wise. Demand: Quickly reveal your intentions. Fail to comply and this unit will prepare to attack.”

The living scanner that was Emir-Eins joined her Flügel counterpart in making it clear that crude concealment magic would have little effect in their presence.

“Mweh-heh… It wasn’t quite my intention to hide…”

 A young, enchanting woman wearing a dark dress emerged from the emptiness. Her hair was darker and gloomier than the deepest ocean and long enough to touch the floor. Two horns crowned her head—one of which was broken—and from behind her hips sprouted four snakes, each with slitted crimson eyes, just like her own. Her beauty and hideousness were in perfect harmony.

The Demonia woman elegantly clasped her hands together in front of her stomach and used two of the four snakes to hold the hem of her dress for a slow curtsy.

“I arrived a bit too early to pay you a visit, so I decided to quietly wait for morning to come, but… Mweh-heh… It seems my appearance alone was enough to draw you out, and for that, I do apologize.”

There was a grace to her. She spoke politely, and with a soft smile.

But the tone of her voice sounded as if she was mocking them, and with a belittling gaze, she said:

“It appears you two are members of the hero’s party. Do you mind if I introduce myself?”

““…………””

The Demonia asked permission in a way that was both polite and wicked. A confused—but still cautious—Jibril and Emir-Eins silently maintained their diligent watch.

“I would like to give a curse to celebrate this wonderful meeting of ours. My name is Schira Ha—I was created by the Devil and served as one of his Nine Nightmares. Only just recently I was appointed the head of the Devil’s Army Joint Chiefs of Staff… Mweh-heh…”

 She was effectively the head of Demonia.

“In the days of yore, I was once recognized for my unparalleled wisdom that surpassed the Devil: me, the wisest of them all! Nonetheless, I am but a humble servant to His Majesty. I am pleased to meet your acquaintance… Mwehhh-heh-heh-heh.”

 And she was Demonia’s greatest mastermind.

The woman introduced herself with an intelligent, alluring voice that also had a playfully evil edge to it.

Jibril and Emir-Eins remained vigilant—

“Mweh-heh… Now, I must apologize for coming at such a busy time, but I— Oh? My apologies… Where did I put it…?”

Schira Ha was in the middle of bowing politely when she cut herself off and rummaged around in a hidden pocket in her dress until she seemed to find what she was looking for.

“Ah, there it is.”

It was a small piece of folded paper: a note. She unfolded it before the two women, who were starting to look just as confused as they were wary.

Schira Ha moved at her own pace, gently clearing her throat before announcing:

“Let’s see… Listen all, far and wide! We have come to announce your despair, cough! …Tremble with fear—the time has come for the Devil’s Army to finally destroy the world!! …That’s all, cough!”

Her throat must have hurt from reading the note, for her eyes were tearing up.

Nevertheless, she finished by thanking Jibril and Emir-Eins for listening to her declaration and curtsied once more.

“Mweh-heh… As such, the two of you will be obliterated. I hope you’re ready!!”

The four sets of snake-tail eyes narrowed with aggression—however.

““……………………””

Jibril and Emir-Eins—both of races that were once irreconcilable enemies—looked at each other and, curiously enough, found they shared the same dubious expression.

 Demonia’s so-called mastermind isn’t challenging us both to a game at the same time, is she…?

“Mweh-heh…! Now, challenge me to whatever sort of game you may!!”

 Evidently, she was.

The pair just shrugged. The Demonia, meanwhile, awaited their response to her wicked challenge with an oddly elegant stance.

…Okay? Then, uh, let the game begin…?

The two obliged—

—only to clobber this Schira Ha the Wise character in a grand total of three minutes.