MSR-V3-3

## The Advisors

(Alright, these commoners got it right.)

Tahara nodded in satisfaction as he looked around at the numerous standing bars and food stalls. This area housed the public bath in its farthest corner, and these pop-up businesses tightly lined the road leading to the bathhouse. At night, the area lit up as bright as a Japanese summertime festival.

Most restaurants and shops in these parts were simple structures with simple merchandise. It’s also worth noting that there was no rent for any establishment built in this area — any revenue went directly into the seller’s pockets. In exchange, Tahara had warned them, any unpopular establishment would be cycled out without mercy. Only keeping popular businesses would lead to the overall quality of the district improving. He didn’t expect any monetary revenue from this area, however; only more people and energy in the village.

“Tron, they have skewered Raging Chickens over there!”

“I want to eat them!”

He noticed Aku and Tron happily touring around the food stands, and couldn’t help but wonder... *What was Aku’s deal?*

(Tron, I get.)

She had incredible physical strength and the mysterious power of seeing people in colors. Tahara could see how those talents could be appealing to the Secretary and worthy of an invitation. Tahara saw it as the Secretary’s nature and duty to hoard anyone with the right talent, no matter how hardened a criminal they may be. But, as far as Tahara could tell... Aku had no such talent.

(She’s just some kid... Or is there something about her that I’m not seeing?)

Tahara didn’t understand. In fact, Hakuto Kunai would never have given Aku a second glance. That’s why this was so confusing for Tahara, who had no idea that Akira Ono was inhabiting Kunai’s body. Anyone less than omniscient would not have reached the conclusion that Hakuto Kunai kept Aku around because the Akira Ono inside of him had a fondness for her. (Either way, she’s our precious cargo.)

If Tahara had to choose one person to protect in this village, he would have chosen Aku without hesitation... even at the cost of anyone else’s life.

(She’s not like Ren or Akane, either...)

Hakuto Kunai was fond of the gifted, even if they were still children. He invited anyone whose talents he admired to the Sleepless Castle and granted them appropriate status. Tahara couldn’t help but think that there must be something extraordinary about Aku.

(I mean, she’s not a bad kid. Guess I’ll think of her as ‘the Secretary’s fave’ for now.)

Tahara headed to the field hospital. In the witch’s lair, there was already a huge line of patients, most of them suffering in poverty. After Tahara had run carriages to neighboring towns and villages advertising cheap medical care, the place was packed.

“I haven’t had a headache since I took that medicine...”

“My bruise doesn’t hurt anymore since I put that Salonpass on it...!”

“Doctor Yu... She’s too beautiful...”

“She only has to touch me to...”

While they were still few in number, there were some nobles there through their connection with the Madame. Everyone who had been treated had been spreading rumors that Yu was a goddess of healing. Surely, her name would soon spread through Holylight.

“Her beauty reminds me of the moon!”

“The moon’s reflection on quiet water, perhaps.”

“But that building was amazing... It showcases the wealth and power of the Demon Lord the Madame was talking about.”

“Who gives a crap about the building!? At my old age, I’ve fallen in love all over again...!”

For the most part, the hospital was well-received. While the reasonably priced and flawless treatments played a part, Yu’s beauty seemed to grab hold of peoples’ hearts more than anything. For Tahara, who knew how she was on the inside, it wasn’t funny. But for the patients, she appeared to be a goddess of salvation. In fact, Yu *had* used her various medicines to faithfully heal these people. Well, she was treating them... but for her, each day was filled with experimentation, new discoveries, and joy. In addition to prescribing medicine, Yu also performed surgeries. The silver lining was that the patients were not able to see Yu’s face as they were put under anesthetics. (I bet every day has been like a dream for Yu...)

Guinea pigs formed lines out the door to come see her each and every day. She must have been ecstatic. Of course, she did properly heal everybody, so no one was losing here.

(I don’t care if I get the flu, I’m never stepping foot in here...)

Just imagining it sent shivers down Tahara’s spine. It almost felt like she would toy with his brain, not just his body... In fact, she could.

(I guess it’s time to take care of the other thing now...)

——Outside the village of Rabbi.

That night, Milligan was hiding in a bush a slight distance away, intently watching the village of Rabbi. The village was nothing like the desolate village he had remembered; it felt like he was daydreaming. The run-down place was transforming into something. What it was, he didn’t know. Milligan was a skilled mercenary and a formidable force on the battlefield, but nothing more. From the outside, he was just a rabid dog getting off on thrashing his violent tendencies against those weaker than him.

(I don’t know what’s going on, but I can still snatch a couple of little

Bunnies.)

He lusted over young girls. The only moments he really felt alive were when he was beating and breaking those girls, treating them as if they were toys as they begged for their parents. He lived solely for this hobby now. Even for him, though, a Bunnie girl would be a first. Because there were many legends left behind that the Bunnies were adored by the Wise Angel, they were respected yet kept at a distance. But he was finally given the green light by Dona, his boss.

When Milligan took a step forward in ecstatic excitement, a drawling voice interrupted him. A weirdly nonchalant voice that almost made the listener feel laid back too.

“Hey, brother. Where’re you headed?”

“...Hm?”

Milligan turned toward the voice to find a man lying down on a board atop the village fence. Judging by the weird metal rod in his hand, Milligan pegged him to be a guard. He almost burst out laughing — he had encountered many guards in his life, but had never met someone that seemed so unmotivated. A guard laying down on the job? It would be more useful to put up a scarecrow.

“I mean, I already know the answer. But like, formalities, you know?”

“Sorry to bother you so late.”

Milligan thought it best to manipulate this idiot into bringing him into the village rather than killing him outright. What he didn’t know was that this particular “idiot” was aiming his sniper rifle at the intruder, poised to kill... he also didn’t know that no one could escape that bullet now. “Got lost in the dark. Hate to impose, but...”

“Sure.”

Pop. Milligan heard a sound he had never heard before. In that instant, his right leg was blown clean off, knocking him down on his side. Milligan lost consciousness from the shock, but soon regained it from the pain. He tried to scream, but couldn’t find his voice. Yu, standing behind him, had injected something into his body.

“Hey, Tahara! Don’t damage my sample!”

“You’re just gonna tear it apart and put it back together... Same diff.”

“You can’t just willy-nilly... You have no clue as to the proper treatment of guinea pigs!”

“Why would I want to know that?”

Listening to this conversation, Milligan desperately moved his hands and managed to sound the alarm using a precious magical item that sent a beam of light to a distant location. But there was no sign of the back-up Milligan had thought he’d brought.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Your little friends are in here.”

Yu opened her Backup Backpack with a smile and showed the contents to

Milligan. Upon witnessing what the warped, white space inside the bag held, Milligan silently screamed. All of his men were in there, entangled with each other in eldritch shapes. Not only were they bleeding from countless places, their hands and necks bent in ways they weren’t supposed to, and there were plants with ominous fangs and needles growing around them, as if to suck their blood.

“N-No, please... It’s true, I was just lost...”

Tears flowing down his face, Milligan desperately pleaded his innocence. Realizing that his missing leg no longer hurt only amplified his terror. Yu’s expression remained unchanged, though. If anything, her smile only widened.

Milligan turned to Tahara with a dire expression, looking for a saving hand.

He was only met with an ordinary expression, as if he was merely discussing what to have for dinner.

“You’ve been peeping at our village since day time.”

“N-No... I was, lost...”

“Oh yeah? Tron, what’s your verdict?”

“He’s lying. Guilty.”

“Right? My gut’s telling me that he’s a piece of shit even flies won’t eat.” Tron had appeared out of nowhere, joining in the fun. Even if Tahara had (impossibly) believed Milligan, Yu never would have. He was as good as dead.

“Now, let’s begin... You’ll be a part of our very important soil.”

“L-Let go, please... Help...!”

Yu grabbed Milligan by the hair and dragged him away. He was like a pathetic worm being snatched by a monster.

“Yu, play with it all you want, but get all the info we need first.”

“Don’t worry. You know I’m good at both torture and playing doctor.”

“Yeesh. You hear that, Tron? I don’t care how sick you are, don’t go near that place. Yu, I’m not sure I want to know the answer, but... What do you mean, ‘soil’?”

“I’m growing a new plant. With human bodies as feed, she grows off of their blood and nutrients. She’s going to bloom a beautiful... flower.”

“A-Alright...”

“I want to gift the Secretary that flower when he returns from up north.”

Hearing this, Milligan desperately tried to break free, but his body remained motionless. Someone speaking about something so horrific had the expression of a teenager writing a love letter.

“Tahara. Don’t you think the Secretary will like it?”

“Y-Yeah...”

“I knew it! When I tried it with his friends earlier, I think the flower became more vibrant when I induced certain levels of pain in them. This one’s got a lot of work to do.”

“R-Right...”

Leaving Tahara’s frozen expression and Tron innocently waving her goodbye, Yu carried off her new fertilizer with a jubilant attitude. Being dragged by the witch, Milligan squeezed out:

“I-I don’t know, nothing... I was just told I can come and play!”

“Don’t worry... I’ll make sure you tell me all about it. For example, I have a skill called Censorship, which allows me to manipulate information.

Humans, in a sense, are just a collection of information.”

“W-What are you...?”

“Take your age. That’s a piece of information. If I manipulate that to make you eight, you’ll be a child again, excited to tell me everything. Ooh, I can manipulate your sex, too. It could also be fun to manipulate who your parents are. Once I’m your mother, you’ll open up to me.” Yu explained her skill like a teacher giving a lesson. With each new example, more blood drained from Milligan’s face until he appeared as white as a ghost.

Originally, the Censorship skill was created to reset one’s kill count in order to defend against powerful attacks that dealt more damage the higher their enemy’s kill count was, like Zero’s Righteous Hero and Do or Die. But, since every little backstory came to life in this world, her skill had many more uses now. The ability to manipulate any piece of information could be used for incredible good or horrendous evil.

“I want to make the Secretary proud, so I’m counting on you. I’m going to pull out all the stops, too!”

“H-Helb...”

“Hah ha ha ha! You idiot!”

Yu finally burst out laughing at Milligan’s pathetic cry. Her witch side finally came out.

“No one is going to help you. Did you ever let anyone go because they cried for help? I don’t think so. So I’m not helping you, either. Why would I? You’re going to die, and not as a human, but as a plant. You’ll forget all your words soon.”

“N-No... Noooooo!”

“Oh, that’s a good cry. I’ve been thinking lately. Even an ant mustn’t disrespect the Secretary by soiling the sole of his shoe. The ants should clear the way for him. Don’t you agree?”

As she gleefully went on, she stored Milligan and his torn off leg into her Backup Backpack. The next morning at the village of Rabbi was peaceful, as if nothing had happened. In fact... nothing had happened at all.

## Keep Starving Tigers Separated

A girl who appeared to be a farmer was walking through the city of Yahooo. Her name was Hanzo, the chief of espionage for the New Kingdom of Xenobia. She entered a house and removed all of her clothes.

(This is going to be worse than I thought...)

Recalling the events from the other day, the girl sighed a little. She had visited the village of Rabbi under the guise of delivering a letter from a noble-seeming knight... As directed by Kongming, of course.

(That building...)

When she saw the Hot Springs Resort, a building of her homeland came to mind. It was uncanny. Her ancestors had passed down, through generations of storytelling, that they sailed across a long, long ocean from the far east. The legends had faded over generations, but Hanzo couldn’t help but remember them upon seeing that construction.

(And that elusive man...)

Her expression twisted in distaste as she remembered the grinning face. It was like hammering a nail into mud when dealing with that man. She had come all the way to the village of Rabbi, after hearing that the demi-human being transported used to be Luna Elegant’s servant, but she was greeted by Tahara instead of the Holy Maiden.

(He seemed to be in charge of the village. And what’s with the large-scale construction going on...?)

There were countless things to contemplate and to report. As she organized all of the new information in her mind, she swiftly dressed in her Ninja outfit. Once she finished, numerous shadows appeared in the room, seemingly out of nowhere. They were all girls wearing the same garb.

“Lady Hanzo, how did it go?”

“...Don’t call me that.”

“Wha...?”

“I told you to call me Cocoa.”

“Well, that’s...”

The shadows looked around at each other, seeking direction. Hanzo was the name given to their leader generation after generation. It had never been changed before.

“I-It is a proud name that carries the legacy of our clan...”

“I can’t stand being called by that hideous name!”

“I don’t know what to...”

“Imagine this rosy-cheeked girl of eighteen being called Hanzo! What am

I, some man in his fifties with five-o’clock shadow!?”

The other shadows in the room secretly sighed at Hanzo’s usual conniption. Sometimes it was Kotone, sometimes Touka... in any case, Hanzo would force her subordinates to address her with a traditionally feminine Japanese name.

“T-Then... Lady C-Cocoa...? About the mission...”

“Make it sound cuter! Put some love into it! It means love in your heart, okay!?”

“I’m sorry to have to say this... Lady Hanzo, you are acting like... ‘that girl.’”

“Don’t call me Hanzo, I said!”

Hanzo was an extremely talented woman in espionage and stealth, but because she was raised to live in the shadows under the strict training of their clan leader, she now craved all things girly.

“In any case... Who is that man?”

The foreman of the village of Rabbi, who came from somewhere in Holylight. As none of the other shadows seemed to have found the answer, no one could answer Hanzo’s question. The man practically fell out of the sky one day, after all.

“Should we dive deeper?”

“No. There’s a strange woman there, too.”

With just a glance, Hanzo could tell that she was dangerous. It even felt like the woman was housing hundreds of devils under her lab coat. Hanzo decided that, barring any direct orders, it would be too dangerous to go in any deeper.

“We’ll keep our distance from the village for now. Start gathering rumors in the capital.”

The shadows scattered at once, leaving Hanzo alone in the room. She closed her eyes for a while, contemplating Holylight and the shift it was undergoing. The rumors of the Demon Lord’s appearance, of a Dragonborn defeating a high-rank devil, and now the large-scale construction in a rundown village. Even Hanzo and her long experience in the shadows couldn’t figure this one out. The only thing she knew for sure was that powerful devils had been defeated.

“There’s no sense dwelling on this any longer... I’ll wait for the

chancellor’s orders from here.”

The moment she uttered that to herself, Hanzo vanished from the room as well.

Meanwhile, the chancellor was frantically scribbling something down in Beatrice’s private quarters. She would go from crossing her legs, which peeked out of her Chinese dress, to cackling out of nowhere as if she had been possessed. Watching Kongming the Ice-Cold Chancellor act like this, Beatrice didn’t hold back her glares of disgust.