"How am I supposed to react when I return to my lovely home, only to be greeted by a bear sitting on my couch?"
"Jyr...we can just kill a bear...so I'd prefer that scenario..."
"Why are you hanging around like you're a friend of ours? Can you explain to me why you're all just having a lovely spot of tea?"
As soon as they returned to the inn, Jyrki, Iina, and Lumia let their thoughts on the intruder be known.
"Oh, c'mon, don't be so mean to me," Axel laughed. "That little lady there was the one to pour the tea."
"Oh! Um... He's a Great Hero, after all... I thought I'd offer something to drink...um, so as not to be rude..." Salume explained, trembling the whole time.
"Humph. I was the one who told her to serve some tea. You don't have to be so on edge, Salume," Asura sighed, spreading her arms to the side. She had already put on her clothes and was sitting upright on the bed. Reko was next to her, and Marx was standing with his back against the wall.
"Now then, Sir Axel, what are you doing here?" Lumia asked as she sat down in a chair. Iina and Jyrki remained on their feet.
"Right. I heard that you guys are gonna take down a criminal organization, see. Well, before you do that, I want you to capture the brass, get some intel from them, and then tell me about it. Whaddaya say?"
"And why, pray tell, is a Great Hero interested in a criminal organization?"
"You're sounding pretty prickly over there, lady."
"Hmm, I wonder why? Perhaps it's because you beat Asura half to death, Sir Axel."
"I apologized and we're even, thanks to what you did to my left hand, aren't we?"
"That's right," Asura butted in. "Let it go, Lumia. So, why are you interested? I'm surprised you already know about this."
"I'll always, forever and ever, be keeping an eye on your actions. But that doesn't matter right now," Axel said. "Opinions on whether that group is a threat to humankind are split within the hero community."
"I see." Lumia nodded. "I'm guessing a youth said something about how a giant criminal organization causes nothing but harm to humankind?"
"How'd you know that it was a youth who said it, lady?"
"Talk like that is reserved for the young, isn't it? I'm guessing they're a new hero, with a strong sense of justice, whose path never veered from the straight and narrow?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Axel sighed. "And since we're dealing with humans, some heroes don't agree with that statement. But...have you heard the rumors?"
"Rumors? What kind?" asked Asura.
"So the guy heading the organization is called God, yeah? And some people are saying that it's a pseudonym for Jeanne Autun Lala. We decided that we would do something only if those rumors are true."
"Oh? Jeanne Autun Lala, you say?" Asura smirked. "That's amazing. If I recall, she's the youngest person to become a hero, as well as the strongest hero to lose her title. Am I correct?"
"Someone broke Jeanne's record for the youngest hero a while back."
"Is that so? That's just how records are, I suppose. Does this mean that you heroes are still searching for Jeanne even a decade later?"
"Well, of course. These days, she's a blemish on our history. That's how most people view her, right?"
"And are you saying that you're different, Axel?"
"Humph, on the inside anyway." Axel shrugged. "It ain't just the heroes, by the way. Military police in countries all around the world are looking for her. She's at the top of almost every wanted list. It's about time for us to clean the slate, yeah?"
"'Clean the slate,' huh? Well, do whatever you want. We don't have much to do with that. Our only job is to destroy the Felmafia's base in Arnia. So we'll give you any information we can get."
"Thanks a bunch." Axel grinned and spread his right arm out to the side.
"Great Hero Axel," Marx said excitedly, "have you ever seen Jeanne? What did she look like?"
"Of course I've seen her. I was part of the same Demon Lord Expedition as her. She was pretty, with bright and shining eyes." He turned his gaze to Lumia. "Let's see... She probably would've looked a lot like that lady there if she'd been a bit older."
"What an honor," said Lumia.
"Well, one thing's for sure, you ain't Jeanne. You resemble her, but you lack Jeanne's divinity—traits that made her seem like a god. Besides, she wouldn't live a life as carefree as a mercenary's after committing the Great Massacre. It's way more believable for her to be heading a criminal organization."
"Of course," Lumia said and upon hearing that, Axel sighed.
"Listen to my stories for a little, Lumia Autun."
Lumia's expression twisted a little. Only Asura was able to recognize the confusion on her face. The other members of Moon Blossom widened their eyes, but only Marx remained unmoved. It was highly possible that he had already suspected her identity.
"I still don't believe that Jeanne killed the king and second prince of her own country," Axel said. It was for that crime that Jeanne had received a death sentence, and what's more lost her title as a hero. "This is just my guess, but Jeanne probably got wrapped up in the royal family's power struggle. And more than that, I suspect that the heroes had something to do with it too."
"That's an interesting hypothesis." Asura laughed. "Not the part about the power struggle. The part about the heroes."
"I even wrote a petition, you know? I asked them to reconsider Jeanne's death penalty. I may be a Great Hero, but I'm just one of six. Central Felsenmark's Great Hero was the one who approved Jeanne's sentence, so I couldn't save her."
"Sir Axel, you submitted a written petition?" Lumia asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. Part of Jeanne's punishment was public torture, remember? I didn't see it for myself, but just hearing about it disgusted me. She was just eighteen years old. But they stripped her and dragged her around the town for the people to throw rocks at. Then they whipped her until she lost consciousness. The people from Central Felsen were always a nasty bunch, but what they did made me sick."
"We have something in common. I also hate the people in Central."
"But even after all she went through, Jeanne never raised her voice. I heard that she never even once looked down and away from the crowd. If that's true, then just how strong was she?"
"Who knows? Perhaps she simply stopped caring." There was a slightly sad look on Lumia's face when she said that.
"Maybe. But even so, would someone like Jeanne suddenly use Divine Retribution when the time for her execution came? I wasn't there for it, but when I went by later, the place was a field of corpses. It's impossible to kill that many people at once without the use of Divine Retribution."
"Divine Retribution is the ultimate attack spell, though it's distinct from other forms of magic," Marx said. "It's the reason why Jeanne was the strongest, wasn't it?"
"What kind of spell was it?" Reko asked.
"It manifested an angel of death, which has the same combat strength as a hero. Jeanne was able to create three angels at once," explained Marx, the resident Jeanne fan. "That means that, albeit temporarily, she could fight with the power of four heroes despite being a single person."
Reko hummed. It was hilarious to Asura to see his reaction, since he'd already seen Divine Retribution with his own two eyes. Reko realized this too. He stared at Lumia, who placed her index finger to her smiling lips. "It's a secret," she mouthed. Jyrki noticed their silent interaction, but didn't seem to understand.
"I heard about this later, but they'd captured Jeanne's little sister too," Axel continued. "They suspected her of being in on it. This is just a guess, but maybe Jeanne was trying to protect her. And then during the execution..."
"She either learned that the person she wanted to protect was already dead, or was led to believe that. Does that sound about right?" Asura asked, moving her arms minutely.
"Something like that, yeah." Axel huffed. "Jeanne overshadowed her, but I heard that the little sister was a warrior mage just like she was. I don't know much about magic, but I heard that the sister used the light element and still didn't have a Fixed Element."
"Jeanne's little sister, Lumia Autun," Marx said as if he were lecturing a class. "Lala was the title given to the head of the house, so the younger sister couldn't call herself that. Well, the moment that Jeanne received a guilty verdict, she'd lost her Lala title. But even now, people refer to her as Jeanne Autun Lala."
"I guess I just wanna say sorry. Sorry I couldn't save your big sis Jeanne," Axel said, staring at Lumia. Everyone else looked at her as well.
"I'm not Lumia Autun," she said with a sad smile. "Even if I am, there's no need for you to apologize, is there?"
"I see." Axel stood up. "Name, appearance, strength... Everything about you matches what I know about her. But if you say you aren't Jeanne's sister, then I guess I was wrong." He shoved his hand into his pocket and then threw a wad of cash at Asura.
"What's this?" she asked.
"I'm hiring you for a job. I'll have one of our young'uns monitor you. He's a Great Hero candidate who can match me blow for blow in a match. But he's much too happy-go-lucky, so train him up for me, will ya?"
"Happy-go-lucky?"
"Yeah. He believes in the inherent goodness of humanity and doesn't have any real combat experience. Doesn't think that an opponent will attack him until someone gives the signal to start..."
"Isn't that true for all heroes?" Asura pointed out. "Not about their belief in goodness or their combat experience, but in the fact that they never think they'd get attacked."
"I...guess. They don't believe that they'd be killed by humans, yeah. I was the same until I met all of you."
"I can tell. Have you all come up with a countermeasure against assassinations? I do think that, hero or not, unless you squirrel yourself away in an underground bunker, the threat of death is always hiding around the corner though."
"Huh? What the hell's a buhn-ker?"
"I meant to say...unless you squirrel yourself away in a sturdy underground room. If you don't want to be killed, then you have no other choice but to live your life without interacting with anyone or involving yourself in anything."
"As if that's possible. Even heroes have their own routines, or lives, I should say." Axel twisted his face. "It's too late to add a rule to stop heroes from joining organizations of their choice. We can't ban them from starting a family or force them to abandon their country."
"Then the possibility of being killed still remains."
"And things worked out perfectly fine until now, dammit!"
"So all of you were just a naive and idealistic bunch. Don't worry, though. I'll teach that future Great Hero candidate of yours just how cruel reality can be."
"Yeah, that'd be great. Knowing that shitstains like you and your group exist in this world is already a valuable lesson. By the way, this candidate is the one who broke Jeanne's record for being the youngest hero."
After waving at them with his right hand, Axel left the room.
"Training a hero sounds like an interesting job. And wow, he gave us fifty thousand dora. Let's party after we take care of our business." Asura grinned as she shook the wad of cash at the group.
"Niiice. But a hero's already strong, yeah? What's to train? You mean making them mentally stronger?"
"That's probably it," Lumia said, answering Jyrki's question. "More often than not, heroes already have some real combat experience and have killed people by the time they earn their title. They're aware of the realities of the world. But it sounds like this one is missing that."
"U-Um...before we move on, may I ask a question?"
"No, Salume." Lumia shook her head. "I said that I don't want to talk about it yet."
"Y-You're right. I'm sorry."
Everyone was curious about Lumia. In Asura's opinion, the time was more than ripe for Lumia to reveal her secrets. Axel had already touched on a large portion of them.
"Now then," she said, "let's return to the main topic. What information do you have for me?"
"Right," Jyrki nodded. "We pretended that we wanted drugs, caught the seller, and made him croak a buncha stuff."
"There's a local criminal group...aside from the Felmafia...in this country..." Iina said.
"They've already finished fighting over turf though. The lines have been clearly drawn and since neither side wants a war, it seems like they're all peacefully doing their business in their respective territories," Lumia explained.
"So, we went to the Felmafia's turf, grabbed their seller, and made him croak a buncha stuff."
"He didn't know Little God...or their hideout..."
"It seems like the underlings don't know anything about all of that. But the seller's boss is the manager of an underground casino and he told us where it is."
"Good," Asura said with a clap of her hands. "What did you do with the sellers?"
"We killed 'em and then hid their bodies."
"We thought...it would be best if we remained...a secret..."
"Excellent work," Asura nodded. "There's no time like the present. Let's pay that casino a visit. Grab your equipment and then assemble in front of the inn in ten minutes. Salume and Reko, you two still do not have permission to wield any weapons. Now, move out."
***
"Now!"
At Iina's signal, Marx kicked down the door and stormed into the casino. Jyrki and Lumia followed him, with Iina bringing up the rear. Asura strolled in casually, hiding Salume and Reko behind her back. All of the men in the passage had already been killed. Since they were all likely members of the Felmafia, Asura didn't care.
"Jyr! I said...no magic!"
"Huh? Didn't you say 'use magic'?"
"No! Marx...hurry! Extinguish the fire!"
Jyrki had roasted someone to a crisp with Fireball. Smoke filled the air along with a terrible stench. Marx used a water attack spell to put out the flames before they started burning down the building.
"Vice Captain! Kill them...properly!" Iina dealt the last blow to an enemy that Lumia had left incapacitated but alive.
"Asura didn't order us to kill everyone, did she?"
"Do it...even if it wasn't the order! Everyone here...except their boss...can die!"
"Then say that from the beginning, won't you?" Lumia sighed with a dramatic shrug.
"It's kind of...a mess," Salume murmured. "But no one on our side is hurt."
"Iina sucks at being the leader," Reko said. "Even so, this operation is going smoothly."
"It's because our enemies are weak. Iina doesn't have any experience as a commander, so I'm having her practice on these losers," Asura chuckled.
"By the way, how will we figure out which one of these people is the boss?" Salume asked.
"The last one standing would be their leader. They're the manager, after all," Asura explained. "Usually, the underlings are the ones who come at us first. Those in power would be behind them."
"Like you right now, Boss?" Reko asked.
"I've always been the aggressive type, so I sometimes lead the charge. But if they're the manager of an underground casino, they wouldn't be at the front of the assault. It's likely that they earned their position thanks to their smarts rather than their combat prowess."
***
Marx cast Water Prison over the underground casino manager's face and after watching him struggle for a few moments, he released the spell. The manager started to cough violently as soon as the water fell away.
"Good. Looks like you've cooled off," Asura said with a cruel grin on her face. In her hands, she was holding a thick whip made specifically for torture. "Tell me Little God's real name and the location of your hideout. If you do so, we'll grant you an easy death."
Asura was sitting in a chair, looking down at the manager. He was on the ground with his hands tied behind his back. They were conducting the interrogation in the casino's staff room. She'd already sent all the other Felmafia members in the building to the afterlife. Granted, since she'd been supervising Ina's leadership skills on this mission, Asura hadn't raised a single finger.
"Do any of you...understand...what you're doing?" the manager hissed. He was a man in his late thirties and it looked as though he'd received some physical training. Emphasis on "some."
"Based on my past experience, torture isn't really that effective," Asura said, ignoring the manager's words. "It doesn't work at all on trained soldiers or people who strongly believe in their ideals. It's just a waste of time. However, it's very effective on half-assed scoundrels like yourself."
She stood up and cracked the whip. The sound it made after slicing through the air was akin to an explosion. All Asura did was crack the whip against the floor, but it was more than enough to communicate its strength.
"This whip can rip off skin with a single hit. A normal person would wet themself after two hits and pass out after three. I heard that even the legendary Jeanne Autun Lala couldn't withstand more than five hits," she said excitedly. "An average person would die in about seven or eight. If you're wondering about how it could kill someone, the cause of death is sheer pain. It hurts so bad, you'd literally be better off dead. I can withstand about ten strikes, by the way. It would just knock me out and not kill me though."
"In other words, it's a weapon so crazy that even the boss'll pass out after bein' hit ten times."
"Jyr...you also withstood seven hits... I could only handle six..."
"I could take eight," Marx said.
"At the most, I could handle twelve," Lumia added.
"You really just needed to withstand five," Asura said. "Unless it's an execution, any more than that is far too dangerous. Now then, how many hits will you be able to handle?"
The manager's face twisted in fear. Though Asura waited for a little bit, he remained silent. Looks like I'm going to have to hit him once at the very least, she thought.
"Wh-What in the world are you doing?!"
The group turned towards the door of the staff room, which they had left open. A girl with blonde hair tied up in pigtails was standing there. She looked around fifteen years old, with a pretty face and bright blue eyes.
"Oh? Are you the young hero that Axel mentioned?" Asura tilted her head to the side.
Everyone except for Reko and Salume had sensed her presence, so no one was particularly surprised. The girl carried a sword upon her back, and wore an exquisitely made white blouse, which was decorated with frills and had a black ribbon tied at the collar. She had a black skirt that was just as fancy and, of course, had frills along the border. Its hem was just a little above her knees. Beneath the skirt, she wore knee-high socks with black-and-white stripes, completing the look with white boots. It was clear that everything she wore had been extremely expensive.
She glared at Asura and yelled, "You monsters!"
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