Class 1-5’s Hero Party

Now then, let’s take a look at what Konoha’s classmates had been doing while she was inside the Respega Underground Labyrinth.

Crackle-crackle-crackle!

“Whoa! Nice. Reference books really are important, huh~”

The blond delinquent girl conducting some suspicious crackling experiment in her room was Mamuro Hiiragi. Her profession was Alchemist. On the desk were a magic circle drawn in chalk, some incomprehensible materials, and a single sheet of drawing paper.

“Skill: 《Imagination Support》.”

What had been drawn on the paper was a hand grenade. Not a modern grenade, but an old-fashioned handheld type. She had decided to start with something easy to visualize, so she was practicing with bombs from World War II.

“Special Skill: 《Alchemy》.”

She dripped a mysterious liquid into the center of the magic circle and activated her skill. The liquid flowed along the lines of the circle, and before long the entire pattern began glowing red.

The black object on the desk gradually disintegrated, and in its place, something began taking shape at the center of the magic circle. It was exactly identical to the hand grenade drawn on the paper. Hiiragi picked it up and examined it curiously.

“Hmm. This might be enough to wreck a tank, but… I wonder if there’s somewhere I can test it.”

The Special Skill 《Alchemy》 was unique to Alchemists. Alchemists appeared to be a noncombat profession, but in practice they were actually highly combat-oriented. Their contributions had been considerable in wars against the Empire and the Southern Alliance, and people with their talents were highly valued. Normally, Hiiragi should have been helping with the Mount Godard expedition at this hour as well, but…

“Once you get into the habit of skipping, it’s really hard to stop. Man, what a problem.”

That was the situation. She had heard that Shirataka Gatari was keeping Funagata Koya under control and somehow managing to continue the expedition, but lately Hiiragi had settled into a routine of going out into the city to have fun and then practicing alchemy afterward. Apparently she occasionally visited Mount Godard too, for practical experience.

“Alright, guess it’s about time to move on.”

With that, she arrived in the Royal Capital of Paris Palace’s Second District, at a shop called 【Alchemy—Tools for Alchemists】.

“Welcome!”

“Yo, boss! Same as usual today—ten pieces of purple charcoal, five bronze, twenty imitation iron, thirty gunpowder, and ten flame-tail reagents.”

“The usual, huh? You got it!”

During the daytime, while the expedition team headed for Mount Godard, the skipping Hiiragi had instead been deepening her relationships with the Royal Capital’s Alchemists.

“Feel free to work here again today. You can use the workshop!”

“Seriously, thanks. You always save me. There’s only so much I can do in my room.”

“If something exploded inside the royal palace, it’d be a disaster. Hiiragi would be the first person I’d suspect.”

“I’m definitely gonna screw up someday, so feel free to suspect me all you want!”

Once she stepped farther inside, a proper professional Alchemist’s workshop spread out before her. Different magic circles had been installed according to the properties of various materials, while discarded materials were also lying around, making it perfect for experimentation.

“Alright, next up, let’s try a machine gun!”

Yes, what Hiiragi had been struggling to create lately was modern firearms. Naturally, using those in another world could practically amount to cheating. That said, their usefulness against magical beasts had limits, since magic was more effective at breaking through hard external armor. In other words, these were weapons intended for use against people.

“Alright!”

Red light filled the workshop.

~Mount Godard, Floor 78~

“Funagata! Now, cut it down!”

“Don’t order me around!” Slash!

Funagata Koya’s greatsword carved away the body of the monster before him: an orc. The Hero Party was currently surrounded by a horde of them.

“O-Orcs are those things, right? You know, the stereotypical monsters that try to violate women? N-No, no, no!”

“Chidori-chan, this is no time for jokes! Hyaaaaah!”

A flash streaked from Karen’s bow and pierced an orc through the heart. It collapsed limply, but two more came charging from behind it.

“Take this!”

Sakegawa Kisaki’s iron fist buried itself in an orc’s face. Her jumping ability could be said to be the result of her daily training.

“The boss orc is coming!”

Shirataka Gatari’s shout sent tension through everyone. The enormous figure advancing toward them was unquestionably the leader of the horde. Its hideous face earned immediate disgust from the girls in the class.

“G-Gross!”

“Ugh.”

“If I ever got violated by that thing, I’d bite my tongue off.”

“I’d rather have Reiji than that thing.”

“Huh!? What’d you just say!?”

Poor Tendo Reiji. As a Martial Artist, he immediately moved in front of everyone and engaged the boss orc.

“I’ll support you, Reiji!”

Gatari, a spear wielder, swung his red spear and began breaking down the boss orc’s armor.

“Ghh! It blocked me!?”

“Taaaaah!”

Reiji’s claws dug into the orc’s abdomen, but even that barely made it flinch. The orc gave them an ugly grin and moved to crush both of their heads.

“《Bolt Arrow》!”

Karen drew her bow and used attack magic. A Bolt Arrow imbued with paralysis pierced the orc’s shoulder, considerably slowing its movements.

“Quit screwing around, you piece of trash!!”

Funagata Koya swept his greatsword across it. The orc’s armor shattered, and green blood sprayed out. Gatari immediately thrust his spear into its heart, while Reiji drove his claws into its head. The finishing blow came from—

“Take this! BURNING!!”

The Sorcerer, Tozawa Kanto. His attack engulfed the orc’s body in flames, and an item dropped.

“Yes!! We won!”

“That was dangerous, Kanto! You nearly set me on fire too~! Seriously, that was nuts!”

Reiji even turned the fact that he had nearly been burned to a crisp into a joke to liven up the mood. At this point, it was just impressive.

“That clears Floor 78 as well. We still have a long way to go, but our pace is improving. Everyone, let’s keep it up!”

“Hell yeah!”

“We know!”

With a single word from Gatari, the class united—

…or not.

“Why the hell are you giving orders? I’m the Hero, you’re just a spearman.”

It was Funagata Koya. And Koya’s girlfriend, a blond girl with heavy makeup named Takahata, also picked a fight with Karen and the others.

“Your support kinda sucks, doesn’t it? Lol. What’re you gonna do to make up for it if I get mud on me or something? Lol.”

“…I only did what I was supposed to. Takahata-san, you just stood there doing nothing—”

“Huh? If anything happens to me, Koya won’t let it slide, you know? Want him to hurt you again?”

“______!”

Since coming to the other world, Karen had been subjected to violence from Funagata Koya many times. On several occasions, he had nearly raped her. Fortunately, he had never actually gone that far, but if Koya truly decided to, there would be no stopping him. And among the girls of Class 1-5, several had already been forcibly raped by Koya since coming to this other world.

That was not all. Koya’s entourage had also been growing recently. Among the girls, Takahata forcibly formed a group with herself at the center, while among the boys, Tozawa Kanto dragged in boys who had been low on the school hierarchy and formed another group around himself.

Class 1-5 was now on the verge of splitting into two factions: one led by the tyrant Funagata Koya, and the other by the comparatively sensible Shirataka Gatari.

“Enough. Funagata, if you dislike me taking command, then command properly yourself. I’ve been telling you that from the beginning.”

“Huh? You got some problem with how I lead?”

“A huge one. Could you please do things the way Commander Legato taught us?”

“You’re telling me to obey that old geezer? Hah! Like hell I’m listening to some outdated fossil. They say the road belongs to us young people with a future, right? You bastards just need to follow me!”

“…I see.”

Just then, Legato returned. Apparently, he had been scouting Floor 79.

“Alright, we’re withdrawing for today. Hmm? Did something happen?”

“No, nothing in particular.”

Along the way back, Funagata’s group walked at the front, letting out vulgar laughter as they went.

“Sorry, Reiji. Again, I couldn’t say anything.”

“Hey, I think you’re doing your best, Gatari. That guy’s hopeless. The kingdom’s definitely gonna erase him someday.”

“The girls are frightened too. We can’t even coordinate properly like this. We can’t go rescue Konoha either…”

“Gatari…”

Hearing that, Karen and the others also looked gloomy. Konoha, the mood-maker of the class, was still missing, and with Gatari and Reiji also downcast, everyone in Class 1-5 aside from Funagata’s group had been depressed.

“Sigh… Konoha-chan…”

“We might have to ask Commander Legato to stay glued to Koya at all times. At this rate, we’ll never…”

“Well, our levels really are going up, so we should be able to go defeat the Demon King soon enough.”

“Yeah… you’re right, Chidori-chan…”

Seeing the three gloomy girls, Gatari made an apologetic expression.

“Sorry. We were making the atmosphere worse. All of you are doing well. Truly, thank you.”

“You don’t have to carry everything yourself, Gatari-kun! You’re having a hard time too.”

Karen lowered her voice.

“Karen, cheer up! If we’re all gloomy, Konoha-chan would be upset too, right? Come on!”

Reiji slapped Karen repeatedly on the back. Karen immediately hooked an arm around him, took his back, and tried to put him in a joint lock. It was their usual routine.

“Hey, ow, ow! I give up, I give up, I give up!”

“Don’t carelessly get behind me, Reiji.”

“That sounds cool and all, but it hurts right now, so let go! Seriously, seriously, this is bad!”

“Ahahaha! Man, you two have gotta be like this.”

Thanks to Reiji’s physical comedy, smiles gradually began returning to the faces of the Class 1-5 students. Even so, things were far better than when Konoha had first been abducted. Back then, even the royal palace’s dedicated counselors had been brought in to provide counseling to everyone, among many other difficulties.

“Let’s just do what we can. Alright, everyone?”

““Of course!””

While Gatari and the others were getting fired up, there was another noisy group nearby for a very different reason.

Needless to say, it was the other faction.

“Ahhh, damn it! Every last one of them keeps defying me!”

Funagata Koya shouted loudly. Apparently, he was drinking alcohol on the road. Underage drinking: absolutely not.

“Yeah, but like, you’ve basically got every girl who defied you under control already, right? I’m training them right now, but seriously, they cry and scream so much it’s annoying as hell. Right, girls?”

“Y-Yes…”

“Wow, Mikusa, you’re awful~. I want my own errand girl too~”

A girl from Takahata Mikusa’s entourage laughed beside her. It was a girl named Yusa, who had previously made snide remarks toward Konoha.

At present, they had six girls serving as their entourage. They were girls who had once resisted Koya and had been assaulted by him. Now, not a trace remained of their former spirited attitudes.

“Man, Kushibiki Konoha really was such a waste. If I’d made a beauty like that my slave, it would’ve boosted my status.”

“Ew, I hated that girl. That whole ‘please adore me’ vibe was seriously gross. But yeah, I might’ve wanted her as a slave~. Too bad she died.”

“Even if she’s not dead, she’s probably a demon plaything by now, right? Maybe next time we see her, she’ll already be broken. If so, let’s buy her.”

“Sounds good. I’d love to use her until she breaks.”

Their unpleasant cackling echoed around them. Just then, it seemed they had reached the royal palace.

“Huh? Isn’t that… Mamuro Hiiragi?”

The blond delinquent girl Hiiragi was walking back toward the palace from the opposite direction. Since the official story was that Koya had been injured by Mamuro Hiiragi, he remained cautious around her.

“Hey, Mamuro. You skipped again?”

“Hm? Oh, if it isn’t the trash Hero I beat up. Hilarious.”

“Huh?”

Apparently sensing the danger of a confrontation between the two, Gatari stepped forward.

“Stop. No fighting. Mamuro-san, I can’t say I approve of you skipping so much. I’d like you to participate in the expedition whenever possible.”

“Yeah, I’ll go tomorrow. Been kinda busy.”

“Busy doing what, you—”

Before Koya could finish, a sudden explosion rang out.

Pop-pop-pop!!

“Waaaaah!”

What started scurrying around their feet were spinning fireworks.

“They’re just fireworks. You got scared way too easily. Hilarious.”

Hiiragi stored the fireworks in her status item box, then started walking toward the royal palace, leaving everyone standing there dumbfounded.

“Alright then, guess it’s about time.”

Ten days later—or in Konoha’s timeline, around the time she departed for Lichten—her classmates had been given their first proper break in a while and had come into the city to have fun. It was a decision made by the kingdom’s upper leadership after noticing the growing discord within the class. An occasional break was extremely important.

“Oh my, are all of you going out?”

Walking gracefully in a pink dress was the beautiful Princess Mariage. Gatari, Reiji, and even Koya found themselves captivated by her beauty. Even the girls wore somewhat entranced expressions.

“Y-Yes. We thought we’d go into the Royal Capital for a change of pace. And where are you headed, Your Highness?”

“I have dance practice shortly. It is unfortunate that I cannot join you.”

“I see. Should the opportunity arise, I would be delighted if you joined us in town someday.”

“Yes, gladly.”

Gatari smiled at Mariage with a flawless response. Even the ladies-in-waiting were impressed by his mannerisms.

“As expected of Gatari. Your handsome-guy level is insane.”

“I’m used to greeting business leaders. Though naturally, I’ve never spoken with a princess of an entire nation before.”

Shirataka Gatari’s family, the Shirataka family, ran a major corporation and was an important family supporting Japan’s financial world. They also had connections with politicians, and Gatari had been forced to learn social survival skills from a very young age.

“Hm?”

Glancing toward the corner of the corridor, Gatari noticed a young girl repeatedly peeking in his direction.

(Is that Princess Mariage’s younger sister, Lady Leila?)

When Gatari noticed her gaze, Leila’s cheeks turned red and she ran away. She was at that sort of age.

While her classmates were out enjoying the city, Hiiragi was making her final preparations. Lined up on her bed were… some extremely serious firearms.

“Assault rifle M14, Desert Eagle, MP5. Gotta say, I went pretty hard on these. But I already tested them, so there’s no problem. Ammo’s good. Grenades, flashbangs, sonic grenades… Never thought my game knowledge would come in handy like this.”

Hiiragi was a hardcore gamer. More specifically, she preferred mature games that had taught her a great deal about firearms. In an era where guns could be made using things like 3D printers, her past attempts to research how to make one herself had paid off. In the end, she had never managed to actually build one in her original world.

“If I were a yakuza boss’s daughter, maybe that’d make sense, but unfortunately I’m just some brat from a normal family. Ah, almost forgot the suppressor. Safety works properly. Clothes, food, everything else is good. Carriage is arranged too.”

Unsurprisingly, her item box was completely full. It seemed she had made the right choice by gradually storing luggage at Myunsu’s workshop.

“Well then, guess this is goodbye to the royal palace. See ya, Hero Party. Stay alive out there… or something.”

She opened the door—

“And just where do you think you are going, Mamuro-sama?”

Standing outside her room was a man wearing a disgusting smile.

“Chief Administrator Hume, right? What’s this supposed to be?”

Around twenty kingdom soldiers had surrounded the room.

“Our Chancellor has been secretly investigating you. Ohohoho. I do not know what exactly you have been creating in secret, but I cannot very well hand you over to the Inquisitors. So I thought I would detain you and have you surrender whatever you made to us. I acted independently, ohohohoho.”

(Oh shit.)

Cold sweat ran down her back. Apparently, she had skipped far too much. The consequences had finally caught up with her.

“Independently?”

“Indeed. I am also interested in what a girl from another world has been creating. Before anyone else finds out, I would very much like to investigate every last inch of you, ohohohoho.”

“You’re one disgusting old bastard. Stop waving that creepy-looking machine around.”

“In time, you too will come to desire me of your own accord, just like my slaves. I look forward to that day!!”

“Pervert.”

“Call me whatever you like.”

“…ya.”

“Yes?”

“See ya, pervert.”

Hiiragi immediately pulled out the flashbang and sonic grenade she had secretly kept ready and hurled them. Naturally, Hiiragi herself was wearing earplugs.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

“W-What is this!? Aaaaaaaah!!”

“Guaaaah!”

“What is this!? It’s so bright—”

“My eyes! My eyeeees!!”

“Here’s a bonus.”

What she scattered across the floor were spinning fireworks. However, they had been modified with a little extra gunpowder.

Pop-pop-pop-pop!

“Waaaaaaaah!”

“Damn, there really is no going back now. Smoke grenade!”

The royal palace filled with smoke. She had already memorized her escape route. She passed several soldiers along the way, but none of them knew Hiiragi had caused the disturbance. Chief Administrator Hume’s independent action had completely backfired on him. And Hiiragi decided to mess with him a little more.

“Chief Administrator Hume’s gone berserk! Fire! Fire! Everybody run!!”

She shouted loudly while fleeing. Hume’s tendency to perform experiments was widely known throughout the palace, so nobody questioned her claim. Daily conduct really did matter.

“What the hell’s happening!?”

“Lord Hume screwed something up again!”

“Damn it, this smoke’s awful! What did that idiot set on fire!?”

“Move aside! Capture that girl!”

“Chief Administrator! How many times have you been told not to cause disturbances inside the royal palace!?”

“This is hardly the time for—agh, my ears are ringing!”

“My eyes! My eyeeees!”

“Shut uuuup!!”

(‘Again,’ huh? So he really does screw up all the time. This is perfect.)

She quickly slipped into the rear garden and moved against the flow while blending in with the soldiers. She was almost at the secret passage when—

“Mamuro… san?”

Standing before her was Mogami Sasano-sensei. Hiiragi remembered that Sasano had been spending a lot of time in the rear garden lately and cursed her own bad luck.

“What in the world is happening!?”

“Uh, sounds like there was a small fire. You should get out quick too, Sensei.”

“Y-Yes, of course. Um, Mamuro-san, are you…”

Sasano approached her worriedly, and as Hiiragi passed by, she said—

“See you again, Sensei.”

“Huh?”

Then she sprinted at full speed toward the hidden passage from the rear garden. Sasano shouted something behind her, but Hiiragi had no time to care. Not a single person pursued her as she ran through the dark passage and into the castle town.

“Wait for me, Konoha… I’m definitely coming to get you.”

That day, a minor fire incident occurred inside the royal palace. The cause was Mamuro Hiiragi, one of the members of the Hero Party. Her whereabouts remained unknown. She vanished abruptly from the Royal Capital. Despite searches by the Royal Guard and military police, she could not be found within the city, and no special search party was dispatched afterward.

“Well, well, she got away? How amusing.”

“Yes, sir! The Royal Guard searched with all available manpower, but we were unable to find her. My apologies.”

“Well, it cannot be helped. This was entirely Chief Administrator Hume running wild, and we still do not really understand the truth of what happened. It is not something worth devoting too much effort to anyway. Besides, the other generals are all away.”

Speaking inside the office were the bureaucratic-looking general Magus Sherlock and Commander of the Royal Knights, Legato.

“She was never particularly enthusiastic about the Mount Godard expedition, so her classmates do not seem especially shaken. I doubt her absence will have much impact on our fighting strength. However…”

“Yes, the possibility that she possesses weapons from another world is something we should consider. Alchemists are valuable, after all… Honestly, that idiotic Chief Administrator.”

“I believe the Chief Administrator received a severe warning.”

“A severe warning will never stop that man. Just because the Inquisitors and the Seven Generals were absent, he had to go and cause this mess. Now I’m going to be the one who gets scolded.”

Magus sighed. As one of the Seven Generals responsible for protecting the royal palace, even a small disturbance like this still counted as a failure.

“Where are the other generals?”

“Including myself, four are in the Royal Capital, one is in the north, and the remaining two are suppressing the Hazardo Region alongside the Inquisitors. Do you think I could dump the responsibility on those idle generals who do nothing but count the money they squeeze out of people? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Hazardo… You mean that western region? I heard the 【Wind-Cutting Maiden】 is fighting on the rebel side.”

“Ah, there should be no problem whatsoever. By now, it is probably hell over there.”

Sunlight streamed into the office. The sun had risen high, and once again, the Royal Capital enjoyed clear skies.