Irregular?

~Lichten City Guild Hall~

The Guild Hall they had come to in order to accept Anson’s request was as lively as ever, with drunkards scattered about alongside adventurers overflowing with motivation, making it a place one could never grow tired of watching.

Konoha gave a wry smile at the curious gazes once again directed toward them and walked toward the reception desk while trying not to pay them too much attention.

Rose tugged on Konoha’s sleeve.

“Ah, but Konon. If people find out my name, that’d be pretty bad, or, well… you know~”

Rose pulled up her hood and hid her face. Apparently, it was something called a 《Perception Inhibition》 robe, a convenient item that prevented her face from leaving an impression on people even if they happened to see it. Naturally, something like that was not available to the general public, since Black Moon-tagged criminals would never get caught if it were. It was an item possessed precisely because the Five Noble Clans had once worked in the upper echelons of the Kingdom. Apparently, it had been a keepsake from her mother.

Rose looked uneasy. After what she had said earlier, she was probably worried about the possibility that she might not be able to stay with them. In stark contrast to Rose’s anxiety, however, Konoha spoke in an utterly carefree tone.

“That’s not a problem. I’ll fabricate it.”

“Huh?”

An involuntarily dumbfounded sound escaped her lips.

“Come to think of it, I was curious about something. When you showed Lord Carmen your status, the word ‘Demon King’ had changed to ‘Swordswoman.’ What exactly was that?”

“You met Lord Carmen~!? Amazing~!”

When Konoha had spoken with Carmen in Racluzero, she had activated her Fabrication skill beforehand. Carmen was certainly a person of great integrity, but after everything Konoha had experienced, even she understood that having her identity as the Demon King exposed would be disastrous.

“I’ve had two special skills from the very beginning. One is Oni Princess. And the other is… Fabrication.”

Konoha prompted Rose to open her status screen. Though puzzled, Rose opened it.

“You fought evenly with us with stats like these? You’re a monster.”

“In my case, I had Mr. Darkness too~. I compensated for my lack of attack power and magic capacity by using 《Wavelength Synthesis》 to raise the quality of my magic as much as possible, and Takemikazuchi also has the effect of boosting my attack power~”

Even so, the fact that she had fought evenly against the Demon King was astonishing in itself.

“Your sub-class is Musician?”

“I can play the transverse flute~. I’ll play it for you sometime~”

“Yeah, I’ll look forward to it! All right, then let’s fabricate this.”

In this world, Rose’s stats placed her among the upper ranks of adventurers. Anyone above level 50 was generally Purple Moon-class or higher, while even Commander Legato, a Purple Moon-class adventurer, was only level 47. There was some individual variation in the limits of one’s stats, so it could not be stated absolutely, but as a general rule, a stat reaching 1600 was considered maxed out. The Hero, the Demon King, and, for some reason, Meiro had surpassed that, but unless one was a special existence like them, stats rarely exceeded 1600. Rose’s unusually high stats were due to her contract with a 【Devil】.

Come to think of it, the existence known as 【Devils】 has yet to be explained. Rose began explaining them to Konoha.

“Devils are beings that can be summoned through a special form of high-level summoning magic. I don’t really know much about the world of devils, but apparently there’s a huge difference in ability between Greater Devils and ordinary Devils~. By the way, Mr. Darkness is just a normal Devil.”

“Um, I assume not just anyone can summon one, right?”

“Right~. The method of summoning Devils is a closely guarded secret, and even among the Kingdom’s upper ranks, only a few people know it. After all, even making a contract with a low-ranking Devil requires a price~”

“A… price?”

A price was required to make a contract with a Devil. The exact price depended on the Devil’s whim, but even a low-ranking Devil might demand ten years of one’s lifespan or an entire arm. Mr. Darkness was a mid-ranking Devil. And when it came to a Greater Devil, it was practically impossible for a single human being to pay the required price in full.

“They’re the kind of beings you’d normally never have anything to do with in your whole life~. Really, only the Five Noble Clans, the royal family, and maybe the upper ranks of the Church would know about them. That’s about it~”

A Devil granted its contractor powerful skills for the sake of fulfilling their 『wish』 and also greatly increased the contractor’s stats. As a result, Rose already possessed strength at her age that could, without exaggeration, be called Bronze Moon-class.

“But Rose. Devils are supposed to return immediately once their contract ends, aren’t they? Why is Mr. Darkness still here? And… what exactly did you offer as the price?”

Meiro asked hesitantly. Rose’s answer, however, was completely casual.

“Mr. Darkness has been with me since I was born, so I really don’t know~. I don’t know who summoned him or why he’s protecting me.”

“A contract with a Devil always requires a price. Summoning a mid-ranking Devil would probably require… something on the level of losing all four limbs. Who could possibly have paid that…?”

Before Meiro could continue questioning her, Konoha cut her off with a loud voice.

“Rose-chan! I’m done!”

“For your alias, I used the name you first gave us. I changed your special skill to something random too. How does it look?”

“It’s perfect~! Thanks, Konon! By the way, Viteroot was my friend’s surname~”

A faint shadow crossed Rose’s expression as she told them that. There still seemed to be circumstances surrounding that as well, but they could slowly ask her about them from now on. Rose was coming with Konoha, and that alone made Konoha happy.

“…I see. Yeah! I’m glad I chose this name!”

“That said, there’s no denying that your stats still look far too strong. We’ll definitely need to raise your tag color too, Rose.”

Many of Rose’s skills were highly unusual.

In particular, Rose’s attack magic 《Noise Cancellation》 not only erased surrounding sounds to create a zone of complete silence, but also allowed her to manipulate noise and interfere with magical formulas. Calling it a mage-killer—or rather, an Inquisitor-killer—specialized ultimate skill would hardly be an exaggeration. Was it really okay to introduce such an overpowered character this early?

“Then let’s go accept the request from Anson-san!”

The request form they received from Guild Administrator Anson contained an utterly merciless assignment.

“They really showed no mercy. Still, it won’t be a problem.”

“Yeah, I think we can do it.”

The request was to exterminate magical beasts and monsters lurking within the high-level dungeon 【Crux Cave】 south of Lichten. And the targets were, well, the sort of ultra-heavyweight monsters normally handled by Purple Moon- or Bronze Moon-class adventurers.

“Defeat the Minotaur King on the twenty-third underground floor, the Dark Wolf King on the twenty-fourth, and the horde of Ogres and the Ogre Lord on the twenty-fifth. That’s absolutely insane.”

“Don’t forget the remnants of the Black Guild, Red Wolf, who’ve slipped into the twenty-first floor, or the Fire-Breathing Lizards on the nineteenth. Oh, and there’s also a man called 【Chanel】, a former Purple Moon-class adventurer who’s now on the Black Moon-class blacklist and has made the seventeenth floor his base. Take him out too.”

Anson stroked his chin and spoke with a broad grin. Apparently, he thought very highly of them.

“I know I asked for this myself, but you don’t usually broker jobs this insane, do you?”

“Of course not. I’m giving this to you because I believe in your strength. One of our skilled Purple Moon-class adventurers challenged this dungeon recently and got himself killed. We’ve got other dungeons to deal with too, so we don’t have the manpower to spare here. So I want you to show me, through your results, exactly what that monstrous strength of yours can do.”

As expected of the Guild administrator of a major city like Lichten. He operated on an entirely different scale from Racluzero, taking talented people out of their cages and testing what they could accomplish. One could only wish that modern Japanese schools would adopt this sort of proactive approach as well.

“Just what exactly have you heard about us?”

“I heard that you’re monsters. I’ve also heard people calling this the birth of new heroes. I’m only half convinced, though. That’s why I arranged such a ridiculous quest this time. There’s no problem if you abandon it and come back, you know? I’m fully aware that it’s an unreasonable quest, and I’m deliberately testing you anyway. Besides, Lord Carmen personally asked me to.”

Lord Carmen’s influence apparently remained strong even here. Konoha could hardly have been more grateful.

“Got it. Then we’ll do our best!”

“You’re taking that awfully casually. I thought you’d hesitate at least a little.”

Apparently, he had wanted them to hesitate.

“Good grief. In my entire life, you’re only the second lot like this I’ve ever seen.”

“Se-second?”

“Yeah. Every now and then, something interesting like you people appears—an 『irregular』. I don’t know whether you’re really that sort of thing, but I’ve got a feeling you’ll become big shots, just like that girl did. Don’t die, all right?”

“Of course. We’ll make sure to live up to your expectations.”

After the girls left the Guild Hall, Anson finally relaxed and let out a breath. He did not need to see their abilities in action to understand them.

Those girls were not opponents that the average riffraff could possibly handle. Seeing beings like them truly made his heart race. For the first time in a long while, Anson felt both excited and tense.

(This really feels exactly like when I saw her.)

The image that surfaced in Anson’s mind was that of a new hero he had seen several years earlier. Even now, he could vividly remember the girl with white-and-black hair streaming behind her as she cut down the approaching magical beasts as though they were mere scraps of paper.

“Who knows what’ll come crawling out of the woodwork. The thought of several more monster girls like 【Cadenza Sylforfil】 showing up is a little terrifying. Well then, let’s see what you’ve got.”