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The boy, a priest, and the girl, a witch, stood back to back, unleashing a barrage of magic, their unparalleled accuracy decimating the hordes of pig demons with the force of an onrushing tsunami one after another.

The fearless monsters attempted to reach them by stepping over the corpses of their kin or using them as shields. The ten or twenty layers of moats and walls of earth magic, each more than two meters high, were almost buried by the piles of corpses and the following army that stomped its comrades to the ground. …But then, the Sirius, with a body the size of a bull, leaped into the fray. As she dashed across the battlefield, she swiftly dispatched the enemies who were still breathing and the monsters they had missed with a single blow.

And just for good measure, with a swing of her head, she tossed the pile of corpses that might be in their way into the far reaches of the forest, as effortlessly as throwing a paper tissue after blowing on it.

The scene of the slaughter was like well-oiled clockwork.

“—Oh crud. This is developing into a Defeat Event for us. That many orcs aren’t infinitely generated, you know… At this rate, the orcs will run out of numbers faster… These mobs really only follow their instincts first unless we tell them what to do. They’re much worse than no-incentive workers.”

With the likeness of an old man yelling at the disappointing performance of his favored cricket team from the audience’s seat with an ale in hand, the dark-haired merchant-looking man was issuing a proclamation to the crowd of orcs, which, obviously, couldn’t hear him.

His appearance suggested that he was a normal-looking peddler of an indeterminate age that you could find anywhere. However, the sight of him perilously leaning forward with his feet perched on the branch of a particularly thick and tall tree in the forest off the road was definitely anything but ordinary. …Then again, no one would be looking at a place like that.

The only other person present was an expressionless girl of about 13 or 14 next to the man. The girl had a languid look with the word ‘Obligation’ written all over her face, and she was staring in the same direction as the man, her legs dangling aimlessly.

She was a girl with a reasonably fair-looking face and short-cut white hair, but she lacked the glamour to actively appeal to others due to her unfocused gaze and difficult-to-read expression. She was much like a baby’s-breath that adorned the leading flower of a bouquet.

She was also wearing a plain blouse and short pants with no decorations and had no charm at all, but as if to compensate for her lack of expression, the cat ears perched on top of her head were moving around animatedly.

“…It was certainly unexpected. The Child Prodigy aside, I didn’t think the Witch was such a high-leveled practitioner. I was fooled by her stupidly big breasts and airhead-looking appearance.”

The seemingly feline beastfolk girl coldly evaluated the situation while looking at the witch’s twin dunes which swayed flabbergastingly whenever she moved. By the way, the girl’s bosom was appropriate for her age and still had unknown potential.

“No, it was ‘lil prodigy’s ability that I underestimated. I have no doubt Jill missy can do this much, I just didn’t think he was good enough to fight alongside her. I know we’re still pulling punches, but still.”

By burning through the talismans that he possessed, the boy with an average appearance and unruly hair released the same amount of Riot Magic Art as rapidly as the beautiful girl who fired Ice Bullets at the rate of 16 bullets per second.

“Even though the amount and density of mana he possesses is far below that of Jill missy, he supplemented it by batch processing the mana his talismans stored beforehand. What a novel idea. I’d bet he was too poor to buy magic wands and proper magic tools, so he used talismans as a substitute…I’d be damned, this might be the mainstream practice in the future.”

The man spoke with deep admiration, a smile on his lips as he watched the boy fearlessly stand up to the horde of orcs.

Normally, talismans are nothing but an auxiliary tool for magic; they have low power, are inflexible, are disposable, and are inefficient. However, they also have many advantages: with enough talismans, one can fire spells in rapid succession, to activate spells quickly, and their effects are always constant regardless of the skill of the practitioner.

Was this a coincidence or was it originally intended? Either way, it is inevitable that practicing Magic Art using such tools will become more mainstream than a Magic Art which is dependent on individual skill…so thought the black-haired man as he quickly played his mental abacus and smiled wryly.

(Milady…Crimson would hate standardization like that since it lacks personality. She’d probably say, “It’s no fun being uniform. There’s a lot of things to try, make it more interesting, won’t you?” and pout¹ .)

“What’s the matter, Boss? Your usual sly face has fallen by a factor of ten.”
“I see, so I’ve lost half of my charm…I guess that means I’ve gone down from the most beautiful man under the heavens to the most beautiful man in the world.”
“—HA!”

Without changing her expression whatsoever, the cat-eared girl shrugged her shoulders and laughed sarcastically.

“…Why you. That’s no way to treat the man who ruled the dark half of the world—the underworld. Push it too far…and I’ll cry.”
“How old do you think you are? You’re just annoying.”

The girl waved her hand, she looked genuinely displeased.

“Chaton² , it’s been on my mind… You really don’t have enough respect and awe for this great self, do you? The mere mention of Silhouette will make any villain shudder, you know? That’s the name of the Ruler of Darkness, that is.”
“Of course I do, Boss. My respect and loyalty to you are as big as my salary is, so rest assured. Beyond that, though, that depends on my future salary. —Anywho, can I expect travel expenses and overtime pay for this small project of yours?”
“Don’t just drop the topic like that, you. …well, for the pay, you’ll get a completion bonus as usual. Then again, if you fail or betray me, you’ll get Certain Death instead. —gotta keep up the Evil Organization look and all.”

Spoke the man calmly without any hint of threat. Upon hearing that, the girl called Chaton frowned for a bit and pondered. She glanced at the dwindling herd of orcs, gave it another thought, and turned to the man.

She then raised a hand.

“Just for reference’s sake. Can I submit my resignation letter right now?”
“Mmweell… You’ll need to submit it to the general affairs department and get their approval. I think it’d take at least six months until you hear something back. Whyever do you ask?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
“By the by, in case you’re sending it through the mail, they’ll process it by the date of receipt, not the date you send the letter, so best of regards.”
“…yes, Boss.”

With a face that said ‘forget it,’ Chaton nodded and lightly flicked a metal rod resembling the tip of a U-shaped spear³ with her fingertips.

A vibration, inaudible to the human ear, was emitted from it, and Sirius, hearing the inaudible sound, looked suspiciously in its direction. At the same time, a huge shadow, which had been waiting behind the crowd of monsters, began to move slowly.

1. Syl: Hm…? Now this guy sounds awfully familiar… Kagerou?
2. Mab: it reads sha·ton

   like chateau (sha·tow)

   Lio: It does not read like chateau(castle in french), ignore Mab. btw, chaton means kitten in French.

3. Mab: IDFK what the hell is this. I think author wants to say horseshoe but doesn’t know horseshoe. Then again, could’ve simply went with “u-shaped metal object”.
   Syl: or a tuning fork?
   Lio: It’s a tuning fork.