It had now been five years since the battle with the Goddess.

  For Ruphas and the rest who had lifespans of a few hundred, or perhaps even a few thousand years, it felt like no time had passed. But the same was not true for the rest of the world.

  It had merely been five years, yet it was still five years nonetheless.

  In just that amount of time, the world had changed. The people were still moving forward.

  Protecting those people, who were now walking on their own, from the Moon and guiding them in the right direction was now Dina’s job. She was now known as the Goddess of the Moon.

  Nowadays, she was literally the proxy of the Goddess in both name and reality. On the surface, she was the individual who had the highest authority on the Moon.

  That being the case, it was not as if Dina had forgotten that she was one of Ruphas’s subordinates. This meant that, technically, Ruphas was above her. Unfortunately, because Ruphas was even more useless than a cat when it came to internal administration, Dina was essentially the one at the very top.

  Just as the individual herself had admitted, while Ruphas was proficient in using force to increase the size of her territory and the number of her subordinates, she was not suited to govern a world that was at peace.

  Truth be told, the very fact that the absolute power known as Ruphas existed served as a deterrence. As a consequence, even if she just lazed around, as long as she was present, it was still sufficiently meaningful.

  Perhaps, thinking along those lines, it could be said that the one in the highest seat of power, Ruphas, would not be changing for a while.

  Additionally, the Tyrannical Twelve Heavenly Stars officially admitted Dina and Orm together as the constellation of the [Serpent Bearer] and changed its name from the Tyrannical Twelve Heavenly Stars to the Imperial Thirteen Heavenly Stars.

  Yes, not tyrannical, but imperial. The term “tyrannical”, which had used its power to bend and oppress others… was no longer needed.

  “Dina-sama, I’ve organised the reports.”
“Thank you very much, Libra. You can leave it there.”
The highest floor of the Mafahl Tower, which was now situated on the Moon… the office room on the floor immediately below that was now Dina’s personal workplace.

  There, Dina handled everything that was a part of her duties These duties included, but were not limited to, handling various problems that had occurred on Midgard, maintaining ecological balance, controlling the weather, detecting natural disasters such as earthquakes before they occurred and preventing them from happening.

  Alternatively, if there seemed to be a kingdom that was attempting to plunge the world into disorder, she might cause an earthquake in order to sanction them. Fortunately, there had been no such movement from any nation thus far.

  Nevertheless, humanoids were creatures which tended to take peace for granted. While they might still feel thankful for the peace they were currently experiencing since it had only been five years, individuals with ludicrous ambitions would inevitably start appearing after a few years.

  Even now, there were plenty of nobles who had a rotten disposition similar to that of Debris, meaning that Dina’s worries never ended.

  “Haa… what a problem this is.”
“Haven’t I been telling you? Dina, this is why, for stuff like that, you can just use the power of god to go boom boom boom, brainwash them or something and turn them into new dolls, and it’ll all be problem solved.”
“Alovenus-sama, you’re being a nuisance, so please don’t come into my office.”
“You’re so mean!”
The one who Dina was treating as a nuisance was a lady who looked exactly like Dina.

  Among other similarities, her facial features were almost exactly the same as Dina’s. The only difference between the two of them was that this lady’s hair from her neck down was blond in colour.

  The lady’s clothing was also different from that of Dina’s, as she was wearing a white dress and a blue cape. This lady was the very Goddess, Alovenus, whom Ruphas had fought.

  Needless to say, it was not her real body. If Alovenus’s real body had truly descended there, then the universe would have long collapsed.

  As such, it was nothing more than one of her avatars. Nevertheless, this avatar was slightly different from Dina, as it was constructed out of divine power. Additionally, this avatar did not possess a shred of its own ego. It was a type of avatar that solely existed so that the Goddess could take possession of it.

  In other words, the one present here was the one and only, the very Goddess herself.

  Digressing a little, the one who had created this avatar was Ruphas. If the Goddess was to do it herself, she would not be able to limit her power to this extent, and any avatar that she created would turn out to be strangely large in size.

  It was no wonder she had only been able to create giant avatars up until now.

  “You understand, right? I’m the Goddess, you know? I’m your real body, you know? I’m the most important person in the multiverse, you know? You should revere me more. You should give me more attention.”
“Libra, please throw this useless person out.”
“Understood.”
“Hey, wait!!”
Libra complied with Dina’s orders and grabbed Alovenus by her neck before dragging her out of the office. Libra then shoved Alovenus into a cardboard box labelled “Please don’t pick up” and threw the box out of the Mafahl Tower.

  Although she had been thrown out of the tower from an altitude of a few thousand meters, it would not be a problem at all. After all, that thing was technically still the Goddess. Furthermore, it was just an avatar.

  In the end, she would not even take any damage. Even if she ended up dead, her real body would be unharmed.

  After expressionlessly throwing out the Goddess, who was her real master, Libra returned to the office as if nothing had happened at all.

  “Oh, by the way, Libra, have you seen Ruphas-sama around? I haven’t seen her since this morning.”
“No. I also don’t know where she went.”
“I see. I had a few matters that I wanted her opinion on.”
Dina said so with a troubled face and looked outside the tower.

  Today, Midgard was ever so blue and ever so round. In all likelihood, it would continue to remain just as blue and round even tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, a year from now, ten years from now, a hundred years from now and so on.

  The warring period had concluded. As a consequence, it was unlikely that a battle which could alter the landscape of the planet would happen again in the future.

  Today, just like every other day, both Midgard and the Moon were peaceful.

  On Midgard, inside the palace of the kingdom of Svalinn.

  There, various kings of various nations were gathered together and speaking around a round table.

  Laevateinn’s Alioth the Sixth. Gjallarhorn’s Merak. Draupnir’s Emperor Kumar. Blutgang’s king and his companion, Mizar the golem. Svalinn’s king and his advisor, Megrez. Since the kingdom of hobbits had amazingly restored itself, the king of Hrotti was also present.

  There was also the ruler of Mjolnir, Benetnash. Even the king of Skidbladnir, Pisces, and the queen of Nectar, Aquarius, were present.

  They were informing each other about their respective nation’s state of affairs. They were also discussing their nation’s specialties and arguing about the details regarding what to export and import.

  It was a surreal scene which would have never come to fruition just a short while ago. In particular, the very fact that Benetnash was present there was nothing short of a miracle.

  “In that case, I’ll provide fifty million eru as reconstruction funds. In exchange, give Mjolnir the highest priority in exporting your specialty products.”
“That’d help out greatly, Vampire Princess-sama.”

  “Wait, wait, wait, Benet, my friend, monopolising exports isn’t good. Blutgang will provide our craftsmen. So export to us too.”
Although Benetnash seemed like a muscle brain, she was surprisingly good at managing her country.

  If that was not the case, then she would not have been able to remain as queen for over two hundred years. She was different from that random muscle-brained Supreme Ruler from someplace, somewhere.

  Fundamentally speaking, as long as Ruphas was not involved, Benetnash was actually a very calm and intellectual individual.

  Even after this exchange, the conversations continued on. It was only when the day was about to transition into night that they decided to call it a day.

  As soon as the meeting concluded, Benetnash stood up from her seat and left the palace behind.

  Even though she was a queen, as usual, there was not even a single guard around her. Yet there was not a single person reckless enough to pick a fight with her.

  She had no need for guards. Even alone, Benetnash had the strongest military power on Midgard.

  In fact, a lack of guards was something not exclusive to just her. Megrez, Merak and Pisces also did not have anyone guarding them.

  While Aquarius had brought Ganymedes along with her, he was being used as a mode of transportation rather than a guard.

  “Humph… as usual, that Mafahl didn’t show up.”
“Well, I suppose it’s because she’s on the Moon. I doubt she’d stick her neck into Midgard’s matters this late in time.”
After Benetnash grumbled unhappily, Megrez bitterly responded to her.

  Merak and the Mizar golem stood up nearby and looked up at the Moon.

  “Besides, this whole situation is what she wanted to achieve. To conquer the world and create a peaceful world where there’s no demons… It’s slightly different in form from what she had initially planned, but she has indeed achieved that. In a way, she ended up winning it all.”
“That’s why I don’t like it.”
Merak supplemented his input but that only riled Benetnash up more.

  It’s always like this… She always runs away after taking the win. By the time I notice it, she’s already ahead of me. I hate that feeling. That’s why there’s meaning in chasing behind her… but how complicated.

  “From now on, it’s our responsibility. In the past, we decided to go along with the Goddess’s plan and ended up causing chaos for the world… We haven’t finished atoning for that yet.”
“Don’t count me as one of you guys, you fool.”
Megrez said so with a serious tone, but Benetnash rebutted that.

  The ones who had rampaged around and gotten manipulated by the Goddess were the other heroes, not including herself. She was different. She was just asserting that.

  Having said that, while she had not been manipulated by the Goddess, Benetnash had still been involved in Ruphas’s downfall, so it was also a fact that she was not able to assert herself that strongly.

  “In the past, we had made a mistake. Even then, Ruphas still came back for us and corrected the world like this. So from this point onwards, it’s our job… This time for sure, we have to pick the right path and lead the world to peace… as well as for the sake of the ones who passed away first.”
Hearing Megrez’s words, Merek and the Mizar golem nodded. While Benetnash did not nod, she also did not deny his words.

  Alioth, Duhbe, Phecda and Mizar… those four had left first, while the ones here were left behind.

  As such, this time for sure, as the ones who had been left behind, or in Mizar’s case, as Mizar’s clone, they had the responsibility of fulfilling and realising their dreams.

  In all likelihood, that was the ideal goal that everyone had aimed for in the past.

  A slight distance away from where Benetnash and others were leaving… the phantoms of Alioth and the rest, who looked as if they were looking after the remaining members, showed a satisfied expression… then disappeared along with the wind.

  Some distance away from the Mafahl Tower stood the demon race’s castle.

  After being given half of the Moon as their domain, the demon race had founded their country. Nowadays, they were happily living there in peace.

  They were no longer subjected to murderous impulses that constantly loomed around them.

  Although it was not as if their past sins had been absolved or their fear towards Ruphas had completely disappeared, time was sure to mend it all, little by little.

  Today, inside the central castle, an event was being hosted.

  Standing next to Terra, who was wearing a black suit, was Luna, who was wearing a pure white dress.

  In front of the two of them was Aigokeros, who was dressed like a priest, and was reading predetermined lines from a palm card.

  Surely, there would be those who wondered why, on this celebratory occasion, the Devil King was dressed as a priest.

  It was because Terra and Luna had wished for it.

  There was no need for them to make vows to a deity who had played around with them. Such a deity was not deserving of their beliefs.

  As such, the target of their vows could not be such a deity. Instead, as a symbol of their beliefs, they decided to invite the Devil King, who was the polar opposite of such a deity.

  “Do you, Terra, take this woman, Luna, as your wife, and promise to be true in good times and bad, in times of prosperity and in poverty, in times of sickness and in health, that you will walk together, without betrayal, until death do you two part, to love each other, to think about your wife, and stay true only to your wife, and vow as such in the name of the Goddess?”
“No, I don’t. I won’t vow to the Goddess. I make my vow to myself and to my wife.”
“Do you, Luna, take this man, Terra, as your husband, and promise to be true in good times and bad, in times of prosperity and in poverty, in times of sickness and in health, that you will walk together, without betrayal, until death do you two part, to love each other, to think about your husband, and stay true only to your husband, and vow as such in the name of the Goddess?”
“No, I don’t. I won’t vow to the Goddess. I make my vow to myself and to my husband.”
The demon race’s marriage ceremonies were slightly different from those of the humanoids.

  They would never make a vow to the Goddess. They would not pray to her.

  The targets of their vows were themselves and their partners. Perhaps, as demons, this was the only appropriate form of marriage for them.

  Aigokeros heard the two’s responses and then raised both of his arms up, returning to his original Devil King appearance.

  “Everyone, for these two, there’s no need to wish for blessings from the Goddess, is there? Now tied together in a knot known as marriage, the two before me need not seek help from the Goddess. Listen, Goddess, the creator of all things in the universe. You created humanoids in the shape of yourself and blessed couples with love. But there’s no need. These two have no need for your blessings. Even without you, these two shall still continue to love, live and create a wholesome family. Whether it be in times of happiness or sorrow, they will not forget about trust and gratitude. Even without you supporting them, they would struggle and get their work done. In times of hardship, these two shall love and comfort each other. They are blessed with many friends and the blessings of this marriage shall allow them to grow, such that they will be able to live their days merrily.”
Those words were like a rejection letter which was addressed towards the Goddess.

  There was no need for her help. There was no need for her script.

  They were telling her to not unnecessarily interfere because they could walk with their own feet.

  After hearing their prayer, Alovenus looked lost for words in the Final Point, but they had no way of knowing what was happening over there.

  “Now then, everyone, say it with me… God is dead!!”[1]

  Everyone attending the wedding concurred with Aigokeros’s words and repeated those blasphemous words.

  Immediately afterwards, a loud round of applause resounded, followed by the husband and wife walking down the flowery aisle.

  As he watched the two of them, Mercurius looked as if he would die at any moment.

  “Hey, you, pick yourself up. Stop making such a dark face on this occasion.”
“Yeah, I know… I know that… If she’s happy, then I’m also happy… I’m giving them my blessing…”
“Well, right now, you probably have the most unhappy face in the world.”
In polar opposition to the two of them, Pollux and Orm were wishing Terra and Luna good fortune from the bottom of their hearts.

  No, if one looked at them more carefully, Orm had a complex expression on his face.

  “It’s a strange feeling. To think that my son would overtake me first.”
“It can’t be helped, can it? As a perfect living being, ouroboroses have no need for a companion. I also don’t have a partner yet even at this age. Isn’t it just fine?”
Common sense and norms for ouroboroses and fairies were a little different from ordinary creatures.

  At the very least, they had absolutely no need for a spouse or the act of childbearing.

  In a way, it was also the same for the demon race. However, it only meant that Terra and Luna felt that deeply for each other even after considering that fact.

  “Well, I guess you’re right, but to be honest… I’ve become a little interested in something like this ever since a few thousand years ago. Although… the target of my affections hasn’t taken notice of it at all.”
“Hmm, so you have someone like that? In any case, how dense, if we can even still call it that, can that person even be…? To not notice it for a few thousand years…”
“Yeah.”
“But, wait a minute? There aren’t that many people who can live for a few thousand years, are there? As far as I’m aware, I’m the only female person who’s been in contact with you for a few thousand years, am I wrong?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you mean by ‘yeah’… then who is she? If there’s no one else other than me, then why are we even having this conversation? There’s no one else that I can… think… of…”
Having gotten to this point, Pollux finally managed to figure out the answer.

  She momentarily became pale, then gradually turned pink.

  “… Figured it out? You’re truly dense indeed.”
“… Eh? Me? You mean me?”
The Fairy Princess and the Demon King stared at each other.

  Watching at the two of them from the side, Mercurius quietly spoke.

  “Saturnus… right now, you probably have the most unhappy face in the world.”
“… The misfortune of another tastes like honey, but the happiness of another tastes like dirt. Hey, Mercurius, I’m going to drown myself in drinks again, so keep me company again tonight.”
“Yeah, I’ll keep you company until I’m beat.”
– On this day, in the wedding’s gallery, there might or might not have been two new couples that were born.

  “Ruphas-sama, where exactly are you~!?”
Inside the Mafahl Tower, a black shadow was scampering around.

  That black shadow was Scorpius. She was running around and searching for any location that she thought Ruphas might have been in and dashing from one location to another.

  For some reason, Ruphas had been missing in action from the start of the day. While it was not exactly a problem that Ruphas was away for a day or two, nor did there exist anyone who could do anything to Ruphas anyway, the problem was Scorpius herself.

  At this rate, she would not have a sufficient dose of Ruphas and would end up dead. Strangely enough, that was what she truly believed.

  She looked all around the tower, and ultimately ended up charging into the Moon headquarters of the King Crab restaurant.

  Inside the store, the other members of the Thirteen Stars, such as Aries, Taurus, Parthenos, Castor, Sagittarius, Leon and Karkinos, were all present.

  “Hey, you guys, have you seen Ruphas-sama around?”
“No. She hasn’t come here.”
Aries answered Scorpius while chowing down on a salt-boiled crayfish.

  While one might wonder why he was eating such a thing despite being a sheep, he was technically a magical beast. One should not mind it too much.

  “Aaaaa, where exactly has Ruphas-sama gone to…? This mistress hasn’t seen her for a whole day. Could it be that something has happened to Ruphas-sama…!?”
“Isn’t it fine to just let her be for a day? Or more like, maybe she took off because you’re being annoying?”
In response to Scorpius, who was dramatically worrying for Ruphas, Leon replied with an exasperated tone.

  It was basically unnecessary to worry that something might have happened to Ruphas.

  There was no one who could do anything to her. Even if the Sun were to smash directly into her, she would still come back home as if nothing had happened whatsoever.

  Even if a deadly pathogen found its way inside her body, the pathogens would be eradicated almost instantaneously.

  Long story short, it would be fine to assume that she could not die from anything besides reaching the end of her lifespan.

  Even her lifespan itself could be overcome if she so wished to simply by rewinding her time.

  In other words, worrying was needless. There was nothing to worry about.

  “What did you just say!? Even though you’re just ‘the strongest (LOL)’!”
“N’d you say, huh!?”
“Oh, I’m sorry? I’m sorry for saying the truth?”
“I’ll kill you!”
Watching the two of them yapping about loudly, Aries warmly thought that it was peaceful.

  As he continued to chew on the salt-boiled crayfish, he looked outside the restaurant’s windows. Outside the store was Sarjes, who had once journeyed with the Hero, Sei. Beside him, there was also the lamia, druid and a merman-looking thing.

  “Karkinos-dono, I’ve brought you the ingredients that you asked for.”
“Thank you! Now I can expand my menu.”
The thing that Sarjes gave to Karkinos was a semi-transparent globe that Sarjes had to carry with both hands.

  The globe was packed with amber-coloured honey that looked very sweet.

  “Karkinos, what is that?”
“It’s honey produced by Syrup Ants, magical beasts which had mutated from ants. It’s a species of magical beasts which largely inhabits deserts, and its honey is very exquisite. I was thinking that I’d/I could create a dessert using this for the ladies and was in the middle of researching the recipe.”
Karkinos happily answered Parthenos’s question.

  Because the world had become peaceful, there were a wider variety of new dishes being produced. Lately, Karkinos was so passionate about developing new recipes that he was constantly looking at the recipe books and ingredients that Ruphas had brought over from the “other world”.

  In the past five years, he had copi—… chased after various dishes and had been crowned as the Cooking King.

  No doubt, his restaurant, King Crab, would continue to sit on the throne in the culinary world for a long time to come.

  “Ahh. Shall we also order some things before we leave?”
“Alright, then I want something sweet! Aren’t the desserts here famous?”
“Then I want an egg dish.”
“I want a prawn dish.”
The four demi-humans sat at a table and looked through the menu.

  As they were doing so, Aigokeros, who for some reason was wearing a priest costume, came in and also sat down.

  “Oh, welcome back, Aigokeros. How was the wedding ceremony?”
“I’m not cut out for doing things I’m not used to. Even though I helped them out because Ruphas-sama ordered me to, I don’t ever want to do it again.”
Aigokeros took off his outer garments and chugged the beverage that Karkinos placed on his table.

  To think that the Devil King was acting as a priest… it was so ridiculous that one could not even laugh about it.

  Yet, Castor laughed bitterly as he saw such an appearance. Then, Aigokeros dropped a bombshell.

  “Oh, now that I think about it, the Demon King and Pollux were acting a little strange… It was almost as if they were a pair of newly coupled youngsters. I really can’t understand this feeling. What has happened to them?”
“Argo, mobilise! Argonauts, follow me! Now is the time for a great battle!”
“Castor!?”
Castor jumped out of his chair, surprising Aries. He took hold of his favourite weapon with one hand and ran out of the restaurant.

  The army of heroic spirits all followed him as they jumped onto the Argo.

  Seeing as how even the powerhouses like Phoenix, Hydrus and the Three Winged Knights were part of the heroic spirits following him, one could see how serious Castor was.

  Although it was still obvious that they were going to lose.

  “I’m going to bet 1000 eru that Castor is going to have the tables turned on him.”
“Likewise.”
“It’s not even worth betting.”
Scorpius and Taurus bet on Orm’s victory, but since no one was betting on Castor, there was no point in continuing with the bets.

  A short distance away from the Moon, rapid exchanges began to happen. The exchange was between Orm, who had already turned back into his Moon Ouroboros form, and the Argo, which was firing barrages of arcane magic towards him.

  By the time people noticed the battle, the Argo had already been shot down. A battle between powerhouses was typically done within a few seconds.

  “Men are idiots.”
“I agree.”
Scorpius and Parthenos sighed as they both took a sip of their beverages.

  It had been five years since that dreamlike, but a definitely real, incident.

  After turning twenty-three years old, Minami-Jyuji Sei took an employment examination to become qualified as an official civil servant, which he then successfully passed. Nowadays, he spent his days as a policeman.

  Despite being young, he had already achieved a few meritorious feats. As a result, he was currently the most promising individual among the younger generations in the organisation. At the same time, he was also the subject of envy by many.

  Sei himself also thought that he was somewhat cheating everyone.

  His situation was completely different from everyone else.

  He had no need to fear the weapons that were swung around by criminals. After all, they looked stationary to him.

  For him, even firearms looked like nothing more than toys.

  Of course, it would still hurt if he was hit by one. But it could also be said that a little pain was all that he had to worry about. To begin with, it was so simple for him to dodge bullets that it wouldn’t even hit him in the first place.

  As a human, everyone had self-preserving instincts. Yet Sei alone was able to move around while disregarding that.

  When he jumped into a burning house to save a child, everyone said, “What a brave policeman.”
But that was wrong. Compared to flames which could scorch an entire planet, which he had seen far too many times in the other world, he did not feel threatened in the slightest by a burning house.

  When he negotiated alone with an offender who was holed up in a building pointing a firearm at him, everyone said, “What a sense of strong justice despite being so young.”
But that was wrong. To begin with, he simply could not even see the firearm as anything more than a toy. He was by no means negotiating with his life on the line.

  “… Something is… wrong.”
Walking down the road in ordinary clothing, Sei muttered while carrying his shopping bag.

  Today was his day off, and he was in the middle of going home after finishing his shopping.

  Living together with his mother, he would go grocery shopping in his mother’s place on his days off.

  He was worried about the powers which he had acquired.

  He by no means regretted it.

  The fact that he had managed to help others… made him feel that it was a good thing.

  But something was wrong. Was his goal to become a policeman so that it could be like this?

  With how things were, he was always in a position where he was safe regardless of the situation. The feats that he had achieved up until this point were only possible because he had the power that he had acquired in the other world.

  But what if he did not have those powers? Would he have been able to achieve the same things if he did not have the powers which he currently had?

  Would he have been able to charge into a rampaging fire for the sake of saving a child? Would he have been able to stand in front of an armed criminal with a firearm and successfully negotiate with them?

  He felt as if he had been cheating using a power that he had gained through a windfall… Could it be that all he amounted to was just being such a shameful man?

  “… I wonder what they would say to me.”
With great power comes great responsibility. Power without responsibility was no different from a dangerous weapon.

  When he had unwittingly used his power in the other world, he had not thought much about it.

  That was because the power which he had was no different from not having any.

  From Ruphas Mafahl and Alovenus’s point of view, there would not be any difference between a random villager and Sei.

  If they so wished, both the villager and Sei could be squished without any effort.

  That was why it had not felt all too real to him back then. He hadn’t realised that he would be bringing back such a preposterous power to his world.

  But after getting back home, he finally understood.

  He understood… and realised how absurd of an unfair person he had turned into.

  “If it’s her…”
The person he was recalling was a young girl with pink hair.

  Back then, he had still been young. No, even now, at twenty-three years old, he was still young.

  Having gotten to this point, he was wondering if it would have been better for him to have said something back then.

  Although it seemed as if he had gotten past his lingering attachments when he ran through the gate, perhaps there were things he could and should have said.

  And he always wondered… What would she say if she saw him the way he currently was?

  “Worrying about things as usual… Is what she’d say.”
At first, he thought that he was having an auditory hallucination.

  After all, there was no way he would have been able to hear her voice on Earth.

  Which was why he thought that it was him hearing things. Things that he conveniently wanted to hear.

  Even while thinking that, he naturally turned his head around.

  When he did, just as he had expected… there was the young girl, who he had most wanted to meet at that moment, there in front of him, looking exactly the same as she had five years ago.

  In front of Sei, who was standing there dumbfounded, she became bashful and then spoke as if she was a young child who had been busted after having committed some mischief.

  “– I wanted to see you, so I came over.”
This happened in a small town outside the outskirts of the kingdom of Laevateinn.

  Usually, it was a peaceful location. But in any age existed scum who were unable to get used to peace and wanted to prey upon the weak.

  The three dirty and despicable adventurers who had just set foot in this quiet town were such people.

  The three of them were by no means strong adventurers, but they liked to parade themselves as strong by picking on people who were weaker than themselves.

  Unfortunately, this small town did not have the means to oppose the three of them.

  “Hyaha—! Hurry up and bring out all the food that you have!”
“And women too! Bring out the young women!”
“Hyahahaha! I’ve taken a liking to this town! We’re going to live here for a while just for you, so be grateful!”
Although these Mohican villains looked like they had come straight out of a template somewhere, these kinds of people were surprisingly abundant in the world.

  Regardless of the age, there were idiots who liked to go against order, act pretentious and be under the misunderstanding that it was the cool thing to do.

  These three men were the type who had fallen so far along that line of thought that they had degenerated to the lowest possible point.

  As such, the current scene was by no means a rare sight.

  If anything could be said to be rare… it was that, today, these three’s luck was so horribly bad that they could end up dead.

  “Oi, you lot. You look like you’re enjoying yourselves quite a lot. Would you mind if I joined in?”
“Huh!?”
A woman’s voice spoke towards these men. When the three of them turned around, they all simultaneously collapsed on the spot.

  They were under so much pressure that it felt as if the sky had dropped down on them. They were unable to do anything at all.

  While grovelling on the ground, those men saw…

  A crimson red overcoat fluttering in the wind.

  “Honestly… to think that you’d show me some unpleasant things on my way back from visiting my mother’s grave. So, you lot…”
Her shining gold-coloured hair was dyed crimson red from the middle and her face was as symmetrical as could be.

  The colour of her eyes was also crimson, like that of a flame.

  Above all else, what drew the three men’s line of sight was her pair of large jet black wings, the very representation of ominousness.

  Those wings were the symbol of the monster who had once destroyed the world, the dictionary definition of fear on Midgard.

  The name of that monster was Ruphas Mafahl.

  “Do you want to die here?”
Those men could no longer even raise their voices.

  As a result of their fear, all they could do was involuntarily gush out tears, snot and drool.

  Eventually, they fainted from the lack of oxygen, causing Ruphas to turn off her Coercion.

  To think that they would end up like this even though I only planned to scare them a little bit… I suppose the more one preys on the weak, the more fragile they are when they’re cornered.

  “U, umm… you are…”
“Ohh, sorry for the intrusion, elder.”
Ruphas casually apologised to the village elder who was shaking in fear, grabbed the three men and walked away from that place.

  All of her actions were truly befitting of a king. It was as if she was the personification of power.

  Worse yet, this terrifying walking aberration could appear at any time, anywhere, and it would not be strange.

  Just like now, there were times when she would whimsically walk into a small town that no one was paying attention to.

  At such times, if one were to encounter such bad luck unawares, they would end up cursing their own misfortune.

  The world was still at peace today.

  But… the representation of despair and irrationality could still show up anywhere at any time.

  One should not forget about that.

  If one does forget, then perhaps that would be when despair (the last boss) would appear.

  After the whole incident, it was said that the village chief said the following to the knight’s order, who arrived later.

  – A Wild Last Boss Appeared!

  __

  (Author note)

  Ruphas’s avatar: Over twenty years old but still jobless. Addicted to gaming while working a side job.

  Sei: A policeman at twenty-three years old.

  Ruphas: “My avatar…”
* Because I didn’t realise there was a minimum age limit to when you could be admitted for a job, I’ve changed the timeframe from three years to five years. Sei’s age has also been changed to twenty-two. (TLN: our version has no changes)

  （　´∀`）人 Thank you very much, everyone. This concludes the series, A Wild Last Boss Appeared!

  In an action battle series, it’s a widely known development that enemies which show up later are stronger than the ones prior. Unfortunately, because there’s no enemies who are stronger than Alovenus, I’m not able to stretch it out anymore.

  Going forward, I suppose that, when I feel like it, I will publish an epilogue chapter.

  Regarding Sei and Virgo’s relationship and their future, I purposefully left it ambiguous. Having said that, I doubt that they’ll have a bad ending.

  My future series is still in a planning phase. How should I go about it, I wonder.

  I’m thinking something along the lines of a group of TRPG friends who had created their own little script being sent away into the TRPG world as their high-level characters, or a story where the main character is sent away into a world where the future Earth is being assaulted by weird invaders and the main character gets turned into a giant robot that rampages about, or a story where the main character has been transmigrated into a vampire.

  The story I want to write the most is the one with the giant robot, but the problem is, I’m not very good at designing things, so if I do end up writing about a robot, it’s sure to come out looking like a robot we’ve seen someplace somewhere.

  Well, anyway, if I do make up my mind, I’ll start writing, so I’ll see you when that happens.

  Now then, everyone, until we next meet.

  (Author note end)

  Tp’s afternote: It’s been a long journey, but with this chapter, the main storyline has concluded. As of now, there are eight afterstories, which I will be translating on a weekly schedule. The first of the afterstory will be released on Nov 8th. I would just like to say thank you to everyone who came along for a ride as well as to Vecna and Keii, who had to put up with my draft. I originally read this series as it was being released raw and enjoyed it very much.

  During my university break, I noticed that it wasn’t being actively translated so I contacted Shurim for permission and picked it up as a side hobby with the intention of keeping my Japanese and improving my English. I posted my first chapter (chapter 17) back in November 2018 with a lot of errors. It’s still not perfect and I still have a lot to improve, but I hope that things got easier to read as I gained experience. Thanks to everyone’s patience and advice on how to improve along the way, I was able to persist this far. I hope everyone has enjoyed it.

  Vecna’s afternote: Afternote at the end of chapter 189.

  Shurim’s afternote: Sup

  (Tp: Just “Sup”? || Shurim: LOL. Yeah.)

  Kei’s afternote: Tp was actually the one who introduced me to this series and I’m really glad that I was able to work as the editor for Tp and Vecna for this series. It was a great opportunity for me as this is the first time I’ve been an editor for a translation like this and I really appreciate the experience that it’s given me over the past year or so, I’ve honestly learned a lot. Thank you so much to everyone for accompanying us on our journey, and also, thank you to Tp and Vecna for putting up with my amateur editing skills, haha.

  __

  [1] “God is dead” is a widely quoted statement made by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who used the phrase to express his idea that the Enlightenment had eliminated the possibility of the existence of God.

  A Wild Last Boss Appeared

  Afterstory 1 – A Wild Melon Appeared!

  Tp: … I have no idea what I’m translating this chapter…
__

  (Author note)

  This chapter is nothing but a dumb story following the conclusion of the main story.

  Please empty your head before you read this.

  (Author note end)

  __

  (TLN: From my memory, generally, when a Japanese person talks about a melon, they’re referring to a honeydew melon and not a rockmelon/cantaloupe.)

  It was a great shock to Karkinos

  The discovery of a great unknown. A bolt of lightning out of the blue.

  That bolt of lightning which ran through his heart might have been a passionate inspiration, but it could have also been an intense fear.

  Whichever it was, the one thing he was sure of was that it was a flash of insight that Karkinos had never once thought of before.

  Karkinos was holding onto a book that Ruphas had given him.

  It was a cooking book, which listed dishes that were not of his world. For Karkinos, it was essentially a sacred scripture.

  Ruphas, who would routinely go and have fun in the “other” world, had brought the book home to him as a souvenir. Notwithstanding that the one in his hand was the twelfth cooking book which he had received, Karkinos had yet to become disinterested, but instead, he continued to feel wonder and excitement.

  But had anything ever been as impactful as what he was currently feeling?

  :

  :

  – Prosciutto e Melone.[1]

  That was the reason behind Karkinos’s petrification.

  An entire page of the book showed a very refined picture that depicted a dish where a layer of pink meat was placed on top of a green fruit that had a refreshing shine. For Karkinos, the sight of it alone was dangerous.

  It had an overwhelming sense of existence.

  A thin slice of meat that was placed on top of another world’s fruit, which was called a melon, was blowing Karkinos’s imagination through the roof.

  Fruit and meat… it was a seemingly common but was actually an uncommon combination.

  One might have served a fruit as a follow-up to a meat dish, such as in the case of a dessert.

  But a dish where a vegetable was wrapped in meat… or alternatively, a dish where meat was wrapped around by a vegetable could seldom be found.

  But to eat a sweet fruit together with salted meat at the same time was very strange, indeed.

  Thus, Karkinos pondered. What would it taste like if he poured fruit juice over salted meat and tried eating it?

  No, it wasn’t as if such a combination had never existed before.

  For example, he knew that when it came to a certain deep-fried food that he had recently learnt, it went quite well with lemon juice.

  But that was because lemons were sour. That was why they worked well together. It emphasised the meat’s flavour.

  Or perhaps, this fruit called a melon is sour just like how lemons are?

  … He couldn’t understand. After all, there was no such thing as a fruit known as a melon on Midgard.

  At the very least, it was not something that Karkinos, who was known as the Cooking King, could recall ever seeing before.

  As such, Karkinos promptly tried asking Ruphas.

  “A melon? Hmm, yeah, now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve seen them in this world. If I recall correctly, it needs to be grown in a greenhouse… it’s hard to grow, and even over in the other world, it’s classified as somewhat of a high-class fruit. Because Midgard was generally in strife due to war, I suppose that none of the countries had enough leisure to be growing fruit like that.”
:

  :

  Ruphas conjectured that the reason why Midgard did not have a fruit called a melon was no one had enough leisure to grow it.

  In general, melons were a difficult fruit to cultivate.

  A greenhouse was necessary to grow one. All in all, because the associated labor and overhead costs were ridiculously high, even in the “other” world, melons were expensive. Absurdly expensive.

  Even a box containing five or so non-premium ordinary melons cost approximately 4000 to 5000 yen.[2]

  If it was something like a muskmelon, a single one could cost over 5000 yen. In fact, the cost of a muskmelon with a lot of netting could even exceed 20 000 yen.

  Worse yet, the only difference between those two was literally just the number of netting, and there was no difference in their tastes. Truly, such a distinction only existed because people had the luxury to spare. The difference between their costs could even be described as a taste of a nobility.

  It felt more high class if it had more netting. Therefore, people would pay four times the price even though there was no difference in taste.

  If such a business was running in Midgard, the more expensive one would never sell.

  Perhaps, an expensive muskmelon was the result of leisure.

  It would not have been wrong to call it a symbol of peace and prosperity. It was amazing. What a noble fruit it was.

  But, honestly, who really cared about the number of mesh? If people were going to buy it, they should buy the one that has less netting.

  Oh, and for reference, berries and citrus fruits were the most commonly consumed fruits in Midgard.

  Having said that, the most common type of fruit in the market was no doubt the Eir fruit.

  It was a type of fruit which was exclusive to Midgard and did not exist in the other world. Frankly, it was a ridiculously convenient and cheat-like fruit which grew very abundantly even in a barren wasteland and had high nutrition and liquid content.

  It was not even picky about when it would grow as it grew all year round. As such, it was said that as long as a town had even a single Eir tree, it could sustain itself.

  With how things were, wasn’t it just a magical beast and not a tree?

  “So… I’m guessing you want a melon?”
“Yes. Besides, I’m also curious what it tastes like.”
“I see. I guess it’s not that hard to buy one if I go over to the other world… but since it’s this kind of occasion, it might be interesting to try growing Midgard’s very own melon.”
:

  :

  After saying that, Ruphas casually reached her right arm into a crack in the space-time continuum.

  She probed around inside for a while before pulling out Alovenus from inside the X-Gate.

  As this most powerful deity was busy being addicted to mobile games and passionately summoning her gacha while being a prime victim of the business scheme of the developers, she was surprised by this sudden event.

  “Eek!? Wh, what is with you all of a sudden!?”
“I have something to ask you. I haven’t seen this kind of fruit over in this world, but have you ever brought it over?”
The roots for a majority of the plants and living things on Midgard were things from Earth that Alovenus had brought over before mutating them in peculiar ways.

  As such, typically, regardless of what creature or fruit it was, it would usually somewhat resemble things on Earth to some degree.

  In all likelihood, even the Eir fruit was sure to have been a fruit which was altered in some way.

  Alovenus thought about the question a little, then a lightbulb appeared on top of her head as if she was indicating that she had just recalled something.

  By the way, that was not a metaphor, but quite literally happened. She was using her godly powers for something so pointless.

  “Ahh, if it’s melons, then they’re also somewhere in this world. But because it was so troublesome to cultivate them, no one could be bothered to grow them. So they were chucked away to some remote region, and have kind of turned into monsters by this point.”
“Turned into monsters, huh…”
“Yes. They don’t move by themselves and don’t attack others on their own accord too, so they’re quite tame magical creatures. They’re very rarely encountered by people, so they’re extremely insignificant monsters.”
It seemed that melons technically existed in this world as well.

  Having said that, since they had turned into magical creatures of some kind, they probably couldn’t be called melons anymore.

  Ruphas randomly threw Alovenus into some nearby chair and then turned to look towards Karkinos.

  “You heard her. It’s unfortunate, but since they’ve turned into monsters, we can’t use it as an ingredient.”
:

  :

  “No, it’s too early to give up, Ruphas-sama. Me is thinking to go and have a look at them first.”
“You’re a curious one, aren’t you?”
“If it looks like it won’t work out after I have a look at them, then I’ll give up.”
“So, that’s where we come in?”
“Yes. Simple battles aside, finding things like this is the specialty of adventurers after all.”
They were inside a forest in Midgard.

  Karkinos and the adventurer group, Hawkeye, were advancing through the trees.

  There were six people in total. There was the person who had made the request, Karkinos, as well as Hawkeye’s Jean and Ricardo.

  Apparently, the other two members of the group, Nick and Shu, were away on another quest.

  Other than those three, there was Gants, who had coincidently been with Jean at the time, and the demi-human dryad, who was familiar with the forest.

  Last but not least, there was the one who was tagging along because she was interested, Alovenus.

  Honestly, what a random and chaotic group it was.

  “Or more like, the others aside, are we fine bringing that alone? You know, umm… technically, err, she’s Midgard’s deity and all that. I don’t really have a belief or anything, but do I have to worship or something?”
Jean spoke exasperatedly while looking at Alovenus.

  Although Alovenus did not seem dignified at all, even one did not want to admit it, she was still a deity.

  She was still the most powerful existence in the universe.

  In response to that question, Karkinos replied quite casually.

  “Not really. Even Ruphas-sama was saying that it’s alright to handle Alovenus-sama roughly. So feel free to act as you usually do. If anything, Ruphas-sama was saying that it’s best to not let Alovenus-sama get too cocky.”
:

  :

  “Is it even fine to treat the Goddess of Creation that way…?”
“Right? Aren’t they horrible?”
There was unlikely to be any other world where the highest-ranked deity was treated so badly.

  While they were having an almost slapstick comedy-like exchange, the dryad spoke up from the side.

  “Hey, guys. There’s a weird green thing rolling around over there, isn’t that the melon thing or whatever it’s called?”
“… Green with a net design. The characteristics match up.”
The dryad was indeed pointing at a random green thing rolling around, which resembled the one in the photograph.

  Ricardo also looked at the thing, but while doing so, his face was twitching.

  It was because, no matter how he looked at it, this melon-looking thing in front of his eyes… was well over 10 meters tall.[3]

  “It definitely resembles it. Everything except for the size, that is. But… that has to be wrong, right…?”
I don’t want to think of that strange and gigantic thing as a fruit.

  When Gants voiced such a thought out loud, the dryad inflated her cheeks with a hmph.

  “No, that’s definitely it. The features all match up, don’t they?”
“Everything except for the size, yeah. As if I can accept such a big fruit!”
“It just grew up a little too much! I’ve even seen apples that were unusually big before!”
“This isn’t at the level of ‘unusually big’. It has to be something different that just merely looks like what we’re looking for.”
The dryad and Gants bickered with one another, but it seemed their argument was heard by the melon(?).

  :

  :

  The melon(?) turned its head towards the two of them.

  “I am a big melon. Have you come to harvest me, humans?”
It spoke.

  Despite not having a mouth or vocal cords, it spoke as if it was the most natural thing to do.

  Furthermore, it called itself a melon.

  “Hey, look, it even called itself a melon. So it definitely has to be one.”
“… How could this be?”
It looked like the fruit in question and it even called itself a melon.

  With how things were, it was fair to say that things were set in stone.

  Gants sighed out loud but braced himself by telling himself that it was just part of his quest.

  Passing by his side, the first one to jump in was, as expected, Jean.

  But as if it was purposely timing its counterattack, the big melon started firing fruit juice and sent Jean flying back.

  “Guwaaa!?”
“The melon’s strong!?”
Jean was no doubt a first-class adventurer.

  In modern-day Midgard, there were not that many magical beasts which could toss him around this easily.

  Gants was surprised, as he had not imagined that it would be this strong despite how ridiculous it looked. At the same time, Alovenus was checking the melon’s status.

  “Hmm, big melon… level, 99. HP, 18 000. Hmm, it’s unexpectedly strong, isn’t it?”
“Why is a melon that strong!?”
:

  :

  “Well, I guess it’s because it’s a high-class fruit?”
“As if that’s a good enough reason!”
In response to Alovenus, who was calmly analysing the situation, Gants retorted back like a straight man. It was indeed tough being a normal and sensible person.

  But Alovenus simply smiled back at him warmly and then spoke with confidence.

  “Haha… don’t worry about it. Who do you think I am? A mere fruit like that could never even be considered an enemy to me.”
Alovenus then raised her hand.

  As soon as she did, the whole scene around them changed, and the melon was banished into a vast outer space.

  They were now surrounded by a countless number of shining stars.

  Stars, numbering enough to make up a galaxy, moved according to Alovenus’s arm movement. First, they were raised up, then in the next instant, they came roaring down onto the enemy as an endless stream of shooting stars.

  “Dawn Star!”
Dawn Star was the strongest Metal-attribute arcane magic that Dina had also previously used.

  But because the user this time was the one and only Alovenus, the scale of the attack was different.

  True, it was not Alovenus’s real body, but the Goddess was still the Goddess. As such, her power was absolute and without equal.

  Each individual hit from each falling star dealt hundreds of billions of damage to the melon, and this was multiplied by the number of stars there were.

  In other words, the damage dealt by that arcane magic was… 999,999,999 x (approximately) 200,000,000,000!

  What could be described as a terrifyingly overkill amount of damage was dealt to the melon. However one thought about it, it was not an amount of damage that one would have had to deal against a melon.

  After the attack ended, Alovenus returned the space around them back to normal.

  :

  :

  “Anyways… how’s that for a problem solved?”
Alovenus was giving off the complacency of an absolutely strong being as she swept her hair back.

  Her pose, where she had one foot placed on a platform that had shown up who knows when and how, and her proud look made it seem as if she was about to start saying, “There’s nothing to be scared of now.”
Although she was normally stupid and her current body was nothing more than an avatar, a god was still a god.

  It was an indisputable fact that there was no existence that was stronger than her in the entire multiverse.

  “… No, umm… It’s a bit of a problem if you defeat it. To begin with, me and the others came here to obtain that thing, and…”
“…”
But a fool was still a fool too.

  Leaving the useless Goddess behind in that place, Karkinos and the rest continued with their search.

  Honestly, because of that idiot, we have to put in double the effort.

  What’s the point of overkilling a fruit that we were trying to get our hands on?

  In the end, this was just how competent Alovenus was.

  “…”
After being left behind, Alovenus became petrified, still in her pose with a proud look, and felt very lonely.

  “So, this is the final product?”
:

  :

  The following day.

  After successfully obtaining another big melon, Karkinos and the others returned to the restaurant and quickly started cooking up a new recipe.

  Needless to say, because it couldn’t be eaten in its original size, Karkinos properly cut the big melon up into bite-sized portions.

  He then wrapped it with a strongly salted piece of raw ham, making the dish look very impactful.

  “It doesn’t look very tasty though.”
Pollux looked at the Prosciutto e Melone with a bit of hesitation.

  If one were to be blunt and speak honestly, the dish in front of them did not look very appealing.

  While the melon looked appealing on its own, because of the ham that was placed on top of it, it felt a little ruined.

  “Well, don’t say that yet. We can reserve the criticisms for after we actually have a taste.”
Ruphas stabbed one of them with a fork without any qualms and then put it into her mouth.

  The first thing she noticed was the sweetness of the melon. Melon was normally plenty sweet enough, but because of the ham’s strong salty flavour, its sweetness was further heightened.

  I see, so in this combination, the melon is the main deal, and the ham is just there to bring out its flavour.

  The sweetness and saltiness unexpectedly match up quite well.

  Pickled apples were by no means rare, and one would often hear about people sprinkling a little bit of salt on top of a watermelon.

  In a way, it was the same thing. This particular combination was there so that the ham could bring out the sweet flavour of the melon.

  … Digressing a little, the opposite of this combination, adding melon juice or sugar on ham before eating it, is not recommended.

  :

  :

  “But this is…”
“I’ve eaten this dish a few times over in the other world, but this one feels a bit sweeter compared to how it is in the other world. If we don’t tone the sweetness down a little, then the balance feels a little off.”
Dina, who similarly had knowledge of the “other” world just like Ruphas, also ate the melon without any hesitation.

  There was no reluctance to eat a fruit which had turned into a monster.

  In the first place, if people felt reluctant about doing something like that, then they would not be able to survive in this world.

  If it was something like an orc, then people would especially not feel any reluctance.

  Having said that, because Dina was a half-elf, she had no urge to eat meat.

  After eating one, perhaps having been fulfilled by that experience, Dina started stripping away the ham from the Prosciutto e Melone and started eating just the melons.

  As expected, elves and meat did not match up too well.

  “The inside isn’t too bad, but the outside is still better.”
On the other hand, Aigokeros started eating the melon’s shell instead, as if it was the most normal thing in the world to do.

  In the end, a goat was still a goat.

  In the end, the newly introduced dish, Prosciutto e Melone, owing to the rarity of the fruit known as a melon, became a popular dessert in the King Crab restaurant that Karkinos ran.

  However, there was no reason other merchants and restaurants would not pay attention to this new melon thing. As a result, the melon hunt began here and there in Midgard. Unfortunately, because of the big melon’s unnatural strength, obtaining one was difficult. Due to the supply for it not being able to keep up with the demand, the price for it took a steep hike.

  Ultimately, melons suffered the same fate as they did on Earth and became a high-class fruit.

  __

  :

  :

  (Author note)

  Hello everyone, it has been a while.

  Well, I tried writing an after-story as an epilogue to the final chapter.

  Having said that, because the main story has already concluded, it pretty much felt like I was writing a postscript to everything.

  It’s essentially a bonus stage that people might see after they clear the final stage in a game.

  Because of that, I was even able to include someone like Alovenus, who was the final boss in the main storyline, as a party member in this fight.

  Also, I’ve been adding rough drafts of the characters which appeared in volume five of the publication to my activity timeline, so if you’re free, please take a look.

  (Author note end)

  __

  [1] Aka Melon con jamon. From the look of it, it looks like a ham on/around melon? “https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%94%9F%E3%83%8F%E3%83%A0%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AD%E3%83%B3���.

  [2] Currency is kind of volatile right now, but long story short, think of 1 Japanese Yen as 1 US cent. As of 5 Nov 2020, 4000 yen = 3857 US cents = $38.57.

  [3] 10m = 32.8ft.

  Afterstory 4 – An Out-of-Season Swimsuit Event

  Notice 1: Again, apologies for the massive delay. I’ve been really busy in real life these days and haven’t had the chance to get around to it.

  This is probably the weirdest side story we’ve had so far. At this point, the author’s probably drunk and just writing whatever pops into his mind (for the first half of the chapter)…
__

  (Author note)

  Originally, I had been planning to publish this chapter during the summer, but I procrastinated so much here and there that by the time I noticed it, the summer had already ended.

  So this chapter is a bit of an out-of-season beach episode.

  (Author note end)

  __

  On that day, the “Fish” Pisces felt extremely excited.

  To clarify, he wasn’t jumping or screaming in excitement like a monkey. He simply felt very excited.

  It was midsummer. Under the pretext of it being hot day in and day out, he had taken the opportunity to invite Ruphas and the others to come have a dip in the sea.

  Although there was no such thing as the four seasons on the Moon, because he had received a positive reply back from them, he believed that they were probably going to come.

  Putting the personalities of Ruphas and the other members of the Imperial Thirteen Heavenly Stars aside, in terms of looks alone, they were a brilliant line-up of beautiful women.

  Just imagining them wearing swimsuits that exposed a lot of skin made him drool with happiness.

  Needless to say, his preparations to receive them were flawless.

  He had completely rented out an entire beach, along with a line-up of stores that sold refreshments.

  He had even prepared finely shattered ice covered in various kinds of syrup – apparently, this was known as shaved ice in another world.[1]

  Yeah! My preparations are flawless. Come whenever you want.

  Just as Pisces thought that, his comrades came down from the Moon through an X-Gate.

  “We’re here, Pisces!”
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
The first person to speak up was Castor, who was already wearing board shorts.

  The individual next to him was Sagittarius, who, as usual, was not wearing anything to cover his bottom half.

  Looking aside, Pisces also saw… Leon, Taurus, Aigokeros, Karkinos, Orm, Mercurius and Terra.

  In fact, he even saw Phoenix, Hydrus and the Three Winged Knights there.

  “Yo, so we’re at the right place?”
“Grrr…”
Following them was the former hero’s party, whom Pisces had not intended to invite in the first place.

  Apparently, after being invited by Pisces, Ruphas had figured that she might as well also invite them over too.

  The people who had arrived as part of that group were Jean, Ricardo, Nick and Shu. There were also Gants, Friedrich, Kaineko, Sarjes and the merfolk.[2]

  Behind them, the ranger squad, which had supported the hero’s party from the shadows, was posing.

  “Oh, so this is the place. I guess it’s not too bad to forget about work every once in a while and take a swim.”
“Right.”
Megrez and Merak were coming by from the opposite direction.

  Almost as if purely to mock Pisces, Benetnash had not come with them.

  As a matter of fact, even though Aquarius had not come, Ganymedes had come here on his own.

  “–”
Crack. Just like that, something inside Pisces shattered, creating a crack that ran all the way through him.

  What shattered might have been his expectations. Or perhaps, it might have been his ambitions or desires.

  Regardless of what it was, Pisces had a strong sense that something was about to shatter and scatter into bits and pieces.

  “…… Oi…… whatabout Ruphas-sama? Wh, what about all the ladies…?”
“Ruphas-sama said seawater makes her wings sticky and it’s too much of a hassle to wash it afterwards, so she decided not to come. Dina’s busy working. Alovenus-sama spent one million on a gacha game, so she ended up getting her smartphone confiscated by Dina and is currently depressed.

  I don’t think I need to mention Scorpius, but she said she was going to pass because Ruphas-sama wasn’t going. Libra never had any interest in playing around to begin with. Pollux and Parthenos also said it was too much of a hassle, so they decided not to come.

  As for Virgo, she’s gone ‘over there’. Oh, and Aries was sleeping.”
After being shot with that despair-inducing explanation that was fired out of Castor’s mouth, Pisces’s face looked as if the world was about to end at any moment.

  It seemed that the Moon’s forces had been annihilated for many different reasons.

  No, it was not just the forces from the Moon. Looking at the other factions, Pisces felt as if the entire female gender had been annihilated.

  Not even the gorilla had come.

  Well, I guess she doesn’t really need to come.

  And Castor had just casually mentioned Aries, but he’s a guy.

  “Ga… ga… aa! Impossible… something like this… aa! Why… why…! Only the men… of all things… there are only dudes here…! Something like this can’t possibly… something like this… it’s unfair…!”
In response to the only-dudes-unexpectedly-appearing-all-at-once show (with the exception of Aries), Pisces’s face distorted as if it was ice cream that was melting, and he fell down on his knees in despair.

  This is far too much.

  Even though we’re at a beach, why are there only men here…? As if such a hell can be permitted in this world!

  Nobody benefits at all from this! This whole situation is no different from spitting at heaven after not being able to understand the wonderful things that were promised to you.

  It would be an understatement to say that Pisces’s face looked ugly at that moment. There was a limit as to what qualified as foul.

  What was happening right now was a lot worse than Leon, Taurus, Gants, Sagittarius and Orm being together in one place.

  But because all of them were very muscular, the atmosphere was just hot and stuffy either way.

  Even the others who had ended up coming to the beach were looking around at each other and had expressions that said, “How did things turn out like this…?”
“A, anyways… shall we go for a swim now?”
As nothing would change if things were left as is, Orm made a suggestion to the others, and they all stiffly nodded.

  A beach that was completely rented out and full of stuffy men… Such a bad dream would not have existed anywhere else.

  However, after having gone through the trouble of coming to the beach, it did not make sense to just go home without doing anything.

  As a result, everyone there ended up deciding to go into the water with a darkened expression.

  Even though there were no flowers here, the act of swimming in the sea was in itself still a fun activity.

  Although they had initially just been messing around with gloomy expressions, after a while, the atmosphere lightened up and everyone was able to enjoy their time.

  While the way they were playing around was a little out of norm, since they were doing activities such as dividing the sea up in a way similar to a certain The Ten Commandments, running on top of the seawater or diving to the bottom of the sea, they were certainly enjoying their time.

  As they were doing so, something huge appeared from the ocean.

  “Hyahaha! I am the one who inhabits the sea, Tentacle Octopus! Now, where are the lovely kitty cats whose swimsuits I’ll be stripping away!?”
The thing that appeared in front of them was a giant octopus which embodied what it meant to be an erotic monster.

  It was squirming its tentacles unpleasantly while at the height of its mood.

  A beach meant beautiful women. Beautiful women meant lewd troubles. That was how the scripts usually flowed.

  If what you were reading right now was a nocturne novel, this octopus would have played a big role.[3]

  Unfortunately… yes… how merciless. Was such a thing even allowed?

  Even though it had risen up from the bottom of the sea, the only thing that the octopus could see was hell.

  – There were only stuffy bastards.

  “………”
The perverted octopus was petrified and looked around for the second time.

  Wherever it looked, it only saw men, men and more nightmare-inducing men.

  Every single one of them was far too muscular and far too hot and stuffy.

  As a matter of fact, when it came to Sagittarius, even before he could be forcibly stripped, he had already stripped. The entire thing was far too unsightly.

  Once the perverted octopus saw this, it withered. It quite literally withered and shrunk down.

  “…… Let me just say this… are you guys idiots? This is a beach, why did you guys even come here if there were only going to be guys here? You know what a beach normally entails, right? Would you get what I mean if I say that what should be here right now are cute girls wearing flimsy swimsuits that are only a string away from revealing everything and are moments away from causing trouble? You know… I showed up because I wanted to strip swimsuits from some ladies and I was fully prepared to get beaten up by the protective male protagonists of the story, but what even is this…? Why are there only guys here, huh?”
“… Umm, we’re sorry about that, I guess?”
“… I see… so you’re also a miserable man like me.”
The one individual who could relate to the soulful cry of the perverted octopus the most was Eros.

  He too was shouldering the same misery that the perverted octopus was shouldering.

  Even though I’m here at the beach, why am I swimming together with this all-star line up of hot and stuffy bastards? Right now, I just want to go back to heaven.

  Eros and the perverted octopus crossed their arms and tentacles together and embraced each other without saying anything more.

  Because the two of them shouldered the same pain and misery, they could understand each other and thus felt a sense of camaraderie.

  At approximately the same time, on Earth.

  On that day, Minami-Jyuji Sei and Virgo were walking down the beach.

  Swimming together in the sea… unfortunately, was difficult.

  Although Virgo was wearing the stealth bandage that Ruphas had once used to hide her wings, if she were to enter the water, it would become undone.

  On this planet called Earth where science, rather than fantasy, dominated everything, Virgo’s wings would stand out quite a lot.

  Despite that, they at least wanted to have the right atmosphere, so they were currently walking on the beach together.

  Sei was solidifying his resolve as he looked at Virgo, who was walking beside him.

  … It, it should be about time, right? It’s fine for me to take one more step forward, right? If she tells me that she’s actually not interested in me, or that we should just stay friends, I won’t be able to recover though. I think that there’s a thread… or at least, there should be… please let there be one… I’m going to say it. Today is the day…
Sei and Virgo could be said to be dating each other. – Sei believed that was the relationship between the two of them.

  At the very least, he believed that they had passed the point of mere friendship.

  Unfortunately, human beings simply did not have enough time to let such a fleeting relationship continue on indefinitely.

  Even though it had already been over five years since the incident, Virgo still looked the same. In all likelihood, she would continue to look the same far into the future.

  But that was not the case for Sei. In the past, his facial features had the traits of a young man, but after merely five years, he now looked like a mature man.

  He had grown taller and his body now looked a lot stronger and sturdier.

  By now, he had finished growing. From now on, he could only grow old and start to decline.

  Which was why… while he was strong and young, he had to take a step forward and bridge the gap.

  “Umm… Virgo. There’s something important that I want to talk to you about. Can you hear me out for a bit?”
In response to Sei’s words, Virgo simply smiled back without saying anything.

  She was also waiting for it. For those words to come from Sei’s mouth.

  Interpreting the situation as such, Sei placed his hands on Virgo’s slender shoulders.

  “My… lifespan is different from yours. Sometime in the future, I’m going to leave you behind and pass on. But if you’re fine with someone like me… would you–“
In the middle of Sei making a once-in-a-lifetime confession, the sea abruptly swelled up.

  When the two of them turned to look at what was happening, they saw the top half of a giant grotesque monster sticking out of the water.

  It was an embodiment of insanity. A god sent away from another world.

  The Mutant God, Thulhu.

  That monster had appeared next to them at the worst possible timing… It looked at the two of them and sensed that it had appeared at a bad moment.

  “■■■■■■■…”
Oh. Don’t mind me, feel free to continue.

  As if it was saying such a thing, Thulhu shook its arms, then sunk back into the ocean.

  What did you even come here for?

  “………”
“………”
The atmosphere that they had established had been ruined. While it might have just been their imagination, the ocean that had been sparkling under the setting sun since just a moment ago now appeared to be dark and stale.

  Although Sei and Virgo were glaring at the sea, half in anger and half in exasperation, there was unfortunately no sign of Thulhu coming back up.

  “… Sei-kun, shall we go home?”
“… Yeah.”
If he were to confess despite the mood having been completely ruined, it would not have been a good moment.

  While it was unfortunate, Sei’s once-in-a-lifetime confession would have to be postponed until the next time.

  __

  (Author note)

  Q: What did you even come here for…?

  A: Thulhu: “■■…”
Reason: Taking a stroll.

  (Author note end)

  TpstT: Poor Sei, even in an after-story, he can’t catch a break.

  __

  [1] “https://www.nippon.com/en/guide-to-japan/fnn20180727001/���.

  [2] I don’t think we’ve ever been given a name for this merfolk.

  [3] Nocturne novels (ノクターンノベルズ) refers to R-18 novels. “http://noc.syosetu.com/���.

  Afterstory 3 – Ruphaskart

  Notice 1: Apologies for the delay, we’ve been busy lately and will be even busier over the next few weeks, so it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to follow through with 1 after-story every Sunday. The remaining 5 after-stories will come out whenever they’re ready.

  __

  (Author note)

  This is the result of me wanting to write a story about how the Thirteen Stars would act in a game of Ma__o Kart.

  Let’s pour in a Kakyoin-tier amount of “soul” into this race![1]

  Please enjoy volume 2 and 3 of the manga as well.

  (Author note end)

  __

  Near the Mafahl Tower.

  On that day, for some reason, there was a well-maintained… yet, at the same time, meaninglessly and overly swirly road prepared.

  If one were to describe it using the “other world’s” terms, then they might say that the road was very similar to a racing circuit. As a matter of fact, there were even thirteen race car-like golems standing by near what could be thought of as a starting line.

  There was even an audience stand set in place. Although there was not much of an audience there, it was still undoubtedly a racing track.

  Needless to say, the one who had created all of this was Ruphas.

  They were products manufactured as a result of Ruphas utilising her avatar’s knowledge with the intention of replacing the pseudo-dragon vehicles on the Moon as a new means of transportation and becoming goods which could be exported to Midgard.

  In other words, they were the next-generation golems which would succeed Suzuki and Tanaka. For the all-important mobility of the golems, Megrez brand mana engine was utilised. Additionally, as opposed to before, Ruphas had made these while reading and following specialised books on how to make cars. Therefore, these golems were not like Suzuki and Tanaka, which only imitated the outer appearance of cars. In fact, these were manufactured to be quite similar to real cars that one might see on Earth.

  Furthermore, Suzuki and Tanaka’s auto-pilot features had been completely removed from these newly-made golems. They were designed so that passengers would have to control the vehicles themselves.

  At the end of all of this, the thirteen vehicles lined up at the starting line were the result of Ruphas placing them there with the intention of test running the cars in a light race.

  If everything went well, she figured that she might even be able to turn it into a source of entertainment or recreational activity.

  The members of the Imperial Thirteen Heavenly Stars were already on board those cars, waiting for the starting signal.

  While that was the case, as it was not practical for two individuals to be racing in one car, for the seats of the Twins and Serpent Bearer, Pollux and Dina respectively decided to sit out and observe the race from the audience stand.

  Similarly, as Aquarius could not board the car while in her water pitcher, it was decided that Ganymedes would drive on her behalf.

  “So, should we start now?”
Ruphas gave a signal.

  When she did, the panels set above the starting line lit up.

  The panels were being used to count down to the start of the race. A few people’s cars started revving their engines as they saw it light up.

  It was a precursor to a starting dash.

  Start!

  As soon as the countdown finished, all thirteen vehicles simultaneously blasted forward.

  The specifications of the cars were all the same. Their maximum speed was 1200km/h.

  The amount of time required to reach that highest possible speed was five seconds on full throttle.

  One might say that it was a very violent and murderous car, as any ordinary person who tried to drive this machine and attempted to reach the maximum speed as quickly as possible would end up dying. However, for the Thirteen Stars, this kind of speed was still far too slow.

  Needless to say, when the time came to sell the actual product on Midgard, its specifications would be reduced to less than half of what it was right now, but since it was currently being test run, Ruphas did not mind the finer details.

  “Tsk! Even if I end up getting first with this thing that’s slower than myself, I can’t even brag about it… but I also don’t feel like losing!”
The vehicle that took the lead first was a car coated in red paint.

  The one driving that car was Leon. Because even his humanoid form was large and bulky, he seemed to be quite cramped inside the vehicle.

  After succeeding with the starting dash, he charged straight to the front of the pack while disregarding the damage that would be done to his car when body slamming other cars in the race.

  But from right behind him, a green car daringly spun around and bumped Leon’s car away.

  On top of that, it seemed that the driver of the green car had even calculated what the car behind them would do, as they got in front of them and utilised the momentum from the resulting collision to accelerate itself into the first place.

  “Hey, you. You’re in the way, Libra!”
“I appreciate you pushing me forward, Scorpius.”
The green car – Libra’s car managed to obstruct both Leon’s and Scorpius’s vehicles at the same time and was now driving at the foremost of the group.

  As a golem, Libra never made a mistake while manoeuvring her car.

  It was very obvious to any onlookers that she would maintain first place and come first in the race as long as someone else did not do something to her.

  “Oh… is the winner already decided?”
“She’s calculating and turning every corner with the best possible timing and speed. Not to mention she’s perfectly blocking the people behind her. Though, we already knew Libra was going to end up coming in first.”
Dina and Ruphas were casually analysing the situation, unsurprised.

  Libra coming in first place was just as expected.

  In terms of precision, there was no one who was superior to her as a golem.

  However, a voice aside the two of them cut in from the side.

  “You don’t have to worry about that. I won’t let things be one-sided. I’ve properly set up some item panels on the road!”
“Wha… when did you do such an unnecessary thing…?”
The one who set up an unnecessary mechanic was, as usual, the good-for-nothing goddess who never did anything except unnecessary things, Alovenus.

  What do you even mean by “item panels”, it’s not like this is Ma__o Kart…
Thinking that, Dina turned to look at Ruphas, but she was betrayed by her reaction.

  “I see, that’s interesting. Good job.”
Aah! She’s also a lost cause. Thinking about it, she might also be in the same category as Alovenus-sama.

  Even while Dina held her head with her hands, the race continued on.

  In second place was Sagittarius’s car, which, for some strange reason, suddenly shot out a blue shell. In the face of such an unexpected circumstance, Libra’s car was unable to react to the situation and spun out of control.

  “Hahaha! I’m going to take this opportunity to overtake you! Sorry!”
Seeing what was happening, Karkinos, who was in third place, attempted to take the lead by forcibly body-slamming the other vehicles.

  Unfortunately, Libra’s car was still spinning around at the front of the group.

  As a consequence, Karkinos idiotically got caught up with her, and they started spinning together.

  In fact, even Sagittarius was caught up in it, and the three of them spun around merrily like best friends.

  “Oh! My god!”
“What did you even come to do!?”
“The only thing I can say is that this was a miscalculation.”
It would most likely be some time before the three of them could recover and set themselves back up.

  During this time, they were overtaken one after another. Ultimately, the one who took the lead was Pisces. Aigokeros had also managed to drive up right next to him.

  “The time has come! Now is the time I shall shine! If I don’t start standing out anytime soon, I might even start getting called ‘the Real Background Character’!”
“Oi, the Real Background Character, what happened to ruling the seas?”
“I’ve ditched them behind! And don’t call me the Real Background Character!”
Pisces fervently screamed those lines. He had wanted to have a role so much that he had abandoned ruling the seas so he could participate in this race. Even though he was the king of the seas, seeing his current appearance, Aigokeros could not help but be exasperated.

  Dina had a complicated expression as she listened to him scream out loud from the audience stand.

  “How keen. Anyways, as his predecessor, you should give him some advice, former Background Character.”
“I was only being a background character because it was my role!! I wasn’t actually a real background character!”
In response to Ruphas’s teasing words, Dina’s cheeks puffed up as she replied with a sulky look.

  At this point, the time when she had been labelled as a background character was nothing but a nostalgic part of the past.

  Furthermore, she had indeed only been a background character because her role required her to be one and not because she wished to do so, thus it was dissimilar in circumstance to Pisces.

  Pisces, who so earnestly wanted to stand out yet did not have any presence whatsoever, was the one who was most worthy to be called the real background character.

  Keep working at it Eros, I’m sure there’ll be another opportunity for you to get some action in the future. Although… the main storyline has already finished, but whatever.

  “Well, if we’re talking about how little of a role we had to play, we’re pretty much also in the same boat.”
“I guess so. I don’t really mind it though.”
Parthenos and Aquarius, who were also in the audience seats, spoke as if they were not bothered by it.

  Parthenos had already passed on the baton to her successor. Furthermore, because she was already dead, there was no reason for her to worry about having roles to play.

  Aquarius, on the other hand, was someone who did not want to stand out from the very beginning, thus she did not mind it in the slightest.

  But Pisces was different. He had always been waiting for a time when he could shine.

  Pisces demonstrated amazing skill at handling his car, creating some distance between himself and Aigokeros. Furthermore, he passed over a speed boost panel which was set up on the ground for some reason, and momentarily accelerated to 2000km/h.

  Would he be heads above the rest and run solo this time…?

  While some might have had such a thought, Pisces somehow collided with a car that was driving towards his direction.

  – That car was driving in the opposite direction!

  “Wha, whaaaattttt!?”
“Guaaaa!!”
It was a blue car – Castor’s car – that collided with Pisces’s car.

  As if he had finally recalled at this point of the story that his character was set to be terrible at figuring out directions, Castor had been driving his car in the opposite direction ever since the race had started. In this way, he had ultimately ended up colliding with Pisces.

  Pollux unconsciously drooped down upon seeing his pathetic state.

  “… Older brother…”
The two cars burst into flames, and Pisces and Castor were both thrown out from the cars as if they were best friends and were forced to retire.

  As if aiming for this mishap, the one who took the lead at this point was Aries’s rainbow-coloured car.

  Neck-to-neck with him was Aigokeros’s purple car, creating a dead-heat situation.[2]

  With this, the first lap of the race was completed. There were two laps left until the end.

  The two cars overtook a black car which had yet to start driving as they passed the starting line, continuing their neck-and-neck race.

  “… Eh? Isn’t that Orm’s car? Why has he been waiting at the start this whole time?”
Pollux spoke exasperatedly, but there was no way she could have predicted the actual reason.

  After all, how could she have predicted that Orm, even in his position as the Demon King, could not even figure out how to drive a car and was endlessly pressing his foot down on the brake pedal?

  “Hmm… I’m pushing down this thing called an accelerator the way they explained it to me, but this thing isn’t moving at all… are they sure it’s not just a faulty product?”
Notice it, Orm! That’s the brake, not the accelerator.

  Leaving the overly dense Orm behind, Aries and Aigokeros continued their fierce battle, even passing by Virgo, who was so slow that she got lapped by them.

  Then they both stepped on the item panel.

  “It’s time!”
“With this!”
Aigokeros’s car slowed down ever so slightly and allowed Aries to take the lead before firing a missile from behind.

  But Aries accelerated as if he was trying to shake it off. The item that Aigokeros had obtained was a missile that could be used to destroy another contestant’s car, while Aries had obtained a mushroom that was used to boost one’s speed.

  As for why a mushroom would boost one’s speed, I don’t know either. It’s just that kind of a thing, you know? Here we go![3]

  Aries shook the missile off with his overwhelming speed and then turned the corner.

  The missile was unable to catch up in time and was destroyed upon colliding with the corner post.

  With this, the distance between first and second place was clear to see. Unexpectedly, Aries was driving solo at the very front.

  “What do you know? Perhaps we’ll get to see an upset?”
“Aries is in the lead, eh? He’s unexpectedly pretty good.”
I’ll take first just like this. – With that in mind, Aries turned the corner.

  Unfortunately, there was a trap right there.

  Beyond the corner, for some reason, there was a car which was parked sideways, as if it was blocking the road.

  No, that was wrong. Looking closer, it was trying to drive.

  However, the handling of the car was so poor that it kept slamming into the walls.

  “That’s Taurus, huh…”
“He’s been slamming left and right into the walls since quite a while ago…”
It was not as if Taurus was not taking things seriously, nor was he attempting to interfere with Aries.

  He just simply sucked at driving to this extent.

  As expected of a man who specialised solely in attack power. It seemed that corners were not his strong suit.

  “Hey, Taurus, get out of the way! I can’t pass!”
“Uuu…”
Aries complained, but if Taurus had been able to do something about it, he would have done it already.

  But Taurus’s car, as before, continued to slam into the walls: front, back, left, right and centre.

  The ones who reached the location at this point were Aigokeros and Scorpius.

  “You’re in the way! Get out already!”
“If you’re going to get in my way, then the only option I have left is to remove you!”
Scorpius and Aigokeros both fired missiles simultaneously, causing even Aries’s car, which was right next to Taurus’s car, to be caught up in the resulting explosion.

  Aries’s car started spinning because of the impact, whereas Taurus’s car refreshingly burst into pieces.

  Taurus, who was thrown out of the car, was blasted right out of the racetrack, landing back down on the ground with his legs crossed.

  Even though the car itself had exploded into pieces, the individual himself had taken zero damage. It was exactly because the Imperial Thirteen Heavenly Stars had such extraordinary battle prowess that they were able to do such crazy things.

  With this, the second lap of the race had concluded. They were now on the final lap.

  The race had taken approximately a little over a minute at this point, but this final lap would be the decider.

  Yet, even at this point, Orm had yet to start moving from the starting line. He was clearly a lost cause.

  “The distance between us and third place is quite big… looks like it’s going to be between this mistress and you.”
“Interesting. I’ll blow you away.”
Scorpius and Aigokeros stared down at each other right as they tried to make the race just between themselves.

  But there, Libra, who had fallen behind quite a bit during the first lap, closed in on them.

  “Libra!? How come you were able to catch up to us!?”
“I decided to keep picking up nothing but speed boost mushrooms.”
“Huh!? Isn’t that thing supposed to have been random!?”
“It’s called random number manipulation.”
“That doesn’t even make any sense!”
It seemed that the competition for the top spot would be between Aigokeros, Libra and Scorpius.

  Now that they had already finished two and a half laps, overturning the result was no longer possible.

  In other words, the first place winner would be the individual who won the battle amongst these three.

  While they were lined up neck-to-neck, Scorpius pondered a little.

  It’s vexing to admit it, but it’s going to be impossible to legitimately win against Libra in this race… But she’s the one person I can’t lose to in front of Ruphas-sama. Or more like, even if Ruphas-sama is not looking, I can’t afford to lose to her… So the only option is…
Aigokeros, who was on the other side of Libra, also pondered a little.

  This stalemate is probably going to collapse soon… Libra’s definitely going to take the lead. Before that happens, I have to crush her…
While being sandwiched by the two of them, Libra carefully deliberated.

  The atmosphere changed… they’re going to do something.

  The moment they turned the corner and entered the final long stretch, Aigokeros and Scorpius simultaneously closed the distance on Libra’s vehicle, as if to tightly sandwich her.

  It seemed that they had both judged Libra to be a threat and opted to collaborate and crush her first.

  But as if she had predicted what would happen, Libra decreased her speed and fell back a little, making Scorpius and Aigokeros crash into one another.

  Not only that, when the two of them slowed down due to the collision, she passed by them from the side.

  “Oh. No. You. Didn’t! I’m not going to be picky with my methods anymore!”
Scorpius’s temper quickly flared up as she shattered the car’s floor with a stomp.

  She then used her own feet and closed the distance between them with a speed completely incomparable to before.

  While the whole scene looked quite surreal, as it looked as if the car had suddenly grown legs, the speed was unquestionable.

  At the end of it all, it was much faster for her to run with her own feet as opposed to riding on a car.

  “Scorpius, isn’t that cheating!? Aaah, whatever, it can’t be helped!”
In response to Scorpius’s actions, Aigokeros also reverted back into his goat form, picked up the car and started flying.

  “Your actions are also within my predictions.”
Once she verified what the two of them were doing, Libra also jumped out of the car, picked it up and started running.

  Oi, you guys, you’re supposed to race while driving a car.

  As if prompted by their actions, the other members of the Thirteen Stars and Ganymedes also stuck their feet out from underneath their cars, or alternatively, picked them up and started running.

  The only ones who were still properly riding on their cars were Orm, who had yet to take off from the starting line, and Virgo, who was driving leisurely.

  Aries had cracked the glass at the back of his car and was blasting flames out of it to accelerate himself. Karkinos’s car, which was unluckily hit by those flames, exploded.

  By the time one noticed it, everyone except for Orm and Virgo had started running towards the goal using their abilities.

  Orm was the only one who was still reading the instruction manual while sitting in his car.

  “Goal!”
The Thirteen Stars charged past the goal like an avalanche, finally ending the race.

  The distance between themselves up until the middle of the race had no relevance. Once they started running on their own, they could all cover that distance in an instant.

  As such, in order to ascertain who passed the goal first, an individual needed to have quite an amazing sense of kinetic vision.

  Fortunately, Ruphas’s kinetic vision was more than sufficient to make that determination.

  And the judgement that she made was…
“So, all of you are disqualified for cheating.”
– Subsequently, it became a one-on-one race between Virgo, who continued to drive slowly, and Orm, who just simply did not move. After 30 minutes, Virgo was declared the winner.

  __

  (Author note)

  Virgo: “Sei-kun was saying that you have to drive a car with safety first in mind.”
Q: By the way, why didn’t Ruphas participate?

  A: If she participated, some of the Thirteen Stars would have restrained themselves and wouldn’t have raced properly.

  (Author note end)

  __

  [1] “https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Noriaki_Kakyoin���.

  [2] “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_heat���.

  Afterstory 2 – Congratulations, Prosciutto e Melone Has Evolved!

  (Author note)

  This chapter is slightly shorter than usual.

  But then again, afterstories are basically like four-panel comics, so they’ll be like this every once in a while.

  (Author note end)

  __

  One day, something happened.

  A certain man arrived at the King Crab chain restaurant in Laevateinn that Karkinos was running.

  He was wearing a suit, which was rare in Midgard. He had slightly yellowish skin as well as black hair and eyes, just like Sei.

  Although it only became apparent after the fact, the after-effects of the battle between Alovenus and Ruphas were still persisting up to this point, and there were still distortions in the space-time continuum.

  This man had unfortunately been caught up in it and had come wandering into Midgard from Earth.

  When he saw Prosciutto e Melone, a food from Earth, despite being in a fantastic world, he was greatly moved and decided to order it.

  But the moment he put it in his mouth, he froze and then gave some blunt criticisms about it to Karkinos, who just so happened to be at the store as part of his occasional inspections.

  “This Prosciutto e Melone is fake. I can’t eat this.”
:

  :

  According to the man, Prosciutto e Melone was created because the melons that once grew in England had a grassy smell, so people started eating it together with ham in order to mask that smell.

  As such, if one were to combine ham with melon and make it as close to the original product as possible, one had to use a slightly smelly melon which had its sweetness suppressed. This was the sophistry used by the man.

  But in the end, because the man did not have any money with him, he ended up running away from the restaurant after eating everything and was subsequently apprehended by the knights. After that, he ended up meeting Ruphas and was sent back to Earth. However, the man’s words still struck a chord within Karkinos.

  “The Prosciutto e Melone that me made was… fake…!?”
Serving a customer a fake product… was something that should not be allowed to happen.

  In practice, customers did not care that it was fake and were just ordering the dish with the intention of eating a melon. In fact, 70% of customers removed the ham before they started eating it. Unfortunately, Karkinos was so shocked by this revelation that he did not even realise that was actually happening.

  As such, Karkinos made a decision.

  Let’s selectively breed them – this was the decision that he made.

  Midgard’s melons were too sweet. Therefore, they did not pair well with ham.

  But selective breeding was not something that could be accomplished overnight. It required a lot of time. In fact, it required a number of years.

  But the place that Karkinos was in was Midgard. In this world, there were ways to change things very quickly.

  Thus Karkinos quickly took matters into his own hands and decided to employ those methods.

  “Deform and mutate according to my devilish powers… the power of darkness, gather at the roots of this melon!”

  Karkinos first decided to rely on Aigokeros.

  But no matter how one looked at it, from the very start, Karkinos had definitely made a mistake picking who to ask for help.

  Needless to say, a miracle did not happen. The melon, which absorbed the power of darkness, mutated into something grotesque.

  :

  :

  “The big melon warp mutation! Devil melon!”
The outcome was this unfortunate thing.

  The big melon had mutated into a devil melon, a strange and creepy purple mysterious thing.

  Its level had increased to 150 and, in terms of battle prowess, it was a big success. Unfortunately, it was meant to be consumed as food. What good was it to have strengthened a food?

  But Karkinos did not give up. After learning that it was pointless to mutate it using mana, he decided to try using alchemy next and headed towards Ruphas.

  “You can leave it to me! Alright… alchemy!”
Ruphas activated a skill and then applied alchemy to the melon.

  Alchemy and cooking were very much alike. In essence, they both used something as an ingredient and changed it into something else.

  For example, suppose there was a bean. That bean could be turned into soy milk or even into cheese.

  One could say that doing something like this was smack-dab in the middle of the field of alchemy.

  After having an alchemical skill applied to it, the devil melon shone and mutated further.

  “Devil melon, ultimate mutation! Metal devil melon!”
The outcome was this unfortunate thing.

  The melon was now enclosed in steel, and it even had a bazooka equipped for some reason.

  There was a claw at the bottom of its body, and it looked like something that would fit right into a space war that would continue all year round.

  Needless to say, something like this could not be eaten. One should not turn food into a metallic substance.

  As opposed to Ruphas, who was looking satisfied for some reason, Karkinos was depressed and disappointed.

  :

  :

  “No, but… this isn’t even a melon anymore, is it? How did it become like this…?”
The next person that Karkinos decided to rely on was Dina.

  When he thought about it properly, time was what was needed to selectively breed something, and that was something that could be solved by her.

  One should not forget. This cheating strategist was able to manipulate time to her will.

  Dina, despite saying, “It’ll definitely get weirder”, reluctantly activated her time manipulation skill.

  She sped up the metal devil melon’s time.

  Dina, you’re wrong. That’s not how selective breeding is done.

  “This is super melon 3. Sorry that it took up some time… I’m not used to the new changes yet.”
The outcome was this unfortunate thing.

  The melon had elongated.

  Its body, which used to be round, had greatly elongated. At this point, it was not even shaped like a melon anymore.

  Furthermore, it shone a bright golden colour and was shooting off sparks by itself.

  Not only that, its level, now at 300, rivalled that of the Seven Luminaries.

  After seeing what had happened, one of the Seven Luminaries of the demons, Luna, muttered, “Could it be that we’re actually really weak…?” having lost her self-confidence.

  Even after this attempt, Karkinos kept trying and failing, but he did not give up on it.

  In truth, it was smarter for him to give up, but he still did not give up.

  There were those who thought that he should have at least prepared a new big melon and restarted from the beginning, but he still did not give up.

  Hey, I’m telling you as an author to just give up already!

  :

  :

  And the following day.

  “… So, this thing… what are you planning to do with it?”
“Umm… what is… this?”
What exactly was the thing that Scorpius and Aries were exasperatedly looking up at?

  At the very least, it was no longer a melon.

  It had managed to reach a height of 30m.

  Near the bottom, numerous steel legs were growing out of it, and it was walking around with a gashungashun sound.

  It also now had an arm, and there were two bazookas on what would be considered its shoulders.

  Because there were streams of fire being blasted out of its back, it could even take flight.

  Its body also shone a bright gold colour.

  As a side note, its level was now 400. Its strength now made it truly befitting to be called the ultimate evolution available to a melon.

  This was the outcome after Karkinos continued to try despite those prior mistakes and went to seek Mizar’s, Pollux’s and Alovenus’s help.

  “My name is Ultimate Prosciutto e Melone.”
“Prosciutto e… where is the ham even…?”
There was not even a trace of what could be called a melon left. There was also no ham on it.

  Yet the individual (?) decided to call itself a melon.

  No, it was a mistake to say that there was no ham on it.

  After being questioned by Scorpius, the melon showed her a small slice of ham on top of its head. … Then ate it.

  “My name is Ultimate Melon.”
“Fine, be whatever you want to be…”
:

  :

  Scorpius muttered, after becoming as exasperated as she could possibly be.

  Afterwards, the Ultimate Prosciutto e Melone was added to King Crab restaurant’s menu, but the number of customers who ordered it suddenly went down to zero.

  On the other hand, thanks to how ridiculous it looked and its unexpectedly reliable battle prowess, the Ultimate Prosciutto e Melone ended up becoming King Crab’s mascot and was adored by the people.

  __

  (Author note)

  By the way, the first people on Earth have no particular relation to Oishinbo.

  Maybe someone just saw the book and was influenced by it.

  (Author note end)