Chapter 51

“I’m so annoyed I could die…”

“Don’t get too angry! We’ll track them down somehow!”

Lately, I’ve been in a really bad mood.

Already dealing with demons and monsters is a headache, and on top of that, a bunch of superhumans have popped up, forming all sorts of strange organizations.

If they were just openly forming groups like hero associations or something, it wouldn’t be so bad.

At least they wouldn’t cause trouble, and they’d be easier to monitor.

But the problem is the ones gathering in the shadows.

Yeah… to put it simply, it feels like those evil organizations that often appear in typical superpower battle stories.

Seeing them go out of their way to create more work for me makes me want to crush their skulls.

“So… what’s the name of that organization that’s been making the rounds lately?”

“Uh… it’s called the ‘Spirit Council’!”

“Spirit Council?”

Just from the name, I can’t tell if it’s a serious organization or just some kids playing around.

Well, whether it’s the former or the latter, I’ll crush them either way, so it doesn’t matter.

By the way, the weather lately feels like it’s slowly cooling down.

Is autumn approaching?

Then the kids’ vacation must be almost over.

Looks like I’ll have more work to do.

Unless they’ve dropped out of school, they can’t just run off at irregular signals all the time.

So I’ll have to work harder.

“But why aren’t you driving the car?”

“It’s weird to drive the car every time I go out. If I drive, I have to think about where to park, and that’s annoying. If it’s close, I’ll just walk.”

Of course, if someone offered to drive me, I’d gladly take it, but since I’m alone, I have to drive myself.

So, walking like this is enough for a stroll.

“Whoa?!”

“…What?”

While walking slowly, a high school girl suddenly popped out from around the corner, saw me, tripped, and fell.

Luckily, she has good reflexes, so even though she fell, she managed to minimize the damage, only scraping her palm a little.

“Ouch…”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, sis.”

…I’m at least 1.5 times older than you.

But whatever, it’s too much trouble to argue, so I’ll let it slide.

“Sorry~ Did I scare you, sis?”

Sigh~… Being treated like a kid even though I’m an adult is really annoying.

But why is she wearing a school uniform?

Isn’t it too early for school to start?

Or maybe… is there some program where they go to school during vacation?

“…Do I look like a shrunken adult?”

“Hmm? Well, your hips and overall figure are close to an adult’s, but I guess because you’re short, people can’t help but mistake you for a kid!”

“So it’s because of my height…”

No matter how you look, if you’re short, you get treated like a kid.

If I were a guy, the difference between a kid and an adult would be more noticeable, but for women, the difference isn’t that big…

“…Let’s go, Chubby.”

“Yes!”

By the way… is this it?

The place with the amazing tonkatsu.

Eating at home is good, and delivery food is good too, but… sometimes eating out like this is nice.

Especially since really good places often don’t do delivery.

And a corner seat would be nice.

So I’ll sit here… one tonkatsu with extra rice.

What’s annoying about tonkatsu places is that they give you a tiny amount of rice.

I want to stuff my mouth with rice and take a big bite of tonkatsu, but the rice disappears before I can even finish half the tonkatsu.

It’s so frustrating and annoying…

“So… do you know anything about the superhumans in the Spirit Council?”

“Well… so far, we’ve only confirmed the lower-ranking members, but we’ve managed to find out the names of some higher-ups!”

“Like what?”

“The confirmed names are Gemini and Taurus!”

“Gemini and Taurus…?”

Spirit… ah, I see.

Then it’s probably zodiac signs.

The rest are either the 12 or 13 zodiac signs… but whatever, it doesn’t matter.

Once we figure out their location, we’ll just go there, crush them, kill them, and be done with it.

By the way, the tonkatsu is delicious.

The meat is thick, and the sauce is tasty…

It’s on a whole different level from those trashy places that serve paper-thin fried cutlets like goat kids.

It’s nice that there are more conscientious places like this these days.

Back in the day, there were so many places with no conscience.

“But what are they up to?”

“For now, they’re just gathering superhumans!”

“Really? What do they plan to do with all those superhumans?”

“Who knows?”

If we don’t know their goals, it’s hard to respond when they cause trouble.

It would be nice if we could at least figure out their location, but they’re hiding so well that they’re completely avoiding tracking…

“How are we supposed to find them?”

“Exactly!”

“Hmm… if tracking is too hard, why not just destroy all the places they might be?”

“Please stop with that extreme tyrant mindset…”

If there’s no way to track them, we might as well do something like that.

We need to find them and root them out to minimize the damage.

“Ah~ that was good.”

“Did you come out today just for this?”

“Yeah. I came out to eat tonkatsu here.”

Now that I’m full, it’s time to head home.

…But something feels off.

It feels like something’s about to happen… maybe I should wander around a bit.

“…Chubby. Doesn’t that look suspicious?”

“…Yeah.”

While wandering around, I slipped into an alley and caught a scene that matched the uneasy feeling.

That high school girl from earlier was facing off against a pair of twins dressed in weird fashion, looking like they were about to fight.

“…That must be Gemini from the Spirit Council.”

“Huh? How do you know?”

“Well, in situations like this, it’s usually them. In cases like this, it’s a 90% match.”

“R-really…”

Then I’ll just watch for a bit.

By the way, judging by their magical aura, they’re at least Earl-Class.

“Should I just kill them?”

“No. Our goal is capture. Don’t act on your own, little sister.”

“You guys… who are you?”

“Oh, right. We haven’t introduced ourselves.”

“We are the Spirit Council, creating a paradise for superhumans.”

“And we are…”

“The Twelve Spirits of the Spirit Council, Ain of Gemini.”

“Dojda of Gemini.”

…Just as I expected.

Since my guess was right… what should I do now?

I can’t follow them while hiding, so should I just beat them up and force the information out of them?

Now that I’m face-to-face with them, it’s a bit tricky.

“What should we do?”

“Well… what choice do we have? If it’s Rampage, you can easily subdue them, so that’s the only way, right?”

“True. No other choice…”

But for some reason, they seem to be struggling against that one high school girl.

Does that mean the Spirit Council is just a bunch of amateurs…

…No, I shouldn’t think like that.

Even an Earl-Class is plenty strong.

“What’s this? Is this all you’ve got? The Spirit Council isn’t much of a big deal!”

“Tch… keep up with me, little sister!”

“Who are you calling little sister? I’m the older one!”

…Wait, there’s one more besides those two.

No matter how stupid the organization is, they wouldn’t just throw anyone into a high-ranking position without considering their level.

And this reaction… a Marquis-Class is approaching.

And judging by the high school girl’s power and skill, which is somewhere between Earl-Class and Marquis-Class… she’ll probably get subdued by the one who arrived later and be taken away.

“…What are you two doing?”

“…! Perfect timing, little sister. Help me subdue her.”

“Is that Trua? Be careful, she’s stronger than she looks.”

“Sigh~… stop playing around and move.”

So, they’re really triplets…

Then… I should probably step in.

Transform, beat them up, find their base, and destroy it… that should do it.

So I transformed immediately, moved behind the Marquis-Class superhuman who looked particularly strong, and grabbed his head.

“Who, who are you?!”

“Since when were you behind us…?!”

“Shut up and sleep.”

I immediately unleashed my Second Ability, sent their bodies into a rampage, and subdued them.

Once they were down, I tied them up tightly with Fairy Queen’s special rope and waited for them to wake up.

“Hmm…”

Water usually knows the answer, but since higher-ups would rather die than talk, this is better.

A way to make them guide us without having to talk.

“Chubby. Do you have any trackers?”

“Huh? Yes, I do!”

“Give me three.”

“Yes!”

The Fairy Realm’s trackers… they’re quite small and can be attached.

If I stick them in inconspicuous places, I can track their location without needing water’s help.

So… if I carve out a bit of the sole of their shoes, put it inside, and stick it back… done.

“…What are you staring at?”

“Huh, what…?”

“I’m going to crush these guys, so you go back.”

I don’t know what she’s staring at.

But… how do I wake these guys up?

Those who got hit by [Physical Rampage] take too long to wake up.

…Well, I can just heal them and force them awake.

If I use healing magic, they’ll be in a state where they can wake up anytime, and then I can just dunk their heads in water to wake them up.

Water is amazing.

It gives answers and wakes people up… it’s a jack-of-all-trades.

“Gah…?!”

“Awake now?”

So I brought a basin, filled it with water, and dunked the heads of the self-proclaimed Gemini twins into it.

After waking all three, I switched my staff to a beam saber, held it to their necks, and started threatening them.

“Hey, you guys. You haven’t done anything major yet, so I’ll let you go, but if you do something big… I’ll find you and kill you all. Got it?”

“Huff, huff…!”

“Y-you’re… Rampage?!”

“The one who took down a Grand Duke-Class…?!”

Oh, they recognized me this time.

Last time it was too quick, so they didn’t recognize me?

“Tell your boss this too. If any harm comes to humanity, I’ll split you in half and kill you.”

Are they just staying silent…? Whatever, it’s fine.

They’ll pass it on, and since it’s me threatening them, it should work.

…Common sense-wise, at least.

In reality, there are so many idiots that they’ll probably cause more trouble, but that’s what I want.

I can just crush them without needing to monitor them.

“Chubby. Untie them.”

“Yes!”

That’s one annoying thing taken care of.

Sigh~… I wish they wouldn’t drag this into magical girl stories…

Thinking about it, I really want to punch that Returning Hero party.

They’re the ones who triggered this superhuman mess, right?

Next time I see them, I’ll have to complain…

“Sigh… I should just go home and play some games…”

“Huh? There’s an urgent signal for a Marquis-Class monster.”

“…Let’s deal with it quickly and go.”

Another pointless urgent signal at the worst timing…

It’ll be over quickly, but it’s still annoying when it happens like this…

“So, where is it?”

“Gangwon Province, Cheorwon!”

“…Why is that monster in a place like that?”

“Who knows?”

It’s one of the military-controlled areas, so there are some people there… maybe that’s why?

…Whatever, I need to hurry.