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Chapter 76

Side: Merlin

――And so, just like that, I arrived at the remote, small country.
According to Lute’s letter, we should just go and scare this country as much as necessary.

Walking along the road, I arrived where the walls of the royal capital became visible, as I pondered what to do.

There are various ways to intimidate, after all.
In some modest places, you might torture the opponent’s relatives, then send their corpses afterward.

Well, it’s fine as long as you do something like a demonstration… Still, what should I do?

And then, I slapped my palm.
Before my eyes was the highest peak in this kingdom.
Its height is around 3,000 meters, I guess?

I then raised the staff in my right hand.

「For the time being, I’ll blow up one mountain.」

Fortunately, there is plenty of time for the spell’s charge-up.
After about tens of seconds of meditation to sharpen my mind and chanting the spell, I murmured.

「Primordial Creation (Ruby: Big Bang)」

Like that—simultaneously with a mushroom cloud, one mountain vanished.

「Hmm. I’m not rusty yet. Well, turning a country’s highest mountain into a bald mountain should be enough as a threat to this country.」

And then, a high-pitched laughter echoed around.

「Haha! It’s been a while, but… you still look the same as ever, huh, Loli Baba!」

With a click of the tongue, I stepped back about 15 meters.
In my line of sight was someone who looked like they were in their late teens.

Their height was around 160 centimeters, and their healthy white skin was fresh.
Their peach-colored long hair, tied in a ponytail, was as smooth as silk.

Wearing denim shorts that exposed a lot, a bikini with plenty of exposure on the chest, and a short-sleeved parka… a considerably exposed outfit.

Although they have a pretty small chest, in a summer beach setting, there couldn’t be a more fitting outfit.

And then, my expression turned blatantly displeased .

「… So, as I said before, don’t suddenly approach within a radius of ten meters from me.」

「On the contrary, I don’t want to confront you in a way where you have the distance. Even now, I still think of you… as a monster, you know?」

「A monster? For someone who can unleash a continuous barrage of punches without giving me any time for magic formation and repaint a map in just a few minutes has no business to call me a monster.」

The person with peach-colored hair laughed loudly.

「I don’t want someone who, given enough time, is able to turn a mountain of several thousand meters into a bald mountain in a instant, to say that to me.」

Then, I sighed deeply.

「Hey, Nouryumi? I’ve been thinking for a while now…」

「Hm? What is it?」

「So, first of all, Senjutsu… are things like the art of creating duplicates and stealth techniques… It’s more like a system of magical techniques close to auxiliary magic, isn’t it? In other words, the ultimate goal of Senjutsu is to assimilate with nature and aim to become an existence equivalent to a god… It’s like a religious path, right?」

「Ah! Generally speaking, that’s how it is!」

「…I see, so to put it simply, Senjutsu is one of the paths of magical research that aims for harmony with nature… that’s my understanding at least.」

「Ah! Generally speaking, that’s how it is!」

「In which world is there a hermit who, with a single punch, creates craters of several tens of meters in diameter and destroys nature?」

Upon hearing that, Nouryumi laughed while clutching his stomach.

「Hahaha! What are you saying! Senjutsu is all about power, you know!」

「That’s just you… By the way, Nouryumi?」

「What?」

「You… even though you’ve rejuvenated with Senjutsu, aren’t you an old man well over a thousand years old? It’s enough already… just what’s with that appearance?」

Then, Nouryumi laughed heartily.

「Haha! It’s cute, so it’s fine!」

「And… how are you creating the appearance of having a bust in the first place?」

Nouryumi pointed to the bikini that covered his flat chest and laughed even more.

「Haha! It’s chest muscles, chest muscles!」

「There’s a limit to having a muscled chest… I mean, why are you covering your nipples with a bikini? Aren’t you an old man?」

「Don’t sweat the small stuff! It’s cute, so it’s fine!」

「Furthermore… why shorts… and the shorts are even excessively short… alongside the pink-haired long hair in a ponytail…」

「I’ve been saying it, right?」

「Hm?」

「It’s cute, so it’s fine!」

Hearing that, I…

…had a disgusted expression on my face.

An old man well over a thousand years old dressed up as a mid-teens girl.
And, actually looking cute.

This is really, in various ways, unpleasant.
How did it even come to this?

Anyway…

「Setting that aside, how should we handle this situation? You also received a letter from Lute, right? Nouryumi?」

「In Lute’s letter, it was written ‘Thoroughly beat them down,’ right! In that case… it’s definitely destruction and slaughter, right! I’ll dance flamboyantly!」

「Certainly, it was written ‘Thoroughly beat them down,’ but… before that, it was written ‘Except for non-combatants,’ as I recall.」

「Haha! My eyesight has been getting worse lately! I can’t see inconvenient things when enjoying myself!」

「The only thing that is old is your actual age, your physical health, appetite and sexual desire is probably equivalent to being in your late teens, isn’t it? Of course, age-related farsightedness is not on the table. I mean, really, why are you dressing as a woman… you pervert!」

Nouryumi’ temples twitched a few times upon hearing that.

「Did you just call me… a pervert? Ah… as expected, even I couldn’t resist retorting at that. But seriously, if you’re going to say that, you, who despite being as old as a hag, did some age-reversing magic until the age right after your first menstruation, right? Seriously, that’s a bit too extreme.」

「Extreme?」

「Except for explosion magic, your magic capabilities are at a level where you can be compared with the average magic school student. The Crimson Super Mage is said to be shocked just hearing about it.」

「Huh? You are the one who cooped yourself up in the mountains, self-pleasuring yourself repeatedly while conducting research to assimilate your soul with nature, and are an introvert with dark hobbies!」

「That’s what I said earlier! My Senjutsu is a bit different, you know! Haha! Senjutsu is all about power, ze!」

The man, who is a girl, laughed heartily.
It had been a while since we last met, but this guy was still as stimulating as ever.

His character was just too intense.

Frankly, I thought I had a pretty intense character as well, but compared to this guy, everything seemed dull.

And so, I found myself holding my head in my hands on the spot.

「…My head… hurts.」

「Oh? What’s wrong, Baba-chan? Menopause symptoms?」

「…Menopause symptoms. Isn’t that a harsh way of saying it? Weren’t we once classmates at the same magic university about 1,495 years ago? Can’t you choose slightly kinder words?」

「Magic university… Well now that I think about it, I guess that was the case.」

「You scored perfect marks in all subjects, and I always failed in all subjects other than explosion magic. Since then, I’ve found you hard to deal with. Honestly… it’s a bit of a complex for me.」

「The word ‘complex’ is my line. And speaking of that, in the magic test for fire magic… you gave yourself a special exception, granting yourself a score of a thousand points out of a hundred, forcibly turning your failing grades in other subjects from zero to a hundred.」

「Well, I was jealous of you being able to handle everything skillfully. In the end, you started secluding yourself in the mountains with just a single word, ‘bored,’ near the end of the magic university…」

「No, it was I who was jealous of you! If you had continued competing with me in Western magic, I would never be able to compete with you.」

「…」

「…」

And then, we stared at each other, reminiscing about the past.

「…」

「…」

After several seconds of silence as we gazed at each other, Nouryumi broke the silence.

「In fact, Granny-chan… back in the day, I had feelings for you.」

I see, so he’s bringing up that topic now.

Well, I had some idea about it, and I chuckled.

「I also… thought you weren’t too bad before you started cross-dressing.」

Upon hearing those words, Nouryumi gasped.

「Is that so?」

「Yeah.」

Nouryumi then looked up at the sky and clenched his fist lightly.

「Hey, if that’s the case… can’t we redo it now?」

「Haha, with both of us bending the laws of time… that resulted in inexplicable appearances. You’re cross-dressing, and as for me… I’m a little girl, I suppose? Love involves… a sexual connotation. It would be quite unpleasant for a famous hermit like you to be called a lolicon.」

「I don’t mind! No, I really don’t mind at all.」

「…Huh? Isn’t it strange? I mean, appearance-wise… I look about ten years old, right?」

「Rather, your appearance now is cuter than you were 1,495 years ago.」

「No… so, I look like… a little girl…」

「I said I don’t mind, didn’t I?」

「And you… are a trap… it’s just… looking at that kind of connection… it’s kind of…」

「In a way… isn’t it new? Like a new genre?」

With confidence, Nouryumi said so, and I went beyond just being appalled.

In other words, iI was thinking, “Oh no, this guy is bad news.”

「Hahaha! Anyway, cute is justice, ze!? Bring on the loli bitches!」

For now, I couldn’t progress the conversation while being with this guy.
I cleared my throat with a cough.

「So, what are we going to do?」

「This bastard forcefully diverted the conversation!」

「I can’t keep up with a guy like you, you idiot!」

For a while, we glared at each other.

Then Nouryumi muttered as if spitting it out.

「So, did you already blow up a mountain?」

「You should be able to see that much.」

「According to Lute’s letter, basically, we just need to scare these folks in the small country, right?」

「Well, I’ve already scared them plenty.」

「Yeah, you’ve already scared them plenty… damn, it’s annoying. I don’t want it to end up like you’ve done everything, and I, couldn’t do anything, making me look bad.」

「So, how many times do I have to ask the same question? What are you going to do? We have to just frighten a whole country, right? However, I already did it in a large scale.」

「You’re right, then, should I do that?」

「Hm… what’s… that?」