Unlimited Ambition

Who would believe such a ridiculous reason?

Similarly, Mio looked at her with suspicion, but thinking about it, in order to prevent Yuko from being played to death by Mai, she decided to smooth things over: "Although I don't know the situation very well, Yuko, you seem to have it tough too. Let's just let it go."

"Yuko, come here for a second..." But it was obvious that the woman with long, straight black hair didn't want to let Yuko off so easily. She grabbed Yuko's arm and led her towards the bushes next to her.

"Ah, Mai-chan, what's wrong?" The innocent Yuko was unaware of the inhumane treatment she was about to face, still smiling foolishly, and looking as if she was about to follow the long-haired black-haired girl.

"Cough, cough, can't we talk about this later? It's getting late, and we need to prepare lunch when we get to the riverbank." At this moment, I stepped forward, gently tapped the long, straight black hair to make her release her grip on Yuko's hand, and then said this.

“Yes, yes, it’s getting late, hahaha…” Mio chimed in from the side.

The girl with long, straight black hair looked at Yuko, then at me—and then realized that teasing me was more satisfying than teasing Yuko. So she nodded silently, as if in agreement.

After that, we took a taxi—of course, I paid the fare. After that, Mio sat in the front, while I was sandwiched between Yuko and the girl with long black hair.

The driver was a cheerful-looking middle-aged man. He seemed quite talkative: "Hey young man, are you out having fun with your girlfriends? You're so lucky!"

"...Which eye of yours saw that these girls are my girlfriends?" I retorted.

The girls didn't refute it, seemingly wanting to hear the uncle's explanation.

"Don't deny it, bro. Look at the way that girl with brown hair looks at you. Even though it was just for a brief moment, it was clearly the kind of doting look you give your girlfriend."

Besides, although that little black-haired girl seems to dislike you, and you look at her with that teasing gaze, that's what they call a bickering couple, right?

And the blue-haired girl sitting next to me, occasionally giving you a rather fervent look, like an audiophile seeing a CD they've been wanting. Speaking of which—"

Seeing that the uncle was about to continue, I immediately called out, "Stop, stop, stop! You didn't guess a single one right! These are all my students. I led them on this camping trip today. Don't talk nonsense, uncle!"

"Students and teachers... well, it's not impossible. You look quite young, young man. You're of a certain age after graduating from high school." The uncle chuckled, completely disregarding my words, and continued.

Hey! Yuko, don't look away! You've walked this road to and from school a million times, haven't you?! And you with the long, straight black hair! Why do you look so surprised, like someone's seen through you?! And you, the blue-haired guy in front of me! I've barely spoken to you, have I?! Why are you looking down?! Why?!

"Hahaha... Look at your students, they're much more honest than you, buddy."

"...Uncle, if you keep saying that, I might not pay your fare later."

That's pretty much it. After the car stopped by the riverbank, the driver drove off with a big smile. Leaving behind the awkward four travelers, who were on their way to the Western Paradise to retrieve the scriptures—cough, I mean, to pitch their tents by the riverbank.

I glanced at the sky; it was almost eleven o'clock. I said, "We can put the tents down for now and start cooking. By the way, did anyone bring any cooking utensils or ingredients for the picnic?"

Afterwards, Mio took out four lunchboxes she had prepared beforehand, several kilograms of white rice, a large bag of curry powder, potato, carrot, and beef seasoning, and so on. It seemed she was going to make curry beef rice.

I nodded: "Then Mio and Yuko, you two cook, and Mai and I will set up the tent."

"No." Mai shook her head, then took out a folding fishing rod, fishing line, and bait from her bag.

"Want to fish for a meal? That would be nice, it adds to the fun of a picnic." I chuckled and nodded. Okay, that's settled then. I'll go set up the tent by myself, and call me when lunch is ready.

"Okay!" ×3

And so, the three girls happily had a picnic on the riverbank. I, on the other hand, could only stand aside, sweating profusely as I set up the tent.

That's so unfair, Mai-chan.

I rolled my eyes, then took the folding tent out of my backpack and prepared to set up the frame—just then, several green leaves were suddenly blown over by a strange gust of wind. The originally delicate green leaves suddenly became incredibly sharp, directly slashing at the steel pipe that had just been set up.

I was startled, and immediately raised my hand to set up a barrier, blocking all the dangerous leaf-shaped throwing knives.

"Damn it, who is it?!"

As I finished speaking, several throwing knives made of the same material as the leaves before shot towards me. I snorted and subconsciously tried to draw my sword, but found that my sword, Yitian, had been lost somewhere.

"Damn it," I cursed. Then, fearing that the leaves were poisoned, I dared not catch them empty-handed, but dodged them with a dimensional leap.

Immediately, I rushed into the bushes, grabbed a branch, and under the infusion of magic, the ordinary branch could cut through gold and jade. With this, I sliced ​​through countless flying leaf blades. A few breaths later, I found the culprit who had caused me trouble.

She was a majestic girl with a cloak, a green sword that looked like it was made of leaves, long black hair tied in a single ponytail, and an imposing presence.

Besides, those red pupils... is the other person also a vampire?

Before I could speak, the other person spoke first: "So it was you who ordered people to use blood sacrifice several times in a row? That's quite bold. I never would have guessed that a cat-eared otaku would do something like that."

"Is that all you wanted to say?" I scoffed, then swung my "longsword" and stared coldly at her.

"Almost—" The woman was about to continue when I interrupted her.

"Then set off with peace of mind!"

The next moment, I was already beside her. The woman was startled and immediately raised a longsword made of leaves to parry.

"Go to hell!" I roared, focusing all my strength into this one strike—the "longsword" pierced straight through her leaf-shaped longsword, which she had created with special techniques, and then thrust towards her neck.

"How could this be?!" The girl seemed very surprised that I possessed such a powerful ability. Caught off guard, she even forgot to dodge. She could only close her eyes and await her death.

The next moment, the girl clearly felt a sharp object pressed against her neck. Then she heard a cold snort. Opening her eyes again, she found me looking at her with a knowing smile.

"You...you won't kill me?" she asked tentatively.

"Almost. As long as you answer a few questions for me, I won't kill you if I'm satisfied," I said.

The girl seemed resigned to her fate and nodded: "You can ask now."

"Name, race, occupation, what are you doing here?"

“Seraphim, vampire ninja. I’ve come here to capture you alive and take you back,” the girl answered honestly.

"Oh..." I nodded. I had checked it with the "Truth" spell earlier. This guy was telling the truth.

"Then who sent you? And why did you capture me alive?" I continued to ask.

"This is the second question—"

"Hurry up and tell me, I don't have time to be gentle with women right now." I rolled my eyes and interrupted her.

"I don't know her name, but her maid calls her 'Young Miss.' She's a very strong vampire. However, she's probably not Japanese."

“…Oh.” I nodded, and an image came to mind.

"Is she a blue-haired, pink-pajamas and nightcap-wearing underage loli with bat wings on her back?"

"That's right, this is it."

"Then, what was her purpose in arresting me? And why are you obeying her orders when you don't even know her name?"

"It's because of our leader. Our leader is dead. And that vampire has enough power to resurrect our leader."

Really? When I made her cry back then, she didn't act like some kind of powerful being who could bring people back to life.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"Alright, have you finished asking all your questions? May I leave now?" said the vampire ninja who called himself Serafim.

"Are you an idiot?" I rolled my eyes again. "Let you go, and then let you lead other people to me? Maybe next time I'll be greeted not by leaves, but by surface-to-surface missiles. Tch..."

"I swear! I swear I will never tell anyone about your situation!"

"It is any intelligent object."

"That's right, any intelligent object."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine then, swear on your most treasured possession, and I'll cast a small contract spell on you so you can leave. Don't try to pull any tricks; I'll use magic to test what you say."

Sera nodded. "I swear in the name of my most treasured secret sword, 'Swallow Return,' that I will never tell any intelligent being about my pet cat's condition." After saying that, she looked at me again. "Can I go now?"

"...Absolutely not."

"Hey?! You don't keep your word!"

"What do you mean I broke my promise?! Can you tell me what this secret sword 'Swallow Return' is?! And why are you calling me a pet cat?! Who told you that?! There are just too many things I can complain about!"

"So what do you want to do?"

"Hmm, I'll just kill you then—"

"—Absolutely not!"

※※※

Meanwhile, at Brielie's Mattileys School of Magic, the Refrain year's "forced growth" group is having a history lesson.

A beautiful (or perhaps young?) female professor named Ariel, who looks very young and loli-like but is actually over a hundred years old, is giving a lecture.

"In other words, this demon prince named Wright Baldwin should be considered one of the most remarkable figures in the history of Hell. When he first debuted, his power was only considered to be below average among the demon lords."

However, through his intelligence and cunning, he cleverly defeated a series of enemies, eventually bringing one-sixth of the entire region under his control. At this point, his personal power had swelled to an extremely formidable level; even the remaining demon lords, working together, were no match for him.

The demon prince's army swept through Hell, bringing most of it under his control. Some even said that if he hadn't died in the end, he would have ruled all of Hell.

"Ah... there's such a powerful guy... How did that great teacher die in the end?" For some reason, the students below all seemed to be young and cute girls. And these young and cute girls were unusually interested in this kind of thing.

"There are many versions of the story, such as dying in battle, being betrayed by subordinates, or being assassinated by the enemy. However, the most famous and widely circulated version is that he was killed by his wife."

The students below the podium all exclaimed in unison, "Huh?"

"Then why did his wife kill him?" a student in the audience asked.

"There are many versions of this story, the most unreliable being that his wife couldn't bear to see him wage war and cause widespread suffering, so she killed him (accompanied by exclamations from the audience: 'Huh? That's impossible! A devil like that could be an anti-war figure?!')."

The most plausible explanation is that of a philandering demon prince who, not content with having a multitude of mistresses, wanted to further expand his harem, and was thus killed by his jealous wife (accompanied by exclamations of "Oh, I see!" from the audience).

"Alright, now it's time for free discussion. Everyone, please feel free to share your thoughts with the student next to you." After saying this, Ariel picked up the teacup on the podium and took a sip. Looking at the students below, engaged in their enthusiastic discussion, a shadow of unease appeared in the corner of the Great Teacher's eye…

"Wright Baldwin, you heartless bastard, where are you? Are you alive or dead?" The teacher thought to himself, while letting out a barely perceptible sigh.

Meanwhile, Haruna, student number 634526379, had stars in her eyes: "Demon Prince, huh? That sounds so cool."

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of get out of class. Ariel was startled, then announced the end of get out of class: "Everyone else can move around freely. Haruna, come with me for a moment."

"Eh? It's me again?" Haruna seemed very unwilling.

After that, in the office.

"What? Not enough attendance days, so I need to retake the course?!" Haruna looked at Hachiman with great surprise and said this.

"I can't help it, Haruna-chan, you've gone too far. You miss at least five out of six classes a day. And your grades are at the bottom of the class. Wouldn't it be unfair if you didn't have to retake the courses?"

"Is there any way to salvage this?" Haruna asked.

The teacher's lips curled up slightly, thinking to himself: They've taken the bait. Then he said, "It's not like there's no other way... One way is to voluntarily join Biliye's magical girl squad and then serve on the front lines of the Underworld for a month."

"The front lines?! That's where the casualty rate is supposedly very high!" Haruna exclaimed in surprise. "Isn't there a second option?"

"The second option... is to go to the real world. There are occasionally some Megalos wandering around there. You can defeat them and then convert the credits into credits. Of course, this will take a little longer. But it's safer."

“That’s the second one!” Haruna made the decision immediately: “When can we set off?”

"Anytime is fine," Hachiman said with a smile, casually taking out a crystal and placing it in Haruna's hand.