Three Would-Be Residents

Happy New Year.

Arc 30 begins.

“Myoogo, myoogo, shugoshugooo! Myoogo, shugoshugooo! Shu, shu!”

......Far off, a Myogomyogoshugo was crying.

The sunlight streaming through the window and drawing a square on the sweet-smelling wooden floor was warm, cozy and peaceful.

......But.

The three people around the round table in this room kept up their glaring match, giving off a menacing air that was utterly out of place on such a peaceful early summer afternoon.

Everyone was standing; the chairs had been knocked to the floor.

......A powder keg.

Most people who saw these three like this would want nothing to do with them.

Well, not that there was anyone in this building besides them at the moment.

“Me, ya see, I got nowhere to go.”

Amid all this...... the one who had muttered that in a voice gone hoarse from drink was a man in a tattered robe, a shabby middle-aged mage.

His salt-and-pepper hair and beard were messy and overgrown.

He was tall but quite thin, and there was practically no spirit at all in his sleepy eyes.

“I can't go back to Zenalini, not anymore. I've gotten old, too. Can't push myself no more. I need this house, where I can sleep and wake up quiet and safe.”

With that, the mage...... quietly reached out his hand.

His target was...... the switch fitted to a small iron box, the blue one.

But.

“Hey, you wretch!! Quit screwing around!!”

Bachin!

With a loud sound, that hand was slapped away.

The one who did it was a young man wearing glasses.

He wore a well-tailored suit, with golden hair slicked back.

“The one who understands this house's true value is none other than I, and the one who can truly make use of all it has and contribute to society, is none other than I as well!! This house, I am the one who needs it, and this house needs me, too!!”

With that, the man with glasses thrust his own hand toward the blue switch this time!

......But.

“No.”

The hand of the man with glasses never reached the switch.

That was because the iron box with the switch was in the arms of a black-haired, black-eyed girl...... and the girl had swiftly pulled the box away.

The girl was at the age when one starts turning into an adult, and she boasted a breathtaking beauty.

“In the first place, here, I found it first. So, I live here.”

And yet that girl...... always gave off something faintly eerie, and showed no sign whatsoever of backing down, even against two grown men.

If anything, the 【Intimidation】 she gave off was growing ever thicker with killing intent...... any combat professional who saw it would have declared the most dangerous one here to be this girl, without a doubt.

Still expressionless, the girl glared coldly at the frustrated-looking men.

And then.

She reached out her own right hand, toward the blue switch on the box in her arms.

◇ ◇ ◇

Now then.

The two men and one girl who appeared in the scene above.

Their ages and looks are all over the place, with nothing in common that you can see.

Yet there they were, gathered in the living room of a house built in a small meadow in the forest, staring each other down around a round table.

Just why were they doing such a thing?

To understand that, let's turn back the clock.

First to be told is...... the story of the ragged middle-aged mage, Darakerus.

【Myogomyogoshugo】

A cicada-like creature.

It cries when summer comes.

【Zenalini】

A commercial city mentioned in Arc 21.