A Certain Rumor and a Dragon

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

The girl who said that–the woman who identified herself as Toono Sumire–stood in front of Edgar, prompted by Yamabuki.

“Toono-san. This is Mr. Edgar Burton from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He will be in charge of the British side of this expeditionary mission.”

“I see. So you are the one who has forced us to go through all this trouble. Well, I look forward to working with you, even if it’s only for a short time.”

Toono brushed her hair off her cheeks with her fingers and said so with arrogance.

Edgar should have been angry at Toono’s careless response, but he was overwhelmed by her innate elegance.

From her footstep to her facial expression, from the way she spoke to the way her fingers moved, the behavior of a champion was abnormally perfect. The pressure was weighing down on Edgar as if he were dealing with some kind of royalty.

No, it wasn’t only Edgar. Other staff members and even the thousands of fierce competitors from all over the world who were here on a tour of the place were unable to look away from this young woman’s every move.

And right behind her, a slender girl wearing the same clothes as Toono stood silently waiting for his words with a smile on her face. The darkness and emptiness in her steeple-colored eyes sent a chill down his spine.

It was as if his head would jump off in an instant if he did anything even the slightest thing out of the ordinary. These girls were definitely in control of the situation.

–This is Japan’s best fighting force, the Magical Girls. It seems we underestimated them a little.

Edgar broke out in a cold sweat as he thought about this. They chose to invite Magical girls from Japan on the strong recommendation of a certain source, but were these really the right creatures to invite to their country? Such regrets came to his mind.

But Edgar managed to stifle his agitation, smiled, and began to speak in Japanese.

“Welcome to our country. We welcome the Japanese government. …We apologize for summoning you here for our own reasons. But from now on, we have no choice but to rely on the miracles of your country…”

“I don’t need an apology. You should let Yamabuki, the negotiator, handle that sort of thing, not me. We’re just here to kill the Demonic Beast – that’s all.”

Toono told him so and turned away from Edgar with a stifling look. There was nothing he could do about it.

Then Yamabuki quietly stepped in front of Toono and said protectively.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Burton. The girls are a bit nervous about being in a foreign country for the first time. –They are not used to being surrounded by strangers.”

Saying this, Yamabuki looked around at the people around him. The foreign diplomats who were looking at him shook their shoulders in surprise at his gesture.

“The Ministry of Defense is going to give us a briefing on the Demonic Beast after this, right? I think it would be best if we move quickly before their mood gets any worse.”

At Yamabuki’s suggestion, Edgar answered with a sigh of relief.

“Ah, yes. Then please move to the conference room next door. I will guide you.”

–Just as Edgar was about to walk out, one of the young diplomats in the back of the hall moved.

“….May I have a moment? I have something I really need to ask them.”

The young diplomat – Richard, a man who worked under Edgar – said this and started walking toward the magic circle.

And before Edgar could stop him, Richard stood in front of Toono and opened his mouth with a frown.

“There are rumors circulating in England about you people–about Japan. Are you aware of it?”

“Not really? I have no idea.”

When Toono told him this with a smile, Richard glared at Toono.

“…It is rumored that this current situation in London is caused by a Demonic Beast sent by a Japanese witch. They said that after 30 years, you guys have acquired the art of controlling Demonic Beasts and are trying to take revenge on the countries that once abandoned you. –What do you, a Magical Girl, think?”

“Yes. You are really stupid. How could anyone possibly control a Demonic Beast? I think it’s just a silly rumor.”

Making fun of Richard, Toono chuckled and narrowed her eyes.

…Edgar had heard of the rumors, but in the end, they were nothing but wild gossip.

The citizens–especially the mentally exhausted Londoners–tended to be easily swayed by such rumors, but if Japan could do such a thing, the world would have been destroyed long ago.

As long as Japan was showing a willingness to cooperate with England in this way, it was highly unlikely.

Well, the possibility couldn’t be dismissed, but the current British army didn’t have the power to defeat the Demonic Beast that appeared in London – the Red Dragon.

It wasn’t by his own will that he called in Magical Girls from Japan, but there was no other way besides relying on the monster to defeat the monster – that is, Japanese Magical Girls.

Edgar sighed and walked up to Richard.

“Richard. That’s enough–“

“–My sister died in an attack by the Demonic Beast that appeared in London last month.”

Richard shook off Edgar’s attempts to quiet him, his voice stifled by his anger.

“When my sister was brought into the hospital, she screamed gibberish, ‘A witch is there…’ –Hey, is it really not your doing?!”

It was a wailing cry of lamentation.

He had heard that this young diplomat had lost his family in a Demonic Beast attack, but he had no idea that there was such a story behind it.

…He understood that it was tempting to believe the dying words of one’s immediate family, but since no other sightings had come to light, his sister’s words must be just a bunch of nonsense.

Toono, on the other hand, didn’t hide her displeasure, and in a cold tone of voice, she told him.

“I’ve heard enough of your unprovoked insults. It’s getting a little annoying to listen to you.”

“Are you unable to answer me? Or have I hit the nail on the head and you can’t say anything?”

“Hmm? But no matter what I say, you won’t believe me, will you? It doesn’t matter what I say to someone who has already decided that I am black from the beginning.”

“What do you mean…?”

“I would rather go home than have such an unpleasant experience. After all, events in faraway countries are essentially none of our business. You can do as you please.”

“Tsk, you witch…!”

In response to Toono’s remark, Richard cursed in English and reached out his right hand as if to grab at Toono.

At that moment, the girl who had been standing behind Toono took a step forward.

With a commanding snap, she raised her right arm and swung it to the side. At the same time, Richard’s body tilted sideway with a jerk.

“Gah, gah…!”

Richard, who had fallen to the floor, let out a pained scream and clutched his right knee. For some reason, his legs looked swollen.

The slender girl approached the fallen Richard, clacking the soles of her boots.

Then, she stopped in front of the groaning Richard and said in a condescending tone.

“–Really, your misunderstanding is gross. Can you please stop with the ridiculous accusations?”

Then, the girl moved her hand nonchalantly as if playing with her fingers.

The girl moved her finger. Crack, and an unpleasant sound came from Richard’s right shoulder, and his right arm sluggishly stretched toward the ground.

The girl moved her finger. His left shoulder joint was dislocated.

The girl moved her finger. His jaw joint disengaged and his mouth couldn’t be closed.

The girl moved her finger–

“You’d better stop at that, Hagakure-san. People are vulnerable to pain. You don’t want them to be broken by something like this, do you?”

Interrupting the girl’s action, Toono said this to the girl called Hagakure.

Then, Hagakure slowly lowered her hand, looked around with inorganic eyes, and gave a small bow.

“I’m sorry. He attacked out of the blue, so I overreacted. –But it’s only a dislocated joint, so I don’t think it’s life-threatening. Yes, if you set it back, there won’t be any problem.”

Hagakure said that indifferently, like a dog following Toono, and smiled softly like a doll.

This gentle smile, which was out of place here, made Edgar’s hands tremble.

–The fact that she had destroyed a person without a single touch was one thing, but above all, the fact that her cruelty and calmness coexisted in the same mentality was terrifying. In this case, a mute weapon would be better.

While Edgar was trembling with fear of the unknown, Yamabuki quickly stepped in front of him and said.

“I’m troubled, Mr. Burton. You have to manage your subordinates properly. They are the most important human resources for us. It will be a problem if your men try to touch them without permission. This time, our side overdid it too, so I’ll ignore it, but I’d like you to be more careful in the future.”

“I-I’m sorry. I’m going to tell him firmly. Um, well, I don’t think you guys are going to leave like this…”

Edgar asked timidly, and Yamabuki shook his head and said.

“I won’t. I will do exactly what I was ordered to do. —However, instead of going to the conference room, we’ll head to the waiting room first. We’ll have a discussion about the Demonic Beast after that. Let’s go.”

Yamabuki told Edgar in disgust, then stood in front of Toono and the others as if leading the way, and walked toward the door to the outside with a group of people in tow.

All the people from Japan walked out the door, and with a slam, the doors of the hall closed.

Edgar muttered in dismay as he looked at Richard’s lifeless form, who had fallen down and fainted.

“This sucks… How am I going to explain this to the top…”

◆ ◆ ◆

On the other hand, those who entered the waiting room in another part of the building at a quick pace looked at each other and let out a small sigh.

The person with the palest face among them – Hagakure Sakura – groaned with a face as if she had bitten a bug.

“I can’t believe there are people who really wanted to pick a fight. … We’re the ones who were called here, right? Is it really safe for us to stay here?”

–It was said at the meeting beforehand that if they were unlucky, there would be a possibility of an attack from those who were opposed to them.

That’s why, from the moment he transferred to England, Tsugumi continued to be vigilant by stretching tiny invisible threads around the hall, but the result was that.

Why should we be treated like this when we are the ones who were invited? I’m worried about the future.

As Tsugumi held his forehead thinking like that, Toono let out a melancholy sigh.

“That’s right, it’s true that in case of an emergency, you were told to act as someone who could subdue the opponent without hurting them, but I don’t think anyone thought that this would happen from the beginning. I think Hagakure-san went a little overboard.”

Toono said so, and the staff around her shook their heads in affirmation and started saying, “That was a little…” “To be honest, I was a little taken aback,” “Even though he deserved it, I felt a little sorry for him,” “Couldn’t she just use a thread to restrain him?”. It was a terrible betrayal after all the hard work he had put in.

But Tsugumi had a point.

Tsugumi sat down on a chair, put his hands together in front of his face, and began to speak with a solemn look.

“I didn’t tell anyone at the scene, but that man had a small pistol hidden in his left breast pocket. I destroyed the pistol so that he couldn’t use it, but I still thought it would be better to disable him so that he couldn’t move for a while. …I avoided it because I didn’t want to risk bloodshed.”

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Even Tsugumi was a little hesitant to attack a human being, but if it was an enemy, that was a different story.

He destroyed the pistol used as a weapon, but that didn’t mean the man wouldn’t attack them. There was also the possibility that he was hiding another weapon, and the easiest way to make sure he couldn’t move was to dismount his joints.

And since the joints were dismounted as cleanly as possible, he shouldn’t have been in that much pain. Well, he still wouldn’t be able to move properly for a few days.

When Tsugumi said so, the staff looked down in silence and said quietly, “Maybe we should have more guards for the second group.”

Apparently, everyone realized that it wasn’t just a skirmish, it might have been a life-threatening crisis.

But Tsugumi agreed that increasing the strength of the escort was a good idea. To ensure the protection of the non-combatants – Chidori – he’d like to see at least A-class or Jukka-class personnel added in.

‘Well, whatever it was, it didn’t change the fact that things have become a lot more difficult. It would have been better if he hadn’t said or done anything to get on my nerves. Huh, I guess I should just abandon this country and go home after all.”

Toono said this in disgust and let out a small sigh.

Unlike her previous queen-like demeanor, she seemed to be quite relaxed.

–At a meeting before coming to England, Toono and Tsugumi were strongly encouraged to behave as Jukka when they were outside. Well, in short, it was coercion against foreign countries.

It was the decision from the higher-ups that they wouldn’t be harmed prematurely if they had a visible force, but that response might have been a mistake now. Well, they could no longer change course at this stage.

“Don’t say such nonsense, Toono-san. If we destroy the Demonic Beast in this country tomorrow, we can go home right away. –Besides, the Pope is also involved in this matter. It would be best not to refuse.”

Yamabuki, a diplomat on the Japanese side, reprimanded her, and Toono lowered her eyebrows in a troubled manner.

“…It’s really troublesome. –I’ll leave the details of the negotiations to you. Please coordinate it well.”

Toono waved her hand as she said this, and Yamabuki opened his mouth with a small nod.

“Yes, I will do my best. –Now then, let’s share some information before the meeting.”

“Information?”

When Tsugumi asked that back, Yamabuki spoke in a quiet tone.

“Yes. It’s about the Demonic Beast you two are going to fight tomorrow – [Red Dragon of Wales].”