Estyshana’s POV
   Esty could only stare at the two humans. Both of them know the real identity of the Hero. And now that Esty has activated her Eye of Truth, she could tell that they’re from Ifezan. The reason is that both of them are emitting an aura made of mana from their body. The only difference is that the female has even more mana than Esty, while the male’s mana pool is a little bit smaller than Esty.

   However, even the mana that the female has is nothing compared to the Hero. He’s emitting so much mana it’s like staring directly into the Sun from a few feet away. Esty had to deactivate her Eye of Truth before she goes blind.

   “Do I know the two of you?” the Hero asks the two of them.

   “Nope. But who cares? Let’s rumble.” the male tells him.

   A single second later, two things happened at the same time. It’s either that or Esty’s brain was too slow to process them. The Hero pushed the trolley towards her without looking, and he kicked the face of the human male with his left leg.

   The force of the kick was so strong that the male was sent flying. However, the Hero wasn’t done. Even before his leg lands on the ground, he points his left index finger at the spot between the male and the female. Even without the Eye of Truth, Esty could tell that the Hero is about to cast a high level spell.

   At the next moment, the two of them were engulfed by a huge ball of black fire. It then explodes spectacularly. The explosion caused lots of dust cloud to appear. As a result, Esty can’t see what happened to those humans.

   Was that Hell’s Gate? It’s a Level 9 spell, and yet the Hero managed to cast it without any incantation whatsoever. However, there’s a bigger problem right now.

   “What were you thinking? Are you trying to cause a scene? What if some innocent humans got caught in your spell?” she asks the Hero.

   “Bah, it’s not like Hell’s Gate has a large Area of Effect.”

   Once again, Esty wondered why was he, of all humans, chosen to be the champion of Mankind. While she was contemplating it, a voice was heard from inside the dust cloud.

   “An instant Level 9 spell? I guess that’s the Hero for you.”

   Esty couldn’t believe her ears. A mere human actually managed to survive Hell’s Gate?

   The dust cloud settles and shows Esty the truth. Both the male and the female are encased in a transparent dome. The female is putting up her right hand, indicating that she was the one who casted the protective spell. There’s a shoe mark on the male’s face, and his nose is bleeding from the kick he received earlier. Otherwise, he looks completely fine.

   If Esty was surprised before, she’s now dumbfounded. What the female just cast was Barrier, a mere Level 1 spell. She actually managed to block a Level 9 spell with a Level 1 spell.

   The female puts down her hand, and the Barrier around them disappears.

   “How does it feel to have your spell blocked by something as simple as Barrier, Hero-san? Must be really frustrating, huh?” the male mocks the Hero.

   The Hero only shrugs in response.

   “It doesn’t bother me one bit.”

   “Playing tough, are we? Let’s get him, nee-san!”

   The females lets out a sigh.

   “I was hoping to settle this at somewhere quiet, but I guess it can’t be helped since he’s the one who started it.” she says.

   It was then when Esty noticed something is amiss. Just a few seconds ago, there were literally hundreds of humans on the street. The other two humans noticed the eerie quietness of the street too.

   “Hey, what happened to all those people we saw just now?” the male asks while looking around.

   “I have no idea.” the female confesses.

   And then, Esty noticed it. All the words that she could see from here are in weird shapes. It took her two solid seconds to realize that those words are just inverted.

   “Wait a second. Are the words on the signs-”

   “This isn’t exactly the time to get distracted, you know.” he cautions.

   This time, the Hero casts Malefic Blizzard, another Level 9 spell. The sky immediately becomes dark and cloudy, and all of them are surrounded by a fierce hailstorm.

   Instead of casting another Barrier, the female merely takes a normal breath and let some air out of her body. A few seconds later, the weather clears up, and the sun is seen once more. What the female did was casting Neutralize, a Level 3 spell. The way she cast it was a bit unorthodox, to be honest.

   The Hero only grunts at having his second Level 9 spell rendered useless by a low level spell.

   “No matter the Level of your spell, it still pales in comparison to the true power of a Graylock.” the male gloats.

   “You spoke too much, Al.” the female tells him coldly.

   He winces and bites his lips as he realized that he said something that he shouldn’t.

   “Sorry, nee-san. It’s my usual slip-of-the -tongue.” he apologizes to her.

   “Please be more careful. I told you countless times to do something about that bad habit of yours, but you never did.”

   Esty has no idea what does the family name of a human have to do with being extremely proficient at spells, nor does she have heard of such a name at Ifezan. The Hero, however, seems to know the name. He has the look of someone who managed to solve a great mystery.

   “So that’s why the one at the back is so good at magic.” the Hero says.

   “Do you know that family? I thought you didn’t know them.” Esty asks him.

   “It’s a long story.”

   The male suddenly notices Esty.

   “Say, nee-san. Isn’t that the daughter of the Demon Lord?” he asks his elder sister to confirm.

   “Why yes, I believe so.”

   “What are you doing here with the Hero? Are you dedicating yourself to be his slave after he took down your father?” he asks Esty next.

   “...I beg your pardon?”

   “No need to be too embarrassed about it! It’s, you know, that! War prisoner!”

   Esty rarely gets angry. This is one of those exceptions.

   “You’re going to pay for that.” she tells him coldly.

   By the time Esty realized it, both her hands are covered in bright white flames. She was so angry she got into battle mode without her realizing it.

   “Oh, what’s this? Is the dog fighting for the master now?” he asks mockingly.

   “Al, you should really-”

   “Don’t worry, nee-san. I know what I’m doing. I’ll beat her up in an instant and move onto the Hero.”

   “You mean you will try. Unfortunately, you’ll never get that chance as I’ll be the one to defeat you.”

   “Oh, some brave words you got there. I wonder how long will your bravery last?”

   “Enough talking. It’s time to-”

   Suddenly, Esty feels a punch on top of her head. It was the Hero. The punch wasn’t strong at all, but Esty was so surprised flames on her hands disappeared instantly.

   “What was that for?” she demands while massaging the part where he hit.

   “Calm down. Have you forgotten about the demerit of using Fire Magic?”

   Esty lets out a soft gasp. He’s right. Fire Magic are very powerful and destructive. However, its strength comes with a restriction. It’s user must remain calm at all times. If she ever uses it while fueled with anger, she will literally be burned alive by the magic. Esty quickly takes a few deep breath to calm herself.

   “I’m not going to thank you.”

   “I wasn’t expecting any.”

   After Esty made sure that she has regained her composure, she faces one known as Al once more. He’s looking on with a bored expression.

   “Are the two of you done yet?”

   She curtsies gracefully at him.

   “My apologies for the wait. Let us dance.”

   As Esty prepares herself mentally and let flame appears on her hands once again, Al inhales deeply, and then lets out a loud roar. Suddenly, a transparent aura is surrounding him like some kind of armor. Ah, so that’s how he compensates for this low mana pool. By using Body Strengthening, Toughen and a few other spells that are used heavily by those that prefer to rely on brute strength.

   Esty decides to take the initiative. She leaps forward before he has a chance to do anything. Speaking of which, she has to make this quick since the female is doing something at the back. She’s probably going to cast a powerful spell at some point.

   She aims a right punch at Al’s left jaw and let it fly. Instead of taking it, Al chose to tilt his head and makes the punch misses its target. Clever, for Esty has cast Dispel on her right fist. With the aid of Dispel, Al’s Toughen would not have protect him from her punch.

   Al raises his knee and prepares a knee kick. Esty dodges backwards and throws two fireballs at him with quick succession. All Al did was swat them aside.

   Esty notices the female at the back is in deep concentration. This is bad. Based on how long it’s taking her to prepare the spell, its Level is probably 5 or even higher. Esty wants to deal wit her first, but Al isn’t leaving any openings for Esty to get past him.

   The female’s action reminded Esty that the Hero had been behind her all this time. She’s too busy on taking on Al and trying to take down the female, so she doesn’t have the leeway to turn around and check on him. She kind of wonders what’s he doing right now-

   “Al, forget the demon. Go to the Hero right now. Stop him with everything you got.” the female tells Al.

   Esty looks at the female. She’s looking at the Hero, and her face has gone pale. Her voice was trembling too. What exactly is the Hero doing?

   “Too late.” the Hero says.

   At the next moment, the whole ground trembles violently. Cracks start to appear on them. The weather has gone haywire with rains and storms and blizzards all appearing at the same time. Esty finally couldn’t hold back her curiosity and looks back. The Hero is just standing there looking impassive, even with the tremor going on. The trolley, on the other hand, is being engulfed by a dome of pure light. Esty recognizes it as Holy Barrier, a Level 5 spell.

   “Al, we’re leaving!” the female tell the male urgently.

   “Got it, nee-san!”

   Al rushes towards the female, and the two of them disappear in an instant.

   “Finally.” the Hero mutters.

   The trembling stops right after the two of them have left. It would seem that whatever the Hero did, he could stop it in the blink of an eye. The Holy Barrier disappeared from the trolley as well.

   “I have tons of questions for you-” Esty begins.

   “Hold on.”

   The Hero snaps his fingers. In an instant, all the humans are back on the street. All the traces of the tremor are gone, even the cracks. It’s as if it never happened in the first place. Esty looks around with a absolute shocked look on her face.

   “What the-”

   “I know you have lots of questions, but we’re short on time here. I’ll answer them while we walk back to school.” the Hero tells her.

   “Um, alright.”

   On their way back, Esty wants to bombard him with questions, but managed to control herself and ask them one at a time.

   “What did you do at the beginning? All the humans at the street can’t just disappear, right? There were those inverted word too.” she starts.

   “They didn’t disappear. The four of us did. For a while anyway. I cast Mirror World.”

   Esty stares at him with her mouth opened wide.

   “Mirror World? You mean the Level 10 spell?”

   “The one and only.”

   Esty couldn’t believe her ears.

   “You managed to cast a Level 10 spell just like that? But I didn’t see you do a thing. Not even a gesture!”

   “Actually, I did do something.”

   It was then when Esty remembered the finger-snapping he did a few minutes before the two strangers showed up. It would seem that the Hero noticed them coming from a mile away.

   “What about those two? The ones called Graylocks?”

   “Ah, them. I fought and killed a guy called Austin Graylock while I was still at Ifezan. They’re probably here to avenge him.”

   Esty’s ears perk up at that. She decides to ignore the part where they could be the same as she is for now.

   “What about that last spell you used? The one that caused the tremor and the change in weather?”

   “That? The Beginning of The End.”

   “...Another Level 10 spell. Of course.”

   Once again, the Hero’s true strength terrifies Esty. She wonders if she can ever defeat him and avenge her father.

   When they were almost at the school, Esty’s phone rings. She takes it out from her pocket to see who’s calling her. It’s Chifuyu.

   “Hello?”

   “Where are you, Esty? The two of you had been gone for so long!”

   “Sorry, sorry. We’re almost at the school now.”

   “Tell her to send some people to get the ingredients.” the Hero instructs.

   “Can you tell some of our classmates to come down the entrance and get the stuff?” Esty asks Chifuyu. “We can’t go in since we have the supermarket’s trolley.”

   “Sure. Just wait there for a bit.”

   “So, what are you going to do about those Graylocks?” Esty asks the Hero while waiting for the others to arrive.

   “Nothing. I could look for them, but I can’t really be bothered.”

   “Can you actually afford to be relaxed like that?”

   “Why not? If they want to hatch another plan to have a go at me, they’re more than welcome to try.”

   “Must be nice to be so confident.”

   “What about you? You plan on joining forces with them so that you could take me down together?”

   She scoffs. “You must be joking. Me? Working with humans? And that human male called Al has insulted me. I will never work with him.”

   Soon, Chifuyu came down to the entrance along with a few others and help carry the ingredients they bought.

   “Here’s the receipt.” the Hero tells Chifuyu while handing her a piece of paper.

   “Thank you for your hard work.”

   “Sorry, but I’ll be returning this trolley to the supermarket first.”

   “Sure, just take your time.”

   And with that, the Hero heads back to the supermarket.

   “By the way, what kept the two of you?” Chifuyu asks Esty while they’re heading to a place called the Home Economy Classroom.

   “Well, I saw a takoyaki stand, and…” Esty lies.

   “Seriously? Even though you’ll get to eat desserts soon?”

   “I can’t help it, okay? I was hungry!”

   And the matter was dropped. After they reached the classroom, Esty put down the things she was carrying on one of the many tables here.

   “Is this where we will be cooking tomorrow?” she asks Chifuyu.

   “That’s right. You can look around for a bit if you want. Maybe touch a few equipments.”

   Esty looks around curiously. When she heard that she will be cooking, she was expecting to see a large kitchen like the one at the Wakaba household. However, all they have here are multiple tables with strange-looking stoves attached to it. She’s decided against touching anything, however. She still remembered the last time she tried to handle a machine she’s not familiar with.

   “I’ll head back to the classroom first.” she tells Chifuyu.

   “Okay.”

Chinatsu’s POV
   Chinatsu had a bad feeling when Minase called her.

   “Is something wrong, Minase-kun?”

   “Do you remember the man I told you before? The one that’s very similar to Bouchard?”

   “Yes, I remember. The cruel nutjob, right? What about him?”

   “Well, his children attacked me around an hour ago. At least, I think those are his children. I only got to learn their last name.”

   As she thought, she was right about the bad feeling. Before that, though-

   “Wait a minute, you said you got attacked? But I didn’t receive any report on that!”

   “Let’s just say that I used an incredible magic to prevent anything bad from happening to the surrounding area.”

   “I see. Were you injured?”

   “Not at all.”

   “I’m glad to hear it. Can you give me the descriptions of your assailants? I’ll try to find them along with my colleagues.”

   Minase gave them to her.

   “I still don’t know what they’re really capable of. If you found them, please tell me instead of trying to apprehend them.” he cautions.

   “Understood.”

   “One more thing. You may or may not have noticed this, but there seems to be more and more spies from foreign country that are infiltrating the city.”

   “Yes, we’ve noticed that as well. Their goal is definitely trying to find you, or at least bring information about you back to their home country.”

   “Not that I really care, but what’s the PM’s thoughts on this? Is he going to ban everyone from coming?”

   “No. For one thing, that would affect the tourism, since a lot of them are genuine tourists. Secondly, if he does that, he would be accused by the other world leaders of planning something diabolical behind their back.”

   “Let’s face it. Someone is already doing that.” Minase says drily.

   Having that person brought up gave Chinatsu a headache.

   “Please don’t remind me of him. I have enough headache as it is.” she pleads.

   “Is he somewhat behaving nowadays?”

   “Well, he’s not doing anything so far. On the surface, that is. Unfortunately, we can’t investigate him because of our PM’s direct order.”

   “Do you want me to head to his lab or whatever and ask his employees questions?”

   “Tempting, but please don’t. there are proper procedures for this kind of things.”

   “Understood. I’ll call again if something else happened.”

   “Same here. Thank you for your information and good night.”

   Chinatsu disconnects the call and put away her phone. She then lies down on her chair, completely exhausted even though she barely did anything today. She only allowed herself a brief rest as she still needs to contact her colleagues and tell them about those Graylocks that Minase mentioned. She was just about done when she hears footsteps and chatting coming from the first floor of the house.

   “HEY CHINATSU! COME ON DOWN! WE HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU~!” Esty yells at the top of her lungs.

   Chinatsu lets out a sigh. She swears, one of these days that girl will have a noise complaint filed against her.

   “Welcome back, you two.” she tells the two of them once she comes down.

   “I’m back, onee-chan.”

   “I’m back.”

   “So, what’s the thing you wanted to give me?” she asks them.

   Chifuyu hands her one of the many large paper bags that she’s holding.

   “We’re making these for the Cultural Festival. Please eat them and give me your honest opinion.”

   “Sure. What’s in this?”

   “Japanese sweets, donuts, churros, eclairs and others.”

   “...Why is the menu so messy?”

   “We’re still making prototypes and haven’t decided on the final lineups yet. We’ll be cooking more varieties of desserts tomorrow.” Chifuyu explains.

   “Speaking of cooking, your Home Economy Class is tomorrow, right?”

   “That’s right! And I’m going to cook something amazing!” Esty boasts.

   Chinatsu couldn’t help but lets out a snicker.

   “Are you sure you can do that? You’re cooking for the first time, right?” she mocks playfully.

   “I totally can! And I don’t want to be told by someone who can’t even cook instant noodle!”

   “What the-? Who told you that?”

   “Mama Kana did.”

   “Mother~!” Chinatsu complains loudly.

   “In any case, I’ll make something so amazing you’ll be amazed. Just you watch!”

   “Sure, sure. I’ll be waiting.” she responds drily.