Well, I guess consider the experiment a success and call it good.
But more importantly...
What's wrong?
Worn out from being held up as a hero all of a sudden?
That's true, too, but there's something else bothering me.
Is it really that easy to become a demonoid?
You're right about that.
Huh? Huh? What do you mean?
Before, it was a high-level magician who became a demonoid.
It's said that he messed up while casting advanced magic and demonized.
Rietsburg had just barely enrolled in the magic academy.
Even if he did mess up controlling his magic power, he'd only over-throttle.
For him to go full demonoid is...
But he did, in fact, turn demonoid.
Is it unthinkable that this was artificially induced?
You mean, someone created a demonoid?
My grandpa told me that demonoids lose all sense of reason
and are only able to howl.
But when Kurt turned demonoid, he could still speak.
Plus, when I actually fought him, he was surprisingly weak.
A demonoid was weak?
When I take those two things together...
I wonder if Kurt was used in some kind of human experimentation.
"Wise Man's Grandchild"
Huh? Uncle Dis?
Oh, you're home just in time.
Majesty.
Shin Wolford, in this kingdom's time of need, the appearance of a demonoid,
with no concern for the danger to yourself, you successfully put it down.
Therefore, you are to be awarded the First Order of Merit by King Earlsheid.
Th-The First Order of Merit? You mean, you're giving me a medal?
Diseum, didn't you say you weren't going to use Shin for political purposes?
What is the meaning of this?
When a demonoid appeared once before,
the kingdom of Earlsheid was in danger of being exterminated.
That threat has appeared once again.
This news has already reached much of the population.
As has the news that it was suppressed in short order.
As far as the kingdom goes, both of these matters must be made public.
I understand that much. What is the meaning of this award, though?
It is because he has accomplished the same feat that you two have,
and we can't very well withhold granting him his award.
You do make a good point.
There are those who would exploit him, of course,
but I will do everything in my power to prevent that.
So I implore you to allow this to happen.
Not for my sake, but for the people.
Very well, Diseum. I will take you at your word.
But if you break your word, we will leave the kingdom.
Is that clear?
Very well. I will take that to heart.
Also, a nation's king should not bow to someone else so readily.
I must say, you go from one spot of trouble to another.
Er, wait, this is my fault?
"The next morning"
Hey, look, look! It's Shin!
That's the new hero who defeated a demonoid all by himself?
Oh, he's so cool.
Uncle Dis said he issued a gag order, but word has still spread like crazy.
What are you talking about? His Majesty said we couldn't keep the fact
that you defeated a demonoid a secret, didn't he?
Then again, he said not to reveal any further details to anyone, remember?
I wonder who that is with him.
I'm sure when someone is as great as Shin, he's already been spoken for.
Then maybe one of them is his fiancée?
Sizilien...
I'm sorry about this.
Oh, no, please don't worry about it.
But...
I'm here with you by my own initiative.
So please don't deny my initiative, okay?
I wanted to help you by my own initiative.
So don't deny my initiative, okay?
We're begging you!
We want to master our magic with the wise man's grandson!
This is a fix. I can't exactly let all of them into the study group.
Is there anyone here who can use other-dimensional storage space?
That's the minimum standard. Anyone who can use it can stay here.
I'll conduct an entrance exam.
What did you say?
There's a possibility the demonoid was artificially created?
Mm-hmm. Shin fought him personally, and that's what he said.
Then maybe the sudden recent increase in demons is also...
"Dennis Willard - Security Bureau Chief"
This could be a very serious situation.
Dominic, Dennis,
work together and thoroughly investigate this matter.
Do not overlook anything.
--As you command! --As you command!
"Academy study room"
Please excuse me.
Um, are you the students who Mr. Marcus admitted into the group?
Y-Yes! I am Mark Bean! My family runs Bean Works, a smithy.
"Mark Bean"
Oh, yeah? Bean Works is a pretty well-known outfit, you know.
You know of it, Tony?
Bean Works' weapons are nice and sharp. I've always wanted one.
Oh, yeah? And who are you?
R-Right, I'm Olivia Stone.
"Olivia Stone"
Mark and I have known each other since we were kids,
and my family runs a dining hall called the Brick Oven.
The Brick Oven?! That's an ultra-famous restaurant!
The brick oven gratin they serve there is the best!
I celebrated passing my academy entrance exams at the Brick Oven.
It was amazingly good!
Now I'm kind of jealous. We couldn't get reservations.
U-Um, if you'd like, all of you can come by. I'll serve you.
You mean it?! All right, Shin! These are some incredible new additions!
That's no way to compliment them!
Mark, you're the son of a blacksmith, so can you make anything?
Huh? Sort of...
But I'm the very bottom of the barrel,
and I've just barely become able to forge knives.
Oh. If you could make things, I'd have liked to have gotten a new weapon.
Oh, no! Wolford, your sword is one that was able to slay a Demonoid!
You'd be hard pressed to find something to replace that.
Nah, I was using a regular sword when I did that.
Huh?
It's enchanted with magic to make the blade vibrate at ultrasonic speed.
Doing so lets me cut through most objects without using force.
I prefer the blade itself to be on the thin side,
but as a result, they also break easily.
So I was hoping to make some improvements.
In that case, I can forge one.
I'd just have to confer with you while I did so.
Really? I could never get the finer details just right. Thanks a lot!
Imagine, coming up with something like this, too.
It's incredible. I thought I was pretty handy at enchanting, myself,
but now I'm not so sure.
Yuri, you'll be able to do this soon enough, too.
If you want, I could ask Granny to show you how.
Huh? You mean it?!
Oh, I'd be thrilled!
"Rietsburg Estate, entry hall"
Kurt was visited by a middle-school teacher the day he demonized.
It sounds worth looking into.
"Middle school, Schtrom's room"
"Security Bureau Investigator Ault Lieckermann"
I'm Security Bureau Investigator Ault Lieckermann.
"Security Bureau Investigator Carlos Bale"
And I'm Investigator Carlos Bale.
"Oliver Schtrom"
Oliver Schtrom.
Is that sensory magic?
I mean, you have a patch over both of your eyes,
but your movements are sure and true,
so I thought you might be using magic to replace your sight.
Well, something like that.
If you'll pardon me asking, what happened to your eyes?
I was born into a noble family in the empire.
However, I was beaten out in a power struggle over family leadership
and exiled to the kingdom.
I lost my eyes when one of my family members attacked
in an attempt to do away with me, and I was injured.
Is that right? Forgive me if my question was inconsiderate.
Oh, no, I get asked about it quite a lot.
Anyhow, what brings you here today?
I'm sure you didn't come here just to ask me about my eyes.
No. Mr. Schtrom, we understand that you have students with magical aptitude
participate in a study group here at the school
and have fostered some exceptionally talented magicians.
Yes. What about it?
We've heard that you are quite fervent
and have invited many students to join the study group.
I am a one-time noble from the empire, after all.
I face more than my share of opposition in the kingdom.
I needed to show tangible results to establish myself at this school.
I see. That's why.
All of the children that were part of my study group
improved their magic abilities.
As a result, they seem to have acknowledged me somewhat lately.
Which would make this incident an unfortunate one for you.
Indeed. I never imagined something like this would happen to Kurt.
Mr. Schtrom, would it be all right if I asked you a favor?
What is it?
As it happens, we are currently assembling specialists
to try to examine what happened to his demonized body,
and we would like you to join them.
Who, me?
Mr. Schtrom, from what I have heard, you are a fairly high-level magician.
We would appreciate having you weigh in, as well.
Very well. I will have a look.
"School cafeteria"
Shin, is something on your mind?
Huh? Ah... sorry. I was thinking about how to improve my sword.
What kind of sword do you want, Wolford?
Having a thin blade is the most important thing...
The problem is, that's going to make it easier to break.
A sword that combines both a thin blade and increased durability, then?
That sounds hard to pull off.
Then, once the sword breaks, can't you just replace it with a new one?
Shin, you're the wise man's grandson,
so you can afford to buy any number of swords, right?
That's not going to work. I don't get that much of an allowance.
Huh? You don't?
Granny told Grandpa not to give me too much
so that I can gain a reasonable sense of the value of money for myself.
That's the guru for you.
There's nothing wrong with equipping oneself with either moderation or armor.
That may be true, but...
If that's the case,
maybe it would be a good idea to make the blades easily replaceable.
--Huh? --Huh?
Doing that would let you use the hilt over and over,
which will at least make that part cheaper, right?
Normally, not having the hilt and the blade firmly attached would be bad,
but with your sword, you don't have to force the blade,
so you don't need to be as mindful about that.
Wolford, can you come over to our workshop right now?
I want to go try that idea out.
Could I come with you, too?
I think I'll tag along, too.
Sizilien, Maria, is it okay if we stop by Mark's place on the way home?
Sure it is.
But then, in that case, while you all are over at the workshop,
would it be okay if we went over to Olivia's?
I'd still like to ask you all sorts of things.
Like about some new menu items, and about some other new menu items.
--As long as you agree to go easy on me. --Like a dish with a non-cheesy gratin!
"Security force parade grounds"
If I may ask, why is the examination taking place on the parade grounds?
We've had our own circumstances to deal with.
So then, where is Kurt's body?
This doesn't much seem like we're going to examine a body.
We will be examining one--
yours.
Mine?
Mr. Schtrom, you made one error.
Right after this incident happened, His Majesty issued a gag order.
He told us not to make the demonized person's name public.
It was done to keep the demonized person's family name out of it
so that they would not receive unjust treatment.
And yet you knew that it was Kurt who had demonized.
How do you explain that?
I was not expecting Kurt's name to have been undisclosed.
The whole kingdom was in an uproar,
so I was sure that everyone knew who had become a demonoid.
Was this incident your doing? What exactly was your objective?!
An experiment.
What? Are you saying you conducted an experiment on a person?!
Now then,
I've completed all of my experiments here in the capital,
so I think it's time I excused myself.
Seize him! Do not let him get away!
Yes, sir!
Huh? You and Mark are dating?
I've known Mark since we were little, so it just kind of happened.
You have to tell us all about it!
All about it?
--Yeah, what's the scoop? --Which one of you made the first move?
What was that?
A patch over both his eyes? Aug, is that...?
Yeah.
Our middle school teacher, Oliver Schtrom.
My,
if it isn't Prince August and the hero Shin Wolford.
Please run away, Prince August!
This is the culprit behind the demonoid incident!
What?!
You're the one who demonized Kurt?
Yes. He danced to my tune so well, it was fascinating.
Is that right...?
He's the one behind everything!
Your sword is magic, right?
Could be.
You really are dangerous, aren't you?
If that's how you want it, try this!
You can't avoid this from that position!
Wha--?!
I think hovering in midair goes against the rules.
So not even the great wise man's grandson can use floating magic?
No.
But even so...
I can still fly for a moment at a time!
And another!
Don't press...
...your luck!
Red... eyes?
Now you've done it, Wolford.
I would have liked to leave with my true identity hidden.
You're a demonoid with your sense of reason perfectly... intact?
Reason, you say?
If we assume reason to be that which makes a person a person,
then that may be something a bit different in my case.
What does that mean?
Now that I've become like this,
humans have been reduced to creatures that mean nothing to me!
Whether I exploit them or kill them makes no difference anymore!
Why, you...
It'll be bad for everyone...
...if I don't stop him now!
What's the matter? Did your fear make you clumsy?
This is why I can't abide humans.
Just stay where you are a little longer...
Another moment... another moment and my magic will...
You may be the wise man's grandson, but really...
You're too late!
Did you get him?!
Don't jinx it like that!
The high temperature has turned the ground to glass.
How in the world did he create that intense of a heat ray?
I don't detect anything on my search magic.
Does that mean I really did get him?
Why the long face?
Are you feeling down because you killed someone, demonoid though he was?
No, it's not that.
Then hold your head high. You're the reason the rest of us survived.
Thank you, Wolford.
Oh, no, that's all right.
Still, we heard of another demonoid appearing, and when we dashed over,
we find that he's already been taken down.
I'm Dominic Gastor, Michel's successor as knight commander of the order.
Oh, come to think of it, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I?
"Rupert Olgran"
I'm Rupert Olgran, captain of the court magic division.
I've heard all about you from Michel.
He said there was a young man he enjoyed training.
Wolford,
I'd like to ask you, just for my own information,
what is it you did, and how did you do it?
How did I do it?
I just converged the light from the sun
and blasted it down as a heat ray.
From the sun? And you got that much force out of it?
There's more than just one kind of sunlight.
I visualized collecting the kind of light out of all of them
that we feel heat from, and...
Oh, they aren't getting it.
Still, did a heat ray really create that kind of explosion?
You've really done a number on me, Wolford.
I was lucky to release explosive magic so quickly and flee the area...
...but if I had taken any more of that magic,
I would have been at risk of annihilation.
He really is a dangerous person.
I'll have to take every measure to ensure that he can't interfere with me.