Scáthach found a high-end hotel and booked a suite for herself and Esil.
Now that she was on Earth, there was no way Scáthach was going back to sleep in the Land of Shadows. That place's environment wasn't even as comfortable as sleeping on the street.
After thinking it over, Scáthach concluded the Land of Shadows had exactly one advantage now: it was far cooler than South Korea.
In the morning, Scáthach glanced at the sky outside the window. It was the height of stifling summer—by all rights the sun should've risen earlier—but today the sky was dim and lightless, and the humidity in the air was clearly climbing.
"Looks like heavy rain today…"
She pushed open the bedroom door, intending to take a shower, only to see the living-room lights still on.
Esil was sprawled sideways on the sofa in a frankly indecent posture, stuffing herself with fried chicken, fries, and burgers while staring unblinking at the television.
She wore a loose white T-shirt and shorts so short they nearly reached the top of her thighs, leaving her shoulders and navel exposed to the air.
At first, Esil had taken off her armor and changed into light Earth clothes to avoid attracting attention. Now, she was simply letting loose—wearing whatever felt comfortable.
In just a few days, Earth's culture had thoroughly corrupted her.
Esil briefly tore her eyes away from the screen and noticed Scáthach watching her. She fell silent for a moment—then immediately crammed the rest of her fries into her mouth, gulped down a huge swig of cola, and hugged the fried chicken and burgers to her chest like a food-guarding puppy, glaring at Scáthach in alarm.
"These are all mine! If you want some, go buy your own!"
…This kid is doomed.
For some reason, Scáthach suddenly remembered an old commercial line she'd seen ages ago:
Little Sunflower Mom's Class is in session! If your kid won't listen, they're probably beyond saving—just give them a beating and it'll be fine!
…Wait. Something's off.
Whatever. Close enough.
Scáthach strolled lazily behind the sofa and leaned forward, resting her upper body against the backrest. The posture naturally set her figure into a graceful curve; the fullness of her chest pressed lightly against the top edge, tracing a soft arc against the leather.
"Everything you're eating and drinking is paid for with my money," she said flatly. "And you still have the nerve to say that."
"So what?" Esil shot back without the slightest politeness, righteous as could be. "Your ID says I'm your cousin. Using my older sister's money is only natural, isn't it? Besides, I killed so many monsters in the Dungeon—don't you think we made plenty of money? What's wrong with eating a little?"
"Hm… fair enough."
These past days, Scáthach and Esil had cleared quite a number of Dungeons. Other guilds or raid teams sometimes took several days to clear a single Dungeon—while these two could clear several in a day. And the monsters inside were mostly killed by Esil; Scáthach only stepped in occasionally.
Their speed wasn't just about raw strength. The bigger reason was that other guilds squeezed a Dungeon dry for maximum profit: monster corpses, mana crystals, mana stones—everything got hauled out and sold. They wouldn't stop until the Dungeon's value had been extracted down to the last drop.
Scáthach and Esil, on the other hand, only picked up a bit here and there.
How much could food, drinks, and clothes possibly cost? Scáthach and Esil weren't like ordinary Hunters. A guild needed money to keep running; buying Dungeons cost money; purchasing and maintaining high-end equipment cost money… there were endless places where money disappeared.
"You pulled another all-nighter watching TV?" Scáthach asked.
"Because this thing called a TV is really fun!" Esil said brightly, looking far too energetic for someone who hadn't slept at all. "The tiny humans inside—if I use this remote to give them orders, they work so hard to entertain me! Heh heh heh! Looks like humans still fear the great Lady Esil after all!"
Even after being force-fed heaps of modern Earth knowledge, Esil's naturally simpleminded earnestness hadn't diminished in the slightest.
"We're about to go clear a Dungeon," Scáthach said. "Go wash up and get yourself together. Or do you plan on going out looking this sloppy? Trying to lure some innocent boys on the street into committing crimes?"
"I'm a demon! Not a succubus!" Esil snapped. "How would I do something like that?!"
Scáthach didn't particularly care. The female demons she knew—Rias and Akeno—weren't succubi either, but sometimes she honestly felt they played even wilder than succubi did.
When it was almost time to leave, Esil suddenly got difficult again.
"I suddenly feel really sleepy…" She yawned huge, eyes half-lidded. "Probably because I didn't sleep last night… How about you go clear the Dungeon alone today, and I stay here and sleep?"
"After watching too much TV, you actually think you can act?" Scáthach grabbed Esil by the back of her collar and exposed her plan without mercy. "Even if you went three days and three nights without sleep, you wouldn't get tired. Don't think I don't know—you don't want to sleep. You just want to wait until I'm gone so you can keep watching TV."
Esil instantly had nothing to say.
It could only be said: Esil was still too young. These little tricks were ones Scáthach had already used up back when she was fighting mind games with her parents just to play games and watch TV.
"I want to watch TV! I want to eat fried chicken and burgers and drink cola! I don't want to go out! I want to stay home forever!"
"If you keep this up, you really will become a hopeless shut-in…" Scáthach said, deadpan. "And this is a hotel, not your house."
And so, Scáthach became the "strict mother," ignored her "disobedient daughter" Esil's tantrum, and dragged her out by force.
Outside a school, passersbys couldn't help but stop to stare at the two of them with strange looks.
"Sis! Sis! You're my real sister!" Esil wailed shamelessly, sitting right there on the street, both arms locked around Scáthach's leg like a drowning person clinging to driftwood. "Please! I'm begging you! I'll do anything! I'll turn over a new leaf, wash my hands of my past, become a better demon! From now on, if you tell me to go east I'll never go west; if you tell me to beat a dog I'll never kill a chicken—so… so… please don't send me into school to study—!!"
She cried her heart out, tears and snot everywhere. Onlookers started wondering if Scáthach had been abusing her, because how else could this kid be sobbing so miserably?
"Are you stupid?" Scáthach said, exasperated. "Why would I send you to school?"
"…Really?" Esil stopped crying immediately, crystal-clear tears still clinging to her lashes.
Scáthach pressed a hand to her forehead. "I don't even dare let you out of my sight. What if something happened while you were in school? And anyway, you're not even human—why would you go to school?"
"Mm… that… kind of makes sense?" Esil said, face twisted with conflicted thought as she finally let go of Scáthach's leg.
As Esil slowly stood, Scáthach asked, genuinely puzzled, "Why are you so afraid of school?"
"Huh? Isn't it obvious?" Esil's face went pale. "School is the upgraded version of prison you humans invented, right?"
"I saw it on TV. People in school get up earlier than chickens, sleep later than dogs, eat worse than pigs, and work harder than donkeys. Every day they have to endure their parents and teachers torturing them mentally. And the people in school form little cliques to bully anyone who's alone, while the administrators just sit back and watch it happen until those people lose all love for life—then they kill themselves…"
"When I saw that, I thought humans were terrifying. You're even more ruthless at tormenting each other than we demons are. Even demons aren't that bad."
"And I even saw someone say that some truly awful criminals don't care when they hear they're going to prison—but the moment they hear they're being sent to school, they start crying in fear and swear they'll reform and become a better person!"
…Mmm.
What kind of expression am I supposed to make right now?
Could you please take all of that back? I have a friend who's listening to you and is absolutely shattered.
Scáthach felt there was something deeply wrong with Esil's understanding, but when she tried to correct her, she didn't even know where to start.
"…Forget it," Scáthach finally gave up, sighing. "As long as you understand I'm absolutely not sending you to school."
She paused, then added with a weary honesty, "I was honestly worried some kid who's used to bullying might pick a fight with you, and you'd get angry and go on a killing spree in a school."
"That's fine, that's fine. As long as I don't have to go to school, everything's negotiable." Esil immediately broke into a carefree grin. Then she asked, "Then… if we're not here to send me to school, why did we come to this school?"
"What a stupid question," Scáthach said. "Didn't I tell you when we left? We're here to clear a Dungeon."
...
In a dim corridor, three male students couldn't hold in their frustration and started complaining.
"This is just squeezing labor out of us…"
"Seriously. Those plaster statues are heavy as hell."
"Why is the art teacher dumping her work on students?"
One of them glanced out at the sky, even more annoyed. "It's broad daylight, but it's dark like this. Not a bit of sunlight."
He loved PE. He loved the rush of sweating it out on the basketball court. Out of all his classes, PE was the only one that didn't make him feel like time was crawling.
"The forecast said it might pour today."
"Huh? Then PE gets canceled again?"
"I don't want them taking our PE for another stupid quiz… I want to go play ball."
Talking as they walked, the three reached their destination—the art room. As the student in front reached for the handle, he suddenly asked, "How many plaster statues did she say to bring?"
"There are six groups, so six statues, right?"
"But there are only three of us. If we carry them one by one, we'll have to make two trips. Couldn't she have called more people?"
"Or you can carry four by yourself, and the two of us carry the other two. Then we only make one trip."
"What kind of joke is that? If I could do that, I'd be a Hunter clearing Dungeons already. Who wants to sit in a classroom suffering all day?"
The moment the door opened, all three felt their throats and noses sting. Dust lay everywhere in the room; their faces darkened.
"Damn, that's a lot of dust…" The first one in covered his mouth and nose on reflex, frowning. "How long has this place gone without being cleaned?"
"We haven't used this room all semester, I think."
Then—suddenly—all three stopped dead.
In a corner of the art room, a Gate pulsed with blue light. Even as ordinary people, they could see the sparkling motes of mana drifting out from it.
"Th-this… is this a Gate?"
Information about Gates had long since been spread as common knowledge among the public. These students knew that the monsters that caused horrific destruction and casualties in cities came pouring out of Gates like this.
Even if they'd never personally experienced a monster incursion, they'd seen enough on TV or in newspapers to understand the danger.
Two of the boys instinctively backed away, edging toward the exit.
But one of them was different.
He wasn't afraid at all. Instead, he walked toward the Gate with an easy smile.
"What are you guys scared of? A closed Gate like this is safe. If you're not a Hunter, you can't even go in. And stuff inside can't come out either. It takes about a week before a Gate opens."
The two behind him didn't relax.
"But… this classroom was abandoned before the break, wasn't it? If we're only finding the Gate now—"
"Krrk!"
He didn't finish.
A crisp sound like glass cracking rang out from the Gate. Fine fractures abruptly appeared across its surface and spread outward at terrifying speed.
Then—boom.
The thin "film" covering the Gate—the protective membrane that kept Earth safe—shattered.
A huge green hand shot out of the Gate and clawed toward the nearest boy's head.
A hand.
And at that exact moment, a piercing shriek tore in from outside the window.
The glass exploded.
Between flying shards, a bolt of crimson lightning snapped through the air—midflight, it bent at an impossible angle as if it had eyes, and speared straight through the green hand thrusting from the Gate.
"Aaaargh—!!"
A savage roar rolled out from within the Gate.
The boy who'd nearly died was already too shocked to move. He collapsed onto the cold, dust-caked floor, face ashen, legs trembling uncontrollably.
And in front of him, at some point, a tall woman had appeared—slender and graceful, wrapped in a dangerous, almost bewitching allure.
"Hm… that was close, wasn't it?"
The woman slowly turned. Her lips curved into a soft smile that made hearts race.
"You're still young. You've got a long future ahead of you—you can't just throw away a life that precious so easily."
That voice. That smile.
They were like wine. The boy, already stunned, felt dizzy, as if he'd gotten drunk on the spot.
He'd heard friends talk all the time about who they liked, which girls were pretty, but he'd never really felt anything. The girls his friends found charming and adorable had always seemed… just normal to him. He'd learned words like "beautiful" and "heart-racing" from books, but he'd never truly experienced them.
But now, staring at that purple figure, the boy's heart hammered so fast it felt like…like a wild boar was crashing around inside his chest.
Mom! I think I'm in love!
---
T/N: BACK OFF!!!!!