(How did it end up like this?) Kazuma thought to himself.

He sat at a table in a family restaurant with a paper bag of food at his side. As he ate his plate of curry Alice sat on the opposite side of the table mowing down plates of food one after another. The customers that sat around them were getting a view of Alice who was wolfing down on her food and the four plates that were stacked up next to her.

“This…is so good!” Alice said with her mouth full.

She gulped her food and raised her hand the moment she saw a waiter.

“Excuse me! Another plate of curry please!” Alice exclaimed.

Kazuma quickly got up from his chair and grabbed her arm.

“P-Please don’t…” He pleaded. “Don’t you think that’s enough? That was like your plate already…”

“Oooo! Maybe I should try this curry! Ah, but this one looks so good!” Alice fawned as she looked through the menu.

He scratched his head.

(She’s not listening at all…)

“Listen here, you’re not the one paying for this food you know.”

Alice snapped out of her trance as she glanced over at the pile of plates that she had consumed.

“Oh… right.” She laughed awkwardly.

Kazuma sighed as he continued eating his curry.

(We were supposed to go to the store too…)

Originally, Kazuma had planned to go to the supermarket to restock on food in the fridge. But because of how hungry Alice was midway through the walk to the supermarket, they had unexpectedly came across a family restaurant called Gold Curry. Since Alice wasn’t willing to wait until they had got home to eat, Kazuma gave up and instead ate at the family restaurant.

“Thank you for your purchase! We hope to see you again!” The maid thanked.

Alice stretched her arms and rubbed her tummy happily as they both exited the family restaurant.

“That was a good meal…”

(Damn it…)

Kazuma’s eye twitched as he looked at the price on the receipt.

“Seventy-five hundred yen…” He sighed.

“Kazuma?” A familiar voice called out.

Kazuma looked up and saw Akira. She had her hair tied up in a ponytail and wore a casual outfit, a white long-sleeved top with blue shorts and brown boots.

“Akira-san?”

“And that girl… you still haven’t taken her to the police?”

The moment Alice saw that Akira was looking at her, she quickly hid behind Kazuma with her head slightly peeking out.

Kazuma clasped his hands together.

“Sorry! I thought it would’ve been better for her to stay at my place.”

“At your place?”

“Is it okay for her to stay?”

Akira sighed as she put her arms on her hips.

“This isn’t like taking in a stray cat, you know…”

“I-I know that!”

“Hmm… but letting her stay?”

She crossed her arms and closed her eyes while she contemplated.

(What would’ve they said if they were here right now?) Akira thought.

When Akira had thought of her decision, she opened her eyes and looked at Kazuma.

“Alright, she can stay. But as your guardian, you better take good care of her, you hear? You’re responsible for anything that happens involving her. Got it?”

Alice beamed the moment she heard, and it made Akira smile warmly.

“Thanks for waiting, Riko.” Another familiar voice spoke.

His high school teacher, Tomika-sensei, had also worn a casual outfit as well as she walked up to Akira. She had a brown jacket with a striped undershirt along with blue skinny jeans and black boots.

“T-Tomika-sensei?!” Kazuma stuttered.

“Hm? Kazuma? What a coincidence. I assume you’ve been studying lately?”

“Y-Yeah…”

Tomika-sensei noticed that Alice was hidden behind Kazuma. The blond-haired girl quickly ducked her head the moment she saw Tomika-sensei watching her.

“And I see your cousin is also here. She is living with you correct?”

Alice stuck her head out behind him and nodded politely at Tomika-sensei.

“H-Hello…”

“A-Anyways! What brings you two here?” Kazuma asked.

“Hm? Well, we were just about to go to a family restaurant. I heard that the place makes good curry.” Tomika-sensei said as she fixed her glasses.

“Did you already eat here? I saw you just walk out of that restaurant just now.” Akira asked.

“Oh yeah, the place here is good actually.”

“What did you think?” Tomika-sensei asked as she looked at Alice.

Alice had realized that the question was directed at her. She shyly nodded in reply.

“I-It was delicious…”

“Hm. I see… it should be a good experience then.” Tomika-sensei replied as she swept her hair over one side.

“S-Sorry, but I just remembered I have to go to the supermarket to buy something. Excuse me.”

Kazuma bowed quickly and grabbed Alice by the hand as he walked past them.

“Oh! Kazuma?” Akira called.

He quickly jerked and he slowly turned around as he forced a smile.

“Y-Yes?”

“I’m going to do a check at your place in the coming week or so.”

“Huh? A check?”

“Yep. I’m going to check on you, so be sure that you’re home around that time. And just this will also be based on whether she is able to stay or not.”

“R-Right…”

“Just make sure that you remember.”

Tomika-sensei watched the two of them walk off.

“You’re letting her stay?”

“Well, he did ask about it. And I’ve met the girl before, she doesn’t seem like a bad person, so why not?”

“…I see.” Tomika-sensei replied as she fixed her glasses.

“Are you still going to ask him about it?” Akira asked.

“…It’s fine. Why don’t we just leave it at that?”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure he has his reasons. If the board finds out about it, it’ll just complicate everything a lot further. But for now…”

She turned to look at the sign that read Gold curry in bold yellow letters.

“I’m curious to know how good the place actually is.”

Akira happily nodded in response.

“All right! Curry!” She cheered.

“…After you.” Tomika-sensei said as she held open of the door for Akira.

“Why, thank you.” Akira giggled.

“Akira is your guardian? What does that mean?” Alice asked.

“Hm? Oh, well it just means that she just watches over me. Kind of like a caretaker.”

“I see. So she’s your caretaker.”

(But then what of his parents…?) Alice thought.

“Hm? Something wrong?”

“Ah, sorry… maybe I shouldn’t have brought that up.”

“Huh? Bring what up?”

She shook her head.

“Never mind. Anyways, are we going home now?”

Kazuma walked over to Alice and put his hand on top of her head.

“No, because a certain someone decided that we should stop by at a certain family restaurant to eat.”

Alice chuckled awkwardly.

“And not only that, but you ate so much too… you’re even more troublesome than just ‘some pet’.”

“But I’m not a pet!” Alice exclaimed as she puffed her cheeks.

“Yeah, yeah…”

Kazuma sighed as he opened up his wallet.

“I’m not sure if I can even afford any ingredients at this point…”

While the two of them were walking to the market, Kazuma had bumped into someone along the way. But just before he could apologize, he turned around and saw that the person he had bumped into was immediately gone.

“Huh? What gives?”

Kazuma looked around and only saw Alice with a stern look on her face.

(“This again…”) Alice muttered.

Kazuma scratched his head.

“Again? Wait… isn’t this from yesterday too?”

“Looks like it.”

“If that’s the case then—”

“Look out!” Alice interrupted.

She pushed him out of the way just as a blast of energy had passed by them, causing the both of them to roll away from each other on the ground. Sounds of footsteps could be heard from behind them. Both Kazuma and Alice had looked behind them to see it was. A familiar brown hooded figure had shown up once again.

“Hmph. I didn’t think that you would have been able to dodge that.”

“You again…” Kazuma glared.

The hooded figure had stood in place as he held his hand out.

“The girl… or else.”

Kazuma knelt on one knee as he put one hand over Alice.

“So you’re a magician? From the Organization?”

“Hmph. So she told you…”

He put his hand down and turned his back on them.

“…That’s right, we are the Organization.”

“Then… what do you need Alice for?”

“Hm?” The figure turned around staring at Kazuma attentively.

“What makes it so important that you need her? Aren’t you doing just this against her will?”

(“Kazuma…”) Alice whispered.

“…So that’s what it looks like to you?” The figure asked him.

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“Things as they are now… are too complicated for a normal human like you to comprehend.”

The figure held his hand out once more.

“…I won’t ask again. Hand over the girl.”

“Sorry, but I thought I had made it clear last time.”

“So that’s how it’s going to be… then so be it.”

There was sudden rumbling from the ground and at the same time, two stone golems from had risen from the ground near the both of them.

The magician pointed his finger at Kazuma.

“Time for you to meet death.”

As soon as the magician made his hand into a fist, the two golems had already begun approaching Kazuma on order. But since Kazuma was still on the floor, both golems had already him trapped with no signs of escape. They simultaneously raised their arms at Kazuma, ready to attack.

“K-Kazuma!” Alice shouted.

She desperately tried to get up and run over to his side with her arm reaching out him. The two stone golems had both attacked simultaneously at Kazuma. Seconds later, he slowly opened his eyes and found himself left unharmed. He looked up and saw that Alice stood in front of him with one arm raised in the air. Above her was a magic circle that had halted the golems’ movement.

With a whisk of her hand, two blasts suddenly emerged. Both Kazuma and the figure instinctively shielded themselves from the explosion. By the time the dust had settled, Alice remained standing and unfazed. The magic circle had vanished and the two golems were blown into pieces. Kazuma was left speechless, still trying to grasp what Alice had done in front of his own two eyes.

At the same time, a glowing crest reappeared on both Alice’s and Kazuma’s hand unnoticed. Alice blinked a couple of times and looked at her surroundings.

“Huh…? What… was I doing…?”

“A-Alice…?”

“K-Kazuma?! You’re okay!” Alice exclaimed.

“Y-Yeah… more or less…” He replied scratched his head.

“Did something happen?”

“Well… about that…”

Kazuma and Alice looked at the remains of the stone golems that were before.

“D-Did I do that?”

“Looks like it…”

“Impressive… So this is your power. It seems like Silias wasn’t wrong about you, Alice.” The hooded magician said.

“Huh…? My… power?” Alice questioned.

There was a brief high-pitched ringing in Alice’s mind. She knelt on the ground holding her head. Seconds later, Alice’s eyes widened with realization.

“Master…? I…”

“The magic that you possess… is not like many others.”

“…Just what are you playing at here?” Kazuma growled.

“Hm?”

The magician’s smirk could be seen under his hood for a brief moment as he chuckled. He then flashed directly in front of Kazuma. Without time for Kazuma to react, he was quickly grabbed by the collar of his shirt.

“…Don’t joke with me.”

The hooded magician flung Kazuma on the ground, and at that same moment, he grabbed Alice’s arm and turned around, his back facing Kazuma.

“You’re just a fool.”

“W-What…?”

“But it’s expected of you. After all, you’re just an ignorant human. What would a person like you have use for her?”

“Use…? Don’t make it sound like she’s a tool… Doesn’t she deserve to choose?” Kazuma said as he tries to get back up on his feet.

The magician sighed as he shook his head.

“This is why…”

He let go of Alice and stomped on Kazuma back to the ground with his left foot.

“I don’t deal with petty people like you.”

Kazuma gripped the magician’s ankle tightly struggling to move it.

“Tell me… the little agreement that we had before the other day.”

“W-What… about it?”

“As the saying goes amongst you humans, an unknown force that lies beyond comprehension should never be reckoned with.”

“What’s your point?”

The magician took his foot off of Kazuma.

“You declined my offer before. The obvious decision was that you could have left the girl, and go back to your normal life. But you chose differently otherwise. Why is that?”

“Isn’t that obvious…?”

Kazuma got up slowly.

“…I can’t turn a blind eye to someone that needed help.”

Alice turned to look at Kazuma.

“Help? Someone like her?” The figure chuckled.

“That’s right. It doesn’t matter if she’s a magician or not. No matter what you may offer, I won’t leave her side.”

Alice turned around.

“Kazuma… so that’s why…”

“…I see. So the answer will always be the same.”

“For me as well.” Alice said as she ran over to Kazuma’s side.

“A-Alice?”

She nodded at Kazuma.

“Thank you. Not abandoning me.”

Kazuma patted her head.

“Save that until after, silly.”

The magician sighed.

“So… it looks like you’ve made up your mind. I’ve been dragging this out for way too long… I should finish this up as well.”

He raised his hand and two more stone golems arose from the ground.

“This time, there will be no negotiations.”

Both Alice and Kazuma both took their stance looking at the two giant stone golems

“So? Do you have some kind of plan?” Kazuma asked.

“You said that I used magic again right?”

He nodded.

“That’s right. You destroyed them like they were nothing.”

Alice looked at her hands.

“Then—”

Suddenly, the crest from their hands caught both of their attention as it began radiating with light.

“Huh? The contract seems to be reacting…”

Kazuma unconsciously moved a step forward and he held his hand out.

“Huh? Wait Kazuma! What are you doing—”

“Change.”

He gripped his hand into a fist, and a beam of light that had suddenly engulfed him had caught the attention of the people around him.

(W-What’s happening?) Alice thought as she stepped back a bit.

The stone golems had also instinctively stepped away from them because of the light. Behind from them, the light had also caught the magician’s attention.

(Hm?)

Moments later, Kazuma had stepped out of that light transformed completely with his eyes closed. He had sheathed black bladed straight katana behind his back, while he wore an open black hooded high collar long jacket that had a single white stripe that stretched from the shoulder to the end of the sleeve of the jacket on each side. He wore black gloves on both hands, a white scarf that wrapped around his neck, and underneath the jacket was a white shirt, along with black pants, and black shoes.

“A-Amazing…” Alice commented.

“Hm? That can’t be…” The figure thought to himself.

Kazuma opened his eyes and he looked at his clothes.

“Huh?”

Kazuma looked around his body as he touched his clothes.

“Wait… whaaaaat?!”

He turned his head looking at the bizarre clothing that he was wearing.

“Just what am I wearing? And is that a katana behind my back?”

While he was glancing around his clothing, he pulled out the katana from his back.

“Is this…?”

Kazuma tried to move his arm with the sword in hand. Surprisingly, he was moving it around as if the katana were a child’s toy.

“Huh. This is actually pretty light for some reason.”

“Watch out!” Alice warned.

Kazuma instinctively did a back flip and avoided the golem’s attack.

“Whoa… I didn’t even know I could do that! I wonder…”

He jumped in the air and sliced down one of the golems from above. Alice was amazed at what he could do.

“W-What power…”

Kazuma readied his blade and ran past the other golem. In mere seconds, it also fell into pieces. Kazuma himself was at a loss of words at his newfound power.

(But how…?) The hooded magician gritted his teeth. (He’s just a mere human… how can he possibly be able to have this power?)

Alice and Kazuma both high-fived each other.

“That was super cool, Kazuma!”

“Hehe… right? So this is the contract, huh?”

(Hm? Contract?) The figure overheard.

“Now that the nuisances are gone…”

Kazuma pointed his finger at the hooded magician.

“All that’s left is you!”

The figure smirked deviously.

“…Is that right?”

Kazuma and Alice had both noticed that the rubble at their feet from the previous golems that had been destroyed was being collected towards the hooded magician.

“It seems that you’ve piqued my interest. I’ve always thought you were some measly human, but looks like I underestimated you.”

It wasn’t until moments later, that all that rubble had been collected to form a gigantic stone golem that was almost as big as seventy feet. This was no doubt far bigger than the ones they had faced.

“Allow me to introduce to you. Behold, Gigantes.”

Kazuma scratched his head.

“G-Gigantes?! That thing is super huge! And I thought the golems we fought before were already big.”

Alice speculated the large golem.

“…It’s no use.”

“What do you mean?”

She turned to Kazuma.

“There’s two of us, but he’s at an advantage. Sure, I might have my magic back, but there’s the possibility that I’m not sure if I’m back at my full potential.”

“So what are we lacking then?”

“With your newfound power, I’m sure you’ll be able to take on the magician alone, but I can’t distract Gigantes alone. If we take him out first, Gigantes will most likely be inactive since there’ll be no one controlling him. It would be better if we had an extra person though…”

“Need a hand there?” A voice said.

Everyone had turned to see who the voice was, and on top of a roof, was an identical hooded magician.

“A-Another one?”

“Hmph. Looks like you are at a disadvantage now that my comrade as arrived.”

The other magician had hopped down from the roof as he stretched.

“Man, it’s about time. You took a while but—”

He raised his hands the moment he was met with Kazuma’s katana that was about ready to strike.

“Whoa, there buddy. Look, I’m not here to fight you. I’m your side.”

Kazuma glared at him.

“…How do I know you’re not lying?”

With one of his hands kept in the air, he used his other hand and took off his hood. He was light-skinned and had light emerald green hair and eyes.

“See? I’m not your enemy.” He said.

“Edrian… you…” The hooded magician grumbled.

He turned to the hooded magician.

“Yo, Galus. Long time no see. Silias still making you do his dirty work?”

“Hmph. I could say the same of you. Are you finally betraying us?”

Edrian smirked.

“I wouldn’t call it that, old friend.”

He turned to Kazuma.

“Well? Would you like my help or not?”

Kazuma and Alice turned to each other.

(“What do you think Alice? Should we accept?”) Kazuma asked.

Alice nodded and Kazuma nodded back just before he turned to Edrian.

“You got it.”

Edrian smirked.

“Alright then.”