Well — parts of this do add up now.
So THIS is the origin of the “Tiny Gangsters” title. And asking questions like “why did they all suddenly switch to Kansai gangster dialect” would just be boorish, I suppose.
“So basically… this is a Great Vegetable War?”
A war without honor or humanity, vegetables stolen and re-stolen.
That level of… profoundly stupid premise?
“No, Lord Tatsuya. Not quite.”
“Then what, Maria?”
“Sonya’s side, yes. But the elves are not fools.”
“So Sonya’s crew being certified idiots is settled fact, then.”
“Indeed. The elves are acutely sensitive about food-storage security. Their raid on the palm-top rabbits’ burrow would have been a military operation — bandit suppression, no more.”
Well… these rabbits DO eat a genuinely absurd volume of carrots.
Getting robbed around the clock would drive anyone to mobilize.
The elf queen came to a stop about ten meters in front of us.
“Hm… The palm-top rabbits and their queen. Demon-realm nobility… and a mystery man wielding farm implements.”
Bow in her left hand, arrow in her right, the elf queen leveled her glare at me.
“You there — mystery man. From you I sense a wave of preposterous power… rivaling Demon Lord Cornelia herself.”
Come to think of it, Cornelia did say something about not knowing if she could beat me.
I don’t fully understand it myself, but apparently the transfer really did hand me a mystery cheat skill of some magnitude.
The woman’s expression settled into resignation, and she laughed — at herself.
“The rabbit queen and her palm-top soldiery alone would fight our village’s assembled might to a draw. Add demon nobility, and add YOU… there is no arithmetic by which we win.”
Let’s see — current provisional power rankings:
Cornelia and me, tied at the top, pending data.
Then a MASSIVE drop, then Sonya and the elf queen.
Then Maria and Ouroboros, then another long fall to the palm-top rabbits… and a further long fall to Arisa. Roughly.
“And? What of it?”
“My life is forfeit either way. Then let me at least die as a warrior. Therefore — I challenge YOU, their greatest force and commanding general, to single combat! If you are a warrior yourself, you understand what my pride demands!”