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The Dragonkin raced confidently towards the Ice Snow Dragon, believing in their own strength. Thus, the battle began. Honestly, I wanted to see with my own eyes just how strong their proud physiques were.

-Flap!

Multiple wings unfurled. The sight of them soaring through the sky was not mere decoration. I wanted to expound grandly about the upcoming battle, but that was not possible.

-Kwadudduk─!

As the Ice Snow Dragon flapped its wings mightily, a fan-shaped frost spread across the ground, soon freezing the entire village. Not only that, but the Dragonkin, who had boldly charged in, also fell to the ground, frozen.

We were hiding behind a hut, so we managed to escape the ordeal.

“······!”

The three of us watching from the sidelines were astonished. But the astonishing part was not over yet.

-Clang! Clang!

The sound of ice shattering echoed simultaneously. The bodies of the Dragonkin, which had just fallen from the sky, shattered into pieces. In that fleeting moment, their bodies were frozen not only on the surface but down to the very core of their bones.

Those fools, who claimed they didn’t feel the cold, met their end through freezing death.

Unlike the Dragonkin, the Ice Snow Dragon wasn’t that foolish. From the very beginning, the disparity between them was glaringly obvious.

Once everything was over, the Ice Snow Dragon leisurely flew away, vanishing. Its journey towards the Snow Mountain indicated that its residence there wasn’t a lie after all.

Seeing that, it became clear. That monster was not something one could catch ordinarily.

“First, let’s strategically retreat.”

In my judgment, with what we had prepared so far, hunting it would be impossible. Not that we had prepared anything at all.

So, we returned to the Beastman Kingdom for a moment to gather our thoughts. As soon as we arrived, I sought out the Beast King. I didn’t have anything particular to discuss, but there was a message I needed to relay.

“Hmm? Didn’t you say you were going to hunt the Ice Snow Dragon? Is it already over?”

“No, I felt we would need some time to prepare.”

“Is that so? What do you want to tell me before you leave?”

“About the Dragonkin; they are no more.”

“···What did you say?”

The Beast King looked bewildered.

“They were foolish… The Dragonkin tried to poison the Ice Snow Dragon and ended up dead. Go check out the Dragonkin village. They’ll all be frozen.”

“···Poisoning? Those buffoons?”

He appeared to be in disbelief. I suppose if he were the Beast King, he would know the Dragonkin better than we do. Even if the Dragonkin are foolish, their faith in the Ice Snow Dragon would be unquestionable.

Naturally, he seemed more skeptical. It made sense; after all, I was the one who aimed to poison it.

“Well then, I’ve conveyed what I needed to say, so we’ll be leaving.”

Before I could be discovered—Doom Hwangcha!

*

On the way back, I used the Teleportation Stone differently than I did when I arrived. However, I didn’t return to the Empire but to the Dwarf Nation of Marquina.

Now that I had an idea of how to hunt, I needed to prepare systematically. This time, I went not to the blacksmith but to the shop where I had previously purchased the Magical Power Bomb.

If possible, I wanted to give a little thank-you to the uncle who was likely still languishing in the Empire, but the things I needed lately could only be crafted by Dwarves, so what could I do?

I pushed open the shop’s door. It looked just like it had a few months ago.

“Is anyone here~? Anyone home~?”

“Hmm? Who are you?”

When I called for the shopkeeper, I heard a voice from below. I must have been too tall to see him.

“Aren’t you a hero?”

On the surface, we were regarded as heroes who saved Marquina during the invasion. The truth is, we had caused the trouble and then cleaned it up ourselves.

But hey, thanks to that, wandering around Marquina like this is easy, and they are friendly toward us, so it’s actually nice.

“Are you here to buy bombs again?”

I was indeed a regular here. I came to buy bombs whenever I needed them. The Magical Power Bomb is more powerful than regular gunpowder bombs and quite useful in many ways.

“I do need one, but could you make it immensely large?”

“…Large, how big?”

“About several hundred meters?”

“······.”

It would need to be that big to kill the Ice Snow Dragon.

“Hmm… that might be a bit difficult.”

“You’re telling me it’s impossible? You’re the creator of the Magical Power Bomb? If so, I guess I’ll have to ask another Dwarf.”

“Hah! Impossible? Who dares to say that? Just bring me the materials! I’ll make it no matter how long it takes!”

By mentioning ‘impossible’ and comparing him to other Dwarves, I struck a nerve with the Dwarf’s pride. That’s why proud people are so easy to handle.

“But first, aside from making it, what do you plan to use it for?”

The Dwarf uncle asked suspiciously. Did he think I was plotting some sort of coup? But with a bomb that size, just detonating it could erase an entire country from the map.

Dwarves probably wouldn’t want to create anything that would spark war, but just as Humans have made nuclear weaponry to win wars, it could always be possible.

“Of course, hunting.”

“…It’s not about hunting countries or humans, is it?”

“Eh, what do you take me for?”

I could conquer a country without such a bothersome task, why would I bother?

“But, um… how will you fill its magical energy? If it’s such a large bomb, you won’t be able to fill it all.”

“I have my ways.”

Very good ways.

*

A month later.

“What’s up with this strange sign…?”

Riche asked, looking at the sign I had set up in front of us.

“Strange? Isn’t there no better phrase to capture attention than this?”

– With just a little bit of magical power, I too can contribute to hunting S-Rank Monsters?! Whoosh Bam Boom?!

If this is strange, should I stick up a picture of myself naked with the slogan, ‘This man offers for free’?

We were in the busiest plaza of the Empire right now, with a massive Magical Power Bomb behind us. Originally, I had planned to create a bomb that was several hundred meters in size.

But there’s a limit to what one Dwarf can create. Such a big bomb wouldn’t fit in the Empire anyway, so we compromised on a suitable size.

Originally, I intended to use this for one blast, but I changed my goal to doing some critical damage instead.

By the way, Luna is currently out carrying out my orders. She’s quick on her feet and, of the three of us, the best negotiator after me. I probably won’t see her for a while.

Yui, on the other hand, I left behind at the lodging since she seemed unhelpful in what we were about to do. She was drained of magical power anyway.

And all the main characters had also gone off somewhere. Notably, the Toilet. As the former protagonist, Toilet held vast amounts of magical power because he monopolized almost all the opportunities. Naturally, I drained him until he was magically exhausted.

Toilet’s heroines, Tia and Stella, also had more magical power than typical students, so I drained them too.

“We’ve been at this for an hour now, you know?”

“I know.”

“…But not a single person has shown up.”

This was a problem that had arisen well before we began, but filling the magical energy of such a massive bomb is an arduous task. Of course, it wouldn’t be impossible if we were to spend quite a bit of time, but I didn’t want to do anything so inefficient.

Simply calculating, we would need at least ten Mages of Lucia’s caliber to fill it.

I wonder if there are any other Mages of Lucia’s level on the continent besides her.

‘Of course, there are none.’

Well, Riche and Yui, who have been on recent campaigns with me, would have enough magical power, but they still wouldn’t suffice.

Thus, the idea of crowdfunding came to my mind.

In my previous life, the concept of funding for projects that lacked the needed resources existed. Even if you needed several million won, if its value deemed it worthy of support, it could easily be gathered.

Every human, regardless of the amount, has magical power.

‘Except for me.’

Excluding humans, there are many races like Elves, ordinary Beastmen, and Dwarves born with plenty of magical power. So, collecting a little from many would build a mountain. We are going to drain everyone’s magic and create a genuine Spirit Bomb.

“Ugh, people really can be stingy.”

But the problem is that, for some reason, despite setting up the sign, it’s been an hour and we haven’t received a single contribution, possibly thinking that our product had little investment value.

People are really stingy. It’s not going to cost them anything, yet they just pass by, looking curious.

“Should I kidnap every passerby and squeeze them dry like a rag?”

“…How’s that any different from being a thief?”

“It’s different. At least I won’t kill them.”

Thieves take away your money and your life, while in comparison, how kind am I? I don’t take your money, just drain you of enough power that I don’t kill you!

“Comparing it like that, is there anyone settled in this world…?”

The world is mostly an environment of relative evaluation, you know? No matter how many thugs there are, if you put them next to a serial killer who kills indiscriminately, they look better by comparison.

“Anyway, regardless of the detour, it feels like this will take years, right?”

While it’s true that if Lucia and the others continuously return their magical powers, it might be possible in a month, but with a quicker method right in front of me, I see no reason to turn it down.

If a polite request doesn’t yield help, then coercion must be the way. I activated my Manly Man skill.

– Kkak?!

– Wh-What the?!

– Kyaah!

Everyone nearby, no matter if they were children, adults, or the elderly, knelt before me. I approached the closest man to us, dragging the Magical Power Bomb behind me.

“Excuse me.”

“Ugh…?”

He still hadn’t come to his senses. Was he mistaking this for a terror attack?

-Slap!

“Ugh?!”

“Excuse me.”

“Y-Yes?!”

“Could you spare a bit of magical power?”

“…Uh?”

After receiving contributions from this many people, the plaza of the Empire was now filled with people sprawled on the ground. This wasn’t due to the influence of my Manly Man skill, but because everyone was completely drained of magical power and could barely lift a finger.

“Great. It seems like the Empire’s settled. Now let’s squeeze the Elves.”

“…Luke, you’re not actually a human, are you?”

“If I’m not a human, then what am I?”

“A demon or something.”

“Hey, watch it. That’s world-breaking talk.”

In this world, there are only Demons, but no such thing as evil spirits.

 

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