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There are men who confess to women, and some women who confess to men.

And for anyone walking the path of Popularity, it is a path you cannot avoid!

Alicia: “IーIgni, what are you going to do?”

Igni: “....do? Um…..”

Rose left in high spirits, and Igni and Alicia watched her go as they spoke without turning to face each other.

As far as Kurara goes, she only accumulated murderous hate from Rose for using Igni as bait, but that was it. As for Alicia, Igni rescued her, and being classmates, their friendship deepened significantly.

But Rose was a different story, and Igni groaned as he tried to process the situation.

Oh, and they handed the [Marionette] to the City Guards.

Alicia: “You know what I’m referring to. The [Saint]’s confession to you. Are you really thinking about accepting it?”

Igni: “............”

Igni remains silent.

As one who pursues the path of Popularity, it’s not like he hasn’t considered situations where girl’s confess to him.

Igni: “40 years...huh…”

Yoori: “We would all be in our 50s.”

Igni mumbles to himself as Yoori chuckles at the thought.

Igni: (But I never thought someone would ask me to be tied to them for 40 years….)

Igni: “Our 50s….huh….”

Igni’s mumbling continues. He’ll still be younger than Lucas, but that’s about it.

Alicia: “Igni, think about it carefully! The majority of that 40 years with the [Saint] is just travel time!! You’ll spend the majority of that time on the road traveling by carriage, and there will be days when you’ll have to protect her from attacks just like you did today!”

Igni: “Yeah, I know .”

Igni nods in affirmation.

Yoori: “What makes this decision so hard for you? Is it because you were confessed to?”

Igni answers Yoori’s question.

Igni: “I…...I want to remain at the Academy.”

Igni: (Is this because I still want to be Popular?)

Igni: (Or is this because my very first friends are there?)

Igni: “But I also want to support Rose…”

Alicia: “Well, you can’t do both.”

Igni: “I know…”

Igni groans.

Igni: “That\'s why this is so hard…”

Yoori: “Hmmmm...then what about this? You can remain at the Academy for 3 years until you graduate and then go with the [Saint].”

Igni: “I thought of that too, but….”

Igni quietly answers Yoori’s suggestion.

Igni wants to be Popular, but he also wants to be there for Rose.

Igni: (But isn\'t meeting Rose’s expectations a part of being Popular?)

Igni’s brain goes full circle over and over again.

Yoori: “Igni, this might be a good time to consult with someone - someone dependable.”

Igni: “Dependable?”

Igni parrots Yoori’s words.

Yoori: “Yeah, like…..someone with more life experiences that you can trust.”

Igni: “......oh.”

Igni’s brain flashed.

<<<<>>>>

[Oye, Igni]

[What is it, Grandpa?]

This happened when Igni was training nearby the Demon King’s Castle.

[If you live long enough, there will be times when you are faced with two difficult options.]

[What do you mean?]

Igni was in the middle of hunting down a higher-level species of Goblins called “Gaki” {Hunger Demons}.

[Hm, for instance, let’s say that you are working as a miner.]

[Okay…]

[But while you work, the brakes on the trolley malfunction, and the trolley can no longer stop. If you allow the trolley to proceed onwards, it will run over and kill 5 fellow miners. But, Igni, if you were to switch the rails to let it head down a separate path, only one of your friends who was working there would be killed. So Igni, which would you choose? Would you pull the switch on

the rails or leave it be?]

[Huh……..?]

Igni was more taken back that his grandfather started speaking about something so serious.

[It…...depends on who it is.]

[Oh? Who would you push the switch for?]

[Father]

[HA HA HA H!!]

Lucas bursted out with laughter.

[HーHey! Besides, that question isn’t fair! There’s no right answer right?! What would you do in this case?!]

[Me? If it was me…]

Lucas’ smiled wildly as the edges of his lips curved upwards.

[I would….destroy the trolley.]

[What?! That’s cheating!!]

[It’s not. It’s because we have the power to bend the rules that we are called “Extremes”.]

[Grrrrrrrr……..]

[You understand now, Igni? When the time comes, make up your mind and…]

[Whーwhat?]

[When you don’t know what to do, destroy the problem from its foundations.]

<<<<>>>>

Igni: “...............?!”

Igni: (So……..this is what Grandpa meant!!)

Yoori: “HーHey….Igni? Are you okay?”

Igni suddenly went silent, and Yoori looks into his eyes worriedly.

Igni: “Yoori! Why does the [Demon King’s Realm]’s territory continue to spread?!”

Yoori: “Huh?! Um...well, the [Demon King]’s corpse is buried in the [Demon King’s Realm] and the Demon King’s Magic is pouring out from it!”

Igni: “Yeah, that’s right. That’s what they say.”

Yoori: “Whーwhat is it with you all of a sudden?”

And to confirm his theory, Igni turns to Alicia.

Igni: “Alicia! Why hasn’t humanity disposed of the Demon King’s body? If the Demon King’s remains are the cause, they could burn or destroy the corpse so that it doesn\'t emit any more Magic, no?!”

Alicia: “SーSeriously! What is it with you?! That’s <OBVIOUS>. The [Demon King’s Castle] is at the heart of the [Demon King’s Realm] and the monsters there are too strong for anyone to even get close!”

Igni: “In other words, if you can get close enough, you can do something about it, right?”

Alicia: “What?! …...um, yeah. The Empire has invested a lot of time and research into stopping the spread of the Corrupted Magic, and they succeeded on a small scale. But the lands connected to the [Demon King’s Realm] covers far more land than we can handle….if we use that technology, we may be able to stop the [Demon King]’s magic at its source.”

Igni: “Thank you.”

Igni went over his idea over and over again in his head.

Igni: “It was simple from the beginning.”

Yoori: “Igni, aーare you okay?”

In the Rules of Popularity, the most Secret of the Arts always contains a public-facing surface, and the actual core of a similar law hiding underneath it.

Hence, the Rules of Popularity No. 2 states:

ーー”A man who takes the lead will become popular.”

But the core of that rule is:

Igni: “We’re going to save her.”

Yoori: “Huh?! What are you talking about?!”

ーーBut a man who takes charge is even more popular.

Igni: “We’re going to release her from 40 years of imprisonment.”

Igni’s eyes burned with hope.

The answer...was right in front of him.

<<<<>>>>

In the middle of night.

After everyone fell asleep, in the shadows of Main Street, two people met.

“So you failed your mission, huh?”

“I apologize. I did everything I could…but…”

“The ‘Ruler’ [Marionette]. Although your individual combat skills are lacking, your above 90% success rate to complete missions was very impressive. It was the exact reason why I chose you in the first place.”

“Well, to be fair, I had the entrance boobytrapped, but….I never thought that they would tear through the roof to come in.”

“I didn’t come to hear your excuses.”

The girl cuts the [Marionette]’s words short.

The [Marionette] who escaped the prison like it was nothing lowered his head deeply.

The girl had a slightly different appearance.

Curved, spiraling horns and dark gray, almost black skin complexion.

Her silver, shining hair contrasted greatly with her skin tone.

From a glance, you could tell that she wasn’t human.

The girl held a crystal ball in her hand, and looks deeply into it.

“There are 3 [Extremes] in the town. There are 5 [Extreme]-Level people total, huh…. even so, I can’t have [humans] taking the [Saint] from us.”

“I know one [Extreme]-Level would be Igni. Who’s the other?”

“I’m one of them.”

“Oh...sーso you included yourself in the count…”

The [Marionette] couldn’t hide his surprise and confusion…

“Okay! Let’s make’em fight! We’ll gather them all in one place, make\'em fight to the death, and as soon as they’ve weakened each other, we’ll take the [Saint]!!”

“Wow〜 that’s a bit devilish even for me….you made me cringe there for a moment…”

“Of course. They call us devils for a reason.”

She was one of the forgotten remnants of the Demon King’s Army from a century ago.

“Anyone who stands in the way of our [Demon King]’s return will be massacred!!”

When the [Demon King] and humanity fought, there was one race that was enslaved under the [Demon King]’s rule.

“Why not just kill the [Saint]?”

“What?! No way! Don’t you know how valuable a [Saint]’s Magic Trait is as a research sample?!”

“I apologize. An outsider should not be advising you on these matters.”

“Yes, it’s perfect! Completely and undeniably perfect! My fortune telling is 100% flawless!!”

“......I see you’re using [Ancient Magic], correct?”

Before the fundamental principles of Magic was established, this race used Spells.

They called them, the “Demon Race.”