A-City, Hero Association Headquarters.
Inside a conference room, the leaders of various committees had gathered for a meeting.
Sitch sat at the head of the table, checking his cellphone while listening to the discussion around him.
"This Dragon-level disaster was resolved perfectly. The Hero Association's reputation among the public has reached an all-time high, and many of our activities are receiving enthusiastic support from the people. Everything is proceeding very smoothly."
"We might be able to take this opportunity to introduce some new policies. Although the Hero Association's system is already fairly well-established, we can't just leave it unchanged forever."
"Still, haste makes waste. This isn't the time to rush things. If we go too far, it could easily backfire."
"Perhaps we can try implementing them in Z-City first to see how people react."
"That makes sense. After this incident, Z-City's impression of us has improved more than ever before. It really would be a good place to test things out."
"If we could have Sylvia-san come forward and preside over it, that would be even better."
"We'd better not ask too much of her. We're already extremely fortunate that the Diva agreed to join the Association. If we keep pushing our luck, we'll only end up alienating that world-famous idol. Then we really would lose more than we gained."
"That makes sense…"
The leaders continued discussing one topic after another.
Sitch, however, did not participate. He just kept checking his cellphone.
Until, at last, a text message arrived.
Sitch immediately perked up. He hurriedly opened the message and scanned through it.
Then, looking both pleasantly surprised and relieved, Sitch raised his head and announced to everyone present:
"Silver Fang has sent word. The matter involving Rakshasa and Sweet Mask has been resolved. The two of them shouldn't cause any major trouble now."
That single sentence immediately set the room buzzing.
"That's great."
"So we finally managed to persuade Rakshasa-dono."
"I was seriously worried he would attack Sweet Mask."
"Although we have the Diva now, Sweet Mask still possesses enormous fame in this country. It would be such a waste to lose him."
"It really is wonderful that this matter was settled."
The leaders were overjoyed.
But how many people actually understood how difficult their jobs were?
In order to maintain the Hero Association's reputation and interests, it was these committee leaders who had to put in the greatest amount of effort.
As for the heroes, the lower-ranked ones were manageable. But once a hero reached A-Class, they could no longer be treated like ordinary employees. They had to be handled carefully.
This was especially true for the S-Class heroes.
The leaders practically had to wait on them hand and foot, doing everything possible to avoid angering the Association's strongest combat forces and driving them away.
So in reality, the leaders were rather helpless themselves.
Take the current incident as an example.
Both Fang Li and Sweet Mask were far more important to the Association than ordinary S-Class heroes. If the situation had been mishandled, it could have shaken the entire Hero Association.
Now that the issue was resolved, everyone was naturally delighted.
However, right in the middle of their relief, a voice suddenly rang out.
"What are you all making so much noise about? Are you holding another meeting over something boring?"
It was a voice filled with arrogance, tinged with a cold, unapproachable edge.
Upon hearing it, the leaders all flinched.
Even Sitch was surprised. He hurriedly raised his head and looked up.
There, floating in midair above the conference room, was a young girl.
"Seriously. Not a single person came to meet me. You had me thinking something had happened, but it turns out you're all just happily chatting away in here. Don't you people have anything better to do?"
The speaker was a girl standing just a little over 150 centimeters tall.
She had shoulder-length, curly green hair and looked only fourteen or fifteen years old, yet she wore a mature black dress with high slits along the bottom.
A faint green glow outlined her body. Completely unaffected by gravity, she floated lightly in midair.
At that height, everyone had to tilt their heads up to look at her.
Ordinarily, given the high slits in her dress, such an angle would create a very precarious situation. Yet perhaps because she was using her psychic power, the hem of her dress always managed to conceal exactly what needed to be concealed, leaving only her smooth, snow-white thighs visible.
The moment Sitch saw her, he gasped in astonishment.
"Ta… Tatsumaki-san?"
Tatsumaki.
Hero Name...
'Tornado of Terror.'
This young girl was none other than the second-ranked S-Class hero, an extraordinarily gifted psychic who had possessed terrifying talent since childhood.
Because the number one S-Class hero, Blast, rarely appeared in public and had an unpredictable personality and methods, Tatsumaki was, for all practical purposes, the Hero Association's ultimate weapon against catastrophic threats.
Her strength was great enough to effortlessly defeat Dragon-level Mysterious Beings. Whenever a major incident occurred, the Hero Association usually left it in her hands.
This time was no exception.
"Weren't you in Antarctica dealing with a Dragon-level disaster?" Sitch asked, visibly startled. "Why are you back already?"
Tatsumaki gave a light snort and looked down at Sitch from above.
"Are you an idiot? Didn't you get the report saying the incident was already resolved?" Tatsumaki said without a trace of politeness. "I just returned ahead of the others. Do you have a problem with that?"
"No, of course not!" Sitch hurriedly waved his hands, forcing an awkward smile. "It's just… this incident seemed harder to deal with than expected, so I thought Tatsumaki-san might need a little more time…"
"Something of that level wasn't difficult at all."
Tatsumaki boasted as though it were the most natural thing in the world, then immediately placed her hands on her hips and glared down at Sitch.
"More importantly, I heard a Dragon-level disaster happened here too. What happened with that one?"
"That…" Sitch pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, chuckling nervously. "That one has already been resolved as well."
"Really?"
Tatsumaki looked extremely suspicious.
"You're not lying to me, are you? If you are, you'd better admit it now. This Association would've fallen apart ages ago without me!"
"I-I'm really not lying."
Sitch shook his head anxiously.
Then, he said something he absolutely should not have said.
"If you don't believe me, Tatsumaki-san, you can ask your little sister. Fubuki-san was there at the time too."
The moment those words left his mouth, a staggering pressure instantly filled the room.
"...!"
Everyone, including Sitch, looked alarmed.
Only Tatsumaki remained completely still.
The annoyance on her face slowly faded away.
In its place came a chilling seriousness, a level of intensity none of them had ever seen from her before.
"…What happened?"
Tatsumaki spoke in a cold, commanding tone.
"Tell me exactly what happened."
"Everything."
(End Of This Chapter)
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