March, the season for budding and warm winds. For heroes and mysterious beings, it is a special season where personnel and organizations are completely renewed.

Every year at the Hero School, the graduation ceremony at the beginning of March coincides with the assignment of students to their respective teams. The heroes, wanting to make a good impression on the new recruits, are eager to destroy the mysterious being organization they are assigned to by February.

So March will inevitably see a lot of turnover in both the hero and mysterious being camps.

……Considering that, the new year of the evil secret society Ark Dominion was a peaceful one.

「Well, for the safe arrival of March this year, Cheers!!!」

「「「「「Cheers!!」」」」」

The Hinosmera commotion triggered by Samecchi’s cavity disturbance had come to an end, and the Ark Dominion secret base was back to its usual bustling atmosphere.

Many mysterious beings are crowded together in a very friendly manner today at the venue of the “Ark Dominion Thank You For Your Hard Work This Term Party”.

The dog man rejoices with tears for the safety of his organization. A maid and a butler serving food at a blinding speed. A longhorn beetle playing the violin with elegance that does not match his scary face.

But what caught the eye most of all was…

「Orauiii! You guys eat as much as possible while you still can, orauii!!」

「I made sure to bring a Tupperware too, ui! So thorough, ui!」

「Gatsugatsugatsu! Mushamusha!! Ngaggugu uii!?」

Some of the Zako fighters were losing themselves in front of the usual luxurious food. They were all stuffing their mouths full of chicken and stuffing their Tupperware with fried chicken.

「Heeeeeeeeey!! You guys, keep your manneeeeeeeeer!!」

「This is bad, it’s Colonel Usanyi-chan, ui! Everybody disperse! Disperse, uiiii!」

With a shout from Colonel Usanyi-chan, the leader of the teaching corps, the zako fighters fled like a scattering of spiders. The maids and butlers quickly set up the disordered cooking table, and within 30 seconds, the next dish was brought in.

「What are those guys doing……?」

There were dull eyes staring at the hectic venue from afar.

The one who was appalled by the action of the Zako fighters is our Death Green Rintaro Kuriyama, who leads the heinous legion.

「Perhaps they are hungry, ssukane?」

A girl in a blue hoodie muttered as she snuggled up to Rintaro. A shrimp tail protruded from her fanged mouth.

Seeing this, Rintaro noticed that there was one less fried shrimp from his plate.

「Samecchi, did you eat my fried shrimp?」

「……Don’t know, ssu. Hiyuhyuu, Hyuu.」

「You’ve got tartar sauce on your cheeks.」

「Awah! Oh no, ssu!」

Rintaro firmly caught the flustered Samechi as she tried to run away. Rintaro put his hand on her flaxen hair and stroked it vigorously.

「You are such a bad girl, Samecchii!」

「Hauuuu, Sorry, ssuuuuu!!」

From the outside, they looked more like a close brother and sister than a leader and a member of his group. Samecchi had been depressed for a while, but with the encouragement of the adults around her, she had regained her usual energy.

「Ou, what happened, Samecchi! Did you snatch food!? That isn’t good!」

「Hoon? Looks like it’s time for the “punishment chair Mark 4” that I developed, jana. This guy is amazing, njazo, this time it has a 72 hour endurance mode, jazo!」

「The chrysalis hatches and its blue wings bask in the silver light. The sword dances and eats the wings, the stake released by the night pierces the shield of the holy knight. The fingertips of death, fallen into the abyss of perdition, touch the red tide of blood, and the ephemeral butterfly slaughters the shadow of the moon.」

「Zazoma-sama said, “Wrap the bad girl around in spider thread and make her into a Teru teru bōzu”.」

「Gyawawawawan, ssuu!!」

The “Ark Dominion Thank You For Your Hard Work This Term Party” continued until late at night. Rintaro showed off his special magic tricks at the Phantom Hidden Talent Contest, and received a warm water flush toilet seat (with installation) at the Bingo tournament.

「Aah, I drank too much today …… Fufufu……」

Rintaro, who had been through many battles, was enjoying a brief moment of peace. Rintaro fell into a peaceful sleep in his room surrounded by durable consumer goods.

Little did Rintaro knew that this would be his last good night’s sleep of the month.

…………

The next morning, Rintaro was awakened by a bouncing Samechi on his stomach.

「Aniki! Anikii!!」

「Gueh, Gufu! Samecchi, aniki’s ribs aren’t healed yet……!」

「きんきゅーじたいッスぅ！！！」

Rintaro got up with a start and searched for his glasses, still drowsy.

Rintaro who was still in a daze since he had been forced to drink a lot last night, chides the excited Samecchi.

「What exactly happened, Samecchi.」

「The Heinous Legion has run out of money, ssu.」

「…………Yes? What was that? Did a thief break in?」

Just as a question mark appeared in Rintaro’s sleepy head, the door to the room opened with a bang.

「Senpai, the funds for the activities of the Heinous Legion have run out.」

It was the silver-haired beauty, Mayuzumi Kirika, who spoke out the first time she opened her mouth. However, her sky blue eyes had a serious glint in them like a blade.

A tall, dark-haired girl in pajamas, Kenmochi Minato, appeared from behind her.

「……Good morning…… Rintaro……」

She must have been woken up just like Rintaro. In fact, she looked sluggish as if having quite low blood pressure.

A few minutes later――

After taking a shower to freshen up, Rintaro faced by three restless members of the troupe.

Samecchi was walking around the room in a dazed state. Kirika, holding her head in her hands, not moving a muscle. And Minato, still in her pajamas, looking pale.

「So, let’s hear the details.」

Rintaro sat down on the one-seater sofa and faced the three of them across the table. It was Kirika who opened her mouth, her face unusually grim.

「Yes, as I mentioned earlier, we no longer have the funds to operate the Heinous Legion. We are in what I call a financial crisis.」

「Wait, wait, isn’t Tagaden funding the activities of Ark Dominion?」

「That is true, but the actual funds available are capped monthly for each corps. I heard that if there were no limits on spending, it would upset the power balance of the corps.」

Rintaro was convinced that it is true. If Tagaden’s funds were truly available for unlimited use, the Ark Dominion would have conquered Japan a long time ago.

Or maybe the strange insect army will take advantage of the situation and stage a coup d’état.

「Okay, what you’re saying makes sense. Putting that aside, I have never heard of such a thing, though?」

When Rintaro looked at the three of them, Samechi blatantly looked away.

「……Could it be, Samecchi?」

「Samecchi doesn’t understand complicated things, ssu……」

「Accounting is said to be the job of the deputy. And this is a pile of documents with stamps stamped on them.」

Kirika then spread out a stack of documents on the table. The heading simply read, “Settlement Statement”.

All of them were stamped with a stamp bearing the emblem of the Grim Reaper.

「Until now, Senpai had not belonged to any corps after all. So, because you had to settle all the bills all at once, the funds for this month and next month’s activities evaporated all at once.」

「Sa- Samecchi did it properly, ssu! Samecchi pressed the stamp listening to Colonel Usanyi-Chan, ssu!」

「I see, that’s definitely the cause, that idiot.」

Rintaro’s tone was as gentle as possible, but his words contained an anger that could not be hidden.

In the first place, Rintaro thought that they shouldn’t let an 11-year-old do accounting. In fact, he was starting to worry about whether the Hundred Beasts Legion’s financial situation would be okay under such conditions.

「But it’s only been about 3 months since Rintaro came to Ark Dominion, right?　Did he waste that much money in such a short period of time ……?」

Minato flipped through a stack of documents with a quizzical look on her face. She then read aloud the items listed on the reimbursement form.

「Well, the labor costs and car repair costs… well, that’s reasonable. Another thing that is by far the most expensive is…the cost of repairing the suit? What is this?」

「Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!」

At that moment, Rintaro’s movement was just like a falcon swooping down on its prey. With blinding speed, the stack of documents was snatched from Minato’s hands.

Rintaro carefully put the documents away in the closet, then cleared his throat and turned to the three members.

「Listen, everyone, we, the heinous legion, are currently having a survival crisis. For now, let’s work together to make money!」

His eyes were even more stagnant than usual.

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<153: Flaming Sword and Iron Shield
155: Heinous Legion Emergency Meeting>