My First Creation Was Too Effective
The day after I completed my first development project, I received an ID card from Regalia.
“Here, this is yours.”
“This is…?”
“It’s a means to prove your identity in this city.”
The ID Regalia handed over had a photo of me—I had no idea when it was taken—and the name Eight written on it. Naturally, it wasn’t my real name.
“Eight…? Who is this supposed to be? And when on earth was this photo—”
“Who? It’s your name. From now on, you are Eight. The ‘Kim… whatever’ I mentioned last time is far too exotic, don’t you think? No matter how much dignity this one possesses, it would be impossible to create a forged ID with a name that so obviously screams foreigner.”
“…Understood.”
Eight. For some reason, the name seemed deeply connected to the “eighth” I had mentioned yesterday… but what could I do about it? If my employer decided to call me dog shit, then dog shit I would be. If she called me Eight, then Eight I would be.
As I stared blankly at the ID I had received, Regalia snapped her fingers to draw my attention.
“What are you doing? It is time to go.”
“Where to, exactly?”
“Did you not hear a single word? Did this one not say we would go see the organization members together today?”
“Ah… that’s right. It’s not here?”
I looked around the mansion as I spoke. She had called it a villain organization, but it was ultimately nothing more than a rich young lady’s hobby. In other words, it was no more than child’s play. And this mansion was the perfect size for that sort of game. It was so excessively large that it had not just spare rooms, but entire spare buildings. A perfect location to play at being villains without drawing outside attention.
However, Regalia frowned as though I had said something utterly idiotic.
“This is this one’s home. What kind of fool builds their villain organization in their own house?”
“I see…”
I hadn’t known because I had never built one. I followed the clearly exasperated Regalia out of the mansion.
The limousine we had ridden the previous night slipped out of the mansion and raced toward the city in an instant. Watching the countless buildings flash past the window, it almost felt like I could return home at any moment. But that was an illusion. This world was not the one I had lived in, and the country I knew did not exist here.
‘Yeah… it means I have to live in this world after all.’
After staring out the window a while longer, the limousine came to a stop. The driver quickly got out and opened the rear door, and Regalia stepped out with natural grace.
“We have arrived. Let us go.”
“Ah, yes.”
Following Regalia out of the limousine, I froze at the sight of the majestic building before me. I had unconsciously assumed a villain organization would operate from some shady underground base hidden from prying eyes, so the impact was even stronger. What stood before me was larger and more magnificent than any building around it—a structure that looked like honest, upstanding citizens would commute to every morning. And indeed, that was exactly what it was.
“Chairman! Welcome back!”
“Mm.”
“Here is the compiled report on yesterday and today’s events.”
“I shall read it on the way up.”
As Regalia entered the building, guards and suited employees rushed over and bowed deeply to her. The sight of fully grown adults bowing to a girl who looked no older than an elementary student was incredibly bizarre. Yet neither Regalia herself nor the bowing office workers seemed to find anything strange about it. It was clearly something they had all grown accustomed to long ago.
“—Now then, Eight? Let us proceed.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Once again, I was struck by how impressive Regalia truly was. Ah, all hail Regalia. I followed her into the elevator, and my body instantly defied gravity as we shot upward. It felt almost like teleportation. The moment the doors opened, I immediately understood that this place was, without question, a villain organization. The scene before me could not possibly be described as anything else.
“—Hail Regalia! Hail Evils!”
“Louder!”
“Hail Regalia—!”
Combatants in full-body suits shouting bizarre slogans. A two-legged tiger covered in scars, effortlessly lifting a barbell no human could possibly raise. And a girl giggling sinisterly in front of photographs of women in magical girl outfits.
The sight made it far stranger to claim this wasn’t an evil organization. I froze, overwhelmed by the sudden flood of information.
After a moment, one of the organization members who spotted us let out a startled scream.
“B-Boss! Hail Evils!”
“Mm. Hail Evils.”
“The boss is here?”
“Is your body all right, Galrm?”
“Same as usual.”
“B-Boss… It’s been a while…”
“It has indeed. Aile. Still looking at magical girls, I see?”
“Hehe, hehe— It’s my only hobby, after all…”
After greeting the tiger beastman who had been working out and the sinister girl staring at magical girl photos, Regalia pulled me forward.
“This is our eighth executive. His name is Eight.”
“Ooh— Is he strong?”
“No. Eight is the organization’s scientist. He is a non-powered person, so do not pick fights with him for no reason.”
“Tsk— How boring.”
The moment Galrm learned I was a non-powered person, he clicked his tongue and immediately lost interest. However, the girl named Aile, who was still gazing at the magical girl photos, looked at me with strangely friendly eyes.
“Hehe, hehe— Mr. Eight. You’re a non-powered person too? I’m the same… Let’s get along well, fellow non-powered person.”
“Ah, yeah. Nice to meet you.”
When I extended my hand for a handshake, Aile flinched, frantically wiped her palm on her clothes several times, then finally reached out. The handshake itself was extremely brief.
Even from that short interaction, I could easily read the personalities of the two executives.
‘One’s a muscle-brain with muscles where his brain should be, and the other is a creepy pervert with a voyeurism hobby…’
They were people who both fit and somehow didn’t fit a villain organization.
After all, what was most important in a villain organization? Military force capable of fighting heroes, of course. The beastman named Galrm looked like he could easily crush someone like me with all those muscles, but… well. Just as hunting beasts isn’t difficult with a single gun, his strength didn’t seem like it would surpass that of a hero.
The same went for Aile, who was introduced next. A non-powered person? After personally experiencing in just one night how non-powered people were treated in this world, I found it amazing she hadn’t already bitten her tongue and committed suicide. I couldn’t expect anything more from her than that.
‘So that’s how it is.’
I became certain that this villain organization was nothing more than Regalia’s hobby. Child’s play with the label “villain organization” slapped on top. Which meant I wouldn’t need to do anything particularly noteworthy here.
Until our boss grew tired of this game, I could just slack off, collect my paycheck, and live comfortably. That hope vanished before the second hand could even tick once.
“Right then, Eight. This one shall give you your first mission.”
“Pardon? What do you—”
“Create something useful for these two! Ah, if you need anything, simply ask. This one will provide whatever you require.”
This was bad. I looked at Regalia in a panic.
“U-um… by when…?”
“Mm. One week should suffice, no?”
“One week…?”
That was barely enough time for a college student to finish a single assignment. Yet she wanted me to create something useful for villain executives? Within a week? Even with unlimited budget, the time limit was far too tight. I hadn’t even figured out how the science of this world differed from what I knew yet.
“Boss? Doing both at once seems difficult…”
“Is that so? Then one person is fine. The important thing is to show everyone else what kind of person you are.”
“But I’m not anyone special…”
Regalia looked at me with an expression that said she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“What nonsense is this…? You are the scientist this one trusts. Do not speak such foolishness.”
“No, I genuinely don’t have any confidence…”
“Do not trust yourself. Trust this one, who trusts you.”
She lightly punched my chest, then smiled brightly as if to say she believed in me, before heading to the elevator alone while muttering about how much work she had to handle.
Left alone on this floor, I looked over at Galrm, who was still immersed in his workout. Not only was his body covered in scars, but striking up conversation with a tiger several times my size felt incredibly intimidating.
“Um… Mr. Galrm?”
“—What?”
“Do you need anything in particular?”
“No.”
“No, I mean, anything at all would be fine…”
If I can’t make something, I might get kicked out of the house. I looked at him with that silent plea. Galrm let out a deep sigh.
“I have been thinking it would be nice to have a little more strength when I fight.”
“Ah… You mean something like steroids?”
“There is no way such medicine could strengthen this body of mine.”
“…So you’re asking for a fatigue recovery drink or a tonic, then?”
“Do whatever you want.”
As if he had no desire to speak further, Galrm exhaled roughly and returned to his training. Not wanting my head crushed by a dumbbell after bothering him unnecessarily, I quietly slipped away.
While I stood awkwardly in the hallway, an organization member soon approached and showed me to my laboratory.
“You may conduct your research here. Please call if you need anything at all.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“You may speak casually to us. As an executive, you are our superior.”
“I prefer it this way.”
I sent the employee away with a bitter smile, then sighed as I looked around the empty lab. Normally this kind of thing required multiple PhD scientists working for a long time, going through countless trials and errors… Yet here I was, expected to produce results alone in a single week with no support.
Common sense said it was impossible. In that case, there was only one option.
I would have to use a trick.
‘Since ancient times, imitation has been the mother of creation…’
If creating something new was impossible, I simply had to copy something that already existed on Earth. Fortunately, while working on my previous assignment, I had memorized the nutritional components of various commercial products. One of them was the exact tonic Galrm wanted.
‘It was guanidinoacetic acid and creatine monohydrate… and what else?’
Creating something from zero was impossible, but reproducing a known result wouldn’t take long at all. And so I began my first task as the evil organization’s scientist.
One week later.
Galrm launched an attack on the city like a proper villain. Citizens who saw the full-body-suited organization members began evacuating as though they were quite used to it. While the regular combatants relieved their stress by smashing cars and buildings along the street, Galrm waited impatiently for a hero to arrive.
“—That is far enough!”
“Ah, you’re here?”
Not long after, a hero was dispatched. Faster than a five-minute standby team. It was only possible if they had been waiting nearby, but Galrm simply looked at the hero as if it were natural.
A rookie hero suitable for dealing with a washed-up has-been like himself. Seeing the newcomer, Galrm let out a sigh. He wanted the heart-pounding battles of his glory days, but the fact that even this level was difficult for him to handle filled him with even deeper despair.
“You villain scum! I will never forgive—”
“Hey, can you just attack already? I’m pretty busy over here too.”
“…I cannot do that! I am the hero Sugar Mask! There is no compromise with villains!”
Apparently he was still new enough to be fully immersed in the hero fantasy. Galrm sighed again as he watched the hero strike bizarre poses and deliver dramatic lines.
With a light gesture, the regular combatants who had been waiting for his command rushed forward to engage the hero. Sugar Mask lightly swung his limbs and dispatched them. The combatants fell spectacularly, as if the entire sequence had been choreographed in advance.
Having dealt with the fodder in an instant, Sugar Mask charged straight at Galrm without wasting any more time.
Galrm pulled a small bottle from his pocket. It was the item the new executive who recently joined had given him.
—It’s the finished product. Please test it.
‘…What a pointless thing to do.’
Honestly, he hadn’t expected it to have any effect. His body, already pushed past its limits and corroded with rust, had degenerated far beyond his prime. No method could restore it. No drug or ability had been able to fix him. There was no way some potion whipped up in a single week could strengthen him.
Even while thinking that, Galrm drank the potion. And in that instant—
He felt power surging through his entire body.
“Take this—!”
Sugar Mask threw a punch at Galrm, who had just finished drinking. He already knew the information on his opponent. A former soldier who retired due to injury. Strong for a beastman, but not at the level of an esper. The perfect villain for a rookie hero to build his reputation on.
As always, they would exchange a few blows before he fell. Then, as always, he would run away.
But today was different.
“Ha, haha— UHAHAHAHAHA—!”
“…?”
“UHAHAHAHA! Sorry about this, rookie—!”
Grabbing Sugar Mask’s fist where it had connected with his abdomen, Galrm roared with laughter.
“You cannot stop me—! Bring someone stronger! Bring someone strong enough to make my heart race!”
Temporarily restored to his prime. The roar of Galrm, who had once been crowned Beast King, shook the air.
That day, contrary to the original plan, Galrm collapsed five buildings. An emergency A-class hero team was barely able to force his retreat.