T/N: Tendou Alice in One Punch Man: Start

--+--

"Let there be light!"

A massive, bluish-purple beam of light shot upward from below, cutting a sharp angle clean through the sky. The towering monster, which only moments ago should have been standing its ground and baring its fangs, was now vaporized, with barely half its body remaining.

On screen, a young girl carrying a massive white cannon—one that stood slightly taller than she did—retracted her weapon, a pure and radiant smile gracing her face.

"Bang-bang-ka-bang! Alice has defeated the monster, saved the city, and gained experience points!"

The video ended there.

The man standing at the very front of the conference room lowered his gaze and turned to face the others in the room.

"How do we evaluate this girl’s combat capability?"

Facing his question, the expressions of the people lined up along both sides of the long table didn’t change much. "Is this the last one? Did it happen in L-City? There were reports of a Tiger-level monster attack there a couple of days ago."

"Exactly. The one who defeated that Tiger-level monster was this very girl," the man said.

As for a young girl defeating a Tiger-level monster, they didn’t find it particularly shocking.

After all, they already had Child Emperor as a precedent. Besides, though she wasn’t technically a young girl by age, Tornado certainly looked like one.

"Has her background been checked?"

"We’ve uncovered a little bit. She seems to be a robot created by a scientist named Herta."

"Not a cyborg, but an actual robot?"

"What’s the deal with this Herta?"

"Identity unknown. All we know is that she suddenly appeared three months ago, and using equipment obtained from lord-knows-where, she created this robot."

"Identity unknown? Why wasn’t the investigation continued?"

"It’s impossible to investigate further. Neither Child Emperor nor Metal Knight could dig up any more information on Herta. Forget investigating—the other party hasn’t even replied to any messages sent over the past month."

Following this rapid succession of questions and answers, a heavy silence fell over the entire office.

Impossible to gather more information? That in itself was a piece of information... If even Child Emperor and Metal Knight couldn’t track her down through technological means, they couldn’t think of anyone else who had the capability.

"What about Dr. Kuseno..."

"He turned down our request."

"I see..."

In other words, this Herta was a complete enigma to them. Was the only proof of her existence this single robot left behind?

"Then, what is the meaning of this video?"

Hearing the question from below, the man standing at the front pushed up the glasses on his nose. "After some consideration, I propose that we invite this robot—no, this girl—to join the Hero Association."

"Ah, I see." The crowd nodded in understanding.

Setting aside the fact that this meeting was originally meant for reviewing surveillance footage to scout independent talent and invite them to the association, looking at it from another angle, having this robot operate right under their noses would also allow them to try and establish contact with Herta.

But there was still another issue.

"It’s just a machine. How are we supposed to invite a robot to become a hero? At the end of the day, can it truly understand the responsibility and concept of a hero?" one person remarked. "Should we be inviting it, or its creator?"

The man standing at the front frowned slightly at the speaker’s choice of words, but his tone remained calm.

"There is no need to worry about that. She genuinely possesses the capacity for independent judgment. If she hadn’t said so herself, we wouldn’t even have believed she was a robot."

His statement caused the others to look at him with shifting expressions for a brief moment.

"Then, how do we contact her?"

That became the next problem.

Herta couldn’t be reached, so where were they supposed to find this robot?

"...Actually, there’s no need to worry about that either." As the topic shifted here, a rather subtle look crossed the face of the man at the front. "Because... the girl is actually at the Association right now."

"Since she destroyed quite a few buildings and property during the battle, and without any compensation from the Association—and since Herta didn’t seem to give her any money either—she was taken to the police station shortly after the fight."

"It was the Blizzard Group that used the Association’s name yesterday to help advance the funds and bail her out of the police station..."

"..."

A robot with a police record becoming a hero... While it wasn’t quite appropriate for them to be lamenting it, the word ’hero’ was starting to feel a bit bizarre.

"In any case, since she’s at the Association right now, I’ll leave the arrangements in your hands, Yamada."

"Understood."

With the final discussion concluded, Yamada made his way to the Hero Association’s reception room carrying a contract, where he met the black-haired girl who had been sitting politely in a chair the whole time.

It was called a reception room, but its layout was actually very similar to a classroom. After all, this place was frequently used by senior heroes to give lectures to new recruits.

At the moment, the girl’s massive energy cannon was resting off to the side, supported by three or four chairs pushed together to serve as a makeshift gun rack. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

When Yamada entered the room, the girl instantly flashed a bright, joyful smile.

Feeling a wave of warmth from the sight, Yamada smiled back, offering a few comforting words before extending his and the Association’s invitation.

"Based on the video footage as a reference, we have ultimately placed Alice at Rank 34 in A-Class. Of course, this is just an initial ranking, considering you haven’t taken the official tests or exams, Alice."

Yamada couldn’t really say if this ranking was high or low. From the perspective of pure destructive power, being able to instantly vaporize a Tiger-level monster was certainly impressive, but as everyone knew, the Hero Association’s threat assessments for monsters weren’t always entirely accurate.

Add to that the fact that Alice hadn’t undergone any testing, and her background was far from transparent...

Either way, this was the highest rank he could possibly secure for her.

Seeing that Alice didn’t answer right away but instead lowered her head, Yamada continued, "Joining the Hero Association comes with a lot of perks. Look, just like this time, if you have the Hero Association’s backing, Alice won’t be taken away by the police..."

"Ohh!"

Just as Yamada was racking his brain for how to persuade the girl before him, Alice suddenly stood up.

Raising both hands high above her head, she cried out in excitement, "Bang-bang-ka-bang! Alice has obtained a ’Class’!"

"Uh..."

Yamada had played his share of RPGs. Seeing Alice’s behavior, which carried a heavy sense of déjà vu, he found himself at a temporary loss for words on how to play along.

"Whether it’s my main class as the ’Hero,’ or my subclass as a ’Professional Hero,’ Alice will have to work even harder from now on!" Paying no mind to Yamada, who had frozen up a bit because of her outburst, Alice pumped herself up.

"Right... indeed. Well, if you are satisfied, Alice, just sign your name right here."

Ultimately, Yamada could only sigh inwardly about getting old, passing the Hero Association contract over to Alice.

But before either of them could make another move, the sound of the door pushing open drew their attention.

"Let me take a look at that contract first, if you don’t mind." A woman with short black hair, wearing a green dress and a white fur coat draped over her shoulders, stood at the doorway, speaking with an expressionless face.

--+--

T/N: If you want advance Chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL