Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter3 (section)

===Part 17===

It wasn’t just an issue of burning or shocking.

As soon as Misaka Mikoto let her emotions explode, the supposedly-sturdy brick guild building was blown to smithereens from the inside.

Mercy?

They couldn’t be expected to question what they were raised to accept as normal in this world?

This went far beyond anything she was willing to accept based on those arguments!!

(Argh!! They’ll be eliminating all the elves because it’s tax season? Then was Patissiet silently obeying that slaver, knowing she would be killed!? Why does everyone just go along with this!?)

Most likely, this wasn’t a simple problem that could be solved by attacking some tangible source.

But rescuing the lives in immediate danger had to come first.

Mikoto had her objective.

Maybe the elves were ashamed they had been captured by mere humans. Maybe they were accepting death as a release from the backbreaking labor. But how could she let this happen? Even if the elves were too exhausted to go on living and hadn’t asked for her help, how could she just stand back and watch!?

“!!”

She had just used a high-voltage current to knock out all the tough adventurers visiting the guild.

But they weren’t the village’s only fighting force.

“Go! Get her! I don’t know who she is or ''what she could possibly have against us'', but she has attacked us!! We need to band together and protect our village!!”

An old man shouted in a self-important way.

Could she simply assume he was the human village’s mayor?

Footsteps surrounded Mikoto while keeping their distance. There were between 50 and 100 people. She had blown up the guild in the center of the village, effectively declaring war. Ordinarily, that would be a suicidal choice because now she would be attacked from all sides and overwhelmed by their superior numbers.

''But she wasn’t ordinary.

''The standard assumptions didn’t apply to Academy City’s #3!

“If you go through this barbaric practice year after year, you don’t get to stand there and tell me I’ve done something wrong, you old bastard!!!”

Electric snakes slithered out.

But each one was not directed at an individual. She targeted groups. When they hit, everyone within a 5m radius was blasted skyward like an explosive shell had hit there. After being thrown several meters, the villagers could no longer get back up. Their limbs swung randomly and they convulsed.

“Ohhhh!!”

Mikoto flicked an arcade coin up with her thumb and mercilessly launched a Railgun.

The guild building she had destroyed first appeared to be the sturdiest in the village. That meant she had already demonstrated her ability to break through anything anyone might attempt to use as a shield. She appeared to have already broken most of the adventurers’ spirits. A lot of them froze up, fell onto their rears, or dropped their weapons.

A single individual had shredded their encirclement.

The mayor quaked at this unbelievable result.

But then…

“S-special assignment!!”

The guild receptionist crawled out from below a pile of rubble and raised her voice.

She was facing the inn for visitors, which was still standing.

“For a limited time only, all bounties for wanted criminals are tripled!! End this commotion immediately. You know what to do, adventurers!!!”

Out of the corner of her eye, Mikoto saw an ugly grin on the old mayor’s face.

These adventurers likely had far more combat experience than her. Some of them might even wield the kind of magic Patissiet had used.

But how could any of that harm Mikoto?

For that matter…

“''Capture the mayor who caused this commotion!! Again, the bounty pays triple, but the full sum goes only to whoever brings him in first!!''”

The mayor froze.

With her handbag worn diagonally across her dancer’s outfit, Shokuhou winked and mischievously kissed the tip of her TV remote.

She was the strongest mental esper.

For Academy City’s #5 Mental Out, this much was a piece of cake.

While the #3 chose to simply reject the ugly side of human nature, this girl used it and weaponized it to save the elves’ lives. That scheming Queen had pursued human malice long enough to manage that.

“Hey, wait, what!?”

The mayor wasn’t given time to say much of anything.

Blinded by greed, the professional adventurers attacked him as a group.