The Evil Scientist is Too Competent

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“Fire Punch!”

As the magical girl Flame swung her fist, the flames wrapping around her hand engulfed the snowstorm. The blizzard, which had been blanketing the world white, began to lose its breath under the flames.

After vanquishing the snowstorm, Flame panted heavily, unleashing a stream of curses aimed at her employer who had summoned her at such a late hour.

“Ugh—! What is this place that calls me at this hour? Every bus and taxi has already stopped running!”

─If you’re unhappy, why not just not go, huh?

“Do you think I can do that, you jerk?!”

Flame swung her fist once more, melting the snowstorm that approached her. After hours of resistance, she finally succeeded in reaching the place her employer had summoned her to.

The most magnificent castle in the Capitalist Kingdom. The Evilus Building, boasting the might of the Evilus Empire.

“Damn… This is harder to find than I thought…”

It goes without saying that it was a night where one could hardly see a step ahead due to the raging snowstorm. All the buildings were buried in snow. Even for Flame, who was breathing fire from every part of her body, it was no easy task to find the desired building amidst the chaos.

Especially with just a smartphone that had its navigation and internet completely down.

“Scientist! Where are you!”

As she melted her way through the first floor buried in snow, Flame looked down at her smartphone as it finally buzzed with an incoming message. Communication that had been cut off from the outside suddenly resumed in this building. Even though it seemed she still couldn’t access news or the internet…

[Take the elevator to the 55th floor.]

After receiving the contact from Eight, Flame boarded the elevator. Upon arriving at the headquarters of the Evil Organization, she shrank back. It suddenly hit her—was it even okay for a magical girl like her to enter the Evil Organization so nonchalantly?

Of course, considering she had already sold her body and soul to an evil scientist, what was there to even question now…but still, it was undeniable that she felt a twinge of guilt.

“Ah, Flame-san? You’ve arrived quickly.”

“…Didn’t you tell me to come as fast as possible?”

“Even so, I didn’t expect you to arrive this quickly. I’m glad I called you, Flame-san.”

Eight said this with a light smile. How terrifying it was to know how much darkness lurked behind that friendly smile and how adept he was at pushing people into the pit of despair.

Who was the one who nailed down her friends’ fates, leaving them on a leash? It was her!

“…So, why did you call me?”

“I have something for you to do, Flame-san. You encountered that snowstorm on your way here, right? How was it?”

“It was cold. Honestly, it was annoying, and I wanted to just wipe it all out…”

“That’s exactly it.”

“Eh?”

As Flame tilted her head in confusion, Eight pointed at her with a grin.

“We’re going into that snowstorm. And we plan to wipe all of it out.”

“…Just who is going to do that?”

“Of course, it’s you, Flame-san.”

With a beaming smile—

Looking at Eight’s cheerful expression, Flame thought to herself.

As expected, this guy is truly the villain.

* * *

[Scientist? Is he really a scientist? Don’t worry about it. There are plenty of excellent ability users in my possession…]

“Then I understand. I’ll prioritize ending this situation over saving the boss.”

[Proceed to do so. I will personally grant permission.]

Barely getting the playful permission of the boss, delays soon began to arise in the established communication. Moments later, the crackling screen was completely drowned in noise.

When the artificial satellite finally transmitted the last images, the planet was once again being engulfed by a pure white snowstorm. In the very brief time facilitated by the dragon, I realized that the time was nearly up and stood from my seat.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“…Why did the internet work just now?”

“Because our friendly dragon cleared the snow. However, the snowstorm won’t cease. It just melted for a moment.”

And at the same time, I confirmed that even a being as powerful as a dragon could not disperse the snowstorm. My hypothesis was increasingly gaining credibility. This phenomenon was not something that could simply be extinguished through brute force.

I pulled out the winter clothes I had stuffed in my wardrobe and layered them on, then followed Flame out of the building. Whoosh—! The flames bursting from the magical girl began to melt the piled-up snow, slowly paving the way forward.

‘As much as I wanted to send someone else instead…’

Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. I had to use a technique I shouldn’t. Plus, the only person Flame could protect in this snowstorm was just one.

So what choice did I have? I had to go out myself, no matter the risk.

Swoosh—!

“Ugh—!”

The moment a sharp cold wind grazed my earlobe, my skin, devoid of moisture, was torn in an instant. Flame, startled by my scream, turned back to see me bleeding from my frozen earlobe, shuddering in shock.

“Geez… Why are you so weak…?”

“This much is fine, so let’s keep going.”

“If we keep walking like this, you’re going to freeze to death… Sigh, there’s no helping it. Hop on.”

Flame said this as she crouched down cautiously, waving her hands to hurry me up. I pondered whether it was right to ride on the back of a girl younger than me and much smaller, but after experiencing the biting cold of another gust, I realized there was no time for pride and jumped onto her back.

The comical sight of an adult male riding on a high school girl’s back presented itself, yet surprisingly, it caused no major issues. Flame was a magical girl, meaning she possessed not just exceptional magical abilities but also physical capabilities far superior to ordinary people.

Like lifting a large doll, Flame quickly started dashing with me on her back. Each time the cold wind blew around us, I unconsciously pressed my body tightly against her back. It felt as if she had some kind of internal organ that generated heat; her body was inexplicably warm.

“Phew, phew—.”

“Don’t—don’t blow wind into my ear…!”

“Sorry, but it’s really cold…”

Still, that kind of conversation didn’t help against the extreme cold produced by the supernatural phenomena that felt almost like an ice age, so I buried my head into Flame’s neck to escape the chill.

Enduring with the faint scent of her skin rising, after Flame had let out a few soft groans, we finally arrived at our destination.

It was the Base Station of City E. A towering steel pillar transmitting signals all across City E.

“Why did we come here when communications are down?”

“F—First, let’s go inside—.”

Holding her hand, I entered the base station, pointing at the completely frozen structure.

“—Now, melt it.”

“…What do you think I am, some kind of tool?”

With a huff, Flame began melting the snow. As I watched the base station return to normal, I caught sight of a storm approaching from afar, snow swirling around.

This bizarre weather phenomenon seemed intent on making its intentions clear and would not allow me to get away with whatever tricks I was planning.

“Wha—What the hell—?! That can’t be good…”

“…We have to stop it.”

“No way, if we do, we’re both going to freeze to death!”

“Still, stop it. If you don’t, we’ll die anyway.”

“Damn it…!”

With an expression resembling that of someone who had just received unreasonable orders from a black company boss, Flame approached the snowstorm, emitting flames from her entire body to oppose the hurricane-sized blizzard. But no matter how superhuman one was, they could not resist nature’s grandiosity.

The snowstorm charged forward, not caring about whatever Flame did, as if it aimed to freeze us to death at that very moment.

“Sorry, but it’s too late.”

According to my hypothesis, that snowstorm was not a natural phenomenon.

Yet, it wasn’t a purely artificial occurrence either.

To be precise, it could be considered artificial… but…

That was the archetype of a weather anomaly.

An existence embodying the “weather phenomenon” imagined by all of humanity.

It wouldn’t vanish after killing a few people, nor would it reappear after clearing a blizzard.

The way to eliminate it was incredibly simple.

‘If we change humanity’s subconsciousness, it will disappear.’

Vroooom—!

The battery I had brought from the Laboratory powered the base station. The snowstorm whipped around, beginning to interfere with the transmission, but that didn’t matter. The power emanating from the cutting-edge base station was certainly not enough to block the powerful electromagnetic waves going out into space.

Once the electromagnetic waves escaped into space, that would be it. The satellite would relay the signals to other satellites and blanket the entire planet.

The transmission of the information that nobody on the surface could escape from.

“Aah, greetings. People of Terra.”

─Gooooo……!

“We are announcing from the Earth Alliance.”

Now, let’s end everything.

“The climate crisis is a hoax.”

The next moment, my voice transmitted across the entire planet.

* * *

Snow falls from the sky.

Not a blizzard raging like a storm, but a gentle snowfall.

Realizing my plan had succeeded, I welcomed the falling snowflakes with my palm.

‘Real winter has come.’

Winter has arrived.

The first winter together with the people of another world.