In their youth, Leo and Max competed to become the Hero. In the present, the Demon Lord takes Max shopping in his schoolgirl form. Max is confronted by his old friend Anego, who defected with Leo. She claims they are not criminals at all; when Leo defected, the Kingdom mockingly gave him worthless wastelands to live on, which the Gamma Republic citizens have worked hard to cultivate. However, when the wastelands turned out to contain magic ore, the Kingdom started the war to steal back the ore. Leo wants Max to defect too and has invited him to visit Gamma Republic before he decides. Meanwhile, an impatient Will, who is Anego's younger brother, takes the Demon Lord hostage to force Max's cooperation, assuming they are lovers. After throwing Will into the ocean, Max asks to be left alone. Intrigued, the Demon Lord hypnotizes Max long enough to get him on the airship to visit Leo. Afraid of being recognized, Max disguises himself and they quickly find Leo is a muscular, permanently cheerful idiot beloved by his citizens. Max confirms Leo has not changed since their hero days.