And then the witch made her move.
When I returned to the waiting room, I was greeted by an intense gaze.
I briefly bowed my head as a precaution.
Personally, I want to show off with a smug face, but the victory was thanks to Arcana’s power. On my own, I still can’t defeat Thalagong.
As I tried to lift my head, my hood was suddenly yanked off and my cheeks were grabbed from both sides.
In front of me stood an irritated Thalagong, who began to roughly squeeze my cheeks.
It kinda hurts.
“Isyadefuu”
Behind Thalagong, Jeanne was smiling wryly, and nearby was a magical girl I hadn’t seen before.
Is she Zeahrfil?
She has a rather gloomy atmosphere; maybe it’s because she uses shadow magic? Nightmare, who uses dark magic, was annoyingly barking, so this might just be individual differences.
“Tired, Inie. I didn’t expect you to actually win.”
I’d like to respond to Jeanne, but Thalagong is still kneading my cheeks, so I can’t speak.
Then, Demon separated from me and struck a triumphant pose.
“Didn’t I say it? That even at 1 vs 4 we could win?”
“That’s true. While I wasn’t careless, I didn’t expect such overwhelming strength.”
Arongante was defeated by surprise attack. I believe their defense system isn’t impenetrable, but it puts a strain on the body, so at that moment, countering was the most efficient way to defeat them.
“I didn’t expect to get slashed so easily. The world tree ended up burning in the end. There’s nothing I could do about it.”
Fleur’s trouble… I mean, strength, I’ve experienced once in a simulation. She’s someone I don’t want to fight under normal circumstances.
By the way, Haruna doesn’t want to get involved with her either.
“If I seriously fought, I’d be brutally killed! This! This!”
After pulling and kneading my cheeks several times, Thalagong finally let go.
Well, fighting Thalagong seriously would be troublesome. You can’t get close, and weak magic gets nullified.
Besides, Thalagong’s magic is too complicated.
Honestly, I feel like I overdid it a bit, but using large-scale magic was the easiest way, so there’s nothing I can do.
“The children all seemed to be taken out by first-time tactics. It’s fair since it was a match, but next time I won’t lose so easily. By the way, what exactly did you do at the end? I was sent back to the pod without realizing anything.”
Sorry Peach Princess, but I used only first-time tactics this time. After all, defeating four people within five minutes was quite tough.
I wanted a more thrilling battle, but due to time constraints, it had to be cut short this time.
“That technique cuts off only magical energy. With that, I severed the source of Peach Princess’ magical power. In actual combat, it would just cancel the transformation, but in the simulation, it was judged as death due to the loss of magical energy.”
“Interesting. Did you tamper with the blood as well?”
“Yes. I assume you noticed, but I used magic that affects blood similarly.”
“Hmm… I see…”
Peach Princess nodded thoughtfully but is probably considering how to beat me next time.
“It’s nice to discuss impressions, but shouldn’t we get back to work?”
White Mage is right. These people came here on a job request from Blade. Even Blade can’t handle three people’s worth of work, so it’s better to return early.
Also, if we talk too much, there’s a possibility Thalagong will get upset again.
“Tch. Fine. We’re leaving, but Arongante is just going back there, right? Please hear everything from Inie.”
“Understood. I’ll summarize the content of this mock battle and send it later. Should the video be private?”
“Not private, but could you delete it? During the New Demon War, it couldn’t be helped, but I’d like to erase as much information about this power as possible.”
While I understand Demon’s point, does it really need to go that far? For a witch, hacking or stealing data is probably child’s play, but Demon has their own reasons, I suppose.
“And Inie, make sure to go home properly. Don’t stay somewhere weird again.”
“…Yes.”
When Thalagong isn’t around, I do go home properly.
Thalagong, Fleur, and Peach Princess left reluctantly.
It’s good that we won, but if we had lost, I wonder what they would have said…
–Even though we won, I got treated pretty harshly, but there’s nothing I can do about that.
“I’m heading back first. Arongante, come back quickly when you’re done.”
Next, White Mage also disappeared, leaving only three of us.
Me, Arongante, and Jeanne… oh, Zeahrfil was missing.
Somehow, they blended into the background and slipped away unnoticed.
“Zeahrfil-san, right?”
“Yes. Nice to meet both of you. Since others are present, I’ll keep it brief, but please contact me if anything happens. Demon should understand the meaning.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that. Ideally, I would have contacted you, but various things happened. Also, I don’t think there will be any more communication from above.”
“I appreciate your gratitude, but neither I nor Demon feel guilty. Formalities are necessary, though.”
“At least I am. But Demon forgot, which was the biggest mistake. However, we were busy, so it couldn’t be helped.”
“Alright. Then I’ll make arbitrary judgments on our side. Oh, and you can call me Zea.”
“Understood.”
“Then, see you again sometime.”
Zea sank into Jeanne’s shadow and disappeared.
That was pretty cool, but something I can’t imitate.
Fools and demons lack such abilities, and a white mage can only use four attributes.
There’s definitely something intriguing about light and darkness attributes.
If I mention this to Demon, they’ll probably laugh, so I’ll keep it to myself.
“Jeanne, is there something you need?”
“I heard a little rumor and thought I should warn Inie. And also, a health check, just in case.”
“Could it be that matter?”
Jeanne and Arongante seem to understand each other, but I haven’t caused any trouble recently, so I didn’t expect rumors to spread…
—There was one incident.
But I don’t think it was that bad. Anyway, I can’t judge until I hear the story.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Isn’t it about healing Akatsuki’s arm?”
“You’re right. It’s not criticism, but lately, there aren’t enough magical girls capable of recovery magic, so tensions are running high.”
Recovery magic is less fuel-efficient than regular magic.
There are hardly any magical girls who can heal major injuries.
And if they do, they can’t do anything else for the whole day.
Of course, veteran magical girls are given priority over rookies or younger ones.
Younger ones like Akatsuki are simply left untreated.
Once the witch is defeated, Jeanne might be able to heal them, but that’s far in the future.
Putting that aside, lately, the number of magical girls who have become permanently disabled—losing arms or legs in battle—has been increasing.
Among them, Akatsuki had her arm healed by me and returned to the battlefield.
Those two probably haven’t talked, but currently, the only magical girl who can freely use recovery magic must be me.
Rumors breed rumors, and eventually reached Jeanne, I suppose.
“I told them not to talk about it, but I guess it leaked anyway.”
“There’s only Inie, so it’s understandable. What you’re doing is commendable, but many magical girls are harboring resentment. Try to handle things more tactfully.”
“Why don’t they manage things better on their side? It’s none of my business.”
“That’s hard to argue against. Though Demon is around, so I think you’re safe, but reckless magical girls might act impulsively, so be careful. Well, I’ll leave now.”
This is a common old story. If you give money to one poor person out of kindness, other poor people gather, and in the end, you end up being stripped of everything and become poor yourself.
Right now, I’m in a similar situation.
Why did he get healed but not me? Why is he charging money?
People like that might come swarming.
Well, I can escape by teleportation, so it’s no problem.
“Thank you for the warning.”
Jeanne smiled slightly and left the waiting room.
“Then, let’s talk about the mock battle. Just share what you can.”
Finally, we’re getting to the main topic, but I’m not sure where to start…
While I was thinking about that, Arongante’s terminal rang, and Demon entered me.
“Excuse me. Please wait a moment.”
(What’s up?)
『It might be a bit of a bad situation. Listen to Arongante’s conversation while I intercept it.』
“Arongante here. Is there something wrong?”
『We just received a criminal statement from someone claiming to be a witch. They declared that they will destroy Australia in two hours from now. Additionally, a barrier-like boundary seems to have been set up across all of Australia, disabling both communication and transfer.』
“…Understood. I’ll return immediately. Please contact the magical girls listed in the emergency manual and gather them in the first conference room.”
『Understood.』
A witch’s criminal declaration, huh?
This is getting interesting, isn’t it?
