Chapter 23

Today, I arrived at the Global Zone of the Mascot Headquarters.

As soon as I got here, I saw a variety of magical girls from different races and a huge space.

Definitely, it’s incomparable to the Korean Zone.

“Hmm…”

Is this the Global Zone?

There are quite a few different races, but white people are still the majority.

There are more black people than I thought, but Middle Eastern… kids aren’t visible?

Well, except for secular places like Turkey, they’ve all disappeared, so it’s normal not to see them, right?

Other than that, Southeast Asian kids are quite visible, unlike the Middle Eastern ones.

But why is there a Global Zone like this?

Don’t they usually make one for each country?

Or… did they make it so kids from different countries can interact?

Well, that seems more likely.

…But why does everyone’s gaze feel so intimidating?

It’s not exactly rejection, but it feels like they’re targeting me for something.

Ah, they all started taking pictures of me with their smartphones.

Since I shouldn’t disturb them, they’re taking pictures from a distance.

“Such popularity!”

“Enough. Let’s head to the store first.”

Even with this much popularity, honestly, I don’t get it.

It’s not like I entered the entertainment industry to become popular or anything. I just spent my whole life beating up demons and monsters, and suddenly I’m a popular magical girl star?

Even if you say that… it just feels weird.

Sorry to the girls taking pictures of me, though.

“Wow… it’s quite spacious and looks a bit different.”

“There are things here we couldn’t see in the Korean Zone!”

The Magical Girl Store in the Global Zone… impressive.

Most of it is meaningless to me, but there are a lot of things girls would go crazy for.

“Nothing I really need to buy. Let’s check out the snacks and ice cream.”

“Okay!”

Hmm, hmm… quite a few snacks I haven’t seen before?

The ice cream seems the same, so I’ll pass, but I’ll buy a lot of the new snacks.

“…More than that, seeing them crowding around taking pictures is really…”

“There’s nothing we can do about it!”

Then I’ll just buy this and… wait, is there something interesting here?

Let’s see… huh? A Multilingual Translation Device?

You plug this into your ear and it automatically translates?

What kind of technology is this…

I definitely need to buy this.

Maybe I should buy a few more, just in case.

“…Hi.”

“…Why are you here?”

What, why is Gravity here?

And why is she in pajamas with a bunny set again?!

“Snacks…”

“To buy snacks?”

“…Yeah.”

Ah~ she came to the Magical Girl Store to buy snacks.

Then it’s better to buy them in the Global Zone where there’s the most variety.

“…I like this snack…”

“Rampage! Please fight me!!”

“……”

“…Who?”

“I’m Magical Revolver!!”

While talking to Gravity, someone suddenly ran up to me and shouted.

Suddenly asking me to fight, I don’t get what they’re saying.

Isn’t it normal to ask for a handshake or an autograph?

…By the way, this Multilingual Translation Device is incredibly good.

The English sounds so natural in Korean.

The technology is insane…

“…With me? Why?”

“I want to feel how strong you are with my whole body!!”

“Sigh~…”

…Well, if they want it that much, I can’t refuse.

But it’s impressive how they run up and demand it like this on first meeting.

How do they know how I’ll respond?

“Alright. But I’ll only use one wand. From my spot.”

“A handicap?! Aren’t you underestimating me?! But I’ll do it!!”

Besides, this kid has a really loud voice…

It’s loud enough to break through double soundproof walls.

“Ready!!!”

Anyway… so, I went to the Training Ground with Magical Revolver and faced off at a distance.

Magical Revolver transformed her wand into two revolvers, and I just held one wand.

Of course, Magical Revolver took the first move.

As soon as she started, she unleashed her Second Ability and used a technique, so she’s serious.

“[Fast Draw]!!”

As soon as she started, she used a technique called [Fast Draw] and fired dozens, hundreds of energy bullets made of magical power at me.

But all those energy bullets were blocked by my wand, and Magical Revolver’s mouth dropped open.

…Sorry, but I can handle a wand too.

Though I use it more like a staff.

“T-then how about this!! [Ricochet Shot]!!”

Ricochet…? I don’t know, but judging by the look, it’s a ricochet shot.

Combining [Fast Draw] with a Common Magic that limits the range… good idea.

But if I just deflect them all with my wand, it’s over.

“Y-you deflected all of them?! That’s impossible!!!”

“Not a big deal.”

“Noooooo!!!”

Magical Revolver started wailing.

Maybe she’s gone mad, she just kept firing all sorts of techniques and energy bullets… but really, sorry, I deflected them all one by one with my wand.

“Hmm…”

Magical Revolver seems like a magical girl who could easily solo a Marquis-Class enemy with the amount and power of the energy bullets she’s firing.

Maybe even a Duke-Class solo… is quite possible?

But her low point is high, and her high point is a bit low, so unless she creates a technique with strong one-shot power, it’ll be tough.

Ah, it’s not over yet, so I should finish it.

I lightly lift my wand…

“Oof?!”

“Ah, oops. I threw it a bit too hard.”

I messed up the strength and threw the wand a bit too hard.

Magical Revolver… sorry.

It must hurt a lot getting hit in the stomach and then crashing into the wall.

But well, she’s not dead, so it’s fine.

I didn’t throw it with the intent to kill, just lightly.

If needed, the Mascot can heal her.

“Are you okay?”

“O-ow… sorry…”

This doesn’t look good.

I should cast Recovery Magic first.

“Chubby. Cast Recovery Magic first.”

“Okay!”

By the way, I still hear a lot of camera sounds and flashes.

I’ve roughly checked out this place and done what I needed to do… I should start preparing to escape.

Even for me, getting photographed like this is a bit embarrassing.

“Next is me!”

“I’m first!”

“Don’t cut in line!”

…Listening with the translation device, they’re all clamoring to fight me.

Fighting me, wouldn’t that be boring?

As you just saw, I handled it all with one wand and ended it in one shot.

Do they think that’s fun?

Or… is it just that getting a chance from me is that exciting?

Ugh, ugh… I really don’t get the mindset of kids these days.

“This, if I do it one by one, it’ll take too long…”

“Then I have a good solution!!”

What, she’s already revived.

“…What is it?”

“Stand here and tell them to come at you all at once!!!”

Ah~ definitely… then there won’t be any kids complaining unnecessarily, and it’ll be over quickly.

A pretty simple solution.

“…Ahem. If you want to fight me, come at me all at once right now.”

Following Magical Revolver’s advice, I said one line, but this is a bit… too many, isn’t it?

When will I finish dealing with all of them?

◇

Sigh~… tired…

“……”

If someone saw this, they’d think I piled up a mountain of magical girl corpses.

But well, if they all collapsed in about an hour, it’s a win.

…No, not a win, but the least loss.

There’s no benefit for me doing this.

But well, I had nothing else to do, so it’s fine, right?

“Let’s go back. Open the [Gate].”

“Okay!”

“……”

“Rampage?”

“…It’s nothing. Let’s go.”

…I thought someone was watching, but maybe it’s just my imagination.

Well, even if it’s not, as long as there’s no malice, I don’t need to worry.

“Ugh~!”

Ah… coming home makes me feel lazy right away.

I shouldn’t have indulged that Revolver kid…

By the way, the floor feels cooler than I thought, so I want to roll around.

“Rampage! Thanks to the photos taken earlier being storm-uploaded on SNS, various overseas articles are talking about you!”

“What? Not interested.”

“Don’t say that! You’ve shut up all the forces that doubted and belittled you!”

“Is that so… good for them.”

“Your reaction is too bland!”

“No, what’s there to react to… I’m not interested in the first place, so saying that doesn’t matter.”

I have no interest in that kind of thing now.

The only thing I care about is the power to kill any demon, any monster… any enemy.

I have no interest in meaningless things like magical girl rankings.

After all, being a magical girl is just about growing stronger to protect the human world.

So, I just need to know what’s happening with magical girls.

That aside, I should try the new snacks I bought.

Where… ah, here they are.

Hmm, slightly salty, it’s tasty.

“Chubby. Don’t look into that, make a list of what’s being sold in other zone’s Magical Girl Stores.”

“Okay…”

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with Fairy Realm snacks, feeling like I’m going crazy for snacks.

But since others need to eat too, I can’t just buy whatever I want.

Ah~ it would be nice if I could just deposit points and have them delivered directly from a place that stocks up.

Like online shopping malls these days.

“By the way… this was really good.”

A high-performance translator that plugs into your ear like an earphone and automatically translates all confirmed languages…

Of course, it only translates what you hear, so there are limits, but at least magical girls can communicate properly no matter what language they use.

Everyone must have one of these, for sure.

Especially those thinking about overseas assignments, it’s a must.

“Rampage!”

“What?”

“Recently, strange reactions have been detected!”

“What kind of reactions?”

“Well… clearly not magical girls, but demons are being defeated!”

“…Really?”

I think I’ve heard of this happening a few times before…

Sigh, why can’t I remember when it matters…

What was it? What caused this to happen?

“Chubby. My memory’s a bit fuzzy, but usually, what was the pattern in these cases?”

“…When an ordinary person, not chosen, uses a magical girl’s Crystal Stone to defeat them… there’s only one case.”

“Ah~ right, that was it.”

…There are actually two ways to use a Crystal Stone.

One is the way the Fairy Queen mentioned.

And the other is to handle the Crystal Stone itself as a weapon… that is, to manipulate the Crystal Stone to draw out the power stored within.

How they found out, or if it was just a lucky guess, I don’t know… but there was an incident caused by that.

“……”

Finally remembered… those damn incidents.

They wanted to handle a magical girl’s power themselves, so they hid during battles, waiting for a magical girl to die to steal the Crystal Stone.

It wasn’t that common for magical girls to die while defeating demons or monsters, but there were a few who managed to get it.

In the end, we caught them and publicly warned them, so it stopped.

Back then, we couldn’t track the Crystal Stone itself, but we could track the power it emitted, so we could catch them all.

“…So, what kind of bastard is doing that kind of thing now?”

“Right in this area!”

“Really?”

That aside… the fact that they’re doing something with it means they must have taken it before the Magical Girl Protection Department was established.

And coincidentally, there’s such a bastard in my area…

I have to go take care of this right away.

“Up to now, how many unknown defeat records are there?”

“Two Baron-Class and one Viscount-Class!”

At that level, it’s usually around 1 to 2-3 years, right?

Wait, there was no information about a magical girl of that level dying in this area?

Could it be… they stole a Crystal Stone from a magical girl who died in another area?

…Whatever, it doesn’t change the fact that I need to take care of that bastard.

It’s a bit late today, so I’ll pass, but starting tomorrow, I’ll begin the pursuit.