“……”
“Hey… no need to glare at me like that.”
The day after the second Magical Typhoon was born, the Fairy Queen barged into my house.
I haven’t said anything yet, but I already have a rough idea of why she’s here.
She came all this way to talk about the dangers of the Crystal Stone, and yet I went ahead and did it anyway.
Of course, it wasn’t me who used it.
“First of all, she chose it herself, and I told her it was dangerous and not to do it. I definitely didn’t push her into it.”
“…But shouldn’t you have stopped her?”
“Sorry to say… humans aren’t creatures that can be stopped just because someone tells them to. If they’re that determined, no one can stop them. It’s obvious they’ll do it secretly later anyway.”
“Then you should’ve at least pretended to stop her.”
“I’m not good at acting.”
Ah, she’s back to her usual slacker queen self.
When she’s in slacker queen mode, she starts making weird excuses and becomes… kind of annoying to deal with. I’d rather not see her like this.
And stop puffing up your cheeks like that.
Why is the Fairy Queen acting like a little kid?
“Sigh~… You’re way too calm, and since when did you stop caring whether people live or die~…”
“Not caring whether people live or die… that’s too harsh. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s just that I don’t want to interfere with something they’ve chosen to do, knowing full well the consequences.”
“Your appearance is still so cute, but your insides are a mess…”
“Why are you bringing up my appearance when you know I’m a guy? And if you want to blame someone, blame that monster.”
“…I know. I’ll never forget, and I’ll never let it go.”
Why are you suddenly setting the mood like that…
If I were the one falling into that kind of emotion, fine, but I don’t like it when others set that kind of mood.
Don’t pity me on your own terms.
It’s just that I’m not mentally mature enough, that’s all.
“By the way, where do you buy these snacks?”
“They’re scheduled to go on sale next week, so you’ll be able to get them starting then.”
“Really? …Anyway, Magical Typhoon’s magical girl registration went through today, right?”
“Yes, it did. But… please don’t let something like this happen again.”
“I know. This was a special case anyway. There was no helping it this time.”
If it weren’t for such a special case, I would’ve taken the Crystal Stone back, even if I had to beat someone up.
Whether it was a kid or whatever.
“…By the way, there’s one thing… I need to tell you.”
“Huh? What is it?”
“Recently, a [Gate] unique to monsters has been detected in the skies above central China. Powerful demons or monsters take a long time to summon, so this might be a sign of that.”
“Even a Duke-Class wouldn’t be that fast, right?”
“Yes… that’s right. So, Rampage, please be ready to transform at any time.”
The skies above China, huh… Looks like they’re planning to destroy a densely populated area.
Even so, I don’t really want to stay in China waiting for them… Well, I’ll just head out when they show up.
And since we detected it early, we can evacuate the people there in advance.
If they don’t do that, it’s their own fault.
If they’re too lazy to take the opportunity we’re handing them, they’re not worth protecting.
If they treat their own lives like flies, what am I supposed to do?
No matter how much magical girls want to protect humanity, there’s no point in trying to save people who’ve given up on themselves.
In fact, trying to save them will only lead to trauma when they end up dying because of their own mistakes.
“I can fly over as soon as I get the request, so don’t worry. Did you already start the evacuation?”
“Well… I’ve talked to China’s representative, but I’m not sure if they’ll actually evacuate.”
“Ah… Well, they’ll probably take some measures. Even if it’s a messed-up country, the leader still has a support base. If they fail at something as simple as epidemic prevention, their approval rating will tank. If their citizens suddenly get wiped out en masse? Especially if it’s revealed they just stood by and watched, their approval rating won’t even be 10%, let alone 5%. Not to mention, a leader who’s trying to build their own kingdom with policies to keep the people ignorant wouldn’t be crazy enough to do something like that.”
“That’s true, but… I’ve seen quite a few representatives or kings who are beyond imagination in their stupidity…”
“Ah…”
Well, if that’s the case, there’s nothing we can do.
Reality is always more absurd than fiction.
“If that’s the case… then if they really don’t evacuate…”
“…Even if they do, please act under my permission. The Fairy Realm needs to make a statement first before moving, so we’ll receive less criticism.”
“Got it.”
I don’t really care how they run their politics, but I can’t stand by and watch their citizens get slaughtered by monsters.
Especially when the Fairy Queen herself, the top of the Fairy Realm, personally warned them. If they still don’t act, it’s like they’re ignoring the Fairy Realm and allowing the monsters to kill their people.
That’s a complete mockery of the reason magical girls exist in the first place.
I can’t let that slide.
“Anyway… I need to go meet Magical Typhoon soon, so you should head back. Stop acting like the slacker queen here.”
“That’s so mean~.”
“…Oh, right. What about the connection with the Medal?”
“…There isn’t one. It’s a separate issue.”
“Really?”
“And that black figure… we’ve discovered it has a tendency to corrupt living beings.”
“Corruption? That’s pretty dangerous. Do you have any idea who created that black figure?”
“Not yet. But… I feel something oddly familiar about it. It’s just a guess for now, but I think I can figure out the cause.”
“Oh…”
They’re figuring it out faster than I thought.
And even though I still don’t know what they’re doing with the Medal, it seems like they can track who’s behind it…
It’s probably someone I knew from the past.
“Thanks for the info. And Chubby. Open the [Gate].”
“Yep!”
So the Medal is a separate issue… That means we’ve got another problem on our hands.
By the way, I’m a bit worried about how to train Magical Typhoon.
Maybe I’ll have her try using magic first, and if there’s a problem, move on to control training?
“Were you waiting?”
“Ah, no. I just got here too.”
“Really? Then… start by using every magic spell you have on that scarecrow over there.”
“…[Storm Strike]!”
Hmm… As I expected, she’s having trouble controlling it and looks a bit panicked.
Unlike the magic created using the Crystal Stone, the power has significantly decreased, despite appearances.
In other words, it’s very unstable.
“Why, why is this happening…?”
“It’s because what you’re using belongs to someone else.”
“Huh?”
“When you used the Crystal Stone, the magic was in a stable form and automatically activated at a fixed power level. But now that you’re a magical girl, you have to control it yourself, which is causing the problem.”
“I have to… control it myself…?”
“Exactly. You have to do it yourself. A magical girl isn’t like a playable character in an RPG who uses skills with predetermined power levels based on stats. So, what you need to do now is adapt to your friend’s magical power and strength, and slowly make it your own.”
This training is going to take a while.
She’s not a rookie magical girl, but she suddenly inherited her friend’s powers and became a magical girl, so I expected this.
Normally, she’d learn a lot from the mascot and gain experience by defeating Baron-Class monsters under guidance, but she couldn’t do that.
“Magic is about clearly recognizing the form of the technique and pouring out the necessary amount of magical power at once. You’ll get used to the magical power as you keep using it, so keep practicing.”
Following my instructions, Magical Typhoon kept using magic on the scarecrow.
What I noticed is that this training… is going to take a few more days.
Sometimes she pours out too little magical power and the spell fizzles, other times she pours out too much and panics when the spell takes an unexpected form… She’s still very inexperienced.
She can’t even properly shape the technique, so it’s just a strong wind.
The technique’s form itself can be fixed quickly with some knowledge and explanation, but the way she uses magical power… She’ll just have to keep practicing until she gets used to it.
Honestly, there’s no other way.
And as for combat… or rather, sparring? Or maybe a mock battle?
I’ll save that for later, after she gets used to drawing out magical power and using magic.
I’ll also give her some ideas for other types of techniques.
“Haa, haa…”
“You’re wasting a lot of magical power. Magical girls usually have a lot of magical power, but you’ve already used it all…”
I don’t usually do this, but I have no choice.
I’ll use my own magical power to replenish hers.
“Here, your magical power is full again. Try again.”
Oh… Even though she just used up all her power, she’s doing better than before.
Her movements are good, and once she gets used to it, she’ll be a decent fighter.
The only problem is that she’s way too enthusiastic.
She needs to calm down and analyze while training, but she’s not doing that.
“Don’t just keep using magic recklessly. Analyze why the magic is activating the way it is and give yourself feedback.”
“Got it! [Vortex Hurricane]!!”
This girl… Did she even understand what I said?
She’s just firing off magic again…
Well, she’ll figure it out.
By the way, she doesn’t need to shout the names every time, but should I tell her?
A magical girl’s power is governed by 「Concept」, so shouting the name of the technique can make it a bit stronger, but… for most techniques, the difference isn’t that big.
So it’s better to fire them off without shouting the names in normal situations.
Only shout the name when the power difference is huge, or when you’re putting everything into one attack.
Or when you’re showing off?
“Hey, don’t use it like that. Think about sharpening the wind into a blade-like shape and firing it off.”
“Ah, like this?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“Wow… Why is the power like this? It suddenly changed so much.”
“That’s because you were just thinking about wind. To properly unleash its power, you need to shape it into a form. Real wind is just molecules in the air being pushed by force, after all.”
“Molecules?”
“…I’m talking about gases like oxygen or carbon dioxide.”
“Ah~.”
In the case of wind, it’s the movement of air, but it’s easier to think of it as the movement of matter.
Gases are also molecules, and as such, they have mass and volume.
So if you compress them into a blade-like shape, you can cut through enemies along with mana particles.
It’s a pretty forced idea, ignoring things like pressure and temperature, but that’s what magic is for—making the impossible possible.
After all, things like the Crystal Stone and magical girls themselves don’t make sense, so trying to strictly adhere to realism at this point is nonsense.
Anyway, magic is about adding imagination to that knowledge and forcibly realizing it.
Magical power is… derived from 「Concept」, a force called ‘ether’.
“How was that?!”
“…Not bad. Let’s keep training like this.”
“Okay!”
“And tomorrow, I’ll have you study more about wind and typhoons, so bring your note-taking tools.”
“Got it!”
“……”
…By the way, something just occurred to me.
What happens to someone who became a magical girl using the Crystal Stone?
Maybe I should ask the Fairy Queen later.
There must be records of such cases.
Well, it’s not like they’d end up like me, anyway.
Let’s just focus on training for now.
…Huh? Why am I getting a call all of a sudden…
[Long time no see~! I’ll drop by for a bit~! I got the address from the mascot~!]
[…Don’t come.]
[I’m coming!]
[……]
…That person, are they really coming just like that…