Chapter 76 : Free Magical Girl Federation

Sumire, Kang Dorim, and Laura, who had been in a meeting with the self-governing bodies to plan personnel assignments and strategies for the search operation for the magical girl of [Beginning], returned.

“Your Majesty?!”

“Unnie?! We were so worried when we couldn’t contact you!”

“Sorry, I fainted for a while after using up too much power. How’s the situation in China?”

“[Freedom] and [Dagger] desperately fought and defeated the magical girl of [Sword]. We also retrieved her Glass Star.”

Sumire’s expression briefly clouded with guilt as she mentioned Ichika, who had once been at the Fujimoto research facility, while reporting to me.

‘Ichika… You won…!’

I felt a thrill at the tremendous news that [Sword], one of the remaining sources of anxiety, had been repelled. But sadness washed over me when I heard that victory was built on the sacrifice of 6 born 1-star magical girls and numerous soldiers.

Defense teams including Laura and Sumire were also on standby in Europe and Japan respectively, where the magical girl of [Revenge] might appear, but she didn’t show up in the end.

“I see. Everyone… fought desperately.”

“…Yes. Everyone desperately protected everything.”

After listening to Sumire explain the progress of operations in each country for a moment, I brought up what I had been curious about.

“What’s this about a magical girl country? What happened while I was unconscious for 3 days?”

“Ah, so that rumor has spread already…”

Kang Dorim clutched her head, seeming to ponder for a moment how to explain.

“People around the world were more shocked than expected by how the US, Russia, China, and Korea were brought to the brink of national destruction by the group calling themselves Scavengers.”

“But we stopped them. …Though not without any sacrifices.”

Sumire nodded at my words and continued.

“What brought the growing fear due to the Scavengers to a peak was the disappearance of nuclear weapons by the magical girl of [Beginning].”

“Because of me…? They’re scared of that?”

“That was on a scale that can only be called a miracle no matter how you look at it.”

Laura said with an expression that still seemed unable to believe it.

“The decisive trigger was that the magical girl of [Beginning] demonstrated power close to that of a god… incomparable even to those fearsome Scavengers.”

With the power of a single person to destroy a nation.

Replenishing infinite energy with starlight.

Creating imaginary giant weapons.

Self-sufficient in food and materials even if existing national infrastructure is destroyed.

Single-handedly eliminating thousands of the most powerful nuclear weapons created by humans.

“It’s like, do the old social orders like America or Russia even mean anything anymore?”

“Even now, the European magical girl self-governing body offices in Germany, Belgium, and France are full of people coming with various proposals.”

Billions of people around the world saw all the order and common sense they had been ruled by shattered, so they focused on magical girl society as a possible new world order. And the belief in the relationship that ‘magical girls exist under the state’, which hadn’t broken even while witnessing all kinds of magical girl activities, was overturned by this incident.

“People around the world now hold such awe and fear that they can no longer see the group of magical girls gathered as just another state agency or self-governing body.”

“Unnie, that’s how it is… Our influence has become so great and frightening that people can’t be satisfied with just saying we protect magical girls and help people.”

“…”

“Right now, the whole world needs the assurance that someone with absolute conviction is clearly controlling the magical girl organization.”

Just as ants might view a human hand raised to protect them with wariness. Even power rooted in good intentions instills great caution when it becomes too enormous.

A tremendous sense of pressure that couldn’t be felt from scenes of healing people or abilities shown in magical girl friendly matches.

‘Do they think I’ve now become someone who can influence the whole world, not just a protector of a specific group?’

The vivid sight of thousands of nuclear weapons vanishing in an instant was more shocking than the surreal power of declaring domains and manipulating cognition and causality.

“…Then what about the Free Magical Girl Federation?”

“Apparently, America had been secretly extracting unaffiliated magical girls from around the world since last year and gathering them at a protection facility in New York.”

All operation details were strictly delivered by hand, so even [Cyberbrain]’s ability couldn’t detect it.

“They were trying to create a state-recognized organization modeled after the Council or Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team’s operations, but were struggling because there was no one to be the center.”

They were going to make an official announcement after absorbing the state-recognized magical girls of China and Korea during last year’s attack by the magical girl of [Bombing], but it fell through.

While the group announcement was delayed, the Moscow incident occurred.

Nuclear counterattack.

Ruthless violence assuming the worst.

And behind that, a miracle.

The magical girls were thrilled by the enormous miracle the magical girl of [Beginning] performed to save people.

[The ideal we hoped for is not here.]

The magical girls who had gathered after hearing the US government would create an organization like the Council where magical girls could help people, left the protection facility.

[America is no longer the world’s watchdog or protector. The old order we knew is over.]

[Only the magical girl of Beginning and the Grand Council think of both magical girls and other people simultaneously.]

[We, the Free Magical Girl Federation gathered from various countries, will now depart not for any specific country, but for a new order!]

And in just one night, 300 magical girls who had been relying on the protection facility disappeared without a trace after issuing a critical statement against America.

The world was turned upside down once again by America’s secret plan exposed after the Moscow incident and the mass defection of magical girls.

“They all disappeared from New York?”

“…And those 300 appeared at Tokyo Port yesterday. And they keep insisting they will entrust themselves to the magical girl of [Beginning].”

“What? From America to Japan in a day? Did transportation-specialized magical girls like Natalia get involved?”

Kang Dorim shook her head at those words.

“The magical girl of [Navigation] didn’t return to Russia and was pulling an all-nighter repairing the Sirius where the Russian team members who had been puppetized were being treated.”

“Apparently there was a magical girl of [Wing] among the Free Magical Girl Federation who could grant movement ability.”

It seems there was an ability user specialized in movement like [Transfer] who installed the warp gates we frequently use.

“Where are the Free Magical Girl Federation magical girls now?”

“We’ve agreed with the Japanese government to temporarily house them at the Relief Corps training dormitory.”

I organized my thoughts after hearing Sumire’s words.

Amidst the chaos from the Moscow incident, hundreds of magical girls in America defected, requesting to be entrusted to the Grand Council.

The Grand Council now with over 8000 affiliated magical girls.

In the eyes of people around the world, it’s 8000 gathered of this enormous power where just one could bring down a country.

Magical girls who are starting to lead society with marvelous abilities, using independent resources and energy sources without regard for spatial meaning through warps and sky gardens.

And at the apex is the magical girl of [Beginning] who vaporized thousands of nuclear weapons launched by the US and Russia.

‘What I created has grown too big. Now the whole world is anxious just by our existence.’

Although the number of magical girls itself hasn’t changed much since most of Japan’s magical girls were absorbed from the beginning.

Because I went around the world and changed them into a society that could unite magical girls within the domain.

Because I bound them not as powerful individuals but as a magical girl society with enormous explosive power through solidarity and harmony.

The world that overcame the moment of destruction now respects and fears magical girl society.

‘Did I show all my power too generously, creating coexisting fear and worship?’

Wishing it to be a single kingdom absolutely ruled by one wearing the crown, not self-governing bodies that could scatter at any time.

And wishing that the one wearing that crown would be me, who had shown more righteous actions than anyone.

The faceless king.

The nickname with magical girls’ characteristically exaggerated sensibility has now become the identity that people around the world want from me.

“…”

Should I accept it?

My first step was longing for my mother, and my first touch was help for a girl caught up in an incident.

Even when I was preparing to fight [War] by declaring domains, I didn’t expect my influence to grow this much.

So that I could return without burden even after everything ended.

I induced those left behind to be able to manage on their own under the self-governing bodies.

I thought that level of presence for my existence was enough.

At first it was to protect myself from Fujimoto’s threat, but I didn’t take off the mask even after that.

I always hid my face with a mask and watched everything from behind.

“…”

…I couldn’t give an answer yet.

“For now, let’s head to the dormitory where the Free Magical Girl Federation is staying.”