Ch.5959. What Kind of Hardship Is This

“Let’s go, Ellie.”

“Uh, okay.”

I took Ellie downstairs.

Hmm, there’s a lot of dust on the stairs too.

I used to clean regularly, but I haven’t been able to lately.

These kids probably didn’t care about this place and just tidied up the areas they mainly used.

Ah, if that’s what they call tidying up…

Haah…

I pulled out a large bag from a corner of the kitchen and handed it to Ellie.

“Here, put all the trash from this room in here.”

“Me…?”

“You have to work, don’t you?”

“Ah…”

Ellie sighed and started looking around.

Yeah, from her perspective, she probably wanted to say something about those people who weren’t cleaning up—the red-haired girl just sitting on the sofa looking at her phone, or Blanc who was busy talking about something. They’re just playing around without tidying up.

But what can we do? This is our job, right?

Actually, when I first came here, I was the one who stopped them from helping because it felt burdensome. It’s easier to work when they ignore us like that.

Well, as long as they move out of the way when we clean their area.

“What’s with the sigh? You have to work now. If you want to live with me. Right?”

“Ugh… no matter how you look at it, waiting on magical girls and doing chores… I’m totally failing as a villain.”

“Well, with Eden already collapsed, what’s there to complain about? Come on, hurry up.”

“Aren’t they going to move? They use this dorm too! Why are we the only ones working?”

“When those magical girls try to help, it becomes more troublesome. Physical exhaustion is a hundred times better. Take it from my experience.”

Hearing this, Arin looked like she wanted to say something, but Blanc stopped her before any words came out.

I don’t know why Blanc stopped her though.

Well, trying to work with Ellie who’s still full of complaints. Today’s training is going to be tough.

“Haah… can I rest after cleaning just this room? No, Blanc said we should rest today. Wouldn’t it be better to just take a break…”

“What are you talking about? That’s what I hate the most. Putting off work again and again, then trying to handle everything at once later. How many operations have you ruined by procrastinating? Remember when I first went to Eden, even before my debut, hmm?”

“Ah, I get it! I get it! Stop nagging! I’ll do as you say!”

Ellie hurriedly covered her ears and ran off to clean the room.

If only she had been like this from the start. Sigh.

Ellie seems to be collecting trash well enough on her own, so I decided to head to the kitchen area.

Since that living room is too big for Ellie to handle alone, I’ll fairly take the kitchen area where there’s just as much trash.

“Blanc, haven’t you ever thought that living like this might be a bad influence on Arin?”

“No, this is actually quite clean. Arin also…”

“Arin?”

“Ah, yes! Um, this level is… it’s a bit less organized than when I’m at home. But it’s still somewhat… well-organized chaos, I guess…?”

“Arin, haah… could you pass me that soda can? Ah, if you’re done with it, over here.”

Arin handed over what appeared to be an empty snack plate and soda can.

I also took Blanc’s coffee cup and put them all in the sink.

Haah. It’s so messy. Chaotic.

“I don’t think even the ruins I created were this untidy. Don’t you agree, Blanc?”

“Not to that extent.”

“I believe that abandoned factory ruins where we used to fight was much more organized.”

“But this place is organized, while that was completely abandoned with no one coming or going. You should compare comparable things.”

“Well, I did tidy up that place bit by bit when I got bored waiting for you to arrive, and I even made several hiding spots.”

“Still, comparing a place like that to a living space…”

“Whatever. But what were you two talking about so intently over there? If you had asked me for coffee, I would have made it for you right away.”

“Well, if I ask you for even that much, I’ll definitely get addicted. I might end up like that lazy Seohyun lying there languidly. Besides, I didn’t want to bother you as soon as you arrived.”

“Anyway. But what I asked was what you were talking about with Arin.”

The conversation almost veered off in a strange direction again.

Except for brief encounters during battles or chance meetings, I hadn’t had many long conversations with Blanc before. But living with Blanc recently, I’ve learned something.

When Blanc wants to hide something, she talks in circles and completely changes the subject.

And after being swept along several times without realizing it, I finally figured this out.

“Ah, that… it’s nothing special. Just talking about what Arin needs to do going forward. Arin is a magical girl after all. She needs to work hard to protect citizens. Right?”

“Aren’t you putting too much burden on her? Telling such a young girl to protect citizens… isn’t that too much?”

“If you think about it, weren’t you much worse? Don’t you remember how cruel you were to me when I was about Arin’s age? Do you?”

“No, back then we were both just doing our jobs…”

“Do you remember how painful it was when I fell from hundreds of meters in the air? Even with a body protected by magical power, it must have hurt, but you just kept attacking me trying to make me fall, remember?”

“I was young then, and you were young too…”

“That was after you regained your memories.”

“Haah. You really bring up old stories in such an ungenerous way.”

When I shot back at her with that pathetic tone, she sighed and spoke as if taking a step back.

“Anyway, I was just thinking about how to prevent Arin from experiencing that kind of pain. I’m not trying to burden her or increase her responsibilities. And what can we do? She was chosen by her mascot because she has talent as a magical girl. It’s our job as seniors to nurture that.”

“Well, I’ve already created a training course for her.”

“Ah, your help in developing Arin is rejected for now. If I had known you would collapse like that, I wouldn’t have asked you in the first place.”

“No, I’m actually stronger now, and I can control my power better…”

“Until you understand the exact criteria for evil deeds, all magical actions are forbidden. Got it?”

“Who are you to forbid my magical actions?”

“Originally, unauthorized use of magical power is prohibited. You know that, so why are you acting like this?”

“No, this is restricting my freedom…”

“Think about it. What if you collapse again and lose consciousness because of that freedom? This time it might not be 15 days, but a month, or even a year of lying unconscious. To bring you back from that unconsciousness, we’d need Ellie, but she’s also bound by the constraints of evil in her use of magic. Her remaining magical power is finite, and if it’s all depleted, how would we wake you up?”

“That evil deed thing…”

“We need to understand it before we can turn a blind eye. Without knowing that, if you excessively use magical power and collapse again? No. Absolutely forbidden. Forbidden. And stop overexerting yourself. Ask the others for help with difficult tasks. We hired Ellie to help too.”

“Ugh, really. You’re not my parent, yet you nag so much…”

“It’s all because I’m worried about you.”

“Please direct your concern toward citizens rather than wasting it on a villain like me who exists solely for evil and malicious deeds. Isn’t it strange for a magical girl to care about a villain?”

“Don’t you think it’s too late to argue about that now?”

“Still…”

“Think about how much influence you’ve already had on the magical girls in this dorm.”

“Haah. How careless of magical girls to depend on someone like me.”

“Yes, and for the sake of these complacent magical girls, listen to me.”

“Fine. Please move aside so I can figure out these criteria for evil deeds. You’re in the way of my cleaning.”

“Ah.”

Haah, really.

I’m not a child anymore.

Don’t do this, don’t do that…

Why would they want to give someone like me such excessive treatment?

By now, Ellie seems to have collected all the trash from the living room, as she approached me with a rather heavy bag and asked.

“Bine! I’m done! Where should I put this?”

“Follow me. But first, let me check.”

“No, I really cleaned thoroughly… I searched every nook and cranny more carefully than I do in my own home.”

“What are you talking about?”

Ignoring her complaints, I looked under the sofa.

“Hey. How is this searching every nook and cranny?”

“No, how could I possibly…”

“You need to clean this up. It makes cleaning difficult later.”

Tissues under the sofa, and what’s that?

I pulled out hair ties and strange odds and ends and sorted them.

I’ve been away from this house for about a month, and this is what happens? Isn’t this too much?

Haah.

“Anyway, the trash thrown away by those complacent, dull, and lazy magical girls goes over here.”

I roughly showed Ellie where to sort the trash and pointed out the nearby laundry room.

Right, now I should start organizing properly.

If only I could sort out this strange lump in my heart as easily.

What trouble I’ve gotten into, being caught up with these strange magical girls.