The Virtues of a Magical Girl (8)

The Virtues of a Magical Girl (8)

“Magical girl.”

Rene’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Aria. After all, it was her first time seeing a local magical girl. However, Rene didn’t know what kind of person Aria was or how strong she was.

And it was the same for Aria.

“It’s Aria..!”

“Don’t act like you know me, trash.”

The perpetrators, who had been pale with Rene’s killing intent, brightened up at Aria’s appearance, but she glared at them, grinding her teeth.

They immediately shrank into a corner. After all, Aria wasn’t here to protect the likes of them.

“I protect the order of this world. When magical girls act on their own standards without proper norms or rules, the world’s order collapses and society falls into chaos.”

She glared at Lulu, who was fluttering beside her. Lulu, feeling guilty, pretended not to notice. Originally, all these problems arose because fairy companies didn’t provide proper guidelines and only focused on performance, making magical girls compete.

“Then does the law of this society judge them? Is everyone satisfied with that law? I don’t think it’s that easy.”

“That’s…”

Aria was at a loss for words at Rene’s statement.

Of course, there were laws in the human empire where Rene lived.

Although they differed greatly from Earth’s laws in nature and form due to environmental differences, Rene, as a member of the upper class who was quite familiar with those laws, knew well that perfect laws don’t exist.

“I understand the importance of order and discipline. However, laws can’t always be the standard. Many people endure their imperfections just for the sake of society. But if there’s a strong ‘power’ that can overcome those imperfections, do we really need to follow those laws?”

Rene’s eyes sank coldly. Although she’s the same age as Aria now, her life as a princess and a magician has been quite dense.

She has seen and thought about a lot.

This includes her thoughts on the numerous laws and regulations that unnecessarily bound her from the moment she was born and eventually sent her to the demon realm as if selling her off.

Especially after seeing the powerful rule of Takiras, who is the law itself in the demon realm, this thought has become even more firm. Transcendent power that can bend everything.

And perfect control and domination based on it. Rene was gradually being influenced by the ideology of the new god-demon realm established by Takiras.

“In my view, magical girls have enough potential to become that power. The potential to become knights who create a new order in this world.”

“What you’re saying isn’t wrong, but it seems like you’re misunderstanding something. Are you really a high school student?”

But Aria laughed bitterly at Renée’s words.

“Most magical girls and fairy companies are stupid and irresponsible. They can never become a new order. Surely you’re not trying to become such an existence on your own?”

Aria knew the reality of the magical girl world better than Renée, who was a newcomer and from another world, so she couldn’t follow her kind of magical girl-centric theory.

From the too-young teenage magical girls to the world-weary magical girls in their 20s and 30s, they were all too busy looking out for themselves.

“There is not a single person in this land, including myself, who can be called absolute good. And there’s another big problem.”

“…What’s that?”

“We are too weak to embrace the world.”

Aria hung her head.

The most important thing in Renée’s theory was overwhelming power. A single apex that reigns above all.

However, the possibility of a magical girl or a group of magical girls, who were merely mercenaries of fairy companies, becoming that apex was extremely low. As it was, they were all keeping each other in check at the slightest sign of prominence.

“That can’t be. There must be someone who can dominate everyone and become the standard.”

Renée tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand. After all, the reason she brought up this conversation was because she had found some basis for it.

Suddenly, Aria’s brow twitched.

“Takilas. Ma… no, she… no, she’s in this world.”

Renée, who knew nothing, ended up uttering the name of someone who was like a sore spot for Aria.

“Takilas is chaos!”

Aria raised her voice for the first time in her life and shouted sharply. Her fists were trembling with excitement, and her eyes widened in surprise at her own reaction.

“And, and she’s still an immature child. Someone who just lives recklessly, full of themselves, can’t lead people. She wouldn’t even want that in the first place.”

She tried to calm her trembling voice. Renée’s gaze changed slightly too. She was reminded once again that the Takilas of this world was a magical girl, not a demon lord.

“The mainstream of this world is neither us nor the fairy companies. In the end, it’s these people. They create, modify, and enforce laws and regulations. We are just side branches.”

“…How unfortunate. Then I must disagree. What does it matter if we’re side branches and not mainstream? If we have the power and possibility to correct what’s wrong, we should try. Only ‘side branches’ like us can listen to the voices of those who are oppressed and suffering under the mainstream.”

Once again, Aria and Ren’s opinions clashed.

Aria, who loves and believes in the potential of the Earth’s inhabitants as a resident of this world even at this moment, and Ren, who continues to harbor anger to destroy the wrong rules and laws that have harmed him, had different values and priorities from the start, so there was little chance their opinions would align.

“Then I have no choice but to stop you.”

Aria gritted her teeth and summoned her power. Blazing red magic surged throughout her body, and seeing this, Ren’s eyes widened slightly.

‘Power on par with the Royal Guard Captain.’

Just as Takiras had once assessed Aria as having the seed of a Legion Commander level, Ren too recognized her strength.

However, Ren’s eyes didn’t waver. He didn’t think he would lose, and he had no intention of fighting Aria anyway.

“You seem to misunderstand one thing, I don’t pass judgment with my own hands.”

And then he turned. Towards none other than the victim trembling and collapsed on the floor.

Ren flicked his hand and pulled something out of thin air. What he retrieved from his personal subspace used as storage was a liquid in a bottle. He held it out to the injured student.

“This is a potion imbued with a priest’s holy power. If you drink it, your wounds will heal and the pain will disappear.”

“Th-thank you…”

“Now, tell me. Will you forgive them as they are? I heard that unless you report them, they won’t be punished if left like this.”

Kneeling on one knee, Ren spoke gently, meeting the student’s eye level. The male student, whose face reddened looking into her eyes, wavered at the mention of reporting.

“A decision has been made.”

“What…?”

“This child has decided to trust this land’s laws one last time.”

Ren, who had a private conversation with the student using a noise-canceling spell, stood up not long after. At the same time, he withdrew his power. And everyone was surprised by the unexpected words that followed.

“The law will judge them according to this child’s will. However, if that law doesn’t function properly, if it doesn’t punish them to this child’s satisfaction.”

Renée pointed at the perpetrators and then looked at Aria.

“I will take action myself. And at that time, it won’t be just them who will burn by my hand.”

This was a kind of declaration.

It was a declaration of war that if things weren’t handled properly, even the system itself would become an enemy.

“P-police…?”

And then, everyone turned with wide eyes to look at the victim student calling the police. Only Renée didn’t even glance, continuing to glare at the flustered perpetrators.

*

“What the hell is going on? We’ve got another Tequila-class nutjob!”

“No, that’s not it.”

Shortly after the situation was resolved, Aria sat alone on the rooftop of a nearby building, ignoring Lulu who was making a fuss beside her, and buried her face in her knees.

She felt so gloomy because she understood what Renée had just declared.

“Honestly, I can’t say it’s perfect. There will always be unfairly treated victims. Because everyone is human.”

“Aria…”

“But I thought that was natural in this reality that’s neither utopia nor paradise. The director said so.”

It can’t be perfect. She thought that was the cold reality. So she believed that trying harder was all that could be done.

She never even thought about using her magical girl powers to fix it.

But Renée was different. She believed that with magical girl powers, one could transcend the limits of reality and achieve the fantastic.

“…I’m not sure.”

Aria sighed. She needed something to steady her shaken beliefs. But even she herself wasn’t confident.

So she had a feeling that this incident would be a watershed moment. Therefore, she hoped that those she believed in and wanted to protect would show their true colors.