episode_0047

*****

On the day when classes ended as usual, we went to the HS branch where the Galaxy team was located. As a large group of seven people gathered together and moved around, it was naturally quite noisy.

“… … .”

“… … .”

──It hasn’t been canceled.

No, the girls are talking amicably in their own way. The problem was with the men.

Even though Jeongyeong was a quiet person to begin with, Hwain also seemed strangely wary of the bully. The bully is acting like a bully and doesn’t care about the two of them, but if you look closely at his detailed magic and actions, you can feel that he is conscious of it.

I didn’t think we were on good terms, but isn’t this a bit harsh? Last time we trained together, we didn’t notice because each team moved separately.

“… It’s arriving soon. How long are you going to be like this?”

“It’s okay, I’ll do it right during the internship.”

“Hmph, I wonder what the wind blew that brought us to this place in the first place.”

“I’m not thinking about anything in particular. They’re just babbling as they please, right?”

These were the three answers, one by one, Hwa-in, Jeong-yeong, and Yangachi. Hwa-in and Jeong-young’s eyes became sharp again when they heard that they were talking loudly. You idiot, why are you arguing again?

“Ugh, yes. There must be a reason why I don’t like you. Still, say thank you properly.”

I flinch. Hwain and Jeongyoung’s shoulders were shaking. On the contrary, the gangster’s heartbreaking laugh became even deeper.

“Are you saying thank you? I don’t have anything to be thankful for. Well, you probably didn’t get any help, but you were the one who helped us, right? Considering that we also helped his teammate… , even if we see each other as teacher… .”

The painter was picking things up as if making excuses, but as he narrowed his eyes and stared at me, his voice gradually quieted down. Hwa-in probably doesn’t know that the reason I was able to enter the crack during that attack was because the gangster went there to ask for help.

For your information, I also once said thank you to Yangachi. At that time, I was impressed by the expression on the gangster’s face as if a pigeon had been shot. I’m not sure why I made that expression.

“I was grateful at that time.”

“… me too. Thank you.”

“With that much.”

Fortunately, Yangachi accepted the two people’s thanks without any sarcasm. The exchange seemed to have had an effect; the atmosphere that had been rattling just a moment ago had improved significantly. It’s somewhere between awkward and uncomfortable.

“Ami, you are somehow… .”

“? Why me?”

“… No, it’s nothing.”

The painter was about to say something, but I guess I’ll just let it end there. I nudged Hwain’s side with my horn while urging him to answer.

“Tagat! Okay, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you!”

“You should have come out like that a long time ago.”

“But it’s really not a big deal. So──”

Quang. Everyone’s eyes turned to the sudden explosion of sound. Of course, our conversation had to stop.

It was a one-time binge, but even after that, the earth-shaking sound continued. It feels like something huge is walking… . No, the pattern isn’t consistent. Rather, it was closer to hitting the ground.

“What, what!?”

“Monster, number?”

“The crack warning did not appear.”

The girls who were slightly away also came straight towards us. I also took a quick look, but there were no crack-related notifications on my smartphone.

In any case, understanding the situation was the top priority. We ran towards the direction of the sound at the maximum speed each of us could achieve.

────!!!

“That… .”

A huge torso made of sandstorm was hitting the floor with a thud. The building construction site nearby was already half devastated. Is it fortunate that there are hardly any injured people to be seen?

And bouncing between the fists of that giant sandman… .

“… Magical girl?”

“Are you your colleague, kid?”

Jerrit. I glared at Yangachi, but Yangchi just shrugged his shoulders.

“Trainer, this is not the time to joke. Everyone support that person right now──”

“Wait a moment, Fain, no, Surt. For now, let’s take a closer look around.”

Looking at the signs of magical power and facial expressions, the magical girl was at ease. And if you look closely, the magical girl’s movements were guiding the sand man’s fist to the bare ground. Thanks to this, although there was a loud noise in the surrounding area, the actual damage was not that great.

Because I happened to be passing by this area, it didn’t take long for me to arrive here after the binge drinking started. Considering that this is the center of the city, there is no way the evacuation has already been completed.

Rather than helping a magical girl who had a high probability of having friends nearby, it was much more urgent to reduce the damage to those around her.

“Okay. Then, Raon casts a barrier spell near the construction site, and the trainer, you check that no other villains or monsters appear in the sky. Cyclops, you come with me to support the magical girls. I will ask other people to evacuate.”

“Okay!”

“Ugh, yes! I understand!”

Hwain’s decision to change the premise was quick. In particular, it was a pretty good decision to ask a trainer with flying skills to observe the entire thing. His judgment skills as a leader were not bad from the beginning, but his judgment seems to have become quicker recently, perhaps because he has gained more confidence.

Alas, now is not the time to be proud of the protagonist’s growth. Unlike the Mare, who can calm people down with suggestions, or the Jabberwock, who has the ability to move, I have to run around quickly.

“Hey, I have to stick around with Fafnir… .”

… Yes, indeed. In the end, I ended up carrying the mare.

“This again? How many times has it been this month alone?”

“Mom, can I go watch the heroes fight?”

“It will end soon anyway, so is there a need to evacuate?”

However, since the incident occurred in the city center, I thought there would be quite a bit of chaos, but people were more relaxed than I expected. On the contrary, there were some people who looked as if they were tired of it.

“Everyone is relaxed. There was no need for us to make a fuss, right?”

“Sure.”

On the contrary, there were quite a few people who found it even more surprising that a fairly tall mare was being carried on the small me. There was almost no emotion like anxiety or embarrassment in their gaze.

“Chet. I thought it would be a long time since I would see Fafnir in a magical girl costume, but it’s a shame.”

“I drop it quickly.”

After quickly looking around the surroundings a few times, I decided there was no need to worry about evacuation, so I returned to the direction where the sand giant was. The Jabberwock had already arrived, as if it had arrived faster than us.

“Fafnir, were everyone on your side calmly evacuating?”

“Yes. It looked very familiar.”

Listening to Surtur’s words, it seems like Jabberwock didn’t do anything special. It’s good that the citizens were able to evacuate well, but it feels a bit strange. Is it because of incomplete combustion?

At a glance, it seemed like the Sand Giant side was almost finished. The magical girl was cutting down most of the sand giants with one hero who was presumed to be her companion. And when I looked at it like that, it was clearly noticeable that it was different from before.

“That’s not a monster.”

“Is that so?”

“Every time I am attacked, I see human-shaped magical power inside. Maybe my abilities went out of control.”

When it comes to sand-related capabilities, the efficiency at a construction site like this would definitely be indescribable. However, I think it would be a very rare thing for a person to have a runaway ability to work in a place like this, even though he or she would be a fully grown adult. In the first place, if your abilities are this strong, it would be much better to work as a hero rather than in construction.

“Ah, it’s over.”

With Raon muttering, numerous magic circles appeared in the sky. Even for people who don’t know much about magic, if they see a magical girl spinning a magic wand, it will be clear who performed that large-scale magic.

After a while, every time a huge magical meteor rained down from the sky, the sand giant let out a roar and was torn apart. The situation ended with the magical girl neatly snatching up the man who fell as if he had fainted.

“Magical Girl Dumping Cat, mission complete!”

Ah, you’re the type of person who says things like closing lines.

***

“Are you the kids who helped this time? Thank you~!”

Leaving behind the people who were busy taking care of things, the heroes had a meeting place among themselves. However, Hwain’s reaction was more intense than expected.

“No, we didn’t do much. Rather, I didn’t expect to see Team Animagus in a place like this.”

“Oh my, do you know us? It hasn’t been long since I moved here.”

“Yes! Of course!”

Although he is a painter who is fully demonstrating his role as a hero otakura, the other party’s reaction was subtle. It feels like a team that only casual people know about.

“So are you the internship kids who said they were coming today?”

“Yes. Then maybe… .”

“We also became part of Galaxy since last quarter.”

Even as they were thinking about other things, the conversation between the magical girl and Hwain was moving along steadily. Judging by what the two people said, it seemed like the trend was roughly like this.

Animagus, an A-class hero team that was active in its own way on the front lines. However, it seems that the team was disbanded near the end of the mandatory service period due to differences in the future of the team members. Therefore, it is said that only the magical girl and the two team leaders have been active in Team Galaxy since around last April.

“So, I’m sorry, but I think I’d be grateful if you called me Galaxy Team 1 rather than Animagus.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I never thought there was such a thing… .”

“It’s okay, it’s okay! On the contrary, I was surprised that they even knew about us. Maybe we were pretty famous? huh? What do you think, Lion?”

The magical girl turned her head and looked up at the tall man who approached her side. True to his hero name, he was a man with hair like a lion’s mane. This person was probably the team leader.

“No way. You should know better than to say otherwise. This boy must have been particularly interested in that area. Still, thank you for remembering. This is Hero Steam Ryan.”

“Yes, I am Hero Surtr. Please take care of me!”

I thought it might be a repeat of what happened just now, so I quickly returned my attention. Hwain has never made a mistake in this public area, so you can trust her.

There was no need for the entire team to be present when talking like that, so everyone except Hwain was resting nearby. However, since I couldn’t see where Jeongyoung and Yangachi had gone, they had no choice but to stay with the girls.

“How about it? how is it? Are we doing an internship with those people?”

“Yes. Isn’t there a fairly high probability of that happening?”

“Wow~!”

When I was told the consequences of eavesdropping, Raon was my favorite. It seems that Raon was quite impressed by the magical girl magic she used to defeat the giant. It was also Raon’s request to eavesdrop because I was curious about whether he was interning with those heroes.

“Still, they were quite strong people. Wouldn’t you have reached level A?”

“When I actually listened to the story, I heard that he was working as an A class over there.”

“Is that so? How amazing. There would have been many better places if it was level A.”

Bobbin tilted his head as if it was strange. Certainly, two A-level heroes could have worked directly for a large company instead of working as a branch of a human resources company. Does Hwain know the situation? Let’s ask a question later.

“Magical girl, same.”

And Marie looks at me with sparkling eyes. Perhaps because she has quite girly tastes, she has been asking me to wear magical girl clothes from time to time. Of course, I’ve never listened to it. He seemed very happy that a new magical girl had appeared in such a state of frustration(?).

“Wouldn’t it be less embarrassing if ARMYs were confident like that person?”

“Section. big. These are the specifications.”

To begin with, I am only a magical girl, and I don’t know anything about magic. Excluding reinforcement magic, at most it’s just simple everyday magic. I think it’s a fraud to be a magical girl who can’t use magic.

After talking passionately for a while, I got this answer.

“It’s okay, there are many kids in the National Magical Girl Association who can’t use magic.”

“Where in the world is such an association──Oh.”

A magical girl has appeared!

The three of us, surprised by the sudden conversation, paid no heed to the magical girl and continued talking.

“There really is. Magical girls are a very popular concept if the conditions are right. Does it feel like everyone gathers together periodically to avoid overlapping as much as possible or to make it easier to adjust settings?”

“Really… ?”

“Yes. For your information, information about you has already been spread. You are Fafnir, right?”

I was shocked when my identity was revealed in an instant, but when I thought about it, my appearance was quite characteristic. It must be rare to find someone with eyes like this and horns. Still, it seemed true that information about me was being circulated.

“The dragon concept was well thought out. We don’t have much of that either. At best, everyone ends up wearing animal ears. You must have done a lot of research?”

“No, this is not for decoration but for potential. Anyway, for some reason… ?”

“Ah, that’s right. Look at my mind.”

The magical girl touched her palms as if she had forgotten and snapped her fingers. After the vision-obstructing magic light shined brightly for a moment, a woman wearing a suit instead of a magical girl costume appeared before my eyes.

“I’m planning to pick you up soon. We were supposed to meet here, but it looks like we haven’t arrived yet, so I waited and heard something interesting.”

“… … .”

“Sorry for being late~!”

“Looks like it’s finally arrived. I’ll be heading to work soon, so could you please bring the other kids who are resting nearby? The conversation between the leaders is probably coming to an end over there.”

“Yes, yes… .”

Magical Girl──No, what should I call her? A witch? witch? … I saw Mr. Rabbit running from beyond the direction Mr. Cat was walking. Ah, Mr. Rabbit is also a hero belonging to this team. I thought of it that way as if I was escaping reality.

The shock of a small girl slapping a decent office lady in the face and turning her into a big sister in a suit was that great.

“… The girl, ah──eup.”

Bobbin covered Marie’s mouth as she muttered unconsciously. Nice play.

***

“I heard that you helped us with our work this time. As expected, you are Cheonmyeong High School students who are already doing outstanding activities.”

“No, we didn’t do much.”

Hero Service is a leader in the hero manpower dispatch business that is currently spreading across the country. The Galaxy team, its affiliated team, was located in one of the many buildings in Guro. It was quite high and had an open view, so it was a place where you could see immediately if a problem occurred in the city.

“Our main business is crack treatment in this area. As some of you may know, being assigned a region by the association can be said to be proof of our team’s excellent capabilities.”

“… ? Aren’t the daily occurrences of cracks in the region that difficult to deal with?”

Raon asks a question with a puzzled look. Besides her, most of the kids were tilting their heads. Except for Jeongyoung and Yangachi.

“General cracks are much more troublesome to clean up after the monster than catching it.”

It would be convenient if, like in a game, when you catch a monster, the body suddenly disappears and only the items drop. Unfortunately, most monsters remain intact when they die.

Since this has its own value depending on the type of monster, various laws are involved in how to deal with it. Also, if you take into account various issues such as restoration and management of barriers built in the city, compensation when damage occurs, and traffic control when cracks occur, it is not a workload that one or two heroes can take on.

“So, there are many cases where contracts are made with related companies, but in the case of large companies, there are cases where they are responsible for it themselves. Isn’t that what Mr. Levitt was trying to say?”

“Aha, those men wearing black clothes and transporting monsters were those people. I thought they were all from the association.”

“Wow, that’s accurate. You know it very well, right?”

I shrug my shoulders at the admiring glances that are gathering. Actually, it’s just one of the things I’ve learned from Sia over the past few days! I remember it well because I was impressed by how well the system was built these days.

“Thanks to that kind of backup, even if an emergency situation occurs like today, we can respond quickly.”

Surely today’s commotion was not a monster but a rampage of awakened people? Unlike monsters who can actually predict cracks and sound an alarm in advance, the danger of an awakened runaway is much higher. The fact that it was prevented with minimal damage is also proof of the team’s excellence.

Come to think of it, looking at the reactions of the citizens during the evacuation earlier, it seems like they experienced several rampages of awakened people. Were they all able to stop them without any damage?

It was something I was quite curious about, so I tried to ask, but unfortunately, I reached my destination before that. In front of the door marked ‘Administrative Manager’s Office’, Mr. Rabbit put his index finger to his mouth.

“Please wait a moment. I will soon let you know that you have arrived──”

“So you still haven’t met your quota!”

Before Mr. Rabbit could finish speaking, a loud shout came from inside the door. Mr. Rabbit was startled and his ears perked upward.

“So, ahaha, it looks like the manager is a bit busy right now. I’ll check it out, so please wait here for a moment… .”

Mr. Rabbit said that to us who were staring at us, not knowing what to do, and then bravely went into the manager’s office. The moment the door opened slightly, an angry and rough voice came out, although not as loud as before.

“… Was it bad timing?”

“It’s understandable that this place is like that after bringing a customer.”

“I agree with the arrangement, but you don’t look like a customer, do you?”

“Child, you’re saying this because you don’t know anything, but in a place like this, if it’s me–”

“Shh, he’s coming out again.”

The closed door opened again and Mr. Rabbit came out. Following her words, “This way,” we walked inside the manager’s office.

“Haha, sorry. I think I showed the students of Cheonmyeong High School something they shouldn’t see. My business partner extended the delivery date so absurdly that I started to complain… .”

“Trigram, it’s okay.”

The interior of the room was simple yet functional. When I say it this way, it seems like there was something there. To put it more bluntly, it looked like there were a lot of documents piled up on the desk. It feels like it overlaps with the Hero Association’s intelligence department.

It was an impressive sight in the room in its own way, but our attention was directed to someone else, not that person. A young man with curly hair standing in a somewhat crooked manner on one side of the room was looking at us, laughing heartily as if something was funny.

No, more accurately, I should say the gangster side.

“Thank you very much for coming to our branch for an internship this time──”

“Shin-ya, what are you doing in a place like this?”

A young man with curly hair──This one is too long, so let’s call him Seaweed Man. The seaweed man interrupted the narrow-eyed man and spoke to the gangster. The narrow-eyed man was having trouble with the conversation, but the seaweed man continued talking without paying any heed.

“Are you doing this here? Even if you run around and make your feet sweaty by now, isn’t it enough?”

“… That’s the same thing for people like you. Why am I so busy?”

“Ha, it was true. When I heard you were included in the internship here, I thought it was some kind of joke.”

Seaweed Man shrugged his shoulders once and walked away from the wall to the door. It really seemed like he only stayed to check on the bully.

“Director. Anyway, we’ll proceed with that as planned. There is no such thing as grace.”

“Yes, of course. I will definitely get it right no matter what.”

“Please take care of me. See you next time.”

With only those words left, Seaweed Man left the room. Tsk. It was impressive to see the gangster clicking his tongue and turning his head as if he saw something he couldn’t see.

“By the way, it’s your younger brother. Then, is there any student there… .”

“Director. I came here for an internship, and the leader is that guy there.”

“Ah, yes… .”

It was a polite refusal, even though it was an idiot. The narrow-eyed man spoke to Hwa-in again with a shy expression, and Hwa-in was also embarrassed, but politely completed the registration process.

So the first day of the internship ended successfully, but with a bit of uneasiness at the end.

***

Embarrassment. That was what Chae Sa-hee felt when she came to the place in front of her. Before coming here, I told myself not to worry about anything, but that resolution always broke down.

‘Let’s think positively. ‘It’s better than the cave that cavemen came out of last time.’

At least there is a door to knock on this time. If you think about it that way, this time you can definitely see it as being close to the normal category. Although she couldn’t say for sure whether she should consider that fortunate.

smart.

“This is Chae Sa-hee. Can I come in?”

[Are we here? Come on in!]

Squeak. With the consent of the room owner, Chae Sa-hee opened the thick door and entered the room. The place was full of piles of documents.

“What the hell is this… .”

“Hey, you don’t come to my room once or twice, so why are you doing this? Don’t worry about the little things!”

A room filled with documents, documents, documents. At this point, it was more like a handmade document storage room than a room for working. Chae Sa-hee picked up a random document nearby without thinking about it.

The paper in his hand depicted a man with torn limbs wearing a crown.

“─!?”

“Puhahaha! I’m surprised? Were you surprised? Oh my, the liver is so small, so what can I use it for?”

“… You’re joking too much.”

It wasn’t really a joke. Shrugging her shoulders, the white girl, Ymir, removed the pile of documents from the table in the center of the room and sat down on it.

“What is the concept today?”

“Hmm~, a treasure trove of knowledge?”

“Then, please at least go to the library.”

“Then it is called death from overwork.”

Ymir laughed, wondering what was so funny. In fact, true to the concept, she was wearing a white men’s suit and thick horn-rimmed glasses. If you insist on it, there is nothing that cannot be called white collar.

“So, what brought you here this time?”

“Eng~, isn’t it too cold? If I don’t have any business, can I call Yor into my room?”

“If you don’t have any business, that’s it… .”

“Wait a minute! Just wait, I have prepared the business properly.”

Ymir waved his hand to dissuade Chae Sa-hee from turning back and took out a thick attache case from under the desk. It’s a good thing to say, but it was taller than not only Imir, but also Chae Sa-hee, so I could almost believe it was a handmade tombstone.

“Now, you can bring this to the designated place on the date and time I designated. It’s so easy, right? Since our Yor is violent and hates hard work, I prepared it as a particularly peaceful mission. What do you think? Do you like it?”

“If you ask me if I like it, I definitely don’t hate it… .”

Chae Sa-hee is reluctant to belong to Genesis. If I could, I would go out right now. And they are not hiding that fact.

Nevertheless, sometimes the white girl in front of me would show a strange degree of favor to Cai Sa-hee, although of course it was mostly filled with ridicule of her inability to refuse Ymir’s orders. A good example was that no punishment was imposed on Chae Sa-hee even though the last mission was essentially a failure.

Is the girl compassionate? no way. Sahee Chae thought of the storage boxes containing brains that exist in the basement of this building. If we were to say that people who can do such things with a smile are merciful, then half of the people in the world would be Buddhas.

Does a girl like someone who can say the right things to her? That’s not it either. In the first place, Chae Sa-hee rarely said the right thing to the girl, and the girl usually chopped people who went against her will into pieces and roughly threw them here and there. In the literal sense.

Although she examined numerous other possibilities, Chae Sa-hee could not find a reason why this level of favor would be shown to her. Each time, Chae Sa-hee’s tongue twitched as if questioning, but in the end, the conclusion was always the same.

How can you understand the thoughts of a crazy bitch?

“… I will gratefully accept the mission you have given me. Well then, that’s it.”

“Eng~, let’s talk for a bit. Sheesh. Then how about this? This time, I’m going to pick up any document here and look at what’s written there. If there’s cute content there, they’ll talk to me more and then leave, and if there’s terrible content there, they’ll just leave the room. Isn’t this fair?”

There is no way I can trust favor whose thoughts I cannot understand. Therefore, if Ymir had ordered her to talk with him here, Chae Sa-hee would have meekly agreed. I had no intention of testing the limits of her patience by begging for favor.

However, she often pulled unexpected pranks like this. What is the meaning of which painting is captured, since Ymir can do as she wishes with the painting that Chae Sa-hee gets her hands on? Nevertheless, Chae Sa-hee felt a premonition and picked up the pile of documents as soon as she could.

On the front page, there was an image of a warrior having his heart torn by a dragon’s claws.

“How do you feel? how is it? Is this cute content?”

“… Unfortunately, I can’t call it cute for my sensibilities.”

“Chet. Okay, okay. Bye. Bye bye.”

Chae Sa-hee looked at Ymir, who had a very dissatisfied expression on her face, for a moment, then took a sip of her tongue and left the room. But not long after, the door opened again.

It rattled.

“Master, the plan for material procurement that you mentioned last time has come to fruition. … But did anything good happen? Smile so brightly.”

“… it’s nothing. Please report.”

The smile that the church member felt was bright soon became a benevolent smile overflowing with supreme motherhood. In front of that halo-like majesty, mere humans could only bow down and bow down to what they knew.

*****