Chapter 13
"Berte, you should focus on training to increase the density of your magical power. Your psychological warfare and the quality of your magic already seem to be steadily following their own paths."
It's a tedious task, but it was part of the duties included in my contract, so I had no choice.
"Still, if I were to offer a little more advice... If you can expand the range of elements you can control, it would be good to try. Fire, water, wind, and earth are all safe and reliable elements because they adhere to the basics, but you might struggle against enemies with unusual forms."
Elemental magic wasn't my specialty to begin with. After all these years, the most I could do was pass along things I'd picked up here and there.
"Otherwise, honing a small number of elements to their absolute limits is another option... But in that case, it would probably be better to seek advice from magical girls who primarily use elemental magic rather than Alice."
"Come to think of it, Miss Alice, did you mainly use the power of stars?"
"Hehe. I'll leave Alice's true nature for you to decide. Alice is more charming when she has more secrets."
The power a magical girl wielded was influenced by the mascot she had contracted with.
However, since the type of mascot that came to a magical girl was itself influenced by her aptitude, the prevailing theory was that the power wielded by her contracted mascot was ultimately the one best suited for her.
For example, Alice's mascot was named Rabbit A. It was a rabbit-shaped mascot, and the A meant it was an A-type among them... I didn't know exactly how mascot society worked, but if you asked for its full name, a very long serial number followed after that, so they apparently stopped at the letter when introducing themselves to magical girls.
By the same principle, mascots named Cat C, Puppy E, and Angel B had all contracted with someone as well.
For the record, I called him Bunny. Because he was a bunny.
Since he had been born from the folktale about a rabbit pounding rice cakes on the moon, it was easy to explain that Alice, who had contracted with him, naturally came to wield abilities related to the moon and stars.
Likewise, I could guess that Black Rose, who was fighting over there, had contracted with a gun-related mascot, while Berte had contracted with one related to elements or magic.
"And as for Miss Black Rose... She is flashy, but you should consider whether that very flashiness is causing her to waste power. It's a mistake many junior magical girls make. Being flashy is fine, but when fighting an Abyss One, always give it your all."
"...Hic!"
"Still, today's match is a spar between magical girls. Alice watched Miss Black Rose's dazzling performance with shining eyes. Please continue to show us many more wonderful moments in the future."
"...Yes!!"
I hadn't really been asking her to answer, but I could clearly see her expression becoming deeply dejected as soon as my first sentence ended, so I hurriedly added the rest.
Because that's what Alice would have done.
Anyway, as I just said, Black Rose's problem was that she seemed far too concerned with looking cool.
With her flashy dress, twin tails, and dual pistols, she had piled on every eye-catching feature imaginable, which made her seem like the type who cared a great deal about what other people thought... Still, although I wouldn't tell a magical girl who was practically an idol not to fight without dignity, it was important to maintain a certain standard.
In the end, the most important things for a magical girl were defeating Abyss Ones and keeping citizens safe.
I hated magical girls who confused that order just to protect their own image.
...But she was still inexperienced, and this wasn't a place where they were fighting an Abyss One. It was a television program broadcasting a spar between magical girls.
That level of vanity could be considered cute.
I've seen more magical girls fail to do their jobs because they found the Abyss Ones disgusting and dirty than the number of steaks I've sliced up.
...Steak was expensive, so I couldn't eat it often.
Anyway, there had been quite a lot of them.
"Besides that, the area where you can improve technically... is choosing your direction of growth, as I mentioned earlier. Think carefully about whether to increase your rate of fire or the destructive power of each shot, and improve in the direction that suits your fighting style. Of course, if you have the ability to catch several rabbits at once, Alice will cheer you on in that as well."
"I understand that not many people use Miss Black Rose's dual pistols. Have you ever encountered anyone who used them, Miss Alice?"
"Of course. The person Alice saw increased the number of guns altogether, firing not only the ones they held but also guns floating around them through magical power, and displayed an incredible rate of fire. But that was simply the way they had developed to suit themselves. It's good to study the paths taken by senior magical girls, but please remember that becoming too absorbed in them can actually hinder your own growth. Only you can forge your own path."
Ah, I'm tired.
I just wished someone would use a finishing move or something and end the match already.
They said both of them had already used their finishers, but that couldn't really be the end of it, could it?
Every magical girl ought to have at least one true finishing move that they didn't reveal to others.
I just wanted them to bring it out quickly, shout, 'I won! Match over!' then collect the trophy and get on with whatever they had to do so we could wrap this up.
...Surely they didn't have none?
Was I expecting too much from rookies? Surely they hadn't really started by firing the one finishing move they could only use once...
"Magical power concentration... Magical power concentration... If I do this...!"
"Ah! Miss Berte! Have you realized something? That's a spell formula I've never seen before!"
'...Wait a second. If she wins after realizing something because of my advice, won't that mean she won because I backseat-coached her? Is this really okay?'
Well... I hadn't only given advice to her.
I had given Black Rose proper advice as well. How and how quickly they absorbed it was a matter of each person's ability, so it couldn't be said that I had intervened and changed the outcome of the match.
-Rumble rumble rumble!
"Come forth...!!"
-Roooooar!!!!
"Oh! Miss Berte! The identity of her new spell formula is a Stone Golem! It's quite large, too! Ah, is this really the level of a magical girl who's only been contracted for one year? She looks nothing like a rookie at all!"
"Miss Black Rose seems to be in danger. Miss Berte has struck her opponent's weakness perfectly. With Miss Black Rose's ordinary attacks, after already using Dance of the Black Swan... she won't be able to break through that solid rock, will she?"
"Then... does that mean this match belongs to Miss Berte...?"
"We'll have to see how things unfold, won't we? You never know how a fight will turn out until it's over."
"That's right! You can't know the result of a match until it's over! Now then! Miss Black Rose! Can she overcome this wall?!"
"Black Rose! This time...! This time, I'll be the one who wins! You've always monopolized all the attention...! But I'm a magical girl in my own right! People can love me too!!"
"Ngh..."
From the looks of it, Black Rose was far more popular than Berte.
Well, I understood why. In an industry where standing out was everything, she was covered from head to toe in long, conspicuous, eye-catching features, so it was only natural that she was popular.
Berte, on the other hand, clearly seemed timid, so you could get a fairly good picture of her personality just by taking a quick look.
So she must have tried to attract attention by revealing even her three measurements.
...They were certainly figures that put most magical girls to shame, so perhaps people would take an interest out of curiosity, at least once.
But with that personality, she didn't seem like the type to reveal such sensitive numbers herself... Had her manager made her do it?
"Berte... I can't lose. Not only for the sake of my fans cheering me on, but also for Senior Alice, who's watching over me from there!"
...I wasn't cheering for either side in particular, though.
"I have fans too! Don't talk as if you're the only one who has them! Y-you do have a lot more than me, though..."
She was playing along with that too.
'...If only there were no cameras, I could just let out one deep sigh.'
There was a way, but going that far just to sigh once sounded bothersome.
Even without the cameras, there were quite a few living eyes around us.
"I'm sorry, Berte...! Let's have a meal together after the match! My treat...!"
-Vrrrrrrr!!
"Ah! Miss Black Rose! Magical power is gathering at the muzzle! What is she planning to do?!"
"You two are growing so quickly. I never expected to see such a wonderful sight. Alice is truly happy for you."
"Miss Alice...? What is Miss Black Rose trying to do right now... Whaaat?!"
-KABOOM!!
-BOOOOM!!!
-ROOOOOAR!!!!
What else could it mean when magical power was visibly condensing at the muzzle of a gun that fired bullets made of magical power?
The bullet, which had previously done little more than bore a hole smaller than a coin, was fired and exploded in a blue burst large enough to swallow a person whole the moment it struck the golem.
"Ah! N-no!! The golem!! Get up!"
-G...ooh....
-Thud!
The attempt itself was good, but how impressive could a summoned creature be when it came from a first-year magical girl using summoning magic on the spot for the first time?
The Stone Golem collapsed rather anticlimactically despite its impactful entrance.
Berte stared blankly at it and seemed about to sink to the ground, but then...
"...Hyaaaah!!"
With the last of her magical power, she created a single colorless arrow, gripped it in her hand, and began running toward Black Rose.
With the magic she had left, all she could do was barely create one arrow. She didn't have enough left to launch it, so she had no choice but to run at her opponent with it in her hand.
...That must have been what she thought.
Black Rose, who had assumed the match was over and that Berte would surrender obediently, seemed startled by her sudden charge and hurriedly raised her gun, and
Even though magical girls had sturdy bodies and magic bullets were less destructive than real bullets, the safety magical girls stationed there immediately realized that Berte, having exhausted all her magic and lacking even a single shield, could suffer serious injuries if she was hit badly.
One magical girl moved desperately to stop Black Rose, another tried to create a shield between the two of them, and another cast a shield on herself and rushed forward to block the bullet. Countless magical girls moved according to their respective roles in the slowed time that ordinary people couldn't even perceive.
Meanwhile, the bullet had already been fired, and fortunately, Black Rose must have realized her mistake just before firing, because she aimed for Berte's shoulder rather than a lethal spot like her head or heart.
Even the MC beside me seemed to have seen the scene, judging by how wide her eyes had gone.
All right, then. The final assessment.
Berte gets points for refusing to give up and trying to fight to the end even after running out of options. However, when fighting an Abyss One, she needs to keep some means of retreating if things go wrong. Mutual destruction is not an advisable option for a magical girl.
Black Rose loses points for letting her guard down before the end, but given that this was a friendly match between two equally inexperienced magical girls, I'll let it pass on the grounds that she couldn't have expected her opponent to charge in risking her life. Still, I recommend preparing a technique for subduing an opponent in case something unexpected happens.
As a result, Black Rose won the match. My personal assessment was a tie.
Still, I had to acknowledge that both of them had put on a remarkably high-level match for girls with only one year of experience, and that they showed considerable potential for growth.
That concluded the secret mission her employer had given Alice: evaluating both magical girls—
Alice's final official mission from her employer.
"Yes. That's far enough."
-Whoosh...
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
"Whoa!"
-Crash!
[There are safety personnel in place, but since it's the final, they might not be able to respond in time. Both of them are quite skilled and competitive, so... if things get too heated and the safety personnel can't handle it, step in. Honestly, they're at the point where they need a lesson too.]
With one hand, I easily snatched Berte's magical arrow and dispersed it, while with the other, I caught the incoming magic bullet and neutralized its magical power inside my glove.
For a magical girl of Alice's caliber, an attack at this level was easy to neutralize.
"...Miss Alice?! You were definitely up there just a moment ago..."
"I hurried over so my juniors wouldn't get hurt."
It was a bothersome and tiresome thing to do, but there was no complicated reason behind it.
I had been properly asked to do it, with money attached, and
Because Alice would have done the same.
I wouldn't ignore a request I'd been paid to fulfill, and I wasn't going to sit quietly and watch my juniors injure each other in front of me.
There was no more to it, and no less.