On the return trip in the car, Jiang Lingwei couldn’t help but ask:
“Um, are you really familiar with magical girls?”
The young girl visibly stiffened for a moment, then forced a laugh and said:
“Not really familiar, haha, I just know a little.”
Seeing the slight misunderstanding, Jiang Lingwei quickly clarified:
“I mean, magical girls don’t come and erase your memory… or anything like that?”
“Huh?”
Jiang Yao tilted her head. “Why would they do that?”
“Well…”
(This kid is already a magical girl, so she must have made a contract with a fairy, but that fairy is too unreliable. Would they really keep such an important operation a secret from her?)
Jiang Yao’s reaction completely dispelled Jiang Lingwei’s small hope of immediately meeting the old man.
She had briefly thought that if the old man was the one who contracted Jiang Yao into a magical girl, then once she arrived, she’d immediately know all the answers to the mysteries.
That old grandpa fairy, though sometimes acting like a mischievous old fellow, was very serious when it came to crucial matters.
About magical beasts, darkness, and such knowledge, he’d go on endlessly with details, never leaving anything unclear. He certainly wouldn’t let something like this happen.
Recalling the image of the old man with his big white beard, bouncing around like a fluffy ball and muttering repeatedly, “The first point is—second point—third point…” a trace of nostalgia flashed in Jiang Lingwei’s eyes.
Ah, just thinking about it made her wonder what the new fairy would be like. After all, besides the old man drunkenly talking about his hometown sometimes, and those dark fairies she had confronted herself, she hadn’t heard of any other fairies.
In any case, she couldn’t be too direct with Jiang Yao now, so she hinted:
“Maybe it’s from the anime I was watching or something.”
Jiang Lingwei scratched her head. She was talking about what she’d been doing just last month, and it wasn’t a big deal, but somehow it felt awkward to say it in front of Jiang Yao.
“Usually, aren’t magical girls supposed to be unknown heroes quietly protecting humans deep within the city? But I just saw some bystanders, and they all seemed to know what magical girls are. They didn’t even seem surprised facing those monster bugs.”
“Hmm…”
Jiang Yao looked relieved:
“That’s because Mom doesn’t know. Seven years ago, the existence of magical girls became publicly known, and the government set up departments and laws related to them.
Since then, more fairies from the Fairy Kingdom of another dimension have come over one after another to make contracts with humans, turning them into magical girls.
The monsters that appeared this time are under government control too—they cooperate with the magical girls but aren’t the main force.”
“It’s said those monsters all have magical attributes, so our weapons don’t work well against them; only magical girls can fight them effectively.”
“I heard the fairies have other agreements with the higher-ups, but I don’t know much about that.”
After this explanation, Jiang Lingwei roughly understood the status of magical girls in this era.
And all of this really shouldn’t have happened.
(Where exactly did things go wrong…)
“I see…”
Jiang Lingwei mentally marked the point seven years ago.
“Have those monsters all appeared starting seven years ago?”
“No.”
Jiang Yao shook her head:
“It’s said they came to our world even earlier. They suddenly appeared in large numbers ten years ago. Thanks to the efforts of what they call the ‘first generation’ magical girls back then, they barely managed to stabilize the situation.”
“But at first, news about the magical girls was tightly sealed. It took about three years for the public to gradually become aware of them.”
“Mm.”
Jiang Lingwei nodded as several key time points circled through her mind.
Seven years ago: magical girls recognized by society.
Ten years ago: the demon army invaded.
Eleven years ago: she entered the sanatorium. Whether she lost consciousness earlier or after entering is still unclear.
And then twenty years ago, in her memories.
Why did she say all this should never have happened? Because their last battle was to permanently close the time-space rift—that dark door opened by the evil presence in the darkness.
Closing it would mean Earth was completely isolated from the Fairy Kingdom and the dimension of evil beings.
This planet would no longer have any monsters or magic.
At that point, they—the magical girls—could retire.
But now, magical girls aren’t retiring; their numbers are only increasing.
Did her companions really succeed back then? If not, where did they go?
From what Jiang Yao told her, the earliest magical girl-related events began ten years ago.
But the earlier decade—from 2012, the year rumored to be the end of the world, to 2022—was a complete blank for Jiang Lingwei.
The only thing she now knew was—
She definitely had a child during that time.
“Headache…”
Pressing her temple, Jiang Lingwei suddenly remembered something. She took Jiang Yao’s hand:
“By the way, although I don’t know much, I still have to apologize to you for the days I missed.”
“No matter what happened with others—I and you… your father.” After painfully uttering the word, Jiang Lingwei swallowed her anger and said, “…No matter what’s between us, you’re innocent. I should have been there to watch you grow up, but I didn’t.”
“I’m sorry. How did you get through those years? It must have been hard.”
At these words, the girl’s eyes reddened again.
“It’s okay… Mom, I’m fine. Back then, Dad entrusted me to Cafe Granny for care…”
Suddenly noticing something wrong with the hand she held, the girl quickly looked down:
“Ah! Mom, what happened to your hand?!”
On Jiang Lingwei’s hand were several scratches and wounds.
“Oh, this…”
If she hadn’t said it, Jiang Lingwei might have forgotten she was just scratched by the edge of a metal fragment.
“It’s nothing… just a small wound.”
(I’ve survived almost being bitten in half by a Lichthound before. This kind of small injury isn’t even worth using healing magic on.)
(Oh right, I almost forgot I don’t know why I lost my magic power QAQ)
“No way! This won’t do!”
Jiang Yao shouted in protest: “Mom, why didn’t you tell me… or that magical girl? She could definitely heal you!”
“That’s unnecessary… It’s just a small wound. Delaying ‘her’ from saving others over this would be bad…”
Jiang Lingwei pulled her hand back. The wounds weren’t deep, and a nurse at the temporary aid station had already helped stop the bleeding. It really wasn’t a big deal.
“No, no, no!”
Shaking her head vigorously, Jiang Yao suddenly dove forward and scrambled into the passenger seat. After tapping her phone a few times, she pulled out a small black card from her pocket and scanned it along the edge of the driver’s side.
“Beep beep.”
A green light flashed, the bar separating the driver and passenger seats retracted, and the vehicle began to slowly decelerate toward the roadside.
But Jiang Yao didn’t have the patience to wait. She leaned over and nimbly slipped into the driver’s seat.
“Wait a second.”
“You… Yao Yao, do you have a driver’s license?”
“Of course, Mom.”
The driver’s seat automatically adjusted. Jiang Yao skillfully shifted gears and pressed the accelerator.
“I forgot to ask—how old are you?”
“Sixteen.”
“Wow, sixteen and you already have a driver’s license? The laws in 2032…!”
A strong push from behind interrupted Jiang Lingwei’s sentence.
The engine roared and rumbled. Only now did Jiang Lingwei realize this taxi was a hybrid electric vehicle.
“Woooo—”
The car shot onto the main road, weaving past countless vehicles, running through traffic at highway speeds.
“Slow down, slow down—”
Watching the scenery blur into afterimages around her, Jiang Lingwei screamed loudly, feeling as if her heart was about to leap out.
Usually never carsick, this was the first time she felt dizzy in a car.
“Slow—”
(What can I say—)