‘If only I could gain experience quickly and advance to an S-rank Magical Girl in one go…’
Thinking of this, a strange idea suddenly sprouted in the depths of Scarlet Moon’s heart.
Her eyes widened slightly, just like the Blind Monk discovering a crucial detail.
‘Huh? Fast leveling?’
Leveling up as a Magical Girl didn’t require all those fancy assessments.
All one needed was to accumulate enough experience to reach a certain threshold, and then they could successfully advance through the leveling process on the App.
This would also unlock the corresponding tier of magic.
It was just like a character-raising game: the more experience you accumulated, the faster you leveled up and the stronger your abilities became.
Most of the experience for leveling came from directly hunting Witches.
Although intelligence gathering and post-battle cleanup also provided experience, it was far less than what one could get by participating in combat against a Witch.
As for things like helping grandmothers across the street, saving drowning children, or rescuing kittens that had accidentally climbed too high onto tree branches, although they were counted as daily commissions for Magical Girls, they only provided one or two points of experience.
Even if someone worked themselves to the bone doing good deeds all day, the experience earned wouldn’t be as much as what one would get from hunting a single stray Little Witch.
After all, Magical Girls were the heroes who protected the city, not the maids who cleaned it.
Any ordinary human could perform those kinds of good deeds; there was no need to waste the precious human resources of a Magical Girl.
In short, hunting Witches was the only way for a Magical Girl to gain experience and level up quickly.
The more Witches you killed and the faster you did it, the more your level would soar.
Unfortunately, Scarlet Moon wasn’t good at long-range attacks.
Every time she participated in a hunt, she could only stay on the sidelines and watch.
Getting assist experience was already the best she could hope for.
Moreover, Witches weren’t like the wild monsters in games that automatically respawned after a certain period.
When they would appear and where they would show up was completely random and impossible to predict.
Sometimes, a Witch wouldn’t appear for ten months straight.
This would lead to the Magical Girl Association losing its source of income, to the point where they were almost taken to court and declared bankrupt due to unpaid wages.
Even the Chairman couldn’t help but complain, wondering if the Witches were all on maternity leave.
If she could solve the problems of when and where a Witch would appear — and if she were the only one who knew, so other Magical Girls wouldn’t suddenly show up to steal the kill — wouldn’t she reach S-rank in no time?
Of course, the most crucial problem was… where could she find so many Witches?
Xiaoye used to worry about such problems in the past, but things were different now.
At this very moment, she suddenly realized that the little Witch who could let her farm experience repeatedly without anyone else stealing the kill was standing right beside her.
She was thrusting out her small chest — which wouldn’t show anything no matter how hard she squeezed — and looking at her with a face full of pride.
Having realized this, Scarlet Moon’s face immediately lit up with joy.
Ignoring everything else, she approached Mahiru with a mischievous grin.
“Hey, Brother, could you do me a small favor?”
“Huh? You want my help?”
Seeing the smirk on Scarlet Moon’s face, Mahiru suddenly felt like his sister had come up with an idea that didn’t bode well for him.
It was as if she were plotting something nefarious.
He couldn’t help but lean back slightly.
“Aren’t you a Magical Girl? What kind of help do you need from me, a Witch?”
“Of course there is! Only Brother can do this. If you really are my most trusted brother, you’ll happily agree to whatever request I make, right?”
Mahiru couldn’t help but frown.
‘Is she using that to guilt-trip me now?’
“Uh… tell me what you want me to do first!”
“Brother, that move you used just now was totally cool! You took out that Hajimi so easily. It was amazing!”
“Hmph, of course. After all, I am your brother! Isn’t it only natural to protect one’s sister?”
“Since you can use that move so effortlessly, that means you can use magic at will now, just like a normal Witch, right?”
“Uh… y-yeah! That kind of magic isn’t difficult at all. I can do it with a snap of my fingers.”
Although Mahiru said that, he didn’t actually know how he had used the magic earlier.
He didn’t have any actual sense of controlling magic; it was just the miracle brought about by his Manifestation of Speech.
“Since Brother is now a qualified Witch, then Brother, please go ahead and destroy this city!”
As she spoke, Scarlet Moon couldn’t help but open her arms wide, as if welcoming the birth of a new king.
“Huh? What did you say?”
Hearing Scarlet Moon’s request, Mahiru was instead left completely dazed.
He seriously doubted if he had misheard.
“You want me to destroy the city? I didn’t hear that wrong, did I? Those words actually came out of the mouth of a Magical Girl?”
“But you’re a Witch, Brother! Isn’t destroying the city your job?”
“But I was also born and raised in this city. Why would I destroy my home? What if I actually end up destroying it? Xiaoye, you’d have to move to another city for school!”
“Don’t worry, Brother, this city won’t be completely destroyed. To be more precise, I won’t let you destroy it.”
“Huh? You won’t let me? What does that mean?”
“What do you mean ‘what does that mean’? I’m a Magical Girl! Isn’t it only natural for me to stop a Witch from destroying the city?”
“Huh? But didn’t you just ask me to destroy it? And now you’re going to stop me? So do you want me to destroy the city or not?”
“Brother, why don’t you understand? You appear in the city as a Witch and go on a rampage, then I ‘defeat’ you as a Magical Girl. That way, I’ll get a massive amount of experience, and reaching S-rank will be just around the corner!”
Scarlet Moon spread her hands and smiled at Mahiru, looking as if she were proposing a plan where everyone would be happy.
“Huh? So you’re just using me as an experience pack to farm?” Mahiru, finally understanding what Xiaoye wanted to do, immediately looked horrified. “No way, absolutely not! My life is precious, too! I’m not going to throw it away unless it’s absolutely necessary!”
“Where are your thoughts heading, Brother? I’d be very lonely if you died. How could I ever take your life? I just need you to courageously offer up your body.”
“That’s the same thing!”
“You just need to pretend to be subjugated by me. I won’t actually go all out on you; there might just be a little bit of pain. Once the hunt is ‘complete,’ we can go back to living our lives happily!”
“No, absolutely not!”
No matter how much Scarlet Moon tried to sugarcoat her plan, Mahiru was completely unmoved, as if he already had experience being scammed.
“I barely managed to survive by some miracle, and you want me to be your punching bag? No matter how good it sounds, there’s no way I’ll agree just because of a few words. Have you already forgotten how you treated me earlier?”
With that, Mahiru turned around to leave.
But to his surprise, Scarlet Moon suddenly knelt by his feet, clutching his leg and refusing to let go.
“Please! If Brother doesn’t help me, I…”