“So, after that, I’ll die, right?” Blazing Flame smiled.
“…Don’t say it so lightly. Not only will you die, but no one in this world will ever know you were here,” Pandora said unhappily. “That’s much more serious than death.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not stupid. I won’t do something that foolish on my own. I promise you, I won’t pay any more prices to you for power in the future.”
Blazing Flame rubbed Pandora’s head, trying to soothe her.
But Pandora was not having it. She observed Blazing Flame for a few seconds, then broke free from her hands, jumped to the floor, and said.
“I don’t believe you. I need to do some insurance work myself.”
“Insurance work?”
“Yeah, I’m going to cut off your permissions. From now on, you won’t be able to pay a price to gain power anymore.” Pandora said while rubbing her paws together. “Only then can I rest easy.”
“This… isn’t that a bit much?”
“No, it’s necessary.” Pandora gave Blazing Flame a look. “I don’t want to see you burn your own existence for someone else. That’s too tragic.”
“Alright, don’t think I’ll go easy on you. I won’t leave any loopholes.”
Pandora pulled a gleaming white card out of thin air from her own body and placed it in front of Blazing Flame, gesturing for her to pick it up and look at it.
Blazing Flame nodded slightly. Looking at this card, which had once provided her with power, now completely useless, she fell silent for a few seconds, then sighed with a look of emotion.
“In the end, I only got two extra forms… I thought I could have all sorts of fancy new forms like in the cartoons.”
“The vast majority of Magic Girls in this world retire with just one form. Only a few who can maintain consciousness after an Emotion Outburst get one extra form. Having two already makes you number one in the world. Don’t be ungrateful.”
Pandora couldn’t help but criticize Blazing Flame’s thinking. She couldn’t understand at all why Blazing Flame cared so much about the number of forms she had.
‘This idiot, she wouldn’t throw her life away just to look cool, would she?’
On the other side, Blazing Flame, sitting on the sofa, had no idea what Pandora was thinking.
After Pandora terminated the transaction, she first felt a bit lost, then inexplicably felt her body relax considerably.
She didn’t know why she felt this way. Maybe she was happy that she wouldn’t be forgotten by anyone in the future.
Blazing Flame lay back on the sofa, closed her eyes, and rested for a while.
Seeing that Blazing Flame didn’t ask any more questions, Pandora looked her up and down for a good while, even poking her shoulder with a paw.
After confirming that Blazing Flame was physically healthy, her mental state was fine, and aside from her existence being forgotten, everything else was normal, she turned and went back into Blazing Flame’s room to continue watching the news, occasionally poking the buttons with a paw to search for information.
After who knows how long, the sound of a key turning came from the front door.
Then, with a click, the door opened.
Blazing Flame opened her eyes and saw that the person opening the door was her roommate, Xu Wenxing.
‘Yo, off work?’
“Yeah. Brother Ren, did you see the note I left on the cabinet? Did you get the phone?”
Hearing Blazing Flame’s voice, Xu Wenxing wasn’t surprised.
He then found a seat and sat down, looking utterly exhausted.
“I got everything. By the way, why do you look so tired? Did you go out to have some fun?”
“Impossible, I’m not that kind of person.” Xu Wenxing shook his head. “It’s Director Xu. He insisted on having some kind of celebration banquet, dragged all the employees together for a big drinking and eating session. It lasted for hours, just wore me out.”
“And that’s a good thing?”
“Yeah, they originally said they wanted to bring you all along, but Sapphire and Meteor said they had private matters to attend to, and you just got out of the hospital, so they didn’t call you.” Xu Wenxing explained. “Luckily, they let me substitute cola for alcohol, otherwise, I really might have been in trouble.”
“From the sound of it, did they try to make you drink?”
Listening to Xu Wenxing’s complaint, Blazing Flame instantly caught the subtext in his words and teased him.
“Yes, they kept saying I was some great hero, and that this cup was to toast me on Sapphire’s behalf. It was really baffling.”
“…Wait? What do you mean Sapphire wanted to toast you?”
Blazing Flame immediately seized the keyword and questioned Xu Wenxing.
How long had Xu Wenxing been at the A City Monster Response Department? How could someone be toasting him?
Could he be some super-senior veteran who joined when the Monster Response Department was first established?
Otherwise, it made no sense.
He’s a new employee, likely got in through connections, doesn’t flaunt wealth, so how could someone be toasting him?
‘Could this guy have already formed some small clique within the A City Monster Response Department?’
Blazing Flame’s imagination ran wild, picturing Xu Wenxing calling the shots within the department.
But who would have thought, the very next second, Xu Wenxing’s answer shattered all her fantasies.
“No, I just made something out of boredom these past couple of days, and it happened to come in handy during this operation, which made them all very happy.”
“What on earth did you make that made them personally come to celebrate you?”
“Just a very ordinary Fully Automatic Magic Detection Device, to help other staff confirm if there are any Shadow Beasts within a six-kilometer radius. Nothing special.”
“Huh?”
Looking at Xu Wenxing’s calm expression, Blazing Flame was dumbfounded.
What did he mean, a Fully Automatic Magic Detection Device?
Was that reasonable?
Her unique ability, just mass-produced by someone else?
Seeing the girl’s expression, Xu Wenxing, sitting not far from Blazing Flame, immediately realized she had misunderstood and hurriedly added.
“No, don’t misunderstand. The principle of my device is different from your ability after Transformation. Its operating principle is very simple.”
“…Then explain it?” Blazing Flame asked.
“Well, you know how Monster Response Departments in various places have their own developed Magic Tools, right? Among them, there’s a Magic Detection Device, used to confirm if a target is a Magic Girl.”
Hearing Xu Wenxing say this, Blazing Flame recalled the official staff members she had seen at the university, looking around searching for her.
Xu Wenxing let out a sigh of relief and continued explaining.
“The thing I invented works on the same principle as that detection device; it’s used to detect nearby Magic Power flow.”
“I just improved the core drive a bit and directly cut out some convoluted steps, allowing it to work better.”
“To give an analogy… you could say I optimized the previously cumbersome code to ensure this little gadget runs at full capacity.”
After saying this, Xu Wenxing spread his hands and looked at Blazing Flame with sincere eyes, indicating he was telling the truth.
Blazing Flame looked at Xu Wenxing, then at Pandora who was focused on slacking off, and fell into complete silence.
She thought of Pandora’s ability to whip up all sorts of strange little gadgets anytime, anywhere.
She thought of her roommate’s glorious feat of improving a detection device.
Finally, she thought of her own situation.
‘Wait, so in this whole apartment, I’m the only one who isn’t a technical genius?’
‘Is that reasonable?’