Lucia Rou’s consciousness was hazy.
“Her father is blind!”
“Her family caused the village factory to shut down!”
“Hit her!”
The children of the village hurled malicious words like knives into the heart of the much younger girl, who had no choice but to curl up her small body, covering her head while sobbing and trying to protest.
“My dad is not blind… he’s not wrong…”
The bullying kids only grew more vicious, their faces full of malice, resembling the harsh expressions of their parents and elders.
Lucia knew—the child being bullied was herself.
She dreamed of her own childhood from the perspective of an observer…
Because the factory failed to meet safety production standards, a severe leak accident occurred. The toxic chemical gas caused her father to lose his sight forever.
Her father sued the factory and won the rightful compensation, but the village factory was closed, resulting in more villagers losing their jobs…
Although the Rou family was the real victim, they were isolated by resentful villagers. This backward, ignorant hatred even affected the next generation.
“Is it because I talked with Miss Clara about the past that I dreamt of all this?”
Though fully aware she was dreaming, she couldn’t wake up.
No, she still didn’t want to wake up…
Because Lucia’s hero was about to make his entrance.
“Stop!”
A boy older than the other children stood on the roof of a nearby shed, wearing a salted-egg-masked helmet, his back against the glaring sun.
“Heaven is calling, Earth is calling, people are calling—I am called to defeat evil!”
He pointed one hand to the sky, the other on his hip, towering over the scene with a commanding shout.
“Evil brats, today the righteous Lord Squire will carry out justice on behalf of Heaven!”
He then performed a difficult somersault off the shed roof…
Landing heavily on the ground, face-first.
He tried to strike a classic hero pose but ended up face-planting spectacularly.
It looked painful enough to worry if he’d broken a bone…
“Pfft—”
Little Lucia in the dream looked worried, but the dreaming Lucia couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“Ptooey!”
Just as he tried to get up, the blonde-haired lead bully took the chance to spit on him and cursed:
“You’re just a fake hero freak. Your family is the real evil—”
“Ptooey—”
“Uh?!”
“Lord Squire” fought fire with fire. As the bully opened his mouth, he removed his mask and spat a mouthful of thick saliva precisely into the bully’s mouth.
“Ugh, gross!”
The lead bully ran to the side retching, and the rest of the kids, without their leader, quickly dispersed, leaving Squire and his sister behind.
“Lucia! It’s okay now!”
Squire tilted his mask aside, wiped his nose, and helped Lucia up from the ground.
“Brother, sniff…”
She threw herself into his arms and began to cry loudly.
“It’s all right now. Brother will protect you.”
“Are we wrong?”
“No, it’s the others in the village who are wrong… But it’s okay. When I grow up, I’ll earn lots of money so you and Mom and Dad can leave this place…”
The siblings leaned on each other and walked away.
Lucia watched her past self and her brother.
“No wonder he’s the big brother…”
Even in the dream, seeing Squire calmed Lucia’s heart; the memories didn’t bring sadness. After all, they were just kids.
The only regret was that Mom and Dad still lived in the village…
Her ambitious big brother came to the Central City but hadn’t earned much. After all, he was a hero—how could he do a monster’s job well?
But she had also started earning money.
As long as the two of them worked hard together, they would eventually buy a house in Central City and bring Mom and Dad to live with them…
Well then, it was about time to wake up.
“Ugh…”
Lucia opened her eyes as she woke from the dream and slowly sat up on the bed.
Jet lag had left her sleep-deprived, and the shallow sleep felt like a lucid dream. Her head throbbed as she glanced at the neatly folded bedding beside her…
“Miss Clara is already up?”
She checked the time—there was still enough time before work.
Today was her first day reporting to the company, so she needed to dress a bit more formally.
Lucia took out her suit shirt from the suitcase and used the room’s steam iron to smooth out the wrinkles. After that, she brushed her teeth, washed up, and changed into warm clothes.
After finishing, Lucia stepped out of the bedroom and immediately caught a tempting scent of milk in the living room.
“Yo! Lazybones, you’re finally up?”
Her gaze passed the living room to the open kitchen’s island, where Clara, wearing an apron, stood by the stove frying eggs and sausages, with buttered toast beside her.
But her height seemed a bit off—she must be standing on a small stool, right?
“Miss Clara, what’s this—”
“Breakfast! Come eat quickly. After that, we still have to go to work!”
“…Okay.”
The TV in the living room was on, showing the morning news.
A hero exhibition called the “Glorious Hero Festival” was taking place at the City Expo Center. Clara had no interest, but Lucia kept it in mind.
“Hm, an exhibition?”
Lucia muttered as she walked into the living room and sat at the dining table.
The table was right next to the open kitchen island. Clara brought over the prepared breakfast directly—fried eggs, toast, sausage, and a cup of hot milk.
“Miss Clara will definitely make a great mom someday~”
Though meant as a compliment, Clara didn’t seem pleased and furrowed her two delicate brows, scolding, “Nonsense! I’m not going to be a mom!”
Since the first time she met Clara, Lucia had felt an inexplicable sense of comfort, even though they were strangers. She couldn’t explain where the feeling came from, and Clara now overlapped with the image of her dream…
Was it like her younger self? Or like her big brother from the past?
Even though she was just a child who could barely keep her eyes open from staying up late, she pretended to be an adult to take care of her, but without being annoying.
“Miss Clara, you really are an amazing person,” Lucia said.
“Ah? Why suddenly say that?”
Lucia answered straightforwardly, “You make me feel close and familiar. Thanks to you, the anxiety of coming to a strange big city for the first time has gone away.”
“That’s good, at least it means I didn’t stay with you for nothing~”
“Almost like big brother.”
Clara’s smile froze instantly.
But then she feigned anger, puffed her cheeks, and raised her voice to retort:
“Ugh, it’s rude to say I’m like a man! Hurry up and eat your breakfast!”
“Mm…”
Though the food looked good, neither the fried eggs nor sausages had salt, so the taste was a bit bland.
Since big brother became a monster, he stopped touching salt altogether. Clara really did seem like his shadow…
“I’m going to change my clothes now. You eat slowly.”
Clara jumped down from the small stool, took off her apron, and headed to the bathroom.
Lucia watched her. When Clara came to pick her up at the airport, she hadn’t brought any clothes, but last night she wore a perfectly fitting set of pajamas.
Magic really was convenient.
Not just clothing, but magical girls’ appearance changed completely before and after transformation.
That said, if big brother also got a magic gem…
Lucia looked back toward the bathroom.
“…No, that kind of thing still seems impossible, right?”