Tired Clara rubbed her eyes that could barely open and said, “Anyway, I must personally walk you home!”
But right now, she couldn’t even bring the rice spoon to her mouth.
That magical cannon shot consumed not just Kamui’s mana, but also the mana expenditure for replenishing Kamui’s mana. Clara’s mana was severely overdrawn. Now that she had relaxed, she was so sleepy that she swayed her head.
Kamui retorted, “You, you can’t even keep your eyes open from drowsiness, yet you insist on walking me back? What for?”
“Don’t ask~ You’ll know the reason when the time comes. Just do as I say for now~”
Because of her drowsiness, Clara’s tone even became sticky.
Although Clara had some minor burns, she could definitely go home on her own.
“But…” Clara was unusually insistent, but Kamui was resisting.
Now, if she walked her home, Clara, seeing Nangong Xiwang not at home, would surely become suspicious, and might even discover the truth…
They had been supposedly living together, but had never appeared in front of Clara at the same time. She couldn’t keep using the part-time job as an excuse, could she?
The more this happened, even a fool would notice something was wrong.
Although, Clara did seem pretty foolish. Kamui still didn’t want to let her know the truth.
She might also understand that her two identities had different weights in Clara’s heart, so she didn’t want to expose it just like that.
Besides, given Clara’s personality, even if she learned the truth, she would probably hide it for a while. After all, she had hidden things from Kamui before, so it wouldn’t be a guilty conscience.
At least until Clara accepted Kamui as Kamui, she needed to keep it hidden a little longer.
At worst, she would be mad and ignore Kamui for an afternoon…
“Really, it’s fine. I can go back by myself.”
Kamui said this, but Clara, like an old mother, put her hands on her hips and pouted unhappily, saying, “No refusing! Trust me, this is entirely for your own good!”
Clara was unusually insistent and also looked at Lucia. “Lucia, you come too, right? After we send Miss Kamui home, we can go back to the dorm together?” Lucia naturally nodded.
“Ah, don’t treat me like a child…”
Kamui wanted to sigh like this, but Clara laughed. “Ha! What are you talking about? Isn’t Miss Kamui just a child?”
“Even if I am a child, it’s not up to another little girl like you to say that.”
The relationship between Clara and Kamui was quite… contradictory.
They each believed themselves to be older than the other. Saying that, in reality…
Clara was indeed a few years older than Kamui.
Both were adults, but each treated the other as an underage little girl. Precisely because they had to hide their identities, they couldn’t refute being little girls.
Kamui had never revealed her identity as a Magic Girl to anyone. Apart from the reasons for secrecy, it was also because she was already a young woman of twenty-eight.
Unlike those Magic Girls who started as teenagers, fought and grew, eventually retiring behind the scenes and becoming support in the Magical Girl Society, Kamui was completely ordinary as a teenager. She only got this Magic Gem after graduating from university.
It was this unconventional Magic Gem that created a Magic Girl who didn’t look like a Magic Girl at all, but was indeed a Magic Girl.
But nearing thirty, pretending to be a little girl and waving around a magic wand (spiked mace) acting cute—if this contrasting identity were exposed, social death would be inevitable. That’s why she was so resistant to registering on the hero network.
It was hard to imagine how the Association Hero who interviewed her, upon learning her true identity, would hold back laughter to complete the so-called interview.
Just thinking about it made Kamui want to punch the hero network’s mainframe to pieces.
“Miss Kamui, Clara.” As the three were eating, a flat greeting sounded from behind Kamui.
A silver-haired girl wearing headphones and holding a tablet computer slowly walked over. It was “Mechanical Angel” Alice.
“Huh? Miss Alice comes to the cafeteria to eat too?!”
Meeting her here surprised Clara, but Alice denied it. “No, I came to find you.”
“Find us?” As Alice said this, Kamui frowned and warily asked, “The responsibility for the relic being stolen—you’re not going to hold us responsible for that, are you?”
She recalled the incident of the Drive Unit being stolen again.
Whether it was the president of the Fourth Calamity or that Fire Demon, they were all enemies far beyond their ability to handle, each capable of being a Final Boss…
If they were to be held accountable for that, Kamui wouldn’t accept it.
“No, how could that be? What I have to say isn’t that serious. You don’t have to be nervous.”
Alice shook her head and sat down beside Kamui. “The relic theft was due to mismanagement by the Association, and we take the main responsibility.”
“Although, in the end, the recovered relic was snatched from the Administration Bureau. In this incident, your performance was already outstanding.”
It wasn’t the Association’s fault. The relic had been recovered, but it was the Administration Bureau that lost it in the end.
What Alice meant was… In the end, the blame would fall on the Administration Bureau, right?
Even though she was a robot, she was very slick, always managing to extricate herself from trouble.
“So, Miss Alice, what did you want to talk to us about?”
Unlike Kamui, who was hostile, Clara’s attitude toward Alice was still friendly.
Although there was always a voice in her head telling her not to trust her, this incident was probably unrelated to her.
‘Really?’ No, both of these incidents seemed unrelated to Alice, right?
First was the Fourth Calamity, then that mysterious Fire Demon.
‘Alice might be colluding with them.’ The only suspicious thing was the hero network’s behavior in this incident. Regarding the Fourth Calamity’s infiltration, it seemed to adopt a tacit, laissez-faire attitude, even allowing the mainframe to become a hiding place for that Little Witch…
But that probably had nothing to do with Alice either, right?
‘Do you really think so?’ Nyx remained suspicious of Alice.
‘She is the only one who can directly connect to the hero network through brain-computer direct access.’
Why would an AI make things hard for another AI? Clara couldn’t help but think.
Alice then began to explain her purpose.
“Because of the Administration Bureau’s matter, this incident was also reported by the media.”
“The rationality of the hero network’s existence has been questioned, so I want to ask you two to serve as the image ambassadors of the hero network. In exchange, I can act as your guarantor for your promotion to A-Class Heroes.”
“Guarantor?” It was a term Clara had never heard.
“Yes. Besides accumulating experience normally for promotion, if a Top-tier Hero acts as a guarantor, it can reduce that requirement and allow direct entry into the promotion assessment stage. If you pass the assessment mission, you can be promoted directly. It’s like taking a shortcut.”
This sounded like a pretty good deal?
Kamui and Clara looked at each other, as if trying to gauge the other’s thoughts.
Last hour, don’t let your monthly ticket become a regret!!