Woke up. Very tired. Woke up tired. Woke up in the still-warm bathtub… After thinking carefully, she almost cried.
Once upon a time, the Squid Monster Squill’s small dream was to buy a house in Central City on his own—even if it was just a tiny matchbox—and then bring his parents over to enjoy a few years of city life.
Having learned in her dream that her single punch had cost her five million in prize money, Clara felt melancholy. She had been closer to her dream than ever, yet that punch had snatched it away.
But in the end, she had no choice but to throw that punch. If the Undercover Department’s mission had failed, the prize money would likely have been canceled anyway.
Unless she could go easy on Kamui without arousing suspicion and let the Shadow Guest escape…
That wouldn’t be easy. And even if Clara planned to do that, the Shadow Guest might not cooperate.
Although he was an intelligence operative, he was still an Executive.
If they didn’t get a surprise attack in and only fought on the surface, even the combined strength of her and Kamui might not be a match for his shadow concealment ability.
Unfortunately, Naitemel didn’t have a catchphrase like “Hail Hydra!” to identify allies.
“Senior Clara? Are you still awake?”
Outside the bathroom, Lucia was knocking on the door.
“Did you pass out from the bath?”
Clearly, time had been passing in the real world while she was dreaming. Lucia was still waiting to take a bath, and Clara had made her wait too long. If she didn’t respond soon, Lucia might burst in.
“Ah, sorry.”
“I fell asleep! I’ll be right out!”
So it seemed that she had been pulled into a dream by the Supreme Leader almost as soon as she got into the bathtub.
Where exactly was the Supreme Leader? Could she invade other people’s dreams from a distance? Invading dreams and even killing in dreams—truly worthy of being one of the current strongest Mutants.
This must be the strength that allowed the Supreme Leader to sit at the top of Naitemel, right? But she was so tired.
Although she hadn’t been killed in the dream, the experience had left her exhausted. Better change into pajamas and get out.
Thinking that, Clara climbed out of the bathtub, but her legs gave way and she fell in the bathroom.
“Senior?!”
The sudden noise worried Lucia, who rushed in and then went through the whole routine—squid tentacle rubs, drying Clara off, tentacle rubs, blow-drying her hair, tentacle rubs, putting on pajamas…
Finally, she sent Clara to bed before going to take her own bath.
The next day.
Still sporting dark circles under her eyes when she woke up, Clara arrived at the Company and soon knocked on President Qiexiya’s office door, holding her first chapter of the manga.
“Come in~”
President Qiexiya saw Clara’s lethargic state and covered her mouth to tease:
“Oh my, small-fry-chan, did you pull an all-nighter?”
Although she had gone to bed a bit late last night, there was no reason she should be this exhausted.
“Oh my, small-fry-chan, your condition…”
Clara herself didn’t understand the cause.
“I slept, but it feels like I didn’t get enough. I’m especially tired.”
“So, what brings you here so early in the morning?”
“President… I’d like to request a promotional budget…”
“Promotional budget?”
“For the manga I mentioned before.”
“Mm? You mean to promote the manga?”
“More precisely, I want the budget to set up a website to serialize this manga. Since it’s a promotional manga, I want to make it free for readers, and in turn, build hype for Magical Girl Clara…”
Before Clara could finish, Qiexiya waved her hand dismissively.
“No problem, I approve!!”
“Huh? Just like that?”
Since it involved spending money, Clara had thought the little president would ask her more questions. She had even prepared her lines, but the other party approved it outright.
Then Qiexiya walked over to Clara, pulled the manga file folder from her hands, and flipped through it while saying:
“Sounds like it won’t cost much. Do we need to hire a programmer to build a web page?”
“That won’t be necessary.”
Clara pointed at her stomach.
“Just give me a server and a domain, and I’ll leave the rest to Nyx.”
Qiexiya casually rubbed Clara’s belly and added:
“(￣～￣) That Drive Unit of yours sure is convenient.”
Server and domain could be applied for online. With Nyx’s efficiency, the website would be up in less than half a day, and then Clara’s manga could be scanned and uploaded.
“Alright! I’ll just provide the funding. You handle the rest yourself.”
They didn’t even need to buy a scanner—the Drive Unit could handle that part too. Clara realized that again. But just as she was busy scanning the manga for release, Doctor Fran Livka suddenly showed up.
“I heard you ran into Alice again last night?”
Clara twitched the corner of her mouth.
“…Who told you that?”
At the scene, it had only been her, Kamui, and Nyx. The former had no connection with Fran… Could it be that Nyx was blabbing to others behind her back?
[Please don’t make such malicious speculations.]
Nyx protested and offered a reasonable analysis.
[You resolved last night’s incident, and the media tried to interview you. There must also have been coverage of the Mechanical Angel descending from the sky.
Even if there was a holographic barrier, could you have had no interaction behind it?]
‘Oh, that’s true…’
Clara admitted:
“Yes, I met Alice again last night. She received a can from me called a ‘god’s relic.'”
“As for what’s inside, nobody knows.”
“That can was just a container holding one of the ‘god’s relics.'”
Fran glanced toward Lucia’s desk and said quietly:
“To give away something so rare without hesitation, the Supreme Leader must have been really lenient with you not to tear you apart.”
It seemed Fran also knew about these relics of a lost era.
“So it’s really that valuable?”
Fran nodded heavily and explained:
“The technology behind the NIX-Driver was very likely extracted by World Tree Technology through reverse engineering from a ‘god’s relic.'”
“Every ‘god’s relic’ is a treasure trove of technology, a power that can reshape the rules of this world.”
Clara could only protest her innocence; she had never heard of such things before.
[It wasn’t reverse engineering. Nyx itself is a god’s relic.]
[Nyx has a connection with other relics.]
“Then what else did she say?”
Fran pressed meaningfully.
“Like inviting you to use the hero network?”
“An invitation?”
Clara recalled the scene from last night.
“She did mention something, but it wasn’t directed only at me.”
Alice meant for both her and Kamui to register with the Association and use the hero network, and to stop taking third-party commissions from then on.
“Then why not go? Didn’t we already decide to go before?”
Fran urged, but Clara fell into thought.
“Maybe I could also invite Kamui to register together?”
‘Bringing another person along to register as a cover… maybe that would make me less suspicious?’