“─This steak is made from the specialty of City R.”

“Hmm.”

“Over here, we have caviar and shark fin from City W, and this is...”

One by one, the specialties of each of the 26 cities were brought out. White Fang stared at the mountain of delicacies laid out before her, carefully picking up a spoon.

The mouthpiece of her mask slid open sideways, allowing her to eat without fully removing it. As soon as she placed the food in her mouth, a storm of flavor, so intense even an uneducated fool could appreciate it, hit her taste buds.

“Mm...!”

An involuntary moan escaped her lips, the flavor was that overwhelming. Without hesitation, White Fang continued shoveling food into her mouth, and as soon as she finished, the waiting attendants immediately presented the next course.

This time, it was dessert. A sorbet made from some unheard-of fruit. The taste was beyond anything she had ever imagined.

‘I’m so happy…’

Could she really allow herself to feel this happy? Lately, this thought had dominated White Fang’s mind.

After all, she was a magical girl, a hero meant to protect justice and peace. Yet here she was, eating gourmet meals, earning money simply by helping with experiments, and spending her days in constant comfort and pleasure.

Coming from a lower-class background, she never dreamed she could experience such luxuries.

‘…But it’s not like the villain organization is doing anything truly evil.’

Most importantly, if cooperating with the villain organization was truly wrong, her spirit wouldn’t remain by her side. Spirits could perceive cause and effect, allowing them to know whether a magical girl was doing good or bad.

If a magical girl fell into evil, they would lose their powers immediately.

The fact that she hadn’t lost her powers yet meant that cooperating with the villain organization wasn’t judged as something wrong.

‘I wish I could live like this forever... I don’t want to work…’

The reason White Fang became a magical girl was simple: she had no other choice. Her grades weren’t good, nor did she have any particular talent in athletics or the arts.

And as for why she hid her face and body as a magical girl? She didn’t want her parents to know about her secret identity, and she hated the lustful gazes of men.

But what about her current job? She didn’t have to do anything but relax, and she still got paid. It was the dream job she had always wished for. She hoped it could continue forever.

But she knew it couldn’t.

‘Once the research on spirits is finished, this job will be over…’

Though she had already been paid more than she’d ever made in her life, she knew it wouldn’t last forever. After all, after experiencing such luxury, she wouldn’t be able to return to a normal standard of living.

Once this job was over, she would go back to being an unpopular, broke magical girl. If she returned to being a small-time magical girl again…

BEEEEP—!

“─!?”

Suddenly, a sharp alarm rang out. White Fang jumped in surprise and looked around, only to hear Eight’s voice coming through the speakers installed in the dining hall.

[White Fang, your stress levels have risen. Is something bothering you?]

“…No, nothing.”

[Don’t lie. The data doesn’t lie. What’s bothering you?]

“Well, you see…”

Though it was awkward to say, White Fang had to speak the truth, as the contract required. She confessed that she was scared of becoming unemployed once the job was over, terrified of not being able to enjoy this luxurious life anymore.

Even she realized how ridiculous her answer was, and she thought she could hear a faint chuckle through the speaker.

As she lowered her head in embarrassment, another command came through the speaker.

[Don’t worry about that. Just keep enjoying yourself. I’ll take care of what happens after.]

“…What?”

[I’m telling you not to worry about what happens when this job is over. It’s interfering with the experiment.]

Was that... a confession? White Fang wondered if she had misheard.

But she couldn’t ask for clarification. That would be too shameless.

White Fang simply replayed Eight’s words in her mind as she continued eating. Strangely, though, the food that had tasted so amazing earlier no longer had any flavor.

It was as if all her senses had gone numb.

Even after discovering that the spirit knew nothing about Earth, the experiments continued. They had invested too much to stop now, and besides, spirits were fascinating creatures in their own right.

They lived off happiness. Could a living organism really survive by feeding off the emotions of others? How did such creatures exist, and how did they grow? These questions stirred Eight’s curiosity.

After extensive research, Eight finally understood the basics of how spirits functioned. The results were truly intriguing.

‘What kind of lifeform is this?’

Spirits fed on emotions. And what are emotions? In simple terms, they are the result of chemical reactions triggered by hormones. But spirits didn’t feed on hormones.

Though it was something he didn’t want to believe as a scientist, the truth was undeniable: spirits consumed souls. Souls. They survived by feeding on such an unscientific entity.

‘Fascinating…!’

To deny something that exists just because its nature is unclear would be foolish. Eight accepted the existence of souls, regardless of whether they had been discovered before.

And as far as he knew, he was the first scientist—whether in this world or on Earth—to discover souls.

The first. The pioneer whose name would go down in history. The greatest honor a human could dream of.

‘Superpowers are one thing, but souls…’

It felt like destiny that he had ended up in this world. To be able to explore such mysteries on his own. Of course, to publish his findings, he would first have to return to Earth.

While Eight pondered these thoughts, he gently tapped the cheek of the spirit, who was happily eating snacks.

“Back then, didn’t you say you could help me speak with the queen of the spirit realm?”

“Mew-? Yes, I did. Why? Do you need her now?”

“Tell me about the queen.”

Hearing the question, Mew paused its eating, deep in thought. Perhaps the queen was such a significant figure that even thinking about her was restricted by some sort of regulation.

After a moment, Mew cautiously spoke.

“The queen… is the great one who gave birth to all of us, Mew.”

“…You’re saying she’s your mother?”

“She’s not exactly a mother, Mew. We spirits simply behold her upon birth. Afterward, we are dispatched to various worlds under her orders.”

A motherly figure. But not an actual mother, more like a ruler we revere from birth. That was the queen of all spirits, also known as the Fairy Queen.

Hearing about the queen from the spirit itself, Eight’s hypothesis seemed to be aligning more and more. Hiding his thoughts, he asked again.

“And how does the queen know where the enemies of the world will appear and send you there?”

“The enemies of the world appear wherever there are intelligent beings, Mew! The queen sends us to where there are intelligent beings, Mew!”

“Is that so?”

He had already found two contradictions in that statement but chose not to point them out. The enemies of the world supposedly appear wherever intelligent beings exist? Yet nothing like that had ever appeared on Earth. If it had, he would certainly know.

And secondly, if that rule applied to all intelligent beings, then why wasn’t the spirit realm itself attacked by the enemies of the world? Spirits are intelligent beings too, right? If there was a way to defend against these enemies, why not use it to protect the worlds under attack?

Why bother with the whole magical girl system?

“What a wonderful queen.”

“Of course, Mew! Since you seem to recognize her greatness, I’ll put in a word with the queen to see if she can make you a magical boy, Mew!”

“Didn’t you say only girls could become magical girls?”

“If it’s the queen, she can make anyone a magical girl, Mew! Whether they’re male, female, old, or young, it doesn’t matter!”

“Nah, I’ll pass on that.”

Eight chuckled as he spoke. As Mew tilted its head in confusion, Eight tapped his wristwatch.

The next moment, a dazzling effect, like something out of a children’s cartoon, enveloped Eight’s entire body. His clothes turned stark white, and a flamboyant, heavily ornamented suit appeared.

As he looked at the utterly ridiculous outfit that no sane person would wear, Eight let out a bitter laugh, while Mew stared, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

“Mew-mew-meww!? Wh-what is this…!?”

“I’ve already finished researching how you spirits create magical girls. Of course, unlike magical girls, I can’t absorb many souls, so all this outfit really does is change my clothes.”

“Wh-what are you saying!? How… how can a grown man become…!?”

Eight shrugged nonchalantly, as if wondering why Mew was so surprised.

“Because I’m a scientist.”

Turning the impossible into reality. That was the essence of science.

Just as Eight was wrapping up his research on spirits, a guest arrived from City H.

“─Nice to meet you, Mr. Eight. You were quite hard to find.”

“And you are?”

“Oh, my apologies. I forgot to introduce myself. Here’s my card.”

The man handed him a business card. Karl Heinz, Director of Heaven’s Company.

Seeing the card, Eight remembered that Karl Heinz was the heir to the massive corporation that controlled City H. He hadn’t seen him at the last party, though.

“What brings the heir of H Group here?”

“It’s nothing serious. I just wanted to say a few words as the protector of City H.”

Karl Heinz’s eyes glinted as he spoke.

“─You cannot take the magical girls out of the city without our permission.”

“…Ah, I see. Is that all?”

“As for the magical girls affiliated with your organization, I’m aware they aren’t true magical girls, so that’s fine.”

With that, Heinz got straight to the point.

“We’ll be taking the magical girls.”

“And if I refuse?”

“Ahhh... please, take a look over there.”

He sighed deeply, as if this was all becoming a bother. Following his finger, Eight turned his head and saw a magical girl in the distance, aiming a staff in his direction.

“─That’s a sniper magical girl.”

“I thought magical girls weren’t supposed to do bad things?”

“Mew, meww! That’s right, Mew!”

“Oh, you believed that, did you? Well, yes. They’re not supposed to do bad things.”

It seemed Heinz took the words I had spoken to Mew as being directed at him.

“Which is why we only use them once and then discard them.”

I see.

With that one statement, I understood the darkness entwined with H Group and City H.

This world really is full of rotten people...

The thought passed through my mind.