After breaking the contract between City H and the Fairy Queen and banishing the Fairy Queen from this world, I began the clean-up process. That meant retrieving the enemies of the world and artificial spirits I had scattered in other cities.

These were created to shake H Group and lure out the Fairy Queen. Now that H Group’s monopoly had been shattered, there was no need to leave them behind.

‘I’ll send the self-destruct command, and then…’

The next step was to ensure people realized what had been happening to them all this time—that there were parasites feeding off their souls and emotions.

It was necessary to explain how the enemies of the world were born and how horrifying it was for these creatures to leech off human souls and devour emotions.

But first, the concept of the soul needed to be explained. Honestly, burdening myself with this task felt like a hassle.

‘Didn’t one of the Scholar members specialize in soul research?’

I recalled there was a Scholar member who was researching the existence of souls to scientifically implement the mysteries of resurrection. While Scholar members’ identities were kept secret, we could easily access information about what kind of research each member was doing.

I decided that I would simply send a request for a paper on souls from that member and began drafting the necessary materials. It felt like it had been a while since I had worked this hard, writing non-stop.

Well, no scientist could resist after hearing such a provocation. Even my professor would applaud this level of effort.

“Eight? You look pleased. Did something happen?”

“Yes, something happened. But it’s over now.”

“…Really? Too bad, though. It’s just the right time to feel good.”

“Why?”

“The boss is calling you in. Wants an explanation—asking if you were the one behind the spirits and enemies of the world.”

“Ah…”

I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t reported this to the boss. There was no way to hide it, either—the research funds I used to create and distribute the spirits and enemies were clearly recorded in the account logs.

Worried that the boss might have a heart attack from stress, I cautiously left the lab and headed to the chairman’s office.

“Scientist─!”

The boss shouted in a voice that sounded too youthful for his age. A throbbing vein bulged on his forehead.

Once again, I applied the ‘pretend to be sorry’ technique I learned from my professor.

It worked wonders!

The creatures that had suddenly appeared vanished just as abruptly. The enemies of the world, which had swelled up as if they would cover the entire globe, and the artificial spirits that turned anyone into a magical girl, disappeared like bubbles.

As a result, the villains who had been on the verge of extinction began to rear their heads again, and public indecency incidents, like middle-aged men shouting, “I’m a magical girl!” in the streets, became frequent.

Of course, the fact that the enemies of the world had disappeared didn’t mean the research on them had vanished too, and people started directing their anger at City H.

“─Mayor of City H, are you saying you had no knowledge that the enemies of the world were feeding on human misery?”

“I’ll have to ask my deputy for that…”

“You couldn’t have not known! There are reports showing that the high happiness rate in City H was entirely due to the enemies of the world─.”

Sharp questions from reporters flew relentlessly, and the mayor wiped his sweat, sticking to the defense that he didn’t know. But his denials only made the reporters, who had bitten the bait, more determined, even bringing up accusations of corruption between the mayor and H Group.

H Group wasn’t free from blame either. With the enemies of the world gone, the employees who had been working contentedly without complaint suddenly went on strike.

“H Group, compensate us! Compensate us!”

“How can you say it’s not your responsibility when I’m down to three fingers, you bastards?!”

“Executives, wake up!”

H Group’s strategy had been to flood the market with high-quality goods made by cheap labor, but now that strategy was falling apart, leaving them on a steep downward path.

At this point, it wasn’t even possible to look for cheap labor in other cities. No workforce in the world was cheaper than the one they had been using.

Then there was the Magical Girl Association. They were probably the ones most troubled by the current situation.

─Pipi, we can’t return to the spirit realm…

─We’ve lost contact with the queen-kung…

─Then what are we supposed to eat-chyaa!?

“Shut up, you damn freeloaders!”

“Oh my, isn’t that language a bit harsh for a magical girl?”

“We need to figure out how to deal with this situation…”

The disappearance of the enemies of the world meant that magical girls were effectively out of a job. Although their powers and spirits hadn’t disappeared, their connection to the spirit realm—and to the Fairy Queen—had been severed.

The magical girls and spirits were in chaos. They had no idea what was going on or what they were supposed to do next.

“Can’t we just continue as idols? I never liked fighting anyway.”

“Are you kidding? We need to fight, whether it’s villains or someone else.”

“Did you forget? If we attack humans, we lose our status as magical girls.”

“Villains don’t count! They’re worse than the enemies of the world, just garbage!”

Of course, a group of teenage girls debating wouldn’t come up with any brilliant solutions. The association was splitting into two camps.

One side argued that it was great the enemies of the world were gone, and they should just focus on their entertainment careers. The other insisted they needed to fight villains now.

“Look, no one’s just going to leave us alone! It’s better to start fighting villains now and secure more funding─!”

“I disagree. Do you think shouting louder makes you right? My ears are going to burst.”

“What-!? You b***h! You’re just against me because you don’t like me! Come on, let’s fight! I’ll beat you to a pulp!”

“Why are you so desperate to hunt down villains? Is this self-hate? You seem awfully eager to use violence, scary.”

“Fine, let’s make one more evil magical girl today.”

As tensions rose among the magical girls, the current association president, the eldest magical girl, hesitantly raised her hand.

Though she was timid and didn’t have much authority due to her weak personality, she was still the president, and the other magical girls turned their attention to her.

“U-um…”

“What? Are you going to tell us to stop fighting? She started it─.”

“No, that’s not it… Actually, we have a guest today…”

“A guest? Who? For the president to mention them, they must be pretty famous?”

The magical girl trying to pursue an entertainment career smiled brightly with interest. The entertainment industry is a jungle—the stronger your connections, the better your chances of survival. Making friends with someone important enough for the president to acknowledge wouldn’t be a bad idea.

The president scratched her cheek awkwardly, looking troubled. Famous? Well, they were famous. Powerful? They certainly had authority.

But probably not in the way the girls were expecting.

“Well, I’ll call them in. But please don’t start a fight…?”

“Come on, we’re not kids. Why would we fight with a guest…?”

“Haha, is that so? It sounded like a bunch of kids from outside.”

At that moment, the door to the meeting room opened, and a familiar magical girl walked in.

The moment the magical girls saw her outfit, they quickly grabbed their staffs, preparing magic.

“─An evil magical girl!”

“How did she get in here!?”

“Perfect timing. I was just looking for someone to take my anger out on…”

As the magical girls seethed with rage, the evil magical girl casually took a seat in the meeting room.

“No refreshments for your guest?”

“…Guest? You?”

“Yes. Why don’t you ask the president?”

The magical girls turned to the president. Receiving all their stares at once, she let out a small squeak and nodded her head.

Seeing this, the fire magical girl burst out in anger.

“No! Why are we treating her like a guest!? Have you forgotten where we are!?”

“Well, let’s at least hear her out…”

“Quiet! Talk to an evil magical girl? Do we want to corrupt ourselves!?”

Just as she was about to unleash her magic at the evil magical girl, Aile snapped her fingers. Darkness enveloped the room, and the fire magical girl, whose powers relied on light and heat, realized that her magic wouldn’t work.

“Haha, calm down… Once you hear what I have to say, I think your anger will disappear.”

“…You b***h.”

“You’re having a hard time now that the enemies of the world have suddenly disappeared, right?”

“Oh, that’s right—why haven’t you disappeared along with them? Why don’t you go back to your filthy home?”

“Oh dear, I’m an evil magical girl, not an enemy of the world. Of course, I’m staying.”

Aile calmly deflected the question, then got straight to the point—the reason she had gone to the trouble of arranging this meeting with the Magical Girl Association.

“─Don’t you all need something to do?”

“…Something to do?”

“Yes. For example, new enemies to fight.”

With that, Aile pulled out a small, cute version of the enemies of the world from her hand. A black creature with wriggling tentacles. It was far less terrifying than the original enemies of the world—so cute, it could be sold in a toy shop.

The magical girls, seeing the creature, all had the same thought.

“You—you… that’s…!”

“It’s an enemy of the world. Well, a fake, anyway.”

“…A fake?”

“Yes, a fake.”

This was an artificial enemy of the world created by a scientist specifically to give the magical girls something to do now that their jobs were gone.

Unlike the previous terrifying version, it was adorable, less threatening, and something they could easily use for broadcast purposes.

Aile’s plan was to use these creatures to revive the magical girl industry.

“Think of it like WWE… a different kind of pro wrestling.”

“…You’re telling us to act?”

“Yes! Well, they’re already doing it where I’m from.”

She had taken inspiration from the staged battles between evil organizations and hero associations. Not wanting to see the magical girls completely fail, she had quickly come up with this plan.

Hearing Aile’s proposal, the magical girls looked at each other and sighed.

“…Give us a moment. We need time to discuss.”

“I can’t give you much time.”

“Just a moment is enough.”

After that, the magical girls rushed into a hasty meeting.

As high-pitched voices and objections flew back and forth in the room, Aile had no doubt her plan would be accepted.

How did things end up like this?

“─You bastard. So, you think you’re so good at research?”

“…No, I don’t think so.”

“Then what the hell is this? You’ve crossed the line.”

I looked at the dark-skinned woman throwing a research paper at me, feeling rather puzzled. The paper she was throwing was the one I had written about souls, and the person throwing it was a fellow Scholar member.

She was the genius scholar who had dedicated her life to researching souls, aiming to unravel the secrets of life and death.

‘…I gave her the answers, so why is she angry?’

I really couldn’t understand.