Chapter 102: Report

“Freya?” I called out to her, refusing to believe my ears. I must have misheard what she just said. While a part of me agreed with her, it was so unbecoming of her to abandon people as a Pink Magical Girl.

“Let them die! Why should we save them? They didn’t care about me! They didn’t care about my father! Why should I care about them!” Freya cried out.

“Felicia, can we do that?” I turned toward my familiar. Part of me agreed to let these guys die, but that would be an antithesis of us, Magical Girls.

“No. You are a defender of humanity. You are legally obliged to save people if they are attacked by Anathema. Exceptions only apply if you can’t save them or if the enemy is too tough, which doesn’t apply here,” Felicia answered.

“...”

“No matter who the humans are, you must try to save them. You can’t choose to save the humans you like and abandon the rest. If proven, you may face penalties or, in the worst-case scenario, you could have your license as a Guardian revoked.”

“I don’t care! I don’t care!” Freya screamed. “I don’t care about Magical Girls anymore!”

“I will save them. Just let Freya rest. She just had a shield break. She is not fit to fight as a Magical Girl, right?” I sighed.

“That would be a sufficient excuse,” Felicia said. She then perked up. “Tinkerbell, Freya’s familiar, offers her gratitude.”

Freya was an A-rank Guardian. We can’t have her retire now; it would be a great loss to humanity. I might not care much about her father, but Freya was a kind girl. I hope she doesn’t turn into a cynic like me, who hated Guardians.

Being a Guardian is tough. There are times when Guardians break down or develop PTSD. But since we have our familiars—who also happen to be our psychiatrists—I am sure Freya’s familiar will sort her out. Hopefully.

“Alright. I will drive; you two will shoot the flying enemies.” I ordered two clones to take out a sniper rifle each and start shooting.

“But it was kinda far, and those pterodactyls are fast. I don’t want to waste bullets.” The clones commented.

“The evacuation boats are stopping. We’ll get closer. Shoot them when you feel like you can hit them,” I answered.

Gunshots could be heard moments later. I hadn’t invested many points in Dexterity, so I didn’t think my clones, who had half of my stats, could hit them. But they still did. My experience in archery apparently helped them with aiming.

“I need support! Freya! You know I can’t deal with ranged or flying attackers!”

“I will shoot them down,” I interrupted Yellow Bee’s plea for help. After all he’d done—bitching about Freya’s father—he sure had the nerve to ask for her help. I wonder if most guardians have no shame like him.

“Oh! Alright. I’m relying on you to handle evacuation boats two and three. I’ll handle the one that came to my boat. Damn it, I knew I should have bought a gun.” Yellow Bee cursed.

A few minutes later, we cleared all the pterodactyls. Using the points earned, I replenished my ammunition. That included normal bullets, FMJ, buckshot and explosive bullets for my shotguns. I had armor-piercing bullets, but FMJ was cheaper, so I decided to stock up on that. Felicia said armor-piercing should only be used on heavily armored targets.

“Alright! Good job, Black Lily. I owe you one. What happened to Freya back there? She would have cleaned this up in seconds.”

“...Let’s continue on our own way. I shall keep my distance.” I didn’t answer. Yellow Bee moved on with the evacuation boat.

The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful, and after a tedious four days at sea, I could see Eden on the horizon. All the way, Freya was moping by her father’s corpse. She had preserved him with ice magic.

“Felicia.”

“I have established a connection with Eden’s Guardian Command. Your package is being sent. Also, I have contacted General Armstrong and informed him about the situation in oil rig 17.”

[Quest complete]

[Secret Quest! Enra and Newstar Investigation]

[Description: Investigate Enra and Newstar Company’s inner workings. The Zenith is curious about how they operate. Whether they disobeyed the evacuation command on purpose or whether it was purely a blunder is your task. This quest is classified; if you accept it, you must swear on your soul gem not to divulge the quest to anyone before it is complete.]

Difficulty: Unknown]

[Reward: 20,000 Points (Pending)]

[You may now divulge your quest to a third party. This quest will no longer be classified. Thank you for your work.]

Finally! That bothersome quest that had been haunting me all this time had disappeared. I hadn’t received the reward yet—Felicia said Zenith would need to review the report before handing it to me themselves. That final message threw me for a loop. I didn’t expect them to thank me for my work.

As I moored the boat to the pier inside Eden, Freya hugged me from behind.

“Lily, thank you. I am sorry for what happened before. That was unbecoming of me. Thank you for saving me. The burden of losing a loved one should be held by me alone. I should not bring others into my misery. Thanks to you, I also avoided being penalized for abandoning my duty.”

“That’s fine. You just lost your family. You need time to mourn. So, are you fine now?”

“Not really. I need some alone time. I will stay and work with Guardian Command in the meantime… I’m sorry. Hix I am an orphan now. It’s hard for me to smile… I am alone now.” Freya could not contain her sobs as she cried on my shoulder. I stood still, letting her sob on my back.

I wondered—was it better to be an orphan like her, or to have malicious parents like me? I had actually wanted to congratulate her for gaining her freedom, but seeing how sad she was, I held my tongue. Yeah, the fact that I was happy when parents were dying made me feel like I was not fit to be a Magical Girl. A call from General Armstrong came, breaking the silence.

“Freya, Lily. I heard the report from my office. I am sorry for your loss. The corpse of your father and the rest of the exiles shall be cremated respectfully. And Lily… please say some good words for us.”

I tilted my head at General Armstrong’s wordings. Then it came to me.

“Felicia, did he know?”

“Once the mission was deemed completed, a copy of the report will be forwarded to UNH and the Zenith. The report was anonymous, but it didn’t take a genius to determine who had been investigating Enra and NewStar.”

“I am so dead. Did I just make an enemy of the entire humankind? I knew I should not have accepted that mission.” Felicia’s words had knocked the wind out of me. I felt faint.

“That should not be the case. The report merely consists of videos. Then, several third-party familiars, Guardians, and officials from Zenith and UNH will make a summary and conclusion out of it. You did not include any of your own biases or even opinions in this. There should not be any reason for anyone to hate you.”

“… Sometimes I forget that you are not human.”

“Do you feel threatened? We could petition UNH or Zenith to ensure you will not be intimidated or harassed by parties that were disadvantaged by the report.”

“... No. Don’t do anything.”

“Got it. No formal complaint or request or whatsoever will be sent by me.”

“Is it too much to ask to keep the report hidden to all but the Zenith?”

“I am afraid, yes. This report will be vital for humanity’s next course of action. Every high-ranking member needs to know.”

“I am so dead.” I sighed.

“Lily. What’s the matter?” Freya, who had finished crying on my shoulder, asked. I didn’t know when, but she had stepped out from the boat and lined the corpses of the exiles on the pier.

“Nothing. I am just tired.” I stepped out, storing the boat in my dimensional storage.

“Oh yes. I had forgotten. You were also working hard, weren’t you? You were together with me all this time, fighting anathema above your rank. You even drove us all the way. Are you okay?”

“I didn’t receive a shield break, so it wasn’t as bad as New Mesa. Please take care of yourself. You had a shield break, and that sword pierced your stomach, right? You should see a Blue Guardian. Felicia said healing spray is supposed to be for emergencies.”

“Yes, you are right. Thank you, Lily.” Freya hugged me again. This time, she added a kiss on the cheek. I took a step back and got goosebumps on my neck.

“Freya…”

“Sorry. I just can’t help it. I am sorry, alright? I’m heading to Guardian Command now. Bye-bye.” She then left, taking all the corpses with her.

“Hah… I didn’t want to be friends with her. Did I raise some flags? Ugh. I’ve had enough of girls fawning over me,” I muttered as I went back to my home in Shirayuki’s. Her eyes resembled Nana, my classmate, just now. That was dangerous. I need to keep my distance.

I called Sebastian, and he brought me home in his Seinjet. When I returned, I found Kageyama sitting on the couch, doing nothing but sipping tea. His eyes gazed at the scenery through the window. When he saw me, he greeted me with a sigh. He seemed to be in a bad mood, as sighs kept escaping from his mouth.

“Lily… welcome home,” Kageyama said. “Zenith may or may not call for you in several days. I hope you will put in some good words for us.”

“... You know?”

“Yes. The report of your investigation has reached General Armstrong. Pink Heart and Issen will also receive the report, along with conglomerates like me and parliament members in UNH.”

“Is it bad?” I asked. “Felicia told me that I had no say in it. She said the report merely contains videos and sounds from what I see.”

“... Yes. The report didn’t even have your name in it, and it did contain videos, along with tags like places, and so forth… No. Saying anything more and we might be accused of falsifying testimonies from witnesses. Just do what you think is right. And if possible, soften the language.”

“... Alright.”

“Good night.”

“Good night.”

I left Kageyama for my bedroom.