Lulu froze in mid-air, its large ears fluttering in the wind.

It stared blankly at Phil, then looked down to sense itself again.

One was missing. One was really missing.

It wasn’t an illusion. That had been its very last Seed, but now the space within its body where the “Seeds” were stored was completely empty!

It stared at Phil, its voice subconsciously trembling with shock until it cracked.

“Y-y-y-y-you…!”

Phil, holding Jiang Wanfeng, looked up at the little creature in the air that had inexplicably malfunctioned.

“Did you catch a virus?”

Lulu shook its head frantically, pointing at Phil with trembling paws as it cried out through tears:

“Waaah—you, you stole Lulu’s Seed!”

However, the moment the words left its mouth, even Lulu felt that its outburst was ill-advised.

Even if every Seed was something Lulu had earned back in the Kingdom by slaving away at those long, stinky missions, it shouldn’t have let its emotions get the better of it and said something like that…

The person across from it had just suppressed a Witch right before its eyes; she could probably swat Lulu into “Lulu-paste” with a single palm.

If it accidentally made her angry, its tiny frame wouldn’t even be enough for a single meal. Where did it get the guts just now to accuse her of stealing its seeds…

Wuwu… It’s all over…

While Lulu was spiraling into fear of having annoyed an unknown entity, Phil actually didn’t care about Lulu “offending” her. In fact, she didn’t care what this palm-sized little thing said at all.

What she cared about more was the meaning behind the words.

Seed. As a former SAVE employee—according to SAVE regulations, an employee’s work permit is revoked upon death, so she could only be considered “former”—Phil naturally knew what the “seed” the Envoy of the Kingdom spoke of were.

But what did it mean, saying she had stolen its seed? What did that have to do with her?

Before she could think further, a familiar panel suddenly floated in front of her—

Subsequently, a new entry appeared under her [Soul Feedback] skill:

In other words, she could use her little sister’s magical girl weapons from now on?

But she wasn’t even a magical girl… could she still use them even so?

At that moment, the Crown’s cheerful voice rang out in her mind.

“Ahem. I have some good news and some bad news here. Which do you want to hear first?”

Phil’s heart skipped a beat.

She’d had enough of a headache this evening; surely the Crown hadn’t caused more trouble while suppressing the Witch Core?

Hadn’t they just vowed so confidently that they could handle anything? As expected, not a single word out of this fellow’s mouth could be trusted…

“…The good news.”

Immediately, the sound of the Crown clapping resonated in Phil’s mind.

“Congratulations! Celebrations are in order. You are now a Magical Girl~”

“…Magical Girl?”

Phil suddenly realized.

“What that envoy from the Kingdom just said—about the Seed being stolen—that was your doing?!”

“Heh heh heh, impressive, right? While I was suppressing the Witch Core, I traced the contract between your little sister and that little toy, and then I just swiped the Seed for you.”

The Crown said smugly, “Oh my, even I’m starting to admire myself. The precision of that series of maneuvers was no less than a major surgery. I feel like hardly anyone besides me could have pulled that off.”

“Good grief…”

Phil ignored the Crown’s self-congratulatory boasting.

Magical girl…

To be honest, Phil didn’t have a very good impression of the title.

It wasn’t that she hated magical girls; it was simply that she felt it was a high-risk profession, and the Kingdom was more or less inhumane.

—Could an organization that tricked a group of adolescent girls into becoming child laborers be anything good?

“Is there any reason I must become this magical girl?”

“Of course there is.”

The Crown explained to Phil:

“If you want to contain a Witch Core, you need a vessel, right? So I have no choice but to make you a magical girl first. Right now, the power of that Witch Core is attached to the Seed.”

“And that brings us to the bad news…”

The Crown’s voice slowed down a bit.

“For the coming period, your use of my power will likely be subject to some restrictions.”

Phil’s eyes narrowed slightly.

In fact, she had sensed something was wrong just now, as her current body felt an unprecedented sense of exhaustion.

Logically, with Phil’s current physical strength comparable to an A-Class Calamity, she shouldn’t be so weak after just one battle.

But after the Crown pointed it out, she realized that the source of the power within her body seemed to have weakened slightly.

To use an analogy, if her mana before was like a faucet turned all the way open to let the water gush out, now it was only opened a tiny crack.

“It seems you’ve noticed,” the Crown said. “I have indeed used the Crown’s power to suppress the Witch Core, but because of that, the two have now reached a rather delicate balance.”

“Until the hidden danger of the Witch Core is completely eliminated, if you draw upon a large amount of the Crown’s power in a short period, it will cause this balance to shatter.”

“As for what happens then…”

The Crown fell silent, which made Phil feel uneasy.

“So, what will happen?”

“Who knows?”

The Crown said irresponsibly, “Maybe you’ll blow up? But that might be considered a happy ending. It’s more likely that the Witch’s power will completely spiral out of control, eroding your mind, and then…”

“The strongest, most terrifying Witch in history—one who possesses the power of the Crown and could eat that so-called ‘King of Night’ like a little biscuit—will be born.”

“Perhaps it will leave a significant mark on the records of SAVE.”

Phil’s eye twitched as she suppressed the urge to drag the Crown out of her mind and give it a sound thrashing. She looked down at her hands.

“So, I can’t use my abilities from now on?”

“It’s not quite that extreme. It’s not that you can’t use them, but that you must use them sparingly, slowly, and in an orderly, regulated manner. As long as you don’t over-invoke the Crown’s authority in a short period and break the balance, using it occasionally is still fine.”

As the Crown spoke, its tone suddenly became seductive again, as sweet as honey as always.

“However, in a sense, this misfortune can be turned into a blessing, as long as you use your Magical Girl powers more often from now on.”

“What do you mean?”

“After all, you don’t want to remain in this precarious state forever, do you? Like a ticking time bomb. As the Crown, I find suppressing this filthy thing quite bothersome as well. So, let’s just digest the Witch Core.”

“The power within the Witch Core is currently being suppressed by me. If you can raise your Magical Girl level to the Full Bloom Tier, you will be able to digest this Witch Core and completely master the power within it.”

“This way, not only will the hidden danger be eliminated, but your strength will also skyrocket. Isn’t that killing two birds with one stone?”

One can’t help but feel that doing it certainly won’t be as simple as it sounds…

But at this point, there doesn’t seem to be anything left to complain about.

On the other side, Lulu couldn’t hear the Crown’s voice; it could only see Phil muttering something to herself, her face turning various shades of blue and white.

Consequently, Lulu shrank back in fear.

What is she doing? Is she thinking of ways to cook Lulu?

Could it be that her mental state has become unstable after absorbing the Witch’s power? Is it too late to run away now?

“Um…”

The moment Phil spoke, Lulu jumped in fright, its fur standing on end as it clutched its head and tumbled to the ground.

“Lulu—Lulu doesn’t taste good!”

“…”

What kind of train of thought would lead it to believe she was going to eat it?

Phil almost forgot what she was going to say; it took a good while for her thoughts to connect again.

“I wanted to ask… how do I become a Magical Girl?”

“Eh?”

The night-shrouded Old Commercial Street had returned to its original state.

Though some traces of the anomaly still lingered on the streets, and dazed passersby could be seen from time to time, it seemed that no significant harm had been done.

At this rate, even if SAVE detected something unusual here, they would likely assume it was just some minor disturbance handled by a Magical Girl. They probably wouldn’t even realize this entire district had just taken a walk through death’s door.

As for Su Lingyin and Wen Yumian, they had been picked up by other Magical Girls contacted by Lulu.

The two of them were badly injured, but fortunately, their lives were not in danger.

Phil had originally wanted to wait until they woke up before leaving, but neither her own state nor theirs was particularly good; staying put would only increase the risk of being discovered by SAVE.

And so, she had no choice but to part ways with Lulu and the others, agreeing to properly review tonight’s events once everyone was in better condition.

In short, things had ended before they could escalate further. The “Saving Private Jiang Wanfeng”[1] incident had come to a close, and it could be considered a happy ending for all.

Though quite a few loose ends remained to be fretted over later… well, she would just have to trust in her future self.

Today, she was already exhausted.

Lost in these thoughts, Phil carried Jiang Wanfeng on her back, slowly walking on the road home, to her original house.

As for Shen Qingshu, Phil had already sent her a message with her new phone, saying she wouldn’t be coming back tonight.

She felt like some lowly little young wife with no freedom, having to report her whereabouts to the household even just to stay out for the night…

But since she was living in someone else’s house after all, she felt she had to say something.

Incidentally, even this new phone and the new phone number were arranged for her by Shen Qingshu through Uncle Bai.

Setting aside the circumstances and looking purely at the facts, Phil had indeed been “kept” by Shen Qingshu.

While she was thinking about such random things, Phil suddenly felt a slight movement from the girl on her back.

“Mm…”

Jiang Wanfeng let out a low groan.

Phil didn’t stop walking.

“Are you awake?”

Jiang Wanfeng opened her eyes blearily and rubbed them.

Her consciousness was still hazy and her head was a bit dizzy, much like waking up in the evening after a very long afternoon nap.

But a familiar sense of security radiated from the body pressed against her, making her relax almost instinctively.

“Brother…”

She murmured softly, then froze.

She realized she wasn’t on her brother’s back, but was being carried by a silver-haired girl.

“Phil.”

Jiang Wanfeng’s voice was very light, as if it might dissipate into the night wind.

“Mm.”

Phil responded.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

The street was quiet. Bright moonlight spilled across the ground, and there weren’t many lights in the surrounding residential buildings. The streetlights stretched their shadows long.

The temperature was pleasant, cool and comfortable.

It was a night perfect for deep sleep.

To Jiang Wanfeng, the events of tonight were somewhat fragmented. Even when she tried to recall them now, she could only remember the general gist.

From the blurred fragments, she deduced the fact that she seemed to have gone berserk for a while and almost did something irreversible, only to be saved by the girl before her.

Many of the details were forgotten or hazy, as if separated by a thick layer of fog.

But one thing she remembered with absolute clarity.

This white-haired, red-eyed girl had stood outside the door and said to her:

“I’m back.”

Jiang Wanfeng lay on Phil’s back, her fingers gently gripping the fabric at her shoulders.

After a long time, she finally asked in an uncertain voice:

“Phil…”

“Are you… Brother?”

After asking this, Jiang Wanfeng was suddenly struck by a wave of fear. She was afraid of hearing an answer she didn’t want to hear.

But—

“Yeah, congratulations, you guessed right.”

Phil replied quite calmly.

And with that, Jiang Wanfeng relaxed completely.

She didn’t ask why Brother had become Phil, nor did she ask what was really going on.

Brother was still here, and that was enough…

She simply closed her eyes and buried her face in Phil’s soft, silver-white hair, her nose twitching slightly.

It smelled so good…

Even though she herself had become all smelly after such a long night.

Why was Bro… or maybe she should be called Big Sis now, still so fragrant?

It definitely wasn’t because the other’s scent made her feel at ease; Jiang Wanfeng was a reserved young girl, so she would never admit to that.

But regardless, after nuzzling Phil’s fine, silk-like hair with her cheek, Jiang Wanfeng’s heart finally settled, as if she had at last confirmed the most important thing.

“I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”

Hearing this, Phil rolled her eyes.

“Wait until the day you can take care of yourself before saying that. If I really left you home alone, a girl like you would just be waiting to die.”

Usually, if Jiang Wanfeng heard something like that, she would have started talking back defiantly long ago.

But today, she was exceptionally quiet, only letting out a soft, muddled hum before burying her face even deeper.

It couldn’t be helped; her big brother had turned into a fragrant, soft, beautiful girl, so for some reason, she didn’t feel like talking back.

“Are you hungry?” Phil asked. “You definitely haven’t been eating properly these past few days, have you?”

Only then did Jiang Wanfeng belatedly realize that her stomach was uncomfortably empty, aching slightly from hunger.

“So hungry…”

Because Jiang Wanfeng’s head was still buried in Phil’s hair, her voice was muffled.

“Magical ★ Pretty Girl…”

Phil didn’t catch it.

“What?”

“I said, Magical ★ Pretty Girl.”

Jiang Wanfeng repeated, her voice sounding very serious.

“A new episode is out. I want to watch it, watch it while I eat.”

Phil sighed helplessly. Was she supposed to call this girl carefree? Her first reaction after barely escaping with her life was wanting to watch a cartoon?

“I’m telling you, is that thing really that good? Do you like it that much?”

“Is that not allowed…? I just love it…”

Jiang Wanfeng leaned against her back, her voice growing fainter.

“I just love it so much… I’ve loved it ever since I was little…”

She closed her eyes, sounding as if she were talking in her sleep.

“Even now, and I’ll still love it in the future… no matter what becomes of me…”

“Always… always… it will absolutely never change…”

“This love…”