The Association Guarantees Siren's Identity
The Association had stepped forward to guarantee Siren's identity, and quite a few things had changed. First was the cancellation of the magic circle lecture. The Bukhan Mountain officials wanted to observe, so we scrapped the planned content that would have filmed a lecture to help with dismantling the magic circle.
Second came opening a bank account and activating a smartphone.
“S-Siren-nim…?”
“You know me?”
“The magical girl…!”
“Correct!”
“H-Happy Happy Wingku…!”
“Wingku~”
“Thud….”
“Oh my?”
There was a small incident where they nearly called emergency services at the bank, but in the end we successfully created a bank account, smartphone, and various other accounts all under her name.
The last and most important item was the dungeon access permit—DEP.
The moment she received the DEP, we immediately held an outdoor joint dungeon broadcast.
“Queen Ha! As promised for today, we have a guest! It’s Siren-nim!”
“Hello?”
And then—
“It looks like they’re one step away from turning into zombies.”
“Pardon?”
We had discovered traces of a dark mage.
The reason I chose Queen Genesi as the first joint broadcast partner was simple. She had simply applied first.
It was a mid-tier dungeon where large lizardmen could appear. Even in front of those newbie-slaughtering lizardmen, the two of them remained perfectly relaxed. With the former leader of a major guild’s search team and a magical girl taking the front and rear positions respectively, they were not merely competent—they were overwhelmingly dominant.
Siren, who had turned twelve lizardmen into perfectly roasted corpses, wiped her eerily dry forehead and spoke.
“Whew. That dungeon was my first time, so it was really tough!”
That was when it happened.
“Kek, kekeek. Kekekeeek….”
“Ah. Sorry. I made it hurt, didn’t I?”
Unfortunately one lizardman hadn’t died in a single blow and was trembling pathetically. Hearing its distress call, Siren trotted right up to it, squatted down, and held both hands in front of its head as if warming them by a campfire. Flames erupted from her palms and engulfed the creature’s skull.
Tap—! Tatatatak—! Tatak—!!
The tail that had been desperately thrashing against the ground gradually lost strength, gave one final twitch, and fell still with a dull thud. All that remained was the sizzling sound of boiling oil.
“I think it’s pitiful too!”
“It’s a rescue operation!”
“Because I freed its soul! What good could possibly come from leaving it trapped inside a filthy monster’s body? It’s better to send it to the goddess’s side so it can hope for a better reincarnation!”
“Hey! A magical girl fights villains for love, justice, and peace! Comparing me to those bad kids earns you the yappi punishment!”
“See that!”
Anyway. Siren and Genesi continued forward, slaughtering lizardmen as if harvesting wheat, and soon arrived before the boss room door. Genesi checked the time and spoke in amazement.
“Siren-nim. I think we just set a new record.”
“Really?”
“It’s truly incredible. Even when I was active and came here with my team, breaking this record would have been difficult.”
“Wow!”
“Still, we’re about to enter the boss room. Shall we rest for a bit?”
“Yes.”
They spread out a mat in front of the boss room and chatted comfortably. Since it was technically a joint broadcast, they had prepared questions for each other but had barely asked half of them because they had focused too much on hunting. One of the charming points of Genesi’s streams was the Q&A conducted while hunting monsters. The strange sense of leisure she maintained even in tense situations gave viewers a vicarious thrill, as if they themselves had become overpowered.
Today, however, it felt more like a dungeon picnic.
Genesi asked first.
“Are you still not going to reveal your face?”
“I will! I don’t know when, but I definitely will.”
“What was the hardest part about today’s outdoor dungeon broadcast?”
“Hmm…. Oh! Waking up early was a little difficult.”
After they had chatted for a while—
“Shall we go?”
“Yes!”
They opened the boss room door.
“S-Save… me…?”
“….?”
“It… hurts… stop… please…?”
“Uh….”
Siren gently placed a hand on the shoulder of the stunned Genesi and said,
“They’re right on the verge of turning into zombies.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll start with incineration~”
A massive flame erupted from Siren’s hand. The zombies that had been slowly rising twitched like live fish on a boat before shriveling up. The stench of burning protein filled the air so strongly that even the experienced Genesi dry-heaved. I wasn’t much better, but when Siren saw us she suddenly covered her mouth and bent over.
“Ugh….”
“Iren, stop retching.”
“What’s retching?”
“What you’re doing right now.”
“Huh?”
Normally the chat would have exploded with messages teasing Siren for retching, but the situation was too serious. The viewers were just as confused.
Necrokinesis—one of the dark mages’ spells that desecrates the dead. Related texts were illegal to even read; dark magic was a societal evil. The principle was to report any trace of a dark mage immediately, so we contacted the Association. A investigation team soon arrived.
They collected the charred zombie corpses and inserted fragments into a device to analyze the components. The atmosphere was no longer suitable for continuing the broadcast. Genesi had already ended her stream, and I was about to do the same when the investigation team leader approached Siren.
“Would you be willing to assist with the cooperative investigation?”
“I don’t think that will be possible.”
I stepped forward. Cooperating throughout the entire investigation process was too much.
“…I see. Understood.”
The team leader looked at Siren with obvious regret, but what couldn’t be done simply couldn’t be done. The longer she stayed at the scene, the more she would only distract the investigators. It was time to leave. Having made that judgment, I turned around with Siren.
Or at least I tried to.
“By any chance. Are you looking for a necromancer?”
“Yes? Ah, yes. Our ultimate goal is to catch the dark mage. We plan to restore the zombies as much as possible to track the mana traces.”
“Ah~ I see.”
“If you’re thinking of cooperating…”
“No, I’m not!”
“I see.”
Just as a hint of resentment flickered in the investigator’s eyes—why raise our hopes like that if you’re not going to help—Siren spoke.
“If you simply know the necromancer’s location, you won’t need that whole investigation process, right?”
“Yes? Ah, that’s correct.”
“He’s right there!”
“?”
The person she pointed at—Genesi—flinched.
“S-Siren? Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
“No, not you, Genesi-nim.”
Genesi tilted her head and turned around, then froze solid.
“That person. He’s the necromancer.”
Genesi’s cameraman’s face twisted in panic as he protested.
“What! Don’t say such nonsense!”
Siren didn’t say another word. She simply fired dozens of fireballs at the cameraman. Genesi rushed toward Siren in terror, but vines that had burst from the stone floor wrapped around her ankles, preventing her from moving.
“No!!!”
Genesi reached out toward the cameraman and screamed, but when the black smoke cleared and revealed his true form, she fell silent.
Flesh was melting off, yet it regenerated. Black blood bubbled and new flesh sprouted.
“Ah.”
They say when you’re too shocked no words come out—Genesi was exactly like that. The investigators immediately entered combat stance.
“Haa…. How did you know?”
The dark mage asked while rubbing his face dry.
“The stench of rot is so thick, how could I not notice!”
“That woman worked with me for years and never noticed?”
“What do you want me to do about it!”
Siren created a massive fireball above her head. Looking at the blazing sun-like orb, the necromancer spoke.
“I see no way to win. Can’t you just let me go?”
“A magical girl may fall, but she never compromises with villains!”
“You will regret this.”
“How very villain-like.”
Those were the dark mage’s last words. Siren’s fireball shot forward, and he died just like that.
“Are you alright?”
“Ah… yes.”
Siren approached the still-dazed Genesi.
Only then did Genesi belatedly offer an apology and words of gratitude.
“I’m sorry for trying to attack you when I didn’t know anything. And… thank you for saving me.”
“What are you saying! Villains are good at hiding and infiltrating. You can’t blame the person who was deceived!”
“Even so….”
It was obvious what the dark mage’s target had been. If not for Siren, Genesi would likely have been discovered as a zombie before long.
“There’s no need to feel so sorry. Actually, I was a little confused at first. I was planning to burn both of you if necessary, but fortunately I managed to tell you apart at the last moment.”
“…Haha.”
When their conversation ended, the investigators who had been waiting for the right moment approached. After giving the obligatory thanks for catching the dark mage, one investigator who couldn’t contain his curiosity asked directly.
“How did you know he was a dark mage?”
“With detection magic.”
“Ah… is that so?”
Dark mages could still use magic. If they used ordinary magic and pretended to be innocent mages, there was normally no way to tell them apart. The only method was to track residual mana, but that was difficult too. Yet this magical girl could distinguish dark mages with detection magic. It was probably no ordinary detection spell.
Of course it wasn’t. Being able to identify what kind of magic the opponent had learned without even seeing it meant it had to be her own unique vision magic that she had developed alone. As expected of a promising archmage—she already possessed vision magic. Honestly, I was envious.
“That’s amazing.”
“Would you like me to teach you?”
“Yes?!”
The investigator unintentionally shouted.
“Ah, right. I still haven’t turned off the broadcast.”
And every single moment of this entire process had been captured on stream.