The Super Cute Life Begins
Enter the real me!
I wanted to become a ridiculously adorable little girl.
The kind of nade-nade* mega-cutie who turns heads just by walking down the street and wins everyone's hearts with nothing but a smile. The all-purpose position in any crisis — just whine a little and the problem solves itself. I'd carried that dream around with me, all the while knowing it was pure fantasy.
But apparently, God had been peeking at my wishes.
"…Is this for real?"
There in the mirror: snow-white silver hair and crimson eyes that gleamed like rubies. I poked my cheek and it was insanely, impossibly squishy.
"…This is stupidly cute?"
My wish had come true.
"Ellie! Eliana!"
Eep. Time to run. If Mom catches me, it'll be a full day of lecturing, guaranteed.
The third daughter of the House of Erdian — breathtakingly adorable and overflowing with talent. That was me now, Eliana.
It didn't take much more than lessons on the Emperor's lineage and history classes to figure out that this was the world of a romance-fantasy webtoon I'd read back in my old life.
Something about a Demon King resurrecting, apparently, along with a whole pile of other plot developments.
Don't care! For someone as cute and precious as me, all that stuff just sounds exhausting and complicated.
Living life getting pampered and fawned over is way simpler and way more fun. So run I shall!
"Escaping~!"
Mid-dash, I spun up a portal just wide enough for one girl and slipped right through it.
"Eliana! Where are you going this time, you reckless child?!"
"Heehee, bye Mom! I'll be back by dinnertime!"
Siiip—
The portal sealed shut behind me. Heheh, thank goodness I studied spatial magic first. Best decision ever.
Now then — time to play with my friends in the forest.
"…Keruk?!"
"Take this — Fireball!"
With a boom, the goblin let out a strangled squeak and crumpled to the ground.
"…Aww. I'm so strong now that everyone dies in one hit."
A goblin used to last two or three rounds with me. Everyone's gotten so weak. Or… well.
"…Which just means I've gotten stronger, right? That's proof!"
Growing stronger is a good thing, no matter how you slice it. Imagine the looks on everyone's faces when I show them someday. If I trotted over to the Magic Tower and roasted targets left and right with my Fireball, they might just faint from the shock.
"Ehehe… ehehehehe…"
Just picturing it was delightful. This is the life of a super-cute magical girl.
"Goddess! Thank you so, so, so much! I'm going to enjoy a life with zero regrets!"
I was strolling along through the woods, skipping and humming, when something rustled in the grass.
"Fireball!"
Boom!
The spell flew true and burst in a puff of flame — but there was nothing there.
"…Huh?!"
That was a first. Something dodged my Fireball.
…Found you! A friend to play with!
I clapped my hands together and started drawing in mana.
Every thread of mana in the air began to resonate with the beat of my heart, humming a low song. I rode the currents of it, drifting along the flow, and before long I'd located the friend who'd slipped away from me.
"…Gotcha!"
The mana came crashing together in a single point, coalescing into a dense, writhing mass. I watched something wriggle and squeeze between the seams of it, trying to squirm free, so I fed in more power immediately.
"Hehe~ No escaping now."
At last, bound tight from head to toe, my quarry stopped moving — and I opened my eyes to finally see what kind of friend I'd caught.
"…Pwee! Pwee!"
"Wh… what?!"
It wasn't just a marten. It was a stupidly, insanely, off-the-charts cute marten!
"Pweee… pweet!"
"Hold STILL! I'm trying to heal you!"
It couldn't even run away and it was still throwing a fit. I'd nearly hurt this adorable little creature — I'd nearly committed the greatest mistake of my entire life.
"There! All better now!"
"…Pwee? Pwee?!"
"Fufu, healing magic is a basic skill every cute girl should have!"
Hehe. At this rate I'm going to get worshipped as a saint one of these days, and then I'll be in trouble.
Now that the treatment was done, I reached out and scooped the marten up in a great big hug.
"Pweet?! Pweeeee!"
"Kyaa, you're so warm! And your fur is sooo soft!!"
I rubbed my face against it enthusiastically. At first it thrashed around trying every escape imaginable, but once it realized there was no getting out of my arms, it went quiet.
"…"
"Hm? What's wrong?"
The marten seemed a little downcast. Hmm. Maybe this little one needed a friend too?
That's it! If I make it my familiar, I could see it every day! Might as well do it right now!
Swoosh~
"…Pwee?"
"Hm? What am I doing? A familiar contract."
Maybe it was happy to be getting a new friend, because the marten just stared at me, dazed.
"?!?!"
"Okay, all set! Stick your paw out, quick!"
"Pweee!! Pweee!! Grrrrrr!!"
The mana around us rippled and stirred. Oh no. This naughty little thing is actually growling at me. How dare you.
"Ah-ah-ah, that's not allowed!"
I seized control of the magic circle myself. The marten, which had been snarling mere seconds ago, went abruptly silent.
"…"
"I'll let the growling slide. Now press your paw print on it, come on."
The marten trembled violently, then finally set its paw on my magic circle. In that instant, a warm, gentle blue feeling flowed into my body, and my mood soared.
"Whoaa… that's amazing! What is this?!"
"…Pwee."
The marten turned its head away with finality, pretending not to know me. I considered bonking it with a little mana as punishment, but hitting your friend is bad.
"Oh, right — they say you're supposed to give your familiar a name."
I said it with a great big grin.
"From today on, your name is Marten."
And just like that, I had one more friend in the forest!
This forest was called the Sacred Woods of Arbella. I'd heard that a monster sealed away by my ancestors was supposed to live here, but I'd never actually seen it.
"Pwee!! Pwee!!"
"What now?"
Marten had suddenly started fussing on my shoulder. No idea what it found so objectionable this time.
"Ooh, blue herbs!"
Since nobody else could set foot in this place, rare herbs grew everywhere in ridiculous abundance. I'd recently gotten hooked on brewing potions from them, though it wasn't going quite as smoothly as I'd hoped.
"…Aww, but I don't see any yellow herbs."
"Pwee?"
When you eat the yellow ones… um… your magic gets stronger, and you feel amazing! Like your head goes all clear. Sure, it's a little addictive, but it's not bad for you! …Probably?
"Marten, do you happen to know where any yellow herbs are?"
"…Pwee?"
Seemed like Marten didn't know either.
"That's okay! You're cute, so it's fine!"
"Pwee… pweet! Pweeeeeeeet!!!"
All of a sudden, Marten hopped down off my shoulder and darted off somewhere.
"Huh? Hey, where are you going?!"
I chased after it, and chased, and chased — and then something incredible happened.
"…Oh?"
An invisible wall barred the way. A magical barrier? But something about it felt… different…?
"Pwee-pweet."
It kept gesturing toward the inside, so something had to be in there.
"Are the yellow herbs in there?"
"Pwee!"
It nodded yes. Well then, nothing for it but to open it up!
Tap!
"Coaxial… polarization… raven… what came next again? Eh, whatever — all of it!"
A tiny universe bloomed at my fingertips, spilling light. I pressed it gently against the barrier, and —
The barrier began to shake, trembling violently.
"…Pweepwee?!"
"Yep, almost done."
Crack!
A moment later, the barrier finally shattered. Warm light flooded outward, and the thing at the center came into view.
It was… a heart. A gigantic lump of pure mana, beating like a heart.
"Wow, yellow herbs!!!"
Who cares about that — it was a whole FIELD of yellow herbs!!! So this is why I could never find any. Hidden away in a place like this!
I hurried over, plucked one, and took a sniff.
"Sniff, sniff… ehehe… yep, that's the smell."
I opened my bag right away and started packing them in, one careful layer at a time.
What? Where's my subspace pouch, you ask? Hey, come on. If I owned that too, I'd have no conscience left at all.
Meanwhile, Marten went hop-hop-hopping over and pressed its whole body up against the mana heart.
"Hey, Marten! That's not food!"
I tried reasoning with it, but Marten charged in headlong and plastered itself against the mana heart —
— and a blinding white light burst out in every direction.
"Ngh… so bright…"
As the pointless dramatic glow gradually faded, there sat Marten.
It was still Marten, all right.
Just… a giant Marten.
"…Whoa!"
Who knew it was the type that grows when it eats mana!
"Marten!"
"GRAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!"
"…"
Still adorable on the outside. But the voice had gotten loud.
"…Not cute."
I gathered mana. Gathered. Gathered, and gathered more, and then just scraped up every last drop I had.
"Grr… pwee-grr… grrr?"
"Hey."
Equal to that mana heart from before — no, greater than it — I gathered the whole tide of it, compressed it tiny above my palm, and spoke.
"Spit. It. Out."
"…"
Silence. Giant Marten was cute to look at, but its voice was decidedly not cute. And on top of that, our familiar contract had gotten destroyed in the process.
"Now."
"…Pwee."
Marten hung its head and released the mana. Its body shrank back down, and the mana heart materialized once more into reality, settling onto the ground beside it.
I walked over and laid my hand on the mana heart.
"…Confiscated."
"Pwee?! Pweee!!! Pweeeeeee!!!"
"What? It was yours to begin with?"
"Pwee! Pwee!"
Marten nodded its head furiously, radiating injustice from every pore. I flashed my sweetest smile.
"Silly! How would this ever be yours!"
"…Pwee?! Pweee!?!?!?"
I absorbed the whole thing straight into my body. For me it was like adding a single grain of sand to a desert — but apparently not so for Marten.
"Pwee… pweegit…"
It froze. Frozen solid. Dead on its feet!
"Don't worry. If you're a good boy, I'll take a little out now and then and share it with you."
"…Pwee."
"Really! I never lie!"
Marten gave a feeble nod, and I smiled and set it back up on my shoulder.
"Alright then, time to head home. If I stay out too late, Mom gets mad."
Beaming, I opened a portal home.
"Mom! I'm hooome!"
"…Eliana!! Where on earth did you— …come… back…"
Mom's eyes began to tremble. She was staring at Marten.
"Oh, this? A friend I made in the forest! We even did a familiar contract!"
"Th… that… that form is…"
"Its name is Marten! Isn't it cute?"
"…The ancient monster, Azrak?!"
"Huh?"
And with those words, Mom collapsed on the spot.
"Mom? Mom! What's wrong all of a sudden?!"
Apparently she's terrified of wild animals. I'll have to be more careful next time.