The Dark Mage Likes Fake Listings (2)
"You're not trying to scam us with some already-dead guy, are you?"
"Of course not."
Perfect reaction. Raban chuckled as he pressed on with his pitch.
"You've already drawn out an Ochan with a magic stone before, haven't you?"
"Yeah. What, now you're gonna hold us responsible for unleashing ancient power?"
Raban shook his head leisurely. In a con like this, what mattered wasn't the facts themselves—it was making them look real. The most convincing lies were always hidden within nine parts truth.
"No, no. Suppose you were absolutely sure the Ochan was gone for good. What if, to fight our magical girls, you dug up ancient power anyway? What then?"
He painted a plausible scenario, conjuring a fictional threat. Dine crossed her arms, eyeing him with clear displeasure. She hated to admit it, but a surprise attack from an Ochan could wound even a Heavenly King badly. And conversely, the Ochan would've grown even stronger by absorbing the Heavenly Kings' ancient magic.
"I told you about the Ochan's survival even though you haven't committed to cooperating yet, Salamandine. Same context. We don't want the ancient tragedy to repeat itself."
In truth, Raban wasn't even sure if this "ancient tragedy" was a real thing. He'd just shoehorned in some ominous-sounding words to fit the narrative. But with no mascots watching, who was gonna call his bluff?
"So please accept our deal. For the dreams of Hikarius City and the magical girls."
Dine trembled with anger, then—ever so slightly, with the most reluctant expression imaginable—gave a tiny nod.
Deal sealed. A triumph born of hyping a nonexistent threat. A textbook case of fraudulent real estate scamming.
Finishing a long, tedious meeting in the Fairy Kingdom, Papirun sighed as she returned to reality.
The agenda had been wildly varied—Is the Ochan really deadmo? So where'd all that super powerful magic we extracted from that massive beast gomo? Oh, Salamandine's so cute, when's she joining as a holy warrior?—but the core issue was something else.
Code name: 'Sawayo.' A being from another dimension, warped... corrupted... no, reborn by Mother Fairy's blessing into a magical girl. How to handle this thing that had suddenly shown up at Lux Tierra High School.
Should they ignore the slim chance it was all a misunderstanding and just a normal student? Or abandon principles and strike first?
But a direct attack felt off for several reasons. First, 'Sawayo' had helped defeat a monster. Second, the blessing had twisted it into a magical girl form, not something savage like a monster.
Mother Fairy's blessing was a barrier preventing extradimensional beings from harming Hikarius natives, but it couldn't change their fundamental nature. If it could, they'd subjugate every approaching entity from other dimensions and use them to defend Earth.
The blessing was just a minimal safeguard to protect Earth life, like magical girls. If Sawayo's nature was purely evil, it would've taken a form more like a monster than a magical girl.
They couldn't risk turning a potentially powerful ally into an enemy over nothing. After grueling debate, the fairies concluded: Let's just watch her school life for a bitmo?
It was industry common sense that villains infiltrating schools to uncover magical girl identities often ended up reformed as holy warriors anyway.
Having wrangled yet another rowdy guardian fairy meeting through sheer grit, Papirun got an update on the person of interest's school activities the moment she returned.
First, Inian. 'Counseling room?' And Raban was in the counseling room. Suspicious outsider with suspected ties to Salamandine's monsters. But no further contact with the Heavenly Kings lately, and his rep among students was good—maybe time to drop him from the watchlist?
The biggest reason? His diet. Saw him every day buying triangle kimbap from the convenience store, muttering, "Sniff sniff, so good again today." Hard to suspect a monster like that. Unless he was some beggar from a barren mountain village, maybe. Monster and beggar did share the same initial consonant, after all.
'Raban her targetmo? ...Nah, low chance mo.'
Code name Sawayo—self-identified as Inian—lived in the same dorm as Raban. If she wanted contact, she'd do it there, no need to meet at school.
Next: Dine Ifrit a.k.a. Salamandine. Also in the counseling room.
[...?]
A flicker of doubt crossed Papirun's mind—something felt off. Raban made sense; counseling room was his workplace.
Papirun frantically checked the dedicated Lux Tierra High staff (mascots) chat on her magical phone.
A desperate message from a mascot handling school surveillance, who wasn't high-ranked enough for the Fairy Kingdom emergency meeting: 'Seniors, check messages please.' It read like a dying plea.
The Fairy Kingdom's policy of powering down all devices during meetings for efficiency had backfired like this...!
Papirun nearly lost it, but senior-fairy responsibility kept her steady. She pieced together how things had escalated to this mess...
'No clue what the hell's going on.'
Obviously, she couldn't figure it out. In the worst light, it was the Heavenly Kings plotting school takeover, secretly colluding with outside forces amid lax mascot surveillance.
Or, from another angle... uh...
Someone had spotted Sawayo and Dine together; Nai Hyun, suspecting them, was staking out the counseling room to monitor.
Papirun shook her head. She had solid reasons for certainty.
[Magi Black's instincts are on par with or below Salamandine's mo...]
Inian and the Sawayo girl shared hair color, eye color, and speech quirks—enough to suspect they were the same—but Nai Hyun lacked that insight. Schne might guess Sawayo was Inian, but she wouldn't share with Nai Hyun.
Not out of disdain. Nai Hyun just couldn't lie for shit. She was already dodging Dine to hide knowing her identity; tipping her off about Inian being Sawayo would risk exposing Schne's own secrets exponentially.
[Big trouble mo. Everyone in that room might figure out Magi Black's identity...!]
[Send other kids to drag Dine outmo?]
[...No mo. Overreacting could give them an excuse to probe Magi Black's identity mo. Better go indirect for natural cover mo.]
Direct mascot intervention would feel off after the status quo. Fine for newbie Inian, but veteran Dine would notice.
Papirun fidgeted her cotton-candy paws, typing a message to Nai Hyun.
Watching Nai Hyun with interest, Inian suddenly recalled Raban's warning.
'You think a mana battery like her gets to enjoy the shining youth even I never had?! No way! Absolutely not!'
Raban's shout in her head was heavily distorted, but the demon lord didn't care. What mattered was verifying the feasibility of Raban's negative-thought mining plan.
Some humans were like that. Brimming with negative energy, but their mental fortitude kept it bottled up. Harvesting negativity from within a sentient's mind was tricky. It had to manifest externally—resentful words, bloody tears—before it could be refined into mana.
Demons didn't tempt with "be true to your desires" for nothing.
In that vein, Inian needed to test Nai Hyun's mental steel. Crudely put, her toughness.
'Gotta tell that black mage hack to cut losses if she's a bust...'
She started simple, probing for negative thoughts.
"I heard your house burned down. You okay sawayo?"
A question only a transfer student could ask innocently. Na Ju Pharma victims would secretly relish hearing Black Forest went up in flames, so saying it to Nai Hyun's face would be provocation. But an oblivious outsider mentioning that subtle symbol of scorn? Framed as concern?
Ordinary humans would feel mixed gratitude and bitterness at the reminder. The weaker ones would add outrage at undeserved contempt. The tougher would swallow the bitterness and show only thanks.
"Oh, that."
Nai Hyun replied brightly, cheerfully.
"It was falling apart anyway. I was thinking of blowing it up myself."
Inian hit a wall. If the exaggerated humor was a defense mechanism, it'd be reassuring. But Nai Hyun's tone held no self-protection.
"Worked out great. It was an unused villa anyway—perfect chance to remodel."
A joke offered out of worry that her heavy answer might burden the asker. Far beyond ordinary human empathy.
We're fucked.
Her mental armor was way too thick.
It's a fake listing, you madman...!
Even if the negative-thought lottery payout hit trillions, it didn't matter. Matching it would take not 6 numbers, but 10,000.