Chapter 107
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Interlude - Defeat and Victory
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"Um... Magical Battalion Commander."
"What is it? If it's not urgent, tell me later."
The Magical Battalion Commander snapped back at the Magical Captain without even glancing her way, her irritation plain as day.
What nonsense is she about to spout now?
I'm already swamped and haven't even gotten off work yet.
But despite the Magical Battalion Commander's dry response, the Magical Captain stubbornly pressed on.
"I was just wondering if you'd checked who the disciplinary targets are this time."
"Why bring that up out of nowhere?"
Finally, the Magical Battalion Commander shot her subordinate a cold glare, her hands still busy at work.
"Well, the thing is..."
But as soon as she got a response, the Magical Captain trailed off evasively.
This bitch...
I've got a ton to do right now—what the hell is this about?
The Magical Battalion Commander's voice rose a notch.
"Hey, if you're gonna start talking, then spit it out. Who the hell are the disciplinary targets?"
Unless it's something important.
Why scrape at my nerves over nothing—
"To start with, Magical Girl Mint Turtle and Kim Siyul are the disciplinary targets."
"...What?"
—Or so she'd thought. It wasn't nothing after all.
Kim Siyul's name had popped up completely out of left field. The Magical Battalion Commander stopped what she was doing and turned her full attention to the Magical Captain.
"Why those two all of a sudden?"
She was genuinely intrigued now.
It wasn't some trivial matter she could just brush off.
"Here's the deal."
The Magical Captain took a moment to steady her breath before continuing.
"According to the report that came up, Kim Siyul and Magical Girl Mint Turtle got into a Magical Ikusa Battle, and that's the reason for this disciplinary action."
The Magical Battalion Commander was well aware of what a Magical Ikusa Battle was.
A fight between Magical Girls over something they wanted, with the winner taking it all.
Officially forbidden, but they happened on the down-low all the time. Higher-ups usually swept them under the rug without much fuss.
But if this one had become an issue...
"Looks like it blew up too big for the executive Magical Girls to handle on their own, huh? No general-rank Magical Girl would've witnessed it, at least."
Something major had gone down.
She didn't know who started it, but...
"Actually, both of them. They both got seriously hurt, and Magical Girl White Phoenix saw it herself and broke it up."
Correction.
There had been an incident—and it had witnesses.
"Both of them got hurt?"
"Yes. Kim Siyul lost an arm and fingers, while Magical Girl Mint Turtle had major parts of her body vanish and was hit with Magical Anaphylactic Shock on top of that."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. If she hadn't been Magical Girl Mint Turtle, she would've died on the spot no problem."
The Magical Captain went on.
"Magical Girl Mint Turtle's already been transferred to Magical Central Hospital. Kim Siyul's next in line. The discipline will be carried out after their urgent Magical treatments are done."
"I see."
Honestly, just hearing it didn't quite make the sequence of events click.
She got that they'd hurt each other in a Magical Ikusa Battle. But how did Magical Girl Mint Turtle end up in Magical Anaphylactic Shock?
The Magical Battalion Commander didn't dwell on it, though. Her focus was elsewhere.
"Any idea why they fought?"
"It was over vacation time. Kim Siyul apparently bet his entire fortune in the process."
"Ah."
The Magical Battalion Commander let out a sly grin.
Kim Siyul's vacation hadn't even started yet, so this had to be about blocking someone else's.
In other words...
I can get some leverage here?
She could gain the upper hand.
If she figured out whose vacation he'd tried to sabotage—and who put him up to it—she'd have a nice card to play later.
"Honestly, it's still absurd no matter how I think about it. Who could've guessed someone would kick off a Magical Ikusa Battle just because they hated another person going on vacation?"
That's what she'd thought.
Until the Magical Captain's words.
"...Come again?"
The Magical Captain nodded as the Magical Battalion Commander stared in bewilderment.
"Exactly that. Magical Girl Mint Turtle was going on vacation, and he didn't like it, so he started the Magical Ikusa Battle."
"You sure about that?"
"Yes, that's how it's listed in the disciplinary target roster."
It didn't add up.
To cut off someone else's vacation—and bet his entire fortune on it?
Even for a lunatic like Kim Siyul, there were limits. He wasn't the type to go that far over a simple dislike.
So the Magical Battalion Commander couldn't buy Kim Siyul's actions at all.
"That doesn't make sense. I need to see it myself."
But then...
"...What the hell?"
Something even harder to believe was right in front of her.
She'd checked the disciplinary targets, and besides Kim Siyul and Magical Girl Mint Turtle, there were two more names.
One was the Magical Captain herself.
Reason: Magical extortion.
And the other was the Magical Battalion Commander.
Charge: Inciting Magical discord. Specifically, not stopping a Magical Ikusa Battle but egging it on—a ridiculous accusation.
No, scratch that.
It wasn't just one.
A laundry list of Magical offenses was spelled out.
Magical fund embezzlement, Magical corruption, Magical vacation tampering—the works, packed in tight.
It looked like a receipt. One of those endless ones from bulk-buying years' worth of supplies.
The problem was, she'd never bought any of it.
Me...?
What the hell was this?
She'd just learned about the Magical Ikusa Battle now. The rest was all unfamiliar too.
But more eye-catching than any of that was the Magical discipline handed down to the Magical Captain and Magical Battalion Commander.
"...Fuck, what is this?"
For once, the Magical Battalion Commander dropped her usual tone and cursed outright.
She'd never imagined seeing words like these.
"Magical... Extreme Training...? For me...?"
Magical Extreme Training.
True to the ominous vibe of every single character, it was one of the most brutal Magical disciplines out there.
The old Magical Discipline Education?
Comparing them was an insult.
Magical Discipline Education aimed—at least a little—for Magical correction. But Magical Extreme Training had one goal only.
Pain.
It was a banned Magical discipline to begin with. Too many Magical Girls had nearly crossed the Magical Sanzu River midway through.
And now they wanted her to do it.
While fully geared in Magical combat loadout, no less.
In plain terms: drop dead.
And that wasn't all. Unlike Kim Siyul, her discipline started immediately.
No chance for appeals.
"No way! What the hell is this?!"
The Magical Battalion Commander rarely raised her voice like this.
She was already buried in work, and now some unknown bastard had framed her too.
She was losing her mind.
Or maybe she already had.
"This is fucked up! Someone framed me! This makes no sense!"
Her eyes brimmed with raw injustice as she pleaded with the Magical Captain.
"Any idea who did it? Huh?!"
But the Magical Captain said nothing.
She just handed over the prepared Magical Battalion Commander pack.
"Your full Magical combat gear is ready."
"Wait, hold on! Answer me! You know something, don't you?!"
The Magical Captain slung on her own pack and hurried off.
"I'll head out first."
All while desperately avoiding eye contact.
In the end, the Magical Battalion Commander scrambled into her full Magical gear and rushed after her.
No fucking way—that bitch didn't...?
Tucking the suspicion away in a corner of her mind.
The issue had wrapped up neatly enough.
The flow had gone to shit contrary to plan, but the results weren't half bad.
I'd secured Whitey's vacation, after all.
Plus, that Captain bitch was getting disciplined too. Early or late, I'd get Whitey's money back.
If not... well...
I'd just cover it with slush funds.
Anyway, right now.
While Whitey was off prepping for her vacation, I was getting ready too.
Yeah. Time to head to Magical Central Hospital.
I'd reattached my arm myself, but the missing fingers? No way to fix those on the spot. Only Magical Central Hospital could handle it.
What a useless dickhead bitch to the end. Why the fuck did that slut eat it?
That's when Les suddenly spoke up.
"Hey, Hetero. Mind if I ask one thing?"
"Shoot."
I tilted my head.
Les slowly opened her mouth.
"Hetero Puppy's a Magical racist, sure, but she's also a communitarian Magical supremacist, so she was willing to sacrifice herself, right?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Totalitarian if you wanna split hairs."
"On the flip side, you're a Magical individualist, so you just did whatever the hell you wanted this time."
I nodded without a word.
"So..."
At that moment, Les fixed me with an unusually serious look. Her green eyes gleamed with questions.
"Which one's right?"
Communitarianism versus individualism.
Truth was, neither was the absolute answer.
They both had pros and cons.
Personally, though—purely subjective—I leaned toward individualism. You've gotta survive first and foremost, right?
My whole life in this other world had been built on individualism. So yeah, I had to give it the nod.
But.
That didn't make communitarianism flat-out wrong. It sure as hell didn't need to vanish.
No right answer here.
"Neither's right or wrong."
"Got it."
"Wouldn't have happened at all if not for that fucking bitch."
"Oh, yeah, true."
Arguing who was wrong was pointless anyway. It all stemmed from that dickhead bitch's fuckup.
Anyway, preps done—I got up to leave.
The moment I opened the barracks door, I ran smack into Octopus coming in.
"See ya. Be back soon."
"Wait a sec, Young Master. Your face looks kinda off. Something happen?"
"Just chatted with Les about whether communitarianism or individualism is right."
"What'd you conclude?"
Octopus tilted her head.
I answered flatly.
"Neither's right or wrong."
"So both lost?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Octopus fixated on "defeat," but she didn't deny it outright. Couldn't, really.
Meanwhile, she muttered to herself with a grave expression after hearing me out.
"Magical communitarianism and Magical individualism both defeated..."
Then she flashed me a bright grin.
"That means it's a victory for the surviving Magical Imperialism!"
"No, you crazy bitch."
And with that, I headed to Magical Central Hospital.