Silver Corps executive Crystal, real name Chris.
Acknowledged for her record of always standing on the front lines and fighting magical girls, she was a capable operator who had risen to become a close aide to the Boss, Lapis.
"Ah, Senior Chris. Good work~"
"Amber, is it? You're working hard too."
Her relationships with other executives and organization members were amicable, and on top of that, she held a position at the very top of Silver Corps.
Chris's main role was to lead the Silver Corps combatants and plot world domination.
Today, as always, she was training numerous combatants and building up their stamina.
"There's no need to push them that hard. Even if you slacked off a little, no one would notice, right?"
"No, this is all I am capable of. More importantly, is it alright for the Boss to say such a thing...?"
Ever since the day she pledged her loyalty to Lapis, she had been able to spend each day with a sense of fulfillment.
Without losing that original resolve, she repeated her efforts and was steadily approaching the goal of world domination, but...
"Sigh."
"What's wrong? It's not like you to sigh like that."
Amber asked with a puzzled expression, seeing Chris sigh with a face lost in thought.
"How should I put it... I've run into a bit of a worry."
It was none other than a worry about Silver Corps's nemesis, the magical girl Ruby.
No matter how much she trained, the fact remained that she couldn't surpass one little girl younger than herself.
"I can handle the other magical girls to some extent, but not that brat. Even if the combatants rush her in a group, they can't lay a finger on her and just get taken down."
Just a week ago, there had been an incident where a monster they'd spent three days creating was sliced into "mon" and "ster" in 20 seconds, infuriating another executive.
Having a girl with that level of power as their nemesis had no doubt slowed Silver Corps's advance.
"If only we could figure out her true identity somehow..."
"Ah~ that would be nice."
Amber whistled and desperately averted her gaze.
For the record, she knew that the true identity of Magical Girl Ruby was a classmate of hers named Ravi.
There were still many unclear points about the situation, so she had put off reporting it.
"B-but we have discovered countermeasures to some extent, right? World domination is surely just a matter of time."
Countermeasures against the four magical girls currently active publicly.
When the Boss, Lapis, first proposed the method, it had seemed questionable, but as time passed and data accumulated, it gradually took shape.
"Certainly, that method is proving effective against the few magical girls."
Deploying small groups of combatants throughout the city to commit acts of evil at the exact same time.
Using that method made it possible to lengthen the magical girls' travel times and divide their attention.
Thanks to repeating the operation, they had also obtained unexpected information.
"...Ruby and Sapphire basically do not sortie on weekday mornings."
That was the information Silver Corps had finally arrived at after repeating their operations.
"Now that we've grasped the possibility that those two are students, we'll have to search every school in this city to find them."
"Ah, so it comes back to this topic after all."
Amber muttered so in a small voice.
"Let's stop with the gloomy talk! Senior Chris, don't you have someone you like?"
"If you're going to change the subject, do it in a more normal way."
Chris gave a bitter smile to her thoughtless junior.
"Why not! Love talk is great! You're so popular you even get confessions every day!"
"You get confessions every day too. And isn't that subordinate of yours, Jade or whatever, constantly courting you?"
"T-that's true, but..."
At present, Amber was under the absurd delusion that Jade was trying to get her pregnant.
"Well, it might be hard right now, but once we conquer Earth, we'll be able to enjoy that kind of ordinary life too."
"Right? I wonder when we'll conquer it already~"
At the moment when the atmosphere was ripening into this kind of romance-related conversation, Chris's smartphone, which had been placed on the table, began to ring.
Weeeeng—
"A call? It's an unknown number..."
"Isn't it something like voice phishing? I get those sometimes too."
"They've got guts. Of all people, to a Silver Corps executive... Anyway, wait a moment."
Since it could be an important call, Chris quickly answered before the connection cut off.
The contents of the call were news that her one and only younger brother had been caught in a traffic accident.
***
I sat the boy who had almost been hit by a truck down in a suitable spot, then explained the circumstances to the police and paramedics who had arrived before I knew it.
"You stopped the truck with magic? Why, that's remarkable."
"It could have turned into a terrible accident. You really did well."
The driver of the large truck seemed to have had a sudden seizure, but fortunately appeared to have no life-threatening injuries.
"Mmm..."
I realized anew. The fact that I had saved a life.
All that remained was waiting for this kid's guardian to arrive, but...
"That was magic earlier, right?! Show me again!"
The kid suddenly tossed aside the soccer ball he'd been playing with until moments ago and started begging me to show him magic.
"This punk almost died and he's brimming with energy..."
I focused and tried to sense the aura of mana. A sensation I had never felt before.
Then, as if responding to my will, some kind of energy enveloped my whole body. I reached out into the air, and red mana surged out powerfully—
"Wow! So cool!"
Yes, this reaction. This was the reaction I wanted.
Just how long had I suffered contempt and persecution for lacking mana?
Unable to get a proper job, I had somehow ended up joining Silver Corps, where I was met with discriminating gazes as well.
'But the agonizing void of the Heavenly Seat is over now.'
From now on, I will stand in the heavens.
Alright. Enough bullshit.
'But what the hell is the principle behind this?'
I'd never heard of such a thing. To think I could use magic just because I got laid.
It would be more convincing to say you become a wizard by staying a virgin until thirty.
'It's not entirely impossible, I suppose. If I think of it as my body being imbued with mana because I did that with Ravi, who possesses massive amounts of it...'
I was a liberal arts major so I didn't know the scientific details, and since I had wanted to try using magic at least once anyway, I decided to just enjoy the situation for now.
"Haha, both hands this time!"
"Uwaaaah!!"
Showing off magic and playing with the kid like that for several tens of minutes.
"Nil!"
I turned my head toward the voice, and a silver-haired woman who appeared to be the boy's guardian was running this way.
A height that looked to be around 170 and a stylish figure to boot. Was she really carrying the same genes as this brat?
"Nil, are you hurt?"
She examined her younger brother's body all over with worried eyes, but since there were no visible external injuries, she quickly regained her composure.
If there were any injuries, they were probably just the scars from me pushing him aside. He was still growing, so those would heal soon enough anyway.
"This guy saved me! He stopped the truck with really huge magic!"
As if only now noticing my existence, she turned her head to look this way.
"Truly, thank you. If you hadn't been there, I don't know what would have..."
She then bowed her head 90 degrees to convey her gratitude.
"...?"
Was it just me? It was definitely a voice I had heard somewhere before.
But there was no such person among my acquaintances. In the first place, I didn't have anyone I could call an acquaintance except Amber.
'Where was it? I feel like this person stood on a podium or something and gave a speech.'
I racked my brain desperately, but in the end, I couldn't figure out who she was, and the situation concluded.
To begin with, my head was already filled with thoughts about Ravi's pregnancy.
"Excuse me... I'd like to repay you properly later, so could I ask for your contact information?"
A reward. It was not as if I had saved him wanting something like that, but...
'Still, it wouldn't be good to refuse a person's goodwill.'
I took out the notepad I always carried in my pocket, wrote down my contact information, and handed it to the woman.
Of course, this was absolutely not because her face was my type.
"Bye-bye~"
"Yeah. Don't go playing and getting into another accident."
I waved my hand at the little one called Nil.
I of course returned the greeting to the woman who bowed her head once more as well.
"Well, then—"
I picked up a certain book that had been crushed beneath the truck, torn to shreds, and left in a miserable state.
It was the book I had just bought at the bookstore; I must have dropped it on the ground while trying to save the kid.
~Prenatal Classes with the World's Best Medical Team~
"...I'll have to go buy it again."
***
And so, the next morning.
It was the moment I was about to pass through the main gate of Silver Corps headquarters, scanning my ID card as usual.
Reeee— Reeee—
Suddenly, emergency sensors blared, and the security robots nearby all aimed at me at once.
And then, an announcement began to play.
[ Threat Level 5. Mana of Magical Girl Ruby detected. Mana of Magical Girl Ruby detected. Initiating immediate attack. ]
"Ah, fuck."
I was fucked.