The Strongest, but the Genre Is Magical Girl

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“Excuse me? Where did you say?”

“Yes, there have been sightings of monster movements in the Arctic…”

I pressed my forehead as a headache began to form from the conversation.

I had nearly forgotten about the scheduled plans that I thought would surely be canceled.

Unbeknownst to me, under-the-table preparations had been methodically laid out, revealing themselves in the worst possible way just before the winter break of my third year in middle school.

The Arctic? The place where polar bears only appeared in cola ads and textbooks?

Why would baby monsters show up there, where no one even lives?

Despite my doubts, the minister’s voice continued on the other end of the smartphone.

“As part of inter-country collaboration, we’re targeting the groups of monsters that may be widely distributed in the Arctic and making the first steps towards establishing countermeasures through cooperation and camaraderie, so we need one strong magical girl from each country….”

The words were rather long-winded, but when you cut out the fluff, the content was simple.

If you simplify the difficult jargon, taking out the cooperation and camaraderie, it basically said:

They planned to definitely take care of the monsters in the Arctic, but since they didn’t know exactly where in the Arctic they were, they wanted to gather one magical girl each from different countries to search more broadly.

The fancy words were reduced to something a primary school student could easily understand.

I grasped the idea perfectly with my head, but my unprepared body just felt flustered.

My body, which was meant to enjoy the last winter break before high school, was bursting with dissatisfaction without my brain even needing to prompt it.

Cutting into the minister’s words, I couldn’t help but speak up first.

“Wait, but… is this so sudden?”

“I sincerely apologize for informing you just before the schedule; in fact, it was a plan that wasn’t even confirmed properly…”

After that, the minister gave a detailed explanation about why I was receiving this news so late….

So this plan had always been seen as nearly impossible to execute.

Starting with China and the United States, where everyone was busy biting each other over trade sanctions, and then involving Germany and Israel, which were connected to some mustachioed uncle who fell into a tough spot.

Japan’s relationship with the United States, which had been hit with atomic bombs after foolish historical antics, and our relationship with Japan.

Due to various historical issues and political relationships being tangled up, the stakeholders believed that “complete cooperation” was out of the question.

For reasons unknown, it seemed that discussions among countries had somehow gone well.

So, the schedule that everyone thought would fall apart actually got confirmed, and that’s when they hastily reached out to me.

Hearing the explanation made my already bitter mood even more sour.

It felt like receiving a classification of 4th grade public service at a physical exam in military affairs suddenly changing to 3rd grade active duty.

Since it was a favor tied to an accident I had caused myself, I couldn’t just flat-out refuse either.

Quickly resigning myself to the situation, I thought, surely they wouldn’t send me off to the Arctic with nothing, so I shamelessly brought up the money first.

“Is it going to cost money to go there? Will there be more allowances?”

“Oh, yes, the country supports it, so it’s completely free. As for the additional allowances… currently, on the basis of magical girls’ pay, there’s double pay for the departure and return days, while other days are set at four times the base pay. There may be additional incentives depending on the results, too.”

“Ah, I see….”

As soon as the topic of money came up, the answers flowed out smoothly.

It seemed they weren’t planning on using me for free, even though they had to cover a debt.

Fine, I suppose I’ll go on an expedition to fight the monsters.

The real concern was how long I’d have to stay there….

“So, how long will I be there?”

“The schedule is exactly 16 days. Depending on the progress in clearing the monsters, it could be longer or shorter… but you probably don’t need to worry about that.”

Speaking of the Arctic, it wouldn’t be an ordinary boat; I figured it might be an icebreaker.

Moreover, the statement that it could be longer or shorter felt ominously suggestive.

Wondering if I could take Siyeon with me, I hesitantly asked once more over the smartphone.

“Do I have to go alone?”

“Yes, it’s only set for one person from each country.”

With the firm answer, I let out a short, disappointed breath.

The emphasis on just one person showed that there were no exceptions to be made.

It seemed it was too late for Siyeon to join me.

‘Well, it’s during the break anyway….’

Though I was somewhat flustered by the sudden news that I’d have to head to the Arctic, I soon began to process the situation and calmly accepted it.

If I’d been pulled into such a major plan when I was an elementary school student, I would have been at a loss because of Siyeon, but now I was a third-year middle school student.

If someone just taught me how to cook rice, I could handle most meals myself by boiling, grilling, or air-frying.

“Yes, I understand-”

Thinking it wouldn’t be too hard to be away for about two weeks, I readily sent my reply over the smartphone and hung up the call.

“What was that call about?”

As I stood by Siyeon’s open door, her voice slipped through, and she abruptly opened the door and walked into the living room.

I briefly summarized the call just like I had with the minister, trying to keep my tone neutral.

“They want me to go to the Arctic for two weeks to catch monsters.”

“Eh? What does that mean?”

Even Siyeon stared blankly at me, caught off guard when an unexpected location was mentioned.

The Arctic, a place you can’t just casually say “Let’s go!” and head off to, even a bit exaggeratedly.

To reassure Siyeon, who might be worried she’d have to go too, I deftly dodged her question and continued speaking.

“It’s fine, you just stay here.”

After all, I was the only one going.

There was no need for her to join me in the extreme cold of Gangwon-do in winter.

It would create some special memories since it was such a place, but regardless, I was going there to work.

“Eh? Why?”

Instead of calming her down, Siyeon became even more flustered and asked again.

I had intended to soothe her with my words, but for some reason, Siyeon was gazing at me with even wider eyes than before.

I was taken aback because I had expected her to react by saying she was relieved and heading back to her room.

With her unexpected reaction, I stammered as I spoke slowly.

“W-well, it’s because they said one person from each country has to go?”

“Then why is Mari going?”

“Um, that’s….”

It’s our karma for making deals with the monsters.

Since we had agreed with the monsters on their appearance times for our convenience, the gallery detectives had caught on, so it made sense for someone from our side to go.

…However, explaining all this to Siyeon felt complicated, so I decided to just dodge the topic.

“There’s just a reason I have to go.”

“…”

As I vaguely answered, Siyeon’s disapproving gaze locked onto my eyes.

Why was she so persistent today?

She didn’t seem to agree, but she looked like she understood.

And just like that, only two days into the winter break.

“Make sure you eat well, don’t skip meals, eat noodles only once a day, exercise at least once a week, and don’t stay up too late, okay?”

Even though I was the one leaving the house, I found myself giving all sorts of advice to Siyeon, who was staying behind like a mother seeing her son off to the military.

Siyeon had come to the entrance to see me off.

She frowned slightly, looking concerned, as if she had heard too much nagging.

“I got it… you worry about yourself, since you’re going to the Arctic.”

“I can always transform there, so I don’t need to worry.”

I stuck my thumb up in a way that indicated she didn’t need to fret, while grinning about how it was fine to stay transformed.

…Though, given how I’d heard about the harsh Russian cold over the internet, I wore enough layers to be hot.

Realistically, if I was allowed to transform all the time, I could just fly to the Arctic or Antarctica in that state.

But since I couldn’t just fly over borders as an unrecognized aircraft, I had to go through official procedures and board a vehicle, thus heading to Moscow on the first day.

“Is there anything uncomfortable? If you need anything, just let me know immediately.”

“Ah, yes….”

The overly polite uncle next to me was acting as the translator and tour guide.

There’s one interpreter for every magical girl from different countries.

It felt strange to be treated like a child with excessive kindness, making my insides churn.

It felt like there were things I had to need, even if I didn’t, making the air quite burdensome.

At that moment, while I was trying to smooth down my churning stomach with my palm…

“XX X, XX, X XX!”

I didn’t know what country she was from, but suddenly, a girl came over and started chattering near us.

The infuriating accent, reminiscent of that awful language I heard in some adult videos, was probably Chinese?

She approached our table and was noisily blabbering while the interpreter uncle was away.

I couldn’t make out a single word, so I looked over at the interpreter uncle, confused, and asked.

“What’s she saying?”

“She says all Koreans are thieves.”

“Hmph.”

I couldn’t believe what I heard; that was the typical nonsense from a culture that had no separate kimchi fridge.

In a posture saying, ‘Feel free to refute me,’ I repeated the words Korean gamers often spat out whenever they encountered Chinese gamers using hacks.

“Taiwan Number One.”