The Strongest, but the Genre Is Magical Girl

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At the end of a simple one-way corridor, I encountered monsters in a round space resembling an ant’s chamber.

The creatures were emitting horrific death screams at the unexpected intrusion of an uninvited guest into their bluish room, completely unworthy of the title “invaders.”

“Ahh! Hwaah!”

The sounds of sharp utensils scraping against the ice echoed loudly in the room.

Along with the tearing screams, the monsters scratched wildly at the walls with their claws, desperately trying to distance themselves from me, even by just 1mm.

In the room, illuminated by the bluish light of the ice, there was no other exit apart from the one I had entered.

The only path behind me stood firm.

Why on earth was the room designed this way, I wondered…

Oh right, they never thought a magical girl would come here.

It’s like being hit by a natural disaster.

‘Is it like building a nuclear bunker only to have an earthquake strike…?’

Scratching sounds continued as the panicked monsters scraped at the walls.

It seemed that it had been years since monster torture was a thing, yet the prejudice created by first impressions was hard to shake off.

So what did I do?

I just left them as they were.

After all, even if they scratched away with their claws for a hundred days, it would take a long time to dig even a few meters.

Even in a panic, I figured if I let them be for about ten minutes, they would realize something was off.

And sure enough, shortly after.

The monsters, having exhausted their screams and clawing, finally turned around, panting and discreetly looking at one another.

They looked at me with their arms crossed, hesitating among themselves.

“Now you’re finally looking this way.”

After throwing in a light comment to ease the tension, I continued with my question.

“What are you doing here?”

It was the Arctic, a place where not even a human would come, let alone a magical girl.

I asked them what brought them to this icy wasteland.

Whether it was out of fear of me or simply because the situation was awkward…

“Uh, preparing a base for the future…”

“Hey, hey, what are you saying…!”

“Oh, whatever. If the magical girls have already come this far, we’re getting cleaned out soon anyway.”

“Seriously, just say it’s real…”

The monsters answered my questions without resistance, except for one who seemed hesitant.

Preparing a base for the future; it felt like they were setting up sandbags halfway up a mountain.

Well, for now, I decided in my heart to let them go gently on their ships.

There was no need to make them prisoners and torture them; that would only make my evaluation sink even lower among the monsters.

If any issues arose later on, it would be better to avoid that.

After breathing out a short puff, I turned to the three monsters huddled together and asked.

“Then, that means there are other bases, right?”

“Yes, uh… there are a few, I think?”

At my question about other bases, the monsters began to converse among themselves as if they were chatting with a comfortable friend.

They displayed a loyal attitude, as if they would answer ten questions for the one I asked.

“Aren’t there five more?”

“No, I think it’s four? The first ones that came over… got separated when the glacier broke off, drifted for a while, and starved to death because they couldn’t resupply.”

“Oh right, that’s why we dug a hole far from the sea.”

The conversation flowed naturally without my intervention.

The glacier broke off, drifting, starving to death…

…It seems like the monsters also have their share of sad tales.

Just a moment ago, the monster who had asked about the number of bases in the Arctic was now glancing over at me with a few holes in its body and asked.

“Should we tell you where the other bases are too?”

“Uh, yeah, that would be great?”

The monster was about to give away the locations of the other bases, practically offering up its entrails.

With no reason to refuse, I quickly replied in the affirmative to the bait it extended.

Maybe it thought that was too much, as another monster beside it stepped in to stop it.

“Hey, hey…!”

“Think carefully about this?”

Then the monster turned its back on trying to persuade its hesitating companion, continuing to talk among themselves.

“Since it’s not another magical girl, at the point where this guy caught on, it’s only a matter of time for the others too, right?”

“Uh, yeah…?”

The hesitant monster was looking over at me while its companion cautiously agreed.

What was this time issue? Doesn’t that mascot have limits to its detection range?

Did they see me as some kind of all-purpose MacGyver monster-slaying machine?

While I thought that inwardly, I couldn’t bring myself to voice it and just listened quietly.

“If we assume one team gets wiped out by a magical girl here, they’d send us back.”

“Is that so…?”

The monster began to speculate about the orders from above.

Its companion regarded those orders with suspicion.

Noticing the hesitation in its companion, the monster pressed its own body part against its stomach to make a slapping sound.

It seemed like a gesture of frustration, as if it were thinking, “How foolish could you be?”

“Come on, it’s not ‘is that so,’ it’s a hundred percent sure… if one cannon gets taken out, would they give up the front yard?”

“That can’t be…”

“Exactly! But if a nuclear bomb drops and blows up five or six cannons, wouldn’t they retreat or fall back?”

“Ah…!”

Suddenly, the situation played out like a real-time strategy game.

I was bewildered by the terminology, yet I could understand perfectly well, while the monster’s response left me stunned.

Wait, did they localize that well?

Hold up, doesn’t that analogy mean I’m the nuclear bomb?

“That’s right, you idiot! You want to keep scraping ice all day?”

“I don’t want to…”

“Then what is it?”

“Uh… then, where are the locations of the other bases…”

Fully persuaded by its companion’s words, the monster began to eagerly detail the locations of the other bases while showing me an enlarged map of the Arctic.

Its shift in behavior seemed to draw admiration from the other monster, who had been persuading its friend with elaborate language, now clapping its appendages together in delight.

“Yes! That’s it, you foolish creature!”

So, I received friendly directions with markings on the map of the monsters’ bases.

Their return to their ship came amidst a moment of pain.

I heard that the monsters dispatched to the Arctic didn’t receive teleportation devices.

After asking what they had of significance from each base as proof of having cleared out the monster base…

“This? I think this would be enough that losing it wouldn’t be missed.”

“Indeed~”

I received the tools they had used to scrape the ice.

It was immediately clear that the items belonged to monsters, as they were clearly not designed for human hands.

There was a hole for something to fit into, and not a single part constructed with wood; I presumed they were tools considerate of ‘multi-species’ use?

In any case, with the completely transparent testimonies from the monsters, I completed the eradication of all bases in the Arctic without leaving a single one behind.

Carrying back what symbolized the extermination—tools of the trade—like a bundle, I returned to the icebreaker’s deck somewhat late.

Normally, I would hold out nearby until it was almost five hours, then come back when called; yet here I was, late beyond belief.

“Cleared four Arctic monster bases.”

In addition, I brought back tools that were clearly not meant for humans, announcing that I had wiped out all the monsters in the Arctic…

Thus, the schedule that had seemed like two weeks of nothing but ice dramatically flipped.

The foreign magical girls, who had been tired and rushed to their rooms after the five-hour long flight each day, suddenly found themselves with a windfall of free time.

“Sun, look at this-!”

“Wow, amazing~”

Starting from Tiara, the American magical girl, who had begun speaking Korean quite fluently, to other magical girls from different countries expressing thanks in their clumsy pronunciations, it turned into a remarkable scene.

…Unbeknownst to me, Tiara was surprisingly the top-ranked magical girl from America.

Was that why she was in charge of such a big city?

In any case, the magical girls could now fully enjoy the facilities of the large icebreaker without burdens or fatigue.

After forgetting about the tired days leading up to this point, they revitalized themselves by taking a plethora of pictures of the various amenities.

After thoroughly enjoying the luxurious facilities of the ship, it was around midnight.

[Did you have a delicious dinner?]

I made sure not to forget to message Siyeon.

It was also around the time I thought she’d be lying in bed.

Sure enough, the numbers flashed and disappeared quickly.

[I’m preparing to eat curry]

The message returned immediately was from Siyeon, who was just now getting ready to eat.

Isn’t it midnight? What are you eating at this hour?

Typing away busily with my fingers.

[Haven’t you eaten yet?]

[It’s now eight o’clock!]

Korea was just getting to its dinner time.

Looking at the time that read 12, I felt a moment of confusion, followed shortly by realization of a basic fact that made my eyes widen.

‘Oh, the time difference.’