CHapter 41 : Magic Girl, Magical Sword Star (3)

No one died.
That wasn’t the magic girl’s way.

“Return to your world. This is our land, and this kind of violence cannot be tolerated. Unless you are peaceful envoys.”

With a resolute expression, Seolhyang raised her sword.
The general looked up at her, his gaze mixed with dismay, fear, and bewilderment.

“…Understood. Thank you, for your mercy.”

The appearance of the defeated soldiers trudging back beyond the Gate looked quite pathetic.

Personally, I felt slightly disappointed.

“Seolhyang. Wouldn’t it be better to just kill them all? If you leave it to me, I can kill them cleanly without leaving corpses. No blood will splatter either.”

I leaned close to Seolhyang and whispered.
So Caspar wouldn’t hear.

Being a massacre maniac who randomly kills people next to her husband, is a bit much for a woman, isn’t it?

“What are you saying. No, it’s fine. I appreciate the thought, Agathe.”

Looking disgusted, Seolhyang rejected my offer.
She seemed too kind-hearted.

“Still, leaving loose ends might lead to greater sacrifices later? Seems like fewer people would die that way.”

That’s how I did it when I was ruler.

Cut off the seeds of discord, uproot rebellious forces entirely.
I didn’t care what sacrifices were made in the process.

It was an era where sacrificing the many for the sake of the majority was taken for granted.
If there was a way to feed ten thousand by killing one innocent person, I would smile unconsciously, thinking I found a highly efficient method, and willingly kill people.

Even if it meant confronting Caspar and hearing his harsh words right to my face, I did it.

On such days, I secretly cried silently in a corner of my room, but even that wasn’t due to guilt, just because of my lover’s rebuke.

“…My martial brothers and sisters. Died like that too. Just, to eliminate future troubles. They died without having a chance to talk or communicate. Simply because the first encounter was slightly rough.”

Seolhyang spoke to me in a subdued voice.
Then I realized I had made a mistake.

Right. That’s…, just the way of a failure.

The way of a failure who ultimately couldn’t protect anything.

So Seolhyang’s words are right.
At least she… made so many citizens smile like this.

“…Sorry. Seolhyang.”

“No. You must have considerable pain too. The direction of the suffering and loss we experienced was just different. This time, follow my words.”

Seolhyang said that and smiled slightly.

“You too. Wouldn’t want to get blood on yourself in front of someone you like, right?”

“…”

Blushing, I nodded.

She wasn’t wrong.

The Gate returned to a dormant state.

Not subjugated, but temporarily closed.

Using the door analogy, subjugation is like completely removing the door and demolishing the house, while the current state is just having the door closed.

There were several reasons for not subjugating it.
Mainly, it would take too much time, making subjugation difficult.

“The subjugation condition for Chunqiu Zhanguo is… unification of the Central Plains.”
(TL Note: Chunqiu Zhanguo (춘추전국) refers to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods in ancient Chinese history.)

After calling the police, handing over control of the situation, and dismissing onlookers, Seolhyang began her explanation.

There are various types of worlds beyond the Gate.
From Gates that merely serve as doors, like Hell, to types where the world within the Gate is everything.

This time, it was the latter.
In fact, most Gates were like this.
Hwaryongjeomjeong seen before was the peculiar one.

According to data passed over from China, the Central Plains inside Chunqiu Zhanguo is literally a chaotic mess.

Far more countries and numerous kings than during the actual Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods are supposedly vying for supremacy.

Therefore. To subjugate this Gate, one either had to declare oneself king, wage wars of conquest to unify the Central Plains, or simply kill everyone inside the Gate.

“…Isn’t that the same thing? If you subjugate the Gate, all the monsters inside die anyway.”

Seolhyang shook her head.

“No. If that were the case, I would have died too when my homeland was subjugated. Subjugating a Gate simply means the story of that place has concluded. It means it no longer needs to be bound by the subconscious of you esteemed Earthlings.”

She explained.

Subjugating a Gate means liberation, not death.

“How did the painter react when you subjugated Hwaryongjeomjeong? And… did she truly die?”

“…Inside the painting, but. She’s still alive.”

“Right. Hearing the story… The Jade Emperor is waiting for you? That’s. Asking you to ‘subjugate’ him yourself. In the most moderate way possible.”

It felt strange.

Doesn’t the term ‘subjugation’ carry a certain nuance?
I felt it during the Seocheon Flower Garden raid too, but since the inside of the Gate was so twisted, I thought there was only one method of subjugation.

Extermination.

“…What could be the subjugation condition for the Gate I came from?”

That question suddenly occurred to me.
Considering the Land of Prosperity was small yet independent, it seems we just lived quarreling inside the Gate.

Then what happens if the Gate disappears?

“That, I don’t know. But… considering subjugation means liberation, it probably won’t be a bad ending. Perhaps you might even have a choice. A choice of which side to live on.”

Seolhyang said that and smiled bitterly.

“Honestly, I don’t like the word ‘subjugation’. Because the reality is slightly different from what the word evokes. It can lead to biased thinking too.
And actually, I don’t really like the terms Gate, Awakened, things like that either. Earth people attached excessively arrogant names.”

Her bitter smile quickly vanished.

Then she shrugged and offered a faint smile.
A smile artificial, yet so natural.

“Ah. A magic girl shouldn’t keep saying such depressing things. Forget it. Agathe.”

“With just words?”

I chuckled playfully.

“Ah. If people who like Magic Girl-nim find out about this, they’ll be deeply hurt. I should post this on the Hunter community.”

“…Those perverts who draw R-rated drawings of my defeat and humiliation? You… do that kind of thing? No. More importantly, wouldn’t there be many posts about you there too?”

Seolhyang shuddered, genuinely disgusted.
An expression clearly showing her discomfort was an added bonus.

“Ah. Th-No… I don’t do it, just someone I know does. And I received the privacy protection program. All my photos posted online have been taken down too.”

Lowering my voice, I quietly signaled Seolhyang to be quiet.
I didn’t want Caspar to find out about this.

I didn’t want to be misunderstood as a pervert, and I was also worried about how Caspar would react to such posts.

“Ha. Privacy protection program. You think that’ll actually work? Information once spread can’t be retrieved. Unless you nip it in the bud at the very beginning or maybe if the Doomguy from America personally steps in. Probably, somewhere in a corner of the internet, your naked pictures are circulating too?”

“…”

Actually. I roughly know.

Didn’t I myself reincarnate as a game character?
Even before I reincarnated, ‘Agathe’ was quite a famous character.
Enough that my male self had relied on her image a few times.

So I don’t really care much, but. If Caspar finds out… It would definitely be a bit awkward.

Depending on the person, couldn’t my chastity be questioned?
Only Caspar can appreciate my naked form and satisfy his desires with me.

Right. Maybe it’s fortunate.
According to what Seolhyang said, Doomguy seems capable of complete information erasure…

Wait.

“No. Why does Doomguy have that ability? Isn’t he a Returnee? Did he work as a hacker before?”

Seolhyang tilted her head, then answered.

“They say it’s an ability he awakened additionally after coming to Earth. I don’t really understand since I wasn’t born here. What was it, where Doom can be installed, Doomguy can be present? Thanks to that, important national security matters are handled with paper documents.”

Ah.

Uh…

It works like that?

“…Hmm. I understand completely. Certainly, with such an ability, one could check all electronic devices.”

Hearing about it, it did sound like an incredibly amazing ability.
The ability to hack ATMs, cars, and any other device with a screen.

“More importantly. That acquaintance you mentioned earlier, the one who spies on the Hunter community? What’s their deal? I recommend keeping some distance if possible.”

Since Seolhyang looked quite serious, I attempted a defense.

“It’s Lee Yulha, you probably know her. Still, she worked really hard to improve your image among people. Things like, ‘Magic Girl-nim is actually incredibly kind and tender-hearted, people slandering Seolhyang-nim as a meddling old hen should reflect’, those kinds of posts. Actually, I learned your name from reading her posts too.”

…Yulha. I’m sorry.

No. Thinking about it, I’m not really sorry.
She hangs out in the same community as those guys who sexually harassed me?

Though I used to be like that too. I decided to be shameless.

“…That kid who couldn’t tell heaven from earth. Already… Like that.”

With a slightly dazed expression, Seolhyang looked up at the sky.

‘…That’s why you get treated like an old person.’

Making a rude comment internally, I quickly moved beside Caspar while she was spacing out. As if nothing happened.

“Yes. Caspar. Is the work all done?”

Caspar nodded slightly, looking disappointed.

“For now. It’s a bit disappointing I couldn’t spar with that person. But since you dislike it, Agathe, it can’t be helped.”

Caspar had been struggling alone, practicing mid-air steps.
Thanks to that, I had time to talk with Seolhyang.

Normally, I would have actively assisted my husband.
Because one shouldn’t leisurely attend to personal connections while their dear husband is working hard.

However, Caspar originally disliked showing me his failures, so I ended up spending time with Seolhyang.

“So, the mid-air steps?”

Caspar shook his head.

“Didn’t work out well. Seems like there’s some trick needed.”

No. People originally can’t fly.

Lamenting this encounter that implanted strange common sense into him, I subtly leaned against Caspar.
His solid body and scent seemed to melt my spirit.

It was my own way of resting.

‘Ah… Nice.’

My stiff lips relaxed, and a silly smile emerged.
It felt like dopamine was flooding my brain.

Truly, whenever I hugged him, happiness always surged.
Honestly, I wondered if my head was slightly broken, but since I was happy, it didn’t matter.

The first meeting with the magic girl ended like that.