Chapter 12

‘A favor for helping?’

A truth she had learned from fairy tales came to mind.

If you help a wounded creature, you receive a reward.

But what Izzy wanted to say was something else entirely.

“Dragon-sama. Would you really not like to have a tea party?”

“What?”

“Let’s drink black tea together. There are cookies too!”

“……”

“It’ll be really delicious, I promise!”

What the dragon had last consumed was a mana stone.

She wanted to overwrite that terrible memory with a pleasant one.

The March Hare suddenly shouted.

“Who decided you could just invite a dragon to a tea party? I never invited you either, you know!”

Even so, the March Hare was already connecting several chairs together, as if trying to build a seat sturdy enough to hold the dragon’s bottom.

The dragon was momentarily speechless, then replied in a softer voice than before.

“My child. I appreciate the offer, but what I desire most right now is only the wind of the open sky.”

“Dragon-sama… I understand.”

“More importantly, is there truly nothing you wish for?”

“No. I didn’t do this expecting anything like that.”

What she had wanted was already achieved.

Saving the suffering animal friend.

“…I see. Just as you respected me, I should also respect you.”

The dragon tilted its head, then bit off a single scale and extended it toward her.

“If we meet again someday, show me this. Then I will properly repay you.”

The moment Izzy instinctively accepted it, the dragon flapped its wings and soared upward.

The shadow that had instantly covered the sky gradually shrank, blurred, and—

Before long, it completely disappeared.

“……”

Only the solid black scale remained in her hands.

Would they really meet again someday?

She recalled what the civil servant had said earlier.

‘Since the core has been destroyed, the Banded-Mummy Monster will disappear forever!’

Then the black dragon— a resident of the broken dungeon— surely…

Just as sadness was about to rise in her chest, someone spoke behind her.

“Hey, little lady! Are you putting milk in your tea?”

It was the March Hare.

The Mad Hatter also chimed in.

“Your ribbon is cute! Why don’t you buy a hat with a ribbon to match?”

The Dormouse pointed at an empty chair, inviting her to sit.

[Hoho! Those oddballs seem to have accepted you.]

The grimoire said in genuine admiration.

Izzy smiled happily, but shook her head.

“I’ll come back in a bit.”

“Ha! Who said we’d wait for you? The only thing waiting for you will be a floral teacup at your seat! Special sky-blue flowers!”

“Thank you! I’ll be right back!”

She had to return before the tea went cold.

The grimoire chuckled and followed her.

[That mana-stone fertilizer… no, the man you called a friendless hunter— you’re going to save him, aren’t you? Have you found a way?]

“I’m going to check now. Skill window!”

On the day she cleared her first dungeon, even when she only received a 0.01% trait enhancement as a reward, she had gained a skill.

Now, for clearing ‘Protect the Tea Party from the Attack of the Black Rotten Dragon,’ she had received a massive 10% trait boost.

Surely she must have gotten a much better skill!

Seeing the skill window appear, the grimoire sighed.

[Don’t tell me… you thought you might get a skill to save him as a reward?]

“Yes.”

[Hah! I thought you had some grand plan because you ran off so confidently! That’s basically gambling!]

Even in the face of ridicule, Izzy did not waver.

“A silly plan is better than no plan at all.”

[…That’s quite a nice saying. Did they teach that in school?]

“It’s common sense. You learn it through life.”

[Are you really nine years old?]

“I’ve lived nine years, so— no, I need to focus!”

[…]

The grimoire’s pages fluttered up and down, as if pouting.

Izzy ignored it and looked at the skill window.

A welcome message appeared.

[Magical Girl Daisy, Transform! (B)]

Additional effects of this skill have been unlocked!

While transforming, and after transformation, the magical girl is affected by new skills!

Her heart pounded.

The newly obtained skill was—

[Gardener’s Song (F)]

: The ‘Magical Girl’ can decorate her territory in a magical girl-like manner.

: Remaining decoration points 2/2

F rank?

Suppressing a slight disappointment, she called out.

“Gardener’s Song!”

A message appeared.

Choose an object in your surroundings to decorate your territory.

The surroundings were bathed in pale blue light wherever her gaze focused.

‘This feels like those decorating games!’

It must be asking her to choose a decoration item.

Excited, Izzy looked around. There were many pretty things.

A deep red tulip, a caterpillar as thick as her forearm, a spotted mushroom…

‘I hate mushrooms!’

Selection canceled.

The grimoire sighed.

[What a trivial skill.]

“It’s not trivial! A magical girl needs flowers and light to feel like a proper magical girl.”

[No matter how many times I hear it, I still don’t understand this “magical girl” concept. Anyway, it’s useless right now, isn’t it?]

“Right now it might be…”

[You mean for saving that mana-stone-fertilizer guy.]

By then, Izzy was already standing in front of a crystal.

Beyond the thick crystal…

Inside, Hunter Jin Si-heon’s painfully twisted lips released small bubbles that rose and popped.

He was still alive.

“Hunter uncle…”

[Even if you can’t save him, don’t feel guilty. He probably never expected anything from a child anyway.]

“……”

[Just focus on picking up mana stones at your feet—]

“Gardener’s Song.”

[…What?]

Flash, flash, flash.

The pale blue light followed her gaze and touched the crystal—then scattered with a sharp crack.

Area is too large.

“Gardener’s Song!”

Izzy focused on Jin Si-heon.

It wasn’t easy, since his distorted figure was visible through the refracting crystal.

The wavering light finally wrapped around his body.

Do you wish to proceed?

“Yes!”

But the light scattered again.

A confused message appeared.

Target is not suitable.

“Eh?”

She tried again, but the light dissipated helplessly.

Target is not suitable.

When she tried a third time, she lifted her head—

“…Hweh?”

Her head felt dizzy.

The grimoire clicked its tongue.

[You’re overusing your skill in succession.]

“……”

[You might collapse, so stop—]

“Grimoire-sama. What exactly does ‘suitable’ mean?”

She had seen the word during her awakening, so she roughly understood it.

Probably something like “acceptable.”

But now she needed the exact meaning.

The grimoire grumbled.

[Do I look like a dictionary to you?]

“You’re super smart!”

[…It means ‘appropriate or fitting for a certain standard.’]

“Thank you! ‘Gardener’s Song!’”

[Wait! Why are you repeating something meaningless, Shin Iji!]

It wasn’t meaningless.

‘This time it will work.’

She swallowed her reply. She couldn’t spare attention while focusing on Jin Si-heon.

The skill description was:

‘Decorate your territory in a magical girl-like way.’

The error message had said “not suitable,” meaning it did not match the criteria of the territory.

‘I think I understand why.’

Flowers and cute animals were things that suited a magical girl.

They naturally belonged near her.

But that handsome middle-aged man—

‘Absolutely not!’

A magical girl anime could have dark handsome men.

But their place would be the villain’s headquarters.

If such a person came close to a magical girl…

‘That’s a crisis! In situations like that, the magical girl always gets kidnapped or corrupted in the next episode!’

It was common sense.

Once she understood the problem, the answer came quickly.

Target is not suitable… target, image, conversion…

Conversion possibility calculation… checking… 72%

Please specify a more concrete desired image.

…Approved.

The light flowing from her fingertips wrapped around the crystal and slowly seeped through, reaching Jin Si-heon.

The grimoire trembled.

[Izzy, don’t tell me… you found a way?!]

“Yes.”

Clenching her teeth, she shouted.

“Uncle can become cute too!”

Hunters caught in a dungeon break while raiding dungeons are usually doomed to die.

But Jin Si-heon envied the dead.

After being directly caught in the dungeon break—

When he regained consciousness, he was trapped somewhere.

Even unable to move, his senses were overwhelmed with too much information.

His vision was split into six fragments, simultaneously showing day, night, blizzards, desert sandstorms, and more.

In his ears, laughter, curses, and beast roars rang out simultaneously. These noises also came in six different layers.

His body felt cold, hot, and burning all at once…

How many months had he endured this bizarre hell?

Only one thought remained clear in his mind.

‘I will kill them…’

The moment he regained freedom,

He would find the one who caused the dungeon to rupture and twist their neck.

He had already enacted that revenge hundreds of times in his mind.

At some point—

“Huh?”

Above his chaotic kaleidoscopic vision, a pure white light slowly began to spread.

Instinctively, he knew.

An opportunity to escape this hell had come.

The shock lasted only a moment.

His hardened instincts, honed through a harsh life, sharpened like a wolf’s senses.