Magical Hunter Girl Decorates the Dungeon! Episode 015
— — —
[Already?]
Grimoire looked around.
[I assume you chose flowers. What kind? Or perhaps colorful mushrooms?]
"Neither."
[……Absolutely no caterpillars. The bugs here look like they’d tear out my pages to roll them into cigarettes.]
"It’s not bugs either, and I need to think about it a bit more."
[Didn't you say you decided?]
"I decided that I would change it, but I don’t know *how* to change it yet."
[I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out.]
After patting Iji on the shoulder, Grimoire flew a step ahead.
[Follow me. You need to get out of here and rest.]
"Okay!"
The peaceful world of "Alice in Wonderland."
The March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse were still in the middle of their never-ending tea party. After waving goodbye to them and promising to visit again, Iji poked her head into a large mouse hole and…….
Before she knew it, Iji was standing in the apartment complex shopping center.
She could smell the stale city air. The distant sound of a car horn, "Beep!", brought with it a familiar sense of unpleasantness.
'It feels like a dream.'
However, the dragon scale she felt in her pocket proved that her recent adventure was no dream.
Following that, her limbs began to tremble.
[You used too much magic because of your skill. You might be bedridden by tomorrow.]
"I could get sick? That can't happen!"
[Now that you’ve learned your lesson, you’ll be able to pace yourself next time.]
Grimoire chuckled before turning back into a Korean language textbook and falling silent.
Iji put the textbook in her bag and headed home.
It was a slightly chilly spring day. The surroundings had already grown dark, and lights were turning on in every living room of the apartment building. People were gathering together to have dinner.
'……They look so warm.'
Ignoring the strange, hollow ache in her chest, Iji reached into her bag and rummaged around.
The sound of a handful of Magic Stones clinking together cheered her up a little.
'This is the first step to becoming rich!'
As she passed the playground with a more spirited step, she heard a familiar voice.
"Isn't that Iji?"
"Oh, Grandma!"
Back when Iji was in kindergarten, this was the grandmother who used to look after her sometimes when her sister was at work.
Because of her impressive gold tooth, Iji had called her "Gold Grandma" since she was little.
"My goodness, the sun has already set, so why are you coming home now?"
"I'm in second grade now!"
"Already second grade? You've grown so much. If you haven't eaten dinner yet, would you like to eat with Gold Grandma for old times' sake?"
"My sister left some side dishes. I can eat those!"
She knew how to take care of her own meals now!
Iji answered proudly. But for some reason, Gold Grandma looked at her with an even more pitiful expression as she sent her on her way.
'Eat dinner quickly, and rest quickly.'
She didn't want to get sick.
She didn't want to make her sister worry.
'But…… I’m so sleepy…….'
She had only washed her hands and feet after returning home, yet her body felt drained of all strength. Her eyes kept drooping shut.
Iji barely managed to heat up the rolled omelet her sister had made before collapsing onto the sofa.
A purple status window flickered before her eyes.
MP (Magic Power Index) 0/21
Warning!
Immediate rest is required!
'When it hits 0…… I get really tired…….'
She would have to be careful from now on.
Immediately after that thought, Iji fell fast asleep on the sofa.
"Phew……."
Only the sound of the child's breathing echoed through the empty house.
It was a silence that was familiar to Iji, but might feel somewhat lonely to anyone else.
In that scene.
From under Iji's bed, an uninvited guest poked out a translucent antenna with a *pop*.
It was a slime that smelled like strawberries.
The antenna stretched out longer and longer, circling Iji's bed.
"That's strange. I can hear breathing, but Iji is…… oh, there she is."
After confirming that there was truly no one else in the living room.
The slime bounced, *boing, boing*, and hopped onto the sofa in one go.
"Iji, Shin Iji."
"Snore……."
"That's strange. I'm sure this is the right name."
No matter how many times it called, there was no response. It grew impatient.
"Is she dead?"
The slime poked Iji's cheek, but then—
*Grumble!*
It jumped back in surprise at the sound coming from Iji's stomach.
This was definitely the sound of an empty food pouch.
"Iji, are you hungry?"
"Mmm……."
She answered. Iji was hungry!
There was only one thing to do for a hungry friend.
The slime took a very deep breath.
"Huuuup!"
One side of its body swelled up, packed with strawberry and carbonation.
The slime pinched off the balloon-like part and placed it in front of Iji's face.
*Pssssss…….*
The balloon, bubbling like a chatty carbonated drink, emitted a strawberry scent.
Iji smiled faintly at the interesting sensation.
It wasn't just sound, smell, and touch that were being transferred.
The sugar and magic power contained within the slime would slowly melt into Iji.
The slime would be just as hungry for it, but…….
'That looks delicious, even if it's not as good as the sparkles Iji gave me.'
On the dining table, the side dishes Iji hadn't eaten glowed temptingly.
— — —
* * *
Morning.
Iji opened her eyes in her bed.
'Huh? I thought I fell asleep on the sofa…… Did my sister move me?'
She belatedly remembered that she hadn't properly eaten the meal her sister had prepared.
'What do I do? My sister is going to worry!'
She hadn't eaten, and she had fallen asleep on the sofa.
Her sister would think something happened yesterday.
'What should I say if she asks what I was doing? ……Should I say I made a new friend and played too hard?'
It wasn't a lie, after all.
Iji refined her alibi in her head and went out to the living room.
*I made a new friend yesterday. They were really prickly, so I thought it would be hard to get close to them, right? But someone froze them while playing freeze tag and didn't unfreeze them for a long time. When I unfroze them, they asked to be friends. I was so tired from playing freeze tag together that I fell asleep as soon as I got home…….*
'This is perfect!'
"Good morning, Sister."
"You're up, Iji. Did you sleep well?"
Her sister's greeting was bright. But as expected, as soon as she sat at the table, her sister spoke in a slightly lower voice.
"Iji, about your dinner last night."
"Yeah?"
"You even finished all the radish kimchi broth."
"Huh?"
"It's good to eat a balanced diet, but! Don't eat things that are too salty."
'But I only ate the rolled omelet?'
Iji swallowed her confusion. Then, she asked indirectly.
"Sister. When you got home yesterday, was I tucked in bed?"
"You were all curled up and buried in your blankets. Just like a silkworm."
"Yeah…… I see."
It seemed she had slept in her bed after all.
It was good that her sister hadn't worried, but what on earth had happened?
'Is it because I'm a Magical Hunter Girl?'
Magical girls must eat well and sleep regularly in their beds.
Come to think of it, she didn't feel hungry at all.
'Did I get up in my sleep and eat?'
Magical girls were truly amazing beings.
"Iji, you look like you're in a good mood. Did something good happen yesterday?"
Iji was about to bring up the lie she had prepared earlier, but stopped.
The problem had been solved, so there was no need to lie.
Just then, the memory of the previous night came to mind.
"I had a good dream."
"What kind of dream was it?"
"A dream where I went on a picnic with a friend and shared strawberry cider."
The picnic spot had been a beautiful desert.
"Which friend?"
"A friend you don't know. Someone from another neighborhood I met…… when I went on a picnic before."
A very kind slime friend.
— — —
* * *
School break time. Grimoire popped out through a "Math Workbook," but upon seeing Iji's surroundings, it panicked.
[We're at school! Are you okay? I was sure you’d be bedridden.]
"I'm full of energy."
[You used so much magic power…… That's impressive.]
"Want to see something even more impressive? I woke up and my maximum magic power increased!"
Fractions were something you learned in third grade, but she was glad she had learned them early.
Now she could understand her current situation and brag about it.
MP 31/31
[……It didn't just recover, it increased your maximum magic power? You couldn't have gone to a dungeon without me. Did you eat a Magic Stone?]
"I can't eat rocks. And I have to sell the Magic Stones."
[That's true. I have something to tell you about that.]
Grimoire floated text over the paper.
TIP - How to sell Magic Stones without a Hunter registration
[Jin Si-heon asked me to pass on the route for selling Magic Stones to you. I'll write it on the back page of this book, so read it.]
"Wow, thank you! But can you two talk to each other?"
[I am the medium between you. Though, whether that guy and I *want* to talk to each other is an entirely different matter.]
"I see. Please tell him I hope he slept well."
[…….]
Grimoire muttered, its brow furrowing.
[You didn't even ask me that…….]
"Huh? I thought Grimoire-nim didn't sleep—"
[Ahem, never mind that! More importantly, why did you call me?]
"I was wondering when we're going to the next dungeon! Did you find a place?"
[You're in such a hurry. I postponed it because I was sure you'd be bedridden for a few days. Let's see…….]
Grimoire held up two pages of the book like an antenna.
The pages trembled, and then…….
[……There's a person!]
"Ah!"
Grimoire returned to being a textbook in an instant.
Iji hugged the textbook in a panic.
'A person? How did they get here?'
This was a dead-end path at school where people didn't usually go.
To get here, you had to crawl under a pile of discarded chairs. Unless you were a small child like Iji, most people would just knock the chairs over and give up.
But it was impossible to deny reality; the uninvited guest who had entered without a sound appeared in the hallway…….
"Shin Iji."
"Ah……."
The person was Junseo, whom she had experienced the desert dungeon with just a short while ago.
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