Chapter: 97
“Hey, kiddo.”
“…!”
“Listen to what I have to say.”
A cold, spine-chilling voice drilled into Lian’s mind, filling him with a sense of awe and dread.
“Ugh…”
As soon as he registered that voice, it felt like his whole body was twisting. There was no pain—if anything, that made it even more unsettling. It felt like his body was jiggling like jelly or twisting up like a pretzel.
At the same time, an obscure, overwhelming fear, as if he had been tossed into the vastness of space, started to tighten its grip around Lian’s throat.
The nausea he felt wasn’t just regular seasickness; it was like his brain was having an absolute meltdown.
‘This is miserable.’
No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than—
“Wha… What’s going on?!”
The unsettling voice, which had earlier filled him with discomfort, now fizzled out with a sound like a deflating balloon.
“W-What is this?!”
The once imposing and terrifying voice suddenly transformed into an adorably tiny and cute one, calming Lian’s spinning head.
Lian opened his tightly shut eyes and looked toward the source of the noise. A creature the size of a human head, cute and fluffy, was floating in the air.
With a round face, a stubby little body, and chocolate-ball eyes, it looked like it had the mouth of an otter.
‘Uh… is that a magical girl mascot?’
The creature, resembling those mascots that tag along with magical girls, sported a thoroughly flustered expression. It lifted its chubby cheeks with small hands and exclaimed.
“Why has the great me transformed into this ridiculous thing?!”
Even though the little guy sounded really mad, he was still cute as a button. Lian, without a second thought, reached out and grabbed it. The creature’s cute face squished against his grip like a dumpling.
“Ueet?”
Clearly taken aback by getting caught so roughly, the mascot let out a deflated sound. Lian, treating the creature like dough, asked,
“Did you pull me into this mess?”
“U-Umm, s-some…”
With its face all squished up, the little creature’s words came out all jumbled. But Lian didn’t stop.
‘If you want these mascot types to obey, you’ve got to lay down the law!’
Right! In this gag-filled world, there were even… magical girls! These magical girls could be anyone—a tired office worker, a middle-aged man, or even grandma—gender and age didn’t matter!
But here’s the kicker: those who became magical girls didn’t actually choose that life.
These mascots, the troublemakers, ran shady companies, using their cute looks to trick people into signing bogus contracts. So basically, magical girls were the victims, and mascots were the cunning con artists.
Lian had run into a few of these scammy mascots before.
Once, he saw a thug chain-smoking in a deserted spot, barking orders at his underlings. Out of nowhere, he switched gears and approached a pretty lady, saying in a cute voice, “Hey, wanna be a magical girl? Let’s save the world together!”
If the thug had looked rough, the pretty woman would’ve hightailed it outta there. But the mascot’s cute exterior easily disarmed her.
Lian didn’t waste a moment; he sprinted over and bam! kicked the fawning ferret mascot. The pretty lady was shocked and worried for the scammer, but when Lian showed her a wanted poster he had snagged from a pole and revealed the guy was a dangerous scammer, she ended up thanking him, all flustered.
From that day on, Lian had a crazed ferret mascot on his tail.
This ferret mascot, who held a pretty high rank, started chasing Lian like a deranged fan, wanting to turn him into a cute and lovable magical girl for its own amusement.
Bribes, threats, kidnappings—you name it!
After weathering a storm of ridiculous dangers, Lian figured out that mascots had a fatal weakness. They couldn’t stand rough physical contact! A good pat on the back or squishing them like dough would make them melt like butter.
Since then, whenever Lian spotted a mascot, he would first subdue it with some rough love before starting a chat.
And this was why he dove right into squishing the creature right in front of him!
“Ihi… what have I done to deserve this?!”
The little creature let out a cute, breathy noise, going limp in his hands. Its round eyes started to droop, and its otter mouth hung wide open.
Finally, after a little pause, Lian asked,
“Why did you drag me here? Where is this place? And who the heck are you?”
As he volleyed his questions at it, the limp creature suddenly regained its original round shape. With its chocolate-ball eyes and proud eyebrows, it struck a defiant pose.
“Hmph, why should I tell you anything?!”
Kicking its stubby legs in a little fit, it puffed up in mock rebellion. Lian steeled himself.
‘Wasn’t planning on using that technique…’
Just as Lian was about to make a move, the creature locked eyes with him.
“‘I couldn’t find a trace of Hamulina in this human, and I can still sense that foolish god’s presence. I tried to probe his mind, but how did I end up in this predicament?’”
The creature was like Hamulina’s supervisor. They had a slow perception of time, making them totally chill about Hamulina being MIA for three straight years.
But the complete vanishing act? That’s a different kettle of fish! They were loyal servants of ‘that one,’ incapable of dying or being casually disposed of.
So of course, it was natural for Hamulina’s superior to freak out over her disappearing trick.
“‘Even though my body looks like this, I still hold the powers granted by ‘that one!’ I don’t know how I ended up like this, but I’ll figure it out by digging into his mind!’”
With a boastful gleam, the creature peered deeply into Lian’s eyes, a gateway to his soul. With its superior rank, just laying its eyes on someone’s soul could drive them to madness.
If that happened, Lian would naturally end up under its thumb, helping it shake off this ridiculous form. And it would also learn all about Lian’s powers.
“‘Heh heh, now… show me your soul!’”
As its chocolate-ball eyes sparkled, the creature gazed deep into Lian’s eyes. And then—
“…?”
Nothing. Just a big ol’ nothing.
“‘This can’t be happening!’”
To see someone’s soul, you first had to check out the mental world that links body and soul. But this connection zone, the ‘mental world,’ was just a pitch-black void, utterly empty.
“‘I couldn’t even observe this human’s mental world?!’”
Stung in its pride, the creature activated its powers even harder. And as its eyes adjusted to the darkness, something began to emerge.
“‘Heh, as expected, a human’s mental world is—’”
Feeling all cocky, it suddenly noticed a ▉ hidden in the darkness.
▉ just stared back at it.
“Tickle, tickle.”
“Gah! Hahaha!”
Lian, mercilessly tickling the squishy little body, made the creature’s powers disappear, saving it from a fatal predicament.
Completely oblivious, Lian continued to wrestle with the mascot with glee.
The relief of dodging imminent doom was wiped away immediately by the relentless ticklishness. The little creature squirmed, tears streaming down its cheeks.
“Still not gonna talk? Or are you holding out?”
“Stop! Stop! Hahaha!”
Even with its stubby hands flailing and tears in its eyes, Lian sensed this wasn’t the right moment to let up.
Finally, once the creature’s breath hitched, Lian relented and stopped the wild tickling spree.
“Hii… Hii…”
The creature flopped helplessly in Lian’s grasp, panting. After a bit, it managed to find some semblance of stability but started to sweat like it had just run a marathon.
Lian assumed the mascot was finally ready to spill the beans, but suddenly it glanced around, terror-stricken, clearly remembering that ▉ from Lian’s mental world.
“‘What was that?! It felt like I was facing ‘that one.’”
Without realizing it, it shivered, shaking off thoughts that were best left unthought.
“‘No wonder Hamulina vanished. It must have been that monstrous thing.’”
As it trembled in fear, Lian casually followed up with another question, grinning.
“Well then, I’ll ask again. Where are we? Who exactly are you? Why did you bring me here?”
“Uh, well… actually…”
End of Chapter.
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