The Magical Hunter Girl Decorates the Dungeon! - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Magical Girl Hunter Decorates the Dungeon! Episode 21
‘Why the sudden question?’
Iji answered honestly, though she sensed something was coming.
[Awakened One Information]
Name: Shin Iji
Awakening Rank: EX
Trait: Magical Girl
The moment she mentioned the rank, Jin Siheon began gnawing his front paw.
“Wow… honestly, I…”
“Is that bad?”
“No.”
Jin Siheon shook his head.
“The Hunter Association interprets EX as an abbreviation for Extra or Extraordinary.”
‘Extra?’
So it was trivial after all.
“Like a tree in a school talent show?”
“…why would you think that?”
“Because it’s ‘extra’…”
“Completely different. This means incredibly strong and special.”
Iji’s eyes went round.
‘Strong and special? Me?’
A magical girl was a special being.
But compared to hunters, she was nothing.
The hunters on YouTube could shatter mountains and throw monsters away.
“I can only transform. It might be unusual, but… I’m weak.”
“That’s the thing… this isn’t just about rank.”
Jin Siheon lowered his voice.
“This is my information. Never tell anyone else.”
He scratched letters into the dirt with his front paw.
Trait: Avenger
[Court of Siheon (EX)]
: Can act as an avenger for vengeance within the domain.
The words were unfamiliar, but the explanation structure resembled Iji’s skill.
Iji made a quick inference.
“Is an avenger for vengeance the same thing as an Avenger?”
Of course, she understood neither term.
Siheon explained with quick perception.
“A vengeful one with a public purpose… In other words, someone who beats up wrongdoers who saunter around unpunished, doing the police’s job.”
“Ah!”
“Court is like a courtroom. I create a domain the size of a courtroom and can play the role of a fist-wielding judge within it. Your skill has the same structure.”
It was starting to make sense.
Court of Siheon = Siheon’s courtroom.
In a space the size of a courtroom, he becomes a judge who uses his fists.
Garden of Shin Iji = Shin Iji’s garden.
In a space the size of a garden, Shin Iji…
‘…can act as a magical girl?’
What’s different from the transformation skill?
If anything, it seemed worse.
‘It sounds like I can only be a magical girl inside the garden.’
“Why the long face?”
“Yours sounds really amazing. I’m not sure mine is…”
“It’s tremendous. …Honestly, I didn’t believe you were a magical girl.”
“What? Why?”
“I thought you were just a magic-type hunter playing the concept.”
That was bad…
“But with this skill, everyone will accept you as the ‘magical girl you imagine yourself to be.'”
“…? But you said you didn’t believe me.”
“Belief and reality are different things. For example, when magical girls in manga or spandex men transform, their enemies wait patiently. But would that happen in reality?”
“No.”
“But as long as you believe that ‘magical girls are safe when they transform,’ the villains will wait too, without understanding why.”
“Oh…?”
“I haven’t watched manga in twenty years, so that’s the best example I can give. Anyway, in your domain, your belief about magical girls becomes law.”
My belief = my law.
That was a cool sentence!
As Iji’s eyes sparkled, Siheon chuckled softly.
“Do you understand why it’s special?”
“Yes!”
“Here’s a tip: the more you act like a magical girl, the stronger your domain becomes.”
“Oh! So when you said those mean things before, you were practicing the gangster judge concept?”
“…Let’s say that.”
“I had no idea!”
‘He’s working really hard.’
Even while being cursed by every hunter in the world…
“That’s amazing!”
Siheon modestly turned his eyes away.
“Right. Remember this, but don’t tell anyone about EX-rank skills. This special rank is only known by a select few hunters.”
“Yes!”
“Your eyes are sparkling so much. You really can keep a secret, right?”
“I’m great at keeping secrets! Really! I didn’t tell anyone when my sister got a boyfriend… gulp!”
She blurted it out.
Iji covered her own mouth.
“Please forget you heard that… I really, really kept it hidden…”
Was he going to scold her for lying?
Strangely, Siheon looked like he was fighting back laughter.
“So you have a sister.”
“Yes… and! She’s incredibly pretty and smart and cool!”
“She doesn’t have a boyfriend.”
“…Yes!”
No. She’s definitely the kind of person who will have a wonderful boyfriend.
Someone destined to be happy.
As Iji imagined a two-story house for her sister.
She returned to the important conversation.
“Since I’m an EX-rank hunter, I can fight alongside you in the Dungeon, right?”
It wasn’t a question—it was certainty.
“You said the domain grows stronger the more I act like a magical girl. So I have to fight with my allies even more!”
Iji’s eyes gleamed with unprecedented brightness.
Before those innocent eyes.
Siheon rolled his eyes and then…
gave a very unfair answer.
“…Let me think about it.”
When adults say “let me think about it,” they mean they’ll tell you “no” in a few days.
Iji’s lips instinctively pouted, forming a pyramid.
Seeing Iji’s jaw pucker, Siheon hastily added:
“I only do solo runs! I don’t know how others cooperate with allies.”
“Oh.”
“I need time to think about how to combine our powers.”
A fairly logical answer.
While Iji tilted her head in confusion.
Grimoire interjected.
Or rather, his voice did.
[Iji! Sorry, do you have a moment?]
“What’s wrong?”
[The March Hare is asking when the tea party will begin. I’ve been trying to answer, but it keeps trying to chew my pages!]
“Oh! I’m coming! Sorry, I’ll be right back!”
Iji spun around hastily.
Siheon watched her departure with relief.
‘Dealing with a kid is exhausting.’
The sentence he’d just spoken—eighty percent lies—crackled in his mouth alongside his conscience.
‘I only do solo runs.’
…He’d omitted the caveat “for the past few years.”
How to fight as a group? He knew it very well.
‘I was dogged by them for so long that it’s completely burned into my body.’
What he remembered wasn’t just group tactics.
Even now, the voices of his old comrades rang clear in his ears.
‘We can catch it if we attack together! Trust each other!’
‘Jin Siheon, thanks for the tanking.’
‘We made good money today. Let’s get galbi ribs, guys!’
People that Siheon, who had no family, regarded as brothers and sisters.
From trials and tribulations with them, he’d learned how to clear dungeons and tasted the fierce joy of living.
But the greatest lesson they’d given him was…
[You’ve got quite the gloomy expression there, fool. Are you having a nightmare with your eyes open?]
…the pestering voice cut off his dreadful recollection.
Siheon answered briefly.
“Yeah. A nightmare where a dusty flying book spouts nonsense.”
[…]
“Did you come to pick a fight?”
If so, to prevent a quarrel—
he’d take a bite out of it.
While Siheon calculated his jumping angle, an unexpected answer came back.
[I was thinking how fortunate it was that you’re here.]
…He nearly stumbled.
“Huh?”
[You just taught Iji about hunter information. That’s something I couldn’t have done.]
“…”
[Thanks to you, I feel… well, ‘we’ Grimoires can’t compare to your wisdom, so don’t get too proud.]
Siheon eyed the stack of papers suspiciously.
‘Do all Grimoires have personalities like this?’
He’d heard about “we”—meaning “Grimoires”—recently.
They called themselves the historians of human history and guides for future heroes.
‘In my understanding—’
Book-shaped monsters dreaming of being kingmakers.
But since the Awakening System arrived on Earth, they’ve mostly hunted high-rank hunters.
At this point, they seemed less like kingmakers and more like lottery-luck shrine pilgrims.
‘There are so many parasites on strong hunters.’
Would this creature also try to manipulate Iji someday?
That young girl…
[…Ahem. This is something I’m saying because Iji isn’t here.]
“Uh, yeah?”
[This thing called a magical girl. At first, I had no idea what it was, so I looked through the literature.]
“Literature…?”
[The history of magical girls ran deeper than I expected, and my knowledge is still shallow. But…]
Grimoire turned to look to the side.
As if the conversation had ended, Iji came running with a wave, her steps light as a fairy on an outing. The frills fluttered like dozens of butterflies.
[When I first met her, Iji was just a tense child. But the moment she accepted the word ‘magical girl’ within herself, she began to shine.]
“…”
[That alone makes magical girl a wonderful concept, I thought.]
Grimoire’s voice sounded dreamy.
Siheon thought this somewhat childish book might actually be a fitting match for the concept of magical girls.
So he posed a question with the spite of one poking fun at innocence:
“Iji would love to hear that. Why only tell me when she’s not around?”
Well, obviously he was embarrassed.
In the distance where Iji’s voice could almost be heard.
Grimoire answered:
[If I carelessly said I liked magical girls, I fear she might do incomprehensible things under the guise of the magical girl concept.]
“…”
[I don’t want to become a rabbit like you…]
Eventually, Siheon leaped high into the air.
And crunch.
“I’m here… sir! Friends shouldn’t fight!”
“Mrmf murrgh!”
[Who said we’re friends?!]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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