"Hello, Yuri. How's life at Guardian Academy?" Kageyama asked. I could only answer the phone from a VIP restaurant room since the dormitory required a seven-day approval.

"It goes well. I am now an F-rank Magical Girl. And please, call me Black Lily."

"Really? Even though you just enrolled yesterday?"

"I've acquired levels in New Mesa. Moreover, the martial arts club I attended also helped."

"I see. The next one is E-rank, right? When will you get promoted to E rank? When you get into D-rank, that's when we can seriously promote you. You might not be a match for a top-ranker like Serene, but D-rank MG is a serious business. Even Enra only had less than 20 D rankers."

"Maybe next week? I think I have a good chance of passing it."

"Hahaha, this is good material. Hmm? What's this?" Kageyama peered at his PDA. "A duel?"

My spine shuddered at once. I had never picked a fight with anyone at school. They say it would tarnish the Shirayuki name. I frowned at my blunder. Should I tell him that I got a quest and received points for it? But I can't use points for the company yet. Felicia said I should use my points for myself until I am at least C-rank. It will stunt my growth otherwise.

"Hahaha, 6-0! You wiped the floor with Crimson Assassin! Now, this is good material to brag to other companies! Hey, you! Dumbass. How could you only get half of this footage! I specifically asked you to record Black Lily!" Kageyama shouted at someone else on the video call. His gaze wasn't on me, which gave me some relief, but his voice felt like a chain that bound me tighter and tighter, almost choking me.

"Alright. Hm… damn it. I already bribed Moonlight Company for that spot today. Forcing it again next week is going to be... but holding Black Lily's promotional exam was too much of a waste. Maybe I could find some place at the back? The public hasn't learned that Black Lily is Shirayuki yet."

"Will I become a public Magical Girl?"

"That would be best. Hmm… actually, that's up to you. As long as you become Shirayuki's Magical Girl, I am satisfied. We only need the world to know Shirayuki has a Dark Magical Guardian. Their identity is not important." I sighed in relief. However, Felicia stepped up and revealed herself.

"No guardian should belong to any company or any body of power. That is the rule Zenith made with humans," Felicia hissed.

"Hmm? However, there are guardians who answer directly to companies like Blue Light. Some even change their aliases and merge with their company's name, like Green NewStar Company! A magical girl combined with NewStar Corporations."

"As long as you guarantee that it was not coerced on Yuri, that's fine," Felicia said. I almost cried at her words. She was so kind and always helped me. Even now, she stood up against what I feared the most: the bond the name Shirayuki holds.

"Hm… your threat was rather vague. Does that mean we have to ask her for confirmation before we ask her to do anything? That's odd. I don't remember such an obligation when hosting a Magical Girl fashion show... what's your game here, familiars?"

"I just want to remind you that coercing a Magical Girl is not permitted. She must be allowed to say no at any given time."

"Of course, that's what contracts are for!"

"Contracts will not bind magical girls or guardians. Your contracts about magical girl shows or bodyguard duties are always with Guardian Command, not magical girls. If the need arises, they should be permitted to nullify or cancel the shows."

He glared at Felicia. My body shivered at once. Felicia, why did you have to antagonize him so?

"Tell me, do you see Yuri as your family or a tool? Do you care for her?" She then asked.

"Well, of course. The Shirayukis always get preferential treatment within the Shirayuki Company."

"I see. Good. Then there should be no problem."

"Well, ah, I see. It was the Red Justice Knight, huh?"

"Not exactly. But it would be nice if she didn't become like that."

"Of course! Hahaha. You guys are silly! Doing that would practically mean suicide! Hm... I see. You have a point now. Yuri, bring your cat whenever you have a meeting with Shirayuki. It will help you avoid traps. Do that, or don't accept orders from other Shirayukis until you have confirmation from me!"

I tilted my head. "Who is the Red Justice Knight?"

"Ah. He is a Magical Guardian who caused the death of thirty people. I don't know why he did it, but he did. I think he thought he was being manipulated by someone, but…" Kageyama said, his head tilted to the side. "It seemed to me that he simply couldn't accept when his contract was nullified by Salemi corporations."

"Huh?" I tilted my head to Felicia. She froze at once.

"Accessing confidential data. This information is confidential and may only be shared with a magical girl's permission."

"I give my permission." I nodded.

"Permission granted. Magical Guardian Red Justice Knight was a guardian contracted with Salemni Corporations, a major corporation, ten years ago. After killing thirty of the Salemni group's board members, He was dismissed as a Magical Guardian and committed suicide."

"Huh? Why did he do that?"

"He was naive. At just 14 years old, he was easily promised riches. His parents flaunted him, thus either knowingly or unknowingly manipulating him. He became a puppet for the Salemni group, giving them every point he had and thus unable to grow, staying at E rank for four years. One day, after being replaced by a better MG, a C rank, and realizing he had been manipulated, he took revenge and killed all of their shareholders before being stopped by the MGs in the area. After he was stripped of his power, he committed suicide."

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Eh? I was told that greed consumed him, and he tried to rob the Salemni company."

"It was easier to tell the masses that. But this is the truth. That's why we don't like it when MG contracts directly with a company. Hence the null contract law."

"Null contract?" I asked Felicia.

"By freeing MGs from contracts, we can recruit them easier for the greater good. And they can easily break free from the company if they wish."

"I can't say I like it. But I guess you feel like you have no choice, huh?" Kageyama frowned.

"This rule has been used about thirty times since its implementation. You guys should stop manipulating our girls and boys." Felicia hissed at Kageyama.

"I have never manipulated them." Kageyama shrugged.

"Shirayuki was a bit tamer than others. But you should stop intimidating our MGs at the beginning of their contracts."

"I see. Very well. I guess we should change our conduct toward magical girls. Hmm… if only we knew this sooner. Can I take your word for it?"

"Familiars do not lie to their magical girls."

"Yuri. Do you trust that cat?" he looked at me. Felicia implied she wouldn't lie to me but could lie to others. I looked at her and nodded.

"Yes, Uncle. I trust her."

"I see. Good. Hahaha. Relationships should start with trust, after all. We should arrange a dinner with that cat. It brought quite a bit of information. It explained quite a lot about Guardian Command's behavior."

"Uncle, why do we employ so few Guardians?"

"Well, after that Salemni scandal, all MG we had were considered outsourced workers. We still had over 50 or 60 MG. But they were only promoting our brands. Other conglomerates except Enra adopt the same stance."

"You don't trust them?"

"The Zenith clearly favored MG. The laws were bent in their favor. So, we forgo any long-term relationship with MGs." Kageyama explained. "I admitted that was a mistake. I sniffed around Enra; they had MG's parent become a shareholder of the company."

"I see. Will you do a similar tactic now?"

"Maybe. But that would mean handing a department or two to them. Enra may be the largest company. But unlike us, they aren't a monolith. People turn over from and into that company fast. Last on our list. You dueled with Crimson Assassin, huh? You won?"

"Yuri wiped the floor with him," Felicia answered him as I pondered about the company's policy. It baffles me about why people wanted power. I never wanted this. I merely wished for life to go on in peace.

"Get to E rank as soon as possible. We will start hiring you then. Any idea about what branch of department you wish to open?"

"Yes. PMC."

"Whoo.... Military huh. You certainly picked a nice department. About PMC, I might hand over all of our security departments when you reach C-rank. Alright. See you, Yuri. We should have some dinner sometime. Osamu and Jennifer wanted to meet you."

The call was cut off, and I was left alone. The hot miso I ordered had gone cold, and the ice lemon tea I had ordered at the same time was now lukewarm. Nevertheless, I gulped it all down my throat and left the restaurant. On my way, many rumors circulated about me.

"Hey, did you hear? Someone finally taught that prick a lesson."

"So, is the dark MG going to be our new boss? She looked as arrogant as heck. She might be worse than him."

"Nah… Darks are lone wolves; they wouldn't interact with us."

"I've never seen a dark before."

"She wiped the floor with that Crimson Assassin, you know!"

"I saw it. He didn't even put a dent on her."

I hastened my steps, finally getting out of the embarrassing situation. I can't help being expressionless, you know! It was drilled into me since childhood!

"Lily! You must help me! I have the promotional exam to get to E next week! Teach me how to use the staff!" Sapphire cried to me.

"Alright, let's go." I brought her to the training center.

"Eh? We don't use the virtual room?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Why not?" she countered.

"You need to move your body. You won't get the muscle memory if you only work out in the virtual room, right?"

"Muscle memory can be trained in the virtual room. But training directly is advisable. We have a workout gym for that," Felicia added. "The virtual room is only 98.56% realistic. We need to be more exact with gravity, wind, and muscle vibrations of the player."

"Why? We use stats and not our bodies when fighting, right?" Sapphire pouted

"That's where you are wrong. MGs use their bodies, and their bodies are augmented by stats. Even though the arcane system is made to look like a game, it is not a game."

"Really? Blue?" Sapphire asked her familiar.

"Yes. What she said is true. You can't even lift 5kg of weight in real life with one hand. Compared to those who have trained and can pull 10 kg of weight in reality, you will be 10% weaker even though you have the same strength stats!"

"How come you didn't tell me this!"

"Well, you said you were going to become a healer, and strength didn't matter. Only int and spirit stats. It was just 10 percent, anyway. And it's safer to train in the virtual room. You almost got killed by Lily, remember?"

"Ah…"

"Don't worry. We won't have a spar in real. I'm done with that, too." I interrupted. The trauma of almost killing Sapphire resurfaced in my mind.

An hour later, I trained Sapphire to swing her staff. She always started with large attacks like overhead swings. I decided to teach her about stabbing and swinging today. Her skill with staff was so low that even an amateur in bojutsu like me was still able to teach her something.

"Let's go to the virtual room for practical practice." A flash of white surrounded me as my body spun around, and I arrived on a plain concrete platform with the sky surrounding us.

"So, let's start by using a thrust."

"Yes. Hah!" I dodged to the left. She put too much force into her attack and couldn't follow up, but the speed and power were intimidating.

"Blue, can you force her to tone down her stats? Let's all lower them to ten for all stats." I asked her. She was fast, and the speed of her swing was making me nervous.

"We can't do that. I'm sorry, but stats essentially change your body. You can use weights to mimic such an effect, but they are not sold here at Guardian Academy. Relax, this is a virtual room. You can use your signature and magic, and any wound will not cause any pain whatsoever."

"Let's switch. When you attack, the first attack will usually be dodged. Like this." I thrust at her while maintaining a slow movement. After the thrust, my staff followed her movement.

"Can you sense that my swings made you take a certain action?"

"Hmm? Once more!" she requested. I repeated the action; however, she made some sudden movements and slammed herself into my staff.

"Hmm! Once more!" She repeated. I did the same thing again, and this time, she moved forcefully and blocked it with her staff. "I blocked it!"

"Well, blocking is certainly a way to defend yourself. Can you do it when I move faster, though? This speed was about a quarter of the usual speed."

"I see…" Sapphire nodded.

"Let's switch. Try to lead me with your staff movement just as I showed you. Slowly, please. I don't think I can keep up with your movements if they're too fast."

She didn't move slowly at all, and I had to block the swing with my staff after the second strike. "Ugh… I'm not hitting you at all. Your defense is rock solid."

"It hurts when you get hit in real life. But when you become an MG, it becomes fatal... what a shame. You didn't react at all when I thrust the staff toward your face."

"Hm... we could incorporate pain into the simulation. Do you want to try it? It's usually reserved for higher-level Magical Girls, though," Felicia chirped. I smirked at her.

"Let's increase the pain to max level."

"That will make it a real-life simulation. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes. Let's instill some fear into this naive girl who didn't feel danger at all, even when I swung a staff at her face."

"Eh? Did I offend you in some way?"

"No… as expected, real-life simulation is the best one. You could get killed and revive as much as you like here. Now, attack me as if we are trying to murder each other, and study my movements, or you will be in a world of hurt. This battle will not be over until you break my shield or kill me."

"Eh. Gofu!!" I thrust my staff into her stomach, and she let out a silly sound, like a frog getting crushed. "Wait a minute! It hurts!"

"What kind of anathema waits for its opponent?" I slammed my staff and smashed her head like a watermelon.

"1 death, Sapphire Priest." She disappeared in motes of light and rematerialized before me.

"Round two. Begin! Felicia, you can announce my shield aura level every time it decreases to her anytime." Sapphire looked as if she saw a demon and screamed.

"Wait, wait! NOOO!!!"

Four hours later.

"35 deaths for Sapphire Priest. 1 shield break and an arm injury for Black Lily. Log out requested."

"Gah! Hah! Hah! She's a demon! A monster! How is she only ranked F? She was just contracted for a week! I didn't even get a kill!" Sapphire gasped for air as she came out of her pod.

"Fel, if I'm not mistaken, to get promoted to E rank, you need to defeat an Arachnomantis, right?"

"Not always; it depends on the instructor at the time. But you need to fight something with a similar power level."

"Sapphire, we will do this every day until you get at most 5 deaths before defeating me. Ask your familiar for the recordings of our battle. Study hard, okay?" I said, annoyed. We are fighting for humanity here. How could the Zenith allow someone like her to be an MG? She was dumb enough that she hit her head with her staff in a moment of panic.

"Lily… isn't your training a bit too spartan? Even the dojos Red Flame attends weren't like this."

"They don't?" I asked Fel. That's not what I experienced when I studied martial arts. I could still vividly remember my shoulder aching as the instructor hit me with his practice stick.

"They may come in their Magical Guardian form. In such cases, dojos will not let them spar with each other and only teach them the basic moves of their dojos. Normal humans that attend will have to wear protectors and be hit multiple times on their body."

"Eh? No way…" Sapphire let out a cry of despair when she realized she had to endure this until exams.