"Well, I'll be damned," the construction worker says, "this one ain't half bad." He knocks on the door of the newly made house, as if he's expecting someone to answer.

"So, you're saying this can actually be used, right?" I ask, patting Hotel on the head for a job well done.

"It was just a quick examination, but as far as I can tell? It looks fine." The construction worker turns their head to Inadequacy, who stayed silent during the entire conversation. "The anti-magic stuff, though? If you can actually make this on a bigger scale, that stuff will make a fortune. Hell, if you can sell that to the military-"

"W-we are not selling anything to the military. T-this is to help those in need!" Inadequacy butts in. I can't see what expression she's making because of her mask.

"Gee lady, I thought you were Inadequacy not Pacifism. " The construction worker sighs. "Besides, If you're a magical girl, you're already serving the military in one way or another, so might as well make money from it."

"B-but my power is mainly used for protecting- it's not the same!" Inadequacy rebukes.

"Do you think everyone in the military is holding a gun and sent to the meat grinder? Lots of them just work on ways to protect us from outside forces, just like you are."

"But-"

"Stop." I interrupt Inadequacy before the argument devolves into even more politics that I don't understand. "If she doesn't want to, then that's her choice." Inadequacy and the construction worker nod, I continue. "We'll need some help to take apart the buildings before we can rebuild them with anti-magic."

"We're paid on taxes, bud," the construction worker says, "If you can convince the state to pay us to destroy what we JUST built, then go ahead."

"Can't we just blow it up ourselves then?" I ask.

"That would make you a criminal unless you can get whatever landlord is in charge of everything to sign a paper saying 'yes, I do want my property blown up'." The construction worker shakes their head. "Perseverance was fighting Frustration, so she did have a justification. Frustration is infamous enough to justify the damage."

"What did she even do?" I ask.

"S-she stole a couple billions and gave it all to charity," Inadequacy answers, "and because of some complicated laws when it came to charity donation, the state was incapable of taking back the money she gave. S-so she still owes billions that she can't even pay back," Inadequacy shifts uneasily, "I-I think they want her to 'pay back' that money by f-forcing her into the military, a magical girl like her would be t-terrifying on the battlefield if she can hold her own against Perseverance."

"Charity? So she's like a thief that gives to the poor? That's kinda cool," I say.

Inadequacy scoffs, "S-sure, some of it went to the people. B-but a lot of charities are corrupt and used as money laundering schemes, s-specifically because of the stupid laws that surround them."

Annnnd...I got dragged into politics again. I guess that's inevitable if we truly want to help others, and by 'we', I mean Hotel.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

I wasn't sure what 'leaving condition' I wanted, and I thought I should ask Hotel since they are also stuck with me now. It only makes sense that they should have a say in this after all, and they said something along the line of 'I want to help people.'

Now that's cute and all, but turns out 'helping people' is a really vague goal. It's rarely as simple as toppling over a dictator or some demon lord, it's instead societal problems that have been here for a while and that require a lot of change from a lot of people. Now I could theoretically solve this if I used enough intelligence, as I'd be able to take into accounts a lot of variables that my normal human brain normally wouldn't be able to but...I don't know how much intelligence I'd need, or if it's really safe to raise it in my current state.

So we'll just help whoever we can and once Hotel is satisfied, we'll leave. The issue is I don't know when they will be satisfied. This is why I set simple goals, climb a tower, kill a dragon, very obvious stuff, so I know exactly when I'm done with a universe.

I hope Hotel won't ask me to help people every time we go to a new universe, because that's going to get old real fast.

"Y-you could apply as a magical girl, Miss Leave." Inadequacy says.

"What?" I raise my eyebrow. I zoned out and missed the part of the conversation that led to this.

"I guess." the conversation worker shrugs. "If Frustration is willing to play along, then that would work."

"Wait, what were we talking about again?" I ask, confused.

"I-if you have destructive powers, we could set up a fake fight with Frustration so that you can destroy the buildings freely, using collateral as an excuse," Inadequacy proposes.

"What about just making everyone sign and agree to have their house destroyed and rebuilt?" I'm seriously confused as to how becoming a magical girl is somehow the first solution that came to her mind.

"L-legally, it's complicated. The slums don't really...belong to anyone, they belong to the state. T-there is technically a landlord that it belongs to, b-but in practice, the government is in charge," Inadequacy explains.

"So can't we ask the state to give us a right to destroy and rebuild everything?" I ask.

"W-we could, but that would require lawyers and papers and..." She sighs. "I-it's better if we just use the collateral damage loophole, people are already used to abandoning their house at a moment's notice, s-so no one should be hurt as long as we warn them in advance."

"Okay, but wouldn't becoming a magical girl require even more paperwork?"

"Y-you'd think so, but magical girls are rare enough that a country is willing to speed past the paperwork part just t-to get their hands on one, t-they will be overjoyed to have you and will probably give in to whatever demands you have." She knocks on her mask a few times. "I-I can't do it because...r-reasons? You have to do it."

That's really contrived, and I'm sure there's a better solution, but roleplaying as a magical girl does sound fun.

I knew someone that would've made a good magical girl. Actually, that's who I got the cute pose from, the purple haired girl from back then...I feel a pit in my stomach remembering her, she was so different back then, before I ruined everything.

I strike the same pose she always did before a spell and exclaim, "The one and only hex goddess, at your service! The forces of evil shall tremble before their own power! Beware, friend or foe, as my magic is too AWESOME to be contained!"

Lexia was such a dork, I remember how happy she was when I first accepted her into my team. She would shout equally stupid things whenever she used a spell, and her enthusiasm was pretty infectious. Despite her self-proclaimed Mistress of Darkness title, she was actually a really kind person deep down.

Wait, Lexia? Right, that was her name. I thought the names were wiped out from my memory entirely, but I guess they were just blocked. I don't hate that name though, Lexia, sounds nice. I like saying it, or thinking it in this case.

"Y-you'll have to work on your catchphrase," Inadequacy says, stifling a laugh.

"Yeah, that was embarrassing," the construction worker adds.

They both start to laugh, Inadequacy's laugh sounds like the weird mating call of a bird, while the construction worker is more of a sensible chuckle.

"Did...did it," Hotel says. Hotel points at Inadequacy and the construction worker, who are still not done laughing. "Happy."

"Yeah." I can't help but start laughing too. "Happy indeed."