Magical Girl City: Empire of Ice

It was the end of February. Tonight, was the night of the full moon. The start of the third and final tutorial event. It also marked nearly seven months, seven months since I had first arrived in this city. And… wow, how my life has changed since.

It wasn’t just my new body. My new name. My new job. My new… existence. It was everything, the people I met, the things I’ve done…

In this time, since being brought to this city, I’ve had time to reflect on who I was, who I am. I don’t feel anywhere close to fully understanding myself, but I do feel as if I’m on the right path.

His words no longer haunted me like they used too. Saying that we were the same, Him, being my former boss, the man I killed with my own hands. The man that had betrayed me and inadvertently led me to being brought here.

After all, I now realize he wasn’t wrong. If anything, he’d undersold it. I wasn’t just like him, no, I was so much worse. And as time went on, no doubt, I’d prove how right I am.

For now, though, there were more pressing matters.

Most of the month had been spent making preparations. Healing up after my stint with a bone golem and making sure I had what I needed. Information was gathered, preparations were made not just for the event, but life overall.

Now… Now I found myself heading to the Port District. My warehouse was located in the Port District, so it wasn’t that far of a run. I left Talia and Shi to their own devices. Talia, being a lesser magical girl I had beat into submission during the last, and my first blood moon. After being processed by the police, I’d taken her in as an unofficial employee.

Not like I had much in the way of benefits to give out. Nor was there an official contract. Our current relationship was a bit odd. Perhaps it was because Talia was a lesser magical girl, a magical girl created through use of a gold coin, but she was oddly dependent on me. Or rather, dependent on others.

Talia needed direction, something solid to rely on. I suppose I fit that bill.

As for Shi? I wasn’t entirely sure what she was. But it was clear that the process of turning her into a revenant had gone wrong. Moreso, due to my own hubris. She drinks blood now, and most of the power she had before was gone, but in time I was certain she’d reclaim it and more. Originally, she’d been a fox, specifically a lesser fox, created through a golden coin like Talia had. Odder still, Shi had once been Talia’s direct supervisor.

Now, Shi was essentially a newborn. She didn’t speak and followed us like a baby duck would follow their mother. Talia took it upon herself to teach the girl, and whenever I had the chance, I’d show her a thing or two between feedings.

It wasn’t much, but I had some down time between projects.

Now, as for my destination. The Port District itself was separated into multiple parts. Primarily where the warehouses were, and the port itself. The warehouses were surprisingly under-utilized. Perhaps it was due to the state of the city, that being the lack of goods, or more specifically, the limited capacity for imports.

I haven’t had the time to do a deep dive into the economics of the city. Or really go very deep into how things got into the stores. I wasn’t stupid enough to just assume they appeared out of nowhere. I did understand a few things thanks to my meetings with a crafter not so long ago, and just idle conversation while buying stuff at a convenience store.

Most of the city’s food came from the farms on the outskirts of the city. Which laid beyond the Suburban District. Everything else was imported. From where? Nobody knew exactly. The ports though, were at capacity. Bringing in goods and almost immediately shipping them out.

It went like clockwork, and there didn’t appear to be shortages, not yet. I’ve heard talks that the new district, a district that nobody really considered to be new, did open the possibility for additional shipping lanes. Which meant, more imports being processed.

In turn, with more imports able to come in, the price of goods, and the variety of goods should increase. I’d already seen the results of that, but it wasn’t enough to alleviate the serious issues this city faces in terms of supply…

Then again, I had no idea how bad it was. Or if it was just manufactured but seeing how most of the warehouses sat mostly unused, and how I was able to get my warehouse at the price I did. It was clear that there wasn’t a surplus of goods at the very least.

Why did this matter? Well, it was an incidental thing really, something to consider… What did matter, was that my destination was the port part of the district.

The actual port itself, the docks and all, were secured behind fencing and walls. With a few set entrances for trucks to enter and leave. My destination wasn’t one such entrance, but the central, main entrance to the port. A kind of central port authority building.

Most commercial traffic went through here, it also doubled as a customs office. Goods were processed and sent to where they needed to be via truck from here.

Arriving wasn’t the hard part. The parking lot was primarily empty, and even with the sun not quite set, the lights in the lot were already ablaze.

Parking my car and entering, noting the slight chill in the air, along with the smell of the ocean, the sound of waves in the distance. It was memorable, in a sense. The building itself, the main entrance to the port was very much like an airport terminal, or a much larger bus or subway terminal.

It was primarily empty, but it wasn’t hard to find where I was supposed to go. Yet, on my way over I found myself waylaid by a set of brochures. Brochures that were advertising island retreats, vacations, even cruises.

There was no staff on hand to question, but it was odd. I didn’t think there was anything beside the city. I’d never ventured out, besides for events. Was leaving the city an option, or were these sub-events of some kind? Or another underlying system I was unaware of.

For now though, I didn’t have time to think too deeply about this new conundrum. I had an event to prepare for.

Idly, I put one of the brochures into my bag and made my way to my destination.

The destination was lit up. There was already a small crowd gathered. A crowd filled with familiar faces. Some looked at me, but few properly acknowledged me.

Of my team from the previous event, the second event. Well, Ruth took one look at me before lowering her head, as if to avoid my gaze. Terra gave me a wan smile but didn’t approach. Diva kept shooting me looks, but when we locked eyes, she flinched like I’d shocked or burned her.

The only one that didn’t seem to have an issue with me was Faust. He gave me a smile, and it was clear I was good to approach.

Of the others, from the first event, Diana was in the midst of a gaggle of people. She looked busy, and hardly even noticed me as she checked out bags and gave out commands. Serenity and Amanda were both assisting her. Both noticed me and gave me short greetings in the form of a smile, or a wave. Which I returned.

Liche was sequestered in a corner, having noticed me. But she didn’t approach. Joan was by her side, but I could tell she wanted to approach me but didn’t want to leave Liche’s side. I gave her a small smile and a wave as a way to let her know it was alright. Still, it was worrying.

Ever since the blood moon, Liche has been… distant. I was to blame in part, but Liche clearly had something going on with her. And I wasn’t one to pry. Not yet at least.

With nowhere else to go, I walked towards Faust. He had a small paperback book in his hand. I couldn’t quite get a look at the title, not when he lowered it on my approach.

“Hey.” I state first, taking a spot near him. “How have you been?” I asked next.

“Good, and you?” he responds back with an easy smile.

“Bit of this, that, you know.” I say back, motioning with my hands.

“I get ya.” He says back with a nod, but doesn’t immediately get back to reading

So, I continue. “The others, you talk with any of them?”

“Nope. We’re not in each other’s circles, and after what happened during the event, well, I don’t blame them.” he says with a sigh, a slight frown.

“Me neither… I’m just afraid it’ll impact their performance in the upcoming event.”

“I’d like to believe they’ll be fine, but… Well…” he pauses for a moment to collect himself. “Terra seems to be the most reliable of the bunch, despite how she acts, I’d like to think she’s fine, more or less. Diva… well, I haven’t talked to her since the event, but it’s clear she blames herself for everything that happened. As for the others…” he trails off. “I’m not sure they’re doing all that well honestly…” He finally says after a long pause.

I sigh, “I figured as much. The person overseeing the event didn’t pull any punches.”

“No… and honestly, they weren’t wrong.” He says. “We all messed up really badly, and I know Diva probably took it badly.”

“I’m aware of that much… And really I don’t blame her.” I say back.

“Yeah…” He agrees and goes quiet again.

“And Ruth?” I ask. Looking for his input.

“Not sure. I think she’s mad at herself more or less.”

“Your probably right… I wish we could have had a proper debrief, but with the state I was in…”

“Yeah, you didn’t look good. Honestly, if not for our body’s being the way they were, I would have listed you as a goner.” He says with a bit of a grin.

“Hell of a vote of confidence there.” I say with a slight jab.

“Well, what can I say? I’m all confidence.” He says back.

We sit back, lapsing into silence. He goes back to reading his book, and I take the chance to properly take in the groups. I don’t think I was going to have a chance to touch base with Diana, not with everything going on, and I was soon proven right when someone came out.

They were dressed rather fancily, more like a bellhop for a fancy hotel. They led us through the gate, out into the port proper. There, a cart awaited us, with passenger cars attached. We piled in, luggage with us, and without much ado, we began to move down the path.

With the sun now pretty much set, the port wasn’t quite covered in darkness. Lights beamed down from the surrounding buildings, and the pathway we were on was entirely lit up. Above, the full moon shone with its full might as well.

As we closed on our destination, the smell of the sea grew stronger, as did the sound of waves crashing against the docks. As we approached, our ride for the night became clear. A large, but not an especially large ship awaited us.

Cranes were being used to load up the ship, depositing larger crates, and a familiar shipping container. One particular crate had holes in it, and when it began to move the sound of crows cawing came from within the crate, piercing the relative silence of the night.

On getting off the cart we were greeted with a full ensemble. A group of what were clearly magical girls like us, clad in attire fit for the crew of a cruise liner, with the lead wearing a captain’s uniform.

“Greetings. If you would present your invitation, you may board for the third and final tutorial event.”

Nobody argued. We lined up, though… I kept glancing about. As it came up to my turn and showed off my letter, I had to ask. “Is this everyone?”

The captain gave me a look, she… was of an older sort. Still even then she looked youthful, authoritative, and obviously tired.

“This should be everyone.” She said, with a slight sigh.

I opened my mouth to argue, but… I didn’t. I just handed over my invitation and got on board. The ramp leading up was steep, the boat shifted with the waves, but it wasn’t too difficult to climb up. Not when I had handed over my luggage to the crew.

I wasn’t sure where I was going, but the moment I was on the deck, a crew member led me into the ship’s depths and towards what looked to be the main mess hall.

It wasn’t fancy. The ship though, was well maintained. The mess hall was rather bare, with steel tables with attached benches, nothing special. They were also bolted to the floor of all things. What caught my eye though, was the extra-large central table that dominated the hall.

Nobody seemed keen to sit at it, and I didn’t blame them. Instead, everyone settled into their groups at various tables set around the hall. I ended up sitting down with Faust and another girl. She was giving me an odd look, and she had a crow on her shoulder for some reason. Otherwise, she didn’t really do anything.

Ignoring her, I took in the hall and once again counted our number.

It wasn’t good. During the first event, we had over a hundred. I wasn’t sure what the losses during the second event were, Liche had been somewhat cagey about the direct details of the event, but I didn’t think it was that bad.

We had maybe, two dozen magical girls in all. A mix of men and women, though, skewed more towards women. Me, including my old group made for five total. Diana and her current group, including Amanda and Serenity, came to about eight. Of the rest, some faces were familiar, but not all.

I think, one of them was the person that confronted my group, after we killed the heart and escaped. Another face was one I briefly remembered, if only because of how she rushed into combat during the last part of the first event. The blood magic user that used her enemy’s blood as both armor and weapon. Her fierceness and willingness to throw herself into the fray was admirable.

There was also a somewhat dour girl sitting in a corner, somewhat alone. She was hiding herself in an oversized hoodie, her eyes were slowly roaming about the place until we locked gazes.

I gave her a wave, and she didn’t quite return it.

Then there was the girl watching me. She had a cracker in hand, which she was feeding to her crow. It was oddly quiet, and between bites of the cracker, the crow would just go back to looking at me like I owed it lunch.

“Do we know each other?” I had to ask. As I couldn’t recall ever seeing her.

“Nope. We never met, but I have heard of you.” She said, a smile on her face. One that didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

I glanced over at Faust, but he just gave me a non-committal shrug. Essentially leaving this to me. The bastard.

“Well, what wave did you come in?” I venture.

“The first.” She said almost off-handedly.

“So, you were in the city?” I asked, seeking further clarification.

“Yup.”

“I don’t remember seeing you during the final stand. What magic do you use?” I continued.

“Wouldn’t you like to know? And no, I wasn’t present during that whole thing. I was a bit busy elsewhere.”

“Elsewhere? How did you get out?”

“The bus, duh.”

I took in the girl a second, and then a third time. Something about her, not quite sitting right with me.

“Well, what’s your name? My name’s Prima.” I say, offering a hand.

“Morrigan.” She says but doesn’t take my hand. If anything, she keeps watching me with an odd grin on her face. Eventually, I pull back my hand and settle back in my seat.

“Well, Morrigan, I don’t suppose you were with Diana during the second event, were you?” I asked.

She scrutinized me for a moment. “Her?” She asks, pointing at Diana from across the hall.

“Yeah.” I answered back.

“Nope. I was doing my own thing.” She said with ease.

At this point, I looked over to Faust and coincidentally, he was looking at me. Both of us had the same idea, the same thought.

“You placed in the top five, didn’t you? During the first event?” I ventured.

She gave me a wide smile. “I was.” Her eyes gleamed.

It was all, a bit much. And something about this girl rubbed me the wrong way, and Faust was no different. He looked like he was reading, but I could tell he wasn’t focused on it, not at all.

Every instinct screamed that continuing to involve myself with this girl was a mistake, that I should make an excuse to back off.

Just as I opened my mouth to do so though, the lights went out.

And a familiar laughter rang out, “Baa!!!~ Baa!!!~ Baa!!!~”

It was, Sheep, one of the mascots.