An Unborn Hero

"Is this serious?" asked the Flinellian [King], despite being well aware of the answer.

"Alas so," answered the minister of defence.

"It's certainly... unique," opined the minister of economics, flipping through the document he'd been handed. "I'm not sure I've ever seen hair dye listed as a vital resource on any sort of military plan before."

"I wish it wasn't," sighed the minister of magic. "Alas, we're kinda desperate here."

"Unique seems to be a word that's seeing more than its usual share of use recently," sighed the [King]. "Fine. It's not like we have any choice; neighbouring kingdoms have offered token reinforcements, but even the little they're willing to supply won't get here in time. Just make sure the teleportation gates are prepared to evacuate the citizenry to neighbouring kingdoms, in case we fail to hold the monster stampede at the border."

The minister of economics raised an incredulous eyebrow. "In case?" he asked. "There's a million monsters in this stampede, and they'll hit the edge of the forest tomorrow. You seriously think a single spell is enough to deal with it?"

"The spell is anomalous," pointed out the minister of magic. "It's clearly over-imaged."

"And what does that mean for those of us that don't speak geek?" sighed the minister of economics, who wasn't sure why he was even at the emergency meeting. Should the monsters break through, the economic damage wouldn't be at the forefront of anyone's mind. There wouldn't be an economy remaining to be damaged.

"It means that instead of spending the minimum amount of time developing the image before hooking it to an activation phrase, someone has spent far longer. Simply put, it results in the effect of the spell being vastly greater than what the mana cost normally allows. Remember that rare spells generally require a group or ritual cast, with only someone like a high level [Archmage] having sufficient mana to cast one alone. Any qualified mage can cast this one. A mage at a reasonable level can manage four or five."

"Even so, I don't see how it can be enough. It would take epic level magic to make a dent in this horde."

"On top of the greater than expected mana efficiency, the image becomes... detailed. Usually, that makes such over-imaged spells so specific that they become useless, but in this case, it's the exact opposite. The spell is focused on protecting the general public. For example, from reading the spell description, what would you say the spell duration was?"

"It... doesn't say?" suggested the minister of economics, glancing back down at the spell description in his copy of the document. "Just that it gets longer with increasing level."

"Indeed it does not, and for good reason. From Kellela's research, the duration is one minute per level."

"... That's a pile of crap," pointed out the minister of defence. "The battle against the monster horde lasted far longer than that. Mystery only has [Journeyman], but that duration would imply [Master] at the least. This plan was based on your assurance that the duration was unlimited."

"Exactly. Despite having an official 'duration', for as long as the user remains in an active combat situation, fighting to defend or protect, it doesn't wear off."

The room paused to consider that.

"You're seriously telling me that you think we can win this?" asked the minister of economics. "What's the downside? You don't get power like that for free."

"Like I said, the image is incredibly detailed. For better or for worse."

"Then what's the 'for worse' part?"

"The reason we needed to procure so much hair dye, for a start, and it gets... weirder... from there. The spell not only requires the target to have blue hair, but also only works on girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen, and isn't compatible with conventional weapons or armour."

The minister of magic held up a hand to forestall the outraged burst from the other ministers. "In relation to that, you might want to read the footnote on known sub-skills," he added. "We aren't planning on conscripting actual children."

There was another pause as the room was introduced to [Age Correction], [Gender Bending] and the more recent [Transformation Sequence].

The minister of economics finished reading and peered at the [King] in silent judgement.

"... What?" asked the [King], wondering what he'd done.

"You put your daughter together with that degenerate. Deliberately."

"In my defence, I wasn't fully informed at the time! Besides, she seems happy enough now that she's got used to it."

"She lost [First Princess]!"

The [King] looked a little guilty, but not that guilty. After all, back when he'd been her age, he'd have traded out [Crown Prince] in an instant if the option had ever arisen. From his point of view, Grace hadn't lost anything. Rather, she'd escaped. He felt the price she'd needed to pay for her freedom was quite mild, all things considered.

Grace stood in her assigned room, leaning against a wall and breathing into a bag in an effort not to hyperventilate. She was feeling rather proud of herself, having done that in front of an audience that included a foreign monarch without so much as a twitch. Alas, now that she was alone, and Mystery was no longer in danger, the memory of what she'd done had slammed into her like an armoulphaunt.

With what attention she could spare, she kept a constant trickle of healing magic flowing through herself. After all, how embarrassing would it be to die of embarrassment?

"... Are you... okay...?" asked Mystery, managing three words in reasonably quick succession now that her [Telepathy] had levelled a bit.

Grace froze. Of course, just because she was alone didn't mean that Mystery wasn't watching.

"Uh... Uh..." she stammered.

"... Sorry..." whispered Mystery, "... Didn't... know..."

Mystery was, after all, nice. She was just so engrossed in her obsession that the thought that someone might not want to be a magical girl had never occurred to her. Even after Grace had mentioned the thing about knees, Mystery had thought 'it's something she will get used to' rather than 'it's something I need to change'. It took Rose getting almost killed before she reevaluated her mentality.

"... Lily... White..." she conceded.

Grace stopped stammering. "Pardon?" she asked. "I'm not sure I understood that first word."

[Translate] did its best, but that didn't help when there were no lilies in the local universe.

"... Long... dress..." clarified Mystery.

Grace blinked. "You're offering me a new variant? Lily White instead of Jasper White? And it won't be... risqué at all? But why a dress? This is reality; surely armour would be better."

"... Magical... girls... wear... dresses..." squeezed out Mystery.

ding

For managing your longest sentence yet, [Telepathy] advances to level 12.

"Just like the way they're young girls," sighed Grace. "I suppose it's too late to undo however many years' worth of image building you've spent. Fine, let's see if this new version is any better."

"For friendship and justice, demon slaying magical girl Lily White, transform!" thought Mystery, tweaking Grace's pattern.

"... Open... eyes..." she whispered once it was done.

Grace very gingerly opened a single eye. The changes were limited, but importantly, her dress was now ankle length, the petals fused to below her knees, then coming very close to floor height before curling back upwards. Yes, just like Mystery had feared, she looked like a cartoon exploding trumpet, but that was fine; this world hadn't got around to inventing cartoons in which mildly anthropomorphised animals stuck sticks of TNT into brass instruments. No-one other than Mystery would know.

"Thank you," Grace said, meaning it wholeheartedly.

"... Sure... it's... practical...?" asked Mystery.

Grace's eyebrow twitched. "You think the previous version was? Although I suppose this is even worse. A demon could just stamp on one of the petals and I'd trip right over. At least with the other version, they'd need a hand free to grab one."

Grace spent a few moments examining herself before she heaved a big sigh. "How about we stick with the original version and you just add some tights to the design?" she suggested.

Mystery gave a metaphorical blink, wondering why no-one had suggested that ages ago.

But with her new realisation that magical girls weren't the answer to everything, and the claims that wearing dresses into battle was a poor tactical choice regardless of their magical defences, perhaps there were other options.

"... Try... armour...?"

"Huh? I didn't think it was possible?"

"... No... harm... in... trying..."

"Then sure, go ahead."

Mystery considered what she knew of armour, which was, alas, not very much. Bikini armour was always an anime staple, but she had sufficient awareness to realise that sort of thing would likely have even further detrimental effects on Grace's already precarious mental health. Perhaps something to try with Rose later?

Possibly while Grace was watching? Mystery may have had a small amount of common sense forced into her, but not so much that she was above encouraging a relationship that obviously had the potential to blossom into a beautiful yuri romance.

But for now, something with more coverage was required. Leather armour would be the most appropriate, but the Earth depictions that Mystery knew were basically just regular clothes with a few leather plates glued on. Locally, there had been the gleaming knights and black-geared operatives in the capital and the chain-mailed soldiers of Karn's Vigil. Rose's family was the only time she'd had a close-up of adventurer gear, and she hadn't been paying enough attention to figure out what went where.

Of the options, a gleaming knight seemed to contain the greatest levels of romance. She imagined Grace dressed in highly polished sheets of steel, a great sword in one hand and a towering shield in the other. Her white hair poked out of a hole in the top of the helmet, which wasn't a usual thing, but would certainly look good.

It wasn't a magical girl, but perhaps it could be... acceptable.

Feeling a little like a traitor to her own beliefs, Mystery cast her spell. "For friendship and justice, demon slaying magical knight Gleaming White, transform!"

The spell took hold, the long, floral dress of Lily White contracting and hardening around her like a shell.

She promptly fell over.

"Uh... Mystery? Too heavy... Can't move..." she groaned from floor level once the clanging had ceased.

As Mystery had already worked out, better magical girl behaviour was rewarded with increased spell efficiency. Conversely, taking away from what made a magical girl weakened it. Combined with the penalty for transforming outside of battle, Grace found her strength completely unenhanced from its baseline. If anything, she was weakened by it. Not nearly sufficient for handling full plate armour with no prior training.

"... Sorry..." whispered Mystery as Grace struggled to get up from the floor.

"Guess we're stuck with the dress..."

"... Once... more..." tried Mystery as a new thought occurred to her. After all, there was another genre of shows that could be drawn on here, whose protagonists tended not to show any skin whatsoever. They weren't quite magical girls, but they still transformed and fought heroically against exaggerated evil, and talked about friendship and justice a lot. Maybe they would fit well enough to keep the magic happy?

"For friendship and justice, demon slaying magical ranger Gleaming White, transform!" thought Mystery, focusing on Grace once more.

Grace, still in the process of climbing back up from the floor, quickly leant against a wall as the white glow spread out across her body once more.

"I appreciate you trying, but mmppf..." she managed before the glow flowed across her face. "Wow... that was weird. I shouldn't try to speak while your spell is making me a helmet..."

She looked around, realising that while her vision wasn't restricted, as it had been by the knight's helm, the room's light seemed oddly dimmed. There was also a cold, compressing sensation across her entire body, like a pair of thin stockings, except encompassing everything.

"... Better...?" asked Mystery as Grace located a mirror.

A white, florally decorated mask stared back at her, with no openings whatsoever. Her eyes were behind what she very much hoped wasn't tinted glass, because glass shattering into her face mid-battle wouldn't be fun. Carved grey lips with no opening between left her wondering how she could breathe, although from the way she felt the air warming around her face as she exhaled, it was obvious the air flow wasn't perfect. She tapped at the helmet, finding it rigid and wrapped completely around her head, despite seemingly far too light to be steel.

She continued staring at the helmet, largely because she wanted to ignore the rest of her body. Yes, the leather boots and gloves were okay, but the white, florally decorated bodysuit was very much not. It clung tightly to her skin, leaving nothing whatsoever to the imagination.

"No..." said Grace, doing her best to keep her voice level. "No, I am afraid that it is not."

Which of course was the perfect time for the door to burst open, revealing all four of her other party members, attracted by the earlier sounds of loudly clanging metal and the way Mystery had been repeatedly drawing on Kellela's mana. "Are you okay?" asked Rose. "We heard..."

She stopped dead as she took in the sight of Grace, who squeaked incoherently while holding one arm across her breasts and the other in front of her crotch as she desperately scanned the room for something to hide behind.

"Oh! I know this one!" exclaimed Rrillandral happily as Grace unceremoniously dived behind her bed. "The last [Hero] from Earth mentioned them. That's a power ranger!"

ding

For expanding your repertoire of fashion in an even more dubious direction, [Magical Girl Transformation] advances to level 22.

Achievement unlocked: [Royal Corrupter]

"... But that outfit covered everything?" thought Mystery to herself, once again confused why Grace was reacting so badly.

Mystery (Human)

Age: -9 months

Occupation: Hero (L)

Skills:

- Soul's Eye (U) (36/100)

>> Sense Vitality (U)

>> Sense Soul (R)

>> Sense Mana (U)

>> Sense Light (C)

>> Sense Sound (C)

>> Pierce Illusions (U)

>> Sense Miasma (R)

>> Multi-focal (R)

>> Sense Spirit (R)

- Astral Projection (U) (23/60)

>> Sure Navigation (U)

>> Uncontainable (U)

>> Tether of Will (L)

- Robust (C) (21/40)

>> Hardened Soul (R)

>> Secured Mana (U)

>> Pain Tolerance (C)

- Stealth (C) (3/20)

>> Camouflage Vitality (R)

- Magical Girl Transformation (R) (22/30)

>> Age Correction (R)

>> Gender Bending (R)

- Light (C) (12/20)

>> Heterochrome (U)

- Increased Attributes (C) (10/20)

>> Mana Storage (U)

- Investigation (C) (4/10)

- Cosplay (U) (4/10)

- Mana Absorption (U) (4/20)

>> Drain Mana (U)

- Translate (U) (6/20)

>> Two Way (U)

- Telepathy (U) (12/40)

>> Reciprocity (U)

>> Empathy (U)

>> Guarded Mind (U)

- Lightning Bolt (U) (3/10)

- Fireball (U) (4/20)

>> Multishot (U)

- Wall of Light (U) (1/10)

- Energy Resistance (U) (1/10)

Achievements:

- Early Bloomer II (R)

- First Skill (C)

- Journeyman (U)

- Survivor of Zarklaxxos, the Arcane Infernal (R)

- I Broke The System, And All I Got Was This Lousy Achievement (E)

- Astral Explorer I (R)

- First Spell (C)

- I Broke The System Again, And Now The Administrators Hate Me (E)

- Spell Forger (R)

- Demon Slayer III (E)

- Monster Slayer V (E)

- Curiosity (U)

- War Veteran (U)

- Royal Audience (C)

- Diligent Hero (L)

- Studious (C)

- Pioneering Guider (E)

- Royal Pervert (R)

- I Couldn't Stop Breaking The System, And Now I've Been Smited (E)

- Royal Corrupter (E)