No! I don't want to be a Super Necromancer!

Fatty and Elly strolled up to the convergence site wearing matching oversized lab coats they had borrowed from the Pearl Institute's supply room.

Elly's coat trailed so far behind her that she had to hold it up like a princess's train. Fatty had tucked his into his waistband to look more "official," though it only made him look like a duck bun vendor pretending to be a scientist.

"Just act natural," Fatty whispered.

"I am the definition of natural," Elly whispered back, tail swishing proudly beneath the coat. "Let's interrogate someone!"

They approached a cluster of field technicians huddled around a mana relay terminal, who were all sweaty, tired, and absolutely not in the mood.

Fatty cleared his throat and puffed out his chest. "Greetings, fellow… manaologists. We're here for the Level Five grid inspection check… for magical inconsistencies."

One of the older engineers looked up, squinting. "You mean a mana audit?"

"Exactly!" Elly nodded furiously. "A very serious audit. With charts. Possibly graphs."

"…Did you just say 'possibly graphs'?" another tech muttered.

Fatty jumped in. "We need to ask a few very high-level diagnostic questions. First: have the underground worms been singing louder lately?"

The room fell silent.

"Worms?" one of the engineers echoed flatly.

"For mana resonance," Elly said helpfully. "You know, the long hollow things with lots of mana wriggling in them?"

"You mean… Mana pipes?" another engineer asked incredulously. He had never thought of the pipes as worms. But thinking about it… They ARE kind of like worms… His mind was blown in that instant.

"…Are you two drunk?" A third one asked with a frown.

"No!" Elly gasped. "Just extremely professional!"

The techs gave them a few long, confused stares, but none of them got angry. Mostly because Elly was blinking up at them with wide, innocent orange eyes that made her look like a lost magical mascot.

One guy even started weeping quietly into his clipboard.

"I just… She's too cute… She reminds me of my dead ex wife's cousin's foster granddaughter's best friend's little cousin… I can't even be mad…"

"Now then, can you describe any unusual site vibrations? Like... humming mana. Singing concrete. Aggressive flowerpots. Anything?" Elly chirped brightly.

Several engineers exchanged looks. One of them pinched the bridge of his nose.

Fatty jumped in, trying to look serious. "What my assistant means is... are you aware of any phenomena involving spectral interference or sublimated aetherworm resonance?"

Elly nodded solemnly. "We read about it on a scroll. A very ancient scroll. Very important stuff."

The senior tech just stared at them.

They were dealing with cutting edge technology, what has a very ancient scroll has to do with them?!

No one said anything for a full three seconds. Then, someone muttered, "...This has got to be a prank."

"They're not answering well." Elly yawned theatrically. "I'm bored."

And with that, she wandered off without another word, trailing her coat like a queen leaving court.

Fatty blinked. "Wait, Elly, you can't just leave me here to uh… you know…"

Too late.

She was already chasing something.

At first, no one noticed. But after a few moments, the technicians turned to see the fox-girl darting through the field at high speed, laughing joyfully as she weaved between tool carts and crates, her oversized coat billowing behind her.

"Get back here, you little tank!" she squealed.

There was no visible target. Just Elly tearing after something invisible to everyone else, grinning wildly and occasionally pouncing into bushes like a very determined predator playing tag.

Engineers watched with expressions that flickered between concern, confusion, and helpless amusement.

"What exactly is she chasing?" someone whispered.

"Shhh." another said reverently. "This is sacred. A little girl having fun. When was the last time you saw such a beautiful scene?"

"You're right… with the 120 hour weeks we've been having… It's been a while since I last saw someone happy…"

After several minutes of chaotic bounding, rolling, and one unfortunate leap into a power junction crate (which she immediately jumped out of, totally unfazed), Elly finally stopped.

And held something in her hands.

Elly had the creature cupped in her hands now—eyes wide, mouth open in awe.

It wasn't what she expected.

Not a spirit. Not an illusion. Not a trick of mana.

No.

It was a squirrel.

But not just any squirrel.

This one was... ripped. Muscular!

Its fur gleamed with faint magical glimmers, its tiny chest puffed with pride. Its little arms flexed like it had just finished a full set of mana-laced pushups. It had deltoids. Actual deltoids. And its eyes sparkled with the kind of intensity normally reserved for A-rank bodybuilders or final bosses.

Elly gasped dramatically as her powerful charming spell hit the squirrel like a speeding truck.

It instantly ceased its struggles and became extremely friendly to Elly instead.

"You... you're glorious," she whispered, nose-to-nose with the rodent, who posed confidently in her hands like it had trained its entire tiny life for this moment. "I shall name you… Squi-Squi."

The squirrel responded by giving her a proud chitter, flexing again as if to say yes, bow before my magnificence.

Around her, birds chirped. Sunlight broke through the canopy.

Squi-Squi blinked up at Elly with sparkling, overcaffeinated eyes.

It was clearly smitten.Squi-Squi's tiny, jacked-up arms flexed once for no reason, then it proudly scampered up her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek affectionately, purring in a high-pitched chitter like a kettle about to explode.

Elly giggled and gave it a soft pat, enchanted by its devotion.

"You're so fluffy!" she whispered, imaginary tail swishing behind her in delight.

Then, without warning, Squi-Squi squirmed in her grip, scrambled up her arm, and perched on her shoulder like a tiny, muscle-bound scout.

"Are you leading me somewhere?" she asked.

Squi-Squi nodded. Actually nodded. Then it leapt from her shoulder and took off through the brush.

"Oh I am definitely following you," Elly giggled, dashing after it without a second thought.

She skidded down a slope, hopped over a log, and pushed through some low-hanging leaves until the squirrel came to a proud stop beside a mess of tangled roots near an old, half-buried maintenance hatch.

The little beast scurried up to the hatch, scratched at it twice with its clawed fingers, then turned to Elly and flexed again.

She crouched beside it and carefully brushed aside the moss and debris, revealing a sleek, metallic object thrumming faintly with unstable mana.

A cracked mana siphon device.

Leaking magical residue. Malfunctioning. And very much not supposed to be here.

Elly's ears twitched.

"Oh ho ho," she murmured with a grin. "You found a treasure chest."

Squi-Squi puffed up even more proudly.

And that's when her communicator buzzed to life.

"I have a lead. Meet at the safehouse in twenty minutes. Urgent."

"Master!" she chirped as Damien's voice came through.

"Elly. Where are you?"

"I found something!" she said cheerfully. "A really weird thing. It smells like... mana stew gone bad."

"Good. Bring it back with you."

"Okay!" she nodded happily. "Oh, and I made a friend! His name is Squi-Squi!"

"...Is it dangerous?"

She glanced at the creature, who had taken to flexing its tiny limbs proudly again.

"Only to weaklings," she said with a grin.