Chapter 119
One of the most troublesome issues for R'lyeh is the offspring of the Magic girls on Earth.
At a better level, one might face an irresponsible mother who knows nothing about childcare and whose mindset is hardly more mature than that of a student.
Those who were unfortunate became abandoned babies.
The abandoned children are R'lyeh, but most of them experience a less than happy childhood.
Children who aren't abandoned tend to become out of place in Earth's society and often end up as awful individuals.
Even in R'lyeh, many Magic girls are abandoned orphans.
As an orphan Magic girl, it's easy for her child to become an orphan again after giving birth.
For Takanashi to know who one of its mothers is is already considered quite good.
So, Takanashi seems to have read a research report before, which said that Magic girls, due to the lack of maternal love in their childhood, are prone to falling in love with same-sex women who have maternal charm.
Lilith, who once R'lyeh, seems to be a rare Magic girl who can be a good mother.
At the time, Takanashi thought the research report was complete nonsense.
She didn't feel like she was lacking any maternal love.
Until later...
At this point, Takanashi subconsciously thought of a woman who often took care of her like a mother on weekends.
Hmm... thinking about it now, that study did have some merit.
Chapter 52 Al White
After that war ended long ago, Al White often slept.
In terms of lifespan, several hundred years is not a very long time for a Magic girl Queen; it can be roughly considered as an experience from childhood to youth.
But that's just a romantic way of putting it, by ordinary poets.
In terms of their perception of time, Magic girls are no different from ordinary people.
If you're waiting for someone you know, five minutes can feel like an eternity.
If, like the Fairies in fairy tales, they had to wait for several years or even more than a decade, then Magic girls would also experience the same torment as mortals.
If it weren't for her slow reaction time, even a Magic girl wouldn't be able to experience sunrise and sunset in the blink of an eye.
They also rely on sleep at night to make up for some of the lonely and cold long nights.
From this perspective alone, the lifespan of Magic girl is excessively long relative to her mental state.
In a short period of time, such as a decade or several decades, they would consider it a small part of their own lives, much like immortal beings.
But once you get over 100, every year after that feels tedious and depressing.
The age range of 120 to 150 years old is the period when Magic girls are generally considered to have the highest rate of depression.
They will witness the aging of the ordinary people they know, while they themselves remain in their prime.
Or perhaps it's witnessing the vicissitudes of life, the changes of time and the loss of people.
Magic girls are probably such powerful yet fragile beings.
As a Magic girl prone to melancholy and sentimentality, the Queen of Magic Girls began to feel the length of life sometime several hundred years ago.
She started to enjoy sleeping.
She would stay in that garden filled with memories of her and someone else, sitting in a rocking chair or on a swing, gently falling asleep in the breeze.
A short rest lasts a few hours, while a period of inactivity can last for years.
She hoped this would make time pass faster.
Of course, one day more than twenty years ago, her reasons for going to sleep changed somewhat.
After that, sleeping became one of her hobbies.
However, it is clear that for some reason, what she does while sleeping cannot be exposed to the public eye.
As the Queen of R'lyeh and the most powerful Magic girl, she had always kept this secret well hidden, but she never imagined that it would be discovered in this way one day.
If her daughter discovers her secret pleasure quarters, her life as Queen R'lyeh will probably be over.
At this moment, Queen Al White hugged her Overlord body pillow, rubbing against it as she fell into deep thought.
Shortly after waking up, she realized that the door to her happy little house, filled with Lilith's energy, had been opened and the truth inside had been discovered.
Should she use amnesia Magic to let all the children currently in this courtyard take a short nap?
"Um... what kind of person is Her Majesty the Queen?"
In the garden of the mansion, three Magic girls were chatting idly around a tea table.
However, Takanashi seemed a little distracted, his head down, deep in thought.
As for Sakaki Chika, the thought of meeting the Queen of this country later, although she would probably be quite different from the kings of the secular world, made it impossible for her not to be nervous.
Upon hearing Sakaki Chika's question, Takanashi thought for a moment.
A long time ago, she would have said that she was a very dignified woman, sometimes even somewhat cold, a true Queen of the Magic girls who reigned over R'lyeh.
However, thinking about what she had seen in the Queen's room not long ago, she was no longer so sure of the answer to that question.
"She might seem scary in person, but in private... she's probably quite gentle, so there's no need to be too nervous."
That's the only way she could summarize it.
Suddenly, she raised her head:
"... Here they come."
They didn't say what had come, but Kirishima Ai and Sakaki Chika could probably guess. They looked up, and although they hadn't seen anything yet, their Magic girl side seemed to have sensed something.
Just as she finished speaking, Takanashi suddenly felt a gentle tap on both shoulders. After a moment of stunned silence, she quickly realized what was happening, but instead of turning around immediately, she simply sat quietly in place.
The person behind her patted her head:
"Shiori, it's been a long time."
The voice was cold and slightly high-pitched, carrying an air of authority without being angry.
After a moment of silence, Takanashi turned his head away and then leaned forward slightly, seemingly not wanting to have too much contact with that person.
The other two had already seen what the woman looked like.
It was a woman wearing a well-fitting black robe, giving off a composed and androgynous impression.
The woman wore a veil, and her light golden hair was tied into a long braid that reached her neck. Although her face was not visible, she exuded an indescribable charm.
Upon seeing the woman, Takanashi greeted her:
"His Majesty..."
Her tone was very respectful.
Takanashi had always held this woman in high esteem.
This time, however, a hint of hesitation and doubt crept into that respect.
"Is this... also a clone?"
Looking at the woman's rather informal appearance, Takanashi muttered to himself.
The woman before her was probably not her true self, but rather a phantom created with Magic Power.
From the beginning, this woman seemed to prefer to stay alone in the Royal Palace, and the Queen that most people saw was an illusion created by Magic.
The Queen herself, however, spends most of her time sleeping in the Royal Palace or somewhere unknown to others.
The woman with light blonde hair didn't say much, and her expression beneath the veil was unclear.
Until this woman appeared, neither Kirishima Ai the others realized when she had arrived.
This veiled blonde woman is the monarch of this kingdom, the Queen of Magic Girls, Al White.
Just as Takanashi Shiori said, Al White came here in the form of a clone.
After all, her true form was still wearing a bathrobe, curled up in her bed, and her newly awakened state wasn't suitable for receiving guests.
On the other hand, she didn't want to frighten the friends her daughter had brought.
She then looked at the other two children in the hall.
The black-haired, somewhat quiet child is Kirishima Ai, the young Magic girl who transformed into Silver Feather and defeated the Demon King.
The other child who looks nervous is probably Sakaki Chika, a descendant of a Magic girl from R'lyeh.
"Good afternoon, Silver Feather, and Star Flower. Thank you for taking care of this child."
She patted the Takanashi's head again.
"Sorry, I overslept a bit and haven't prepared anything to welcome you yet. I hope you don't mind."
However, for Al White, preparing cake and tea in an instant was not difficult at all. After casting a Magic Spell, she presented the exquisite refreshments on the table.
That afternoon, she had planned to treat the children to a good time.
In fact, Takanashi had already been planning this before Takanashi returned to R'lyeh.
Moreover, as Queen, she knew very well that besides Takanashi and the others, there were others who had also returned to this place.
The daughter returned to R'lyeh, and so did the long-lost lover; it should have been double the joy, but why...?
Takanashi sighed, his expression suddenly becoming quite complicated.
Then she quietly took Al White's hand, trying not to let the other two people notice.
"... Your Majesty, could you please explain this to me in a moment?"
"..."
Al White's face was hidden behind a veil, making it impossible to see any expression, but Takanashi felt the hand she was holding suddenly stiffen.
Chapter Fifty-Three: The New Enemy
The conversation between the mother and daughter took place in a study within this garden.
Before this, Takanashi had also been to this room and had seen a portrait of a woman in it.
The portrait depicts a gray-haired woman. She had seen the portrait of this beautiful woman a few times before in the Royal Palace, but if she asked others, they would generally remain silent, as if it were a taboo topic.
In Takanashi's memory, women don't really like displaying other people's portraits or photos.
Not long ago, she was completely shocked to see the various photos that filled the Queen's private room.
Now, here, another woman's portrait has appeared, giving Takanashi some food for thought.
Her Majesty the Queen of R'lyeh naturally sat down on a high chair, picked up the portrait, and began to examine it quietly and attentively:
"Isn't she beautiful?"
"Um."
Takanashi calmly admitted it.
Even if you don't recognize the woman in the portrait, I doubt anyone would disagree that she's beautiful.
"Although I can't tell you who she is, this person is your mother."
Al White stroked the portrait, his voice filled with nostalgia.
Takanashi didn't seem surprised; after a moment of silence, he nodded.
"I don't really look like her at all."
While she wasn't unattractive, overall she resembled Al White more.
At most, there was a hint of that woman's color in her hair.
Even after learning that the person in the portrait was her mother, Takanashi didn't feel much emotion, because she didn't know who the person was and didn't feel much closeness to her.
However, she felt, perhaps, that she had seen this woman somewhere before, and she wasn't sure if it was just her imagination.
It seems to be... the time I had a hallucination at Teacher Haihara's house.