Contract Beast

The executives of the Abyss Return Organization could leave the base at any time.

The BOSS never restricted the executives, instead encouraging them to bring their subjective initiative into play.

They could do whatever they wanted, as long as they did not miss the weekly meetings.

Then, they reported their recent actions during those meetings.

Things could not seem too outrageous, nor too useless, and they needed to strike the right balance.

They could split an important matter across several weeks of reports, reading out a prepared draft on the day of the meeting; as long as the BOSS listened and approved, it was fine.

In fact, Ye Qing did not need to punch in for work at all, nor did he need to sit in the office all day. He could wander outside freely or stay cooped up at home.

Not doing so was purely because the BOSS was such a good person that it had stirred up his sense of kindness.

With plenty of leave, few tasks, and ample pay, he already had nothing to do; if he didn't even show up for work, Ye Qing always felt he owed too much.

It didn't feel right taking that money with a clear conscience, you see.

Punching in every day made his conscience clear.

Of course, it also meant avoiding exposure, and lingering in the office provided an excuse.

If he hung around outside without the slightest gain, it would be easy to get demoted or even fired.

Being careful in one's actions was never wrong.

Anyway, if he had personal business to attend to, he could just leave Abyss Return and knock off early; nobody would stop him.

This time was no exception.

Inside a cafe.

Ye Qing, transformed into his Magical Girl form, namely Qingyin, sat in the corner of the cafe, while sitting opposite him was the ever-smiling Youyue.

"I asked for these sugar cubes especially for Qingyin." Youyue pointed at the sugar jar and spoke.

"Since you know my taste, wouldn't it be easier to just order sweet coffee?" Qingyin asked with slight confusion.

Why bother ordering a cup of black coffee and making her add the sugar herself?

"Well... the cafe owner is a man with quite a story. He only makes various styles of black coffee and allows customers to add sugar themselves, but he stubbornly refuses to make sweet coffee," Youyue explained with a sentimental tone.

Qingyin said nothing. Heaven knew how much intelligence the other woman had found the time to dig up about this cafe out of sheer boredom while she was away.

Bad luck had made her choose this kind of cafe for their first meeting.

So much so that every time they met at this place, she had to add the sugar herself.

Qingyin picked up the small tongs and began adding the sugar to her coffee piece by piece.

"What's the process for contracting a Contract Beast?" Qingyin asked while adding sugar.

Her main reason for coming was to contract a Contract Beast and form a Magical Girl team.

She would consider idle chatter or play after finishing her important business.

"Before contracting a Contract Beast, you naturally have to get to know them." A ball of purple Qi floated up in front of Youyue, followed by the appearance of two familiar flying trinkets.

Wazi and Qiubo.

"It's you guys." Qingyin raised her eyes to look, her hand movements still not stopping.

"You're familiar with them? That's great." Youyue raised a hand and briefly introduced them:

"These two are Wazi and Qiubo, two Contract Beasts from Bailan City.

Wazi is a Contract Beast who fits Bailan City's core principle very well, while Qiubo is still young and has yet to comprehend the true meaning of the city."

"What is Bailan City's core principle?"

"Letting it rot."

Qingyin's hand paused as she held a sugar cube, muttering to herself inwardly.

Such a lame pun.

"What do Contract Beasts do?" Qingyin asked again.

She certainly didn't need anyone teaching her how to rot away.

"Contract Beasts are the managers for Magical Girls. Whatever tasks you want to do, if you want to travel to other districts, or if you want to appear in variety shows and movies, arranging schedules can all be handed over to the Contract Beasts," Youyue replied.

"What about identities?"

"Don't worry. If you're unwilling to expose yourself, the Contract Beast won't barge into your daily life, nor will they be able to find you."

"Let us introduce ourselves first." Once the topic ended, Wazi suggested.

"That's true. I stole your jobs." Youyue chimed in, tasting her bitter black coffee.

"Hello, Magical Girl Qingyin. I am..."

"Contract Xiao Qi."

Before Wazi could finish speaking, Qingyin interrupted him.

The former immediately turned his head to stare at Qiubo. Qiubo reacted a beat slow, making a confused sound like a certain derivative meme penguin:

"Hey? Did Xiao Qi mean me?"

"We'll form a contract, and what benefits will you and I each get? Tell me, Xiao Qi." Qingyin took a sip of the coffee to which she had added half a jar of sugar, finding it cloyingly sweet.

It was finally drinkable.

"Um... uh..."

Caught under the intense gazes of Youyue, Qingyin, and his senior Wazi all at once, Qiubo inevitably felt nervous.

Like a fresh graduate with social anxiety at their first interview, it stammered:

"We Contract Beasts obtain a small amount of magic power from our contracted Magical Girl. With the Magical Girl's permission, we can absorb their magic power as rations; magic power is a nourishing substance for our growth.

The stronger the contracted Magical Girl, the faster we grow and the stronger we become. At the same time, the Magical Girl can unilaterally dissolve the contract and refuse to supply magic power.

We can contract up to six Magical Girls in total, and once we exceed six, we can no longer continue contracting. Made of magic power constructs, we also have an energy value.

The Magical Girl gets a 24/7 on-call Contract Beast. Through magic power transmitted into the contract, the Contract Beast can tear open space and rush over.

Arranging work schedules, accepting commission tasks, buying plane tickets and medicine, and accessing the Otherworld Association—these jobs related to the Magical Girl's daily life can all be called upon us."

Qiubo explained with unusual detail, even sharing the common knowledge of Contract Beasts that Qingyin hadn't asked about.

It waited anxiously for Qingyin's answer, caring immensely about the HR's opinion at this moment.

An agent's assistant?

After pondering, Qingyin extended her index finger in front of Qiubo:

"How do we form the contract?"

"I'll do it, I'll do it!" Overjoyed, Qiubo hurriedly hugged Qingyin's finger.

It pressed its forehead against the index finger and began drawing a small, incomprehensible magic array.

"What a pity," Wazi said with regret.

It was one person short of filling its quota of six.

As for this last slot, it really wanted the other party to be a powerful Magical Girl.

Plus, with its current five grown Magical Girls, reaching the next stage of growth was only a matter of time.

It was just a pity that Qiubo got the bargain.

"The contract is successful!" Qiubo said pleasantly surprised.

The contracting process went exceptionally smoothly, with not a trace of resistance from Qingyin's magic power.

Qingyin could sense a faint connection with the penguin Contract Beast before her, one that allowed her to use magic power to summon it over at any time.

It felt just like calling a little puppy with 'here boy, here boy', causing it to come running over automatically.

"Good, such pure magic power!" Qiubo blurted out in surprise.

The magic power that flooded into its body upon completing the contract made it unable to help crying out. The entire penguin was enveloped in white light, undergoing a step of growth and evolution.

"Gugugaga! I've surpassed you, bro, I've become so strong now!"

"Can I take it back?" Looking at the other's abstract cries and words, Qingyin suddenly lost her affection for it.

This penguin seemed like a completely different kind of penguin.

Right now, it didn't look like the one giving out Q coins at all.

"Don't, don't, I was wrong, I was wrong."

Acting like a flatterer, Qiubo flew up to Qingyin's face, rubbing against her left cheek and then her right cheek to win her favor.

"Isn't someone a bit more lively rather cute too?" Youyue smiled and persuaded.

"Our attributes conflict." Qingyin uttered words of unclear meaning.

"What attributes?" Youyue asked, uncomprehending.

The penguin and Ye Qing shared the exact same airheaded attribute.

What was this, like attracts like?

Sigh, an evil Contract Beast that used a cute appearance to deceive an innocent Magical Girl.

She had thought it would be a rich Contract Beast that could support her and let her live without a single material worry.