The Turned Familiar

After hearing the doll’s words, the pigeon immediately exploded with anger, its feathers “whoosh” puffing up.

A round, fluffy ball, looking like a soft plush.

“This is outrageous! How can you eat fries without ketchup! Master is really mean!”

Florina lowered her raised hand, “It’s working.”

“But, is the relationship between fries and ketchup really that important?”

It could instantly turn a familiar.

“I don’t really understand either. But that day in the alley, I heard someone scolding someone else for buying fries without ketchup. They argued for quite a while, and it stuck in my memory.”

The doll scratched the back of her head, puzzled.

【You two from another world wouldn’t get it. It’s like eating pan-fried dumplings without vinegar, instant noodles without seasoning packets, or porridge without pickles.】

“That does sound serious.”

She said it, but Florina still didn’t fully understand.

The doll gave a more relatable explanation for Florina: “You can imagine it as a teammate leaving without bringing their equipment.”

“Gah!” Florina inhaled sharply, “Don’t say more, I understand now.”

Potato’s eyes blazed with anger, “Goo-goo, I hope you all will immediately take revenge on my master.”

Familiars cannot harm their own master, so to take revenge, it needed Florina and the others’ help.

“How long can you maintain this lie?”

“About an hour.”

“I’ll fix the lie’s effect on you first.”

Florina placed her palm on Potato’s back.

The moment the golden light touched the feathers, it adhered like molten gold leaf, seeping along the feather shafts deep inside.

The doll could feel the inky aura representing her lie ability solidify inside Potato’s body.

“All right, now unless Potato succeeds in avenging the collector, the lie cannot be undone.” Florina withdrew her hand and asked confidently, “What information can you tell us? We need intel to help you.”

Potato hesitated, “My master placed restrictions on me. If I say too much, it will be detected. Only by fulfilling certain requirements can I speak.”

【No wonder the collector trusted Potato to come over. They had prepared contingencies in advance.】

The eyeball couldn’t help but feel a little helpless. It was still curious about the Monster King.

After all, in the past, its goal was to become as powerful as the Monster King.

As for now…

Surviving without Florina taking you out was already a victory!

“Anyway, this pigeon won’t take me back. That means the most important goal is achieved.”

The doll patted the eyeball, “With Florina protecting you, as long as you don’t cause trouble, maybe someday you’ll even meet the Monster King.”

The eyeball considered this. It hadn’t seen Florina’s true strength yet, but as a saint who had already defeated the demon king, she was top-tier in combat.

【Looks like after some guidance from an adult, you changed your thinking faster than me.】

While the eyeball and the doll discussed, Florina had an idea.

“Can you tell me about the incident related to Uru? My original task was to retrieve the Doll of Lies, and I’ve done that.”

She just hadn’t handed it to the collector yet.

“Fine.” Potato nodded.

【They really know how to exploit loopholes!】

“Uru is the contracted familiar of a magical girl. Because of this special status, many forces coveted it, but none could capture it. Besides the magical girl’s protection, much of it is thanks to Uru being able to open doors to anywhere.”

“That door!”

Florina remembered—the time Uru escaped by using a door floating in midair.

“The master speculates that this door connects to a certain space. Without restricting this ability, capturing Uru is practically impossible. Goo.”

“That’s easy to deal with.”

It’s just a spatial ability.

To steal freely, Mukooi focused most on perfecting her space-traversing ability.

Because it was so tricky, those factions opposed to the hero were frantically researching ways to counter spatial abilities.

Florina even learned a few techniques, one of which is fixed divine magic, capable of freezing objects, effects, and even space itself.

With a method to deal with Uru, now the only problem is locating it.

“The ones most hostile toward Uru are a special ability organization called ‘Extermination.’ Maybe you can get Uru’s location from them.”

【Shouldn’t the ones hating Uru the most be us monsters? Why a special ability organization?】

The eyeball blinked, staring at Potato in confusion. This was the first time it heard such a claim.

“This is beyond your level. Actually, Uru cooperates to some extent with many Monster Kings.

Monster Kings don’t invade cities without reason, and magical girls, bound by contracts, cannot attack cities occupied by a Monster King.”

Potato hovered by the window, explaining earnestly to the eyeball.

“Over time, those special ability users dissatisfied with the magical girls monopolizing attention naturally formed a faction.

They fight monsters too, but always resent magical girls, and want to prevent Uru from forming contracts with them again.”

After hearing this, Florina fell into thought.

To dare name an organization “Extermination,” they must be either insanely arrogant or truly capable.

Perhaps… they even know of the witch’s existence!

Regardless, she needed to investigate.

Seeing Florina’s interest, Potato obediently flapped its wings, “I’ll upload the ‘Extermination’ organization’s contact info to your phone, Miss Florina, as a small token of goodwill.”

This organization wasn’t exactly secret, and did recruit capable special ability users.

But in this era worshipping magical girls, they didn’t get much attention; some even considered them mere clowns.

…

Meanwhile, on the bed, Hoshino Saki seemed to be dreaming happily, mumbling indistinctly, her head tilting and planting a kiss on the face of the person next to her.

“Florina~ muah!”

Yoshira Kihaku, still half-asleep, woke instantly from Saki’s kiss.

Groggy, she rubbed her eyes and realized that the space where Florina should be was empty.

Instead, she was pressed closely against Saki, legs draped over hers.

“Where’s Florina?” She muttered, then rolled off the bed, “Probably making breakfast.”

Dressing hastily, Kihaku forgot her slippers, shuffling barefoot toward the living room.

But catching sight of the living room, she froze.

“A top-hatted pigeon, a book with an eyeball, and a moving doll.”

Recalling the scene, Kihaku began doubting herself.

Am I not fully awake yet?