Ran Jiuyi’s Past

In daily life, it was indeed Ran Jiuyi who took care of Suzuki Tetsuya, that self-care cripple. But in combat, it was Suzuki Tetsuya who dragged along Ran Jiuyi—a piece of trash who struggled to even beat a low-level mob—fighting with all her might.

When they first started taking missions as the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad, let alone helping, Ran Jiuyi was lucky if she didn’t hold them back. In every battle, Suzuki Tetsuya spent half her time fighting illegal transcendents and the other half rescuing Ran Jiuyi, who would fall into crisis for various reasons.

Fortunately, the missions the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad took back then were simple, and the enemies they encountered were weak.

Outside of combat, Suzuki Tetsuya had enough energy to teach Ran Jiuyi how to use mana and how to improve her strength.

Under Suzuki Tetsuya’s relentless instruction, Ran Jiuyi’s strength improved rapidly. Gradually, Ran Jiuyi began to be of use in battle.

In one month, Ran Jiuyi learned to control the Eclipse Needles freely. In three months, she learned to absorb and output vitality. In six months, she learned to convert mana into vitality…

However, as Ran Jiuyi grew stronger, a new problem emerged: her near-total lack of etiquette and her bottom-tier methods of dealing with enemies.

For instance, when facing an illegal transcendent holding a hostage, Ran Jiuyi’s choice wasn’t to negotiate first to stabilize the opponent’s emotions. Instead, she would shout, “You’re the one he’s holding hostage, what’s it got to do with me?” while launching indiscriminate attacks at both the hostage and the criminal.

Or, for example, when facing ordinary citizens demanding compensation for damages caused by the battle, or reporters asking malicious questions.

Ran Jiuyi would decisively flip them the bird and yell, “I just saved this city and countless people, and this is your attitude? Believe it or not, next time I’m not doing it.”

Then, under everyone’s astonished gazes, she would walk away coolly.

“So you used to be that wild? To think you’ve actually restrained yourself quite a bit; I really couldn’t tell.”

Regarding Meng Shan’s lament, Ran Jiuyi appeared extremely dissatisfied. “Do you have a problem? Because of those things, Tetsuya lectured me for a long time. I don’t do things like that anymore.”

“No problem, it just feels like—whether before or now—you don’t really seem like a magical girl. Most of the other magical girls I’ve seen are gentle, cute, good kids, like Yiziling. The rest at most have prominent personalities, but they’re still kind-hearted children.”

Meng Shan scanned Ran Jiuyi from head to toe. “Someone like you, uh, with such a fiery personality, I’ve truly never seen.”

Ran Jiuyi gave Meng Shan a speechless look. “Stop hiding your words. You just want to say I don’t look like a magical girl. Just say it then. Anyway, from the time I became a magical girl until now, basically no one has ever recognized me as one the first time we met.”

As she spoke, Ran Jiuyi transformed into her magical girl form. The familiar evening-gown-style battle dress once again clothed her body.

“I’m asking you, do I really not look like a magical girl? The transformation, the outfit change, and I’m a beautiful girl—no matter how you look at it, I’m a magical girl.”

Meng Shan carefully sized up the transformed Ran Jiuyi.

The form-fitting evening gown was clearly made of high-quality material; while it outlined Ran Jiuyi’s curvaceous figure, it worked with the multiple belts wrapped around her waist to constantly draw one’s gaze.

The ruby hanging from a thorn collar around her neck, the crystal-like ornaments pinned in her hair, and the bracers and pauldrons extending several sharp spikes collectively created an aura of danger around Ran Jiuyi.

When paired with her cold, elegant features and her dark-themed, violet-black long hair, this dangerous aura instead turned into a peculiar sort of temptation, inexplicably whetting one’s desire for conquest.

Yet all these attractions couldn’t compare to the two patches of snowy white revealed at her chest and the black silk—er, the legs composed of Eclipse Needles—flickering in and out of view beneath the waist-high slit of her skirt.

Hmm, it seems alright.

Ran Jiuyi said speechlessly, “Stop staring at those two spots. I know you like breasts and legs. And it’s not that I’m judging you, but your XP is really weird—you actually like looking at a mass of aggregated Eclipse Needles.”

Meng Shan looked away, somewhat embarrassed. “Sorry, sorry. You’re already beautiful enough normally, but I didn’t expect that after transforming, your beauty would be even a cut above. Plus, your legs now… they have a unique flavor.”

Those words were acceptable, but Ran Jiuyi didn’t buy into that talk. She asked point-blank, “It’s normal for men to be lecherous, so between the top and the bottom, which one do you like more?”

“Do I have to say it?”

“You have to.”

“Um… I like them both.”

Ran Jiuyi looked at Meng Shan with eyes full of contempt. “How greedy of you. You should really fix your weird XP.”

Suddenly, Ran Jiuyi laughed again. “But you told the truth, so I don’t hate it.”

“So I’ll tell you some truth as well. When I said I wouldn’t do similar things, I meant that linguistically, I won’t just say curse words anymore.”

“But in other aspects—for example, the way I treat enemies—I’m much more ruthless than I used to be. You’ll find out in a bit.”

Soon, a year passed. Under Suzuki Tetsuya’s meticulous guidance, Ran Jiuyi grew a lot as a magical girl, both in terms of strength and her ability to handle affairs.

For some simple tasks, Ran Jiuyi could already solve them independently.

The Nine-Tailed Fox Squad, under the careful management of Ran Jiuyi and Suzuki Tetsuya, gradually gained fame, attracting many transcendents who requested to join.

However, both Ran Jiuyi and Suzuki Tetsuya could tell that among these transcendents, most were there for Suzuki Tetsuya, while a small portion were there for Ran Jiuyi.

After filtering out those who clearly had ulterior motives, not many suitable candidates remained among the rest.

A year passed, and the original plan to expand the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad to seven people ultimately only reached five. The strength of the three new members was also mediocre; individually, they couldn’t beat Ran Jiuyi, and only by working together could they barely trade blows with Suzuki Tetsuya.

Still, for a transcendent squad that had only been established for a year, this was a very good start.

The only fly in the ointment was that after a year of Ran Jiuyi’s meticulous care, Suzuki Tetsuya had become even more of a cripple.

Now, let alone doing housework, she couldn’t even manage basic dressing or washing unless Ran Jiuyi did it all for her.

As the squad members increased, the duo’s field missions were shared by other members, and the time spent fighting illegal transcendents decreased. In its place came more image-endorsing collaborations with the government and commercial companies.

This part of the work should have been handled by Suzuki Tetsuya, whose appearance was more approachable, but she was lazy and a shut-in. The remaining members were all newcomers who couldn’t act as representatives, so most of these matters fell onto Ran Jiuyi’s head.

Driven by necessity, Ran Jiuyi was forced to learn how to dress herself up and gain basic literacy during this process.

After all, when negotiating commercial contracts, first, one had to dress appropriately so the other party could see your respect; second, one had to learn to understand the contract to prevent the other party from digging pitfalls in the fine print.

But what made Ran Jiuyi somewhat irritated was that she was already busy to this extent, yet Suzuki Tetsuya had completely checked out.

Except for having to go out and fight transcendents or certain large-scale commercial activities that were mandatory, Suzuki Tetsuya spent the vast majority of her time holed up at home.

Every day when Ran Jiuyi returned home, she would always see the image of Suzuki Tetsuya wearing nothing but underwear, playing video games.

And at such times, Ran Jiuyi, having finished a day’s work, still had to cook dinner and clean up.

It was fine for a month or two, but as time went on, Ran Jiuyi really couldn’t take it.

Finally, unable to endure any longer, Ran Jiuyi laid her cards on the table with Suzuki Tetsuya: “Enough is enough, Tetsuya. I can’t watch you degenerate like this anymore. Starting today, you have to start doing housework!”

Facing the aggressive Ran Jiuyi, Suzuki Tetsuya couldn’t help but shrink back. “But, this is how I was in my previous home.”

“That was before! Now you’ve already broken away from your family. I can’t take care of you for a lifetime, so you must learn to take care of yourself.”

Seeing that Ran Jiuyi was determined to make her do housework, Suzuki Tetsuya thought for a moment and finally came up with a “bright” idea.

“How about this? I’ll give you all my share of the money, and as compensation, you just take care of me. What’s that position called… I think it’s called Head Maid.”

Ran Jiuyi sighed helplessly. “No, that won’t do. You’ve misunderstood one thing. I’m not here to negotiate terms with you; I’m here to notify you. Since you’re unwilling to do housework, then I can only send you to school.”

“Ah, I don’t want to go to school. School is so tiring.”

“It’s precisely because you don’t want to that I’m going to do it. Starting next week, you’re going to school.”

And so, relying on money and some connections, Ran Jiuyi sent Suzuki Tetsuya to a prestigious high school.

Ran Jiuyi herself had never gone to school. Because she lacked knowledge and a degree, she had suffered untold hardships.

A year had passed, and she already regarded Suzuki Tetsuya as a blood sister; naturally, she was unwilling to let the other girl suffer the same bitterness she had.

So, she took all of Suzuki Tetsuya’s work upon herself, allowing her to relax and enjoy campus life.

Fortunately, Ran Jiuyi’s efforts were not in vain. After starting school, Suzuki Tetsuya made many friends and became much more extroverted.

She no longer stayed cooped up at home all day, instead spending a significant amount of free time playing and participating in various activities with her friends.

That was probably the happiest period of time Ran Jiuyi had experienced since she was born.

Meng Shan remarked, “I really couldn’t tell; you’re actually good material for a virtuous wife and mother. At such a young age, you’ve already got the vibe of being a mom.”

Ran Jiuyi shot back immediately, “I can’t compare to you. Not even thirty yet, and you’re already the ‘dear father’ of three underage girls.”

“No, I wasn’t mocking you. I just wanted to say that the man who marries you in the future will surely be very happy.”

“Ah, is that so? Sorry then.” Ran Jiuyi apologized quickly and said, “But with a personality like mine, not many people would be willing to marry me, right?”

“Not necessarily. Maybe there is one—right in front of you.”

“…You old geezer, get serious.”