Eriri led the group out of the gymnasium and back into the school building.
Soon after, they passed through a bustling corridor and arrived at the classroom door marked with the sign "Science Room."
Seeing this sign, Kyoko immediately understood why Eriri had come here.
As someone who had read the script, she naturally knew this was the place where the strongest Magiclad Girl, Chris, often stayed.
When Eriri glanced into the Science Room, sure enough, she saw a petite little loli sitting at a desk, sipping alcohol in small gulps.
On the desk sat an alcohol lamp with a wire mesh on top, grilling a piece of dried squid.
Beside the alcohol lamp was a phone, displaying a livestream.
However, since the girl's back was to the door, they couldn't see her face. All they could see was her long, pink, spiral-twisted hair and a white Gothic loli dress.
Without any hesitation, Eriri pushed open the Science Room door and swaggered in with the others.
Hearing the door open, the little loli let out a startled cry and quickly turned around, revealing a delicate face showing a hint of panic.
Her expression seemed slightly dazed from drinking, her cheeks flushed red.
When she saw Eu, she froze for a moment.
Although she was tipsy, that didn't mean she had lost her judgment. She instantly recognized Eu.
But she couldn't reveal her true identity so easily, so she pretended not to know them and mumbled in a dazed tone:
"Who are you? What are you doing here? Hoo-nyuu~"
As she spoke, a strange sound slipped from her mouth. Odd as it was, it sounded incredibly cute.
"Of course we came to find you—the strongest Magiclad Girl, Chris."
Eriri smiled at Chris, openly stating her purpose without pretending otherwise.
Hearing the words "Magiclad Girl," both Seraphim and Sarasvati froze for a moment.
This was the first Magiclad Girl they had seen aside from Kyoko. More importantly, they knew this strongest Magiclad Girl had once joined their vampire ninja leader in rebellion a hundred years ago.
Though curious about Chris, they said nothing for now.
When Eriri called her name, Chris was a little surprised but not overly shocked.
"You… what do you want from me?"
Chris stood up, clutching the large bottle of alcohol in front of her like a shield, tears glimmering in her pretty eyes as she put on a pitiful look.
"I won't waste words. Let me ask you directly: do you want to lift the curse on your body and completely rid yourself of that middle-aged uncle appearance?"
Eriri stepped closer, staring straight into Chris' eyes with a playful smile.
Chris felt uneasy under that smile, yet the temptation of breaking her curse was far too strong.
Without hesitation, she nodded.
"Of course I do! Can you help me break it? Hoo-nyuu~"
"Removing a curse like that is child's play for me. By the way, my name is Eriri. You must have heard of me from Nene, right?"
Hearing Eriri's words, Chris was so shocked her mouth fell open.
As an old drinking buddy of Naegleria, she had often heard about Eriri during their nights out together. In fact, she had heard it more than once.
But she had always dismissed it as drunken rambling and forgot about it after sobering up.
After all, Naegleria's descriptions of Eriri had been so exaggerated they were hard to believe.
Yet now she was seeing Eriri in person. How could she not be astonished?
If this girl truly was as Naegleria had described, then perhaps her curse could really be lifted.
Thinking of this, Chris grew excited and quickly stepped closer, nearly burying herself in Eriri's arms.
"Yes, yes, I've heard of you! Please, I beg you, help me break the curse!"
Chris clutched Eriri's clothes with her left hand, gazing up at her with a pleading expression on her delicate little face, so charming it was almost irresistible.
Even then, she couldn't bear to let go of the wine bottle in her right hand, hugging it tightly to her chest.
A girlish fragrance mixed with the smell of alcohol drifted into Eriri's nose, making her frown slightly.
To be honest, Eriri didn't like the smell of alcohol.
Of course, she wouldn't forbid the people around her from drinking, as long as they didn't show up in front of her completely drunk.
Compared to alcohol, what Eriri disliked even more was the smell of smoke.
She didn't care what strangers did, but she absolutely forbade smoking among the people close to her.
Because of this preference, even Shizuka Hiratsuka—who occasionally accompanied Haruno to the Saekano world—had gradually begun quitting smoking.
Lowering her head to look at Chris, Eriri recalled her plan, and the faint crease in her brows eased away.
"Helping you break the curse isn't impossible, but you'll have to agree to one condition."
"I agree!" Chris nodded immediately without hesitation.
"Oh? You agreed so quickly without even hearing what the condition is?"
"It doesn't matter. As long as I can break my curse, I'll accept any condition."
"Alright, you said it yourself."
With that, Eriri leaned forward and gently blew a breath across Chris' cheek.
In an instant, the pitifully weak curse inside her, along with all the alcohol she had just consumed, vanished completely.
The alcohol-stained loli once again became a fragrant, fresh little loli. Chris also sobered up from her tipsy state.
"All done—the curse in your body is gone."
Chris, who had been blushing from Eriri's sweet breath, snapped back to her senses at those words.
Immediately, she realized her current state.
Even if Eriri hadn't said so, she knew full well that the curse had been lifted. Otherwise, there was no way she could maintain this form while sober. At the same time, she felt powerful magic welling up inside her once again.
"It's really gone! Amazing!"
Overjoyed, Chris waved the bottle around in excitement, not caring about the stares from Eriri and the others.
In fact, to celebrate her newfound freedom, she lifted the wine bottle to her lips and gulped down a mouthful.
And in the very next second…
"Urgh…!"
Everything she drank came spewing back out.
"Ahhh!!! Water, I need water!"
The unbearable taste flooding her mouth left her no time to think. She frantically searched the Science Room for water to rinse her mouth.
But of course, there was none to be found.
Fortunately, Eriri had anticipated this and instantly conjured a bottle of mineral water, tossing it to the panicked Chris.
"Catch."
Seeing the bottle fly toward her, Chris beamed with joy and hurriedly caught it.
Without a word, she twisted the cap open and took a huge gulp.
But she didn't swallow. Instead, she rinsed her mouth and spat it out.
Then she drank again. Rinse, spit, repeat—several times in a row. Only when the awful taste had completely disappeared did she finally stop.
By then, the bottle of mineral water was nearly empty.
Chris let out a long sigh of relief.
At the same time, she realized how ridiculous her frantic behavior had looked just now. Feeling the gazes of everyone around her, she immediately grew flustered and shy.
"D-don't look at me!"
"It's fine. That performance was pretty entertaining."
Eriri chuckled, then reached out to still Chris' restless little head.
Because Eriri had prepared in advance, the wine and water Chris had spat out evaporated before they even touched the ground, leaving the Science Room spotless.
Hearing Eriri's words, Chris grew even more embarrassed. It took her a long while to calm down.
When she finally regained her senses, she realized the severity of the situation.
"Why did this happen? How could delicious wine suddenly taste so disgusting? Eriri, was this your doing?"
Chris looked pitifully at Eriri, hoping for an answer.
"That's right—it was me. From now on, your sense of taste has been permanently altered. No matter what kind of alcohol you drink, it will taste unbearably awful."
Eriri admitted without hesitation, while Chris' face turned pale with horror at her words.
"You… you're a devil, aren't you?!"
For a seasoned drunkard, being unable to drink was worse than death.
What made it worse was that her sense of smell hadn't changed—wine still smelled wonderful to her.
But she could only smell it, never taste it. That torment was even crueler, like another vicious curse laid upon her.
"Don't blame me. You were the one who said you'd accept any condition. My condition was that you quit drinking."
Eriri spread her hands, feigning innocence.
"If you wanted me to quit, you could've just told me! I would've done it! Why did you have to change my taste buds?"
"No need to make it complicated. I simply solved it all at once. Honestly, you should be thanking me—I saved you a lot of time."
Hearing this, Chris' little face darkened, and she trudged over to a corner, squatting down in silent despair.
Though her curse had been lifted, her joy was gone.
"Alright now, don't be so sad. So you can't drink anymore—big deal. Drinking isn't the only source of happiness. In fact, there's a kind of joy you've never experienced before that's far beyond anything alcohol can give you~"
Though Chris looked adorable curled up in the corner, Eriri had no intention of leaving her like that.
Chris slowly lifted her head at those words, her eyes dull and lifeless like stagnant water.
"What kind of joy?"
"No need to rush. You'll experience it for yourself in time. Right now, don't you have something more important to do?"
Hearing this, Chris' eyes lit up faintly.
"You're right. I can't waste time like this. Now that I've regained my strength, I have to deal with that treacherous disciple of mine."
At the thought, her once-lifeless eyes regained their glow, and she stood up again.
"Eriri, even though you've taken away my joy, I still thank you for lifting my curse. You're right—I have more important matters. If I survive and return, I'll make sure to repay you."
The last words came out with gritted teeth, her tone carrying suppressed resentment.
She was preparing to head to Villiers to exact revenge on her disciple, the one who had joined their rebellion yet somehow escaped the curse.
Though she had regained her power, she had no Magiclad Device to transform with. She would need to seize one in Villiers.
And if the Queen of Villiers, the one who had cursed her, discovered her return, she might never make it back to Earth.
Even with the title of strongest Magiclad Girl, Chris could not defeat the queen who possessed the strongest Magiclad Device.
Without another word, Chris activated her teleportation magic and vanished from the Science Room.
...
In Villiers, the magical world, there existed a magic academy called "Martlez," dedicated entirely to training Magiclad Girls.
Within that academy was a class named the "Premature Growth Program," containing billions of students.
The class's homeroom teacher was a silver-haired loli with twin tails and an extremely cute face.
But in this world where more than half the population were lolis, such a thing wasn't unusual.
What mattered was that this silver-haired loli had been one of the three leaders of the rebellion over a century ago. She was also the only Magiclad Girl in Villiers who possessed two Magiclad Devices.
She was the very person Chris sought revenge against—known to her students as "Great Teacher Ariel."
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