Chapter 4 A Man with Wounds and the Fairy Who Rips Them
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
I squeezed my body through the twisted iron bars, finally managing to crawl out into the open air.
It wasn’t exactly a moment to relax, though. Staring at the corpse of the Lion-Head Demon, I hesitantly threw a question toward Ami.
”Um… Ami-chan, what was that just now?”
Ami giggled, bright and mocking at the same time. “Fufufufufun… So? This, Shou, is the power you received through your contract with me!”
Well, I suppose that much was obvious. But what kind of power was it? I had no idea.
”Please, please explain it so I can actually understand it?” I begged.
”Of course! First off, by solidifying the contract with me, Shou officially became a Quester,” she declared proudly.
”A Quester… Oh, wait. That thing that flashed on the Magic Mirror for a second…” I muttered.
When those four normies had appeared in that mirror, they’d been labeled as “Hero.” But when I had appeared, the mirror had said “Quester.” It had even shown me a Skill, now that I thought about it.
”That’s right, that’s right. Back then, I was only marking you. You were still just a candidate for the contract, so only you could see it. But if you looked at that mirror now, I bet everyone would see their Class,” Ami said.
So that was why only I could see my Class earlier.
”When someone with the aptitude makes a contract with me, they gain the power of the Quester. A Quester can manifest Servants, like Maids, and also manage their own Dominion,” she continued.
”Servants? Like the one from a moment ago?” I asked.
”Exactly. Though I did expend quite a bit of our resources, so her maintenance cost was too high and she vanished right away. This isn’t your Dominion yet, after all,” Ami huffed.
Apparently, I had the power to generate Maid Servants. But manifesting them used up a “Maintenance Cost,” and when I couldn’t sustain it, they disappeared—just like the Maid earlier.
”Oh… right. You said something about granting Classes? I saw ‘Lancer’ pop up,” I said.
”A Quester can grant a Class to a manifested Servant, or to a Magic Girl with whom they have formed a bond,” Ami explained.
”Huh? I see, I see… Wait, what the heck is a Magic Girl!?” I blurted out.
Where the hell had that come from!? When did we start talking about Magic Girls!?
”Calm down, calm down. I’ll explain that too. First, Shou can manifest his Servants under certain conditions,” she said gently.
Manifesting a Servant like a Maid consumed the energy stored inside my soul. The Maid’s stats changed depending on how much energy I used. Granting a Class boosted her abilities. Summoning an extremely powerful Maid required enormous soul energy, but maintaining her would be harder.
”Another drawback of Servants is that they don’t grow. Their status values are fixed,” Ami added.
”I see…?” I muttered.
So I could summon, say, a Level 90 Maid immediately—but she would never get stronger.
”But Magic Girls are different! Even after you grant them a Class, their stats can grow. That means they have room to improve,” Ami said with a snap of her fingers.
In exchange, they started weaker than a Maid created with tons of energy. But once created, a Magic Girl required no maintenance cost. They just grew naturally.
”So… what exactly is a Magic Girl?” I tried again.
”A Magic Girl is a Magic Girl! They sparkle and transform,” Ami replied with perfect confidence.
”Ehhhhhh…” I groaned.
So she meant “mahou shoujo,” as in the magical girl. Like the anime kind. This made even less sense.
”Shou can give women the ability to transform into a Magic Girl,” Ami said.
”Wait, really?” I asked.
”Really, really! And with that said, here’s what I want from you. Simply put—I need you to create lots of Magic Girls and protect me from the people who are targeting me,” Ami declared.
Just like that. She intended to use me to amass an army of Magic Girls. But she had helped me. And, honestly, these powers—even if they were extremely chuunibyou—were kind of exciting. I figured I could cooperate.
”Alright, I get it. I want to try these powers out anyway,” I said.
”Really?! Yay! Then let’s make this spot the center of your Dominion! There’s no settlement nearby, so it’s perfect!” she chirped.
”……Huh?” I blinked.
Right—she’d mentioned “Dominion” earlier.
”What exactly is a Dominion?” I asked.
”It’s exactly what it sounds like! It’s the area a Quester dominates. A Quester’s power grows along with the expansion of their Dominion! You’ll learn better by doing, so let’s begin!” she said brightly.
Ami glanced around, then stopped at a particular spot.
”Now I’m going to install the core of the Dominion—the Great Phantasmal Soulstone—under this ground.”
She held her tiny hands forward. Out of nowhere, a giant crystal—about my height—materialized.
”Woah?! W-where did that come from!?” I yelped.
”It’s too soon to be surprised… watch this!” she cried.
The crystal spun horizontally and dropped. The moment it touched the ground, it was simply absorbed.
”Eh… Eh…!?” I stammered.
Five seconds later, the earth rumbled violently. A geyser of dirt shot into the sky beside us, showering me in soil.
”Whoa, whoa, whoa…” I yelped, shielding myself.
”Alright! It’s done! Come on, Shou, over here!” Ami beckoned.
I came closer—and saw a staircase leading underground.
”A staircase…? When did that…?” I muttered.
”Hurry up, hurry up!” she pressed.
Ugh… I’d better get used to this. This was another world, and Ami wasn’t even from this world. Applying my own common sense would just break my brain.
I followed Ami down the stairs. A glowing orb floated beside her, illuminating the way.
”This is…” I whispered.
We were about two floors down. A small chamber opened before us. At its center, the massive crystal glowed brightly.
”That is the core of the Quester’s Dominion! The Great Phantasmal Soulstone! Shou, put your hand over it,” Ami instructed.
”A-alright…” I said nervously.
I placed my hand over the glowing crystal. Immediately, a translucent window appeared before me.
”What is this…?” I asked.
”A Quester can freely customize their Dominion using the Great Phantasmal Soulstone,” she said.
The monitor clearly displayed the surrounding area. Somehow—probably due to the contract—I instinctively understood how to operate it.
”I see… So, I can manifest Servants here. And unlike before, maintaining them here doesn’t cost anything…” I said.
”Exactly. You can also manifest Servants near me. But as for the details of customizing…” Ami trailed off.
I learned I could dedicate gathered items—wood, fish, ore, monsters, gold—to the Soulstone. These became Resource Points, used to alter the Dominion.
I could clear land. Lay roads. Build houses. All through the interface.
”Let’s try it! First—use that demon monster from earlier!” Ami suggested.
We returned to the Lion-Head Demon’s corpse. There were two ways to dedicate resources: bring them physically to the Soulstone, or have Ami do it.
The giant demon corpse definitely wasn’t fitting down that narrow staircase, so I let Ami handle it.
She touched the corpse—and it vanished instantly.
Back in the Soulstone Chamber, the monitor now showed a large increase in Resource Points.
”The amount increased a lot…” I noted.
”That’s how it works! And the more types of things you offer, the more kinds of structures and tools you can create,” Ami explained.
Offer wood → build wooden houses.
Offer stone → build stone structures.
Offer monster parts → create specialized items, like fur clothing.
”There are two main uses for Resource Points,” Ami said. “First, Dominion customization. Second, Dominion expansion.”
By consuming Resource Points, I could expand my Dominion, increasing the area I could customize. I could also cultivate fields and use crops as resources, making the Dominion grow more quickly.
”I see… and crops themselves can be used as resources… Wait. Did manifesting that Maid earlier not consume Resource Points?” I realized.
I checked the monitor. Maid Servants didn’t appear in the crafting list.
Ami smirked.
”Shou, great observation! That’s a separate power—specifically, the power stored in your soul,” she purred.
”The power stored in my soul…!?” I exclaimed.
Ooooh! That sounded incredibly cool. So that must’ve been why Ami chose me. Despite being plain, maybe I had some incredible hidden potential. A burning spirit hidden deep within my soul. Yes. I must be a chosen one…
”Exactly! The impulse of your soul—the strong self-love, the ugly desire to resent the world and other people, and to absolutely ruin women! It’s the power of your filthy impulse!” Ami announced proudly.
”………Ehhhhhhhh,” I croaked, my jaw going slack.
That… was not what I’d imagined. At all.
”No, no, Ami-chan—that’s a bit… I’m not such a terrible man,” I protested.
”Aren’t you? You hate people who earn more than you. You’re jealous of your classmates with happy families. You think, ‘Why am I struggling in a part-time job while that guy who did worse than me in school has a blessed life?’ right?” Ami said, each word a knife.
”Guh-haaaahhh!” I clutched my chest. Critical hit.
And she wasn’t wrong—every awful thing she said echoed in my memory.
”Your manager at your part-time job even sleeps with high school girls, right? It frustrates you that he’s just a high school grad like you, doesn’t it? Especially since you were finally getting close to that girl, only for him to steal her.”
”Ughhh!” I cried.
”And your childhood friend, Miyako-chan, married your younger brother, didn’t she? They even had a baby recently.”
”Ogooh!” I gasped.
”Your little brother got into a good university and now works for an international pharmaceutical company. You used to protect him from bullies, but now he’s surpassed you completely, right? You haven’t attended a family gathering in years because you’re tired of being compared, aren’t you?”
”Ga… gah-haaa!” I wheezed, collapsing.
The critical hits kept coming. A flawless combo attack. Cold sweat drenched me as I crumpled to the floor.
”P-please… stop…” I begged weakly.
”Ahahaha! My bad, my bad!” Ami laughed—not sorry at all.
Damn it…! Everything she said was true. All of it. And all that resentment had festered inside me for years.
”According to my estimation, Shou, you were about six months away from committing a serious crime that would’ve made the news,” Ami said cheerfully.
”What!?”
”But my power has a very high affinity for negative ego energy. There are two conditions for becoming my Contractor. First, you must be a man burdened with filthy, highly viscous desires. And second… you must have a big p**is!” she declared.
”………Come again?” I blinked.
”I said, you have a big p**is! And now—let’s get to the main topic,” Ami continued.
…Wait, everything before this wasn’t the main topic!?
I thought it was the Dominion, the powers, the Magic Girls—everything.
”Everything so far was just the basic Quaesitor stuff. What I really need you to do, Shou, is use the Skill I gave you to mass-produce lots of Magic Girls… and then undo my seal,” Ami said.
”Undo… your seal?” I repeated, stunned.
So that was her true objective.
—
Summary:
Shou, fresh out of a terrifying encounter, is confronted by Ami, who reveals his new status as a Quester—a dark lord with the power to manage a Dominion and summon Servants. The power comes with a price: a bizarre, resource-hungry system that can be customized with a Great Phantasmal Soulstone. However, the scene quickly turns into a chilling psychological exposé as Ami reveals the true source of Shou’s power: the ugly, deep-seated resentment, envy, and misogynistic impulses of his soul. This dark power is the key to her plan: to have him create an army of Magic Girls to break her mysterious seal.
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Character Insight:
Shou’s character is brutally dissected and exposed as a deeply flawed protagonist, driven not by heroic ideals but by bitter resentment and self-pity. His Quester status is a direct reflection of his suppressed ugly desires, highlighting a dark fantasy theme where personal flaws become supernatural strengths. His initial denial and subsequent breakdown show the immense psychological damage he carries, which Ami, the manipulative Fairy, weaponizes as a source of power and control. He is a truly cynical Isekai hero whose journey is founded on self-loathing.
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Behind the Scene:
The Lion-Head Demon’s corpse was the first resource input, converting a direct threat into the first tangible Resource Points for the Dominion. Ami’s immediate psychological dismantling of Shou was a deliberate act to confirm and anchor his ‘filthy’ energy, which is essential for the Magic Girl creation power—a system distinct from the Dominion’s resource-based Servant summoning. The final reveal is that the Quester system is just a means to an end for Ami’s ultimate goal: releasing her seal.
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T/L:
1 [Chuunibyou is a colloquial Japanese term for a middle schooler (or someone who acts like one) suffering from delusions of grandeur, believing they have hidden powers or knowledge. Here, it refers to the fantastical, power-granting elements of the Quester/Magic Girl system.] ↩
Notes:
• Ami – A palm-sized fairy-like being from a world separate from both Earth and the isekai realm. She has light blue hair tied in a ponytail, mischievous blue eyes, and tiny wings that flutter behind her. Her outfit consists of a provocative high-cut leotard and a short jacket that looks like a miniskirt from the back, leaving her legs bare. Despite her playful appearance, she is actively searching for a contractor who can protect her from dangerous pursuers in exchange for the powers she offers.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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