Off Work, Then I Become a Magical Girl
Book 2: Chapter 114: Face to Face

Vol 2 Chapter 114 – Face to Face

When Veronica had just picked out two outfits at the shopping street and was leaning against the counter waiting to check out, the vibration from the phone in her crossbody bag caught her attention.

She opened the bag to take a look and realized it was Lin Yun’s phone that had received a message. But since there was no one else nearby who knew her, and no risk of revealing her identity, Veronica didn’t hesitate and took the phone out.

When she opened the messages, the first one she saw at the top was from Lin Xiaolu:

[Lin Xiaolu: (Image) Today’s plan: Since I heard today is Valentine’s Day, you can give chocolates to someone you like, so I thought I’d give it a try and make some.

Veronica’s hand holding the phone paused, her gaze sharpening as she quickly typed out, “Planning to give it to who?” But after that, she lingered over the emoji selection screen for a while before finally making a decision:

[Planning to give it to who? 😁]

To make sure her question didn’t sound like an interrogation, she decided to add a smiley. But the 🙂 emoji felt a bit forced, like a fake smile, so she went with the big grin emoji instead.

It wasn’t that she doubted her daughter—after half a year of living under this undercover identity, she was sure Lin Xiaolu wasn’t the type to get into early relationships. It’s just, they were in the magical kingdom now, and in this society where everything revolved around magical power, the status of a magical girl was even more attractive than material wealth. There was no guarantee some guys wouldn’t try to strike up a conversation with the younger girls.

All three of the girls, especially Lin Xiaolu, were still just kids. While it was definitely too early for them to be dating, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t get tricked by some smooth-talking guys. So Veronica wasn’t exactly overprotective, but she was definitely cautious.

[For you, Veronica!]

Luckily, Lin Xiaolu’s reply was straightforward, instantly sweeping away Veronica’s unnecessary worries.

Oh, then it’s fine.

With a sigh of relief, Veronica also let go of her tense attitude.

She deleted the extra “advice” she had typed in the input box, then casually chatted with Lin Xiaolu for a bit, using Lin Yun’s identity to encourage her. Their conversation was eventually interrupted by the shop assistant because her payment was finally ready.

“Miss, your order is ready!”

The shop assistant handed her a shopping bag containing the small-sized casual outfit Veronica had picked out earlier.

Thanks to the higher ratio of magical girls in the magical kingdom, clothing stores here generally stocked smaller sizes than in the material world. So Veronica could finally buy some proper clothes instead of having to shop in the kids’ section.

She said two outfits because one was already on her: a beige double-breasted coat with an open front, hemline reaching mid-thigh, and a pair of slim-fit white straight-leg pants, paired with brown chunky-heeled loafers.

Plus, her hairstyle wasn’t long hair either—it was styled like “Gentian,” with a bun tied at the back. With this combination, she finally had a bit of that sharp, professional vibe, so she wouldn’t constantly get mistaken for a kid.

After sorting herself out with a proper outfit, her next stop was, naturally, heading to meet Mo He. But when she booked a fairy carriage online and arrived at the meeting spot a whole hour early, she found Mo He already waiting there.

Surprisingly, though, Mo He was surrounded by a few security officers.

“Sorry, this is a routine security check. Here’s my ID. Can I ask you to take out all your belongings? I promise this won’t take too much of your time,” the lead security officer said.

“Huh? Why? Can we skip this?”

Mo He looked visibly confused and reluctant.

From her perspective, she hadn’t done anything wrong. She was just standing in place waiting for someone. She had come early to the street corner for the meetup, even stepping into a side alley to avoid blocking the path for pedestrians—just sticking her head out to check if her “Captain” had arrived. But for some reason, someone had brought the officers over and pointed at her, saying “It’s her,” and now here they were.

“Sorry, a local resident reported you for suspicious behavior, making people uneasy.”

The security officer, expressionless, refused Mo He’s protest, standing firm in front of his two tense teammates: “We don’t want to escalate things either, so please cooperate.”

“Suspicious?”

Mo He pointed to herself, tilting her head, and the ribbon at the back of her head twitched along with the motion. Unfortunately, this only made the security officers even more alert, with one of them already reaching behind for their baton.

“Please stay still, cooperate with the check, and don’t make any sudden moves!” The lead officer’s voice grew louder, giving a stern warning.

“...I haven’t done anything.” Mo He had no choice but to raise her hands.

Just as the situation was about to spiral into conflict, Veronica finally arrived. She stood at a distance she considered safe and spoke clearly to the officers: “Excuse me, can I interrupt for a second? I know this person.”

Her voice immediately caught the attention of the officers, and one of them turned to her: “What?”

“I’m saying, this is my friend. We agreed to meet here for shopping, so she’s been waiting for me.”

Veronica stood her ground, staying perfectly still: “It’s just that she’s a bit shy. When there are too many people, she gets nervous, so her behavior might seem a little off.”

“...Are you sure?”

Her testimony, coupled with her neat and professional appearance, made the officers exchange looks and relax slightly: “Miss, we’ll need to verify your statement.”

“I can show you my ID.”

Veronica stayed calm: “And if you allow me to approach, I can explain a bit more—just because I’d rather not have too many people hear what I’m about to say.”

“Alright.” The lead officer granted her request.

Veronica stepped forward, showed her credentials, then leaned in and quietly said something to the officers that no bystanders could hear. Whatever she said seemed to have a magical effect—visibly calming the officers.

Not only that, their gaze toward Mo He shifted from wary to a mix of respect and a touch of sympathy. The lead officer even went back to Mo He, bowed slightly, and said, “Sorry.”

And then, the officers left.

“Captain, you’re amazing.”

As soon as they walked away, Mo He let out a sigh of admiration: “No matter what happens, you can always save me.”

“That’s because if you’d just act normal, these ‘crises’ wouldn’t happen in the first place...”

Veronica sighed, a bit helpless: “I thought what happened yesterday was a one-time thing. How come you run into this stuff every day?”

“I don’t know either.”

Mo He tilted her head, looking equally puzzled: “But, Captain, what did you tell them just now? Why did they even apologize to me?”

“You really want to know?”

“Yeah, I’m curious.” Mo He nodded.

“To get you out of trouble quickly, I told them you’re a magical girl—also a retired veteran from the interdimensional war—so your personality’s a bit affected by the battlefield.”

Veronica glanced at her: “Of course, I made that up to de-escalate the situation. There’s some truth to it, but it doesn’t exactly match your circumstances. Sorry about that.”

She felt it wasn’t right to fabricate stories about someone else in front of them, so even though it helped solve the problem, it was still worth apologizing afterward.

“Oh, I see. As expected of Captain.”

But Mo He didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. In fact, her usually expressionless face even showed a hint of subtle excitement, as if her mood had lifted a bit.

“Even now, you can still see right through me so easily.”