Ludwig left the matter regarding Aria behind to focus on Mending Rosemary.
She was the first magical girl he encountered besides himself and his sister, and he doubted that he would see another soon.
He had previously asked Hades about the rarity of magical girls. The god explained that they weren't common for 2 primary reasons.
The first reason involves the power within the soul itself. Girls born with a unique power inside their souls are extremely rare, though Hades didn't explain why Ludwig himself had one. The magical girl contract was merely a catalyst to bring out that unique power within the girl herself, and a contractor god has no effect on the power that she awakens.
The second reason comes down to the limited amount of slots and the preferences of the gods. The gods were required to sacrifice a portion of their power called "slots" to sustain the existence of a magical girl. Most gods would choose unique powers whose names are close to their own domain of power. They had no desire for meaningless slaughter either, so they didn't bother to make a contract with a girl whose power sounds like pure support.
'It seemed like this girl came from a gamble of a god,' Ludwig speculated. 'Based on the carnage outside, her contractor god had made the right choice.'
"I'm a magical girl too!" Liara said, kicking Ludwig out of his train of thoughts. The light of transformation enveloped her figure, and she now wore her signature yellow-white Lolita dress decorated with flowers carrying the same name as her magical girl name.
"Eh?"
He turned around to look and saw that his sister had transformed into her magical girl form in front of the girl.
While he was busy thinking, the two had made friends with each other, and Liara decided to reveal her secret.
"I'm Lustrous Gossypium. Nice to meet you, Mending Rosemary."
"Whoa, you're so pretty! Can I call you Big Sis Gossy?"
"Sure, can I call you Rose?"
"Yes."
"Don't just reveal your identity that easily, Liara."
"It's fine, big bro. She's a magical girl too. What's there to hide?"
"I guess."
Ludwig couldn't refute his sister's words. Magical girls were rare, and he doubted this girl was malicious considering how she still tried to save people from magic beasts.
"Wait, he knows you're a magical girl?" Mending Rosemary asked.
"Our situation was a bit special. I accepted the contract to protect him when we were being chased by those monsters."
"Ooh."
Looking at the exchanges, Luwig was conflicted. It was good that they were getting along, but his sister was revealing a bit too much information.
Still, he could not deny that having another magical girl as an ally would give him a bit of relief.
His sister needed someone to watch over her on that side, and there couldn't be a better candidate than this girl. Of course, he himself as Equinox Spider Lily would support his sister as much as he possibly could. The promise he had made with his parents before their demise was the only thing that kept him going.
He wanted this girl to join them in eradicating the magic beasts from this city, but he still needed her opinion about the matter.
"Rosemary, do you have anything left to do here?"
"Yes," the girl answered with a solemn look. "I want to see Mommy one last time."
Ludwig and Lustrous Gossypium went silent. They understood what she meant. Her mother was a casualty of the slaughter.
The siblings silently watched as the girl made her way to the corpse.
Ludwig soon realized who it was by the time Mending Rosemary stopped walking.
The body the magical girl stood in front of was Aria's mother.
'So, Aria must've been this magical girl's sister.' He didn't feel anything wrong with this conclusion that he came to. He also noticed something strange.
'She didn't turn back even in this situation?' He didn't know why the girl didn't turn back to grieve properly.
From what he knew, one of the functions of the magical girl form was to dampen negative emotions to a certain extent, allowing them to fight in these life-and-death situations.
However, that was just a stopgap measure to keep them fighting. When they turned back, they would feel all the emotions that had been repressed.
After a long while, Mending Rosemary returned to meet the siblings.
"So, what are you planning to do in the future, Rose?" Lustrous Gossypium asked the girl.
Mending Rosemary did not answer the question immediately. The memories of the previous night resurfaced in her mind.
The dying wail of people being slaughtered, the laughter of those monsters. She felt the guilt that came from being helpless to save her mother and those who were already gone.
Surprisingly, she also recalled the thrill of the battle she tasted in her frenzied state. She had enjoyed the feeling of killing those monsters as she destroyed herself for the sake of others.
"I will get rid of these monsters, all of them," Mending Rosemary said. "I want to make sure no one else has to be like me. I do not want anyone else to lose their family to these monsters ever again."
Lustrous Gossypium felt inspired by the girl's resolve and used that inspiration to harden her own. She was not much different from this girl since she had also lost her parents in this apocalypse.
"We have the same goal then. Let's do this together!"
An alliance was formed between these two magical girls, but there was something they had not considered. The building that housed the camp was slowly breaking down.
"We should leave this place soon," Ludwig said.
He pointed toward the exit while holding the bags of supplies that he had gathered.
"I doubt the building could hold out for much longer."
With his warning, Mending Rosemary quickly went through the tent she had shared with her mother to grab some personal belongings. She came out running with the siblings as the structure groaned around them.