“What sort of Stabilization Squad?” Luo You asked.
“Haven’t you read the document? Hold on a moment.”
Mu Shui brought over a document issued by the branch. Luo You glanced at it and finally understood what this Stabilization Squad was about.
Since the Border Sea Pass in the Jiuyin Sea direction had basically fallen, to prevent Dimensional Beasts from sneaking in without any magical girls nearby to clear them in time, causing serious damage, the Magical Alliance had gathered magical girls from other regions and formed a team of experienced magical girls to conduct mobile patrols in the southern region.
After all, not every prefecture-level city had a Magical Alliance branch. If Dimensional Beasts weren’t defeated in time, it would be the magical girls’ responsibility.
Luo You tossed the document aside as if disgusted by used tissue. “So basically, there’s no rest time now? And we have to go out of town a lot?”
“What’s the big deal? They say it’s patrol, but it’s basically a business trip vacation.”
Magical girls weren’t fighting Dimensional Beasts every moment of every day. Even though they called it patrol, most of the time was spent having fun, experiencing local specialties, and doing whatever they liked.
But “business trip vacation” was pure fantasy; at best, they’d reimburse travel expenses. Anything for shopping or tourism had to come out of their own pocket.
“Alright then.”
After all, Luo You was bored in Huahai City every day… not exactly bored, but it was rather monotonous, so a bit of change would be nice.
The only thing she worried about was what excuse she’d use if that rebellious daughter at home suddenly showed up.
“Yay! It’s decided!” Mu Shui cheered, bouncing up and down.
Actually, there were only a few combat magical girls in the Huahai City branch. In principle, everyone was supposed to go; they were just here to get Jin Lin’s opinion.
Now, hehe, she could spend time with Lord Jin Lin—
“Can I join as well?”
“Oh, join if you want, it’s free and easy…”
While they were speaking, Mu Shui next to them opened her mouth wide and her eyes went round.
“L-Lord Xing Yue?!”
“Huh?”
Luo You let out a strange sound.
“Is it inconvenient?” Xing Yue approached with her hands behind her back, smiling sweetly, her attitude making it clear she knew they wouldn’t refuse.
“N-no! It’s our honor to have you, Lord Xing Yue!”
“And you?”
Xing Yue looked at Luo You, who simply shrugged.
“I don’t mind.”
“Then it’s settled. Let’s depart today.” And thus, the team was formed.
Counting Luo You, Xing Yue, Qiu Yu, and Mu Shui, there were four of them in total.
Although in principle everyone should participate, most second- and third-string magical girls had school or regular jobs and couldn’t just take sudden leave. Even if the company or school allowed it, asking for leave at such a time would only increase the risk of exposing themselves as magical girls.
So those with steady private lives weren’t forced to join.
Qiu Yu was from a wealthy family and had no worries; Mu Shui was a high school dropout and a freelancer, so both had time to participate.
As for Luo You, she was unemployed and joined for impure reasons.
So did Xing Yue.
When Mu Shui happily ran off to pack, Luo You asked, “Lord Xing Yue, who ought to be active in the most critical places, why come to a mere Stabilization Squad for such a trivial job?”
“Because I want to confirm a few things.”
“If it’s because the Gluttonous Giant attacked me before, and you’re hoping to catch it by waiting around me, I don’t think the odds are high.”
“Still, the odds aren’t zero, right?”
Touching her index finger to her lips, Xing Yue whispered, “And that’s just a small part of my reason.”
Hmph… Whatever, Luo You was too lazy to dig deeper.
Anyway, the accompanying magical girls were either newbies or total bricks. Luo You had been wanting a proper big sister—Xing Yue offering herself up was a great deal.
It was a pity at best she could sneak a few feels; stripping Xing Yue and taking her to bed was a job for Aurora Witch, not for magical girl Jin Lin.
Before long, Mu Shui and Qiu Yu came running over with backpacks.
“Lord Xing Yue! It’s an honor to go on a mission with you!” Qiu Yu said nervously in a clear voice.
“No need to be so formal; it’s not our first time meeting.” Xing Yue quickly blended in with Mu Shui and Qiu Yu.
The harmonious atmosphere could have fooled anyone into thinking they were sisters.
But this squad wasn’t just Luo You’s group of four. The Stabilization Squad wasn’t formed according to each branch, but rather, with top-tier magical girls brought in from other places, making an eight-person team.
Which meant there were four others.
“Why does this itinerary have to be packed with magical girls? And why are there so many random activities?” Luo You grumbled, looking at the schedule.
Hot spring pilgrimage, mountain climbing, karaoke, hotel stays, basketball experience… It was basically a vacation.
But they had to pay for all of this themselves!
And it was even mandatory to participate in all group activities—those words were marked in red.
“Why is it like this?” Luo You, puzzled, handed the schedule to Xing Yue.
“To avoid problems when acting alone, maybe?” Mu Shui replied, not really understanding.
“Lord Xing Yue, do you know how it was arranged?”
“No idea. This was arranged by Zhizhi. I don’t know what her criteria were either.”
Ugh—!
Compared to the other two’s surprise, Luo You was simply speechless.
You again! Zhizhi!
Next—could it be Zhizhi was joining the team too? Did she go to all this trouble just for a date with me?… Just a thought.
She knew Zhizhi wouldn’t do such things at a time like this.
Looking carefully at the schedule filled with travel-like activities and the “mandatory group activities” rule, Luo You almost figured it out.
The answer was—to strengthen the fighting power of magical girls.
Question: How does traveling and playing increase combat ability?
Naturally, it’s through the feelings magical girls develop while having fun together, forging bonds!
[Don’t underestimate the power of Concept Gods, you bastards!] Luo You cursed inwardly.
It’s known that a magical girl’s fighting strength is made up of three elements—personality, magical power, talent, and the most crucial but mysterious one:
Friendship!
Bonds!
The boost that friendship and bonds brought to magical girls’ power was mostly temporary, but it had helped many magical girls break through their limits, and helped countless more escape desperate situations and survive.
Friendship and bonds were the key to turning the impossible into the possible.
Even Luo You had to take this power seriously. During the Royal Duel 2.0, though she had won, she still had to leave that bastard Xing Yue a pair of her worn stockings, all because of this friendship and bond business.
Now that she herself was a magical girl, Luo You really wanted to see just what this damn friendship and bond stuff was all about.
[I don’t believe it. Are those two really that amazing? Can they really make magical girls so much stronger? I don’t buy it! I’m going to try it myself!]
While Luo You was pondering these things, she didn’t notice Xing Yue beside her glancing over from time to time with a very particular gaze.