“It’s rare to see you make such a big move, Xingyue.”
“Of course. If I don’t make a clear statement, the Magic Alliance will head somewhere beyond my control.”
Sidheheim, Ten-Seat Council Chamber.
Xingyue sat gracefully in the main seat.
At her side, Manjusaka served her tea like a maid.
“Here.”
“Thank you.”
Xingyue took a small sip. It wasn’t honeyed citrus, but the flavor was familiar and intoxicating, like tasting something nostalgic.
Then she said, “I didn’t expect Shenyuan to come back. Is this what He wanted you to do?”
“No.”
“I see. Then you should prepare yourself; the next meeting will be crucial to the future of the Magic Alliance.”
“What countermeasures have you taken?”
Manjusaka opened her eyes slightly.
Xingyue said nothing, only smiled faintly as she sipped her tea.
Countermeasures?
Not exactly.
After returning from the Boundary Sea and hearing rumors of the current situation, she had already taken one step—she notified the gym to fire a certain someone.
Once a trend becomes fixed, it’s very difficult to change, which is not good.
Therefore, a third-party force must be brought in to stir up this nearly fixed flow.
A certain troublemaker was, of course, the first choice.
Now that Erelle’s daughter was not around and without a job, she would certainly be bored and start causing chaos.
Xingyue hoped she could break the dark cloud hanging over the entire world.
The atmosphere suddenly fell silent.
Neither side had anything more to say, quietly waiting.
Even though Xingyue and Manjusaka had received early contact from other Ten-Seat members midway, they had ignored it as if they hadn’t heard—everything was to be clarified in the upcoming meeting.
Ten seconds before the meeting began, Xingyue suddenly asked, “Was it really necessary to go this far?”
Manjusaka looked up in confusion.
“If you’re saying I’m being extreme because of comrades who died in the Black Candle Giant Spirit battle, then I would answer: no.”
“I’m not asking why you did this… never mind.”
Xingyue faced forward as a magical light screen unfolded horizontally, revealing over a hundred magical girls.
The remote meeting began.
On the screen, veteran Ten-Seat members like Broken-Wing Butterfly, Xingyu, Liyun, and Jin Wang maintained fairly calm expressions.
Zhizhi slouched lazily in her seat.
Mockingbird, Fiyu, and Little Red Riding Hood looked somewhat serious.
In contrast, the representatives called from various branches all sat stiffly like wooden dolls, some nervous, some agitated, some uneasy—no one dared to speak first.
Everyone knew that Xingyue’s attitude today would decide the future direction of the Magic Alliance.
Would she carry out Manjusaka’s philosophy and unify the will of the magical girls into one force?
Or would she voice opposition, triggering an unprecedented ideological crisis within the Magic Alliance?
“Everyone… I’ll skip the usual opening remarks since your time is tight. Let’s keep this brief and decisive,” Xingyue’s unhurried rhythm guided the meeting’s pace.
“Today, we’ll have a simple discussion on the current predicament of the Magic Alliance. Recently, changes in the Magic Alliance’s action policies have caused unease across society and within the alliance itself. Therefore, I need to gather opinions from the other magical girls. Please, each of you, in numerical order, state whether you agree or disagree, and feel free to offer suggestions.”
There are 137 branches of the Magic Alliance worldwide. Excluding the Ten-Seat, 137 magical girls participated in the meeting.
Although she said “brief and decisive,” it was obviously going to be difficult to finish quickly.
Yet at this moment, the magical girls found themselves at a loss.
- Hey, we don’t even know Lady Xingyue’s opinion yet.
- Should we speak up now?
- What if after sharing, we find Lady Xingyue thinks completely differently?
Such thoughts flowed through their minds.
But time waits for no one.
At Xingyue’s signal, starting from number 137, the magical girls began to express their opinions one by one.
Speeches.
Since the Ten-Seat members’ speeches would heavily influence the others, they were scheduled to speak last.
“Heh~~”
Luo You yawned uncontrollably.
Wearing a temporary mask, no one recognized her.
This was going to be a long one.
Her turn was mid-way, number 30.
Ugh.
She hadn’t wanted to come in the first place.
After all, each branch was supposed to select their top three representatives, and there were two others.
Who would’ve thought the other two were the bottom of the bottom—middle schoolers still in class! Luo You was dumbfounded and had no choice but to be pushed up.
As for why she was suddenly among the top three of Huahai City upon just becoming a magical girl…
“Zhizhi, is she really that careless with her work?”
Luo You cursed Zhizhi silently.
It seemed Zhizhi had directly put her into this position when applying for her magical girl permission, and as number one at that.
When Luo You called to question her, Zhizhi casually replied:
“As my subordinate, if you can’t even make number one of a branch far in the rear, wouldn’t that make Zhizhi’s face look bad?”
By now, Luo You had mentally scolded Zhizhi down ten streets and with especially filthy words!
【Let me see… Oh, that traitor girl is here too, and Auntie’s here as well… When it’s my turn, I’ll just half-heartedly say something.】
Though being recognized by acquaintances was no big deal—after all, it wasn’t exposing Erelle’s identity—Luo You decided to keep it secret so that traitor girl wouldn’t pester her all day.
“I don’t have much to say about the current situation of the Magic Alliance. I support punishing those who communicate with the Boundary Sea using thunderous methods.”
The last speaker was number 55, captain of Boundary Sea Checkpoint One’s battle zone and a Ten-Seat candidate-level magical girl.
More than forty minutes passed, and over half the speakers had spoken.
In fact, the meeting process wasn’t as long as Luo You imagined.
After the first twenty magical girls presented their views, they had essentially covered what others wanted to say.
The rest just expressed their stances briefly.
So far, most magical girls supported Manjusaka’s approach.
However, by “weight,” the opposition was stronger.
Most of those opposing were veteran magical girls whose words carried far more influence than the newcomers.
【Well, that’s about it.】
Luo You thought.
Expecting the magical girls to seriously propose constructive suggestions was difficult—after all, they were just a bunch of teenagers in their prime, and it was already good they could express opinions.
The ones who would truly make a difference in the meeting were the Ten-Seat members closing it out.
The meeting continued.
Every ten minutes, a clock near Xingyue would chime, snapping some absent-minded magical girls back to attention.
Luo You had almost dozed off several times, only to be awakened by the bell, making her want to reach through the screen and smash Xingyue into that clock.
After number 37 spoke, it was Auntie’s turn—Ji Yue.
Since Ji Yue had entered the Ten-Seat but hadn’t yet been officially announced, she was still publicly captain of the Jiuming Sea branch, as was Luo Zining.
This time, as a special exception, they were both allowed to attend the remote meeting, subtly signaling the outside world.
Luo You had hoped Auntie would say something substantial, but she only stated her stance briefly before the next speaker went on.
One after another, it was soon Luo You’s turn.
Mockingbird, who was playing the host, instinctively said, “Next, number 30’s… uh? A magical girl I haven’t seen before, the name is…”
The sudden announcement drew the attention of other magical girls.
Clip the engine!
Luo You straightened up and immediately spoke with a lisp, “Ah, private Masse… Wadashi… ah, uh—sorry! I just became a magical girl… uh, Jinlin! Yes, Jinlin!”
“Pfft~”
A small snicker came from Zhizhi.
She couldn’t hold it in.
【What’s Youyou stumbling over? Pfft pfft pfft~~ pretending to be so innocent! So weird, never seen the stumbling Youyou before~】
“Zhizhi?”
Manjusaka asked in puzzlement.
“Cough cough, nothing, just thinking of something funny.”
Zhizhi composed herself and teasingly said to Luo You, “Jinlin-chan~ please continue~~!”
Beneath Luo You’s mask, her face twisted.
I’m going to smack your butt when this is over!
“Th-that…”
Luo You again spoke in a natural but still characteristic lisp, “I think it’s not so bad to just keep things as they are?”
Then she flusteredly sat down.
Everyone took her as an extremely shy magical girl.
Mockingbird was about to announce the next speaker.
“Then please… eh?”
Mockingbird was about to speak but saw Xingyue on the screen make a “wait” gesture.
Whispers…
Whispers…
After listening quietly for so long, Xingyue finally made a move.
“Jinlin, since you just became a magical girl not long ago, I want to hear your opinion carefully.”
Xingyue’s magnetic voice cleared the dull atmosphere and refocused attention on Luo You.
What?!
Luo You nervously parted her cherry lips.
Before she could think of how to dodge, Xingyue continued: “You probably became a magical girl only a few days ago, and you haven’t formed a clear stance. Your opinion is very valuable, so I hope you won’t just go with the flow but bravely speak your true thoughts.”
Reasonable words; the other surprised magical girls all nodded.
【Brave my foot! You already experienced how brave I am in bed!】
Luo You cursed silently. She shouldn’t have said that extra sentence.
But she could only stick to her role and speak even more lispingly.
“Uh, ummm… well, I just joined and don’t know the situation well, so it’s not good to speak casually, right?”
Xingyue smiled gently, “That’s fine.”
Fearing she’d be questioned relentlessly if she expressed an opinion, Luo You decided to use the ultimate dodge tactic—throwing the blame.
She passed the responsibility to Zhizhi.
“I… was brought in by senior Zhizhi, so my opinion is the same as hers… whatever senior Zhizhi says is what I think…”
“That’s not good.”
Xingyue smiled but didn’t sound harsh.
“I said, I want to hear your own thoughts.”
I’ll banana you, you big uncle!
At this point, Luo You was about to burst.
Just then she saw Zhizhi clutching her stomach, laughing secretly, which only fueled the fire inside her.