Get off work and become a magical girl

Chapter 208 Rule Changes
"In short, according to what we discussed this morning, the previous agreement is temporarily void."

At night, at the dining table in the base, the magical girls gathered after dinner, and after a brief introduction, Aso Yuanxiang announced to everyone: "Even if we lose the competition, neither side will be bound. Winning does not mean you have to take the exam, and losing does not mean you can't go. Those who need to take the exam will take the exam, and those who need to go home will go home. Well, I'm sorry for changing my mind so often, but it's changed to this for now."

No one responded to her immediately.

Not to mention the Fangting City team, even the Bai'an City team, her own team members looked at her in confusion, and it seemed that they didn't understand what Ma Sheng Yuanxiang was up to.

But even if they didn't understand, someone had to take over the conversation eventually. In the end, it was Xia Liang who took the initiative and took on the responsibility:
"Then... may I ask, if there is no restriction that only the team that beats your team can take the exam, is it necessary to continue the competition?"

"Have."

Delphinium, who had been silent until then, replied, "Just think of it as an opportunity to recognize the intensity of the exam and understand the strength of your peers' magical girls. You have come into contact with too few magical girls so far, so you should not miss this opportunity for actual combat."

"An opportunity for actual combat...huh?"

Xia Liang looked thoughtfully in the direction of the Bai'an City team, then nodded to Cuique: "I understand, I will prepare seriously."

"Yeah." Delphinium also nodded at her, then looked around at the others: "That's pretty much the conclusion. Others don't have to be so reserved. Feel free to ask any questions you have."

As soon as she finished speaking, Mu Lily raised her hand.

"You go." Delphinium gestured to her.

"Then can I choose my own opponent?" Mu Lily blinked.

Delphinium did not comment, but calmly asked back: "Theoretically, I have no right to force you to fight anyone, but can you please tell me the reason?"

"Because I have a conflict with that guy." Mu Baili slightly turned her head and glanced in the direction of the Fangting City team.

Following his line of sight, Cuiqiao easily found the "object of conflict" that the other party mentioned - her own daughter, Lin Xiaolu.

She was slightly stunned, but soon this strangeness was covered up. She looked at Lin Xiaolu again, hoping that this was just a one-sided misunderstanding, but as soon as she turned her eyes away, she saw her daughter glaring at Mu Baihe in a tit-for-tat manner.

It seems that there is no misunderstanding.

After confirming that what Mu Lily said was true, Delphinium subconsciously twitched the corners of her mouth.

Although I had this feeling before, was my daughter's interpersonal skills too poor? Not to mention making friends, she was able to turn two enemies out of three strangers in just a few days, which was really beyond ordinary people.

Unfortunately, she could only think about these words in her heart and absolutely could not say them out loud at the moment, so she could only look at Aso Yuanxiang, hoping to get some effective advice from her.

"No."

Aso Yuuka's suggestion was also very straightforward. She rejected Kiyuri's proposal with just two words.

"Why?" Mu Baihe puffed up her cheeks in dissatisfaction.

"Because that's rude, idiot."

Aso Yuanxiang sighed: "We will draw lots to decide the specific competition partner at that time. There is no room for negotiation on the choice of opponent. Pass."

Mu Lily was easily voted down, and the next person to ask a question was Bai Ji. The magical girl who was once designated as the future captain of Bai'an City had half raised her hand, obviously having her own opinion on this arrangement.

"Can I ask why the previous agreement was cancelled? According to the instructor's previous suggestion, if next year's assessment is really very dangerous, it should be necessary to verify the strength beforehand."

After being prompted by Kuroko to speak, she also raised her doubts: "Of course, I will obey the instructor's arrangement. The question now is just my personal curiosity."

After two days of adjustment, Bai Ji has calmed down and shown his steady side again compared to the night he first arrived in Fangting City.

If there hadn't been no conversation between her and Lin Xiaolu, and neither of them even bothered to look at each other, Cuique would probably have thought that the conflict between the two had ended.

"Because I have discussed this with your teacher, and ultimately I think that when it comes to assessments, it's more important to respect the personal wishes of the team members."

As for the question raised by Baiji, Cuiqiao had anticipated it and had prepared a draft, so she answered fluently: "As long as you are prepared to deal with the danger, then we have no reason to stop you. As for the question of the danger of the assessment... I will accompany the people taking the exam next year, so there is no need to worry too much about this."

Actually, Delphinium did not finish this sentence. For example, it was not convenient for her to explain why she had to accompany them to the kingdom and how she could guarantee their safety.

It was really hard for her to tell the children in front of her that she went to the country just because she needed a fake identity for the examinee, and in the end she would have to use this fake identity to take the exam with them...

It's not that I'm worried about these children leaking the secret, I just feel that they can't get involved in my healing. Telling them at this juncture will only add to my concerns.

However, even if she didn't explain this, just saying "I will go" was enough to dispel the doubts of the younger generations. Not to mention the magical girls in Baian City who were not familiar with her, even the three members of Fangting City's team did not raise any objections to this.

So this issue was brought up here.

The last person to raise his hand was Lin Xiaolu.

It might be a little forced to say that she raised her hand, because her forearms were all spread out flat on the table, with only one palm raised. It was obvious that she herself had doubts about whether to do this action.

And when Cuiqiao turned his gaze to her, Lin Xiaolu's half-raised hand even collapsed. She looked away, trying to pretend nothing had happened.

"Is there anything you want to ask?" However, Cuiqiao's eyes did not miss her little movements, and she keenly discovered at the first moment that Lin Xiaolu seemed to want to say something.

When her name was called, Lin Xiaolu was stunned for a moment, opened her mouth, and after a while, she squeezed out a voice as thin as a mosquito's hum: "...The reason for canceling the previous appointment is because..."

"Sorry, I didn't hear it clearly." Delphinium, who only understood a few words, couldn't help but frown.

"……nothing."

Lin Xiaolu paused for a moment, and finally shook her head: "It's just some unimportant things. I don't have any other questions."

As she said this, she lowered her head and stared at the dining table, not knowing what she was thinking.

Only Kuei-chih was left sitting opposite, hesitant to speak, wanting to persuade him but not knowing where to start. Seeing that no one around had raised their hands, it seemed that all the questions they wanted to ask had been asked, and they were too embarrassed to delay the time, so they could only sigh:
"Then let's disband."

……

……

The night deepens and the moon hangs high in the sky.

It was already ten o'clock in the evening. The magical girls in the base gradually ended their day's activities, washed up, returned to their rooms, and fell asleep.

For most magical girls, going to bed on time is a good habit, because the remnant beasts often appear at night, or even in the second half of the night. If you stay up too late to go to bed, when the remnant beasts appear, they often have not experienced a complete sleep cycle, and will be forced to attack in a drowsy state, which is not conducive to fighting.

Among these magical girls lying on the bed, although many of them had something on their mind and were unhappy until they fell asleep, they were exhausted after a day of work and finally closed their eyes under the covers after being unable to resist the sleepiness.

There were only two rooms with lights on at this time.

One of them is Delphinium's room. The reason why she hasn't fallen asleep yet is simply because she hasn't finished her work.

In managing such a large Strategy Bureau, even though Lin Yun has delegated as much power as possible and handed over all trivial matters to relatively trustworthy employees, there is still a lot of coordination, approval, and decision-making work to be done.

Many of these tasks could not be completed during the day, and Lin Yun did not dare to work overtime in the Yi Ce Bureau at night. He could only take them back to the base and do them alone after late at night.

The good news is that since Hong Siyu came back, the workload has been reduced a lot because the documents have already been screened before they are handed to him.

And now, Kuizi was reviewing the last document of the day. This document was submitted by the Logistics Department, which was about the use and loss of magic weapons. As the direct provider of magic weapons, she needed to verify this report before applying to the Investigation Institute for repairs and replenishment.

Magical armament is of great importance to the Bureau of Strategy, as it enables a magician to have the ability to face egg-level beasts alone. Therefore, Delphinium needs to carefully review every piece of data to ensure that there will not be any omissions.

Or maybe she was so engrossed in reading the documents that she didn't notice there was someone sitting next to her desk.

She didn't sense any hostility or any fluctuations in magic power, so she subconsciously ignored the existence of this person. It was not until she felt the presence of this person in her peripheral vision that she belatedly turned her eyes away from the document and looked to the side.

Standing there was someone she didn't expect - Xia Liang.

Ever since the night of the Full Moon Festival, since taking office as the director of the Special Strategies Bureau, Lin Yun, or Cuique, has had too many troubles to deal with, so it is inevitable that he has less time to spend with the girls.

Although Xia Liang did not mean to do it, he was indeed the child who had spent the least time alone with her recently.

The reason is very simple, because it saves trouble.

Compared with Lin Xiaolu, who always makes all kinds of noise to attract attention, and Bai Jingxuan, who makes people more worried the less noise she makes, Xia Liang has indeed been very worry-free recently.

Although there are some small, harmless pranks occasionally, compared with the pranks of the other two team members, this level of pranks is really nothing.

In addition, whether it was studying, developing abilities, or training as a magical girl, Xia Liang showed a high level of talent and understanding, and even teaching did not require Cuiqiao to spend too much time. As a result, before she knew it, the time she spent with Cuiqiao became much less.

At this moment, Xia Liang suddenly ran over like this, which made Cuique feel a little nostalgic.

"What's the matter?" So she put down the documents in her hand and said in a more serious manner: "And you can tell me when you come."

"Here." Xia Liang said this, and suddenly pushed his hands forward and handed over a teacup: "It's just made with boiling water, it may take a while before you can drink it."

Only then did Delphinium notice that the other party had made a cup of tea when he came.

"Thank you."

After taking the teacup, Kuizi rubbed the edge of the cup slightly to confirm that the water in the cup was indeed very hot: "Did you encounter any problems with your practice?"

"No."

In response, Xia Liang just shook his head: "I just suddenly wanted to come and take a look."

"What are you looking at?"

"I don't know, does it have to have a purpose?"

"...Not really."

Xia Liang's somewhat erratic attitude made Cuique a little unpredictable, but she still pulled out another chair from the desk as usual: "Sit down."

This chair was originally used for study sessions, but after the Baian City team arrived, there were more occasions to entertain guests, so it has not been used for nearly a week.

Xia Liang took the chair without saying a word, sat down at the table, and then just looked at Delphinium in silence. The atmosphere became quite strange for a moment.

"Young Senior, don't you need to continue working?"

After a while, she said, "Don't worry about me, just continue doing your own thing."

"...How can you work peacefully when someone is always staring at you?"

Delphinium tapped her teacup with her fingers, her eyelids drooping. "It's so late, don't you need to go to bed?"

"Not sleepy yet."

With his hands supporting his cheeks, Xia Liang muttered softly, "On the contrary, it's you, little senior, who has the words 'I'm tired' written all over his face."

"……Have it?"

Delphinium subconsciously touched her face, but the body of a magical girl would not have real sweat, so she only touched the still smooth skin: "I don't think it has reached that level yet."

"You've been sighing more often. You seem to be in a bad mood lately."

"That's true."

Regarding the situation reflected by Xia Liang, Cuiqiao could hardly deny it: "Thank you for your reassurance, but don't worry, I am not actually very depressed. Many times I just do this subconsciously."

Suddenly there was no sound in the room again.

One of them looked at each other, while the other lowered his head slightly. Obviously, neither of them was doing anything, but neither of them said a word.

"Is there no problem with Xiaolu? I saw her sneaking around to see Miss Aso for several days."

After several minutes, Xia Liang suddenly asked, "Young senior, you should know, right?"

"No problem. I have discussed this with Aso."

Looking at the teacup in her hand and the blurry reflection on the porcelain surface, Delphinium said softly, "I really need to learn to let go of this matter and not hold on so tightly."

"What about Xiaoxuan? Suddenly asking her to compete with other magical girls, her magic costume is actually not suitable for one-on-one combat."

"Bai Jingxuan... don't worry about her strength, just focus on her performance." Cuiqiao said calmly.

"I always feel like the young senior is secretly giving Xiaoxuan some special treatment?"

"...Nothing."

"Then why are you so confident in her abilities?"

"I just communicated some things with her and discovered some special talents. You will know it soon." Delphinium was vague.

"Hmm? Oh." Knowing that Delphinium was just being perfunctory, Xia Liang responded without comment.

The sound of knocking on the teacup continued, but the strength was uneven. The dead wood outside the window swayed slightly in the cold wind, making a slight crisp sound.

Xia Liang still held her cheek with a faint smile on her face, looking at Cuique, and then asked softly:

"what about me?"

The fingers tapping on the teacup paused.

The wall clock was still making clear ticking sounds, but it seemed somewhat out of place in the seemingly stagnant air.

Delphinium finally looked away from the table.

Now, she had to face the girl in front of her.

(End of this chapter)