Chapter 178: Exchange

Kissing the back of the hand is an age-old custom, whether in the Material Realm or the Magic Kingdom.

This custom, known in the Material Realm as the "Hand-Kiss," is often employed in very formal occasions, either to express respect to a Venerable and respected lady or for a subordinate to show loyalty to a superior. However, with the changing times and the Material Realm's society trending toward technologization, such customs have faded from people's lives over time.

Nowadays, the Hand-Kiss mostly appears in various films and literary works, becoming an act with a rather romantic color. Therefore, in the perception of young people, it is a relatively intimate and romantic practice. Using this custom for greeting, regardless of what Asano Enka herself thinks, the young magical girls from Fang Ting City and Bai An City all erupted, simultaneously letting out high and low exclamations.

And if the side of Bai An City was driven purely by gossip, on the Fang Ting City side, especially Lin Xiaolu, looked at Asano Enka as if she wanted to eat her. She rushed out in almost two steps, throwing out the serious question, "What are you doing?"

"This is just a greeting expressing intimacy, Xiaolu." That was Asano Enka's answer at the time.

"Expressing intimacy is clearly done with a handshake or a hug; where is there such a thing as you... doing it like you..."

Lin Xiaolu stammered for a long time, unable to think of how to summarize the other's behavior, and after gradually digesting the other's words, she quickly discovered another problem within them: "Wait, how do you know my name?"

"I was once the magical girl of this city, so naturally I am also your mother's friend."

Asano Enka's expression did not change; she glanced at Senior Cuique beside her, and seeing no reaction from her, she said quite naturally, "Although you may not remember, when you were just born, I even held you in my own hands."

"Huh? In my own hands? What is that..." Such a statement, nearly directly declaring "I am your elder," instantly suppressed Lin Xiaolu's momentum. Although she was still quite dissatisfied, the confidence in her words suddenly weakened, "You're lying, right? How could I possibly not know..."

"You can confirm with Senior Cuique, or ask your father when you return."

Smiling quite gently, Asano Enka looked at Lin Xiaolu with interest: "Although neither they nor your mother ever mentioned me to you, our relationship back then was very good; even the name 'Xiaolu' was established under my witness."

Lin Xiaolu opened her mouth wordlessly; the other's words sounded truthful, but she still found it hard to believe, so she could only look at Senior Cuique beside her.

Senior Cuique, who had been momentarily silent due to that abrupt Hand-Kiss, finally came to her senses. First, she looked at Asano Enka with a complex expression, then sighed, faced her daughter directly, and nodded: "That's right. Besides Hong Siyu, when you were born, the magical girls of Fang Ting City, your mother's teammates, were actually all there. From this perspective, you are a child who has been watched since birth."

"See?" Asano Enka smiled and spread her hands.

"Hmm... since Senior Cuique has admitted it, then... then let's just take it as true."

Reluctantly accepting the fact that she had suddenly gained several "aunts," Lin Xiaolu pressed her lips and nodded, but soon widened her eyes and continued: "But that, what does it mean that you kissed Senior Cuique's hand! Kissing hands in such a public place!"

"Between adults, the Hand-Kiss is nothing much."

Asano Enka continued gently: "Kissing a hand is one thing, not kissing lips; however, you children should not imitate it casually."

At the words "kissing lips," Xia Liang, Bai Jingxuan, and the blonde girl beside them all lit up with interest in the gossip, while Lin Xiaolu's ears turned hot, and she couldn't help but point at the other: "How can you say such words here? It's simply acting like a hooligan!"

Hearing this, Asano Enka first fell silent and stood still, staring at Lin Xiaolu for a while, then suddenly couldn't help but laugh, letting out a "Pfft" sound, laughing quite heartily.

"Hahaha, too funny!"

She exclaimed a bit loudly, then bent slightly from the side, leaning close to Senior Cuique's ear: "Your daughter is so cute; did you really teach her nothing before?"

"Is that strange? She's only 14."

Senior Cuique glared at her: "Don't teach her anything weird; be serious."

"Okay, okay, I have my limits."

Waving her hand to indicate she knew, while also ignoring Lin Xiaolu's dissatisfied angry huff, Asano Enka straightened up, walked straight to Lin Xiaolu's front, and then quite gracefully extended her hand: "Sorry, if my words made you feel uncomfortable, then I take them back; I hope you can accept my apology, Xiaolu."

"I just saw my teammate's child has grown so big, so I couldn't help but want to tease you a bit; I hope you don't mind."

Seeing that Lin Xiaolu not only had no intention of shaking hands with her but actually shrank back warily, Asano Enka's smile on her face grew even more, and then, feeling no embarrassment at all, she withdrew her hand: "Anyway, I hope we can get along well for the coming period."

"Coming period?" Xia Liang, who had been watching the show on the side, keenly caught the keyword in her words and immediately repeated it.

"Yes, coming period; we might stay in Fang Ting City for a while."

Asano Enka nodded: "Let me introduce myself again to everyone; I am the captain of the magical girl squad from Bai An City, a candidate inspector of the Investigation Bureau, and the magical girl Margaret. Since Fang Ting City has recently become a high-frequency activity area for Claw Marks and Black Ash Dawn, and the security situation is poor, after negotiating with the Director of the Investigation Bureau, I will temporarily station in Fang Ting City to provide military support."

"At the same time, considering that there is less than half a year until the new year's qualification certification exam begins, the Newcomer magic of our Bai An City squad has also specially come to Fang Ting City to apply for cross-city learning exchange."

"Learning... exchange?"

Sensing something from the other's words, Lin Xiaolu raised her head slightly, first looking at Asano Enka, then looking with some confusion at the several magical girls from Bai An City beside her.

Undoubtedly, the Bai An City squad was also looking at her, or rather, looking at the girls of Fang Ting City.

— "As the mentor said, our purpose in coming to Fang Ting City is for learning and exchange."

The girl with the codename White Thistle stepped forward, took over Asano Enka's words, and continued: "In other words, we are here both to help and to challenge the dojo. According to the mentor's expectation, she wants to see what kind of strength the magical girls of Fang Ting City currently possess, and also hopes we can verify our learning results through this. To confirm whether we can surpass the Newcomer magic of the place where she originated."

"Challenge the dojo..."

Lin Xiaolu blinked, gradually realizing what the other was expressing: "Still talking about learning; aren't you here to fight us?"

"Heh, heh, are you afraid?" The blonde girl standing slightly behind laughed, "I saw it before; you, this person, can't even beat a Caterpillar-class Remnant Beast?"

"What do you mean I can't beat a Caterpillar? It was clearly you who forcibly stole my kill!" Lin Xiaolu immediately became unhappy.

"How did I steal the kill? I didn't even take the Resonance, did I?"

"Isn't that because you were covered in the Remnant Beast's slime and had no time to take it before running away?"

"I told you not to mention this again!"

Hearing Lin Xiaolu bring up the Remnant Beast slime, the blonde girl immediately turned pale and half-covered her mouth: "You, are you deliberately provoking me?"

"Heh, who is provoking whom is not yet certain!" Lin Xiaolu retorted with her hands on her hips.

Seeing that these two were about to argue before even saying two sentences, Xia Liang hurriedly acted as a peacemaker, pulling Lin Xiaolu back a bit, while turning her head to look at White Thistle: "Anyway, you are here to exchange with us... or rather, spar, right?"

"That is what the mentor means."

White Thistle nodded: "Of course, it is merely a spar in terms of strength; we essentially have no hostility. Wood Lily also just speaks a bit harshly; she has no intention of making things difficult for everyone."

"Who is Wood Lily?" Xia Liang looked at the blonde girl and the taciturn girl behind her.

"It's me, it's me."

After exchanging a glare with Lin Xiaolu, the blonde girl finally crossed her arms and spoke quite proudly: "My codename is Wood Lily. Although I don't know your strength yet, and that person over there who can't beat a Caterpillar-class makes me a bit disappointed, since you were taught by the Inspector my lord, then do not make me feel no... cough!"

Her tone of speaking was quite flamboyant, but unfortunately, before she finished, Asano Enka beside her suddenly slapped her back hard.

Almost choked by that slap, the girl with the codename Wood Lily coughed several times in a row, looked at the other with somewhat aggrieved eyes, and reluctantly spoke again, continuing: "I hope you can let me see the strength of Fang Ting City well... Anyway, please take care of me."

After finishing her words, she turned her gaze to the taciturn girl beside her.

This girl, who had spoken no more than five sentences in total since everyone met, was swept by the gaze; her shoulders immediately shrugged, she lowered her head, let her bangs cover her eyes, and said in an extremely tiny voice: "... I am Mimosa."

Then, she couldn't help but step back a few more steps, hiding half her body behind White Thistle.

"... True to her name." Seeing this, Xia Liang commented thus.

"Indeed, true to her name." Wood Lily beside her also nodded solemnly.

After the magic girls from Bai'an City introduced their codenames, the girls from Fang Ting City also exchanged their own codenames, as a way of getting to know each other. Then, Bai Ji turned to look at Aoi Maki, signaling that she had finished speaking.

"—Excellent, Bai Ji. That's more or less what I meant to express."

Aoi Maki nodded, her gaze sweeping over the new recruits before returning once more to Senior Cuique: "What do you think of my suggestion?"

"A sparring match…"

Senior Cuique slightly narrowed her eyes but did not answer immediately—not because she had reservations, but because she was still weighing and judging.

Upon hearing the phrase "learning exchange," she already knew what the other side was after. She first recalled the estimated strengths of the few Bai'an City magic girls she remembered, then turned her attention to Lin Xiaolu and the others, silently comparing the power gaps between them.

After this comparison, based on her prior impressions, she could not avoid reaching a somewhat pessimistic conclusion—she might not be able to win.

She knew better than anyone the actual strength of the girls on her team: Lin Xiaolu, without using her strange white magic, was roughly capable of defeating a Huo-class residual beast alone; Xia Liang had progressed faster and already reached the Ye level, but she had not yet begun learning spell patterns and was still barely stronger than a Ya-level; Bai Jingxuan's strength had surged rapidly—even when she had revealed her residual beast magic, she had already demonstrated the ability to defeat a Chong-class beast alone… but frankly, that power was utterly unsuitable for a sparring match.

In other words, under normal circumstances, Lin Xiaolu, Xia Liang, and Bai Jingxuan were all at the Ya level, or just slightly above it.

And what of the three magic girls from Bai'an City?

First was Bai Ji—an unquestionable Ye-level. This had been confirmed by Senior Cuique during her stay in Bai'an City, as Bai Ji had used spell patterns multiple times and clearly possessed considerable proficiency.

Second was Mu Baihe. Whether or not this girl had truly blossomed into the Ye level remained uncertain, but at least in terms of magical perception, she possessed extraordinary talent—her perception range could even rival Senior Cuique's own during her time in Bai'an City.

Lastly was the Mimosa. Though she had never revealed any real strength and had always seemed to linger under Bai Ji's protection, both her occasional displays of magic and Aoi Maki's attitude suggested things were far from simple.

Though it sounded pessimistic, if a match were to begin right now, Fang Ting City's team would have no more than a twenty percent chance of winning—and even that twenty percent assumed Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan both performed beyond their limits; otherwise, Xia Liang would be utterly alone against them.

Was it worth agreeing to a sparring match they were certain to lose? Would this stir the children's competitive spirit—or crush their motivation?

This was what Senior Cuique needed to weigh.

Yet before she could reach any concrete conclusion, Aoi Maki spoke again from nearby.

"Ah, by the way, Cuique, a simple sparring match wouldn't mean much on its own. I have another proposal."

She clapped her hands as if suddenly remembering something, then turned to Senior Cuique, her smile fading, her expression now noticeably stern:

—"If your team loses this sparring match, I expect the Fang Ting City team to withdraw from this year's qualification certification exam."

I've delayed this for several more days—again, I apologize to everyone. I will never make promises I can't keep again; it feels like lying, and I feel deeply ashamed. Next time, I'll just honestly admit I can't write it. Sorry, meow.

(End of Chapter)