Chapter 238: Memorial Cemetery

As a veteran employee of the reception office under the Examination Bureau of the Magic Kingdom, Receptionist No. 7 had always enjoyed a reputation for being "capable" among her colleagues.

Admittedly, being recognized and even praised in daily life is a good thing, but in the workplace, Receptionist No. 7 would rather not have this so-called "glory."

Thanks to this "glory," her superior always assigned her some quite arduous tasks, and colleagues always brought her unfinished work or tasks they couldn't handle. Overtime work would also mysteriously find its way to her head more often than not.

Although the Examination Bureau is a subordinate agency of both the Magic Affairs Bureau and the Research Institute, so overtime pay is not lacking, constantly increasing the workload would make even the most hardworking person feel depressed by the endless tasks.

Furthermore, because she worked overtime so much, her station, Window No. 7, had almost become her exclusive workstation, earning her the unenthusiastic nickname "No. 7." And today, a colleague who was originally scheduled for a day off suddenly had an emergency, so naturally, she stepped up to handle the registration matters for recent qualification certifications at the reception office.

The reception office is located in the Academy District of Runnore and now serves as the qualification certification registration point, the final checkpoint that magical girls must pass before taking the exam.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Everyone's personal information has been verified, and the internal system has completed the entry. Thank you all for cooperating with our work."

Pushing the admission tickets out of the window, No. 7 suppressed the sleepiness from several days of overtime, struggled to keep her eyes open while tidying up the remaining documents at her desk, and simultaneously flashed a very standard service smile at the several magical girls in front of her:

"Judging from the information on the admission tickets, everyone is registering for the White Plate exam, and you should all be here for your first qualification certification, right? The number of candidates this year is unexpectedly high, and the competition will be fierce, so do your best."

"The number of candidates is high?" The magical girl in front of her took the admission tickets and redistributed them to her companions who had come together, but after understanding No. 7's words, she wore a puzzled expression:

"Why?"

"Um... um?"

Probably not expecting the candidate in front of her to ask this question, No. 7 couldn't help but pause for a moment. But soon, she realized why the girl in front of her was confused, so she answered: "If we talk about the reasons, there are actually many, but the most important point... it is indeed because this is a Queen's Year, and Her Majesty the Queen might personally visit the exam site to observe, right?"

She used the word "might" to avoid speaking too definitively. But in reality, until nearly a hundred years ago, almost every Queen's Year, the Queen would personally participate in various activities, big and small, throughout the kingdom.

The exceptions to this were the Queen's Years 40 years ago and 20 years ago.

According to the official statement from the Wang Ting, 40 years ago, the war between the Kingdom and the Inter-Realm had already begun, the situation of the war was extremely severe, causing the Queen to be busy with it and unable to appear for the celebration during that Queen's Year; 20 years ago, although the war had ended, the wounds of the post-war period still needed healing, and the Great Beast Calamity that broke out in the middle of the year dealt a heavy blow to the Kingdom and the Material Realm, ultimately causing the grand celebration to end hastily.

So, in fact, since the qualification certification system of the Magic Kingdom was established, except for two accidental events, every Queen's Year exam has had her personal attendance to observe.

Considering that this year is also a Queen's Year, and the war has been over for 20 years, in such an incredibly peaceful year, it seems there will be nothing to disturb this grand celebration. Then, "the Queen will resume activities to observe throughout the Kingdom" seems like a matter of course.

For the magical girls native to the Kingdom, being able to show their faces before the Queen on this occasion is already a very memorable thing; while those magical girls from the Material Realm also harbor the beautiful dream of "being seen by the Queen through excellent performance and thus gaining important positions." Combining the fact that the last time the Queen observed was 60 years ago, the number of magical girls coming to participate in the qualification certification for this Queen's Year was indeed unimaginably high.

If the Magic Affairs Bureau had not made relevant regulations in advance, there might have been magical girls who had already obtained their name plates canceling their plates to come take the exam again; in that case, it would have been chaos.

As for how this trend made the people of the Examination Bureau busy to the point of being at their wits' end, how it made the Magic Affairs Bureau, the superior of the Examination Bureau, make a series of adjustments, and even rumors that they actively increased the difficulty to dissuade candidates... these are completely another topic.

— "So, if we come to take the exam this year and perform very well, is it even possible to be noticed by the Queen of the Magic Kingdom?"

Sitting on the bench beside the registration office entrance, Lin Xiaolu, with a solemn expression, gazed into the void and slowly summarized a conclusion that seemed quite reasonable to her: "Then, if I show off my displaced magic power during the practical combat, can I make her old lady look at me differently?"

The person who had just been talking to Receptionist No. 7 in the reception office and once made the receptionist stunned with her questions was none other than Lin Xiaolu.

It must be said that although her questions seemed a bit strange to the people of the Kingdom, they did indeed provide the three members of the squad with relatively useful information: the Queen's Year, and the war and disaster that occurred 20 years ago.

Considering that other magical girls were still queuing up behind them, No. 7 didn't have time to fully recount the Kingdom's history to them, only briefly introducing the origin and significance of the Queen's Year tradition, but that was enough for them to understand many things they couldn't make sense of on the road—such as why people were giving away gifts for free on the streets on the way, why the streets and alleys seemed to be decorated with lights and banners, and why fairies were throwing themselves at them on the road...

They had arrived in a hurry yesterday and it was quite late, so they hadn't seen the side of Runnore where the whole city was celebrating, but today, they had personally experienced this enthusiasm and the happiness from the bottom of people's hearts.

"Give up, I think even if the Queen really comes back to observe the exam, she definitely won't be looking at our White Plate exam hall."

Xia Liang, who was flipping through a map nearby, heard Lin Xiaolu's teasing remark, couldn't help but look up, and gave Lin Xiaolu a look that said "Is this person serious?": "And it's just that your magic power turns white; you simply can't prove in a short time that this counts as displacement, can you? Other magical girls who will undergo turbidification can also make the form of their magic power peculiar, can't they?"

"Heh, the Queen of the Magic Kingdom, how could her perception of magic power be as vague as that of mortals?"

Lin Xiaolu was completely unaffected by the cold water Xia Liang poured: "Maybe she can see through the nature of everyone's magic power in the exam hall? Maybe if my base color changes just a little bit, she can discover it immediately?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Liang let out a dry laugh with some speechlessness, turned her face away, while Bai Jingxuan, sitting beside her, suddenly looked terrified: "Eh? Will that happen?"

"I think it will." Lin Xiaolu said with conviction.

"Then, then what should I do..." Bai Jingxuan pointed a finger at herself: "Will I be discovered too?"

"Ah? Ah, right, your magic power base color..."

Lin Xiaolu blinked her eyes, as if remembering something, and then stopped herself just before certain words she shouldn't say slipped out. She covered her mouth, looked around, confirmed that no one was paying attention to her conversation, and then spoke again: "Um, considering your situation is indeed a bit difficult to handle, I'd better change my perspective; it would be better if the Queen still couldn't discover other people's magic power base color."

"Is this something that becomes fact just because you think so?" Xia Liang on the side couldn't help but sigh.

"B-but even if you say that, what should we do if Her Majesty the Queen can really discover it?" Bai Jingxuan also looked completely unsoothed.

"Will be treated as a claw... anyway, get caught?" Lin Xiaolu made a hand-chop gesture and wiped it back and forth across her own neck.

"Ah? I don't want to..." Bai Jingxuan, with a tearful face, hid behind Xia Liang.

"Alright, stop bullying Jingxuan; don't you feel ashamed targeting a child every day?"

Turning around to hug Bai Jingxuan and patting her back to comfort her, Xia Liang turned her head and gave Lin Xiaolu a white look: "Even if we aren't clear about this matter, Senior Xia must have considered it, right? Since she let Jingxuan come to take the exam, she probably doesn't need to worry about this aspect, doesn't she?"

After scolding Lin Xiaolu a couple of times, she turned her head to look at Bai Jingxuan again: "Senior Xia must have talked to you about this matter, right?"

"Um... um."

Xia Liang's words activated Bai Jingxuan's memory, reminding her of Senior Cuique's promise, and her expression immediately seemed much more at ease: "The teacher said that as long as I control my magic power, there will be no problem; even if something unexpected happens, she won't let bad things occur."

Xia Liang immediately gave Lin Xiaolu a look that meant "See?", and Lin Xiaolu glared back with a look that said "What are you so proud of?"

"Ah, thinking about it that way, it is indeed true; Senior Cuique is still an inspector of the Investigation Bureau, with this connection, even if she is caught as a claw mark, she probably can be released?"

Probably realizing she couldn't use this topic to continue teasing Bai Jingxuan, Lin Xiaolu suddenly felt bored and sighed with a look of boredom: "So boring, the world of adults."

"Just shut up." Xia Liang smiled with her lips but not her eyes.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Runnore, at the border between the Emerald Book Gallery and the Non-Magic Zone, Senior Cuique was lingering in an open space.

Compared to the urban layout of the Material Realm, the building density of Runnore was undoubtedly much sparser.

In the Material Realm, out of consideration for preventing attacks by Remnant Beasts, if a city's area is spread out too large but the land utilization rate is not high enough, it will easily increase the probability of Remnant Beast attacks for no reason, and at the same time make it necessary for magical girls and the Special Countermeasures Bureau to travel a longer distance to rush to the rescue. Officially speaking, a city that is large but impractical will indirectly reduce the efficiency of city defense, increase related costs, and is quite unworthy from various angles.

But in the Magic Kingdom, urban planning does not need to consider these problems.

It is not that human cities in the Magic Kingdom do not suffer from the harm of Remnant Beasts; it is just that compared to the Material Realm, the Kingdom has more magical girls, and the spells covering the cities are more comprehensive. For major cities like Runnore, after the Garden Defense Battle twenty years ago, high-cost spells such as "Giant Slowing" are even deployed within the city to constrain the movement of Remnant Beasts landing in the urban area.

Therefore, in Runnore, even the buildings in the Non-Magic Zone are relatively sparse, with large patches of green spaces and flower beds embedded in the city's road network, making the entire city appear lush and green.

The interior of the Non-Magic Zone is also divided into blocks; usually, the area of a small residential block is around 2-3 xiwei, which converts to 3-5 square kilometers in Material Realm units. There are more than 370 small blocks in the entire Non-Magic Zone, and near the two blocks closest to the northeast side, almost adjoining the Academy District, there is a quite regular green space. Such green spaces do not prevent anyone from entering, so citizens often walk and rest here.

Acquainted residents would gather together to hold some activities, or chat about neighborhood gossip when they had nothing to do; this place was virtually their town square park.

— "Um, alright."

Senior Cuique pushed her newly repaired wheelchair in place while saying to an old man seated nearby, "Give it a try; it should be fine now."

It was noon. Senior Cuique, having just left the Research Institute, had planned to stroll through the Non-Magic Zone to clear her mind, digest the information she had just received, and vent her frustration at being tricked by Emerald again. That was why she had discovered an old man unable to move due to a wheelchair malfunction near this green space.

Considering she truly had no urgent matters at the moment, she had proactively offered to inspect and repair his wheelchair, leading to the current scene.

"Oh, let me try... Hmm, it moves, it moves. Thank you."

The old man sat in the wheelchair, tried moving it back and forth a couple of times, then nodded with a smile: "I was actually planning to call my grandson to pick me up, but with this weather, this big sun... by the time that kid gets here, I'd surely be roasted to death. Thanks to you, you are so kind; I don't even know how to thank you, this... "

Halfway through speaking, the old man seemed to realize something and froze, squinting his eyes to look at Senior Cuique a couple more times, muttering something in his mouth, and only after a long while continued: "... Little Miss?"

It was only when the old man paused that Senior Cuique realized what he was thinking; after all, in the Magic Kingdom, magical girls can remain eternally youthful, and many appear as young girls, yet no one knows their actual age. Considering that she, as Lin Yun, was only nearly 37 and could not possibly be older than the old man before her, she nodded and agreed, "Yes, I only came to the Magic Kingdom this year to take the assessment; I am a Newcomer magic girl."

Although there was a suspicion of pretending to be young, this phrasing essentially accepted the old man's address.

"Oh, a newcomer, newcomers are good."

The old man, receiving confirmation, seemed to sigh with relief and said, "Right, indeed, it is this season every year."

"Old man, how did you tell I am a magic girl?"

Senior Cuique asked with some confusion, "By rights, there should be quite a few ordinary girls around here too?"

Although she was indeed still wearing the luxurious cheongsam belonging to "Gentian"—even in the Magic Kingdom where everyone wears strange clothes, it still counts as quite a magnificent outfit—if she remembered correctly, people in the Non-Magic Zone also had those who loved retro styles, and the cheongsam was not considered too rare among those crowds.

"Heh, what else could it be? Setting aside your outfit, you magical girls have a different spirit and energy from ordinary girls."

The old man, as if hearing something amusing, pointed at Senior Cuique's eyes and couldn't help but chuckle: "Even as newcomers, your eyes look nothing like those of your peers; people with eyes like yours are those who want to be heroes."

"Is that so? Thank you, you flatter me." Senior Cuique used her expression management skills, and after a brief hesitation, revealed a slightly unfamiliar social smile.

After Emerald's treatment, her true form had basically returned to normal; when activating her magic armor, the soul-like pain was finally gone, and her daily movements no longer carried various discomforts.

This manifested externally as her now being able to show various expressions relatively naturally, without needing to worry about expression management every moment and thus keeping a stiff face as before.

"Ha, after all, my grandmother was also a magic girl; I grew up under her care, so I know a bit more about your affairs."

Retracting his hand, the old man leaned back slightly, resting against the wheelchair's backrest: "It was her; she used to love pretending to be a young girl to tease people, even joking with my wife at my wedding. But if anyone in the family called her generation wrong, called her younger, she would get unhappy instead, making the family always ponder deeply on how to address her."

"That is truly... an interesting senior." Senior Cuique agreed.

"Who says otherwise? At least I like her very much; she is one of the elders I respect most."

The old man sighed, squinting his eyes: "In the blink of an eye, I have reached her age, and she has been dead for a long time. Our family hasn't produced a magic girl in these years, not like when she was here; back then..."

As if opening a floodgate, the old man gradually sank into his memories, speaking intermittently about his grandmother, who had once been a magic girl, during the process of Senior Cuique pushing his wheelchair to take him away from the green space.

This conversation lasted quite a while until Senior Cuique returned him to the relatively bustling city district, bid him farewell, and only then did he stop somewhat contentedly, waving goodbye to Senior Cuique quite happily.

By now, time had passed noon; it was almost afternoon.

Feeling her mobile phone vibrate in the shoulder bag at her waist, Senior Cuique opened the bag, rummaged for a moment, and finally found it—it was not "Senior Cuique's phone," but "Lin Yun's phone."

Who would be looking for this identity of hers at this time? Was there something at the Special Strategy Bureau? Thinking thus, Senior Cuique unlocked the screen and glanced at the messages in the chat application.

Most were reports from several direct department heads, along with some temporary requests from employees; Senior Cuique read them one by one, giving separate instructions, until the message bar scrolled to the very top, where she finally found the message that caused the phone to vibrate.

【Lin Xiaolu: 【Image】】

【Lin Xiaolu: Registration in the Magic Kingdom is complete; everything went smoothly. 【Fighting】】

Opening the message, Senior Cuique saw the image sent by Lin Xiaolu; it was a selfie of Lin Xiaolu and two others at the entrance of the Examination Institute's reception area. Although the expressions the three made were quite unnatural, completely posed, one could still see their condition was good.

This was something Lin Xiaolu had promised Lin Yun before leaving Fang Ting City: to send a message every few days to explain her current situation. Obviously, Lin Xiaolu had not yet forgotten this matter, so she sent a message to Lin Yun after completing registration.

As for Senior Cuique's phone, it was likely because Senior Cuique had said last night that she had a mission to be busy with, so the three did not send messages to disturb her.

Staring at this message for a while, Senior Cuique thought briefly, typed "Dad saw it, prepare well, strive for good results" into the message bar, pondered for a moment, and then hesitantly added a 【Rose】 after the text.

It shouldn't seem too frivolous, right?

Thinking thus, she clicked to send the message, then put the phone back in the bag.

"Next... I should indeed find time to change clothes; wearing this kind of clothes all the time is still too conspicuous."

Feeling the occasional stares from passersby beside her, she couldn't help but mutter to herself.

Lin Xiaolu and the other two had just finished registration; presumably, they would not return to the hotel immediately but would wander around the Rune Lore Academy District. In fact, they could have completed most registration matters online, and the final identity confirmation step could also be solved remotely using spells. However, according to Lin Xiaolu's own strange principle of "not wanting to use technological means in the Magic Kingdom," the three still chose to register on-site and sightsee the Academy District along the way.

Considering this, returning to the hotel at this moment would be meaningless. Rather than rushing back, she might as well walk around outside too, and also think about what explanation to use to account for her inexplicably shrunken height? Or perhaps bluff her way through, pretending nothing happened?

Carrying these complex emotions, Senior Cuique strolled along the street, occasionally accepting samples of chocolate handed to her by roadside shops, chewing this bitter sweetness as she continued forward.

And when she accepted chocolate at a pastry shop on a certain street corner, simply saying "Thank you" out of habit, she received the shopkeeper's evaluation, "Haha, little sister, you are so cute," and then was stuffed with another chocolate in a small packaging box.

"Here are two; you can give them to someone you like later," the shopkeeper said.

"Thank you." So Senior Cuique thanked her again, unwrapped one of the chocolates without hesitation, and stuffed it into her mouth. After tasting it, she gave a heartfelt evaluation:

"Very sweet, very delicious."

"Hehe, thanks for the praise; I'm glad you like it." The shopkeeper was quite proud.

Senior Cuique was just about to put the remaining chocolate into her shoulder bag to take away, but after walking two steps, she seemed to remember something and turned back to ask, "Is your shop nearby?"

"Hmm? Yes, it's just in the alley over there, less than 20 meters from here." The shopkeeper pointed to the side.

"How much per box?"

"A bit expensive; since they are handmade by us, so 20 Fa per box."

The shopkeeper quoted a price equivalent to 100 yuan in the Material Realm.

"Alright, give me three boxes." Senior Cuique held up her hand to show the number.

"Wow! Big business!"

The shopkeeper immediately beamed with joy, ushered Senior Cuique into the pastry shop, and began packing the chocolates for her.

This pastry shop was not very large overall; because it was located in an alley, the room shape was a bit strange, but the overall decoration was quite tasteful, with a homey style dominated by wooden furniture paired with warm yellow lighting, giving people a rather leisurely and cozy feeling.

Taking advantage of the time while the shopkeeper was busy packing, Senior Cuique herself was not idle; she wandered around the pastry shop, looking to see what other desserts were worth buying to take back as gifts for her juniors. However, after looking around, apart from various flavors of chocolate, there were mostly baked goods, which were not suitable as snacks. Although there were also some desserts unique to the Kingdom, Senior Cuique had never tasted them, so she dared not determine their flavor.

Wandering around the shop like this, she saw a very special product in a certain warming cabinet.

Qi Cloud Cake—this was the name of the product, a cake unique to the Kingdom; its greatest feature was that it had almost no color, completely transparent, looking like a large piece of glass, but when eaten, it was very soft, sticky, and sweet.

The reason it was said to be special was that Senior Cuique knew the use of this cake in the Kingdom was quite unusual—generally, it was not for people to eat, but to offer to the deceased, especially to offer to deceased magic girls.

The origin of this tradition is lost to time; the surviving explanation is that because Qiyun cake has no color and its shape is indistinct, it resembles a soul in the form of a cake, hence called "Soul Cake." And since cake is one of the most beloved foods among Magic Girls, offerings to deceased Magic Girls should include their favorite foods from life; considering the deceased have no physical bodies, the offering naturally becomes Soul Cake.

Under this rather strained logic, Qiyun cake—a dessert that was never particularly unpleasant—became exclusively reserved for the dead, and over time, ordinary pastry shops stopped selling it.

"Hello, sorry to bother you, but why does your shop sell Qiyun cake?"

Senior Cuique had no intention of keeping this question to herself; having grown curious, she walked back to the counter and asked directly.

"Hm? Qiyun cake?"

The shop clerk, still comparing chocolate boxes with wrapping paper, looked up and blinked: "Ah, are you new to this neighborhood?"

"Yes," Senior Cuique admitted honestly.

"Then it's no surprise you're confused—our shop's location is unusual. If you turn onto the path beside us and walk five hundred meters uphill, you'll reach the memorial cemetery."

"Memorial cemetery?"

"Yes. The fallen heroes from the Two Realms War, especially those who died in the Garden Defense Battle."

The pastry clerk spoke with a calm expression, as if stating a common fact: "The nation built them a memorial cemetery and buried them all there. Every year, many people come to pay respects, so we sell Qiyun cake here to earn a little from offerings."

Senior Cuique froze.

She stood like a statue, lost in thought, staring blankly at the clerk's work—the wrapping of chocolate in paper, the tying of silk ribbons into neat bows, the orderly stacking into gray-brown paper bags.

"Hmm, your chocolate is packed, little girl. Be careful—it's a bit heavy…"

The clerk lifted the chocolate toward Senior Cuique, but as she saw the complex expression on Senior Cuique's face, her words halted: "Uh… what's wrong?"

"... Nothing."

Senior Cuique gave a slight shake of her head, regained her composure, and accepted the chocolate as if nothing had happened. Then, as if casually mentioning it, she asked: "By the way, you mentioned the memorial cemetery—exactly which direction is it?"

"Hmm, keep going down the alley, pass through it, head north—you'll see a mountain…"

"On the mountain?"

"At the foot of it."

"I see. Then could you do me one more favor?"

"... Please go ahead?" Unnerved, the pastry clerk suddenly sensed an indescribable aura emanating from the girl before her. This aura made it clear: this girl was no "little girl," so she changed her address.

"Pack me several portions of Qiyun cake."

Senior Cuique did not know what expression she wore when she spoke those words.

She hoped she hadn't revealed any inappropriate emotion through her face, for she did not wish to frighten this kind clerk. She could only instinctively apologize to the clerk, to show she wasn't being confrontational—even though the clerk clearly didn't understand why she was apologizing.

Then, eagerly, Senior Cuique took the Qiyun cake the clerk handed her, thanked her under the clerk's slightly worried gaze, and left the pastry shop.

Carrying the Qiyun cake, Senior Cuique followed the path described by the pastry clerk and found the memorial cemetery.

The clerk had not lied—it was a large, grand, solemn cemetery. Seven life-sized bronze soldier statues stood behind the gate, gazing outward; from their attire, one could discern three Magic Girls, one fairy, and three ordinary humans.

The bronze statues stood in a square, behind which rose a monument. The granite monument's edges had been worn smooth by twenty years of rain. Three sealed lilies leaned against the base, their petals and glassine paper layered with a thin dust, like an hourglass measuring the pace of forgetting.

Looking farther, she could see the circular memorial wall surrounding the square, engraved with over a thousand relief carvings of Heart Jewels. After twenty years, some carvings had crumbled. Beside them, Fawo runes seemed to have been carved, but the distance was too great for Senior Cuique to read them.

This was it.

Some instinct told Senior Cuique so clearly.

She had never heard of this cemetery before, nor had she ever come here—but as she stood at the gate, memories long buried surged uncontrollably. She could even smell the stench of charred corpses mixed with the odor of ruined beasts.

Perhaps because she had just dreamed of the past, these dormant memories now stirred violently, nearly pulling her back into it. She raised her hand to cover her nose, shielding herself from scents that no longer existed.

The Garden Defense Battle.

It was a battle legendary in rumor, glorious in tale—later generations sang it as a miracle of love, a hymn to courage, an epic of the Magic Girls. The hero of the battle, the Cornflower, was idolized by countless people and still celebrated today.

But for Senior Cuique, it was one of the memories she least wished to revisit.

Unlike the grief of Anya's departure or the persistent stings of everyday life afterward, if one word could describe Senior Cuique's memory of the Garden Defense Battle, it would be:

——Disgusting.

A war whose core purpose was ending the war might be seen by the people of the Magic Nation as its greatest meaning and honor—but not for Senior Cuique. The horrors of the battlefield, the cries and screams of comrades, the roars of ruined beasts, the stench of charred flesh still trying to burrow into her mind—this was no place of honor. To those who lived through it, it was only hell.

The cemetery before her honored "heroes," but not all these heroes had gone into battle with the will to die. Many of these Magic Girls were merely young girls who understood nothing—perhaps the day before, they had talked with loved ones about their futures, and the next, their Heart Jewels shattered. Beyond broken jewels and corpses, they left nothing of what they had wished to leave behind.

To be fair, Senior Cuique had not known many of these Magic Girls personally; among the names honored, some did stir sorrow in her, but most were merely marks. These marks reminded her not to forget—that some things should not be discarded simply because remembering them was too painful.

She truly should have come here.

Senior Cuique believed so.

She shook her head twice, trying to drive away those hateful thoughts, took a deep breath, and stepped forward with the Qiyun cake, ready to enter the cemetery gate. But as she drew closer, she saw someone already standing at the entrance.

The person seemed to be a visitor wishing to pay respects—but now appeared stuck.

—"No, without identification, you cannot enter. This is a hero's cemetery—not a place for exceptions!"

The gate guard spoke harshly to the visitor: "No matter how much you beg, it won't help. I don't have the authority to grant entry. You understand, right?"

"Please," the visitor bowed deeply.

"I told you—no! Talking to me won't change anything!" the guard snapped.

"Please," the visitor bowed even lower.

"No!"

It seemed the visitor lacked identification, so the guard refused to let her pass.

She was a girl dressed in a black school uniform, over which she wore a long-sleeved knit sweater. Since her back was turned to Senior Cuique, her face was hidden; only a short single braid bounced behind her head as she bowed.

Senior Cuique waited behind her for a moment. Seeing the girl refuse to leave, persistently begging the guard, while the guard grew increasingly impatient, Senior Cuique finally spoke: "Excuse me both—I have a question. Are you a Magic Girl?"

This question was directed at the black-haired girl ahead.

The black-haired girl's intent to enter the cemetery was strong—likely either a relative of a fallen hero or a fellow Magic Girl. Of these two possibilities, the latter was more probable: after all, relatives of heroes would have visited many times and would surely know to bring identification.

As soon as Senior Cuique spoke, the girl ahead froze.

She remained motionless for two seconds in her bowed posture, then slowly straightened, turned her head, and stared at Senior Cuique with unmistakable shock.

"... What?" Senior Cuique asked, slightly exasperated. "If you're a Magic Girl, don't you have a certification badge? Show it to him—it should prove your identity."

The latter half of her sentence was already directed as a question to the gate guard.

"It's possible, sure, but are you certain this little girl is a magical girl?"

Hearing Senior Cuique's question, the gate guard first snorted, then glanced askance at the black-haired girl with some annoyance: "I think she's just some kid from nearby who came here to mess with me; these brats always love pulling pranks."

"... I have one."

The girl said softly.

"What?" The gate guard glared at her.

"I have it, the certification badge," the girl said very seriously.

"You have it? Then what were you doing just now? Playing me for a fool?" The gate guard grew even angrier upon hearing this.

"... I didn't remember."

Saying this, the girl raised her hand and rummaged through the inner pocket of her knitted jacket; after a while, she slowly pulled out a dusty gray badge from the pocket and handed it to the gate guard.

Although his expression was extremely displeased, the gate guard still took that dusty gray badge; he first carefully read the text written on it, then released his magic power to sense it, before returning the badge to the girl.

"Fine, it's the real deal, you're cleared, go on in," he said somewhat sullenly.

"... Thank you."

The girl immediately bowed and scraped before slipping through the side gate.

With this girl no longer blocking the entrance, Senior Cuique naturally walked through the main gate with great ease; although the identity documents prepared by Emerald were fake, they were also one hundred percent genuine, so the gate guard at such a martyrs' cemetery naturally could not detect anything amiss.

However, not long after Senior Cuique entered the cemetery, she discovered that the girl from earlier was, for some reason, standing beside a statue waiting; at this moment, she was staring wide-eyed at Senior Cuique, clearly having something she wanted to say.

"Captain, long time no see."

And when Senior Cuique drew nearer, the words from her mouth caused a sudden shock.

She was calling herself "Captain"? What did this mean?

It took Senior Cuique quite a while to realize what the title "Captain" in the other's mouth referred to: twenty years ago, or more precisely twenty-one years ago, when she was in the Rune Norre City Defense Army, she had indeed been the captain of a small squad.

But immediately after, she became even more confused, because her squad actually had very few members; apart from those who had already sacrificed themselves, she had impressions of the remaining few squad members, yet although the girl before her indeed looked somewhat familiar, her face did not match any of the faces in her memory.

Short stature, black hair, thin and small—such traits were not particularly common; there had indeed been a magical girl in her squad with these traits, Nina Kregeos, but her facial features were completely different from those of the girl standing before her.

Most crucially, under current circumstances she was theoretically not "Senior Cuique," but "Gentian," and there seemed to be no reason for Gentian, a newcomer magical girl, to know these veteran magical girls who had participated in the war twenty years ago.

"May I ask who you are?" So she could only respond with this somewhat hurtful counter-question.

And in fact, this sentence seemed truly somewhat hurtful, because visibly, upon hearing Senior Cuique's words, the girl before her turned deathly pale, her already slender body trembling so violently that she looked as though a single gust of wind could knock her down.

"I, I... it's me." She raised both hands, pointing at her own face, her voice trembling: "Captain, it's me."

"Alright, I know you want to say you're one of my old squad members..."

Senior Cuique suddenly understood somewhat why that gate guard earlier had been so irritable, and at the same time she realized that her disguise seemed to serve no purpose in the other's eyes, so continuing to pretend to be "Gentian" was meaningless; she could only say with some helplessness, "But so many years have passed, and it's hard for me to recognize people by face alone; sorry, could you tell me your codename?"

The girl froze for a moment.

Not long after, as if suddenly remembering something, she reached out, grabbed her own face, and then yanked it sharply upward.

Plop.

Accompanied by such a sound, her face—or rather, the layer of skin on her face, a leather mask—was thus torn off by her.

"Sorry, I forgot... I was wearing a mask."

She lowered her head somewhat ashamedly, saying this, while simultaneously pulling out again the certification badge she had shown to the gate guard earlier and handing it to Senior Cuique.

However, ever since she removed the mask, Senior Cuique actually no longer needed to look at that dusty gray badge to know who stood before her.

Senior Cuique also felt relieved, because it proved that her ability to remember people had not declined; rather, even while the other party had been wearing the mask just now, her mind had already filtered through to the correct answer.

Standing before her was indeed Nina Kregeos, a squadmate who had belonged to her squad twenty-one years ago.

Just as was inscribed on that dusty gray certification badge:

—【Number, Black Lotus】