Chapter 239: Daily Warm-up

In the former Magic Kingdom, the ritual for mourning the dead was extremely complex.

The origin of the Kingdom's funeral rites lies with the royal family; it is said that it began because the Queen felt reluctant to let go of a certain familiar fairy's departure, so she held a seven-day, seven-night funeral for her. Among these, the eulogy and flower offerings were merely appetizers, the Requiem Choir and Elegy Band's performances were just extras, and afterwards came hand-carved tombstones, jointly woven wreaths, playing of images, invoking of star signs... and so on, an endless list of extravagant procedures. It is said that even after seven days, the Queen still cried nonstop and even wanted to extend it by another seven days, causing many Wang Ting nobles, and even the Gem Scepter, to offer remonstrance, only then did things finally settle down.

These mourning procedures were fully recorded afterwards, becoming a reference for all citizens of the Magic Kingdom. Depending on the deceased's status, family wealth, and the degree of attachment their relatives felt, the complexity of a funeral or memorial service was determined. Some, in their extravagance, would even fully replicate the Queen's seven-day, seven-night ceremony to express their own grief.

Later, as the times developed, while the Kingdom's population steadily increased, the pace of life also gradually accelerated. Ancient rituals could not adapt to modern life, so improvements had to be made. Thus, after several rounds of simplification and revision, the memorial procedure now widely circulated and recognized by the Civil Administration Bureau consists of only three steps.

The first step is tomb sweeping. Regardless of whether the grave is abandoned, the mourner must first clean the surroundings of the tomb before the memorial, using the Wind Clearing and Moistening formulas to sweep away dust from the grave's edge. In Memorial Gardens, this step is handled by fairies; every tombstone receives careful care from the park's fairies, so it can be skipped directly.

The second step is letter writing. The mourner can write words they wish to say to the deceased on prepared letter paper, personally seal it in an envelope, and stamp it with a wreath-shaped wax seal. Afterwards, they place it beneath the offerings brought along, arranging it in the box before the grave. These items, whether letters or offerings, will be affected by the Wind Erosion formula engraved within the box, gradually decomposing into the most primal mana particles over the next half-month, returning to the source of this world.

The third and final step is chanting the Requiem Poem to comfort the deceased's spirit in heaven. This step must be performed by someone capable of using mana; among them, the effect of a Magical Girl's Requiem Poem is best, followed by fairies, with Magicians coming last.

And this is what Senior Cuique is doing right now.

Taking a piece of the Qi Cloud Cake she carried with her and placing it into the box before her, Senior Cuique chanted the Requiem Poem in a low voice while glancing sideways at Mohe beside her.

To be honest, compared to the Nina Kreigios in her memory, the Mohe before her has actually undergone quite significant changes.

It is not that the other person's appearance has changed much; in fact, aside from clothing and temperament, the Magical Girl before her and the Mohe in Senior Cuique's memory are not very different:

A thin, slender figure that looks like it would snap if bent, and the only part of her body with any flesh, a cheek one would want to pinch. Her black hair, slightly rough from lack of grooming, was tied into a single ponytail; beneath her dark bangs were a pair of amber round eyes with corners slightly drooping, showing a hint of timidity, and lips that were pale pink, completely unadorned with makeup, giving an impression of fickleness.

Everything was exactly the same as the Mohe in Senior Cuique's memory, except that the Mohe of that time had long hair, and her Magical Girl outfit was a black dress with quite a witch-like style, whereas the current Mohe no longer keeps her hair very long, and her clothes have become a student uniform, black with red accents.

But the problem is, the Mohe in Senior Cuique's memory was that fourteen-year-old, merely a girl, Mohe. Under normal circumstances, the Kingdom's Magical Girls undergo an adjustment to their mana bodies around the time they reach adulthood, that is, around eighteen years old (for Magical Girls of the Material World, this is when their ten-year term ends), making their appearance closer to that of their seventeen or eighteen-year-old selves; outwardly, they would be closer to "young women" rather than "girls."

Doing this not only meets the aesthetic needs of most Magical Girls themselves—they wish to remain forever young but also do not want to always look like children—but also serves to ensure to some extent that their physique before and after transformation remains similar, keeping the Magical Girls' physical state consistent in daily life and during combat. This way, no additional adaptation is needed after transformation, which is more beneficial for fighting.

【6】 Senior Cuique's appearance as a child was entirely an accident and cannot be judged by the common sense of Magical Girls. What about Mohe? Why does she still look the same as before? Did she not undergo the post-growth adjustment?

Senior Cuique appearing in the form of a small child was entirely an accident and could not be judged by the common logic of magical girls. What about Mo He? Why did she also remain in her former appearance? Had she not undergone the adjustment for growth?

It must be known that, except for a very few who retain a childlike heart and prefer to continue fighting in the appearance of a child, most Magical Girls would not refuse such an adjustment, after all, it is something with a hundred benefits and no drawbacks. So why is Mohe like this? Is it also just personal preference?

And the confusion Mohe's appearance this time brought to Senior Cuique went far beyond these; aside from the simple appearance, the change in her temperament was even more striking.

The Mohe of the past, though an introverted girl who might even be called gloomy, still had a normal mental state and did not make people feel anything abnormal; whereas the current Mohe, compared to gloomy, her entire temperament has evolved to the level of "dejection," and the heavy dark circles under her eyes give a very melancholy impression. Paired with a facial expression that has hardly changed at all, she can now be fully described as a "freak."

Although adding these negative elements, Mohe's appearance can still be called "cute," and even this fragile and gloomy temperament on her seems somewhat pitiable, but one undeniable fact is that her state is absolutely not "good."

And perhaps because Senior Cuique had been motionless for too long, or simply because Mohe's perception was sharp, in any case, while Senior Cuique was secretly observing the other and thinking, Mohe had already finished chanting the Requiem Poem and looked at Senior Cuique.

"Captain."

Only after waiting until Senior Cuique also finished chanting did she brush her bangs and speak: "You... seem to have been looking at me?"

It was also because of this movement that, at this moment, Senior Cuique finally saw the other's right hand, which had been hidden in her sleeve all along.

Or rather, the right paw.

During the Garden Defense War, Mohe had once been injured in her true form by an enemy, and her right hand was severed. Such an injury affecting the soul could not heal naturally like ordinary damage to a mana body, so Mohe had almost permanently lost that hand of hers.

At least, that is how it should have been in Senior Cuique's memory.

And now, extending from Mohe's right sleeve was a paw covered in black fur, resembling some kind of animal, or rather, more like a cat's paw.

Whether it was the short toe joints, the slightly exposed claw tips, or the pads and balls on the palm, there was no doubt that it was shaped like a cat's paw.

"Ah, no... um, yes."

Not expecting the other to so directly expose her actions, or perhaps being distracted by the other's hand, Senior Cuique, after a brief hesitation, chose to admit it directly, and then asked: "Your hand... what happened?"

"It's a prosthetic."

Mohe blinked, then pressed that cat-paw-like right hand against her cheek, gripping and releasing slightly twice: "It just used some fairy technology, so it looks like a fairy's claw."

Is it a fairy?

To be honest, Senior Cuique always felt this was not quite the same as a fairy's claw, but couldn't say where the difference lay.

"If you're curious, Captain can touch it."

Seeing Senior Cuique say nothing, Mohe extended her right hand: "For me, it's no different from a normal right hand; it works very well."

"Thank you, no need." Senior Cuique's eye twitched twice; she did not actually reach out to touch it, but chose to refuse.

"Is that so..."

Mohe withdrew her hand expressionlessly, but her already downturned eye corners made her face look as if it held a hint of disappointment: "I thought you liked it."

"It was just simple curiosity; I have no intention of offending."

Senior Cuique coughed lightly twice, shifting her gaze: "To be honest, compared to before, I feel you have changed a lot."

"You're right; the current me is indeed different from before."

With the topic thus diverted, Mohe stopped staring at Senior Cuique and shifted her gaze to the tombstone before her: "On the contrary, Captain seems to be the same as before; nothing has changed."

"... No, I have changed too."

Senior Cuique looked at the Qi Cloud Cake in the box; although very slowly, fragmented mana particles had already begun to dissipate from its surface, like sand swept up by the wind: "It has been a long time, Mohe."

"I know."

Mohe nodded, yet her gaze remained fixed on the tombstone: "Before you left back then, Captain told me you wanted to seek a life and happiness that belonged only to yourself. Did you find this result?"

Senior Cuique did not answer the other immediately.

She could no longer remember whether she had truly said such words back then, but she remembered what she was thinking at that time; undoubtedly, it was something similar to what the other person claimed "she said."

As for the answer to this question, if Senior Cuique from a few years ago were to answer, she could probably give the answer "yes" without hesitation, after all, the Lin Yun of that time had completely cast aside the past and even no longer intended to become a Magical Girl. But now, she opened her mouth, yet could not give a suitable answer no matter what.

"... I found it."

After a long pause, she could only say this: "I indeed found what I wanted, and I have my own happiness."

This statement could probably only be considered half of the true answer, yet Senior Cuique did not continue to explain, nor did she intend to speak the other half of the answer.

She could feel that Mohe's mental state was, broadly speaking, not very good; rather than being too specific about her own situation and outputting negative emotions to affect the other, it was better to give a vague answer. Besides, the current her and Mohe were merely old acquaintances who happened to meet by chance; the other had no standing, nor any responsibility, to listen to her experiences.

Although Mohe still called her "Captain," and for some reason could see through the disguise Emerald made for her, recognizing her identity at a glance from beneath the "Gentian" makeup, this did not mean she could naturally assume the identity of "Captain," truly regard herself as some superior, and pour out too many thoughts without any sense of boundaries.

It has already been twenty years since the Garden Defense War; regardless of whether it is herself or Mohe, neither is at an age that can be called a teenager anymore. A single "Captain" is, for the most part, merely a social courtesy to erase distance. Just like when she meets old classmates from the Material World whom she hasn't seen in ten years, she still uses old titles like "Class Monitor" or "Study Committee Member"; it is simply that over the long span of time, the specific ways of interacting between them have been forgotten, and one can only hope these titles will help everyone quickly regain those few degrees of affection.

Admittedly, back then, she and Mohe had a fairly deep friendship; the two were not merely superiors and subordinates in the army, but could even be considered closely related. However, she left the Kingdom for a full twenty years after that; so many years have passed, and the affection of those days has already become distorted, leaving Senior Cuique unable to treat the other person completely as a stranger, yet also unable to shamelessly try to draw closer and immediately treat her as an intimate friend.

So, it is best to stop at the right point.

The two stopped speaking; Mohe did not continue to press the issue, and the two stayed in front of this tombstone for a while longer before taking the offerings to the next one.

Cuique didn't have many people she intended to personally mourn—just those teammates who had fallen in battle—and Mohe seemed to share the same sentiment, so the two walked together. During the mourning, Cuique noticed Mohe's movements were highly practiced: whether writing letters or chanting requiems, she did so with great skill. Clearly, she had done these things many times over the years.

Considering what had happened twenty years ago, this wasn't surprising at all.

The entire mourning ritual lasted over an hour. By the time Cuique had placed all the Qi-Yun cakes she had brought on the altar and prepared to leave the cemetery, it was already afternoon, nearly approaching evening.

As Cuique walked out of the cemetery gate with Mohe, she began considering how to return to the inn. This place was not close to the Caiyun Wetland; even if she found any takeoff point outside the magicless zone, it would take a long flight to reach the destination.

Should she call another ride-hailing car? Take an internal airship? Or simply use a teleportation array?

Just as she was weighing these options, Mohe suddenly turned into a side alley, and soon after, a small car slowly emerged from it.

Calling it a "car" was a stretch, since this "car" was less than half the size of a material-world vehicle, had no roof, and was a two-seater open-top microcar.

And it was hard to even call it an "open-top car," because it had no mechanical structure at all—no engine, no ignition system. From the outside, it looked exactly like those go-karts children ride in amusement parks.

Mohe now parked this child's go-kart right in front of her, and Cuique could even see a cartoon cat face drawn where the logo should have been.

"Captain, where do you live? I'll take you back."

Mohe spoke with a blank expression, as if she weren't driving a go-kart but some luxury convertible. Cuique somehow detected a hint of pride on Mohe's otherwise expressionless face.

Ride this back?

Cuique fell into thought.

She wasn't thinking about whether to get in—she was thinking about what reasonable excuse to give that wouldn't hurt feelings.

Unfortunately, before she could find one, Mohe had already driven the car beside her and opened the door, revealing the other seat.

Ah, she really seems to be looking forward to this.

Cuique realized this fact.

In the end, under Mohe's eyes—devoid of emotion yet somehow glowing—Cuique silently sat in the "passenger seat" of the go-kart.

She told herself: after all, she was now Magic Girl Dragon's Root; even if someone saw her riding a child's toy car, it had nothing to do with Magic Girl Cuique…

Mohe, beside her, probably hadn't noticed Cuique's reluctance—or perhaps she didn't think her "convertible" was anything worth resisting. She gripped the steering wheel, pressed the clutch, and started the car with an air of self-satisfaction, as if she thought she looked cool.

Cuique could even see the cartoon cat face on the car's front lighting up as it started, making her already expressionless face grow even stiffer.

Two magic girls with blank expressions rode together in a go-kart speeding down the roads of Luennore, each lost in entirely different thoughts. In this peculiar atmosphere, Mohe suddenly spoke:

"Um, Captain, are you free tomorrow afternoon?"

"Hm?"

Realizing Mohe was asking her, Cuique slowly came back to herself and answered with belated awareness: "Not at the moment. Why?"

"There's a famous dessert restaurant in Chengnan. I wanted to go, so I made a reservation a day in advance. I originally planned to go alone, but then I met you today."

Mohe kept her eyes on the road ahead, her left fingers gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white, yet she spoke as casually as ever:

—"So, if you're willing, would you like to join me for a meal there?"

…

…

In the cultural divide between the Magic Realm and the Material World, what most stunned newcomers from the Material World was naturally the existence of magic. After that, if they had some social experience, they would further realize—this place differed fundamentally from their own Material World.

Due to the widespread use of magical devices and basic arrays, the necessary labor time for the entire society had been compressed to an unbelievable degree. Every adult citizen only needed to master the use of magical devices—or simply become a magician—to achieve self-sufficient production of survival necessities through standardized basic arrays: clothing, food, housing, transportation—all basic needs, from food production to building materials, could be fulfilled with array assistance. This decentralized production model was utterly unlike the Material World's division of labor, causing over 70% of the population to prefer becoming independent entrepreneurs.

Under this production model, the most valuable things were naturally the arrays themselves, followed by the technology for packaging and encapsulating arrays—what people called magical devices—then the ability to produce magical devices. Only after that came the Material World's definitions of secondary and tertiary industries.

Creating or improving arrays was difficult—only the most brilliant magicians could accomplish it. Inventing or integrating magical devices was no easier—it required highly experienced and skilled magical artisan teams. As for producing magical devices, this was likely the least barrier-laden task, requiring only a magician of at least Contact-level to independently handle production. Thus, magical device shops were never absent from the streets and alleys of Luennore.

Most citizens' career choices leaned toward creative or experiential labor, with family workshops being highly prevalent. This flexible employment model gave time management a strong personal character—when just a few people, aided by arrays, could complete production, the boundaries between workdays and holidays naturally dissolved.

As a result, on any given day, someone in the realm seemed to be working, and on any given day, the realm seemed to be celebrating. This phenomenon was amplified infinitely in this Queen Year.

This conclusion was drawn because Lin Xiaolu had already eaten herself into a daze by sampling chocolates along the way.

Since leaving the Examination Institute's reception area and beginning to wander the magicless zone, they had hardly stopped eating, drinking, or playing. Besides pausing at various interesting magical device shops, pet stores, toy stores, and even fairy specialty service shops, street-side dessert shops kept handing them things.

For some reason, all these shops seemed to be selling chocolate today.

As mentioned earlier, in the Magic Realm, food production had become exceptionally simple thanks to magical devices, allowing even relatively crude foods to be made using tools. Thus, opening a successful dessert shop or restaurant in a place like Luennore became extraordinarily difficult.

Or put another way, dessert shops here faced fierce competition—extremely "intense."

Learning skills, refining flavors, and developing secret recipes weren't enough. Almost every dessert shop that survived in Luennore had its own signature technique. To ensure their businesses thrived and remained stable, merchants spared no effort in offering free samples and tastings, and went to great lengths to make customers feel warmly welcomed.

Thus, when all of them were pushing chocolate, Lin Xiaolu, as a passing "customer," naturally ended up eating nothing but chocolate until she was numb.

Each one was delicious, each had its own character, each made her want to order… but Xia Liang would always stop her then, pulling her away like a parent dragging a child.

This pattern repeated endlessly until, after more than ten times, it finally ended at the entrance of a dessert restaurant.

Not because anything else—only because this time, even Xia Liang had been conquered by the restaurant's chocolate.

The perfect sweetness, the melt-in-the-mouth texture, the thick yet non-sticky mouthfeel, and the complex yet perfectly balanced flavor blending nut and fruit aromas… as soon as the three girls took their first bite, their fate was sealed—they would buy a portion.

"How is it? Do you like this flavor? If not, we have five other flavors as options, two of which are our master's new creations this year."

Seeing the girls' expressions soften, the clerk promptly launched into sales pitch: "If you'd like a more festive experience and want to make it yourself, we also have customized magical device kits and ingredient packs—guaranteed to produce the exact same taste as our shop's, and you can shape them however you like!"

"What holiday?" was Xia Liang's reaction.

"What magical device kit?" was Lin Xiaolu's reaction.

"What flavors?" was Bai Jingxuan's reaction.

"Hmm… the one you're tasting now is our Fruit Blend flavor. We also have Classic Royal, Fairy Secret, and Era Classical flavors… The magical device kit is our custom-made magical dessert tool—just pour in the corresponding ingredient pack, and it follows the preset process to make the dessert for you, as if you made it yourself."

Though asked three questions at once, the clerk remained calm and expertly answered each in turn: "As for the holiday—it's Valentine's Day, of course."

"What's Valentine's Day?"

Now all three girls' attention was drawn to the term. Lin Xiaolu asked outright.

"Huh? You don't know? Oh, right—you're still so young."

After a brief surprise, the clerk quickly adjusted her expression, displaying professional expertise:

"It's a traditional holiday in the Magic Realm—probably exists in the Material World too—tomorrow, actually. On that day, girls can give chocolate as gifts to those they like, subtly expressing their feelings, or friends can exchange chocolates to thank each other for their care over the year."

"Giving chocolate…" Bai Jingxuan murmured.

"To someone you like…" Xia Liang touched her lips.

"To express your feelings…" Lin Xiaolu blinked.

They fell silent in unison.

Lin Xiaolu had yet to awaken to romance, so she had never paid attention to the concept of Valentine's Day; Bai Jingxuan had heard some information from Lin Yun before, but all she remembered about the holiday was "Valentine's Day means chocolate"; and Xia Liang, though relatively mature and somewhat aware of the concept, had never been in love herself, and her old circle of friends had never discussed such topics with her. So surprisingly, she had never truly understood what this holiday was about.

Thus, all three girls present were, for the first time, seriously considering whether this holiday had any connection to them.

Then, just as the clerk assumed they needed more time to deliberate and stopped speaking, preparing to return to tidy up the tasting samples, he realized he had been surrounded without noticing.

"Could you please explain the Valentine's Day section in detail?"

As the group's spokesperson, Xia Liang stood before the clerk and smiled as she asked.

Beside her, the other two girls firmly blocked both sides, nodding vigorously in agreement.