Chapter 49: An Unexpected Visitor

This awkward reaction made Hong Siyu laugh even more happily: "Just a joke, no need to be so tense."

After saying this, she took the initiative to lean back, increasing the distance between them to show her friendly attitude.

Seeing her behavior, Lin Xiaolu relaxed a little, but there was still no lack of vigilance in her expression. She did not sit next to Hong Siyu, but remained standing where she was and said: "Then, what is a contact person for Cui Que doing at my house?"

"Not just a contact person for Cui Que, but also a former magical girl."

Hong Siyu shook her finger to correct her: "The difference is quite significant!"

"Specifically speaking?" Lin Xiaolu raised an eyebrow, quite disbelieving, "After a magical girl retires, she is just an ordinary person, right?"

"In terms of magic power, that is indeed the case. I am now just a weak woman with a relatively healthy constitution."

Facing Lin Xiaolu's questioning, she remained unshaken, and even showed no reaction to the term "ordinary person" she used. Hong Siyu said confidently: "However, my understanding and knowledge of the magical side are superior to yours."

"It won't be more than Cui Que's anyway, right?" Lin Xiaolu said gloomily.

"Ahem... don't say things like that, it will make you unlovable."

Choked for a moment by Lin Xiaolu's words, Hong Siyu clasped her hands together with slight embarrassment: "Anyway, I happened to take a day off today, so I volunteered to come here to see you. I heard that you are currently practicing under the Sower?"

"Following it? It's just a lackey who bullies others by flaunting its master's power." Lin Xiaolu sneered.

—"I am a fairy, even in terms of appearance I am a cat, saying I am a lackey is slander!" Moke protested solemnly from the side.

"I see you've been so arrogant these past two days that you're practically barking!" Lin Xiaolu glared at it.

"So what if I bark? Anyway, there are some people who want to be this lackey but can't."

The whiskers on Moke's face twitched, and it opened its mouth wide to retort. It had been in high spirits these days and didn't care at all about Lin Xiaolu's disparagement: "With your speed of progress, you'll just be a junior for the rest of your life, changing from an incumbent junior to a retired junior, you will only ever have this kind of relationship!"

"What did you say!" Lin Xiaolu was instantly choked with anger. Just as she was about to lash out, she suddenly glanced at Hong Siyu sitting on the side, and the words on the tip of her tongue were swallowed back by her.

Changing from an incumbent junior to a retired junior, and then only ever having this level of intersection—if what Hong Siyu said was true, then she herself seemed to be a living example.

Such a "typical case" sitting in front of her made her not know what to say instead.

Fortunately, ordinary people with little magic power cannot see fairies, and naturally cannot hear what fairies say, so Hong Siyu just raised her head and asked with some curiosity:

"Is your Sower here? Are you two arguing?"

"Ah... um, it's nothing." Lin Xiaolu brushed it off with some embarrassment.

Before long, Xia Liang, who had gone to the kitchen, walked back with a few cups of tea. Seeing the two talking, she put down the teacups and asked: "What are you talking about?"

"Just chatting, just chatting."

Hong Siyu picked up her bag from her lap, placed it aside, and waved to Xia Liang: "I mean, I wanted to come and see how you are doing. After all, I heard from Cui Que that you intend to participate in next year's certification test?"

"That's right, any advice?"

Xia Liang understood what Hong Siyu meant and obediently sat down beside her: "Also, you said you are a magical girl who retired ten years ago. How can you prove your identity?"

"That, of course, depends on this!"

Reaching out to fumble in the bag beside her, Hong Siyu pulled out something and extended it in front of the two.

And what she held in her hand was a badge with a purple-red background, with a number written in the center, surrounded by many small, unclear Favo runes. A name was also engraved with runes above the number, but neither Lin Xiaolu nor Xia Liang could understand it.

They had seen Cui Que's certification badge. Compared to Cui Que's, the badge Hong Siyu took out, besides lacking some complex and gorgeous decorations, had one major difference: its surface was dull and lusterless, gray and dusty, unlike Cui Que's, which often had magic flowing through it and looked iridescent.

"This is the certification badge I had when I was a magical girl back then. At least it's a character badge, although it was canceled after I retired, now it's just a decoration."

Hong Siyu carelessly stuffed the badge into Xia Liang's hand: "Take a look, everyone take a look!"

So both girls leaned forward and began to examine it carefully.

This was the first time since they became magical girls that they had observed the appearance of a certification badge at such close range. Although Cui Que had shown it to them before, she was never willing to show it too much.

Xia Liang poked the badge in her hand with her index finger and asked with some curiosity: "Speaking of which, it is said that the certification badge is a symbol of a magical girl's strength. How is it different from the Blossom level?"

"Can you become a Flower badge if your ability blossoms to the Flower level?" Lin Xiaolu also added from the side.

—"That's for sure!"

"Actually, that's not the case."

As her voice fell, two voices sounded at the same time, but the answers were completely different.

The one who suddenly interrupted to answer "of course" was Moke, while the answer given by Hong Siyu was negative.

Upon hearing Hong Siyu's answer, Moke immediately covered its mouth as if it had caused trouble; however, Hong Siyu, as an ordinary person, had no reason to hear Moke's voice, so she continued on her own: "To put it simply, Flower badges are all combat elites among the Flower level; as well as a small number of magical girls who haven't reached the Flower level but have made significant contributions."

"The assessment of a Flower badge is subjective, based on the Wang Ting's recognition of a magical girl, so there are cases where a very strong magical girl is only a character badge. This is what is called the corruption of adults."

Taking back the certification badge returned by Xia Liang, Hong Siyu was in the middle of a lively conversation, so she placed it aside casually: "But generally speaking, you can just treat Flower badges as the most successful batch of magical girls. They can be called 'big shots'."

"Eh? That is to say..."

Lin Xiaolu looked at Xia Liang belatedly and found that there was no surprise on her face, so she could only exclaim herself: "Cui Que is actually a big shot?"

"Haha, you only realize it now?" Xia Liang smiled helplessly.

"Cui Que should have told you that she is an 'Inspector', right? This is her official position as a big shot. In fact, most Flower badge magical girls have honorary positions in the Five Great Academies."

Talking about these things, Hong Siyu was like counting family treasures: "The five major power organs under the Wang Ting—the Investigation Academy, the Finance Academy, the Research Academy, the Civil Governance Academy, and the Magic Affairs Academy—the operation of the entire magical kingdom is under this system."