After dealing with Xiao Keke, the bus passed through the city walls and entered North Blossom City.
For Xiaoxi, the scenery of North Blossom City was a nostalgic, familiar sight; for Ye Xinglan, however, it was all fresh and new.
Especially considering that this was the city where her girlfriend had grown up, Ye Xinglan couldn’t help but press against the window, excitedly watching the scenes outside.
“Xiaoxi, why does North Blossom City look so different from Summersea City to me? It feels a bit… old-fashioned?”
Ye Xinglan tilted her head, thinking for a long time before coming up with that description.
“It does. That’s because Summersea City was rebuilt after The Chaos, but North Blossom City didn’t need to be. Thanks to Judgment Scales always being stationed here, the city was basically untouched during The Chaos, so there was no need to rebuild.”
The most well-known principle of Judgment Scales was that she never left North Blossom City.
That way, there was always an S-Rank Magical Girl guarding North Blossom City during the Great Chaos Era, though this situation was actually quite rare.
During the Great Chaos Era, capable Magical Girls were always moving from city to city.
Xiaoxi herself was like that, since high-level monsters, like wild beasts, could spawn randomly in different places.
Although Xiaoxi and Judgment Scales weren’t close, she had to admit that having Judgment Scales permanently stationed in North Blossom City allowed her to feel at ease helping out in other cities.
Hearing this, Ye Xinglan finally understood. During the Great Chaos Era, she’d encountered and fought with most of the S-Rank Magical Girls, but Judgment Scales was the only one she wasn’t familiar with—so this was the reason?
Neither of them noticed that as they chatted about Judgment Scales, Qiuli, who had been gazing out the window, drew her attention back to them.
“Besides, I heard that starting from a year ago, North Blossom City’s magic crime rate has been at an incredibly low level… Well, I haven’t been back much these past two years, so I don’t know how the Association here managed it.”
“It was thanks to a new technology developed in cooperation between the Tianqi Church and Judgment Scales—do you know about Judgment Scales’ Disciplinary Ability?”
Qiuli unexpectedly joined the conversation, catching Xiaoxi by surprise.
She’d thought Qiuli was the type who couldn’t be bothered to chat.
Xiaoxi nodded. Judgment Scales’ discipline could suppress enemy magic within a certain range, or enforce restrictions and rules within her domain.
This ability also classified her as an auxiliary Magical Girl in the Coordination category.
But Xiaoxi didn’t see how this was related to the crime rate in North Blossom City.
“The Tianqi Church developed a Device that expands the range of ‘Discipline’ to cover the entire city. In other words, within North Blossom City, everyone’s magic level—except for those allowed by Judgment Scales herself—would be forcibly suppressed to C-level. That way, the root of magic crime was basically eliminated.”
As the bus drove down a street, with the tall buildings no longer blocking the view, Xiaoxi saw a tall tower standing at the city center.
She hadn’t even noticed it when she’d come home for New Year last year.
“That’s the tower—the one that used to spread Judgment Scales’ ability throughout North Blossom City.”
Qiuli looked out the window too.
The tower was half a head taller than the tallest commercial building in the city center, like a pillar propping up the sky.
From afar, it looked truly magnificent.
The bus slowly entered the downtown area. At the entrance of the Commercial Plaza, Xiaoxi saw a giant statue of a nun.
No need to guess—it had to be a statue of Judgment Scales.
The base was piled high with bouquets, so many that they almost buried the pedestal.
“You can tell that the people of North Blossom City are really grateful to Judgment Scales. So many people have come to mourn her.”
And rightly so—after all, she’d been protecting North Blossom City since The Chaos.
It was only natural that she was respected and revered by the citizens.
“Yeah…”
As the bus passed by the statue, Qiuli’s gaze also fell on it.
The giant nun statue stood with hands folded, her eyes gazing gently into the distance.
“Everyone’s grateful to her… me included.”
Qiuli didn’t bother lowering her voice as she said this.
Xiaoxi didn’t know if it was because of that, but all the Magical Girls sitting in the front row let out scornful clicks of the tongue and cold snorts.
But Qiuli acted like she didn’t hear a thing, utterly unfazed.
Soon the bus arrived at its destination. Qiuli stood up and, before getting off, looked calmly at Xiaoxi and Ye Xinglan.
“Because of this accident, with ‘Discipline’ gone, magic crime in North Blossom City has skyrocketed recently. That’s why you’ve both been specially transferred here, isn’t it?”
“Maybe we’ll meet again at work. I wish you both good luck.”
The other Magical Girls had already gotten off and entered the Association building.
When most people had left, Qiuli simply waved and got off the bus.
“Xiaoxi, things in North Blossom City are even more complicated than we thought.”
Xiaoxi nodded. Even Ye Xinglan, who’d never attended nine years of compulsory education, could sense how troublesome things were now.
No one even knew who killed Judgment Scales, and her sudden death had left the city without the restrictions of ‘Discipline.’
Xiaoxi could easily imagine—just like a rubber band snapping back—how some people with evil intentions would be itching to make trouble now.
Following the receptionist’s guidance, Xiaoxi took Ye Xinglan to report to the Magic Girl Squad as per procedure.
Just as Qiuli said, their official status was as Magical Girls sent to support North Blossom City, so all the necessary steps had to be followed.
As for investigating Judgment Scales’ cause of death, only the Six Seats—or maybe only the Astrologer—knew about that.
“Come on, Xinglan. The Association’s dorms for Magical Girls should all be singles. Let’s go drop off our luggage before we do anything else.”
After reporting in, Xiaoxi collected keys for their dorm rooms.
She’d never stayed in an Association dorm before, but from her brief experience crashing in Wan Keke’s dorm last time, the accommodations arranged for Magical Girls were pretty good.
“Do we really have to stay in the dorm? Can’t we just find a place ourselves?”
Ye Xinglan didn’t move, standing in place and blinking. Xiaoxi instantly realized what she meant.
“Don’t tell me your family’s Mo Luan’er has property in North Blossom City too?”
“Nope. Aluan said all her apartments are in Summersea City. She even asked me once if collecting so much rent at once was tiring…”
Xiaoxi breathed a sigh of relief. She’d just gotten spooked, thinking Mo Luan’er’s wealth was that terrifying.
“But the moment I said I was requesting a transfer to North Blossom City, Aluan bought an apartment here on the spot. Look—”
Ye Xinglan flashed a bunch of keys—the ones Mo Luan’er gave her before she left.
Xiaoxi: “……”
She understood now. If Mo Luan’er was an old mother, then she was definitely the kind who doted on Ye Xinglan to the extreme.