Chapter 200: The Year of the Queen
——"A special assessment to commemorate the twenty years since the disaster?"
As the girls in the secret base were on edge, Delphinium, who was driving on the return road, asked Aso Yuanxiang with some confusion: "Why do we need to commemorate such an event?"
After finishing the memorial service for Anya and leaving the cemetery in Fangting City, Lin Yun once again turned into Delphinium in the car, considering that he would return to the secret base.
At this time, she was driving and talking with Aso Yuanxiang about the certification assessment.
She was also very puzzled about Aso Yuanxiang's previous proposal, which was that "the Fangting City team needs to defeat the Bai'an City team before participating in the assessment."
"Well...if there is any reason, it can only be because next year will be another twenty years, right?"
Leaning against the passenger window, Aso Yuanxiang looked at the street scene flashing outside the car: "You know, once every twenty years, the gate of the Rose Palace will open."
Great disaster, great celebration.
This is a word engraved in the life journey of every magical girl, corresponding to an extremely special year nineteen years ago.
The so-called great disaster refers to the "great beast disaster" that broke out in the material world. Its impact range is wide, the battle is fierce, and the damage is heavy. Therefore, after surviving such a catastrophe that can be called a natural disaster, the magical girls all remember this word in their hearts without exception.
The Great Disaster is only the first half of the word. The second half is the Great Celebration. This Great Celebration refers to another event, which is generally called the "Queen's Year" by the citizens of the Magic Kingdom.
For the kingdom, this is the year once every twenty years when the queen leaves the Rose Palace and carries out activities in the kingdom.
As the pinnacle of power in the entire magical kingdom, the queen is not always in public. Rather, in the minds of most citizens, the queen is far more mysterious than anyone else, because almost no one has ever met the queen in person.
Most of the time, the queen would stay in the Rose Palace, and at most would go out to the "garden" outside the Rose Palace. Only high-ranking officials of the royal court, the queen's confidants, and magical girls above the rank of Hana-karuta were qualified to enter the palace for an audience with the queen.
But there are always exceptions to everything, and this exception is the "Queen's Year".
During this year, the queen will take the initiative to travel around the country to inspect the people's sentiments, check the work of the five major academies, and even personally lead the magical girls to resist the enemy.
Therefore, the great beast disaster nineteen years ago was not only a catastrophe that occurred only once in a century, but more importantly, it coincided with the special year of the "Queen's Year".
Therefore, the queen of the country personally took part in the command of the battle, and the victory of this disaster was described as "a battle of honor under the wise command of the queen", and finally a grand celebration that was rare in a century was held.
A great beast disaster and a great celebration were combined into one. In the end, the name "Great Disaster and Great Celebration" was left in the history of the country.
At present, nineteen years have passed since the Great Disaster and the Great Celebration. Next year will be the twentieth anniversary. This not only means the arrival of another "Queen's Year", but also means that the victory of the Great Beast Disaster has reached the twentieth anniversary of the commemoration.
"Rose Palace..." Delphinium recited the word, pursed her lips, and took a deep breath. "I see. So who came up with this idea for no reason? What is the purpose? Is it just to flatter someone?"
"The news we received from the Investigation Institute is that His Majesty will personally observe this assessment next year."
Aso Yuanxiang said: "In order to commemorate the special day that happens once every twenty years, the Finance Institute, the Research Institute, and the Magic Institute will work together to add a new test in addition to the traditional qualification certification test. Magical girls who pass the new test can also obtain various special benefits."
"New assessment..."
Hearing this, Delphinium's heart was already filled with a bad premonition, but in order to confirm this premonition, she could only bite the bullet and continue to ask: "What idea did they come up with?"
"Simulate a great beast disaster."
Aso Yuanxiang sighed: "We will restore the situation of the great beast disaster to a certain extent, so that the candidates can experience the scene at that time in person, and at the same time hone their ability to survive and fight in crises... At least that's what they said when they promoted this project."
"...Psycho." This was the only evaluation Delphinium could give.
As witnesses of the Great Beast Disaster, no one knows the scene better than she and Madoka Aso. The ruins, the grief, and the endless beasts that seemed to be killed no matter how hard they fought were enough to make people shudder. Even now, they still can't forget the powerlessness and despair at that time, let alone this new generation of magical girls?
You know, as the most important assessment system in the entire magic kingdom, the annual qualification certification is still inevitable with sporadic casualties under perfect security. There will always be magical girls who encounter accidents of varying degrees due to non-compliant operations or due to the opponents' carelessness in the assessment.
For an exam like this that already has certain risks, adding a new assessment without any practical verification will undoubtedly further magnify the security risks.
“It’s too messy.”
Perhaps because the more she thought about it, the more she felt that this matter was unreasonable, so Kuizi added: "Is it a real-life simulation or a consciousness simulation? Who is specifically responsible for this? Can it be stopped now?"
"It's too late. The venue and the ritual have already been set up. Although I don't know the details, it is said that a large amount of manpower and financial resources have been invested in the relevant construction work. If we want to stop this now, I'm afraid we can only go to the current Purple Diamond or the Royal Court nobles."
Aso Yuanxiang shook her head: "To be honest, I have no idea what those guys are thinking. But this is why I proposed such a competition - two members of our team are magical girls who got white cards at the beginning of this year. The children you teach can only guarantee a certain degree of safety if they can defeat them. If they can't win, they may be in danger even if they participate in the assessment. Are you willing to see that situation?"
“…How is that possible?”
Delphinium let out a long sigh: "Are you willing to put the younger generation in such a dangerous place?"
"I definitely don't want to, so I want to make this clear to you."
Aso Yuanxiang said softly, "Our Baian team is not planning to participate in the qualification certification next year. White Thistle and Mimosa can't meet the standard of the word card for the time being. As for Mu Lily... I really don't trust her at all."
When the two talked about this matter, they were silent for a while.
Delphinium is thinking.
If she had hoped that the girls would take the test before because she didn't know the details, should she still encourage them to take it now that she knew that next year's test might be more dangerous than previous years?
She knew that a "magical girl" was a person who would be accompanied by battles throughout her life, and she couldn't always keep her juniors away from danger. But was it really necessary to add a risk that didn't exist just for a test?
This made her feel a little confused.
However, this confusion was soon suppressed by her heart. As the SUV drove back to the secret base, she had to maintain her mental state, at least not let her concerns affect those children.
After a brief welcome party, eight magical girls and one fairy gathered at the dining table for dinner.
At the dinner table, Kuroko and Aso Madoka revealed this matter to their juniors.
——"I have to tell you seriously that the danger of the 'Great Beast Disaster' is far beyond what you can handle now. Even if the assessment at that time will not be 100% restored, and even if it will be weakened to a certain extent due to your strength, it is still a very dangerous project."
Looking at the juniors across the table, Cuiqiao said seriously, "I didn't know this news before, but now it seems that this assessment will not be as simple as expected. I hope you can think carefully before making a decision."
"And the person who made the decision - I have discussed with Senior Margaret that you need to fight the magical girl from Baian City. If you win, you can participate in the national assessment."
After these words were spoken, the magical girls across the table had different expressions.
On the Bai'an City side, since they had no intention of taking part in next year's assessment, the expressions of several magical girls were relatively relaxed. The taciturn girl codenamed Mimosa sipped her soup expressionlessly; the blonde girl codenamed Lily of the Valley looked at the people from Fangting City smugly; as for Bai Ji, probably because she had known about this for a long time, she just nodded to the two seniors to show that she knew.
The situation in Fangting City is quite different.
Xia Liang should be considered the calmest of the three, but even she was a little stunned after hearing that such an unreasonable item had been added to the assessment, and the smile on her face couldn't help but show a bit of difficulty.
Bai Jingxuan looked as if she didn't quite understand. She probably understood the fact that "the assessment has become more difficult", but she didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with it.
As for Lin Xiaolu, she had barely moved her chopsticks and the food in her bowl. After listening to Cuique's words, she was silent for a while, put down the bowl in her hand, and only whispered "I'm full" before leaving the table in front of everyone.
She didn't even give any explanation.
This stunned Delphinium, who was originally thinking about other issues.
"...Anyway, you don't need to give me an answer right now. You can digest this matter and think about it for a few days, and then we can discuss and make a decision together."
After a long while, she slowly spoke: "And, who knows what happened to Bai Mei?"
No one replied.
Not only did the three people from Bai'an City remain silent, but even the two companions from Fangting City seemed confused about the matter.
Only Aso Yuanxiang, after glancing at everyone, looked at Bai Ji meaningfully, but did not say much.
The questioning was fruitless, and Cuiqiao was not in a position to continue the topic. Even though she was somewhat confused and worried about Lin Xiaolu's behavior, she did not say much and just continued to host the dinner until the meal was over.
Because the group of people from Bai'an City arrived on the first day, they were guests, so Cuique had to spend more time entertaining them. It was not until nearly nine o'clock in the evening that she had time to go to Lin Xiaolu's room to ask what happened.
In the quiet corridor late at night, she stood outside the door and knocked gently. The "dong dong" sound echoed in the corridor.
"White Rose?" Delphinium called.
After the call, there was a sound of rustling cloth from the door, and then hurried footsteps. Delphinium seemed to hear the sound of people hitting wood and the door handle turning. However, the sound of the handle turning did not continue. It just made a sound of the lock scraping and then stopped abruptly.
The door was not opened.
Soon, Lin Xiaolu's somewhat muffled voice sounded behind the door.
"Feel sorry."
She said, "Delphinium, can I think for a while by myself? I will adjust myself."
"I just wanted to ask if you were having any troubles," Delphinium said calmly, "We can solve it together."
"……Feel sorry."
However, Lin Xiaolu just left this sentence and there was no other movement.
With the moonlight outside the corridor, Cuique could see that the door handle was actually pressed down slightly, but for some reason, Lin Xiaolu did not open the door after all.
There was not even the sound of footsteps. Was the child still standing behind the door? Delphinium thought with some worry, realizing that she could enter the room if she took a little step forward. But she did not do so. Considering her daughter's awkward personality, barging in like this might not solve the problem.
In the end, she did not ask any more questions and left silently.
She left the corridor where Lin Xiaolu's room was and walked all the way to the stairwell connecting the floors. Just as she went down the stairs, she suddenly found a figure standing in the stairwell.
It's white thistle.
The girl, who had maintained a calm and steady attitude before, now had red eyes. One hand was grasping the forearm of the other hand, and she looked like she wanted to say something but hesitated.
"What's wrong?" Delphinium asked in confusion.
"…I'm very sorry, Inspector. This is all my fault."
But Bai Ji only left this incoherent apology, then covered his mouth and trotted to the fourth floor.
Such strange behavior made Cuiqiao even more confused. She could only watch the other person's figure disappear around the corner of the corridor, and she didn't have the courage to chase after him to ask.
With her head full of doubts, she returned to the living room on the first floor and only then did she get some valuable information from Aso Yuanxiang.
"Sorry, the little guy from our team is causing trouble with you guys."
Aso Yuanxiang leaned on the sofa and watched TV, smiling and saying, "I have already severely punished her and asked her to apologize to you. Did she come to you?"
So that's how it is.
After listening to the other party's explanation, Delphinium finally understood what was happening:
——Lin Xiaolu and Bai Ji had a quarrel.
(End of this chapter)
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