Retirement

“Ghost-class anomaly, coming from the east. Lady Xingyu, we’ll need your help one more time.”

“…”

“Lady Xingyu? Is something wrong?”

“Ah?! No, it’s nothing. Estimated two minutes. Make sure your side is ready and try not to damage any surface structures.”

Xingyu patted her cheeks lightly and refocused.

These were turbulent times. As the Third Seat, even the slightest sign of distraction would affect morale if seen by her subordinates.

“Ghost-class dimensional beast detected. Prepare defensive protocols.”

“Roger.”

Vice-captain Marchgrass and the team responded in perfect synchronicity, descending rapidly.

“Magic type: Alpha. Constructing second-tier large-scale defensive formation, Type B3!”

A colossal light barrier enveloped a two-square-kilometer area below, perfectly severing the “above” from the “below.”

And just as the large-scale linked defense magic was completed—

A massive mirror manifested in the void, unleashing a blinding beam of radiance that tore across the sky.

As if all things within it were reduced to nothingness.

“Inherent Magic… Second-tier Flashburst Detonation, along with Mana Recycle and Fine Mana Control… That’s multiple advanced techniques in one strike. As expected of a Ten Seat.”

Vice-captain Marchgrass gazed upward with undisguised admiration at the figure who resolved the conflict in a single moment.

Within the Magic Alliance, magic is divided into five tiers, from ‘One’ to ‘Five’.

Tier One magic is exclusive to the Ten Seats and is rarely even counted among learnable techniques.

Just mastering one Tier Two spell qualifies a magical girl as first-class.

The stronger the magic, the harder it is to master.

So experience tends to correlate directly with power.

Overnight sensations who dominate their seniors and rise to the top almost never happen.

Especially at the summit—the Ten Seats.

Their Inherent Magic is abnormally powerful, and both the quantity and quality of spells they wield far outstrip the average magical girl.

The gap in combat ability is vast.

That’s what makes the Ten Seats irreplaceable.

Even now, two of those ten positions remain vacant.

But being a magical girl doesn’t mean you grow stronger forever.

Most magical girls reach a service limit.

After that point, the Magic Alliance evaluates their mental state to decide whether they should retire.

Some are retired within a year.

Most retire around the six- or seven-year mark.

Few ever reach ten.

Those who perform well are retained as instructors.

The average ones?

They return to society and resume normal lives.

“Lady Xingyu’s been a magical girl for over nine years now, hasn’t she?”

Marchgrass muttered to herself.

Then laughed self-deprecatingly.

“What am I even thinking… someone as valuable as a Ten Seat wouldn’t be retired without a really serious reason, right?”

She had her own problems to worry about.

This year marked her fifth.

Just last week, she completed her mental evaluation.

She still hadn’t seen the results.

“Mission complete. Withdraw.”

Lady Xingyu’s cool voice came through the earpiece.

“Understood.”

Operations Briefing Room

Xingyu sat alone on a bench, face dark.

She kept recalling a conversation she’d had with Xingyue a few days ago.

“She… can’t transform anymore?”

“Mm. My sister… Liyun, she told me that herself.”

“I mean, I knew Liyun hadn’t been back in over seven years, but I didn’t think things had gotten this bad.”

“That’s why I’m asking—do you have any ideas, Xingyue?”

“I can only buy her some time. But if things don’t improve… help her prepare for retirement.”

Xingyu pressed a warm towel to her face.

She’d waited so long, only to find out that her sister was about to be retired.

“How the hell am I supposed to break this to her…”

“It’s that woman’s fault… that damn Herrera! She’s the one who turned my sister into this!”

Knock knock.

“Lady Xingyu?”

“…Come in.”

She straightened her posture, regaining the poise expected of a Ten Seat.

Marchgrass stepped in.

“Lady Xingyu, there are updates regarding the joint operation with the UN’s Realm Sea Special Task Force two days from now. Please review.”

“The Realm Sea Special Task Force…”

Xingyu frowned in annoyance.

Formed by the UN and separate from the Magic Alliance, the Task Force consisted of elite personnel from across the globe.

The Realm Sea held endless secrets, and secrets attracted prying eyes.

If those secrets fell into the wrong hands, the consequences could be catastrophic.

That’s why third-party access was strictly prohibited, and the Task Force was formed to enforce this.

Well-trained, well-armed, and comparable in strength to even the most dangerous rogue organizations.

But Xingyu had no patience for them.

“They want to crack down on illegal trading… but won’t even tell me what’s being traded. They just want me to show up and act as muscle. I’m not their damn errand girl.”

They didn’t trust her with the full details—just expected her to play the enforcer.

This wasn’t the first time.

Marchgrass sighed.

“Right? They say it’s about smuggling items out of the Realm Sea, but really they just treat it like their private lab. Who knows what dangerous experiments they’re running in there…”

Xingyu scowled.

“Marchgrass, watch what you say. That’s not something you should speak carelessly about.”

“Ah! Sorry, I misspoke! I’ll just leave the documents here for you to review!”

She fled the room in a flustered jog.

Xingyu opened the drawer in front of her.

Inside was a file—Marchgrass’s psychological evaluation.

She turned silently to the last page.

Her eyes went straight to the final line.

—“Upon evaluation, Marchgrass is deemed unfit to continue as a magical girl. Please confirm retirement. This document takes effect in ten days.”

Beneath it—Xingyu’s signature.

—Approved for Retirement.

“Sigh… I don’t even know how to break the news to her. She’s such a capable girl…”

Unlike her sister Liyun, Marchgrass was still in her prime.

She could’ve continued serving on the frontlines.

But one evaluation was all it took to end that.

Still, Xingyu didn’t protest.

She’d processed enough retirements to know the truth.

Appeals were useless.

The Magic Alliance’s decisions were absolute.

Even she didn’t fully understand the standards behind retirement judgments.

Perhaps only Xingyue and Manjusaka knew.

Those two weren’t like the other Ten Seats.

They probably knew more of the Alliance’s secrets.

And the headaches didn’t stop there.

Xingyu pulled out the recent activity reports.

“Dimensional beasts are appearing more frequently lately… It’s almost like someone’s releasing them on purpose.”

“Another magical girl retired, huh.”

Luo You watched the news report on TV, cracking sunflower seeds as she munched.

They didn’t reveal a name or appearance.

Just a single sentence buried in the headlines.

That alone told Luo You all she needed to know.

It had to be a first-rate magical girl on active duty.

Only when frontliners retired did the media downplay it like this.

When it came to the second- or third-string girls—those city-protecting idols—retirement meant trending on every social platform for days.

“What are the standards for retiring a magical girl, anyway? Zining, you work part-time at Zhou Xi’s agency. Heard anything?”

“Nope.”

Luo Zining’s reply was curt, her mood visibly dark.

Luo You knew not to push.

Magical girls, after all.

There had to be a hard age limit somewhere.

Otherwise, they’d eventually turn into magical aunties.

Not that she minded.

In her view, a pretty face solved everything.

Magical aunties had their own mature allure.

【Speaking of which, that thing Yue mentioned is happening tomorrow.】

Tomorrow, the Inhumans were scheduled to carry out a secret trade with an overseas force—deep within the Realm Sea.

Lord Yue, the leader of the organization, had asked her to attend in person.

Not to fight—just to keep the peace.

The time and location had already been shared.

With her speed, she could arrive instantly.

She had time to spare.

But Luo You didn’t buy the idea that she’d just be “keeping the peace.”

Odds were, things were about to go full-on black eats black.

She hated getting dragged into messes.

But if a Ten Seat was involved… well, she couldn’t turn down a fresh hunt.

Back when she operated as Herrera, she took down at least three magical girls a month.

Now, since her return, she’d only “enjoyed” Zhou Xi.

That hunger was bubbling up again.

“Hope Xingyue shows up… This time, I’m gonna thoroughly ravage her… Manjusaka wouldn’t be bad either. I’ve never tasted her before. She’s exactly my type—elegant, older, a real onee-san…”

Those two were the top picks.

But the worst-case scenario…

Luo You’s eyes drifted to Luo Zining.

If her target turned out to be Zining’s sister—Ji Meng—should she still go through with it?

“Zining, let me ask you something.”

“What?”

“Are you and your sisters actually blood-related?”

“Nope.”

“Wait, seriously—?!”

Luo You gasped.

She’d asked offhandedly, but that was an unexpected answer.

Zining scowled at her.

“You don’t know anything about my family, do you?”

“I really don’t. Enlighten me.”

“Listen up, then. My sisters lost their parents ages ago. We only became siblings because we were adopted by the same foster mother. But later on, even she…”

Zining’s voice trailed off.

Luo You pressed her lips together, thinking hard.

Then walked over and tugged down her shirt collar.

“Wanna re-experience being a baby in mommy’s warm embrace?”

“Go to hell, you pervert—!”

Zining walloped her with a barrage of cushions.

Amid the chaos, Luo You suddenly yelled,

“Hold on! So none of you are related. But what about your auntie?”

“She was our foster mother’s little sister. No blood relation there either.”

“Ohhh~~~”

That day, Luo You opened the door to a brand new world.