Chapter 16: The senior is very worried about you.

Basic information was not difficult to obtain. Alice had now clarified the current situation of the magical girls in Weaving Sunny City.

Jiang He, magical girl codename [Summer Violet], combat experience: two months, disaster beasts exterminated: 7.

Xia Xiao Cheng, magical girl codename [Wings of the Rising Sun], combat experience: one month, disaster beasts exterminated: 3.

Looking across the entire Weaving Sunny City, including Alice herself, there were only three magical girls in total. For a city with a permanent population of roughly 500,000, such staffing was clearly insufficient for defense.

Gazing at the two rookie magical girls in front of her, who were taking turns hugging little Mo and playing with her cat paws, Alice felt a deep sense of worry.

Weaving Sunny City’s magical girls suffered from a serious generational gap. The newcomers had yet to mature, yet disaster beasts were appearing with unusual frequency. What if the outer suburbs or urban districts were destroyed? Could she transform and arrive in time every single time?

“If… they were still here, it would be better.”

“Eh? Senior, what did you say?”

Xia Xiao Cheng had just finished handing over little Mo. She looked at Alice, who was frowning in deep thought, and asked.

“Nothing. I was just thinking about how Weaving Sunny City used to have many more magical girls.”

“What Senior mentioned was probably eight years ago, right? Ever since the Weaving Sunny City government announced the test results and the atmospheric magic concentration coefficient dropped, there was no longer a need for so many magical girls to be stationed here. They were needed in more distant cities for combat.”

Jiang He spoke up to supplement, her memory quite good. She vaguely remembered the news she had learned about as a child.

“Mhm, Jiang He is right. Do you often follow the news?”

Alice couldn’t help feeling somewhat relieved. Although Jiang He usually appeared lazy and occasionally said shocking things, once she sobered up she seemed more mature than Xia Xiao Cheng.

“I only caught bits and pieces from TV news when I was little. Back then I was fighting a boss, and after losing I looked up and saw it.”

Jiang He extended her slender arm, her fair fingers pointing toward the television. The game case was placed right there.

“When you were little? How old were you then?” Alice felt curious, because the Jiang He before her seemed to be the same age as Xia Xiao Cheng.

“Four or five years old, I think.” Jiang He lowered her head and thought for a moment before replying.

“Then your parents must be quite lenient, allowing you to play games.”

“Oh, that’s true. They never cared about me at all. They only ever cared about my older sister’s matters.” Jiang He looked up with a smile, her red eyes carrying a sense of accustomed normalcy.

Alice paused slightly upon hearing this. She keenly caught the phrase “they never cared about me” and felt genuinely concerned in her heart.

“Senior, since you’re looking for little Mo, I’ll hand her over to you. After all, she’s the liaison. The information we know is limited, and we can’t ask anything else.”

Jiang He stood up, picked up the struggling little Mo, and forcefully stuffed her into Alice’s hands.

“No!”

Little Mo cried out in alarm, but her body was already held firmly by Alice. She could only go limp and turn into a cat stick, her large watery eyes looking backward, once again showing a face full of pleading as she gazed at Alice.

“Jiang He, are you…”

“Xia Xiao Cheng, come play games! Didn’t I fail to accompany you last night? Today let’s fight straight until it gets dark!”

Jiang He’s attention completely bypassed Alice. She turned around and sat down, reaching out to directly hug her best friend Xia Xiao Cheng.

“Eh! Jiang He, don’t do that. That’s Senior! We should discuss magical girl matters together…”

“Things like that can wait until tomorrow. Sunday’s theme isn’t that. Magical girls also have their own private lives. Besides, even if a disaster beast appears, isn’t there the super powerful Senior Alice here?”

Jiang He turned her head to glance at Alice and winked at her.

“…Yes. If anything happens, as the senior I’ll go first. You two play. I’ll discuss things with little Mo.”

Alice understood clearly that she had not yet managed to enter Jiang He’s circle of friendship. She was still just a stranger senior.

“Eh! Senior, please don’t be angry! Jiang He didn’t mean it that way.”

Xia Xiao Cheng still wanted to explain, but as an adult, Alice responded with a relaxed smile.

“It’s fine. Xia Xiao Cheng, you go play with Jiang He.” Alice then looked toward Jiang He and asked, “May I use the balcony?”

“Senior, feel free. I don’t mind.” Jiang He stood up and walked to the TV cabinet, bent down to pick up the game controller, then happily returned to the sofa and handed it to Xia Xiao Cheng.

“Senior, I…” Xia Xiao Cheng wanted to speak but stopped. She wanted Jiang He to get familiar with Alice, but she didn’t have the social skills for it.

“Xia Xiao Cheng, focus on playing with Jiang He. Don’t worry about me. This is your weekend.” Alice gave her a trusting look that said ‘leave it to me’.

It seemed Senior really wasn’t angry.

Only then did Xia Xiao Cheng feel relieved and accept the game controller Jiang He handed over.

“Pay attention, Xia Xiao Cheng. Today we’re doing a two-player boss raid. Yesterday we got delayed by a disaster beast, so today we have to slaughter it thoroughly!”

Jiang He was full of enthusiasm for the game. Her red eyes stared fixedly at the television as she brought up the game platform.

The juniors had their own games to play. As their senior, Alice carried little Mo and walked out, gently closing the glass sliding door behind her.

Bang.

“Wuuu! Lady Alice! I was wrong! I really know I was wrong!” Little Mo wailed dramatically. Being held in Alice’s hands, she felt she was surely doomed.

“Your crying sounds terrible. I have serious matters to ask you.” Alice’s face was cold and indifferent. She lowered her eyes and loosened her hands, releasing little Mo.

“Wuuu… Lady Alice is beautiful and kind-hearted! I praise you!” Little Mo floated in mid-air, rubbing her large watery eyes.

“Be serious. Even though you sneaked over, you’ve still been to [Headquarters], right? There’s a positioning device there specifically for sending disaster beast locations to magical girls. Did you notice any issues?”

Alice was very concerned about last night’s disaster beast incident. Headquarters’ positioning device had a special spell connection with fairies, allowing fairies to sense the location of disaster beasts and convert it directly into a phone signal sent to every magical girl’s phone.

“Um… actually there wasn’t any major problem. After all, it was designed according to a fairy’s instinctive reaction, but…”

“What? Tell me.”

“It seems too old, Lady Alice. Also, when I went into [Headquarters], the people outside didn’t seem to welcome me very much.”

Little Mo told the truth. No matter how much of a good-for-nothing she was, she still remembered the most basic liaison rules for coming to the human world.

“The people managing [Headquarters] at the Weaving Sunny City government don’t welcome you.”

“Mhm, Lady Alice, this is definitely not my problem. I came secretly to avoid attention and even used special authentication methods before they acknowledged my liaison identity. I absolutely didn’t lie.”

Little Mo’s face was sincere, without a trace of falsehood.

“I understand what you said. It looks like I’ll need to find time to visit Headquarters soon.”

Alice frowned. Combining this with the fact that the previous night Xia Xiao Cheng had clearly been in the same neighborhood as her, yet the disaster beast notification had been deliberately sent to Xia Xiao Cheng’s phone instead of hers, the matter was extremely suspicious.

“Then, Lady Alice, can I leave now?” Little Mo wanted to slip away. She had grown up in the Spring Court and had always been influenced by the Court’s propaganda. In her heart, Alice still mostly occupied the position of someone terrifying.

“You cannot leave. Regarding Jiang He’s family situation, you’ve been staying here for so long. What do you know? Tell me now.”

Alice was very worried about her juniors. Whether Xia Xiao Cheng or Jiang He, both were important future combat assets for Weaving Sunny City. She had to show more care, even if it made her seem a bit meddlesome.