Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

The busy schedule that even a layman like Emerald Sparrow could see, of course, couldn't escape the eyes of the younger ones.

In the past, during her time in Fangting City, if Emerald Sparrow focused on leaving early and returning late for a period, they would always show some curiosity and concern. But this time, they remained unexpectedly quiet.

Without a doubt, the reason was that Emerald Sparrow took the initiative to confess what she had been busy with recently.

Striving to become a Gemstone Scepter—a goal that most Magical Girls consider so correct and high-reaching that no one would object to it.

In fact, in the first few days after presenting this fact, Emerald Sparrow could feel Lin Xiaolu and Bai Jingxuan acting as if they were afraid she would run away one day. Whenever given the chance to be with her, Lin Xiaolu would always hold tightly onto the corner of her clothes, while Bai Jingxuan would always find ways to get close to her.

This strange atmosphere naturally left Emerald Sparrow in a mix of laughter and tears. It took repeated explanations that becoming a Gemstone Scepter would not affect her continued presence in the Fangting City squad for the younger ones to relax a bit.

But even so, during the following period, the younger ones were excessively well-behaved.

Whenever Emerald Sparrow returned to the Colorful Cloud Wetland late at night to check their review progress, she would always find all three of them able to complete the tasks she'd assigned, and whenever she corrected certain issues, she'd quickly receive the correct feedback.

However, corresponding to this was the fact that Emerald Sparrow's bed became increasingly crowded.

Clearly, their room was quite spacious, enough to fit four single beds. In the first few days at the Colorful Cloud Wetland, everyone slept properly in their own beds. But for some reason, things started to change after the initial adaptation period.

It started with Bai Jingxuan pitifully asking to sleep with Emerald Sparrow. Considering that the child was still young, and that this wasn't the first time, Emerald Sparrow agreed.

After a few days, Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang naturally discovered this. Initially, Lin Xiaolu righteously scolded Bai Jingxuan, saying she shouldn't disturb Emerald Sparrow's sleep at night. However, within a couple of days, she followed suit, squeezing into the blanket with Emerald Sparrow and Bai Jingxuan, clutching her pillow and occupying each other's sleep space in the middle of the night.

By this point, there was hardly space for more people on Emerald Sparrow's single bed.

Xia Liang then demonstrated her ingenuity. When the other three were already squeezed beyond reason, she voluntarily pushed her bed over and joined it with Emerald Sparrow's, instantly freeing up space.

As a corresponding "reward," Xia Liang also joined in during the night.

Thus, the arrangement of the original four single beds became completely ornamental.

Honestly, by now, Emerald Sparrow had already become somewhat permissive of this level of close behavior, since she was effectively taking on the parental role in the hearts of these children. Their willingness to be closer to her actually indicated their trust, which was definitely a good thing. And the daily fatigue over the past half-month made it easy for her to fall into a deep sleep, unaffected by the crowded conditions.

But the problem was, this group of kids hardly had good sleep postures.

Bai Jingxuan was manageable, and most of the time, she slept obediently in her spot without disturbing others much. But Xia Liang and Lin Xiaolu were truly a handful.

Xia Liang's sleeping posture didn't need much description; having slept with her before, Emerald Sparrow knew she liked to grab onto something in her sleep without letting go, much like an unyielding chokehold that was far from commendable. And Lin Xiaolu was the most extravagant of the trio; her sleep posture involved everything from grabbing people to flipping around, chewing on hair to drooling unabatedly.

Every morning upon waking up, Emerald Sparrow frequently found herself unable to move, with one arm being held by Xia Liang and her body firmly pressed down by Lin Xiaolu, who often still had strands of Emerald Sparrow's hair in her mouth, soaked with saliva to the point of dripping.

This, in turn, necessitated daily hair washing for Emerald Sparrow, and the scent of the shampoo on her hair didn't escape the noses of the Magical Affairs Institute staff. Within days, a peculiar misunderstanding emerged among the staff that Cornflower, despite not being present, bathed multiple times a day due to obsessive cleanliness, leading them to put extra effort into office cleanliness. It wasn't until Emerald Sparrow clarified multiple times that she wasn't germophobic that the matter gradually subsided.

As for whether to send the younger ones back to sleep in their own beds, Emerald Sparrow had considered it but ultimately decided against it.

She understood well that the young ones behaved as they did primarily because of her.

She mentioned her "plan to become a Sapphire Wand," and even though she stated she wouldn't leave the team, it probably made the children feel a bit of uncontrollable detachment.

To dispel this sense of detachment, the younger ones made an effort to finish their homework early and spent as much time as possible with Emerald Sparrow when she returned to the Colorful Cloud Wetland. Clearly, they didn't want to waste the moments together on coursework and teaching but rather wanted to chat more, share more intimate moments, and savor those warm times together, even if it was late.

In this way, refusing them would undoubtedly hurt their feelings and willingly create a rift in their relationship, something Emerald Sparrow wasn't willing to see.

She could feel the impact of her presenting the facts on a few juniors, and she once reflected on whether she should have told them this so early. But no matter how she reviewed it, she felt that revealing the truth half a month ago was not a mistake.

Emerald Sparrow knew that the magical girl in Lin Xiaolu's heart was a role that should be filled with fairytale-like hues. If possible, she also wanted her daughter to immerse herself in this beautiful dream for as long as possible. This beautiful dream held no complex calculations from adults, nor sorrowful goodbyes and changes... But unfortunately, the real magical girl isn't a fairytale.

As the juniors' abilities as magical girls became increasingly comprehensive, their combat capabilities more reliable, they were destined to gradually become more independent individuals.

Previously, she had taken on too much, even from discovery to resolution without revealing anything to the children. Such behavior at the early stage of them becoming magical girls was fine because they were too fragile to confront risks. But now that they have grown to the current level, she found it necessary to selectively throw some truths at them to cultivate their independent thinking.

At present, Emerald Sparrow has only revealed the rather neutral information that "she might become the Gemstone Scepter." But in the future, when the juniors further grow to the Leaf Level, even to the Bud Level... The news relating to Black Ash Dawn and Claw Mark, as well as the secrets of the Kingdom, are bound to gradually reveal themselves to them.

Even, until the juniors grow to fully handle things alone, so much so that they can live well in this world without themselves, it would be time to put a final dot on the issue of disguise concerning Emerald Sparrow and Lin Yun.

And all of this will fall onto the upcoming examination.

If the juniors can smoothly pass this assessment and obtain the Validation Card along with their magical girl number, then it signifies their formal independence, and Emerald Sparrow should let go more; conversely, if they fail to obtain the Validation Card, Emerald Sparrow will have reasons to let the current mode of interaction last a bit longer, and even longer...

——"Time's up! All examiners, open the examination venue now!"

The shout from the front interrupted Emerald Sparrow's thoughts.

Returning to her senses, Emerald Sparrow used her flying ability to quietly lift her gaze higher, passing through the wall of people in front of her. She looked towards the distant Silver Corridor door, where the invigilators were slowly opening the grand door, revealing the majestic building behind.

For a moment, the examinees became somewhat noisy. Clearly, the long wait made them a bit anxious, yet the moving crowd did not budge forward in the slightest because the gate examiners were still verifying each examinee's identity one by one.

They held specialized testing devices, checking the authenticity of the examinees' admission tickets, while also detecting the examinees' magical power fluctuation and pre-stored files, and verifying various physiological features to ensure nothing goes wrong before allowing one to pass.

And perhaps because of the long silence, when the door opened and the venue began to let examinees in, the crowd around Emerald Sparrow became much noisier.

For a moment, Emerald Sparrow instinctively recalled the scene of herself attending the qualification assessment in her youth.

In the surrounding crowd, there were those who looked eagerly at the examination venue, wishing they could immediately bypass the crowd and squeeze in; there were those who held their books tightly and recited words silently, trying to memorize a bit more until the last moment; there were also companions in threes and twos, discussing how insufficient their preparation was: maybe part of this was true, but more was to lower their psychological expectations through conversation and ease anxious emotions.

Among them, there were those full of confidence, as if coming here meant the Validation Card was already theirs; there were those who cautiously concealed their strength, observing other examinees while thinking about their strategies for the upcoming assessment: there were straightforward people; there were those who were earnest and serious; there were also those who intelligently appeared foolish; there were those who excelled in calculations.

Without a doubt, almost all of the most outstanding young magical girls of this generation were already gathered here, and next, this would be their stage.

Emerald Sparrow released the magical power that lifted her and settled back into the crowd, like a drop of water falling into the sea without causing any ripples.

There was no need, nor should she be the protagonist of this grand event.

What she should do was protect this youthful hope, this fighting dream, and witness the moment it buds, branches, and blossoms.

Thinking of this, she suddenly felt that her hard work over these days finally landed, a subtle sense of refreshment made her take a long breath, feeling inexplicably a bit relieved.

Perhaps whether participating in the ceremony as the Queen or those accompanying Gemstone Scepters, all had such feelings at this moment, witnessing the debut of the country's next generation, and then, able to look forward to its future?

Let me take a good look at the magical girls of this generation.

She thought to herself.

No need to hide talents, no need for courteous modesty, no need to obey the rules. Use all effort, show everything, compete for those limited spots, compete for the chance to be at the center of the stage.

Only that honor is the best annotation for effort and sweat.