"The test report is out."

On the outskirts of the city of Fangting, a private research institute of emeralds.

The round elf doll jumped from the side of the treatment bed, clutching a small mirror with strings of runes lining the mirror. It casually walked up to the delphinium and said lazily:

"Well, how to put it, the situation seems to be more complicated than I had previously speculated."

"More complicated than before? So what is her current state? Delphinium asked in a deep voice, frowning as she looked at the treatment table not far away. And lying on the bed was Bai Jingxuan, who had just been sent over.

Hours have passed since the sudden event of spring on the lakeside. After the war, Lin Yun, as the director of the bureau, notified the other combatants of the Heterogeneous Bureau, arranged the wounded and dead on the battlefield, and took Bai Jingxuan to the emerald research institute.

The purpose of the examination was, of course, to find out what the strange black dress was in shape.

Delphinium had never seen Bai Jingxuan with that appearance before, not only the changes in clothing and appearance, but even the personality and magic were different from their usual state.

If she's seen anything like this anywhere, it's probably back a few months ago, when she fought the rebellious magical girl "Sparrow" from "Claw Marks".

At that time, the sparrow used what she called a "half-beast form", so that half of its body was covered in yellow and black lines. At that time, the appearance of the clothes on her body was indeed similar to Bai Jingxuan before.

This reminded the delphinium of what the emerald had told her before: Bai Jingxuan may be a natural "claw mark".

"You can remember what I told you, and it was right to bring this child to me in the first place. In fact, the definition I told you earlier may not be accurate. ”

As if guessing what the delphinium was thinking, the emerald manipulated the doll to lift the mirror and handed the mirror to the delphinium:

"This kid is indeed an offset, but it's not 'the magical girl has shifted to the remnant beast', it's 'the remnant beast has shifted to the magical girl'. In other words, if you want to define it from the background of magic, she is not a magical girl who has mastered the power of a remnant beast, but a remnant beast that resembles a magical girl in appearance and form of power. ”

“…… Is there any difference between the two? Delphinch's brow furrowed even tighter.

"There's a big difference, posterity. This means that the essence of life is different. ”

The doll shook its head: "A human who can imitate a wolf's howl, and a wolf who can speak human words." Even if they could communicate with each other, would they feel that the two were similar beings? ”

The delphinium opened its mouth, but remained silent.

"yes, it looks like you get it."

Seeing the reaction of the delphinch, the emerald also sighed: "There seems to be an old saying among human beings, called 'The heart of the non-mine race must be different'." The remnant beast population is the natural enemy of humans and magical girls.,It can be said that they don't share the same sky with each other.。 And if you want to define it in terms of the nature of magic, that child is actually a remnant beast that accidentally stole the power of a magical girl, and is an extremely dangerous enemy. ”

“…… I don't agree with that. She is not an enemy and has not harmed any innocent people. ”

Delphinium looked at the doll in front of her seriously: "On the contrary, she has saved many civilians as a magical girl. ”

"Calm down, Housheng. I'm not saying that she has become our enemy. ”

The doll withdrew the mirror in her hand: "I'm just telling you what kind of thoughts will occur when an unknown outsider finds out the identity of this child." ”

"You can think about it from a different perspective, if you don't know this child, you don't know her nature. What do you think when you learn that a stranger is a remnant beast that wields the power of a magical girl? ”

"Believe me, most people's attitudes will be distant and wary; A few are directly hostile to it. ”

Delphinium could not refute the emerald's words. She knew that there was a good chance that this would be the case.

"So, why is this happening?"

She could only lower her gaze and wonder, "Why is this child's magic like this?" ”

"To be honest, that's that I don't know either. But that doesn't prevent me from making some guesses. ”

Emerald said slowly: "I've heard similar rumors before, so the most likely guess is that this is the handiwork of Ember Dawn." ”

“…… Are they again? ”

"Of course it's them again, besides them and the claw marks, is there anyone else in this world who is only tinkering with the power of the remnant beast every day?"

The doll spread its paws a little comically: "I should have told you that although Ember Dawn is an organization that has only grown and grown in the past twenty years, they have not been established in the past twenty years, and their predecessors have existed in the Realm for a long time. ”

"About a hundred years ago, I heard a man from the Netherworld say, 'The Apostles' — oh, the old names of the Ember Dawn guys, anyway, they're tinkering with something very new. They don't seem to be content with borrowing the power of the remnant beast and using the power of the remnant beast, they want to go one step further - create a human who is born with the magical nature of the remnant. ”

"And this desire gave birth to something called the 'Holy Creation Project.'"

The doll pointed to the research table not far away: "I don't know the specific content and actual operation, after all, these guys used to be like cockroaches, only hiding in dark corners and playing some disgusting tricks." Still, some of the terms from this project inevitably made it to my desk. ”

"......'inevitably,' oh, that's it."

Delphinium squinted and nodded, and in her heart she put this word in the same category as the 'noble and beautiful' in the emerald mouth: "So, what kind of noun is it?" ”

She didn't question the veracity of the message, because she had already heard the phrase "Holy Plan" from other people's mouths.

[Since the success of the sanctification plan and the advent of the Son, we have no other choice. 】

These are the exact words spoken by Moses in the early hours of the night of the full moon festival.

At that time, Delphinium did not understand the meaning of this sentence, and the two were still in a life-and-death struggle at that time, and she was not allowed to think about it. Unexpectedly, half a month later, I actually heard the same words here in emerald again.

- "'The Son', 'The Beast', 'The Sacrificial Son'." ”

The emerald recited in an undulating voice: "There is no specific definition, no description, not even any examples, just a few isolated words." However, just by seeing the correspondence between these words, you can probably think of something. ”

The words "holy" and "beast" seem to be highly bound and related in the cognition of Ember Dawn. And the "sacrifice" of the word "sacrifice" will naturally be reminiscent of the sacrificial behavior that those scum have been secretly performing, and then smell a strong smell of blood from it.

"You mean, thin snow...... This child is the person associated with this so-called plan? ”

Delphinium wondered, "However, from what I have learned, this child should have nothing to do with Ember Dawn." Before that, she was just an innocent orphan. ”

"You may have to ask her about this."

Emerald pointed to Bai Jingxuan, who was sleeping on the treatment bed: "If things are really as you say, she has changed like this in the process of fighting Ember Dawn." The biggest possibility, then, is that she knew something from those people's mouths. ”

Emerald's words reminded Delphinium of the chrysalis remnant beast she saw on the battlefield before coming to the research institute, or the corpse of the remnant beast. It is impossible for a normal pupal-level remnant beast to leave its lair and appear there alone, so that remnant beast is most likely a beast of Ember Dawn.

The other party did not hesitate to use the shadows in the different strategy, but also wanted to find a way to contact Bai Jingxuan at this point in time, wanting to know some truths. It's a pity that there is only a living remnant beast corpse left, and there is a high probability that there is no effective information left.

"In short, the result of the examination is that the child's current state is not 'abnormal'. It's better to say that's what she's supposed to look like, so you don't need to worry about the load and damage on her body. ”

Closing his paws and patting gently, the doll turned around and returned to the side of the treatment table: "Instead of worrying about what is wrong with this child here, you should think about what you should do next." ”

"What should I do myself...... ? ”

The delphinium repeated thoughtfully: "So, do you have any suggestions?" ”

"Do you want the suggestion of the gem scepter, or the personal advice of the magical girl Emerald?"

"What would the Jewel Scepter recommend?"

"I would suggest that you just strangle the instability in the cradle. Kill the child, or send her to the research institute to be used as material for the next research. ”

Emerald's voice sounded nonchalant: "There is no guarantee that this girl will not go astray in the future and embark on the same path as those traitors of the claw marks. And if she is allowed to grow up, it will undoubtedly be more dangerous than those people. ”

"Very jeweled scepter suggestion indeed." Delphinium nodded calmly, "What about a slightly more humane suggestion?" ”

"It's not a humane suggestion.,It's just that as an elder.,It's just a minimum of empathy for the juniors of magical girls.。

The control doll stopped the operation of the treatment table, and the emerald lazy voice rarely brought a bit of seriousness:

"If you really want this child to be on the right path, then you may have to work yourself and spend more energy to educate and guide her."

"And this is destined to be a difficult road. The magical nature of the beast would constantly affect the child's thinking patterns, making her accustomed to blood and killing; In addition, the outside world will inevitably look at her with vigilance and suspicion, and there will even be no shortage of misunderstandings. ”

"I don't think this advice is 'human' because it would be very unfair to you. You need to think about whether you really need to do this for the sake of this child. ”

"Or do you have the strength to do this for her, Housheng?"

- Do you have any energy left?

The delphinium pondered silently. And the answer to this question doesn't really need to be thought through, because it must be negative.

What Emerald said sounded realistic, and even a little cold, but every sentence was a real interrogation, so that the delphinium had to seriously reflect.

Although he is still in a misunderstanding, he already has a daughter to raise; In addition, it is already very laborious to teach the three juniors as a magical girl; The Bureau of Differentiation is now in ruins, and if it wants to make Fangting City a safer place, the director's work cannot be slack; Next year's certification assessment is imminent, which is also a work that requires preliminary preparation.

And if you want to educate and guide Bai Jingxuan in depth, you will inevitably have to invest more time and energy in her, so that there will be less time for other affairs to be shared.

However, the criterion for judging this issue is actually not my own "spare power".

As long as Delphinium remembers the eyes of Bai Jingxuan in a black dress looking at her, the kind of eyes that are looking forward to response and recognition, such rational thinking has become a trivial matter.

Only she could do it, she told herself.

It's not that she is amorous, but she can clearly perceive that when Bai Jingxuan's magic shows the side of the beast, its connection with "human" has become extremely weak.

The magical girl who lost her parents, lost her ideals, and saved herself died in an accident, and the identity of the "magical girl" was also in jeopardy. There is little connection between Bai Jingxuan and the "human" side, like a kite that has been off-string, and will float to an unknowable distance at any time.

At that time, the only thing the delphinium could do was to become that "kite string". She complied with Bai Jingxuan's expectations and admitted her identity as a "mother".

Doing so, of course, can recall Bai Jingxuan for a while, and barely maintain her relevance to "people". But there are side effects: as long as the delphinium does not maintain the existence of this "kite string", this last link is gone.

In other words, before helping Bai Jingxuan establish a new connection, Delphinium was the only one who could guide the child. Whether the child is on the right path or going astray will be closely related to her.

What she is thinking about is no longer "whether to do it", but "how to do it".

It's just that there is no standard answer to this question, and it is impossible to draw any meaningful conclusions from fantasy alone. Everything has to be implemented first.

said goodbye to the emerald and left the institute with Bai Jingxuan, and the delphinium carried Bai Jingxuan into the car and drove her on the way home.

It was already evening, and the twilight sunlight was pouring into the car through the front window. Bai Jingxuan, who had been asleep, woke up in the back seat of the red sunset, looked around a little confused, and then saw the delphinium in the front row through the reversing mirror.

"Teacher?"

She first shouted in confusion, and then as if she was remembering something, she said a little strangely, "What's wrong with me now?" ”

"You're asleep, so I'll drive you back." Delphinium explained calmly.

"I'm asleep?"

Bai Jingxuan subconsciously looked at her hand and looked in a trance: "I remember that my hand seems to have claws?" I seem to have defeated the bad guys and saved everyone in the Strange Strategy? These...... Are they all dreams? ”

"It's not a dream, it's all true."

Delphinch's voice was cold and soft: "It's just that you fainted in the end." You're doing a great job and I'm proud of you. ”

"It's all true?"

Bai Jingxuan was slightly stunned, then blinked, and suddenly hesitated:

"Then I remember, did I still call the teacher's mother? And then the teacher you, you ...... Admit it? ”

There was no one in the car for a moment.

The sound of horns on the road outside the car window is constant, but they are all isolated from this space, dividing two worlds.

“…… Well, not a dream. ”

The delphinium held the steering wheel, looked at the traffic in front of her, and after a long silence, finally showed a somewhat determined look, and said seriously:

"You're right, I'll be your mom in the future. Thin snow ...... No, Xiaoxuan. ”

This was the first time she gave up using a code name in the posture of a magical girl and directly called Bai Jingxuan by her name, so after saying this, she subconsciously glanced at the reversing mirror, wanting to see if Bai Jingxuan could agree with such a statement.

But she didn't expect that what she saw through the rearview mirror was the girl's smile.

It was a smile she hadn't seen on the child's face since she had seen him.

It's not a well-behaved and sensible smile, nor is it a subconscious wild laugh during a fight. It's a kind of child who really belongs to this age, as if there is really something happy, a happy smile.

(End of chapter)