Why do people have to go to work?
This was a question Qiluo Tian Gong had been pondering, from her observatory in her original world to the checkout counter in this one.
Qiluo Tian Gong scanned a bottle of sports drink on the register, expressionlessly telling the customer, “Thank you, please come again.”
But her mind was spinning with completely unrelated thoughts.
On the other side, Star-trail was floating in the sky, staring at the battle below.
Snowrealm leaped off the ground, her straight sword unsheathed. The blade drew a cold flash under the moonlight, slicing through the Erosion Body's defensive line from the side.
Mingyue's scythe cut in from the other side. The deep blue arc of mana and Snowrealm's silver-white sword light closed in simultaneously on both sides of the Erosion Body, like two doors shutting at once.
The battle ended within a few minutes.
What a brutal death.
The last one was pinned to the asphalt by Snowrealm with ice spikes, dissolving into black mist under Mingyue's scythe.
This one died a terrible death too, looking like someone cosplaying on a cross.
Snowrealm's landing was much lighter than in her first battle. She bent her knees slightly to absorb the impact, spun her straight sword between her fingers, and sheathed it at her side.
Shizuru rested her scythe against her shoulder and wiped the dust from her chin with the back of her hand, her voice carrying unconcealed praise: “You're getting more and more skilled.”
Star-trail slowly descended from midair and landed on Yuki's shoulder.
It squatted there, watching the two Magical Girls begin their routine of sorting their gear and checking each other's status.
It had seen this process many times before.
Qiluo suddenly realized something.
She had been in this world for so long, dealt with Erosion Bodies countless times, and witnessed the entire journey of the Magical Girls from fighting alone to standing side by side.
Yet, she still didn't know the power ranking system for the Magical Girls in this world.
Erosion Bodies had clear classifications: low-tier, mid-tier, high-tier, and disaster-tier.
The Association's alarm system also issued mission difficulty levels based on this standard.
But what about the Magical Girls?
She hadn't seen any official explanation regarding Magical Girls in any of the Association's public materials.
Mages in her original world had a strict evaluation system.
Was there no power classification here? That seemed impossible.
“I have a question,” Star-trail spoke up.
Yuki turned her head and gently tapped its ear tip with her finger, signaling that she was listening.
Mingyue drove her scythe into the ground beside her, turned around, and used the terminal on her wrist to close the combat log page.
Nuomi poked half its body out from Mingyue's shoulder, its ears twitching.
“The grading system for Erosion Bodies is very clear. There are public standards for the mana concentration and threat level corresponding to each rank.”
“But on our side, I haven't seen any official power rankings released by the Association yet.”
Star-trail's tail slowly traced an arc in the air.
Snowrealm reached out to grab Star-trail's wagging tail, gently kneading it.
She didn't know either; she hadn't heard of such a thing since registering with the Association.
She could only vaguely gauge her own strength through her combat records.
Mingyue spoke first: “The Association doesn't have official rankings. It's not because it's technically impossible, but because the founding chairperson, Mashiro Shirahane, explicitly opposed grading Magical Girls when she established the Association.”
“She said that if we rank Magical Girls into a chart from A to D, then being a Magical Girl just becomes another job, no longer the dream of children.”
...What a romantic reason.
“So since its founding, the Association has only kept combat files and mission logs, without any official rank certification. That's why you can't find any information on it—it's not that you missed it, but that it simply doesn't exist.”
“But they exist unofficially, right?”
“Yes,” Shizuru admitted readily, drawing a few symbols on the asphalt with the handle of her scythe.
“Just because the officials don't set ranks doesn't mean we don't use them ourselves. In battle, you need to quickly assess the gap between your teammates and enemies. Cooperation would be very difficult without a reference standard.”
“So there's a conventional classification among active Magical Girls. It's not written in any official documents, but everyone recognizes it.”
She drew several horizontal lines on the asphalt with her scythe handle, labeling them from top to bottom.
“The lowest is D-rank, capable of independently handling a single low-tier Erosion Body. C-rank can deal with multiple low-tiers at once or pin down a single mid-tier. B-rank can independently defeat mid-tiers and participate in team battles against high-tiers. A-rank can independently defeat high-tiers and serve as core combatants in disaster-tier missions.”
“S-rank—those who can handle disaster-tier Erosion Bodies alone or lead a team to complete grand-disaster-tier missions. Currently, there are only a very few active members in the entire Association.”
“Above that, there's also an EX-rank, which is used unofficially to refer to retired or missing aces. They only exist in legends.”
Star-trail's tail twitched slightly between Yuki's fingers. Behind the checkout counter, Qiluo stacked the last coin into the cash register slot.
The first thought that welled up in her mind wasn't “I see,” but a more complex feeling.
In her original world, the evaluation of a mage's rank was written into the law.
From apprentice mage to low-tier, mid-tier, and high-tier, and finally to Archmage and Sage.
Each tier had its corresponding evaluation standards, salary, and social status.
Back then, she had stayed at the mid-tier mage level for a long time. It wasn't because she couldn't promote, but because she didn't want to draw attention to herself.
Promoting to high-tier meant taking on corresponding mission quotas.
She would have to take on apprentices and participate in kingdom meetings.
She would have to debate with those old men sitting in high-backed chairs sipping tea.
It was incredibly troublesome; Qiluo couldn't stand that kind of atmosphere at all.
So she suppressed herself at the mid-tier level, intentionally holding back her scores in several practical exams.
She kept her scores right on the passing line for mid-tier, not a point more, not a point less.
Until one day, during a project, her mentor glanced at the magic circuit diagram she had submitted.
He took off his glasses and looked at her with an expression that said, “Do you think I'm blind?”
He said, “My dear student, this circuit structure of yours is no longer at the mid-tier level. Go fill out the application form for the high-tier exam.”
She filled it out and ended up working as a librarian for several months.
Back then, she felt that ranks were a very boring thing.
Mashiro Shirahane.
Qiluo noted the name in her heart.
For someone capable of making such a decision, her reasons probably went beyond the pretty words in her public speeches.
If Magical Girls were organized into a chart, those names would eventually be written as “Killed in Action: A-rank (multiple), B-rank (multiple).”
But they weren't just a number.
Every single one of them had a name and their own favorite transformation pose.
It was enough to keep their ranks in their hearts; there was no need to write them down.
“Unofficial terms,” Snowrealm repeated the words.
Mingyue lifted the scythe handle from the asphalt. The drawn lines were lightly scuffed away by the sole of her boot, leaving only a few faint white scratches.
“Right. It won't be written in any official files, but you'll always hear it once you've been on the battlefield long enough. When Magical Girls introduce themselves to each other, they don't say 'I'm the A-rank Magical Girl Mingyue.' They just say 'I'm Mingyue, and I specialize in close combat.'”
Yuki's fingers were still wrapped around the tip of Star-trail's tail, her movements unconsciously turning very gentle.
She remembered when she had just registered and received her emblem; the staff member had said her record was quite good.
She hadn't thought much of it at the time, but looking back, that was probably her rank in the eyes of others.
She didn't really care whether she was a C or a B.
Because no matter what rank she was, she was Star-trail's only choice.
At least for now.
This fact defined where she should stand far better than any letter ever could.
Yuki gently scratched Star-trail's belly. Star-trail cooperatively squinted its eyes and rested its chin on her wrist.
Rate on N.U.
