Inside the Magic Matrix, Redbird listened to Jiling complain while watching her drink several big gulps of fine wine.
In the blink of an eye, she and the four girls whose names ended in "ling"—Yuling, Wuling, Xialing, and Jiling—had known each other for two years. When Redbird had first entered Makoto's tent to learn arithmetic, the four of them had already been important clerks in the territory. Yet Redbird had become a Mage whose Bloodline had been personally awakened by the Queen of Night-Kirin City before they had, and had instead become the heart of the territory.
Now the five girls were constantly traveling around the territory. Although they were still close, she rarely got to spend time with Yuling and the others.
"Redbird?" Seeing that Redbird seemed lost in thought, Jiling worried she hadn't heard her grumbling and hurriedly said, "Could you talk to Landen? The plains are really unbearable."
Redbird came back to herself and immediately smiled. "You girls used to be Mana-Less, so you couldn't feel the turbulent flows at all before becoming Intermediate Mages. Now you're all Senior Mages, of course you feel exhausted and miserable."
"My dear wife, in the future, could we handle this sort of thing without leaving Night-Kirin City? We could just explain everything to them at Padmira Palace. Why do you insist on making me go all the way there?" Jiling complained.
"Because this is our territory, and we all want it to get better—not just Night-Kirin City, but every part of the territory."
As she spoke, Redbird put an arm around Jiling's shoulders, making her feel a rush of warmth.
"For the sake of the territory's safety, Gleia works day and night in Roseburg treating the Sea Beastmen. For the sake of keeping the Barbarians settled, Qiu Cao can make