Codicier (Part One)

"Colonel wants to see you now, Major Rayne."

So said the adjutant in a fur military cap.

"Thank you."

Rayne nodded, rising from the wooden bench at the end of the corridor.

He crossed the hall toward the briefing room door, smoothing his double-breasted jacket and the cloak over his shoulders before undoing the top button of his shirt.

It was nearly noon now, and heat rolled through the red-brick building.

Located fifteen kilometers outside Mengfei City, the building had once been an office for a telegraph company before being requisitioned by the military.

The red brick walls retained heat like an oven. Water-soaked reed screens had been fitted over the windows to cool and humidify the interior, but they would soon dry out.

Rayne could suppress the need to sweat, but he allowed his body to do so.

Everyone else was drenched in sweat. He did not want them to notice that he was an exception.

Then he knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

He walked inside.

Rows of columns lined both sides of the spacious room, supporting the roof. Their tops had been sculpted into clusters of reeds, another hallmark of the local style.

An iron table stood in the middle of the room. Colonel Luna was standing at one end, with four attendants spread out at her sides.

"Colonel, it's good to see you."

Rayne touched his throat with two fingers.

"Sorry for undoing my collar, but it's really hot in here."

"That's all right."

Luna replied, and her attendants nodded along with her.

They were all girls between thirteen and seventeen, each one a future Internal Guard "Magpie" of the New California Republic.

Magpies were a codename referring specifically to female Wizards trained by the state rather than religious organizations or their own families. They received