—"A special assessment commemorating twenty years after the disaster?"
While the girls at the Secret Base were at each other's throats, Larkspur, driving along the highway back, asked Asō Madoka in slight confusion, "Why commemorate something like that?"
After finishing their memorial for Anya and leaving Fangting City Cemetery, Lin Yun had transformed into Larkspur once more, considering that they would be returning to the Secret Base next.
She was driving while discussing the certification assessment with Asō Madoka.
She was also deeply puzzled by Asō Madoka's earlier proposal—that the Fangting City Squad needed to defeat the Bai'an City Squad before participating in the assessment.
"Well... if there's really a reason, it can only be because next year marks another twenty-year cycle, right?"
Leaning against the passenger-side window, Asō Madoka watched the streetscape flash past outside. "You know, once every twenty years, the gates of the Rose Palace open."
Great Calamity and Celebration.
This was a term etched into every magical girl's life, referring to that extraordinarily special year nineteen years ago.
The "Great Calamity" referred to the Great Beast Calamity that had erupted in the Material Realm. Its scope, the ferocity of its battles, and the severity of its casualties were unparalleled in a century. Thus, after surviving a disaster comparable to a natural catastrophe, every magical girl had committed the term to heart.
But the Great Calamity was only the first half of the term. Its latter half was the "Celebration." That celebration referred to another matter, generally known among the citizens of the Magic Kingdom as the "Queen Year."
For the Kingdom, it was the year that came once every twenty years when the Queen left the Rose Palace and made public appearances throughout the Kingdom.
As the supreme authority of the entire Magic Kingdom, the Queen