Eller Kim was having a horrible day. She was massaging her temple with a glass of clear liquor, ocassionally taking a sip, and sighing. Her partner wasn't much better off. His hood off, revealing rugged features of a once beautiful face, now scarred and knotted.

"How can I lose control during an interrogation. Like a damned rookie..."

"I should have stopped you. We are getting rusty."

"You don't have to tell me. It's so frustrating. Nothing worked - not my illusions, nor the Academy wards within his mark. The way the boy gushed mana, I refuse to believe he's a Tier 1. How can a mere child be so elusive?!"

"I'm with you. My aura-reading skills failed too. He had to know..."

"Yet, the boy appeared blameless. Not a single speck of dirt. Too clean."

"But how could it be? Are we truly wrong?"

"No way. He had motive - entrance to this elite academy, access to more great houses, and to hide their trail... Also the means - Miles trade network has direct deals with half of the dead scions directly. They would have known..."

"That we are after them? That's a stretch."

"Then how do you explain this. I pressed him, hard. He should have twisted his insides. And yet, he stayed resolute, not bending or cracking. Even the mental shield didn't activate, something I designed to protect cadets against the very same things I did. An untrained shopkeeper? There was no chance."

"Curious. I thought it was the ward that alerted the Chancellor."

"Ah, there's that. The chancellor personally came to fetch him. Guess who invited the boy to the Academy..."

"Impossible. The chancellor is a fair man, trusted by the King himself."

"Newman, I have checked, he's anything but simple, the boy. What if his backers hold some leverage? Something truly sinister."

"I agree, Kim. Otherwise, the very moment we had a breakthrough, when we were closing in on the two spies within the new crop of students, all the suspects died in a tragic accident... that's too convenient.."

"That's their blunder... They weakened the Houses, just to hide the trail. It will strengthen the Crown. And they still lost their operatives."

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"Will it though? The truly influential ones only gained. Buchanoir heir survived. Dreamspire's younger daughter is here. All major houses got their secondaries in. We have so little leverage now. And so many unknown faces. For the first time, we have almost no intel on the cadets."

"So much work, damn it. Even foreign princelings to investigate.... Argh..."

Eller gulped down the liquid, wincing at the heat. Such a waste. It was meant to be savored....

"All because of that boy... I'm telling you, there's something off.. ever since that first class.. he was smiling, that maniac, laughing when all the pipsqueks bawled and scattered."

"There there... I'll help however I can... the onus is still upon you, being our sole representative at Rived. I'll be leaving soon..."

"No, stay."

"You are drunk."

She was. Eller tapped the notification at the edge of her vision. The screen flickered and glitched a bit. She had forgotten the last time she had turned the display off, ever since making it.

"I swear, this thing is making me dumb- Shit! Newman, did you get the missive?"

"What missive?"

"Academy teleport network has failed."

"No, I didn't get it... You mean I am stuck here?"

"Not on my watch... let's go."

"Didn't you want me to stay...", he mumbled, but still got up and straightened.

She quickly burned mana to sober herself up. It was a nifty piece of magic. Officially, it was used to hide signs of poison and torture on a victim. But it was quite versatile. All good spells were.

As she prepared, she made a mental list - evaluate the damage, find person in-charge, talk to the chancellor, locate suspects... she was already onto the last one, checking the last known positions against the Academy registry.

"Well well.. a score of candidates and our dear Rohodan crossed over to the Wayhub just this afternoon... exactly where the failure happened."

"I'll look into that. How about this - I talk to the chief and the staff here? You focus on the Academy side... was Miles one of them?"

"That's the kicker. He was supposed to be... The boy dared to skip my class, hasn't been heard of since late last night..."

"... I can't even... "

"Murphy's law, partner, like always."