“Fuck!” Agent Mien, the female investigative agent hired by the Grant Academy Administration to look into the circulation of contaminated materials in the Grant Academy was hiding in a thick bush beside the the magical bubble in which all the new student private living quarters reside, trying to break into the living quarters of one of the students they were actually targeting, the protective array was hard enough to crack, and the fact that she had to do it in broad daylight did not help at all.

A round and silver magical terminal appeared right in front of her after several revelation and decryption spells, then she was about to hack into the terminal, when her bracelet started flickering and gently buzzing.

“Bozeman, what?” Agent Mien asked in an unfriendly voice.

“The hearing’s about to start. When can you be here?”

“Still need more time.” Agent Mien said with a frustrated huff: “My device still needs more work, the protection array has been upgraded since the last time we were here. So ten minutes just aren’t gonna cut it. Stall them the best you can! Tell them I am looking into something, they are the ones who move the hearing up, so they would understand.”

“Okay, but if I stalled for too long they would get suspicious. So I will give you another 10 minutes, if you still couldn’t make it here I will have to agree to start without you.”

“I’m gonna need 15, but yeah, do go on without me if you have to.” Agent Mien sighed: “It’d be much better if your contacts are here, has any of them contacted you?”

“No, and I am pretty sure they are still alive, they’re just AWOL for now.” Agent Bozeman answered: “Okay, I am going to stall the meeting now, be quick!”

“No need to remind me.” Agent Mien cut off the connection and continued with her hacking attempts.

The glove and the bracer on her right hand started glowing in different colors, and very small dots of energy shot from her palm and landed on the silver terminal, triggering all kinds of strange visual effects from the terminal and the air around it.

“You fucking nerds, why can’t you use those encryption talents on something else?!” Agent Mien cursed and she continued infusing her power into the glove and bracer as well as trying to control these two very taxing artifacts.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

After around 10 to 12 minutes, the silver terminal finally dissolved into the air, and a silver portal appeared right in front of her.

“Maintenance and administration backdoor. Rookie mistake.” Agent Mien wiped off the sweat on her face and scoffed, “Let’s go.”

The first student living quarter that appeared before her, was a small bamboo house on green grounds and near a small creek surrounded by bamboos.

“Chinese bamboo shack and a small garden. How stereotypical and uninspired.” Agent Mien walked into the living quarter and walked around the surrounding bamboos: “Let’s see.”

No strong attack spells are allowed in student living quarters aside from some of the personal training rooms, but they are still places where almost all other sorts of non-harmful magical experimentations are encouraged. So agent Mien did not hesitate at all before she cast a powerful detection spell.

A light grey energy wave exploded from her palms and swept through all corners of the living quarter. When almost the entire energy wave dissipated, the bamboo house in the center was coated with a layer of light grey energy.

Agent Mien walked into the bamboo house, and cast the spell again, only with higher precision and smaller range. This time, the light grey energy coating appeared on a messy bed, concentrated around the pillow area.

Under the pillow and mattress, Agent Mien found a hidden compartment on the head of the bed, and in it was a clay monkey figure. She took a look at the monkey figure again and just directly crushed it with her hand. A silver box appeared, right at the place around the monkey’s butt.

“Child’s play.” Agent Mien smiled and started examining the silver box - it appeared to be quite plain, with very little if any distinctive energy signatures, then she talked to her bracelet: “Bozeman, I think I just found it - turns out you are right, they are not comfortable leaving this key in the administration’s hands, even for a brief moment while they attend the hearing due to them having to leave all enchanted artifacts outside.”

“The headmasters and headmistress are softballing them. It’s gotta be the softest balls of all soft ball questions. Plant the evidence and get to the hearing as soon as possible.”

“Let me check Baker’s place to confirm, and then I will be on my way.” Agent Mien flew out of the bamboo house, then she conjured a silver portal with her glove and bracer and walked into it.

This living quarter was a big spacious two storey brick house with red bricks exposed on the exterior. There was a chimney sticking out on the roof, and there were a few flowers around the brick house.

Agent Mien cast the detection spell again, and was somewhat surprised to find that the light grey energy coating also appeared on the brick house.

“Another trace found for the key - this doesn’t make sense.” Agent Mien spoke to the bracelet: “Bozeman, I’m gonna need you to stall some more.”

“Be quick. Tell me what you find.”

Agent Mien went inside the brick house, then she cast another detection spell.

This time, the lingering light grey energy coating remained on a weapons shelf, specifically, on a shiny dagger with a silvery metal pommel.

“Fuck.” Agent Mien looked around to make sure there was no other lingering energy coatings: “False alarm, Bozeman, blame your missing contact for not providing any details other than it being a silver fucking box. I am on my way now.”