Transform into a magical girl after getting off work-Chapter 643 - 201: The Temptation from the Shadows

"Sorry, I'm late. Is it still possible for me to go in and watch the ceremony now?"

As the time approached evening, at the south gate of the Silver Corridor, a fashionably dressed blonde girl was explaining to the guards at the entrance: "There was an urgent matter at home during the day, so I had no choice but to deal with it. But since my student is participating in this exam, I really want to see the result. Here's my invitation, could you..."

"In principle, this is not allowed, ma'am, because now that Her Majesty has entered, allowing other guests in after Her Majesty would be a sign of disrespect."

The Exam Institute employee standing at the entrance took the invitation from the girl, carefully checking and verifying it: "However, I can understand your feelings. If you indeed just want to see your student's performance, as long as you don't enter the observation seats after entering, just watching from somewhere else wouldn't violate the rules."

"Really? That's great!"

The blonde girl's eyebrows raised upon hearing this, a hint of joy appeared in her tired eyes with heavy dark circles: "Thank you so much, I was still wondering what to do in this situation..."

"Haha, after all, it's the Queen's Year, a little flexibility is nice."

The magical girl responsible for guarding waved her hand, with an attitude of "no trouble at all": "However, since our supervisor made a request earlier, checking the invitation is not enough, we must also verify the Validation Card and your magical power fluctuation. Although I find it a bit overprotective... we should still follow the procedure, did you bring your Validation Card?"

"Ah... the Validation Card, right?"

The blonde girl paused for a moment, then started searching through her shoulder bag. As she continued, her expression became a little unnatural, clearly the result wasn't as expected.

"Strange, I remember putting it in before I left..."

She muttered with some frustration, but her actions slowed until eventually giving up the search: "I'm sorry, I couldn't find it, maybe I left it at home."

"Are you sure you forgot it? Or did you accidentally lose it?"

The magical girl guarding the door asked a bit seriously: "If it was accidentally lost, you should best quickly sense its location and retrieve the Validation Card, as conditions in the city have been a bit unstable lately."

"Ah, no... I haven't used it since I left home, so..."

The blonde girl closed her eyes, seemingly concentrating on sensing something, after a moment, she opened her eyes, revealing a somewhat helpless expression: "Yes, based on the direction and distance, it seems I indeed left it at home."

"Is that so? That's good."

The guard relaxed his brow, nodding: "However, I also ask you to understand our rules. Although you have an invitation, without showing the identity card, we still cannot let you in."

"Eh, is that so... but my home is very far from the Silver Corridor, if I go back and forth, I might miss the assessment results."

The blonde girl pleaded with hope in her eyes: "Is there really no room for compromise?"

"I'm very sorry, ma'am," the guard could only shake his head. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

It was clear the blonde girl was unwilling to go home to fetch her Validation Card and come back, so she tried pleading for a while until the guard firmly stated that "you must have a Validation Card" before she somewhat dejectedly left.

With a look of sadness, the blonde girl flew away from the Silver Corridor's gate, lingered within the Academy District for a while, hesitated on her way towards the Emerald District, but then seemed to change her mind and turned back towards the Magic-free Zone. Minutes later, she entered the borders of the Magic-free Zone. She gathered her magic, moving like an ordinary passerby along the street for a while, then suddenly ducked into an alleyway.

After that, no one ever saw the girl emerge from the alley again.

Meanwhile, blocks away in another alley, a poised woman with long golden hair, dressed in a gray-black trench coat and wearing sunglasses, strode out and calmly entered a nearby café.

She waved at the counter to greet the store owner, then stepped on the wooden stairs toward the second floor, and side-stepped into a separate booth.

— "No, you can't get in with just the invitation. Their screening is very strict, you must have a Validation Card, and they even want to verify your magical power fluctuation."

After entering and closing the door, without any unnecessary explanation, she spilled her experiences all at once, then walked to the only vacant seat, sat down, and picked up a half-empty, still warm cup of coffee from the table before her:

"To be honest, it feels like the checks these days are really too tight. Whether leaving or entering the Silver Corridor, I felt more than one hidden sense. When I left the Silver Corridor, someone even followed me and watched over me for a long time, I thought I had already been exposed."

"Did you shake them off?" The person sitting opposite asked.

"Yes, I dropped a few different magical bait, that guy took the bait and didn't follow me,"

The blonde girl set down the coffee, raised her hand to pull up her sunglasses, revealing dead eyes that seemed as if her soul had already rotted away: "But this time it's because they didn't pay enough attention to me, next time if it's a Flower Card, I fear I won't return so smoothly."

"Anyway, no need for a next time, one test is enough."

The other girl sitting to her left spoke with a whimsical tone, jabbing at the dessert in front of her with a fork, and said with a playful smile: "But, I really didn't expect the Kingdom's people would go to such lengths to secure an exam... Sister Cat, perhaps your old acquaintance sold you out." Read full story at ɴovelfire.net

The one she called "Sister Cat" was the first person to inquire about the situation, and now "Sister Cat" still appeared expressionless, silently sitting there, as if contemplating something.

"It may not necessarily be because of Black Cat's side. My personal judgment is that it might be the Royal Court wanting to make a grand display, hence the excessive strengthening of security forces."

The blonde girl spoke in defense: "Although this logic doesn't explain why someone would follow me, as if they were indeed searching for someone."

— "It doesn't matter, the motive behind their tightening screening doesn't concern us, because from the very beginning, we had already prepared for the worst-case scenario."

Just as the three girls had all expressed their viewpoints to some extent, a fourth voice suddenly emerged in the narrow room.

After this voice appeared, the reactions of the three girls varied. The blonde girl looked impatient, the one eating cake showed interest, and as for the girl addressed as "Sister Cat," she remained expressionless, eyes like a beast staring intently at the position of the speaker.

Undoubtedly, these three were the Claw Mark group that the Magical Affairs Institute had been searching for almost half a month, yet vanished as if evaporated. The girl referred to as "Sister Cat" was Mo He, who had numerous past dealings with the Emerald Sparrow.

As for the voice that suddenly drew their attention, it belonged to someone who seemed completely out of place with the scene.

It was a person dressed in a gray suit and wearing a mask.

He had neatly combed black hair and hands slightly wrinkled showing beyond his sleeves, indicating his considerable age. However, his upright posture and the magnetic, not at all aged voice proved he wasn't quite that old.

Clearly, this was a man about fifty years old, steadily approaching old age.