Transform into a magical girl after getting off work-Chapter 672 - 229: The Reason for the Unexpected Event

"I'm very sorry, Purple Diamond, Her Majesty feels fatigued and has decided to rest for a day in the palace. The originally scheduled city tour has been postponed, and I apologize for not notifying you in time. Please forgive us."

At the gate leading to the Rose Palace in the Luennolay Academy District, a young female knight dressed in dark armor deeply bowed to express her apology.

Standing before her were Purple Diamond and magical girls affiliated with the Crown Faction of the Magical Affairs Institute.

According to the original plan, today and tomorrow were days for the Queen to personally tour Luennolay City, visit the people, and hold events.

The reason these two days were chosen is because the qualification certification assessment was at the stage of the Magic Armor test, which was inconvenient for spectators, so the royal secretaries decided to seize the opportunity to arrange the city's tour section.

After all, in a few days, when the assessment reaches the last two items, the Queen is expected to return to the audience seat at the venue, and after the assessment ends, she cannot linger in Luennolay — the Magic Kingdom is vast, and many cities await her presence.

Considering this, Luennolay's magical girl officials attached great importance to this matter. After all, this was their important chance to showcase governance achievements to the Queen. From the Emerald District to the Academy District, from the Magic-free Zone to the city's edge, every corner was spotless and festively decorated. At this moment, they were eagerly awaiting the Queen's arrival at the City Hall!

And now, the event's sole star, Her Majesty the Queen, has said she wants to rest for a day and won't come?

The Crown Faction magical girls present exchanged looks, already beginning to ponder how to explain to their colleagues and subordinates. Their gaze lingered on the knight at the gate, then unanimously focused on the front of the crowd — on Purple Diamond herself.

At times like this, perhaps only the Gemstone Scepter's words could calm the situation.

Basking in everyone's gaze, the current Diamond Scepter's countenance was contemplative, poised, as if deliberating how to handle the situation. After a prolonged silence, she finally nodded to the knight in front, then turned to the magical girls of the Magical Affairs Institute:

"Understood, let's send someone to the City Hall to inform them to delay the event. And for you, lead the way, I want to go to the Magical Affairs Institute."

Her words made the hearts of the Magical Affairs Institute's members sink.

Here it comes.

They lamented inwardly, unable to help but sigh.

All magical girls affiliated with the Five Institutes knew that the current Purple Diamond was an exceedingly strict leader, intolerant of trivialities, and particularly fond of overstepping her bounds.

Although she was merely the Gemstone Scepter of the Finance Court, if any magical girl acted contrary to her wishes, she would unhesitatingly criticize and even reprimand them.

Among the other major institutes, the Investigation Bureau and Research Institute managed better, as the Yellow-Green Gemstone Scepter and the current Diamond were distant, and the roles of both institutes were distinct, leaving Purple Diamond limited in interference. But the magical girls of the Civil Administration Institute and Magical Affairs Institute were in a predicament. The Civil Administration Institute's Pigeon Blood Red and Purple Diamond shared similar stances and personally avoided petty matters; the Magical Affairs Institute lacked a Gemstone Scepter and was just a fragmented entity. As a result, often magical girls from these two institutes incurred Purple Diamond's wrath, only to be harshly reprimanded.

Right now, this was the case for the Crown Faction magical girls of the Magical Affairs Institute.

The recent qualification certification written test revealed a "Chaos Technique cheating" incident, catching Purple Diamond's attention, and she frequently criticized them about it over the past few days. Now, she clearly intended to continue exploiting the matter, pursuing it in the Magical Affairs Institute under the guise of "guiding work."

Is it unending? Is this your first time being an official? So fond of elevating issues for the thrill of power, never seen such an idle yet devalued Gemstone Scepter. What does our Magical Affairs Institute's work have to do with you, a Civil Administration Institute Scepter? Don't you have your own work to busy yourself with?

This sentiment likely captured the feelings of many magical girls present, though no matter the internal grievances, they couldn't voice it openly.

Thus, outwardly, they could only obediently follow her instructions, dutifully leading her to the Magical Affairs Institute.

At this moment within the Magical Affairs Institute, a group of Crown Faction clerks were frantically busy with selecting Magic Armor files.

The not-so-large office hall was crammed with over a dozen people, a cacophony of dialogue, telephone rings, footsteps, and the sound of printing.

The reason selecting a file created such chaos was because the selection wasn't merely about "choosing" a file.

In an assessment of thousands of examinees, those whose Magic Armor scores reached "Briza" or above numbered at least four figures; deciding which files were "potential" was a highly subjective matter.

Not only did every recorded file require deliberation and voting, but those flagged with prior nudges needed a "chosen rationale."

A leader's friend's daughter? A Silver Corridor executive's descendant? A Research Institute senior tutor's student? So many candidates with personal connections, thus requesting special attention. The other assessment sections' scores were difficult to manipulate; consequently, this Magic Armor test became the prime stage for exercising personal connections.

However, special attention didn't mean filling up with duds. These selected files ultimately had to be reported to the Royal Court. If things got out of hand, and blatantly inauthentic files were sent up, when the Royal Court reprobates, no one would benefit.

Thus, "how to package those files with ties" became a challenge for many Crown Faction employees. Everyone was B Level, so why recommend you? Naturally, outstanding files required no additional discussion; following normal procedures, they would be selected. Meanwhile, how would they frame those relatively plain, unassuming Magic Armors to blend them in?

The messy and chaotic matters mixed with the normal assessment process naturally made the originally simple work incredibly complicated.

When the Purple Diamond arrived, a few clerks in the office were arguing fiercely about whether a certain recommended file could be reported.

At first, no one even realized that the short, quietly walking Magical Girl who entered was the Purple Diamond. After all, the Gemstone Scepter holds a noble status, and most Magical Girls had never seen the face of the Purple Diamond, so a few employees even tried to state "Unauthorized personnel are not allowed in."

However, when some employees recognized the Purple Diamond and suddenly fell silent, and the Magical Girls following the Purple Diamond also slowly walked into the office, most people sensed that something seemed off with the atmosphere. Thus, the whole office quieted down.

No one spoke; only the intermittent sound of the printer spitting out pages could be heard.

— "What do you mean by 'This candidate's family is a major sponsor of the Silver Corridor, so her file must be reported no matter what'?"

The Purple Diamond stood at the door, arms crossed, eyebrows raised sharply: "Is anyone planning to explain this to me?"

Still, no one spoke. Those Magical Girls who had been arguing earlier now seemed more innocent than anyone, each bowing their heads, afraid of being recognized.

"No one plans to explain, so I'll handle it according to my own understanding."

The Purple Diamond looked around at everyone in the office, slowly raising her voice: "Is this the attitude you're planning to take when presenting such a result to Her Majesty?"

An employee sitting by the printer secretly reached out and pressed the stop button on the machine, and now the entire office was as quiet as a pin drop.

"If I hadn't come, just how many of these 'must-report' files were you planning to mix in here? You rubbish can't handle small matters on normal days, but when benefits are involved, your minds get so flexible?"

The Purple Diamond extended a hand, knocking on the doorframe beside her, the "knock knock" sound reverberating in everyone's ears: "Speak up, weren't you quite able to speak? Now you don't even want to explain? Hesitate on grand matters and forget righteousness at minor benefits, that's exactly you lot of worthless beings!"

On her way here, this Purple Diamond had already given the accompanying Magical Girls a severe scolding due to a previous cheating incident, and just when it seemed she had finished venting and calmed a bit, this scene at the Magical Affairs Institute reignited her anger. It's like adding fuel to a dying fire, making her sharp reprimand heard across two corridors.

The numerous Crown Faction employees present were vividly described with all kinds of insults they'd ever and never heard before, being scolded for at least ten minutes without repetition. Yet when the Purple Diamond had her fill of reprimanding, she showed no signs of leaving but rather stepped forward a few steps to one of the desks:

"Move aside, if you can't do it, I'll do it."

"Your, Your Excellency... this is the work of the Magical Affairs Institute, from the perspective of division of powers, you can't..." the named employee stammered.

"I don't need a waste to teach me how to do things, move aside, or do I need to make you move?" The Purple Diamond looked at her with an icy gaze.

Ordinary clerks at the Five Institutes couldn't possibly have the courage to oppose the Gemstone Scepter, so this employee left her seat with tears in her eyes.

"Selecting files, recommending potential juniors to Her Majesty, this is a sacred and solemn matter."

The Purple Diamond looked back at all the Magical Affairs Institute employees present, enunciating each word: "I'll hold you accountable for your issues later, for now, whatever I say, you follow."

When she spoke these words, at the same time in the Silver Corridor, the Emerald remained unaware.

Objectively speaking, the Emerald's plan to hide Lin Xiaolu's file was by no means problematic.

By overwhelming with a large flow of information, even polluting the sight of "Crown Faction" personnel to prevent Lin Xiaolu's file from being seen at first; then rapidly elevating the viewing permissions of this file, making it impossible for others to find traces even if they check the archive library later; then transferring the file to the Research Institute, under the pretense of "being used for confidential research projects," thereby blocking any subsequent possible inquiries.

The operation was compliant, the process hidden, and if everything went smoothly, no one would even know a file had been discreetly extracted. Even if someone discovered some clue, they wouldn't trouble the Gemstone Scepter for such a "trivial matter."

In the Emerald's mind, while this plan was not foolproof, the chances of exposure were almost non-existent. To catch evidence, it would require a Gemstone Scepter to personally arrive at the Magical Affairs Institute within ten minutes of Lin Xiaolu's file being uploaded, bypass the Royal Court's authority limitations, improperly interfere in Crown Faction's work, use their identity to access the Magical Affairs Institute's archive library, and then happen to find that specific file belonging to Lin Xiaolu in the vast sea of files. And at this moment in time, no Gemstone Scepter could possibly have the spare time to do such a thing.

Of course, all of this is under the precondition of "no unexpected occurrences."

When the Purple Diamond forcibly accessed the Magical Affairs Institute's database with her authority and stubbornly tried to filter out those "unqualified" files, tracing back continuously, she finally discovered that S+ marked file in an extremely hidden directory. It signaled that an "unexpected occurrence" had indeed arrived.

And this Purple Diamond, who had furrowed her brows since entering the Magical Affairs Institute, as if nothing could cheer her up, showed a dazed expression at last upon seeing this file.

"...What the hell is this? Something the Research Institute made up?"