Observation

None of the Larkspur made a decision.

It wasn't that she couldn't make the decision on this matter, but rather that she felt it would be more appropriate to discuss such matters with the "allies" of the Magic Affairs Institute and the Research Institute, to avoid any friction in their cooperative relationship.

The information provided by Mint was undoubtedly valuable, and its request that the Research Institute not immediately take action to close the net was entirely acceptable.

Rather, even if she hadn't made this request, the people from the Research Institute and the Magic Affairs Institute didn't intend to take action immediately.

After all, if we eliminate the Black Ash Dawn's hidden agents now, who will cause trouble next? Are we just going to rely on those few Claw Mark that have yet to be found? If no one causes trouble, where does the Research Institute's credit go? And how can the Magic Affairs Institute reclaim their Gem Scepter?

Previously, the enemy was in the shadows while we were in the open, so the Research Institute naturally had to do everything possible to find out any potential spies. But with Mint's defection, the positions have been reversed, and now the enemy is in the open while we are in the shadows, so we can take the initiative to control the pace.

A list identifying the Black Ash Dawn Beast Child is enough to significantly improve the stability of the upcoming security plan, and the Research Institute has gained a starting point for tracing back the personnel of Black Ash Dawn.

If the authenticity of this list and the reliability of Mint's defection can be verified, then keeping the people on the list in custody is far more valuable than arresting them immediately.

As for what will happen to Mint herself, that will depend on the results of the investigation.

If a subsequent investigation reveals that the other party committed heinous acts or harmed innocent people in their collusion with Black Ash Dawn, the Magic Affairs Institute will likely show no leniency and send them directly to the Investigation Institute. At most, they might be given a relatively lenient treatment if they voluntarily surrender and redeem themselves.

But if what she said is true, and she hasn't done anything wrong, then Larkspur and Emerald naturally wouldn't make things difficult for a child. Providing a guarantee to allow her to continue her magical girl activities; providing security for her family in the Material Realm; and even giving her some rewards are all promises that can be kept.

Of course, these are things to be considered after the assessment is over. At present, the Research Institute will not take any action against Mint.

She can and should continue with the certification process; in fact, if things go well, her exam results could be retained. All she has to do is pretend nothing happened, take the exam normally, and avoid alerting the other party.

It could be said that after Mint made contact with Larkspur, although many things changed behind the scenes, on the surface, Mint just went out for a meal with her teammates, and nothing else happened.

Besides getting the Magic Mirror's contact information from the Larkspur, she also obtained an autograph.

Larkspur didn't pursue the matter of the strange screaming on the phone. Although she muttered to herself that she couldn't understand young people these days, she maintained the magnanimity of a senior. Instead of criticizing the person, she chose to praise them first, commending their spirit of "abandoning darkness for light".

So much so that when Mint asked her for an autograph, she thought about it and gave it to her.

However, for safety reasons, even when signing her name, she actively eliminated any residual magical fluctuations when transferring magic power through the Magic Mirror. Also, she signed "Larkspur" instead of "Cornflower."

The former is to prevent special Spell Formula that can locate enemies simply by their name and magical fluctuations, while the latter is to prevent the name "Cornflower" from being misused.

As for how to verify the authenticity of the list and what adjustments to make to the plan with Emerald, those are things that don't need to be discussed with the children.

After a short day's rest, the second part of the practical assessment began as usual.

The Magic Armament Test does not require teamwork; candidates must enter the examination room in batches according to their examination numbers. Therefore, those with later examination numbers, such as Larkspur, can arrive at the examination room a little later without any problems.

But the Larkspur arrived quite early.

Upon arriving at the examination hall, Larkspur did not immediately join up with Foxtail Grass, Tudingui, and the others. Instead, she pretended to be strolling around the Silver Gallery, blending into the crowd and secretly observing a few magical girls.

Arrowroot, Butterfly Bush, Yellow Azalea, Blazing Star.

These are the code names of the four Beast Child who participated in the assessment, besides Mint. Interestingly, including Mint, all five Beast Child were ranked on the so-called "Carry Ranking".

To some extent, when Mint compiled this list, it certainly didn't shy away from any appearance of impropriety.

Furthermore, according to Mint, there might be some Sacrificial Child among the magical girls present, but the Sacrificial Child of Black Ash Dawn change very quickly. After entering Black Ash Dawn, the Sacrificial Child only have a short training period of one or two years. After that, they either survive the Feeding Rite and become Beast Child, or they die prematurely for various reasons, so she doesn't recognize them all.

However, the Larkspur doesn't need to search for those so-called Sacrificial Child.

High-risk missions like infiltrating the Kingdom Assessment are not something Black Ash Dawn would entrust to inexperienced Sacrificial Child. In the end, these few Beast Child will likely be in charge, and the Sacrificial Child will only need to follow their Beast Child and do some minor things. Therefore, keeping an eye on these few Beast Child is enough to follow the clues and get closer to the whole story.

These beast Beast Child, judging from their appearance alone, showed absolutely no signs of possessing any Aberrant Beast magic.

In this respect, they, like Mint and even Bai Jingxuan, appear to be just ordinary magical girls unless they use the magic of the Aberrant Beast. Unlike the people with Claw Mark, whose magical fluctuations from the Aberrant Beast are impossible to conceal once they use their magic.

It is probably precisely because of these qualities that Black Ash Dawn dared to send him as a spy to infiltrate the examination hall.

However, although they could conceal their identities through magical fluctuations, these Beast Child's personalities, or rather their behavior, were indeed quite different from those of ordinary magical girls. Although they were mixed among the many examinees, one could still sense their different aura after observing them for a while.

Not to mention Arrowroot, who stands out like Arrowroot among chickens, exuding confidence and acting as if he were the best in the world; or Butterfly Bush, who is like a wolf among sheep, making other candidates retreat even when sitting alone; even the seemingly less unusual Yellow Azalea and Blazing Star have a faint, invisible barrier between them and the candidates next to them.

Specifically, although they were standing in the crowd, they seemed to have no desire to integrate into the group or communicate with it.

To be honest, this reminded Larkspur of what Lin Xiaolu had told her yesterday, about Mint saying that Lin Xiaolu was also a "Sacrificial Child".

If everyone in the world can take this as a joke, then Larkspur is the only one who cannot laugh it off.

Because she remembered that last summer, during the attack on the Fangting City Welfare Institute the Black Ash Dawn, one of the Ash Soldier who had escaped from the welfare home had said something similar.

Although the man was only talking to himself, Larkspur, who was not far away and was constantly approaching him, actually heard what he said—"two Sacrificial Child."

Larkspur did not tell a third person about this.

At that time, she didn't actually know what the Sacrificial Child" meant to these madmen, and she always thought that the so-called Sacrificial Child was just a name similar to " Offsetter." However, she now knows that the so-called Sacrificial Child actually refers to people who are "naturally more compatible with the magic of the Aberrant Beast."

Larkspur never suspected Lin Xiaolu of this.

Rather, although she always remembered the phrase "two Sacrificial Child," and even considered whether it referred to Xiaotian, her subordinate in the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau, she never imagined that the second "Sacrificial Child" would refer to Lin Xiaolu.

So, as her own daughter, is it really possible that Lin Xiaolu is a so-called "Sacrificial Child"?

Although she was reluctant to think about it too deeply, deep down, Larkspur knew that it was actually possible.

It's not surprising that her child, or rather, her and Anya's child, possesses extraordinary talents in the Magic Side.

But she didn't tell Lin Xiaolu about it; rather, she chose to play dumb.