Visitor from the Kingdom

Several days later, at the Fangting City Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau of the Bureau of Eccentricity.

At the building's main entrance, Larkspur stood with Hong Siyu, arms crossed, waiting silently.

Today is the day agreed upon with the Kingdom. The Investigation Institute will send someone to investigate the attack on Fangting City and bring the rebellious magical girl involved, Sparrow, back to the Kingdom.

Even after noon, the sun was still blazing, so the two of them found a shady spot. But even so, they still felt extremely hot.

Fortunately, not long after, accompanied by several golden flashes mixed with the dazzling sunlight, several figures slowly descended from the sky and came to a smooth stop in front of the two.

These are three magical girls.

Unlike ordinary city garrison teams, they wore golden robes over their normal attire, and golden hard-topped hats on their heads, which shone brightly in the afternoon sun, making them look quite uniform.

The magical girl leading the group had a great figure that would leave a deep impression on the opposite sex, and she had short, light red hair that reached her ears, but she looked quite serious and proper.

Upon seeing the Larkspur standing at the door, she recognized her and stepped forward, performing a somewhat unusual greeting, and said, "Authorized by Letter Card 35032, squad leader under the Investigation Institute, Magical Girl Cat Tail."

His voice is strong and gives a calm impression.

"Flower Card certification 41076, Inspector, Larkspur." Larkspur released his arms from his chest and returned the greeting.

"Larkspur?"

Somewhat puzzled by the codename, the magical girl who called herself Cat Tail asked, "Please allow me to confirm. If I remember correctly, your codename is Cornflower?"

"It's been changed." Maintaining the composure befitting an "Inspector," Larkspur answered succinctly.

"Very well, Larkspur."

With impeccable professionalism, Cat Tail quickly disregarded these unimportant details and got to the point. "We are a special investigation team from the Investigation Institute. Our mission is to receive the magical girl you arrested in this city who is connected to 'Claw Mark.' Is the girl being held here the former Magical Girl Letter Card. 14267, Golden Bell, who now calls herself 'Sparrow'?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then please tell us the specific detention location."

The Cat Tail bowed again.

The two team members behind her seemed to follow her lead, or perhaps they were in awe of the Larkspur Inspector's status, as they did not interrupt but instead bowed in respect.

Larkspur didn't reply, but instead raised her Hong Siyu. Hong Siyu immediately understood and picked up the conversation. After greeting the investigation team, she led the group into the special containment facility.

The special containment facility in Fangting City is essentially a prison for the Magic Side, and is mostly used to detain local Mage have violated the rules.

This was actually the first time this organization had used it to detain magical girls. Leaving aside whether such an organization was even capable of detaining magical girls, the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau itself had no authority to detain or investigate them.

Only when encountering a magical girl like Sparrow who rebelled against the Kingdom, and with the approval of the Investigation Institute, did Fangting City dare to imprison Sparrow here.

Even so, they only dared to put him in a single cell and assigned someone to guard him, for fear that something might happen to him.

The group followed Hong Siyu to the top floor of the building and walked through a series of tightly closed metal doors. Not only the investigation team, but also Larkspur scanned the surrounding scenery.

This was her first time visiting the building since her comeback, and upon closer inspection, she noticed that the scene was quite different from what she had seen years ago.

Perhaps it's due to technological advancements, or perhaps it's due to increased investment; in any case, both the hardware facilities and the aesthetics of the special internment facilities are much more upscale than they were nineteen years ago.

"That magical girl named Sparrow has been quite energetic these past few days."

Hong Siyu led the way, she casually introduced the situation to the investigation team behind her, "To be honest, if it weren't for that Anti-Magic Technique spell hanging around her neck, I probably wouldn't have dared to approach her."

"They're just grasshoppers in autumn; they're bound to hop around a few times eventually."

Cat Tail commented expressionlessly, "Once she's taken back to her Kingdom, she probably won't have the chance to make a fuss anymore."

"Are there rebellious magical girls like this in other cities?" Hong Siyu asked rhetorically.

"Yes, we are a special team that investigates Claw Mark," Cat Tail replied matter-of-factly.

This piqued the interest of the Larkspur who was following beside her, so she asked:

"What exactly is the origin of these magical girls called Claw Mark?"

"Reporting to you, sir, to be honest, we don't really know either."

Upon seeing that it was the "Inspector" asking the question, Cat Tail looked at Larkspur and answered seriously, "To be precise, it should be after the Great Calamity and Celebration nineteen years ago. Since then, the number of rebellious magical girls has begun to increase, and in just a few years, they have rapidly formed a force to rebel against the Kingdom, and have been evading our capture."

"Nineteen years ago...you mean..." Larkspur frowned.

"Yes, it's not just about Great Calamity and Celebration, it should also happen after you, sir, have ceased your activities."

Cat Tail said without any hesitation, "So it's normal that you don't know them."

During the conversation, the group arrived at the end of the corridor and stood in front of a specially made cell.

Hong Siyu, and Larkspur looked inside and saw a young woman sitting calmly on the bed behind a transparent screen.

As the cell door opened and several magical girls' faces appeared behind it, Sparrow's calm expression gradually changed: if seeing Larkspur only made her shrink back, then when the investigation team in golden robes walked in, that expression turned into panic.

"Good afternoon, Sparrow! I've brought some people with me again today!"

Clearly unconcerned about the Sparrow's thoughts, Hong Siyu a rather familiar air, and gestured to the group of investigation team members. "How are things? You're about to return to your Kingdom. Do you feel the warmth of home?"

When did these two become so close?

Larkspur was puzzled and glanced at Hong Siyu, but she didn't ask the question aloud.

Hong Siyu seemed to sense her confusion and grinned, "This guy was probably bored while he was locked up here, so he chatted with me for a bit."

Of course, regardless of what happened before, the Sparrow now clearly have no interest in such conversations.

As several members of the investigation team approached, she couldn't back away no matter how hard she tried. Soon, two of the team members put her in shackles and dragged her out of the cell, looking utterly dejected.

"What will happen to her after she's taken back to her Kingdom?" Larkspur asked from the side, having witnessed the whole process.

"Sir, they will likely be interrogated, and after a series of evidence gathering, their sentence will be determined based on their crimes."

Cat Tail watched Sparrow's departing figure and said calmly, "If she hasn't done anything outrageous during her defection, she'll simply have her magic stripped away and become an ordinary person again; if she's committed numerous acts of indiscriminate killing or participated in actions that endanger the Kingdom, she'll be imprisoned; if she's guilty of murdering her colleagues, she'll be sentenced to death."

"Of course, if she can provide enough information about the Claw Mark, the Kingdom will pardon some of her crimes, depending on the usefulness of that information."

"Even if she killed other magical girls?" Larkspur pressed.

"... Even if she killed other magical girls," Cat Tail said with certainty.

"Is that rebel organization called Claw Mark really that serious for the Kingdom?" Larkspur frowned.

"It's quite serious, to be precise." Cat Tail shook his head, took something out from inside his robe, and placed it in front of Larkspur. "But this isn't something I should be telling you. There are others who want to talk to you."

"Who?"

The Larkspur looked at her hand with some doubt, but quickly dispelled his doubts after seeing what she had taken out.

Because what the Cat Tail took out was a mirror, or more specifically, a Magic Mirror for communication. And at the top of the Magic Mirror was a small gem.

The gemstone is bright yellow, but it also has a hint of dark green. When exposed to light, this dark green gradually fades, giving it a golden-yellow appearance.

Without a doubt, it was a Chrysoberyl.