"Okay, I could understand the part with plant and vegetation population records." Jason asked: "And even with beast and animal population records, but why entry records? Can't they just go in without letting the rangers know?"
"Yeah, that's because a few weeks back the academy mandated that a tracking spell be cast at the perimeter of the hunting ground, as well as the borders of the various regions and areas inside. Anyone comes in or goes out, their entry and exit would be automatically logged. And the normal entry registration measures are just theatre." Glenda Grimes said: "So, it would make sense for anyone trying to do something illicit inside the hunting ground by just forging entry registration, instead of just sneaking in."
"Exactly." Professor Randall Collins said: "Unless our spies are really really good at bypassing those kinds of spells, forging the records is just the easier option. And by comparing the logs auto generated from the spell and the entry and exit logs from the official books, we found quite a lot of inconsistencies. These inconsistencies include unnatural gaps between the entry or exit timestamps on the logs and the official ranger entries, and occasional omission of entries or exits from the ranger records.
"So we tracked down a couple of the most suspicious hunting ground rangers, and we did some digging as well as some surveillance, and we were able to crack a few of them and kinda sorta recruit them. And some of the things they did were extra illegal, compared to their other illegal stuff."
"What kinds of illegal stuff?" Aimee asked: "And how serious are they?"
"The less serious offences include letting unqualified groups and individuals go in for a fee." Professor Barnes said: "And with evidence of these, we worked our way up their criminal enterprise ladder and found that - eventually, we were able to take it from them that they had some contact in the Department of Herbology and Medicine, who also seemed to be using, or in more appropriate term, abusing the resources in the hunting ground as a breeding place for restricted and illegal plants and vegetation, like Kekugora and Spinal Oleander."
"Okay, so some of the contaminants might have come from the hunting ground?" Professor Dorothea Clarkson said: "And let me guess, that someone in the Herbology and Medicine Department, you were suspecting Vyn?"
"Well, not at first." Professor Randall Collins said: "And no, we still believe that the contaminants came from external sources, by the time we confiscated and destroyed the illegal plants they were still pretty far from maturity - our hunting grounds are fertile but it's still no dedicated cultivation places. But from the traces of evidence we gathered, we were able to narrow down the prime suspect from almost everyone who has access to the restricted seeds and pollen samples - and it is Assistant Professor Vyn."
"But he was later hospitalized along with Professor Felman. So we had to pause and start looking at other angles for now. " Professor Barnes said: "And unfortunately, just when we started on different angles, we found something quite disturbing - there was, apparently, a secret passageway to an unregistered near earth realm. We still don't know where this passageway is, how to enter it or where and what that realm is, but I'd think it bears sharing."
"Secret passageway, huh?" Glenda Grimes exchanged looks with Professor Dorothea Clarkson.
"What is with the magical schools and these frigging secret chambers and passageways and tunnels man?" Jason scratched his head: "Do we have a giant serpent in there as well?"
"Well, there's apparently SOME kind of beast guarding it from the inside. From what we've heard, there is some kind of way to bypass the beast, but we've yet to find out what, naturally, since we are not not certain where it is. We've only been able to extract from the dirty rangers that there is probably an entrance to that passageway in the hunting ground." Professor Randall Collins said: "And - I gotta tell you, we need to warn that writer, one just should not abuse the inside scoop this way - "
"The Barclay Passage." Professor Dorothea Clarkson and Glenda Grimes said at the same time.
"So - so you knew?" Professor Barnes asked with a heavy frown on his face.
"It's always been some kind of a low profile legend in the academy." Glenda Grimes shrugged: "It's one of those stories, like someone kept a crown jewel of concealing spell theories, or that Venus Flytraps are weirdly sensitive to certain kinds of dark energy, or that certain audit students in the past beat up the high and mighty Tamil Brooke during an argument after a heated debate about magical energy theory."
"That … that might've actually happened." Caroline whispered and exchanged looks with Jason.
"But the thing is, a lot of these stories have some truths to them. It's always the case, it was the case with the hidden schematics of the floating castle, and it was almost the case with the presence of Realm Greenrock and the resources in it." Professor Dorothea Clarkson turned to Professor Barnes and Professor Randall Collins: "People have been casually searching for it based on the theory that it actually exists. I can't say for sure how close anyone has ever gotten - but if you have reason to believe that the spies locked up in the other room are connected, maybe I can go ask them about it?"
"Sounds like a plan." Glenda Grimes agreed.
"And, Mr. Lin, Ms. Baker, detectives." Professor Dorothea Clarkson turned to the four students in the room: You can be excused. What's about to come next will be officially the classified affairs of the Grant Academy administration."
"What? No!" Thomas and Aimee protested at the same time.