The whole fight lasted only about fifteen seconds. All three operatives were down and either unconscious or too shocked to fight back.

William picked up the wand and the magical restraint device while looking at them both closely, as if he had seen a lot of magical stuff in the last few days. The female instructor behind him was staring with her mouth slightly open.

She looked shocked and maybe even impressed or scared. William wasn’t sure which one it was.

"Are you all right?" William asked, turning to look at her the right way for the first time since the fight began.

"I’m fine," she said, her voice steadier now that the immediate danger had passed. "That was really amazing...!"

"How did you... do that?"

"Lots of practice and ESPECIALLY not wanting to have my memory wiped by conspirators," William said as he knelt down to tie up the unconscious operatives with their own restraints. "More importantly, who are you, and why were you listening in on the same conversation I was?"

The woman thought for a moment before apparently deciding that someone who had just saved her from a bad situation deserved an honest answer. "O-Oh... My name is Olivia Gracewell, I’m a new instructor in the magical theory department..."

"I’ve been here for about three weeks, and I’ve seen some strange things happening around the administrative wing." Olivia said while trying not to look awkward. "I was trying to get proof before telling the headmaster."

"You were doing a solo investigation into a possible conspiracy without any help or the right tools?" William raised an eyebrow. "That’s either really brave or really dumb... which makes you a dumbass probably."

"Probably both... yeah... a dumbass suits me too..." Olivia said, running a hand through her messy bun and letting some black hair fall out. "I didn’t know who to trust, and I wasn’t sure if the headmaster would believe me without any proof."

"I’ve been keeping an eye on one of these operatives for the past week and trying to write down what they do."

William was about to answer when the system made its now-familiar notification sound.

[Potential Student Identified: Olivia Gracewell, Rank A]

[Specialization: Magic theory, spying, and gathering information]

[Main Problem: Good theoretical knowledge but bad practical combat skills; tendency to investigate without proper support]

[High-Value Training Opportunity Found]

"Of course," William said under his breath as he looked at the notice. "Five students wasn’t hard enough, so let’s add a sixth who seems to want to die when it comes to doing research."

"Did you say something?" Olivia asked, looking worriedly at him.

William ignored the system notification and focused on the more pressing issue of three unconscious conspirators lying in the middle of an academy hallway. "We have to take these three to the headmaster and tell him what we heard."

"Do you remember what they said in that storage room?

"Most of it," Olivia said, taking a small notebook out of her uniform pocket. "I’ve been writing down everything that seems strange to me."

"The talk brought up about you, a few students, and something about getting administrative access through someone named Blackwood."

William said, "That would be Vice Headmaster Catherine Blackwood, who just became my assistant instructor."

He was already thinking about what this meant. "Oh dammit... I fucking knew they’re keeping an eye on me and the students I’m training."

"That means they might see me as a threat to their plans or as a good target for manipulation."

"Fucking hell... am I cursed?!"

"Why is everyone trying to kill me even in my second life?!" William muttered in his mind.

Olivia said, "Or both..."

"If you’re training high-profile students, getting rid of corrupting you could seriously hurt the academy’s ability to fight in the future."

William said, "That’s a nice thought," as he finished with the restraints and stood up.

"Come on, let’s get these three locked up and find the headmaster before more of their friends show up."

...

They were able to get the unconscious agents to a safe holding area close to the headmaster’s office. There, William sent an urgent message asking for an immediate meeting.

Within minutes, Headmaster Albert came. He looked serious as he looked at the tied-up conspirators and listened to their stories about what had happened.

"This confirms my worst fears," Albert said after they had finished explaining. "We’ve known there was corruption within the organization, but having proof of organized operatives is very concerning."

"Thank you, Instructor Wade, for keeping Instructor Gracewell safe and catching these people."

William said, "Just doing my job," but he could tell from the way Olivia was looking at him that she might not agree with that humble assessment.

The headmaster looked at Olivia. "And you, Instructor Gracewell, took the initiative to look into suspicious activity, but I must tell you that in the future you should report such concerns instead of acting on your own."

"This could have gone terribly if Instructor Wade wasn’t with you."

"I get it, Headmaster..." Olivia said, looking like she knew she had done something wrong. "My apologize for being naive... and I promise it won’t happen again."

"It’s fine... I’m glad you’re learn the hard way yourself."

...

William and Olivia were finally free to go back to their rooms after giving their statements and making sure that the operatives were safely locked up for questioning. William was exhausted by that time, and it wasn’t because of his physical training.

"Instructor Wade... maybe I need to show my gratitude again," Olivia said as they walked through the hallways that were now empty. "Thanks for getting me out of there."

"I really thought I was going to become a vessel with no mind or worse.... their... you know..."

"Stop." William said, "Don’t mention it."

"However, if you really want to look into corruption and conspiracies, you should probably learn how to protect yourself by kicking asses!"

"When someone is trying to stab you in a hallway, knowing a lot about theory doesn’t help in a real combat situation because you have to act fast."

"Then..." Olivia stopped walking and turned to face him with a look that made William feel a little uneasy. "Can you teach or maybe... uh... train me?"

’The plot is getting predictable here...’ William sighed.

"I know you’re already training a lot of students, but I could really use someone who knows how to fight and how to deal with the politics that seem to be going on around you."

"What...? You want to be one of my students?" William asked, even though he already knew what the system would say.

He was just curious about her reasoning.

Olivia said, "I would rather not be completely useless in a crisis."

"Tonight showed me that all the things I know in theory don’t mean anything if I can’t protect myself or other people when it counts."

"Also, from what I’ve seen, you seem to be at the center of everything that happens at this academy..."

"I need to be able to do more than just write down problems if I want to really make a difference."