I'm on the Ark, and I start out as Gretchen.

the other side--

Looking at Saria sitting opposite him, expressionless as she bandaged his wounds, Muirses hesitated for a moment before asking:

"Uh, Saria, you...you really beat up the Commander-in-Chief?"

"..."

Upon hearing this, Saria did not answer, but instead glanced at Muirsay.

"!"

Seeing Saria's frightening gaze, Muirses wisely covered his mouth and stopped asking. Only after a moment did he mutter softly, "Fine, I won't ask anymore. Anyway, this is between the two of you..."

"..."

Saria naturally heard Muirsey's mutterings, but she didn't react. Only after she finished bandaging the wound on her hand did she say calmly, "I'm leaving Rhine Lab."

"?"

Muirsay was completely stunned by his old friend's sudden remark.

Although the elf lady knew that Christensen's actions over the past few years had "gone astray," and also knew that Saria was very angry...

However, she never imagined that the two of them would end up like this...

"Aren't you going to care about Christensen anymore?"

After regaining her senses, Muirses looked up at Saria seriously and asked.

This time, she didn't use any random nicknames, but addressed Christensen by her first name as a friend.

"Yes, I will get her and Rhine Lab back on track." Saria nodded without hesitation in response to Muirsey's earnest question.

"But it is precisely because I have to take charge that I am leaving."

"..."

Saria's answer successfully silenced Muirses. After a moment of silence, she spoke softly:

"Can't I just stay here...?"

“If I stay here… there’s no way I can stop her.” Upon hearing this, Saria gently shook her head, her expression resolute.

"Sigh...you guys, whatever, I can't stop you anyway. Do whatever you want." Muirseth met Saria's determined gaze, and she quickly gave in, letting out a soft sigh.

"Okay, I'll have to keep a close eye on her from now on." Saria nodded first, then seemed to remember something and whispered a word of advice.

"Oh, please don't. I'm just a small director. How can I possibly manage the entire department?" After hearing Saria's words, Muirsay rested her head on her raised arms and said weakly.

Saria glanced indifferently at the "lazy" Muelseth in front of her, knowing that she had taken her words to heart, so she didn't dwell on the issue and instead changed the subject:

"I have a question for you. Why did you go to the database so early this morning? Did something come to mind?"

This was a problem that Saria only realized belatedly after venting her anger.

In her opinion, Muirsey wouldn't have gone to the database so early in the morning unless she suddenly remembered or discovered something, especially since she had an appointment with her that morning.

"Oh, I almost forgot about that!"

Reminded by Saria, Muirse sat up straight and became alert.

"Do you remember the little girl named Gretchen we met yesterday afternoon?"

"I remember. What's wrong? Does this have anything to do with her?" Upon hearing this, Saria frowned slightly and asked with some confusion.

Clearly, she didn't connect today's events with yesterday's little incident.

"You might not believe it, but I suddenly rushed to the database early this morning because of that child. Now that I think about it... that special little guy's identity is indeed extraordinary." As she spoke, Muirsey couldn't help but sigh.

Not to mention that Saria couldn't connect the two things, even the elf herself probably wouldn't believe it if she hadn't experienced it firsthand.

After expressing her feelings, Muirsay recounted the whole story to Saria, who was standing nearby.

"...Did she intentionally approach us?"

After listening to her friend's account, Saria paused for a moment before speaking with some uncertainty. At the same time, she pondered Gretsch's identity and allegiance.

"Well, based on my impression of him yesterday afternoon... I think the little guy's main goal was to buy gifts, and giving us clues was just a side thing..." At this point, Muirsey shrugged slightly, his expression somewhat helpless.

To be honest, Miss Elf trusted her intuition quite a bit; she didn't think Gretsch's happiness yesterday afternoon was an act.

Can you guess who or what organization is behind her?

After hearing her friend's guess, Saria nodded slightly and then continued.

"That's really hard to guess... but maybe it's the intelligence organization we've been looking for~"

"..."

P.S.: Only one update today, let me save some drafts. Starting tomorrow, for the next 10 days, I will guarantee at least 3 updates per day. I hope you will support me.

Chapter 148 Guessing and Allocation Routes

After a brief discussion, the two reached no conclusion and temporarily set aside the question of Gretchen's identity.

Because compared to the previous two problems, Saria and Muirse are now facing an even bigger problem.

"So, regarding Eve... Litt's disappearance, Saria, have you found any clues...?"

Although Muirsey appeared to be asking a question, her tone was quite certain, as if she were sure her friend knew some clues.

As for why she was so certain, it was naturally because of the elf lady's understanding of Saria.

If she truly knew absolutely no clues or had no idea whatsoever, she wouldn't believe that her friend could still be sitting here "calmly" talking to her.

"There are clues, but they're incomplete and need to be pieced together." Upon hearing this, Saria nodded in acknowledgment.

Just as Muirsey had guessed, she did indeed have some clues.

These fragmented clues were pieced together by Saria after she calmed down, from the things she knew. Furthermore, she had some guesses about Ifrit's disappearance.

"tell me the story."

Seeing that Saria had admitted it, Muirsays' eyes flashed with curiosity as he asked.

"Let's get to the conclusion first..."

At this point, Saria paused strangely before continuing, "Kristen should know where Ifrit is. Even if she doesn't know the exact location, she should know who took her away."

"Ok?"

Muirsey couldn't help but show surprise at her friend's first conclusion.

Saria ignored the expression on Muirsey's face and coldly stated her second conclusion: "Ifrit should be out of danger in the short term."

However, although Saria did deduce from various trivial details that Ifrit was not in immediate danger, it did not mean that she was not anxious or worried.

Because just because there's no danger to one's life doesn't mean there won't be suffering...

However, her experiences from childhood have instilled in Saria a personality that remains calm the more urgent and anxious she is, though it's not outwardly apparent.

"It seems you've gleaned something from Kristen..."

After hearing Saria's words, a look of understanding flashed across Muirses's face, but then he asked with a puzzled look, "But why? What benefit would it bring her to have Ifrit taken away?"

Miss Elf really didn't understand this.

If the "Flame Demon Project" was designated by someone above (the Ministry of Defense) and there are benefits to be gained from it, then it's understandable that Kristen took over and allowed his subordinates to carry it out.

So, she didn't quite understand why they let others kidnap Ifrit, the experimental subject, and didn't try to get her back.

Because from the perspective of the commander-in-chief, Muirsay could not see any benefit from it no matter how he looked at it, and might even be held accountable by his superiors.

"I don't know, but since Christensen tacitly approved it, it means that there must be a lot of interests involved." After hearing Muirseth's words, Saria lowered her eyes and gently shook her head.

At this moment, although her face remained calm, her hand under the table was already clenched tightly, and her wound tore open, the bright red blood quickly staining the snow-white bandage...

"Huh... um?"

Muelseth, who was about to lean back in her chair with her arms as a pillow, suddenly seemed to sense something, paused, glanced under the table, and exclaimed, "Saria! Your wound!"

"...It's nothing, the wound just reopened."

"I think this is serious! You should re-bandage it right away. And don't clench your fist like that again for a while!"

Seeing Saria's lack of care for her own body, Muirse felt a surge of anger.

"Saria, you're not made of iron! It was one thing to stay up all night investigating clues before, but now that you're injured, you're still acting recklessly!"

……

Finally, at the insistence of a certain water spirit, Saria re-bandaged the wound...

"Alright, now that we've reached a conclusion, let's talk about our guesses. Which organization do you think was behind it?" Muels glanced at Saria, who was no longer acting recklessly, before continuing the previous topic.

"In my guess, there are two possibilities... The latter seems to me to be much more likely and reasonable than the former."

"The first possibility is that someone above intervened and retrieved the rare [experimental subjects]."

"The second possibility is that a completely new organization has intervened. Although I don't know the name or details of that organization, judging from what has happened before, that organization should also be very interested in Ifrit."

When asked by Muirsey, Saria did not hide anything and revealed her two guesses.

"What happened before? You mean the time someone injected Ifrit with a pain-suppressing substance? It's been confirmed that it was deliberate?" Muirseth gently stroked his chin after hearing Saria's guess.

“Yes, if I wasn’t sure before, then today’s events have pretty much confirmed that what happened before was deliberate.” Upon hearing this, Saria nodded slightly and said.

This is one of the reasons why Saria believes the second guess is more reasonable than the first.

After all, this mysterious organization had a history of coming and going silently at Rhine Life before this incident even occurred.

Moreover, that organization is indeed more likely to do such a thing than the one above (Ministry of Defense).

However, Saria had no idea what this organization had promised Christensen...

"

"Hmm... On this matter, I share the same opinion as Saria; I believe the latter more. In that case, let's continue the investigation in that direction."

After listening to Saria's words, Muirsays thought for a moment and then spoke seriously.

"As for how to investigate... I don't believe anyone can do it without leaving a single trace or flaw. Since we can't find anything at the scene, let's ask around."

“You know the Structural Engineering department better than I do, so I’ll leave it to you! I’ll go have a good chat with Sakura.”

"..."

After hearing Muirseth's "reasonable" allocation, Saria raised her eyebrows slightly, a strange expression appearing on her face.