This is not the date I wanted.

"I can tell you where your friend is now and what his situation is, as well as the true face of DEM."

"——!?"

Artemisia's eyes shrank.

Just one sentence accurately touched Artemisia's heart, making her emotions uncontrollably hot.

Friends and relatives who had no news, and bosses and colleagues who made her feel weird. The subtle but strong sense of disharmony lingered in her heart for a long time, making her unable to resign herself to the current situation, but she didn't know where to start.

It's like being lost in a thick fog where you can't see your hand in front of you. Even though you know you have to leave this place, you have no idea which direction to go.

That was why she came to meet Liang Yi Meng Yue. Even though she didn't believe in elves, she still hoped to find some kind of breakthrough through this opportunity.

"What... do you know?"

Swallowing her anxiety, Artemisia asked calmly.

"Well, let me think... I should be able to answer basically everything you want to know. Which one do you want to hear first?"

Meng Yue did not answer directly, but threw a multiple-choice question back. After hesitating for a moment, Artemisia gave her answer.

"…where my friend is going."

"Humph……"

Hearing this, Meng Yue smiled happily. But Artemisia felt a little bit underestimated.

"why are you laughing?"

"No, it's nothing."

Mengyue shook her head, rolled up the pasta with a fork and ate it in one bite, then began to answer Artemisia's questions.

"First of all, your friends are all safe. Ashley Sinclair, Leonora Hills, and Cecil O'Brien are all still serving in the SSS in London."

"You really know my interpersonal relationships."

Artemisia couldn't help but complain when she heard Mengyue read out her friend's name word for word.

"I apologize for invading your privacy. After all, you and I are still enemies, and it is necessary to collect intelligence to ensure safety."

Artemisia sighed, but didn't care about it and continued asking.

"What's the basis?"

Artemisia naturally couldn't believe Meng Yue's one-sided statement all of a sudden. If they were really in London, why didn't they respond after so many attempts to contact them?

"I can help you connect to the communication terminal they have, and you can contact them yourself to confirm it."

As she spoke, Meng Yue took out her cell phone, fiddled with it for a while, and then handed it to Artemisia.

Looking at Mengyue with half belief and half doubt, Artemisia finally pressed the call button.

"By the way, let me give you a heads up. If you get through, don't be surprised no matter what happens."

"What do you mean?"

Before Artemisia understood what Mengyue meant, the phone was connected.

[…Um…who are you? …]

"Leonora, are you okay? Where are you now?"

After hearing the voice coming from the phone, Artemisia couldn't help but shout in surprise.

[…Hey…I’m fine…This is London…that…]

The person on the other end of the phone hesitated for a moment and then asked.

[Who are you? Why did you call me and know my name?]

"It's me, Artemisia. Can't you recognize my voice?"

[Artemisia...]

The other party repeated her name. However, from Leonora's voice, Artemisia felt not joy and excitement, but confusion and helplessness.

At this moment, another voice interrupted on the other end of the line.

[Hey, Leonora, who are you sneaking around on the phone with? If you're slacking off, count me in.]

[Ashley...Artemisia...Do you know this name? ]

[Artemisia? Isn't she the most powerful magician in our army? Why are you mentioning her all of a sudden? ]

[A girl called...she said she was Artemisia.]

[Huh? That must be a lie. How could a rich daughter of an aristocratic family contact a third-rate magician like us?]

[Leonora, Ashley. What are you doing? ]

[Hey, Cecil, are you here to sneak out from training to slack off as well? ]

[Just now... my communicator suddenly responded... and it said Artemisia...]

[Artemisia? Wait?! Your communication terminal has been hacked——]

When the conversation reached this point, the call was disconnected from the other end.

"Hello!? Leonora! Ashley! Cecil!"

Artemisia shouted anxiously into the phone.

"It's useless. The other party has destroyed the terminal. You can't get in touch with them even if you call them again."

Meng Yue said calmly from the side.

"What did you do to them?"

Artemisia looked at Mengyue, her eyes filled with anger and murderous intent.

"Huh? Why do you say that?"

Meng Yue asked in surprise.

"Don't play dumb with me. Everyone has lost their memory of me. Only you elves can do this."

"Calm down. What good will this do me?"

Looking at the emotional Artemisia, Mengyue sighed helplessly.

"Besides, aren't your companions in London? That's your DEM's territory, why do you have to send them all the way from Tiangong City back to London? If I wanted to use your companions as hostages to threaten you, why would I have to do such a roundabout way? And--"

When she said this, Meng Yue's voice was filled with a hint of disgust.

"I have no interest in doing something as disgusting as deleting other people's memories."

"..."

After hearing what Meng Yue said, Artemisia calmed down a little. Regardless of the truth of Meng Yue's words, if she just wanted to use her friend as a hostage to threaten her, it was indeed a bit too roundabout.

Fortunately, her companions were not in danger of death, which made her feel a little relieved.

"So if it wasn't you, who did it?"

"So... In order to avoid any misunderstanding, let's discuss the second question before answering you."

Meng Yue took a sip of coffee calmly and asked.

"Artemisia, what kind of organization is DEM to you?"

"What organization... the one that invented the manifestation device, gave humans the power to destroy elves, and brought hope to the world."

Artemisia's voice was a little awkward. Answering the question to the elf was like a hunter explaining to a beast how powerful a hunting rifle was. It always felt a little confusing.

"puff--"

Meng Yue couldn't help laughing out loud.

"What's so funny?"

"Ah~ I was just wondering whether Westcott's acting skills are too good? Or is it that you, the young lady, are too naive and kind?"

Hearing this, Artemisia looked very unhappy. Although Meng Yue's smile before was harmless, this time it was a blatant mockery.

As if sensing the other party's dissatisfaction, Meng Yue shrugged and said.

"Well, maybe what you said is not wrong. After all, the nature of an organization is multifaceted. It can be a private company that does business, an armed group with terrible power, or a political party that has the power to interfere in state affairs. If you represent DEM, it can indeed be said that this organization has some meaning of saving the world. But unfortunately, from my point of view, DEM can be said to be rotten from the root."

"That's because you're an elf."

Artemisia retorted.

"No, no, anyone who knows the inside story will have the same feeling as me."

Meng Yue waved her fingers, took out a document from her bag and handed it to Artemisia.

"what is this?"

"Evidence that proves DEM's heinous crimes. Although I have other information, this one should be the most convincing to you."

Not quite sure what Mengyue meant, Artemisia took the document in confusion.

The first thing that catches your eye is the large title on the cover with the full name of DEM company "deus ex machine" and the "Top Secret" mark at the bottom corner.

Artemisia couldn't help but glance at Mengyue.

Even Artemisia did not have the authority to view files of this level. Only board-level employees were qualified. Only an out-of-specification elf like a hacker could view such confidential files as easily as picking up cabbages.

"A new type of manifestation device - Ashcroft..."

Flipping through the documents in her hands, Artemisia's expression became more and more solemn, from initial confusion, shock, and finally to disbelief.

Ashcroft is a new type of manifestation device developed by DEM to enhance the combat power of magicians. The core of its design is that a magician conducted human experiments, extracted her brain intelligence, and developed five manifestation devices with special abilities based on the magician's personal reality and special application of random fields.

Number one – Ailce.

Number Two – Jabberwock (Space Dragon).

Number three - Leon.

Number four – Unicorn.

Number 5 – Cheshire Cat.

Artemisia was not unfamiliar with these five names, as they were the weapons carried on her tactical unit "Lancelot".

Turning to the end of the file, it was discovered that the magician being experimented on was none other than Artemisia herself.

The documents fell from her loosened hands, and Artemisia's expression was full of confusion.

(What, what’s going on… I was once subjected to human experiments by DEM… Why can’t I remember anything at all…)

She held her head and tried to recall the memory, but no matter how hard Artemisia thought, the events of that period seemed to be covered by a thick gauze, hazy and vague.

PS: The relevant plots about Artemisia in the article are all from the spin-off manga "Date Attack". Interested readers can go and read it.

15 What to Believe

==============================

"This plan is said to be an experiment to exterminate the elves, but in reality, it is just a nice excuse for the drafter to satisfy his own selfish desires."

Looking at Artemisia who had an expression of doubt about life, Mengyue calmly expressed her views.

"If you think about it for a moment, you will understand. If they really want to destroy the elves, the plan should be to strengthen your abilities as a magus, rather than operating on your head and splitting up the skills that only you can use and transplanting them to machines for other magi to use."

In Meng Yue's opinion, this was like taking apart all the bombs and planes in your hand and playing Landlord, and then playing them one by one. Although the device developed by this magician would be stronger than that of an ordinary magician, it was not even worthy of carrying shoes when fighting against elves.

However, if Meng Yue felt a little confused when she first found out about this plan, after actually meeting Artemisia, Meng Yue began to understand.

In her opinion, Artemisia was friendly, had a strong sense of justice, and was gentle on the outside but strong on the inside. However, as a noble lady raised in a greenhouse, her behavior was somewhat naive.

If she were asked to fight the elves, she might do her best, but it would be difficult to ask her to participate in the rights struggle between humans.

Perhaps the mastermind behind the scenes coveted her power but thought he couldn't get her help, so he resorted to this desperate measure.

"The name of the drafter... if I remember correctly, it should be Edgar Carroll. According to my investigation, there is no such person on the DEM board of directors. I'm afraid he has been silenced. The reason is probably that he wanted to seize power and replace Westcott as chairman."

It makes sense when you think about it this way. After all, Westcott is more of a researcher and pleasure criminal than a businessman. He doesn't care about costs and profits, so he is a thorn in the eyes of those profit-seeking capitalists. But if you want to bring him down, you have to deal with Allen, who is very powerful, so naturally you will focus on Artemisia.

In fact, most of the dirty stuff Meng Yue got from DEM had no direct relationship with Westcott. He just provided a stage for his subordinates to do crazy and inhumane things.

As for those directors, as long as the elves' space shock does not hit their heads, they would like to come a few more times to earn more money.

"Honestly, I'm surprised that you can still work at DEM after doing that?"