A week later.
"Creak." Su pushed open the door to the top-floor office of City Hall.
Inside the office, Molly was still bent over her paperwork. After quite a while, she finally looked up at Su and asked, "What is it? Did that person at the reception desk send someone to press us again? Didn't I tell him to keep waiting? We'll arrange something for him when there's time."
"Princess, this time they're a little different," Su said.
"How are they different? Did they send someone to say they're preparing to leave Atlantis again? Isn't that old news by now? How many times has this been since the beginning? Last time, they said they'd see Lord Richard in the morning and leave that afternoon. This time, they'll probably see Lord Richard in the morning and leave at noon, right?" Molly asked. Without waiting for Su's answer, she lowered her head, picked up her Goose Feather Quill, and began writing comments on a document.
"No, Princess." Su shook his head. "This time, they didn't send any subordinates. They came in person and are sitting in the City Hall lobby right now. They said that if they don't see either you, Princess, or Lord Richard today, they absolutely won't leave."
Molly stopped writing, set down her Goose Feather Quill, and let out a slightly surprised sound.
"Oh—then it seems they really can't hold back anymore."
"I think so too. Then how do you think we should handle this, Princess?"
"Well..." Molly began to ponder.
While Molly was thinking, in Atlantis City, at the Three Six Two Research Institute.
The four-story Stone Tower stood as it always had in an unremarkable little courtyard. No one moved about within the courtyard, and it looked exceptionally quiet. Yet the area on the twenty-seventh underground