Warfarin Still Holds Her Ground (Continued)

Miss Surtr, I'm getting a headache—are you asking me a question or am I asking you one? What happened?!

And why does this dialogue feel so familiar and repulsive...? Did Warfarin take the wrong medicine?! Or did she catch it from Kal'tsit?! No way!

Surtr glanced up at Skadi —the orca was still staring at her. It didn't say a word, just kept staring.

Then she felt a wave of exhaustion.

"Then I won't come." She planned to give herself a break—a few hours of downtime, doing absolutely nothing. Unless Warfarin could give her a plausible reason.

Sure enough, her strategy was correct. Just a few seconds later, Warfarin's tone softened in the email.

—[Sorry, I was a little nervous just now... Who are you bringing?]

Warfarin became docile.

The docile Warfarin will meet the kind Surtr.

Skadi, she just joined Rhodes Island today. She's currently my personal assistant.

— [...That Aegir? Oh...I remember, I was the one who did her physical exam. Tsk, they wouldn't let me get a blood test... Wait a minute, operator onboarding doesn't happen that fast. Hmm... Surtr, do you really want to bring her along?]

No, it's just that she follows me everywhere. Wherever I go, she goes, unless you put our tea-drinking spot in the sky.

— [Putting it in the sky means...]

We can have afternoon tea up in the clouds. I'm sure this orca can't fly very high... maybe not even that. Warfarin, I remember you can fly, right?

— [I couldn't possibly fly that high up in the clouds!]

I can carry you up there.

— [You think you can still hold me while we drink tea?]

Why not? Don't worry, even if you fall, I'll be there to cushion your fall. Hmm... if you're afraid of heights, Warfarin, I can feed you too.

—— [%&#@￥#%! ￥...#]

Warfarin suddenly sent a bunch of gibberish.

Before Miss Surtr's cryptographic skills could take effect, the garbled text was completely retracted. Then a few seconds passed.

— [I really don't want to get involved, Surtr. Stop messing with my mindset!]

"Entering the game? You mean...?" Surtr was confused.

— [Nothing at all!] (Withdrawn)

— [This is not important!] (Withdraw)

— [Okay, it's just a really small thing. The kind you won't care about, just forget about it. Hmm, since it's Skadi's problem, wait a few minutes.]

Warfarin sent several messages, then deleted the first two. Clearly, she was in a very turbulent state of mind.

Miss Surtr calculated the time, then suddenly remembered that Warfarin was also the type who didn't menstruate. She was momentarily at a loss for words. But after wasting a few seconds pondering, she decided that perhaps she shouldn't do anything now.

Just wait, wait a few minutes, just like Warfarin said.

Their conversation was interrupted for a short while, and about five minutes later, Skadi's operator terminal emitted a soft beep and a slight vibration—Although Miss Orca was usually rather goofy, she was surprisingly not an electronics idiot. She first politely apologized to Miss Surtr, her theoretical superior, then opened the terminal, browsed, and raised an eyebrow.

"There seems to be a problem with my operator onboarding process; some documents need to be signed by me now." Skadi stood up and nodded to the flame-haired Sarkaz. "Please allow me to return to perform my duties after this is finished."

Miss Surtr really wanted to say something like, "You don't actually need to fulfill your duties, because no one has entrusted you with those 'duties' in the first place." But she hesitated for a moment before saying it. Well, we're still colleagues after all; there's no need to make things so awkward. Maybe things will change as we get to know each other better.

Miss Surtr simply nodded subtly and gestured for her to make herself at ease.

Then, without hesitation, Aegir, who came from the deep sea, got up, pushed open the door, and left.

She left.

After she left, Miss Surtr felt a strange sense of relief—she didn't know why she felt that way. Moreover, she found herself letting out more sighs and sighs in the past few days than in the entire previous years combined!

This is the growing pain, the situation she must face to change herself—she told herself in her heart.

As she placed her hand on the spine of Laevateinn's sword and felt the warmth emanating from the depths of the blade, the slight ripples in her heart quietly subsided.

—There will be more of this happening in the future.

She thought to herself, giving herself a mental pep talk. Then, she saw Warfarin send an OK emoji on her terminal—she wasn't quite sure how to respond to that signal, so she sent a smiling emoji in return.

Warfarin then fell silent. A few seconds later, she sent a time and switched to an offline status.

Great, all the problems are solved—she felt they should all be solved.

She tidied her clothes a little—a few minutes' delay before leaving. The gift she had ordered had been delivered to her building. After a quick check and writing down the recipient's name, she finally left, ten minutes later.

Because she had arranged a time with Warfarin, this wouldn't cause any awkward lateness or delay. Soon, as the clock struck 4:30, she arrived precisely at the entrance of a hotel in central Chernobog that was already open for business.

She saw Warfarin at a semi-enclosed booth by the window, the table already laden with afternoon tea essentials like pastries and fruits. The flavors suited both her and Warfarin's tastes, so it seemed Warfarin really did invite her out for tea.

So she sat down opposite Warfarin and spoke frankly.

"I thought you'd be very busy right now, swamped with all the patients and accident victims in Chernobog. Hmm... but you don't seem to have much work to do?"

She noticed that Warfarin had changed her clothes and was wearing light makeup. Overall, her appearance seemed about 20% better than usual.

It's a bit strange, is it fashionable these days to wear makeup even when going out for tea?

Miss Surtr didn't quite understand; in her previous life, no close friend had ever invited her out for tea—she picked up the teapot and poured two cups of black tea for Warfarin and herself. Only then did she hear Warfarin's reply.

"Because I'm planning to take a break." The white-haired Sanguinarch rested his chin on one hand, while the other held a spoon, gently stirring a sugar cube into his black tea. "I worked overtime yesterday, completing what would normally take three days. Now that the work is finished ahead of schedule, it's only natural that I should rest."

She said it with such confidence.

But Miss Surtr could see the unease and panic hidden deep within her—her heart rate was more erratic than usual. Her hormone levels were also somewhat imbalanced. In Miss Surtr's memory, such phenomena were usually only seen in spies about to be discovered or office workers about to lose their jobs, but neither of these possibilities clearly matched Warfarin.

A corporate slave? Frankly, Warfarin's income at Rhodes Island is negligible compared to the value her talents can command. With her medical skills, she'd be a VIP anywhere, and everyone would ignore her Sanguinarch identity. Even on Rhodes Island, she doesn't really have any superiors who can control her.

A spy... that's out of the question. Miss Surtr couldn't even imagine who her contact could be, or what leverage she could possibly have against her. Besides, she had a professional tool like herself right here. If Miss Surtr had any problems, she could just ask and he could definitely solve them for her.

So...

—Could it be that she was fed up with Kal'tsit's foul mouth, so she poisoned Kal'tsit's water bottle?

—That's not very realistic... I suspect that even if she poured poison into Kal'tsit 'Kal'tsit cup right in front of her, Kal'tsit would drink it without hesitation and might even ask if the dosage was sufficient. Besides, Kal'tsit doesn't seem to be very foul-mouthed towards her.

Kal'tsit will only deduct her wages and hang her on the bridge.

Strangeness.