Traffic Accident (Continued)

"Knit a long scarf and give it to Yelena."

A cheerful song filled the tailor's room as the tailor happily sewed. One garment after another was completed, and time flew by, leading to Twilight.

"The last one is for Kal'tsit, a fitted evening gown, conservative, elegant, and gorgeous."

Miss Surtr stretched and looked at her final creation. A simple evening gown in white with green patterned tulle, deliberately designed with a backless style to suit Kal'tsit's combat habits—though they probably wouldn't need it. Of course, she had also considered warmth, so the entire gown was made of cold-resistant composite cotton and included a removable light green shawl.

It looks a bit like a wedding dress. But that must be an illusion.

Miss Surtr turned her head and looked at the time. The hour hand was pointing to exactly a quarter past seven.

"Wow, it took so long, much longer than I expected."

She looked at the large pile of simple packaging boxes in front of her, a satisfied expression spreading across her face; she even put her hands on her hips. In the past two hours, she had sewed over thirty different winter outfits, all sure to meet the needs of the recipients. These were meant to be a tribute to every friend she had met in the city.

The new recruits of Reunion Movement, the veteran operators of Rhodes Island... except for Natalia, whom she had only met once and therefore couldn't be given anything, so she hadn't prepared anything for her. She prepared suitable outfits for everyone she could think of, regardless of gender (Hegre, Patriot, etc.).

A major project.

If it were handed over to other tailors, they might still be drawing up the first set of design sketches.

But Miss Surtr is different—a professional tool, skilled and fearless of any difficulties—she even made a winter outfit for a certain operator on Rhodes Island to make up for the depression of a certain six-star operator who could never get a new outfit after the game's launch.

—Although I don't know Ifrit yet... what's her real name again? Hmm, I'll check her file later. Anyway, I'll get to know Eyjafjalla eventually. But... hmm, maybe I can use this outfit as a starting point to get to know her sooner?

She pondered. For the lamb she'd never met, she planned to prepare a cloak that wouldn't be too demanding on body shape, but could withstand various harsh weather conditions. After all, she didn't know the lamb's exact size, but the lamb's hobby and profession of exploring dangerous volcanoes would surely make this anti- Catastrophe cloak, imbued with a bit of her power, come in handy.

So, everything is ready.

She placed the last item of clothing that should have been given to Kal'tsit into the blank box. She tied on a confetti ribbon, signed her name and a message of blessing. After much deliberation, she finally decided to write on Kal'tsit's gift box—

'A gift of apology, hoping you will be surrounded by warmth in the cold winter.'

She considered the word 'apology' for a long time. After all, looking back, throwing Kal'tsit onto the frigid observatory was indeed a bit unfair. Besides, saying apology would probably at least make Kal'tsit see what was inside the gift box, instead of just throwing it away.

Of course, Miss Surtr knew nothing about the fact that someone had been standing in front of her little house all night in their pajamas, hugging a pillow— Persephone had erased the surveillance footage from that period and relocated all witnesses elsewhere. She had no idea what Doctor's reasons were.

In short, this has nothing to do with Miss Surtr, who was unaware of the situation.

Of course, the unsuspecting Miss Surtr couldn't predict what kind of chemical reaction this would trigger later—she knew nothing about it anyway.

As she sealed the box, a chill ran down her spine instinctively.

—A bad omen; my intuition is never wrong.

—Hmm... So even so, it seems I can't escape being thrown away?

The girl sighed softly, thought for a moment, and finally decided to draw another little heart on the box—strictly speaking, she felt that this kind of girlish cuteness was really damaging to her image. But besides doing this, she really couldn't think of any other good way.

Please forgive this taciturn and emotionally inept girl, Kal'tsit or anyone else. I really don't know what else to do.

She shook her head, tidied up the box, and wiped Laevateinn's sword with a new sword-wiping cloth—naturally, the first garment was made for Laevateinn. Unfortunately, Laevateinn never wanted a scabbard. So she had to make do with a handmade knitted sword-wiping cloth.

Laevateinn didn't burn the cloth, so it seems she accepted the gift. Although Laevateinn, constantly surrounded by flames, certainly didn't need cleaning or maintenance. But... something is better than nothing, right?

Miss Surtr's mood brightened again—she carefully put away the sword-wiping cloth, and her next task was to deliver these winter gifts one by one to the right people. She planned to deliver a few herself, but many others were less convenient to handle directly—five minutes earlier, Persephone had emailed her to say that a qualified messenger had been arranged to go.

Messenger...

What kind of messenger will Persephone send?

Miss Surtr had a guess in her mind. And this guess rapidly became reality as her perception expanded.

A heartbeat, a step, a light and graceful figure.

It's not red, but it has a familiar feel to it.

The smell of burning flames.

So...

Miss Surtr raised her hand, and the studio door opened just as the footsteps drew close enough. As the door opened, two simple gift boxes fell into her hands.

She saw a red-haired Lupo dressed in black standing in the doorway, his outstretched hand, which he had intended to knock on, now frozen in mid-air.

—Ludmila.

Sure enough, Miss Surtr guessed it was her. After all, Persephone had promised to heal Ludmila, and the best way to verify that promise was naturally to bring the unharmed Lupo girl to her for her observation.

Miss Surtr's gaze naturally fell on Ludmila —she saw that the wolf lady behaved with grace and poise, and even though she was indeed tainted by her own power, she did not appear to be corrupted or eroded in the slightest.

—I probably don't know her yet.

—And, I need to make sure she doesn't stay with me for too long.

Miss Surtr nodded slightly.

"Hello, I'm Surtr. You are..."

The wolf in her eyes lit up when she heard the name 'Surtr'.

"Surtr ...? I'm Ludmila, a new... well, still going through the appointment process at Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals. The Doctor asked me to bring this to you." The red-haired wolf handed her a sealed lunchbox.

Miss Surtr took it—only then did she realize that Ludmila had removed her veil. But the pretty face that was revealed was not unexpected.

It is widely known that the veiled women in the Reunion Movement are all great beauties. As of now, there are no examples to disprove this.

The food box handed to her further drew her attention—ice cream, high-calorie food. Persephone, however, understood her feelings.

"Thank you." She nodded to Ludmila. "But there's one more small favor I'd like to ask you... Could you please take this box to Persephone for me?"

She handed over two boxes.

"Two?" The red-haired wolf girl took the gift boxes and then noticed that the side of one of the boxes was blank.

"Well, some small gifts. Here's the box without any writing on it; consider it payment for making this trip?"

"A reward... for me?" Ludmila held the gift box in her hands, seemingly at a loss— Miss Surtr's actions had clearly interrupted some of her plans. Her actions and words became somewhat flustered and disorganized.

She subtly bit her lower lip, perhaps pretending not to have heard Miss Surtr's gift. Although she clutched the gift box tightly, her tone inexplicably became relaxed and nonchalant.

"Yes, I will deliver the gift safely... Miss Surtr, haven't we met somewhere before?"

She suddenly moved very close—so close that they were only half a meter apart.

Should we avoid it?

No, there's no need. Surtr has experience dealing with these things—she picks up a few specific boxes and leaves the others on the table— Persephone's drone will soon come and collect them. Then, the gifts are delivered to the right people according to the names written on the boxes.