Chapter 174: Meeting on a Narrow Road
"Gladiolus?"
In the empty reception room, a voice with a hint of mechanical sound came from the magic mirror in the hand of the Jade Bird: "Are you sure it's this code name?"
In the mirror, the chubby doll was holding the magic mirror with its claws with some difficulty, and spoke to Delphinium for confirmation.
As for Delphinium herself, she was leaning against a tightly closed wooden door, looking expressionlessly at the magic mirror in her hand. She nodded, her azure hair swaying, "Yes, that's right. Can you find out? I can't confirm that this code name is real. I can only judge from the information she revealed that she might be from Claw Mark, but apart from some unconfirmed remarks, there is no other substantial evidence at present."
After leaving the dining table, Delphinium, unable to suppress the Heart Gem, rushed to an empty reception room next door as fast as it could and locked the door behind it.
The out-of-control Heart Gem was unable to undo its transformation for a while, so she took out the magic mirror she was carrying and contacted the Emerald.
The reason is simple. Currently, the only one in Fangting City who can handle this matter is Emerald.
She didn't know the strength of this magical girl who called herself "Gladiolus" and was suspected to be from Claw Mark, but she had a clear understanding of her current level - even if Sparrow came again, she would not be able to get away with it, not to mention that this person was obviously stronger than Sparrow.
"Let me see... Please wait a moment. I have to ask my assistant to contact my friends at the Demonic Institute."
Emerald's voice was a little vague, probably because her real body was doing something else far away in the kingdom, but she still emphasized the word "friend": "You may need to wait for two or three minutes."
"Okay." Delphinium nodded expressionlessly, "Thank you for your help."
"It's just a small matter. It's still a long way from being a problem."
The doll in the mirror waved its claws. "But what happened over there? The magical girl with claw marks directly invaded the Strategy Bureau. This is not a common thing. As far as I know, White Wolf and her group of subordinates have always avoided contact with ordinary people."
After hesitating for a long time, Kuiqi finally came up with a fabricated excuse of "being arrested on the street for eating a free meal" to explain the whole story. At the end, he added: "This is what I have heard so far, and the facts are yet to be verified."
"Although it sounds a little weird...it doesn't seem impossible."
Emerald was quite calm. She didn't question what Delphinium said. Instead, she analyzed it carefully. "Although most magical girls in the material world are familiar with human cities, the natives of the kingdom and the old veterans who have lived in the kingdom for too long can't figure it out. I've had researchers get lost in the material world before. When they were found, they had been wandering for half a month."
“Are the people in your country really okay?”
"I told you, here we have to say 'our country'! Show your solidarity, young man."
Emerald said earnestly, "Look, your current situation is the result of not listening to your elders. I have been urging you to get treatment as soon as possible, but you questioned and delayed it. In the end, when something really happened, you still came to me for help. Is it time to reconsider the deal I proposed?"
"I'll think about it afterwards." Delphinium agreed expressionlessly, "So have you found out the other party's information?"
"Don't worry, it shouldn't be there in such a short time...ah, I found it, gladiolus."
She suddenly changed her words in the middle of her sentence. With the sound of flipping pages, Emerald said thoughtfully, "Well, there is indeed such a person."
"Is it fake?" Delphinium asked.
"Probably not."
The voice on the other end of the line slowed down slightly. It was obvious that Emerald was reading something. "The results I found here show that Gladiolus is indeed the magical girl who defected with White Wolf more than ten years ago. Before defecting, she was an arbitrator of the Ministry of Finance and a karuta player. It seems that she knew White Wolf for a long time."
"...She didn't lie?" Delphinium was a little puzzled.
"Not everyone is for a deep-minded brat like you, young man."
The doll in the mirror shook its head: "Magical girls are synonymous with purity and kindness. Young girls are like this, and respected elders like me also have noble and beautiful qualities. Among the magic girls who defected, there are also many who are simple-minded."
Even the last trace of emotion disappeared from Delphinium's already expressionless face.
"I am willing to believe you, Your Excellency the Chief."
She nodded: "Leaving aside some controversial issues, it is very likely that the person who came to Fangting City is a defected magical girl who has the fighting power of a flower card and is very experienced in combat."
"In other words, this is an enemy whose strength is no less than that of the Moth, or even stronger. The entire Fangting City Magical Girls Team combined may not be her match. If she wants to do something next, no one here can stop her."
"So, Mr. Chief, what do you think a magical girl from Claw Scar would appear in Fangting City at this time? If she really has a purpose, what should it be for?"
The other party claimed that he was "looking for Cornflower", but even if he was looking for someone, he must have a purpose that needed to be achieved. According to Delphinium's own speculation, the other party came to find him most likely for no other reason, but for...
"The source of the beast, right?"
Emerald agreed, "Indeed, I can think of this, and there is no reason why White Wolf can't think of it. She can betray the country for two Beast Sources, so there is no reason why she wouldn't be tempted by the one in your hand."
"I probably won't be able to defend this thing from a karuta player in his prime."
Delphinium stated the facts in a calm tone: "If the other party uses force, or even uses the safety of Fangting City as a bargaining chip to ask me for the source of beasts, I will need your help."
"My assistance? You mean let me help you defeat that 'Gladiolus'? Unfortunately, my real body is still in the kingdom and cannot come to Fangting City."
The doll in the magic mirror shook its paw: "This clone of mine has almost no combat capability. Not to mention the flower cards, even your juniors can easily defeat this clone."
It spoke with certainty, as if there was really nothing it could do about it, but Delphinium did not say anything and just continued to look at the magic mirror expressionlessly.
The doll in the magic mirror paused for a few seconds, as if waiting for something. Seeing that Delphinium had no reaction, it couldn't help but say in boredom, "You are such an unlovable young man. Can't you just say a few words to me at this time?"
"So?" Delphinium nodded, "What do you have in mind?"
"Do you really believe that I will help you?" Emerald felt a little strange. "What if I really can't do anything? After all, this matter has nothing to do with me, right?"
Delphinium sighed helplessly: "I don't think a Gem Scepter should say something like 'The traitor's attack on the city has nothing to do with me'."
"From a magical girl's moral point of view, yes." Emerald retorted, "But I am also a jeweled scepter after all. Even if I have a noble character, I still have to consider the interests of the macro level."
"From the perspective of interests, you should not tolerate others getting involved in the source of the beast."
Cuiqiao calmly analyzed: "You came all the way to Fangting to build a research institute. Obviously, you originally planned to conduct research here. Even if our deal is successfully concluded and the Beast Origin is handed over to you, you should also consider the problem of the Beast Origin being stolen by others."
"Hmm... it seems that it is indeed impossible to refute. Your thoughts are so clear, you really can't be underestimated, young man."
The doll in the mirror first pretended to think, then nodded in agreement: "Then I'll tell you, don't worry about it. Even if the other party is really a defected 'Gladiolus', there will be..."
——"Bang!" Before Emerald finished her words, Delphinium felt a sudden strong impact on the wooden door behind her.
The door of the reception room was pushed open, and the emerald that was leaning against the door was thrown to the ground. The magic mirror in her hand also flew out of her hand and fell several meters away, leaving only the emerald in the mirror calling out in confusion.
Delphinium stood up with the help of the ground, and looked back towards the door, only to see that the magical girl who called herself "Gladiolus" had come behind her at some point and was looking at her with interest.
"Sure enough, my feeling is not wrong, it's a magical girl!"
She was still holding the wine glass she had brought from the dining table, and her cheeks were slightly flushed from drunkenness: "Sammy, you lost the bet!"
"She's really a magical girl?"
The black cat fairy floated out from behind her and looked at Delphinium with some doubt: "Indeed...but it's so strange, why don't I feel anything at all?"
"I told you that your goblins' perception patterns are too singular."
The girl smiled confidently: "I am more professional than you in this area."
"Are you the magical girl from Fontaine City? What are you doing here?"
However, Semi on the side had no intention of paying any more attention to her. Instead, he looked at Delphinium with a tense expression: "Did the man just now notify you to come?"
Just now at the dinner table, Yuan suddenly said that he felt the magic power of the magical girl, and then walked straight towards this room. Although Semi felt that this behavior was a bit reckless, he had no choice but to follow.
Even though it followed Yuan into the reception room next door, it actually didn't know: Was the magical girl from Fangting City here with good intentions or hostility? Did she know that they were from Claw Mark? Without knowing this information, it didn't know what action to take.
To be honest, Semi doesn't want to solve the problem through force.
Because it was always worried that the Cornflower in Fangting City was still very powerful, and going head-on would result in nothing. In its opinion, the risk of a head-on battle was much higher than outsmarting or communicating and trading, and it should not resort to fighting until it had no other options.
It is for this reason that it tries to use dialogue to confirm the other party's attitude, wanting to know whether it has really been exposed.
"I received a notification that an unknown magical girl entered Fangting."
In this regard, Cuiqiao avoided the main point and did not mention Lin Yun's actions. He just briefly mentioned the reason why he was here, "So I came here to confirm your identity and purpose."
"Confirm your identity?"
Sammy's ears perked up noticeably, but he quickly relaxed again. "What do you want to know?"
"Your code name, certification badge number, position, and mission."
Semi's idea was exactly the same. In order to avoid exacerbating the conflict and causing the two sides to fight directly, after a brief thought, Delphinium decided to use the same trick again and pretended not to know that the other party was Claw Mark. "It may be a little offensive, but I need to make sure that you are really the magical girls of the kingdom."
Her attitude also confused Sammy.
It had already prepared for a tough battle in the event that its plot was discovered. However, the attitude shown by Delphinium at the moment seemed to indicate that it was not sure that they were Claw Marks, which meant that there was still room for maneuver.
How about we talk about it again? It was thinking this and was about to continue what Delphinium said, but it saw Yuan stretched out his hand to block it.
——"No more acting, little girl."
She looked a little tipsy, but her tone was firm. She smiled and shook her head: "I just heard you say the word 'Origin of Beasts' behind the door. You obviously know why we are here, right?"
"Huh?" Semi turned to look at her in surprise.
Delphinium's originally indifferent expression became even more tense.
"In that case, there is no need to hide it any further. We are from Claw Mark. We came to Fangting City to retrieve the Beast Source from Cornflower and complete some other tasks."
Yuan brought the wine glass to her lips and took a sip: "Are you the magical girl from Fangting City? Then you should know where the cornflower is?"
"...Your goal is indeed the source of the beast." Seeing that her intention was exposed, Delphinium no longer pretended. She took a few steps back, picked up the magic mirror on the ground, and stuffed it into her sleeve. The wide sleeves of the dress hid the magic mirror like a storage bag, and there was no sign of bulging on the outside.
After doing all this, she looked at the combination in front of her with some caution: "What do you want it for?"
"Want to know?"
Yuan breathed out the alcohol and took a few steps closer to Delphinium. His height, which was more than half a head taller than Delphinium, created a sense of oppression: "Then answer my question first, little girl. Do you know cornflowers? Do you know where cornflowers are?"
Delphinium raised her head and looked at her fearlessly: "I am not obliged to answer your question..."
However, before she finished her words, she suddenly felt a sense of alarm in her heart. She felt a chill on her back, as if some danger was approaching.
Ding! Without any hesitation, Kuaiba activated the magic suit almost subconsciously, and the silk threads overlapped behind her to form a shield-like masterpiece, blocking the attack from behind.
However, she only blocked the attack. She couldn't even see what was attacking her.
What was even worse was that after she used her magic suit, she realized that trouble was still to come, because the kite in front of her looked at the silk threads around her and smiled with some understanding.
"…Although I already had a hunch, I still had to test my skills to know that it was you."
She gently placed the wine glass on the table beside her, and the drunken look on her face gradually faded:
"Cornflower."
(End of this chapter)
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