"Because what—spit it out already!!"
Seeing the certain someone go silent, Pela shook him while yelling:
"I hate riddle-speakers and chapter-cutters the most! Just say it!!"
Shaken back and forth, a certain someone looked awkwardly at Pela in front of him:
"Because… there aren't actually any artifacts missing at all."
"What?"
As soon as those words came out, the entire Qlipoth Fort fell silent for a few moments.
Everyone present carefully chewed over the meaning behind Zeig's words.
Pela asked uncertainly:
"You've already checked? No, you haven't even gone to the temporary storage warehouse for the exhibits—how do you know?"
A certain someone very skillfully pulled out a tablet and handed it to Pela:
"The light dots on the screen mark the positions of all the museum's exhibits. They're all numbered. At least from the day I arrived at the museum, not a single artifact the museum owned has gone missing—they're all showing up on the screen. Though anything lost before I got here, I wouldn't know."
Pela dazedly took it, pushed up her glasses, and carefully looked at the screen.
Most of the light dots on the screen were clustered together, with some moving—likely Silvermane Guards transporting them.
But the positions of the light dots were all within controllable range.
Bronya walked down:
"In that case, can I borrow the tablet for a bit? I want to cross-check the number and locations of the artifacts."
After seeing the certain someone nod, Pela handed the tablet to Bronya.
After Bronya took a squad of Silvermane Guards and left, Pela slowly spoke:
"If not a single artifact is actually missing, then what exactly was the arsonist after?"
At that moment, March 7th standing nearby spoke up:
"Is it possible this fire was just an accident? Like a kid setting off firecrackers, or someone tossing a cigarette butt after smoking Furong Wang or something…"
Pela shook her head:
"Impossible."
She said gravely:
"I was inside at the time. If it had been something like that causing the fire, the Silvermane Guards stationed inside and outside should have noticed it immediately."
Earlier, when Gepard went to support the merchant caravan, he took a large number of Silvermane Guards with him.
A large batch was also drawn from those stationed at the museum afterward, and Pela had filled the gaps with new recruits.
"Could there be a mole among the new recruits?" Pela raised an eyebrow.
She vaguely remembered when she escaped from the fire scene, hearing Silvermane Guards shouting about spies and such… the scene had been total chaos.
"Then there must be moles!"
March 7th extended a finger and earnestly said to Pela:
"When we arrived, I don't know if the other two saw it, but I sure did! A big group of Silvermane Guards was chasing another group and fighting—I even deliberately avoided them when I shot my arrows."
After March 7th finished, Cocolia Rand, sitting above with legs crossed, spoke gravely:
"Indeed, a group of injured Silvermane Guards was sent for treatment. Why not call them over? Let the Executive Officer treat them on the spot and ask exactly what happened."
March 7th clenched her pink fist:
"Good! I want to see who dares to smash the rice bowl of us three Astral Express titans!"
…
About ten or so minutes later.
A large group of people carried in stretchers. They laid the injured Silvermane Guards one by one on the carpet in Qlipoth Fort, bowed to Cocolia Rand, and then left.
A certain someone sat on Cocolia Rand's desk, frowning at the batch of Silvermane Guards below:
"There's quite a few… and a lot are still unconscious. Did the arsonist really go that hard?"
Burning the museum, attacking Silvermane Guards, disrupting Belobog's public order.
Just the museum arson alone would probably warrant the death penalty.
Cocolia Rand silently watched the person sitting on her desk and said:
"If there's anything you want to ask, wait until they wake up."
A certain someone nodded and waved at Assistant No. 1 Dan Heng in front.
Dan Heng acknowledged, then stepped forward carrying Abyss Flower and began treating each Silvermane Guard on the stretchers.
Assistant No. 2 March 7th followed behind, observing those people.
"These people almost all have varying degrees of burns… wait… some have cuts like from blades. They really did fight!"
Under the gazes of Zeig and Cocolia Rand, those Silvermane Guards slowly woke up.
First they looked around in confusion. Upon seeing Pela and the others around them, they immediately froze.
"Lady Pela, we're…"
Pela spoke:
"Do you know how the museum fire started? Was someone impersonating Silvermane Guards? Hurry and tell us—your information is very important."
"The fire…"
"Sorry, Miss Pela. I passed out from smoke inhalation while rescuing artifacts. I don't know the specifics—let the other brothers answer."
"I… I saw it… The fire was set by—not one, but a group of Silvermane Guards!!"
The speaker at that moment still had a knife scar on his face slowly healing under the power of Abyss Flower.
His gaze was sharp, his words cutting:
"They were new recruits transferred in. Us original Silvermane Guards weren't familiar with them either."
"Right at shift change, I personally saw them moving oil drums into the museum. At first they said it was on the Executive Officer's orders, so I didn't suspect anything. After all, no matter how unreasonable something is, as soon as you tie it to the Executive Officer, it immediately feels reasonable!"
Zeig: "?"
Feeling Cocolia Rand's gaze from behind, Zeig awkwardly explained:
"I never ordered anyone to move oil drums! You know me—I never use my Executive Officer status to order Silvermane Guards around to do this or that."
Cocolia Rand nodded and said to below:
"Continue."
That Silvermane Guard continued:
"Right, later I got suspicious too. The Executive Officer always forgets he's even the Executive Officer—how would he go ordering Silvermane Guards around?"
"Then when the museum caught fire, I went looking for them right away!"
March 7th pressed: "And then?"
"And then…"
"Didn't find them."
"Oh, not exactly didn't find them."
"?" March 7th narrowed her pink-blue eyes: "Do you want to hear yourself? You're sounding demonic right now."
That Silvermane Guard scratched his head awkwardly:
"Miss March, you know how it is with us Silvermane Guards—on duty, we usually wear helmets. Uniforms are the same."
"With the fire raging like that, tons of Silvermane Guards running around—I couldn't be sure which ones had been moving the oil drums earlier."
March 7th questioned again:
"No way—when I was up in Heavenly Father, I saw one group of Silvermane Guards chasing another group. Pela also said she heard talk about impersonating Silvermane Guards or something."
He nodded:
"Right, later we spotted them again, so we chased. I even fought with them!"
Dan Heng, who had been silent the whole time, now spoke: "How did you spot them?"
"They were… taking selfies with their phones at the time."
"…"
…