What exactly happened between Nicole and Belle back at the Sixth Street video store, Phaga and Ellen had no idea.
All they knew was that, for some reason, the security along the road to Belobog Heavy Industries was unusually strict today.
Countless Bear-Thiren were pouring out from the old construction site, watching every passerby with wary eyes.
Some of the more jumpy ones were even crouched down with magnifying glasses, inspecting the ground as if they could read clues from footprints.
Before long, Phaga and Ellen, still in the truck, saw some of Belobog Heavy Industries' core members walk out from the site, talking among themselves.
"Ellen, find a place to park nearby."
As Ellen pulled over, Phaga reached back to the rear seat, grabbed the black-and-white doll, stuffed it into his coat, and pulled the hem down to hide it.
After all, walking around with an Ethereal on you wasn't exactly easy for people to accept. With so many eyes and mouths around, it'd be a real headache if the black-and-white doll's existence got exposed.
Of course, Koleda and the others still had every right to know.
Because the Sacrifice inside the black-and-white doll belonged to Belobog Heavy Industries. Stealing it was already wrong; if he came to apologize and still didn't tell them what he was using it for, or help clear up their understanding of Sacrifice, it would be a stain on Victoria Housekeeping's reputation.
Even if Belobog Heavy Industries might never have figured out who the culprit was from beginning to end.
[Hey, wait a second! You filthy vampire, are you seriously stuffing Lord Black-and-White Doll into that stinking chest of yours? Lord Black-and-White Doll strongly refu— Ow, ow, ow! Miss Shark! I even agreed to come out of the Hollow for you! Aren't we on the same side?!]
Phaga tried to forcefully tuck the black-and-white doll away, and of course the doll thrashed around in fierce protest.
But Ellen reached over to help. Even while driving, she still managed to free one hand to grab the doll by the ear and give it a hard yank.
"What are you talking about? Of course we're on the same side."
Ellen shot it a sideways glance, the corner of her lip curling. "It's just that I'm about to brake. I don't want you getting thrown around."
[At the speed you drive, like you could throw me anywhere.]
[Hey, eyes on me! Answer Lord Black-and-White Doll's question.]
"If I look at you while we talk and end up hitting someone, I'll have to use your allowance to pay their medical bills."
[Oh, oh. Then drive properly.]
...
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the Brant Street Factory—
Koleda stood with her arms crossed, her flat chest giving her a bit of a tomboyish look. She snapped impatiently:
"Hey, Anton, Ben. You two seriously haven't found a single clue yet?"
"We're looking, we're looking, don't worry, President. Only with sweat and hard work can we get the results we really want."
Anton was sprawled on the ground, carefully searching, comparing the Ether activity on the surrounding road with the patterns recorded on his data pad.
He and Big Ben had been on duty studying Sacrifice when the sudden attack knocked them both out. Even the nearby cameras hadn't caught a trace of the uninvited guest.
But one thing was clear: the culprit had been in a hurry, not even bothering to erase the Ether activity traces Sacrifice left behind.
So all Belobog Heavy Industries had to do was collect the residual Ether activity along the route, piece it together, and they'd be able to determine which way the culprit escaped.
With that, Anton went right back to his grand mission of collecting Ether activity.
Koleda sighed and smacked her forehead. "You guys really love doing things the hard way... If you ask me, if we'd just installed more cameras earlier, we wouldn't have half these problems."
"Ben! Don't act like you didn't hear me—I'm talking about you! Put more of the budget into hardware."
At that, Big Ben immediately straightened his back, rushed to Koleda's side, and tried to reason with her:
"No way, Koleda. If we do that, the head of Procurement will show up tomorrow with a mountain of purchase orders for me to reimburse. The spending would be huge."
"How is that huge? Didn't we just take on the Old Capital railway reconstruction project?"
Koleda planted her hands on her hips, clearly unhappy.
But the next moment, she felt someone gently rest a hand on her shoulder, and she turned her head.
Grace's face came into view.
She pressed down on Koleda's shoulder and shook her head. "No, Shorty. Knowing how TOPS Financial Union acts, who knows when they'll make the next payment. We should spend what funds we have where they're really needed."
"Tsk, fine, I get it."
Hearing Grace say that, Koleda could only turn away, grumbling under her breath.
But just then, as she turned her head, she noticed a vehicle that was both familiar and unfamiliar parking by the roadside.
A moment later, a man and a woman stepped out.
The man's skin was fair, a single-lens monocle at his eye. Dressed in a butler's uniform, his every movement was impeccably polite.
The woman, on the other hand, seemed more laid-back, glancing around curiously as her tail swayed lazily behind her.
"Hey, Phaga and Ellen are here. Get up and clean yourselves up, don't be rude."
Koleda called out, urging Ben and Anton to stand.
"Oh, right."
Big Ben scrambled up at once, clapping his hands and rubbing the dust off.
Anton, however, stayed flat on the ground, eyes glued to his data pad as he said without turning around:
"Wait a second, President. I suddenly picked up a sharp rise in similar Ether activity readings. We might be about to find a new lead."
Ignoring Koleda's attempts to stop him, Anton buried himself even deeper in his work, crawling forward one step at a time in the direction indicated on the screen.
Until—
"Huh? What's going on? The monster's Ether activity is off the charts. That means I'm really close to it."
"Ahem."
A cough suddenly sounded above his head, but Anton paid it no mind.
"Huh, a pair of shoes. Whoa, Ether activity's super high and matches perfectly. Don't tell me the monster wasn't satisfied with fusing weapons and has moved on to fusing shoes now?"
"Ahem!"
Phaga couldn't help but raise his voice a little.
Anton finally snapped out of it, lifting his head—only to see Phaga's slightly awkward smile.
"Long time no see, Anton. Been practicing that pervy manly training lately—crawling on the floor to closely inspect other guys' shoes?"
...
Soon, Koleda led everyone to her office—a quiet place, good for talking.
Creak~
She pushed open the door and went in first. The others filed in after her and sat down in their seats under Grace's direction.
"I'm really sorry, Phaga. First thing you see when you arrive is our staff embarrassing themselves. Here, some black tea. Conditions on-site aren't great, so please bear with it."
Once everyone was seated and Grace had handed out steaming cups of tea, Koleda finally spoke.
Sitting in the president's chair, she went quiet for a moment, then murmured to herself, "So that monster's name is Sacrifice. I never thought I'd learn its name like this."
Before they'd entered the office, Phaga had already given a brief explanation about Sacrifice.
Koleda had been so shocked her jaw practically hit the floor.
She had never imagined their Sacrifice would vanish in such an unthinkable way.
Even more unexpected was that the thief would actually come in person the very next day to apologize.
And not just apologize—the thief had even brought them the secret of Sacrifice, a mystery they'd been studying for ages without cracking.
This whole chain of events was absolutely outrageous.