"I wanted to ask, how did you know about Professor Fremont?"
Lieselotte looked toward Flandre Scarlet.
"It's like this. While I was in Lungmen, I overreached a bit and held a lecture regarding Originium Arts and Magic," Flandre explained. "At the time, I invited some Leithanien exchange students who were in Lungmen to come and discuss things together. Most of those exchange students were from Enwald Ludwig University, and it was from them that I heard Professor Fremont's name."
Flandre continued smoothly, "Coincidentally, while we were in the north dealing with the troubles of an Infected person, we used a lot of Magic, but the results weren't quite as satisfactory as we hoped. So after coming here, I thought of Professor Fremont. I paid him a special visit hoping to get some answers. His knowledge truly far exceeds my imagination; I've benefited greatly from listening to him..."
Flandre spoke eloquently; of course, these words weren't something she'd thought of on the spot. She had already prepared the draft in her head last night.
A flash of light crossed Lieselotte's eyes. "I have actually heard a bit about this. The Great Yan Celestial Masters Mansion has been hoping for deeper academic exchanges with us. I didn't expect you to be involved in this as well."
Half an hour later, Flandre Scarlet and Ch'en walked out of the White Tower.
"Phew, that White Queen is so intimidating!" Ch'en whispered to Flandre.
"I actually think she's okay; at least she's reasonable first," Flandre replied. She thought of those people in Gensokyo. Everyone there always fights first before talking reason. So it often happens that after fighting for a long time, you still don't know why the fight even started—or you only realize after the fight that you seem to have found the wrong person.
After the two of them left the White Tower, the gazes that had been staring at her earlier vanished. After all, being able to walk out of the White Tower alive meant they had gained the Queen's trust.
"Your Majesty, do you really believe what that Blood Demon said?" Shortly after the two left, someone inquired about the matter.
"Firstly, though that little girl didn't tell the whole truth, she didn't lie either," Lieselotte answered. "Secondly, no matter what she wants to do, it all comes down to one thing: she must contact Fremont again. So we don't need to judge someone as guilty or innocent before they've even taken action. We only need to wait; if she truly has ulterior motives, she will naturally show her hand. If she's really just here for academia, Leithanien isn't so stingy as to guard its knowledge like a worthless broom. Or do you think the every move of a few outsiders in Zwillingstürme could be hidden from me?"
Hearing Lieselotte's words, the person hurriedly said they wouldn't dare suggest such a thing. Then, silence fell upon the high tower once again.
At this moment, Flandre Scarlet and Ch'en were walking along a commercial street in Zwillingstürme.
"Why do we have to come buy a gift for that Char Siu..." Ch'en grumbled. She expressed that Swire was like a bristling Cloud Beast every day, all noisy and fussing; besides, she didn't lack money, so buying her a gift was a complete waste.
"A gift is about the thought, naturally!" Flandre chirped. "Just like how I've prepared some gifts for my sister and Patchy and the others, to give to them the next time I see them!"
Flandre looked curiously at various trinkets around her as she walked, stopping from time to time to ask for prices.
"Speaking of which, I heard from Talulah that your sister went to the Reunion Movement and then left shortly after?"
"Mhm, yes," Flandre replied. "They used a Magic teleportation to get there, but that Magic wasn't a full teleportation. To be precise, it was to avoid errors in long-distance teleportation that might lead to getting lost in the void. So they set safety coordinates at home. When the time was up, they were teleported back."
Flandre felt that she still couldn't talk about other worlds and such, so she used another explanation that was easier to understand.
"I see." And Ch'en, as expected, accepted this explanation.
Then the two of them bought a bunch of miscellaneous items and carried them back in their arms. In Flandre's words, although these trinkets were cheap, she hadn't seen them in Lungmen, so she'd buy them back for everyone to enjoy.
When they returned to the hotel, the caravan leader came specifically to inquire. Mainly because being summoned privately by the Queen was an honor most ordinary people wouldn't encounter once in a lifetime. After learning the details, those people could only be envious.
Because they were departing tomorrow, Flandre and Ch'en planned to stay obediently in the hotel for the rest of the day. There was a library on the first floor; Flandre took two books and found a quiet spot. While she was reading, she suddenly felt a wave of killing intent.
"Hmm?" A smile curled at the corners of Flandre's mouth. She didn't make a sound, but instead pricked up her ears to listen. Five people began to approach her inconspicuously.
Twenty meters. Ten meters. Five meters. Three meters.
Two of the five threw smoke bombs onto the ground. Of the remaining three, two drew sharp knives from their sleeves and attacked from Flandre's front and back, while the last one pulled out a casting unit resembling a wand and aimed it at Flandre's head.
The sudden attack caused a burst of screams from the people in the lobby. No one expected that someone would suddenly attack the girl who had been quietly reading. However, after the smoke cleared, the girl was still sitting there, her hand turning the page without any change.
As for those attackers, they were as motionless as wooden dolls. The person closest to Flandre even had his sharp knife less than half a meter from her back. But they all seemed to have been hit by a pause button.
"Are you here to play 'One, Two, Three, Wooden Man' with Flan?" Flandre looked up at them.
At this moment, Ch'en, who was the first to react, rushed over like a cheetah. She instantly pinned one person to the ground. Following closely behind were several Shadow Guards. They rushed toward several people who were trying to flee outside and intercepted them.
After the police retrieved the hotel's surveillance footage, they found it was indeed as Flandre said. Since returning to the hotel, she had taken two books and sat there without ever getting up.
After the police took the people away, Ch'en finally asked, "How did you do that just now?"
"How did I do what?" Flandre looked at her in confusion.
"Making them unable to move! You have no idea, you gave me quite a scare just now!" Ch'en felt a bit of lingering fear thinking about what had just happened.
"Oh, Mass Hold Person. It's not some profound Magic; the reason I learned it back then was to prevent people from moving around while I was drinking their blood!"
After Flandre finished, Ch'en expressed that she'd have been better off without the explanation.
"Who do you think sent those people? The Remnants of the Witch King or the Ursus people?" Ch'en asked once they were back in the room.
"I don't know; although those people's hiding skills were decent, their strength was actually very weak. But I don't think it's Ursus. To know our movements in such a short time requires a significant amount of power. So I think it's more likely they acted on a whim," Flandre mused.
"On a whim, because we met the White Queen?" Ch'en was in disbelief.
"That's why I said I don't know. Unless you can get me one so I can read their memories." Flandre felt a bit of regret now; she should have directly caught one to read their mind.
"Then can we leave tomorrow?" Ch'en looked out the window with some worry.
"What's there to fear? If they dare to come, I'll kill them all!" Flandre didn't feel there was anything wrong with killing people at all. "After all, since you've made a move against me, it's only natural for me to strike back."
Although Ch'en felt this way of thinking was a bit extreme, she wasn't some overly saintly character. It was just that as a police officer, she preferred for criminals to be punished by the law. But if her life were truly in danger, her longsword would be no less sharp.
By evening, news about the attackers arrived. Of those five, one was a member of the Remnants of the Witch King, while the other four were die-hard loyalists of the Black Queen. Those four were dissatisfied that Flandre and Ch'en had paid respects to the White Queen but hadn't gone to pay respects to the Black Queen.
"Just because of that, they wanted to kill someone?" Ch'en felt a sense of absurdity after hearing the reason.
"Maybe this is... a brain-dead fan?" Flandre searched her mind for a term to describe it.