"That’s great." Clovis said happily, looking at Malin with a smile, "Since we can’t get in touch with Mr. Colin right now, let’s go find Lord Hoffman, shall we?"
"I was thinking the same thing. Such matters must be reported to my mentor Hoffman. Come, let’s gather up these case files and go." After Malin spoke, he reached out and collected the case files, Faye took out paper bags from a nearby cabinet, packed them up, and then Malin put them in a leather bag: "Let’s go, ladies, no time to waste."
"I’ll lead the way." Jessica volunteered eagerly.
"No, I’ll lead." Malin said as he undid the brass buttons on his trench coat, revealing the revolver holsters on both sides—Malin had a gun permit, a badge of a regular employee of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest, as well as follower badges from the Church of the God of Justice and the Church of the War God. Everyone in Carterburg knew that even if Malin walked the streets with revolvers in hand, it was to shoot certain mischievous spirits.
"I’ll carry the leather bag." Faye said, and after opening her personal Spatial Bag, she put it inside: "Malin, act natural, we don’t want to appear too obvious, in case Mr. Mischael is not the culprit but someone in the city hall is, you could alert them with your actions."
Malin thought for a moment, nodded, and pulled his coat back on: "Alright then, Lillim, you and I go out first, pretending we’ve found nothing."
"Don’t worry, I’m from the opera club." Lillim nodded.
"Clovis, follow me, and make sure to jump onto my back and don’t forget to act coy."
"Okay." Clovis nodded.
"Faye, you’ll come out leading Maya, and Maya, remember to act a bit listless."
Faye and Clovis nodded in agreement.
"Well then, ladies, the show begins."
With that, Malin pushed open the door and walked out first: "As I said, we’ve ultimately found nothing."
"If answers could be found anywhere, would we need officers and famous detectives?" Lillim, who walked out behind, wore a face of helplessness, huffed, and looked at Malin with dissatisfaction: "I’m exhausted, Malin. Make me a nice vegetable salad for dinner tonight."
"I want one too." Clovis jumped onto Malin’s back, and this Bunny Girl was quite small. As Malin had been growing taller recently, she had no problem climbing onto his back.
"Alright, alright, I’ll make you all something delicious tonight, just quit clinging or I’m going to suffocate." Malin said while patting Clovis’s little hand on his shoulder and feeling her heartbeat—this Bunny Girl was performing quite well, he must remember to add an extra braised carrot to her dinner.
"Don’t forget me and your sister." Faye’s laughter came from behind.
Malin turned around: "How could I?" After saying that, he took out the archives access card and handed it back to the staff on duty: "Thank you, we’re leaving now."
"It looks like you didn’t find anything, Mr. Malin." The elf said with a smile.
"Yes, all for nothing." Malin spread his hands: "But that’s not so bad, what’s more precious than world peace, right?"
"Of course." The staff member smiled: "Besides, you’ve got such cute girlfriends."
"Yes, they are my treasures. Well, sir, we must be going and won’t keep you from your work any longer."
"Goodbye, Mr. Malin, and to all the ladies."
"Goodbye, sir." The ladies also said farewell to him with smiles.
Watching Malin and his group leave, the nearby staff members turned to the elf: "What were they looking for in the archives?"
"They were said to be looking for the files of Mr. Malin’s foster father, Gaiate. Mr. Malin and Miss Maya are very concerned about their foster father, and they came looking for answers to help him." The elf answered with a smile.
"Wow, Gaiate is lucky to have such good kids. If my little brats were half as good, I’d be so happy I couldn’t sleep." Another worker exclaimed.
"Don’t mention it, my little nuisances only make trouble for me every day, so it’s really better not to compare." The staff member at the counter sighed to the gentleman who had come for service: "Ah, but on the other hand, Mr. Malin is truly blessed."
"Of course, if you too were accomplished at a young age, I bet you’d have such an entourage, and maybe the number of ladies would even increase. Then, you’d be the envy of everyone, haha, envy makes my soul part from my body." The worker across him laughed, and then everyone in the hall broke into laughter.
The gentleman across him laughed the loudest: "That’s funny, envy makes my soul part from my body."
The elf was laughing too, but the smile gradually chilled and eventually, he quieted down.
And at that moment, the laughter died down a bit, and in the hall, work continued, as did the services, and only the parrot hanging in a cage was mimicking.
"Envy makes my soul part from my body."
Then the city hall’s pet cat passed by, which quieted the parrot down.
The cat sat down in the middle of the hall, licked its front paw, and meowed.
"Ah, sir, your certificate, there you go." The staff member jolted awake, glanced at the certificate in front of him, turned it around, and handed it to the gentleman.
"Ah, thank you." The gentleman, likewise jolted, smiled as he took the certificate: "Thank you, goodbye, sir."
"Goodbye, sir." The staff watched the gentleman who came for service leave, then he turned to look at the elf, noticing that he was heading towards the archives: "Hey, where are you off to in the archives?"
"Just to check, maybe Mr. Malin and his group didn’t organize everything properly." The elf turned his head and said with a smile.