The heavy door to a warehouse creaked as Kako gently pushed to get it to open. A blond elf girl's head appeared in the small opening, and she helped slide the door the rest of the way.
"Nothing to report, ma'am," the elf said as Kako used a small rag to clean her hands.
"You're sure you checked everything, Mina?" the writer asked as she threw the rag to the side and walked in. The blond elf looked at her dirty hands and sighed—wiping them off on her pristine green skirt while walking beside Kako.
"Yes, we did! It looks like this was the warehouse they recently, and I mean very recently, cleared out, but they left nothing useful behind."
"That's not 'nothing to report,' Mina," Kako said with a groan, "I should have written you with a higher IQ."
"Sorry, ma'am," the elf replied while her long ears drooped.
Kako stopped in the middle of the dark space and looked up.
"Can we turn on the lights?"
"Dex is already on it!" Mina replied. The lights suddenly flashed on, revealing a wide-open space. The dust on the floor showed that two vehakuls had sat for a long time and had just recently left. The supplies were loaded hastily, and they had not bothered to care about throwing away empty boxes or canisters.
"Madam!" A tall Aqueenian man wearing a trench coat and a bowler hat emerged from a back room. An overly large white handlebar mustache looked like it divided his face into two. He bowed like a gentleman to Kako before continuing. "It seems they wanted to leave in a hurry. Any files were burned, and they smashed tablets rather than trying to pack them all. I think I can recover information from a couple, but I suspect they took things of true importance along."
"A fair assessment. Did we find anything else of use?"
"I am having Basil do another search in the area just to be sure, and I plan to inspect their office once again, but I feel it might be a stretch."
"Very good, Dex; please conduct it nonetheless and report anything you find, even if it doesn't seem important."
The tall Aqueenian put a hand in front of his chest and bowed.
"It will be done, Madam." He left Kako and Mina in the center of the empty warehouse. Kako groaned.
"What's wrong, Ma'am?"
"Dex is the best character for this sort of thing; if he can't find anything, it means this organization will be more trouble than I would have liked."
"Are you worried they would deter your plans?"
"No, none of those are of concern; it just feels like a waste of time. The story I want to write doesn't have space for such useless villains."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"Of course, you don't; you're not smart enough for these things. Don't worry about me; I was just venting. I should know better than to do it with the 'fanservice' character."
Mina frowned but offered no words in reply. She followed Kako as they walked into a back room. A burst of cold poured over them, and the elf girl shivered. She rubbed her hands over where her excess skin was revealed from her thin clothing. Kako shot her a look as she wondered what Mina would say, but the elf remained silent.
The room was a freezer; the warehouse being a place for storing goods before being shipped across Nun. Kako looked around but didn't bother wasting much time in the place. She suspected they had used it as a prison; scratching on the walls and spots of frozen blood indicated as much, but the group was tidy enough to clean out bodies. At least it told her what kind of organization had moved into her story. The writer smiled as she walked out, the shivering elf following just after.
A flash of energy caused the main character of World Exchange! to appear. He kneeled down.
"Yes, my lady?"
"Lavan, I want you to do some scouting. Check up on Gwyn and make sure he is okay. If Array tries anything, kill them."
"Of course!" The Netzian protagonist quickly stood up and exited the building; riding on his arm was the blue Needaimus Kako had found from her research—the appearance had ended up different because of her not having a proper reference, but the name, attitude, and ability were still the same. It was a troublemaker type called Persistent Memory, or Mem, as Lavan liked to shorten it in the novel.