I'm on the Ark, and I start out as Gretchen.

However, not completely believing is one thing, fulfilling the little cutie's little wish is another.

"..."

After Talulah agreed, Gretchen turned her gaze to Alina beside her, silently asking a question.

"Hehe~" Alina chuckled softly, nodded, and then teased, "Go ahead, I'll leave Talulah in your care tonight, little Gretchen~"

"Yes, I will." The little girl nodded obediently.

"What? I was the one taking care of Gretchen!" Talulah argued with a laugh after hearing her best friend's teasing. "And you, little rascal, actually nodded!"

"Haha~"

Alina, you're still laughing!

……

After this exchange, Gretchen managed to stay, and tonight she went to Talulah's tent without incident.

----------------

The pitch-black night—

"Alright, go to sleep early. I saw you yawning over there earlier." Talulah stood in front of her bed and reached out to pat Gretchen's head.

"Hmm, where's Sister Tarua?"

"I still have some things to look at, I'll go back to sleep later." As she spoke, Talu pointed to the table not far away.

Hearing this, Gretchen could only nod helplessly and then said softly, "Okay... remember to get some rest, Tarua-neechan."

As the leader of the Reunion Movement, Talulah naturally has many things to handle. However, in this regard, Gretchen is completely unable to help.

However, she has already decided to find a time to properly demonstrate her strength in front of Talulah, the leader.

Because Gretchen no longer wanted to be protected like a child; she wanted to protect others, even though she was capable of fighting and was very strong.

Of course, Gretchen had also made two preparations regarding her desire to participate in the operation. If, after demonstrating her power, Talulah and the others still refused to allow her to participate…

Greta plans to intervene under a different identity...

It's worth noting that she spent more time in Yelena's arms tonight than yesterday, and the unlocking progress of [Setsuna] Sakura was immediately boosted to 75%.

If all goes well, Gretchen will only need one more application before she can unlock her new identity. At worst, she can simply return to her old profession with Sakura.

"..."

As she pondered these thoughts, Greta, lying in bed, gradually grew sleepy and eventually drifted off to sleep to see Mr. Crab.

Inside the tent, apart from Gretchen's steady breathing, the only other sound was the rustling of Talulah writing.

……

However, after an unknown amount of time...

"!"

P.S.: The second chapter should still be released before 12 o'clock today. Please give me some votes.

Chapter 20: The Matter of Harvesting the Black Snake Sheep... and its Scales

"!"

Greta, who was lying in bed having a sweet dream, suddenly felt an uncomfortable aura and was immediately awakened. She opened her violet eyes, which were still a little confused.

Then, she rubbed her eyes and slowly sat up, observing her surroundings.

It was at this moment that Gretchen noticed that there was no one beside her, and that Talulah, who should have been asleep by now, was lying on the table with the dim candlelight, as if she were asleep.

However, Gretchen didn't believe that Talulah was simply sleeping peacefully. Others might not see anything unusual, but she saw it very clearly.

In her eyes, the dragon girl lying on the table was surrounded by a faint, illusory black mist, and this black mist was constantly churning.

Gretsch knew without even guessing what the black mist was. As for why this situation had suddenly occurred, she figured it was because her painting had worked its magic.

Just as she was about to get out of bed to do something... an unexpected sound suddenly rang out.

[Ding! "Infinite" Möbius is being unlocked, progress 1%.]

“……???)!”

"???"

After clearly hearing the voice in her mind, Greta froze in her tracks as she tried to get out of bed. Although her small face remained expressionless, her eyes were filled with astonishment and confusion.

Her head was already a little groggy from not waking up naturally, and this sudden shock left her completely bewildered...

"..."

"!"

After a while, Greta finally came to her senses. She reached out her little hand and pinched her face. After feeling a slight pain, she finally realized that she was not dreaming.

;?;

Then, Gretchen quickly summoned the panel and flipped to Mebius's screen.

As she expected, the unlocking method for the Möbius, which originally did not show the specific unlocking method, was now marked with the unlocking method.

【"Infinite" Möbius】

[Unlock Method: Collect Nightmare Points from the Black Serpent (Koschke)]

Current unlock progress: 2%

Upon seeing the unlock method, Gretchen was so happy she almost jumped up and cheered, but her inherent emotionless nature limited her actions.

In her view, this was like a lucky break, a perfect opportunity.

It was at this moment that Gretchen finally realized what had happened that night.

To verify her idea, she nimbly jumped off the bed and walked step by step toward Talulah.

Upon reaching the Dragon Girl's side, Gretchen first took a deep look at the still restless black mist.

Then she reached out her little hand and gently nudged Talulah's shoulder, softly calling, "Sister Talulah... wake up."

"..."

However, Talulah did not respond to Gretsch's shaking and shouting, as if she had fainted.

At that moment, Gretchen was completely certain of what was going on.

Tonight, her painting not only had an effect, but it was also exceptionally effective, although the effect was slightly delayed.

?;

The reason for this statement is that Gretchen has just discovered through contact that the painting's magic not only affects Talulah, but also the snake residing in the dragon girl's body.

If nothing unexpected happens, the black snake has probably seen what it fears most... As for what that is, the little girl has no idea.

Of course, Gretchen had no idea what Talulah had seen or what she was going through.

"Sir Knight... could you please help me carry Tarua to bed?"

Gretchen slowly withdrew her hand from Talulah's shoulder, then softly called upon her loyal knight.

Meanwhile, the azure-blue knight responded to his princess's call with lightning speed, appearing beside Gretsch almost instantly.

Then, he carried out the princess's order, gently and gentlemanly picking up Talulah and walking towards the bedside.

Gretchen, watching the knight's movements, had already started to rack her brains.

Now that she knows how to unlock Mebius, she'll definitely take advantage of it until she unlocks Snake.

However, Gretchen knew that Koschei wasn't stupid, and that this kind of accidental possession would only happen once at most. If it happened again, he would probably run away... and possess someone else.

When that time comes, it won't be so easy to catch the black snake again... snake scales won't be so easy to get.

Therefore, Gretchen had to take advantage of the black snake's influence before it was completely free of its effects and devise a foolproof way to pluck its scales...

Even if we accidentally let the Black Serpent go in the end, we'll have to wait until we've fully unlocked Mebius.

"Well……"

After thinking for a while, Greta couldn't come up with a good solution yet.

Keeping the black snake is simple; just paint a picture now and seal it inside. But constantly frightening him is difficult, since the "dream" will eventually end.

"ah……"

Just as Gretchen was standing on the ground deep in thought, the knight appeared beside her without her noticing, picked her up and placed her on the bed, then gently covered her with the blanket.

"Um... thank you, Mr. Knight."

Feeling the warmth of the blankets, Gretchen comfortably closed her eyes and politely thanked her knight.

……

"..."

After thinking for a long time, Gretchen, still unable to come up with a good solution, decided to use the most rudimentary method to obtain Nightmare Points from the Black Serpent.

As for what this clumsy method is... it's to prolong the time Black Serpent spends facing fear until it collects enough Nightmare Points.

The method to extend it is quite simple: just draw a picture in the color of the black snake and present it to Talulah.

"Mr. Knight..."

Just as Gretchen was about to call out to the knight to state her needs, the knight had already taken action and set up the easel.

"……Amazing."

After sighing at the knight, Gretchen left her warm bed again and sat on her own little stool.

Because it was unknown when the Black Serpent state would end, and time was of the essence, Gretchen directly pulled out her signature weapon, "Starry Sky of the Past," to assist in this painting.

This time, she planned to prepare two paintings: one to prolong the effect on the black snake, and the other to seal Kosiché and prevent him from escaping...

P.S.: I'm so sleepy, going to sleep now, goodnight.

I need to think carefully tomorrow about what the Black Serpent's fears are...

My collection count isn't increasing much today, so I'll ask for some votes.

Chapter 21 An'an... Tarua

After having the idea, Gretchen dipped her brush in the paint from the black snake and began to paint.