After Shad finished meeting Miss Danister, Leicia's breakfast was ready. But probably to thank Dorothy, she made the breakfast, but when they were eating, the writer had already returned:
"Really? I had breakfast five minutes ago. My soul tells me I'm full, but my body is still a little hungry."
Dorothy looked at the breakfast on the table with a sad face. When Mia's eyes lit up, she said:
"But since it's made by Leicia, I have to eat it anyway. At worst, I can just walk a few more steps today to burn off the calories."
So the cat obediently shrank back to Xia De's side and waited to be fed.
The temperature in the Randall River Valley seems to have always been lower than that in Tobesk. When Shade asked the local Miss Lathers about this issue, she just said that the weather this year was special.
This Wednesday, the only thing Shad had to do was to go to the elf lady outside the city in the evening to get the "elf's clean water". During the day, he had planned to visit the old-time cemetery of the Granger family outside the city, but just as he arrived at the Wilde Opera House, he was called by Margaret, whom he hadn't seen for a week.
The princess of the South Kingdom did not complain that Shade had not come to see her recently, because she was also quite busy. This time she went to the Wilde Opera House, on the one hand to explain to Miss Benanis the progress of her recent task with the Stonemasons Association, and on the other hand to try her luck and see if she could meet Shade.
"The academy has sent people to check out the overseas silver mine you mentioned."
When he pushed open the door of the study, Margaret, who was looking out the window, turned to him with a smile and said, then opened her arms and hugged him:
"Really, I've been so busy lately that I don't have time to accompany you."
Xia De felt that this should be his line.
"I know you're very busy. I just met with Earl Granger yesterday, and from him I know how busy you have been recently. By the way, are things going well with the Stonemasons Guild?"
"Fortunately, everything went according to plan, so it can't be said to be smooth or not."
She let go of Shade, who was hugging her:
"Are you free on Friday night? William and I are holding a banquet at the manor where we are staying temporarily to entertain the nobles who are participating in the Second Southern Shipyard of the United Kingdom Navy as the last gathering of the construction period. It's not a formal dinner, but everyone will bring their families. It can be regarded as a rare visit to the Randall Valley for William and I to win over the local nobles."
"Friday, huh?"
I'm going to meet Miss Elf tonight, and I'm going to visit the Night Temple for the second time tomorrow. Friday is fine for now:
"I will attend."
Margaret smiled:
"So are you free this afternoon? How about accompanying me to the Stonemason Guild? It's not a public visit. I have contacted the president of the Stonemason Guild and there will be a private meeting this afternoon. At that time, I will take out the original share document of the Stonemason Guild that you gave me. I know you have your own things to do, but this meeting is very important... very important."
"no problem."
Xia De agreed again. Anyway, there was nothing else important today, so visiting the cemetery was not a very urgent matter.
"I will go back to Tobesk at noon to check the information. We will meet in the afternoon. Speaking of which, I met Miss Sylvia in a special way over the weekend. She looked very good and asked about you with concern."
How come I remember that she asked those two questions only after you reminded her
"She" gently pointed out Shad's lie.
Margaret smiled:
"I know that the teacher has always cared about me. However, if I pass Miss Benannis's test, I will have two teachers... Miss Sylvia will always be my teacher."
"Do you know her invention? I saw the finished product."
“Oh, is it already done?”
Her Royal Highness had also heard about this. When she left Willendel a month ago, Miss Sylvia did not come with her because the experiment had reached its final stage:
"It should be very beautiful. When I was having afternoon tea with my teacher, she used water and ice to show me what the finished product would look like."
Xia De nodded:
"Very beautiful. Miss Sylvia should come to Randall Valley in a while, and you can take a look then."
Margaret kissed the side of Shade's face:
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Xia De said he would go home at noon to check the information, of course he would go to MI6 to see if there was any new information about the Randall Valley recently.
He was unable to contact Director Anros directly, so he went to the city waste disposal center where he received his monthly salary and found Mr. Giles Johnson, who was responsible for liaising with him.
No one knew what Director Anros and Mr. Johnson had said. When Shade expressed his desire to see the confidential documents, Mr. Johnson didn't even ask Shade why and told him to wait a moment.
So before lunch, Xia De got a file bag with a seal of "Top Secret, Class 2". He could only read the file bag on the spot, not copy it, and certainly not take it outside, so Xia De looked through it on the spot at the equipment maintenance department of the garbage disposal center.
He raised his eyebrows as he looked at it:
"We really have something to do. This trip was not in vain... Speaking of which, I haven't seen the director since Her Highness Ajelina's birthday party. What has our director been busy with recently? If it's confidential, you don't have to tell me."
Shade was sitting outside the iron table, looking at the documents while speaking. Mr. Johnson was inside the iron table, holding a cup of tea and reading a newspaper. This was his daily job:
"It's not a secret. After the spring, aren't we and Carsenrick going to renegotiate the new trade routes in the Pantanal region and the border issues in the disputed areas? The director is doing the preliminary preparations. Whenever there is such a big event, we are the busiest."
Mr. Johnson, who was drinking tea and reading the newspaper while looking at the gossip, said:
"The two countries are still discussing the specific negotiation location, which will probably be in a border city. I haven't seen the director very often recently, so he's probably on a business trip out of town."
Then he turned the newspaper to the next page:
"People like you who work in the field for a long time, and people like me who work hard in the office, are the backbone of the Sixth Department. I just hope that I won't be transferred on a business trip when the time comes. I've worked so hard to keep those two pots of spider plants alive."
Xia De looked at the table at the door. There were no windows in this room, but the temperature was not low because of the steam pipes. Mr. Johnson must have put a lot of effort into keeping the two pots of spider plants alive during the working hours.
"We have to be worthy of our salaries. Come to think of it, I heard a rumor before the New Year that our basic weekly salary would be increased. I thought this would be mentioned after the honors season was over. But there's already news about the salary increase for civil servants, and it's said to be announced next week. Why haven't we heard any news yet?"
Xia De asked casually again, and Mr. Johnson shook his head slightly:
"I remember that you are now a lieutenant colonel? Your basic weekly salary is more than three times mine. A salary increase is never easy, and we still have to discuss it with the parliament. But don't worry, Director Anros has always been very positive about collective salary increases. I bet that no department in the kingdom has a faster salary increase than us."
Xia De looked at the document in his hand that listed the six recent deployments in the Randall Valley and couldn't help but smile:
"That's good, that's good. Spring is coming soon, and I was thinking of buying some nice clothes."
Mr. Johnson didn't move his hands. He tilted his head and looked at Shade from behind the newspaper:
"Knight, Miss Carina will leave you without good clothes to wear?"
This is not a satire on Xia De, but a pure expression of my curiosity.
"Of course the Duke treats me well, but if I only rely on women for clothes and food, what kind of man am I?"
Xia De's attention was focused on the documents in his hand, so he just answered casually. Mr. Johnson asked curiously:
"I thought... I didn't mean anything else, but Miss Carina is so rich, I thought your daily expenses were..."
"The Duke wanted to give it to me, but I refused."
Shade shook his head and wrote down the contact information of the local spies in the Randall Valley:
"I told her to stop meddling in my affairs. If I have something to say, I will tell her directly. She should not say too much and just help me with it."
"You really are..."
Mr. Johnson showed an admiring expression:
"sharp."
I don’t know if it was because Shad mentioned the Randall Valley incident to Director Anros last time, or if MI6 had actually been paying attention to it. In short, when Margaret was carrying out her plan in the Randall Valley, MI6 was also carrying out a series of operations in the Randall Valley.
These top-secret plans should have been lying quietly in the archives, but they were read in detail by Xia De during the boring discussion between two boring men about women and dignity.
The Sixth Division acted faster than Shade had expected, and had already noticed that Princess Margaret of Anjou seemed to want to resolve the matter of the Stonemasons Guild... ... Actually, this was not difficult to detect. But in short, Shade got some key clues, and he believed that this should be able to help Margaret.
It was already noon when they came out of the garbage disposal center. Because Mia was with Dorothy, Shad did not stay in Tobesk for lunch, but went to Randall River Valley to have lunch with the girls in the opera house.
It was not a formal banquet, but in the dressing room, everyone had their own lunch box, and everyone ate while chatting. Miss Lathers and Miss Benannis were also there. This kind of luncheon had existed before Miss Benannis officially took over the Golden Dawn.
Therefore, although the Witch of Earth is not as good at fighting as Miss Aurora, nor does she have the majesty of Grandma Cassandra, nor the power of Miss Carina, her followers are the most loyal.