Looking at the expression of his boss across the table, Shade took a deep breath. To be honest, he really admired Director Anros for saying these words. In this way, Detective Sparrow should also know these things, but he still quietly pursued his career until he really died because of it. In addition to them, there may be more such people who walk the tightrope for their respective countries in obscurity. These people are worthy of admiration no matter what era.
He had never told Director Anlos whether he was a ring sorcerer, and Director Anlos had never asked Shade about it. But now that it had come to this, Shade felt that he should do something:
"Since someone wants to assassinate that lady, I can't pretend I don't know. What can I do?"
Director Anlos refused without even thinking:
"If that lady knew I had dragged you into this, I would be punished by more than just being sent to guard the royal mausoleum. You can know about this, but you can't enter it."
"So if you don't tell me and I don't tell you, who can know?"
Xia De really wanted to do this. Although he did not think that the so-called assassination could have any effect on the witch who could catch bullets with her eyes closed and detonate steam bombs in her hands without any danger, he could not ignore those who might be harmful to her.
"Since I am being paid by the government, I should do something."
Director Anros was silent for a moment, but it seemed that he still didn't want to agree.
"You should be aware of the relationship between me and that lady. Since I am a man, I have an obligation to protect her."
Director Anlos finally said:
"Well, since I've run into you like this, I think this should be some kind of hint. I do have a few things that require elite agents to do, and since your current mission completion rate is 100%, it's just right for me to let you take over one of them. I need you to find one of our people, codenamed 'Mole'. Three weeks ago, he successfully infiltrated the manor prepared for Duke Simiel as a fake chef apprentice, but the contact was suddenly cut off a week ago."
"Missing?"
"I'm not sure. We have just made contact with the Gray Gloves, so I cannot bring this up on my own initiative. So, I need you to confirm the whereabouts of our 'mole' in this glass city. He may have been discovered and captured by the Gray Gloves, or he may be unable to contact the outside world for some reason, or he may even have defected shamefully."
He shook his head slightly at Xia De:
"You don't need to deal with him, you just need to confirm what the situation is. Later, I will give you the information of this person and the details of his undercover mission. But be careful not to attract attention during the investigation."
"no problem."
"Your loyalty always impresses me. If we had a few more people like you, our work would definitely be a lot easier."
Director Anros sighed and finally picked up the teacup, but Shad noticed that he just took a sip of the cup. This experienced old agent would never eat and drink outside casually.
"Me? Loyalty?"
The double agent who inherited the name of "Grey Eagle" pointed at himself and shook his head slightly:
"I don't think I'm loyal."
"I don't mean to the kingdom or our department, I mean to that lady."
Director Anros corrected him, meeting Shade's gaze and explaining:
"I can see that everything you have done is for that noble lady, so I said you are loyal, loyal to her. I have seen a lot of things. Maybe others think you are... hooking up with the noblewoman, but I know that is not the case. Look at the attitude of that lady towards you. Maybe you are the... leader of your relationship. Don't say that I said this."
Director Anros was one of the first people to know about the relationship between Shade and Miss Carina. He was one of the few men who could have a say around Miss Carina.
Xia De was speechless for a moment:
"Loyalty..."
He had not originally thought about discussing his emotional problems with his boss, but at this moment he could not help but say:
"You must know that I actually have other girls around me... Is this considered loyalty?"
Director Anros smiled. Besides discussing the intense work, he also chatted about life with his subordinates. This was the moment he enjoyed his job the most:
"I have seen a lot of betrayal, lies, conspiracies and deceptions, so I am the most qualified to say what loyalty really is. Believe me, you are absolutely loyal to that lady. Loyalty does not depend on how many parts your heart is divided into. To be honest, there are many of us who are paid by multiple parties, but I still believe in most of them."
Xia De is one of those people who gets paid multiple salaries... in every sense of the word.
Xia De nodded. Director Anros put down the cup of tea he hadn't even drunk and abruptly asked a question that had nothing to do with this conversation:
"Since we're just chatting, who do you think will be the next king?"
"This question, I..."
Xia De was startled, and looked at his boss with some surprise. The boss also looked at him with a meaningful look in his eyes. This was not a simple question, but a test of Xia De's attitude.
He thought about it for a moment and did not give a direct answer:
"I don't know either, but one thing is certain."
He blinked.
"As long as we follow that lady, no matter who wears the crown in the future, the job of guarding the royal mausoleum will never be ours. High pensions and decent post-retirement consulting jobs are guaranteed. After all, that lady has always taken good care of the people around her."
Director Anros laughed:
"You see, you are really loyal to her. Young man, although it is good to think from time to time, you should not think too much sometimes. You are not going to study. Ask yourself whether you are on the right path, and then keep moving forward. When you are old, you will have plenty of time to think about your life, beautify your experience, and write books and biographies so that people will think you are a good person."
After giving Shade the information of the undercover agent "Mole", Director Anros left. Shade was too embarrassed to step into the building behind the flower wall again, but threw the crystal shoes home, and then returned to the apartment rented by the Count at the Green Lake Hotel.
"I am also a man with a family and cats. I can't just go to a place like that."
The Earl was still in Paradise, so Shade sat on the sofa and read a book while he waited. At noon, the Earl, who still looked confused, finally came out of the crack, and it was obvious that he was still mentally disturbed.
Since the function of the mushroom in the earl's hand was confirmed, Shade used some hypnotic techniques to induce the earl to tell him how to get the mushroom. Then he let the earl sleep and left. About half an hour later, the police, who received a report from the hotel owner Green that someone was using illegal drugs in the room, knocked on the earl's door; more than 20 minutes later, the ring warlock of the Peace Church who came after hearing the news took away the still unconscious earl.
As for Shade, he had returned home and had lunch with his cat. Of course, when he was having lunch, he did not forget to take the mushroom sample he brought back away to prevent it from being eaten by Xiaomia. But this time Shade really wronged the cat, because it had no interest in the colorful weird mushrooms.
That afternoon, Shade came to the pier on the Duin River with an umbrella, and then boarded the witch's cruise ship. This trip was for the mushrooms, and the potion and alchemy masters Megan and Audrey should be very interested in them.
"It can only enhance the eyes' perception of hidden space cracks, right?"
In the laboratory on the lower deck of the cruise ship, Megan asked Shade, who was sitting at the table. She had already thrown a whole mushroom into a beaker and poured in a blue solution, which was heating up. The liquid was bubbling, like it was cooking soup.
"Yes, it does not enhance other aspects of spatial perception, nor does it enhance other eye-based reconnaissance magic. However, the hallucinogenic effect of this mushroom is quite strong. As for the effect of reducing one's own presence, I cannot explain it clearly."
"So where do these strange mushrooms come from? Since you've already reported it to the church, you won't give the place of origin to the church, right? I think the Speaker wrote down this mission probably for the effect of these mushrooms, but only one or two is not enough."
The brown-haired witch asked with a smile, she was satisfied that Shade came to her to solve the problem instead of going to Miss Carina or Sylvia.
"The origin is in the woods on the north shore of Green Lake, not far from the village of Crossroads. When Count Petrarch went out to meditate alone in the wild, he accidentally discovered those colorful mushrooms. Because he had the habit of using poisonous mushrooms to induce hallucinations, he picked some. Only then did he discover the peculiarities of mushrooms in his subsequent experience."
Shad explains:
"The area where the mushrooms grow is not very large, about the same size as your bedroom in the top cabin. Because I have a unique magic, I can sense that the land has been polluted by the chaotic space, causing the originally palm-sized area to expand to the size of a bedroom, thus alienating the soil. So guess what is buried under the soil?"
"I guessed it, is there a reward?"
The witch asked, holding the table with one hand. Shade thought for a moment.
"If you guess correctly, I'll give you a gift."
"Green Ridge Ore."
The witch answered without thinking.
Megan looked at Shad expectantly. Audrey's spirit stuck to her back and extinguished the alcohol lamp before pouring the "mushroom soup" into the flask. It was not difficult for her to do two things at the same time.
"I knew it. You would have guessed it. Yes, there is a small deposit of green ridge ore under that land. This is also the first natural deposit I found in this area. However, I did not dig up the ore. I left it to the church to deal with."