“The Duke's lover, oh, I wasn't talking about you.”
Seeing Shade suddenly look at him, Director Anlos immediately explained.
“I didn't say you were talking about me?”
Shade replied. Both felt a bit awkward, so they instinctively bypassed the topic.
“It's like this: Virgil Cameron has also headed to Tobesk to participate in the Great City Players. However, we suspect his true purpose in coming to Tobesk is to meet with people from Carsonrick,” Director Anlos continued.
“Sorry, please wait.”
Shade raised his hand and asked hesitantly, “Are you saying he went all the way to Tobesk specifically to meet them? Isn't it more dangerous here than in the small duchies of the south? Even if the duchy is already under suspicion by the royal family, wouldn't any random small town in the kingdom be safer than Tobesk?”
“The specific reasons are still being investigated, but it's likely that neither side trusts the other and they were unwilling to set the meeting location in a remote countryside. Furthermore, this meeting is a top-secret operation; the fact that our people know about it is pure coincidence. In short—”
Mr. Anlos placed a hand on Shade's shoulder, looking at him with piercing eyes.
“Virgil Cameron will be under our strict surveillance in Tobesk, but the venues for the final three matches of the Great City Players are not open to random entry. Although we have planted people, it's not entirely secure. Therefore, if you and Mr. Cameron both enter the finals—in the unlikely event that you do—I want you to do your best to monitor whether he meets with any suspicious individuals.”
The Great City Players' Rhode Cup tournament lasted two weeks. The preliminaries began on Friday, the semi-finals were the following week, and by the end of the next weekend, eight players were selected for the finals. There were three final matches in total, and only guests holding special invitation letters could watch. These invitations were issued six months in advance, and the guest list had long since been publicized. If MI6 had only just received the news, it would indeed be difficult to plant reliable personnel on short notice.
“If it's just this kind of task, I think it'll be no problem.”
Shade nodded, effectively accepting the commission. Mr. Anlos was satisfied with his attitude.
“The possibility of the meeting taking place at the finals venue is small, after all, no one can predict in advance whether Virgil Cameron will make it to the finals. So, you don't need to feel pressured.”
He smiled and let go. But as the two walked back toward the front door of the Equipment Management Office, he turned back to Shade.
“Look at my memory, I forgot to say—Shade, good luck with the competition.”
He patted Shade's shoulder again.
“None of our agents have ever made it to the finals of the Great City Players. If you can win the championship of 1853, I think I can immediately raise your salary grade. After all, we very much welcome people with professional specialties to join the team.”
Upon leaving the City Waste Disposal Management Center, because he had accepted the MI6 mission, Shade unconsciously thought of the letter that was about to arrive.
Detective Spyro had said that on the fifth day of September—which was this Thursday—a letter would be sent to Number 6 St. Delan Square. The price for Shade to inherit all his assets was simply to maintain the detective agency until that day and burn the letter.
“Time really flies. Today is Monday, Thursday...”
He wasn't entirely sure if he would open the letter for a quick look before burning it. After all, his curiosity regarding that Spyro was truly immense.
Since he had received some free money, Shade followed through on his promise and took Mia out for a lavish meal at noon. This cat became sleepy after eating her fill, so in the afternoon, he left Mia at home to nap alone while he went into the city to handle the monthly gas bills, steam bills, and the fees for his newspaper advertisements.
By a strange coincidence, at the Steam Bird Daily newspaper office, Shade actually ran into Dorothy, who was there on business.
The newspaper editors were carrying a burlap sack that looked very heavy, trying to help Dorothy lift it into the four-wheeled carriage parked outside the office. After asking around, Shade learned that it was filled with readers' letters.
“Do you read every single letter?”
Shade asked Dorothy curiously, and he received an affirmative answer from the blonde girl.
However, by the time the two left the newspaper office, Dorothy whispered to Shade that she actually only read a small portion of them. The rest were piled in a corner; she planned to move them to an attic once she had enough money to buy her own house. These were readers' letters, after all; even if she didn't have time to read them all, she wouldn't throw them away or burn them.
“Actually, you can keep them at my place first. My house is quite empty anyway.”
Shade offered a suggestion, and thus his attic gained five full burlap sacks of letters. In return, after spending the afternoon reading detective records in Shade's study, Dorothy invited him to dinner that evening at a high-end restaurant on Silver Cross Avenue.
When paying the bill, Shade noticed that Dorothy left the name of Lacia's personal maid.
“She won't mind,” Dorothy said with a smile, which reminded Shade of the image of Lacia kissing him using Dorothy's body on Sunday night.
When he woke up early Tuesday morning, Shade got the date wrong, thinking the letter that needed to be burned would arrive today. But when he went outside to get the milk and was hit by the morning breeze, he remembered that the letter wouldn't arrive until Thursday.
However, there was indeed a letter from afar today. It was a letter from Miss Mia Gaud. Little Mia's original owner inquired about the cat's condition once a month and sent Shade the 10-pound maintenance fee for the cat on time.
Aside from the MI6 salary, this money was actually Shade's only fixed income.
In the letter, Miss Gaud remained concerned about Mia's current situation and mentioned that she had received the photo of Mia that Shade sent last month.
She expressed her gratitude to the detective once again, but also stated that her illness had still not improved, while the troubles in her hometown were increasing. There were not only strange rumors but also news regarding the old affairs of her already fallen family.
She certainly would not be able to travel to Tobesk to pick up Mia before the end of the year, so she hoped the detective could look after the cat for a while longer.
“Didn't she say last month it was just the flu? Why is she still recovering after a month? Are the family affairs really that burdensome?”
Shade felt puzzled. While worried about the client's health, he was also glad she hadn't commissioned someone else to come to Tobesk and take little Mia away.
“But it seems Miss Gaud is very wealthy, or rather, her 'fallen' family is very wealthy.”
Shade flipped the two pages of the letter to check if there was content on the back.
“If I want to buy Mia, I'm afraid it will cost a lot of money...”
Thanks to selling the merman's elixir of youth to Miss Galina a while ago, Shade currently had savings of over 2,000 pounds. Although he couldn't tell what breed little Mia was, she shouldn't be particularly expensive. But if you added Miss Mia Gaud's affection for the cat, Shade wasn't sure if 2,000 pounds would be enough to get the cat from that lady.
“It seems I still need to continue testing her attitude.”
He found some stationery to write a reply.
“There are four months left this year. Besides this month, I have three more opportunities to correspond with Miss Gaud in October, November, and December. I must determine if she is willing to sell the cat to me before January of next year. Actually, dragging it out might be better; perhaps gradually, Miss Gaud's feelings for Mia will fade... Hmm, I should still prepare to save up money.”
【Have you considered what would happen if that lady died of her illness?】
Her voice suddenly appeared by his ear. Shade thought about it and shook his head vigorously.
“I can't curse my client. Moreover, even if Miss Gaud really died of illness, I would personally go to that town and inform her grave that I intend to adopt little Mia. However, I don't want such a thing to happen.”
【Why? Unwilling to take a long trip?】
“No, I hope everyone can stay alive and well.”
He pulled off the cap of his fountain pen and shooed away the cat circling the ink bottle, causing the cat to jump onto Shade's lap.
“Mortals must eventually die, but I hope that the people I know do not leave because of an accident.”
(End of Chapter)