Wednesday morning, as usual, Shade was awakened by the cat waiting for breakfast. While yawning and heading downstairs to collect the milk and newspaper, he discovered a letter left on the doormat.
The stamp on the envelope, featuring the scenery of Lake Tice, was very beautiful. The return address was a small town by the shores of Lake Tice on the east coast of the Old Continent; it was a letter from Miss Mia San Gaud.
"It is already the middle of the Month of Frost, and Miss Gaud's letter has finally arrived! I thought she had encountered some trouble."
Shade shifted his gaze from the letter and turned to Mia the cat, who was waiting for him from the top of the stairs.
"Look, a letter from your owner, Miss Gaud."
"Meow~"
The cat licked its paw, showing no particular reaction.
Miss Gaud's letters were supposed to arrive at the beginning of every month; the reason for this delay was mentioned in the letter.
Quite unfortunately, a plague had broken out last month in that gradually decaying town. Although it had been brought under control, the Church stationed in the town had discovered some terrifying signs and urgently requested aid from the cathedral in the big city. While the local residents didn't know exactly what had happened, Miss Gaud had already heard some unrealistic rumors.
Although her family had "already fallen"—a point mentioned many times in the letter—they were still a prominent ancient family in the town, and thus well-informed. According to Miss Gaud, someone had discovered strange things in the harbor caves on the coast. Subsequently, the Church's investigation team and the police from the big city had discovered things related to the source of the plague within the town's ancient sewer system.
Miss Gaud believed the Church had everything under control. As for herself, she had been recuperating throughout the autumn due to a cold, and this incident had further aggravated her condition.
Nevertheless, she personally wrote to Tobesk, promising that she would come to collect her pet cat, Mia, next spring.
This made Shade very worried—not only about Miss Mia Gaud's health but also about the possibility of little Mia being separated from him.
However, he could not take advantage of Miss Gaud's severe illness to propose buying little Mia. Therefore, he wrote a serious reply, using three pages of stationery to express his wishes for Miss Gaud's recovery and attaching an update on Mia's current life.
Worried that the events in that remote seaside town were related to Ring-casters or Relics, Shade suggested that Miss Gaud visit the local cathedral frequently. Since the Church had noticed the events in town, there would certainly be Church Ring-casters stationed at the cathedral, which would be far safer than the Gaud family's ancestral home, which Miss Gaud described in her letter as "gloomy, terrifying, desolate, and dilapidated."
"Regardless, I wish Miss Gaud a full recovery by winter."
Shade expressed his heartfelt wishes, then sealed the envelope with glue and wax. He patted the head of little Mia, who was squatting obediently beside him, and found himself actually feeling a bit anxious about the arrival of next spring.
After eating breakfast and finishing the reply, he intended to go out and mail the letter. But as he bid farewell to the cat, who was unwilling to go outside, and opened the door, he came face-to-face with his superior whom he hadn't seen in a long time, Mr. Dirk Anlos, the Director of MI6.
This very ordinary-looking gentleman wore an inconspicuous black overcoat, with his hands in his pockets and a black top hat on his head. Behind him followed a man with very feminine features.
"A eunuch attendant from Yodel Palace."
Shade understood immediately.
"Good morning, Mr. Hamilton."
Mr. Anlos greeted him and shook Shade's hand.
"Preparing to head out?"
"Oh, nothing much, just planning to mail a letter to a distant client."
Shade patted the coat pocket containing the envelope.
"Then mail it in a while; His Majesty wishes to see you in one hour."
As he spoke, Director Anlos introduced the palace attendant behind him. The latter merely greeted Shade respectfully without saying much. Although Shade had known about this meeting two weeks ago, he still pretended to be curious and probed Director Anlos about the purpose of the meeting with the King.
However, Director Anlos, who had always been friendly toward Shade, did not provide an answer this time. He frowned and shook his head, clearly unwilling to discuss such matters in front of the King's guard.
St. Delan Square was actually quite close to Yodel Palace, separated only by a street, but the three of them still took a carriage. Because Director Anlos's appointment was after Shade's, Shade temporarily handed over his two guns and his clothes filled with various "toys" to Director Anlos for safekeeping before undergoing a strict body search.
Subsequently, led by a guard wearing a red coat and black trousers, Shade departed from the waiting room and traversed the complex, maze-like third-floor corridors of the Yodel Palace main building, stopping before a door guarded by two armored sentries holding long spears, who looked as if they had traveled through time from several hundred years ago.
Shade could not enter immediately, as Larus III was still discussing matters with someone in the study. The walls and the double metal doors were excellently soundproofed; nothing could be heard from the outside.
But Yodel Palace itself was not quiet. It was not only the residence of the royal family but also the administrative and management center of the entire kingdom. When Shade had entered from the first floor, he had seen many faces that frequently appeared in the newspapers. Strangely, most of those people seemed to know him, greeting him with pleasantries as if they had known Shade for a long time.
The scheduled time for the summons was 10:30 AM, but Shade waited until nearly 11:00 AM and the door still hadn't opened. He wanted to chat with someone, but the red-clad, solemn eunuch attendant did not seem like a good conversation partner, and the guards at the door, who looked more like sculptures than living people, were even less likely to chat with Shade about the recent weather.
"Truly unpunctual."
Shade complained in his heart, but since he was receiving a rather generous salary from others, waiting a bit didn't matter. While idly observing the expensive oil paintings on the wall, he remembered that Director Anlos had planned to increase his weekly salary during the autumn. Shade currently received a weekly salary and reimbursement subsidies at the Major level. Since he couldn't be promoted consecutively, Director Anlos seemed to want to find another way by securing a Tobesk city subsidy for him—a housing subsidy for officers residing in the core district of Tobesk.
If Shade weren't "illiterate," he could have even received a degree subsidy.
While thinking about his income, he wondered whether he should spend his savings as quickly as possible or keep them for a rainy day.
At that moment, a series of footsteps echoed from the other end of the corridor; someone was clearly approaching.
Turning to look, the person leading the way on the red carpet was a tall, red-haired man in his thirties. Although he was somewhat plump, he was generally robust.
"I have said it many times: personnel appointments for the Expeditionary Legion must be approved by the Parliament. I know Father intends to train you two, but we absolutely cannot bypass the Parliament!"
Following him was another young red-haired man, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, small in stature and wearing glasses, with a worried expression on his face.
"The Parliamentary process takes at least a month, but the mining of the purple-gold mines in Region 28 of the New Continent is now urgent. Spies from Carsonrick have already discovered those open-pit deposits; we must begin work as soon as possible."
Behind them was the red-haired Lacia. She also had a slight frown, clearly having encountered something unpleasant.
"Logistics are fine for now, but I need a report on the specific scale of that large mine before I can allocate new mining equipment. What on earth are those vampires in the Ministry of Finance hiding? Are those civil servants too satisfied with their rice bowls? Also, why has the Parliament held up my shipyard project report again? I've already agreed on a general plan with the Aurora family; do you have any idea how difficult Duchess Sylvie Aurora is to deal with?"
The princes and princess of Delarion, followed by their respective attendants and servants, arrived at the study door while arguing.
When they saw Shade, they immediately stopped their discussion. Lacia, walking at the rear, revealed a smile. Although she had met Shade using Dorothy's body on Saturday night four days ago, she was now in her own body and in her own home. She wanted to greet Shade, but she had to wait for her brothers to speak first.