Capítulo 1363: Chapter 1363: Agent and Salary
After Shard finished his eting with Miss Danester, Lecia’s breakfast was ready. But probably to thank Dorothy, even though she made the breakfast, Miss Writer had already returned to the table:
“Honestly, I just had breakfast five minutes ago. My spirit tells
I’m full, but my body still feels a bit hungry.”
Dorothy frowned at the breakfast on the table as Mia’s eyes lit up, and then she said:
“However, since Lecia made it, I should eat it. Worst case, I’ll walk a few more steps today and burn off the calories.”
So the cat obediently curled up next to Shard, waiting to be fed.
The temperature in Randall Valley seems to always be a bit lower than in Tobesk. When Shard asked the local Miss Lathis about this issue, she simply said this year’s weather was unusual.
This Wednesday, the only thing Shard had to do was to go outside the city in the evening to get the “Elf’s Purified Water” from Miss Elf. During the day, he planned to visit the old cetery of the Granger Family outside the city, but just as he arrived at the Wilder Opera House, he was called away by Margaret, whom he hadn’t seen for a week.
The Southern Nation’s Princess, however, did not complain about Shard not contacting her recently because she was quite busy herself. This ti at the Wilder Opera House, it was partly to inform Miss Benanis about her progress with her tasks related to the Stonemason Guild, and partly to try her luck to see if she could et Shard.
“The Academy has already sent people to inspect the overseas silver mine you ntioned.”
As Shard pushed open the study door, Margaret turned smilingly from the window to face him and then opened her arms to embrace him:
“Honestly, I’ve been so busy lately, I haven’t had ti to be with you.”
Shard felt it should be his line.
“I know you’re busy; I just t Earl Granger yesterday, and he made
aware of your recent busyness. Speaking of which, how are things with the Stonemason Guild?”
“It’s going okay, progressing as planned, can’t really say if it’s going well or not.”
She released her embrace of Shard:
“Do you have ti Friday evening? William and I are hosting a gathering at the temporary residence, inviting nobles involved in the United Kingdom Navy’s Southern Second Shipyard, as a final gathering for the construction period. It’s not a formal banquet, but rather everyone bringing family along, also a rare opportunity for William and
to visit Randall Valley and network a bit with the local nobles.”
“Friday, you say?”
Tonight he has to et with Miss Elf, tomorrow a second visit to the Spirit Temple of the Earth, but Friday seems free:
“I’ll be there.”
Margaret smiled:
“So, do you have ti this afternoon? Would you like to accompany
to the Stonemason Guild? It’s not an open visit; I’ve arranged a private eting with the guild president this afternoon. I’ll bring out the original shares docunt of the Stonemason Guild that you gave . I know you have your own things to do, but this eting is very important… extrely important.”
“No problem.”
Shard agreed again, since there wasn’t anything urgent today, visiting the cetery wasn’t very pressing:
“I’ll head back to Tobesk at noon to check so information. We’ll et in the afternoon. By the way, over the weekend, I t Miss Sylvia in a special way, she’s looking good and was very concerned asking about you.”
[I recall it was after you reminded her that she asked twice.]
“She” softly pointed out Shard’s lie.
Margaret’s face broke into a smile:
“I knew my teacher was always very concerned about . But if I pass Miss Benanis’ trial, I’ll have two teachers… Miss Sylvia will forever be my teacher.”
“You know about her invention? I’ve seen the final product.”
“Oh, it’s already made?”
Her Highness the Princess had heard about this, when she left Velindale a month ago, Miss Sylvia was in the final stages of her experint, which was why she couldn’t co along:
“It must be beautiful; she demonstrated the final product to
using water and ice during afternoon tea with my teacher.”
Shard nodded:
“Quite beautiful. After so ti, Miss Sylvia should co to Randall Valley, then you can have a look.”
Margaret kissed Shard on the cheek:
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Shard said he would go ho at noon to check so information, which of course ant going to MI6 to see if there were any new updates regarding Randall Valley.
Unable to contact Director Anlos directly, he went to the city rubbish disposal center where he collected his monthly salary, and found Mr. Giles Johnson who was responsible for liaising with him.
God knows what Director Anlos had told Mr. Johnson because when Shard expressed his desire to look at classified docunts, Mr. Johnson didn’t even ask why, but just told him to wait a mont.
So, before lunch, Shard received an envelope marked with the seal “Top Secret·Level 2.” The envelope could only be read on-site, not copied, and definitely not taken outside, so Shard looked through it right there in the Equipnt Maintenance Departnt of the rubbish disposal center.
As he browsed, he raised an eyebrow:
“There’s actually sothing related to us in here, this trip wasn’t in vain… Speaking of which, I haven’t seen the director since Her Highness Angelina’s birthday banquet. What’s our director been busy with recently? If it’s confidential, there’s no need to tell .”
Shard sat outside an iron table, reading the docunts, while inside, Mr. Johnson was holding a teacup and reading a newspaper. This was his daily work:
“It’s not confidential. After spring, we’re preparing to renegotiate the new trade route and the border issues in the Pantanal region with Carsonrick, right? The director is doing preliminary work. Every ti such major events happen, we are the busiest.”
Sipping tea, flipping through a newspaper, and glancing at the gossip news, Mr. Johnson said:
“The two countries are still negotiating the exact location for the talks. It’ll probably be chosen in so border city. I haven’t seen the director much recently either. He’s probably on a business trip out of town.”
Saying that, he turned to the next page of the newspaper:
“mbers like you who work long-term in the field, and employees like
toiling at the office, are the backbone of MI6. I just hope I won’t be sent on a business trip. It’s taken
so much effort to keep those two pots of hanging plants alive.”
Shard glanced at a table by the door. Though the room had no windows, the layout of the steam pipes kept the temperature fairly high. Mr. Johnson must have put in a lot of effort during work hours to keep those two pots of hanging plants alive in this season.
“We have to earn our salaries. Speaking of which, I heard rumors before New Year that our base weekly wage would increase? I thought this would be announced after the awards season. Turns out the civil servants’ salary increase has already been announced, supposedly next week. What about ours?”
Shard casually asked, and Mr. Johnson shook his head slightly:
“I rember you currently hold the rank of Lieutenant Colonel? Your base weekly salary is more than three tis mine. Wage increases are never easy, the Council still needs to discuss it, but don’t worry, Director Anlos is always highly proactive about collective wage increases. I bet there’s no departnt in the Kingdom with a faster salary increase than ours.”
Shard looked at his docunt containing MI6’s recent deploynts in Randall Valley, smiling involuntarily:
“That’s great, that’s great. Spring is coming, and I was thinking of buying so nice clothes.”
Without moving his hands, Mr. Johnson tilted his head to look at Shard from behind the newspaper:
“Knight, would Miss Galina ever let you run out of nice clothes to wear?”
This was not a taunt but pure curiosity.
“The Duke is indeed very good to , but if I relied on a woman for clothes and food, what kind of man would I be?”
Shard’s attention was focused on the docunt in his hand, so he answered casually, and Mr. Johnson curiously asked again:
“I thought… I ant no offense, but with Miss Galina being so wealthy, I thought your daily expenses… were all covered by her…”
“The Duke does want to give
things, but I didn’t accept.”
Shard shook his head, jotting down the contact information of the local spies in Randall Valley:
“I told her to stay out of my business. If sothing cos up, I’ll inform her directly. She doesn’t need to say much, just help
with it.”
“You really are…”
Mr. Johnson displayed an expression of admiration:
“Impressive.”
It’s unknown whether Shard’s previous conversation with Director Anlos about Randall Valley City had sparked their interest or if MI6 had been watching all along. In any case, when Margaret launched her plan in Randall Valley, MI6 was also conducting a series of operations there.
These top-secret plans were supposed to quietly rest in the archives, but during a boring conversation between two n about won and dignity, Shard went through them in detail.
MI6’s speed of action was even faster than Shard expected, and they had already realized that Princess Margaret Anjou seed to intend to resolve the Stonemason Guild issue… which wasn’t difficult to notice. In any case, Shard obtained so key clues, believing they could be helpful to Margaret.
When leaving the rubbish disposal center, it was already noon. Since Mia was with Dorothy, Shard decided not to stay in Tobesk for lunch and instead went to Randall Valley to have lunch with the girls at the Opera House.
It wasn’t a formal banquet. In the dressing room, everyone had their lunchboxes, chatting as they ate. Miss Lathis and Miss Benanis were also present. This luncheon had been ongoing since before Miss Benanis officially took over Golden Dawn.
For this reason, although the Witch of the Earth was not a master in combat like Miss Aphrola, nor did she possess the authority of Granny Cassandra or the power like Miss Galina, her followers were the most loyal.
Reviews
All reviews (0)