NOVPUBFour days later, Saturday.
"Today is your eighth day in the capital, Brilda, meow."
"After a busy workload and fulfilling days, you’ve welcomed your first day off."
Lanci sat in the dining room on the first floor of the residence, already looking at the newspaper and no longer stopping the Cat Boss from broadcasting.
"Starting Wednesday, your research for the Empire has become increasingly valued. Many military experts visit you every day, and the number of people surveilling you near your residence is growing. Even on your way home from the Elliot Building, there are cars from the Imperial Army following you."
"Thursday, you contacted agents from the Poseen Kingdom through the ’Cerryti Central Daily’ and after two days, you received a reply from Nigel this morning. He will prepare an identity for Tata as a female from the North-Western Borderland, Nixasende, to put your mind at ease."
"At the same time, because you sent a message to Nigel in advance, the Poseen espionage personnel started to expose deliberate flaws regarding the identity of the 62-year-old publisher, Lovia, under his instruction. The Empire Action Department quickly grasped evidence of Lovia being a spy."
"You’ve earned another merit, receiving praise from Duke Dex, and even made it onto the newspapers. Red Falcon Nicola, despite still harboring suspicions about you, clearly held back a lot and sent you a banner as promised."
The Cat Boss spoke up to this point, seeming to struggle, and glanced at the wall—
[Valor as Foremost, Iron Blood Guards the Nation]
"Lanci meow, do you know the expressions on the students’ faces when they saw Red Falcon Nicola presenting you with the banner?"
The Cat Boss then pawed at Lanci’s newspaper, prompting him to look at it.
"I didn’t notice, ah."
Lanci put down the newspaper and looked at the Little Black Cat on the table as he responded.
These days he had become familiar at school, and he often let the Cat Boss out as well.
Many were convinced that Professor Landry had such a Fifth-order Elf Cat as his Contracted Beast.
"To receive such a banner from Red Falcon Nicola, the head of secret service, is like an official certification. Now in the school, it’s being said that patriotism should emulate Professor Landry. They say you dare to lead, brave at the forefront, talented and virtuous, a role model for our peers," said the Cat Boss.
On the other side of the dining room, in the open-plan kitchen, Talia, who was cooking breakfast, gave Lanci and the Cat Boss a speechless look.
Professor Landry in the Cerryti Empire had now become an academic authority on Magical Energy Fission, encountering more and more Imperial dignitaries, needing to attend numerous academic meetings and discussions in the Empire next week.
She couldn’t help feeling relieved that Lanci was now masquerading as Landry; otherwise, if he showed under his own skin, and Xiu Bao saw the newspaper, she suspected Hugh would not be able to withstand this.
At that moment, there came a knock at the door.
It should be the delivery of the ordered ingredients.
"Lanci, go get it," Talia called out to him, watching the pot.
"Oh, sure."
Lanci stood up, put down the newspaper, and went to open the door, letting the custodian place several large boxes of ingredients in the vestibule. After giving thanks, he closed the door.
By now, his home had already been filled with barriers insulating against sound and detection, personally set up by Talia, ensuring complete safety.
"Why did you buy so much?" Talia asked after a while, coming to the vestibule with her hands on her hips, looking at the boxes of ingredients on the floor.
"You’ve always said that the ingredients from the Saint Kray Monastery are very good, so I simply bought more. I think we should be able to finish them," Lanci answered honestly.
"..."
Talia thought about it and deemed it made sense.
Once back in Ichrite, they wouldn’t be able to enjoy the specialty ingredients from the Saint Kray Monastery.
She took a portion of the ingredients to the kitchen counter, tied on her apron again, and continued making breakfast.
Shortly, dishes of exquisite food were brought to the table.
"Tata, your cooking skills are really getting better and better. Do you have any secrets?" the Cat Boss, seated at the dining table, exclaimed, sniffing the food in front of him.
"I don’t know."
Talia shook her head, sitting opposite Lanci,
"We can eat now. Look at the paper later," she instructed Lanci.
Lanci was a typical workaholic. Sometimes he would get so buried in work that he would neglect to eat, and without someone to care for him, his meal times could become irregular.
Like the Cat Boss, after preparing the meals, would only call for Lanci once and then wait patiently by his side. Often, by the time Lanci started eating, the food had become cold, which wasn’t good for his stomach.
"Oh, alright."
Lanci obediently put the newspaper aside, picked up his fork, and reached for today’s equally lavish feast.
"There’s no work today, right?"
"It’s a rare day of leisure. They seem too embarrassed to disturb me on a Saturday, but next week might be different. If things get busy, even the weekends might disappear."
"Then let’s go to the riverside near the monastery this afternoon for some sun."
"Why?"
"A person isn’t a machine; only machines don’t need rest. People need to rest. No matter how busy you are, you must remember to rest."
The two of them and a cat enjoyed breakfast at the dining room table on this floor, occasionally discussing their future lives in the Saint Kray Monastery. Before they knew it, the plates were emptied.
In recent days, they had been monitoring the meetings of the Mysterious Organization through the [Ultra Long-Distance Communication Program 7], gathering some of the Empire’s secrets, even catching glimpses of information related to the Blood Clan.
"How long do you plan to keep undercover?"
Talia asked, having viewed quite a bit with Lanci.
The main sources of intelligence were from agent number three, who either traded other information or owed them momentarily. This included intelligence related to the Blood Clan, which seemed to the organization that those hidden within the Krenate Empire were not a secret; there were also those among them investigating the Blood Clan.
