"Oh, the Duke's lover, I wasn't talking about you."
Seeing Xia De suddenly look at him, Chief Anlos immediately explained.
"I didn't say you were talking about me?"
Xia De also said, both of them feeling a bit awkward, so they very consciously bypassed the topic:
"It's like this, Virgil Cameron also went to Tobesk to participate in the Great City Player. But we suspect his real purpose is to come to Tobesk and meet with people from Carson Rick."
Chief Anlos continued.
"Excuse me, please wait."
Xia De raised his hand and asked hesitantly:
"You mean, he specifically came all the way to Tobesk to meet the other party? Isn't this more dangerous than a small duchy in the south? Even if the duchy is already suspected by the royal family, wouldn't finding a random small town in the countryside of the kingdom be safer than Tobesk?"
"The specific reason is still under investigation, but it's probably because neither side trusts the other and is unwilling to set the meeting place in a remote countryside. Moreover, this meeting is a top-secret operation, and our people knowing about this news is purely coincidental. In short—"
Mr. Anlos's hand patted Xia De's shoulder, looking at him with bright eyes:
"Virgil Cameron will be closely monitored by us in Tobesk, but the final three competition venues for the Great City Player are not allowed to be entered at will. Although we have planted personnel, it's not foolproof. So, if you and Mr. Cameron, in a small probability, both enter the finals, I want you to try your best to monitor whether he has met with any suspicious people."
The Great City Player rhode cards competition lasts two weeks, with preliminaries starting on Friday, replays next week, and eight players selected for the finals by next weekend. There are three final matches, and only guests with special invitations can watch, and these invitations were issued half a year in advance, with the list even having been announced long ago. If MI6 just got the news, it would indeed be difficult to temporarily place reliable personnel.
"If it's just this kind of task, I think it's no problem."
Xia De nodded, accepting the commission, and Mr. Anlos was very satisfied with his attitude:
"The possibility of the meeting place for both parties being at the Great City Player's final venue is very small, after all, no one can predict in advance whether Virgil Cameron will be able to enter the finals. So, you don't need to feel pressured."
He smiled and let go of his hand, but as the two walked back to the front door of the equipment management office, he turned to Xia De again and said;
"Look at my memory, I forgot to say, Xia De, I wish you good luck in the competition."
He patted Xia De's shoulder again:
"None of our agents have ever been able to enter the finals of the Great City Player. If you can win the 1853 championship, I think I can immediately raise your salary level. After all, we welcome people with professional expertise to join the team."
When leaving the City Waste Management Center, because he had accepted a task from MI6, Xia De unconsciously thought of the letter that was about to arrive.
Sparrow Detective had said that on the fifth day of September, which was this Thursday, a letter would be sent to Saint Delan Square Six, and the price for Xia De to inherit all of his estate was merely to maintain the Detective Agency until that day and burn that letter.
"Time really flies, today is Monday, Thursday—"
He wasn't very sure if he would open the letter and take a look when he received it. After all, his curiosity about that Sparrow was really great.
Since he had received the free salary, Xia De, as agreed, took Mia out for a big meal at noon. This cat got sleepy after eating, so in the afternoon, he left Mia alone at home to take a nap, while he went into the City to handle the monthly gas bill, steam bill, and his advertising fees in the newspaper.
It was a great coincidence that at the Steam Bird Daily newspaper office, Xia De actually ran into Dorothy, who was there for something.
The newspaper editors were carrying a very heavy-looking sack, trying to help Iluna lift it onto the four-wheeled carriage parked outside the newspaper office. Xia De inquired and found out that it was filled with letters from readers.
"Do you read every letter?"
Xia De asked Dorothy curiously, and then received an affirmative answer from the Golden-haired girl. Valley
But when the two left the newspaper office, Dorothy quietly told Xia De that she actually only read a small portion of them, and the rest she piled in the corner, thinking that when she had enough money to buy her own house, she would pile all these letters in the attic. After all, these were letters from readers, and even if she didn't have time to read them all, she wouldn't throw them away or burn them.
"Actually, you can put them at my place first, my house is quite empty anyway."
Xia De offered the suggestion, so his attic gained five whole sacks of letters. But in return, Dorothy, who had spent the afternoon reading Detective records in Xia De's study, invited him to a high-end restaurant on Silver Cross Avenue for dinner that evening.
When paying the bill, Xia De noticed that Dorothy had left the name of Leia's personal maid.
"She won't mind."
Dorothy said with a smile, which reminded Xia De of the scene on Sunday night when Leia kissed him using Dorothy's body.
When he woke up early on Tuesday morning, Xia De mistook the time, thinking that the letter he needed to burn would arrive today. But when he went out to get milk, a gust of morning wind reminded him that the letter would only arrive on Thursday.
However, there was indeed a letter from afar today, it was a letter from Miss Mia Gold. Mia's original owner inquired about Mia the cat at a frequency of one letter per month and timely mailed Xia De the 10 pounds for the cat's upbringing.
Aside from the MI6 salary, this money was actually Xia De's fixed income.
In the letter, Miss Gold still cared about Mia's recent situation and stated that she had received the photo of Mia that Xia De sent last month.
She once again expressed her gratitude to the Detective, but also said that her illness had still not improved, and the troubles in her hometown town were increasing. There were not only strange rumors but also some news about her fallen family's old affairs.
Within this year, she would definitely not be able to travel to Tobesk to pick up Mia, so she hoped the Detective could take care of the cat for a while longer.
"Last month, didn't she say it was just the flu? Why is she still recovering after a month? Are family matters really that burdensome?"
Xia De was puzzled by this, and while worrying about the client's health, he was also glad that she hadn't entrusted anyone else to come to Tobesk to pick up Mia.
"But it seems Miss Gold is very rich, or rather her 'fallen' family is very rich."
Xia De flipped the two pages of the letter to check if there was content on the back.
"If I want to buy Mia, it will probably cost a lot of money—"
Thanks to selling the mermaid's elixir to Miss Jialinna a while ago, Xia De now has over 2000 pounds in savings. Although he couldn't tell what breed Mia was, she shouldn't be very expensive. But if combined with Miss Mia Gold's affection for this cat, Xia De wasn't sure if 2000 pounds would be enough to get the cat from The Lady.
"It seems I still need to continue to test the other party's attitude."
He found some stationery and prepared to write a reply:
"There are still four months left this year, besides this month, I still have three opportunities to write and talk to Miss Gold in October, November, and December. I must determine whether the other party is willing to sell the cat to me before January next year. Actually, it's fine to drag it out, maybe gradually, Miss Gold's feelings for Mia will fade... Hmm, I still need to prepare to save money."
"Have you ever thought about what would happen if The Lady died of illness?"
Her voice suddenly appeared by his ear. Xia De thought for a moment, then shook his head sharply:
"I can't curse a client, and even if Miss Gold really died of illness, I would personally go to that town and inform her at her grave that I plan to adopt Mia. However, I don't wish for such a thing to happen."
"Why? Unwilling to make a long journey?"
"No, I hope everyone can live well."
He uncapped his pen, shooed away the cat circling the ink bottle, and the cat then jumped onto Xia De's lap:
"Mortals all die eventually, but I hope that the people I know do not leave due to accidents."
