Chapter 841: Waiting at Yodel Palace
On Wednesday morning, Xia De was awakened as usual by the cat waiting for breakfast. As he yawned and went downstairs to get milk and the newspaper, he found a letter on the doormat.
The stamp with the Tis Lake scenery on the envelope was very pretty, and the return address was a Town by Tis Lake on the East Coast of the Old World. This was a letter from Miss Mia Gold:
"It's already the middle of the frost descent month, and Miss Gold's letter has finally arrived! I thought she had encountered some problem."
Xia De averted his gaze from the letter and turned to Mia, who was standing on the stairs waiting for him, saying:
"Look, a letter from your owner, Miss Gold."
"Meow~"
The cat licked her paw, showing no reaction.
Miss Gold's letter was supposed to arrive at the beginning of each month, and the reason for this delay was also mentioned in the letter.
Unfortunately, the gradually declining Town suffered from a controlled plague last month. The Church stationed in the Town discovered some terrifying signs and urgently sought help from the Church in the Big City. Although the local residents didn't know exactly what happened, Miss Gold had already heard some unrealistic rumors.
Although her family "has fallen into decline," which was mentioned many times in the letter, it was still a prominent old family in the Town, so the news was well-informed. According to Miss Gold, someone found some strange things in a harbor cave on the coast, and later, the Church's investigation team and police from the Big City found things related to the source of the plague in the Town's old sewage system.
Miss Gold believed the Church had everything under control, but Miss Gold herself, who had been recuperating all autumn due to a cold, found her condition worsened after this incident.
However, she still personally wrote to Tobesk, promising to pick up her pet cat Mia next spring.
This made Xia De very worried, not only about Miss Mia Gold's health but also about Mia being separated from him.
But he couldn't take advantage of Miss Gold's serious illness to propose buying Mia. Therefore, he wrote a very serious reply, using three pages to express his good wishes to Miss Gold and enclosing updates on Mia's life.
Because he was worried that the events in the remote coastal Town might be related to Ring術士 and relics, Xia De suggested that Miss Gold could frequently visit the local Church. Since the Church had already noticed the events in the Town, there must be Ring術士 from the Church stationed there, which would be much safer than the "gloomy, desolate, and dilapidated" old family mansion of the Gaode family that Miss Gold described in her letter.
"Anyway, I wish Miss Gold a full recovery during the winter."
Xia De expressed his sincere wishes, then sealed the envelope with glue and wax. He patted Mia's head, who was obediently squatting beside him, and actually felt a little worried about the arrival of next spring.
After breakfast and writing the reply, he originally intended to go out and mail the letter. But after bidding farewell to the cat, who didn't want to go out, and opening the door, he immediately saw his long-unseen superior, Chief Dak Anlos of MI6, approaching.
This very ordinary-looking gentleman was wearing an inconspicuous black overcoat, with his hands in his pockets and a black top hat on his head. Behind him followed a very effeminate-looking man.
"A eunuch attendant from Yodel Palace."
Xia De immediately understood.
"Good morning, Mr. Hamilton."
Mr. Anlos greeted him and shook Xia De's hand:
"Are you going out?"
"Oh, nothing in particular, just planning to mail a letter to a distant client."
Xia De patted the pocket of his overcoat where the envelope was.
"Then mail it later, King has something to see you about in an hour."
Saying that, Chief Anlos introduced the palace attendant behind him. The latter only respectfully greeted Xia De but said nothing more. Although Xia De had known about this meeting two weeks ago, he still pretended to be curious and asked Chief Anlos about the purpose of meeting King.
But Chief Anlos, who had always been friendly to Xia De, did not give an answer this time. He frowned and shook his head, clearly not wanting to discuss these matters with Xia De in front of King's guard.
Saint Delan Square is actually quite close to Yodel Palace, just across the street, but the three still took a carriage. Because Chief Anlos's meeting was after Xia De's, before the very strict body search, Xia De temporarily handed over the two guns on him and his clothes filled with various toys to Chief Anlos for safekeeping.
Then, led by the guard wearing a red coat and black trousers, Xia De left the waiting room, passed through the complex, maze-like third-floor corridor of the main building of Yodel Palace, and stopped in front of a door guarded by two armored guards holding long spears, as if they had traveled through time from hundreds of years ago.
Xia De couldn't go in immediately because Larus III was still talking to someone in the study. The soundproofing of the walls and the double metal door was excellent; nothing could be heard from 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 Xia De came in from the first floor just now, he saw many faces that often appeared in newspapers. And what was very strange was that most of those people actually recognized him, greeting and exchanging pleasantries as if they had known Xia De for a long time.
The scheduled audience time was 10:30 AM, but Xia De waited until almost 11:00 AM, and the door still hadn't opened. He wanted to chat with someone, but the serious-faced eunuch attendant in red didn't look like a good conversationalist, and the guards at the door, who looked more like statues than living people, were even less likely to chat with Xia De about the recent weather.
"How unpunctual."
Xia De complained inwardly, but since he was receiving a rather generous salary from others, waiting was fine. It was only when he was bored and looking at the expensive oil paintings on the wall that he remembered Chief Anlos's plan to increase his weekly salary in the autumn. Xia De was currently receiving a major-level weekly salary and reimbursement subsidies. Since he couldn't be continuously promoted, Chief Anlos seemed to want to find another way to get him a Tobesk City subsidy—this was a housing subsidy for officers living in the core urban area of Tobesk.
If it weren't for Xia De being "illiterate" himself, he could even get a degree subsidy.
He thought about his income and then considered whether the money he had saved should be spent quickly or kept for a rainy day.
Just then, a series of footsteps came from the other end of the corridor; clearly, someone was approaching.
Turning to look, walking at the forefront on the red carpet was a tall, red-haired man, appearing to be in his thirties. Although he was a bit overweight, overall, he was still quite robust:
"I have said many times that the personnel appointments of the Pioneer Corps need to be approved by the Parliament. I know Father intends to train you two, but you absolutely cannot bypass the Parliament!"
Behind him followed another young red-haired man, around twenty-five or twenty-six, slender and wearing glasses, with a worried expression and a frown:
"The parliamentary process will take at least a month, but now the mining of purple-gold ore in New World Area 28 is imminent. Carson Rick's spies have also discovered those open-pit mines, and we must start work as soon as possible."
Further back was Leia, also red-haired, and she too was slightly frowning, 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 are those Vampires in the Ministry of Finance hiding? Are those civil servants too satisfied with their jobs? Also, why did the Parliament withhold my shipyard project report again? I've even discussed the general plan with the Aurora Family. Do you know how difficult that Baroness Hivi Aurora is?"
The Princes and Princesses of Delarion, followed by their respective retinues and servants, argued as they walked along the corridor to the study door.
When they saw Xia De, they immediately stopped their discussion. Leia, who was walking at the back, smiled. Although she had met Xia De on Saturday evening four days ago using Dorothy's body, this time she was in her own body and in her own home. She wanted to greet Xia De but could only wait for her brothers to speak first.
P.S.: The Detective incident "The Missing Third Gold Coin" mentioned in the previous chapter will appear as an extra, over five thousand words. The editor said there was an event and asked me to give it to him, so you should be able to see it soon.
Also, the time jumps in the previous few chapters are because not every event needs to be described in detail; sometimes there needs to be a breather. Of course, daily life descriptions will also be there, and it's also important to see the lives of ordinary people in this world from Xia De's perspective, like the flower girl in the previous volume. But it will be interspersed with various events, and there won won't be twenty or thirty consecutive chapters of daily life. The author will control the level of detail, and similar time jumps will only occur between volumes. You can also see how compact the time within a volume is.
Furthermore, regarding explicit descriptions: Xia De just got into a relationship, so it's impossible for things to cool down immediately. Within the volume, serious matters are more important, and there won't be such frequent similar descriptions. For example, after confirming the relationship with Luvia, it was only occasionally mentioned throughout an entire volume.
