After finishing their work meal and resting briefly at the company, Silas and Klein, who had just returned from the Divination Club, headed together to their combat instructor Gawain's house to continue their fighting practice.
They kept at it until the afternoon drew to a close, then changed out of their practice knight uniforms, showered, said their goodbyes to Gawain, and left the house to take a public carriage back to Daffodil Street.
Throughout the entire process, Klein kept casting glances at Silas, as if observing him.
He must want to ask me how my potion digestion is going.
Silas guessed with considerable confidence.
So Silas met Klein's gaze and smiled faintly.
"Klein, the method you mentioned really does work. I feel the potion's influence is much less now!"
"Ah? Ahem... It works? Well, that's good then."
Klein coughed once, then said seriously, "Then I think this method can be promoted further. Once you and I have fully mastered our potions, we'll share them with the other members."
The two chatted casually for a bit before parting ways at their respective front doors.
"Cecilia, how long has the lamb been cooking?"
The moment Silas pushed open his door, he called out loudly inside, grinning as he spoke to his sister.
Could he really be a blessed of the True Creator?
Klein stood at his own doorway, watching Silas's retreating figure, his expression strange as he thought to himself.
He hates the Aurora Order so much that he personally killed three cultists with his own hands and stopped several evil god rituals. Such a blasphemous blessed one couldn't possibly exist, right?
Shaking his head with mixed emotions, Klein closed his door.
Crystal-clear chunks of lamb and radish were submerged in milky-white soup. As the soup bubbled away, the tender, fatty lamb quivered and shook.
The kitchen was filled with a delicious aroma mixed with a faint gamey smell, refreshing to the senses.
Good lamb doesn't need many seasonings. You only need to add a bit of spice to remove the gaminess, and that brings out the meat's natural sweetness.
Seeing that the meat was about done, Silas turned off the heat and stirred in refined salt to mix it evenly.
You can't add salt too early when cooking lamb, or the meat becomes tough.
After waiting a few minutes, he ladled out the lamb and radish chunks along with the soup, served them in bowls, and sprinkled bright green basil leaves on top as garnish.
After adding pepper powder and taking a bite of the lamb, it was tender yet chewy.
The savory flavor and meat's aroma filled both nose and mouth, and then taking a sip of the piping hot broth... good heavens, the Londor siblings ate with their heads down, unable to even look up.
"Cecilia, I just realized something serious."
"What is it, Brother?"
"Well, um..."
Silas took a sip of soup and said with a slightly guilty tone, "I just remembered that I should prepare a proper dress for you to wear to the theater."
Cecilia looked at him in surprise.
"Silas, you actually noticed something like that? Wait, which thoughtful lady reminded you?"
"Sis, do you have so little faith in your brother? Alright... this time someone else did tell me."
Silas's voice rose a bit at first, then quickly lowered again. "Anyway, the theater performance is at night, so we'll go out during the day and buy a ready-made one from the shops."
"Buying ready-made clothes will cost quite a bit more, won't it? Even though you have a high weekly salary, you can't just spend money recklessly."
Cecilia said. "Brother, I really don't care about those things. As long as you can be with me, we don't have to go to the theater. Anywhere is fine."
Girl, why don't you sound like my sister but more like my mom?
Silas blinked, then laughed.
"That won't do. If everyone else has one, how can my sister not? Don't worry, the money will come soon enough."
Knock, knock, knock!
As they were speaking, someone knocked at the door. Leonard had come to pick him up.
"Who is it?"
Cecilia asked.
"Someone is bringing money for your dress."
Silas said with a smile as he stood up.
---
After instructing his sister to be careful at home, Silas got into the carriage with Leonard, who was waiting at the door.
The moment he sat down, he suddenly felt a bit worried about his sister's safety.
Such a beautiful young girl, what if someone had bad intentions? It looks like he'd need to teach her some close-combat techniques afterward, at least enough for self-defense.
He thought this way throughout the ride, exchanging little conversation with Leonard, quietly letting the carriage carry them to the dock district in the city outskirts.
Tingen had an excellent geographical position, with two major rivers: the Khoy River and the Tussock River.
The Khoy River merged with the Tussock River outside the city, then flowed all the way to the capital, Backlund.
Large numbers of passenger ships and cargo vessels shuttled back and forth along the rivers, docking at the port district.
Thanks to the throughput of these vessels, the dock district developed rapidly.
Trading posts, warehouses, and slums stretched out in continuous swaths. Dock workers, beggars, street girls... all sorts of people gathered here, mixing together in a complex way, making this the most chaotic area of Tingen in terms of public security.
Night had fallen, yet the dock district was still noisy.
Dock workers returning from their shifts drank cheap liquor in taverns, while those who'd earned more ran off to have heart-to-heart talks with the ladies.
Beggars huddled in corners to avoid the wind. Shirtless children sucked on their fingers, eyes wide as they watched the lively scene in the lamplight.
Behind them in the river bay, ships floated silently in the darkness, like man-eating beasts drifting back and forth on the water's surface.
Silas and Leonard stepped across a muddy stretch of ground and arrived at the shipping company where Mr. Pound worked.
Welleam Shipping Company mainly handled cargo transport on the Tussock River.
The entire company had five cargo ships in total and was said to be doing quite well financially.
"A name etched in the sunset's glow,
One that your night has awakened..."
The guards at the entrance were no match for Leonard at all. He simply recited a few lines of poetry from a distance, and these poor fellows immediately closed their eyes and collapsed in a heap.
"Reciting poetry at night, at this moment I'm a true Midnight Poet, right, Mr. Secrets Suppliant?"
He said to Silas with a smile.
Is this hinting at the acting method?
One after another, they all know these secrets.
Silas just nodded and pretended he didn't understand at all. "You're right."
Leonard's face fell a bit at that, but he quickly rallied his spirits and swaggered into the company building with Silas.
Orange gas lamps illuminated the corridor. They followed the signs floor by floor, and soon found the manager's office.
The door was locked tight.
Just as Silas was thinking about how to pick the lock, he saw Leonard pull two pieces of wire from his pocket, insert them into the keyhole, fiddle with them a few times, and with a "click," he had already deftly opened the door.
"Learned it specifically from a petty thief at the police station."
Leonard put away the two wires, looking rather proud of himself.
No need to be proud of that, though.
Silas followed behind him.
The moment the door was pushed open and the lamp illuminated the space ahead, there seemed to be a thin white thread stretched across Leonard's path.
He didn't notice it and stepped forward, so the thread was broken.
Probably a spider's silk.
Silas thought to himself. Seeing that Leonard had already gone in, he couldn't be bothered to warn him and followed him into the office.