Afternoon.
At the Intis Ambassador in the West District, the new Intis Ambassador walked into his office. After the assassination of the previous Intis Ambassador Bakerland, diplomatic relations between Intis and Loen had been tense.
Although Bakerland's body was eventually found in an abandoned factory in the East District, by the time it was discovered, the Ambassador's Beyonder characteristic had been taken, and a magical item was missing.
Afterward, the Intis side did not give up on the investigation, and Loen also sent people to assist. However, after two months, there were still no results, and they could only temporarily abandon it.
Then, more than a month later, a new Ambassador arrived to take over Bakerland's work.
This Ambassador, over forty years old, had a pair of handsome small mustaches and wore somewhat flashy clothes. As he opened the wine cabinet in his office to pour himself a glass of red wine, he noticed a letter on the desk.
He took a small sip from his wine glass, walked over, opened the envelope, and took out the letter.
The letter contained only a few simple sentences, but it made the Ambassador almost drop his wine glass.
'George III is secretly plotting to advance to Black Emperor!'
Looking at the astonishing information in the letter, the Ambassador heard his heart pounding. He drank all the wine in his glass, then calmed down. Following that, flames rose in his hand, burning the letter to ashes.
Putting the wine glass down heavily, the Embassy turned and roared, "Someone, quickly, someone!"
Because of the previous assassination attempt, the security at the Ambassador had already been strengthened. Hearing the Ambassador's voice, two Intis officers rushed in.
The Ambassador said in a deep voice, "Who has been in my office?"
The two officers exchanged glances: "After you left this morning, we have been here and did not see anyone enter the room."
The Ambassador nodded, waved for them to leave, then took out paper and pen, wrote a letter, and then pulled a whistle from his pocket and blew it.
No sound was emitted, but a moment later, the Ambassador's Spiritual Vision was triggered. He activated his Spiritual Vision and saw illusory mud surging from the ground, from which shallow brown vines rose. If one looked closely at these vines, they would find that they were all formed by arms of various sizes twisted together.
The Ambassador threw out the letter. The strange vines, clearly the messenger, wrapped around the envelope and retracted into the mud, disappearing along with the mud.
While the Ambassador was writing the letter, outside the office, a short, stout Intis officer said, "I'm going to the restroom."
The other officer nodded. The short, stout officer walked into the restroom, his eyes suddenly becoming vacant. Then, from his mouth, his nose, his ears, and beneath his eyelids, wisps of black, viscous 'liquid' gushed out.
Those things fell to the ground, aggregated, forming a black blanket that slipped out through the door crack.
After a moment, the short, stout officer's eyes regained their vitality. He had no idea what had happened, and whistling, he relieved his tense abdomen.
Around four in the afternoon, Lex brought Levto to 12 Evergreen Street.
At noon, after spending more than two hours enjoying a grand Intis meal, Lex sent away O'Neill, the adjutant assigned to him by the navy, and stayed at home for over an hour before leaving with Levto.
By the time he arrived in Hilton District, he had changed his appearance, becoming the stern-faced, bearded 'Duke'.
At this moment, he rang the Arbiter's doorbell, but he wasn't very hopeful. Cromwell didn't seem like someone who was often home.
As expected, Lex stood at the door for about a minute, and no one opened it. He shrugged, planning to come back next time.
As soon as he turned around, he saw Cromwell and Lawyer Lyn walking along the street. The two seemed to be talking about something. Lyn's expression was somewhat gloomy, and he was silent much of the time.
Lex stood smiling, waiting for them to approach. Both noticed Lex's presence. When they looked up, Lex tipped his hat and said to them, "Good afternoon, gentlemen."
A look of surprise flashed in Cromwell's gray-green eyes: "Duke, you always appear when least expected."
He immediately noticed Levto; his height, over two meters, made him difficult to miss.
"This is Baal, a friend of mine, the kind I can entrust my life to," Lex briefly introduced him.
Cromwell opened the door, and the gentlemen entered the house one by one. Lex took off his coat and hat, hanging them on the coat rack.
Sitting on the sofa in the living room, Lex glanced at Lyn, restraining the urge to ask questions. If the lawyer needed help, if he needed his help, Lex believed Lyn would say so.
Before that, not prying and giving a friend some space was the correct approach.
Cromwell took out a bottle of red wine and a bottle of strong distilled spirits from the wine cabinet, then poured them into four glasses respectively.
He handed the only glass of distilled spirits to Lyn, gave the red wine to Lex and Levto, and took a small sip himself before saying, "New Year is approaching. Will you be staying in Backlund?"
"I can only say I'll try my best," Lex replied with a smile, tasting the fine wine in his glass.
The Arbiter glanced at Lyn: "Don't you have good news to tell the Duke?"
Lyn forced a smile and said to Lex, "The previous investments have already yielded returns, and they should reach their peak in the first month after the New Year."
"If you sell then, you can earn at least 10,000 pounds, so with the principal, you can get back around 25,000 pounds. Of course, some fees will need to be deducted, but that would be less than a hundred pounds."
"I'm preparing to transfer the relevant documents to Cromwell because I might not be staying in Backlund after the New Year."
Cromwell coughed: "He's encountered some trouble, so he plans to leave here and seek opportunities elsewhere."
Lex looked at the lawyer and said, "What kind of trouble? What can I do?"
Lyn took a sip of the strong liquor and chuckled: "No, I don't want to drag you all into it. I hope we'll have a chance to meet again in the future."
Cromwell opened his mouth as if to say something, when suddenly the doorbell rang. The ringing was urgent, indicating either that the visitor was quite impolite or that there was an emergency.
"One moment."
The Arbiter put down his glass and got up to open the door.
The door opened, revealing two people outside. Cromwell only recognized one of them.
That person, with a cold demeanor and gold-rimmed glasses, was Lyn's client, the surgeon Aaron.
"Good afternoon. Is Lawyer Lyn here? We went to his office, and his assistant told me that Lawyer Lyn left with you."
The cool-mannered Dr. Aaron kept glancing towards the living room, appearing somewhat anxious.
Hearing Aaron's voice, Lyn stood up and replied, "I'm here, what's wrong, Aaron?"
The Arbiter invited the two gentlemen in, and suddenly, his living room seemed a bit cramped.
Aaron walked into the living room, saw Lex, and was a little surprised. He gave Lex a slight nod, then took two steps forward and whispered to Lyn, "Talim had an accident. Just a short while ago, he suddenly passed away at the Crag club."
"His father has decided to hold the funeral tomorrow. This requires some procedures, and Talim's family hopes to cash out his investments with you to help them through a relatively difficult time ahead."
Although Aaron lowered his voice, Lex's ears couldn't be fooled. Hearing that the riding instructor had passed away in the afternoon, Lex was quite surprised and puzzled.
After all, Talim looked very healthy and was still young. How could he suddenly pass away?