He rolled over in a half-dream, and suddenly noticed that the mattress beside him was unnaturally sunken.

As a trained intelligence officer, Taryn instantly awakened his consciousness and opened his eyes.

Then Cortina was seen huddled by her pillow, curled up in an unguarded position asleep. Beckland's dim sunlight squeezed through the undrawn curtains into the small room, casting an ambiguous warmth on her bare arms, shoulders and neck.

Her long black hair fell down and covered half of her face, revealing only softly contoured eyebrows. They were too close, and the tip of Tyron's nose lingered with a faint fragrance. His arm at his side flickered, as if trying to reach out and pull Cortina closer and into his arms.

However, the outstretched hand froze in the air for a few seconds, but it didn't fall on her, just pressed against the side of the bed, helping Taryn to brace himself up and sit up.

As Taryn moved, the mattress that wasn't thick enough creaked, waking Cortina up. Sleepy-eyed, she lifted her hand to brush away the strands of hair that was blocking her forehead, and watched as Taryn turned her back to her and got out of bed, hastily grabbing the neatly stacked shirt on the bedside table and draping it over her body.

"Don't run to my bed again."

"Well......" Cortina stretched out her body and moved it to the center of the bed, and replied disapprehantly, "but I'm afraid of the dark." ”

Taryn paused as he buttoned up, and then heard the voice of the witch behind him snickering: "Just kidding." ”

Without waiting for him to reply, she muttered to herself in a voice that could be heard by both of us, "Didn't we often huddle together to sleep together?" What are you afraid of. ”

You wouldn't have run to my bed so disheveled...... In order to avoid meaningless bickering, Tae wisely swallowed his complaints, packed up his clothes, and left the room with a sentence of "hurry up and come down for breakfast".

Leaving alone, Cortina rolled around the bed twice, but she couldn't sleep, so she got up disheveled and walked around the room.

She hadn't been back in a long time, but the room was still familiar to her. As a lieutenant, Taryn's salary in MI9 is definitely not low, but he has not replaced these old furniture. The desk against the wall even has remnants of the puppy image he had carved with the tip of a compass as a child.

Caressing the uneven notches and open patent leather, Cortina sat down at the desk, large enough for two people to use side by side, and pulled a palm-sized vanity mirror and a small glass bottle from the drawer.

She uncorked the bottle and smeared the few black viscous liquids from the glass bottle evenly on the mirror.

As the mirror was painted, the temperature in the room dropped slightly, and even the slightest ray of sunlight that had been lucky enough to get in turned pale.

Cortina, who was only dressed in a light nightdress, was not affected, but bowed her head respectfully after seeing the strange purple-black light reflected on the mirror.

The purple-black light swayed and condensed to form a blurred image, as if someone was peering behind a mirror. An ethereal and distorted voice came from behind the mirror, and he asked hoarsely, "How's the mission going?" ”

"It went well." Cortina replied in a low voice, "Intelligence from MI9 and the nobility has confirmed that although the royal family of Rune is concerned about the situation in Fursac, Cowenton VI is weak and unable to check and balance the various factions within the military, and the new party and the old aristocracy are fighting each other in parliament, and they have no ability to interfere in the internal affairs of Fursac for the time being." At the same time, the elite forces of the Night Church and the Storm Church are still carrying out tasks in the Southern Continent, and they are powerless to affect the situation in Fusak in a short period of time. ”

"Very well," the figure in the mirror bowed slightly, giving new instructions, "continue to lurk, seize any opportunity that can provoke infighting among the ruling class of Rune, distract them with political strife, and buy more time for our actions in Fersak." ”

After a pause, the man in the mirror said with a smile: "After this mission, you will become the head of the sect in Beckland, and the potion for promotion to Sequence Five has been prepared for you, I hope you will not live up to my expectations." ”

Outside the mirror, Cortina couldn't hide her excitement and raised her head, her purple eyes flashing with restrained longing. She curled the corners of her lips into a bright smile that would swoon all men: "Thank you for your appreciation, Your Excellency the Black Saintess, I will not let you down." ”

At the end of the brief exchange, she waved her hand and caused the black flames to engulf the viscous liquid attached to the empty glass bottle and mirror, and the smile on her face quickly faded. Throwing the mirror back into the drawer, Cortina got up and tidied herself up in the bathroom, and then Shi Shiran went downstairs.

Tyron, who was already sitting at the table, poured her a cup of coffee and added much more cream than normal.

The covert communication that had just taken place upstairs did not escape the perception of this Sequence 8 "sheriff", after all, within their own "jurisdiction", they could easily perceive the power of evil and depravity. He pushed the plate with the omelette towards Cortina, who was seated opposite, and asked calmly, "Not suspicious, right?" ”

A silver knife and fork cut through the white omelette, and the half-curded yolk overflowed from the incision. Cortina fiddled with the dishes and said nonchalantly, "Perhaps." Oh, I'm definitely not the only one in the Witch Sect's secret stake in Beckland...... But we don't need to worry about that. ”

She forked half of the omelette into her plate, and her voice became cold: "As long as the revenge is successful, we can leave at any time and start a new life." With the seal '1-098', not even the Witch Cult can find any trace of us. ”

Taryn swallowed the food in his mouth noncommittally, and heard Cortina continue, "Remember to send some informants to keep an eye on that Douglas's actions." ”

"Are you worried about him leaking secrets to the church?"

"No, he can't afford to be suspected by the Church, and the accusations about the 'Great Smog' are enough to take him to the Inquisition." The witch took a bite of the edge of the egg-stained toast and replied in a somewhat muffled voice, "But I don't believe in his loyalty." It is quite possible that he is secretly with Winkel. Einhorn made certain deals, but as long as there were enough leads, he was useless. When the time comes......"

"I'll take care of it then." Taryn nodded knowingly.

The rest of the meal fell into a harmonious silence, with only the rare sunlight of Backerland pouring through the bellied window.

-

Today's weather in Beckland is too good. This wasn't good news for the Bloodline, and Antonia didn't breathe a sigh of relief until she walked inside the church. With a thick handout under his arm, he descended the hidden staircase into the shady and comfortable reference room.

He was greeted by stacks of books on the table, and Douglas poking his head out from behind the pile to greet him.

Antonia raised her eyebrows in surprise, walked around the stacks of books, and took a seat on the right hand side of her colleague: "Good afternoon, since the end of the course, I have rarely seen you love learning so much. ”

Recalling months of intense language classes, Douglas grinned with a toothache. He glanced at the pile of things Antonia had placed on the table, closed the book in his hand, and asked, "Do you have homework to correct again?" I'm sorry, I'm afraid I won't be able to help you this time, I'm going out in the afternoon. ”

As a visiting professor at the University of Beckland, Antonia offered two electives, and when he was too busy, he would ask Douglas to mark some of them for him, at the price of one-half a penny each.

This is generally the job of a teaching assistant, and the teaching assistants in universities are usually the best students in the department. The professors wouldn't let the students work for nothing, and Antonia, who was not short of money at all, would not be able to collect the wool of his colleagues, so Douglas had previously made a small amount of money by working part-time to correct assignments.

"I know you're going to have to cooperate with MI9 for the next two days...... Well? Antonia slowly pulled out her inkwell and pen, and inadvertently glanced at the title as she moved the books on the table to make room for herself, "Quaternary Aristocratic Heraldry, what do you think of this?" ”

"It's just a personal interest."

When I looked closely, I realized that the books here were all about the history of the Quaternary period. Antonia frowned slightly, pulled out a few more books and opened them, and found that all the books were only mundane research and did not involve extraordinary secrets, and his expression relaxed.

Seeing his movements, Douglas felt subtle and unbearable. If he wanted to check the information about Amun, he naturally would not let go of the ready-made resource library of the church, but he had to make a disguise to prevent others from discovering his intentions, so he deliberately chose a few books with content within the safety line to pretend.

But am I getting better at lying...... It's much harder to fool a friend than it is to fool a stranger. He turned his brain, put down the thick ancient book in his hand, and squeezed his eyes at Antonia: "Ahem...... Actually, the previous sentence is a lie to you. ”

The young bloodclan raised his scarlet eyes and stared at him, while Douglas spread his hands and said without changing his face: "It has something to do with the mission, but MI9 has a confidentiality request, and I can't tell you directly." To put it simply, I may come into contact with Quaternary antiquities later, so I will make up for myself in advance. ”

There is one truth in the three sentences, and at least the proportion of true words has increased from zero to 33.3 percent...... The descendants of the ancient families of the Quaternary are also antiquities, well, in the church Amon should not be heard...... Douglas sneered as Antonia nodded, accepting his claim.

"There are still many mysteries in the history of the Quaternary, it was an extraordinary heyday, and you must be careful." Not only that, but the kind-hearted blood clan also gave further advice, "Don't hesitate when you encounter an accident, just run away." ”

…… It's over, and now my conscience hurts even more. Douglas pushed away the books that occupied almost the entire table, stretched his body on the table, and joked relaxedly: "Shouldn't we give our lives to protect the masses?" ”

"Because Sequence 9 probably can't do ......"

“…… Do you have to find such a realistic reason! ”

Antonia took out the homework that needed to be corrected in the handout folder, and rubbed the top of his colleague's brain, and said very naturally: "But if you need help, I remember that Baron Bathory has arranged a shadow bat by your side, and you can call us at any time." ”

Douglas laughed dryly and replied with a sincere feeling: "Thank you, but I hope this never happens." ”

It seems that Baron Bathory didn't realize that his shadow bat was taken away by Amon at all, I really don't know how Amon did it, the high sequence is terrifying......

Ironically, he was able to move so freely that he could collect Russell's diary and find fellow villagers without having to bother making up excuses, avoiding the surveillance of the church.

Although this is essentially a big lie to cover up countless small lies...... And this situation is completely maintained by Amun, whose origin and purpose are unknown. Douglas had every reason to believe that Amon was ten thousand times more difficult to deal with than the church.

Just greeted Amon and forcibly came to the door and almost tied up a street hostage, can this be a good person, this, it's going to be fatal.

"But for me, all of a sudden, things got easier...... Looking for Winkel. Einhorn, I just need to go to the bars and underground gatherings in the East End to issue commissions and spread the word widely in English. If you're lucky, you might even catch other potential fellows. ”

Although this world also uses alphabet writing, and there are even 26 letters, the way it is written and the composition of words is very different from the English of the earth, so there is no need to worry about leaking information.

Worried, Douglas combed through the current situation, but had to admit that the cards in his hand had become better. Winkel is the extraordinary of Sequence 6, and he is definitely a strong man in the Fifth Age of Extraordinary Decline. With her help, it would be relatively easy to neutralize Cortina's threat.