Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 31 "Work Meals"

After shooting out all the bullets on hand, the two left the Zouteland Shooting Club.

Returning from the smoky shooting range to the sunny streets of Zouteland, Angel took a deep breath of fresh air, and then exhaled slowly, only then did he feel that the exhaustion in his body was swept away.

Klein also had a revived expression on his face. He looked around, took out a silver-white pocket watch from his pocket, opened the watch cover, took a look, and closed it again with a "snap".

"It's exactly twelve o'clock, and now I can go back to the company in time for a working meal."

he muttered to himself.

"Working meal?" Angel repeated curiously, and then suddenly said: "Oh, you mean the Old Vale restaurant."

Blackthorn Security Company does not have its own kitchen, but due to the limited nature of the work, there are staff who have to settle lunch and dinner in the company every day, so the nearby "Oldville Restaurant" took over the task of providing meals.

Every day at 10:30 am, a waiter will come to the security company to ask who needs to order food, and it will be delivered at noon, and it is time to order dinner at [-] pm.

Angel still remembers the lunch that the white-haired Ms. Sika Thon brought to her when she first came to the Blackthorn Security Company. It should have been ordered at the Oldville restaurant. Although the portion is not large, it has meat and vegetables, which is barely enough to fill her stomach.

"Do you solve lunch at the company every day? I remember that you are not the only one in your family, why don't you eat at home?"

Angel asked curiously. She knew that Klein had an older brother and a younger sister, who currently lived with Klein at No. 2 Narcissus Street.

She had only seen the siblings when Dunn and the others brought them back to the Blackthorn Security Company. In her impression, they were a tall, thin but somewhat old man with short hair and a young and beautiful girl with the same black hair and obvious family characteristics.

"My younger sister, Melissa, is studying at the Tingen Technical School. She has classes six days a week and has a short break at noon, so she eats at school; Benson works overtime every day, and sometimes he doesn't even come back for dinner. It would be too troublesome for me to cook lunch at home if I eat alone."

"And the captain gave me a special task. I have to patrol the neighborhood every afternoon. Why don't I just have lunch at the company. Now they will order lunch for me every day."

Klein explained.

Angel also felt the same: "Cooking for one person is really troublesome. The weather is too prone to bad weather if you eat too much, and it's not worthwhile if you eat too little."

She also often solves the meal problem outside, but occasionally buys some bread and makes some thick soup and salad to eat with it. In the summer without a refrigerator, unless it is eaten up on the same day, the food will inevitably spoil the next day.

At this time, the two had walked to the other side of the street, and across the road was the Blackthorn Security Company.

Since he didn't order lunch, he will definitely not have his own share of the takeaway from the Old Ville restaurant that will be delivered later, so Angel doesn't plan to stay in the company, but plans to find a random restaurant on Iron Cross Street as originally planned.

These days, she has visited almost all the restaurants on Narcissus Street, and the scope of food hunting has expanded to Iron Cross Street.

Fortunately, although there are no special foods in Tingen City, restaurants from all over the country are full of flavor restaurants. As long as you search carefully, you can always find food that satisfies her.

But before taking the stagecoach back, Angel planned to go back to the Blackthorn Security Company to replenish some of the bullets that were used up in the shooting range just now.

"Well, these are consumables."

Thinking of Old Neil's earnest teaching, she found a justification for her excessive consumption of ammunition.

Walking up the stairs to the second floor, and pushing open the door of the reception room, Rosanne and Brett, who were sitting on the newly purchased sofa in the reception room, glanced at the two who entered the door, with disappointment that could not be concealed on their faces.

"I thought it was Oldville's lunch." Roseanne complained in a breathable white dress, "Why are they late today?"

"Don't worry, Roseanne, maybe they're too busy. You know, the police station across the street has been working overtime in recent days, and the food delivery business at the Old Ville restaurant is much busier than before."

Brett with a bushy beard comforted Roseanne. He was also one of the clerks of the Blackthorn Security Company. Angel met him yesterday when he came to report daily.

Klein hung his top hat on the coat rack, approached the sofa, found an empty seat and sat down, and joked to Roseanne, "Maybe we should write a letter of complaint to the restaurant. How could they starve our beautiful ladies to death just to feed those rough men in the police station?"

"Is it really thin?"

Hearing Klein's words, Roseanne subconsciously touched her lower abdomen, then her face turned bitter, and she moved her arm away.

Her envious eyes swept over Angel: "Hey, Angel, how did you achieve such a figure, can you teach me?"

For the convenience of movement, and to avoid hurting his masculine self-esteem, Angel seldom chooses feminine clothes. Instead, he wears a neutral dress, a white shirt, a slim vest and trousers, and a light windbreaker to cover up his proud figure made of the "witch" potion.Seeing that the topic suddenly turned to herself, she was taken aback for a moment, not knowing how to answer.

"Um...diet and exercise?"

After searching her guts, she choked out these few words.

"No, I mean... hey, forget it." Roseanne waved her hands blushing, indicating that Angel had misunderstood her meaning, but turned her eyes to the other two men present, and ended the topic after a moment of hesitation.

"By the way, just now the captain received help from Mechanical Heart and went to Hoy University to help investigate the case. Ms. Sika Teon said that she was looking for material for writing a novel recently, so she went with her too." Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Brett said, pointing to the distant clock tower of Hoy University outside the window.

"In other words, the lunch they ordered may be wasted, why not..."

He looked at Angel.

"Ah, that's right. Before he left, the captain said that the Heart of the Machine would eat outside after work, so there's no need to save lunch for them. Angel, you can stay for lunch. I can give you both."

Roseanne took the conversation.

It's past twelve o'clock now, even if the public carriage can arrive in a while, it will take more than one o'clock in the afternoon to go back to Narcissus Street by car, and it will be a bit late to find a place for lunch...

Angel estimated the time and nodded: "Okay, then I will help the captain solve the trouble of wasting food."

Several people burst into laughter.

Now that he decided to dine in the company, Angel was not in a hurry to go to Old Neil's collar in the basement, but also sat down on the sofa, and the four of them sat in a circle around the coffee table, drinking the coffee made by Roseanne, and chatting with each other.

"There was a murder case at Hoy University last night, which is the area that the Heart of the Machine is in charge of, but something happened when they questioned the witnesses, so they had to invite the captain over there, um, let's solve the problem in a dream."

"This kind of mutual help between churches often occurs, but usually the captain is invited."

Hoy University... Angel listened to Roseanne's words, and turned his head to look at Klein who was beside him—he seems to have graduated from Hoy University?
"Is extraordinary power involved in this murder?" Klein didn't notice Angel's eyes, he was more interested in the case itself.

"Not necessarily, maybe there are some clues, or maybe the police are too nervous. Most of the cases they submit are false reports and don't involve occultism, but every report still needs to be sent by the Nighthawks or other churches in the corresponding area to check." Bright replied.

"The police are also terrified now. The homicides that occurred during this period far exceeded the average level of the city last year. Many of them did involve extraordinary forces, such as the son of the former banker McGovern and... Ah, Klein, I'm sorry."

Roseanne suddenly covered her mouth halfway through her speech.

"It's okay." Klein pulled out a smile.

Listening to the riddle-like conversation between the two, Angel recalled what Captain Dunn had mentioned before, the reason why Klein Moretti joined the Nighthawks, and thought about it.

The reception room fell into a brief silence.

"Bang bang—"

There was a knock on the door, and before everyone could respond, the half-closed door was squeezed open, and a young waiter wearing a waiter's uniform and holding a stack of lunch boxes in both hands entered through the crack of the door.

Seeing that he couldn't free his hands, he should have "knocked" on the door with his feet just now.

Brett got up from the sofa, took the lunch box from the waiter familiarly, and put it on the coffee table.

"I'm very sorry, the food delivery is a bit slower than usual." The waiter apologized, but his expression didn't mean it at all. There were only sweat and numbness after overloading his face. "The meal fee can be paid when you come to collect the lunch box in the afternoon. You can use it slowly."

Watching the waiter leave in a hurry, several people looked at each other in blank dismay.

"It seems that Old Ville restaurant is really busy." Brett shook his head and said with a smile, "I'll deliver food to Cornley and Old Neil first, they must be waiting impatiently, you eat first, don't worry about me."

He separated a stack of lunch boxes, took two of them, and walked through the partition of the reception room to the underground area of ​​the Blackthorn Security Company.

Old Neil is in the arsenal, so Kenley is guarding the "Chanis Gate" today?

Angel recalls Kernley White, a "sleepless man," who he only met once.

Klein and Rosanne had already taken their lunch boxes and opened the lids. Inside were the same set meal: a palm-sized piece of oatmeal bread, mushroom soup, diced mutton, and a small spoonful of butter.

The faint scent of grease immediately filled the entire reception room.

"Aha, I feel so hungry that I can eat two servings." Rosanne sniffed, with a satisfied smile on her face, she took a big sip of the mushroom soup, skillfully spread the cream on the bread with a dining spoon, and quickly ate the mutton.

Appetites are contagious. Seeing Rosanna eating so deliciously, the other two also felt their stomachs twitch. Klein handed the slightly larger lunch box that originally belonged to Dunn to Angel. The latter opened it and found that his lunch was slightly richer. There was half a fried sausage in the box, and the soup was chowder, with richer ingredients.

After imitating Roseanne to spread the cream, Angel was about to feast, when suddenly there was a knock on the door behind him.

(End of this chapter)