Early morning, Kane Mansion
Lis got out of bed normally, got dressed normally, and went downstairs normally...
This ordinary routine brought tears to Lis's eyes, who had experienced various misfortunes over the past three days.
Lis had also noticed that these three days of bad luck hadn't posed much of a threat to him; at most, it resulted in minor bumps and bruises.
However, it was quite easy for it to leave a psychological shadow.
Lis touched his forehead, which had already reduced in swelling, with lingering fear.
During these days, Lis had also speculated a bit about the effects of "Lucky" and "Unlucky Fellow."
Acadia's lucky brooch seemed to force good luck on himself within 5 seconds through the effect of divine power, nearly granting his wishes.
But at the same time, he had to bear the corresponding misfortune, although the bad luck was much milder as it continued over three days.
Anyway, after using the luck brooch this time, Lis had witnessed the powerful effect of this secret treasure, which could save his life at a critical moment!
However, it was best to use this secret treasure sparingly unless necessary.
He definitely did not want to experience this feeling of misfortune again.
After dressing neatly and stocking his storage ring with various fresh ingredients in the kitchen, Lis patted his chef's broad shoulders encouragingly before heading out to find Arsen.
After all, he had delayed for three full days, slower than a pigeon flying.
This time, Lis had learned his lesson, letting Welf accompany him all the way to the adventure team's villa on Gedo Street before he waved goodbye to Welf, telling him he need not stay any longer.
After all, when it came to safety, Welf was not even a fraction as reliable as Ya'er.
Welf was quite worried, especially since his young master had just survived an assassination, but Lis sternly refused close protection and Welf had to leave reluctantly, looking back with every step and not even in the mood to visit Golden Lily Lane to "appreciate the flowers" on the way.
Having visited several times and quite familiar with the place, Lis didn't bother being polite and just pushed the door and entered the villa.
Because Lis had gotten up particularly early today, only Ailina, who was up early to feed the Little Moon Spirit Leopard, was in the living room.
The elf, dressed in a green home outfit and her pale golden hair not yet done up and hanging down to her waist, lacked her ranger's bold elegance but had a more gentle and graceful demeanor.
The Little Moon Spirit Leopard, however, was too busy savoring its meal of unknown Magic Beast meat and occasionally turned to lick some milk from a nearby dish, seizing the moment to enjoy the bliss while the fierce lady was absent.
"Morning, Ailina!"
"Morning, Lis, why did you come so early today?"
Ailina, not yet dressed, felt a bit embarrassed and pulled her loose hair in front of her.
"I don't have much to do, thought I'd come over early to make something delicious, after all, I am a great chef."
Lis winked at Ailina and then headed into the kitchen to get busy.
Occasionally cooking a meal himself was also a form of relaxation for Lis, who had been engrossed in reading books the day before.
By the time Lis served the steaming fruit trio cake and White Frost Soup on the dining table, along with some apple snapper already prepared, Arsen and Ya'er had also gotten up.
"You're here, Lis, come to my room later?"
Arsen greeted Lis.
"No problem."
Lis nodded in agreement, as this was his main purpose for coming today.
Ya'er didn't care what the two men were always doing holed up in the room, as her attention was caught by the snapper on the table, immediately grabbing one and biting into it.
"Mmm—so hot!"
The freshly baked snapper was still hot, but even so, Ya'er couldn't bear to spit it out; the sweet and sour apple filling combined perfectly with the creamy crust was too good to waste even a bit.
Ya'er, just out of bed, hadn't groomed yet, her fiery red hair messily draped over her shoulders, her light pink nightgown slightly wrinkled, indicating that Ya'er had not slept very peacefully last night.
Ailina also particularly enjoyed this Taiyaki, eating it bit by bit, even favoring it over the Flower Fruit Trio Cake.
Lis too enjoyed the fruits of his labor, cooking and tasting delicious food were indeed one of his great hobbies outside of working himself to exhaustion.
After a tasty breakfast,
Lunbos was still not over his hangover.
Ailina led a still groggy Ya'er to get dressed and made up.
Arsen conscientiously cleaned up the remains and washed the dishes, then called Lis to his room.
After their last conversation, the two had become much more familiar with each other, and Arsen didn't stand on ceremony, he pulled up a chair for Lis and sat down first.
Arsen filled up a glass of grape juice for Lis, considering neither of them were dwarves addicted to alcohol, drinking in the morning would have been a bit too much.
"After our last conversation, I went straight back and told my father," Arsen said, getting straight to the point.
Duke Hade?
Lis nodded, understanding that Arsen knew full well that such matters couldn't be resolved just by the two of them alone.
Arsen hesitated, then said,
"My father might have noticed something too, but he wasn't as sure as you."
Lis's mind was clear, he knew the rest of the story, of course it wasn't fake.
But even the old Duke Hade had his suspicions, truly worthy of being a pillar of the Feis Kingdom.
"My father thinks that someone is stirring things up in secret, but it's certain that person isn't His Majesty the King," Arsen continued.
Just as I speculated, the King of Feis does not desire, or rather doesn't want to engage in war with neighboring countries anytime soon.
Lis pondered discreetly, though he now knew that the mastermind was Second Prince Yatean Fis, it wasn't appropriate to discuss this directly with Arsen.
Given Yatean's manner of operation, he wouldn't leave any evidence behind, and an all-out investigation now would at most reveal some suspicious signs, but would never implicate him.
Even if Camus were still alive, it would be useless.
This matter needed more caution, slow and steady wins the race, he couldn't rush it.
While Lis was contemplating in silence, Arsen asked,
"So my father wanted me to ask you, Lis, do you have any other leads?"
Arsen looked at Lis earnestly and said,
"Please, Lis, this is very important for the Hade family, if there's anything in the future where the Hade family can lend a hand, feel free to ask."
Lis was somewhat taken aback, this statement was quite significant, Arsen was speaking on behalf of the Hade family, indebting Lis with a huge favor.
Having known before, with the strength and status of the Hade family, if he asked, even raising his own nobility to an Earl could be achieved.
After pondering for a moment, Lis told Arsen,
"In the past half-year, the prices of certain foods and weapons have fluctuated irregularly, it might be due to someone secretly buying up large amounts."
"I've received information that there are some movements in the Boditch Kingdom to the east, be wary."
What Lis said was targeted and deliberate, the fluctuations in prices were news from Mora, fairly easy to verify, only no one had noticed it yet.
As for Boditch Kingdom, if Lis remembered correctly, in his past life, the first to declare war was the Boditch Kingdom.
The reason being, Boditch Kingdom sent assassins to assassinate several Kingdom Nobles during the Sacrificial Festival in Bright City!