Lord of Mysteries:The Good Witch

After exhausting all their ammunition, the two left the Zotlan Shooting Club. Stepping out from the smoke-filled range into the sunlit streets of Zotlan, Angel took a deep breath of fresh air and exhaled slowly, feeling the fatigue dissipate from her body.

Klein also wore an expression of renewed vitality. He glanced around, pulled out a silver pocket watch from his coat, checked the time, and snapped it shut with a "click."

"It's exactly noon. We can still make it back to the company in time for the work meal," he muttered to himself.

"Work meal?" Angel repeated curiously, then realized, "Oh, you mean Old Veil Restaurant."

The Black Thorn Security Company didn't have its own kitchen, but due to the nature of their work, staff members often needed to have lunch and dinner at the office. As a result, nearby "Old Veil Restaurant" had taken on the task of providing meals.

Every day at 10:30 AM, a waiter would come to the security company to take lunch orders, delivering them at noon. At 3 PM, they would take dinner orders.

Angel remembered the lunch that the white-haired Ms. Seeka Tron had brought her on her first day at Black Thorn Security Company. It must have been ordered from Old Veil Restaurant—the portion wasn't large, but it included meat and vegetables, enough to satisfy hunger.

"Do you have lunch at the company every day? I thought you didn't live alone. Why don't you eat at home?" Angel asked curiously. She knew Klein had an older brother and a younger sister, currently living with him at 2 Daffodil Street.

She had only seen the siblings once when Dunn and others brought her to Black Thorn Security Company. She remembered a tall, thin man who looked a bit older than his age with short hair, and a pretty young girl, both with the same black hair, clearly showing family traits.

"My sister, Melissa, studies at Tingen Technical School. She has classes six days a week and a short lunch break, so she eats at school. Benson works overtime every day, sometimes not even coming home for dinner. It's too much trouble to cook lunch at home just for myself," Klein explained.

"Besides, the captain gave me a special task to patrol the neighborhood every afternoon, so it's easier to have lunch at the company. Now they automatically order lunch for me every day."

Angel nodded in agreement. "It is troublesome to cook for one person. In this weather, if you make too much, it spoils quickly, and if you make too little, it's not worth the effort."

She often ate out too, occasionally buying some bread and making thick soup or salad to go with it. In summer, without a refrigerator, unless consumed on the same day, these foods would inevitably spoil by the next day.

By now, they had walked to the other end of the street, with Black Thorn Security Company across the road.

Since she hadn't ordered lunch, Angel knew there wouldn't be a portion for her when the Old Veil Restaurant delivery arrived. She planned to stick to her original plan of finding a restaurant on Iron Cross Street to eat.

Over the past few days, she had visited almost all the restaurants on Daffodil Street, expanding her food-hunting range to Iron Cross Street.

Although Tingen City didn't have many specialty foods, restaurants featuring cuisines from various regions filled every street. With careful searching, she could always find satisfying meals.

Before taking a public carriage back, Angel decided to stop by Black Thorn Security Company first to replenish the ammunition she had used up at the shooting range.

"Well, these are consumables," she thought, recalling Old Neil's earnest teachings, finding a justification for her excessive use of ammunition.

Climbing the stairs to the second floor and pushing open the reception room door, Angel and Klein saw Rozanne and Brett sitting on the newly purchased sofa in the reception room. Their faces showed undisguised disappointment as they looked at the two who had just entered.

"I thought it was the lunch from Old Veil," Rozanne, wearing a breathable white long dress, complained. "Why are they late today?"

"Don't worry, Rozanne. Maybe they're just busy. You know, the police station across the street has been working overtime these past few days. Old Veil Restaurant's delivery business is much busier than before," Brett, with his thick beard, consoled Rozanne. He was also one of the office staff at Black Thorn Security Company, whom Angel had met briefly during her daily report yesterday.

Klein hung his top hat on the coat rack, walked over to the sofa, and found an empty spot to sit down. He teased Rozanne, "Maybe we should write a complaint letter to the restaurant. How could they starve our beautiful lady just to feed those rough policemen?"

"Did I really get thinner?" Hearing Klein's words, Rozanne instinctively touched her belly, then frowned and moved her arm away.

Her envious gaze swept over Angel. "Ah, Angel, how do you maintain such a figure? Can you teach me?"

For convenience and to avoid hurting her heart that still retained male pride, Angel rarely chose feminine attire. Instead, she wore gender-neutral clothing: a white shirt, fitted vest and trousers, with a light coat to conceal the impressive figure built by the "Witch" potion. Caught off guard by the sudden shift in topic to herself, she was momentarily at a loss for words.

"Um... diet and exercise?" she managed to say after racking her brains.

"No, I meant... oh, never mind." Rozanne waved her hand, her face reddening, indicating that Angel had misunderstood her meaning. But her eyes darted towards the other two men present, and after a moment's hesitation, she dropped the subject.

"By the way, the captain received a request for assistance from the Machinery Hivemind earlier. He went to Khoy University to help with a case. Ms. Seeka Tron said she's been looking for inspiration for her novel writing, so she went along," Brett said, pointing towards the distant clock tower of Khoy University, sensing the awkward atmosphere.

"Which means their ordered lunches might go to waste, so..." He looked meaningfully at Angel.

"Ah, yes, the captain said before he left that they'd eat out after finishing up at the Machinery Hivemind, so we don't need to save their lunches. Angel, why don't you stay for lunch? You can have both portions," Rozanne chimed in.

It was already past noon, and even if she took a public carriage now, it would be past 1 PM by the time she got back to Daffodil Street. Finding a place to eat lunch then would be quite late...

Angel estimated the time and nodded, "Alright, I'll help the captain solve the problem of wasting food then."

Everyone burst into laughter.

Having decided to have lunch at the company, Angel was no longer in a hurry to go to the basement to get bullets from Old Neil. Instead, she sat down on the sofa, and the four gathered around the coffee table, sipping coffee made by Rozanne to stave off their hunger as they chatted.

"There was a murder case at Khoy University last night. It's in the area the Machinery Hivemind is responsible for, but they encountered some issues while questioning witnesses. They had to call the captain over to, well, dream-walk and solve the problem."

"This kind of inter-church assistance happens often, but usually it's the captain who gets invited."

Khoy University... Angel listened to Rozanne's words and glanced sideways at Klein—wasn't he a graduate of Khoy University?

"Does this murder case involve Beyonder powers?" Klein, not noticing Angel's gaze, was more interested in the case itself.

"Not necessarily. There might be some clues, or the police might be overly nervous. Eight out of ten cases they refer to us turn out to be false alarms and don't involve mysticism, but every report still needs to be checked by Nighthawks or the corresponding church in the area," Brett answered.

"The police are jumpy now. The number of homicides recently far exceeds the city's average for the entire last year, and quite a few indeed involve Beyonder powers. For example, the son of banker McGovern and... ah, Klein, I'm sorry." Rozanne covered her mouth halfway through speaking.

"It's alright," Klein forced a smile.

Angel listened to their enigmatic conversation, recalling what Captain Dunn had mentioned before about the reason Kleyn Moretti joined the Nighthawks, lost in thought.

The reception room fell into a brief silence.

"Knock knock—"

Before anyone could respond to the knocking, the half-open door was pushed wider, and a young waiter in uniform, carrying a stack of meal boxes, squeezed through the gap.

Seeing that both his hands were full, it was clear he had "knocked" with his foot earlier.

Brett rose from the sofa and familiarly took the meal boxes from the waiter's hands, placing them on the coffee table.

"I'm very sorry the delivery is slower than usual," the waiter apologized, though his expression showed no such sentiment. His face only displayed sweat and the numbness that comes after overexertion. "You can pay for the meals when we come to collect the boxes this afternoon. Enjoy your meal."

Watching the waiter dash off, the group exchanged glances.

"Looks like Old Veil Restaurant is indeed quite busy," Brett shook his head and said with a smile, "I'll take the meals to Cohen Lee and Old Neil first. They must be getting impatient too. You all start eating, don't wait for me."

He separated the stack of meal boxes, took two of them, and walked past the partition in the reception room towards the underground area of Black Thorn Security Company.

Old Neil is in the armory, so is Cohen Lee guarding the "Chanis Gate" today?

Angel recalled Cohen Lee White, a "Sleepless," whom she had only met once.

Klein and Rozanne had already taken their meal boxes and opened the lids. Inside were identical set meals: a palm-sized oatmeal bread, mushroom soup, diced lamb cubes, and a small spoon of cream.

A faint aroma of oil immediately filled the entire reception room.

"Ah, I feel like I could eat two portions, I'm so hungry," Rozanne said, sniffing appreciatively. Her face broke into a satisfied smile as she took a big sip of the mushroom soup, skillfully spread the cream on the bread with her spoon, and quickly ate it along with the lamb.

Appetite is contagious. Watching Rozanne eat with such relish, the other two felt their stomachs rumble. Klein handed the slightly larger meal box that originally belonged to Dunn to Angel. Opening it, she found her lunch was a bit more substantial, with half a fried sausage added and a mixed vegetable soup with richer ingredients.

Following Rozanne's lead in spreading the cream, Angel was about to dig in when suddenly there was a knock on the door behind her.