"Working Meal"

After using up all the bullets they had on hand, the two of them left the Zoteland Shooting Club.

Returning from the smoke-filled shooting range to the sunlit Zoteland Street, Angel took a deep breath of fresh air and slowly let it out. Only then did she feel the exhaustion leave her body.

Klein wore the same expression of rebirth. He looked around, took a silver pocket watch from his pocket, flipped it open for a glance, then snapped it shut.

"Exactly noon. If we head back to the company now, we can still make it in time for the working meal."

He muttered to himself.

"Working meal?" Angel repeated curiously, then realized. "Oh, you mean Old Weil Restaurant."

Blackthorn Security Company had no kitchen of its own, but due to the nature of their work, staff members needed to handle lunch and dinner at the company every day. Thus, the nearby Old Weil Restaurant had taken on the task of providing meals.

Every morning at ten thirty, a waiter would come to the Security Company to ask who needed to order food, then deliver it at noon. Three in the afternoon was the time to order dinner.

Angel still remembered the lunch Sica Theon, the white-haired lady, had brought her when she first arrived at Blackthorn Security Company. It had probably been ordered from Old Weil Restaurant. The portion had not been large, but it had meat and vegetables, barely enough to fill her up.

"Do you eat lunch at the company every day? I remember you don't live alone. Why don't you eat at home?"

Angel asked curiously. She knew Klein had an older brother and a younger sister, both currently living with him at 2 Narcissus Street.

She had only seen the siblings once, when Dunn and the others brought her back to Blackthorn Security Company. In her memory, there had been a tall, thin, somewhat older-looking man with short hair, and a youthful, pretty girl. Both had black hair, making the family resemblance obvious.

"My sister, Melissa, attends Tingen Technical School. She has classes six days a week and doesn't get much of a break at noon, so she eats at school. Benson works overtime every day, sometimes he doesn't even come home for dinner. If I'm eating alone, making lunch at home is too much trouble."

"Besides, the captain gave me a special assignment. I have to patrol the nearby area every afternoon, so it's better to have lunch at the company. They've been ordering lunch for me directly every day."

Klein explained.

Angel felt the same way. "Cooking for one person really is troublesome. If you make too much, it spoils too easily in this weather. If you make too little, it isn't worth it."

She also often ate out. Occasionally, she would buy some bread and make herself thick soup and salad to go with it. Without a refrigerator in summer, unless she finished everything that day, the food would definitely spoil by the next.

By then, the two had walked to the other end of the street. Blackthorn Security Company stood across the road.

Since she had not ordered lunch, the Old Weil Restaurant delivery arriving shortly certainly would not include a portion for her. Angel did not intend to stay at the company either, and planned to follow her original plan of finding some restaurant on Iron Cross Street.

Over the past few days, she had practically visited every restaurant on Narcissus Street. Her search for food had expanded to Iron Cross Street.

Fortunately, while Tingen City had no particularly distinctive cuisine, restaurants offering flavors from every region filled every street. As long as she searched carefully, she could always find food to satisfy her.

But before taking the Public Carriage back, Angel planned to return to Blackthorn Security Company first and replenish some of the bullets she had used up at the shooting range.

"Mm, these are consumables."

Remembering Old Neil's earnest instruction, she found herself a perfectly valid excuse for her excessive ammunition use.

She went up the Stairs to the second floor and pushed open the reception room door. Rosanne and Brett, seated on the newly purchased sofa, swept their gazes over the two people entering, undisguised disappointment on their faces.

"I thought Old Weil's lunch had arrived." Rosanne, dressed in a breathable white dress, complained, "Why are they late today?"

"Don't worry, Rosanne. Maybe they're too busy. You know, the Police Station across the street has been working overtime a lot lately. Old Weil Restaurant's delivery business is much busier than before."

Brett, with his thick beard, comforted Rosanne. He was also one of Blackthorn Security Company's clerks. Angel had met him once when she came to report in yesterday.

Klein hung his top hat on the coat rack, walked to the sofa, and found an empty seat. He teased Rosanne as well. "Perhaps we should write the restaurant a complaint letter. How can they starve our beautiful lady thin just to feed those rough men at the Police Station?"

"Have I really gotten thinner?"

Hearing Klein's words, Rosanne instinctively touched her lower abdomen. Then her expression turned bitter, and she moved her arm away.

Her envious gaze swept over Angel. "Sigh, Angel, how do you maintain a figure like that? Can you teach me?"

For convenience in action, and to avoid hurting the self-esteem of the man still within her, Angel rarely chose feminine clothing. She wore neutral attire instead: a white shirt, fitted vest, and trousers, topped with a light trench coat that concealed the impressive figure crafted by the Witch Potion. When the topic suddenly shifted to her, she froze, momentarily unsure how to answer.

"Um... dieting and exercise?"

After racking her brain, she managed to force out those few words.

"No, I mean... ah, forget it." Rosanne waved her hand with a blush, signaling that Angel had misunderstood her. But her eyes drifted toward the other two men present, and after hesitating for a moment, she dropped the subject.

"By the way, the captain just received a request for help from Heart of Machinery. He went to Hoy University to help investigate a case. Sica Theon said she was looking for material for her novel lately, so she went with him." Seeing the atmosphere grow awkward, Brett pointed out the window in the direction of Hoy University's distant Bell Tower.

"In other words, the lunch they ordered might go to waste, so why not..."

His gaze turned toward Angel.

"Ah, right. Before the captain left, he said they'd eat outside once Heart of Machinery was done, so we don't need to save lunch for them. Angel, stay and eat lunch. You can have both portions."

Rosanne picked up the thread.

It was already past noon. Even if the Public Carriage arrived soon, it would still be after one in the afternoon by the time she returned to Narcissus Street. Finding somewhere to eat lunch then would be rather late...

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

The group burst into laughter.

Since she had decided to eat at the company, Angel was no longer in a hurry to go down to Old Neil in the basement for bullets. Instead, she took a seat on the sofa. The four sat in a circle around the Tea Table, drank the coffee Rosanne had brewed to ease their empty stomachs, and chatted.

"A murder occurred at Hoy University last night. That area is under Heart of Machinery's jurisdiction, but they ran into some issues while questioning witnesses, so they could only invite the captain over. Mm, a little Dream Invasion solved the problem."

"This kind of mutual assistance between churches happens often, though usually it's the captain who gets invited."

Hoy University... As Angel listened to Rosanne, she turned to look at Klein beside her—he seemed to have graduated from Hoy University, hadn't he?

"Did this murder involve Beyonder powers?" Klein did not notice Angel's gaze. He was more interested in the case itself.

"Not necessarily. There may have been some clues, or perhaps the police were simply overly nervous. Nine times out of ten, the cases they submit are false reports and have nothing to do with mysticism. But every report still requires the Nighthawks, or another church from the relevant area, to send someone to investigate." Brett answered.

"The police are on edge now too. The number of homicide cases lately has far exceeded the citywide average from last year, and quite a few really did involve Beyonder powers. Like the son of banker Magwin, and... ah, Klein, sorry."

Rosanne suddenly covered her mouth halfway through her sentence.

"It's fine." Klein forced out a smile.

Listening to their riddle-like conversation, Angel recalled what Captain Dunn had mentioned before about why Klein Moretti had joined the Nighthawks, and fell into thought.

The reception room fell into brief silence.

Knock, knock—

A knock sounded. Before anyone could respond, the half-closed door was pushed open. A young waiter in a waiter's uniform entered through the gap, holding a stack of meal boxes in both arms.

Judging by the fact that both his hands were occupied, he had probably "knocked" with his foot just now.

Brett rose from the sofa, familiarly took the meal boxes from the waiter, and set them on the Tea Table.

"I'm very sorry. The delivery was a little slower than usual." The waiter apologized, but his expression showed no sign of remorse. Only sweat and the numbness of overwork hung on his face. "You can pay for the meals this afternoon when I come to collect the boxes. Enjoy."

Watching the waiter hurry away, the group exchanged looks.

"It seems Old Weil Restaurant really is quite busy." Brett shook his head and smiled. "I'll deliver food to Cornley and Old Neil first. They must be waiting anxiously too. You all eat first, don't mind me."

He separated the stack of meal boxes, took two of them, passed through the reception room partition, and headed for Blackthorn Security Company's Underground Area.

Old Neil was in the armory, so Cornley was guarding Chanis Gate today?

Angel recalled Cornley White, whom she had met only once. He was a Sleepless.

Klein and Rosanne had each taken a meal box and lifted the lids. Inside were identical meal sets: a palm-sized piece of oat bread, mushroom cream soup, diced mutton cut into cubes, and a small spoonful of butter.

A faint fragrance of grease immediately filled the entire reception room.

"Aha, I feel so hungry I could eat two portions." Rosanne sniffed, a satisfied smile appearing on her face. She picked up the mushroom soup and took a large gulp, then skillfully used her spoon to spread butter over the bread and quickly ate it with the mutton.

Appetite was contagious. Seeing Rosanne eat so heartily, the other two felt their stomachs stir as well. Klein handed Angel the slightly larger meal box that had originally belonged to Dunn. When she opened it, she found that her lunch was a little more substantial. There was half a fried sausage in the box, and the soup was a richer stew.

Imitating Rosanne by spreading the butter, Angel was about to dig in when a sudden knock came from the door behind her.