Morning Tea and Intelligence

In the early morning, sunlight streamed through the enormous glass windows and fell across the richly patterned carpet.

Higashino Makoto slowly opened his eyes.

Even though he had confirmed that he could do without sleep, the perfectly comfortable temperature, the soft bed, and the supple, smooth body in his arms still made him unable to resist indulging in sleep.

As his palm slid over the girl's silky back, a clearly suppressed, nearly inaudible moan reached his ears.

Lowering his head to look at her flushed face and trembling eyelashes, he could not help preparing for another round.

Just then, a raven flew in through the open window, landed on the rack that should have held their clothes, and let out a series of caws.

It was Muninn, part of a World-Class Item.

"Oh, have you finally gathered some important intelligence?"

Muninn's arrival made Higashino Makoto abandon his original plans.

Gokusai Kaibi, who had heard him, felt a little disappointed, but she immediately suppressed that unnecessary emotion.

The great Supreme Being had more important matters to attend to. A Guardian could not hold him back.

The blanket slid from her smooth body as Gokusai Kaibi stood up.

She picked up the clothes scattered across the carpet, dressed both herself and Higashino Makoto, and then prepared to leave.

"I shall take my leave first. Should you require anything, please use the 'Communication Necklace' to notify me at any time."

The Communication Necklace was a gift Higashino Makoto had given Gokusai Kaibi so they could stay in touch conveniently.

Although he could give every Guardian one right now, there was no need.

When he became their secretary, personally giving them guild rings and Communication Necklaces as gifts would surely make them happier than handing them out like work uniforms.

Seeing Gokusai Kaibi preparing to leave, Higashino Makoto spoke to stop her.

"There's no need to leave. It's only some ordinary intelligence. Besides, I'll need your help analyzing a few things."

After saying that, he took three English breakfasts from his inventory and placed them on the round table.

Higashino Makoto once again marveled at the wonders of magic. Not only would food stored in his inventory not spoil, it would not even lose its temperature.

As a result, too lazy to keep making trips to the kitchen, Higashino Makoto had stored a great variety of delicacies in his inventory.

From English tea sets to French cuisine and Chinese imperial banquets, all kinds of food had nearly filled an extra inventory bag.

"Come on, eat. Don't be polite. Once we're done, I'll have the head chef of the small kitchen restock me."

Higashino Makoto casually sat in the seat of honor, then waved for one person and one bird to join him.

"Yes, Lord Amon. Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Gokusai Kaibi did not put on too many formalities. After more than twenty days of close companionship, she naturally knew that Higashino Makoto disliked excessive courtesy.

On the contrary, openly eating with Higashino Makoto made him happier.

As for Muninn, Higashino Makoto had not expected at first that a raven summoned by a piece of equipment could actually eat.

It was only when he had looked out at the world through Muninn's eyes out of boredom that he happened to discover it eating.

He still was not sure whether it needed food to replenish its strength like an ordinary creature.

Or whether, like himself, it did not need to eat at all and merely ate to enjoy delicious food.

In any case, since it could eat, he naturally would not begrudge it a mere breakfast.

"Thank you for your reward, Lord Amon Nicola!"

Watching Muninn boldly fly onto the back of a chair by the table, Higashino Makoto merely waved his hand casually.

When money did not matter, how could eating alone compare to eating with several others?

An English breakfast—the British Empire's last stubborn stand in the realm of food.

You could say Britain was a culinary wasteland, with no great feast worth mentioning, and British cuisine was an internationally recognized joke.

But English breakfasts really were quite good.

English breakfasts were known for their abundance of dishes, usually including grilled tomatoes, scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, baked beans, mushrooms, hash browns, and other main items, served with toast, porridge, and drinks such as juice, milk, and coffee.

In the standard style, all the dishes were placed on the same plate, with English breakfast tea as the primary drink.

The tea was blended from Indian, Ceylon, and Kenyan tea, and could be served with milk or lemon.

Muninn took two pecks at the breakfast with its beak, drank a sip of milk tea, and then spoke.

"Lord Amon Nicola, do you require me to synchronize the intelligence memories directly with you?"

Higashino Makoto's hand froze involuntarily as he ate. He then picked up his milk tea and took a sip to conceal his embarrassment.

So memories could be synchronized directly?

My apologies, Lord Muninn.

As a Muggle who had grown up in a technological world, he had never even considered such a convenient form of magic as memory synchronization.

"Cough, cough. Not for now."

Higashino Makoto awkwardly waved his hand and casually came up with an explanation.

"Since Gokusai Kaibi is here too, give me a general overview of the intelligence first so I can get a rough understanding."

"After that, synchronize the memories with me."

After he spoke, both Muninn and Gokusai Kaibi voiced their praise.

"As expected of Lord Amon, the supreme sovereign of us all. Though your wisdom surpasses mine a hundredfold, you are still willing to trust this useless subordinate."

"You are truly too kind!"

Gokusai Kaibi, that was a bit of an exaggeration.

You had been designed as an all-around genius, possessing intellect beyond the limits of humanity.

Although he was not sure how fully that setting could manifest, she was undoubtedly far superior to him, an ordinary person.

He was arrogant, yes, but he was not someone who failed to recognize his own limits.

No, more accurately, Gokusai Kaibi, one of his NPCs, and Muninn, a world-class item, were precisely among the assets that gave him the right to be arrogant.

No matter how arrogant someone was, would they be arrogant about their own house or money?

Aside from those brainless domineering CEOs in novels, probably not.

"Alright, let's hear the intelligence Muninn brought back first."

"No matter what, we must respect the fruits of others' labor. It worked diligently for Novas Aetir for more than half a month."

He interrupted Gokusai Kaibi's flattery and turned to Muninn.

"Please, go ahead."

Muninn flapped its wings and struck a proud, chest-out pose, clearly pleased by Higashino Makoto's words.

"Following the orders of the great supreme sovereign, Lord Amon, this subordinate first surveyed the country closest to Novas Aetir. To the east lies a nation primarily inhabited by humans, known as the Roble Holy Kingdom."

"Its total population is approximately seven million. Its ruler is called the Holy Queen, and her name is Calca Bessarez."

"However, for unknown reasons, this country appears to have split into two parts, while its incompetent ruler can only govern the northern portion."

"They are exceedingly weak. According to my observations, the average level of the humans in this country is below level ten, and even their strongest fighters are only around level thirty."