"Mmm! It's delicious! A very special combination of ingredients."
Evelor said, taking a bite of Lloyd's cooking. She sounded a little unconvincing.
She was probably afraid her little brother would see through her lie.
Lloyd took a bite himself.
'Yep, it's not actually lethal!'
It just lacked the essential trio of soy sauce, MSG, and oyster sauce, so there was plenty of room for improvement in the flavor department.
But for the siblings, as long as it wasn't food that would kill them, it wasn't a big deal.
Back when they were wandering the streets, they had survived on all sorts of culinary horrors best left forgotten. Every bite was a form of Spiritual Contamination. It's a good thing their status panels hadn't awakened back then; otherwise, their current Attributes would be high enough to take on a Saint.
"Oh, right, I almost forgot."
Lloyd suddenly remembered something and hurried back to his room.
The little kitten sat primly on the windowsill, gazing at the night view outside. Its short little tail swayed left and right, making it look like a little furball.
"Dinner time~"
Lloyd said, picking up the kitten and returning to the living room.
"Gasp—What an adorable kitty!"
The moment Evelor saw the little kitten, her face lit up with excitement. She couldn't wait to reach out and snatch it from Lloyd's hands.
"It's so well-behaved! Where did it come from?"
"I found it."
"Eh? How did you manage to find such a cute and docile little cat, Yi?"
"It couldn't run as fast as me."
Lloyd gave a casual explanation, then went back to the kitchen. He put the tomato and potato peels he had specifically saved earlier into a small bowl, poured in a little milk, mixed it all up, and brought it out.
He had promised the kitten that if he had a bite to eat, it would too. He couldn't go back on his word.
Next, Lloyd snatched the kitten back from Evelor's hands, pulled a small, custom-cut scarf from his pocket, tied it around its neck, and placed it next to the bowl of milk he had prepared.
"Mew?"
The little kitten stared at the tomato and potato peels mixed into the milk and let out a soft, questioning mewl.
Lloyd, however, explained with righteous confidence:
"If you want to become a mature little kitten, you have to start with a balanced diet."
Evelor also chimed in:
"That's right, that's right! Eating like this is very healthy. You'll get big and strong in no time. You have to eat it all up, you know? Can't be wasteful."
The siblings weren't just spouting nonsense. During their most destitute days, they had often fought with stray cats over food. Some of those strays were so tough that the two of them combined couldn't beat them. As a result, they had gained quite a bit of experience when it came to raising cats.
"Alright, alright, let's eat, let's eat!"
Lloyd called out, continuing to eat the food he had made. Then, he said casually:
"By the way, are you busy for the next two days? I happen to have a two-day break. Want to go out and have some fun?"
"Oh… I'm sorry, Yi. We've received too many submissions these past few days, and Miss Desda is in a real hurry, so…"
"Is that so? It's okay. There will always be other holidays. Next time, then."
"Mhm! When I have time, I'll go with you wherever you want to go, Yi!"
And so, after a simple yet warm dinner, Evelor played with the little kitten for a while longer before returning to her desk to continue looking through the various submissions she had brought back.
Lloyd also returned to his room, took out a pen and paper, and began to write an anonymous letter.
Even though he had resolved today's matter himself, he still needed to notify the relevant authorities and remind them to be vigilant.
The so-called relevant authorities were the Saint's Grace Judgment Court, which specialized in handling incidents involving Cult Heretics.
However, Lloyd's own record wasn't exactly clean at the moment. Fearing that his own past transgressions would be discovered, he could only resort to an anonymous letter, hiding his deeds and his name.
He also didn't want Evelor to know about these things, afraid she would worry for no reason.
Soon, the letter was finished. At the end, Lloyd signed it with a pen name:
An Enthusiastic and Righteous Model Youth
"Something about this whole thing feels off… But I can't investigate any further. I hope this gets the Saint's Grace Court's attention?"
As he spoke, Lloyd called the little kitten over again and started training it to run back and forth, lest someone else "find" it in the future.
............
「At that very moment, in an ordinary farmhouse on the outskirts of the city, a spectacular underground boxing match was underway.」
On the stage, both fighters wore spiked metal knuckle dusters. Every punch sent blood and bits of flesh flying. After just a few blows, they were covered in wounds, their bodies a mangled, bloody mess.
This primitive, bloody spectacle wildly stimulated the well-dressed, respectable-looking audience members, causing them to erupt in hysterical cheers.
Meanwhile, the owner of this farmhouse, who was also the organizer of the fight, was huddled alone in a small, dark room nearby. Listening to the endless cheers and screams from outside, a look of pleasure and enjoyment spread across his face.
"Madness… is truly an intoxicating poison…"
He was sighing to himself in a low voice when he suddenly heard a slight noise behind him, disturbing his leisurely mood.
"Leader, we've been attacked."
A person hidden in the darkness reported in a low voice.
"What?"
The farm owner quickly pulled a map from his clothes, spread it out, and then gently swept his hand over it.
Several points of light immediately lit up on the map. Their eerie green glow illuminated the map's ancient parchment texture, intertwining with the fine cracks that crisscrossed its surface.
"Just as I thought. One of the nodes has been destroyed. Its Spiritual Energy has completely vanished, causing some obstruction in the Orbit's operation…"
The farm owner muttered, then changed the subject and asked:
"Have you found out who did it?"
"We can only be certain it wasn't the Judgment Court. Otherwise, they wouldn't have destroyed just one location, and they definitely would have come knocking by now."
The person in the darkness reported in a low voice, then added their own speculation:
"My people went to the scene. The perpetrator's work was clean and efficient. They stripped away all the Spiritual Energy from the node without leaving a single trace. They're undoubtedly a powerful individual."
The farm owner snorted coldly, his face turning livid in the dim light.
"Hmph! It seems we've run into a 'colleague'. Swallowing the 'knowledge' of an entire node in one go… I wonder if they can even digest it."
"There probably aren't many people in the city who could pull this off right under the noses of those hounds from the Saint's Grace Court. Shall I pay them a visit?"
"Go. But it's best not to cause any trouble. Right now, all six cities are preparing for the expansion. Great opportunities lie ahead for us. Don't risk a big loss for a small gain."
"Understood. Everything for true freedom and power."
"Yes. Let us face Chaos and embrace madness."
After exchanging their slogans, the person in the darkness quietly departed.
The farm owner, who remained behind, continued to listen to the increasingly frenzied cheers and screams from outside, once again lost in his intoxicated reverie.