บท 28: The Illych Couple
It seems the room to our left was occupied and someone would mostly take the other two as the journey progresses. We were to have our dinner in the lounge. I left to pre-inspect the place.
Before every meal, I would start a Trial Run, in case our food was poisoned. Almost all poisons would show some kind of effect in the first 30 seconds. Our assassins could use a slow-acting poison, but almost no one makes those anymore. A simple Grade-3 Holy magic spell could detoxify them.
I left Nea in the room and went to the lounge room. Muffled laughter spread in the hallway, coming straight from the lounge. I opened the coach door to peek at them and my eyes went wide at the couple sitting in front of me.
I rushed back to the room and whirled the door open. Nea stared at me in a stupor, but I couldn't react to it. I grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her vehemently. "Alice! Guess who I just saw outside!"
"Awawawa, stop shaking me~"
"It was the president's son! The president's son and daughter-in-law."
"Just stop already~ How does that matter, anyway?"
"Ay, you dimwit! Where are we going?" I asked. Guess I'll have to explain this one.
"Xeonodan? The president's home ground...?"
I strongly nodded. "What do we need from that place?"
"Access to government... Ah! You are planning to get close to him!" said Nea.
"That's just a part of it. Think, what kind of situation are we in?"
"Constant danger of death..." Then, as if something clicked, Nea opened her eyes wide and let out a shocked chuckle, "... Ivan, you evil bastard"
"Hahaha... We start with making them like us, ok?"
Instead of replying, Nea just laughed back.
**
###Operation: Trap The Son###
##Time: Dinner, Day 1##
#Attempt: 1#
We went to the lounge. On the very first table from the coach doors were this operation's targets. I went up to the table and greeted them with an amiable smile. "Good evening! We are staying in the room next to yours. How are you two doing today?"
The couple looked at us suspiciously at first, but soon became all smiles. "We are doing well, a pleasant evening to you as well, Mr...?" The man extended his hand, and I met his handshake.
"Sirius. This here is Alice. You two are?"
Nea performed a small bow when I took her name. Asking for their identities made the two of them slightly relax their expressions.
"I am Artelick Illych and this is my wife, Jane Illych."
"Oh, newlyweds I assume? Off to a honeymoon to the capital?" I asked, in an attempt to flatter.
"Haha, no, we were just returning from ours. Why don't you two take a seat... We can have dinner together." Jane looked at her husband before asking us to have dinner with them. It would be polite to refuse once here...
"Ah no. We wouldn't want to intru—"
... Sadly, my companion didn't seem to think so. Nea was busy carrying two chairs over from another table, all the while covering her mouth with one hand and hohoing.
Neither the couple nor I could say anything. We sat down.
"So... Umm, what about you guys?" Jane asked Nea. She started hesitantly, but ended her sentence with a suggestive smile.
"Hoho... We are just 2 friends on a simple excursion to the capital... Hoho." Nea made a fleeting scowl.
"Ahh, I see I see, that's fresh. All the best, Sirius" This guy seemed to have 'understood' something as he gave me a wink, a thumbs up, and some encouraging words.
I don't think we are doing badly.
I awkwardly scratched the back of my head when the train staff came up to us and served whatever delicacies they had prepared. The lady from this morning was amongst the people serving the food and winked at me again. Seriously, what does she want?
Right before we ate, I started a trial run and shoved every item on the table into whoever's mouth I could. 30 seconds passed and the only thing that happened was the group shouting at me angrily. Safe.
Seeing that no problems came in the Trial Run, I gave Nea a slight nod. There should be no issues here...
Wait a minute...
Isn't Nea...
A complete... glutton?
Giving no one any chance to react, Nea had already torn into the food placed in front of us. Despite eating faster than the speed of the train itself, her form had no holes. Still, that she was gorging herself with food was clear, with how fast it disappeared.
Jane and Artelick looked surprised at first. Then they let out a hearty laugh and joined Nea in her crusade to finish the week's rations today.
The rest of the conversation only took place between those three. They kept talking about the food and I was too surprised to have any chance of correcting this situation.
The operation ended in an odd scenario where I was the only one left out of the group.
###Operation: Trap The Son###
##Time: Dinner, Day 1##
#Attempt: 1#
Status: Pass??
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