翁公和媛媛在厨房里猛烈进出

"What were you doing?"

"Farming."

"...? Like plants or crops?"

"...You think I enjoy planting things in my free time?"

"You literally said farming is what you were doing."

"You think it\'s more plausible that I enjoy farming than the possibility of me lying to you?"

"Why would you lie about that, though?"

Shrugging my shoulders at Astrid\'s question, I walked past her and onto the bridge that led to the capital city.

Using my eyes to peer into the city, I realized that it actually bustling with people, despite it being almost 9, as visitors from other areas in the realm had already arrived in preparation for the Celestial Festival.

Turning to face Astrid, who was trailing behind me, I asked.

"How exactly do you plan to question people?"

"I\'d assume they would put their headquarters in a run-down area to avoid attention, so we can pay beggars or shopowners for information about recent suspicious activities in the poorer areas of town."

"Sorry to break it to you, but I\'m dead broke."

Giving me a deadpan stare, Astrid sighed before replying.

"It\'s from my own money."

"Wow, quite the selfless person we have here, using your own money!"

"Are you taking this seriously? I can find someone else."

Stepping off the bridge and into the bustling capital city, I smirked while responding.

"Bit late for that now, no?"

Walking past the countless shops that were decorated with banners that said, "Celestial Academy is #1!" or "Go Celestial Academy!" we continued to head deeper into the city.

Recognizing the cake shop where I had first met Raven, I signaled to Astrid that we had entered the slums.

Astrid probably chose me for the job because she knew I had experience with and knowledge about the slums of the capital from when I brought her to the headquarters.

Waiting outside the cake shop, I watched as Astrid entered the shop and walked to the owner to ask some questions.

A couple of seconds later, she walked out of the shop.

"Nothing."

Following her lead, we went deeper and deeper into the city, seeing rats crawling around and drunken people fighting occasionally. After another hour stopping every 20 or so feet to ask questions to people yielded no information whatsoever, I stopped Astrid.

"Let\'s try again tomorrow; there might be different people around."

While it was true that more asking around today would be useless, I had also noticed signs of people following us through the reflection in the apartment glasses.

Calling these stalkers out now would be rash as there was the slight possibility that our followers were part of the organization we were trying to track.

If they got away after we confronted them and notified the organization of our activities, the infiltration would be impossible, and we would have to create a whole new plan.

Right now, they couldn\'t know that we were specifically looking for them, so there was no harm in letting them be.

However, if they were also following us tomorrow, we would be forced to act.

Two Celestial Academy students looking for information in the slums of the capital for 2 days straight would be far too suspicious to any evil organization.

Seeing Astrid nod her head at my words, I stared awaiting her further instructions, but she just stayed silent and stared back at me.

Tapping me on the shoulder, Astrid asked.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

Is it really a secret headquarters if everyone already knows about it...?

Taking a detour back to the bustling area of the city, I walked aimlessly until I was sure no prying eyes were tracking us.

Using a different route with some unnecessary loops, I added to be careful; we finally arrived back at the abandoned building.

Standing in front of the headquarters building, I turned to Astrid and said.

"Wait, here for a moment."

I entered by slightly opening the doors, ensuring that Astrid couldn\'t see inside, before immediately closing the door behind me.

In the kitchen, Raven, who was passed out on one of the chairs, sat, and across from him sat Zeng, who had red horns clearly visible as if he were actually showing them off.

Walking up behind Raven, I shook his chair until his eyelids finally opened.

"Wake up."

"wh-whw, w-wh. Is this another nightmare..?"

"Oi, you brat, am I really someone who would be in your nightmares?"

"...depends on the day."

Seeing that Raven was fully awake, I pointed towards Zeng, who had also passed out, and asked,

"Is there any way to get rid of those horns?"

"...why are you asking me? Ask Zeng; he\'s right there... Did you really wake me up just to ask me a question THAT YOU KNOW I DON\'T KNOW THE ANSWER TO?"

"Nah, we also have a guest."

"...I\'m going back to sleep."

Ignoring Raven, who contradicted his own words by pouring himself a cup of coffee, I did the same thing to Zeng as I shook his chair.

Not having any reaction to being suddenly woken up, Zeng tilted his head upwards, meeting my eyes, and asked.

"Oh, hey, boss, what\'s good?"

Pointing to his horns, I repeated.

"Any way to get rid of these things?"

Finally having some reaction, Zeng almost fell out of his chair as he dejectedly responded.

"You... you want to get rid of my horns... they\'re so cool though..."

Interjecting from my other side, Raven replied while drinking his coffee.

"I\'ve told you a hundred times, Zeng, those are NOT cool."

"You\'re just jealous you don\'t have any, don\'t lie."

"Zeng, ignore Raven. Is there a way? We have a guest waiting outside."

"So, let them in? They\'ll be amazed at my horns, just trust me! Back in my village, everyone used to comp-"

"No one gives a fuck about your damn village, Zeng."

Shocked at Raven\'s outburst, I was stunned for a moment.

This was the real Raven, the cruel mastermind who ruled over the black market! ...But why was he emerging now?

Ignoring Zeng and Raven\'s exchange of insults, I shifted my gaze to the painting in the corner before turning back to Zeng.

Astrid would be staying here for 5 days, so hiding Zeng in the subspace that long would be unreasonable.

Even I felt some pity for the guy, he had spent over a week alone in that subspace... I wouldn\'t be surprised if he had some trauma that prevented him from entering it again.

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I heard Raven ask me.

"Why don\'t you just put him in the subspace, boss?"

...really Raven?

Before I could even respond, Zeng jumped up from my seat and sprinted towards me.

"DON\'T, DON\'T; I\'LL DO ANYTHING, PLEASE, DON-"

Holding the panicking Zeng in my arms, I wore a disgusted expression as I turned to Raven and asked.

"Have you no sympathy? Really... you are a terrible person."

Finally, some payback for all those times...

Raven, who almost dropped his coffee from Zeng\'s sudden outburst, sighed and stared at me before sitting down on the couch and turning on the television.

Turning back to Zeng, I asked.

"You\'re not going in the subspace, but you still haven\'t answered: Can you hide those horns somehow."

Relieved at my words, Zeng stepped back and thought for a moment before replying.

"I can\'t use magic to hide them, yet... but..."

Stopping mid-sentence, Zeng ran toward Raven\'s closet before pulling out a shiny brown fedora.

"I can use this!"

Watching Zeng put on the hat, completely concealing his horns, I nodded before heading back to the headquarters entrance.

Opening the door wide, I saw Astrid tapping her foot up and down as she waited for me.

"What took you so long?"

"Farming."

"... why do I even try?"

Shaking her head, Astrid headed inside the headquarters.

With Astrid, Raven, and Zeng around, I felt no need to keep up the facade of Ren, so it actually felt kinda freeing talking and honestly just living without always having to consider, "What would Ren do in this scenario?"

Sure, I had used my book knowledge to find Raven, but this entire time, we had been talking as friends and partners. Zeng was someone I met based on pure chance, and the same with Astrid.

Maybe I did have some relationships to show for my time here?

Watching Astrid\'s gaze pause on Zeng, who for some reason was trying to style his fedora, I asked.

"That\'s Zeng; he\'s new around here."

Raven, staring at the television, gave a slight wave to Astrid before returning his attention to the news, which was conveniently displaying information about the Celestial Festival.

On the other hand, Zeng continued to stare at himself in the mirror while occasionally muttering things like, "hm, is this better... No, I look better like this!"

Shaking my head, I let my thoughts leak out as I said.

"...What terrible kids I have raised."

"Can\'t agree less."

Finding an empty couch, Astrid sat down and also started watching the news, leaving me alone with Zeng.

"HEY, BOSS, HOW DOES THIS LOO-"

Scratching my head, I considered spending the night in the subspace before sitting down on the couch next to Raven.

After a while the exhaustion started to kick in, so I went to the corner of the headquarters, which I had turned into my own bedroom, and fell asleep.

...

...

...

Waking up the next day, I saw the television was still somehow on, so I turned and saw Raven staring blankly at the screen with 3 cups of coffee on the ground.

On the other couch was Astrid, who somehow fell asleep despite the loud television being right next to her.

Zeng had fallen asleep on the kitchen chair, so his fedora was hanging downwards, revealing part of his horns.

Readjusting the fedora on Zeng, I poured myself a cup of coffee and added sugar before manifesting a pitch-black stirrer to mix them.

Corruption of The Night was actually quite useful in day to day life!