They immediately sent the words to other squads. Luckily, two of them were staying inside the headquarters, so they could move together later. But because of the sudden notice, they had to wait for them to finish their preparation, which would extend the time of departure by one week.
Noel was satisfied with the result, so he immediately made his own preparations. The first thing he did was not pack his luggage but go to the city.
He didn't plan to look around the city. Instead, he was waiting for someone to approach him.
The first day he did it, there was no one coming. The second day he walked around, no one approached him.
It was only on the fifth day that he got a visitor when he was walking on the street.
After buying some apples for the group, Noel walked on the street like usual. But this time, a woman with round black glasses suddenly slipped and fell onto him.
"Kyaaa…"
Noel instantly caught her with his reflex. It wasn't that big of a deal now that he had become a Spirit Master.
But once he caught the woman, the latter immediately smiled. "You are so strong, Mister… Thank you very much for catching me. Do you think it's possible to thank you?"
"There's no need to do that, Young Lady." Noel smiled gently, rejecting her invitation.
But the woman suddenly grabbed his hand and asked desperately, "Please… I don't want to owe someone… It's just going to be a meal…"
Noel paused for a moment before nodding his head. "I understand."
The lady immediately held his arm as if she was trying to prevent him from escaping. She then led her to a restaurant fifty meters from their location. It was a small but neat restaurant. Since there were a lot of open spaces and customers, it would be hard to hear a conversation as long as they picked the right spot.
And the lady dragged him to a table far away from other customers.
She gently smiled while waiting for the waiter to come. But in Noel's eyes, that gentle smile was just a facade. Her real intention was to watch him.
Although it was faint, Noel felt the extraordinary Spiritual Energy hiding in her body. With his current identity, it would be hard for him to run away from her.
Suddenly, a young man approached their table. The man had long blond hair, and he seemed to be not much older than Noel. He asked politely, "Hello, why are you sitting far away from others?"
"We like to enjoy our food in silence, so it's better this way. You can join if you want." The woman smiled.
"In that case…" The man nodded and took a seat next to Noel.
Noel wanted to roll his eyes since their acting wouldn't fool anyone. It felt a bit forced. But since they wanted him to notice their identities, he understood why their acting was this bad.
Noel politely nodded to him and said in a low voice. "Your Highness…"
The man suddenly smiled. Since Noel had acknowledged him, he immediately asked the question that had puzzled him the most after the incident. "Why did you give Countess Christina those books?"
"Your Highness has done a great favor to our family. So, I wanted to make sure that the books I gave you would work well and be safe for others to use without my supervision. And Countess Christina has the best understanding of Spirits among the people with a close relationship with my father. That's the reason."
The Third Prince already knew about this, but he still asked the second question. "Then, why did the Countess plan to give it to her teacher?"
"I don't know anything about it. I told her that I wanted her to give the books to you after she finished checking them. Actually, this is my first time hearing about it…"
"…" The Third Prince frowned. On the one hand, the Countess seemed to make a mistake by trying to send the books to her teacher. On the other hand, her teacher was better than her, so it might just be one of the processes before she delivered the books to him. Hence, the Third Prince couldn't blame her entirely.
At first, the Third Prince was trying to extract the information from Noel directly since the plan to acquire the books had failed. But since the knowledge had been spread and the books could be acquired more easily, he chose to hide the fact that he had failed to avoid Noel looking down on him.
Still, the Third Prince wondered if Noel was just a fool or not. After all, it looked like Noel was too inexperienced and not smart enough to consider such a thing to happen. The intention was good, but the execution was questionable.
The Third Prince clicked his tongue. "As much as I want to punish you for making a questionable plan, you still follow my request. So, I will forgive you this time."
"I'll give you a mission so you can make up for it."
Noel immediately nodded. "I understand. It seems that I have made a huge mistake. I will not disappoint you like my father this time."
"Uhm." The Third Prince nodded. He wanted to give him this mission last time, but the circumstances had changed. The Third Prince decided to give him a different task. "Alright. The Demon Relief Squad is planning to investigate a mysterious facility, right?"
"I want you to remember every single detail inside the building and make a blueprint about that building."
Noel tilted his head, asking innocently, "How do I take that note? I mean, if I do it, I'm afraid that the others will suspect me."
The Third Prince gritted his teeth. His voice mixed with anger as he said, "You should take a mental note first and draw it after you come back to your own room. You are good at drawing since you've drawn many patterns in the rune book, right? You should be able to do something like this, right?"
Noel nodded furiously as if he was afraid of angering the Third Prince. "I understand. I'll not disappoint the Third Prince."
"Good." The Third Prince sighed and asked the waiter to bring out the dishes. At least they had to eat first so that they wouldn't be suspicious.
Unbeknownst to the Third Prince, Noel was actually smiling inwardly, thinking, 'I am a fool. That must be your opinion of the current me, right? If I'm a fool, I'm not a threat. You have to drop your suspicion about the mastermind of the book incident. And it seems that the Third Prince doesn't have a lot of connections in other kingdoms.
'I guess I have to earn some trust first to get more information about the Third Prince.'
