Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 921 Phoenix's Royalties (First Update)

It wasn't until the next day that Salomon's report on Nijadaka's actions the previous night appeared on his desk. Wrapped in parchment, the report's cover bore the emblem of a black, outstretched eagle and a snow-capped mountain with the Roman numeral I, indicating it came from the First Secret Regiment of Fimbulwinter. It was three in the morning, more than an hour after the incident, and the Immortal City's monarch had already returned home. The report was then seen by Stephanie, who was working overtime. She put down the parchment documents the monarch was supposed to review the next day, ignoring the rules she was supposed to follow, casually turned on the desk lamp, picked up the report, and flipped through it a few times.

Without hesitation, Stephanie picked up the pen on her desk, signed her name, and placed the report at the very bottom of all the documents awaiting approval, signifying that the Home Office had already reviewed it. This wasn't the red box trick of 10 Downing Street—civil servants sometimes place important documents at the bottom of the boxes they hand to ministers daily, while simultaneously increasing the thickness of the text to prevent politicians from having the time and energy to read the final documents. Forced to hastily skim through documents due to approaching deadlines, they might inadvertently grant minor requests from civil servants or overlook matters they should have been aware of—these were the old tricks of Mrs. Thatcher's civil servants.

Later, after the Whitehall civil servants suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Mrs. Thatcher, such tricks gradually became less effective, as almost every politician would instinctively pull out the documents at the bottom of the red box to examine them. The cat-and-mouse game between civil servants and politicians would continue, but it wouldn't be as intense. However, Stephanie did this simply because she knew Salomon had no interest in such trivial matters, and there was no need for the monarch to know the every move of such a minor figure.

It doesn't matter how Nijadaka acts; he only has one role, and that's all he needs to do.

After she finished doing all this, she casually turned off the table lamp.

Suddenly, a brilliant light blazed in the dimly lit office. A crimson haze appeared out of thin air above the desk, instantly heating the sweltering air to the point of expansion and explosion, accompanied by a deep, rumbling thunderclap. Stephanie calmly squinted, shielding her eyes from the raging heat and blinding light that swept through the office. Then, the center of the expanding air's heat instantly contracted, precisely controlling the heat within a tiny area, causing no harm except for scattering a few loose pieces of paper. Just as Stephanie had predicted, she saw a golden-red bird flap its wings and emerge from the star-like, radiant fireball. However, this astonishing sight failed to elicit much of a change in her expression.

This wasn't the first time she'd seen something like this.

"Phoenix, what does the monarch want you to do here?" the head of the Ministry of the Interior asked.

"My lord simply forgot to take the watch back. Do you know where it is? The witch might be angry if she sees that the monarch forgot the watch she gave him!" Phoenix, floating in the air with its wings fluttering, answered honestly. "Oh, thank you! You're so kind, Ms. Malik." Seeing Stephanie take the watch she had casually put away from her desk from her pocket, the Thirty-Seventh Demon Pillar changed the subject, "By the way, Ms. Malik, please check your emails recently. I've filled in you as the recipient."

"Hmm?" Stephanie raised an eyebrow.

"My lord has contacted the publisher, and my poetry collection has been published." Phoenix's youthful voice carried a hint of shyness. Stephanie Malik nodded; she knew about it. Salomon had shared it with her as a topic of conversation during afternoon tea—two hours after lunch. At noon, Salomon would, as usual, open the lunchbox he brought from home, filled with a lunch prepared by Bayonetta herself. Although it wasn't very tasty, not as exquisite as Dinah's dinners, and sometimes even considered terrible, he had eaten like this for many years—although Stephanie's literary knowledge wasn't particularly high, she could still see the longing and reminiscence for the Aesthetic era in Phoenix's poetry, and the frequent reflections on Wilde's works. Such writing should have made him a new literary star, but Phoenix couldn't be seen in public and could only publish under a pseudonym, which was somewhat of a pity. The thirty-seventh demon god said, "I think those royalties can be used for military expenses. I know my lord's needs for war, and I would like to help in some way."

Despite being exhausted from working overtime, Stephanie couldn't help but laugh.

"I think your master probably hopes you'll use that little bit of royalties to buy some snacks. The Immortal City isn't so poor that it needs your royalties to make military equipment. Don't worry, we don't lack the money to make a single cannon shell, and I think the monarch is happy to know how loyal you are."

Inheriting the name and caliber of the Gustav self-propelled gun, it was a siege weapon for the immortal city. While its barrel appeared to be a typical World War II steel-framed design, it actually incorporated the world's leading achievements in materials science, artillery design, and other disciplines. It possessed devices such as anti-gravity engines; otherwise, even with tracks, its immense weight might have caused it to become stuck in the soil. The ammunition alone underwent improvements and development by the research department. Armor-piercing shells with new propellant reached an astonishing weight of around 10 tons, and even high-explosive shells weighed 7 tons. One hundred Gustav anti-gravity self-propelled guns were used in the Battle of Finnbowent. Without the continuous bombardment from these guns weakening the mountain ridge, two low-yield hydrogen bombs alone would not have been enough to flatten the entire mountain.

Such shells were naturally incredibly expensive, as a single high-explosive shell could wipe out a small town, and the excellent fire control system and detection radar could guide the artillery for precise firing. Nearly a thousand of these shells were used in the Battle of Finnbowent, and during the post-battle cleanup, the shell fragments were almost indistinguishable from the soil of Finnbowent Mountain. Currently, these shells can only be produced in small quantities at the Immortal City's armory, while the Martian Foundry is responsible for manufacturing larger war machines. However, overall, a single shell is cheaper than a missile, but Phoenix still couldn't afford to pay for it.

The large, golden-red bird hummed twice, its sharp beak snatching the watch from its jaws. It nuzzled Stephanie's shoulder affectionately, then let out a long cry and vanished into the fireball. Phoenix's departure plunged the office back into darkness. Stephanie looked around, then finally left the office and closed the door. A few hours later, this door would be reopened by Constantine of the Royal Guard. Unless he was on some top-secret mission unknown to Stephanie, her monarch would sit in that chair and continue working, just as before, directing steel and fire with his pen, forging seemingly unattainable dreams.

The secretary, her mouth agape as she yawned, her eyes brimming with tears, was jolted awake by Stephanie's gaze. Dr. Lister's granddaughter, having not undergone the modification surgery or taken the alchemical potion, was naturally ill-equipped to handle such intense work. "Take the interrogation records and summon the scribes to verify them," said Stephanie Malik, daughter of Hydra, as she walked, her blonde secretary quickly following. Stephanie continued, "We need to have the Skrull interrogation records on the monarch's desk by six o'clock. At the same time, order our foundation managers to clean up the evidence; the Securities and Exchange Commission is watching us, they suspect insider trading."

The secretary was startled. "Did we do that?"

Stephanie glanced at the silly girl. "That's how the market works, darling," she said. "How else would we make money?"

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)