Before the sun rose as usual, Horn was already woken up early by his loyal attendants.

This time, he did not go to the Holy Seat restaurant for a meal.

Instead, he sat in the dining room of his own small estate, watching Jeanne hum a song while frying bread and boiling milk in the kitchen.

Taking this opportunity, he turned to René sitting by his side: "How are things in the city?"

"The situation basically stabilized in the latter half of the night. During the Central Council, there were already soldiers and the Defensive Army patrolling, so the residents are quite used to it.

Currently, we have suspended postal services, are inspecting all letters and parcels, and have control over all docks and bridges."

Having served as the head of the Anti-Corruption Hall for eight years, René was already quite adept at this kind of situation.

Horn nodded satisfactorily.

Looking out from the glass window of the dining room towards the distant town, he could already sense the whole Ry Court Barracks stretching and yawning.

Aside from an increased presence of patrolling Close Guard Cultivators and Cheka on the streets, it was no different from usual.

After all, this was just a small-scale operation, with the main confrontations focused on the outskirts of the city, and most of the soldiers were sent off to put out fires.

Jeanne placed plates beside Horn and René, smiling as she wiped her hands with an apron: "It's been a long time since I've made this; see if my skills have gotten rusty."

Horn took a bite of the fried egg sandwich and had a sip of hot milk — it was a familiar taste.

He was about to respond when Jia Li walked in, dusty from travel.

Without speaking, Jia Li simply reached for the hot milk and gulped it down.

Jeanne intended to scold her a bit, but opening her mouth wider made the bruises at the corners of her lips hurt, so she could only glare angrily at Jia Li.

Jia Li tossed a work notebook to Horn: "Do you know what we caught tonight? No wonder the Falan people dared to make a move in the Ry Court Barracks."

"What?" Horn flipped open the work notebook, glanced a few lines, then leaned in closer, "Vampires?"

"Yes, if I hadn't had Novia lead the Shadow Crow Army soldiers to intercept, she almost ran off with King Jiji."

"How is Ginijis?" Horn asked, scanning the notebook.

"He was just a bit shaken; after all, first, the carriage overturned, then he was tossed around in the air dozens of meters high. He was quite frightened."

"We need to keep an eye on him and sell him to Charles VIII for a good price."

Beside him, Jeanne wiped her hands with an apron and sat down, sharing half her milk with Horn: "Brother, what do you plan to do with that vampire? Personally interrogate her?"

Jia Li shook her head: "We can let the female vampire be for now; we've discovered a more serious problem."

"What problem?" Seeing Horn's serious face as he went through the notebook, Jeanne reluctantly asked Jia Li.

Jia Li smiled as if she'd expected this: "I probed the hearts of these Falan spies and found they had stolen a vial of Holy Favor Seed from somewhere.

We searched several of their hiding spots but didn't find that vial of Holy Favor Seed.

The most likely scenario is it was taken by a Falan spy who then fled."

The Holy Favor Seed is actually the Divine Favor vaccine or Demon-Loving Fungus vaccine.

In four years of industrial production, the output of the Holy Favor Seed has surged from five hundred doses to about four thousand doses.

Roughly every month, over 3500 new Blessed individuals can be converted, basically covering all new recruits in the Holy Alliance.

If it weren't for Falan restricting the export of magical beast meat, this number could increase even more.

Despite such high production, the management of the Holy Favor Seed has not relaxed at all.

Unified use, unified management, never letting any Holy Favor Seed leak out, yet a Falan spy still managed to steal one.

The most important thing is that the accounting management of the Holy Favor Seed is perfectly normal, so where did this one vial come from?

The workshop for the Holy Favor Seed is right behind Horn's mountain estate, guarded by Close Guard Cultivators!

"How did they steal it? Did they break through the defenses of the mountain estate?" The expressions of those present turned serious.

With the Holy Favor Seed, without the Slime Culture Medium technology and inoculation technology, they still can't produce the Holy Favor Seed.

But even this one theft is already surprising enough.

"The theft… I'd rather it be just a lack of strict guard by the Close Guard Cultivators." Horn closed the work notebook, saying expressionlessly.

Jia Li and Jeanne fell silent.

Horn looked between them: "Jeanne, your gendarmerie used to handle military matters, so look into this case.

If it's an external force, that's fine; if it's internal, Jeanne, you handle it accordingly.

Jia Li, continue to trace the whereabouts of the Holy Favor Seed. These seeds underwent special treatment; they should be easy to track."

Jia Li and Jeanne left, leaving Horn with no appetite for breakfast.

By now, the bright red sun finally rose over the mountain, casting its hot and warm morning light on the greasy, golden-glossy fried egg.

The red light spread over the surface of the egg like lava.

Gripping the knife and fork, Horn wondered if his worries were unfounded; it had only been eight years...

After sitting idly for almost ten minutes, Horn suddenly laughed and started eating the now-cold egg: "Oh well, oh well, there's no such thing as a permanent solution."

......

At the dock area of the Ry Court Barracks, at the entrance of the Thousand River Valley Trading Company mansion.

Duke Labon shouted angrily at the Cheka: "I'll say it again, the great Falan Kingdom will never accept a search. If you want to search, then bring your purification officer Jia Li over!"

"This is just a routine inspection."

"You wish to pin this on us? If you search us, people will think we plotted the King's abduction!

As the Honorary Duke of Falan, I absolutely refuse to let anyone smear the Falan Kingdom."

The black-clad Cheka, wearing short cloaks, exchanged glances but tacitly remained at the door without moving.

Duke Labonne snorted heavily from his nose, "If you wish to stand guard for me, then stand."

Returning to the mansion, the courtyard door slowly closed.

Duke Labonne, dressed in pajamas, jogged all the way to a storeroom on the ground floor.

In the storeroom, a man dressed as a store clerk was quickly having his palm wound healed with the help of a monk.

"You still consider yourselves elite?" Duke Labonne's face was exceptionally ugly, "Not only did you fail to abduct the King, but even our contact points in the city were compromised."

The man's face was equally grim as he looked up, "There's a mole among us, leaking information to the Holy Alliance.

Otherwise, how could they have dispatched a flying witch to counter our vampire?"

Duke Labonne was startled by the news, "But only I, Casani, and a few members of your team knew about the operation."

"I don't know about that."

Rubbing his temples, Duke Labonne felt a sense of bleakness and a rocky start.

King Jiji was still in the hands of the Holy Alliance, while his side faced a complete failure.

Oddly enough, nothing had happened before, yet it was under his watch that everything fell apart.

Luckily, their cleanup was done well, using that vampire to divert blame onto the Royal Court.

By then, Falan could fund a few small newspapers to spread the word, turning public opinion into a story of the Royal Court attempting to abduct King Jiji.

Even if Horn suspected him, he couldn't take action openly.

Taking a sip of grape wine from a crystal glass, Duke Labonne relaxed, "So, did we gain nothing?"

The man produced a vial of liquid from his bosom, "Not entirely fruitless."

"What's this?"

"A Divine Favor Potion. The Holy Alliance uses this to transform ordinary people into the Extraordinary.

We went to great lengths to acquire this, and possessing it might help cover our failure.

As long as we can smuggle it out..."

"Throw it into the river." Duke Labonne spoke without a hint of hesitation.

"Into the river, why?" The man recoiled his outstretched hand swiftly.

Duke Labonne's expression was dark, "I merely bought you a few hours. Purification Court will certainly come to search.

My mission this time is far more important than this potion. We must try to maintain the moral high ground.

The Holy Alliance suddenly acted against the Falan Spies, yet they can't pin the abduction of Ginijis on us, making their actions unjustifiable harassment of an ally.

At that point, I'll employ a little ruse, get roughed up by the Cheka, and at least gain some leverage.

This stuff, leaving it here, is too risky. If we obtained it once, we can get it again.

If it gets discovered, then their actions will be justified, and we will surely be in the wrong."

The man, clearly unwilling, clutched the potion tightly, hesitant. Obviously, significant effort went into obtaining this potion.

The Falan Spies were completely wiped out this time, implicating him, naturally relying on this Holy Favor Seed to shift the blame.

According to Duke Labonne, he would certainly return to sit on the cold bench, perhaps never to rise again in his lifetime.

Amid his hesitation, he noticed the gradually chilling gaze of Labonne, finally conceding, "Alright, I'll handle it."

The Falan Spy, now in new attire, climbed over the courtyard wall, crossed the lush grass, and reached a small canal.

At dawn, there were few people by the river.

He took out the potion, intending to pour it all into the river but looked left and right, reluctant to part with it.

Hesitating in place for nearly a minute, he glanced back at the mansion, then at the finger-thick glass tube in his hand, finally making up his mind with a resolute bite of his teeth.

From his pocket, he retrieved some ointment and smeared it on the potion tube.

He reached behind himself to pat his back, then tucked the potion tube into his trousers.

"Pff!"

A minute later, the Falan Spy returned to the mansion, face ashen.

Having finished his drink, Duke Labonne donned formal attire, promptly asking upon seeing his return, "Did you handle it?"

The man showed his empty hands to the Duke.

But Labonne wasn't reassured, calling two people to search him, and only calming down after finding nothing.

"Good, you're now called Diprep, my servant. If anyone asks, that's how you respond... You are a spy, this should be your area of expertise."

"There's no way they'll find a flaw."

Duke Labonne was very satisfied, "It must be hard for you this time, come, sit down and have a drink."

"...No sitting for me, I am your servant, it's not my place to sit at the table and drink with you."

Duke Labonne was initially stunned, then appreciatively remarked to Casani beside him, "See, this is professionalism!"