After reaching the maximum level, my "soft rice system" finally arrived.

A slightly hoarse female voice, whose age was indiscernible, rang out.

"Could it be that something shady was written in that diary?"

Tsk——

Is this a woman's sixth sense?

That's why I hate dealing with information brokers.

Charles clicked his tongue inwardly.

Fortunately, I still have leverage over the other party, so I don't have to worry about being sold off as intelligence at any time.

"If you dare to tell anyone about this, I'll also expose that the leader of the Shadow Council is a pure-blooded dragon. At worst, we'll all just self-destruct together."

A giggle came from the other end: "Little Charles is joking. If I dared to sell your information, then Vemes would be the first to come and settle accounts with me."

The illusory figure woven from shadows gradually became clearer.

She was a young girl dressed in a dark, classic long dress. A pair of adorable dragon horns could be seen peeking out from her jet-black hair. Her clothes were layered but not complicated, and were inlaid with starlight, like the night sky.

Her body was somewhat ethereal, with ripples spreading outwards, and her face seemed to be covered by layers of thin gauze, hazy yet exceptionally beautiful.

The Dragon of the Night – Augudia.

Even the highest levels of the Shadow Council would not know that their leader, the head of thousands of reporters in the Western Continent, the renowned "Queen of the Night"—is actually an ancient dragon that disappeared from the books a thousand years ago.

The way Ciel and Augudia met was quite dramatic.

At that time, Sharl had just become a legend and was envious of Kieran's dragon language magic, so he wanted to capture a giant dragon to cooperate with him in his dragon language magic experiments.

Then, they happened to run into Augudia, who had been in human form for too long and just wanted to turn back into her original form to get some fresh air and clear her head.

At first, Augudia didn't take Ciel seriously.

After all, as the Dragon of the Night, a true golden race, she was a born legend from birth.

Even ignoring the accumulation of those long years, the sheer number of racial talents of an ancient dragon is enough to completely overwhelm any newly emerging legend.

Then, as expected, Augutia's car overturned.

If it weren't for the Black Tower Master, Vimes, arriving in time to clear up the misunderstanding, Augudia would probably have been captured by Shar and taken back to the sub-plane for dragon language magic experiments.

"However, our Shadow Council spent a considerable amount of money on acquiring this diary, hiring scholars to study it, and even organizing an auction..."

Augudia looked at Ciel with her clear, girlish eyes, her voice tinged with a hint of grievance.

"Perhaps this amount of money is nothing to the wealthy Lord Charles, but we have always operated on a small scale, and if there is any shortfall, we may not be able to continue."

"What Your Majesty Charles requests, I would naturally not dare to disobey."

"But……"

As he spoke, Ciel could even see the faint glimmer of tears welling up in Augudia's crimson eyes.

Tsk——

Charles felt his head was about to explode again.

The other party is an ancient dragon that has mingled in human society for thousands of years without being discovered.

In terms of acting skills, even those Oscar winners from Ciel's previous life would have to call Augudia their grandmaster.

If he could believe Augudia's current pitiful, girlish appearance, then he would be a complete fool.

And perhaps it was because of their less-than-pleasant first meeting—

After that, every time they met, Augudia would habitually tease Ciel.

It's gotten back to me again—

Chapter Thirty-Two: A Born Drama Queen

"I said, Tingting—"

Charles waved his hand, interrupting Augudia's aggrieved statement.

“Your Shadow Council secretly recorded my videos and sold them as courses, and I haven’t even charged you patent fees yet.”

"But...that's because there are scenes of me in it too..."

Augudia continued to look at Ciel with her watery eyes.

In a sense, Augudia was right.

The black dragon that Sharl manifested in the light screen earlier was based on part of Augudia's image.

After all, Augudia's true form, the Night Dragon, was the only pure-blooded dragon that Shar had ever seen.

Tsk, no wonder she's an old woman who's lived for who knows how many years—

Seemingly satisfied by Ciel's reaction, Augudia finally dropped her pitiful appearance.

She lifted her dark black dress and sat down on the sofa opposite Charles.

"Therefore, our usually elusive Deputy Tower Master, whom we rarely see, sometimes not even once every six months—"

"What brings you to Parliament this time?"

As she spoke, a meaningful glint appeared in Augudia's eyes.

"Of course, it's also possible that His Majesty Charles is simply missing me. If that's the case, then I am truly flattered..."

Charles ignored Augudia's subsequent words and simply stated the purpose of his visit.

"Iron-Patterned Moon..."

Augudia rested her chin on her slender fingers: "It sounds familiar, like Seele has mentioned it before."

She tossed a chip at Ciel, who caught it.

This is a magic chip with a solidified miniature magic array, capable of storing massive amounts of text and image information inside.

Charles probed the area with his mental energy and found it densely filled with information.

It not only included information on the locations of several large strongholds of the Ironmoon Order in the capital, but also recorded the identities of some of its members.

"So you noticed all along."

This surprised Charles; he hadn't expected these gossip reporters and information brokers to be so interested in cultists.

It seems that although the Shadow Council is a force in the Shadow World, it still has a strong sense of social responsibility in eliminating unstable factors such as cultists and maintaining the security of the Western Continent.

However, after carefully reading the information, Ciel realized that he had simply been overthinking things.

According to the intelligence report, the reason the Shadow Council took notice of the cult was that some of its noble clients, who were originally attending tutoring classes, dropped out of school after coming into contact with the cult and stopped being a cash cow for the Shadow Council.

As similar incidents occurred, the cult was labeled as a friendly business partner and competitor of the Shadow Council, and a comprehensive investigation was launched in accordance with the model of business warfare.

However, the Shadow Council encountered setbacks when it tried to send out commercial spies. Either the spies returned empty-handed, or they simply lost contact with the Shadow Council altogether.

Currently, only one person in the Shadow Council has successfully infiltrated the Order.

Most of the intelligence in the chip was transmitted back by the other party.

"In any case, this intelligence was indeed very useful to me."

Xia Er stored the chip into the secondary dimension and asked, "What kind of reward do you want?"

"According to the rules of the Shadow Council, valuable information can only be exchanged for information. Your Majesty Charles only needs to answer one question for me."

As she spoke, a slight smile appeared on Augudia's lips, which were hidden by a black veil: "Of course, if Your Majesty Charles would be willing to owe me a favor, that would be the best thing for me."

"Why don't you ask your question?"

Faced with two options, Charles chose the first one without hesitation.

If you do someone a favor, who knows how many tricks they'll pull off?

A hint of regret flashed in Augudia's golden vertical pupils.

After a moment's thought, she asked, "During your assessment at the Imperial Capital Advanced Extraordinary Academy, were the images displayed on the screen merely figments of your imagination, or were they supported by actual arcane models?"

Sharl had anticipated Augudia's question and nodded: "It is supported by arcane models, and almost all of them have passed theoretical deduction, with a considerable number of them even entering the stage of real-world experimentation."

"If you are patient, you will see those scenes actually appear in reality in a few years."

Charles's answer took Augudia somewhat by surprise.

She pondered for a long time before slowly nodding.

"This answer is of great value, far exceeding the significance of the information I gave you—"

"According to the principle of equivalent exchange, you can also ask me some questions, or exchange them for an equivalent amount of gold coins."

Can you really get something for free?

Charles thought for a moment, then casually asked, "Do you know my teacher's background?"

Augutia shook her head: "I don't know."

Charles was quite surprised: "So even you didn't know?"

In his memory, Augudia, an ancient dragon who had lived for thousands of years, was also his "best friend" who had signed an equal contract with his teacher.

If we were to ask who in the Western Continent understands the Black Tower Master, Vimers, the most, then Augudia would be the only choice.