Phantom Kid in the American Comic World
35. "My company to His Majesty"

"Alfred, your thoughts are all written on your face, there is no need to speak these words to scent me."

Bruce took a breath and completed his thousandth push-up.

This was not his limit in the past, but his current body only supported this much performance now.

"So tell me, what happened?"

Bruce stood up, took a towel and wiped the sweat off his face.

Alfred had no choice but to tell him about the Phantom Kid.

I don't know why Bruce wasn't at all surprised to hear this news.

"Since I knew that Queen Elizabeth would wear Tamil rubies, I also knew that she would not give up this unique gem."

"Let's see what kind of riddle he gave us this time?"

Bruce took the paper from Alfred's hand and looked at Kid's teaser letter.

”Q, L, G, B, M, K?”

"Interesting, this time the letter of the tempter is much more cryptic than the last."

Alfred nodded and said, "Yes, Mr. Wayne, I don't have a good lead at the moment."

"Where is the Queen's current location?"

”According to the calculation of the time, His Majesty should be in the State Guest House building now, meeting with all the nobles. In the evening, there will be a large banquet that invites Gotham celebrities to it.”

"Including the heads of the upper class families, right?", Bruce suddenly asked.

"Yes sir."

"Do we accept invitations?"

“In fact, Waynes does accept it, but you don't need to attend. Since ancient times, Wayne has never actively participated in political activities. This makes us very different from the Stark.” family

”Wayne has always focused on civilians and society, so you don't have to care about this banquet.”, Alfred said lightly.

"Don't tell me that Alfred, Queen Elizabeth is a good king, and I think it's very important for me to attend this banquet, so go and help me to get ready, now."

“As far as you are, Sir, but I suggest you shave your beard first.”

”Of course!”, Bruce replied, then continued his physical training.

Old Town, in the Jim Gordon residence, in a small townhouse across the street, Barbara takes the Gotham Gazette, which she just bought, and runs to the door of a small house, knocking on the door hard.

Immediately, Mathison opened the door and stared intently at Barbara, with half-closed eyes.

"Hi, beautiful and charming Miss Gordon, don't you know it's my nap time?"

Mathison did not expect that, not long after returning from the airport, news began to spread everywhere.

It has only been a few hours since the newspaper was printed, is the printing factory open all the time?

Barbara doesn't care about Mathison's question, she yells at Mathison with a joyful expression on her face: “Look, the third teaser letter from the Phantom Kid has appeared, and it was sent to Queen Elizabeth, the, what you said a few days ago has really happened!"

Mathison looked at Barbara waving the newspaper in front of her and asked, "So what?"

Hearing that, Barbara raised her eyebrows, dissatisfied: "What is your attitude, this kind of thing said by you, almost like a prophecy, are you not surprised at all?"

"Or it…"

Barbara wrapped her hands around her head and asked Mathison in a low voice, "You wouldn't know all along that the Phantom Kid would send this teaser letter?"

Mathison felt aggression in her eyes and could not hold back the sweat. This girl did not even try to hide her suspicions.

"Now is not the time for a fight, I should think of a way to calm Barbara down and make her dispel her suspicions about me."

Mathison scratched her head and said innocently, “I'm not a fan of detectives, I'm a lover of magic. I'm not too interested in theft. Why does this surprise me? ”

The perfect rhetoric.

Reasonable.

Barbara couldn't find a loophole, she had no choice but to agree: "Well, I have to admit that you're right."

"By the way, come in, the sun outside is too dazzling."

Naturally, Mathison pulled Barbara closer to the room.

”I heard you say earlier that Mr. Gordon is in charge of Your Majesty's security, so he must have been very busy lately. I don't think you've had lunch today.”

Barbara's face flushed red, she knew nothing about cooking. Not even a stray dog could eat the food he made, and Gordon wasn't home lately, so he had to eat pizza.

Originally, he wanted to come here to eat with Mathison, but he was on his way with his teacher to learn the basics of magic. In reality, he goes to work at the airport and comes home late every day.

After surviving on pizza for a few days, Barbara really couldn't eat it today. He thought of going out to eat with the rest of his allowance, only to see a newspaper about the Phantom Kid.

At that moment, he did not even think about it and rushed over to Mathison's house, regardless of whether she returned or not.

Barbara's older brother, James**., usually eats in the high school cafeteria.

All of this is to blame on Gordon's busy life. Although he is the director of the Gotham City Police Department, he still lives in an old-town antique house. His family did not even employ maids, and were usually very strict in limiting Barbara and James's allowance **.

"Zee"

Mathison turned on the oven, brought a pot, and poured oil to heat up. Single-handedly broke two eggs to occupy half of the pan, then put three pieces of meat on the other side to fry with medium heat.

Put two slices of toast in the grill, the egg and meat are being fried, then cut a little lettuce for a simple salad.

The combination of meat and vegetables is very important.

Finally, he poured a glass of milk.

In this way, the breakfast called 'lunch' is ready.

"I'm afraid you're too hungry, this is the fastest thing I can cook" Mathison said as she thought. 

   From the moment he walked into the kitchen to serve food on the table, a total of no more than five minutes had passed.

The hungry Barbara, smelling the scent of bacon, eggs, and toast, was very appetizing.

“Of course, you know how to cook. The meat is fried until charred, and the fat is evenly distributed, smooth and not greasy. This is the best fried bacon I have ever tasted.”

After devouring her food, Barbara said with a satisfied expression on her face.

Mathison is amused, "What are you talking about, those who don't know you will think you're a gourmet."

”Hmph, I praise but you are not happy!”, grumbled Barbara.

"I'm not just here just to tell you the news about the Phantom Kid."

After a while, Barbara suddenly looked at Mathison, a pair of extremely bright large eyes.

Mathison became alert all of a sudden.

“When His Majesty comes, I want to go see him. It also happens that we have no classes lately and, since you are home today, this proves that your magic lessons are also over, will you accompany me to see His Majesty?”

Barbara looked at Mathison up close, with her sharp eyes, challenging her to reject her invitation.

“In addition, I want to help dad catch Phantom Kid.”

“This... Alright, I will accompany you, I absolutely cannot refuse you.”

Mathison plans to refuse rigidly but then thinks that this might be the perfect opportunity to dispel Barbara's suspicions, and change her mind.