Phantom Kid in the American Comic World
41. Phantom Kid .. is among us!
"Well, it's almost the same as what we just discussed earlier."
Starling nodded, confirming Barbara's words.
The target was the Queen of England, and associating her with the Twelve Knights of the Round Table was very appropriate.
"Let's start with what you think these special letters represent."
Now Barbara's really getting the attention of the agents.
”Following destiny guidelines
Q would finally set foot on the ground to reproduce the prophecy
When L commits an unforgivable sin, he is replaced by the merciful G.
B can only make the final decision
Because the crafty M is ready to stab K!” in the heart
What exactly is the abbreviation of Q, L, G, B, M and K?
"No knight starts with Q in Knights of the Round Table, so Q will represent 'Queen, ' who is His Majesty."
The phrase means that the Phantom Kid will only appear when the Queen arrives somewhere.
"I don't know where this prophetic land is."
Barbara looked at Mathison as soon as those words came out of her mouth, she was not the only one who was having trouble.
Everyone looked at Mathison and she had no choice but to keep adding:
”L and G, obviously, should represent the two knights Lancelot and Gawain.”
The reason was simple: the only one of the twelve Knights of the Round Table who committed crimes and was forbidden by King Arthur was Lancelot.
"And sobriety is the quality that makes Gawain the most famous."
"B for Bedevere, I guess."
“Why not Bowser?”
As Mathison spoke, Bean suddenly spoke up and interrupted her.
He came from England and grew up listening to the legend of King Arthur, and was undoubtedly the most familiar with the Knights of the Round Table of those present.
Although Tucker is also a native of England, the younger generation are rarely interested in the old legend anymore, and video games are their favorite activity.
In that case, Tucker doesn't really know as much as Bean.
“At first I was hesitant about which knight B, but 'final decision' made me decide.”
Mathison uttered her "reason" without hesitation.
"The final decision refers to the fact that when King Arthur was defeated, he ordered Bedevere to throw the holy sword into the lake, but Bedevere hesitated three times before making his decision."
Therefore, Mathison also looked at Barbara, gesturing with her eyes that the rest was up to her.
Barbara goosebumps, «Basic guy is petty, can't he see that he talks so much that he stole all the searchlights?»
The small movements of the two young men caught Gordon's attention. When she thought of something else that Barbara had just said to herself, she could only sigh.
“The last one, M and K..”
"Let me do the rest."
Starling smiled intellectually.
"M refers to the rebellious knights Mordred and K no doubt represents King Arthur who is King."
The metaphor for heart piercing is the Battle of Camlann, where Mordred pierces the heart of King Arthur with a sword.
”There is another layer of meaning to this: King Arthur is rumored to have the heart of a red dragon, which refers to the Queen's beloved object, Ruby Tamil. Therefore, Mordred will be a reference for Phantom Kid himself.”
”So the interpretation of the last sentence is that the Phantom Kid could have long been disguised as someone who, at any time, suddenly stole the gem, like Mordred.”
"Time, well, this is the land of divination as stated in the first sentence."
In this way, the contents of the divination letter are like being dismantled, but have not fully decomposed.
”In addition to not knowing where the prophetic land is, what use does he call the three knights Lancelot, Gawain, and Bedevere?”, asked Gordon.
Barbara blushed in embarrassment, glanced quickly at Mathison and said, "That's ... neither do we think of ..."
”Nothing, this is enough.”, Starling smiled gently.
"Master, you should have already settled all this.", Tucker's little fanboy Agent Bean suddenly asked Bean calmly.
“The reason you didn't open your mouth actually is because you didn't want to steal the spotlight, right?”
”You should have already cracked the part of the letter that they couldn't solve. Now, it's time for you to talk, let them see how powerful MI7 is!”
All the time, Bean has been sitting upright, listening to the interpretations of the crowd, but with all the rights, Bean, as the person most familiar with King Arthur's legend, is, theoretically it should be the first to uncover this information.
”???”
However, as Tucker whispered these words in his ear with an adoring expression on his face, what flashed through Agent Bean's mind were only three big question marks.
"How did the teaser letter get solved?"
"Why do I still have no leads?"
However, in front of his little fanboy, Agent Bean must maintain a good image. Even though he didn't know anything, he shouldn't lose his charm.
Bean smiled and calmly said, "Tucker, we should trust our allies more, they are all very smart, sooner or later they will settle the rest by themselves."
“But wouldn't that delay everything? Just in case they can't finish it until Phantom Kid attacks.”.
”Oh... Tucker, you are still too young.”, Bean said with a false sneer.
Tucker looked at her with a confused expression on his face.
"Do you think that's the only information they've solved?"
Hearing that, Tucker was startled and looked at Bean in surprise.
"My guess is... Phantom Kid has long since disguised himself as someone, perhaps even among us!"
Bean pretends to be telling the truth, and in Tucker's eyes, his former Bean is very serious, very thoughtful, so…
In short, admiration for Agent Bean filled Tucker's heart.
"I see, Sir, if the Phantom Kid, who is hiding among us, hears that his tempter's letter has been deciphered, he might change his plans temporarily, he said, and then our time-consuming and exhausting decipherment will be in vain!"
After hearing Bean's words, Tucker did not dare to speak up, but just looked at the others a little more carefully.
Time passed quickly, Mathison and the others had already eaten and drank enough.
The banquet will be over soon.
The discussion about the Land of Prophecy and the Three Knights never achieved the results that everyone agreed upon, and whether anyone hid their thoughts, Mathison's opinion was similar to Bean's.
He didn't think that he was a super intelligent being, and his puzzles weren't so complicated that they could be solved easily.
Both Starling and Bob are shrewd agents with good minds, and whether the teaser letter has been solved in its entirety now, Mathison is unsure.
But as thieves, it doesn't matter if they've solved the teaser letter.
Because even so, the letter itself is meaningless.
It was just a trick, a distraction, for Kid to steal the treasure in front of them and then escape openly, without them noticing.
It was the Phantom Kid style!
How arrogant he is!