[Cantarella: By the way, there's a Remnant in my house that can meow like a cat. Want to come over?]
A Remnant that can meow like a cat?
Seeing this line, Noah frowned and tried hard to recall his memories.
He had gone through all the Remnants in Wuthering Waves, and none of them could meow.
Among the few feline-type Remnants, the most impressive one was only the Lightcrusher from Mt. Firmament.
Oh no! Could it be that a Lightcrusher had entered Cantarella's house?
[Noah: Quick! Take a photo of that Remnant and send it to me!]
[Cantarella: Last time I couldn't host you properly. When you come this time, stay at Porto-Veno Castle.]
[Cantarella withdrew the previous message.]
[Cantarella: ...]
On the other side, in Porto-Veno Castle, Cantarella took a selfie. Looking at herself in the photo, she furrowed her brows slightly and tried to meow.
"Meow~"
It didn't sound like it at all. After all, she was a jellyfish.
"Does it have to be a Remnant to make you excited?"
Cantarella muttered to herself. Looking at her exquisitely made-up self in the mirror, she shook her head and didn't send the photo.
"Noah, what an unromantic idiot."
[Cantarella: I made a mistake. There's no Remnant that can meow. It was wrong information from my subordinate.]
[Noah: Oh, then never mind.]
As soon as the chat with Cantarella ended, Carlotta also hung up her call. She raised an eyebrow at Noah:
"The Order of the Deep is holding another meeting with the Montelli and Fisalia families. As the future head of the Montelli family, I have to attend. Do you want to come with me?"
"Then let's go together."
Perfect, he could go see Phoebe.
...
Order of the Deep.
"Cleric Itu, poor performance in cleaning the Order's premises. Deduct two points."
The middle-aged female cleric took out her small notebook to deduct points. In front of her were several young clerics with lowered heads:
"Cleric Sudan, late for prayer. Deduct three points."
"Wait a moment, Bishop Roya. Sudan was only late because she was helping me. Don't deduct her points."
A soft, gentle female voice stopped the middle-aged cleric. Roya turned around, saw the newcomer, and immediately placed her right fist on her chest and bowed.
"Yes, Lady Phoebe."
The young clerics followed suit and greeted:
"Lady Phoebe."
"Mhm."
Phoebe nodded gracefully and showed a relaxed, bright smile.
"Good. Everyone, go back to your tasks."
After she spoke, the group tactfully dispersed.
Phoebe turned to leave. After walking a few steps, she stopped in front of a brand new Sentinel statue. She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, about to pray silently, when a call came from behind.
"Phoebe."
"Hm?"
When she was still an apprentice cleric, people could call her Phoebe directly and she wouldn't mind. But now that she was a candidate for the seat, what should they call her?
Phoebe slowly opened her eyes. She tried to imitate Bishop Fenrico's dignified expression on her round little face and slowly turned around. Her cheek was immediately pinched by a hand.
The familiar angle and familiar strength instantly brought back all her memories with the person in front of her.
"Ah!"
Her act broke in one second. Phoebe immediately went from pretending to be dignified back to her slightly aggrieved and bullied appearance.
"Noah… Mr. Noah, didn't you leave Ragunna?"
"Can't I come back?"
"You can! You can! Just stop pinching first. I'm a seat candidate now. I need to maintain my image outside."
She couldn't be pinched outside, but could be pinched in private?
Noah released his hand and teased Phoebe:
"Nice going, Phoebe. In such a short time, you've been promoted to seat candidate again."
"Haha… I'm only a candidate. I don't have any solid achievements, so I actually have no hope of taking the position."
Phoebe shyly turned her head and scanned the surroundings. After confirming no one was around, she breathed a sigh of relief and spoke from her heart:
"I don't know why Bishop Fenrico chose me either. Thinking about it carefully, it might be related to you."
"Being chosen means you have the potential."
After thinking for a moment, Noah asked:
"By the way, I learned from Cartethyia that during the previous seat election, someone was assassinated. Is it convenient to talk about it?"
"Ah, this…" Phoebe hesitated, looked around, and spoke softly: "There might be eyes and ears in the Order. Let's talk somewhere else."
In less than twenty days since he left, Phoebe had already learned to be cautious. This discovery made Noah look at her with newfound respect.
Soon after, the two went to the underground area of the Order before continuing their conversation.
No one knew what Fenrico had said to some of the elders, but Phoebe had gained the support of some elders and obtained the qualification to be a seat candidate.
However, there were a total of eight people in the Order who had this qualification, including Phoebe.
Because of her shallow seniority and young age, Phoebe had the weakest competitiveness.
Among the other seven, the three strongest competitors had been assassinated. Another three only had slightly more seniority than Phoebe.
The last one, named Lud, was once Bishop Fenrico's most loyal cleric. He held extremely high status in the Order, was righteous, and deeply trusted by Fenrico.
Currently, Lud held the most power in the Order. Modifying the Order's doctrines and negotiating with Ragunna's major nobles were all handled by Lud.
"Actually, I investigated it too. The nearby Echoes told me that Lord Lud secretly executed those three people together with the La Guardia. But this can't be used as evidence."
"Lord Lud is actually very righteous and often cares about the lives of the lower clerics. I suspect there might be more to it."
Phoebe lowered her voice and carefully shared this speculation in Noah's ear. Noah stroked his chin in thought.
Noah actually knew who Lud was. He was a side story character after Phrolova's plot in version 2.5 of Wuthering Waves.
In the corresponding plot, he appeared as the Order's representative and worked with Rover to investigate information about the hidden sea experimental site.
Lud was indeed a loyal supporter of Fenrico and a good person. In the post-credits scene after the 2.7 main story, he willingly judged himself and dragged Alessio down with him, helping Phoebe succeed.
A person like him shouldn't be someone who would assassinate others for the seat. Could he be a backup plan left by Fenrico?
"When is the next seat election?" Noah suddenly asked.
"One month later."
"Alright, there's still plenty of time."
Noah decided to finish the main quests related to Septimont first before observing the internal affairs of the Order of the Deep.
His terminal suddenly rang with a communication signal. Noah answered it, and Carlotta's voice immediately came through.
"Tall Chestnut, we've finished the meeting. We're at the entrance of the Order now. Where are you?"
"I'll be there soon."
After hanging up, Noah bid farewell to Phoebe.
On the other side.
The meeting between the nobles and the Order had finally ended.
"Family Head, that's the future head of the Montelli family, Carlotta. Should we go over and discuss the modification of the Order's doctrines with her?"
A Fisalia member whispered to Cantarella, his gaze occasionally drifting toward the elegant second young miss of the Montelli family on the other side.
"Just a little brat who hasn't even grown taller than the haystack at Porto-Veno Castle."
Cantarella chuckled softly and replied in a low voice:
"If she grows for a few more years, I might look at her differently. But right now… if her family's elder came out, I might have some interest in chatting."
"You mean her grandfather, Francesco?"
"Correct. Let's go. There's nothing worth staying here for."
At the same time, Noah quickly walked up to Carlotta. She was playing with a red crystal that sparkled under the sunlight, seemingly to relieve boredom.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Little Potato."
"Seeing you run over to see me, waiting even longer would be worth it."
Carlotta gently clenched her hand. The red opal crystal in her palm turned into specks of light and scattered. She smiled slightly at Noah:
"Besides, I didn't wait that long. I thought that in this short moment I wasn't watching you, you'd run off with some other woman again."
"How could that be? I'm not that kind of person."
The two bantered with each other for a while before walking together toward the Montelli Quarter.