120: Chapter 120 How to tell if an owl is a gentleman or a lady

Leon and Klaisi sat side by side on the living room sofa.

They weren't chatting, watching TV, and their phones were tucked in their pockets; they were simply sitting there in a row.

“Hey, Leon.” After sitting in silence for a long time, Klaisi couldn't hold it in anymore and whispered, “What should we do now?

Why is Mr. Owl ignoring me? Did I do something to make it angry?”

Glancing sideways at the snow-white Owl on his right shoulder, Leon said, “I'm not sure either.

Maybe... we got the gender wrong, and we should call it Ms. Owl?”

“But, I don't know how to tell a male Owl from a female one.” Klaisi instinctively wanted to scratch his head, but realizing a grey-speckled Owl was still perched on his shoulder, he hastily stopped his slightly raised arm.

Leon, however, knew a little bit about this.

During his working hours, he would use any spare moment to read various obscure books, and he had once seen how to identify an Owl's sex in a book introducing the birds.

One had to use a finger to feel the spacing of the pubic bones behind the two legs on the abdomen.

Because female birds need to lay eggs, the distance between the pubic bones is wider, whereas it is narrower in males.

It sounded simple enough, and since the Owl was right there on his shoulder, he could reach out and touch it.

The problem was... he didn't dare!

This was a pet kept by a magician, and its eyes were so human-like. If he reached out and provoked its anger, it might use magic to teach him a lesson.

As he was thinking, the Owl narrowed its eyes.

This ambiguous movement made them panic, and they immediately reflected on whether their words just now had offended it.

Suddenly, Klaisi's eyes lit up: “Leon, I understand.

‘Owl’ is a name created by humans; they might not call themselves that.”

“You mean they don't like being called that?”

“I think so.”

Although it sounded plausible, it was ultimately just a guess, and there was no way to confirm its truth.

Besides, even if they guessed correctly, the two of them didn't know what names the Owls had given themselves.

“Gurgle—”

A strange noise from beside him caught Leon's attention. He slowly turned his head to see that the sound was coming from Klaisi's stomach.

“Are you hungry?”

“Please, Leon.” Klaisi made a bitter face and gestured with his eyes toward the wall clock. “We've been sitting here from five until nine, and we didn't eat lunch today either.”

“Then... shall we go downstairs?”

After saying that, they both looked toward their shoulders. Klaisi asked cautiously, “Mr. Ow—... we are going out to eat, would you like to come along? There's a McDonald's downstairs from the apartment building.

Their shop's fried wings...”

“Shut up!”

“Uh...” He snapped out of it and realized he'd said the wrong thing, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Chicken is part of an Owl's diet, right?”

“Wings are wings; it might trigger an association.”

A long silence followed. Finally, unable to bear the hunger any longer, they decided to order takeout.

They placed the order over the phone, and about an hour later, the doorbell rang.

Leon stood up tentatively. Seeing no movement from the Owl by his head, he breathed a small sigh of relief and walked as steadily as possible to the entrance to open the door.

However, the person standing outside was not the delivery man.

“Sir, we meet again.” Toby, who had come alone, smiled and waved a greeting. “I'm here today because... Sir, capturing and keeping Owls without permission is a crime that violates the Kingdom's Constitution.”

“It flew into the house on its own.”

“From where?”

“The bedroom window.”

Toby remembered that this apartment building was fitted with security bars. Was he lying?

To confirm, he stepped into the house, strode to the bedroom door, and checked the wall with the window; the security bars had vanished.

Returning to the entrance: “Where did the security bars go?”

Leon recalled the scene of pulling open the window a few hours ago, and his heart suddenly jumped. Right, where did my bedroom's security bars go?

Did it do that?

He shifted his gaze to the right, staring at the Owl, and hesitated for a moment: “Maybe it tore them off.”

Toby had a look of confusion: “Are you trying to tell me that an Owl flew to a bedroom window eighteen stories high, then tore off the security bars to enter the room,

and is now perched on a human's shoulder, refusing to leave?”

Swallowing nervously, Leon said, “It's roughly as you think, but the details are a bit off.

It only entered the room after I pulled open the window.”

“I'm sorry, but unless it's truly a magical Owl, I can only conclude that you are trying to deceive me with a foolish lie.

For the sake of your future, I suggest you release this...” His gaze swept to Klaisi on the sofa, “Release both of these Owls.”

Hearing this, Klaisi was very dissatisfied: “Mr. Toby from the CIA, Leon isn't lying.”

“Heh.” Toby laughed and pointed his finger at his shoulder. “Are you trying to say this Owl has the same origin?”

“Exactly!”

“Do I look like an idiot?”

“But...”

Leon was about to argue, but was interrupted by the two Owls suddenly flying up to the ceiling.

The three of them instinctively looked up.

Between one snow-white and one grey-speckled, the two Owls circled overhead. A few seconds later, a large amount of feathers appeared out of thin air and scattered down.

By the time all the feathers had landed, the Owls were nowhere to be seen, as if they had never been there.

“I knew it, I knew it!” Klaisi jumped up from the sofa. “Oh damn it, you bastard, the messenger Owls were scared away by you!

Give me back my Interview Letter!”

Recovering from his shock, Toby ignored the insults hurled at him. His eyes seemed to beam with light as he stared at the feathers covering the floor.

These were feathers left by a magician's pets!

Toby took off his suit jacket, spread it out on the tiled floor, and very quickly gathered all the feathers into it.

“We need to talk!” With the jacket wrapped into a bundle and a knot tied with the sleeves, he said excitedly, “Now, no one can deny the existence of magicians!”

However, the two of them didn't care about his “talk,” but instead stared at the bundled suit. “Hey, those were the Owls that were bringing us letters,

you can't...”

Toby flashed his ID. They fell silent for a moment, then pleaded simultaneously, “At least leave us a few feathers.”

“I believe they will come back to find you.”

“For now.” Like protecting his own wife, Toby held the jacket tightly. “We have some urgent matters and need your help.”

At his request, the three sat down on the sofa—Klaisi and Leon together, with Toby opposite them.

“In the past few days, I've looked for everyone who was present when the magician appeared to ask for clues.

Toby protected the bundle of feathers with both hands: “According to the information they provided, you were the only ones who had physical contact with the magician at the time, right?”

The two of them exchanged a look and nodded. “Yes.”

After a moment of thought, Toby added, “I also made a special trip to see Rowling. You know Rowling, right?”

“Are you playing some kind of sick joke? We're her fans.”

“Rowling told me that the world in her novels is all fantasy and that she has never seen a magician. I originally trusted her explanation.

But after seeing those two Owls...”

He suddenly stood up. “Gentlemen, the investigation into this matter will require your assistance at any time. If you intend to leave London, please report it in advance.”

After saying that, he stood up holding the suit and walked out of the house. He had to talk to Ms. Rowling, immediately!

Despite his haste, Toby was polite enough not to forget to close the door behind him.

Only Leon and Klaisi were left sitting on the sofa. They looked at each other and wailed in unison: “My entrance interview letter!”