Marvin had been busy until the latter part of the night before he stopped his work.
According to the intelligence report brought back by the Kitty Corps, the churches throughout the city had opened up their shares of Holy Water, transitioning from a limited supply to an unlimited provision.
This meant his plan had succeeded.
With so much Holy Water now available, he no longer needed to worry about the safety of the believers; once the rats in the city were eradicated, people's lives could return to normal.
The crisis was temporarily resolved.
Yuniya, who had eaten nothing since breakfast, had been starving for a while but insisted on staying by her father's side. Once Marvin finished his work, she scampered off to the kitchen: "Daddy, come quickly, we can finally have dinner!"
Mrs. Cecil had mentioned she would prepare a simple dinner, but to welcome Yuniya's arrival, she had created a feast.
Green pea ham soup, roasted potatoes, pan-fried bacon, scrambled eggs with butter....
Dish after dish of meticulously cooked meals were served on porcelain plates, awaiting the arrival of the diners.
Unable to wait, Yuniya grabbed a roasted potato with the skin on and took a big bite, then...
She silently put it down.
"What's wrong?"
Marvin asked as he put a piece of buttered bread in his mouth, "Doesn't it suit your taste?"
Yuniya nodded, then quickly shook her head, her little hands twisted together as she struggled to say, "I want to eat last night's beef...."
The cooled down potato tasted bland and was unappetizing; considering this, Marvin thought for a moment, took the potato from Yuniya's plate, and put his own bacon and scrambled eggs in front of her instead.
"Aren't you going to eat, Daddy?"
"I don't like bacon and eggs."
Upon hearing this, Yuniya happily picked up her spoon, scooped up a spoonful of the golden scrambled eggs, and put it in her mouth. Her legs wiggled with joy under the table as she took spoonful after spoonful.
"Make sure to drink your pea soup; it's rich in vitamins and good for your body," Marvin reminded her.
"What are vitamins, Daddy?"
"Uhm...."
Faced with Yuniya's question, Marvin didn't know quite how to explain, worried that the modern medical concept might confuse her.
"Peas can prevent scurvy," he said.
"Scurvy?"
"That's right, it's a very scary disease that can cause teeth to fall out, depression, and the skin to develop red and black spots...." Marvin bared his teeth: "If you don't eat enough vegetables, pretty Yuniya will become ugly."
"Ah!"
Yuniya was startled and quickly abandoned the bacon, attacking the pea soup. She drank it while sticking out her tongue, clearly not enjoying the taste.
"Burp... Daddy, Yuniya's finished!"
Perhaps drinking too quickly and swallowing air, Yuniya belched and put down the empty soup dish, asking nervously, "Yuniya won't lose her teeth now, will she...?"
"You won't," Marvin said with a smile. "But drinking it just once isn't enough. You must eat vegetables regularly, or else your teeth will still fall out... Ah, if that were to happen, poor Yuniya wouldn't even be able to eat meat."
"I will eat them! Yuniya will definitely eat her vegetables regularly!"
Marvin nodded in satisfaction: "Tomorrow I'll take you to buy a few sets of clothes. Although Mrs. Cecil brought over many old clothes, those are all out of fashion now."
"Yay, yay!"
Just then...
Fat Orange and Little Black jumped in through the window, saying with a fatigued expression: "It's done, the dead rats have all been thrown over to Central Avenue. Once the patrolmen find them, they will be concentrated and incinerated."
"Well done, want some bread?" Marvin offered, handing over the half-eaten buttered bread.
Fat Orange didn't even glance at the bread but just sat next to Yuniya, pondered briefly, then hesitated to speak.
"I... have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
"The bad news."
"Let's start with the good news, lest you faint from anger." Fat Orange licked his lips. "The good news is, the Church has now amassed a large number of Kitty followers, and you can command them to do anything."
That was indeed good news—great news, in fact.
The Kitties were quick to act, responsive, and quietly came and went, undeniably the most agile eyes in the streets and lanes.
With the Kitty Corps, Marvin could do many things he simply couldn't accomplish before,
"And the bad news?"
"The bad news is… cough, you have to provide them with warm shelter and tasty food."
Plop.
The bread fell onto the table.
Marvin looked at Fat Orange, his eyes wide and almost unable to catch his breath.
"What, did you think you could reap the benefits without making an effort?"
Fat Orange glared at him, displeased. "Kitties, like people, need food and shelter from the wind and rain. Winter is coming, and if we don't take care of them, the number of homeless Kitties will surely plummet!"
"No, no, no… I'm not the kind of scum who'll put on his pants and then disavow the cat..."
Marvin shook his head vigorously. "But have you considered that it's not just one or two cats, it's… more than a thousand! We can't even support a cattery!!!"
"1,535, to be exact." Fat Orange provided the precise number. "On the way back, I did a quick calculation. Assuming each Kitty eats an average of 200 grams of meat a day, you need to prepare… 677 pounds of food."
"..."
"If it were normal times, I could organize them to eat rats, but as you know, the current number of surviving rats in town won't exceed 50, um, perhaps even fewer."
The gentle words shattered the last shred of hope in Marvin's heart.
"I... fuck!"
Marvin's gaze was one of despair as he looked desolately at the ceiling, his lips quivering.
Frequently visiting the market, he was well aware of the prices in the Kingdom of Windsor. A pound of beef cost five Copper Pennies, and a pound of fish three Copper Pennies; neither were cheap.
If someone were to ask him why not eat pork if beef cost Five Pennies, Marvin would definitely spit in their face and seriously tell them that in these times, a pound of pork cost Seven Pennies, more expensive than beef!
Even if he provided the cheapest fish every day, 677 pounds would cost 2,031 Pennies!
Every day!
Doing the math, just providing food for the Kitties would cost Marvin 8.5 Gold Pounds a day!
255 Gold Pounds a month, and a year...
Marvin dared not think further; his head was already aching.
The buttered bread, which had been so appetizing, had now lost all of its appeal.
Despair.
Beyond that word, Marvin couldn't find any others to describe his current mood.
"Meow…"
Little Black came up to Marvin, put its paw on the back of his hand, and comfortingly said, "Master, you have to look on the bright side! Being served by more than a thousand Kitties, who in the world can have such treatment, right meow?"
"I... thank you so much."
"It's no problem, Master. This is all part of what Little Black is supposed to do, meow!"