Chapter 433: Notice

The sky gradually darkened, Jiang Xia sat on a chair in Riverside Park, admiring the sparkling sea water; the sea here was extremely calm, with no so-called waves, not even high or low tide, possibly because there was no moon.

The sun gradually sank below the sea surface, and the hazy afterglow spread across the sea surface and mountains.

The Magic Kingdom at night sparkled, the whole city lit up, the neon lights on the streets and the colorful magical light streams merged together, illusory and brilliant.

The topmost layer of the tower that pierced the clouds lit up on the sea surface that was gradually turning iron-gray; the sea was originally pitch black, but the tower's reflection on the sea looked like a pillar of light reaching to the heavens in the darkness, splitting the vast sea in half.

"Is Xiao Li asleep?" Jiang Xia turned his head to look at Cao Zhenqingren, who had his hands in his pockets and was walking toward him.

"Yeah, Uncle is still that Uncle. After hearing we were mages who came to this world by accident from outside, he generously lent us the upstairs room to stay temporarily." Cao Zhenqingren nodded, sat down beside Jiang Xia with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Of course, no matter how kind-hearted, only one room could be lent out, but now there are three people, so two of them simply didn't sleep.

"It seems this world's Lun Dao Fan is also a decent person." Jiang Xia handed over the item he had just bought, wrapped in a leather bag and placed beside the chair, to Cao Zhenqingren, saying, "In this world, I also discovered this."

"What is this?" Cao Zhenqingren's eyes lit up at the sight of the familiar packaging.

"It's the pink doughnut made by the snack cart owner you like; due to isotopic reasons, the taste should be about the same."

"Thank you."

Cao Zhenqingren took the leather bag, lightly bit into the donut wrapped in pink frosting, and exclaimed, "As expected, the snack cart owner's donuts are still the best."

"How much? I'll pay you." Cao Zhenqingren put the half‑eaten donut into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.

Even though we're on good terms, buying things still requires payment.

"No need, this world doesn't circulate money; payment is made with magic power." Jiang Xia raised his right hand to show Cao Zhenqingren the magic ring on his middle finger.

"Oh, I see. This world really isn't bad." Cao Zhenqingren put his wallet away.

Because magic power recovers automatically, just like stamina, everyone is born with a fortune they can dispose of.

If Jiang Xia's internal magic power, when circulated in the market, were equivalent to this world's money, he estimated he could buy the entire city with magic power.

Of course, that would be meaningless.

"Actually, I've always had something I wanted to ask you, White Mage." Cao Zhenqingren lifted his head, put the donut back in the bag, and his tone shifted inexplicably to become solemn.

It was as if, in an instant, we went from light‑hearted comedy to a scene of impending parting and death.

He had held it in for a long time without a chance to ask, as the Gold Mage and the events in the Magic Kingdom followed one after another, and that repressed feeling inside made him choose to stay silent for now.

But the doubt in his heart would eventually need resolution; he no longer wanted to wait until after returning, and now he just wanted to know the answer.

So today, even his favorite donut, he could only eat two bites before losing his appetite, and had to set it aside.

"All right." Jiang Xia roughly guessed what Cao Zhenqingren wanted to ask and agreed.

"Did A Li… really pass away?" Cao Zhenqingren asked softly.

The night's light faded slowly in Cao Zhenqingren's eyes; he lowered his head, as if his body were about to be swallowed by the dark sea level, with darkness covering everything.

"Well, Dimu Li had already died before you interacted with her; she's different from you—she wasn't a victim of the Witches' Banquet. From start to finish, only you survived the Witches' Banquet, while everyone else was forcibly transformed into specters by despair." Jiang Xia answered, looking at Cao Zhenqingren, whose head was bowed and whose whole body was shrouded in shadow.

Only by enduring despair can one become a mage; those who haven't either lose their magic power and become ordinary people, or die on the spot with their corpses possessed by specters—there is no third possibility.

Upon hearing Jiang Xia's answer, Cao Zhenqingren's body trembled slightly, and he continued: "Why?" "Illness, an incurable disease even modern medicine can't cure. She had been physically weak since childhood, and as she grew older her condition worsened until she was bedridden. At age sixteen, on a stormy night, she passed away." Jiang Xia spoke truthfully.

These details are recorded very thoroughly in the Earth database; after he eliminated Dimu Zou, he had already read through Dimu Li's entire life.

"After Xiao Li's death, her father was a genius proficient in many fields; after trying every possible means and failing to change the fact of his daughter's death, he turned to magic."

"Magic…" Cao Zhenqingren raised his hand, looked at the fiery red mage's ring on his middle finger, then turned his head to look at Jiang Xia.

"Yes, magic." Jiang Xia produced the Hope Magic Ring, saying, "The Philosopher's Stone possesses the power to resurrect the dead, but it requires a great amount of magic power."

"The Witches' Banquet exists for this purpose: through the ritual, using ghouls as human pillars, it forces kidnapped humans who qualify as mages into despair, thereby gathering magic power—this is the entire process of your birth as a mage."

"However, because the resurrection ritual of the first Witches' Banquet was imperfect, Xiao Li needs a large amount of magic power to sustain her body."

"He who wanted to hold another Witches' Banquet had no choice but to entrust his daughter to a newly born mage to maintain her body."

"Through research he discovered that he only needed to replace the ghoul pillar with a mage of modest skill to perfectly revive his daughter—namely, someone of your level." Jiang Xia pointed at Cao Zhenqingren as he said this.

"You're actually A Li's father!"

Cao Zhenqingren's eyes widened, he sprang up from the chair as if springs were installed under his feet; this was even more shocking than the White Mage being the mastermind behind the scenes.

All of this now makes sense: Jiang Xia is the one who conducted the Witches' Banquet, also A Li's father, and the mastermind behind everything; now that A Li has been resurrected, it means the second Witches' Banquet succeeded.

When was the second Witches' Banquet held, and why does he have no memory of it at all?

Or perhaps the White Mage never chose to use his own body as the human pillar for resurrecting A Li.

After asking his questions, Cao Zhenqingren's doubts weren't resolved; instead, they piled up even more.

"Have I ever said I'm Xiao Li's father?" Jiang Xia raised his eyebrows.

"But you are the White Mage." Cao Zhenqingren's mind was in utter chaos.

"Who said there can only be one White Mage? You actually have two."

"The White Mage you know is already dead—I killed him myself." Jiang Xia spoke without astonishment, refusing to rest.

"The second Witches' Banquet would affect all of Tokyo; I had no choice but to do this. Though I promised him before his death that I would revive Xiao Li, and now it seems I have succeeded."

Jiang Xia waited a moment; these bits of information were fragmented and needed to be slowly pieced together into a coherent line before he could make sense of them.

After a long while, Cao Zhenqingren lifted his head again; it seemed he had figured it out.

"Any more questions?" Jiang Xia asked.

Cao Zhenqingren shook his head; although his mind was still a bit confused, he basically understood.

There are two White Mages: one is A Li's father, and the other is the person standing before him explaining things.

"If there are no problems, get ready for battle—the enemy is coming." Bright light shone on the trees to their side; now all was silent, only the rustling of leaves remained.

However, that sound wasn't made by the wind blowing the leaves; it was the noise of some monsters moving through the forest. (End of chapter)