Chapter 1127: Galina's Ice Curse

"I won't go upstairs."

Captain Lei Jiede followed Xia De into the foyer, but did not even close the door, leaving the St. Teresa Square, which was also very lively today, outside the door.

Approaching the Year-End Festival, although there were no noisy circus performances in the central square of the city, there were clearly many more merchants.

The Captain smiled and gave the visiting gift, which was that bottle of red wine, to Xia De, and only then did he talk in the foyer about how he had returned to Tobesk because of the knighting:

"At the end of autumn, that battle that blockaded the Sikar Mountains."

This middle-aged Captain with a firm face winked at Xia De. At that time, Xia De had sent him an amulet, which played a significant role when he led his team to guard the stronghold in the thick fog that night, and also made this ordinary person guess that perhaps magic truly existed in this world:

"I performed meritorious service that time, and the Church and my old friends in the city helped me operate a bit, so I had the qualifications to return to Tobesk for the knighting."

He said with a smile, and one could not see any of the embarrassment Xia De had seen when he first met him in the summer.

"That is truly good news; then will you return to Middle-Hill Fort in the future? Or, are you looking for a job in Tobesk?"

Xia De asked while congratulating him, and the Captain shook his head with regret:

"Staying in Tobesk is not such a simple matter; this not only requires luck, but also requires..."

He pointed upward, and together with Xia De, they revealed a tacit understanding expression:

"Try my luck; if I cannot move further up, I will also retire in a few years."

He shook his head with a smile again:

"No matter what happens next, I must enjoy this Year-End Festival first; who could be frowning on such an important holiday?"

The middle-aged Captain in a crisp military uniform reached out to Xia De, and Xia De also shook his hand:

"Happy Year-End Festival, Mr. Hamilton."

"Happy Year-End Festival, Captain Lei Jiede."

The Captain nodded with a smile, and then said goodbye and left. Xia De stood at his doorway, watching the Captain walk away along the path cleared in the snow, and could not help but feel some emotion in his heart.

The arrival of the Outlander had changed the fate of many people, and Captain Lei Jiede was the one who left the deepest impression on him.

He turned and walked back into the room and closed the door, only then noticing that his cat was on the shoe cabinet, sniffing the bottle of wine the Captain had brought as a gift.

"Cats cannot drink alcohol."

Xia De hugged her, and thought of another thing:

"Since 1853 is coming to an end, should I take advantage of the Year-End Festival to give Mia a bath?"

"Meow~"

As if knowing what Xia De was thinking, this cat darted out of Xia De's arms, jumped onto the shoe cabinet, and then ran toward the stairs.

Xia De watched Mia's agile figure with a smile, and then raised his right hand.

【You did it on purpose just for this, didn't you?】

Amidst "her" laughter, Xia De's fist passed through the silver light circle he had drawn:

"Binding Halo!"

Five halos flew toward the cat that was jumping down the stairs; one bound Mia's two front paws, one bound her back paws, one bound her neck, one bound her body, and the last one, for some reason, bound her tail, which was wearing the 【Ring of Life】 and the 【Plague Doctor Ring】, as if an extra silver pattern had appeared on the cat's tail.

"Meow~"

Xia De walked up the stairs and "picked up" the cat that could not move, and after canceling the spell, he hugged her again. The cat's claws did not attack Xia De; this cat was not even angry. When Xia De looked at her, the small cat head lifted slightly, and her large amber eyes looked at Xia De pitifully, which instead gave Xia De a strange sense of guilt, as if he had done something terribly wrong.

"Last night Luvia said I have a 'Charm of the Opposite Sex' by default; I think Mia is the one who has 'Human Charm' by default."

He muttered softly, deciding to go to the kitchen to find something for this cat to eat as compensation for what had just happened.

"She" chuckled in Xia De's ear, and the soft cat lay peacefully in Xia De's arms with her eyes narrowed, looking completely satisfied.

Miss Galina's visit was a bit later than Xia De had thought; when it was three minutes before three in the afternoon, Mia was lying comfortably on the windowsill in the study, napping in the sun, while Xia De was reading that copy of "The Secret Art of Immortality," wanting to learn some useful sorcery from it.

The heating of the pendant on his chest signaled the witch's arrival. And after going downstairs to open the door, the Duchess, wearing a red long dress and a sparkling diamond hair accessory on her head, frowned and said half-complainingly:

"Tomorrow is the Year-End Festival; does your home not have any decorations at all? At the very least, you should hang a wreath of mistletoe at the entrance, right?"

This was a custom of the Year-End Festival, representing the prayer for peace and luck in the coming year. It was said that the origin of this custom was related to the Church of Nature among the Five Gods Churches, and also related to the Old God 【White Holy Tree】, but there were other theories as well.

"Difa, arrange for someone tomorrow to decorate No. 6 St. Teresa Square. It doesn't need to be too flashy, but at least it should have some festive atmosphere."

Miss Galina said to the black-haired maid who followed her off the carriage, and the latter nodded slightly. Xia De thought about it and did not object; he had originally thought about going to buy some ribbons to decorate the windows after dinner; the Outlander was interested in the festivals of this world, but was not very invested in them.

Miss Galina's visit this time was for that ice crystal Xia De had brought back from the winter of 903 of the Fifth Era. Before this, she and Difa had both heard Xia De talk about the two adventures in 903, and the most critical third adventure happened by the side of Lake Pantanal, so while taking out that ice crystal and Miss Galina casting a spell to attach a freezing effect to it, Xia De told the story of the final stretch of the snowy mountain road.

Regarding the part involving the Old God 【Winter Maiden】, because stories of gods would have a huge impact on mortals, Xia De spoke relatively briefly, but still told most of the story. To prevent errors in details that would lead to problems in Miss Galina's next step of research, Xia De even said that the ice crystal was spat out by him after a kiss.

Hearing this, the Duchess raised her eyebrows in surprise, while Difa had a faint smile on her face.

"That's about it."

After finishing, Xia De held the cat, which was squinting and feigning sleep, and picked up his teacup:

"The ice crystal has been washed by time, and a very small part of the outer ice layer has disappeared, but it does not affect the letters inside the ice layer. I tried to view the content against the light; the characters are very small, and they are not any language I recognize... Fortunately, I can understand them."

"But I cannot understand them."

The gas lamp had already been turned on, and Miss Galina held the ice crystal against the light to examine it; the ice crystal was shimmering with light under the light:

"I have never seen this kind of writing; I think it should be earlier than the Fifth Era."

"The meaning of this kind of ancient rune is very rich; one rune can represent a great deal of content, and different runes connected together form new meanings. I can be certain that what is recorded inside is indeed the content of Miss Chloe's path to demigodhood. But the problem is, it does not involve specific ritual content; it only points out how she honed her soul and, under the guidance of the gods, ascended the Silver Mountains."

In the contemporary era, where there are no longer any True Gods besides the five, wanting to repeat this process is quite difficult.

"It doesn't matter; after all, even if I hold the promotion ritual after the Year-End Festival, I will only be at the twelfth ring, and I am still far from the thirteenth ring. The content here is enough to serve as a reference. Xia De, you likely do not understand; compared to specific rituals, what that witch gave you is the most critical information."

Golden eyes looked at Xia De, sighing slightly as if singing an opera:

"Oh, the Knight beloved by witches~"

"I am here, oh, beautiful Duchess, what can I do for you?"

Xia De said with a smile, and Miss Galina was very satisfied with this:

"Find some time to transcribe the runes inside here, and give me another translated text."

"That is very simple; after the Year-End Festival."

Xia De nodded, and Miss Galina revealed a teasing smile again:

"Keep the ice crystal yourself; do not let anyone else touch it; after all, it was a gift from a lady who is very fond of you."

That ice crystal floated from the air to in front of Xia De, and the cat feigning sleep immediately lifted her body to try to touch it, after which Xia De gently placed the teacup in his hand on the cat's head. Of course, he controlled the force, and the center of gravity remained on his fingers.

"Meow!"

Holding the ice crystal, Xia De smiled and placed it against Little Mia's chest; he did not expect that this cat only complained with a meow and did not have any other major reaction.

"I have treated it; as long as it is not placed in fire, and not placed in a high-temperature place for a long time, it should be fine if it doesn't melt for a long time. Additionally, I will teach you a very simple spell—Galina's Ice Curse. I improved the original 【Ice Trick】, and now it is like this."

Red lips parted slightly, and following the action of exhaling, extremely cold chill diffused from them.

The learning ritual for this spell was quite simple; it only required first learning the basic spell 【Call Water】. Xia De had the blessing of that winter god, so learning similar spells was not difficult.

After learning the spell, he also demonstrated it to Miss Galina:

"Look."

Gently blowing at the teacup in his hand, as ice crystals formed on the red tea in the cup, an ice crystal flower floated on the surface of the water.

"Your control is truly strong..."

She praised Xia De, but this was actually the effect of Xia De combining 【Ice Curse】 with 【Flying Flower Curse】; there were flower petals in that cup of black tea. He pinched the ice crystal flower, turned it into a toy, and put it in his pocket for later use; this was a very good spellcasting material.

At the same time, the Duchess beckoned to Difa behind her, and Difa took a slender black paper box from the pocket of her maid's long dress and delivered it into the Duchess's hand:

"Xia De, I like the gift you gave me very much; this is a gift for you."

That was a slide-out paper box, and after opening it, inside was actually a necktie.

Xia De looked at the red-haired witch in surprise, and the latter looked at him with a smile:

"Happy Year-End Festival, my Knight."

Although the necktie was not particularly valuable, this was not a gift that could be given casually. ===== CHAPTER 1128 =====