Chapter 1159: The Late Witch

The Princess Highness recognized that beautiful cat almost instantly. She believed that no one could mistake this cat. And the appearance of this cat meant...

The young man in a black coat was holding his black top hat high, cheering and paying tribute to the successors of the United Kingdom along with everyone else around him. Although that face looked a bit different, whether it was the height, the expression, or Mia, there was no doubt that it proved who it was:

"Welcome to Randell Valley City!"

Xia De in the crowd shouted loudly at the Princess Highness, although the sound was quickly drowned out in the noisy background sound, Margaret still heard it completely.

She moved her gaze away, wearing the formulaic smile trained by the royal family, and waved to the crowd. However, the joy in her heart was unknown to anyone. The Princess Highness knew that her short visit to Randell Valley would probably be even more interesting than she imagined:

"What's more interesting is... Miss Sylvia teacher, is not by my side now."

Although he really wanted to see Margaret immediately, Xia De also knew that she had come locally with a mission, and this visit was not just about her. Therefore, although he saw Margaret at the train station on Friday morning, Xia De didn't go to find her alone.

After all, there would be plenty of opportunities in the future, and Margaret didn't have time to spend a long time with Xia De for now.

Today's most critical task was still meeting with the local Great Witch Miss Benanice in the afternoon. Xia De had anticipated many possibilities for meeting the witch before this, but for safety, he still requested Luweiya to help him divine at noon when they were having lunch together.

The purple-eyed girl had a lot of work to do locally. While contacting the secret cult with the Book of Ascension locally at the Diviner Association, she also shouldered the task of observing local star signs given by the Astronomy Academy, as well as the document work that the Diviner Association asked her to handle locally.

Even if she took time to have lunch with Xia De, she had to return to the association as soon as possible. Hearing Xia De's request at this time, she shook her head slightly:

"You are a person outside of fate. Divining for you, the results obtained are mostly completely unreliable, otherwise the church would have found you long ago. Xia De, don't treat divination as a tool for peeking into the future; we must revere fate."

Actually, what she meant was, don't come to divine for every little thing. In Luweiya's view, Xia De's communication and negotiation with witches didn't have the possibility of failure at all.

Seeing that Xia De still wanted to say something, Luweiya, who was manipulating the knife and fork, asked again:

"Why did you bring Little Mia here?"

"Meow?"

The well-behaved cat heard someone mention its name and looked at Luweiya.

"Dorothy is going to talk about royalties with her publisher and her lawyer during the day today, and can't help me take care of it."

Xia De patted the soft cat:

"You are not in Tobesk, and I have no way to entrust it to you. Miss Galina and Tifa are still in Saladir County. Although there are maids in the manor, there is no one familiar to take care of it. I am ultimately not at ease, so I brought it here. After all, today is just meeting with a witch. No matter how much she dislikes me, she won't do anything to Little Mia. This will only increase my winning rate."

Luweiya smiled:

"Are you still meeting at the Wang Erde Opera House? I heard in the association that the opera house in the city has had some small problems recently."

"What problem?"

Xia De remembered at this time that Miss Aurora also mentioned yesterday that the witch in Randell Valley City was chasing a Sage-level relic related to the opera house.

"Someone was turned into a puppet. I don't know the specific situation, but it is said to be related to an uncontained relic."

Luweiya shrugged:

"It might be the Keeper-level relic 【Joker Emperor's Magic Handkerchief】 or the infectious Keeper-level relic 【Puppet Syndrome】; who knows? This matter is handled by the local Creation Church, but it is said that it might also be Sage-level. Oh, my dear detective, every city has every city's troubles, and we obviously cannot solve every problem."

After lunch, Luweiya said goodbye to Xia De and returned to the Diviner Association. There was still a period of time before three o'clock in the afternoon. Xia De originally wanted to visit the old priest who owed 10 pence in a bet mentioned by Priest Ao Gusi during exam week, but Little Mia was already too sleepy to bear it, and Xia De was also worried that he wouldn't find the priest in a short time, so he returned to the Forgotten Church and then went home to take a nap.

When he returned to Randell Valley City at 2:30 PM, Xia De still brought that cat. At this time, a layer of white fog of unknown origin rose in the city, and the cat's tail was wearing the 【Transformation Ring】 and 【Fish Training Ring】. This was a reward for it being so obedient today.

The distance from Cherry Leaf Street to the Wang Erde Opera House was not far. Xia De calculated the time, and when he got off the carriage at the entrance of the opera house, it was 2:50 PM.

Pets were of course not allowed in the opera house, but after Xia De showed the box ticket, no one went to stop him. And when Xia De followed the opera house waiter toward the stairs, he didn't feel the badge on his chest heating up, which meant Miss Benanice hadn't arrived yet.

"Speaking of which, since the Prince Highness and the Princess Highness are visiting the city, will they watch the opera in this opera house?"

Xia De asked the waiter leading the way, and the latter said quite proudly:

"Sir, you don't look like a Karsenric person. Actually, every time the royal members of our country visit this city, they will watch the performance of the Golden Dawn Opera Troupe in this opera house of ours. I don't know the specific time, but the opera house has already started to arrange security work. Do you know? Miss Benanice of the Golden Dawn Opera Troupe is planning to acquire our opera house recently; this is really a great honor."

After entering the box with Little Mia, it was the final waiting time. Xia De kept calculating in his heart what he should say when he met the witch, and at what time it would be appropriate to give the harmonica. He even thought about taking the initiative to hand over his wrist for Miss Benanice to hold; witches always liked this.

As for Mia, this cat was sleeping lazily on Xia De's lap, and 3:00 PM was its usual nap time.

There were actually not many guests in the afternoon opera house. At 3:00 PM sharp, as the high-pitched soprano sounded from below, Xia De understood that the time had arrived.

"Why hasn't she come yet? Encountered trouble... I didn't remember the time wrong, did I?"

【You didn't remember it wrong.】

He paced suspiciously, and Little Mia was left on the sofa. The cat opened one eye, saw that Xia De hadn't left, and shook its tail, wriggling to find a more comfortable position and continued to sleep.

"Could it be because I refused to meet immediately yesterday, so that witch was angry and deliberately late today?"

He thought in his heart, but felt that the other party shouldn't be that childish. So he used the miracle to confirm the time again, confirming that it was already past three o'clock.

"Strange..."

In the meeting of strange Ringed Ringed Shushi, if someone missed the meeting time, the other party would generally leave immediately, because this often meant unpredictable danger. But this meeting was not a completely strange meeting, and if that eleven-tier witch who was not good at fighting really encountered any trouble, Xia De would have to find a way to figure out the situation even if he couldn't solve it.

"I hope it's just being late."

He waited for another five minutes, but the badge on his chest still had no reaction. Knowing that he couldn't wait any longer, he turned to pick up Little Mia and go outside to check the situation.

And at this time, a very slight knocking sound came from outside the door. But Xia De had been standing at the door just now, and he was very sure that there were absolutely no footsteps outside:

"What is this situation again?"

He vaguely sensed that he might have been involved in some trouble.

"Mia, stay here obediently and wait for me, don't run around."

He instructed the cat, and took off the 【Fish Training Ring】 from its tail and put it on his own finger. He drew the scarlet "Moonlight Greatsword" in the style of a short dagger, and held it behind his back with his left hand. Xia De felt it against the door, confirmed that there was no element reaction, and then pushed the door open lightly.

The curtains on the other side of the corridor opposite the room door were all pulled up at some point, covering the windows. Those scarlet velvet curtains completely blocked the sunlight in the foggy city, and the entire corridor looked gloomy. Not only gloomy, but everything felt normal indoors, but opening the door immediately made him perceive the whispering elements.

"Really encountered an accident."

Xia De remembered very clearly that when he passed by this door just now, the door was tightly closed. But on the wall between the two windows opposite the door, the oil painting of an old man in white robes sowing seeds toward the earth had changed into a portrait of a puppet like a noble lady with her hands together.

That portrait was extremely realistic, even expressing the wood grain on the puppet, as well as the slight material splitting and the uneven color blocks of the paint.

Looking up at his feet again, a marionette was floating in mid-air. The limbs and head were connected by five thin threads, and the threads were connected to the inner cross disc floating above. This was a standard marionette used for puppet shows. The workmanship of the puppet was extremely exquisite; not only could the limb joints move freely, but the details of the hair and clothes were also exceptionally realistic.

The attire was a very common maid dress, and the face shape of the puppet had also been carefully designed. Even for a layman like Xia De, it was easy to see that this was definitely not a mass-produced product from a mold.

The puppet "pinched" a letter in its hand. As Xia De lowered his head, it handed it to him.

"Is this letter for me?"

He asked hesitantly, and then saw the brown wooden inner cross disc floating above the puppet shake gently, as if there were invisible hands manipulating it. The thin threads controlled the limb movements, and the puppet swayed away.

Xia De watched it, watching it go to the door of the room next door, and then "walked" in through the crack of the door. ===== CHAPTER 1160 =====