Chapter 1289: An Afternoon at the Council

Because the story pointed to by the mithril cube stated that the gold mine was highly likely near this ancient Temple of Night, and the gold ore Xia De picked up downstream in the river channel indicated that the gold mine was very close to the upper reaches of the river, the two left the cliff and searched carefully in the nearby area.

Neither of them had special techniques for prospecting minerals, such as 【Ore Perception】—land with mineral deposits has a low probability of turning red, but if one's mastery of the technique is not deep, it is highly likely to go wrong; 【Treasure Detection】—chests, land, and cabinets with treasures will show white flashing points, but one must be careful that those treasures already have owners; 【Money Rat Smell】—greatly enhances the perception of wealth, but the deeper one masters it, the more one dislikes cats.

Fortunately, as a witch of the "Earth" seat, Miss Miss Beiya's ability to perceive the earth was very strong.

After she and Xia De left the cave together, she used her technique to perceive, but the result was that she found nothing.

Standing together in the cedar forest, watching Miss Miss Beiya withdraw the "ruby" she used as a spellcasting medium from the snow, Xia De thought this was also normal:

"Since it is qualified to be recorded by the mithril cube left by that guardian, it means this matter is related to the supernatural. The gold mine may have been hidden by some power. Let's try to find it using other methods."

So the two first brought the horses from the riverside, and then determined what was under the soil by digging. This method was extremely time-consuming and inefficient. But neither Miss Miss Beiya nor Xia De had much obsession with that gold mine; Xia De instead thought that if he really found the so-called gold mine, he would probably feel it was very troublesome.

Therefore, this afternoon, the two walked together through the cedar forest, taking turns melting the ground with techniques while discussing topics of interest, or rather, the relationship between Xia De and the witches.

The technique Xia De used to melt the snow surface was "Fiona's Witch Light," which should have been a secret technique exclusive to witches, and even most witch followers could not learn it, but it happened to appear in Xia De's hands.

Miss Miss Beiya did not know this before, so she curiously asked Xia De how he learned the technique, and then received an answer from Xia De that surprised her even more:

"I can even enter the Witch Council."

Xia De pressed his hand on the snow surface, and the golden light gradually melted the snow and soil:

"Sing the ballad, pass through the corridor, and finally enter the white fog door at the end. Unfortunately, I don't have witch jewelry, so although I can enter that white fog, I must have a Great Witch with me to step into the Council area."

Xia De described it very clearly, and even hummed a segment of that witch's ballad. After possessing the technique 【Music of Sound】, even if the song was not recorded by the technique, he could hum it very well.

"Are you really a man?"

The blonde witch asked curiously, her eyes unconsciously scanning downwards.

"This question, it seems, is not the first time you've asked me, but the answer remains the same: I am indeed male."

Xia De did not feel surprised by Miss Bernice's question. After confirming that the ground beneath the soil was still soil, he stood up to continue walking forward with her, but Miss Bernice tugged at the hem of Xia De's coat. Although the sky was somewhat overcast, the sunlight filtering through the cedar forest was still quite sufficient, and those eyes with green and golden traces seemed to be sparkling:

"How about I bring you into the Council? I've never seen a man enter the Council before; why don't you try it and see?"

"But the gold mine..."

"Who cares about some gold mine."

She looked completely indifferent, then excitedly grabbed Xia De's hand:

"I'll sing, and you stay at the end of the corridor first. Once I confirm there's no one in the Council, I'll bring you in. Today is Sunday afternoon; those women surely won't want to enter the Council."

Seeing that Miss Bernice was truly interested, Xia De could only agree:

"If there are witches in the Council I don't know, I certainly won't enter."

"Rest assured, I'm not that kind-hearted... I mean, I'm not that enthusiastic about introducing other councilors to you."

As she spoke, standing side-by-side with Xia De in the forest, stepping on the snow and looking ahead, Miss Bernice coughed lightly and then sang softly in her incomparable voice:

"The princess in the castle will not understand, that the freedom to walk the world is what we pursue."

"Meeting a witch at the crossroads overgrown with lavender, where are you going, to pick that bunch of herbs."

Even though he had heard many witches sing this song, this time the feeling was particularly different. Not only because this was the voice of the greatest female opera singer of this era, but also because this was Xia De's first time entering the Council outdoors.

The two strolled through the cedar forest on a winter afternoon; the silent forest didn't even have birdsong, letting the witch's voice spread in all directions. Although it was an overcast day, it was at least still daytime, and as they moved forward, the surrounding light gradually dimmed.

Before he knew it, the walls of that ancient corridor appeared on both sides, and looking further ahead, the white fog door had already appeared at the end.

The witch finished her song, and Xia De also recorded it. Miss Bernice signaled for Xia De to wait a moment, and she lifted her skirt and ran excitedly into the white fog door.

Whenever Xia De entered here in the past, he had always walked straight through the fog door; he really hadn't had time to carefully examine this corridor. Observing it now, he had an indescribable, strange feeling in his heart. Looking behind him, the path he had come from was a straight corridor with stone brick walls on both sides, hung with lit torches and some ancient oil paintings whose images could not be distinguished.

This was like the interior of some castle, but also like a corner of a pre-era ruin. Other spaces left behind by Old Gods could be entered just by passing through a white fog door, but only this one required entering a corridor first; there must be a secret in this.

While Xia De was pondering, a hand reached out from the white fog door, and Miss Bernice pulled him in at once:

"Only Sylvia is here, follow me."

The two walked into the white fog together; next, they needed to hold a witch's accessory and recite a prayer softly. Among the thirteen witch accessories rated as Sage-level relics, Miss Vanessa Bernice, the ninth seat, held the 【Witch's Golden Ring · Left One】. She told Xia De not to let go of her hand, and after praying to the Old God 【Chaos Witch】, the two entered the witch Council familiar to Xia De.

Daylight fell from high above, illuminating the stone round table surrounded by thirteen high-backed chairs. All around were dilapidated stone steps leading upwards, even more dilapidated than the sacrificial grounds of the 【Spirit Cultivation Sect】, and these stone steps extended into the white fog high in the air.

Just as Miss Bernice had said, only Miss Sylvia, the thirteenth seat of the Council and the Great Witch of 【Space】, was present at this time.

For Xia De, this was his first time seeing Miss Sylvia since they parted ways in Huntington City before the Year-End Festival. And the young black-haired witch was also very happy to see Xia De; she stood up and gave him a warm hug, and said to Miss Bernice on the side:

"Look, Bernice, I told you Xia De would be able to get in here."

"So, what exactly is his situation?"

"That is also what we are curious about right now."

Miss Sylvia said, letting go of Xia De, and then lifted her beautiful black-and-white checkered skirt and spun around—the upper body was a white women's shirt with a square collar and a black bow tie.

She asked with a smile:

"Xia De, can you see what's different about me?"

Xia De's eyes looked down, first noticing the pair of brown leather short boots, then continued upward, seeing the tight-fitting black clothing:

"Although I have already seen it once at Miss Galina's place, I still have to compliment you; this is truly beautiful."

Miss Sylvia, whose face turned slightly red from being stared at by Xia De, nodded with satisfaction, and then glanced at Miss Bernice on the side. Now only three witches had this kind of fabric; Miss Galina had already shown it to Xia De once, and the eldest blonde witch, because she was truly too embarrassed, had not yet gathered the courage.

"Do you want to touch it? Evaluate the softness and elasticity of these fabrics now; you can certainly come up with better ideas."

Miss Sylvia boldly suggested, and Miss Bernice finally couldn't listen anymore:

"Emma, a young lady should be more reserved."

She said with a straight face. Sylvia resisted the urge to say "being too reserved will make you a celibate like you," but she didn't insist on letting Xia De touch it, after all, she was also a bit shy:

"You probably misunderstood. I really want Xia De to give me some suggestions. He is the only person in the Fifth Era who has appreciated and even touched the clothing of the Witch Emperors at close range; the ideas he can provide must be very valuable... after all, we are partners doing business together."

As she spoke, she winked at Xia De, her eyes full of laughter.

Therefore, originally Miss Bernice just wanted to enter the Council alone with Xia De to look around, but the rest of the afternoon turned into Xia De constantly taking transparent books from the bookshelf that shimmered with dreamlike galaxy colors, and discussing his past memories with Miss Sylvia.

But even the witches had to admit that some of the ideas and thoughts Xia De proposed were quite novel. For example, making simple fabric into trousers, keeping the more obvious seams behind the fabric, and the decorative effect of leg garters and suspenders on the fabric.

It wasn't until before dinner, after Xia De's reminder, that Miss Sylvia and Miss Bernice impatiently talked briefly about Margaret's apprentice trial, and after confirming that Margaret was all well, they stopped caring.

Afterwards, Xia De and Miss Bernice returned to Randall Valley together. The interior of the Witch Council was warm as spring all year round, while the material world was still in winter. Suddenly returning to the dim cedar forest, Xia De was still a bit unaccustomed to it.