Chapter 1369: Yi Lu Na's Mission

Miss Sylvia clearly wanted to issue an invitation for a private date.

Xia De considered the matters in hand; at present he only wanted to wait for Yi Lu Na to arrive, then discuss the plan with Yi Lu Na and Luvia. If he had enough coins, divining on the sapphire earrings and the hexagonal gemstone would also be good:

"It should be fine."

"Then, how about accompanying me for a stroll around the city? It's been so long since I've been to this city as well."

The young great witch said, lightly biting her lip, and in her gaze toward Xia De there was a certain quality that Xia De could not refuse.

So Xia De spent the entire Thursday morning strolling around the city with Miss Sylvia. They returned to Miss Bernanis's estate before lunch, and as the inventor of artificial fiber, Miss Sylvia took Xia De to her room again, changed into a black fabric, and asked Xia De to offer some opinions.

As a result, just as the two reached a crucial point in their conversation, Miss Sylvia was holding Xia De's hand to feel the texture, when Miss Bernanis, who had no habit of knocking at her own home, pushed the door open and walked in, telling them to come eat.

Xia De only learned later that Miss Sylvia had not spoken with Miss Bernanis at all that day.

In the afternoon, he went with Miss Aurora to a club in the city to discuss business. Xia De only then learned that the construction of the United Kingdom Navy's Southern Second Shipyard was also connected to the Aurora family.

Or rather, large shipyards on the Old Continent more or less all had the shadow of the Aurora family. In the evening, the witches and Xia De watched an opera together in a private box on the top floor of the Wyrde Opera House. When the opera ended, Xia De accepted the invitation to go to Miss Bernanis's estate, and together with the ladies in their nightclothes, held a nighttime tea party on the third floor of the estate, in Miss Bernanis's bedroom.

It was indeed very interesting, but with the number of petrification plague victims in the city increasing daily, fallen elementals prowling the wilderness outside the city, and the black mud flowing from the twisted earth source coursing across this land, Xia De felt it was still a bit off to be doing these things.

When he saw Luvia back to the Bountiful Earth Hotel that night, he mentioned his own view. The purple-eyed Miss bade Xia De farewell outside the hotel and gave him a light embrace:

"That's exactly why we say you're always wound up tight. Relaxing once in a while like today, isn't that nice?"

"But I already relaxed yesterday."

Xia De corrected her. Luvia pouted slightly, then reached out to straighten Xia De's collar for him. Although the nighttime temperature was rising every day, in Luvia's view Xia De was still just recovering from a serious illness and needed to pay extra attention to his health:

"The Randell Valley story is nearing its end. Relaxing a bit before the final decisive battle is perfectly normal. Your high fever scared me half to death. Actually, thinking about it carefully, you really haven't had much rest time. Once this matter is over and I return to Tobesk, in the spring of 1854, we won't do anything, and we won't worry about the next Chosen One. I'll keep you good company."

Standing on tiptoe, she kissed Xia De on the cheek:

"Hurry home. Dorothy might be waiting for you at home. I'll be feeling unwell for the next few days, so you don't need to stay in Randell Valley to keep me company."

She said gently. Xia De gazed into those purple eyes, and once again felt a pang of guilt within. (Little Mia running......)

"Long time no see, Xia De!"

On Friday, that is, the 28th day of the Month of Sparse Stars, the last day of February, early in the morning, when Xia De once again arrived at the Bountiful Earth Hotel, he spotted Yi Lu Na at a glance, sitting by the wall reading a newspaper. After all, whenever Yi Lu Na appeared in his field of vision, in Xia De's eyes it was as if all the light gathered toward her.

Yi Lu Na was currently wearing a plaid long dress with a southern flair, with silver pieces inlaid at the waist, and on her head a leaf-shaped hairpin ornament whose origin was unknown.

Because Xia De had eaten breakfast at home, it was already past eight in the morning. As Xia De took a seat across from the seventeen-year-old Miss, Yi Lu Na greeted him cheerfully:

"Luvia just left, she went to the Prophets' Association. She said the Association has something at noon, so she won't be coming back."

"Good morning, Yi Lu Na. Then let's meet up with Luvia in the evening. Was your journey smooth? I heard you ran into trouble along the way?"

Xia De also greeted her with a smile, and noticed that the copy of the Randell Morning Post Yi Lu Na was holding carried news about the first Randell flower of next week, about to be noticed by people, opening.

Every year, the first Randell flower discovered in bloom would be sent to City Hall and preserved in a display case in the main hall as proof of spring's arrival. The person who delivered the flower would receive a sizable bonus, and local citizens were very enthusiastic about this city tradition.

"Oh, we ran into some minor trouble on the way, but we handled it all. That little town really had no sense, daring to mess with us."

Yi Lu Na answered casually.

"Can you leave the church today? I thought the local diocese would assign you a task right away." Xia De added.

"It was my own request to wander around the city and see how things stand." She tossed the newspaper aside:

"There's no point in me staying at the church now. Those meetings are annoying but necessary, and I don't want to attend... I'll just read the minutes afterward. So, while the church holds its general assembly today, I slipped out on my own for a walk."

She added with a sigh:

"On the way here, besides that haunted little town, we also ran into the Mad Lands. Yes, right on the way here, none of us on the boat could completely resolve the problem. Even as the Chosen One of Balance, I can only ensure that I myself am unaffected when I step into that area, but I cannot reverse this distortion. Compared to the Lands, my power is still insufficient."

"I've heard that this week, five different cities have already reported news of the Mad Lands." Xia De added. Yi Lu Na nodded:

"Actually it's seven cities; two of them are in the countryside, too remote. If this keeps up, sooner or later the entire Old Continent will be infected by the Lands' curse. But fortunately there's a solution, and now we're just waiting for the final ritual... Looking at it this way, my assignment this time is simpler than the previous two. At Midhill Fort, it was like taking part in a major battle; the Pantanal incident was a forced march through that filthy swamp. Now I just need to stay in the city and wait for news. That's really nice."

"So, what do you think of Randell Valley? Compared to Tobesk?" Xia De asked with great interest. Yi Lu Na thought for a moment:

"The rumors say the weather here is always great, but coming here this time I realized Randell Valley's weather is just as terrible as Tobesk's! And the thick fog here, with the smell of rotten eggs and stinky cabbage leaves."

She was very dissatisfied with this.

"This is the influence brought by the Mad Lands. When I first arrived, there wasn't any heavy fog here yet." "I really hope to see the valley in spring; the scenery here is famous."

Yi Lu Na added, sneaking a glance at Xia De's expression:

"The church knew I wanted to wander around, so they showed me the task list they haven't dealt with yet."

Saying so, she pointed at the small bag placed against the wall:

"If I have time, I can handle some of them. It's a way to get to know Randell Valley's local customs while earning some bounty money for myself. I figured since I had nothing to do, wandering around the city might as well include looking into the city's problems, so..."

She continued to peek at Xia De. "Then let's go together," Xia De said:

"But I plan to go to Huntington tonight to visit that lady in the lake. So I can only stay in Randell Valley until around evening."

The "Lake of Cherubs" where the Lady of the Lake resided was generally only open before the sun had set, but Xia De believed he should be an exception.

"No problem."

Yi Lu Na suppressed her pleased expression:

"Then let's discuss where to go first. Although there are quite a few out-of-town high-ring mages supporting the locals, small teams pairing mid-ring and low-ring mages are still lacking, so most of the tasks I have here require a team to handle. Difficult, but not the kind of difficulty that absolutely requires a high-ring mage to step in. Let me pick..."

"... to resolve. Let me choose..."

She took out a rolled-up parchment from her small bag, skipped over tasks requiring travel to towns far outside the city, abandoned those boring ghost rumors, and finally selected one:

"This one looks like it really needs investigating. Let's go take a look. There have been reports in the city of missing flower girls recently."

"Oh? What's the specific situation?" Xia De's interest was also piqued.

"You know, most of the children selling flowers on the street are girls from poor families. When such children go missing, it's hard to immediately attract official attention. This time it was a local baron—let me check the surname—yes, Baron Bernsait's daughter, who wanted to try working as a flower girl, went out selling flowers on the street accompanied by her young maid, and then disappeared together with that young maid. It was the disappearance of a noble young lady that prompted the local police bureau to launch a thorough investigation, and through it they learned of a string of similar recent incidents."

Yi Lu Na said. Xia De frowned slightly:

"It wouldn't be another case like that child trafficking case in Tobesk last summer, would it?" Xia De had been shot in the street because of that incident, so the memory was still fresh.

"No, no." Yi Lu Na shook her head:

"The missing children generally return in about a week. Apart from mild malnutrition and symptoms of blood loss, they suffered no other harm, and even their clothes were still the same set from before they disappeared. However, they all lose the memory of that week. Because the flower girls are all quite young, strong memory restoration isn't suitable, as it might damage their brains, so there hasn't been much investigative progress so far."