Chapter 1397

And so, on the sixth day of the Month of Rising Winds, Margaret Anjou officially completed the task for the "Witch of the Earth," Vanessa Benanice, and became a Witch's apprentice. The conflict and friction between the Randel Valley Stonemasons' Association and the Anjou royal family were finally resolved through various exchanges of interests, mediation, and the "help" of cultists.

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Xia De sighed with emotion, wondering what kind of events he would encounter at the Osenfort Manor at this time tomorrow night.

However, before Xia De could voice his thoughts, he heard "her" voice:

【Earthquake.】

Ripples appeared in the wine glass in Xia De's hand, followed by the entire house shaking. Fortunately, because earthquakes had been frequent in the Randel Valley region recently, people were not overly panicked.

Everyone evacuated to the outdoor courtyard in an orderly fashion. The lightly dressed ladies leaned against their male companions for warmth, while servants distributed warm towels and a few extra garments among the people evacuated to the courtyard.

Miss Benanice refused the coat Margaret had sent over, handing it instead to a young girl Xia De didn't recognize, leaving the young girl somewhat at a loss.

"Look over there."

Miss Sylvia said suddenly, and at the same time, the crowd noticed the anomaly in the night sky.

Xia De looked up at the eastern sky. Under the pitch-black night, it looked as if a transparent curtain had been lowered from the air, or like constantly flickering flames frozen in the night. Dreamlike colors appeared in the distance of the sky, winding and beautiful, looking almost like a transparent, colorful mountain had appeared under the night sky.

"Aurora."

Miss Lathers said softly:

"I've lived in Randel Valley for so many years, and I've never heard of us having auroras here."

The other guests in the courtyard also noticed the strange colors in the eastern sky, and the discussion about the scenery dispelled the chill of the late winter night.

"A precursor to a major earthquake."

Miss Benanice said quite firmly:

"I can feel the restlessness of the earth even just by closing my eyes. It's almost as if... we are standing on an active volcano, and the eruption is coming soon."

"In about 30 hours."

Xia De said softly:

"I met the Guardian just now, and he told me that the fourth stage of the Mad Earth will appear early Saturday morning."

"30 hours left?"

Miss Sylvia narrowed her eyes slightly:

"Time is really tight... Let's return to Benanice's manor; there's no point in staying here any longer."

"Alright."

There were quite a few guests who wanted to leave at this time, and the most important part of the banquet was already over, so it wasn't appropriate to continue in such an anxious atmosphere. Xia De said goodbye to Margaret and left with the other three ladies.

However, they weren't going back by carriage; Miss Sylvia intended to open a portal and leave directly. For short-distance teleportation within a city like this, as long as there were no other people within a hundred meters, there was no need to worry about being detected.

Of course, Miss Sylvia had been able to perform such short-range spatial teleportation before, but only after obtaining that strange enlightenment 【Weaving】 could she ensure 99.9% safety. Moreover, the destination needed to be arranged in advance; it wasn't something she could just do on a whim.

The group of four arrived at the temporarily deserted back garden. As the young black-haired Witch raised her right hand and chanted a spell, amidst the sound of shattering glass, a vortex of overlapping gold and black appeared before the low wall of the manor's back garden:

"Let's go."

Miss Sylvia, Miss Benanice, and Miss Lathers walked in one by one. Xia De followed last, but before stepping into the vortex, he turned his head one last time, looking past the brightly lit manor mansion under the shadow of the moon toward the eastern night sky with the aurora:

"Finally, it's reached the end."

"She" smiled gently:

【Present World · Sixth Era, Common Calendar 1854, late winter, Month of Rising Winds.

The colorful aurora reflects in your pupils, and the cold night wind howls at you about the coming calamity. You, who have been running through this city where ancient bloodlines spread, have finally glimpsed the final truth amidst the conspiracies of demons and cultists. The kingdom's bloodline has completed its task, and the girl chasing her father's footsteps has also seen the end of the road. Next is the final chapter of the valley's story. Outsider, you who tread upon the earth, when lions and brown bears run through the valley's mountains and forests, when the evil ones in black robes wait in the shadows, and when the loveless one with a heart of stone prays silently, what choice will you ultimately make?】

"You saying it like that really spikes my tension."

Xia De muttered softly, then turned and walked toward the portal. With another sound of shattering glass, the black-gold vortex shrank and disappeared, leaving only the silent night, as if frozen in the time of this great catastrophe.

The news provided by the Guardians about the Randel Valley disaster early Saturday morning, the fossil resurrection, and the issues with himself was still passed by Miss Benanice to the Witch Council, and then the Council contacted the Church of the Five Gods to pass the message along.

Just as Miss Benanice said, if she hadn't found Xia De and repeatedly shown that she had a close male companion, the Church would likely have locked onto her as a suspect during their secret investigation of the Witches before long.

As for Xia De, after returning to the Witch's manor on Thursday night, he told the Witches about his meeting with the Guardian again tonight. Because Xia De had already inferred from his experiences in the Past · Sixth Era that the Guardian would definitely have problems before the Chosen One ritual, and had stated his speculation, the Witches at the manor were not very surprised by this result.

The intensity of the upcoming Battle of Randel Valley would likely be no less than the Battle of Mid-Hill Fort late last autumn. Because of the outstanding performance of the Great Witches during the Battle of the Pantanal Swamp last year, the Witch Council had already negotiated with the Orthodox Churches. The Churches would hire them, allowing the Witches to join the ranks of those protecting the city, just like the Spiritual Cult during the Descent of Darkness in Tobesk, and the Apuna Library that helped guard the Narrow Gap during the Battle of Mid-Hill Fort.

Xia De went to the manor on Friday night, and the chaos and disaster would arrive early Saturday morning. Even though the Witches had to assist the Church, leading to a shortage of manpower, Miss Aurora, Miss Benanice, Miss Galina, and Miss Sylvia still decided that at least one person must wait for Xia De's news outside Osenfort Manor tomorrow.

The final choice was Miss Sylvia, who possessed spatial powers. This way, even if the manor were pulled into a subspace by demons, Miss Sylvia could find a way to rescue Xia De.

Thus, the friends who would appear near the manor tomorrow to help Xia De, in addition to Sister Dvelin, Miss Marilyn Handel, Joy Barton, and Doctor Schneider, now included one more person.

And Xia De actually felt that perhaps he alone would be enough.

That night, Benanice Manor was brightly lit, and the group discussed the plan until very late. Although Miss Benanice strongly invited Xia De to spend the night at her manor, Xia De chose to return to his home in Tobesk.

It wasn't that the manor's environment was inferior to 6 St. Theresa Square, but only by sleeping at 6 St. Theresa Square could Xia De feel he was sleeping soundly.

No girls came to stay the night at home tonight. Xia De tidied up alone, packed the artifacts and materials he needed to take to Randel Valley tomorrow, and then washed up and went to bed early.

Little Mia lay peacefully beside Xia De's pillow. Although it was very unfair to the cat, Xia De decided to take Mia with him to Osenfort Manor tomorrow. The time key from the autumn of 3028 in the Fifth Era still had one last chance remaining. Since he wasn't sure if he would need to travel through the City of Eternal Night again, it was necessary to bring the cat, who served as a lighting device.

Xia De knew how cruel it was to take this weak, pitiful, and helpless cat with him to a manor occupied by demonic forces. Therefore, on a night he went to sleep with a heavy heart, he had another quite bizarre dream.

In the dream, he was walking alone with a candlestick through the pitch-black corridors of the 【Night Manor】, similar to the one where the God of Vampires held his banquet. And in front of the door at the very end of the corridor, Xia De's own corpse was lying there.

He walked up to take a closer look, but the corpse reached out and threw Xia De, who was leaning in, into the bottomless abyss inside the door behind it. And in the process of falling, Xia De saw something glowing at the bottom of the abyss.

It was Mia, Mia looking majestic like a big tiger. She was wearing the golden armor sent by Miss Mia San Gaude, and the way she wagged her tail was like the sun falling into the abyss.

Golden Mia flew toward the falling Xia De, but instead of saving him, she slapped Xia De on the chest with a paw.

That slap in the dream didn't cause any obvious pain, but the intense shock still woke Xia De up:

"Oh, my god~"

The Outsider, startled awake from the nightmare, sat up abruptly from his bed. As he gasped for air, looked at the bedroom scene, and recalled the dream, he saw the soft cat rolling off his chest onto the quilt at his waist due to his movement.

After the cat struggled to stand up, she looked at him with a reproachful gaze.

Perhaps because of the dream just now, as Xia De looked at the cat's large amber eyes staring at him, he suddenly felt that the gaze was even somewhat inexplicably... alluring.

"Oh, what am I thinking?"

He froze for a moment, then slapped his face hard and looked at the window; outside the curtains, it was almost still night. At the end of winter, the night was still very long, and even though it was already six in the morning, the night was still just as heavy.