Chapter 1982: People Returning Home

"It is Friday, the 30th of the Month of Rain Prayer, 6:13 AM."

Xia De calculated the time in his heart, then opened his arms. Amidst Helen's laughter, the pair of red butterflies turned into girls wearing black and white dresses, falling onto the bed.

Their weight was not very heavy, but the vibration of the bed caused by the fall still made the squatting Little Mia fly up as if she had left the bed surface out of thin air. It could be seen that the cat was in a bad mood, but fortunately, this bed had been replaced during a "certain" accident in the past and was now sturdy and durable, so there would be no more collapses or the like.

"Good morning, Grace, Helen..."

The butterflies did not give Xia De a chance to greet them. Helen hugged Xia De's neck and kissed him, while Grace on the other side, while asking her sister to be a little more reserved, invited Xia De to have breakfast at the Cassandra Auction House in a while:

"Good morning, sir. Breakfast is probably at eight o'clock. We arrived at the Mid-Hill Fort train station last night."

Helen also let go of Xia De, with a full smile on her face:

"But sir, before breakfast, do you want to eat some desserts?"

Grace hugged her sister helplessly from behind, but also smiled and said to Xia De:

"Butterfly-flavored small desserts, two are enough, right?"

The butterflies, reunited after a "long separation," showed full enthusiasm. Because of this, Xia De held Helen and Grace's hands, with the unhappy cat on his shoulder, and didn't reach the Cassandra Auction House in Mid-Hill Fort until 8:10, but they still made it for breakfast.

After breakfast, Xia De chatted with Grandma Cassandra and the red butterfly sisters about meeting Miss Feilian on Wednesday and wanted them to help find the 【Hope Diamond】 as well.

Searching for Unknowable-level relics takes time, but the Cassandra Auction House has plenty of antiques related to ancient stories. After breakfast, the young witch apprentice with flaxen hair took Xia De to the warehouse to pick. This time, the number of antiques faced was more than all the antiques Xia De had tried so far combined.

But even so, only one item triggered the effect of the "Butterfly Card" in the end. This fully shows how low the probability is of what is mentioned in Laplace Klein's alchemy notes: "items meeting the requirements are extremely rare."

The antique found in the warehouse was also an ancient alchemy item, and it was an alchemy item from the Fourth Era. Being able to be preserved until now is not only because of the superb skills of ancient alchemists, but also because this thing was sealed in an ancient tomb and was not discovered until more than ten years ago.

It was a hemp rope about 10 feet (about 3m) long, controlled by special techniques, and could be made to bind enemies like manipulating a snake. But in general, it was useless; spells like "Living Rope Trick" could simply replace its effect.

The true value of this rope lies in the fact that it was a prop once used by the elf hero in the ancient heroic legend "Forest Wind Song." This point has been proven from that ancient tomb—the tomb owner was a close friend of the story's protagonist prototype.

Because of this, Xia De made a "Butterfly Card" in each of the six cities he could reach, except for Tobesk.

"Could it be that one city can only produce one card? What kind of strange rule is this?"

But the current five cards are enough for Dorothy and Princess Lei Qianya to use. The writer lady and the princess are currently at the Sixth Ring, and the trend of mutual fusion has slowed down significantly due to the Chosen ritual. As long as Xia De can make "Butterfly Cards" in the future, their problems don't need to be worried about.

Of course, since he came to Mid-Hill Fort today, Xia De did not forget to buy a train ticket to the town where Miss Gao De was.

That lady's address could be found from the envelopes sent every month. And the coastal town adjacent to Lake Tiss was indeed remote; the postman wouldn't even come to the door in person, and the letters had to be sent from the neighboring "Sacrifice Town" every time.

There was no direct train from Mid-Hill Fort to Miss Gao De's family town. But Xia De didn't have a sudden whim to take this trip, so he had made travel plans in advance.

He bought a ticket from Mid-Hill Fort to the city of "Sunrise City," Yastra, in the eastern coastal area of Delarion, then transferred to a train heading north, got off at Sacrifice Town, and then walked or took a carriage to Miss Gao De's remote hometown.

It was really difficult for Xia De to find specific news about that town. Except for a small amount of news he could get from Miss Gao De's letters every month, he couldn't even find the location of that town on most maps—maps couldn't mark human settlements at the town level.

This time, he was even prepared to get lost halfway through the trip. And the departure time of the ticket he bought was next Friday. Seeing that Sunday would be the Month of Sunshine, which is June. He planned to welcome Doctor Schneider and Priest Ao Gu Si back first, give some instructions to Dulut Giles about his future life, then receive Miss Gao De's letter at the beginning of the month, and then deal with matters at home at the beginning of the month before setting off.

"Anyway, I don't plan to do anything else for the next month. This trip should go very smoothly, right?

If the road is broken, I can walk over it myself; if there is an earthquake or landslide, I can fly over it; if a large number of monsters appear due to space instability or the earth becoming filthy, causing the Church to block the road, I will find a Great Witch to set off with me. I don't believe this visit can be delayed again."

His travel plan was naturally told to the girls around him, because this was not the first time Xia De said he was going to visit Miss Gao De, so the girls had no objections, just instructed Xia De not to run around, come home after visiting, and not to fight with others over the ownership of the cat.

When welcoming the priest and doctor home at the train station on Saturday, Xia De even told them about his plan to travel again. Originally, the doctor wanted to instruct Xia De, as the summer exam week was getting closer and closer. But when he heard that Xia De was doing this to obtain custody of Little Mia, and thought of the relationship between Xia De and his pet cat, the doctor immediately understood him;

"Seeing your determination so firm, I can only wish you luck... Go early and return early, remember to bring us travel souvenirs."

As for Dulut Giles and Last Edward, who also returned from Green Lake City, Xia De sent them back to the apartment where they lived and made an agreement with him using the Miracle-Oath Binding:

"You will keep all the secrets you learned in Green Lake City and not reveal anyone's identity information. You will spend your life accompanying Last Edward, and even death cannot separate you."

The heavy oath represented a very profound meaning, but he still held Xia De's hand and said the oath amidst the joy of the girl's soul.

From now on, he will stay in Tobesk and continue his career as a history lecturer. Perhaps one day in the future, Xia De will meet him on the street again while walking the cat. Xia De hopes that this is the end of their story.

Although the doctor and priest returned on Saturday morning, a small group meeting was still held in the afternoon. Because everyone had been away for many days and delayed many things, this day's small group meeting also took a lot of time.

The doctor, of course, would not forget to remind others about the summer exams. Although that was at the end of July, nearly two months away from now, in the doctor's view, two months would pass in the blink of an eye:

"Since Xia De joined our group, everyone's level improvement has been smooth, but we cannot forget theory classes and cultural classes. We are not lunatics who only know how to fight and kill. Although the summer exam week is not a promotion exam, for the sake of the winter exam week not long after, please everyone work hard in the past month."

"Doctor, can the winter exam week also be called 'not long after'?"

The writer lady asked, and the doctor nodded seriously:

"For any exam, as long as we feel slack, the time to open and close our eyes, the exam will come... I even think this is the effect of some undiscovered relic."

The other four people only participated in the summer exam week normally, but Miss Danister had already arranged for Xia De to skip from the current fourth grade to the sixth grade... although he was actually already at the Seventh Ring.

As for the study course this Saturday night, it was naturally carried out normally. Dorothy followed Xia De home after the small group meeting, ate dinner, sat on the sofa, talked to Xia De about the butterfly cards and the "Labyrinth-Clock Tower Lovers," and then put her right hand on Xia De's leg.

"Didn't you say you wanted to rest for a while? Miss Lu Yisha also gave you a long-overdue holiday. We won't learn new stories this week. Xia De, can you continue to call me 'Teacher Lu Yisha' in a while?"

The blonde girl asked with a smile, and after communicating with Princess Lei Qianya, a pair of small gold-rimmed glasses appeared in her hand:

"This new talent is really easy to use."

Once decided to relax, life suddenly became incomparably leisurely. Although there was still the task of going to the old Edward mansion to look through research materials, reading books could always kill time quickly. Sometimes when Xia De buried his head at the desk, by the time he looked out the window again, it was already dusk.

The day after the doctor and priest returned, which was Sunday, was the Month of Sunshine, the first day of June 1854. The Outlander also came to this world at the end of this month last year.

But no matter how much he sighed, life always had to continue steadily. Dealing with daily chores, dating the girls, reading and studying, going to St. Byrons to attend Miss Danister's elective course through the projection ritual, all made life still very fulfilling.

On the second day of June, Tifa brought a convoy to deliver furniture for Xia De's new room on the third floor. Because that room could not be known to others, the maid ladies spent a day personally decorating the room for Xia De, installing compressed gas tanks, gas lamps, and curtains, hanging oil paintings, and helping to repaint the walls by the way.

They even helped Xia De move the potions and alchemy workshop from the basement to the upstairs without letting Xia De do it himself. And the reward they asked for was just dinner with Xia De at the table in the new room that night, with eight maid ladies.

And after dinner, the beautiful black-haired head maid went to Xia De's second-floor bedroom alone, saying she wanted to check on the "Luminous Pocket Watch" that the detective took out of the gift box this morning.

This was truly a wonderful holiday. ===== CHAPTER 1983 =====