Chapter 2022: Shipwreck Wreckage

It was clearly said at Miss Galina's place a few days ago that he wouldn't meet a witch so soon, but this sentence became a boomerang on Friday night, hitting Xia De himself.

Although a little embarrassed, Xia De still went to the manor outside the city early Saturday morning to find Miss Galina and explained that he had already met that Miss Belindel.

The Duchess, who was eating breakfast and listening to Xia De, had already narrowed her eyes and laughed after Xia De finished speaking:

"I told you long ago that encounters with witches are a fate you cannot avoid. Current witches, ancient witches, you can't escape."

Actually, there are also "past" witches. Xia De already knew these three parts of witches.

"Please don't tease me."

Xia De sat opposite the long table holding Little Mia. Before coming, they had already eaten breakfast at home, but it seemed that the cat still wanted to eat some more:

"This time I learned the lesson from the Randall Valley. As long as I don't let her find out that I am a man, what can happen even if I meet the great witch of fate? She asked me to see her on Sunday, probably to give me some tricky tasks. This is also good, I can also reasonably borrow the power of the Belindel family."

"Remember what you are saying now, I hope you don't regret it."

The red-haired Duchess said, and then looked at the cat in Xia De's arms with pity:

"Look at it, it's really pitiful, can't you let it eat something?"

"Don't be fooled by Little Mia, this cat has eaten enough breakfast."

Xia De shook his head and continued the topic:

"Please tell Miss Bernice to be prepared to deal with Miss Belindel's questioning and don't expose my identity. In addition, are there any precautions for getting along with this witch?"

Miss Galina signaled Tifa to say:

"Tell Xia De."

So the black-haired maid answered responsibly:

"Just as the lady once said, Miss Belindel trusts divination quite a bit. So if she throws coins or draws divination cards when communicating with you, please don't mind. Besides that, Miss Belindel is a lady who is quite easy to get along with. As long as you don't accuse her divination of being wrong, Miss Belindel generally won't lose her temper."

"Then is her divination definitely correct?"

Xia De asked again, and the Duchess shook her head:

"Didn't Luweiya tell you? The correctness of divination is sometimes not the most important thing. What is important is how to interpret the divination results. I admit that Belindel is a very capable diviner, but compared to her, I trust Luweiya more. She is more in line with our identity as a genius diviner."

She paused and added:

"There are thirteen seats in the council. Before Sylvia was promoted, she was a tenth-rank like Grandma Cassandra, so they are the twelfth and thirteenth seats. Belindel is an eleventh-rank, the tenth seat. Her own combat power is not strong. Among all the eleventh-rank great witches, she can be considered the bottom. In many actions of the council, she is only an auxiliary role."

"Is she the weakest eleventh-rank great witch?"

"She can be considered the second to last. The weakest one has some physical problems, so there is no need to consider her combat power. In short, if you say that Luweiya has other wonderful means besides divination, but Belindel is really specialized in divination. Although it is not that she will not fight at all, in short, she is just very weak."

She evaluated without hesitation, and then gave Xia De an idea:

"If you fight fairly, you are a seven-ring, she is an eleventh-rank, you may not be able to beat her in a normal state. But her divination is likely invalid for you. In the case of a sneak attack, it should be no problem to subdue her. I can't say for sure about Belindel's attitude towards men. She is always mysterious and is not the kind of witch who is willing to reveal her life.

So if you are identified by her, you can directly sneak attack her, and then kidnap her to the secret ancient dragon nest you mentioned. I think you have the means to make her submit."

"In your eyes, am I this kind of person?"

Xia De knew she was teasing. No matter how close her relationship with Xia De was, she wouldn't allow Xia De to use this means to deal with council colleagues. The maids all laughed lightly, and the Duchess of course also revealed a smile:

"I know you have the means to deal with witches. I even believe that even if you are tied up all over, with only your mouth left to move, you can coax a witch. Now it's Saturday, only three days have passed since you arrived in Moon Bay, but you have already met the witch of fate. Let us wait and see when you will tell me that Belindel has not been able to escape your palm."

This time even Tifa revealed a smile. Xia De stroked the restless cat and didn't know what to say.

"But you came just in time, I also have something to find you."

After breakfast, Miss Galina took Xia De to the study and handed him a document bag:

"Data on the 'Radiant Messenger' cruise ship, I have already found it. You are very lucky. Although most of the ships of the 5th Era have disappeared in the years, the Radiant Messenger lying on the seabed still exists in our era."

"That's really... what?"

Xia De looked up at her quite unexpectedly:

"Wait a minute, you said the wreckage of that ship still exists?"

He frowned slightly:

"But how is this possible? That ship sank in a mysterious sea area called the 'Sea of No Light', how could it return to reality... Is it because I did something later? But this is not right either. Even if that ship used the best alloy steel of that era, and even had its keel treated by a witch invited at a high price, how could the wreckage still exist after so many years in the water? Miss Theresa and the others said that the ship was not manufactured by alchemy technology, but just an ordinary industrial product."

The marine environment is different from the land environment. If it is a certain wreckage buried deep underground, there is a possibility of existence after being closed for thousands of years, but the wreckage of a ship in the sea shouldn't have much left after hundreds of years.

So Xia De made a guess:

"Radiant Messenger, turned into a relic?"

"Of course not, otherwise when you mentioned this to me last time, I should have thought of it. This kind of relic turned from items in the late 5th Era, because the origin is relatively easy to find, so I should remember them all."

She signaled Xia De to open the document bag:

"Around 1380 in the 6th Era, which is more than 400 years ago, people accidentally discovered an ancient ship wreckage in the sea off the West Coast. It's just that limited by the technology at that time, it was difficult to explore what was going on with the shipwreck wreckage in the trench. More than a hundred years later, the wreckage of that shipwreck was still in that position, and it didn't look like it had changed much. The church therefore had similar doubts to yours, believing that this was not a normal phenomenon, so around 1500, they sent five batches of Ringed Shushi to explore, and finally confirmed that the ship came from the 5th Era."

Xia De opened the document bag while listening. The data inside was not much.

"You know, the council is very interested in the relics of the witch emperors of the 5th Era, so the great witch of fate at that time also went to explore this matter and left the name 'Radiant Messenger' in the council's data. The council's data shows that because the wreckage of that shipwreck, except for not rotting in seawater, had no other abnormalities, the church did not carry out other treatments on the wreckage. Around 1530, they used a semi-permanent illusion ritual to cover up the location of the wreckage and took a few pieces of wooden deck back for research."

Xia De had already seen those black and white photos of the wooden boards.

"Later it was confirmed that the wooden boards separated from the ship's body would gradually lose the characteristic of being extremely difficult to rot, and this characteristic is not replicable. So more than two hundred years after bringing back the wooden boards, which is around 1800, two of the wooden boards were verified to be completely safe and separated from the monitoring and containment sequence. Later, the ownership of those ancient objects changed several times and was donated to the City Ship Museum as 'ancient ship wreckage' for display."

"Those two wooden boards are still in the museum?"

Xia De asked, and the witch nodded gently, so he asked again:

"That museum, wouldn't it be the Ship Museum of Moon Bay City?"

The witch nodded again with a smile, so he asked again:

"Then is the location of the wreckage of the Radiant Messenger very close to Moon Bay?"

Compared to two wooden boards, obviously the overall wreckage is the most valuable.

"It takes about four or five days to travel by boat, which depends on the weather. Plus the time you explore the underwater shipwreck wreckage, it will take half a month to go back and forth. Moreover, the council does not record the specific location of the wreckage. Even if you are really willing to spend time going to sea, I am afraid you have to determine where the ship is first. By the way, or you can bet on whether you can find the entrance to the 【Space Maze】 near that ship."

Xia De didn't intend to try the last suggestion. Although he didn't know the distribution law of those hidden spaces, he instinctively felt that even if he used the relic that increased luck again, he wouldn't encounter the target entrance.

As for spending half a month going to sea, this not only requires determining the target location first, but also preparing a reliable ship and a batch of reliable sailors for himself. Although it is not impossible to inquire about the location, and Miss Aurora is probably willing to help with preparing the ship and sailors, the problem is that these all take time.

Seeing Xia De thinking, the red-haired witch said with a smile:

"You should explore the Moon Bay area well. You can check the wooden boards in the museum yourself. As for the location of the shipwreck and the method of going to sea, I and other ladies will help you think of a way. If you are afraid of delaying time, let Xiwei find you in Moon Bay after she finishes her work, and take you to fly over, or Vanessa should also have time." ===== CHAPTER 2023 =====

"You should just focus on exploring the Moon Bay area. Go check the floorboards in the museum yourself. As for the location of the shipwreck and how to get out to sea, the other ladies and I will help you figure it out. If you're afraid of wasting time, just have Xi Wei find you in Moon Bay once she's finished with her current business and fly you over, or Vanessa should have time as well."