Chapter 2076

Seeing Xia De arrive, the blonde lady on the sofa greeted him lazily.

"You look very tired?"

"Yes, the City Council cannot do without the Belindell family. We enjoy rights, and we also have obligations... Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"What?"

The look in her eyes as she gazed at him was truly indescribable. Xia De had wanted to say that he had just eaten, but somehow he nodded:

"Alright, thank you for your invitation."

So twenty minutes later, Xia De saw Lady Belindell—the witch's mother—as well as Miss Belindell's two younger sisters and a cousin, who also lived there, in the dining room of the Belindell Manor.

According to Miss Belindell, they didn't know about her identity as a witch. As for their daughter/sister not liking to interact with men, they all thought it was because Bella Belindell actually had a unique hobby of liking beautiful girls.

Therefore, when a strange man appeared at the dinner table today and was allowed to sit on the Countess's right hand, the Belindell family showed great astonishment.

When introducing Xia De to her family, Miss Belindell didn't say Xia De was a "cousin" again, but called Xia De a "business partner":

"Princess Margaret chose us as business partners in Moon Bay. Yes, those are the products I brought out the other day. This gentleman is the liaison sent by Her Highness, and he should be frequenting this house often in the near future."

In Miss Belindell's view, Miss Sylvia also knew about the "man" matter, so there was no problem with giving this identity to "John Watson," and it could even give Xia De a reasonable reason to appear here.

It was just that she blushed a little when mentioning Miss Sylvia's "products," and she quietly glanced at Xia De, finding that Xia De was not unusual, because he was talking to the old Lady Belindell.

"Young man, are you from Willowdale? Do you rent a house or have your own house? Do you have any relatives at home? Oh, you look so young, a few years younger than Bella..."

"Oh! Mother!"

Even a witch can be shy.

After Xia De had eaten his second dinner, he finally had the opportunity to ask about Miss Belindell's condition in the study.

The curtains were drawn, and the gas lamp on the wall was adjusted to the dimmest mode. Only the floor-standing gas lamp behind the sofa and the gas desk lamp on the grand desk in the distance shone with bright, warm yellow light. Sitting down to chat in this environment after dinner, the atmosphere was still quite good.

"I feel pretty good."

The Countess sat on the long sofa, and Xia De sat on the short sofa on the east side. She pressed her right shoulder and moved it slightly:

"I am taking the potion you gave me on time, and I haven't dreamed of strange things in the past two days. On the contrary, the existence of this relic makes me feel that my spirit is recovering rapidly at all times. And after night falls, I feel that my spiritual perception is sharper than ever before."

She opened her right palm, and a clear yellow ball of light appeared in her palm. That ambiguous, dim light was clearly the light of the moon, and before this, Miss Belindell did not have the moon talent:

"I can now understand why the 【Truth Society】 wants to study ways to integrate relics with the human body. This way of gaining power is much simpler than what Ringed Shushis normally learn."

"Please don't think like that. If it weren't for the fact that there are still those alien light sources in your body, constantly resisting the power of the relic, I would never have taken the relic out."

Xia De said hurriedly, and the witch naturally knew what he meant:

"Don't worry, I won't lose my mind for the sake of power."

As she spoke, she pressed her shoulder again:

"This power comes easily, but in the end, a price must be paid. I am a diviner, and I know better than anyone that if you gain something, you must pay a price. Fate has always been fair."

She sighed, sitting on the sofa with a rather mournful expression:

"How is it, has there been any new progress in the investigation?"

"Yes, I have gained a lot from following Freeman Hawthorne."

Xia De briefly talked about his encounter on the ship last night and mentioned the dragon egg fossil:

"Although his memory has been cleared, I have already contacted Siris in Willowdale, I mean Miss Lathers. She is an expert in memory manipulation, so there should be no problem."

The Countess nodded, having no opinion on this:

"But what does Hawthorne want with a dragon egg fossil? You have met the Ringed Shushi that the Hawthorne family is in contact with, and you should know that although the other party's methods are flashy, they actually have no real ability."

Xia De remembered that the man was good at using hats to perform various strange arts.

"Before you came to Moon Bay, I investigated that Ringed Shushi when I was competing for the relic 【Unique Existence】. He is not a member of the 【Dragon Feast Sect】 and has nothing to do with the cultists... Speaking of which, could he just be a smokescreen put on the surface by the Hawthorne family? Matilda~"

The blonde maid brought the crystal ball, the witch whispered a spell, brushed her right hand over the surface of the crystal ball, and stared at the white mist swirling inside, frowning slightly:

"Interesting, either they are hiding very well, or Hawthorne has not directly contacted the 【Dragon Feast Sect】, but those cultists have used other means to indirectly utilize them... I was originally planning to go directly to the church to report them if I could get evidence."

She picked at the hair hanging by her ear and looked at Xia De again:

"Since that's the case, you should continue to investigate along this line. However, I haven't been idle here either. After retrieving that golden dragon scale and the poem fragment, I made a separate report to the Speaker. The Speaker compared that new fragment with other fragments collected by the Council and found the preceding and following sentences that could connect to it. Other witches don't know about this, and it will be explained at the meeting tonight."

"May I ask what the specific content is?"

Xia De asked immediately, and the witch smiled and narrowed her eyes. The lipid-red birthmark between her eyebrows looked even more charming under the gas lamp:

"The sentence we got is: The dragon that breaks the shell, seven-colored dragon scales. And the content after completion is roughly: After the ancient god - 【Radiant Dragon】 left, its scales once existed in the material world..."

"So, collecting seven colored dragon scales to transform oneself into a dragon is the Chosen One ritual this time?"

Xia De guessed, and the witch, who had deliberately paused to give Xia De a chance to interrupt, continued to smile and say:

"I knew you would think so, of course it wouldn't be so simple and direct. But before telling you the answer, I want to mention an ancient legend: the ancient god - 【Radiant Dragon】 is the legendary first dragon. All dragons that followed are its kin, created from its scales and flesh."

"The thirteen ancient gods were originally the first gods. The birth of dragons could not have been earlier than the gods, so this legend should be the truth."

Xia De agreed, and the witch continued to narrate:

"Since dragons were created from the scales and flesh of the ancient gods, does it mean for dragons that obtaining the scales and flesh of that first dragon could make them closer to the posture of the ancient gods?"

Xia De thought:

"There is some truth to it... It sounds like some kind of 'bloodline purification ritual'."

He remembered that the eggshell book he obtained in the "Eternal Night City" recorded a similar dragon bloodline purification ritual. However, Xia De was in a hurry to wake up Fiona at the time, so he didn't look at it carefully. Later, the eggshell book should have returned to Fiona's hands, but there was no trace of this book in St. Byrons in the Sixth Era.

"Alright, the basic information has been supplemented, let's get back to the point. It's a pity that the poem fragment does not correspond to the information of the Chosen One ritual, at least not entirely. It corresponds to the identity of the Chosen One: a newborn dragon, referring to a dragon less than 300 years old, or a short-lived human related to dragons. The Speaker believes that this scope is quite broad, not only dragon-born, but as long as they possess dragon-related power, it is fine."

"Then all members of the Dragon Feast Sect meet the conditions."

Xia De thought of the Ringed Shushi he had fought with, who had black dragon scale marks on his face.

Miss Belindell nodded and continued:

"Seven-colored dragon scales, according to the context, refer to the need to possess more than one type of dragon power. The ancient god - Radiant Dragon represents pure white light. White light split and combined to form many other colors, forming dragons of different colors, such as red dragons, black dragons, silver dragons, brass dragons, star-colored dragons, etc. Therefore, the talents and powers possessed by dragons of different races are different.

The sentence 'seven-colored dragon scales' actually means that this Chosen One must have the ability to accommodate and use the power of dragons of different races, rather than only being able to use the power of one type of dragon. Seven colors is a general term, meaning many."

The development of physics today has long made people realize the concept of the spectrum.

"Accommodating the power of dragons of different races, thereby allowing different colors to fuse, closer to the original light? Indeed, so the fragments we obtained do point to rich content... Must one achieve the fusion of many dragon powers, or is it enough to have this potential, but not necessarily really fuse the dragons?"

Xia De asked curiously, but this time Miss Belindell shook her head gently:

"This is not clear. I think this should involve the content of the Chosen One ritual, and the Council does not have this part of the fragment."

After finishing, she asked Xia De curiously:

"Then, you who possess a special fate, do you have dragon power?"

"Yes, but only one type of 'Red Dragon Power', which can enhance my physical strength... Wait, you don't think I might be the Chosen One, do you?"

Xia De finally reacted, and the witch nodded as a matter of course:

"Of course I suspect it, after all, a special fate doesn't just appear casually. And that dragon glove of yours is obviously not something that an ordinary dragon-born girl could give. I've heard others say that Chosen Ones all have very unique talents, and I think your strength and charm might just be unique talents."

"But I can't be the Chosen One."

"Why?"

The witch blinked:

"How did you reach this conclusion?"

"Someone has divined for me. Anyone could be the Chosen One, but I couldn't be."

Xia De told the truth, but Miss Belindell covered her mouth and chuckled:

"What kind of strange statement is this? You weren't deceived by a lousy diviner, were you? Alright, alright, don't be so nervous, I just put forward a point of view, it's really hard to say whether you are or not. But speaking of divination, I would really like to meet the diviner who divined for you and refute her absurd conclusion in person. All extraordinary lives in this world could be Chosen Ones, does that person have some prejudice against you?"