Chapter 2182

Because John Flynn sent a letter to Xia De early Tuesday morning saying that he had helped Xia De acquire a brand new time key, Xia De arrived in Moon Bay a bit late this Tuesday morning.

He had to attend the King's birthday banquet in Tobesk at night, which was of course also the important Red Butterfly Day, so Xia De planned not to come over in the afternoon, and visiting Moon Bay in the morning was just to not miss the latest news.

He thought nothing would happen overnight, at most it would just be another victim of "lightification". He didn't expect that after arriving at the witch's manor, he found that the atmosphere was a bit wrong. The maid ladies and servants working in the manor were all sleepy. Even those elf girls who were real ring warlocks were sleepy.

Although Miss Matilda, who led Xia De to the study, tried to stay energetic, when they reached the third floor and passed through the corridor, and the maid who was holding a quilt to dry yawned, the blond maid chief couldn't help but yawn softly too.

She raised her hand to cover her mouth and looked straight ahead, determined not to look at Xia De's expression at this time. But Xia De, who was following behind her, clearly saw that half of her face and her entire ears were stained with a blush.

After entering the study, Xia De didn't use "Moon Bay is so cold today, it won't snow again, right?" to exchange pleasantries, because in the study, besides Miss Belinder, there was also the little unicorn curled up on the cushion, and Emilia who was sleeping on the unicorn.

Miss Matilda took a blanket to cover the elf girl. Emilia rubbed the unicorn's spine fur with her eyes closed, and then continued to sleep soundly. After the silence spell was placed beside Emilia, the witch, who was also not very energetic, said to Xia De:

"Good morning."

"Good morning, what happened last night? Did you have a party until dawn?"

He walked to the Countess's side, and the latter smiled reluctantly:

"Very interesting joke, but it wasn't a party."

The sleepiness made this lady with a fat-red birthmark on her brow look even more lazy and haggard than usual. Her voice was very soft:

"I usually rest at ten o'clock at night here. After everyone in the house returned to their rooms last night, some strange footsteps appeared all over the house. At first, it was just very light and slow, and even I couldn't be sure if it was an illusion, but after midnight, the footsteps became more and more frequent, and got closer and closer to those who were trying to sleep."

She leaned her body against the back of the sofa, then kicked off her high heels, put her legs and feet on the sofa, and looked at Xia De in a side-lying and curled-up posture:

"Poet-level relic 【Midnight Footsteps】, the one who summoned the relic was Emilia. This thing has a very low danger level, it just forces people to be terrified and unable to sleep at night. I haven't encountered this kind of relic before, I didn't know its effect was so obvious. Oh~ in short, the girls here, except for those who left the house to rest outside halfway, others were like me, and didn't fall asleep until after five o'clock when the sky outside began to turn white."

Seeing Xia De look at Emilia, he wanted to get up to check the situation, but was stopped by the witch:

"Don't disturb her rest.

The effect of that relic disappeared after dawn, but according to the records I read, it will appear again after sunset. Emilia didn't dare to sleep after that series of footsteps disappeared this morning. After we all rested temporarily, she waited with her eyes open alone, and only fell asleep after we got up. She is really a good girl, it's just that her luck is a bit bad."

The sleepiness on her face was also hard to cover up. In fact, for a ring warlock, not sleeping for a night was completely fine, but this relic had the effect of making people who couldn't sleep because of hearing the footsteps exhausted. Fortunately, it was just exhaustion and sleepiness. As long as you hold on and don't get scared, you won't have sequelae, and that's why this relic was only the lowest "Poet-level".

"Please allow me to express my apologies to you on behalf of Emilia. If that relic appears again tonight, why don't I take her out to live?"

Xia De suggested.

"What kind of silly talk is that?"

The witch said softly, and beckoned to Xia De, signaling him to sit beside her:

"When I agreed to let her stay temporarily, I guessed there would be accidents in advance. This is just a Poet-level relic, I will solve it after I wake up. She is your friend, so she is my friend."

Xia De sat beside her, so the witch hugged his neck, and then leaned her head against his chest as if listening to his heartbeat.

Xia De waited for a long time and didn't see her make any other movements. After looking down, he found that the Countess was curled up in his arms and fell into a deep sleep.

He found this funny, but worried that she would be very uncomfortable sleeping like this, so he cast a help-seeking look at Miss Matilda, but found that the maid chief was also quite exhausted. Other maids could rest a little after dawn, she probably didn't rest much.

So Xia De made a gesture, letting her also sleep for a while, without having to stand by the sofa waiting for the Countess's orders. The blond maid lady showed a little smile, hesitated for a moment, then came to sit curled up by the tea table in front of the sofa, and after pulling the skirt, she lay on the tea table and closed her eyes.

No one dared to break into the study to disturb them. It seemed that there was nothing that required Miss Belinder to handle personally this Tuesday morning that would make the maids knock on the door from the corridor.

Thus, the elf fell asleep, the witch fell asleep, the maid fell asleep, and even the little unicorn fell asleep. Only Xia De, who slept very well last night, had no sleepiness at all.

He was worried about disturbing the girls' rest, so he sat on the sofa stiffly and didn't dare to move. Later, taking advantage of the witch wriggling in his arms to find a more comfortable leaning posture, he took the opportunity to take out a book from his pocket.

Thus, this cloudy Tuesday morning passed in this strange and peaceful atmosphere. Xia De actually liked this kind of leisurely time. When flipping through the "Mind Compass" in his hand, he compared the differences in those rhythmic breathing sounds, and then felt that such a comparison seemed a bit offensive.

In short, the light sleep that the girls took to restore their spirits lasted until about eleven o'clock. According to the breathing frequency, the first to wake up was Emilia, who fell asleep earliest. The elf girl didn't get up for the first time, but after realizing the current situation, she continued to pretend to sleep while leaning on the little unicorn that woke up almost at the same time as her.

About five or six minutes later, the witch curled up in Xia De's arms also woke up. Because the two were leaning together, Xia De easily distinguished that she was also continuing to pretend to sleep, probably also like Emilia, feeling embarrassed to be the first to wake up.

【Is it possible that she just doesn't want to leave?】

"She" asked with a smile.

The third to wake up was Miss Matilda. After the maid lady opened her eyes, she met Xia De's eyes who was looking at her over the book. Both of them blinked, then the blond maid sat up straight in front of the tea table, and then stood up while holding her skirt.

She smoothed the wrinkles on her dress quite decently. Seeing Xia De smiling at her, she turned her face away and didn't look at Xia De. And when she came to the window and opened the window to ventilate the study that had been stuffy all morning, Emilia and Miss Belinder "woke up" almost at the same time when the window made a sound.

Xia De felt this scene was even more interesting.

The little unicorn that had been pressed by Emilia's head all morning could finally stand up, walking around the room quite lively. Emilia stretched after getting up, but remembering that Xia De was still here, the arm that was stretched halfway was immediately retracted.

As for Miss Belinder, although she woke up, she didn't leave Xia De's arms for the first time. After letting Miss Matilda open the door, she arranged for the maids to prepare lunch.

She still didn't want to get up after arranging lunch, until the little unicorn also came to the side of the sofa and kept poking her, forcing her to sit up so that Xia De could reach out to touch it, and she finally returned to her normal appearance.

The Countess didn't make any comments about this nap in the morning, but went to the washroom with Emilia to wash up. Thus, half an hour later, everyone gathered in the restaurant. Xia De originally thought that the girls who had just woken up would have no appetite, but it seemed that this didn't affect everyone's lunch.

"Miss Belinder, where are your mother and sisters? Didn't last night's incident affect them?"

Xia De asked curiously again. When Emilia first came, these ladies and girls were still in the manor, but they didn't see the unicorn.

"They happened not to be in the city last night. Our family also has a manor outside the city. I sent a letter this morning, asking them to stay outside the city for a few more days."

The blond witch said. Emilia wanted to apologize, expressing her apology for the trouble caused by her arrival, but the witch was still talking:

"This is not a big deal. The city has been very chaotic recently. It's good to let them stay outside the city for a while. After lunch, let's go deal with the 【Midnight Footsteps】 matter."

"Do you want to create a dark environment to simulate the conditions of midnight?"

Because when in Tobesk, Emilia had contacted three relics called "urban legends" at one time, namely the Sage-level 【Friendly Neighbor】, the Keeper-level 【Malicious Chain Curse Letter】, and the Document-level 【Peripheral Ghost Shadow】, Xia De had an understanding of the Poet-level 【Midnight Footsteps】... Although he didn't know why Emilia, who was targeted by the demon, would only attract this kind of relic, it seemed that the most dangerous Angel-level 【Corpse in the Wall】 would probably also appear later.

Miss Belinder nodded:

"Yes, the 'midnight' in the trigger conditions of 【Midnight Footsteps】 is indeed related to time at night, but during the day, it can be triggered additionally because of light. However, although it is only the lowest Poet-level relic, we cannot be too careless."

She took a stack of divination cards from the maid behind her, shuffled them slightly, and drew the first one.