Chapter 2693

In the thick white fog, the tall "ferryman" in the black robe had already stood up, walked to the bow of the rear boat, and caught the frozen soul thrown by Xia De, who was still rowing the front boat.

The soul disappeared into the black fog surrounding the god, and the god asked Xia De:

"Now, do you understand what the meaning of ferrying is?"

Xia De, with the cat standing on his shoulder, looked in the direction he came from in the fog:

"Let me think... sending people to other places?"

The god then said:

"In the most ancient times, the intelligent lives who had just walked in the world built cities by rivers and lakes. Traveling by boat has been the most important mode of transportation since then.

Ferrying signifies the process of reaching one shore from another. It symbolizes the crossing of physical and spiritual obstacles after a long wait, representing breakthrough and transcendence."

The 【Chain of Sin】 connecting the two small boats disappeared silently without Xia De performing any operation. Xia De's small boat stopped in place, while the boat the god was riding slowly retreated backward:

"When you pick up the oar, remember where you are going. Perhaps it is lonely, perhaps the journey is very long, but... Outlander, this small boat can only be ferried by you."

The god's figure completely disappeared into the dense fog, but some golden light flew out from the fog and entered Xia De's body.

【Outlander, you have obtained the Ferryman's Blessing: Rowing on the water, if you have a goal, you will know the direction.】

【Artifact: Ferryman's Oar, becomes a component of the old wooden boat you possess.】

This saved Xia De the trouble of thinking about how to pass this artifact to the Sixth Era. He looked down at the item in his hand, sighed, and then turned to look ahead:

"Just now, I thought I would be given the 'Ferry' spirit rune directly."

【A bit too greedy, aren't you?】

"She" asked with a smile, and the cat also called out:

"Meow~"

He thought of Chloe again in his heart, and so in the dense fog, the intermittent golden light spots had already pointed out the direction he wanted to go.

(Luweiya is divining...)

Fifth Era, General Calendar 925, Winter, Northern Continent, Star Fall Lake.

Even though the maids cleaned up in time, the days of heavy snow still covered the camp by the lake in silver.

Snowflakes fell continuously among the tents, unicorn huts, chocobo sheds, and temporary storage wooden cabins. In the distance, towering snow-capped mountains stood against the sky, and the river flowing from the top of the snow mountains formed Star Fall Lake on this silver-white snowfield surrounded by mountains.

Even though it was daytime, clusters of campfires were still lit in the camp. Maids in long dresses walked busily by the campfires. Although their own Witch Empress was on vacation at this time and didn't need to handle too much official business, they still had many things to do.

At the window of the unicorn hut, the pure white little beast poked its head out, its sky-blue eyes looking blankly at the figure on the shore of Star Fall Lake in the distance. Chloe stood alone on the snowy ground by the shore, her hands behind her back, looking at the great lake that was as calm as a mirror.

"Star Fall Lake" was named after a meteorite that fell here a hundred years ago. Now that meteorite has long been salvaged, but the strange stars still changed the local terrain, and caused this great lake created by the impact to not freeze even in the winter of the Northern Continent.

Although the snowflakes were blown by the wind and swirled down from the sky above her head, not a single one could land on her hair or shoulders. Her long silver hair was not bound, just drifting in the wind like that. And her golden eyes were fixed on the lake surface, looking forward to the person who gave the promise arriving sooner.

Elegant, mysterious, noble; although not tall, anyone who saw Chloe Marcus Marx for the first time would not deny this cold charm.

She was wearing a black dress that was somewhat out of place in the snowy weather, but there were still white lace decorations on the cuffs and hem. Although her eyes were looking at the great lake, her heart had already drifted away with the wind.

The wind whistling over the snowfield was not loud, but at a certain moment, it abruptly brought the man's singing.

Chloe had thought countless times about how to welcome Xia De's arrival, but when the singing really came from the lake, she still forgot those carefully prepared words and actions, lifted her skirt hem, and stepped onto the water in her high heels in a hurry.

"The princess in the castle won't understand, the freedom of walking in the world is what we pursue."

"Meeting a witch at a crossroads full of lavender, where are you going, to pick that bunch of herbs."

"Holding up white snow on the top of the snow mountain, watching the sun in the depths of the desert."

"If you can meet us, dear girl~~"

"Please call our names softly, please ask your doubts."

"In the flower bushes where lilies bloom, or, in the place where sunflowers face west."

"Please wear a beautiful dress, hold up the purple thyme."

"The person who loves you and the person you love, are all here, in this hall filled with sunshine."

When the first line of lyrics appeared, the singing seemed to come from the top of the extremely distant snow mountain. But when Chloe, holding her skirt hem, ran onto the water, the figure rowing the small boat had already appeared like a black dot in the distance of the Star Fall Lake in the snow.

The singing had become so clear that the girls in the camp also looked at the great lake. The small boat was now sailing steadily on the lake, and the figure holding the oar at the stern with the cat standing on his shoulder was already clearly visible.

It was clearly a song that everyone could sing, but singing it from the man's mouth made the witches feel so different. And the small silver-haired figure had already reached the center of the lake holding her skirt hem. At the same time Xia De finished the last line, she pounced toward Xia De in the heavy snow.

So, amidst the cat's "Meow~" call, the girls in the camp saw their master and that man hugging and falling onto the boat. They then smiled and retracted their gazes, not daring to look at what would happen next.

Because Xia De was pounced down, the cat could only stand on the boat side and call out in dissatisfaction. And Xia De, lying on his back on the boat, looked at the falling snow dancing like elves under the azure sky, and smiled as he hugged the silver-haired girl lying on his body.

【Eighteen minutes left.】

"The mission is already completed. Can I discuss it with the Tree Father now? To extend the stay time, I won't stay in this era to change the past, I just want to accompany her more."

In the snowy sky, a phantom of a big tree seemed to flash by, and Xia De received "her" reply:

【Please wait a moment...】

【If you are willing to give up the Miracle Spirit Rune - Tree, you can stay for 6 more hours.】

Xia De agreed after only a moment of hesitation. Back then, to rescue Fiona in the City of Eternal Night, he voluntarily gave up "Darkness," but Darkness eventually became his power. Although "Miracle - Tree" was equally precious, if it was to accompany Chloe, he was willing to pay such a price.

If he needed this power, this power would sooner or later be his again.

【Countdown: 6 hours 17 minutes 12 seconds.】

Chloe did not know Xia De's decision. She pressed her cheek against Xia De's chest, feeling his body temperature and heartbeat:

"I knew you would definitely come, Xia De~ I knew you would definitely keep your promise."

She struggled to sit up, then leaned her body forward, pressed down on Xia De who also wanted to sit up, and kissed him.

Golden eyes looked at him with a smile, but the cold kiss still had a warm feeling. She hugged him tightly in the heavy snow. Although she knew he would leave again, at least at this moment she didn't want to part with him, didn't want to wait for the long time again.

"Chloe, you are a bit too excited."

When the silver-haired witch was finally willing to let go of Xia De, the Outlander expressed his dissatisfaction slightly:

"Can we go to the shore first? This boat is too small... Mia, what kind of expression is that? It's not like I threw you off my shoulder."

Chloe also remembered this warm cat. She hugged Xia De's neck:

"No, right here. I know you can't stay too long, so before you disappear again, I don't want to waste a single second. Don't tell me how much time you can stay, otherwise I will waste many seconds thinking about how long you can accompany me."

"This time is different. I can stay for six hours, so can we go to the shore?"

Chloe, who was pressing on him, sat up at once, with a look of surprise on her face:

"Six hours? What did you pay?"

"That's not important."

Xia De used his hand to comb her long silver hair. Chloe's long hair had a great texture. This didn't mean it didn't feel like hair, but that her long hair had a cool, refreshing feeling:

"Six hours is not long either, Chloe. Do you really want to waste time discussing this kind of question? And, if we don't move, I feel like little Mia is going to be really angry."

"Meow~"

The cat's call echoed on the calm lake, causing the birds in the snow that were preparing to land and rest to immediately fly to a further place.

Chloe's appearance at Star Fall Lake was not a coincidence or because the scenery here was good, but because the space-time stability in the Star Fall Lake area was relatively weak, making it easier to achieve space-time communication in such a place.

At first, Chloe just wanted to come here to try her new idea, not expecting to really encounter the small boat drifting from the water and Xia De on the boat.

Therefore, after Xia De left last time, she called more maids to build this huge camp by the lake. In this way, even if she couldn't wait for Xia De, she could arrange for people to wait in the long years to come.

The continuous camp was located on the north side of the lake shore. Judging by the scale, it was probably more than enough to hold three or four hundred people. Most of the girls wore maid outfits. In the cold winter, their skirts only reached their knees, their lower legs were wrapped in white stockings, and they wore small black leather shoes on their feet.

They all had at least intermediate levels, so they were not afraid of such a cold winter.

Besides maids, there were some relatively weak clerical personnel in the camp. Although they were also witches, they could only be responsible for handling some minor clerical matters.