Chapter 2708: The Chosen One and Hoy Manor

Even after Luvia finished her work that night, she did not go to the master bedroom, so the red-haired witch had the master of the house all to herself for the whole night.

The next day, which was Saturday morning, when they woke up, the Duchess even quietly found Luvia to thank her, and looking at her expression, it was clear that certain things could really regulate one's mood well.

Xia De had missed the group meeting last Saturday because of the decisive battle with York Bront, so he had already decided that he would not ask for leave again no matter what this week.

Saying goodbye to Luvia and Galina early in the morning, he headed to the Vesta Forest early. As usual, he went to see the elf first. When he arrived at the Accord Hotel, it began to drizzle, and in the short few minutes it took Xia De to go upstairs, the light rain turned into a heavy downpour.

"Good morning, Xia De!"

The witch this morning seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood, and the red-haired girl on the sofa also greeted Xia De immediately after:

"There were no fires in the city last night. The situation outside the city is temporarily unknown, but those girls reported that a large number of Ring-warlocks did indeed leave the city last night. In addition, the Five Gods Church has already started negotiations with the three major academies to coordinate the dispatch of members to support the Vesta Forest."

"The specific details have not been negotiated yet, but the number of the first batch of reinforcements will not be many. The church has decided to let the Ring-warlocks gather in Willendale first, which is the reserve base for this Vesta Forest incident."

"That counts as good news. Then what about Miss Eisberg? Did she reply to you?"

Xia De asked again, and Miss Danister nodded:

"I received Aisha's letter this morning. She agreed to come and help, but she is currently dealing with another slightly tricky matter in the Far North and probably won't be able to come until next week."

"No rush; we haven't figured out the demon matter yet. Last night I went to consult a friend of mine who knows demons very well and confirmed who exactly appeared in the Vesta Forest."

He took out the 【Witch Hunter Seal】 and shook it around, then shared the information provided by the doctor about the "Demon of Fire, Disaster" with the ladies:

"This information should be very accurate. Combined with the information provided by the hermits, the demon that was sealed three hundred years ago and the one that appeared now are the same one."

"Devoured the Primordial Fire, and can also separate flames to create clones?"

Miss Danister nodded:

"The Church of Nature is still determining whether the demon in the 【Ice Magic Box】 still exists, but we can follow your line of thought and first assume that there is a problem with the seal from that year. So what are you going to do? This demon doesn't seem to have anything to do with time travel. Are you going to investigate it deeply?"

"Of course. Although there is no connection on the surface, no one can say for sure about the Vesta Forest matter."

He took the teacup handed over by Miss Bell and wanted to explain what he was going to do today, but Miss Danister said again:

"In addition, there is the matter of the Chosen One of Time."

Xia De looked up, but asked with a smile:

"Is there new information? Are the two of you among the candidates?"

Flora also laughed:

"Of course we wouldn't be. Danister means that the ship from the New Continent brought a newly discovered fragment of a poem, but it wasn't discovered in the New Continent; it was discovered when the ship was resupplying in the eye of the storm—"

【That noble person chosen by time, holding the power of the tree.】

"The church's interpretation is that this refers to the Chosen One of Time possessing the power of the World Tree, or possessing a weapon made of World Tree material."

The red-haired girl explained, while Xia De was more pessimistic:

"Can it also be interpreted as referring to the evil object we discovered that was made from the remains of the World Tree, which is also the Chosen One of Time?"

"This... is not impossible. It's just that according to many current theories, Emilia's possibility is a bit higher. She is a High Elf and a candidate for the World Tree Priestess. It's hard for us to find a candidate closer to the World Tree than her."

Whether she meant "Emilia" as the elf in the forest or the elf who takes care of unicorns at the academy, it was hard to say.

"I've actually always been curious."

The witch asked again at this time:

"Xia De said that the girl in the forest is three years older than her original age, so did she return from three years in the future, or did she return to three years ago and live for three years until now? Or did she return from two years in the future and live in the forest for a year?"

The red-haired girl also looked at Xia De, and Xia De thought for a while:

"I am more inclined to believe that she lived alone in the forest for three years after returning."

"That must be very lonely, right?"

The sentimental witch sighed, but Xia De shook his head:

"No need to worry about studies and exams, and there is a large group of chocobos to accompany her. Moreover, this place is where the elves of the Fifth Era lived, so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable living here. This should be quite good for her."

"Given the lifespan of elves, three years is not long for them. I don't deny that living alone in the forest for three years is definitely harder than living in the academy, but if this is the price of becoming a Chosen One... thinking about it carefully, this price is actually very light."

"Then what is the meaning of her returning to the present? Is this also one of the requirements of the ritual?"

Flora asked curiously again, and Xia De nodded:

"I think this is very likely a ritual requirement. The Chosen One of Death requires resurrection, the Chosen One of Light requires pulling out the Sword of Light, and the Chosen One of Time requires proving that they can travel through time. Isn't this very reasonable?"

"So that's why you want to solve the other Chosen Ones of Time to pave the way for Emilia?"

Miss Danister teased, and Xia De did not deny this point. Compared to the Emilia of the Moon Bay period, although the elf in the forest now still seems a bit immature, at least she can already take responsibility.

As long as Emilia herself has no objections, the Chosen One of Time being her is the best result for Xia De.

Although he had to go back for a meeting this afternoon, the morning time could not be wasted.

Currently, there are not many clues about that demon, and Xia De does not intend to go outside the city to see if there are other burning black trees:

"Remember? When Miss Danister and I first went to the hermits' camp, besides buying beacon acorns and time stabilization anchors, we also bought some miscellaneous items, among which was a notebook recording local demon legends."

"Of course I remember, but if there are records about demons on it, the Hermit Group should also know. Haven't they investigated it?"

Xia De shook his head:

"The records in that notebook were likely written by ordinary people. The stories on it are quite obscure, and rather than real records, they are more like folklore and legends written based on mountain rumors."

"The reliability of the notebook is very low, but when I read the content on it, I noticed that it mentioned fire disasters. It's just that the owner of the notebook didn't think the demon was related to the fire disaster, but thought that the demon cursed someone, which caused him to encounter a fire disaster when he encountered accidents in succession."

Although the correlation is not strong, Xia De still wants to go to "Hoy Manor" mentioned in the notebook to take a look. The burning of that manor happened about three hundred years ago, which was the era when the demon appeared.

The burned-down manor was rebuilt more than ten years ago and is still called "Hoy Manor." The original owner of the manor, Baron Hoy's family, had all passed away in the disaster three hundred years ago. The current manor belongs to the family of the local police chief, Mr. Condor.

That Mr. Condor served in the Kassenrick Eastern Fleet as a naval officer when he was young, returned to his hometown after retiring, and has served the city for more than forty years.

According to Miss Bell's investigation, he is expected to receive a baronet title before or after retirement due to his outstanding contributions—the kind that cannot be inherited. And his outstanding contributions, besides being conscientious, are more importantly that he has a very good relationship with some big figures in Willendale, and he is responsible for coordinating local security when royal members come to the area.

And the 25-year-old George Condor, who survived from Love Lake with Linda Bennett, is the eldest son of this police chief.

"As a police chief, can his income buy and rebuild that kind of large manor? Is the income of Kassenrick civil servants so high?"

Xia De asked, so Flora shook her head with a smile:

"Of course there is non-legal income, but that is not entirely illegal income. I heard people mention it when I was still at home. That Mr. Condor is never stingy when giving gifts to the nobles of Willendale. He might be richer than the Bennett family."

However, the Condor family does not live in Hoy Manor. This is partly because it is not suitable for a police chief to live better than the mayor, and partly because Hoy Manor is located in the north of the city, too far from the city center.

Since he decided to go and investigate, Xia De prepared to set off. Yesterday Miss Danister followed him out, and today it was still her, because although Flora's score had been completed, it still needed rehearsal and practice.

She will perform on stage on Sunday night, and because this is the first time Xia De will watch her public performance, she attaches great importance to it.

It is not easy to find a carriage in the heavy rain, and the talkative coachman also complained on the way that there was too much rain this autumn.

But fortunately, the Vesta Forest is not a mountainous area prone to mudslides, and the flow of the Aronson River is not enough to cause floods. Plus, Vesta City itself is located at a high altitude, so the rainy autumn has not brought disasters to this area for the time being.

Xia De and Miss Danister thought that there should only be a few servants in Hoy Manor today, and what they would face should be a manor waiting to be solved and hidden clues; but when the carriage stopped on the street in the north of the city, Xia De found that the manor was exceptionally lively today.

A large number of servants were cleaning and decorating in the manor, and cargo carriages were also transporting some sealed wooden boxes into the manor for storage. ===== CHAPTER 2709 =====