Chapter 2805: Nightmare

"A Paladin..."

The Elf Miss wore a fearful expression:

"Little Liana cannot defeat a Griffin that large."

The young unicorn, lying before the fireplace to warm itself, lifted its head to look at her. The appearance of a young unicorn was truly popular, and it certainly did not look like a match for the Griffin Iruna had described, so Xia De smiled and said:

"If you two really want to duel, I will lend you Little Mia."

He rubbed the cat's head, and the cat let out a very soft, chirping sound:

"Meow~"

Everyone laughed, and Luweiya even covered her mouth, laughing as she said:

"If Little Mia refuses, perhaps you could let Emilia ride you... I mean, after you transform."

And so, the young ladies laughed even harder.

The history of the early Sixth Era seems quite obscure today, and the academic world has always had a great deal of controversy over what exactly happened during that period. This time, the Church utilized the opportunity of the "Time War" to bring in a "Paladin" who lived in that era, not only to borrow his power but also to obtain information about the early Era through that gentleman.

But according to Iruna, this did not go smoothly. Although that "Blade of the Firmament" was willing to come over a thousand years later to help, he spent most of his time with his eyes closed, praying and meditating toward his holy emblem, rarely taking the initiative to converse with others.

Of course, the fact that Mr. Yuri Aston, a candidate belonging to the Church, was able to travel to the early Sixth Era was also because he was a direct descendant of that Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer, the "Blade of the Firmament."

"Emilia must also have quite a few formidable ancestors, right?"

Flora then asked the Elf, who nodded rapidly:

"In the stories I heard when I was young, there were many legends about them. The history inherited by Elves is more complete than that of humans. If I really had to say, I could even name several ancestors who were active in the First Era... One of my ancestors was an Elf King, and the Moon Creek Clan is one of the branches of the royal family.

However, Xia De said that when Saint Byrons was first established, the Moon Creek Clan did not immediately appear in the Academy, so relying on bloodline alone is certainly not enough."

As for the God answering Xia De's question, it naturally resolved "where the divinity is." Xia De had raised this question after the Moon Bay incident, and it took more than two months to finally have a result.

Although divinity is precious, the God truly gave an answer. It was just that when Xia De asked the question at the time, he used very obscure phrasing, so the reply given by the True God—the 【God of Nature and Infinite Change】—was also quite difficult to understand.

After the conversation before the fireplace ended, Xia De and Iruna agreed to use the Time Key together tomorrow morning to return to the "Ash Valley," and that young lady told Xia De the answer:

"What you seek is in the forest—in the tree, and also not in the tree."

Xia De thought for a moment:

"This wouldn't be saying... it's in the remains of the World Tree, would it?"

"But this doesn't fit with the second half of the sentence."

Iruna reminded him. She did not fully understand the matter of divinity, but she knew that what Xia De was seeking was a method that would allow him to "summon a God":

"Aren't there many Ancient Ones in the forest? Perhaps someone once left behind records related to this. You could search through the literature unearthed locally to seek guidance."

"Seek guidance?"

Xia De suddenly had an idea:

"Speaking of which, I haven't been to Huntington City for a long time. Tomorrow, I will go and ask that Sage in the Lake."

Going to the "Ash Valley" tomorrow morning required carrying the materials listed by the three young ladies by the fire. Xia De had entrusted the Witches to help him collect the key materials—nowadays, such things did not need to be done by him personally.

As for those ordinary materials, he had placed them at home. So, after sending Iruna away that night, Xia De greeted Luweiya and returned home. Because the young ladies were all in Vista City, Xia De did not intend to stay overnight at home, but rather thought he would just take the things and leave; he didn't even bring Mia for this reason.

But after arriving home, he discovered someone was inside, and only after reaching the second floor did he realize it was Lei Qianya.

Although no one lived in the house, Lady Miss Jia Lin Na's maids still came on time every day to turn on the lights and light the fireplace, creating the illusion that "Detective Hamilton is still at home." At this moment, Her Highness the Princess was standing in front of the fireplace, wearing a sparkling silver crown on her head, her well-groomed hair draped behind her, and she was wearing a very solemn dark blue long dress.

She wore light makeup, and her gown was spread out on the sofa like a blooming flower. It looked like Lei Qianya was the only one on the second floor; she hadn't even brought a maid:

"Good evening, Xia De."

"Good evening, Lei Qianya... why are you here?"

"Five minutes ago, Duo Luoqian told me you were going home, so I ran straight out of the diplomatic banquet at the Yodel Palace."

She smiled confidently:

"How is it? This dress is beautiful, isn't it? It's just a pity that winter is coming soon, and I'll have to change to new styles for winter."

"It's beautiful... I told them I would be back tonight... why don't you follow me from the basement to the Vista Woodland, and come back tomorrow morning?"

Xia De suggested, and Lei Qianya walked toward him, her dress dragging on the carpet.

She stepped in her high heels and passionately wrapped her arms around Xia De's neck, kissing him:

"The banquet ends in an hour and a half, and I must appear there before my father gives his speech... When I had this dress custom-made by the tailor, I had two identical ones prepared, and the other one is in the cloakroom of your bedroom."

The princess bit her red lip lightly:

"Knight, are you confident that you can take off this dress I'm wearing now and help me put on the other one within an hour and a half?"

Xia De only hoped that when they both left later and the maids on the first floor came to clean up, they wouldn't be frightened by the gown torn into shreds in the trash can.

"I am certainly confident about changing the dress, but I thought you wanted to talk to me about A Jieli Na."

Xia De said, and Lei Qianya's emerald eyes blinked:

"What is there to talk about? Duo Luoqian is already lecturing her. She actually dared to say things like 'it would be nice to just disappear,' which shows she is still immature. If she really disappeared, does she know how heartbroken Mother and I would be?"

Xia De gave her a suggestion:

"You could express to A Jieli Na that you care about her especially and don't want her to leave your side; wouldn't she understand then?"

Lei Qianya shook her head decisively:

"No, Xia De, I understand A Jieli Na better than you do. What happened the night she was born is my clearest childhood memory. A Jieli Na is not the kind of person who will move forward quickly just because she is encouraged; on the contrary, she is the kind of girl who will only sprint forward when under pressure.

I don't want to wait until she has truly lost the most important person in her life to make up her mind to change herself, or even change this world, so I can only use moderate pressure to make her move forward."

After saying this, Her Highness the Princess saw a look of slight surprise on Xia De's face, and he sighed softly in admiration:

"I admit, you really understand A Jieli Na very well, truly very well... only after losing the most important person..."

He suddenly hugged Lei Qianya tightly, but didn't say a word. So this time it was Lei Qianya's turn to be surprised, but she didn't ask the reason for Xia De's appearance, instead smiling and patting his back gently:

"My knight, don't you feel it's a bit too hot now? Please serve me in changing my dress."

(Little Mia is running...)

That night, Xia De slept at the Accordion Hotel, in the room right next to Miss Dan Dac Nisi Te's.

However, he didn't know if it was because of his conversation with Lei Qianya that evening, but he dreamed of strange things that night.

It was not a beautiful, rosy dream related to the girls of the Cavendish family, but a genuine nightmare.

After waking up from the dream in a start, he sat straight up, and Fan Ni Sha, who was sleeping beside him, carefully held him in her arms to comfort him:

"What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare? It's okay, it's okay, we are all here. Sleep, sleep, Xia De, smell my perfume, feel me, and go back to sleep."

"I'm fine, it's fine..."

The last scene of the dream seemed to still be before his eyes; after Lei Qianya dug out her own heart and had A Jieli Na put it in a box to give to Duo Luoqian, the blond writer's desperate crying made Xia De unable to forget it for a long time.

And although the Witch of the Earth didn't know what had happened, she still successfully used her gentleness to help Xia De fall back asleep. It was just that after waking up early on Wednesday morning, Fan Ni Sha had already disappeared from Xia De's room—she couldn't let Miss Owl discover what she had done.

While eating breakfast at the hotel that morning, Xia De was still restless because of last night's dream, and his frequent looking up at Duo Luoqian's movements even made the writer miss think there was something on her face. So she asked Lu Wei Ya on the side with her eyes, and the purple-eyed fortune teller shook her head at her, then asked Xia De:

"Xia De, what's wrong with you today?"

"Had a strange dream, no, no, I don't need dream interpretation. I probably know the source of that dream, and I'm very sure that it won't happen in reality, but I still can't forget what I saw."

"It's just a dream, not real... Dan Dac Nisi Te, come and comfort your student."

Fu Luo La said to the red-haired girl on her left, who put down her knife and fork and thought for a moment:

"Speaking of which, this is a dream related to Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha, right? Then why don't you let Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha find a way to let you know that she is still living safely by your side?"

So Duo Luoqian stood up a bit shyly, came to Xia De's side, kissed him on the cheek, and then sat back down amidst everyone's laughter.

Xia De covered his cheek, and indeed felt his mood improve a little, but...

"When there is a chance, I will go and ask the long-haired Lu Wei Ya again about what kind of story happened between the Lei Qianya and Duo Luoqian of the past life."