Chapter 2953

"How are the Church and the Academy preparing?"

"No matter how you prepare for this kind of thing, it's impossible to be perfect, but at least we have reached the most basic level to start a war. I estimate that the Church doesn't want to drag this out either. The successive appearances of the doomsday rift and the Moon of Madness have already shown that time is not on our side."

Xia De agreed with Miss Dannister's view, but he did not make a decision immediately, and instead asked Grace and Helen:

"How was the investigation last night?"

During the time Xia De went out to the "Time Transit Station" last night, the sisters also went to "visit" the Bennett family with Margaret, wanting to figure out how the royal illegitimate child became the youngest son of the Bennett family.

After Xia De learned about the "mission" inherited by the Bennett family in 1821 yesterday, he once thought that this mission could only be passed on to male descendants, which is why Mr. Bennett, who had four daughters in a row, wanted to get himself a son.

But that was not the case.

When the "Moon of Madness" appeared last night, the Red Butterfly girls were with Margaret—and, of course, the ghost of Miss Bethany—in the Bennett family's residence. The sudden catastrophe naturally affected their mission, but Grace and Helen, having lived for so many years, were experienced after all, and finally brought back the answer:

"We searched the boy's memories; his memories had been modified by powerful forces. But fortunately, with the help of the bond between the ghost named Ashley Bethany and the boy as twins, we barely restored his surface memories.

After the brother and sister were separated by an accident back then, the boy stumbled into the Time Transit Station that was open on Saturdays. The boy couldn't explain what happened at that time; he only remembered that Thomas Bennett seemed to think he was very talented, so he wanted to keep him as an attendant for the transit station."

"Is business in that place so good that it needs a second receptionist? Didn't Xia De say that it was very deserted there?"

Sylvia, who was listening to the story, asked, and Grace shook her head:

"That is unclear. Thomas Bennett determined that the boy's talent was sufficient, but was worried that his relatives would find him, so he sent him more than ten years into the future. That is why the boy we see today is so young.

It was also through the fact that the boy 'used' the Time Transit Station that the masked man made the boy sign the contract Xia De described. But this contract was not for cultivating Paradox Worms, but for keeping him in the Bennett family permanently."

"Thomas Bennett found himself a free laborer?"

Vanessa summarized, and Helen in the black dress also shook her head:

"Albert Bennett did not know the reason for this. But my sister and I both believe that the fact he is considered a family member by his neighbors and even family members other than Thomas Bennett is likely also the power of the Time Transit Station.

When Margaret Anjou parted ways with us last night, there was actually this conjecture: Thomas Bennett did not want his daughters to become the next generation of Bennetts, so he wanted to find a boy without blood ties but with time talent to become the successor of the transit station. This possibility became more likely after Mr. brought back information about the Bennett family."

"Helen, do you think Thomas Bennett loves his children deeply?"

Xia De asked suspiciously, but he clearly remembered that Bennett, who traded with "Desire," had offered up his three children.

Miss Bethany, Margaret's half-sister, did not leave after the meeting last night. After learning that her younger brother was very likely deeply involved in a bigger conspiracy, she certainly couldn't just walk away like that.

Now the ghost lady still didn't know what her relationship with Margaret was; she didn't even know Margaret's surname, but that didn't stop her from understanding that the beautiful blonde noble lady was very willing to help her.

So Miss Bethany begged Margaret to help her brother escape the Bennett family; she even promised to offer her soul to Margaret.

But obviously, Margaret had no interest in persecuting her sisters, and besides, she was not a demon and didn't want any souls.

So after breakfast that day, Margaret boarded the Shining Messenger again. After seeing Xia De, she stammered for a long time before asking:

"Can Albert Bennett be saved? I know that whether he is saved or not, it doesn't affect the Battle of Vista Forest now. Saving him, besides causing more trouble, won't bring any benefits to everyone..."

Saying this, she pursed her lips herself, obviously realizing that she shouldn't have made such a request at this time.

Margaret was right. No matter what the outcome of Albert Bennett, the royal illegitimate child, was, it would not affect the upcoming final outcome. And if they wanted Xia De and the witches to help at this time, neither the illegitimate child nor Miss Bethany could come up with any bargaining chips.

As for Margaret herself, although she was a proper witch apprentice of the Council, apprentices were not qualified to make demands. Not to mention that her role in this Vista City incident was not even as great as Ajielina's.

Vanessa had been troubled by her age problem recently and was in no mood to talk to the blonde princess about how she had been a bit excessive lately, but Xilis had actually written her several letters.

"Tell me, Margaret, what is your reason for wanting to save Albert Bennett?"

Xia De asked the blonde princess. Margaret took this question as a test, so the princess's usual political thinking immediately came into play:

"What is Xia De trying to test? Do I care about my relatives? Do I value the interests of the Council more, or the interests of the family? Am I being tactless in asking everyone to help me at this time because I crave power?"

But she soon realized that she shouldn't think so calculatingly when facing Xia De; that would be disrespectful to Xia De. So Margaret Anjou said what she really thought:

"Out of self-interest, if I can bring this living illegitimate child back to my father, not only can it dispel the rumors that my foolish brother killed his younger brother in the street, but it can also let my father know that I am a very capable person, which is very beneficial to my competition with my eldest brother later;

Emotionally speaking, the fate of my twin brother and sister is truly tragic. Now that my sister has passed away, I hope that at least this brother can live well. After all, judging from his current situation, he poses no threat to me."

Actually, Xia De could accept any reason Margaret gave; he was just waiting for Margaret to give a reason:

"Okay, I promise to help you. But it's just a promise; whether it can be successful in the end is not certain. You also know that the situation of the Bennett family is very complicated, and there are some things I am not one hundred percent sure about."

Being able to get such a promise from Xia De was enough for Margaret. She wanted to thank him but thought she absolutely shouldn't do so, so she said apologetically:

"Xia De, after the matter in Vista Forest is over, I will prepare for you in advance. Would you like to come to Willundale for a short trip?"

This should actually be considered some kind of invitation; after all, she had said a long time ago that if Xia De appeared in Willundale, she would present him with the most precious gift.

The Outsider naturally understood what Margaret meant, so he gently kissed the blonde princess on the forehead:

"The future is uncertain, but if possible, I would also very much like to go to Willundale to see you."

The princess's face turned red instantly. She nodded, not forgetting to emphasize:

"I invited you to Willundale, and it has nothing to do with whether you agreed to help me. I had already planned to invite you; we agreed on it before."

"Yes, yes, then let's hope that the end of the story of Vista Forest goes smoothly."

Margaret's request made Xia De determined to deal with the Bennett family first. He felt that if this was the last of the two things to be dealt with, it would definitely connect seamlessly to the final battle. If dealing with the Bennett matter was left for last, there would likely be no time to take care of the boy.

Luweiya expressed her support for Xia De's decision. Currently, although the Bennett family is closely connected to the Ancient Ones, the strongest combat power is only Thomas Bennett himself, who is at the Eighth Ring. This is much easier to deal with than thousands of ancient evil things.

Of course, the witches would not lower their guard because of this; they could be almost certain that Bennett must still be hiding more powerful forces.

The battle against Thomas Bennett certainly cannot be in the "Time Transit Station," and for safety's sake, it cannot even be in the Accordion Inn.

So when discussing the plan on Wednesday morning, Bella proposed a vague framework:

"Find a way to lure Thomas Bennett out of the city, the further away from the inn, the better. First, let Miss Eilesser fire a shot from afar to test him, and then everyone swarms him. To deal with such bad people who serve that ancient evil for generations, we don't need to be good people who fight fair duels."

Although the plan was rough and straightforward, it was indeed a very good idea. In order not to alert Bennett, after discussing with Xia De, the witches didn't even plan to inform the Church and the Academy before starting the war directly.

Of course, to prevent accidents, Xia De decided to go to Moon Bay to borrow that artifact—the Sword of Light—just in case before executing the plan. It's just that that genuine artifact forged by the Ancient Gods can only exert its greatest effect when facing enemies with labels such as "dragon," "evil," and "darkness," and Thomas Bennett is certainly not a dragon, and the power he uses is time and trees, not darkness.

So whether the "Sword of Light" has any special effect on him depends on whether he is evil enough. Although Vanessa believes that since Bennett serves the wreckage of the World Tree, he must be evil, Xia De is worried that the Bennett family doesn't even know the significance of operating the "Time Transit Station," let alone the harm of doing so.