Chapter 3342: The Theme of the Play

After Elder Harald finished speaking, he picked up the ring with a sense of emotion and held it up to examine it against the last of the sunset outside the window. The cat watched him with an expressionless face, but the Elder soon put the ring back down:

"I will speak with Vilda and the others. We shall make a trip to those cave lakes in the near future to see if any other relics remain. Perhaps this time, we can solve a historical mystery from three hundred years ago. Did that person leave the tribe's relic behind because he was unwilling to take it with him when he left? Or did he quietly return here years later, just before he died, and the finger bone you discovered, Xia De, was his?"

The Elder addressed Xia De by name here, but Xia De pretended not to notice. He felt a bit melancholic about the story as well; as for who was right or wrong, he did not want to judge. In any case, it had nothing to do with him.

He could tell that his cat wanted this ring, but although he was the one who found it, it did not belong to them now:

"Elder, can you sell this ring to me? I can use some..."

Xia De thought about what else he had on him:

"I will trade it for a 【Philosopher's Stone】."

"Cough, cough, what?"

Elder Harald immediately began to cough, and Claire and Miss Larsen were also startled.

"【Philosopher's Stone】? Don't joke around. That is the Blood of the Sage (Fatoumunster language)."

"Blood of the Sage?"

This was a strange term.

"Xia De, the locals all call the 【Philosopher's Stone】 that. You can consider it a colloquial term for the 【Philosopher's Stone】."

Claire explained, while Elder Harald waved his hands rapidly at Xia De:

"There is no need for a 【Philosopher's Stone】; keep it for yourself. You helped us eliminate the two big troubles of the demon and the magic sword; the 【Iron Snake】 sorcery and those charms and potions were already insufficient as a reward."

"Moreover, you provided such important information about the origin of this ring this time. If you hadn't spoken up and had hidden the ring instead, no one would have actually discovered it. So, just take the ring; consider it the second reward we are giving you. Although Keeper-level relics are precious, we do not want to store too many relics, and we are at ease giving this ring to you. I can make the decision on behalf of the Council of Elders."

"However, what do you want this ring for? Can you satisfy my curiosity?"

Xia De glanced at his cat and found that the cat was also looking at him. He even saw a certain... sense of anticipation in its eyes, very much like how the cat looked at Xia De when it stood on the dining table watching him boil goat's milk. After drinking the water from the "Middle Spring," this cat had not become any smarter; Xia De suspected this was because it was already smart enough, or perhaps the intelligence-boosting effect had a delayed onset.

"Miss Larsen might be able to borrow it to suppress the power within her body."

He said this, picked up the ring, and handed it to the white-haired girl. He only said "borrow"; the ring certainly still belonged to the cat. This was to thank Miss Larsen for keeping the "Tear Gland Fern" in mind for him. The latter, not expecting to be mentioned, blushed as she looked at the ring Xia De handed over.

Claire looked at her apprentice and then at Xia De, feeling as if something incredible had happened that she didn't know about.

The cat, meanwhile, darted directly toward Xia De's hand.

Thus, with just one sentence, Xia De successfully caused both young ladies and a cat to develop strange emotions toward him.

In the end, Miss Larsen did not take the ring, but she promised that if she really needed it, she would ask Xia De for it.

Consequently, the ring was successfully placed on the cat's tail. Little Mia looked very proud of this, while Claire reminded Xia De not to let a frail cat have long-term contact with a relic ring—and then she learned that this cat had eight other rings.

"Is this some strange hobby of yours?"

"No, this is Little Mia's hobby."

Of course, although the 【Ring of the Ice Heart Walker】 could suppress the side effect of the 【Ouroboros Ring】 that caused the cat's tail to turn into another cat to hunt the cat, it was a pity that Little Mia was not a user of ice and snow powers. Therefore, if it used this ring without authorization, it would turn into a frozen cat.

"【But even if frozen, it is possible to successfully activate the ring's function, thereby realizing the relic characteristic suppression cycle of Transformation Ring → Fish-Training Ring → Vampire Species Ring → Plague Doctor Ring → Immortality Magic Ring → Mood Ring → Crow's Eye → Ouroboros Ring → Ice Heart Walker Ring, and thus possess another body within the ice.】"

"She" said with a smile. Xia De imagined it, but still shook his head; he would not risk harming Mia, and besides, he didn't want his female cat to turn into a male cat.

Tomorrow was Tuesday, and Xia De had to use the last key to the 【Tombstone Wasteland】 early in the morning. Therefore, he had to go back to prepare on Monday night and did not stay on the island for dinner. After simply discussing topics like "Miracles of the Ancient Gods," "Ancient God Temples," "Strange Keys," and "Demons Searching for Weapons" with Claire and Elder Harald again, he took the cat and returned home.

As expected, Galina and Luvia were both there tonight. The maids were preparing dinner for their masters, and the witch and the fortune-teller had come here, of course, wanting to know about that castle. But before that, Xia De had another surprise for them:

"Look, red wine! This is red wine brewed in the Fifth Era; Chloe might have even drunk it. I specifically asked for two bottles; I gave one to Claire for her to present to the Council, and I brought one home. Let's drink it after opening it in a while. Don't worry about Lei Qianya and Dorothy; there is still wine in the castle cellar. Although I didn't get the castle, the maid doesn't mind me going to get wine."

Galina then kissed Xia De on the side of his face lightly and ordered Difa to prepare a decanter and wine glasses. Although Luvia was also interested in the ancient red wine, she was more eager to know the current situation of the castle. At the dinner table, amidst the candlelight and the clinking of glasses, Xia De recounted the story of the day in detail. The red-haired Duchess, tilting her head and holding a goblet, still felt quite regretful about it:

"Still missing a key, is that so? What a pity. I had already prepared for you to take over the castle completely so I could take the maids to pick out rooms. Now we have to wait... Xia De, hurry up and find the key."

Xia De held his fork and asked in surprise:

"Do you really want to live in such a cold place? That is a castle, not Miss Eilisse's ship, and I don't see any way to move it to another place. Even if it were moved to Tobesk, such a strange building would be hard to hide from being discovered."

"It's a demigod witch's castle anyway; I definitely want to stay there for a night."

The Duchess had quite an obsession with this, while Luvia was more concerned with the story told by the maid and the events of the evening:

"The beggar and the dice, the swordsman and the broken sword, the girl and the harp strings, the merchant and the treasure, the lovers and the ice flower, the living and the dead, fate and the card game... We have always wanted to know what this grand play, with Fatoumunster Island as the stage, actually is. So, is it possible that these seven images are the themes?"

"This is not a random guess. It is known that defeating the demon and severing the magic sword was an important story node; doesn't this correspond exactly to 'the swordsman and the broken sword'? Although different from the maid's story, 'a living sword severed by itself' is also a quite interesting theme."

She even thought of another thing:

"Xia De, do you remember when we were executing a team mission before the Year-End Festival, we finally encountered the 'Doom Sect' attempting to complete the 【Crazy Puppet Theater】 mission, but failed in the end? At that time, the Church said the 'Doom Sect' wanted to obtain a key item from the puppet's hands, and this point in time happened to be the eve of the 'Doom Sect' already starting to work on the Fatoumunster Island story. Is it possible that the thing they wanted to find is related to these seven images?"

Galina then asked:

"But no one completed the puppet play, and no one knows... that puppet gave Xia De a relic, the Poet-level relic 【Eternal Flower】, also known as the Rose That Never Withers. It is a golden-red ice flower in appearance, growing on the graves of couples buried together after a happy life, and only painful tears can make it lose its color (Chapter 3171)."

"He wanted to give this flower to us as a Year-End Festival gift at the time, but no one wanted it."

Luvia nodded, gently swirling the red wine in her glass:

"Yes, 'the lovers and the ice flower' among the seven images fits it. That puppet throwing this flower to Xia De at the time really had a reason. In this way, the story of the gods told by the maid named Winnie is very likely the seven themes of this grand play. After all these themes are finished, the one ranked first, the most dazzling lead actor on the stage, is the Chosen One of Fate."

Xia De agreed with her view. After all, when "eavesdropping" on the girls of the past today, Luvia mentioned that one of the important stories was the "Stone Harp," which also matched the seven themes. Therefore, Xia De needed to keep an eye on whether events matching the themes occurred on the island and then try his best to take Miss Larsen to participate.

As for the "cultist" with terrible artistic taste in the evening, Luvia also had an opinion:

"The Ten Thousand Numbers Return to One Society? Their appearance is actually not very surprising, but I am curious, if in the end only the candidates from the 【Doom Sect】 and the 【Ten Thousand Numbers Return to One Society】 are left, what kind of battle will break out between them... Uh, the 【Puppeteer's Script】 is indeed troublesome, but that Angel-level relic definitely does not lack weaknesses."

"This time our disadvantage is that we lack this kind of fate-type weapon... You said the location of the fourth fate disturbance is near the Prophecy Association?"

"Yes, what has the Association prepared?"

"It's hard to say. The Association has a long history; I wouldn't be surprised by any relic. But the Association actually entered the game? Could it be that the Association has also found a candidate this time..."

The purple-eyed girl said hesitantly, while Galina suggested with a smile:

"Luvia, I think if you use the snake skin, you might immediately become a 【Protagonist Candidate】. Isn't there still a blank snake skin in your hand now? Do you want to try using it?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3343 =====