Chapter 3467: Rituals and the Free Doctor

Hearing Xia De's question, the sharp Claire turned directly to look at her grandfather, only to find him facing away from her, still talking to Elder Ule.

The witch with beautiful platinum-blonde hair then answered slowly:

"Grandfather's injury seems to be almost healed. He can serve as the chief priest for All Souls' Day next year himself. I don't think I need to come here specifically to attend."

Xia De tried to persuade her. Of course, he didn't persuade her directly but took a roundabout way:

"Then I wish Elder Harald good health forever... But after all, the five Great Elders are all advanced in age. The sum of our ages doesn't even reach half of the age of any one of them. No one can say for sure about the future. I have met all the other priests in the tribe, and none of them can compare to you.

If you ask me, you can come back every All Souls' Day in the future and treat yourself as a substitute for the chief priest, so that All Souls' Day will definitely not go wrong."

"Did grandfather ask you to persuade me?"

She asked this very directly. Xia De glanced at Elder Harald:

"Yes."

Before Claire could ask further, Xia De leaned into her ear and said:

"The elder gave me benefits, so I agreed to help lobby. He said..."

Xia De stated the content of the "transaction." Claire blushed immediately and pushed Xia De away shyly:

"I can handle my father and mother myself; who needs him to say... Then if I return to the town every year to attend All Souls' Day, can you also come here every year to spend the festival with me?"

"Of course, it's not a troublesome thing to come from my home."

Claire then relented:

"Then I'll consider it. If I have nothing to do during All Souls' Day in the next few years, I will come to help... But you have to accompany me, and if it's not necessary, I don't want to continue serving as the chief priest. I'm just here to help."

Elder Harald was already satisfied enough with this result.

The elders had been paying attention to the time. At 11:30, they instructed the young priests to call out all the "warriors" distributed throughout the banquet hall to gather in the courtyard. This was also to make the young people more alert or sober up; in previous years, there had been cases of drinking causing mistakes.

At this time, the snowflakes falling in the night sky became larger and denser, and this year's "warriors" came from thirteen different villages, totaling 21 people, among whom the "warriors" from Kyle-Todd Town were the most numerous, with seven people.

They would climb the snow mountain through different routes and light fire basins in the mountain halls along the way to prove that they had reached each node. Although All Souls' Day would end tomorrow, Saturday, the situation this year was special, so the elders calculated that they would be considered successful if they reached the main peak of Mount Fatu Monster by dawn on Sunday.

For others, completing the climb to Mount Fatumunster in 30 hours is absolutely impossible, but everyone here has received the blessing of the snow mountain. The Fatum people have an extraordinary affinity for this mountain, so theoretically, among the 21 people, at least three should be able to reach the finish line before dawn.

Taking advantage of the final moments, the chief celebrants of this year's All-Souls Festival—Elder Claire, Elder Verda, and Elder Ursa—followed ancient customs to perform the final blessing for the "warriors" together.

This was not spellcasting in the strict sense, but more like a blessing performed in conjunction with a ritual. Xia De was not very familiar with this traditional ritual blessing and could only barely discern that it had the effects of "increasing cold resistance," "resisting hunger," and "blessing of luck."

Snow mountain water was splashed onto them, and then everyone grabbed a handful of snow from the basket held by Elder Ursa and ate it. Potions had been added to this snow, and the ingredients of the potions varied according to the specific circumstances of each year.

As for this year, the elders naturally added every potion they could.

After everything was ready, the group returned to the banquet hall. Then, the three chief celebrants took down the three torches hanging on the wall, and after chanting in the local Fatum dialect, the three torches were ignited in the fireplace.

Led by the chief celebrants holding the torches, followed by the priests and warriors, with the others from the banquet hall bringing up the rear, everyone left the Snow Mountain Hall and headed toward the gate leading from the town to the snow mountain.

At this moment, almost half the town's people had gathered at the entrance, and at the mountain-climbing gate, the bonfire piles had already been set up. Because snow had been falling for an hour, a layer of white frost had already covered the firewood of the bonfire piles.

But the chief celebrants didn't care at all. Elder Claire, Elder Verda, and Elder Ursa surrounded the unlit bonfire pile in a triangle, held their torches, and after praying to the snow mountain once more under the gaze of the people, the three torches were thrown into the center, and then the roaring flames surged into the night sky.

Xia De clearly felt that the elemental content in this flame had become higher, and its supernatural characteristics were becoming more and more obvious. Characteristics like being difficult to extinguish and keeping the holder warm, while basic, were very important to those preparing to climb the mountain.

"So, does man serve the fire, or does the fire serve man?"

While Xia De pondered, the 21 warriors also successively took their own fire seeds from the roaring bonfire. Because of the bad weather, everyone didn't use torches anymore, but instead used old-fashioned lanterns to carry the flames.

At exactly twelve o'clock at night, when the faint sound of the bell from the distant City of Time Wheels drifted over, the warriors, carrying the blessings of their relatives, villages, and all the Fatum people, strapped on their packs and set foot on the path to climb the mountain.

"Year after year, every time I see them set off toward the snow mountain, I feel like I've aged another year."

Elder Harald sighed. After the backs of the climbing warriors disappeared, the people gathered in front of the gate dispersed. The bonfire that had been lit was extinguished quite carelessly. Of course, before extinguishing it, Elder Verda also took a portion of the fire seed, and then the old man walked straight into the mountains.

This fire seed would be placed by him at the location where they took the fire before the All-Souls Festival, and he would go to the same location to take fire again the following year. The source of the "fire seed" was something even Claire didn't know; it was a secret known only to the Great Elders.

Of course, Claire didn't care about this secret either.

It was already very late. Although the snake-tooth-shaped stone placed in the spring had finished soaking, Xia De decided to deal with this matter tomorrow. He did not return to the Snow Mountain Hall, but said goodbye to Claire and the elders at the town entrance. When he threw the crystal shoe to return home, the entire Tobeisk had already entered into the quiet night.

The time had passed midnight; strictly speaking, it was already Saturday. Tonight, there were only Xia De and the cat at home. Little Mia, who had already slept, stood on the sofa to welcome Xia De.

"Miss Jia Lin Na has returned to her manor, and Luweiya has to study the 【Pedestal of Fate】; I estimate she won't be coming over for the next few days."

Xia De thought to himself, and after a simple wash, he returned to the bedroom. Before closing his eyes, he thought that today was the last day of the Month of Birth. Then, 24 hours later, he would finally be able to see Adele again.

This night's sleep was not disturbed by dreams; he even felt that he had just closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, it was already six-thirty in the morning.

As he walked to the washroom in his slippers, he still felt a bit unaccustomed to such a morning alone at home, and in his heart, he missed the mornings when the dining table was full of young ladies.

【Are you just too lazy to make breakfast yourself?】

"She" asked with a smile while Xia De was brushing his teeth. Xia De immediately denied it:

"Of course not... but if I don't have to cook, that would certainly be better."

Today is Saturday, which means Doctor Schneider can finally enter and leave Tobeisk freely, no longer restricted by the church. Xia De and Little Mia had finished breakfast when the doctor rang the doorbell downstairs to pay a visit. He was ready for the trip, and he looked exceptionally spirited.

"Then, will the group meeting this afternoon proceed as normal?"

Xia De asked while taking the doctor upstairs, and the doctor nodded:

"Of course it will proceed as normal. I'm just going to Fatumunster Island in the morning to check the situation first, and I'll be back by noon."

After obtaining the power of a Witcher and subsequently enhancing his own demonic power, Xia De summoning the doctor was no longer limited to midnight. Although it still required a "remote crossroads" and a "mirror" as conditions, remote islands were not lacking in remote crossroads.

In order to find the Black Hand-Tifron, who had been hiding for half a month, the doctor had made full preparations; the suitcase he carried with him was proof. And half an hour later, when he really crawled out of the mirror at the crossroads of the snow mountain path, the first exclamation he made was:

"Why is the elemental environment here so chaotic?"

Xia De looked at the desolate scenery around him and explained:

"This is the influence of the All-Souls Festival; it should be fine by tomorrow. So, although I am ready to go find trouble for the 【House of Pseudo-Humans】, I still think I'll wait until after the All-Souls Festival to take action."

Goose-feather-like snowflakes were drifting in the mountains, and the snow that had started last night hadn't stopped. The doctor looked up at the sky:

"Except for the final battle moments of those Chosen stories, I have never seen such a chaotic elemental environment... Yes, it's best not to contain relics at such times, otherwise, it's very easy to have big trouble.

But fortunately, evil spirits and demons don't have the pure elements that relics have, so I'll be off."

He looked toward the direction of the snow mountain path up the mountain; the probability of the demon hiding in the snow mountain was much greater than at the foot of the mountain:

"Regardless of whether there is a result, Detective, we'll see each other in Tobeisk in the afternoon. You don't need to help when I go back; remember to go to my place at one-thirty in the afternoon for the meeting."

Xia De waved his hand at him:

"Doctor, I don't need you to remind me. But if you haven't returned by one-thirty in the afternoon, I will organize everyone to come to the snow mountain to rescue you."

The doctor laughed:

"There is indeed that possibility; I will be careful."

He waved his hand at Xia De and walked into the mountains alone, carrying his suitcase.