Chapter 3538

Time arrived at Friday; early in the morning, while Dorothy was still making breakfast, Xia De ran off to Saint Byrons.

On one hand, to see if Dac Dac Nisi had any method for that rune lock; if there truly was another way, he would not need to consume the snake fangs. On the other hand, to represent Little Liana and Ellie in visiting Emilia; the little elf had not gone to the island for most of the week.

The Young Lady administrator was indeed in the library; she had already reviewed the materials on that rune lock, but just as the witches had stated, deciphering it required time, and even if deciphered, it might not take effect.

As for Emilia, Dac Dac Nisi had actually seen her these past few days:

"She is very busy now; many people have come from all over the world to visit her. This is a matter of etiquette; before the new Elf King is crowned, connections must always be strengthened. The nine great elf clans you have encountered are merely the larger existing elf tribes, but in fact, there are still some smaller elf communities scattered across the world.

Besides elves, representatives from other races that have had historical dealings with the elves have also come to visit. Yesterday, the representative from the Dragon Island just arrived and even asked if Emilia was willing to adopt a young dragon to serve as the young dragon's godmother."

She smiled as she spoke of this matter, and Xia De also laughed:

"Emilia surely did not agree, right?"

"Of course not. Although I was not present at the time, the Headmaster who was there said Emilia seemed terrified. She is still young and has likely never thought she would become a 'mother.' However, her final response was quite dignified; she said she had already established a deep friendship with the unicorns of the academy and could not take care of other children in the short term."

Now, Emilia must attend classes and write homework, deal with visiting guests, continue polishing her speech at night, and is occasionally pulled away to participate in rehearsals for the "Crowning Ceremony"; indeed, she has no time to go out of town.

But apart from Emilia herself, everyone else was in high spirits; the elves rejoiced at the birth of the Elf King, and the academy felt proud that its student had become a race leader.

Currently, the only thing that could bring Emilia comfort was probably that all the visiting guests had brought her gifts. Piles of gifts were mostly sent to the elves' residence within the academy for safekeeping, while a small portion was placed in Emilia's single dormitory room, allowing her to select one to give to her good friend Agelina to celebrate Agelina's eighteenth birthday.

This morning when Xia De saw Emilia, she was sitting at a long table in the academy cafeteria, eating breakfast and chatting with classmates. By the time she noticed the young ladies around her suddenly and tacitly rising with their trays to leave, Dac Dac Nisi had already sat opposite her, and Xia De had sat beside Emilia.

The golden-haired elf girl immediately smiled, while Xia De sighed:

"I was originally worried that after you gained another identity, your relationship with your classmates would change."

The identity of the Chosen One could be concealed, but Emilia's crowning as Elf King was a major event that all supernatural beings in the material world were currently watching.

"At first, everyone spoke to me cautiously, but later I ran off to play on Fatumonster Island, forgot to hand in my homework, and was still criticized by the professors; everyone then knew I was still Emilia. To say there was no change at all would be incorrect, but at least this change is one I can accept... How are Little Liana and Ellie? Do they miss me? I truly miss them very much.

I can only go out on the weekend; at that time, I will first go to the woods to visit the chocobos, and then go visit them."

Emilia might not have the opportunity to celebrate Agelina's birthday on Monday, so she also entrusted Xia De to deliver her letter and the birthday gift for the little princess.

That was a congratulatory gift sent to her by the Spider People living on a distant southern island (further south than Fatumonster Island); it was a beautiful hairband of seven colors.

"This is woven from rainbows; the Spider People possess a unique technique to solidify the light of the rainbow into spider silk and spit it out. Even in the era of the witches, this was a very valuable treasure."

Dac Dac Nisi introduced this proactively; she had also prepared a gift for Agelina, which, like Miss Jia Lin Na's, consisted of several books.

They also asked Xia De about the gift he had prepared, so Xia De spoke of the staff known as the "King of Promises."

Unexpectedly, Dac Dac Nisi had actually heard of that staff:

"Many witches of the Fifth Era used it, but none of those witches ever became a Witch Emperor, so although the background story of the 'King of Promises' is quite interesting, it seems the staff bears a fate that ensures its user will absolutely never become king. However, if used by a low-rank sorcerer, that staff is indeed very suitable."

Xia De did not stay at the academy for long; when he left, he not only took Emilia's letter and gift, but also took the nutritious meals Emilia had prepared for the two young unicorns and the soft cushion she had made for them herself, which featured a pattern of the academy's main castle.

Emilia's knitting skills were not bad, but Xia De was curious how, given how busy she had been recently, she still had time to make such things—time Chosen Ones naturally had their own little tricks.

When Xia De returned home, Dorothy and Luvia had already eaten breakfast. It was not until Luvia left for work that Xia De departed for the Snow Mountain. Dorothy would stay home all day writing drafts and would help Xia De take care of Mia; the Young Lady writer's life was more leisurely than everyone else in the group.

There was nothing much to do on the island today; after delivering Emilia's gifts to the unicorns, Xia De originally planned to make the staff-top gemstone for Agelina together with Claire, and then, after the elders returned from their meeting in the city, ask them specifically what needed to be done for "The Great Movement of Fate."

But by ten in the morning, while Xia De and Claire were discussing the topic of stabilizing liquids in the alchemy laboratory below the Snow Mountain Hall, Matilda hurriedly knocked on the door and walked in:

"The nuns from the 【Serpent Heart Hospital】 in the city have written to you, requesting you come over. Something has happened at the hospital and they want your help to take a look, but the letter did not specify exactly what the matter is."

"The nuns are looking for me?"

Although there was also a 【Serpent Heart Hospital】 locally, apart from the incident at the 【Home of the False Ones】, Xia De had never contacted them. The Serpent Heart Hospital was a semi-official welfare institution providing medical care for poor women and children; many children in the slums were born at the local Serpent Heart Hospital, so Xia De did not want his troubles to implicate that place.

Nor had the nuns of the 【Serpent Heart Hospital】 proactively contacted the small town before; this time writing to them certainly meant something major had happened.

Thus, Xia De put down what he was doing and hurriedly rushed to Time Wheel City with Claire, Stella, and Matilda. The 【Serpent Heart Hospital】 in Time Wheel City was not large; it was the smallest of all the 【Serpent Heart Hospitals】 Xia De had ever seen.

The reason a 【Serpent Heart Hospital】, which generally only appeared in large cities, appeared here was that the Lagson Duchy was extremely wealthy due to the Prophets' Association, sufficient to fund such a semi-official welfare institution.

The hospital's location was a three-story building, primarily gray, appearing neither new nor old. Nuns were already waiting for them on the first floor; subsequently, the group was led to the maternity ward located on the right side of the second floor. At this moment, the mother and family were not here, but a baby still lay in the small cradle.

Several young nuns stood around the cradle, somewhat at a loss; they were not without experience caring for children, they simply dared not act, and as soon as the child heard so many footsteps, she immediately began to wail loudly, so the middle-aged nun leading the group upstairs hurriedly picked her up and gently rocked her:

"This child was born an hour ago; please look..."

After Xia De approached, he saw the small child whose skin was still somewhat pink, and he also saw the large patch of greenish-blue scales on the child's cheek.

"Not just here; she also has a tail."

The middle-aged nun said with difficulty:

"The child's parents are both locals who are poor; I asked them, and their ancestors have all lived on this island; the family has no similar hereditary diseases."

"Dragonborn bloodline?"

Claire also moved closer to take a look and offered a reasonable guess, but Xia De shook his head:

"I have seen many Dragonborns; this does not look like dragon scales, but rather looks like... snake scales."

The middle-aged nun nodded with considerable difficulty:

"Yes, her tail also resembles a snake's tail. The child's parents do not know this yet; we told them the child has some issues and needs temporary isolation and treatment. I know about the recent matters on the island, so I wanted to ask you; do you know what this situation is?"

Xia De said nothing, simply placing his fingers on the child's forehead. The child, who had been whimpering softly, upon seeing Xia De, widened her eyes and stared at him, as if looking at something novel.

After a moment, Xia De withdrew his hand:

"At least it is not the influence of some unknown relic; however, since snakes are involved... you continue to soothe the child's parents; I will go to Midhill Fortress. There is a relic there capable of identifying bloodlines, the 【Sorrowful Nurse Statue】; we cannot rule out the awakening of a recessive non-human bloodline."

That marble statue was fully two people tall, and because it was a relic, it could not be turned into a toy; Xia De could only rely on strength to forcibly move it.

As he spoke, he was about to depart, but another nun who had gone to soothe the child's parents hurriedly walked over. This nun was a Three-Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi and also the vice-director of this hospital; the bandages wrapped around her eyes proved she was a formal member of the 【Spirit Cultivation Order】, while the other nuns did not possess such status.

"People from the Prophets' Association and the Church have arrived."

She had not seen Xia De up close before, but the moment she "saw" Xia De, she immediately knew who he was, so she lowered her voice and said:

"It is the President of the Prophets' Association, and Miss Camille Eden of the 【Sun Insignia】 from the Sun Church, who have brought people."