Chapter 3565

Having obtained the answer from the ship girl, Xia De thought about going to the castle ruins in the mountain again to take a look, but the witches told him not to be so anxious, eat first, there is plenty of time in the afternoon.

So everyone celebrated the arrival of Vanessa and Xilis on the ship. Although the 【Golden Dawn Opera Troupe】 did not come in full force this time, Vanessa still brought a lot of manpower. During lunch, she and Xilis sat on Xia De's left and right, and Vanessa quietly teased and asked Xia De:

"How is the progress of your relationship with Claire?"

Xilis smiled and watched Xia De explain there, knowing in her heart that her good friend just wanted to confirm whether there were others who acted as quickly as the Edwards ladies.

In the afternoon, it was Matilda, who was most familiar with the ruins, who took people and Xia De to the mountain together.

Although they had simply explored the castle ruins and even placed some spare supplies, the steps of the Southern maids were limited to the "ground" part. Now the first floor of the castle was buried in the snow, so they didn't know about the part under the snow.

"And for a castle of this scale, there will generally be a basement."

Matilda also said this on the way up the mountain.

There were five people in total. Besides Xia De and Matilda, the other three girls were Ninth-Tier sorcerers, and they were all Dragonborn. Since Bella learned the origin of the Seven Great Families last summer and awakened her own Golden Dragon bloodline to learn to fly, many local girls in Moon Bay under her command have shown varying degrees of Dragonborn characteristics.

Similar situations have also appeared in the Orthodox Churches, Prophet Societies, and other sorcerer organizations in the Moon Bay area, but not as obvious as Bella's girls. This may also be the impact brought by the Chosen Ritual of Light, or it may be the reason why the sealed dragon legends in the Moon Bay area have been released. Of course, it does not exclude that this is caused by the 【Dragon Feast Sacrificial Site】 still floating over Moon Bay.

It's just a pity that Matilda is not a local of Moon Bay.

In short, Xia De held Matilda, and the other girls flew separately. The process of climbing the mountain was quite smooth.

And when they really arrived at the castle ruins, Xia De first checked the remaining parts on the snow surface again, and after confirming that there were no clues, he summoned the flames:

"Let's start digging."

The scorching flames gradually revealed the first floor of the castle that had been buried under the snow for more than a thousand years. Probably because it was protected by thick accumulated snow, the preservation of the first floor was relatively intact, at least not collapsed by more than half like the snow surface.

But even so, there were still most areas that could not be entered directly. Xia De could only turn into a group of butterflies to drill in and check. And although there were some traces left by the Fifth Era on the first floor, there was nothing Xia De was looking for.

As for the basement Matilda mentioned, it certainly existed. The style of castle-type buildings at the end of the Fifth Era is still circulating in the current era, so the location of the basement entrance can be directly inferred.

Compared to the ground part, the basement was simply like it had not been baptized by any wind and frost. After opening the entrance and ventilating for a while, the two maids stayed on the ground, and Xia De, Matilda, and another maid jumped down.

The area of the basement was about two-thirds of the first floor. Here, some spaces were just divided by brick walls, and it was still connected as a whole. Matilda could infer from the remaining shelves which areas had been used to store fresh vegetables and fruits, which areas had been used to store wine, and which were used to pile up sundries.

It was almost empty here, but there were stone shelves, rotten wooden boxes, and some remains of lost sundries.

The most valuable harvest among them was some Fifth Era coins scattered under the shelves. According to the purchasing power at that time, they should be able to buy a few pieces of white bread. But if sold at the value of antiques in this era, buying a bakery in a rural town should be no problem.

And the biggest harvest was a heavily rusted two-handed greatsword hanging on the wall. That was just an ordinary item, but judging from the workmanship of the hilt, it was also a very sophisticated weapon in that era, but in this day and age, it can only be considered scrap iron.

The three did not separate, but searched together under the moonlight. Xia De's 【Enhanced Spatial Perception】 did not find that there was a hidden room here, but considering that this was the former camp of the Witch Emperor, if she wanted to set up a secret room, she would definitely take into account the detection from time and space.

After turning around, the biggest harvest was still those few lost coins. They returned to the stone wall where the two-handed greatsword was hanging, and Matilda whispered:

"It seems that's all there is."

Xia De said:

"Isn't there still a door here?"

He pointed to the stone door next to the two-handed greatsword, whose color was almost exactly the same as the wall. He thought Matilda didn't notice it because the light was too dark, but the blonde maid captain looked in that direction along Xia De's hand, and then asked suspiciously:

"Is there?"

The other maid also looked over:

"I didn't see a door either."

When the three walked to the front of the door Xia De saw, they still claimed that they didn't see the outline of any door. Trying to push the area Xia De pointed out with their hands, the wall didn't move at all.

"Is it because my inspiration is high?"

Xia De thought so, but he reached out and pushed, and the door on the stone wall opened inward directly, revealing a pale purple barrier close behind the door. The door could be passed through, but they couldn't pass through:

"Wait a minute, this doesn't seem to be because my inspiration is high. This door wouldn't be set so that only I can see it, right... another rune lock?"

The purple barrier behind the stone door was indeed a rune lock, and it looked even more complicated than the one in the Whispering Hill hotel. Even the rune lock in the hotel could be destroyed by snake fangs because it took "ever-changing destiny" as the core, but the center of this rune lock was impressively Violet's own emblem. This was a rune lock set by the Witch Emperor herself.

He tried it with the 【Key of the Door】, and sure enough, the blockade of the demigod witch was not something he could break now.

"This... if this was left for you by that Her Majesty, then you should know the method of unlocking."

Matilda reminded from the side, so Xia De stepped back two steps to observe the basement again, and finally looked at the two-handed greatsword on the wall:

"Sword... okay, I probably understand."

He drew the 【Night Watcher】:

"The only unique item that Violet and I have held together is this. Although the 【Night Watcher】 had already sealed that Balrog in Kael-Todd Mountain during the Tombstone Wasteland trip, Violet must have recorded the characteristics of this sword, and she can go and pull out that sword at any time."

Xia De said and stabbed the 【Night Watcher】 into the barrier in front of him. The runes in the rune lock immediately began to move rapidly and combine with each other. After half a minute, all the runes moved to the periphery of the barrier, so the rune lock shattered in response.

"It seems that is indeed the case."

Behind the barrier was a passage about five meters long, and at the end of the passage was a pitch-black room.

The Ninth-Tier maid stayed at the door, and Xia De and Matilda walked in. And when the moonlight illuminated this hidden room, Xia De didn't see the initial fire flame or the Angel-level relic pistol. There was only a lonely easel placed in the center of the room. On the oil painting on the easel, the blonde Violet was smiling and looking at Xia De at the exit of the passage.

"Oh, this lady is really beautiful."

Matilda whispered in admiration. Even judging by the appearance of witches, "Eternal Beauty" Violet Marshall was an absolute beauty:

"Is this that Her Majesty?"

She asked again, and Xia De nodded while looking at the familiar face on the oil painting. This was a typical half-length portrait oil painting of a person. The background of the picture looked like an interior, but it was deliberately blurred, while the portrait was exceptionally exquisite, even if Violet in the oil painting blinked in the next second, Xia De would definitely not be surprised.

This was the only item in this dark room, so Xia De walked directly to the oil painting and reached out to touch the face in the picture.

【Outlander, you touched the Witch Echo · Violet. Since you have already touched the echo from the same source, you will not gain voting rights this time.】

At the same time as his hand touched the oil painting, everything around faded, and even the silver moonlight he summoned seemed to have become the light source in a black-and-white photo.

Matilda's figure disappeared, and Xia De found that what he was reaching out to touch was no longer an oil painting, but the cheek of Violet who was looking at him with a smile.

She was also faded like the whole world, or rather, only Xia De had rich colors on his body.

"Long time no see, Xia De."

She said gently, not even letting Xia De take his hand away, and Xia De understood:

"This... is very similar to a memory, but it's different... Core of the Old Days?"

This was the Angel-level relic that Vanessa borrowed from Xilis during the Year-End Festival to let everyone have fun with Xia De.

"You actually know this? But I don't have that precious relic in my hand. This is just an old dream arranged by a ritual. It is a reappearance of the memory of Theresa standing at the door, and me standing in the room at this moment."

She explained, looking at Xia De in front of her:

"Sorry, I can only contact you in this way for the time being. But since you found this place, it means you know the plan of us and Sister Belen.

The strange bones in the coffin we obtained after defeating the 'Gravedigger of the Underworld Coffin' in front of the temple in the Tombstone Wasteland were left by me beside the initial fire. After the curse was lifted, those bones were actually what you were looking for. Besides that, we also left some other surprises for you by the fire, hoping to help you.

Those things can only be left there, because I am not sure if the items left here can really be obtained by you."

The black-and-white Witch Emperor hugged Xia De:

"But I'm sorry, I can't tell you their specific location. The fire here involves an important matter, and that matter cannot be solved even by me at this time."