Chapter 3924

Mr. Bernhardt, whose face was somewhat pale, returned to the entrance of the exhibition hall just before the church's ring mages arrived, having finished hiding the corpse of the mid-tier ring mage that he and Xia De had worked together to leave behind.

The people present were all prominent figures in Arcadia City and would not easily submit to interrogation. However, given the magnitude of what had occurred in the city that night, the personnel from the 【Church of the Sun】 who arrived first, after consulting with the Duchess, still brought everyone back to the banquet hall, where they subsequently interrogated each person's identity one by one and had everyone sign a confidentiality order.

Vigo remained silent, merely clutching Xia De's arm tightly, determined that if the church suspected "John Watson," she would protect him in the name of the Astley family; at worst, she would announce that Xia De was her fiancé, as she still held that much influence locally.

But having been to so many cities, Xia De had long been prepared for such situations. A stranger from Willendale whom no one knew was indeed suspicious, but once they actually vetted him, he produced his "Grey Glove" credentials to prove his identity, and he was no longer suspicious at all.

Margaret had already prepared a complete set of identities for him; even if they were to access internal data from the "Grey Glove" system afterward, they would certainly obtain the most comprehensive proof of identity.

Because of this incident, the charity banquet, which had been proceeding very smoothly, had to be cut short, but at the very least, the Duchess did announce the total amount raised at the banquet and had a reporter take a group photo for everyone to keep as a memento.

During this time, Xia De did not have any further contact with Mr. Bernhardt, and before the event dispersed, Vigo simply held onto Xia De's arm and would not let go. As for whether she simply hoped Xia De would stay by her side and not run around, or if she had other little thoughts, only the witch herself could say for sure.

Because of this incident, after the church's questioning concluded, the carriages of each family drove directly into the park to pick up their respective masters at the exhibition hall entrance. The carriage from the Fragrant Residence had also arrived long ago during the group photo; after Xia De was led into the carriage by Vigo, he discovered that Miss MacDonald was actually inside.

"Teacher, Mr. Watson, are you both alright?"

The young lady asked softly. The witch glanced at Xia De and shook her head gently, then ordered the coachman to depart and return to her mansion. On the way back, Vigo did not ask Xia De what had happened, merely listening to her student talk about how a sudden thunderclap had rung out just moments ago; she had sensed that the thunder was not right, which was why she had followed the carriage to that location.

Not until they returned to the Fragrant Residence located on the cliff and were seated in the familiar study did Xia De prepare to explain to them what had happened just now. At this time, both he and Vigo were sitting on the long sofa, because Vigo had only been willing to let go of him after they sat down.

"You only said you wanted to have a few words with your friend just now, so how did you end up causing such a commotion? That golem... the power of that final strike, even I would not face it directly in a healthy state."

She seemed to be blaming Xia De for his recklessness, but there was more worry than anything else in her tone. As for the powerful strength Xia De had displayed, she was not surprised; she had long since concluded that Xia De would certainly not be weaker than herself.

When Xia De recounted his experience, both the witch and Miss MacDonald listened intently. Upon hearing that Xia De and Mr. Bernhardt had chased Lady Connaught to the lakeside, Vigo guessed that it was a trap. And the one-on-six battle, the Repulsion Demon Eye, and the appearance of a relic that should not have existed made her expression grow increasingly grim.

However, neither Vigo nor Miss MacDonald could distinguish which organization those people Xia De mentioned belonged to, nor had they ever seen that powerful relic named 【Thousand-Eyed Gargoyle No. 3765】 locally.

"These people should also be outsiders; there are absolutely no such ring mages locally. Although some of the enemies just now used demon eyes, and that golem also had demon eyes, this matter should have nothing to do with the 【Demon Eye Club】; that is not their style of operation."

Vigo said with great certainty.

The fierce battle just now ended with Xia De's "Principle of Regression" hitting the golem, causing two of the golem's three heads to collapse. However, relics are not easily damaged, so Xia De became increasingly certain that there was a problem with that "Giant Soldier."

Before the church's ring mage squad arrived, he and Mr. Bernhardt left in time, and the enemies also used a strange method to make the golem disappear before hurriedly hiding. However, Xia De had ultimately gained the upper hand in this fierce battle, so he, being more composed, cooperated with Mr. Bernhardt, who had recovered somewhat, to leave behind one of the four mid-tier ring mages.

He had thought he might get an extra captive, but he did not expect the other party to suddenly die. Because no "Soul Reversal" occurred, it was not suicide; Xia De guessed that this was a means for the other party's organization to prevent captives from leaking information.

"However, the corpse can still have some value. As for Lady Connaught and her young lover, Mr. Bernhardt and I are more inclined to believe they were just bait; these two were completely unaware of the battle just now and only cared about... If the church acts quickly enough, they should be able to save them from the lake before they drown."

Xia De said at the end, and Vigo was quite worried:

"Your actions just now were too risky. The 【Church of Creation】 has its headquarters not far from this city, and Arcadia City has not had such an accident in the upper city district for many years."

She was not scolding Xia De, but reminding him:

"It is best to keep a low profile these next few days; the church will certainly strengthen its guard. I know that in order to help your friend, you will still investigate that group of strangers, but please do not act rashly again... Call me next time, and I will help you."

Xia De also understood this point. Back when he was at the Snowy Mountains, as long as he didn't act within the City of Time, he didn't need to worry about the church elsewhere, but Arcadia City this time was, after all, a densely populated large city.

"But how did the 'Giant Soldier' appear here in the first place? I know the whereabouts of that relic; it should not be here locally. What exactly was that thing just now?"

The witch and Miss MacDonald did not know that the relic Xia De mentioned was in Tobesk, otherwise they could easily have guessed who Xia De really was. Instead, Miss MacDonald, addressing Xia De's description, understood his thoughts:

"Mr. Watson, do you mean that the relic that appeared tonight was not the relic itself, but a replica obtained through other means?"

This was also the most likely situation at present. Xia De recalled the scene when the golem appeared at that time, and then used starlight to outline the ritual base array from when the golem emerged from the water in the air.

Of course, the golem could not have been hidden in the lake beforehand; the park's lake was not a hundred meters deep, so that ritual base array should have had summoning properties. And a summoning array capable of summoning such a powerful relic must certainly have its own unique characteristics:

"Do you recognize this?"

Xia De asked. Vigo thought for a moment and actually felt it looked somewhat familiar:

"I feel like I have seen it somewhere... I need time to think about it carefully, or wait until the weekend to ask the other Great Witches of the Council."

Xia De nodded and glanced at the night scene outside the window:

"In any case, I will definitely investigate this matter. Those people might even be outsiders associated with the 【Jade Alchemy Society】. Although I will likely not appear tomorrow, if Mr. Bernhardt sends a letter, please help me receive it."

Vigo nodded. She hadn't had time to change her clothes after returning, and was still wearing the evening gown she had worn to the banquet:

"Then, you are leaving, aren't you?"

"Yes, it is already very late... I will definitely come again on Sunday, see you then."

"See you then."

The witch practically had "I don't want you to leave" written on her face, but she still stood up to see Xia De off. Xia De, however, stopped her:

"You should rest soon too; no need to see me off, I will leave from here."

As he said this, he took out the crystal shoe, and after saying goodbye again, he threw it out and vanished directly before the eyes of Vigo and Miss MacDonald.

"You see, I knew he was strong. You didn't see that strike just now; it was really, cough, cough, cough, really very powerful."

Vigo said to her student while coughing, and the latter gently patted her back:

"Teacher, Arcadia City has been very strange recently. The group of outsiders Mr. Watson encountered doesn't seem to be the same group that Miss Laura Lorrain and the others encountered; there are likely two groups of uninvited guests in the city now."

She wanted to discuss the situation in the city with her teacher, but Vigo clearly had no such thoughts. A mournful expression appeared on the witch's face, and she asked her student:

"Eve, do you guess that he insisted on going back because one of my colleagues is waiting for him at home?"

And the young lady, for whatever reason, could not possibly agree with this thought:

"Perhaps he just feels that it is very inappropriate to live abruptly in the home of a strange lady."

However, Vigo guessed right this time, because Galina was indeed waiting for Xia De at home. In fact, not only was Galina there, but Sylvie was actually there too.

When Xia De came up from the basement holding the cat, the two witches were still talking about Vigo, laughing and discussing Vigo's performance at the meeting last night. Seeing Xia De return, they stood up from the sofa together. Galina gave Xia De a hug and said quite dissatisfied:

"Why did she keep you so late? I think she has ulterior motives."

Sylvie laughed on the side:

"Luvia is stargazing on the third floor; she said if you came, you don't need to go find her, she is afraid she will be busy for a while longer."

"But I am afraid I really have to go find her; many things happened today, and I encountered a relic that absolutely could not have appeared in Arcadia City."

So Luvia was soon called down by Tifa. The purple-eyed girl was not unhappy about having her work interrupted:

"So what happened this afternoon? You encountered activated machinery and life sparks in the morning, and there were actually things happening in the afternoon? Is that city so chaotic?"