Chapter 4033: The Cat and the Owl

The traces of "Wither" discovered yesterday ultimately pointed to a ring that Little Mia was very fond of. Regardless of whether today's traces pointed to a Relic or something else, Xia De still had to go and see for himself.

Thus, he hopped onto a carriage with Miss MacDonald and headed all the way toward Gray Rock Pass.

This was the first time Xia De had been alone with this tall young lady for such a long time. To prevent these clues from truly pointing to a demon, Xia De kept reminding this young lady, who was only at the Middle Ring, of various precautions along the way.

The earnest and rigorous young lady listened carefully. Only after Xia De finished speaking did she ask:

"Mr. Watson, you have dealt with many evil spirits and demons before, haven't you?"

"Yes, the number has already reached double digits."

Xia De replied. This was not a joke; aside from exorcising demons with the Doctor in the Sixth Era, he had occasionally encountered demons in his past travels, such as the Frost Demon in the inn where he rescued Winnie.

The young lady with beautiful rose-gold hair revealed an expression of awe:

"You are planning to reveal your identity to the teacher this week, right? Your true identity must be that of a very remarkable person."

Xia De thought of what Margaret had mentioned to him during one of their dates—that rumors regarding the "Wrist" had already spread from the Northern Kingdom to the Southern Kingdom. Everyone paid close attention to the scandalous news surrounding the most powerful Grand Duchess of the North, so in a sense, Xia De's true identity was indeed "very remarkable."

"I hope you won't be too surprised when the time comes."

He said with a straight face, and Miss MacDonald laughed:

"So that's how it is; your identity is very famous, right? Could it be that you are a prince of the Northern Kingdom's royal family? Oh, I won't tell the teacher."

Xia De shook his head:

"My surname is not Cavendish, but your guess... is close."

Miss MacDonald blinked, yet she still did not associate it with "Xia De Hamilton." However, she was curious about other things:

"May I ask a question?"

As she spoke, she extended her right index finger to indicate the number "1":

"Since you know other Witches, you must also know other Witch apprentices, right?"

It seemed that young apprentices were all very concerned about other apprentices.

"Yes, do you want to ask about the ranks of other apprentices?"

Miss Stella Larson had asked this question while they were on the snowy mountain, but Miss MacDonald shook her head:

"The teacher has already told me about ranks. I wanted to ask, what kind of relationship do you have with those Witch apprentices?"

Xia De did not expect her to ask such a question. Excluding Vigo, Xia De knew nine Great Witches, seven of whom had apprentices—

Tifa, Margaret, Miss Rita Swift, Matilda, Miss Charlotte Bell, Miss Stella Larson, and Miss Hayley Aurora.

Except for Xiwei's niece, the relationship between the other six young ladies and Xia De could not simply be described as "friends." In fact, Tifa, Margaret, and Matilda all had more or less intimate relationships with Xia De.

Therefore, facing Miss MacDonald's question, Xia De hesitated for a moment before deciding to take the average value of his relationships with the apprentices:

"A relationship beyond friendship. As for what it is specifically... once you know who the Witches I know are, you can ask the apprentices yourself."

Eve MacDonald felt much more relieved now. Last week, when she found herself having inappropriate thoughts while facing Xia De and the teacher embracing, she had spent the entire weekend being condemned by her own morality and conscience.

Now that she knew there were others who did the same, she was no longer so conflicted. Since others could do it, she should be able to as well; Vigo's student clearly had thoughts very similar to her own.

Thus, for the rest of the journey, Xia De found that this young lady had become inexplicably much more enthusiastic toward him. She took the initiative to bring up the topic of raising cats. Although "Fragrant Residence" had no pet cats because of Vigo, Miss MacDonald often fed stray cats at school.

Xia De was very interested in this topic; not only did he share his own experience in raising cats, but he also persuaded Miss MacDonald to have the cats on campus neutered.

However, once the carriage left the Outer City and entered the desolate area between the Outer City and Gray Rock Pass, the two stopped talking and each spent some time preparing for the investigation.

The cemetery outside Gray Rock Pass did not belong to the city cemetery; it was mainly used to bury outsiders who died accidentally near Gray Rock Pass. The garrison of the Gray Rock Pass fortress also had a separate cemetery. The two cemeteries were adjacent to each other, both located in the mountain forest not far from the southern entrance of Gray Rock Pass.

The young ladies under Vigo had explored the cemeteries around the city yesterday and were investigating the surrounding villages and the area around Gray Rock Pass today. Gray Rock Pass was originally their last stop; they had planned to return for dinner after finishing here, but they never expected to find clues at the very last stop.

The black crystal made by the Doctor was absolutely reliable. Since the crystal reacted, it meant that there was definitely a corpse here contaminated with "Wither."

Xia De had originally prepared himself to face a demon head-on. He had even thought that if the demon appeared directly in front of him, he would protect the young ladies under Vigo even if it cost him everything.

As it turned out, when Xia De and the three young ladies dug open the reacting mass grave in the corner of the cemetery under the sunset's afterglow and opened the thin coffin to see the corpse, he immediately felt the familiar whisper elements from that highly decomposed body.

"Alright, this corpse was also... by the 【Wither Fire Ring】... just how many people did that night watchman at the sewage treatment plant kill?"

Although it was a false alarm, not encountering danger was ultimately a good thing. Afterward, to apologize to the remains of the nameless person, Xia De rummaged through his pockets for his cards, found the spare coffin he carried to cast "Coffin of the Underworld," and used that coffin to replace the thin one to re-bury the deceased.

Although no ghost appeared under the sunset to thank Xia De, watching the soil on the grave being filled back in, Xia De still felt a sense of accomplishment.

However, with this, the investigation into the cemetery had reached a stalemate. In two days, the young ladies had almost walked through every cemetery in the Arcadia region and its surroundings, leaving only the cemetery of the 【Creation Sect】's Holy See unexamined, but Xia De did not believe that the demon would dare to bury its victims there after killing them.

Therefore, the next step could only be to wait for Vigo to investigate the strange murders or disappearances surrounding the local nobles.

After leveling the grave again, Xia De placed a bouquet of flowers in front of it, then planned to return to Fragrant Residence with the young ladies. He still remembered that he had not yet found an opportunity to greet Flora.

Miss MacDonald did not know Xia De's plans, so she wanted to ask if Xia De would return with them. But when the group left the corner of the cemetery and arrived at the center, Xia De suddenly froze, then plunged headlong into Miss MacDonald's arms.

"Oh!"

The tall young lady gave a low cry, but the other two young ladies beside her clearly saw that before Xia De actually made contact with Miss MacDonald, he had already transformed into a beautiful silver cat under the radiance of the silver moon.

Miss MacDonald held the cat, feeling somewhat puzzled, but she soon understood why Xia De had done this, because she and the other two High-Ring young ladies all saw that Vigo and Flora had also arrived here.

This area belonged to the public cemetery outside the Gray Rock Pass fortress. Although the burial standards could not compare to a formal city cemetery, it also had a formal church and a gravedigger's hut. The uneven terrain made the entire cemetery appear higher in the north and lower in the south.

In front of Miss MacDonald and the other two was a nameless grave, and behind the grave was a fence, while Vigo and Flora had brought people from below the two-story stairs on one side of the fence.

"Eh? Eve, why are you here?"

Seeing her students and followers, Vigo asked curiously, while simultaneously seeing the cat held in Miss MacDonald's arms in the sunset's afterglow.

"It's him!"

Vigo, who had seen this cat on Friday night last week, recognized it immediately, and thus understood that the group had likely discovered traces of "Wither" again.

As for Flora, the artist lady with long, ash-black hair stood in the sunset, looking at the silver cat with a smile.

The two had last met on the snowy mountain. During this time, Flora had been in Windale City handling the inheritance of the Winslett family. Having recently become free, she had originally intended to visit Danister to consolidate the friendship they had established in the Vesta Woodland, but she never expected to see Xia De directly in Arcadia first.

She winked at Xia De the cat, not revealing the cat's identity.

"Teacher, we are investigating 'Wither,' but this time it was still a Relic that caused the death."

Miss MacDonald explained softly, feeling somewhat at a loss because she noticed both Great Witches were staring at the cat she was holding.

"Wither?"

Flora revealed an interested expression:

"Are you relying on this beautiful cat to detect it? It doesn't look like a stray cat from the cemetery; this fur color is truly charming. But I remember, Vigo, aren't you unable to keep cats?"

She did not give Miss MacDonald the chance to say "This is the cat I keep":

"And, why does this cat look so..."

Flora, a master of transformation, leaned in closer to look at the cat. Except for her, all the young ladies present held their breath, and then they saw Flora's hand gently stroking the silver cat's little head.

"Why is it so cute?"

Thus, everyone laughed with relief. Only Xia De the cat did not laugh; he suspected that Flora was taking advantage of him. And Flora was indeed doing so; although she was not in owl form now, she still grabbed Xia De the cat out of Miss MacDonald's arms just like an owl hunting.

Before Vigo could object, she saw Flora place the cat on her shoulder. ===== CHAPTER 4034 =====