Chapter 463: New Continent Observations

"Today is already the 10th day since Dac Nisi left Coldwater Port."

This was the exclamation Xia De made while reading the newspaper on Friday morning. He basked in the early morning sun, eating breakfast and petting the cat in the sunlight, then imagined as much as possible the efforts Dac Nisi, who was hiding his identity, made to successfully reach Tobesk.

After breakfast, the construction team arrived on time to continue the renovations. Xia De locked the door to the second floor and originally wanted to go to the basement to organize his books, but to his surprise, a guest had come to visit.

It wasn't a client; it was Xia De's friend, Captain Lei Jiede. He stood on Saint Deran Square, looking up at the workers working on the roof of No. 6 in surprise, hesitating to enter.

Only after seeing Xia De moving a stack of books to organize the bookcase through the first-floor window did he knock on the window, meaning he didn't know if it was a good time to visit.

Captain Lei Jiede had two purposes for coming this time. One was to tell Xia De that he would take a steam train to the front line on the first weekend of next month. The notice had been received, and the captain was recently packing his luggage and saying goodbye to his friends in Tobesk.

He would head to the southern front line again, which was the Wind-Rising Path at the northern foot of the Xikaer Mountains, to guard the border as a heroic Royal Army captain and demonstrate his loyalty and courage.

The second purpose of the captain's visit was something Xia De hadn't found when he first went to his rental apartment, which had now been found.

The two talked in the first-floor living room. Since the walls had just been painted, the furniture was still in the basement. Xia De found two chairs for them to sit on. Once the paint dried and the furniture was set up, the stylish furniture Difa helped choose would make the living room look more formal:

"It's this. I found it in my old clothes while packing my luggage the other day."

The captain handed Xia De an amber-like pendant tied with a metal chain. He had won that 【Gun of Kindness】 and this accessory while playing Luo De cards with a stranger in a tavern on the Wind-Rising Path. The 【Gun of Kindness】 was a relic, so Xia De had once suspected the accessory was also a relic.

It was a pity he hadn't found this thing last time; Xia De had almost forgotten about it.

But unfortunately, this amber pendant wasn't a relic. It didn't contain any elements, and touching it with his hand revealed no patterns carved on the surface.

In other words, this was just an ordinary item.

"If both were relics, I would have to worry about Captain Lei Jiede's safety."

Although disappointed, it was within reason. Xia De wasn't a Chosen One; he didn't have the luck of frequently encountering relics.

It just so happened that Xia De had nothing to do today, so Captain Lei Jiede invited Xia De to visit the Retired Veterans Club located in the West City District of Tobesk with him. Although it was called a Retired Veterans Club, ordinary retired soldiers couldn't come here.

Captain Lei Jiede introduced Xia De to his friends, and Xia De naturally had plenty of business cards to distribute.

People had heard of the name "Hamilton of Rejiede" and enthusiastically invited him to come to the club often when he had time.

Thus, Xia De spent the whole of Friday in the club, listening to those officers tell interesting stories about the front line and complain to each other about their treatment after retirement.

Xia De also learned that Prince Sax, who had broken into Yodel Palace with a gun, had actually been assigned a military position in his early years.

But he was responsible for the Delarion Kingdom's New Continent exploration and pioneering legion, so he was away from Delarion all year round, and his power mainly remained in the New Continent. Now that Prince Sax had been secretly arrested, the other naval and army commanders in the New Continent would surely soon weed out the dissenters in the legion to show their loyalty to the King.

Coincidentally, Captain Lei Jiede's friend, Colonel Dallas Hopes, had actually been to the New Continent.

Xia De, who was very interested in that distant land, curiously asked him about the situation in the New Continent. Colonel Hopes sat on the red cushion, smoking a cigar, looking up and squinting as he recalled his past:

"The New Continent isn't actually that different from the Old Continent, just more forests, more ruins, more mineral deposits, and fewer humans. I've seen many magical creatures there. Can you imagine a lizard that can fly?"

He showed off his experiences to his friends:

"However, the New Continent is also very dangerous. There are areas that are absolutely not allowed to be approached. Superior officers would mark out the route map that we couldn't deviate from on the map before we led teams out alone, and every long-distance expedition had to be accompanied by a priest from the Orthodox Church."

"Is it to relieve anxious emotions?"

Xia De asked.

"Probably."

The colonel took a puff of smoke, then placed the Noshan long cigar in his hand into a special metal cigar ashtray to let it extinguish naturally. The cigar wasn't ordinary tobacco; a Noshan long cigar like the one in the colonel's hand took at least two hours to smoke.

At the same time, smoking a cigar also required special long wooden matches, metal cigar cutters, and other tools; this was tobacco used only by wealthy people in high society.

"I'm actually a bit afraid of the New Continent; there are many, um, strange things there. I once led a team to explore the trend of a newly discovered gold mine vein in an area where it wasn't convenient to explain the location. Those young people recruited from Kerdinan County were just like me, full of courage and perseverance. But when we camped at night, we saw a... in the gaps of the trees."

He stiffened his face, not knowing what to say. His face suddenly turned a bit pale, so others hurriedly used a small joke to gloss over the topic.

Xia De now knew the reason why Ringed Shushis couldn't commit suicide, and his curiosity about the second Saint Byrons correspondence Ringed Shushi ban—that is, not being able to go to the New Continent—was becoming stronger and stronger.

(Little Mia running...)

Just like that, Saturday arrived, which was the time for the group meeting. There was nothing to say this week; Xia De mainly focused on repairing his house. He didn't notify the Academy about obtaining the Spirit Rune, thinking he would talk about it in a few weeks.

Professor Garcia sent information again, saying he was very satisfied with the final paper Xia De submitted for the "Locked Space" course and invited Xia De to continue taking the advanced class of "Locked Space" in the autumn to explore the mysteries of space.

It seemed Professor Garcia really appreciated Xia De.

Saturday night, he studied "The Crazy Light-Chaser" with Dorothy. Although Xia De's house was under renovation, using the second floor for class temporarily wasn't a problem.

Xia De heard from the blonde girl that Lei Qianya would return to Tobesk next Tuesday. Because this was the Princess's return from representing the royal family in visiting Kasenrike, the Kingdom's honor guard and the team organized by the City Hall would go to welcome her, so Xia De and Dorothy didn't need to go to the station to pick her up.

"However, I haven't seen Lei Qianya since last week? Don't you often swap bodies?"

Xia De asked curiously, holding the book.

"Unless necessary, we rarely disturb each other's lives. As for when it is necessary, it's only when one party is in danger, or Lei Qianya wants to walk around the city at will."

Dorothy said, then asked Xia De:

"What? Do you miss Lei Qianya?"

"Of course... However, I want to see her with my own eyes, not see her appear using your body."

Xia De said, and the blonde girl laughed:

"You don't have to be so cautious in your speech; I don't care about these things. Alright, Xia De, rest time is over, let's continue the course. "Tree's Kiss" ended because of an accident, I don't believe "The Crazy Light-Chaser" can have any accidents; that would make me feel very unaccomplished. Now, answer my question again: what is light?"

Xia De thought for a moment:

"Hmm... a bond?"

"What kind of strange way of understanding is that?"

Dorothy asked curiously.

So Xia De spent another half an hour telling the story of a super-ancient hero who could turn into light and fight evil monsters using a more localized narrative technique.

This delayed tonight's class time, resulting in it being nearly eleven o'clock at night when Dorothy prepared to go home. The gentlemanly outsider personally sent her back to Feather Pen Street.

When the two parted under the apartment on Feather Pen Street, Xia De received a kiss on the cheek as a gift. This time he could be sure that the one who kissed him was definitely Dorothy.