Unbeknownst to them, a gurgling sound emanated from beneath the frozen lake. Along with this sound, whisper element quickly spread across the ice surface, covering the entire lake.
The two Witches, disregarding their previous “little joke,” immediately shielded Xia De. Dark clouds appeared from nowhere, obscuring the three moons. As everything around them plunged into darkness, the ice surface shattered, revealing black lake water beneath. In the lake water, which seemed to have turned into ink, a short figure, integrated with a black shadow and completely indistinguishable in form, emerged on the surface of the lake:
“Very interesting.”
Although the voice was hoarse, it was discernible as that of an eleven or twelve-year-old Boy. However, despite being a child, he exuded intense malevolence, and even his voice caused an instinctive discomfort:
“I didn’t expect to see two Great Witches at once in modern times, after the fifth epoch has long passed.”
He snorted:
“I know what you want from me. You women are always like this, taking what you want without caring about others’ opinions.”
He seemed to harbor deep resentment towards the Witches:
“However, I am very interested in the Witches’ malicious jokes. Since you have found and pleased me, I will naturally give you a test: Right now, there is a malicious thing lurking in this City. Yes, an Evil Spirit demon from the third epoch. Don’t tell me you don’t even know this.”
None of the three spoke.
“Find him, defeat him. Any method of defeat is allowed, even playing rhode cards. Once the test is complete, any one of you can tell a joke to a glass of water, and I will appear.”
After speaking, he directly plunged into the lake, seemingly genuinely unwilling to converse with the Witches.
Thus, the dark clouds obscuring the moons in the sky dispersed, and the whisper element and the inky color gradually receded towards the center of the lake until they disappeared. Broken ice floated on the lake’s surface, which meant that the Boy from just now was not an illusion.
“A demon, huh.”
Miss Jialinna looked at Xia De, who immediately nodded:
“No problem, I’ll take care of this. There will definitely be a result before the end of this week… I promise.”
Perhaps because he was accompanied by two Witches, this matter proceeded unusually smoothly. The three then left Regent Park and returned to the carriage. Miss Jialinna was returning to her manor outside the City, while Miss Silvia was going back to look after Princess Margaret, so the carriage first took Xia De back to Saint Delan Square.
After the carriage stopped in front of No. 6, Miss Jialinna, sitting beside Xia De, kissed his cheek, bidding him a soft farewell. She then glanced at Miss Silvia, likely still remembering the “little joke” in Regent Park earlier.
Thus, the relatively leisurely Tuesday passed, and early the next morning, Xia De, carrying Mia, arrived at the Prophet Association, once again arranging a private meeting with Luvia under the pretext of divining a “cat.”
He was already a regular at the Prophet Association; everyone there recognized him. In fact, as soon as they saw Xia De arrive with the cat, the receptionists at the front desk would pre-fill the divination registration form for him, except for the signature.
More than half a week had passed since Xia De signed the contract for 【Founding Knowledge】. During this time, the Prophet Association had already “leaked” the news through various unofficial channels that Xia De would obtain that card. The reason, of course, was not that Xia De used the Duchess’s gemstone to exchange for a rhode cards, but to thank Xia De for his contributions to the Prophet Association.
No one knew the specific content of these “contributions,” but many rumors had emerged as a result. In any case, that morning at the Prophet Association, Xia De had already received congratulations from people.
Most guests who appeared at the Prophet Association so early were experienced rhode cards players who could spend the whole day playing cards at the association, and news naturally spread quickly among them. Xia De even encountered Mr. Luwatz Belson, whom he had met while playing cards at the Lakeview Manor banquet—a middle-aged gentleman in his thirties who had married the forty-five-year-old Baroness Liana Pompei.
The two chatted briefly, and Mr. Belson made no secret of his envy for Xia De. He eagerly invited Xia De, after he obtained 【Founding Knowledge】, to play a few games with people at the Prophet Association or the rhode cards club; no local player would refuse such an opportunity.
The weather was quite good today, the morning fog was unexpectedly thin, and sunlight could spill onto the floor of the divination room.
When Xia De and Luvia pushed open the door and entered the room, Xia De, holding the cat, yawned. Luvia, holding her crystal ball, closed the door and asked with a smile:
“Didn’t rest well last night?”
“No, I didn’t sleep until three o’clock.”
The purple-eyed girl calculated the time:
“You weren’t reading until three, were you? Even if you’re taking an accelerated exam, given your progress, you shouldn’t have to work so hard.”
“No, no. The only time I touched a pen last night was around nine o’clock, when I spent half an hour finishing the report for the commission I received on Monday.”
“What did you do after that?”
Luvia continued to ask. Xia De opened his mouth, and before his eyes flashed the soft bed in the dim bedroom, scattered golden long hair, and a gentle girl.
“Was Dorothy with you last night?”
Luvia immediately understood Xia De’s expression and asked teasingly.
“Yes, for the past half week to a week, she will be staying with me because of the demon matter.”
Luvia raised an eyebrow:
“A demon? Those Evil Spirits from the third epoch?”
“That was after I parted ways with you at the Three Cats Inn on Monday. It was originally a very simple commission, but now there are some problems, which is why I specifically came to see you. Let’s sit down and talk slowly; this even relates to the Keeper’s test.”
The whole matter wasn’t long, but because it involved a demon and a Witch, Xia De explained it in detail.
During Xia De’s narration, Luvia kept frowning. Only after he finished did she nod gently:
“Although I don’t know why you are so confident about ‘fighting the demon,’ since you have given your promise, I won’t ask any more questions.”
She grasped Xia De’s hand, which was stroking Mia:
“If you need my help or Iluna’s, be sure to tell us. An Evil Spirit from the third epoch, even in a wounded and weakened state, is absolutely no joke.”
“Don’t worry, I am very confident about this matter.”
This confidence came from the doctor’s past experience of easily defeating the Flame Demon in Sicar Mountain during autumn.
Luvia was still a little worried but didn’t say anything more:
“If you can really complete this test within this week, then you and Iluna will collectively possess 3 wise man’s stones. The professors from the Three Great Academies have already entered the City; I think the peaceful days are about to end. The story of the fourth Chosen One has entered its latter half, and things are about to get chaotic here again.”
“Now we still have to see what Sir Prisha’s attitude is.”
Xia De nodded:
“Today is Wednesday, the fourth day of the month of slumber. I will try to sound out Sir Prisha within ten days. Next weekend or the week after, we will launch our final action regarding the Selected One Ritual. Past experience tells me that a major event will definitely occur at the end of the Selected One Ritual. I don’t want any ancient evil creatures or angel-level relics to appear in Tobesk.”
“Balance attracted an evil god, darkness led to the Coldwater Port tsunami and the descent of darkness upon Tobesk, and death caused life and death to invert, giving birth to undead. I wonder what knowledge and wisdom will cause this time.”
Luvia seemed a bit languid. After a slight sigh, she brought up another matter:
“You and Dorothy, both be careful. Also… I recently had a strange dream.”
“What dream?”
“The dream was very chaotic; I only remember some details. The sky was yellowish-brown and black, like an overturned oil painting palette. There was a large fire burning all around, and Miss Pa Wo, whose half body was already petrified—yes, that’s the Vice President of The Society of Truth.”
Her purple eyes stared at the crystal ball, showing a worried expression:
“She was sitting in the center of the fire, leaning against a large rock. Her left arm was gone, and half of her face was covered in blood. She gave me that angel-level relic, the smolville code. Not just handed it to me, but completely transferred ownership. She seemed to want to tell me more, but she died before she could finish speaking. Her last words were a blessing to me, but the memory in the dream is blurry, and I don’t remember what she instructed me…”
She looked up at Xia De:
“That scene was very real. What a strange dream. I originally thought it was a premonitory dream for the Chosen One of 【knowledge and wisdom】, but the scene in the dream also seemed to be happening in the very distant future. I wonder if this foreshadows anything?”
Xia De did not express his opinion, only having more conjectures in his heart. Luvia’s eyes looked at the air in front of her; the scene from that dream still lingered in her mind.
After bidding farewell to Luvia, Xia De delivered the completed commission report into Sir Cameron’s hands. Today was Wednesday, and Sir Cameron was auditing accounts at his cigarette factory—everyone needed to audit accounts at the end of the year. He was quite surprised that Xia De had found the murderer in such a short time, and in the report, Xia De only mentioned the spice merchant and that the true owner of the box had once lived at the Three Cats Inn but had since left and was untraceable.
This was considered completing the commission, although the completion rate was not high. But after Dorothy helped polish it last night, the dozens of pages long report looked very professional; at least Sir Cameron praised it after flipping through it.
Especially when he heard that the Writer Dorothy Louisa had been following Xia De’s investigation and was very likely to write a story about this box, Sir Cameron became even happier.
He even wanted to invite Xia De to lunch to discuss the box in more detail.
But Xia De had already promised Dorothy to eat at home, so he claimed to have other matters and declined Sir Cameron’s kind offer.
---Side Note---
P.S.: The “third” in the title refers to tests related to Xia De and others, such as “finding the invisible person” and “completing the dice story collection,” which are related to them.
There were three divine tests, which have been completed.
There are four tests from the Lake Goddess, with only the last one remaining: exploring the reason why the Cherub stayed behind.
Five wise man's stones are needed, meaning there are five Keeper tests.
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