“Xia De, I need to take you to a Town. We’ll depart from Coldwater Port station by steam train and arrive at our destination in three hours. If we can achieve our goal before evening, we’ll return the same day. If not, I’m afraid we’ll have to spend the night in the rural Town.”
It seemed that to obtain the Ling Rune of Vibration, he needed to touch something immobile.
“Alright, Miss Aurora, when do we leave?”
Xia De asked, as he happened to be free for the next few weeks. Sparrow Detective’s commission could be postponed; the Ling Rune was the most important thing.
“If it’s convenient for you, we’ll depart tomorrow morning at nine.”
Xia De calculated the time:
“That works. However, where exactly is the location? Do I need to prepare anything in advance?”
Xia De asked again.
Miss Aurora pointed to the Coldwater Port region map on the study wall:
“Herkils Town, a rural Town in Klein City, east of Coldwater Port. Just prepare your spellcasting materials; nothing else is needed. However, you need to help me with something.”
Witches always liked to set conditions like this.
“Please tell me.”
“I’d like to invite you to a ritual, right here in the manor, right now. You just need to stand behind me.”
She said this, sizing Xia De up and down as if judging whether he was qualified to participate in the ritual.
“Will there be any danger?”
“Absolutely no danger, I swear on the Aurora Family’s name. How about it?”
The Witch asked with a smile, and Xia De felt a little relieved.
But Miss Aurora was not Miss Jialinna after all, and Xia De didn't fully trust her:
“Then what do we need to do?”
He only thought that Miss Aurora wanted to test some ritual that required an assistant.
“It’s very simple, follow me. Leave your pretty cat here; the servants will take care of it.”
So Xia De followed the lady out of the study, through the corridor inside the third floor of the manor, and arrived at the outermost corridor near the edge of the manor.
One side of the corridor had tightly closed room doors, while the other had windows that let in the gentle warm breeze.
They didn’t move further. Miss Aurora hesitated for a moment before softly saying to Xia De:
“Follow me through the corridor in front of us.”
The corridor in front of them wasn't special; Xia De had walked through it three or four times. He let the voice in his mind sense it, but found no traces of any elements.
“Just need to follow you?”
“Of course, this ritual is very simple.”
Miss Aurora nodded:
“But remember, you must keep up with me and absolutely do not get lost.”
“Lost?”
Xia De asked in surprise, but Miss Aurora didn’t intend to answer him.
“Well, are you ready, Mr. Hamilton? Please follow me.”
She coughed to clear her throat:
“You must keep up with me; I’m starting.”
The Witch took a deep breath, and she actually started singing:
“The princess in the castle won’t understand, that the freedom of walking the world is our pursuit.”
“Meeting a Witch at a lavender-filled crossroads, where are you going, to pick that handful of herbs?”
A sudden wind blew in from outside the window, making the green handmade woven curtains on one side of the corridor flutter up and down. Miss Hivi Aurora, dressed in a red dress, walked forward, stepping across the floor, moving from the shadowed area of the corridor corner into the sunlight, and Xia De immediately followed.
Sunlight streamed from the windows onto the freshly cleaned corridor floor, making the clean floor reflect dazzling light. The shadows of the window frames divided the sunlight on the floor into irregular squares, and Xia De and the Witch walked through the fluttering curtains. The wind made the Witch’s skirt sway, and standing behind her, Xia De could smell the scent from the Witch’s hair.
It was a special perfume known as “Witch’s Scent,” which only a very few people could detect. But unlike Miss Jialinna’s and Miss Servite’s perfumes, Miss Aurora’s perfume seemed to have other spices mixed in.
“Holding up white snow on the peak of a snowy mountain, observing the sun deep in the desert.”
“If you can meet us, dear girl—”
She continued to sing. This was not the common language of the sixth epoch, but Xia De had heard this song and remembered the lyrics. Under the giant tree in Thousand Tree Forest, Miss Felianna once sang this song very lonely. (Note)
The singing was soft and soothing, with a hint of melancholy. Amidst the fluttering curtains, Xia De saw the light ahead in the corridor suddenly dim. As they advanced, the surrounding light gradually disappeared, and even the appearance of the corridor changed:
“Please softly call our names, please ask your doubts.”
“In the lily-filled flower patch, or, where the sunflowers turn west.”
This was not an illusion. At some point, they had moved from the sun-drenched manor corridor into a long, narrow brick-and-stone passage. There was no clear boundary between the corridor and the passage; in a certain area, the windows and the brickwork seemed to completely merge, and further ahead, they were entirely within the passage.
Xia De wanted to turn his head to look behind him, to confirm how the two had merged, but he was afraid of “getting lost,” so he could only stare at the Witch’s back ahead, following step by step.
The ground was covered with white ash, and their clear footprints were left behind. Torches were inserted into the walls, illuminating the narrowness and decay of the brick-and-stone passage, which resembled an ancient ruin that had endured long years. But Xia De strangely found it somewhat familiar:
“It’s not the Merman Temple; although the style is similar, it’s clearly not, as it’s not damp here. Nor is it the corridor of Terror Castle; there, the walls have spaces for oil lamps, but here are torches.”
And when his eyes went over Miss Aurora’s shoulder and looked ahead, he finally understood that sense of familiarity.
“Please put on your pretty dress, and hold up purple thyme.”
“The ones who love you and the ones you love are all here, in this sun-drenched hall.”
The song came to an end, and so did the passage. Ahead, white mist floated out like silk from that very familiar white mist door. Miss Aurora stopped, sighed softly, and then turned to look at Xia De.
The moment their eyes met, Xia De was very sure that he saw a surprised expression in her eyes.
“Very good, you didn’t get lost.”
The Witch said, sizing Xia De up and down. Suddenly, she reached out, wanting to touch his face.
“Oh, lady, that’s not polite.”
Xia De grabbed the Witch’s wrist. The fact that he could grab her suggested she was willing.
“Yes, it is a bit impolite.”
She suddenly leaned closer to Xia De. As their eyes met, Xia De smelled the strange perfume even more clearly:
“I’m just very happy that you really didn’t get lost.”
Saying this, she pulled her wrist out of Xia De’s hand, then, facing the white mist door, smiled and made a gesture of invitation:
“Now, Knight, please come in with me.”
