This yellow-haired Witch, who appeared to be only twenty-two or twenty-three years old, was The Lady who assisted Miss Mana Feilianna in the Thousand Tree Forest to perform the ritual to summon the Old God - Shifting Door.
At the same time, she was also Miss Feilianna’s first-generation student and would be the first librarian of the yet-to-be-established Saint Byron's.
After 22 years, from the Thousand Tree Forest in the West Continent to the Dead Silence Valley in the Central Continent, Xia De encountered this Witch again.
This was also the first time he had continuously met the same person in the past, and Miss Olanorde, who should not have had any memory of him, clearly still remembered Xia De Hamilton.
“Teacher, who is this? Is he a man?”
The young girl with fiery red hair beside her asked cautiously.
Only then did Xia De notice that the tail behind her was indeed a tail, not an illusion.
It was a very thick tail with dark red marks on its surface resembling lizard scales, and these scales seemed to be unique to a powerful Alien.
“Fiona, this is an old acquaintance of mine and Teacher Feilianna, Mr. Xia De Hamilton.”
The half-elf Witch regained her composure, extended her hand to grasp Xia De’s outstretched hand, and then introduced him to her student.
“Xia De, this is Fiona Drago, my student.
Don’t be surprised by her physical features; she is a mixed-blood Dragon, even considered to have Red Dragon royal lineage.”
She then introduced her to Xia De.
The red-haired girl nodded to Xia De somewhat reservedly:
“Hello, um… Sir?”
She hadn’t yet figured out Xia De’s gender.
Finally, she introduced the Witch wearing round glasses who was curiously looking at them.
The latter scrutinized Xia De with an inquisitive expression.
Among the three, she looked the most like a scholar:
“This is Peggy Samuel, an Eleven-Tier Witch of the Zaras Society, and our companion for this adventure.”
“Zaras Society?”
Xia De showed a look of sudden realization, quickly recalling the origin of Zaras Academy, one of the Three Great Arcane Academies.
To be precise, Zaras’s history was much longer than Saint Byron’s.
The establishment of Saint Byron’s was said to have started from scratch by the legendary Thirteen Ring Sorcerer Miss Mana Feilianna, while Zaras Academy originated from the fifth epoch Witch academic organization, the Zaras Society.
However, information about the Zaras Society, just like information about Miss Mana Feilianna, only remained as vague names.
Coincidentally, the establishment of the Three Great Arcane Academies occurred almost in the same era.
This meant that this Witch with round glasses was very likely one of the future founders of Zaras Academy.
“Hello.”
Xia De politely nodded.
Although the other party didn't understand Xia De's words, she understood that it was a greeting, so she also nodded to him:
“Hello, Sir.”
This Witch, however, was very clear about Xia De’s gender:
“Do you mind introducing your origin? I’m very curious about it.”
As she spoke, she reached out to grab Xia De’s wrist.
This seemed to be a habit of Witches, but Peggy Samuel did not succeed.
Her hand was immediately slapped away by Miss Olanorde, whose shoulder was already covered in snowflakes.
The latter said somewhat reproachfully:
“Peggy, he is a friend of mine and Teacher Feilianna.
He is here to help us now.
If you have any questions, you can ask Teacher Feilianna when we safely return.”
Miss Olanorde silenced the Zaras Witch with a single sentence, then motioned for everyone to move to another spot to talk.
So, the group of four moved from the entrance of the ruins back to the vibrant bonfire.
Miss Olanorde sat facing the entrance, with her Dragon-blooded student on her left and the Zaras Witch on her right.
Xia De sat opposite Miss Olanorde, with his back to the entrance.
To ensure that everyone present could understand Xia De’s words, the Zaras Witch, Peggy Samuel, rummaged through a pile of books beside her for a long time and found a book titled “Mysteries of Language.”
After chanting a spell softly, she tore a page from the book, burned it to Ashes in a stone bowl beside her, and then mixed it with water to share with the other two Witches.
“Xia De, it’s been 22 years since we last parted, hasn’t it?”
Miss Olanorde indeed still remembered the events in the Thousand Tree Forest.
Under the firelight, her face was full of nostalgia:
“Teacher has always remembered you.
It was only after I advanced to the Thirteen-Tier recently that I fully recalled what happened back then.
Teacher and I often talk about you.
If I’m not mistaken, your reappearance here, just like last time, is still to help us.”
“Yes.”
Xia De nodded.
Now was not the time for reminiscing:
“So, what are you doing here?
I can still only stay for thirty minutes.”
“Sir, for this Library.”
Without waiting for Miss Olanorde to answer, the Zaras Witch beside her spoke:
“Our current location is called Dead Silence Valley.
It is covered in heavy snow all year round, and once you enter, it’s almost impossible to escape.
This is a place where time and space are distorted, and countless lost and forbidden ancient ruins are located within the valley.
Our current location is the Gaddis Library.
The Library even houses precious Knowledge and documents passed down from the First Epoch.
The Zaras Society and Miss Feilianna both want to obtain some information from here, which is why they sent us.”
Xia De nodded.
This incident was described by the Father of Infinite Trees as “the destruction of the Gaddis Library,” meaning that the exploration by the three Witches would lead to the complete collapse of this Library, which was even older than the current fifth epoch.
But he still had questions.
Looking at the Witch across the fire, he asked very cautiously:
“Is your current operation related to a deity?”
“Excuse me, what does that mean?”
Miss Olanorde asked curiously.
“Do you know…”
Xia De subconsciously lowered his voice a little, and wondered if this time, a great one would still be present but hidden:
“…the great one - Grey-Robed Sage?”
In this era, Old Gods had not yet departed, so they could not be called “Old Gods.”
Miss Olanorde and the Zaras Witch with round glasses exchanged glances.
The bonfire’s light dyed their two exceedingly pretty faces red, illuminating their two lively eyes.
The charm of Witches was incomparable to ordinary people.
Even when they were in a bad state, and even though the Zaras Witch’s hair was messy, they were still genuinely beautiful girls.
Miss Peggy Samuel, wearing round glasses, replied:
“The great one 【Grey-Robed Sage】, also known as the Guardian of the Library, can often be seen in large Libraries.
But our purpose on this trip is only to collect Knowledge from the Library, not… Could it be that there is also a shrine of the 【Grey-Robed Sage】 in this Library ruin?”
Xia De didn’t know this, but since the Father of Infinite Trees requested Xia De to help this great one collect Knowledge, then even if the great one didn’t appear in person, there should at least be an altar, shrine, statue, holy emblem, or something similar to facilitate Xia De’s sacrifice.
“Teacher, two weeks ago, when we explored deeper into the Library for the seventh time, I saw a shrine very close to here, but I didn’t notice whose it was.”
The Red Dragon Witch said softly.
She was still kneeling in front of the flames, her thick tail wrapped around her waist.
Seeing everyone look at her across the fire, she somewhat flusteredly rummaged through a small backpack beside her and found a hand-drawn simplified map of the Library ruins, on which the parts they had already explored were marked.
The location of the shrine was indeed very close.
From the map, it was only three large rooms away from the current Library entrance.
“There’s a shrine, that makes things easier.”
Xia De nodded:
“But what happened to you all?
You all seem to be in poor condition.
Are you unable to get out again this time?”
“Do you see the blizzard outside?”
Miss Olanorde pointed to the door:
“Dead Silence Valley has snow all year round, but it’s divided into different stages: light snow, black snow, red snow, and blizzard.
During the light snow stage, there are no other effects except extremely cold weather; black snow will revive the undead throughout the valley, and the power of all living beings will be greatly suppressed, and touching black snow will result in immediate death; red snow usually appears with an abnormal red moon, at which time night will cover the valley, and some strange humanoid creatures will visit here, perhaps humanoid relics, Evil Spirits, or even stranger things; during the blizzard stage, even if you do nothing, your stamina and spirit will slowly drain away, and their recovery will completely stop.
Most of the people who freeze to death here die during blizzards.”
“Spirit and stamina recovery completely stopped?”
Xia De, having just arrived and only having trekked for a short distance outside, had not experienced this.
Now knowing that the Witches were somewhat weak, he put on his Moonstone ring as a casting medium and activated his Miracle:
“Silent Moonlight!”
Above the bonfire, an exceptionally ethereal silver full Moon appeared, and its cold Moonlight shone upon the four individuals.
The Witches immediately let out soft groans, and their expressions showed that they had finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“The duration of the four different stages is completely irregular.
We entered during the light snow stage, and after only a little over a week of exploration, we encountered black snow.
During this time, we found some of the texts we needed to take away.”
Miss Olanorde pointed to the pile of books next to Peggy Samuel of Zaras:
“But before leaving, we encountered a two-week-long blizzard.
No one can leave Dead Silence Valley during a blizzard.
We can only wait.”
“Things are better now.
Although your spell’s effect isn’t very obvious, at least our power is no longer draining, but slowly recovering.”
The Zaras Witch also said, looking up at the Moon above the bonfire:
“This is clearly not a Witch’s power; it’s more like a divine spell, yet not quite a divine spell.
What exactly is this…?”
“You can ask Teacher Feilianna yourself once we get out.”
Miss Olanorde interrupted her again.
“I can only stay for half an hour, so I can’t keep you all recovering indefinitely.”
Xia De pointed this out, then asked:
“Can you leave Dead Silence Valley now?”
“If it were the light snow stage now, we could.
During black snow and red snow, we absolutely cannot leave the range of the bonfire.
And during the blizzard stage, unless we recover more than half of our strength, our stamina will not be enough to support us leaving the protection of this bonfire.”
“I see.”
So this time, not only did he have to help the great one who hadn’t yet appeared collect Knowledge, but he also had to find a way to get the Witches out safely:
“Miss Olanorde, give me a list, and when I come next time, I’ll help you bring some missing items, at least to make your lives here better.
Also, I’d like to see that shrine.”
“Alright.”
The yellow-haired Witch across the fire smiled:
“Although we don’t lack food and water, we still need new daily necessities.
I’ve never used a comb for more than two weeks.”
The lives of the top Great Witches of the fifth epoch were truly unimaginable.
Now Xia De was very worried about what would be on the list he would be given later.
