The Old Witch finished speaking, then glanced at her apprentice. Miss Rita Swift kept a straight face, trying hard to act as if she had heard the story but had no particular thoughts.
“Mortals will eventually die, and I will eventually depart. My apprentice, Rita, will likely inherit my seat. We are loyal to the Council, but we are also loyal to our teacher. No matter what happens, we will help you.”
She was making a promise to Xia De:
“Xia De, my teacher gave me everything I have now. I hope you treat them well.”
“They are my friends too.”
Xia De secretly glanced at Miss Swift's expression. Grandma Cassandra must have told her similar things, so she wasn't very surprised at the moment, but was carefully holding the teacup saucer and standing by.
“Speaking of which, what’s with the fog this morning?”
It was already nine-thirty in the morning, but the gas lamps still had to be lit indoors. The three of them looked out the window together. Usually, they could see half of the City from there, but today they could barely make out the rooftops of the buildings across the street.
“The fog came down in the deep night. It’s not a problem with the passage at the foot of the mountain, nor is it a problem with the seal on the mountain peak. Devlin guaranteed that. Therefore, it’s a new change in the seals left by the Witch Emperors. We depart tomorrow; we must quickly determine what exactly happened there.”
At this point, Grandma Cassandra was also very serious:
“Tomorrow, Hivi Aurora and I will lead the team. Besides you, we also have our own followers. The Speaker has already made a deal with the Five Gods Church: in exchange for revoking the arrest warrant for a Great Witch in the Council who committed a mistake, the Five Gods Church will ensure that even if the Gap eventually breaks, the passage on the mountainside will not be the first to fall.”
“Alright, I’ll come here as early as possible tomorrow morning.”
Xia De nodded.
“Also, according to the information Devlin received from the Five Gods Church, this heavy fog is related to you sending away the first ‘nail’ yesterday. The Prophet Association made further divinations about those nails, and the divinations show that the four resurrected dead represent four powerful emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, and fear. They will forget that they are resurrected from death, but if they realize this, even High-Ring Sorcerers will have difficulty dealing with them. Moreover, each time a nail is eliminated, the next one will become stronger. The one eliminated by you and Devlin was ‘fear.’ The Gap felt that one of its nails driven into the material world had been pulled out, which is why there was this sudden heavy fog as a counterattack.”
“Are there any clues about the other three nails?”
“Not yet. That’s something the Church should worry about. However, regarding the Chosen One...”
The Old Witch hesitated:
“The Council has found new fragments of the scripture, further confirming that the Chosen One of death should be male.”
But Xia De already knew this. He even knew that the other party was named Joey Barton and was currently performing divinations for others at the Crow Club. He planned to visit the Crow Club again this afternoon to determine the other party’s attitude before deciding whether to report him or win him over. (Note)
“Also, this time’s Chosen One must have personally killed a resurrected person. Yes, it’s a true ‘resurrection from death,’ not simply killing a spirit.”
Xia De frowned:
“Is this the complete requirement for the Selected One Ritual?”
“It’s only part of the ritual; there should be other contents. Currently, I’ve found several suspects for the Chosen One—
A One-Ring Arcanist Devlin asked me to investigate, a strange one-eyed man in the Natural Church’s local Arcanist team, a Middle-Ring scholar living alone on Sicar Mountain is also a suspect, and there’s an outsider who recently arrived in this City.”
The Old Witch introduced:
“The Church side has probably also locked onto several targets, but they haven’t acted yet, likely because they haven’t confirmed the contents of the Selected One Ritual and are worried that if they find the wrong person, other forces might seize the initiative.”
“The situation is really complicated.”
“Yes, and also, major figures from the Three Great Academies are coming this time. They haven’t arrived yet, but they should arrive before the Church’s ritual.”
“Major figures?”
“Thirteen Ring Sorcerers, but I don’t know which academy they are from. The excuse is to assist the Church in sealing the Gap, but everyone knows they are definitely coming for the Chosen One. Counting them, including the three Thirteen Ring Sorcerers from the Church, there will be four Thirteen Ring Sorcerers in this area soon.”
Grandma Cassandra sighed:
“Later, the Prophet Association will also send people; sealing the Gap cannot be done without their help. And the Truth Society, since they have appeared, there’s no reason for only a few small ants to come. It is said that Arcanist organizations from the southern kingdom are also making moves, but it’s unclear who exactly will come. In short, Middlesburg is getting more and more chaotic.”
After bidding farewell to Grandma Cassandra, Xia De carried Mia and followed Miss Swift to the auction house’s basement, preparing to meet Grace and Helen.
He had originally thought that the so-called “basement containment room” would be a cold, dilapidated, rusty metal room, but after Miss Swift led him through the underground warehouse and into a hidden, branching corridor concealed by illusion, he learned from her that it was actually a luxurious underground bedroom.
The illusion concealed the passage as a wall, and walking along the narrow, long corridor, at the end of the torch-lined passage, was a tightly closed, heavy brass-colored metal door with a large butterfly pattern on it.
In this era, usually only bank vaults or noble strongboxes would use doors of this specification.
“Mr. Hamilton, you only have ten minutes.”
Miss Swift held up an oil lamp to illuminate the door in front of her, then handed Xia De a key, signaling him to time himself with his pocket watch, but Xia De shook his head:
“I have the ability to perceive time. Please rest assured, I will come out on time.”
He was about to knock on the door, but the young apprentice behind him spoke again:
“Please wait. I wanted to ask you a small question.”
Her age was probably similar to that of Xia De’s current body. Although she was already an adult by the age standards of this world, she was still very young by the standards of a Witch. She was naturally very curious about a being like Xia De, but she could never find an opportunity to talk to Xia De alone.
“If you want to ask if I am a man, oh, yes. Lady, many people have already asked that question. I don’t think you need to ask it again.”
Xia De said with a hint of complaint.
“No, no, I wasn’t asking that.”
Miss Swift blushed slightly:
“I wanted to ask, do you know many Witches?”
“Not many, just a quarter of the Witches on the Council.”
“What is their attitude towards you?”
Xia De thought for a moment:
“Not bad.”
“Then do you know their apprentices?”
This was the question she really wanted to ask.
“I only know one.”
“That apprentice... how are they? Are they very mature, are they very powerful, and what Ring are they now?”
Only then did Xia De understand that the flaxen-haired girl in front of him was worried that she might not measure up to others:
“Excuse me, have you just become Grandma Cassandra’s apprentice?”
He asked softly.
“Yes, next month will be the third year. Grandma used to have apprentices, but I’ve never met them.”
To prevent themselves from suddenly dying without an apprentice to inherit their seat, Witches always cultivate generations of apprentices, but usually, the last generation is the one that inherits the seat. Situations like the previous generation of Witches before Grandma Cassandra, who died without a suitable apprentice, are very rare.
Tifa was clearly Miss Jialinna’s first generation apprentice, while the Miss Swift in front of him was Grandma Cassandra’s last generation apprentice.
“Don’t worry, aren’t you excellent now? At your age, being a Four-Ring Warlock is very uncommon. The path of a Witch will be very long. Instead of worrying about the present, worry about the future. No one can advance one Ring a month and become a Thirteenth Ring in a year.”
Xia De joked. What he said made a lot of sense. He had only been in this world for four months and was only a Three-Ring Arcanist.
Miss Swift finally smiled:
“I understand, then please go in quickly. But please note, although my teacher’s teachers can control themselves, you might encounter some trouble inside. If you can’t deal with it, just come out directly.”
She held the oil lamp in her left hand and waved to Xia De with her right:
“I’ll wait for you here.”
“Alright, please temporarily look after this cat for me.”
Xia De handed the reluctant cat to the flaxen-haired girl, turned to knock on the door, and after receiving an answer, inserted the key into the lock, then pushed the door open and walked in.
PS: Last week, because Joey Barton’s eyes were damaged, he couldn’t complete the divination for Mia. He promised Xia De that he could go again this week, so no appointment is needed. This is a reminder to prevent readers from forgetting.
