“I haven't gotten my hands on The Secret of Immortality yet, but I've already seen the content you mentioned.”
In a private lounge on the first floor of Rothschild Manor, the young Sorceress, dressed in formal attire but not intending to attend the banquet, went straight to the point the moment Xia De entered the room.
The room was quite spacious, with the sofa set placed near the window. Outside the window was the deep night of the Manor, and the light from the gas lamps lit in the courtyard seemed so faint.
Miss Silvia's profile was reflected on the glass. The young Great Witch was still wearing a black long dress today, with dark purple lace trim decorating the hem. On her head, she wore a large, exaggerated wide-brimmed hat, the brim of which was decorated with a circle of petals.
She wore light makeup on her face, and her lips were painted with a shade of lipstick that Xia De couldn't identify. After Xia De sat down, he clearly smelled the perfume known as “Witch's Scent.”
“Don't look at me with strange eyes. Although I don't plan to attend the banquet, since I'm here, I naturally can't dress too casually.”
Miss Silvia explained.
“Are you sure that The Secret of Immortality truly contains fragments of the chapter?”
Xia De didn't engage in extra pleasantries but asked very directly. Seeing his demeanor, the Sorceress knew that this was definitely not his first time dealing with such matters. And based on the large amount of Chosen One intelligence Duchess Galina had obtained from unknown sources since the beginning of the year, Miss Silvia felt she probably guessed Duchess Galina's source of information:
“Yes.”
The Sorceress nodded slightly, her brows tightly furrowed. But this did not detract from the Sorceress's beauty. She was the youngest of all the Great Witches of the sixth epoch Xia De had ever seen. A girl of her age was already in the most pretty period of her life, and coupled with the Sorceress's extraordinary charm, she looked beautiful making any expression:
“You provided this intelligence. As per our agreement, I'm informing you of the relevant content. I'll tell the Council later. The content on the page numbers you provided didn't look special at first glance, but through a special method, after decoding and sorting the letters according to the Council's seating arrangement, some interesting intelligence was obtained.”
She even helped Xia De skip the decryption process:
“There are two sentences in total. The first one is—The heir of wisdom must solve the riddle of wisdom.”
“wisdom? Does this refer to the Old God 【Guardian Mentor】, the Old God of wisdom and Knowledge?”
Xia De asked. He had heard the name of this Old God from the Old God 【Grey-Robed Sage】 at the end of his visit to Gaddis Library. And the 【all things are impermanent · Knowledge】 corresponding to this Old God is in the hands of the Prophet Association.
“Yes, the chapter fragments recorded in The Secret of Immortality most likely point to the Chosen One of wisdom and Knowledge.”
Miss Silvia nodded gently, looking at Xia De with some surprise:
“You know quite a lot. I always thought that Duchess Galina was helping you. Now that I think about it, perhaps it's actually you who has been helping Duchess Galina all along?”
“We've always been helping each other... What's the second sentence?”
“The second sentence is—When destiny arrives, the Keeper holding the riddle will await the arrival of the Chosen One, which will be five trials.”
The Sorceress continued, then looked at Xia De:
“What do you think this means?”
Xia De pondered:
“It's not absurd for the god of wisdom and Knowledge to test the Chosen One in the form of riddles. But it sounds like the Selected One Ritual seems to be related to solving five riddles? Moreover, the riddles are held by a so-called 'Keeper.' I can't be sure if 'Keeper' refers to a real individual or something else.”
Miss Silvia also nodded:
“Yes, with only two sentences, it sounds a bit obscure. But at least it's very clear now that this is information related to the Chosen One of Knowledge. From what has happened in the past half-year, when a Chosen One appears, the corresponding chapter fragments for him or her or it are also very likely to be discovered. So after death, the next one is wisdom and Knowledge.”
The Sorceress sighed:
“Knowledge is power, and wisdom is the most precious wealth. This Chosen One should be quite extraordinary.”
Then the topic shifted, and her pretty eyes looked at Xia De:
“Mr. Hamilton, I was able to find this thanks to the intelligence you provided. I've made a contribution to the Council, and I won't forget to repay you. What do you need?”
Miss Silvia was different from Miss Jialinna; her relationship with Xia De had not yet reached the point of selfless help, and Xia De understood this very well:
“I don't need anything for now. Let's talk about it after you arrive in Tobesk.”
The Great Witch nodded, as if relieved, and then smiled:
“How's the banquet? Are you still accustomed to Carson Rick's aristocratic banquets? I hope you're satisfied with the hospitality here.”
“Madam, I have no demands for banquets. In Tobesk, I am merely the lowest noble.”
“But I heard Miss Jialinna say that you have a close relationship with the Delarion Royal Family, and you even receive a salary from the Delarion Royal Army.”
At this, Xia De smiled:
“I'm probably the type of salary thief, receiving some of the taxpayers' money but not actually doing anything.”
But on second thought, the contributions Xia De had made to MI6 were entirely worth his salary.
“Was it Miss Jialinna who provided you with the job?”
Miss Silvia asked with great interest, and Xia De didn't mind discussing these matters with her:
“Yes, it's five pounds per week now.”
He spread his palm.
“Major-level treatment.”
Miss Silvia nodded, knowing a lot about this:
“That's really not bad. As a royal tutor and private doctor, after deducting laundry fees, my annual salary, converted to pounds, is only about 235 pounds.”
For a tutor, this was a very high salary, most of which should have been for her role as a private doctor. After all, as Xia De understood, women in this era didn't earn much as tutors. Dorothy had worked as a tutor for a few months when she first moved out, but she quickly gave it up because it interfered with her writing time and the income was too little.
“Actually, I'm quite curious, may I ask what your main source of income is? Oh, I apologize, that question might be a bit presumptuous.”
Miss Silvia didn't seem to mind the question:
“My teacher left me an inheritance, most of which was real estate, jewelry, and antiques. The only things with fixed income are a wool textile steam factory in Weilandale City and a few spice shops and bookstores in the city center. Of course, compared to my expenses, these incomes aren't particularly much.”
She said to Xia De, half-complaining:
“Mathematical research doesn't just require paper and pen; attending academic conferences and publishing articles every year costs money. Not to mention occult research, and every project related to space is not cheap. So I've been trying to find other sources of income. The Witches of the Council are happy to help me, but...”
She cautiously shook her head, which Xia De understood well:
“After all, you still have to rely on yourself.”
“Yes.”
Miss Silvia nodded to Xia De with some surprise, and Xia De was also surprised that he would be discussing income issues with a Ten-Ring Sorceress.
But thinking about it, it was normal. Since one lives in a civilized society, one must find ways to obtain legitimate sources of income. Illegal Ring術士 organizations would seek cooperation with nobles, people like Sister Devlin would worry about Snake Heart Hospital's taxes and government funding, and Cultists would go to great lengths to launder their income.
This was a very real world, so Outsiders had to worry about the trivialities of life, and a Ten-Ring Great Witch did not possess the power to change social rules.
Xia De currently had a large sum of money on hand. Since he had no spending plans at the moment, he intended to invest it. If Miss Silvia, who was also looking for income sources, had any good projects, he would be very happy to cooperate with the Sorceress.
—Extra Notes—
PS: There will be an extra update on the 15th. How much depends on the situation.
