“The Church buys Great Witch from the Witch Council to find a more reliable source for the magical materials obtained by Saint Byron's students?”
Ignoring the so-called “reward” issue, Xia De summarized the current situation:
“This is at least one-fifth of the Chosen One’s ticket. Doesn’t the Council have an interest in gaining control of this item?”
The 【wise man's stone】 can only be transferred once, and cannot be forcibly taken, intimidated, or deceived.
“Currently, only the Five Gods Church knows that the second wise man's stone is in your hands. I haven’t told the other Great Witches that you have a wise man's stone.”
Miss Jialinna was very pleased to see the expression on Xia De’s face:
“I won’t actively involve you in matters related to the Chosen One, and it’s unlikely you exposed this wise man's stone because you wanted to trade with us.”
She waved her hand and lowered her head to deal with the food on her plate:
“When I went to the meeting just now, the Speaker did mention wanting to buy their poem fragments from the Apner Library.”
“The Apner Library has sold those materials more than once; I know of at least two times. If you need it, I’ll write down the information for you.”
Xia De had seen those materials when he was picking up goods for Old John. The only valuable information was that this Chosen One Ritual needed to be held on water.
“What we want is the carrier itself, after all, it is a Witch Emperor’s relic.”
Miss Jialinna said, signaling Tifa to pour her more wine, then slid her right hand a few times, letting the dinner knife cut the food on the plate by itself, while she pressed her neck with her right hand:
“You don’t have to worry about Wednesday’s matter. Besides the Church and the Prophet Association, no one knows you have the 【wise man's stone】 in your hand. Just wait for them to make an offer. However, Silvia should have heard about this from Margaret Anjou. I will tell her to keep it a secret. She… appreciates you, and will certainly be willing to keep this secret.”
Xia De nodded, and the Witch asked again:
“Haven’t you considered keeping this wise man's stone? It can increase your wisdom and give you extraordinary talent. Even if it’s not a material for the Chosen One Ritual, this is a very valuable item.”
“No, no, wisdom cannot be obtained through external objects. ‘A wise man never directly gives power; a wise man only gives guidance.’”
Xia De said firmly.
“Who said that?”
“An Old God I met in Fifth Epoch 5177.”
Miss Jialinna’s hand holding the wine glass trembled slightly, while Xia De looked down at the box beside him:
“Speaking of which, can the Council determine the candidate for the fourth Chosen One?”
“New news has come from Saint Byron’s, confirming that this Chosen One is still a male. It’s incredible, four Chosen Ones, and three of them are actually male… There must be Chosen Ones near the locations where those ‘Keepers’ appeared. The Church is currently comparing the guest list of the Lakeview Manor banquet with the people around the abnormal phenomenon locations these past few days, which also includes guests from Leia’s salon. Of course, the Church certainly won’t suspect you.”
She said with a smile, and Xia De thought for a moment:
“Actually, there’s no need to suspect me. Luvia said that anyone could be the Chosen One, only I couldn’t be.”
Miss Jialinna glanced at Xia De, thinking of the purple-eyed girl:
“What do you want to do this time? I’m quite interested in your actions. Your previous three actions were so successful, you can’t do nothing this time, can you?”
“Once we confirm who the Chosen One is, we will have a concrete action plan. For now, we are just waiting for news and trying to collect wise man's stones.”
“How could the Chosen One be so easily found? Besides Iluna being discovered by the Church in advance, Ivan Darkness clearly came to Tobesk City, but was only discovered to be the Chosen One in Coldwater Port; Joey Barton was even more excessive, living under the Church’s nose for so many years, only to jump out and say he wanted to resurrect his lover before the Battle of Middelburg. The Church didn’t even know who he was at first.”
The Witch re-grasped her dinner knife:
“Perhaps this Chosen One will also pop out from somewhere, then you’ll encounter them for a strange reason, and finally fight with them for a strange reason.”
The Witch’s golden eyes gazed at Xia De.
“Iluna didn’t fight with me back then.”
Xia De retorted, and Miss Jialinna smiled and raised her glass to Xia De:
“But there’s something I want to ask you. After you caught Jack the Thief, were the things he gave you really that box of jewels and diamonds?”
“Of course not. That box of jewels was something I got from Huntington. Jack the Thief told me to choose one of three relics, but I asked for the letter he stole from my friend Dorothy Louisa, and also asked him to return the relic he stole from Iluna’s team.”
Xia De spoke truthfully, and then saw the Witch show a strange smile:
“I knew it. When the Church found me through Larus III, why was Iluna in such a good mood? As for Louisa… if I’m not mistaken, the Miss Louisa you’re talking about is that pretty blonde and blue-eyed Writer who once, with Leia, and you…”
“Cough, cough.”
Tifa coughed in time, stopping the Duchess from saying something unseemly.
Xia De cut a small piece of beef from his plate and placed it on the dish in front of Mia. The cat excitedly sniffed at the smell. To prevent the Witch from continuing to tease him, Xia De opened the jewelry box and pushed it to Miss Jialinna:
“Want to pick one?”
“Leia was still in Yodel Palace this morning, asking me if you had sobered up. She rarely initiates conversation with me, Detective, you have quite a way with people.”
As the Witch spoke, her slender fingers picked a small silver brooch inlaid with diamonds from the box.
She casually placed the brooch on the table, then shook her wine glass at Xia De:
“Before you leave tomorrow, remember to make some more red wine. After drinking your red wine, other wines almost taste bland.”
“Is it that exaggerated?”
Xia De was a little disbelieving.
“That’s because you don’t understand wine tasting.”
The Duchess said regretfully, winking at Xia De:
“Wine tasting is an essential skill for nobles; you can’t not understand it. When you have time in the future, there are many more things you need to learn from me. It’s not good to be ignorant of everything.”
Xia De originally thought Miss Jialinna would also mention the “two dangerous presences that descended upon Saint Delan Square,” but on Friday morning, when he saw Luvia at the Prophet Association, Xia De only then learned that all the contents of the 【dice story collection】 were known only to the Church.
At that time, only the Church’s Ring術士 and the three princesses fully watched the game. The Church implemented strict secrecy restrictions; even though they let the Prophet Association know that Xia De had the 【wise man's stone】, they did not reveal the matter of the “dangerous presences.”
Fortunately, before Jack the Thief left, he had already informed the Church that the “dangerous presences” had also departed, otherwise Saint Delan Square would surely have been monitored for several months.
“This is it. I couldn’t let you look at it carefully on Wednesday night.”
In the Prophet Association’s second-floor divination room, Xia De handed the blue teardrop-shaped crystal to Luvia. He sat with his back to the window, outside of which large snowflakes were falling. When he woke up on Thursday evening, it was already snowing heavily, and by Friday, the snow was still very heavy.
Mia stood on the windowsill, her tail cocked, staring wide-eyed at the falling snow outside, a sight that greatly surprised the cat.
“One of the five 【wise man's stone】.”
Luvia’s purple eyes looked at the stone, which had turned into a gray, petrified state in her hand:
“Now Iluna has one, and you have one. But these are not necessarily all the wise man's stones; the Church may not have investigated the locations of all Keepers.”
“Yes, although we only know of two currently, it’s possible that the true Chosen One will have already obtained all five wise man's stones and performed the ritual tomorrow.”
Xia De nodded:
“Still haven’t found the Chosen One? The Witch side also has no clues. The Church’s progress should be faster than ours; they know the other party is a man, but they probably haven’t been able to ascertain the specific identity of the other party.”
Luvia returned the wise man's stone to Xia De:
“The wise man's stone in Iluna’s hand is the first and only wise man's stone in the open. The Chosen One Ritual has reached this stage, marking its official beginning. The forces of the Three Great Academies have been allowed to directly enter Tobesk, and the professors from the Academies will likely arrive next week. Before that, we probably have no other way to determine the Chosen One’s identity.”
She sighed slightly:
“The Truth Society definitely has clues we don’t know about. Miss Pa Wo’s clone disappeared after taking a direct hit from Iluna’s 【Sunlight Gun】 on Wednesday night. Thinking about it now, she didn’t personally join the 【dice story collection】 on Wednesday, but let a professor from the Truth Society participate, probably to confirm some things. I’m going to make an irresponsible guess: this lady is even more wise than we thought.”
“But you’ve already determined that she’s at least not the first candidate.”
“Yes, she is indeed not the first candidate, but she is very likely to be ranked lower.”
At this point, Luvia smiled again:
“In short, although the incident on Wednesday night was sudden, you and Iluna cooperated well. Two of the five wise man's stones are in our hands. If it is confirmed that the fourth Chosen One can cooperate, then this Chosen One will surely have something to ask of us… The advantage is ours.”
“This is probably only the best outcome, and the Church will not let me, an ordinary person, hold this stone indefinitely.”
Xia De touched the beautiful crystal, then turned in his chair to look at the cat by the window.
The snow was falling heavier and heavier. This snow was the heaviest in Tobesk so far this winter, and the temperature would likely drop sharply in the coming days.
“A representative from the Church will come to talk to you soon. Have you really decided not to hand the wise man's stone over to the Academy? That is a sage-level relic.”
sage-level relics do not circulate in the market; they are absolutely not found in the black market. The sage-level relics in Xia De’s hands are only the god's gift box and the 【Aiken Ola Knowledge Arrow】. Besides these, among his friends, he only clearly knows that Leia’s red earring, the 【Saint’s Curse-Breaking Stone】, is Sage-level, and the Red Butterfly pendant, the 【Crimson Butterfly】, is Sage-level.
The god's gift box was obtained after completing a full time key mission, accompanying Iluna into the underground ruins, killing the Silver-Eyed One, and completing the Chosen One Ritual mission; the 【Crimson Butterfly】 was obtained after the long story of the Red Butterfly Twins, and after the God’s Wine Party, Xia De perfectly solved the twins’ problems in this era, and the pendant came into his hands; even the 【Aiken Ola Knowledge Arrow】, which was the easiest to obtain, was related to a series of cases from more than a decade ago.
Therefore, sage-level relics were quite tempting to Xia De, but he still shook his head slightly:
“I want to use this stone for some transactions, to exchange for more valuable and safer items.”
The 【wise man's stone】 can only be traded once. After agreeing to the transaction with the Church, this wise man's stone will still be kept in Xia De’s hands, and when the Church needs it, he will transfer it to someone else. Therefore, agreeing to the Church’s transaction does not mean the loss of control, but it means Xia De can get some things that are usually unobtainable.
【What you want is practically written all over your face.】
Xia De touched his face, then he and Luvia saw Mia by the glass window, making a gesture of patting the glass with her little paws. The cat was eager to touch the snow outside. Although Xia De could also control snowfall, the City turning silvery white in a natural environment was still very novel for Mia, who was probably born in the spring of 1853.
Xia De and Luvia both smiled. Such a peaceful morning made life seem much calmer than it appeared on the surface.
--- Aside ---
PS: The Witch and Sister Devlin definitely have sage-level relics, but they haven’t appeared in the text yet. Moreover, sage-level relics generally have few side effects, so in this chapter, Xia De only thought of the god's gift box, the arrow, and Leia’s curse-breaking stone. These three are among the few sage-level relics that can be carried around without causing self-loss of control or widespread pollution.
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