In a guest room next to Xiao Chen's room, Count Arias paced around the room with his head down and his hands behind his back. His usual frivolous look had long since disappeared. Pinto stood silently by the door, his eyes looking at his nose, his nose looking at his heart, and no one knew what he was thinking. On the other side of the door was Nina's father, Knight Holmes. The knight was obviously unable to calm down like the count. He looked at the wall on the left from time to time. On the other side of the wall was Xiao Chen's room. The stone wall blocked his sight, but it could not block his urgent mood.
Master Banderas sat by the window. On the table in front of him was a crystal ball. The crystal ball was floating. Right below it was a square tray made of metal. There was a magic circle on each of the four corners of the tray. A crystal stone was placed at the core of each magic circle. Banderas held a strand of red hair in his hand. His lips trembled slightly. In a moment, a cluster of blue fire burst out from his fingertips, burning the hair from bottom to top into ashes. The ashes emitted a faint golden light and fell towards the crystal ball. When they touched the edge of the crystal ball, they melted into the ball without any obstruction, floating in the center of the originally transparent and colorless crystal ball.
Master Banderas cupped his hands outside the crystal ball and began to utter words. The crystal on the tray began to glow, and the light path followed the magic circle and finally merged into one. Under the illumination of this light, the ashes in the crystal ball dissipated lightly, and a blurry picture slowly emerged in the middle.
The Count stopped and stared at the crystal ball. The picture vaguely showed a red-haired girl holding a sword and walking forward. She was walking among some strange houses, and from time to time some fast monsters would appear around her and attack her with their extremely long arms. The girl tried her best to fight these monsters, but she would occasionally be hit by them. However, the girl was very tenacious, like a rock on the shore, standing firm in the attacks.
This scene lasted for more than ten seconds. As the four magic crystals shattered into powder, the scene in the crystal ball came to an abrupt end.
"It's Serinda! She is fighting in her dream! What monster keeps attacking her? The one with Li Jia? Where is he? Why is Serinda the only one fighting!" the count asked anxiously.
"Pani, you've lost your composure, which is very wrong." Master Banderas waved his hand at the crystal ball, and it disappeared.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Banderas, I just saw that she was in a tough fight."
"This is just the picture she experienced in her consciousness. Judging from the current situation, it's just a dream. Even if you get hurt in a dream, you won't really bleed. On the contrary, I see good news here. At least her consciousness is very active and she hasn't fallen into the silence of death," Banderas said.
"But this involves the Dream Tower." The Count stared blankly at the place where the crystal ball disappeared, as if he was still reviewing those scenes in his mind. "The Dream Tower... According to rumors, isn't there a terrifying power that can turn dreams into reality? What if this is not an ordinary dream, but some kind of test that can harm life?"
Master Banderas shook his head and said, "My little Pani, I have never seen you so anxious since your coming-of-age ceremony. Remember, you can't do anything now. You should be quiet like your knight and wait."
The Earl glanced at Knight Holmes, and the two looked at each other. The knight lowered his head, and the Earl saw that the latter's eyes were bloodshot.
"Holmes, I've taken note of your performance today," the Earl said. "Go outside and let me know if there's any movement."
"Yes, sir." Holmes saluted, turned around and walked out without saying anything more.
When the knight left, the Count was like an actor taking off his makeup, revealing his true face, and he was completely depressed. He grabbed his hair with both hands, and walked quickly in his room, growling as he walked: "Uncle Banderas, you know. Serinda is everything to me. No matter what I do these years, I hope not to involve her. If I finally reach that step, all she needs to do is follow me to the podium one day, take over my scepter, and then sit on that seat. Even if I fail, she can live a prosperous life in the southern city-state. But she, but she is not a person who is content with mediocrity, she will always do this or that, just like this time, if she doesn't survive this time! What is the meaning of everything I have done?"
"Count Carlos! You are out of control. This is not how a lord should behave." Master Banderas looked more serious than ever before. "I like little Serinda very much. I was also the one who enlightened her on the path of magic. But even so, I will not connect her with the revival of the Arias family. I am very disappointed with your words."
"No matter how sweet the wine of power is, what's the point if there are no people to drink it with?" The Count asked, staring at Master Banderas.
"Am I not worthy of drinking with you?" Master Banderas tapped the table heavily with his fingers, and pointed at Pinto and said, "Are your loyal subordinates not worthy of it either? Are you fighting only for your own bloodline? If so, how many people can you gather under your banner? Wake up! Otherwise, go back to the capital and continue to be your playboy!"
"Uncle Banderas!" Count Arias was stunned, as if he had realized something. He stood there for a moment and said, "I'm sorry, I, I lost my composure."
He walked to a wine cabinet and tried to open the door, but his hand was empty. Pinto followed quietly, opened the cabinet, took out a wooden barrel, and poured it into a ceramic cup.
The count drank the wine in his glass, stood for a while, leaning on the wine cabinet, and turned to Master Banderas and said, "My determination has not wavered."
Master Banderas stared at him silently for a while, then slowly said, "Even if it hadn't happened today, you should have realized that no one can't be sacrificed in the face of that great event. Your father can, my son can, I can, you can, and your daughter can, too. The old priests in the Temple of Nature have a saying that makes sense: If an eagle wants to hunt, it shouldn't be stingy with its feathers. What's more, she asked for trouble this time."
The Count nodded. Silence fell in the room.
Just when the atmosphere was extremely depressing, Pinto suddenly spoke up: "My Lords, although Miss Serinda was a little reckless, what she did was not without value."
Seeing the other two people looking over, he continued, "At least this time we have found out more about those magicians and know that they have a great relationship with the Dream Tower. Moreover, judging by the way they are treating the young lady, they also value their relationship with us. What I want to say is that no matter what the original intention was, Miss Serinda has pushed the relationship between us and the magicians a big step forward."
"Haven't you always advocated the elimination of these magicians?" said the count.
"My brain is always at your service. Since you disagree with my original plan, I can only hope to do the best on my current path," Pinto said with a slight bow.
"Pinto is indeed your think tank," Master Banderas suddenly praised. "What he said made me think of some things and gave me more guesses about the origins of these people."
"Is it the treasure that hurt Serinda?"
"Yes, although the other party did not explicitly say what it was, according to my guess, it might be a holy book from the Dream Tower."
"You originally guessed that Xiao Chen and the others had some inheritance from the Dream Tower."
"Knowing a few Dream Tower spells and possessing the Dream Tower's sacred text are two completely different things." Master Banderas shook his head slightly and said, "If you possess the sacred text, you can rebuild the tower. Do you know what this means?"
The Count was not a wizard and was not familiar with the affairs of the wizard world. He asked tentatively, "You mean, he represents a kind of orthodox status?"
"More than just orthodoxy, this means that one of the Seven Sacred Towers may reappear in this world." Banderas looked at the two people in the room and lowered his voice. "You outsiders may not understand the significance of the Seven Sacred Towers. You may think that they are no different from the current magic towers, except that they are different in strength. However, I want to tell you that the Seven Sacred Towers are fundamentally different from the other magic towers. They are not on the same level."
"I still don't quite understand what you are saying," said the count.
"To put it in the simplest terms, the Seven Sacred Towers are towers of the divine world, and the other magic towers are towers of the human world."
"God? But I remember that magicians at that time didn't believe in God?"
"They are not gods, nor do they believe in gods, but they can become enemies of gods. Think about it, would you regard monkeys as your enemies? No matter how weak your enemies are, they must be human, right?"
This sentence stirred up a huge wave in the hearts of the Count and Pinto. They never realized that the secret behind Xiao Chen and his group might involve some horrible truth. The Count's plan was always in the human realm. He never thought that he would have anything to do with the enemies of God. He couldn't help but calculate the pros and cons in his mind, and the room fell strangely quiet again.
However, before they could come up with a plan, there was a knock on the door. The door opened, and Knight Holmes walked in with a happy look on his face: "My Lord, Master Xiao Chen has saved Nina!"
"Where is Serinda?" asked the Count.
"He's still working on it. It seems like Serinda's situation is more complicated than Nina's. But he seems confident."
"If Nina can make it, so can Serinda," Pinto said.
"That must be it!" said Holmes. "But they made a request. They need a dog to guard downstairs."
"Dog?" The Count and Master Banderas looked at each other.
"Well, maybe it's materials for casting spells." Master Banderas said.
"Yes, yes. Go and bring all the guard dogs downstairs up to the backyard, including my two hounds, and bring them all to Master Xiao Chen for selection."