Shade waved behind the sofa. Among his pile of spellcasting materials and relics, a badge with the emblem of the Duchess, a circle of bone white edges, and the ability to detect witches flew over:
"I am indeed Miss Carina's man."
He showed the badge to Miss Benannis, who recognized the insignia on it as having been created by another great witch.
"You invited me to meet you yesterday, but I refused temporarily because I thought there might be a misunderstanding. I agreed to meet you today because I brought letters from other witches."
The letter also flew over, and Shad handed it to Miss Benanis, then sat back on the sofa on the side with the cat in his arms.
The blonde witch frowned slightly and opened it. The letter was only one page long, so she quickly read all the contents. At the bottom, she saw the signatures and seals of the four witches, and she became even more confused:
"If you can use your beauty to seduce Carina and the immature Sylvia, doesn't Xiwei only like women? And Granny Cassandra, the oldest witch, actually likes someone like you..."
She handed the letter to the curious Miss Lathers, placed her puppet on the table, and looked at Shade seriously:
"Anyway, you saved me and helped me get this, so I won't do anything to you. Now, follow me back to the manor. This is not a good place to talk... Let's keep a low profile and act quickly. It would be bad if we were discovered by the church."
"What does it have to do with the church?"
Shade asked while teasing Mia who had just helped a lot. Miss Benannis made a complicated expression:
"The Crazy Puppet Theater is a genuine sage-level relic. You don't think it can only hold puppet shows, do you?"
"so... ... "
"Just now you were riding a cat to fight it. I think all the ring sorcerers in the city could see it."
As a baron of the Kingdom of Carsenrick and the head of the prestigious Golden Dawn Opera Troupe, Miss Benanis naturally has her own manor in the local area. It is also in the city, not far from Cherry Leaf Street where the "Forgotten Church" is located.
After entering the manor in a carriage, the witch's followers appeared one by one. Shade then felt that it was incredible that he had been active in Randall Valley City for most of a week and had only run into the witch now.
The area of the manor is not particularly large. After arranging the follow-up of the opera house accident, Miss Benanis and Miss Lasers continued their conversation with Shade in the study on the third floor. As for the main content of the conversation, Miss Benanis further confirmed what "Shade Hamilton" was. It was not easy to explain this in detail, but fortunately, she had discussed the explanation with the other four witches last night.
He started with the first time he met the Duchess at the Lucky Southern Cross Club in Tobesk last summer, and talked about his story with Miss Carina. He briefly mentioned the stories of Miss Aurora and Grandma Cassandra, and he also talked about Miss Sylvia in detail because he met her in Tobesk.
In order to prevent the witch from associating him with the "God Summoner", Shade only mentioned the things that happened in Tobesk, and of course did not mention sensitive information such as Helen and Grace. But even so, these stories were quite long, so Shade stayed in the manor for dinner, and continued to chat with the witch and Miss Lathers after dinner.
And from Shad's story, Miss Benannis also roughly understood the relationship between Shad and the other four witches.
“They are really brave.”
After all the stories were finished and Miss Benanis had asked about the details she wanted to know, the witch sat on the sofa and commented somewhat arrogantly. It was already dark outside. The courtyard of the manor was lit with not very bright gas street lamps. The lights outside the manor could be seen in the distance. On winter nights, the city was not noisy at all.
"Your existence has the risk of splitting the council. They cannot be unaware of this. Throughout the history of records, there has never been a man that a witch could contact. If I didn't know that Mother-in-law Cassandra doesn't like to joke, I still wouldn't believe what you said."
Shade smiled and nodded, knowing that Miss Benannis had accepted his existence. Miss Lathers, who was sitting next to the witch, winked at him, obviously telling Shade not to care about what Miss Benannis said at the moment.
"However, since they won't tell the other witches about your existence, I certainly won't be the bad guy."
The blonde witch said, sighing slightly before tilting her head to look at the reflection of the study in the window glass;
"During your stay in the Randall Valley, if you need my help, whether it's secular or other, I'm willing to lend a hand, just as a reward for saving me and Shiris today. But I have to remind you that although I have the eleventh ring like Carina, I am not good at fighting. Besides, recently... ... I have had some health problems. If you need high-end combat power, I can only provide help within my ability."
"However, the Golden Dawn is willing to provide you with assistance, Mr. Hamilton. Vanessa's followers are all in the local area now. Although there are not many ladies in the high ring, it should be enough to deal with general situations."
Miss Lathers said with a smile, this lady is very friendly to Shade. She takes Shade's appearance and the influence of the Witch Council much less seriously than the witches do.
"Actually, I was curious just now. I wonder what happened to Miss Benannis? Was it a curse?"
Xia De asked tentatively, and the witch shook her head helplessly:
"It doesn't look like a curse, otherwise it would have been removed long ago. This is a bit like a precursor to losing control, but it's not that serious, otherwise I would have asked the parliament for help myself. This afternoon, I suddenly felt dizzy and was affected by the puppet. This is indeed a sign that the problem is changing in a serious direction. I will report to the Speaker tomorrow, and hope to find out the cause."
"Actually... I have a very unique sense of things like curses."
Xia De pointed at himself:
"Miss Benanis, would you mind holding my hand?"
In the afternoon, the contact with the wrist lasted only a dozen seconds, but Shad needed longer to sense it.
The witch hesitated for a moment before agreeing, and Shade stood up and sat on her left. Miss Benanis's hand, painted with red nail polish, held Shade's hand, which was very warm.
The three of them looked at the two clasped hands. Miss Lathers was very curious. Miss Benanis had never experienced this before and blushed slightly. Shade did not feel embarrassed, but asked in his heart:
"How about it?"
Hold on.
After half a minute of silence:
There is indeed a problem. It is not a curse in the strict sense, but it is very similar to the land you cleansed in the Randall River Valley.
"What's the meaning?"
Like the land, her soul is tainted. The condition is very mild, but I'm afraid your spell will not work, it only works on the land.
"But doesn't that strange phenomenon only happen on land?"
He frowned slightly and loosened his grip on the witch's hand. He organized his words and began his explanation with a question:
"Ms. Benannis, are you the witch representing the seat of 'Earth'?"
"Yes."
The blonde witch nodded.
"Have you recently used magic, rituals, or spells to deeply sense the land of the Randall Valley?"
Miss Benanis nodded again:
"Yes, about half a month ago, I used a large-scale ceremony to let the soul listen to the pulse of the earth. The Randall River Valley is the center of the earth in the legend. Feeling the earth here can strengthen the connection between oneself and the land. This kind of ceremony is used by the witches of the earth. There is no problem with the ceremony itself."
"Could it be that Vanessa's soul was contaminated by something unclean during this process?"
Miss Lathers, who also had beautiful blonde hair, immediately thought of the answer, but she had another question:
"But many other rituals can have similar effects. The Church of the Sun has many ring sorcerers who, like Vanessa, like to use this method to sense the earth. I haven't heard that other people have encountered this kind of trouble."
"I'm afraid this has something to do with my identity as a witch, the witch of the earth. It allows me to sense the pulse of the earth more deeply than any ring sorcerer."
The blonde witch said with a serious expression.
Xia De nodded. He had already acquired a lot of relevant information. It seemed that the problem on the earth was more serious than he had imagined.
"I don't know about the ritual, but I know that something is wrong with the land of Randall Valley. Miss Lathers, you and I went to deal with that crazy land together. You know how strange that phenomenon is. I think Miss Benanis's trouble is related to that strange phenomenon. But I'm sorry, my purification spell cannot work on humans."
"But half a month ago, the manor outside the city was beyond the range of my perception of letting my soul resonate with the earth."
The witch obviously thought of more things:
"Is there something wrong with the entire land of Randall Valley? It's just that the problem of the manor outside the city has emerged... If this is true, this problem will probably spread to the entire material world soon."
"My guess should be correct. I encountered a similar problem in Tobesk. It's the same crazy land, but the external manifestation is different."
Shade said, Miss Benanis closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead:
"I'm afraid the problem will be very troublesome. I will find out what happened as soon as possible. I hope it's just some relic that has lost control, or an evil thing that has broken free from the seal."
Shade learned that the "Crazy Land" was the man from the Emerald Dream. He told the two ladies the information he got in the dream, and Miss Benanis looked even more serious:
"I don't know the man you're talking about, but if the madness of the earth is the natural phenomenon he mentioned, doesn't that mean that there's something wrong with the world itself? How is that possible?"
Judging from the apocalyptic views of the Priory of the Guiding Light and the information revealed by the "other Luvia", this is probably correct.
"Vanessa, contact the council as soon as possible tomorrow to confirm whether this information is correct."
Miss Lathers whispered beside them. Shad held Mia and looked at them. He suddenly realized that the Randall Valley was involved in a disaster that could cause big trouble.
At this time, it was less than a week since he first set foot on the land of Randall River Valley.
"Hamilton, I don't know if you've heard about the narrow gap between life and death from Carina. The accident at Midhill Castle was a problem with the city itself, but the greatest damage it caused was to turn the central and eastern parts of the Old Continent into a den of ghosts. But if something goes wrong in the center of the earth in the mystical sense - the land of the Randall River Valley, the entire material world will be in trouble."
Miss Benanis said to Shad, who knew better than Shad what this meant:
"The information and intelligence you provided are very valuable. I am not a stingy person. Please make some requests to me."
She said to Xia De very seriously, and Xia De naturally thought of the most important thing:
"I'm looking for a very special relic. A key made of black, dead wood."
"No problem. Golden Dawn has very sensitive local information channels. This is just a small matter. What else do you need?"
The witch continued to ask, and this time Shade thought of Mr. Granger's silver cube:
“I’m interested in local folklore and urban legends, especially those that have been passed down for a long time.”
"I'll have someone sort it out and give you the file directly."
Miss Lathers said that she had a good impression of Shade:
"This is just a small matter. Mr. Hamilton, please don't worry about anything. Since Vanessa said she would give you some rewards, she really wants to thank you. Relics? Precious magic? Although you can get these from Miss Carina, Vanessa also has her own proud relics and magic system."
She encouraged Xia De, probably misunderstanding him and thinking that Xia De was embarrassed to make excessive requests.
"I see..."
He scratched Mia's chin with his right hand. When the well-fed cat squinted its eyes and purred comfortably, Xia De told him what he needed to do most at the moment:
"Then, can Miss Benanis sing a song for me? I know a wonderful ritual prayer, please turn it into a song, a song that praises the earth and butterflies."
"The Prayer" refers to the poem when the middle-aged witch Blachette, Sister Perry and Mr. Lyman call on the old gods.
He leaned forward slightly and looked at the witch excitedly:
"Yes, a song, and I hope you can sing it to me in your best condition."
After all, tasks involving the key to time must be done to perfection.
"Are you using this opportunity just to hear me sing a song?"
The witch felt a little embarrassed by Shade's eager gaze. Before Miss Lathers could say that this was just a small matter, she held out her hand to stop her from speaking:
"No problem. I admire your taste, Mr. Hamilton. It makes sense that Carina likes you."
Then, he gave the time and place:
"Today is Friday. So the day after tomorrow, which is Sunday night, the Golden Dawn Opera Company will perform for the descendants of the Carsenrick royal family at the Wilde Opera House, which we left in the afternoon. I will not be on stage, but after the performance, I can perform a solo for you."
She stared at Shade with her golden eyes that were a little green:
"Is this okay?"
Although her attitude was a little strange, it was of course possible. Although Shade had to use the time key early Sunday morning, he didn't mind if it was only delayed by less than a day:
"Then I'll trouble you."
The witch shook her head slightly:
"I don't know how you got here, but if you still stay in the Randall Valley, I may need your help in the next investigation. Singing for you is just a piece of cake. I allow you to make a wish to me at any time. But before that, I want to talk to Carina alone..."
After saying that, he hesitated for a moment and asked hesitantly:
"How far have you and Carina... come to terms with each other?"
"Oh, Vanessa!"
Miss Lathers patted her arm with a blush, as if blaming her for prying into other people's privacy. But it seemed that the lady was also quite curious about the answer to this question.
"Well... it's just... a lover relationship... we have had some intimate contact... but it's not the most intimate kind..."
Miss Benanis smiled and Miss Lathers blushed slightly, and she probably understood.
But no matter what, the first contact and acquaintance with the Great Witch of Randall Valley was quite smooth in Shade's opinion. Of course, this was thanks to the puppet.
"Blood Spirit School, Crazy Land... Although I got a wish from the witch, there are more things to do."
"Meow~"
The cat meowed lazily, enjoying the comfort of life at the moment.
Although Miss Benanis wanted Shade to stay a little longer and talk to him about more topics related to witches, Shade did not want to reveal more things, so he declined Miss Benanis' invitation, left the red wine as a gift, and left the manor with the cat.
It was 7:30 in the evening. Shad did not go home immediately, but went to the "Land of Plenty Inn" next to the local Prophet Association, wanting to talk to Luvia about the information he had obtained today.
It was so late, of course Luvia was in the hotel room. But when Shade opened the door with the key and closed it after entering, the purple-eyed girl immediately "jumped" over:
"Oh, Shad, what did you do this afternoon?"
She looked at Mia again:
"What did you do with your cat?"
This statement seems to have some problems, but Luvia is more worried about Shade's safety. After all, the relic in the afternoon has been confirmed to be a sage-level relic.
The two sat down in the room, and Shad briefly explained what happened in the afternoon, but focused on more speculations about the "Crazy Land".
"This disaster will definitely affect the entire world. Since the Blood Spirit School has appeared, the Chosen One should also appear."
"The chosen one of the earth?"
The purple-eyed girl frowned slightly. Xia De still had two eye coins, but he hadn't decided what to divine yet, so he didn't take them out:
"I will investigate these matters, Luvia, please stay out of it for now."
After saying that, he took out the retractable magic dagger again:
"Come on, stab me twice more."
Luvia had a serious face, but now she couldn't help laughing:
"That's not a precognitive dream, don't be nervous. Besides, Mia in your dream had thirteen rings on her tail, but this afternoon she only had one."
"Safety first, fate can't control me!"
Xia De insisted, so she could only stab Xia De twice. After dropping the dagger, she said worriedly:
"Then be careful, Xia De... I'm always by your side."