Leaving the church and coming out onto the street, we saw that the street was already covered with gray snow, and on the entire Cherry Leaf Street, less than a quarter of the shops were open for business.
Continuing along the street towards the intersection, Shade did not see any horse-drawn carriages waiting for customers in the originally busy place.
The policeman who ran by with a kerosene lamp in his hand reminded Shad loudly that the Randall River Valley had encountered a special negative pressure vortex weather that had not been seen in a century. Now the toxic substances in the air of the whole city were settling, so it was best not to stay outdoors today. If you stay indoors, you should also pay attention to the city earthquake warning information issued by the city hall that there will be a major earthquake outside the city tonight.
In a city that looked like a dying patient, Shade walked down a street before he finally found a rented carriage. From the driver, he learned that the earthquake that occurred during the banquet last night was just the beginning of a series of earthquakes.
Throughout the night, more than eight strong earthquakes occurred in the urban area of Randall Valley, so that almost no local resident could sleep well.
At the same time, the earthquake caused a large-scale fire in the slums of the old city and a serious landslide in the mountainous villages east of the Randall River Valley. Just the news heard by the driver showed that the number of people who died last night due to a series of follow-up effects of the earthquake had reached three digits.
Therefore, starting from this morning, unless people are infected with a disease like the petrified plague, they should try not to go out as long as they can. With the gray snow falling in the city before the beginning of spring, this ordinary driver who has lived in the Randall River Valley for forty years, after telling the anecdote of frogs appearing collectively on the streets, sighed again and felt that the city has become different from any time before:
“It’s as if the land itself is sick.”
He spoke to Shad who was sitting in the carriage amid the sound of horse hooves.
The carriage first took Shade to the Plenty Land Inn in the city center. The inn was still open today, and there were many more guests on the first floor than usual. It was not that all the citizens came to drink, but that the people staying in the inn were panicking and talking to their companions about the situation in the Randall Valley today.
After entering the room, Shade took a quick look and saw Miss Marilyn Handel sitting by the wall. He said nothing, but put the Founding Death next to her as he passed by and walked towards the stairs.
Miss Handel lowered her head and looked at the card, while the soul of Joe Yin Barton looked hesitantly at the cat held by Shad. Mia was held by Shad with one hand, her front paws on Shad's shoulders, and her little head looked at him over Shad's ear.
So, the dead soul felt something was wrong, but he didn't know where it came from. He had predicted the fate of the cat when he was fortune-telling for Shade, but when he saw it again after death, he felt something completely different from when it was alive.
When Shade went upstairs, he did not see Luvia in the room, but found a note she left. Luvia was called away by the Prophet Association this morning, but she would go to Wilde Opera House to meet Shade at noon, and told Shade not to run around.
The reason why Luvia mentioned the Wilde Opera House was because it was located in the city center and it was easier to get information from there than from the witch's manor. Therefore, the opera house was closed for one day today and served as the base for this operation.
When Shad arrived there, the four great witches, Miss Aurora, Miss Benanis, Miss Carina, and Miss Sylvia, were already in place, and the witch apprentices were making preliminary preparations for the actions of the great witches. Hillis and Miss Swift entered the parliament to report to the other witches who were waiting for news in the parliament.
In other words, except for Margaret, who has not yet held a ceremony and has not yet been granted the official status of a witch apprentice, all the forces belonging to the Witch Council in the entire Randall Valley have gathered in the Wilde Opera House.
When a ring wizard participates in a large-scale battle, he cannot just put on his clothes and go out with his cat. Even if he is a person with little furniture, Shade needs to spend a night and a morning to organize the things he needs. The ladies who are witches and ring wizards need more complicated preparations, and most of these preparations are assisted by apprentices and followers.
"What's going on?"
When Shad appeared in the office on the third floor of the opera house holding Mia, only Miss Benanis was there drinking tea alone.
She motioned for Shade to sit down and talk:
"Don't be so anxious. Try the black tea I brewed. This is tea bought from the East."
After Shade sat down, Miss Benannis introduced:
"The church has received the news you got from the guardian. Fortunately, with the experience of the Battle of Midhill Castle, the church made arrangements in advance. Although there will definitely be casualties, it should be enough to protect the safety of the city. The Speaker made a deal with the church. After 8 o'clock tonight, except for Sylvia who will follow you to Oxenfurt Manor, the three of us will lead Gao Huan's followers out of the city and go to the southeast to fight. If the news is accurate, the intensity of this battle will not be lower than that of Midhill Castle."
Although she was talking about a serious topic, her tone was very relaxed:
"After living for so many years, I finally encountered a major event that will be recorded in history books, sung by bards, and adapted into a stage play by playwrights. I am not nervous at all, but rather a little... excited."
Her beautiful eyes looked at Xia De:
"You've been involved in more things than any of us. Tell me, Shade, how do you feel about that?"
“Nothing.”
Xia De touched Mia's soft hair:
"I am confident that I can solve this problem. The only question is what price I have to pay."
“Are you so confident?”
The witch smiled:
"I'm actually most worried about you now. Well... after this is over, no matter what the result is, you probably won't visit this city so often. Then let's make a deal. After this is over, I want to perform for you alone, just like when we first met. Is that okay?"
"I usually don't talk about celebration parties when something big just starts..."
Xia De said hesitantly, but seeing the expression on Miss Benannis's face, he nodded in agreement:
"I'll be looking forward to it. Do you still want to sing?"
The witch blushed slightly, with a smile on her lips:
"Besides singing, don't I know any other performances?"
The Orthodox Church and the three major academies possess more fragments of poems, but even now, they are still unable to completely determine where the ceremony of the chosen ones of the earth will be held.
Fortunately, the church had gathered enough fragments of poems and was able to locate possible locations based on the map. Afterwards, the Prophet Association conducted divination again, and because the answer could not be 100% certain, they finally circled out seven areas.
These seven areas are scattered among each other, and one of them is even in the city. Therefore, in addition to the ring sorcerers who are engaged in the "city defense battle" tonight, more high-ring sorcerers and most of the thirteenth-ring sorcerers will be assigned to these seven areas.
Except for the one in the city, by coincidence, Shade had actually been to four of the remaining six areas, namely the Moon Worship Ruins near Ossenfurt Manor, Eldron Lake in the upper reaches of the Ailon River, the Demon Sealing Watchtower in the lower west of the city, and the Night Temple in the mountains.
As for the two places that Shade had not been to, one was the farthest from the city, directly across the river valley into the mountainous area east of the city. The other was on the open plain south of the city, where the only remaining ruins of the ancient Stonewell Kingdom were located.
The news about these seven key areas was brought by Sister Defulin at noon that day.
Sister Defulin had always considered Shade's affairs more important, so she took the initiative to apply to help defend the Moon Worship Ruins near Oxenfurt Manor. The church originally planned to let the nuns stay in the city, but they respected the nuns' opinions, and the ruins happened to be in the center of the seven areas, which was convenient for the nuns to move at any time, so they agreed to the nuns' application.
Sister Defulin and Yin Luna were both the most important characters tonight. In fact, because Sister Defulin's rank was much higher than Yin Luna's, Sister Defulin could even be said to be the most important.
Considering the risk of the chosen one losing control, and how terrible the out-of-control thirteen-ring warlock is, no one can predict. Therefore, the nun, who is also a chosen one, is the best person to check and balance the "guardian". In the face of the fate of the chosen one, only the chosen one can contend.
According to the previous plan, before leaving, Sister Devlin took away the Night Watch of Shade and took away the Founding Knowledge to learn the best time for her to appear.
Before Sister Defulin left, Luvia had already arrived at the Wilde Opera House. She took the excuse of being unwell and asked for leave after finishing her work in the morning. Although it was a time of shortage of manpower, Luvia was not a member of the local association after all, so the association could only reluctantly grant her leave.
"The operation has been roughly arranged."
Sitting in the front row of the No. 1 Performance Hall on the first floor, Shade watched the girls on the stage maintaining Miss Aurora's weapon, which was a white oak stick with a diamond on the top that she had recently acquired. The oak stick was as long as Shade's height, and it was a sage-level relic that could amplify certain spells.
The most open place in the Wilde Opera House, apart from the basement, is the stage. Anyway, the opera house is closed today, so the four witches each chose a stage to prepare.