Shade didn't know why the atmosphere of afternoon tea suddenly became strange. He looked at Luvia, but found that the purple-eyed girl was watching Shade interacting with the witches with great interest.
So Xia De hesitated for a moment and looked at the ladies at the table:
"I actually have a request. Maybe it's a little abrupt, but please agree to it."
"You tell me. As long as it's not too much... even if it's too much, I believe we will agree to it."
Miss Sylvia said with a smile, and all eyes at the table turned to Shad.
Xia De coughed:
"Oh, please be serious. I mean, if the crazy guardian shows up before I return from Oxenfurt Manor, you should delay him as much as possible... All arrangements and plans should be made by Luvia. She knows what to do."
The purple-eyed girl was a little surprised when she heard what Shade said, while the other four witches nodded together:
"No problem, but we still hope you can come back as soon as possible."
"It's not up to me when I'll be back. But you don't have to worry about me. I have many ways to deal with it."
He still had a time key for his last chance, was ready to summon his desire, and even had a drop of divinity. Of course, before he got the divinity of the Heart of the Earth, he had to avoid using the remaining divinity as much as possible.
"You keep our jewelry."
Miss Benanis said as she took off her gold ring (first on the right), Miss Aurora and Miss Sylvia also had rings (first and second on the left), and Miss Carina had a necklace. However, Shade refused:
"That's not necessary. You guys need this too. Besides, it's better for me to show weakness when facing a demon."
Because he doesn't need to fight demons at all, what he needs is to summon a doctor at the right time.
The witches still had some things to deal with in the basement, so Shade went to the office on the third floor with Luvia to wait for Miss Swift and Hillis to come back.
After sitting down on the sofa, Luvia took out the only remaining relic, the Thundergod's Wrath Coin:
"You probably only have the last Emperor's Banquet Copper Coin left. Since the war is just around the corner, why don't you leave it behind?"
"Leave the one I have. It might be useful when I return from Oxenfurt Manor."
Shade said, and Luvia nodded:
"Okay. So what do you need divination for the one in my hand? What about the true location of the Chosen Ceremony? I didn't get it completely last time, but this time there are enough clues. Now that we know the true location, we can arrange many things tonight."
"No, knowing the location doesn't mean much now."
Xia De shook his head:
"I hope you are predicting something else. It is more important to clarify something else. First, whether we need to deal with the guardians tonight, and how powerful they are after going crazy. Second, when exactly will the first Randall flower bloom?"
"Instead of location, what about time? That's important, but I probably can't get the answer to both questions at the same time. Pick the one that's more important."
Luvia flipped a coin, and Mia, who had just woken up, looked at it with great interest.
"Guardian."
"no problem."
She closed her eyes, and under the gaze of Shade and Mia, she threw the silver coin high up. The divination went smoothly, because the coin began to show mottled rust after reaching the highest point, and then rapidly rusted as it fell, until it completely turned into ash.
"Yes, we need to fight against the Guardian. The power that the latter can display is even stronger than normal. In other words, it is far beyond the ordinary thirteen rings. In fact, because he has the authority to control the earth and has the fate of the chosen one, dealing with him is no easier than dealing with any previous enemy."
Luvia opened her eyes, and Shade liked the purple in her eyes:
"He now possesses two unique properties: first, as long as his feet are on the ground, his strength is inexhaustible; second, the land of the entire Randall Valley will help him. You can think of this as meaning that his luck has been greatly improved, and as long as he is in the Crazy Land, he can almost be regarded as being in his own puzzle."
Xiade frowned, and Luvia continued:
"Because the answer is too simple, I also divined other things. The area where the guardian will appear cannot be determined, but it will not be in the city. The time of appearance, which is also the time of complete madness, is about half an hour after the first Randall flower blooms this spring. The time when the first Randall flower blooms can only be roughly estimated to be after 1 a.m. on Saturday."
"So, I have to try to resolve the matter at Oxenfurt Manor and rush back here before one o'clock in the morning. After all, the blooming of flowers means the whole earth is in turmoil."
He turned his head slightly and looked out the misty window. The strange gray snow was still falling, and it would most likely continue tonight, becoming the first spring snow in the Randall Valley in the year 1854 of the Sixth Era.
"Long-haired Luvia, did you also see this kind of scenery when you made that difficult decision?"
Shade asked quietly in his heart, but no one could answer his question. Luvia didn't know what Shade was thinking about at the moment, and she didn't know that Shade was thinking about another her. Luvia just had a very bad premonition.
This kind of premonition was not present in Xia De's previous participation in major events.
"Just like always, draw a card."
So Luvia took out her deck of divination cards, arranged them and switched their positions, and handed them to Shade:
"Draw three."
This time, Xia De did not draw the top three cards, but instead chose the third card from the top, the fifth card from the top, and the first card from the bottom.
Luvia arranged the three cards and placed them parallel to each other in front of her:
"About the enemies you will face."
When he turned over the divination card, it showed a poisonous snake. There was nothing wrong with that, it just meant that Shade's enemies were insidious and cunning.
"About the danger you are about to face."
When she turned over the divination card, it showed two crossed swords. This divination card was generally called "Duel", and Luvia thought it meant that Shad had the power to fight against danger.
"About your ending."
Luvia turned over the last card and saw the image on the divination card. It was a man holding a dagger. Under a spotlight similar to that of a stage, he stabbed the dagger into his heart. Surrounding him were fallen horses and knights.
Seeing this picture, Luvia, who had been relieved, turned pale:
"Sacrifice?! How could that be? The results of the first two cards were obviously not bad. Xia De, you..."
"You also said that we should not rely too much on or trust divination, otherwise we will definitely be led astray by fate."
Shade said, putting the last card back into the divination deck, then spreading the cards on the coffee table, pinching Mia's waist again and picking up the cat:
"Come on, pick one."
Although the cat may not understand what Shade meant, it is willing to stretch out its paw to pat something it doesn't know. So the cat patted a card, and Shade turned it over:
"A feast. This represents a huge risk-free gain."
He showed the cards to Luvia:
"I will be with Mia tonight. Since the result is positive, I will probably not encounter any bad things. Feast may mean that the action will go smoothly tonight, so I rewarded the cat with a big meal. Sacrifice can also be interpreted in other ways. If you draw this card, Siris, you should be worried."
Luvia gave a very forced smile, but before she could say anything else, there was a knock on the door.
Shade got up to open the door, and then saw that Sirius was really standing at the door:
"Back from the council? We were just discussing you."
Shade said with a smile, and the blonde girl came in:
"Just got back. Miss Swift went to the basement and reported to the witches. What were you talking about me just now?"
"About divination. Come, draw a card."
The young girl didn't know what they had talked about before, so she casually picked up a fortune-telling card:
"Let me see... the rope is broken."
Among the 108 divination cards, the probability of this card appearing is very small. Shade looked at Luvia, and Luvia explained softly:
"It means that you will sever an important relationship or... lose an important person in the near future."
"As long as it's not a sacrifice."
Shade said, and then encouraged Luvia to do a divination for herself. The confused purple-eyed girl also drew a card, and her result was "audience". Shade understood Luvia's feelings. In the previous decisive battles with the Chosen, she showed much more concern than this time.
He knew that this was out of concern for him. Although he himself was somewhat worried, he still promised Luvia:
"I'll be back safely in the morning."
It was getting late, and Shad had promised to accompany Sirius to the Forgotten Church again today. Now that she was back, the two planned to set off, and Mia was left in Luvia's care.
In fact, in addition to accompanying Sirius to the Forgotten Church, Shad could also choose to use the remaining time before dusk to accompany Miss Aurora to activate the ceremony left by the Speaker of the Witch Council, help Luvia arrange a more detailed divination ceremony at the Wilde Opera House, go to the local black market to inquire about new information, or do nothing but chat with the girls to boost morale.
Unfortunately, he could only choose one thing to do, and agreeing to accompany Hillis was something that had been agreed upon from the beginning.
There were two small earthquakes in the city during the day today, and coupled with heavy fog and strange gray snow throughout the city, there were still few people on the streets in the afternoon.
The snow on the road made the carriage move very slowly, so Shad and Hillis did not take the carriage. Instead, they chose to walk to the church without being followed by anyone else.