After leaving the shabby house outside the village, Shad did not rush back to the city, but crossed the border to the Glass City. When crossing the border, he found that the border area seemed to be building new fortifications, but Shad did not meet Captain Rades, so he did not go to find out. As for the reason for going to the Glass City, it was to inform Her Royal Highness the Princess about the undercover Gray Gloves in the circus that Margaret asked him to investigate.
Of course, Margaret was still very busy and was not there that morning, so it was Miss Sylvia who received Shad and had lunch with him.
During lunch, the shouts of the parade outside the manor could still be heard even with the windows closed. Shade put down the knife he was using to cut the steak and looked up to ask the young witch:
"Miss Sylvia, from your perspective, how do you hope this negotiation will end?"
The black-haired witch sitting at the head of the long dining table wiped the corners of her mouth elegantly with a handkerchief and frowned as she thought:
"From my personal perspective, peace is more convenient for my business. But from the perspective of the parliament, in times of war, witches can better hide their identities and develop their own power. So, I don't care."
She knew what Shade was thinking:
"The negotiations are at a tense stage now, so don't think too much. However, the issue of the border line of the 'Black Sun Forest' in the eastern Pantanal that has been discussed in the past two weeks has caused a lot of disputes in Carsenrick. According to the agreement in 1205, that place actually belongs to the Kingdom of Carsenrick, but Delarion does not recognize that agreement."
When the agreement was signed in 1205, the situation in the North and South was completely different from what it is now. It was an ancient agreement from 600 years ago.
"What does Margaret say about that?"
"The war faction in the country is instigating Congress to pass a bill to expand the military budget, and Margaret's father is under great pressure."
The witch shook her head and stopped commenting on this. After all, whether it was peace or war, for these witches who were not afraid of firearms and could easily destroy an entire army, it only meant a change in lifestyle.
After having lunch with Miss Sylvia, Shad told her the news he had heard in the morning and then returned home.
However, when he got home, he remembered his plan from a few days ago, so he pretended to take Little Mia, who had already eaten lunch, to eat again, making the cat mistakenly believe that Shade had forgotten how many times to eat, and then took this opportunity to grab Little Mia and took her into the bathroom.
Spring is the best time of year, and it’s time to wash your cat again.
Little Mia, who never liked taking a bath, was really angry because of Shade's behavior. When Shade immersed it in warm water, the cat struggled desperately, splashing water all over Shade, as if it would sink if Shade let go. And when Shade really let go, the cat, who didn't realize it immediately, was still struggling in the bathtub with its paws flapping.
However, no matter how Xia De looked at it, it seemed to be enjoying itself.
"Meow?"
The cat looked up and saw Shade standing up and looking at it. With its hands retracted, it immediately jumped up to escape, but was pushed back by Shade. Twenty minutes later, Shade used a towel to dry Mia's body. It was still angry with Shade, so it immediately jumped out to avoid Shade's hand, and it seemed that it didn't intend to pay attention to Shade before dinner.
However, Shade was going to a dinner party at the Green Lake Hotel tonight. He had originally planned to leave some cat food for Little Adam as dinner, but seeing how angry it looked, he couldn't bear to leave the cat alone at home:
"I'm going to have something nice to eat tonight, do you want to come with me?"
So little Mia temporarily forgave the rude stranger, and then happily went into the basement with Xia De.
It was still early, only four o'clock in the afternoon. When Shad walked into the main entrance of Green Lake Hotel with Little Mia, who had just taken a bath and became even more lovable, on his shoulders, Mr. Soren Green and Ms. Helena Green were still busy preparing for tonight's banquet.
There is a large room on the east side of the second floor of Green Lake Hotel that can be used to hold birthday parties or receptions for guests. It is rarely used, but the family dinner will be held there tonight.
The siblings arranged for the servants to clean the house and wash the dishes, and urged the chef to prepare the ingredients in advance. Seeing that they were so busy, Xia De did not disturb them, but went to the third floor and knocked on the doctor's door.
It was a pity that the doctor was not there. Shad saw that there was still some time before the dinner started, and he knew that Miss Carina was in a meeting in the Glass City, so he could only go find Audrey and Megan.
Fortunately, the witch of "Wisdom and Knowledge" was still on her cruise ship. When Shade saw her in the laboratory on the bottom floor of the cruise ship, she was in a good mood and showed Shade a test tube filled with glowing colorful potions:
"Look, this is a potion made with the mushroom sample you provided and the help of the Holy Grail. Because mushroom samples are limited, we can only make these now, but the effect is very good. Drop it into the eyes, and you can reproduce the effect you mentioned of seeing the space crack."
She shook the test tube:
"I plan to wait until all the witches arrive, then use this potion and go into Green Lake together to find the entrance to another island. The information provided by the Speaker is really effective. It is difficult for us to find this mushroom by ourselves."
She described to Shade the process of making the potion and the peculiarity of the Holy Grail. Then she slapped her forehead and took out a white envelope from the drawer under the laboratory table beside her and handed it to Shade:
"Look, I actually forgot something important. Fortunately, Megan reminded me. This is your investigation reward. Once the tasks on that task list are completed, the parliament will reward you. The Mushroom Mission is under my name, so I will help you get the reward."
Although this mushroom is very magical, the reward given by the Council is not very generous because the investigation itself is quite simple and does not even involve the ring wizard. Of course, the envelope cannot be a relic. After Shade opened it, he saw a lock of long golden hair tied up with a red ribbon.
He was slightly surprised, but after touching the hair, he understood immediately and became even more surprised:
"This can't be..."
"Yes, the hair of the Great Witch of Time, Speaker Yin Shabella. Carina and the others should have told you that the Great Witch's hair is an excellent substitute material for casting spells. As the most outstanding 13th-level witch of this generation, the Speaker's hair is even more valuable."
Audrey smiled and said:
"But hair is a very sensitive item. You must promise me that you will only use it as a ritual material and not for curses or anything like that."
"Yes, I promise you, Mia."
"Meow?"
Shade patted the cat's head, and the cat lost interest in the hair.
Audrey then added:
“Also make sure it is not used for other suspicious purposes.”
"Of course, I guarantee it with my soul... What do you mean?"
Seeing Xia De looking at her doubtfully, the brown-haired girl smiled and shook her head:
"It's better that you don't understand. By the way, do you want to smell it before the smell fades? The Speaker's perfume smells very good. Even I can't guess how she improved the original formula."
"Sniff? Audrey, why do you think I would do such a thing?"
Shade put the hair back into the envelope and then put it in his pocket very solemnly. He touched the cat that was looking around on his shoulder:
"Look, even greedy little Mia isn't interested in hair, so how could I be interested?"
The witch just smiled happily, and Shade didn't know what she was thinking.
There were still two hours until the family dinner in the evening. Since it was not a formal party, there was no need to prepare special clothes. The Edwards had almost never met each other, so there was no possibility of comparing their lives with each other. Therefore, they just had to wait until the time came and go directly to the Green Lake Hotel.
Taking advantage of the time, Shade told Audrey the information he had heard from Mr. Green in the morning. Audrey and Megan also knew how important this information was. After Shade finished talking about the love, hatred, and hatred of the family and the stories of each generation, and completely recounted Mr. Green's overall evaluation of the family, the witch, who was a little melancholy, invited Shade to go out for a walk to relieve her boredom.
There happened to be a task on the witch's task list in Green Lake City upstream of the Duin River, so Audrey took Shad with her to complete it.
The description of this quest is simpler than "The Count and the Mushroom" and "Darkmoon Circus". Specifically, on both sides of the Duin River on a cloudy day, there is a chance that you will see a door that should not exist on the west bank of the river.
This description is very similar to the "non-existent streets" and "non-existent shops" in urban legends. For example, the "Forgotten Church" is a famous "non-existent church" in the local area.
However, according to Audrey and Megan's preliminary investigation, although there are similar legends in Green Lake City, there is no rumor of a "door" appearing beside the river. Therefore, it can be basically concluded that this is another temporary accident caused by the instability of the space of the central island of Green Lake.
As to whether it was a relic, the work of a certain ring warlock, or some other situation, it is unknown.
There is no other definite pattern for the door to appear except that it must be cloudy. Audrey, who conducted preliminary research on this task, only had an idea after preparing the "Seven-Colored Mushroom Magic Potion". Of course, more importantly, after listening to the family's story, she wanted to go out for a walk with Xia De.
"In short, according to the information obtained by Mr. Speaker, the door does not exist when it does not appear, but it is in an unobservable state."
Walking with Shade on the cloudy riverside trail, passing by gas street lamps, Megan shook the small bottle in her hand, which contained a small amount of diluted solution of "Seven-Colored Mushroom Magic Potion".