Whispering Verse

After leaving the shabby house outside the village, Shade did not rush back to the city north. Instead, he crossed the border and went to the City of Glass. When crossing the border, he found that new fortifications seemed to be being built in the border area, but Shade did not meet Rad. Captain Si, so I didn’t try to find out. As for the reason for going to the City of Glass, he wanted 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, so she was still away that morning, so it was Miss Sylvia who still received Shade and had lunch with Shade.

During lunch, the shouts of the procession outside the manor could still be heard even if the windows were closed. Shade put down the steak knife in his hand, raised his head and asked the young witch:

"Miss Sylvia, from your perspective, how do you hope this negotiation will end?"

The black-haired witch sitting at the head seat of the long dining table wiped the corners of her mouth elegantly with a handkerchief and then frowned and thought:

"From my personal point of view, peace is the only way to facilitate the promotion of my business. But from the parliament's point of view, in war years, 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 in an anxious stage now, so don't think too much about it. However, the issue of the 'Black Sun Forest' boundary line in the eastern Pantanal that has been discussed in the past two weeks has caused quite a dispute in Kasenlik. According to According to the agreement in 1205, that place actually belongs to the Kingdom of Kasonrik, but Delarion does not recognize that agreement.”

When the agreement was signed in 1205, the situation in the north and the south was completely different from now. That was an ancient agreement 600 years ago.

"What did Margaret say to that?"

"The domestic war faction is instigating parliament to pass the military budget expansion bill, and Margaret's father is under great pressure."

The witch shook her head and stopped commenting on this. After all, whether it is peace or war, for these witches who are not afraid of thermal weapons and can easily wipe out an entire legion, it just means a change in their lifestyle.

After having lunch with Miss Sylvia, Shade told her the news he heard in the morning, and then returned home.

However, when I got home, I remembered my plan from the previous few days, so I pretended to take Mia, who had already had lunch, to eat again. This made the cat mistakenly think that Shade had forgotten the number of meals, and then took this opportunity to catch him. He took hold of little Mia and took her into the bathroom.

Spring has arrived, the best time, and it’s time to wash your cat again.

Little Mia, who never liked taking a bath, was indeed very angry because of Shade's actions. When Shade immersed it in warm water, the cat struggled desperately and splashed water all over Shade, as if it would sink once Shade let go. And when Shade really let go of his hand, the cat, who didn't realize it immediately, was still flapping its little paws and struggling in the bathtub.

However, no matter how Shade looked at it, it looked like it was enjoying itself.

"Meow?"

The cat looked up and saw Shade standing up and looking at it. He had already retracted his hands and immediately ran up to escape, but was pushed back by Shade. Twenty minutes later, Shade dried little Mia's body with a towel. It was still angry with Shade and immediately jumped out to avoid Shade's hand. It seemed that it didn't intend to talk to Shade before dinner. .

However, Shade is going to a banquet at the Green Lake Hotel tonight. I originally planned to leave some cat food for little Mia to have for dinner, but seeing her angry look, I couldn't bear to leave the cat alone at home:

"I'm going to eat something good tonight, do you want to come with me?"

So little Mia temporarily forgave the rude foreigner, and then happily entered the basement with Shade.

It was still early, only four o'clock in the afternoon, when Shade walked in from the main entrance of the Green Lake Hotel with little Mia who had just taken a bath and became even more lovable on his shoulders, Mr. Solon Green and Ms. Helena Green , are still busy preparing for tonight’s banquet.

There is a large room on the east side of the second floor of the Green Lake Hotel that can be used to hold birthday parties or receptions for guests. It is rarely used, and the family banquet will be held there tonight.

The two 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, Shade didn't bother them. Instead, he went to the third floor and knocked on the doctor's door.

It's a pity that the doctor is not here, and Shade sees that there is still some time before the dinner starts, and he knows that Miss Carina is having a meeting in the City of Glass at this time, so he can only go to Audrey and Megan.

Fortunately, the great witch of "wisdom and knowledge" was still on her cruise ship. When Shade saw her in the laboratory on the bottom of the cruise ship, she was in a good mood and showed Shade a test tube containing a luminous colored potion. :

"Look, this is a magic potion prepared using the mushroom samples you provided, combined with the assistance of the Holy Grail. Because the mushroom samples are limited, we can only prepare these now, but the effect is very good. Drop it into the eyes and you can recover. As you mentioned, I can see the effect of space cracks."

She shook the test tube:

"I plan to wait until all the witches arrive, then use this magic potion to enter Green Lake to find the entrance to another island. The information provided by the Speaker is really effective. It is difficult to find this kind of mushroom on our own. "

She described to Shade the process of making this potion and the peculiarities of the Holy Grail. Then she patted her forehead, took out a white envelope from the drawer under the experimental table next to 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 council will have rewards. The mushroom task is in my name. Come on, I'll get the reward for you."

Although this mushroom is very magical, because the investigation itself is quite simple and does not even involve a ring magician, the reward given by the council is not generous. Of course, what was inside the envelope couldn't be a relic. After Shade opened it, what he saw was a lock of long golden hair tied up with a red ribbon.

He was slightly surprised. After touching his hair, he understood immediately and became even more surprised:

"It won't be."

"Yes, the hair of the Great Witch of Time - Speaker Isabella. Carina and the others should have told you that the hair of the Great Witch is an excellent alternative material for casting spells. As the ten most outstanding members of this generation, the Speaker A third-level witch, her hair is 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 other purposes."

"Yes, Xiao Mia promises."

"Meow?"

Shade patted the cat's little head, and the cat lost interest in the hair.

Then Audrey added:

"We must also ensure that it is not used for other questionable purposes."

"Of course, guaranteed by your soul. What do you mean?"

Seeing Shade looking at her doubtfully, the brown-haired girl smiled and shook her head:

"You don't know better. Speaking of which, do you want to take a whiff before the smell dissipates? Your Excellency the Speaker's perfume smells very good. Even I can't guess how she improved the original formula. ."

"Smell it? 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 quite solemnly. He touched the cat on his shoulder, which was looking around:

"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 are still two hours until the family dinner in the evening. Since it is not a formal banquet, there is no need to prepare special clothes. As for the Edwardses, who had almost never met before, there was no possibility of comparing their lives with each other, so they just had to wait until the time came and go directly to the Green Lake Hotel.

Shade took advantage of the time and told Audrey the information he heard from Mr. Green in the morning. Audrey and Megan also knew how important this information was. After Shade finished telling the family's love, hatred and stories of each generation, and completely retelling Mr. Green's overall evaluation of the family, they felt a little bit sad. The melancholy witch invited Shade to go out for a walk to relieve her worries.

On the Witch's task list, there happened to be a task in Green Lake City on the upper reaches of the Duin River, so Audrey took Shade with her and planned to deal with it.

The description of this mission is simpler than "The Count and the Mushroom" and "Dark Moon Circus". Specifically, on both sides of the Duin River on a cloudy day, there is a probability of seeing 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 "Church of the Forgotten" is the famous local "non-existent church".

However, according to Audrey and Megan's preliminary investigation, although there are similar legends in Green Lake City, there are no rumors of a "door" appearing next to the river. Therefore, it can basically be concluded that this is another temporary accident caused by the unstable space of the central island in Green Lake.

As for whether it is a relic, the method of a certain ring warlock, or other circumstances, it is unknown.

There is no other definite rule for the appearance of a door except that it must be cloudy. Audrey, who conducted preliminary investigations on this task, only came up with the idea after configuring the "Colorful Mushroom Potion". Of course, more importantly, after hearing the family story, she wanted to go out for a walk with Shade.

"To put it simply, according to the information obtained by the Speaker, the door does not exist when it does not appear, but is in an unobservable state."

Walking with Shade on the riverside walk on a cloudy day, while passing by gas street lamps, Megan shook the small bottle in her hand, which contained a small amount of diluted solution of "Colorful Mushroom Potion" .

PS: "Swimming Cat"