Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

What does that mean? Is this bad guy Charles going to do the same thing as last time... No! Absolutely not! Old Deng is listening! Although Old Deng claimed that the communication spell had malfunctioned, no one would believe her. Old Deng is definitely eavesdropping now!

We can’t let Lao Deng succeed!

She tried hard to convince herself and decided to tell the truth to Charles - of course, this was definitely not because she was afraid, nor did it mean that she compromised with Charles!

"You...you take your claws back first," the witch whispered, "and then I'll tell you what's going on, okay?"

As she spoke, she rubbed her chin lightly against Charles' hands on her shoulders with some impatience.

It's not that she's acting cute, but she wants Charles to be more careful and move his claws away quickly.

If it were any other time, if she had given in like this, Charles would probably have let her go immediately - but he didn't this time.

This time, Charles gently touched her head and told her:

"I already know."

"what?"

Lacie was stunned for a moment, and almost unconsciously replied, "What do you know? You know it all."

However, facing Ciel, she still restrained her aggression, like a little hedgehog that was careful not to let its quills stand up and hurt its companions. The witch calmly swallowed the words that were about to come out of her mouth and changed her words:

"You know a lot, so amazing - then tell me, what do you know?"

She clearly looked unwilling to believe it.

Charles seemed confident that he would win.

"You're worried that I'll blame myself for this, right?" he asked, his voice quite gentle. "Because of my forbidden spell, you couldn't use magic, so you had to use your body to help me block the sword."

After a brief pause, he lowered his eyes and fixed his gaze on the place on Lacie's chest where the sword had pierced.

Then he added:

"You were slightly injured because of this when you were in Diesel. Both times, I was responsible. If I knew you better, had a better understanding with you, and turned off the forbidden spell in advance, you might not have had to help me block that sword. You could have successfully avoided the attack of the steam armor and not been injured when you were in Diesel..."

He looked back into the witch's blue eyes:

"So, you're afraid that I'll blame myself for this, so you said those things, right?"

"..."

Lacie suddenly didn't know what to say.

She felt her face getting hot, and she couldn't help but want to continue to be tough. She lowered her head, leaned forward slightly, and finally rested her head on Charles' chest.

In the end, she couldn't keep talking anymore.

She just whispered, "reluctantly":

"I've let you... I've let you finish speaking, so what else can I say?"

Of course she had nothing to say.

Steam is coming out of her head!

[To be continued]

-

20. War or Not

Rachel felt that Charles knew a little too much.

People like this wouldn't survive more than three episodes in a TV series. They would definitely be silenced for knowing too much.

Now Lacie wanted to kill someone to silence him.

It's a pity that she can't beat Charles. The forbidden spell is really a dimensionality reduction attack for a witch like her, not to mention that Charles' physical fitness is much higher than hers.

So she could only grab Charles's collar and press her head hard against his chest, as if she wanted to kill him in this way - it was a pity that she was the sweet and soft Witch of Dawn and Dusk and not a fully-protected half-hanger, so she couldn't kill Charles even if she crushed him repeatedly.

After a while, even she herself realized that she couldn't go on like this, so she took a deep breath to calm herself down, then raised her head, blushing but looking serious as she tried to change the subject:

"Anyway, we plan to go back to Kangkel, gather our former teammates, and reorganize the team..."

At this point, she suddenly remembered that Xia Erzhen once said to her seriously, "Will you be my teammate for life?"

She thought it was funny at the time.

Now she just felt that the man in front of her was so scary.

Quack! It's a black hole! Who can resist such gravity?

Anyway, she had indeed been captured, becoming a bird in a cage, and wearing this maid outfit that represented becoming someone's property...

But for some reason, besides being ashamed and angry, she strangely felt... relieved? It was as if she had fallen into this situation, becoming Ciel's property, losing her personal freedom, and...

In the eyes of others, the once mysterious and cold Witch of Dawn and Dusk has probably now become the girlfriend or even the wife of the brave Charles, right?

No, no, this is absolutely not possible. It’s so scary, so horrible. This is the only thing she absolutely cannot accept... right?

She originally thought so.

But she was the one who fought alongside Charles, she was the one who dropped pearls for Charles, she was the one who meowed at Charles's praises, and she was the one who felt flattered by Charles's praises or sweet words.

Lacie felt like she had become a little strange.

"really weird……"

She muttered something softly, as if she was sighing or confused.

Is it good or bad? She doesn't know, oh, she seems to know, but she still doesn't want to admit it. This is her, a twisted and dark fool, she knows this better than anyone else.

But she wouldn't admit it.

Because they are "thorns", the "thorns" on the hedgehog.

After realizing this again, Miss Hedgehog took back her soul that had already drifted away to who knows where, and continued:

"Then, as we agreed, we're going to go to Victoria - whether it's a trap or not, we're going to give it a try."

After saying this, she felt a little nervous.

She guessed that Charles might continue to pester her.

But contrary to her expectations, as soon as she finished these two sentences, Charles sighed softly, patted her head again, and then echoed her:

"Well, whether it's to find out the truth about Uncle Elvis' death, or simply to get an explanation for the assassination, we have to go to Victoria."

Lao Deng, who was pretending to be dead, disconnected, and had abnormal network fluctuations, suddenly reconnected.

She responded to Charles in her usual tone:

"But I still say that the king of Victoria is determined to get the holy sword in your hand, so Victoria is like a den of dragons and tigers for you."

"You are right," Charles nodded, "So, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Oh? What?"

"Please be prepared... If Laciel and I do not communicate with you at the agreed time after arriving in Victoria, please do not hesitate to quickly announce everything that happened during our confrontation with the steam armored troops..."

After a brief pause, the hero continued in an extremely calm, yet inexplicably solemn tone:

"——If Lacie and I are trapped in Victoria, it proves that the Victorians have long been prepared for a full-scale war. Correspondingly, the wizard world should also know what kind of enemy they will face."

"..."

Lao Deng was silent for a moment before he slowly said:

"But if this happens, the Pan-Continent will probably usher in unprecedented changes, war will come, and the flames of war will probably burn to every corner of the Pan-Continent."

"No, the word unprecedented is probably a bit exaggerated, Ms. Veridon. Rachel once told me, 'There is nothing new under the sun.' Perhaps the vanished civilizations of the past also experienced such changes, but we just don't know about it."

As Charles spoke, he lowered his eyes, gently grasped Lacier's hand, and gently wrapped the girl's petite and soft fingers in his palm:

"Besides, war... is like the changing of seasons and years. It cannot be easily started or stopped by me, Rachel, or you. If the Victorians, if the king of Victoria is ready to start a war, then war will come sooner or later."

"You...should also be aware of this, right?" he asked again.

From the other side of the communication spell came Lao Deng's slightly tired voice:

"Ah, of course, I am aware of this, because what the White Tower has to deal with is actually this 'big trend'."

She continued:

"The dispute between wizards and mortals is irreconcilable. It's like a house that will collapse sooner or later. What we in the White Tower have done over the years is to patch up this house so that it can last longer."

"We even thought we had succeeded at one point - under our influence, the conflict between mortals and mages eased a lot, their lives became much better, and they even established their own country..."

"Until the steam armored troops appeared, and until the witch Thea told us that she gave mortals the power to compete head-on with wizards."

Lao Deng's tone was slightly bitter:

"Our beautiful dream has finally been shattered, and we have finally realized that the broken house of Pangaea has long been rotten from the roots and foundations. Unless mortals remain as weak as before and allow themselves to be slaughtered by the mages, war will come no matter what."

Hearing this, Lacie, who had remained silent all this time, shook her head very slightly.

"Not necessarily," she thought, "There are actually other ways to delay or even 'eliminate' the war."

But that requires a lot of prerequisites.

Economy, productivity, social system, ideology, weapons of mass destruction with sufficient deterrence...

Unfortunately, this is all Rachel could say. She had a pretty accurate understanding of herself.

When it comes to discussing politics, she's no different from an idiot.

Besides, the situation in Pangaea was very different from that in her hometown, and applying it mechanically would simply be courting death.

Even in her hometown, between the two seemingly peaceful ends, there are countless undercurrents surging.

The war never ended, instead it just reappeared in other forms:

Trade, economics, arms races, and proxy wars…

Lacey began to feel dizzy just thinking about these nouns.

She didn't understand any of this. All she could do was tell Charles and Lao Deng a general idea of ​​her past life and warn them that it was for reference only.

Of course, she would carefully select information so as not to let Charles and Lao Deng realize her identity as a time traveler.

Although sometimes she felt that it was totally unnecessary to do so, and maybe it would be better to be honest with the two of them. After all, neither of them seemed like the kind of villain who would grin and use soul-searching techniques on her, and then try to invade her hometown.

But for some reason, she chose to keep it secret in the end.

Regardless of what she thought, whether she was going to be honest with him or not, Lao Deng continued to speak:

"You are right. The most we can do is to delay the coming of the war. But you have to understand, Charles. If you and the Holy Sword really fall into the hands of the Victorians, and if the Victorians use the Holy Sword in your hand to complete their technology, then the war will undoubtedly speed up, and you..."

The Lord of the White Tower paused, and his tone became serious:

"—You will become the fuse of the war between mages and mortals."

There was one more thing she didn't say:

"Although, this is not your responsibility. You are not wrong. In fact, you are the most innocent person."

She had no right to blame Charles, and perhaps no one in the world was qualified to blame Charles.

And this is the most ironic thing - the most innocent people who should not be blamed may intensify the dispute and bring war ahead of time.

Charles may understand Lao Deng's subtext, but he has a different view on it:

"No, not necessarily. My going to Victoria will not necessarily lead to an early war. In fact, the reason why I decided to go to Victoria, in addition to investigating the truth of that year and seeking an explanation for the assassination, I also have a third purpose."

At this point he couldn't help but think of the mysterious witch Thea who had chosen Victoria as her so-called "subject".

He remembered clearly that, although the details were vague, the witch Xia still provided them with some crucial information, such as -

"Because of the existence of witches, war will not come."

Ciel whispered these words, then slowly raised his head and told the Lord of the White Tower on the other end of the communication spell:

"Witch Thea should be aware that she is providing mortals with enough power to fight against mages. The result of this action will most likely be an all-out war between mortals and mages."

"However, she herself denied this. She even came to the opposite conclusion - it was because she helped the mortals that there would be no war between the mortals and the mages."

"I don't know what that means, but if she's not lying to us, it means that she - who is far superior to Donald in Victoria's position - does not approve of the war."

The brave man made such a judgment.

The Lord of the White Tower shook his head:

"I have considered what you said, but you should have considered something else, just like me—"