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

"What if, like Donald, she's also deceiving you, and she's trying to lure you to Victoria?"

[To be continued]

-

21. Not so safe

As a bystander of the entire debate, the student of the Lord of the White Tower and the girlfriend of the hero, Laciel felt that what Lao Deng and Charles said made sense.

But she wouldn't do anything.

Although they are all her brothers and sisters, dearest relatives and friends, there is nothing she can do. It is important for people to know themselves. She can only say that she is really not cut out for this.

She planned to just sit there and watch, waiting for the two of them to come to a conclusion, and then act according to the result.

If they should go to Victoria, they should go. If not, they can always go to Lentiheim to see what is going on there.

She could understand the elves' feelings of "resurrecting" the mistress, but she was skeptical about whether the elves could actually "resurrect" the mistress.

The elves' mistress was the host machine of a starship that fell from the depths of the starry sky to the Pangaea.

Even though the elves have completely accepted the legacy left to them by the Matron—technology that far exceeds the current scientific level of the Pangaea and belongs to another civilization from the depths of the starry sky—it still takes time to digest the legacy.

Development and progress can never be achieved overnight.

Laciel estimated that it might take the elves a dozen years or even dozens of years to begin to digest the legacy left to them by the Matron.

By then, they might have the ability to "resurrect" the mistress.

And before that...

"Could it be that the one who decided to "resurrect" the mistress was not the spirit at all, but some "thing" that replaced the spirit's existence?"

For some unknown reason, Lacie suddenly thought of this.

After all, in the mistress's dream of existence, there was indeed a branch of events in which Lentiheim was invaded by the slender ghost.

But that dream had no ending—at least she and Charles didn't see it.

So they have no idea what will happen to Lentiheim after being invaded by the Slender Man. Will it be destroyed quietly? Or will it become a source of pollution or a springboard to release the Slender Man to every corner of the Pangaea?

Lacie was not sure and was a little worried, so she subconsciously raised her hand and gently bit her finger.

On the other side, the discussion between Lao Deng and Xiaer was coming to an end.

Their discussion finally came down to the question of "whether or not to trust the witch Thea".

Charles thought it was believable, but Lao Deng thought it was not, so the two began to state their respective opinions and reasons. After they finished their statements, neither of them was convinced. What else could they do?

Since the two of them couldn't convince each other, they should find a third party to judge the matter.

So they both set their sights on Lacie.

The witch lady, who was biting her fingers and thinking hard, felt a chill on her back, just like spider sense. She suddenly raised her head and looked at Charles, and happened to meet his eyes.

"..."

For a moment, Lacie felt like she was being stared at by a hungry beast.

She was inexplicably frightened.

But Charles is her old... her partner, and Lao Deng is definitely her family. Neither of them can hurt her, so why should she be afraid?

Thinking of this, she boldly asked:

"what?"

Charles, who was standing in front of her, did not speak. Old Deng, who was on the other end of the communication spell, spoke first:

"Do you think I'm right, or your boyfriend is right?"

"what?"

Rachel subconsciously wanted to deny the term "boyfriend", but before she could open her mouth, her boyfriend interrupted her:

"What do you think? Should we trust the witch Thea and go to Victoria?"

"what???"

Lacey fainted.

"No," she thought, "What kind of hell map is this?"

She was obviously the woman! Shouldn't she have asked Charles a question like "If your mother and I fell into the water at the same time, who would you save?" Why did Charles and Lao Deng torture her together for no apparent reason?

But she couldn't play dumb and get away with it.

Perhaps this is the biggest difference between her and normal women——

Normal women are more emotionally driven than rationally driven when thinking about problems, but she... still retains some of the personality traits she had as a man, that is, she is far more rationally driven than emotionally driven.

Although she would play dumb, be stubborn, and act like a spoiled brat, she knew exactly what she was doing every time she did so and was prepared to bear the consequences.

That's why she allowed... allowed the relationship between her and Ciel to develop to this extent.

Otherwise she would have run away long ago!

It's not like she can't run away.

Now, facing the torture of Charles and Lao Deng, Lacier was forced to speak honestly:

"I think... I can go."

After saying this, she added hastily, fearing that Lao Deng might be upset:

"Of course, what you said does make sense, Old Deng. Victoria is indeed dangerous, and it is like a dangerous place for us. But I think... it's not that dangerous."

"After all, Ciel is a hero."

She secretly scratched Charles' palm, but her expression was very serious, and there was also a bit of inexplicable pride.

"Don't forget, unlike you and me, he has never been a wizard. Although he has mastered the forbidden spells passed down by generations of brave warriors, he is undoubtedly the most selfless hero in the eyes of us in the White Tower and in the eyes of those Victorians."

"He has never exploited or oppressed mortals like any wizard of the old times, and his predecessors have never done so either. From beginning to end, they have always helped those in need without distinction, whether they are wizards or mortals. They have never cared about the disputes between wizards and mortals, just like those bards sang..."

As she spoke, she quietly moved closer to Charles, pulled her hand away from his and put her arm around his arm. She looked like a virtuous wife who was proudly showing off her husband.

"——The heroes of all generations are the embodiment of what is called "virtue" walking in the world."

"Just like that annoying Donald said, even in Victoria, there are loyal fans of the brave everywhere."

"Even if the hero Ciel is a fake, so what? In my eyes, it is not only those who have picked up the holy sword who are qualified to call themselves heroes. On the contrary, I think it is because people like Ciel have picked up the holy sword that the holy sword is qualified to be named the holy sword!"

Based on this, Rachel expressed her own opinion:

"If the emperor of Victoria is not a fool, he should consider the public opinion in the country and the reputation of the heroes in the entire Pan-Continent. If he does not want Victoria to become the target of public criticism and be attacked by the entire Pan-Continent, he would never dare to do anything to me and Charles."

"Of course, that's not certain."

Rachel was not stupid. Apart from Charles, she was rarely willing to entrust her personal safety to others.

So soon, she thought again:

"If the emperor of Victoria is really so arrogant that he intends to make an enemy of the entire Pangaea... then Ciel and I's trip to Victoria is indeed not safe."

[To be continued]

-

22. Then go ahead

Rachel thought they could take a gamble.

Stud poker is an art, isn't it?

She also had her reasons:

"Witch Thea said that each of us witches has a so-called 'mission'. According to her, the reason why there is no war between wizards and mortals is precisely because of us witches... or in other words, what prevents the outbreak of war is the 'mission' that each witch shoulders."

As she spoke, Miss Twilight Witch shook her head, her expression slightly bewildered:

"But I have no idea about this. I don't understand what the 'subject' she mentioned is. But she...seems to think that I know everything. She said that she chose Victoria and I chose Charles..."

She turned her head, glanced at Charles quickly, and turned her head back quickly:

"From what Witch Thea said, it seems that even though I know nothing, I have accidentally walked on the right path, and even done quite well."

After listening to this, Lao Deng pondered for a moment and asked:

"So what do you think?"

"My idea is that I want to go to Victoria with Ciel to meet the witch Thea and ask her face to face what the 'project' that the witches should complete is and why she is so sure that the witches' 'project' can resolve the dispute between wizards and mortals."

To be honest, Lacie has been struggling with this issue for a long time.

During this period of time after leaving Diesel, besides being tortured, she was not idle either, and she also did some serious work -

She tried to contact other witches.

Although the number of witches in Pangaea is small, they are far from being extinct.

And they love to show off more than the other. Throughout the history of the entire continent, witches have appeared in almost all historical events that can be called "significant".

Therefore, there was even a conspiracy theory circulating in Pangaea that "witches were secretly controlling the entire world." It can be said that before the establishment of Victoria, witches were the only ones designated to take the blame in Pangaea.

They seem to be everywhere.

However, when Rachel wanted to contact them, she unexpectedly found that they had all disappeared.

Just like a cicada.

Summer ends its dormancy, breaks out of the ground, and lets loose its ideas, stirring up unrest in the entire world.

In autumn, their short lives come to an end, as if the noise of summer has exhausted all their strength. After a few autumn rains, only scattered empty shells eaten by ants remain on the ground.

Strangely, all the witches suddenly disappeared.

Laciel was unable to contact any of the witches.

This situation made her feel a little uneasy.

Just as the fading away of the cicadas' chirping heralds the arrival of autumn, does the collective disappearance of the witches also foreshadow the coming of a major historical turning point?

Lacele shared the situation and her conjecture with Charles and Lao Deng.

After hearing this, the two of them fell silent at the same time. After a long time, Lao Deng slowly said:

"I remembered something..."

"After we announced the details of the abnormal events related to Diesel to the human countries, when we met with the envoys sent by the human countries, I always felt... I always felt that the reactions of several envoys... were a little abnormal."

"Although they were trying hard to act shocked, I could vaguely sense that they were not surprised by the existence of the Slender Man. It seemed that they had seen something similar before."

Lacey couldn't help but curse softly:

"Grass."

Ciel's gaze turned immediately.

Lacele felt inexplicably guilty when Charles was staring at her. Although she thought it was harmless for a tough guy like her to say a few dirty words occasionally, Charles didn't seem to like her swearing.

"Well, then just don't say anything." She thought a little depressed, "After all, now is not the time to talk back, it's more important to deal with the business!"

So she cleared her throat with a "cough cough" and her expression became serious:

"Tell me, which countries are those envoys from whom you think something is wrong?"

Lao Deng seemed to have anticipated that she would ask this question, so he gave a few names without hesitation:

"Ceylon, Cathay, Kievan Rus, Bharata, Germania..."

After hearing this, Lacie took a deep breath:

"No, these countries...why are they all more important than each other?"

Even a homebody who lived in seclusion in the sea of ​​forests for many years and was cut off from the news often heard these names that were often published in the newspapers. It was no exaggeration to say that it was these countries that jointly dominated the fate of the human countries today. However, according to what Rachel knew...

"In the process of the rise of these countries, the shadow of the witch is always present without exception," Lacie said solemnly.

Lao Deng quickly followed her train of thought:

"You mean, the reason why the envoys from these countries were not surprised by the existence of the Slender Man was because of the witch? Just like the relationship between Victoria and the witch Thea, these countries have all received help from the witch?"