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

"So, then, Xi Rui and Godot...will they...never come back?"

After hearing this, Ciel was silent for a moment, then shook his head:

"I do not know."

"..."

Lacie suddenly didn't know what to say.

She thought that this was actually a tacit agreement. Xi Rui herself admitted that she was tired and probably wouldn't come back. Isn't this what people who really want to leave do? They pick a nice day, pack their luggage, put on a coat, and leave quietly without looking back.

And Godot...

He also wants to go home to inherit the title. I'm afraid that in the eyes of his father, the respected Grand Duke Laurent, hereditary bloodline and power are far more important than becoming a companion of the brave.

Therefore, the heavy gravitational force from the family will pull at Godot and tie him firmly to the family's chariot.

He probably won't come back.

So from now on, there will probably be only three people left in the brave team—

She, Charles, and Joseph.

Young people always come together because of temporary like-mindedness, and then over the long years they are separated by various reasons and go their separate ways.

However, the situation of the Brave Team is rather special, which is why the young people are scattered all over the world...

"Maybe it has an inseparable connection with me?"

Lacey couldn't help but think.

If it weren't for her, Charles wouldn't have become so desperate and tried to find a way to resurrect the dead; Siree wouldn't have been disappointed in Charles and felt tired and left; thinking in an extreme way, Godot's father, Grand Duke Laurent, might have thought that the hero was worth winning over and therefore appointed Godot to stay in the team.

Guilt almost overcame Miss Witch.

But the hero held her hand tightly at this moment and whispered her name:

"Rachel?"

She raised her head subconsciously and found that Charles had been looking at her with concern since some time.

After seeing her raise her head and meeting her eyes, Charles seemed to understand her thoughts.

So he shook his head at her, and then said to her solemnly:

"No, it's not your fault - why should all the mistakes made by the Victoria Assassin be put on you?"

Then he smiled again and asked:

"Although Xi Rui has left, as long as we can find her and tell her the truth, given her character, she will definitely come back to us. As for Godot, I will go to Ceylon and visit Grand Duke Laurent. I will personally ask Godot whether he is willing to inherit the title. If he is not willing, then wouldn't it be better for us to bring him back?"

Lacie thought, how could it be that simple?

Let’s not talk about Xi Rui who left on her own initiative, but only about Godot who wants to return to the family to inherit his father’s title——

While enjoying their rights, the nobles also have to fulfill their obligations. As for the inheritance and continuation of the family, can such a thing be resolved with a simple "I don't want to"?

So she simply couldn't help but retort:

"Stupid hero, don't think everything is so simple, okay!? Both Xi Rui and Godot are in trouble, okay? Do you think the situation is as simple as our previous missions, where we only need to swing the sword? This time we are facing our former companions! We have to..."

But Charles seemed to know everything, of course, it was also possible that he knew nothing.

He was always like this. Every time she said something depressing like Zhu Bajie and yelled that she wanted to pack up and go back to Gao Village, every time she became timid and hesitated, every time she wanted to retreat into her own little world, he would always be like this -

He held Rachel's hand tightly, his expression reliable and calm, as if saying to her, "Please trust me, rely on me and depend on me."

Then he said to Rachel:

"Then will you join me? Will you join me in trying to find all our former companions back one by one?"

For some unknown reason, Lacie felt her eyes sore.

"Oh no, it seems like I can't help but drop my little pearls!"

Thinking of this, she quickly lowered her head, not wanting Charles to see her weakness.

But for some reason, the corners of her mouth were slightly curled up uncontrollably, and even though her tears were about to burst out, she felt so happy that she wouldn't care even if she died on the spot.

But in the end, she still couldn't face this feeling frankly. She could only make a cute nasal sound and answer with a rising voice:

"Then...then can I still say no?! You...grabbed my hand so hard...it hurts me!"

So the witch had to be "forced" to agree so awkwardly.

[To be continued]

-

3. Why is it you?

Since they were ready to rebuild the team, the two no longer hesitated, holding each other's hands, and stepped into their former stronghold.

The air in the grocery store is filled with the unique smell of paper, ink, lubricating oil and various old objects.

It was as if the ever-flowing time had suddenly stopped here, and was briefly stagnant surrounded by these old objects from decades, hundreds, or even thousands of years ago.

Strange metal blocks excavated from the ruins of a former civilization, broken swords found on some ancient battlefield, and Victorian-style precision machinery driven by steam and gears obtained from the black market...

They have all been cleaned and maintained as best as possible, and are now carefully placed on the shelves, silently telling every visitor who comes here about their glorious past.

At the end of the shelf, behind a long cabinet deep in the grocery store, a sturdy young man wearing a white tower standard robe put down the tweezers in his hand, took off his head-mounted magnifying glass, and followed the sound coming from outside the door and looked over.

Then, he saw the hero and the witch standing there.

The young man's pupils couldn't help but dilate.

Perhaps he felt that he was overworked and his eyesight was blurry, so he saw someone who shouldn't be in front of him, so he raised his hand and rubbed his eyes in a rather exaggerated manner.

However, the brave man and the witch still stood there, extremely clear and real.

Joseph dropped his hand.

He calmly picked up the unidentified machine on the table that had been broken into pieces, and couldn't help but sigh:

"I thought I was seeing things, but when I think about it, even if my tired eyes deceive me, my ears can't deceive me too, right? I clearly heard the wind chimes ringing at the door..."

Upon hearing this, Lacie subconsciously raised her head and looked at the "wind chimes" made of iron sheets and nuts above her head. She couldn't help but think of the jingling sound she heard every time she opened the door when she returned to the base in the past three years.

It used to sound very harsh, and she complained to Joseph and asked him to take down the "wind chimes", but every time he did nothing. So the "wind chimes" were preserved, and to this day it still hangs there, making sharp collision sounds.

That was a voice she missed, that...

That was a time she missed very much.

Lacie thought about it, retracted her gaze, and turned to look at Joseph behind the container.

She didn't know whether Joseph knew the truth, and she didn't know whether Joseph would forgive her lies. She only knew that she should stand up now. She should introduce herself bravely as she did when they first met.

She should tell Joseph who she really is.

In fact, that's exactly what she did.

Rachel took two steps forward, passed Charles, faced Joseph, mustered up her courage, and said:

"right……"

She tried to apologize, but Joseph interrupted her before she could finish the first word.

"You are worthy of me, Captain," the young man said something that surprised Lacie, "You said you would bring Lacie back, and you really did bring her back."

Lacey was stunned.

Joseph had his usual bright smile on his face:

"Even I didn't dare to believe you easily at that time. After all, I had never heard of any magic that could resurrect the dead in the Pan-Continent. But you actually did it. It's really magical. The power of magic, don't you think so..."

He finally shifted his gaze from Charles to Laciel's face, and his smile became even brighter:

"——Laceline? No, hey! How did you become like this? Silver hair and blue eyes, you're like two different people compared to before!"

Lacee could tell that he was teasing her on purpose, but even so, she was about to attack in the form of Kong Yiji.

"So Joseph already knew the truth? Then why didn't he expose me before? Do other people also know what's going on? Am I the only one who is still in the dark and still feeling complacent?"

Lacey's cheeks burned.

She just wanted to dig a hole in the ground and bury herself in it.

There's no need to play a resurrection match. She might as well have been stabbed to death by an assassin!

At this moment, she heard Joseph say:

"Although I don't know why you became like this, and how the captain 'resurrected' you - it doesn't matter, Pastor... No, should I call you a witch? The co-founder of the White Tower, the mysterious Witch of Twilight, Miss Rachel..."

The young man suddenly stood up from behind the container, just as he had done countless times in the past three years.

He nodded to Charles and smiled at Lacele.

"Captain, and Laciel..."

He said very seriously,

"——Welcome back."

Lacie was stunned and inexplicably touched. She thought to herself that outside the White Tower, she also had a place that could be called "home" without knowing when, and there was someone always guarding here, waiting for her to come back?

She had clearly decided to be alone, but now, she inexplicably had a few more companions.

That’s really… weird.

The witch sighed softly, raised her right hand and placed it on her chest. Strangely, she seemed to want to use this method to feel whether her heart was still beating.

Then she bit her lip, took two steps back, gently hugged Charles' arm, raised her head and looked at Joseph.

"Well," Rachel responded softly, "We are back."

……

The brave man and the witch have returned, and with the addition of the warrior, the original team of five people is now only two people short of their positions.

The wizard Godot, and the assassin Xirui.

Charles told Joseph about his plan to capture both of them. Rachel certainly had no objection, and Joseph was eager to agree with him.

He even provided Charles with quite important information:

"I don't know about Godot's situation, but I roughly know where Xi Rui went - she should have gone to Victoria. After she left, I found a lot of information about Victoria in her room."

Lacey thought to herself, OK, as a brother, is this how you betray your sister? You are indeed my brother!

But Xi Rui herself didn't say anything, and she certainly wouldn't raise any objections. She would definitely firmly support Charles' decision, and she would just do whatever Charles asked her to do.

Ciel frowned upon hearing this and asked:

"What is Ciari doing in Victoria?"

Joseph shook his head and continued his unfinished work while whispering:

"You know Xi Rui's personality. Although she rarely says anything to us, her feelings for the team are no less than any of us. Before, when Laci died..."

He paused here, his expression subtle, and quickly passed over the topic:

"Anyway, after that, I accidentally noticed that Xi Rui went to the dwarf blacksmith to strengthen her weapons and equipment. In addition, the information about Victoria in her room..."

Joseph's expression became serious:

"I suspect she went to Sheffield. I even suspect she was going to assassinate the Emperor Victoria."

Lacey was stunned.

She thought, is this true? Assassinating Emperor Victoria? Even the brave man Charles didn't dare to boast that he could successfully assassinate Emperor Victoria, but Sissi...

"Is it really because of Ciel and me?"

Miss Witch couldn't help but think.

Joseph told them that the assassin who attacked Charles was suspected to be from Victoria, and later he told his sister Siree this information.

So is it really for her and Ciel?

In order to seek an explanation for them and to avenge her "death", Xi Rui decided to assassinate Wang Jia -

Although there are tens of millions of people, I am going.

So she left Concord and went to Sheffield.