Chapter 2388: The Final 4,260 Years

Chapter 2388: Chapter 2388: The Final 4,260 Years

"What? He and..."

The Countess froze for a moment, then pictured it, and her face immediately flushed:

"How could they?"

"And why couldn’t they?"

Megan asked curiously from the side:

"That Miss Annette isn’t a Witch, and Shard looks perfectly healthy, with no issues in his head either. If absolutely nothing ever happened between them, that’d be the really strange part."

She sounded completely relaxed, as if the matter had nothing to do with her.

"Megan, but he, he... I know what you’re saying makes sense, and it once again proves that Shard really is a man. But I still find this very strange. This is my estate, the man I’ve set my sights on is sleeping in my house’s bed with his lover... Mm, the more I think about it, the stranger it feels."

The cinnabar birthmark at her brow quivered as she frowned, and Megan teased again:

"What, interested in sneaking a peek at what they did last night?"

"Oh! What are you saying, Megan! A proper lady is supposed to be reserved!"

Miss Belindel’s face went completely red at once:

"Besides, do I look like the type who enjoys prying into other people’s private lives? Whatever Shard wants to do, let him do it—could I actually stop him? Hmph~ and that kind of man, who’d have thought a Unicorn would take a liking to him."

You could still hear the displeasure underneath her words, so Megan asked with a laugh:

"Come to think of it, I haven’t dug into this yet—Bella, how far have you and Shard gotten now? Don’t tell me you only dare to hold hands?"

"Don’t underestimate me too much!"

The Countess suddenly lifted her chin:

"Don’t you go treating me like some clueless young girl. Of course we’ve kissed."

"Kissed?"

Audrey wrapped her arms around Megan’s neck, poking her head out from behind her, the smile on her face growing wider:

"Is that all? Remember back at Green Lake earlier this year—right after the battle of Green Lake ended, Hevy, Emma, Vanessa and the others, they did it all behind Galina’s back..."

She quietly sketched out the "spectacular" story of that night, leaving the Countess, who’d thought herself bold enough, even more astonished:

"You can do that? Just how much have you all been hiding from us? Mm... you girls didn’t, with him..."

Audrey and Megan kept their expressions unchanged:

"As far as I know, that’s about as daring as they got. Bella, you’re the latest one to meet Shard, so the things they won’t tell you, I’ll make sure you hear.

Don’t go thinking those girls are sticklers for propriety. Them~ just look at Galina. Even if she hasn’t come this time, didn’t she send that very well?built Head Maid over anyway? I heard from Luviya that that loyal black?haired maid is quite a capable little number herself."

They didn’t notice that Matilda, standing quietly off to the side, suddenly lowered her head to hide her flushed cheeks.

The Countess nodded thoughtfully:

"Indeed. Megan, Audrey, I’m the last one to get to know Shard, and you two are the second?to?last. We need to stand together on this."

The two sisters laughed and nodded in unison:

"Of course. When we have time, we’ll tell you a lot about what happened before. You have no idea— even the young Witch Apprentices have all sorts of outrageous things on their minds."

As she spoke, Audrey, behind her, even shot a glance at the Blonde Maid nearby. As for Miss Belindel, she was blushing as she imagined all sorts of things that hadn’t happened yet. If they weren’t out in the sitting room right now, she’d practically want to stick her head under a quilt, using a whole night to cool herself down a little.

(Mia running...)

Where exactly Shard spent the night this weekend—although the Witches didn’t get together to discuss it, even Emilia’s pointed ears had already picked up the rumors... which she’d fished out of Angelina. As for Angelina, at least she hadn’t managed to learn from the estate maids that in the middle of the night, a certain Twin Witch who doesn’t sit in the "Space" seat but is still very adept with Spatial Power quietly opened a Portal and went to Luviya’s room as well.

Of course, the Miss Edwardses at least dimly remembered to slip back to their own room again before dawn, just in case things "got exposed."

But early Monday morning, when the whole household gathered in the estate dining room for breakfast, no one brought the matter up of their own accord. Only the Great Witch of Destiny kept sneaking looks at Luviya, but whenever Luviya looked back at her, she hurriedly shifted her gaze away:

"Luviya, you’re looking remarkably well today."

The Countess said, grasping for something to talk about, and Megan kept snickering at her side, making Miss Aphrola very curious about what good fortune Luviya had run into.

The "Edge of Life and Death" had been dealt with last night, but the glowing, heavy fog outside the windows was still spreading. The news this morning said that, thanks to the Church’s efforts, the "Edge of Life and Death," which had partially merged with the real world, had completely returned to its Sleeping state, and the Church had sealed its other, relatively unstable exits.

When the Moon set and the Sun rose, the abnormal sunlight continued to affect the city. Because of that, this morning’s newspaper devoted the entire second page to describing how intense sunlight damages the skin. City Hall called on people not to linger outdoors, and if they had to stay outside for long, they must wear long sleeves and proper hats.

Last night’s investigation report on the Moon Bay Bank account Shard brought back, the report on "Eternal Light," and the notebook dropped by the "Light Chaser" had already been handed over to the Witch Followers for examination and summary, but there were no results yet. As for Shard, there were two most important things for him to do today: the Time Key he would use later, and the afternoon appointment with John Flynn.

Of course, meeting him was just an excuse. After Luviya confirmed that Priest Augustus, the Dragon Egg, and Emilia were all ranked relatively low among the candidates, as long as Luviya verified whether John Flynn was the first in line, Shard would basically be able to determine who the Chosen One really was this time.

"So you’re not going to hold on to the Time Key like before, and save it for the final battle?"

At the breakfast table, Luviya asked Shard. Shard shook his head:

"We still aren’t sure when the final battle in the Moon Bay Region will actually happen, so there’s no need to keep it."

Besides, he still hadn’t used this month’s Black Time Key. As for the matter concerning Miss Isabella, Shard was still thinking it over.

"Then Shard, are the things you need to bring all prepared?"

Miss Aphrola asked from the side as well, and Shard immediately nodded:

"The little statue Vanessa gave me symbolizes the Earth; the broken Holy Emblem Luviya purchased symbolizes Brightness; the flawless Moonstone I bought on the local black market symbolizes the Moon; and this cat symbolizes the Sun."

As he spoke, he patted the cat at his side, but the cat that was currently enjoying its breakfast only let out a perfunctory "Mrrrow~," and it wasn’t clear whether it was responding to Shard or protesting his action.

The Time he went Back to the Past would correspond to only three seconds passing in reality, so once Shard finished breakfast he prepared to set out.

The other ladies all had things to do on this brand-new Monday; only Luviya and the Countess, who had never seen Shard travel into the past, came to see him off.

This time Shard chose to use the door of the dining room. After confirming that he had everything he needed, he turned the unusually docile Mia—who had just finished breakfast—into a toy.

"Then I’m heading out. See you in three seconds. Oh, when I come back, I should already have brought that set of Armor back with me. I wonder what it looks like now, after it’s been continually absorbing the Sunshine of the Sand Sea."

Waving to Luviya and the Countess who were standing shoulder to shoulder, the Outlander took out the wooden key covered in cracks:

"May the World Tree shelter me within Time~"

The key stabbed into the keyhole, and this time the click~ of its turning was heavier than any previous time. Shard reckoned that was probably because the door he was using now was itself quite large.

After turning the doorknob, he unexpectedly found that he couldn’t push it open. Shard hesitated for a moment, then realized that the dining room door of the manor consisted of two panels, left and right. Perhaps the key had judged the two panels as a single whole, so he couldn’t just push one of them:

"Next time I won’t use this kind of troublesome door."

He bent slightly, lowering his center of gravity, and pressed his hands on the left and right panels respectively, lining the crack of the door up with the center line of his body. As his arms exerted force, the two doors scraped against the floor, producing a sound like a giant Stone Gate being pushed open.

Luviya and Miss Belindel watched as Shard pushed the double doors open to a gap just wide enough for him to pass through, and beyond that gap surged thick, dense white mist.

The Great Witch of Destiny widened her eyes to watch this scene, and Shard turned around one last time to wave to them before stepping into the gap.

The great doors closed on their own. The Countess had wanted to say something to Luviya, but Luviya spoke first:

"Three, two, one."

The doors, which had just closed, were pushed open again from inside, and the dazzling golden Glimmer that burst out from the crack forced them both to step back.

[Outlander, you have stepped into the Time Corridor.]

[Message from the Ancient God "Father of the Infinite Tree":]

[Year 4260 of the Fifth Era, summer, Eastern Continent, Gravel Golden Sea.]

[Event: Seek the Heart of the Oasis.]

[Duration: sixty minutes (3/3).]

[You have obtained additional information.]

[The figure of the Father of the Infinite Tree watches you.]

[The trial granted you by the Ancient God of Time will continue:]

[Witness three Mirages of the Sand Sea together with the Deity "Lady Mist."]

[The Father of the Infinite Tree will grant you rewards: a fragment of truthful information—Holy White Hall; Magic - Truth Crystal.]

"Sixty minutes? It’s that long this time? Something’s going to happen, isn’t it?"

With such doubts accompanying him, Shard had already stepped out from the dense mist, returning once more to that blazing Sand Sea.

The intense Sunshine made it impossible for him to fully open his eyes even with his hand raised to shield them. He had clearly set out wearing only a thin white shirt, yet within a few seconds he was already drenched in sweat.

Having gone through this twice already, Shard quickly lowered his head and moved forward straight ahead. His rapid breathing, together with the faint wind, pushed him onward, while the sand grains stirred by the wind quietly rolled along.