Release that Witch

At around 4:00 in the morning, Garcia finally fell asleep.

She had talked more than what all she had said to Roland in the past few months altogether since their first encounter. It was more like a monologue than a constructive conversation. Most of her rambling was about how she had met her master after she had cut ties with her family.

The only thing Roland could do was to refill her glass and be a good listener.

Roland also discovered that Garcia’s dedication to protecting this world was mostly a product of Lan’s education. Although Lan had been very strict with her, Garcia had always looked up to her and viewed Lan as her goal and role model.

From what Roland saw, Lan must have liked the Dream World.

But he was not sure whether her method would work.

There were only two bedrooms in Room 0825, one of which was Zero’s. Roland pondered for a while and decided to put Garcia in the master bedroom and spent the night in the living room himself. He did not think it a good idea to rummage Garcia’s pocket for the key to her own apartment while she was asleep, for he had the slightest intention of creating any unncessary misunderstanding.

Roland was certain that based on his past experience, this was the best way to handle this kind of situation.

In the meantime, he also realized that he had to return to the real world now.

Roland looked through the window after he settled Garcia down and gazed upon the city night. He could spie glitters of lights dazzle in the distance. The flickers were even brighter than stars in the sky. It seemed to be a very peaceful, sweet night, but Roland knew that this world, like the other one, was full of danger. The “Bloody Moon” that represented the Erosion had revealed its horrendous nature. The only difference was that the one in the real world hung in the sky while the one here lurked underground.

Roland shut the curtains and departed from the Dream World.

He dazed for a while before opening his eyes. However, instead of the ceiling, he gazed into two sparkling eyes.

The two stared at each other for a while until Roland heard someone scream above him. Then the person peering down at him immediately disappeared, as though everything was just his imagination

“Ahem, well, I was just checking whether you had waken up or not, as you’ve been sleeping for quite a while, and I was a bit worried,” Nightingale said as she revealed herself from the desk. “Plus, why did you suddenly open your eyes. You scared me!”

Roland was speechless. How could he give her a headsup telling her that he was about to wake up?

“Anyway, you’re awake now, so I’m going to bed,” Nightingale said as she yawned dramatically. “By the way, Anna came to see you at 10:00 today, but she left when she saw you were still asleep. She asked me to tell you not to force yourself.”

“Hang on, what’s the time now?”

“Just a little over 12:00,” Nightingale replied as she walked toward the door. “Well, good night.”

As soon as Nightingale withdrew, Roland felt sleep creep over him. He had been roaming the two worlds for the last two days, and now he really needed a rest.

Roland stretched himself and was about to go to bed when he suddenly caught a glimpse of something unusual.

He slowly raised his head and almost shrieked at what he saw!

Two pale faces hung down from the window. As they were tightly pressed onto the glass, the faces were a little distorted. Roland saw four large eyes gazing into his. He jumped with a start!

Then he noticed that the two faces looked quite familiar to him.

Hang on, why did they look so familiar?

Roland’s heart did a kind of drum drolling in his chest. He squinted at them for a while and suddenly realized that they were Lightning and Maggie!

Why did they come here at this hour?

It was midnight.

Realizing they were exposed, the two girls drifted down from the roof.

“When did you get here?” Roland asked after Lightning and Maggie got in. He put up a straight face and said, “Why didn’t you notify me first?”

It wasn’t until then that Roland noticed that both of them were unkempt and muddy as if they had not taken a shower for half a year. They had indeed come back from a long journey.

“Your Majesty, we arrived here around an hour ago, coo,” Maggie replied, but Lightning soon stopped her.

“No, we just got here, and we didn’t see anything.” With these words, she glared at Maggie and added, “Did we?”

Maggie nodded fervently and said, “Coo… yes, I got it wrong.”

Roland twitched his lips, amused by their poor acting. Even Nana would not believe their words. He did not actually mind them watching him sleep, so he asked, “Did you travel at night? Why not use the Animal Messenger? Did —”

He suddenly had a bad feeling.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Lightning said solemnly. “About half a month ago, we found traces of demons at the ridge of the continent!”

Roland was now completely awake. He pursued, “Then? Did you see any outposts there?”

“Not for now,” Lightning denied as she shook her head, produced a rumpled map from her pocket, and laid it open on the desk. “We couldn’t go really far in there, so we met up with the Taquila witches at the Snow Ridge. It took them a while to set up the magic core, and we were finally able to confirm something.” Lightning then pointed at the rapture marked in the center of the map and said, “There are God’s Stone mines there, and they’re almost as big as the one in the Holy City of Taquila!”

It was pretty clear what the demons were up to.

Roland knitted his brows. Edith was right. The demons did have a plan B. Even if Taquila fell, they could still invade the Four Kingdoms from another location. Although the Impassable Mountain Range was treacherous, it would be better to invade from there than waiting for another 400 years.

Fortunately, human beings discovered the demons’ intention in advance. According to Agatha’s intelligence, the demons would need some time to grow the Obelisk. They would only be able to produce a small amount of Red Mist before the Obelisk grew up.

“We also obtained another piece of news when we left the Snow Ridge,” Lightning resumed hesitantly. “At that time, Maggie and I had already passed the Kingdom of Everwinter, so we couldn’t hear it very clearly over the Sigil of Listening.”

“What did you hear?”

Maggie clapped his hands over her ears as if holding a telephone receiver.

“The liaison witch told us that they found Red Mist in the north of the mountain range, coo!”