Chapter 2201: The Dragon Feast Cult of the Fifth Era

Chapter 2201: Chapter 2201: The Dragon Feast Cult of the Fifth Era

The elderly Witch smiled and nodded:

"I thought my Illusion Technique could still fool you like it used to. All right, all right, even if you’d chosen wrong I’d still have given you the information. Some unfriendly types have shown up around here lately. The Dragon Feast Cult—you should know that bunch. Ever since I retired I’ve been living in this city, and I know there’s nothing here that ought to attract their attention. The only big news in town recently is the maiden voyage of the Radiant Messenger, so be careful. There’s a good chance they’ve taken a fancy to something on that ship."

Professor Ivins was quite puzzled:

"But I saw that ship at the harbor. It’s large, yes, but in the end it’s just something built by ordinary people. Does the Dragon Feast Cult really plan to steal the ship and refit it into one of their own things?"

The elderly Witch shook her head; she wasn’t sure either:

"Just be careful yourself. The Dragon Feast Cult is a Cult Group after all. Don’t let it come to you actually getting killed and this old woman having to rescue you."

"Professor Enzo, rest assured, I’ll be careful."

Professor Ivins thanked her with a smile, but he clearly wasn’t taking the Dragon Feast Cult’s business too much to heart.

She stood up from beside the sofa, then turned to Shard behind her and said:

"You see, if I had taken this information seriously at the time, and investigated in advance, perhaps everything that followed wouldn’t have happened."

"No one can foresee the future beforehand. This isn’t your fault."

Shard said, but the Phantom of Professor Ivins shook her head, then pointed toward the dark sea:

"I’m over there. There isn’t much time left, for you or for us. Go all out, young man—believe in yourself."

Professor Ivins was about to vanish on the spot as she spoke, but Shard stopped her. He hesitated and said:

"Wait, Professor, what did you mean by what you just said, that my time is running out... You don’t happen to know who I am, do you?"

The Professor’s Phantom said with a smile:

"I wasn’t certain before, but now I’m completely sure.

There’s a strange rumor that’s long circulated in Zaras Literary Academy, Xerxes Higher Medical Academy, and Saint Byrons Integrated Academy: when young, beautiful Witches face mortal danger, Fate will send a special Outlander to aid and save them... Although this sounds like the romantic fantasies of young girls whose hearts are just awakening, it’s rather unfortunate—during all my years at the Academy I’ve gone through many earlier records."

"What did you discover?"

Shard asked curiously.

"Back when Zaras Literary Academy was still just the ’Zaras Academy,’ a Witch named Miss Becky Samuel, a contemporary of Saint Byrons’s founder, Miss Feliana, recorded some amusing tales. Those tales aren’t complete, but I managed to read the hidden messages between the lines."

Shard felt a vague realization dawning. Miss Becky Samuel was the lady who had met him together with Miss Orland and Fiona in Gadis Library in the Valley of Dead Silence. Shard still remembered the round-framed glasses on her face, her unkempt appearance, and the strong scholar’s air she carried.

"Miss Samuel..."

For him it had only happened last year, yet thinking back now it felt as if a very long time had passed.

Professor Ivins silently vanished before his eyes. Shard rubbed the little head of the cat against his chest, then once again cast his fishing rod toward the sea.

He set aside, for the moment, the fact that rumors about him seemed on track to spread across the Fifth Era; the memory he had just seen from Professor Ivins’s point of view was interesting enough:

"So this incident in the Fifth Era actually ties back to the Dragon Feast Cult again. It can’t be coincidence—so this time the Evil Object that’s appeared is most likely their doing. A ritual to Call the ’Evil of the Deep Sea - Seven-Tailed Player’... they’d already mastered it in the Fifth Era? No wonder they’re such an ancient Cult Group, and no wonder the Deity they worship is the Firstborn of the Ancient Dragon God."

But the key to this matter wasn’t the relationship between the Dragon Feast Cult and that Evil of the Deep Sea. The point was that the vast majority of the Dragon Feast Cult’s actions had to do with Dragons; whatever they did, their ultimate aim could always be tied back to "Dragons." Even though this was the Fifth Era, not the Sixth Era, if they killed more than three thousand people at once, what they sought absolutely wasn’t just to summon the "Seven-Tailed Player" to attack the city.

After all, the Witch Empresses of the late Fifth Era were far more terrifying than the True God Church of the Sixth Era. The latter is truly a righteous organization and a positive role; as for those Witch Empresses... they were righteous, sometimes.

"So after all the trouble the Dragon Feast Cult went to, what exactly are they trying to do?"

As he pondered, an enormous force traveled up along the fishing line from the depths of the sea. Shard immediately let go of those tangled thoughts, leaning his body back while forcefully hauling whatever was hooked on the line toward the float board.

A few minutes later, Miss Teresa and Miss Maxim by the campfire watched Shard walk towards them from the Deity’s side, carrying Professor Ivins in his arms—her face deathly pale, chest rising and falling with only the faintest breath.

Miss Malone, who had only just regained her senses, let her head loll to the side and immediately fell back into unconsciousness. The "Professor Ivins" supported by Miss Maxim suddenly stood up; her face rapidly turned ghastly white, and the body that had just recovered its warmth now radiated such chill in that instant that the two young Witches instinctively stepped back.

"Professor Ivins" ignored them and rushed toward Shard as if sliding across the raft.

"Careful, the professor is Twelfth Rank!"

Miss Teresa reminded him, and the prepared Shard disappeared from where he stood, together with the real Professor Ivins in his arms. At the same time, as the deathly pale "Professor Ivins" halted her charge and turned back, two pitch-black Chains dropped from the sky and looped around her neck. Then Shard slammed the body of Professor Ivins he was holding heavily into her.

The soul parted from that false body and was drawn back into the true flesh as if by magnetic attraction. The false body trembled, still trying to reach out to strangle the neck of the real body, but having lost the support of a soul, it finally dissolved into clear seawater and vanished from the raft.

Shard hurriedly helped Professor Ivins up again. She coughed violently a few times, spat out a mouthful of seawater, and at last opened her weak eyes.

Maid Miss Maxim was better at caring for people than Shard, so she took over Professor Ivins, supporting her to sit down and feeding her the Magic Potion they had prepared in advance. Miss Malone also woke up again at this moment, but she did not look at the people around her; her gaze was vacant, fixed only on the flames that provided everyone with light and warmth.

"Of the four castings of the line, three are already done. Next is the last one. There are some things I need to tell you."

Shard tugged at Miss Teresa’s hand, then sat with her and the others around the campfire. This time, the five of them were so close to that not‑so‑vigorous yet unusually warm fire that each of them could see how the light of the flames and the Dark shadows leapt across everyone else’s face.

The cat wriggled inside Shard’s shirt against his chest, and all the Witches turned their eyes to him. Miss Malone’s expression in the rain carried both sorrow and confusion; Shard felt as though she had recovered a bit more of her memory.

Only after making sure everyone was listening carefully did Shard painstakingly recount every clue he had uncovered thus far, including explaining the relationship between the Dragon Feast Cult and the Evil Object, between the Dragon and the ship.

Miss Teresa was still somewhat bewildered; by the end, Miss Maxim had begun to form her own conjectures. Professor Ivins, however, let out a soft sigh halfway through Shard’s account—she already understood.

No one interrupted Shard’s story. When he finished analyzing these clues, he turned to the only "ordinary girl" among them and asked:

"Miss Malone, last time you mentioned that when you and the missing lady were on a date in the boiler room, you saw some strange markings on the wall. Please take a look—was it this?"

The starry sky on the Book’s page was subdued by the Dark. Miss Malone took the Book, glanced at it, and then nodded lightly:

"That’s it."

Shard let out a long breath; this was the key piece of evidence:

"Then the full course of events can now be fixed. The Dragon Feast Cult infiltrated and took control of the ’Radiant Messenger’, and once that ship left port they carried out the ritual, sacrificing the entire vessel and ultimately successfully calling forth that Evil of the Deep Sea. But for some unknown reason—most likely because of the Deity standing behind me."

Shard pointed back over his shoulder:

"Because of the Deity’s intervention, you who should have died came to this lightless sea together with that Evil Object. And after that, I appeared here."

"I’m so sorry, children. I should have sensed it earlier."

Professor Ivins, a little recovered, said softly, and Miss Teresa pressed her lips together and added:

"My aunt mentioned that Evil Object to me. I should have taken precautions as well."

"Miss, it’s my failure for not taking proper care of you."

Miss Maxim spoke too, but Shard shook his head:

"Let’s not get into that yet. Even if you’d pieced together all the clues you had ahead of time, they still might not have pointed to the Truth, and it’s not as if you ever imagined something like this would happen. My current deduction about all this rests on your memories and Miss Malone’s identification, but that’s still not enough. I think the final piece of evidence must be hidden in Miss Malone’s memory."

So the Witches all turned to look at this "ordinary person". They had questions in their hearts, and Shard voiced them for them:

"There are still doubts about Miss Malone. For example, why did she lose her memories from before boarding the ship? Why did the girl who was supposed to share her bed vanish? And why did a first‑class passenger insist that a precious antique had been stolen, when Miss Malone clearly hadn’t taken anything?"

Miss Malone pressed her lips together and looked at Shard. She, like the others, was wrapped in a blanket, yet she appeared even more fragile than the rest. Her long black hair clung wet and limp to her skin, and complex emotions churned in her blue eyes.