Chapter 2234: Frequent Accidents

Chapter 2234: Chapter 2234: Frequent Accidents

"Sister!"

Angelina jerked her head up; she felt as if she had gathered every last bit of her courage just to dare say these words:

"You don’t understand at all. You’ve already obtained what you wanted, but I have nothing. As for my feelings toward Shard..."

"What I mean is, what you truly want is far more than just that."

At that level, matter‑of‑fact voice, Angelina unclenched her tightly balled fists and lowered her head again.

The girl by the window gave a soft sigh:

"You are our little sister—how could we ever try to stop you? Angelina, we are your closest family. On this trip to Moon Bay, you need to talk less and do more. See clearly what it is you really want. When you come back, answer that question again in front of us: what do you truly desire?"

"I understand, Sister."

The seventeen‑year‑old girl murmured, though she still had no idea what kind of answer she ought to give. Then she heard footsteps; just as she lifted her head, she was suddenly pulled into the arms of the girl with the long golden‑red hair:

"Be careful with everything in Moon Bay, silly girl, and don’t hurt yourself for the sake of others. Don’t become that Mermaid Princess—I don’t want to have to go and beg the Dragon to give you a second chance, even if that Dragon gentleman is always full of ideas. Remember this, young Princess: in our lives, there is no second chance."

The gentle embrace made the emotions in Angelina’s heart grow even more complicated; she reached out and hugged her sister back:

"Yes, I understand."

"Take this with you. It’s an Alchemical Item we forged using special powers."

After releasing Emilia, Lecia reached under her skirt and took out a silver pendant engraved with the House of Cavendish crest. Gesturing for Angelina to lower her head, she hung it around Emilia’s neck:

"The Power of Space, and the blood‑link between you and me—we used that to craft it. As long as you use your own Spirit to activate the pendant, no matter where you are in the Material World, I will immediately be able to sense your presence and your Direction."

The girl who was a head taller than Angelina bent down, resting both hands on Angelina’s shoulders. Her emerald eyes met Angelina’s at the same level:

"Without me at your side, you must be careful. But as long as you need your elder sister’s help, I will definitely come to you."

"Sister!"

Angelina finally couldn’t hold back; she threw her arms around Lecia’s neck and began to sob quietly. Lecia lightly patted her back, then gently returned the hug:

"Travelling far on your own—you must be careful."

Sunshine spilled across Lecia and Dorothy’s backs, and across Angelina’s face. The seventeen‑year‑old Princess was about to set out alone on a journey, seeking what her heart yearned for. The road ahead she would walk for a time by herself, but Lecia believed in her little sister, just as she had always believed in herself.

(Mia running...)

"Good morning, Emilia."

Today, in Moon Bay City, sleet was falling—though overall it was more rain than snow. Even on days with bad weather, the Countess had to go out to deal with her affairs, so the Witch and most of the Maids were away; only Emilia was in a room of the manor, reading a Book.

The Little Unicorn lay at her feet and did not seem at all bored by being "confined" here. When Shard knocked and came in, he happened to see Emilia hurriedly push the Book she had been reading to the very bottom of the stack on her desk.

Noticing Shard’s inquisitive gaze, the sharp‑eared Elf Girl immediately shifted the topic:

"Good morning, Mr. Watson... Have you heard? There was another incident in the city yesterday. This morning, when Miss Belindel had breakfast with us, she mentioned it—on a small stretch of Baker Street to the east of the city, a ’Crazy Earth’ phenomenon appeared. Mud surged up from the ground in two adjoining houses on that street. If any living person comes into contact with that mud, within ten minutes roots grow from beneath their feet and they turn into petrified trees."

"Crazy Earth?"

Shard did know that after the Randall Valley affair concluded, the Earth’s Twist had only been temporarily suppressed, not extinguished. But with spring having ended so long ago, this was the first time since then he had run into something similar.

Emilia had experienced the first half of the Randall Valley incident, so she also understood just how terrifying such a phenomenon could be:

"At breakfast, Miss Belindel asked me whether the Unicorns’ purification ability could drive out that Filth. I said it probably couldn’t. But I imagine the local Church must have some way to temporarily limit the spread of that area, right? After all, you told me before, even though the Church can’t purify the Earth as easily as you can, it doesn’t mean they have no means at all to restrain the Crazy Earth."

Shard was very interested in this Crazy Earth that had appeared in Moon Bay, so he sent Mia off to play with the Unicorn and then pulled Emilia over to ask her for more details.

"Speaking of which, what book were you reading just now?"

He still hadn’t forgotten about that. Emilia’s face flushed at once; her right hand lifted to press down on the book on the desk, denying Shard any chance to pull it out, and then she hurriedly tried to explain in a tone that clearly meant trouble:

"It’s the novel you gave me. I was worried you’d think I waste my time every day, so I hid it when you came in."

Shard looked at her suspiciously, but under "Her" suggestion he didn’t press the point, and instead continued asking about the Crazy Earth. When Miss Belindel returned at noon, the Witch also told him more:

"The spreading filth has already been contained, but it still hasn’t been purified. The Church of Nature and the Sun Church are planning to jointly set up a ritual, but that will take time. Before I came back just now, I went over there to take a look from far away."

She shook her head sharply, as if trying to drive the memory from her mind:

"What a terrifying Power. I was standing on a rooftop two streets away and only probed it with my Perception, and I almost threw up from sheer nausea."

As she spoke, still sitting at the dining table, she glanced at Shard:

"Back in Randall Valley, how did you purify something that filthy?"

Ever since the Night of the Dragon, when she’d guessed that Shard was the God Summoner, she naturally knew he’d been deeply involved in what happened in Randall Valley.

"I have an Arcane Technique that can purify the Earth, specifically restraining the Crazy Earth."

"Specifically restraining it? With that kind of Power, you still didn’t become the Chosen of the Earth?"

The Witch raised an eyebrow, while Shard replied quite casually:

"Because those Guardians are more worthy of that Power and that responsibility than I am, aren’t they? I can’t possibly compare myself to those great souls who dared to sacrifice themselves."

Although the Power of the Earth: Healing Aura could easily drive away the Crazy Earth, the area that appeared in Moon Bay City was in a very conspicuous part of town, and it wasn’t convenient for Shard to act, so he hadn’t considered going to help the Church.

The anomalies that appeared that day weren’t limited to just the "Crazy Earth". After lunch, the Countess had intended to talk to Shard about her research on that Black Dragon Scale and the progress of her Investigation into the Light Worshipper Training Association, but a Maid arrived in haste and delivered new information:

"Miss, word has come from outside the city—there’s been an incident at our farm."

"What could possibly happen at a farm? Don’t tell me the stewards in the countryside are trying to inform me that the granary caught fire? It’s not even autumn yet."

"No, it’s Light. One of the stewards disappeared into the Light."

Mia stayed behind to keep Angelina company, while a carriage took the Witch and Shard, together with three Maids, out of the city. Then, outside the city, they changed to horses and rode toward the Belindel Family’s farm in the northwest.

The farm lay right next to the "Poisonous Swamp" and "Whistling Wind Valley" north of Moon Bay. It wasn’t very large; according to Miss Belindel, it covered less than a hundred acres. Besides overseeing the surrounding fields, there was also a cattle-raising yard on the western side with more than a hundred dairy cows. The fresh milk Emilia drank every morning at the estate came from here.

The incident did not occur in the main group of farm buildings, but in the pasture enclosed by wooden fencing.

Led by the trembling farm steward, Mr. Nock, who rode a donkey at the head of the group, they followed a country lane westward, then turned into a rough path between fields. In the distance, they could already see the pasture under the sky washed crystal clear by the post-rain blue. The weather in the city was terrible, but out here it was perfectly bright.

Large herds of black-and-white dairy cows were strolling leisurely through the pasture; it didn’t look in the least like somewhere something strange had happened. The Countess, whose Horsemanship was quite superb, dismounted at the pasture gate, and steward Mr. Nock immediately went to find the pasture owner—who supposedly had some family connection to the main Belindel line.

"The smell of cow dung is truly disgusting."

Handing his reins to the Maid behind him, Shard murmured softly, but the Countess didn’t mind these odors. Instead, she stood by the gate and looked around:

"The elemental traces are wrong. Something has definitely happened."

Very soon, the group arrived at the scene of the incident—beneath the shed where the pasture’s cows took their feed. There were soft straw, feed troughs and the water pump. According to the pasture owner—

"At about eleven-thirty this morning, a hired hand named Mick Leon came over here to pump water into the trough, and then we heard him let out a scream. By the time we all ran over, Leon had already vanished, and there was only a mass of Light left here."

He spoke, shivering, not out of fear of Miss Belindel, but out of terror at the Glimmer still squatting inside the shed.

It was now two in the afternoon, one of the brightest moments of a summer day. The sky outside the city had no dark clouds; visibility here was excellent. Yet everyone could still see the glaring white Light coiled on the right side of the shed.

The hired man had already vanished, and along with him had gone half the water trough and a large tub of fodder. The cut surface of the trough was incredibly smooth; even Shard couldn’t easily cleave out such a cut with a Sword. And the black shadows left on the ground were the last traces of a living person who had disappeared into the Light.