novelraw Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Chapter 11: The Prophecy of the Starry Sky
Lina waved her arms desperately and shouted loudly, trying to catch Fennis’s attention.
She had the vague feeling that Fennis seemed a little absent-minded, as if something were weighing on her mind?
Right, when she had appeared just now… those barrier fragments behind her… could it be that she had broken out of the inherent barrier?
Fennis finally noticed her as well. With a flash of silver light, the moon wheel in the sky scattered into specks of light, and in the next moment she instantly appeared in front of Lina.
Lina could not help glancing at Fennis a few more times.
How was this girl so tall!
Fennis was nearly 1.75 meters tall, while this body of Lina’s, due to long-term malnutrition, had forever remained stuck at the 1.6-meter mark. To see Fennis’s face, she had no choice but to tilt her head up.
“I want to report them! Report a heretical cult!” Lina said in a serious tone. “There were four cultists in total. You just burned two of them to ashes, but everyone present can testify that they really did exist. There are still two more inside the secret realm.”
“The reward for reporting one cultist is 5 Silver Lions, and 1 Gold Dragon for a high-ranking one. I won’t count the ones outside that you killed, but the Witch Association needs to pay me 10 Silver Lions, which is 1 Gold Dragon, as compensation.”
“Uh… this…”
Fennis blinked those beautiful ice-lake-like eyes of hers. No matter how hard she tried, she could never have imagined that the first reaction of this little girl, who looked as though she had just gone through a life-and-death battle, would be to come ask her for payment!
Not only was Fennis stunned, all the little witches on the plaza who were watching the excitement were stunned as well.
The very first thing the hero who had just passionately directed them in battle said was actually to ask for payment?
Yet what she had not expected was that Lina still was not done. She pulled Annie, who was shrinking behind the ruins, over in one motion and said in all seriousness:
“Oh right, the two cultists in the secret realm were defeated by me and my companions. One of them still has a breath left, so you can come with me and inspect him. The reward for killing one cultist is 5 Gold Dragons, and for capturing one alive it is 10 Gold Dragons. Can my companions and I split that reward equally?”
“Eh! I, I don’t need it…” Annie blushed, clutching her skirt tightly with both hands, her gaze drifting around her toes. “They were all, all killed by Sister Lina.”
She tugged lightly at Lina’s robe hem again and whispered, “Sister Lina… directly asking Lord Witch of the Moon for payment… isn’t that… a little… a little…”
“The Witch Association’s front desk has already been smashed, and the three examiner sisters aren’t in very good condition right now, so I can only come to Lord Witch of the Moon.” Lina’s big golden eyes shone with three parts sincerity, three parts helplessness, three parts unease, and one part anticipation.
Annie, Annie, you were still too young!
When it came to reporting someone and claiming a reward, of course she had to go straight to the boss!
The boss had status, so she definitely would not go back on the payment! This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get familiar with an S-rank witch!
Such a perfect opportunity to latch onto a powerful backer—once this chance passed, it would never come again!
“Yes, thank you for your report.” Just as Lina had expected, Fennis nodded, then casually took out two ten-Gold-Dragon banknotes from her storage ring and placed them in Lina’s hand. “I didn’t bring any small change. Under the circumstances, consider this a special reward for you.”
“Oh my, look at that, how embarrassing!” Lina’s eyes lit up immediately. Afraid that Fennis might change her mind, she swiftly stuffed one banknote into the innermost pocket she had, and slapped the other into Annie’s hand.
Master’s dear disciple, dear disciple, it seemed that you still had not forgotten your master’s kindness! You had done very well!
“It’s nothing, letting heretical cultists infiltrate the examination site was a lapse in our duties. This is what you deserve,” Fennis shook her head. “Can you confirm that there is a living cultist inside the secret realm?”
“Of course!” Lina patted her chest in assurance. “The technique behind that clubbing of mine had thirty years of skill in it! I guarantee he’ll be lively and kicking after he wakes up!”
“All right, please lead the way.” Fennis’s gaze turned toward the collapsed exit of the secret realm. She gently raised her hand, and a silvery-white curtain of light swiftly enveloped the entire plaza.
An astonishing scene appeared: shattered stones and broken rubble rapidly flew back to their original places, collapsed stone pillars and roof beams rose up again, and the entire plaza looked like a film being rewound. Within the span of a few breaths, it returned to how it had originally been!
Cries of astonishment rose one after another across the plaza, and the Witch Association staff also reacted quickly, beginning to treat the wounded on site.
Lina, however, did not seem all that surprised. This was not some kind of time-reversal magic.
The name of this spell was ‘Blueprint Restoration’. Because Fennis had not known how to control her magic when she was little and often broke things while practicing magic at home, Lina had created this spell to quickly repair furniture.
The user could reconstruct an object’s original appearance based on the “information” that the object had left behind in this world. A handy little trick essential for home and travel.
“Oh right, afterward we will still need to interrogate the cultist,” Fennis’s voice pulled Lina back to reality. “This matter requires your participation.”
“Ha?!”
……
There was not a single star in the night sky over Celestis.
This city, located at the northernmost part of the continent, was covered by eternal long night all year round.
Yet in contrast to that long night were its streets, forever brightly lit, and its bustling, lively markets.
Specks of light stretched all the way from the foot of Mount Selt to its summit, illuminating the entire land like a brilliant galaxy.
Several enormous magic airships hovered above the city like silent, tranquil beasts, while countless small magic aircraft flew back and forth around them like fireflies dancing in the night.
A dazzling array of magical items and colorful magic crystals glowed inside display windows, and almost everyone on the streets wore loose magic robes, with badges of the Wizard Association or the Witch Association hanging from their chests.
This was the holy land of magic, the starry sky that mortals had lit with their own hands within the eternal night, and also the place closest to the stars.
At the highest point of the city, on the summit of Mount Selt, a grand building of ancient simplicity and solemn majesty stood quietly.
Its Roman columns and pristine marble walls reflected a soft glow under the illumination of magical streetlamps, while arched gates lined up in order on both sides, forming an aesthetic of absolute symmetry.
The Astrania Grand Library, said to house every magic-related book in the world.
If Celestis was the holy city of magic, then the Astrania Grand Library was surely the most eye-catching “cathedral” within that holy city, enshrining a god named “knowledge”.
At the top floor of the library was an open-air garden, where fluorescent plants flickering with lights of many colors were scattered among the flowerbeds.
In the center of the garden grew a giant pale-blue luminous tree of strange shape, with hazy glowing dust drifting around its crown.
Only upon moving closer to look could one discover that the tree’s “leaves” were actually pale-blue fluorescent butterflies, and that dreamy, illusory glowing dust was merely the shadows left behind when they fluttered their wings.
A dreamlike少女 sat quietly beneath the tree, her aqua-blue long hair flowing down like a waterfall all the way to the ground.
Her elegant deep-blue Gothic long dress was covered in abstruse and intricate patterns, and a delicate silver pocket watch hung at her waist. Scattered butterflies landed upon her skirt, adding yet another touch of mysterious beauty to her.
Several cute little bows adorned the sides of her black lace stockings, outlining the graceful curve of her calves. The soles of her dainty Mary Jane shoes had been deliberately thickened, preserving some strange dignity of their owner’s.
Her fair skin was without the slightest flaw, her features as exquisite as a doll’s. Long bangs covered her left eye, while her obsidian-like right eye reflected the specks of fluorescence in the garden, as though someone had sealed an entire galaxy into that tiny space.
Suddenly, a cluster of flames ignited in the air and rapidly expanded into a humanoid shape, startling the light butterflies into scattering in all directions, forming a blue hurricane within the garden.
“You frightened them, Blazing Flame.”
The girl beneath the tree closed the heavy book on her lap and looked up at that humanoid flame. Her voice was like a wind chime swaying in the rain, carrying a kind of magic that put people at ease.
“Ah, nothing to be done, bugs are afraid of fire… how about I make a few more for you?” the humanoid figure formed from flames said in a carefree manner. A crimson butterfly rapidly condensed at “its” fingertip from the flames.
“Your fire is far too aggressive, Blazing Flame.” A sapling suddenly broke through the soil, stretching its branches and leaves, and a woman’s voice rang out from within it. “Next time we gather, can we change to a place with sunlight?”
“Next time we can hold the tea party at my place, nya~” A gust of wind swept past, and a playful, lively voice rang out. “I haven’t had Sister Sifla’s baked pine cakes in so long, nya!”
“Please mind the rules, Wind,” a mass of shadow sliced through the void and quietly landed in the center of the courtyard. “Here, we may only address one another by code names.”
“Don’t be so serious, Shadow~” The thick book on the blue-haired girl’s knees suddenly turned pages without wind and gently floated into the air. The gentle and tender voice from the book brushed across the heart like a breeze. “Among friends, being a little casual is not necessarily a bad thing.”
“Boom!”
A clap of thunder suddenly exploded, and thick dark clouds gathered in the sky. A wave of moisture mixed with a salty fishy smell rushed straight at them. Many pedestrians on the road thought a torrential rain was about to arrive, and one after another they hastened into nearby shops for shelter.
A sonorous voice echoed through the courtyard: “Ah, sorry, sorry, the winds and waves are a bit strong on my side. What were you all talking about? Ah… Fantasia, you’ve become cuter again. When are you coming out to sea so big sister can have a look… hehehe…”
“Get lost.” The Witch of Fate said expressionlessly.
In the next second, the storm suddenly twisted, and a loud peal of thunder accompanied by a scream came from within the dark clouds.
“Cough cough cough, little Fate, why are your attacks still so heavy… next time, could you step on me instead…”
“Stop fooling around, Ocean.” Suddenly, a calm voice interrupted her.
“Click──”
With the sound of mechanical gears meshing, the footsteps of passersby, the splashing droplets of water, the cat leaping down from the rooftop, and the flames rising from the alchemical furnace all froze in place. Everything seemed sealed inside transparent amber.
All flames, lights, and even the fluorescent grass in the courtyard were dyed with a hazy pale white layer.
A shadow quietly appeared at the far end of the courtyard. Even from the silhouette alone, one could guess that this was a woman of breathtaking beauty and graceful figure.
She spoke blandly:
“The two of them will not be coming. Moon is dealing with some leftover matters at the Koberen border... as for that one, she is still observing at the edge of the world.”
“Pfft──” The dark clouds in the sky suddenly twisted, and the loud female voice trembled with laughter. “Hahahahaha, Death, why are you still wearing a maid outfit? Don’t tell me you’ve gotten addicted to it!”
“If you continue talking about such irrelevant matters, I will seal your mouth and drag both you and your entire fleet into the underworld. Or perhaps I should make you paint ten thousand portraits for me, so you can properly remember what I look like?”
The shadow’s voice was calm, yet laced with threat.
“No no no, I was joking,” the dark clouds in the sky suddenly shrank into the shape of an apologetic face. “Sigh, enough, enough, let’s start the meeting! The meeting is what matters!”
“Sigh… you people really never let anyone relax… then let us get to the point,” the blue-haired girl sighed softly. With a light flick of her index finger, the light butterflies in the courtyard seemed to receive some kind of command. They swiftly flew toward the vault of heaven, using the pitch-black night sky as a backdrop to paint a stretch of blue starry sky.
“Fate has given its final revelation,” the blue-haired girl’s voice was ethereal and clear:
“The evil demons of the western continent will make a comeback, cracks have appeared in the Wall of Sighs, and the Holy City is about to become history.”
“An ancient existence, frozen beneath the snowfields for ten thousand years, is about to awaken. It will forge a throne with the flesh and blood of the usurper.”
“The jungle is growing restless, the defiled thing sealed within the temple has already begun to seep through, and a plague is about to arrive.”
“A storm is gathering beneath the abyss, the ocean will devour everything, until all returns to primordial chaos.”
“The ancient god sleeping within the boundless dense fog is about to awaken, bestowing upon all living beings an eternal beautiful dream before the coming of the everlasting night.”
“After the final sunset, the remaining embers will be completely extinguished, and the world will sink into an eternal silent dark night.”
The blue-haired girl paused for a moment, staring directly at the brightest cluster of light in the star map, and softly said, “But, starlight will illuminate the road ahead through the long night.”
……
The starlight dispersed. There was no further exchange. The strange phenomena in the Grand Library vanished one by one, until in the end only the blue-haired girl and the heavy ancient book on her knees remained.
The wind brushed past the fluorescent flowers and grass in the courtyard, stirring a wave of blue ripples.
“Fate… you are hiding something, aren’t you?”
The gentle and warm voice from the book echoed beside the blue-haired girl’s ear:
“You are not a child good at hiding things.”
The blue-haired girl closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh. “Mm, there is still much we have to do right now… everyone is already unable to bear any more fate.”
“Yes,” the voice from the book carried a trace of helplessness. “But in the end, we still have to face our own fate… you know that none of us can escape it.”
“So before the end of fate arrives, we have to do something.” The blue-haired girl stood up, and an exquisite silver-embossed envelope appeared in her hand. “That way at least… the next time we face her, we can be without shame for the decision we made back then.”
“This is…?”
“She has already returned,” the blue-haired girl said calmly. “As she is now… she may need a little help from me…”