The black-haired maid hurried from the manor's entrance along the gravel path of the courtyard towards the magnificent three-story mansion. If Xia De remembered correctly, this was the same maid who had given him the relic, the vampire ring, from The Lady on the third floor of the Lucky Southern Cross Club.
"The Lady is here too?"
Xia De stood by the long table, looking up at the manor house not far away. He could only see a few young ladies in evening gowns chatting on the second-floor balcony.
One of them, a red-haired girl holding a glass of wine, noticed Xia De's gaze and pointed him out to her friends.
He saw the girls on the second-floor balcony all looking in their direction. Though he didn't want to cause trouble, Xia De still nodded slightly in greeting, then casually moved away from that spot.
"Seeing so many hair colors at once, this is truly a novel experience."
He thought this as he arrived at the rear courtyard of the manor.
Xia De wasn't sure of the exact area of Lakeview Manor, but even without counting the racetrack connected to the manor and the nearby farms, its size exceeded an Outsider's imagination.
Behind the residence was a garden, divided into different sections. Walking further back, the manor connected directly to Schluch Lake, and there was even a small pier and pleasure boats by the lake. Xia De had already seen young men and women boating on the lake with candles.
He didn't get too close to the lake, not because he didn't want to admire the beautiful scenery of march in the night sky, suspended over the clear water, but purely because it was too cold by the lake.
The garden itself was enough for Xia De to broaden his horizons. He wondered if it was some kind of custom, but young lovers always seemed to burrow into the deeper parts of the garden. While they didn't do anything improper, merely whispering sweet nothings on benches, it still made Xia De, who was wandering around, quite awkward.
He was wandering around purely to gain knowledge and better adapt to life in this world. He intentionally sought things to do to pass the time, but unknowingly, he was down to his last few business cards, which were for Baron Lavende's friends, and there was no need to hand them out anymore.
So, thinking of finding a place to sit, and seeing that the garden maze had many gentlemen and ladies strolling among the flowers, he left this area, intending to rest under the tulip statue over there.
But before he had walked a few steps, he saw a group of people emerge from a path on the side of the manor, surrounded by flowers. That was the side gate connecting the manor garden to the stables. They hurried in, guided by an Old Butler-dressed old man carrying a kerosene lamp.
They were over ten solemn-faced Church personnel, dressed in uniform black overcoats. He judged them to be Church members because Priest Augustus had recently mentioned the attire and weapon requirements for Church Ring術士 teams when they appeared.
Although Xia De didn't see the Church's holy emblem, and thus couldn't determine which Orthodox Church these people belonged to, they were undoubtedly dangerous.
Thinking this, he naturally turned in another direction on the path in front of the garden, passing by the group.
As they brushed past him, the voice in his mind simultaneously reminded him that "Miracle," "inspiration," and "whisper" elements had appeared, which further confirmed Xia De's guess about their identities.
"However, if every Ring術士 gets such obvious reminders when they pass by an Orthodox Church team, then what kind of secret operations can they have? It couldn't be that only you can do it, could it? The Lady who claims to be another me."
【Do I need to repeat myself?】
"It's because my soul is sensitive."
Xia De said in his mind, then heard the woman's pleasant laughter again.
Among the team of over ten people, the leader was a middle-aged man about Xia De's height but strong enough to punch one Xia De and one orange cat Mia to death. Most of the team members behind him were male. Of the two females, one looked to be around thirty, with lips painted purple; the other was probably under eighteen, with long brown hair, and even Xia De could tell she seemed a bit more nervous than the others.
"Is this her first time on a mission with the team? ...Why does she look a bit familiar? Oh, right, I ran into her when I went to pick up Mia in Violet Iris Lane that day, and I had a strange feeling then (Note)."
Xia De thought, not turning back to look at the group. However, the voice in his head spoke, not to tease Xia De for noticing a strange young girl:
【Outsider, you have seen destiny.】
"Huh? Have I seen it? When did I see it?"
He wondered in his mind, but kept walking forward, afraid of being mistaken for a bad guy by the Orthodox Church's Ring術士 team.
"But on second thought, why am I nervous? I don't seem to have done anything bad, what am I afraid of? I'm a good person."
His steps slowed, but he still didn't look back.
【It's hard to explain. Repeated encounters with her have made you discover the uniqueness of the strange girl. Even if I don't say anything, you should have felt her difference.】
The voice murmured.
"Can you express it in a way I can understand?"
Xia De retorted, pretending to be curious about the blue-winged butterflies in the flowerbed ahead.
He expected no answer again, but unexpectedly, this time the woman's voice was surprisingly understanding:
【The chosen person of destiny appearing here seems to indicate that something big is about to happen.】
"The Lady is present, and the Orthodox Church team has also appeared... Something is indeed amiss. So, do I need to leave?"
He asked in his mind, but received no further answer.
Xia De knew he had to make up his own mind and couldn't rely on the woman's voice that claimed, "I am you."
But after thinking about it, he didn't leave. This was certainly not because of the at least half a pound of remuneration and the un-reimbursed travel expenses, but because a sudden departure would be too conspicuous, and he was determined not to approach any dangerous places or actively seek trouble.
"This place is so big, as long as I don't wander around or deliberately seek danger, can danger still implicate me even with an Orthodox Church Ring術士 team present?"
He thought to himself, returning to the long table laden with food.
Even when strangers gather, they can start talking about common topics. Xia De, who was thinking of finishing his supper early, was unknowingly drawn into a discussion about the "feasibility of New World immigration."
The New World, discovered by people through the Age of Discovery fifty years ago, is vast and rich in resources, and its hidden places are filled with strange ancient civilization ruins and even tombs.
However, to this day, no traces of living indigenous people have ever been found in the New World. Therefore, scholars from the northern Delarion Kingdom and the southern Carson Rick United Kingdom on the Old Continent unanimously believe this is abnormal and that populations should not be easily migrated there. Due to this reason, there have been no large-scale official colonization efforts between the two continents to date, only numerous military pioneer legions, adventurers, and ambitious individuals, bringing their families and friends to that rich land.
The Kingdom's officials are also considering this issue. More than fifty years have passed since the Age of Discovery, and the first generation of adventurers who set foot on the New World have grown old, some even spending their entire lives there, but no problems have arisen. Therefore, whether official population migration can be carried out has become a hot topic again in the last decade.
The men by the long banquet table at Lakeview Manor, dressed in proper formal wear and enjoying the cool early summer night breeze, engaged in a fierce but unsubstantial debate on this issue. The novel viewpoints made Xia De nod frequently, realizing that no matter the era, people always enjoyed such conversations.