Miss Witch's Forbidden Book Secret

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When Chief Mim came to Mistmoon City that day and discussed mineral development with Tia, Tia noticed these details.

The Great Icefield is divided into three layers. The central, extremely cold zone is described by the expedition team as "looking as if time has been frozen," and it is also the most dangerous area.

The outer ice sheet zone, covered by ice and snow year-round, is also an uninhabited area. While temperatures aren't as extreme as in the center, they still drop to below -100 degrees Celsius. Historically, it has been considered a forbidden zone by the various clans of the Great Ice Sheet.

And then there's the outermost tundra, the homeland, hunting grounds, and pastures of the clans. Since ancient times, savages have settled here, cultivating extraordinary creatures and providing extraordinary materials for the continental nations.

As temperatures rise, the ice sheet is shrinking inwards. The dragon's blood lake and coal mines discovered by the giants are all located within the ice sheet zone. This makes sense.

The giants claimed that the clues to the Seven Gods' Bone and Blood were found at the "very center".

These giants certainly wouldn't go to the center; it would be more likely if the Sorcerer Supreme of the Empire came!

However, the Imperials and the Mimir clan have a long-standing feud. The Wisdom Palace doesn't seem to have a good relationship with them either. The source of that information is highly suspicious.

Meanwhile, the prophets also appeared on the ice plains.

In the very center of the vast meadow of White Sand Manor, in that luxurious residence with its sharply defined roof, exquisitely decorated triangular ivory walls, wide marble portico, and gilded double doors, Prince Albert of the Kingdom of Ansu was marveling at the giants' ingenuity.

There was a knock at the door, and Wilson entered the study, removing his gloves. "Brother," he said, "the banquet venue is almost ready. It's in the center of Silver Castle... but is it really necessary to gather so many people for the sake of the Great Icefield?"

"Because of the recent parliamentary reforms, some people just couldn't hold back anymore. Let's give them a little something—if you can call it that. Ha!"

Albert gestured for Wilson to sit down, jokingly saying, "It seems our Prince Nurem is quite shrewd. He didn't intend to come in and get a piece of the pie. The giants want us to help them transfer the risks, and we're thinking of getting rid of those brainless idiots so they don't interfere with parliamentary reforms."

"So what do the prophet and our Prince Nurem want? The legendary blood and bones of the seven gods?"

Wilson felt a headache coming on.

But Wilson still managed to pick up on the key words and exclaimed in surprise, "Wait, what Prince Nurem?!"

Albert shrugged. "It's the one you suggested today."

"Father of all things! Eleanor actually has someone she likes?"

"Of course, otherwise what do you think I was doing the other day? He was a pretty good young man. It's just that he came from a humble background."

Wilson said worriedly, "Could it be an ordinary citizen?! ​​And from New York, London, and Port, could he be an outsider?"

This prince is more old-fashioned and conservative than Albert—that's the norm for the Ansu royal family.

A king should be like this: majestic, mysterious, rigid, conservative, and aloof.

Albert, on the contrary, was an anomaly.

Albert said, "Not really. She was knighted by her mother. It's just a pity she's a girl."

"That's good! Thank goodness! It turns out it's a girl. I thought she was some commoner from out of town..."

Wilson was about to feel relieved when he froze and exclaimed, "...Wait, it's a girl?!"

Chapter 450 The Master's Mission

For three consecutive days, Tia asked her maid to buy books from the church and bookstores, and she read through the books and documents about the Great Icefield and the barbarian clans again and again.

But she still didn't understand what the prophets were doing.

Even considering Vera's violent and direct way of thinking.

Even if the prophets wanted to probe the bloodline of the Seven Gods, they didn't need to make such a big fuss. The Celestials could have simply used the observation posts of their allies, the Empire, which would have been more discreet and safer.

However, this time Dongya sent a full six hundred people to the Great Ice Plains, making such a grand gesture that even the local giants noticed it, which was completely out of character for the prophet.

Unless they're not looking for the Seven Gods' Blood and Bones at all.

—It is something else, or even a person.

At first, Tia thought the prophets might be looking for Avina. After all, Avina carried the destiny chart of Pisces and had a deep grudge against the prophets.

Moreover, the Great Icefield is such a terrible place that it's perfect for traps. Even the Great Prophet hesitates to venture into the very center of the frigid icefield. Aviana could probably trick quite a few Prophets by using the field card.

But then I thought about it again.

Even if it's just to find Aviana, the number of people mobilized is excessive. The prophets could have easily used their influence to foretell Aviana's existence before taking matters into their own hands.

By making this matter public knowledge, it seems this has nothing to do with Avina, but rather with her.

Tia suddenly felt a headache coming on. The banquet at Silver Castle was tonight, leaving her little time to think.

After much deliberation, she first traveled by carriage with Anne and Eleanor to Silver Castle, then told Anne before heading to the Papal Palace alone.

Firstly, Tia genuinely wanted to understand the prophets' thinking and sought Pope Peter's opinion.

Secondly, she wanted to return the edict of Saint-Simon.

Unfortunately, Peter was not at the Apostolic Palace. She was received by Marshall, who had just arrived from New Orleans.

In a side chapel of St. Simon's Cathedral, Marshall was dressed in his priestly robes and crown, preparing for the morning Mass. Upon seeing Tia, he exclaimed in surprise, "Sulph, what made you suddenly realize there's Mass after we've received our bread?"

Tia was immediately embarrassed and said awkwardly, "Bishop, I'm not here to attend Mass, I'm here to see the Pope."

"I see. I was surprised by how miraculous the path to transcendence is; even your personality changed after your advancement!"

Old Marshall chuckled a few times and said, “But you’re late. Peter went on a business trip to Thessus the day before yesterday. The relics of saints stored there have been contaminated, and Peter had to go and purify them himself. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had to drag this old body to Silver Castle.”

Tia asked in bewilderment, "Isn't this a sacred relic? How did it get contaminated?"

"The sacred remains in the Thesius Museum have caught the eye of the gods in the deep sea. The remains are quite intact. Although they cannot serve as a physical vessel, once contaminated, they can become a real beacon anchoring the gods and attracting their followers."

"From the deep sea? What kind of deity is it?"

Tia didn't expect to find snacks to eat when she returned to Ansu.

Marshall said helplessly, "The church has its own god. The thing created by the industrial plan seems to be called the God of Mechanical Design, Manufacturing and Automation. But it's not as close to the surface as the Three Waste Angels; it's still hundreds of thousands of meters below the surface, so the pollution isn't strong."

Tia found the name a bit unappetizing and lost her appetite. Then she heard Marshall say:

"If you want to return the Edict of Saint-Simon, just go find Vera later. She's over in Fog Harbor. Since she borrowed it, let her go to Thesius to return it."

That being said.

Vera probably doesn't have time to return the decree from Saint-Simon.

Tia needs Vera to go to Saint Engard.

..........

Shortly after, in the Fog Harbour district, at the Fog Harbour Church on White Queen Pier, in the confessional room presided over by Vera.

A sailor, muttering about fish, devoutly confessed and then got up to leave. Vera, her face pale, looked up at the girl outside the window, her lips twitching, and then weakly waved to Tia.

Tia took a sip of the warm milk she had just received from the church, then looked at the nun with her two long, bright red hair tied up in front of her, wearing a priest's robe and a gold-trimmed cross shawl, but lounging in a chair with an extremely arrogant posture.

Tia closed the door and sat in front of Vera's window, saying earnestly, "Vera, you've become even more beautiful."

Vera's lips twitched again. "This is too formulaic. Am I some kind of automated doll designed to trigger dialogue...?"

Although the flattery was very formulaic, it has to be said that it did have some effect, and Vera's mood improved considerably.

Tia counted on her fingers and said, "We'll talk about the non-formulaic stuff later. I'm in a bit of a hurry, so please bear with me for now."

"Are you in heat?"

"???"

"Please don't report me! I'm sorry!"

When Vera saw that Tia was really in trouble, she panicked and begged, "How about I kowtow to you?"

Tia crossed her arms and said, "It is indeed important. I've asked for leave for you. You're going to Saint Enggard at the end of this month. Ostensibly, it's to help me borrow a few secret alchemical texts from Saint Enggard, but secretly, you'll use your connections in Saint Enggard to make a trip to the Golden City."

"The raven shrike will assist you then. He has a human student who is the child of a big shot in the Golden City. After you go to the Golden City, use their connections to find out about the recent activities of the Celestials, especially those related to the Palace of Wisdom."

"Wait, Golden Seven Cities, you want to buy intelligence? So directly?"

"Or what, should we do some foreplay to lubricate it?"

Vera did want to have some foreplay, but since this was a church, she remained serious.

However, Vera had some reservations about Tia's request, complaining, "I just got back from the Iris Flower Festival! And now you're sending me out to sea again. You had a great time with Annie, but I haven't even had a few days of rest."

Tia was a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry."

“There’s nothing to apologize for. It was just Miss Tia’s mission.” Vera was quite open-minded, and she chuckled when she saw Tia back down. She said, “But all the transactions in the Seven Golden Cities cost money. I can’t pay for this.”

"I come."

Vera glanced at the check Tia pulled out, which wasn't even in Annie's name, and exclaimed in surprise, "It must be a lot of money! Where did you get it?"

"Public funds from the Anti-Suppression Bureau. The stated purpose was to investigate the Prophet of the Great Icefield and to fund research."

"You're misusing public funds for personal use, aren't you?!"

Tia tossed the check around and said, "If I don't use this public money, the Anti-Elimination Bureau will be even more panicked. Tsk, a completely wild Sequence 3... I bet Silver Fortress will be too scared to sleep at night. Never mind that for now, the rest of the money is yours anyway."

Vera was muttering about how much money she had when she saw the check starting with a three followed by four zeros. She was momentarily stunned and couldn't help but take a deep breath.

That's way too much money!

Thirty thousand gold pounds would be enough to buy all the intelligence, fill her wardrobe and dressing table, and hire a whole team of twelve Sequence 5 warriors for two weeks!

Even if you cut her Sequence 5 in half, it's not worth that price!

Vera hesitated for a moment, then didn't dare to accept.

Tia asked, "What's wrong? Are you afraid to take it?"

Vera ate and took some, saying:

"This, this is a bit... a bit too much, isn't it? How about we sign a few days' slave contract and I'll just charge you?"

Chapter 451 Before the Banquet

There aren't many intelligence organizations among the countries on the mainland. Put aside the useless civil servants in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the intelligence department who only know how to do nothing.

The only intelligence providers Tia could choose from were the external liaison department of the Wisdom Palace and the Seven Golden Cities of the Seven Seas.

The merchants of the Seven Golden Cities have a completely different intelligence-gathering strategy from the prophets—their trade extends to every port on the continent, and while conducting business, they also gather a wealth of intelligence through trade nodes and commercial communities in various countries.

The intelligence brokers of the Seven Seas often proudly proclaim: as long as there is gold, there is no information that cannot be bought in the City of Gold.

That's why Tia set her sights on the Seven Seas, and while she's at it, she can also borrow a few secret texts from Saint Enggard to decipher, so she can collect all ten texts and accumulate more knowledge.

It remains to be seen how much information the Seven Seas can provide her with from the prophets, while the matter of the Great Icefield is already urgent.

The banquet, hosted tonight in Albert's name by Roman and Prince Wilson, is being held.

Tia filled out a check for the Anti-Epidemic Bureau, so she definitely needed to give Roman face at the banquet. At the same time, Roman also wanted to take this opportunity to announce that Tia had been promoted to Saint.

This is very important news.

There are only two Saints in the entire Ansu Kingdom, and Tia's advancement undoubtedly means that she will soon enter the core power structure of the kingdom.

Therefore, the main characters of this banquet, besides the vast ice plains coveted by nobles and merchants, were Tia, whom the royal family had specially chosen to cool them down and deter those with ulterior motives.

So Roman invited Tia purely to be a mascot and to make things easier.

Anne, on the other hand, was enjoying herself. Mainly because she had attended many such banquets and was very familiar with the rules, knowing exactly what to wear, do, and say.

Tia was thinking of just picking any nice dress, since her body was already in a remarkably harmonious and perfect state. From a purely aesthetic point of view, wearing clothes could even be seen as a way of ruining the beauty of the body.

Since that's the case, you might as well just wear something casual.

But clearly, Miss Anne Mercury didn't think so. Anne took Tia Nikki very seriously, having the maids pick out one outfit and piece of jewelry after another.

To be honest, Tia didn't hate it; in fact, she enjoyed it.

Of all the girls Tia knew, Anne was the closest to her. You could even say she was closer to her than to Avina.

In Tia's memory, Avina was a rather irresponsible older sister, more like a troublesome younger sister who rarely contacted her except to send money, and when she did, she would only respond with a question mark.

Vera is similar, but she's like the classmate you sat next to in school who would sleep during class but be lively and energetic after class, loved to talk big but was incredibly timid, yet her grades weren't bad.

Eleanor was quite strange. She wasn't like an ordinary friend, but rather a pretty young online friend who played games online and was somewhat addicted to the internet. She was all talk and no action, and because of the internet's obscuring effect, she had no idea whether the person on the other end was a human or a dog. Therefore, she spoke very directly and bluntly, logging in whenever she wanted.

Holly is like the seemingly aloof but surprisingly strong little sister next door; Bridget is like the spoiled rich kid from a wealthy family who looks down on you while showering you with money; Scarlett is like a reliable college intern who has just joined the company; and Vanessa is like a seasoned veteran in the company who never fixes any code, only slacks off until the end of the workday, and then goes out for barbecue with you.

Branna and Freya are not human.

Anne is the girl who gives Tia a "motherly" feeling, making her feel quite relaxed and at ease in her company.

Yes, Mother.