Miss Witch's Forbidden Book Secret

Westerburg stands on this frozen land, but fortunately the valley where it is located is slightly warmer, and you can still see some bare trees with fallen leaves, and hear the sounds of flowing water and swimming fish under the ice on the river.

There is some farmland, but not much, and it is not well maintained. It is filled with an elusive spirituality, which is the result of a superhuman from a stinky city who doesn't know how to farm and forcibly uses rituals to create miracles.

The castle is located at the end of the farmland, on a slightly higher elevation, requiring a climb up a small hill several tens of meters high. The castle is constructed entirely of bricks and stones, and has been repaired and maintained using mortar and other modern materials. Its overall appearance resembles a cylindrical barn with four walls. Shooting holes are opened around the barn, and some houses are crowded together with the castle within the walls.

There weren't many people living there; including the castle and other houses on the mountain, there were at most a hundred. They were either scholars or extraordinary individuals.

The researchers and superhumans in Westburg were quite welcoming of Tia and her companions. Not only did the three of them come, but a convoy and supplies also accompanied them.

The hostess for Tia was Duke Rashina Velen, who had been exiled there in misery.

To Tia's surprise, Rashina was in good spirits, showing no signs of complaining about the environment or feeling depressed; on the contrary, she was radiant. She was already very well-maintained, and with her high-sequence body being extremely healthy, she looked like she was only a teenager.

Tia and Annie pondered for a long time without figuring it out. Vera scratched her head and said, "If we're exiled to a place like this, we won't have to socialize with those stupid nobles in Silver Castle, just like I don't have to go to work, right? That's definitely good for our health."

Tia fell silent.

Indeed, it is true that great foolishness appears as wisdom; this saying certainly makes sense.

A good social environment and not having to work are indeed secrets to good health.

Rashina led Tia, Anne, and Vera to the castle's dining room, invited them to sit down, and brought out two bottles of wine.

Do you drink alcohol?

Rashina shook the bottle with amusement.

Tia and Annie asked in unison, "What kind of wine?"

"Fino Sherry, made from Coldwater Harbour ice grapes. Sweet, not bitter."

"That's alright."

Anne took a taste, her eyes lit up, and she brought it to Tia's lips. "Delicious!"

Vera, a child, raised her hand and said, "I don't drink alcohol."

Rashina nodded gently and said, "I know. Vera, right? The church has another support plan?"

"I came by myself."

"Oh, I see." Rashina chuckled a few times and said, "But why did you bring Anne and this nun along, Sulph? Are you on your honeymoon? Wait a minute! Anne's here, but where's Eleanor? Did you dump her?"

Tia nearly choked on her drink and corrected her, "Don't talk nonsense!"

"Don't talk nonsense. We're not here for a honeymoon, or to get rid of Eleanor."

"neither!"

"Oh~" Rashina smiled, glanced at the group, and asked, "If it's not true, then it's not true. If you ever get married, remember to invite me to the banquet."

Tia took a deep breath. "Aunt Rashina, give up! I will absolutely not invite you!"

Chapter 499 The Situation of the Great Icefield

Westerburg was definitely a harsh and cold place, but thanks to the frequent support from Ansu, there weren't many people in the castle, so Rashina's welcoming feast was quite lavish.

Tia also brought two boxes of tea she had gotten from Silver Castle for Rashina. Rashina was immediately flattered.

This is different from other gift-givers. "I appreciate it when someone asks me for something." Most other gift-givers have a specific request, or at least a certain ultimate goal.

Because Rashina is the Duke of Velen.

But Tia's gift was like buying an ice cream, liking it, and sharing a few bites with her best friend—purely an attempt to win over her.

It wasn't particularly valuable, but by sharing a little, Tia and Rashina quickly developed a close relationship.

Tia and the others chatted with Rashina in the restaurant, from how to care for their skin in the dry and cold climate of the Great Icefield to the customs and traditions of the barbarian clans of the Great Icefield. Finally, because they all had some minor conflicts with that idiot Albert, they all said that the royal family was really doomed and that Eleanor should be the king instead.

After talking with Rashina for a while, she basically figured out the situation of the Great Icefield.

There are currently four factions on the Great Icefield.

One is Westerburg, where Rashina is stationed, Tia has just arrived, and Bernice has only recently woken up in the castle tower, but has been forbidden from getting out of bed by the priest.

One is the Empire's Evernight Fortress, four hundred kilometers from Westerburg, where Princess Caroline of Pinnock is located. Archmage Merlin is also there, his injuries having improved. The Empire has also dispatched Alexander, the presiding judge of the Grand Court of the Glass Palace in the Imperial Capital—a Saint of Sequence Three.

One is the Wisdom Palace of the Celestials, also stationed in the Evernight Fortress, which includes the "Faceless One" Dongya Bahram and a Sequence Four prophet. But there are no other saints.

One is a group of spirits that are rioting in the extreme cold region. There are probably seven or eight thousand of them. The weakest is Sequence Seven, and the strongest can give even Sequence Four a headache. Only a Saint can deal with them.

There are also the various barbarian clans, such as Holmur and Mimir, but they are mostly subordinate to the Empire or Ansu and watch from the sidelines.

The spirit disturbances on the Great Icefield are still confined to the central frigid zone and the periphery of the outer icefield, but they are already expanding outwards. Westerburg lies in the gap between the outermost tundra and the icefield, so it is occasionally visited by wandering spirits.

As for the cause of the spirit riots, according to Rashina's research and Ms. Bernice's personal investigation in the ice field:

Someone blasted the barrier between the ice sheet and the deep sea, causing deep-sea turbulence to directly reach the material world.

Rashina clinked glasses with Tia, finding Tia increasingly pleasing to the eye. She explained, "The Great Icefield is very different from other places. We didn't understand the situation of the Great Icefield before the spirit riots, but we understand it very well now."

"The Great Icefield is essentially a 'pure land.' That's exactly what it means, the purest place. Just take the Icefield Zone as an example, Tia, Annie, and especially Vera—do you know what the Icefield Zone is like? Even I, a Sequence Four, felt suppressed when I went there, as if a Sequence Five sacred domain was covering tens of millions of square kilometers of icefield. Just like that iron lump of yours."

This refers to Tia's operating table.

Tia retorted, "That's not a lump of iron."

"More or less. But that's not the point. The point is the characteristics of the Great Icefield. I suspect it's because it's the furthest from the deep sea. To put it in perspective, when we're in Ansu, it's like we're on a plain a few meters high, only a few stories away from the deep sea. But standing on the Great Icefield, we're at an altitude of thousands or even tens of thousands of meters. Now that the spirits have rioted, someone has forcibly broken through these tens of thousands of meters of altitude, diverting the deep-sea turbulence into the material world. That's why I've felt the suppression loosen a little."

Rashina remarked, "This explains why the barbarians of the Great Icefield clans possess supernatural abilities that no one else can possibly have. The ancestors of the Great Icefield were probably extraordinary beings, but they were suppressed by the Great Icefield and could not manifest themselves. Over time, these abilities became embedded in their bodies, and their descendants were born from their wombs, inheriting their flesh and blood."

Tia pondered this hypothesis. Barbarians are indeed quite different from normal humans. Putting aside the beautiful long-eared elf sisters and muscular elf crossdressers of the Silver Mist Clan, just look at those giants who are three or four meters tall at a time.

Tia felt like these were two different species...

Annie asked curiously, "But why specifically drill through the Great Icefield? If the intention is to create a spirit riot, wouldn't it be more appropriate to do it elsewhere?"

"That's the problem—I don't know."

Rashina really couldn't understand it.

This was like deliberately asking for trouble; breaking through the barrier between the Great Icefield and the Deep Sea was not only more difficult than breaking through the barrier between Anzu and the Deep Sea, but it also had almost no impact on the material world.

—In a desolate place like the Great Ice Plains, where there isn't a soul, would you release spirits and throw them onto the ice plains to fight each other like crickets?

That's quite leisurely and refined.

Tia's first guess was that the Wisdom Palace was up to something. The Great Ice Plains were an ideal place for the Wisdom Palace to project its destiny star chart.

When a destiny star map is projected into the deep sea, it needs to be continuously accelerated before reaching the critical layer; the faster the speed, the better, because once it enters the critical layer, the descent speed will become fixed and uniform.

Projecting a star map onto the vast ice sheet is like launching a rocket at the equator, where the equator provides a speed boost of 460 meters per second.

But then I felt it was contradictory.

Why would the Wisdom Palace publicly notify all countries about something like this?

Tia didn't understand, but it was already late, so after dinner she and Rashina went upstairs to their respective rooms.

The castle wasn't very big, with a total of thirty or forty rooms. It couldn't be divided up to give one-tenth of the rooms to Tia and the others, so they all lived together.

However, the room layout is quite good. It's on the fourth floor of the top floor, 40 square meters, and decorated in a very modern style. All the walls are painted with white gold paint. The only drawback is that there is a bay window on the north wall, which is military-safe, so the lighting is not good.

This room was originally intended for the occupant of Westerburg, Queen Elizabeth, and therefore contained only a bed.

Very big.

It's not a problem to fit at least three people in bed.

Tia wanted to prepare her ceremonial room first, then move the operating table over, and also visit Bernice, who lived on the third floor—but the lady had already gone to bed early.

Tia was also pulled to bed by Annie. In order to avoid disturbing Ms. Bernice's sleep, the three girls squeezed on the bed and indulged in entertainment in the temple for two or three hours. Then they returned to reality, rubbed their eyes, and snuggled together to fall into a deep sleep.

Only the Holy Trinity, far away, is Eleanor Moen, the former princess of the Kingdom of Ansu, now Miss Funina Bonaparte, the great guardian of the Iris.

She sneezed in the bright bedroom, rubbed her nose, looked at the white ceiling and the gilded chandelier, and muttered blankly to herself:

"Oh... um, where is this place?"

Chapter 500 Avina, when are you coming out?

At midnight, in the northern border of the Holy Solomon Empire, at the Imperial Palace at No. 7 Fran Street, Eternal Night Fortress.

In the magnificent conference room, Princess Caroline of the Empire was convening a meeting with the officials in charge of the Evernight Fortress checkpoint and border defenses.

Princess Caroline is twenty years old. She has long black hair and black eyes, which are inherited from pure-blooded people. She is dignified in her military uniform. Although she has no right to the throne, she is the favorite daughter of the current emperor Pinnock XIII and his right-hand woman.

In particular, the recent protests and riots in the three southwestern prefectures that enraged the imperial upper class were handled exceptionally well by the princess. She quickly led the army to take control of the situation and held three rounds of open negotiations to resolve a rebellion that had been brewing in the bud.

At this moment, this usually stern and unsmiling iron-blooded princess wore a cheerful smile that was quite different from her usual serious expression.

This smile comes from the amazing discoveries made during this period.

Just a few days ago, a convoy from the Iris Flower passed through the vicinity of Eternal Night Fortress, and since Eternal Night Fortress had just strengthened its border defenses, they were allowed to stop briefly.

When they checked the people in the convoy, it was truly astonishing!

Marne Cullen, that conman who fooled the Glass Palace and the Duke of Chapel, and Her Excellency Fernina Bonaparte, the Great Guardian of the Iris, were both in the carriage!

If they could capture her, it would be a great achievement—especially for Frynn Bonaparte, whose reputation during the Brumaire Rebellion almost surpassed Jeremiah's. At the time, the Empire even speculated whether the Constitutional Council wanted to take the opportunity to crown her queen.

Of course, Caroline didn't intend to make things difficult for these people.

She simply wanted to persuade her friends who had come from afar to stay as guests, lest they go to Westerburg and get mixed up with the Anzu people.

The Archmage Merlin, who had just undergone surgery, and a group of officials listened as Caroline finished her meeting.

As the meeting drew to a close, and Caroline and Merlin both left the meeting room, a series of hushed discussions erupted inside.

"Is Princess Caroline planning to claim credit for capturing Marne and Bonaparte?"

"Don't talk nonsense. Princess Caroline and the First Prince are at odds the most, and Duke Chapel supports the First Prince. But the Iris group is really unlucky..."

“That Bonaparte is a big shot; we might be able to get some information about Iris out of her.”

"Don't say that! I'm going to receive that Great Guardian."

"Bruce, tell me what you think. I heard she's a beautiful woman."

"That's true! But this Great Guardian's schedule is so damn weird. She either sleeps at 10 or 1 or 2 at night, or at 3 or 4 in the morning, and sometimes she wakes up during the day. Nobody knows when she sleeps or when she wakes up."

"That's a big shot from abroad, I can't exactly send someone to wake her up, can I? I can't sleep for a single minute, I haven't been home for three days, I have to stand downstairs in the cold wind of the hotel waiting for her to wake up so I can invite her to the city hall for some tea and to say hello—and guess what? As soon as we got to the city hall, she fell asleep again! Kira and those young guys couldn't wake her up no matter how much they shook her, so I had to take her back. Father of all things, please have mercy on me. I'm not even this diligent when I'm taking care of my own daughter!"

Bruce wore a black cloak, and the badge on his chest identified him as a Senior Judge of the Inquisition.

Senior judges are generally ranked sixth or fifth in the hierarchy. Further up the hierarchy are the presiding judge of the county court, the presiding judge of the capital court, and the chief judge of the imperial supreme court.

If Ansu's supernatural system is combined with the police system, and Iris Flower is combined with the administrative system, then the Empire is undoubtedly combined with the judiciary, especially the courts.

Bruce looked distressed, covered his face with his hat, and lay on the chair, his long, black curly hair now streaked with white.

An officer from the distant Evernight Fortress defenses quipped, "Bruce, you'll have to get used to it. We'll be going to the front lines with Mage Merlin soon. It's much tougher there than here."

Bruce took off his hat and said dismissively, "Come on, Charlas! What could be worse than this? I have to stand downstairs in the freezing wind in the middle of the night!"

Officer Chalas shrugged and said, “That outpost is barbarian territory. You know what kind of people those barbarians are. The mage even has to cooperate with them in their research on the Seven Gods’ bloodline. Listen to that, barbarian research! And then, our archmage has a quirk. He likes to eat Ansu cuisine—luckily, he's not so quirky as to want to hire Iris Flower people to maintain order at that outpost, otherwise not only would our stomachs be ruined, but our lives would be over there.”

"With the Father of all things above, hell is empty! This is more terrifying than the deep sea..."

While the officials were still feeling a sense of lingering fear, they suddenly felt a slight tremor under their feet. Bruce got up in surprise, intending to open the window to see what was happening outside.

With a creak—

The window had barely been opened a crack when a frenzied force slammed against it, knocking Bruce to the ground. The powerful, extraordinary inquisitor was unable to withstand the immense force, and then a flash of light surged toward him.

It looked like a solidified ball of holy light, or something like a ball of lightning flashing with electric sparks.

In an instant, the officials present were all shocked. Several superhumans quickly used their superhuman abilities, especially Bruce, who was originally an Inquisitor. However, before the light in his hand could even begin to gather, the ball of light veered off course and crashed into the ground, then disappeared.

Officer Chalas exclaimed, "It's those spirits again! Are they just bored and have nothing better to do? Every time they break in, they don't kill anyone or do anything else, they just wander around and leave?"

Bruce said with lingering fear, "This is not right. This is definitely not a simple spirit. This is more like a ritual of tracking and taking lives than a spirit."

"Tracing and retaliating?"

This ritual was well-known to everyone; although it was a Sequence Seven ritual, it was incredibly useful for assassinating or hunting down enemies. Tia had used it before, in her first nightmare.

The master of the ritual can directly control a spirit to hunt down enemies within a 50-kilometer radius, and sometimes even after a person dies, the true culprit cannot be traced back.

However, as the officer said, this ceremony was indeed not intended for killing.

It's used to find people.

Thousands of miles away, in the vast ice plains, stand rows of ice pillars that resemble blooming crystals. At certain moments, a human figure will appear on the side of these ice pillars.