Millennium Witch

Book 3: Chapter 229: The Beast Parade

The evening sky was dyed a dusky velvet by countless orange lights and magitech power spires. At the edge of District Nine, a deserted clock tower stood like a lone island in a sea of lamps, shrouded in deep darkness. From high above came the long horn of an airship, which only made the stillness feel deeper.Two figures in black cloaks appeared beneath the tower’s iron bones. Each stood in a patch of shadow, and only a wavering glow from far off fell between them like a solitary spotlight at center stage.

“Bazel, your intel cost me a precious Benediction.” The voice of one of them was tight with anger. If the captured cultist Lane had been here, he would have recognized this as his superior, an Evernight Apostle, the highest rank among the Evernight Conclave’s apostles.

“I gave you information, nothing more. Your judgment was at fault, so spare me the blame. If you had used a top-tier Benediction from the start, there would have been no such accident.” Bazel was a relatively slim figure in black robes. His voice sounded androgynous, clearly the product of some voice-masking trick.

“You think my allotment of Benedictions is endless?” Though his face was hidden, his tone made it easy to imagine the scowl beneath. “And what about your toxin? You were closer. Why didn’t you act?”

“I used the Frenzy Toxin to draw attention for you. That does not make it my obligation,” Bazel said coldly. “Besides, my assignment is far heavier than yours.”

The black-robed man drew a long breath and changed the subject. “The item?”

Something flew out of the shadows. He caught it and found a scroll. By the dim sky-gleam he unrolled and checked it, discovering a detailed hand-drawn map marked with all kinds of notes. He put the scroll away. “You’ve stayed here a long time. A reminder, do not forget who you are.”

“No need.” Bazel turned and left.

Watching his back recede, the black-robed man soon vanished into the dark as well.

Compared with incident-packed March and April, the City of Truth enjoyed a rare spell of quiet through the whole of May.

During that time, Lucia, Anya, and Flami, under Captain Palea’s lead, fully learned the Committee’s work and were promoted from interns to full members.

June arrived next, its early-summer sunlight scorching and bright, and the campus gradually filled with a restless anticipation, the scent of a major event drawing near.

“The Beast Parade?” Yvette was sprawled on the sofa, chin pressed to the edge, speaking indistinctly. Her face was turned down, a book spread open on the floor.

“You don’t know, Yvette?” Lucia sat on the sofa’s edge, hand loosely clenched, absentmindedly tapping Yvette’s leg.

“I’ve heard of it,” Yvette said lazily.

Beast Spirit College sat in District Four, and the Beast Parade was its quadrennial festival. Though it looked like a faculty event at first glance, it was in fact a grand procession that circled the whole of District Four, its influence radiating across much of the Eastern Continent. The precious contract beasts that the college had bred and trained over many years would gather and take to the streets as merchandise, awaiting selection by nobles, merchant guilds, and adventurers from all over the world.

In a sense, “trade exhibition” might be an even better description.

She had heard about the Beast Parade mainly because of the famous Beast King, Daedalus. This Terrorclaw Beast King was the Academy of Truth’s best-known guardian war-beast. In the centuries after the Legendary Mage’s fall, it had rendered great service in repelling invaders, defeating foes from the Western Continent and members of evil organizations in the East, its strength beyond that of an Archmage.

Since the Alchemy College and Beast Spirit College had jointly announced that Daedalus’s modification project was complete, it would become the continent’s first alchemical war-beast. With that kind of hype, curiosity was high and a steady stream of people poured into the City of Truth.

“So for the half month before the festival, I have to report to District Four often to assist with security,” Lucia said.

Yvette was not surprised. “Go ahead.”

“Can you come with me?” Expectation filled the girl’s violet eyes.

“I can go with you for two days.”

“Deal.” Two days was enough to make Lucia happy. Then she frowned. “Senior says the Witch Cult is bound to make a move around the festival, though we do not know when or where.”

“District Four is the most likely,” Yvette said.

“Why?” Lucia was puzzled. Her judgment, and that of Anya and Flami, was the exact opposite.

In their view, while the festival itself took place in District Four, the City of Truth was concentrating most resources to upgrade security in District Four, which meant capacity in the other eight districts dropped. Wouldn’t striking elsewhere, while everyone’s attention was fixed on Four, be the smarter play?

“Because what they want is infamy,” Yvette said.

Lucia blinked, then nodded. It made sense. “Which means more trouble for us.”

In the days that followed, Yvette kept Lucia company for four days, giving her two extra. She could clearly feel that not only District Four but the entire City of Truth was swelling with people. The streets filled with faces from far and wide: mercenaries walking war mastiffs, merchants from the Southern Alliance, elders of the snow-country tribes in fur, dwarves and half-orcs from the Free Alliance, pureblood elves in emerald robes.

She even saw the legendary dragonkin, servants of the Dragon Nation from the Dragon Isles in the southern seas. Though counted among the broad humankind, they were far taller than ordinary humans, with cold vertical pupils and an innate air of authority.

When that squad of dragonkin had passed and gone, Lucia turned and saw a thoughtful look on Yvette’s face. “Yvette, what are you thinking about?”

“I’m considering how dragonkin came to be.”

“How else, obviously from humans and dragons, um.” Lucia trailed off. She knew nothing about matters at the Dragon King level, but in all she had heard, dragons were dragons. They did not shrink themselves into human form. Then how could they reproduce with humans?

“The size difference seems a bit much,” she murmured, cheeks warming at the scenes that came to mind.

“What if it is a human man and a she-dragon?” Yvette continued to ponder this profound topic.

“S-still too big, right?” Lucia’s face reddened further. She almost never brought up such things, as pure as blank paper. Not that she was ignorant. Her father Eamon had never taught this, yet she had figured out enough on her own. Talking about it, though, was too stimulating, and not very ladylike. She only dared think about it.

By contrast, Yvette, who had zero practical experience but considered herself a grandmaster in reproductive theory, did not find the topic embarrassing at all and only grew more focused.

In the end, even with her vast theoretical knowledge, she could not reason anything out. She could only suppose there were otherworldly secrets she had yet to learn hidden in it, and she sighed and declared, “Humanity is a species of infinite possibility.”

….

The Beast Parade was scheduled for late June. It was still mid-June now, and there was plenty of time left. If the Witch Cult truly meant to build a fearsome name by sabotaging Beast Spirit College’s crucial festival this year, their timing could only be the first day of the celebration. The grand opening ceremony was that day. There was no better chance to slap the Academy of Truth in the face.

Soon, this view spread widely among the Committee and even the student body at large. It was only a hypothesis, no one knew who had started it, but it really did shape many minds.

Many Committee members subconsciously began to believe that the first day of the festival would be the decisive battle, and that the current moment, with more than ten days to go, was an unnoticed preparation period, not worth keeping their nerves so tight.