CHAPTER 631: CHAPTER 628: END OF THE CELEBRATION

"Ah... help..."

At that moment, a scream echoed inside the house.

Because he planned to go to the door to open it, the person in the room was now standing on the porch, where his right shoulder was completely empty.

Just a moment ago.

Patricia had severed his right arm!

Though she had just acquired this ability, the girl had already managed to apply it in actual combat.

"Ah..."

In the meantime, the guy on the porch continued to whimper.

He had disguised himself as an innocent citizen.

But as soon as he saw Ronald and Patricia at the door, his expression completely changed.

The pain and fear from losing his arm faded from his face.

Instead, a ruthless and mad look appeared in his eyes.

"Heh, you’re also dogs of the investigation bureau, huh!"

"Indeed..."

—

The man on the porch hadn’t finished speaking when Patricia, standing behind Ronald, shifted her right hand slightly and lightly pulled at the sword sheath on her waist.

At this point, there was no dodging or blocking the attack—

The cult magician, standing inside the house and issuing threats, didn’t even understand what had happened to him.

All he saw was darkness before him and a wound appeared on his neck.

He had already bid this world farewell forever.

Plop—

The lifeless body fell to the ground, the corrosive blood immediately seeping out, eating holes into the porch floor while a foul smell began to emit.

Ronald wrinkled his nose as he examined the corpse.

Even in death, the guy’s face still bore the expression ready to launch an attack, showing no recognition of his own demise.

After awakening her new ability.

The current Patricia was not a Swordsman that could be measured in conventional terms.

"..."

"Alright, let’s head to the next place."

After briefly checking the house to ensure no other dangers lingered, Ronald engraved a sigil on the floor to notify the investigation bureau, and then they hastily left the area.

Next...

There was the highly repetitive task of dealing with situations.

Like the hidden cult magicians just like this household, or cluelessly modified citizens of Springs unaware of their transformations. Ronald had devised a rational patrol route based on these people’s psychological actions and decided whether to kill or control them based on actual situations.

Occasionally, there were targets too far off the route, inconvenient to deal with.

Ronald would immediately notify the investigators patrolling the Springs city district.

Two hours had passed in this way.

Inside Springs, skirmishes large and small sporadically erupted, but the city overall still maintained the atmosphere of a festival.

At least for the vast majority of people celebrating the Harvest Festival.

This was undeniably a beautiful holiday to be enjoyed.

"..."

Ronald’s timing was perfect.

When they finished with the last target on their route and returned to the harbor area—the endpoint of the festival parade—the parade’s troupe also happened to arrive at their location.

Looking at the parade in front of them.

Patricia, who was usually responsible for maintaining the city’s safety, pointed at the parade and spoke:

"Ronald, let’s join them."

Ronald watched the happy Patricia in front of him and then nodded:

"Sure."

The Harvest Festival took place at the end of autumn and beginning of winter.

In the city by the sea, the cold wind from far across the sea blew over from the sky.

But amidst the bustling celebration throughout the city, with crowds of people gathered together, no one seemed to feel the chill of the moment.

The brightly lit streets illuminated the night.

The parade, brimming with festive merriment, made its grand arrival at the end of the harbor area.

At that moment, the fireworks at the dock went off.

Under the escort of nobles, knights, and servants, Queen Dantrian crossed the dock and boarded the royal warship named after her via the gangplank.

Ronald had a clear view in the crowd.

The communication company’s staff briskly ran along the warship, quickly placing a microphone wrapped with wires in front of Her Majesty. The surrounding expanse of the dock was visible in several directions, all featuring horn-like loudspeakers erected.

Clap clap clap—

Standing at the specially prepared bow, Dantrian clapped her hands.

Her clapping, transmitted by the most advanced sound equipment of that era, was heard across the entire square. The crowd, even without Her Majesty’s opening her mouth, had already quieted down spontaneously due to the spectacle of the sound system.

With a satisfied glance over the crowd below, Dantrian nodded contentedly and then began to speak in an orderly manner,

"Ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome to Springs!

Everyone knows that today is the annual traditional festival known as Harvest Day. As the ruler of Greede, I am for the past year..."

Standing on the warship bearing her name, Dantrian delivered a very formal speech, even casting a glance at Ronald below during it.

However, Ronald, who was gradually approaching the edge of the square, was not concerned about this.

At that moment, he was deep in thought.

In fact—the timing of this speech had been moved up.

It seemed that Claudia’s message relay had achieved very good results.

Compared to when Ronald saw this scene during Time Retrospection, Queen Dantrian had actually moved up this speech by a whole hour!

As long as the Barrier Mountain Wizards’ timing remains unchanged.

Then by the time they arrived here, the busiest time at the square would have already ended.

Without canceling the celebration,

This was definitely a great choice to minimize the impact of any attack.

Among this, not to be underestimated, was Dantrian’s strong capability for action and her unexpectedly efficient control over the plans.

Involving the entire city in the celebration,

Being able to control and grasp the timing during the parade and then advancing the entire festival’s atmosphere and rhythm early—this was only possible with outstanding planning ability and extremely bold operations.

Dantrian...

Truly a worthy queen of this country.

"Phew..."

With this thought, Ronald breathed a deep sigh of relief.

He did not continue to watch the performance here but instead turned and walked towards the seaside of the dock.

Patricia caught up and asked curiously,

"Ronald, what have you discovered now?"

"This time it’s not about discovering something." Walking to the seaside, Ronald shook his head at Patricia, "Remember the experiences we had in the maze picture book?"

The girl looked a bit puzzled:

"The experiences in the maze... What are you trying to say?"

Ronald pointed at the water in front of them:

"I mean, beneath the sea."

"In the sea water here at the Springs port area, there should still be some issues that need to be addressed."

Patricia suddenly understood.

—Think about the things the two encountered in the maze picture book.

—The tentacles that dragged citizens into the well;

—The monster lurking underneath the waters of the harbor area;

—And the sea monster Ronald encountered when he was repelled by the original source beneath the sea surface.

A picture book maze based on reality could never repeatedly create such things without any basis.

Then the conclusion was quite simple.

Beneath the surface of the water lurked something not yet exposed, but definitely dangerous!