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Chapter 82 Gods are Almighty
“Five days have passed…” Malena paced back and forth in the camp. “How long are we going to have to wait here?”

This delegation is doomed.

France is finished!
She looked at the coachman and the guards... They were sitting on the grass, playing a dice game. They could keep staring at those few broken dice from morning till night!
She then turned to look at Baron Milton on the other side, who was still carrying his tea-making tools and was currently sharing his tea-drinking experiences with the diplomats, seemingly indifferent to the leader's disappearance!
What about the witch team?

Sarah doesn't care where she is as long as she has the opportunity to study alchemy.

The other two were less apprentice witches and more like handmaids sent by the council to take care of her and Sarah. They were only fifteen or sixteen years old, so don't expect them to take on any important responsibilities.

Yes, in this damn team, I'm the only one who cares whether we can complete this mission!
For the first time, Malena felt that being responsible was such a agonizing thing.

Every extra day she spent here, she felt as if she had lost a year of her life!
After pacing around impatiently four or five times, she returned to the Baron. "Do you really think we can just sit here and wait? The British offensive is relentless, and soldiers are dying on the front lines every day, while we're just lying in the countryside sunbathing!"

Milton looked up at her and calmly invited her to sit down, saying, "Miss Witch, the delegation is essentially an army, and the leader is the general who commands it. The general's order is to wait in place. If you act on your own, you will be disobeying orders and no one will plead for you if you are hanged."

“What if the general gives orders haphazardly?” Malena retorted.

"He will be dismissed and tried, but whether he has committed dereliction of duty will be decided by His Majesty and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army."

"So, you mean we can change our leader? You probably also think it's unreasonable for us to stay put for five days after only traveling a short distance," she argued. "Could we speak to His Majesty and ask him to reconsider the leader selection?"

However, the baron gave a strange look, then exchanged a smile with the other officials.

"It can't be done."

"Why?" Malena couldn't understand. She was a witch and it wasn't so easy for her to see His Majesty, but if Milton returned to the capital, Charles VII shouldn't refuse him entry.

“…Sigh, since you’ve never worked in the court, let me say a few more words.” Milton shook his head helplessly. “His Majesty the King and the Holy Maiden jointly decided that His Excellency Xuan would lead the delegation. It’s only been five days, and you’ve already asked His Majesty to retract his decision. Isn’t that tantamount to accusing them of misjudging people? Moreover, the Divine Envoy also said that his plan needs time to prepare. Five days is nothing in the grand scheme of things, and you don’t have any evidence of his dereliction of duty. His Majesty won’t just replace him based on what you and I have to say.”

"If you make false accusations, it's fine if it succeeds, but if it fails, it means you'll be hated by both the Divine Envoy and the Holy Maiden. Most people can't afford such a good thing," another official said with a half-sarcastic laugh.

"Did His Excellency Xuan simply disappear from his tent? The guards didn't see him leave the camp at all. What's wrong with someone with that kind of ability making me wait another ten days or half a month?"

Malena had nothing to say.

Disappearing is considered a big deal? If a witch had demonstrated a "gasification technique" a few years ago, you would have bound her up and burned her as if she were using evil magic!

However, Malena didn't believe that the divine messenger was completely incompetent and actually a conman. A mere conman could never gain Lady Joan of Arc's trust, let alone be regarded as a divine messenger. Moreover, she had been to Joan of Arc's realm at her invitation; it was a room filled with soft holy light, decorated not as opulent as a cathedral, but with a natural and warm feel.

When the divine messenger pointed a strange contraption at herself, she even saw a list recording all that she had learned in her life.

Joan of Arc said this was a necessary way to leave a mark, and only then did she put down her alchemy, which she had been researching for many years but could not synthesize the ideal potion.

As for what the other party gave her, it was a strange ability called the Breathing Technique.

This is definitely not an illusion, because she now naturally draws some magical power from her surroundings every day, and can draw even more when facing the moon at night.

How could someone who can easily change another person's talents and knowledge be incompetent?
In a sense, Malena actually felt that the messenger of the gods was more like a demon!
This ability means that a god can make a mortal rise to the heavens in one step, and can also cause those talented and heroic people to fall in an instant.

Her desire to change the team leader wasn't just about waiting idly; she also had this other consideration in mind.

Malena was somewhat afraid to deal with people like that.

Seeing that her attempts to persuade her had failed, she could only return to the center of the camp and continue circling.

On the sixth day, things finally took a turn for the better.

After Malena finished breakfast, a faint voice echoed in her mind. Listening closely, it seemed to be a repeated whisper…

"It's time for a follow-up visit, remember to leave a good review! It's time for a follow-up visit, remember to leave a good review!"

Realizing that this was not a hallucination, she was immediately terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.

Legend has it that when demons come knocking, they cause people to experience all sorts of hallucinations.

Who is it? Who is whispering in my head?

Suppressing her panic, she circled the camp and discovered the sound seemed to be coming from the direction of a nearby house. Malena immediately called Sarah and the guards, and they surrounded the house from all sides.

As she cautiously approached the front of the house, she found the messenger of the gods standing at the door waiting for her. The house was bright and clean, with shelves piled high with a dazzling array of exquisite goods, making it look nothing like an abandoned house.

“Look, he’s back.” Sarah patted her shoulder. “He’s probably about to set off. I’m going to pack up my alchemy chest. Remember to pack your smelly socks properly, don’t put them with the herbs.”

No… Malena looked at Chen Xuan in disbelief. Is this the kind of message you said, “I will send you a message when the time is right”?

What is a follow-up visit? What is a positive review? Does this message ultimately have any meaning?

"As long as the connection is established, everyone is here, right?" Chen Xuan didn't pay attention to her stiff expression and directly instructed the guards, "Call everyone over, I have something to tell you."

Soon the entire delegation arrived.

During this time, they witnessed another strange event.

A group of burly men, clearly not of French descent, quickly dismantled the gate of the house until it was wide enough for a four-wheeled carriage to pass through.

Then they slowly carried a strangely shaped metal object out of the house.

It was painted with a shiny varnish and was much larger than a royal carriage. It had seats inside, so it seemed to be for people to ride in, but it had no wheels. With its straight, thin tail, it looked a bit like a tadpole.

"How long have I been gone?" Chen Xuan asked after everyone had arrived.

"Six days," Malena said through gritted teeth.

It seems that one day there is equivalent to two days here, which is a good ratio. Chen Xuan thought to himself that the more frequently the shops connect, the smaller the time error will be. Compared to the Joan of Arc era, where more than ten years have passed in a flash, the one-to-two difference is negligible.

His previous deal with Malena was aimed at registering her as a customer, thus planting an anchor point within the delegation. Afterwards, simply sending a follow-up invitation would encourage customers to more proactively find the shop.

"You must all be getting impatient, I have some good news and some bad news," he announced loudly. "The good news is that we can set off today, the bad news is that only a limited number of people can go! First of all, we cannot bring horses and carriages, so these twenty or so horses and carriages will have to stay here. Also, the guards, cooks, and servants don't need to come along. Apart from the twenty people in charge of diplomacy and the four members of the witches' guild, the rest of you will escort the carriages back to Versailles."

What?
Malena momentarily doubted her ears! "We're setting off today, but without horses?"
Are we really going to walk all that way?!

And who will cook without a chef? We can't just eat breadcrumbs all day long, or morale will plummet! And what if we encounter bandits on the road? Are we going to rely on just two witches to fight them off?

The others were also shocked.

For most of the attendants, not being able to go to the East was actually good news. The distance between the two places was far too great, and some would surely die on the way. If they were ordered to return by the Divine Envoy, His Majesty would not blame them.

Lord Milton raised a rather practical question: "What about the food, valuables, and gifts carried on the carriage? It's impossible for manpower to carry so much stuff."

Chen Xuan pointed behind him, "Put them all into the house. This house belongs to the realm of the gods, and it will arrive instantly when we reach the East."

"I see." The baron immediately accepted this explanation. "As expected of the Divine Envoy, your methods are indeed extraordinary!"

The others joined in the applause.

“Praise God!”

"If you are blessed by the gods, you will surely succeed on this journey!"

Only Malena was dumbfounded. Was this the difference in trust between the world and witches and messengers of gods?
No, no, they weren't that devout; they were just secretly pleased that they had escaped a difficult task!
Under Chen Xuan's command, everyone immediately sprang into action, unloading the goods from the truck and carrying them into the house in batches. Malena even took the opportunity to go inside and take a look, only to find that the burly men from before had vanished without a trace.

After the goods were transferred, Chen Xuan called Malena and Milton aside for a private meeting.

"You two don't need to come along."

"Does Your Excellency intend to dismiss me from my post?" Milton asked, somewhat puzzled.

"On the contrary, you two will be traveling in first class on this mission to the East." Chen Xuan had already made arrangements. "Wait here for a moment, and once I've taken care of the other people's accommodations, the delegation can officially depart."

(End of this chapter)