Release that Witch

As far as Roland knew, the Chief Astrologer was a man of honor and responsibility. Although he had not made any particularly extraordinary contributions to the astronomical research, he had founded the Arithmetic Academy and trained many students. He also assisted with the statistical analysis. In a sense, he extended the influence of the Astrology Association and expanded this old organization into one that could rival the Society of Alchemists.

Dispersion Star had come to apologize multiple times for his negligence and failure to predict the premature appearance of the Bloody Moon. However, as Roland had been too busy with various events lately, he had dismissed him. Nobody ever anticipated that the Bloody Moon would appear so early, and Roland had never intended to rely on the Astrology Association to predict the Bloody Moon. He used their service simply because these scholars knew arithmetics.

The word ”must” alarmed Roland. Disperson Star would have never used such an almost impertinent word had this not been an emergency. Therefore, Roland immediately headed to the Arithmetic Academy in the south of the city after he hung up.

The so-called observatory was only an attic of the Arithmetic Academy. The astrologers used this little attic as their temporary observatory before they moved to the top floor of the Miracle Building. Since the construction of the Miracle Building had taken longer than planned, Roland had made them a large telescope and transformed the attic into a revolving observatory so that they could continue with their astrological work.

Dispersion Star and the other astrologers had been waiting for Roland for a while. They soon went to their knee as they saw Roland come in. ”Your Majesty,” they chorused.

”Please rise,” Roland said as he waved his hand casually. ”Let’s jump into the business. What did you find?”

”Your Majesty, please follow me,” Dispersion Star said solemny as he led Roland to the attic at the top.

Roland immediately saw that the floor was littered with drafts and drawings. He believed they were the calculations of the orbits of various stars. In fact, Roland only knew very little about astronomy. After having obtained basic knowledge of physics and mathematics through two years of studying, these astrologers had now surpassed him.

Dispersion Star followed Roland into the attic, leaving the other astrologers outside. The moment the door was shut, Roland noticed that the old Chief Astrologer was wearing an extremely grave expression as if he were about to make his last will.

”Roland...” Nightingale muttered as she tugged his sleeve.

Roland nodded in comprehension. He knew Nightingale would protect him if he was in danger, but he was curious as to why the discovery alerted the astrologers so much.

”Your Majesty, we’ve been observing the movement of the Bloody Moon these days, as well as its change,” Dispersion Star finally spoke after a moment of silence. ”Since we failed to predict its appearance, we would like to make amends for our previous faults. We wanted to calculate its size and where its star district is. That’s the duty of the Astrologers Association. However, the discovery horrified us.”

Horrified? Roland’s brows contracted. This was not the word he expected to hear. ”What do you mean? Get to the point.”

”Yes, Your Majesty,” Dispersion Star obeyed in a low voice. ”The Star of Extinction is probably a hoax. The Bloody Moon... doesn’t exist.”

Roland was stunned. He turned around and looked through the window involuntarily. The crimson sphere was still aloft in the air, as sinister as ever.

”Are you saying that the thing over there... doesn’t exist?”

”I couldn’t believe it either when I made the conclusion. On the contrary, I found it quite amusing. However, gradually, we started to take it seriously,” Dispersion Star said after a sigh, and his voice became more confident. ”Yes, Your Majesty, it doesn’t exist. According to the materials passed down to us and your books, we’re positive that the giant star over there doesn’t affect other stars.”

”When we drew the star chart and calculated the orbits of the other stars in the star district where the Bloody Moon is situated, we found not a single star deviate from its course, which means that the Bloody Moon doesn’t affect those stars at all, nor does it affect us.”

”In addition, there’s no change in its own movement either. Before, the Bloody Moon was stationary in the sky, which indicates that it was moving at the same rate as us. But now, it’s still stationary, despite that it’s so close. That doesn’t make sense.”

Roland immediately understood what the old scholar meant. ”If we remove it from the sky...”

”Then it’ll explain everything,” Dispersion Star replied while nodding. ”Only when it isn’t there will everything on the earth looks normal. In other words, wherever the Bloody Moon is, it won’t make a difference to our world.”

Roland fell silent.

Now, he understood why the Chief Astrologer had been hesitant. The legend of the Bloody Moon and its relationship with the Battle of Divine Will were solely hearsay stories from the ancient Taquila witches without any solid proof. As the headmaster of the Arithmetic Academy, Dispersion Star had also heard about those witches. If it turned out that the witches were all lying, the discovery would probably jeopardize the healthy relationship between the witches and the king.

But Roland completely trusted the witches. He enjoyed helping Celine conduct research and taking the God’s Punishment Witches to the Dream World. Even if they lied, Roland would still like to be with them.

At least, the demons did exist.

”Are you positive?”

”Your Majesty, I wasn’t until I received a letter from one of my friends in the old king’s city this morning,” Dispersion Star said as he produced a piece of paper from his pocket and spread it open. There was a drawing of the Bloody Moon. ”As he observed the moon from a different location, the calculation might be a little different. My friend used to be a noble, but he’s very interested in astronomy. Therefore, I asked him to calculate the star district from another location. His calculation is very different from ours. It isn’t even a minor error. That means that the Bloody Moon is stationary everywhere. It’s not only stationary in relation to this area but to the whole continent!”

Roland’s heart skipped a beat.

”Your Majesty, it isn’t possible that a physical object remains stationary in relation to everything!” Dispersion Star proclaimed slowly.

Roland suddenly remembered the red speck in the Dream World. It was always the same no matter how he viewed it.

In the Dream World, it had a different name.

Erosion.