After nearly a week of sailing on the sea, Sylvie finally saw Graycastle’s coastline.
“We will be arriving soon,” Honey shouted as she leaned over the ship’s railing, and the rows of swallows, ospreys, and seagulls standing beside her all followed her shout in a loud chorus.
“At last…” Candle said with a meek voice, and carrying a haggard expression, “I feel like I’m almost unable to keep going.”
“Child, that is only a temporary phenomenon, as long as you go ashore, you will soon be able to recover your previous strength,” Jack said while laughing, he then looked with one eye through the observation mirror. “I’ve been sailing for so many years, but I’ve never seen anyone dying because of the ship’s shaking.”
“Where is Maggie?” Honey Asked.
“She has already traveled to Border Town in advance so that she could contact the witches of the Witch Union,” Ashes replied. “I’m sure that they will send someone to pick you up soon.
“Sister Ashes, won’t you come with us?”
“Back at Sleeping Island Tilly is in even more need of my assistance,” Ashes laughed, “There is no need for you to worry, the witches of the Witch Union will see and treat you as sisters… In case you come across any trouble, it is the best to immediately look for Wendy, she will definitely try her best to resolve the problem for you. “
Wendy, Sylvie quietly engraved the name in her mind.
“Oh, that’s right, there is one other thing,” Ashes patted her forehead, “You must remember to always keep a far distant from Roland Wimbledon, and by no means should you be on your own with him.”
“Why, isn’t he the older brother of Lady Tilly?” Evelyn asked puzzled.
“He certainly is,” Ashes stated earnestly, “But that does not prevent him from groping a witch’s buttocks!”
Everyone inhaled a mouthful of cold air in fright.
In the end, the ship docked half a mile away from the shoal. After all, there did not exist any detailed charts of the area, and no one knew how deep the water really was at the edge of the shoal. Yet, going ashore was still quite simple, they didn’t even have to use the beach boat. Instead, Molly let her magic servant wrap up the five witches and herself, and in that way they floated above the sea surface all the way towards the shore.
The shoal was apparently a part of the mountain, and under the continuous erosion by the seawater, it had slowly become a soft and sandy beach. Not far from them there stood a towering mountain range which completely separated the coast from Graycastle and the rest of the mainland. It seemed that the mountain ridge was going on endlessly, and the further West they looked the higher it reached into the sky. At the end of their vision it almost became similar to the giant mountain peaks of the Impassable Mountain Range.
After almost waiting for a whole double-hour, Sylvie noted a strange shadow was coming towards them.
Its volume was colossal, it was almost as huge as The Charming Beauty and with its nearly round shape it was obviously not a natural creature. It was reasonable to assume that such a massive object would also have to be incomparably heavy, but its path of flight was quite smooth, as if it was only floating in the air. Separated by mountains and woods, she couldn’t see it very clearly, but it seemed that this thing was always climbing and would be soon above the mountains.
After a while, if finally revealed itself to all of the people in the shelter.
“God, what is that?” Lotus asked in disbelief while looking at the sky with an astonished expression.
“Sister Ashes, have you ever seen something like this?” Evelyn pulled her arm.
“No…” Ashes appeared to be equally surprised, “It is also my first time seeing something like this.”
“It seems that this is the way of style the Witch Union intends to welcome us,” Sylvie sighed.
She had finally discovered a basket hanging beneath the astonishing huge spherical object that was floating in the sky. Furthermore, Maggie and another witch were flying to the left and right of the basket. Then her attention was drawn towards a long yellow canvas that was hanging beneath the basket, on which with gigantic letters were written.
– “Welcome to Border Town.”
After the basket landed on the ground, a woman who seemed to be around thirty years of age who had red hair that came to her waist climbed out of the basket and greeted them, “Hello everyone. Welcome to Border Town. My name is Wendy.” She then looked to Ashes and showed a charming smile. “You also came.”
