As Wendy had said, the next morning, the witches were called by the maids to have breakfast on the first floor. After breakfast, the prince handed each of them a beautiful piece of parchment. Considering that some of the witches couldn't understand the writing, Juan recited the contents to everyone. Then came the signing and the pressing of fingerprints.

Roland knew that it was difficult for them to truly understand the meaning of every line of the contract, but it didn't matter; they would understand in time. He also knew that even if it was a contract of servitude, they would sign it at this moment. Roland didn't think that offering a relatively generous treaty was a disadvantage to himself. Since he had chosen this path, he had to look further ahead. Everything he was doing now was to form a good cycle in the future, a win-win structure that could be implemented for a long time.

After putting away the contracts, Roland assigned the training tasks to each person according to the plan he had made last night. Then, he called Yezi, Juan, and Soroya to return to his office with him.

Closing the door, Nightingale revealed herself and winked at her sisters.

"I've been thinking about what Wendy told me yesterday," Roland pulled open the curtains, letting the bright sunlight into the room. "She said you encountered terrible monsters, and only seven of you survived. Even Hakala, the mentor of the Mutual Aid Society, died in the wilderness. I want to know, what exactly did you encounter? Mixed breeds of evil beasts?"

Yezi spoke first, "Not evil beasts. They are devils from the Gates of Hell, with tall bodies, able to drive evil beasts, and also possessing magic, just like..." She hesitated, "Just like us."

"Devils?" Roland frowned and looked at Soroya. "Were you there at the time?"

The latter nodded.

"You can draw the scene at the time, right?" Roland handed over a piece of paper.

Soroya closed her eyes, appearing somewhat pained, but she still took the paper and walked to the table.

As her ability was used, a quill that had been faintly visible appeared in her hand. The tip of the pen glowed with colorful light, and then it flew out of her hand and quickly moved across the paper. A vivid picture gradually emerged on the paper, while Soroya never opened her eyes.

Roland approached the table and saw that the pattern on the paper was incredibly realistic – no, he told himself, this was not a painting, but a real-time recording of the scene at that time. Her ability was like a camera, realistically reproducing the tusha that happened in the wilderness from a first-person perspective.

When the drawing was completed, Soroya's forehead was covered with sweat, obviously this memory was like a nightmare for her.

Nightingale also leaned her head over at this time, "Is this a devil?"

"That's them," Yezi pointed to the one closest to the perspective, "This devil wearing metal gloves can summon lightning attacks, and is also incredibly strong. More than half of the sisters died at his hands. The devil in the distance can throw spears that are several times faster than crossbow bolts. However, their special attacks cannot be used continuously. I took advantage of this opportunity to kill them."

"You alone?" Roland asked.

"The leather tube under the evil beast helmet is the devil's weak point," Yezi pointed to the iron-handed devil's neck. "Hakala's magic snake bit off his tube, and ultimately died with him. I used the same method to kill another one with a hand crossbow. The tube seemed to store some red gas. They would die after the gas leaked out."

Okay, this thing looks like an oxygen tank. How can there be such creatures in the wilderness? Roland couldn't figure it out. But if you say they are aliens, they obviously haven't reached that level. Look at the patched leather tubes and the animal skin clothes. The level of civilization can only be said to be on par with his own.

Regardless of whether it's using technology or magic, being able to actively travel to other planets itself demonstrates its strength – Earthlings even struggle to set foot on the moon.

Of course, one cannot rule out some bizarre civilizations with misdirected talent points. Roland thought, in short, the "devils" are not invincible enemies; they can also be killed.

"Besides the devils, we also saw a city floating in the air," Yezi added. "No matter how far we walked towards it, it was still in front of us. Lightning mentioned it in her adventure stories. This seems to be a mirage."

"Can you draw it?" Roland asked Soroya.

She nodded and summoned the magic pen again, drawing the floating city that Yezi spoke of on the paper.

Roland carefully examined the picture. Not much information could be seen in the blurred image. If the city was really a mirage, then at least it meant that its true form was somewhere in the wilderness. And the blood mist that filled the sky above the city was the gas that the devils breathed. This explanation was much more reliable than the alien theory. After all, the vast continent west of the Impassable Mountain Range was a mysterious area that no one had set foot in. It was not surprising that other races existed.

Now only the last question remained, "I heard Nightingale and Wendy both mentioned that Hakala decided to look for the Holy Mountain because of an ancient book," Roland asked, "Juan, have you seen that book?"

Juan hesitated for a moment. "Hakala didn't allow anyone to read that book, but... I peeked at it a little. The text recorded in it was chaotic and... incredible."

"Can you copy it? Let me see."

"Those things aren't real, Your Highness. The non-existence of the Holy Mountain has already proven this," she sighed and raised her right hand. "I hope you won't be misled by the contents of the book."

A book with gold trim embedded in it floated in the air. The cover spread out to both sides, the pages turned quickly, and then closed with a thud, landing in her hand. "Your Highness, I hope only you will view it. I don't want to see other sisters become like Hakala."

Roland took the book. "I understand."

After the witches left the office, Nightingale quietly reappeared by the sofa chair. As usual, she lifted her robe and placed her feet on the low table, chewing on dried fish slices.

"Don't you want to take a look?" Roland asked with a smile.

Nightingale scoffed. "I'm not interested in what crazy people like to read."

He shook his head, sat back at his desk, and carefully opened the page, as if this book really had magic.

As Juan said, most of the content was obscure, and the writing and grammar didn't seem to be in the currently used style. The text mentioned a dripping red moon and a huge stone gate, but the words "Holy Mountain" were nowhere to be seen. In fact, apart from the occasional few words that could be understood, the rest of the content was completely unreadable – in summary: I know every word, but I can't understand it at all when they are put together. He didn't know if it was because Juan's hurried peek had caused the content to be missing, or if it was recorded like this in the first place.

Roland skipped those lengthy paragraphs and flipped directly to the back. Only the first few pages of this rather thick book had content, and the rest were all blank. Starting from the last page, the handwriting suddenly changed. The previously neat writing became messy, like notes hastily jotted down, but the content became clear.

The first sentence of the handwriting was: "We have failed. Mortals cannot defeat devils."