The pale winter sun pierces through the thin clouds above the city, adding a faint glow to the damp streets.

This is the beautiful weather that the capital Beckland has not had for many years -

Thanks to yesterday's storm, which was comparable to the landing of a typhoon in the coastal area, the heavy dust and haze that has been covering the city all year round have almost been swept away, and even the blue sky is faintly visible.

Of course, this won't last long.

Soon, perhaps tomorrow, many polluting factories will be able to work together to restore the atmosphere to its old state.

It can be said that the air quality in Beckland today may be the best day in many years.

However, it is a pity that the number of citizens who are willing to go out today and relax and breathe calmly will probably be the lowest in recent years.

It's all because of yesterday's "big smog".

Snort—

A four-wheeled wagon crushed a puddle in the street, splashing a cloud of muddy water with ice slag.

In the carriage, Lia, dressed in a black and white maid outfit, sat quietly, with a small black leather case on her legs together, and her hands holding the edge of the box.

"You're curious about what's in the box?" Valeera's gaze shifted from the sky outside the window to Leah in the opposite seat, a smile on the corner of her mouth, "Take it well, you'll know soon."

After the confession, she felt that her mood was much clearer than the weather outside the window.

She's figured it out—

Valera understands that the root cause of her previous confusion and depression lies in the mismatch between her vision and ability.

It can be said that because of knowing the "plot" of the original book, Valeera's vision in some aspects is even better than that of individual true gods...... This led to her unconsciously putting a little bit of a god's perspective when considering some issues, completely ignoring her own weakness in ability, and thus falling into a cycle of self-blame and self-doubt.

The huge leap from ideal to reality requires strong strength as support.

"Hmm."

Leah pursed her lips and smiled, letting out a soft, nasal sound.

Although she didn't know what was in the suitcase, she vaguely felt that after coming out of the church of St. Samuel, the look in her young lady's eyes seemed to have changed a little, for the better.

The suitcase is mainly filled with extraordinary materials.

After talking to Archbishop St. Anthony, Valera thought about Dunn and Harpy's promotion, and took advantage of the situation to apply for the "Sleepless" pathway, one each of the ingredients and recipes from Sequence 9 to Sequence 5.

She's going to help Harpy make potions tonight—

The reason why it is not done immediately after returning is because the "sleepless" is in better shape at night and is more conducive to promotion.

Chinese New Year's Eve is getting closer and closer, but the frequent banquets have temporarily stopped at this time——

Everyone is ready for the New Year's party.

After nearly a full month of ballroom dancing before, Beckland's magnates, large and small, had reached a tacit understanding of which circle they were going to attend.

Valeera, of course, attended the one hosted by the queen to witness Audrey's coming-of-age ceremony as a friend.

Eight p.m., 67 Williams Street.

Valera and Leah take Harpy into the chemistry lab on the third floor of the house.

In order to keep Harpy in the best promotion condition possible, Valera also specially arranged for someone to walk it a few times in the afternoon, and the amount of feeding in the evening was also appropriately reduced.

Leah quickly completed the preparation of the "Midnight Poet" potion.

After confirming that there was no problem, Valeera patted the dog on the head of the dog, explained a few words through the "Psychic Connection", and then fed the potion.

The entire promotion process lasted several minutes.

During this time, Harpy had been lying quietly on the ground with no obvious outward changes, and when he regained his forelimbs and turned to a sitting position, Valeera and Leah, who had been quiet, were relieved.

"Woo-woo-......woo," Harpy let out a long howl.

A little spiritual fluctuation dispersed, Valila was nothing, but Leah was affected, and shouted with a little excitement, "Woohoo......

Valera slapped the dog on the head:

"Stop!"

She wasn't unaware of such a scene—

After all, it was a husky, and he was promoted to "Midnight Poet...... It's just that Valilla didn't expect it to appear so soon, and she didn't expect Liya to be affected, so she shouted.

Leah reacted before Harpy's howl was interrupted.

She covered her lips and stood aside and blinked, her face flushing slightly.

"Speak human words, won't you?"

Hearing the master's reprimand, Harpy wagged his tail, opened his mouth, and subconsciously "Wang" again, and made an intermittent jerky sound:

"Human ...... Human Language...... Woo......"

This...... Valera was speechless for a moment.

She didn't know whether to praise Harpy or not, so she forcibly resisted the movement of holding her forehead, turned her head, and just met Lia's gaze at the same time.

December 31st, morning.

Valera finally saw the official report of the casualties in the newspapers:

「…… According to preliminary statistics, nearly 20,000 people died directly in the smog, and the subsequent spread of the plague took nearly 20,000 people, including young children, sturdy young men and women......

Although this data actually includes the disappeared people who were taken to build the Black Emperor's mausoleum, by comparing the numbers in the original "plot", Valera can still roughly judge her impact on the "Great Haze" event-

Judging by the number of plagues that followed, her intervention had roughly halved the casualties.

Valera will not be happy at this achievement...... Of course, after stepping out of the horns of self-blame and self-doubt, she has also been able to accept the reality with a correct attitude and relative calm.

In any case, she has done her best.

In the last two days of the year, Daly and Klein contacted Valeera once, in different ways.

In "Mirror Call", Klein briefly recounts his experience of distress, explains his plans to go to sea, and hopes that Valera can help hold the shares of the "bicycle company" in his name.

Valeera's answer was simple, "Interview."

Before the "Great Smog" incident, she had a sudden idea, which she had given up, but then picked it up again-

She was going to surprise Klein before he set out to sea.

Daly contacted Valeera through her own messenger, mainly to provide a reference plan for the mission of "bridging the identity gap", and to ask Valeera for her own opinion.

After several discussions, the plan was decided and the implementation began.

December 31, evening.

In the hall of the New Year's party, Audrey walked up to the front of the high platform with an elegant and bright smile, stood next to the queen, and ushered in her coming-of-age ceremony in the light and sound of fireworks.

Valera stood in the crowd and joined the others to send her sincere blessings.

It's a buzzing new Chinese New Year's Eve...... However, Valeera is not used to it and does not like it very much.

——————

I finished the puzzle of a chapter from the fragments of text, and I felt that the last part was a bit ......

In addition, this time I really feel that the state of the codeword is starting to improve.

Is it coming?

Tathagata.