At dinner that evening, the Witches who cherished the chance that everyone was still here all gathered around the table. Or rather, aside from Galina and Leisha, who had already left, even Margaret had turned down other matters to have dinner with everyone aboard the Radiance Messenger.
Illustrious Miss gave up the head seat in the dining room to Shade. Miss Feliana and Fiona, as guests, sat to Shade's left and right respectively. The Fifth Epoch Witches had not been idle today either. They had spoken at length with Grace and Helen before the two departed in the morning, and in the afternoon, rather than leaving the ship, they had remained in the Captain's Room chatting with the Ship Girl.
They had certainly discussed the current era, but probably more often, they had talked about things Shade could not know. The Dragon-Tongue Spellcraft the Ship Girl from the late Fifth Epoch had given Shade had actually summoned Witches from the middle of the Fifth Epoch. That alone showed that the Demigod Witches had likely already connected more than half of the Fifth Epoch to some extent.
During dinner that evening, Shade did not forget to mention the dragon scales Mr. Albert had spoken of to the Countess. Although he had granted this Witch the ruling authority bestowed by Fourth Son's Blessing in the form of a "letter of commission," he still returned Belinder's Golden Dragon Scale to her:
"This has been passed down through your ancestors, so you should keep it. The Chosen One said he no longer needed these dragon scales, and the ones I have are enough."
"I don't quite understand!"
Angelina asked somewhat awkwardly:
"Why can the descendant of that Ancient God's Fourth Son grant people such ruling authority?"
"According to the Chosen One, this territory originally