That’s all the book records about Juan. What follows is entirely about other royal affairs, so there’s no need to keep reading.
After going through it carefully, this passage is actually quite useful.
First, it answers what “Pavuka Oris Ananino” really is—just as suspected, it’s the na of the island that holds the Fountain of Youth.
Second, it helps Everly narrow down the possible location of the island. The Winton people said it lies in the ocean south of Dalifer State, while the historical record adds that it is northwest of Hispaniola. Although the range is still quite vague, it’s at least far better than dealing with an area spanning tens of thousands of square kiloters.
Finally, there’s a hypothesis—not necessarily correct. Everly believes that the “support of the Church” ntioned in the book likely refers to obtaining witches from the Church.
In 16th-century Spain, although witch hunts were not as intense as in so other countries, the Inquisition still captured witches from ti to ti and subjected them to execution by fire.
Juan was desperate to find the Fountain of Youth, but faced with a vast ocean and countless islands, he had no way to eliminate them one by one. When human ans fall short, people often turn to supernatural forces. Perhaps his desire to locate the island beca so urgent that he conceived the idea of “borrowing the power of witches.”
Ferdinand was equally eager to use the Fountain of Youth to preserve his youth. He agreed to Juan’s request and, through certain exchanges of interests, acquired several witches from the Church. They were the won ntioned in the historical record—hooded in black cloth, escorted by the navy into Juan’s custody.
Witches are individuals favored by nature, each possessing unique and exceptional abilities. One or more of them likely used their powers to determine the island’s precise location for Juan.
Everly also checked astronomical records: a transit of Venus did occur in 1521. Evidently, even the year of the expedition is accurate.
Unfortunately, Juan still failed to find the Fountain of Youth—because he went too early. That year’s transit of Venus occurred on December 7, but he had set out at the beginning of the year, so there was no way he could have encountered the island.
Everly suspects this was the result of deliberate misdirection by the witches.
In the poem passed down through generations of the Barnes family, the second line clearly states that the island erges on “On the day Venus crosses.” This shows that the witches were well aware of the island’s unique properties, so Juan’s failure could only have been intentional.
They didn’t want Juan to obtain the Fountain of Youth, so they deceived him, making him depart early and miss the island entirely.
In July 1521, after a fruitless search, Juan landed in Dalifer State, where he clashed with the local natives and died. Most of the soldiers who landed with him were also killed in battle.
At that point, the witches who had accompanied the expedition finally found an opportunity to escape. One of them remained in Dalifer State, settled down, and had descendants—her lineage eventually beca the Barnes family, which later produced Erica, the ti witch.
It all makes sense—very reasonable.
Unfortunately, knowing this isn’t particularly useful.
The only witch Everly knows is Natalie, the curse witch.
This witch, having avenged herself, is currently off sowhere unknown, appearing and disappearing unpredictably. However, her “Curse Witch” Chatter account is thriving—every day, people who have suffered from school b*llying thank @CurseWitch and share stories of how they sought Natalie’s help and were saved. Over ti, the account has practically turned into so kind of urban legend.
The Curse Witch specializes in curses and knows nothing about locating objects. To determine the island’s exact position, they would need a witch skilled in search-related magic—and one with considerable power at that.
After all, this is an island of trials left behind by a god. If just any fortune-teller could divine its location, it would really lack any sense of mystique…
So the question is: with Rebecca’s connections, could she find a witch capable of search magic for her?
Everly tried calling Rebecca. After hearing her request, Rebecca said she could try to help, but warned her not to get her hopes up too high.
“Witches are… very unique people. They’re rarely motivated by money. If you want a witch’s help, you usually need to earn her friendship first. I don’t know many witches, but I can ask around for you—though I think they’ll most likely refuse…” Rebecca said.
Well, it was worth a try.
As the saying goes, you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. After asking Rebecca to help look for a witch, Everly also turned to her history professor for recomndations on more books related to Juan, hoping to find more detailed information about the Fountain of Youth’s location in other historical sources.
Ti passed quickly amid studying and constant searching.
During this period, Everly received several calls from Rebecca—each bringing bad news.
There weren’t many witches in the world to begin with, and most of them preferred to keep to themselves rather than get involved in worldly affairs. Upon hearing that Everly wanted to find the Fountain of Youth, nearly all the witches Rebecca knew refused. The only one willing to help was a young witch who had only recently awakened; her magical abilities were limited, and she simply couldn’t see through the mist surrounding the island.
“I’m really sorry. My connections just aren’t wide enough—I can’t find anyone who can help you.”
“That’s not true. You’ve already helped a lot. I’m really grateful.”
After hanging up, Everly let out a long sigh.
Things weren’t going well on the witches’ side, and her research wasn’t progressing either.
After all, Juan was just one of countless explorers of his ti. There aren’t many historical records about him, and the only one that goes into detail about the Fountain of Youth is A Brief History of the New World.
If things kept going like this, by the ti the transit of Venus arrived, she’d have no choice but to search the ocean between Dalifer State and Hispaniola herself—
Do you know how far that is in a straight line? Over 1,200 kiloters!
Everly felt her vision go dark just thinking about it.
Such a vast area—could it really be searched within a single day? Or should she take another approach, like tracking down the group who bought the notebook from Cody?
Those people had taken the entire notebook; it might contain a much more precise location of the island.
But that path ca with a whole set of problems as well. Everly had no idea who those people were, nor could she be sure whether tracking them would put her in danger. According to Cody, they had barged straight into his house, pointed a gun at his head, and taken the notebook in a half-forced “purchase.” That suggested they had so sense of morality—but not much—and were definitely well-ard.
On her own, Everly really didn’t want to get into a conflict with a group like that if she could avoid it…
Just as she was feeling stuck and sighing all day over her stalled investigation, one day Everly logged into Chatter and noticed she had received a private ssage.
She didn’t usually use Chatter much.
She wasn’t interested in sharing her own life, nor in other people’s. Besides, with Misha around, she would hear any gossip worth knowing anyway. So after creating the account, she basically only logged in when she needed to repost group survey links.
That day, she didn’t even know why—just a slip of her finger while scrolling opened the app.
Even more coincidentally, right as she logged into her profile, a small “①” popped up in the corner of the screen, indicating a new private ssage.
Everly tapped on it and found a familiar-looking account—one with a child mannequin avatar—had ssaged her.
[Curse Witch: I heard you’re looking for a witch skilled in search-related magic…]
Everly: !!!
Worried it might be an impersonator, she deliberately opened @CurseWitch’s profile to check the follower count—over two million. No way it was fake.
At the sa ti as she was going through all these steps, another private ssage arrived.
[Curse Witch: I happen to know a Star Map Witch. If you do a favor, I can have her help you.]
Everly was surprised.
[Everly: What do you need to do? I’m just an ordinary person, I can’t help with anything too dangerous.]
[Curse Witch: Find my client.]
Then Natalie sent a screenshot of an account.
[Curse Witch: Five days ago, this person ssaged privately, begging for help. I sensed her intense pain and hatred, so I accepted her request. But today, after finishing my current work and preparing to fulfill her wish, her “presence” disappeared.]
[Everly: Presence disappeared?]
Not death. Not missing. But “presence disappeared.”
Combined with Natalie imdiately asking her to “find the client,” Everly instinctively felt that this situation was unusual…
[Curse Witch: Yes. I can no longer sense her at all. Even in death, a person leaves behind residual thoughts or a lingering spirit—proof that they existed. But my client is gone. Completely gone. Like soone erased her from this world with an eraser. No matter how I search, I can’t find her.]
[Curse Witch: I’m curious—what kind of existence would dare interfere with sothing I’ve marked… Investigate for . Find where my client went, then call my na. I’ll take care of the rest.]
[Curse Witch: In return, I’ll have the Star Map Witch help you.]
After saying that, without waiting for Everly’s reply, Natalie’s avatar turned gray.
She went offline.
As if she was certain Everly would accept.
Everly: “……”
Well, to be honest—she was very tempted.
What Natalie had asked her to do was only to find a person—not to eliminate whoever was behind it all.
As long as she gathered enough information, pieced things together step by step, and uncovered the truth, she could simply report the conclusion to Natalie. Fighting and the rest—Natalie could handle that herself.
Of course, investigating might still involve danger. But over the years, Everly had collected quite a few self-defense tools. If she was injured, she had universal antidotes she could drink; if she ran into a physical monster, she could even summon the true form of the Sacred Tree. Fighting might not be her strength, but when it ca to surviving, she was actually very capable.
Maybe… she should try investigating first?
Everly exited the private chat and opened the search bar, entering the userna Natalie had sent her. Among many similar nas, she quickly found the account that matched both na and avatar exactly.
Unexpectedly, the account had posted a text update just minutes ago:
[My joints feel stiff again. I hate this. Am I going downhill again…]
It was completely incomprehensible.
Everly scrolled upward.
After reviewing the account, she discovered that @Biance (Bianca) was very strange.
The owner of the account was likely a university student, not very social, and not very expressive. For over two years since registration, she had only occasionally posted sentintal thoughts or, like Everly, reposted survey questionnaires for school assignnts.
However, starting four days ago, it was as if the account had been hacked. She began posting tweets at regular intervals, even continuing through the night while she would normally be asleep.
Looking further at the content:
The first three posts read:
“Not great, lacking exercise.”
“Still young, feels pretty good.”
“A pitiful creature.”
They were short, understandable, yet strangely incoherent—making it hard to tell what the poster was trying to express.
The later posts, however, beca more normal—at least consistent with the identity of a female college student.
For example, one post read:
“Bill Grose is actually pretty handso. I want to date him.”
Bill Grose was a rising male celebrity in the United States, with a large fanbase of admirers obsessed with his sharply defined chin and well-shaped hips. Everly had always thought his chin looked like a miniature butt… cough!
Another post said:
“They actually put pineapple on pizza. That’s terrifying!”
It sounded exactly like sothing a pizza-loving college girl would say—nothing suspicious at all.
After several more normal posts like these, Bianca would suddenly glitch out and post sothing like:
“Already exhausted?”
“Hmph, useless.”
And just as quickly, she would return to normal, continuing to post ordinary updates again.
This pattern had continued from four days ago until now. By counting roughly, she had already posted 73 tweets in these four days—more than her total output from the previous two years combined.
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