Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 42

Hearing the Fool's question, Angel felt as if his chest was being clenched by invisible hands, and his heartbeat started to speed up.

Part of this nervousness came from the diaries that she "watered" by herself. Although the Fool should not care about these trivial things, this did not prevent the panic and excitement in her heart when she deceived a mysterious existence.

Another part of the reason is that Angel is not sure about the scarcity of Russell's diary.

Perhaps 200 years have turned an emperor's diary into a national puzzle-solving movement on the rotten street, but this obviously does not meet the urgent needs of the "fool" for diaries.

It is more likely that these notes are only circulated within the major churches and mysterious organizations, so if I get the diary easily, will there be a possibility of revealing my identity?
The other two seemed to have a similar mentality. Miss Justice, who used to be the first to speak, seemed to be a little more stable after becoming a Extraordinary, but the Hanged Man answered first.

"I found two pages of Emperor Roselle's diary."

"I have a page too."

Justice followed suit.

It seems that I am the one with the most... Angel thought about it, and answered according to the original strategy: "I also found two pages of the diary, we need to write now...to express it?"

"Yes, please."

Following the simple words of the Fool, a parchment with curled edges and a pen filled with ink appeared in front of the other three in an instant.

Angel picked up the pen, recalled the contents of the diary that she had just "split and reorganized" not long ago, focused on the pen tip in her hand, and expressed the impulse to "write".

The square characters left by the traverser Emperor Roselle in this world appeared smoothly on the parchment.

In order to avoid fools guessing that she knows Chinese, she deliberately expresses the fonts in strange shapes, some are small and elegant, some are wild and rough, and even scramble the order of several words, making them look like they come from different writers and are pieced together on a piece of paper.

After displaying the two pages of the diary on the parchment in this magical way that the pen does not stick to the paper, Angel put down the pen and looked up, seeing that the other two had also completed their work.

Just like when it appeared, the parchment in front of it disappeared in an instant, and then appeared together at the end of the long table, in front of Mister Fool.

His figure hidden behind the gray mist was still hazy, but he was already holding the diary in his hands, and he began to read with his head down. The rest of them didn't dare to say a word, for fear of disturbing the fool's reading time.

He really knows this kind of writing...

Although Angel had already guessed that the purpose of the Fool asking everyone to collect Roselle's diaries was to read them, so he must have some understanding of this kind of writing, or even proficiency in it.

But when she saw the Fool flipping through the diary like a newspaper, reading words that did not belong to this world, she still had more doubts in her heart.

He has deciphered the meaning of Chinese?Translated with the help of some mystical means?

Or, he is also...

The Fool's reading speed was getting faster and faster, until the last two pages were useless for even a minute. Then he put down the parchment in his hand, looked up at the other three people one by one, and stayed on Angel for a moment, making her think that her behavior of filling the diary with water had been discovered.

"Sorry, I got a little fascinated."

The Fool's deep voice penetrated the gray fog, and Angel breathed a sigh of relief. She said in a light tone, "I hope to learn some of the contents of the diary from you one day."

She really wanted to see what little-known secrets Russell Gustav, who was also a time traveler, recorded in his diary. Is it the unfathomable mystic knowledge, or the treasures buried in the secret stronghold, or the wonderful scenery different from the earth, maybe including the way to return to the original world?

"Everything can be exchanged here, but everything also has a price."

"Continue to search the diary for me, and maybe I will release some information that you can safely know."

It seems that there is indeed a lot of profound mystical knowledge in the diary, and even now we have a great risk of knowing it... Angel heard the fool's response, stood up quickly, and saluted his chest: "Thank you for your generosity."

Justice and the Hanged Man also stated that they will do their best to collect more Roselle diaries for the Fool.

"Mr. Fool, Miss Queen, and Mr. Hanged Man, I have exactly three questions I want to ask." After sitting down again, Zheng Zheng, who had just become an "audience", couldn't wait to ask. "If the answer is of high value, please tell me what you need, and I will do my best to meet it."

Ah, it's time for the curious Miss Justice to ask questions again. The knowledge sharing among members of the Tarot Society should not be one-on-one like the last time the potion formula was traded, right?
Angel was overjoyed in her heart. She glanced at the Fool secretly, seeing that he was noncommittal and did not manifest a new parchment. It seemed that he was not going to interfere with justice's question, so she nodded to justice:
"Please speak."

The Hanged Man also leaned back on the back of the chair, adopting a posture of listening.

"The first question, I want to know more about the meaning of 'playing'. After taking the 'spectator' potion, I feel that the residual mental effects of the potion fade away quickly. Is it because I have been acting as a spectator?"

In the last Tarot Club, the Fool reminded everyone with short words that the key to mastering the power of potions lies in "acting", and the key to acting is the name of the potion itself.

It seems that Miss Justice has already figured out the key from the hints given by the Fool, but as a new Extraordinary, she still has some doubts, so much so that she is willing to promise a high reward and get the answer in the Tarot Club.

"I can answer that question."

Seeing that the Hanged Man remained in his original posture and did not move, and the Fool touched the edge of the table again, and had no intention of answering, Angel thought for a moment, and then took the initiative to answer.

"You have realized that the name of the potion is the key to acting, which means that you have touched some doors, but it is not enough."

Based on Cole Granger's summary of potion playing rules in his memory and Mrs. Sharon's teachings, Angel extracted the key points of mastering - or in the words of the fool - digesting potions, and patiently explained.

"When you took the potion, you should have felt the mysterious gaze that you couldn't feel when you were an ordinary person, as well as the tempting and crazy whispers in your ears. After meditating, those whispers gradually disappeared."

Seeing justice nodded solemnly, she continued: "This is the impact caused by the conflict between the residual spirit in the extraordinary material and your own spirit. Meditation can temporarily suppress this influence, but the spirit of the potion itself has not disappeared. It is like a foreign body in your body. When your spirituality is exhausted and you come into contact with mysterious power, it will explode again at any time, causing you to lose control."

"The purpose of the 'acting method' is to gradually eliminate these residual mental influences and fully grasp the power of the potion. Using a more vivid metaphor, the potion is like a heavily guarded villa. The power we need to master is controlled by the owner of the villa. If we want to break through many obstacles to kill it and gain power, the best way is to pretend to be him, fool the guards of the villa, and solve the target smoothly."

This is the metaphor Mrs. Sharon used when teaching Cole to play the law, with a sense of blood stemming from the identity of an "assassin". Since the original author has passed away and cannot defend his rights, Angel boldly "used it".

"But the guards are very smart. To deceive them, you need to perfectly match the owner of the villa in terms of appearance, clothing, and behavior. Otherwise, if you enter rashly, you will only be seen through and attacked as an enemy."

"So the name of the potion is the characteristic of the owner of the villa?" Miss Justice suddenly realized.

"That's right, when you act perfectly, sneak into the villa, and kill the target, there will be a very obvious feeling of completely digesting the potion. It's hard to describe, and you will understand when you get there."

At this point, Angel wanted to describe the feeling of completely digesting the potion in a more specific way, but he couldn't find the right words after searching, so he had to explain it vaguely.

Miss Justice, on the contrary, was more satisfied with this mysterious answer. She praised: "It's really an assassin-style metaphor. I think I have fully understood it. Fortunately, I have been instinctively playing the role of audience these days. It seems that this is on the right path."

"Miss Queen, what price should I pay for this answer?"

Angel thought for a while. He didn't seem to have anything urgently needed at the moment. The potion formulas of Sequence 8 "Instigator" and Sequence 7 "Witch" were in his mind. Although the main ingredients were difficult to obtain, they were not needed immediately.The gold pound is a good thing, but I still have a lot of savings and a stable source of income, so I don't need it for the time being.Moreover, raising money at this Extraordinary exchange meeting always feels that the style of the Tarot Club and Mr. Fool is lowered.

After thinking about it, what she needs most at the moment should be a weapon with extraordinary power, which is what Old Neil mentioned, "the whole city of Tingen may not be able to make one".

"I need a channel to buy or customize an extraordinary weapon. It's best to be near Backlund. If the value of this channel is high, I can make up the difference." She limited the scope to the vicinity of Backlund to avoid exposure of her long-term location in Tingen City, and to prevent the other party from providing some locations that are not even within the territory of the Loen Kingdom.

Although she felt that the Hanged Man should already know her identity, after all, her current identity information was handled by the person he provided.

"Extraordinary...weapon..." Miss Justice spoke hesitantly, she seemed to know less about extraordinary items and weapons than Angel.

The Hanged Man, who was silently watching the exchange between the two, suddenly said: "I can provide such a channel, which is also thanks to the 'acting method'."

For a long time, Angel's impression of the Hanged Man is that of a "businessman who never lets himself suffer". This impression was formed when he came up with a trading plan that satisfied everyone at the first meeting. He didn't expect him to ask for payment at this time. It seems that the "acting method" should be of great help to him.

"Enmat Port, Oak District, there is a 'Kavi Watch Shop' on the Golden Avenue. You can go to 'Craftsman' Kavi. That person often has some extraordinary weapons for sale. If you really can't find one you are satisfied with, you can order it for extra money."

"Don't worry, this is an official channel, but you'd better prepare more gold pounds, these things are not cheap."

This time the Hanged Man didn't mention "introduced by the captain", so it seems that this is not his personal relationship.

Port of Enmat...

A map around Tingen appeared in Angel's mind.

The port of Enmat is located on the coast of East Chester County to the east of Tingen. It can be reached by steam train in about 4 hours. It is a port city similar in size to Tingen.

"Spiritualist" Daly Simone also served as a Nighthawk in that city.

It's a pity that I'm about to become an official member of Tingen's Night Valuer, so I don't think I'll have the chance to leave Tingen for Enmat in the short term. Moreover, according to the Hanged Man, the price of Extraordinary weapons is probably not something that can be won by two or three hundred pounds, and it will take time to save money.

"Thank you, this information is very important to me."

No matter what, she still thanked the Hanged Man for the channel. The lack of money was her own problem, not the other party's.

"Well... this is not the reward I paid." Miss Justice said. Since the two of them were sitting next to each other, Angel could vaguely see her movements through the gray fog, clenching her fists as if she had made up her mind, "Well, Miss Queen, if you have any difficulties in purchasing extraordinary weapons, I can provide part of them."

"The upper limit should not exceed 500 pounds."

She may feel that the "check" with no upper limit is a bit exaggerated, she added.

This is already the price of the formula of the Sequence 9 potion plus the price of the main material, just paying for a little knowledge...Miss Justice, how rich are you?
Angel felt as if she was about to reassess the justice family situation.

(End of this chapter)