Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 727: Terrible Disease
At night, Bayam still had a fair amount of lighting, but it was mainly concentrated in the market area. Other areas were not so extravagant as to fill every alley with gas lamps.

And in the dim dock area, the "Hanged Man" Alger was sitting in a suite on the second floor of a hotel with his hands on the table, one hand holding a "magic pocket watch" and the other holding a scimitar, his eyes fixed on the gas lamp on the wall, his body motionless.

Suddenly, ripples appeared on the glass window behind him, and a figure appeared directly in the room.

Alger frowned slightly, as if he sensed movement behind him. He turned his head sharply to look at the window, only to find that it was closed and there was no one else in the room.

But the next second, the "queen" appeared in front of him from the "invisible" state, wearing a hooded cloak but a long skirt underneath.

Alger's pupils suddenly shrank and he almost pressed his pocket watch to escape from the room. Fortunately, he was determined and did not act rashly after recognizing the person. Instead, he pretended to have noticed the other person a long time ago and nodded, saying:
"You're 10 minutes early."

That's because this trip to the "Mirror World" went relatively smoothly. He didn't fall into the spirit world, nor did he encounter any strange creatures... Angel muttered, sitting on the chair opposite the "Hanged Man", taking off his hood, revealing his undisguised face, looking at him with a smile, waiting for him to introduce tonight's action plan.

Even if a high-sequence "witch" does not actively use its ability to seduce, it is simply impossible for men to resist it. No, I am afraid that women cannot resist it either... Alger's mind instantly flashed with the cold expression of "World" Gehrman Sparrow and the large-caliber revolver in his hand. He struggled to turn his eyes away from the face of the woman opposite him, cleared his throat, and said:

"That craftsman's name is Sharf. He was once a member of the 'Steam Church', but he did not join the 'Mechanical Heart'. He only learned technology and made equipment within the church. It was not until he was promoted to a 'Mechanical Expert', or craftsman, that Sharf came into contact with the real manufacturing of magical items.

"But he soon became penniless due to his addiction to beauty, his love of fine wine, and his extravagant spending. He began to secretly accept commissions from wild Beyonders to earn money. He eventually rebelled against the Steam Church before the incident happened, went to the sea, hid in Bayam, and started his current business."

And you are one of his clients, and you even dragged us Tarot Club members into this... Angel thought about it, nodded, and asked:
"What about this time? How did it get involved with the 'Rose School'?"

"In fact, according to my observation, the people who came to Sharf are members of the Original Moon faith. Of course, in the southern continent, they are basically equivalent to the members of the Rose School." Alger explained, "The rumors that Sharf was recently ill don't seem to be false, but now he has obviously recovered, and those people from the southern continent have appeared next to him. I suspect that the illness, recovery, and being controlled are all manifestations of a series of conspiracies."

The original moon...isn't it the "Mother Tree of Desire"?

Angel recalled the faith and worship he had seen in the Book of Secrets, as well as His honorific name:

"The unique red moon, symbol of life and beauty, mother of all spiritual powers."

The goddess' honorific name also includes "Lord of Crimson", which refers to the red moon in the sky. The rituals performed with "Lord of Crimson" will point to the goddess, but the primitive moon worship in the southern continent also uses "Red Moon" to refer to their beliefs... Angel couldn't think of the problem at the moment, but "Moon" Emlyn once offered a reward to the believers of "Original Moon" at the Tarot Club, maybe he could learn about this issue from him later.

Moreover, she had some suspicions that those cultists who believed in the "Original Moon" but joined the "Rose School" might be believers of the "Mother Tree of Desire", just like the "Naturist Sect" on the Island of Oravi.

"Go on."

She put aside her doubts and urged Alger to continue the introduction.

"After I visited Sharf's home for the first time and found that he was controlled by someone, I used this magical item to gather a lot of information around his home," Alger said, taking out a silver ring with a purple gem inlaid on it that looked like an eyeball. "It can summon an eyeball that only a psychic can see and that shares my vision."

"I have locked onto three members of the Rose School who live in the basement of the Sharf family. I have confirmed that one of them is most likely a 'ghost'. The strength of the other two is unknown, but they are not likely to be stronger than the former, because they have an obvious superior-subordinate relationship."

A Sequence 5 Wraith, like Admiral Blood Senior, seems to be the strongest person controlling the craftsman Sharf, unless the Rose School is so extravagant as to send a demigod to monitor a craftsman...

Angel thought about it, and suddenly thought of a question, and asked:
"The craftsman is a Sequence 6 Beyonder. If he brought along the magical items he made, he should be able to rival a Sequence 5, or at least protect himself. Why would Sharf succumb to the control of the Rose School and even take the initiative to cover up for them?"

Alger chuckled and looked back at Angel's face, seeming to be satisfied with her thinking this:
"That's right. Based on my observations over the past two days, Sharf was not completely 'controlled', but rather tended to 'voluntarily' cooperate with them. When he went out, no one followed or monitored him. He had many opportunities to escape or report, but he took the initiative to return to his residence. I even saw four people sitting at the same table for dinner."

They are a family that really loves each other, so there should be no worries when they start fighting... Angel's mouth twitched, and he swallowed back his worries such as "whether the craftsman was controlled by drugs or curses."

After asking a few more questions, Angel confirmed that three "Original Moon" believers, including the "Ghost", who were also members of the "Rose School", had left the house, but returned quickly and did not go too far. Therefore, he concluded that they may have contacted the top leaders of the "Rose School", but have not received a response yet.

After all, the Blood Admiral was dead, and his fleet was disintegrated. In the short term, it would be too difficult for the Rose School to send more members to Bayam. The ritual to summon the Divine Evil Sua was very complicated, and it was not something that three mid- and low-sequence Beyonders could do, unless they sacrificed hundreds or thousands of people and performed a bloody sacrificial ritual like the Pirate Conference...

Thinking of this, Angel became curious again about who prepared the contaminated food and beer at the Pirate Conference. He wondered whether the "King of the Five Seas" had found out the truth about this matter.

The "Mysterious Queen" couldn't have done that. The "King of the Five Seas" also joined the battle, so the only one left was the "Immortal King" Agaritu who quickly fled the scene. Could it be him... Angel quickly collected his thoughts and used a formal magic mirror divination in front of Alger to confirm that the other party's words had no concealment or omissions. Then he put away the magic mirror, stood up and said:
"Get ready to go."

I haven't even mentioned the distribution of the spoils yet... Alger opened his mouth, but in the end he just nodded silently.

With this demigod in front of them, the people of the Rose School should have no room to struggle. As for the distribution of the spoils, we can discuss it slowly...

————Bayam had returned to its peaceful state late at night, and the port area was even quieter, with only the faint sound of waves.

Alger sneaked up to a house and did not ring the doorbell, fearing that the sharp sound would attract extra attention. Instead, he knocked on the door regularly.

After a long time, the door was finally opened a crack. Charles, whose skin was a little tanned but whose eyes were bright, poked his head out. When he saw who was coming, he frowned at first, then changed his expression as if he remembered something, and said with a flattering smile:
"What brings you here so late?"

Before Alger returned, the door was completely opened.

Sure enough, he followed the instructions of those "Rose School" members and wanted to trick me into knowing the extraordinary characteristics of the "puppet" I mentioned... Alger thought clearly and walked into the room as usual. He glanced at the living room which was unchanged from a few days ago and sat down.

"I came to check on the progress of that item. You know I'm just the middleman, and the other side is pushing very hard."

He threw out the excuse he had prepared long ago.

Sharf showed a hint of embarrassment on his face, and replied with a wandering look:
"I've been busy lately, but I'll be able to finish it by this weekend."

Busy? From what I've observed, you went to a nearby brothel twice, bought some food and drinks, and stayed at home the rest of the time... Alger sneered in his heart, but his expression didn't change as he replied:

"Hopefully this is the last delay, or we'll both be in trouble."

He said this more or less from the bottom of his heart, after all, the object Sharf was making belonged to the "world" Gehrman Sparrow.

"Of course, of course," Sharf said hurriedly, and then changed the subject as if unintentionally, "Is the 'Puppet' Extraordinary Feature you mentioned last time still there?"

"That's not mine. It was commissioned by a friend of mine. Don't you have any way to handle it?"

Alger asked back in surprise.

"I can't do it, but I can contact Sequence 4 craftsmen, who are also called 'alchemists'..." Sharf smiled mysteriously and lowered his voice, "I will only charge a small introduction fee, and you... and your friends can get a powerful magical item. How about it?"

If I hadn't overheard your plan with those members of the Rose Cult, I would have almost believed it... Alger's eyes grew colder, but a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth:

"Really?"

"Of course. When have I, Sharf, ever lied to you?"

Seeing that the other party had been fooled, Sharf took a deep breath, but when he exhaled, it brought with it some burning breath, which made his throat itchy. He waved his hand, took two steps away from Alger, and coughed a few times with his head tilted.

The sound was like the friction of metal, sharp and sick.

"What...what's going on?"

Even the "craftsman" who was not good at fighting realized that something was wrong with his body. He reached into his pocket and took out a black, button-sized object. Just as he was about to put it into his mouth, he was hit on the wrist by a wine glass thrown by Alger who was prepared. The button that might be able to cure Charles' physical illness fell to the ground and rolled to the corner.

The trapdoor there was pushed open from the inside, and a man and a woman wearing loose wrinkled trousers and solid-colored tops in the style of the southern continent climbed up on all fours, coughing continuously, coughing up yellow and red liquid, and roaring from their throats that were not like human voices:

"Attack, someone...attacked."

Their expressions were distorted and terrified, and the skin on their faces and backs of their hands slowly slid away due to gravity like melting candles, turning into piles of dead skin. Beneath them were red and white muscles, with drops of dark red, rotting blood oozing out of the constantly torn capillaries. The blood fell along the gray skin to the floor, gradually gathering into a pool of stagnant water.

Only the internal bones remained intact, but at this moment they could no longer serve as support for the limbs. They just bulged out from under the soft and rotten skin, as if they were about to burst out of the body at any time.

This reminded Alger of the pork elbows in restaurants that were fried and then cooked at high temperatures, with the wrinkled skin peeled off and covered with sauce.

What a horrible "disease", and this disease can spread to everyone within a radius of hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye. It is indeed a magical potion that can create a "big smog"... Alger's eyes twitched, but he did not bother to appreciate the desperate expressions of the two "Rose School" members. Instead, he looked around vigilantly.

He clearly remembered that there was a Sequence 5 "ghost" in the basement!
(End of this chapter)