Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 780 Analysis of the Situation

Angel had anticipated this.

After finishing the investigation of Trier's "Man in the Mirror", in the eyes of the Goddess Church, she, the "Shadow of the Goddess", was almost in a state of doing nothing. Of course, secretly investigating the whereabouts of Ince Zangwill, and using the power of Mr. Fool to discuss tactics with Klein many times in the gray fog, and finally successfully solving the problem of the rebellious archbishop should not have been expected by the church.

This made Angel, who had already reserved the extraordinary characteristic of "immortality", feel a little guilty for "working without putting in any effort", and he thought that the church leaders would make new demands when delivering the reward. But when he heard Anthony's words, he felt relieved.

"Is it about the witch cult, or the real culprit behind the smog?"

In order to show her enthusiasm, she took the initiative to ask.

"In fact, it's both." The Archbishop smiled on his clean-shaven face, then looked at Cecima who was sitting beside him, "Next, let Krestel introduce the situation we are facing."

"It's like this. After Ince Zangwill died, Lady Ilia, the 'Eye of the Goddess', rushed to the scene and communicated with him. She learned a lot of important information from his remaining memories."

"Sword of the Goddess" Cecima changed to a more comfortable posture, crossing her legs and placing her hands flat on her knees. Her bright red gloves were a little dazzling in the darkness.

"First of all, Zangwill stole '0-08' and betrayed the church because the seal took advantage of his psychological loopholes after failing to be promoted. This does not mitigate his guilt, but it also reminds us that even for senior deacons and archbishops, regular psychological counseling and review are necessary...

"Secondly, his cooperation with the royal family and the witch sect began after he was promoted to demigod. The smog that occurred in Backlund at the end of last year was just a result of the cooperation between the three parties. 'Desperate Nightingale' Panatia needed to use this despairing disaster to digest the magic potion, and 'Mr. A' of the Aurora Society wanted to harvest the souls of the dead as fuel for him to summon the 'True Creator' to descend. As for the royal family, they planned to use this to cover up the truth about the disappearance of a large number of people in the East District..."

As expected, just like Mr. Fool’s comment after that incident, the root cause of the problem has not yet been discovered... The purpose of creating a smog that killed more than 100,000 people was to cover up the truth about human trafficking? The number of missing people would probably be beyond imagination...

As if she had guessed Angel's thoughts, Cecima continued:
"According to speculation, the number of people missing in the East District in the past three years has exceeded 20,000, and there is no way to trace back to earlier times. With the help of the smog that caused even more deaths, the royal family successfully created chaos in the East District that has not been completely resolved to this day. Statistics on the current population are even more difficult. If these clues had not been found in Ince Zangwill's head, I'm afraid the three major churches would still be kept in the dark."

Thanks to the efforts of the Eye of the Goddess, Klein and I only wanted to leave the scene as quickly as possible, and completely forgot to do the routine divination and spiritual communication... Angel sighed and asked:

"Which faction of the royal family is cooperating with them? Is it related to the silenced Prince Edessak?"

"This is the crux of the matter," Anthony's expression showed a rare solemnity. "According to normal logic, no matter whether the royal family members who cooperated with the Witch Cult and Zangwill were disguised or not, they would have left memories in his remaining spirit. But these traces seem to have been erased by some kind of power. Ilia only found one underground ruin located on the northwest outskirts of Backlund, on the banks of the Tussock River. Crestel's mission to Backlund is to find it."

Ruins... Could it be the underground area where Klein and Mr. Azik accidentally fell into? But the latter had already fallen into a deep sleep, and Klein was only passively traveling through the spirit world at the time, so there was no way to know where he went... Angel recalled what happened before and after the great smog, and sighed helplessly.

She also thought about how she tracked down the human trafficker Barron in the East District and attracted the "Judge" Heras behind him. The extraordinary person who was suspected to be related to the royal family also touched upon some kind of "secret-keeping" power during the process of posthumous spiritual communication, which directly led to the destruction of his spirit. This was very similar to Cecima's description.

"It seems that this is some kind of contractual power of the high-sequence 'Arbitrator', which is consistent with the magic potion path mastered by the royal family, and it shows that they are hiding some unspeakable secrets."

After listening to Angel's narration, "Sword of the Goddess" nodded thoughtfully and continued:

"I will look for the location of the ruins outside Backlund. Investigating the royal family's movements will easily lead to unnecessary confrontation between the church and secular forces. It can only be done in secret, so the Holy Temple has assigned you."

So in the end, we still have to rely on the plan that Klein and I made, approach the military, and start with the already exposed Qunas Kilger and Viscount Stratford who Triss is staring at... Angel muttered, nodded, and then asked:

"What about the other side? You said it's related to the 'Witch Cult'?"

She did know that Katarina of the "Witch Cult" was still in Backlund, and was likely to continue cooperating with the royal faction. However, in terms of the success rate of the investigation, searching for an "ageless" witch who had disappeared was completely unequal to targeting military personnel whose identities had been exposed. In the case of the former, perhaps only the angels on earth from the Goddess Church could come in person to have a chance of capturing the other party alive, while Qonas Kilger might only need two demigods to take action...

"Yes, this is also the information that Ilia got from the memory fragments of Ince Zangwill," Archbishop Anthony spoke this time. "During the preparation stage of the Great Smog, the 'Witch Cult' used the power of '0-08' to control a witch and let her approach Edessac Augustus as a hostage on their side. This eventually led to the murder of Edessac, and the witch also disappeared in the chaos."

"Triss Chick." Angel pronounced the name in the surprised eyes of the two.

"In fact, I have contacted her. It is touching that she is giving up everything and igniting the flame of revenge for the dead Prince Edessak, the man she had tried so hard to escape from before."

----

In the sea not far from Harman Harbor, a steam-sail hybrid passenger ship was closely followed by a huge black ship with a pure black three-masted sail, almost reaching the distance for boarding. Crying and screaming continued to be heard from the passenger ship.

But the sailors on the latter's deck seemed to be blind, ignoring the passenger ship that was so close to them. They kept turning their bodies and necks, looking around, wondering why the target that was approaching just now suddenly disappeared.

In the captain's room at the rear of the huge black ship, "King of the Five Seas" Nast was sitting upright on his iron black chair, staring with his eyes shining with dark red light at the invader in front of him who was wearing a top hat, a long windbreaker, gold-rimmed glasses, but whose body was as thin as a cicada's wing.

"A very good illusion that keeps my crew spinning." His deep voice echoed in the captain's room, which looked completely inconsistent with the outside. "What should I call you, Mr. Trickster, or... Gehrman Sparrow?"

I didn't expect that a pirate king would actually recognize me. Of course, this has something to do with the fact that I deliberately didn't disguise myself and just picked a lucky seagull to transform into my appearance. But it also means that the reputation of a crazy adventurer has been completely established... Klein smiled slightly, took off his hat and put it on his chest to salute, and said:
“That’s all me.”

He originally wanted to create a "weird" atmosphere, and let this secret doll, which was almost as thin as a paper doll after transforming into his appearance due to its size, give the crew of the "Black Emperor" a little shock, but since Nestor recognized him, he could no longer pretend.

"So, why did the adventurer who has been promoted to demigod come to see me?"

The words of the "King of the Five Seas" carry a kind of oppressive force that makes people want to kneel down and obey, but separated by the spiritual line, the effect on Klein is really limited. He smiled and said:

“I want to know some things about Emperor Roselle’s later years. After all, everyone knows that both Earls Baifeng have met this legendary figure, and more than once.

"What's your impression of him?"

Impression... "King of the Five Seas" Nast was silent, as if chewing on the meaning of this word. After a moment, he snorted coldly and said:
"I have indeed met him many times, but what does that have to do with you?"

This is an offer. If I wasn't tracking down the identity of the third "traveler" and wanted to learn more about the life of Roselle, also known as "Huang Tao", I wouldn't even bother to communicate with you... Klein muttered, but his actions were polite. He bowed again, making the thin upper body of the secret doll sway continuously, and said:
"I can agree to a condition that is not too excessive."

He threw the difficult question of offering price back to the pirate king.

Ha—he seemed to hear Nast's silent sneer. The latter's red eyes were motionless, staring at Klein's secret doll.

"Then tell the 'Golden Queen' Angelica Thatch that she and her ghost ship have been invited to join my fleet's search for the 'Ghost Empire'. She should be on board, along with everything you need, including everything He left behind."

He? Emperor Roselle? But what does this have to do with the "Ghost Empire" that disappeared more than a thousand years ago? Also, why did you assume that I had a relationship with Angelica...

Klein, whose body was hidden behind the spiritual thread, frowned in confusion and asked the secret doll:

"What exactly does it mean?"

“I don’t know, but when his daughter, Bernadette Gustav, came to me and asked me a similar question, she revealed one thing: the ghost ship hidden in the depths of the sea might be hiding the last hope of Emperor Roselle…” Nast’s answer was also tinged with doubt, “I think this might be a treasure that he values, or perhaps a legacy that he wants to pass on to his descendants.”

No, if that were the case, he would have mentioned it in his diary, because it wasn’t a crucial secret… Klein had a different opinion. He quickly recalled all of Roselle’s diaries, as well as his struggle to be promoted to the “Black Emperor” in his later years, and finally the several questions that Bernadette asked The Fool through The Hermit. A possibility came to his mind:
Perhaps hidden in that ghost ship is the last resort for the Black Emperor to be resurrected: a mausoleum belonging to Him!
(End of this chapter)