Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 797 Busy Leonard
Late at night, on the north bank of the Tussock River that flows through the East Side, next to a riverbank full of garbage.

Leonard Mitchell, wearing a windbreaker with his collar turned up and no red gloves, stretched out his left hand with his fingertips resting on the chest of a translucent human-shaped soul.

The unwilling cry of the dead soul was heard in the wind, causing Leonard to frown. He wanted to use the cool slogan he had thought about for several days:
"Appeasement failed, prepare for purification!"

...then he pulled out his revolver and used his exorcism bullets to cleanly and efficiently solve all the problems...

Unfortunately, he could only think about this kind of thing in his head. Whether it was for the need of acting or for covert action to avoid the existence of extraordinary power from being noticed by ordinary people, "appeasement" was the best option.

Fortunately, the wronged spirit in front of him soon calmed down, the violent and bloodthirsty fire in its eyes subsided, and then its figure faded and disappeared, allowing the river bank, which had been echoing with strange cries and evil winds, to return to tranquility.

Drawing a crimson moon on his chest, Leonard turned around expressionlessly and left this haunted place.

In the past six months, there have been more reports of haunted and supernatural events in the East District than in all other areas of Backlund combined... Too many people died in that great smog, and countless bodies were not cleaned up in time. Usually, most of them were souls formed after the death of wild animals and spiritual creatures, but now they are mainly human. This has never happened since the implementation of the "cemetery burial law" in the early Fifth Epoch...

Of course, in these events of comforting and purifying wronged souls, he also fully digested the magic potion of the "Requiem Master", and from time to time he had a feeling: while his other "Red Gloves" team members joined Lord Cecima's team and went out of the city to search for a secret place all day, he was deliberately left behind by the Archbishop and assigned to various districts to carry out intensive "exorcism" tasks. Is there a factor of "deliberate cultivation"?

Not sure, let’s see again…

Sighing silently, Leonard came to the street lamp, got on a two-wheeled carriage with a police badge, and drove it himself. He soon returned to the door of a brand new church of the Goddess of Night, and met his temporary partner, a young female "gravedigger", at the underground night watchman's station.

This night watchman who had recently been transferred from Pritz Harbor to the East District of Backlund was called Rosa. Her facial skin was as rough as that of seaside residents, but her deep blue eyes sparkled with curiosity. After Leonard handed her the document that recorded his achievements of the night, which he crossed out line by line, in exchange for the autopsy report of the "East District Serial Murder Case", this gaze had been following Leonard's back.

"Mr. Mitchell, do you think this is really a continuation of last year's serial murder case?"

Rosa came here just after the heavy smog and therefore did not experience that tense moment. Finally, she couldn't help but express her doubts.

"You can call me Mitchell, or just Leonard... The possibility you mentioned is very low, but it cannot be ruled out that it is a similar case involving another Beyonder."

Leonard answered casually, glancing at the "gravedigger".

The other person's personality was completely different from the two ladies he had met on the same journey. Lorota, who was going to Tingen to support the "Antigonus Notes" mission, liked to wear men's clothes and had some peculiar hobbies, but was generally quiet and kind; Ms. Daly had a flamboyant appearance, and would use dirty jokes from time to time to make men feel uncomfortable, but she was delicate and sensitive in her heart. It was not until the captain was "resurrected" that she unified her inner and outer qualities and became a complete character that was restrained and confident.

Rosa, on the other hand, is a bit...careless.

This was his conclusion during two days of support in the East District.

Lolota has been promoted to a "psychic" and has her own team. Whenever she sees Leonard, she will express regret and nostalgia for Angel's "death". Ms. Daly is helping the "Sword of the Goddess" conduct investigations in the suburbs. I heard that the "Gatekeeper" has made a good summary of the rules for acting out potions.

I'm behind schedule again... The strings in his mind suddenly tightened. He didn't bother to chat with Rosa. He quickly flipped through several autopsy reports, searching for the key points.

With the help of the "professional" report from within the church, which was different from the police autopsy report, the experienced Leonard quickly came to the conclusion he had long suspected from the photos, detailed written reports and analysis based on supernatural powers.

"The perpetrators were not Beyonders from the 'Criminal' path. This can be easily confirmed by the fact that the corpse did not lose its internal organs and the time between death," he raised his head and said to Rosa, who looked puzzled. He did not explain the 'Devil's' promotion ceremony in detail. "I think this was done by someone from the 'Assassin' path who possessed the Cursed Black Flame and was proficient in hiding, assassination, and anti-divination skills. Their Sequence 7 are also known as 'Witches', and they are... mostly evil."

Unfortunately, just confirming this point is not very meaningful. The other party is very good at counter-divination. The "fortune tellers" or "psychics" of the same sequence can't do anything to her... Leonard sighed softly as he looked through the conclusions written by the East District Night Watchmen after their attempts.

Seals that could break through anti-divination were not rare in the Backlund Diocese, but most of them were sealed underground in Saint Samuel's Church. To mobilize them required a proper reason, cumbersome procedures, and protection from a team of night watchmen, which was not applicable to this "simple case."

Should we wait until that "witch" kills a few more people and causes a major crime before reporting to the archbishop or senior deacon and applying for the use of high-level seals? Although the dead are all gang leaders or wild Beyonders with blood on their hands, it does not mean that the church can just let it go. This is tantamount to challenging the Night Watchers' jurisdiction over the East District...

Leonard pondered, and suddenly remembered the time when he worked with Angel and Klein in Tingen City to investigate a case of multiple mysterious deaths. He finally solved the case through field visits and logical reasoning. He scanned several files and came up with a plan.

At this moment, he suddenly saw an endless gray fog and a figure bowing his head in prayer in the fog. He also heard the low and hoarse voice of “World” Herman:

"Great Fool, please tell Leonard Mitchell that Angel and I have new information about Amon the Blasphemer. I would like to request a meeting between us in your country to discuss the follow-up response. I hope you can agree."

Then came a voice full of majesty, but not serious:

“Hold an ‘emergency meeting’ in ten minutes. Also, don’t hide anything from Pallez Zoroast.” This is Mr. Fool’s order!

Leonard shuddered and stood up from his chair, dropping the documents on his knees to the ground. Rosa, who was sorting things, looked over curiously.

"Sorry, I'm going to the bathroom."

He thought quickly, forced a smile and said, then quickly left the Nighthawks' underground base, leaving behind the "gravedigger" who couldn't hold back his laughter.

This is a good excuse, but if I use it every time, will people think I have some hidden illness...

Leonard muttered as he walked towards the bathroom. Seeing that there was no one around, he lowered his voice and asked:
"Old man, did you hear the sound and see the scene just now?"

"There is something unusual," the old voice in his head responded immediately, "but I didn't hear anything."

That's good... No, that's a pity... Leonard thought about it and continued in a low voice:

"My two former colleagues said they found clues about Amon and invited me to Mr. Fool's country for discussion. Do you have any good suggestions?"

This time, Pales remained silent for a little longer, until Leonard entered the bathroom, locked the door, and began to set up the spiritual wall, then he spoke again.

“Tell them everything I told you about Amon. Let them know the difficulties involved, so that they don’t act rashly… Unless there is the protection of ‘secrets’, dealing with one clone will only attract more clones. Moreover, a clone has the strength of Sequence 4 at the minimum, plus His high status… If your colleagues can escape, it will be a victory.”

More clones... Leonard sniffed, feeling that the dust in the bathroom was hiding clones of the Blasphemer Amon.

----

A red light flashed, and "Star" Leonard appeared beside the long bronze table filled with gray mist. He subconsciously looked around and found that compared with the "Tarot Club" a week ago, the spacious palace seemed even more empty. Except for himself, "Queen" Angel, and "World" Klein, the other nineteen high-backed chairs were empty. Even Mr. "Fool" was not there!

After confirming this, his somewhat reserved attitude began to relax. He swallowed the greeting to The Fool that was already on the tip of his tongue and casually assumed a comfortable sitting position, just short of crossing his legs on the table like he usually did in Red Gloves’ office.

Klein, who had sensed Leonard's movements through his spirituality, glanced at him coldly. Then he remembered that he was "The World" instead of "The Fool" today. He coughed lightly, his eyes softened a little, and said:

"Have you told Pales Zoroaster about this?"

He knows about the old man... well, that Dwayne Dantès knows about it, so the other followers of the Fool also know about it. Have they been sharing information?

Leonard thought about it and nodded:

"He asked me to remind you..."

After repeating the old man's words, he asked the question in his mind:

"What exactly is going on? Did you encounter Amon's clone in Backlund?"

He naturally thought that the two of them would encounter at most one clone. After all, if it was the real person, the two figures in the meeting now might have been Amon in disguise... Thinking of this, Leonard glanced at the empty high-backed chair at the head of the long table.

"In fact, I encountered many..." Angel took over the conversation and repeated what he had said to Arianna some time ago, "...the harvest was three 'Time Worms' and the possible conspiracy of Amon's clones... They seemed to be looking for some key information and absorbing the 'Thief' extraordinary characteristics in order to proliferate themselves."

No wonder the old man became silent during that period of time. He only became active again when I left Backlund with the help of a mission and headed for the southern continent. It turned out that he was also worried about being found by Amon and having his Beyonder characteristics devoured... Wait, couldn't Amon's clone be looking for him?
Leonard asked the question after careful consideration, and then looked in surprise as Angel and Klein looked at each other and then turned their gaze to him.

"Leonard, didn't you know that Pales Zoroast is a Sequence 1 of the Thief?"

After a moment, Klein put his hands on his chin, lowered his eyes, and spoke in a low voice.

(End of this chapter)