Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 820 Preparation before departure
On Sunday afternoon, Angel, who was ready to set off, entered the "mirror world" in his bedroom, followed the familiar deep passages throughout the city to the East District, and stopped at a dusty glass window.

"Thousands of years ago, before humans learned how to make glass, was the scale of the 'witches' mirror world far smaller than it is now?"

Angel muttered, looking outside, searching for Sherman.

She had gone to Klein's house in the same way this morning, lifted him out of bed, and said a warm, brief farewell to him. The "gift" he left behind was now kept close to her body with its body temperature.

It was a "Luck Stealer" spell that had been improved upon Will Auceptin's suggestion and tailor-made for Angel.

Compared to the original spell that requires visual sight of the enemy to hit and has a limited effective range, this spell consumes two "Time Worms" and gains the ability to steal the enemy's fate through mirrors and curses. Even if Angel is far away from the opponent and cannot find the real target, as long as the enemy is infected with the disease, his fate can be swapped with another target, causing huge damage unexpectedly.

This also gave Angel a new idea: she could try to make a remote version of her "Disaster" and other spells. Klein had already paved the way, so as long as she kept trying, she might succeed.

Unfortunately, I can only wait until I find the "Fountain of Youth" and come back to try again... She muttered, her eyes fixed on the two figures near the glass window.

One of them was Sherman, who was wearing a gray-white long skirt, a cloak on her upper body, and the hood was lifted and hung behind her. She looked down at a child and was arguing with her about something.

"Sherman, I've seen you next to Stratford three times. You should know that he has many secret spies around him... Don't go to him next time!"

The child's voice had a sense of oppression that was inconsistent with his age. The familiar tone made Angel lower his head in shame.

It turned out to be the "trial" of Miss Hugh Dilcher...

Sherman was not overwhelmed by Hugh's majesty after he was promoted to "Interrogator". His soft but firm voice reached Angel's ears:

"This is just my mission. Besides, I also know that the Viscount has Beyonders like you protecting and monitoring him. However, I am just an ordinary woman who met him by chance. It was even the Viscount who took the initiative to contact me. There is no reason for these people to stop me."

"you……"

Xio paced back and forth in the office of the Black Bear Cannery in a somewhat angry manner. After a moment, he put his hands on his hips and looked up at his friend, saying:
"You should know that he has a very special identity, right?"

"Of course, otherwise how would I get close to him? He is hiding the secrets that I... need." Sherman answered calmly, then changed the subject and asked, "What about you? Why are you protecting him? Why are you investigating him?"

This counterattack successfully made Xio stop and her expression changed. From Angel's perspective, she seemed a little anxious and resistant, but more worried about her friend.

"Anyway, you'd better not get close to him. Just because I didn't include you in the report doesn't mean others won't..."

After a moment, the short bounty hunter still did not say the reason why he was paying attention to Viscount Stratford. Instead, he left a few harsh words, climbed out of the window, jumped from the third floor, landed in the alley behind the warehouse, and left in a hurry.

Coincidentally, she pushed open the glass window where Angel was hiding, which made the "mirror world" inside less stable. Angel had to leave it, and his figure was outlined in front of Sherman, just avoiding Hugh Dilcha who landed steadily on the ground.

"Miss Irene!"

Sherman saw who was coming and exclaimed in surprise, then turned her neck and blinked rapidly.

The tears in her eyes did not escape Angel's gaze, but the latter did not expose her. He just waited for Sherman to adjust her mood and took the initiative to speak:

"If you feel that this mission is too difficult for you, you can withdraw. I will explain to Triss."

After meeting Georgina Augustus at midnight yesterday, Angel was no longer so anxious about the clues from Stratford. After all, the Duchess had made no secret of her interest in the "Red-haired Lady" and the "Golden Queen" behind her. Angel believed that as long as he continued to contact this royal force, he would be able to understand their true purpose, which might include the truth about the great smog.

"No, it's okay, Miss Irene... I'll have a good talk with Xio after we complete the mission."

Sherman replied with an ugly smile.

Angel sighed and stopped talking about this topic. Instead, he talked to the witch about the operation of the "Black Bear Cannery" in the past month and her share of the profits.

This cannery, which was bought by Sherman and Hugh Dilchar, who were still men at the time, was converted to produce canned fruit in glass jars. It was Angel's suggestion with a vision ahead of its time. She also contributed some gold pounds as start-up capital and obtained a total of 35% of the shares.

Hugh recruited many skilled workers from the East District, often came to maintain order in the factory, and promoted many transactions through his own information channels, so he also held a 10% stake.

The remaining 55% all belonged to Sherman. After he became "Sherman", the procedures for transferring to a new identity were too complicated, so it was temporarily managed by Hugh.

The factory's profits were not high at the moment, mainly because of the problem with the supply of raw materials, which limited its output. So after the two discussed, Angel decided to take advantage of this opportunity to find the Fountain of Youth and have Elaine contact Bayam for some cheap local fruits, which would be shipped directly to the dock in Backlund via boats along the Tussock River. The fruits would then be processed by the factory and canned, giving full play to her advantage of having partners in both places.

This can reduce a lot of costs, and I can also make several kinds of canned fish and meat that are unique to the Rorsted Islands. If the market is opened up, I estimate that by next year, my shares will be able to provide me with thousands of pounds of income every month... Angel thought happily, and introduced Sherman to her partner, the red-haired Elaine, whom she had never met before.

"Captain of the 'Redhead'... Miss Irene, I heard that this ship belongs to the queen of the five seas, the 'Golden Queen' Angelica Thatch, is this true? Do you and I also accept her command..." Sherman was not happy about the cannery's upcoming acquisition of cheap fruits and meat. Instead, hesitantly asked another question.

Why does she seem a little excited... Well, compared to the alternative in the "Witch Sect" or the suspected offline of the official Beyonder, accepting the command of the legendary pirate king may be more desirable... Angel muttered, and shook his head at Sherman's expectant eyes. After the word "disappointment" was written all over her face, he took off the "hypocrisy" ring, and was satisfied to see that her eyes widened and her eyes became obsessed, as if she was trapped in a dream that was difficult to wake up.

"Actually, I'm Angelica Sage."

She said with a chuckle, and then pretended to be serious and put on the expression on the wanted poster, asking the stunned Sherman to confirm again.

"I..." Sherman murmured, struggling to look away and looking to the side, only then did he get rid of the natural charm of the Witch of Despair. "At first I thought you were a member of the 'Witch Sect', then I felt that you were a bit like an official Beyonder, but I also felt that you were the kind of wild Beyonder who punishes evil and promotes good... I didn't expect that you are the 'Golden Queen' who has appeared frequently in newspapers and novels recently!"

In fact, these are all facts, but what about novels... Angel complained in his heart, put away his charm, and made himself look bright and beautiful, but not to make people of the same sex fall into a state of obsession, and then continued:

"I revealed my identity not to make you proud of it, but to hope that you can establish my own power in the East District... not a gang like the Black Claw Gang, but a real Beyonder organization."

As she spoke, she waved her right hand lightly, and a piece of parchment appeared in her palm. Sherman took it and found that it contained two potion recipes that were completely unfamiliar to her.

"Hunter", and "Pharmacist".

This is the starting sequence of the two potion paths, and both are very suitable for developing offline in the East District. The former can provide good melee capabilities, lay traps, tracking and counter-tracking, while the latter can make various medicines and enhance the team's capabilities.

Of course, Angel also had the "Fortune Teller" of the same starting sequence, but this was the formula she learned when she watched Klein become a Beyonder in the church, and she was unwilling to disclose it without the church's consent.

For similar reasons, Angel did not give the "sailor" recorded on the "Tyrant" card to Sherman.

Seeing that Sherman burned the parchment after writing down the formula, Angel continued to tell her some precautions, such as the criteria for selecting members, such as this team mainly collects intelligence about cults such as the "Aurora Society", but not to provoke the other party, and for example, she should pay attention to the recent hunt for the "Nighthawks".

Finally, after leaving behind a few practical talismans, Angel walked towards the glass window on the wall with satisfaction, ready to leave.

"Oh, right," she suddenly turned around, as if remembering something, and took out a deck of tarot cards with all the big cards removed from her pocket, and said with a mysterious smile, "Pick one from the cards. This will be your code name from now on."

Tarot cards, as a code name?

Several rumors that had appeared in the East District came to Sherman's mind, and she couldn't help but feel excited. She took the tarot cards, spread them out on the desk, and kept scanning the fifty-six Minor Arcana cards.

"There aren't that many symbols actually... just pick the one you like."

Angel, knowing that the witch must be constantly performing and divination in her mind, chuckled and reminded.

"Irene... Miss Angelica, do you have a card representing yourself as well?"

Sherman suddenly asked.

"This will be kept secret for now."

Angel shook his head and rejected the other party's temptation.

After all, the Tarot Club hasn't passed this resolution yet, and Mr. Fool has also forbidden us to leak relevant information... She muttered, watching Sherman picking hesitantly, and finally turned the cards face down, shuffled the order, and pulled out a card at random and turned it over.

It was the Queen of Pentacles.

----

Angel walked leisurely through the "mirror world" and returned to his study at home, humming a cheerful tune. He picked up a few novels to read and threw them into his "mirror space". He put them together with spare clothes, snacks and other travel supplies. When he felt ready, he was about to go directly to Bayam in the Rorsted Islands, but changed his mind when he stood in front of the full-length mirror.

Frost formed on her fingertips, drawing a mixture of secret and voyeuristic symbols on the mirror.

After waiting for a long time, just when Angel thought he had drawn the wrong symbol and was about to redraw it, the surface of the mirror suddenly turned dark black, and then a bright red light emerged, causing Angel to subconsciously take two steps back and was about to draw out "Angelica's Blade" from his "mirror space" and enter combat status.

But then, the red lights outlined a series of Loenese words of varying sizes and scribbled strokes that seemed to be dripping with blood:

"Beautiful mistress, Arrodes, exhausted both physically and mentally but still responding to your call, wants to know if the Amons are still in this city?"

(End of this chapter)