Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 862 Hope of promotion?
Anne's statement did not surprise Angel.

As early as during the Pirate Conference, when the five kings gathered, Nast, the "King of the Five Seas", expressed his dream of establishing a new maritime order, founding a new kingdom, and becoming a true "Black Emperor", but was treated coldly by Anne.

Because according to the characteristics of this path, if no new Sequence 0 is born, the original "Black Emperor" will always have a chance to be resurrected. Even if Nestor does not want to go against Russell Gustav, his act of ascending to the "Black Emperor" is naturally adding the last handful of soil to Russell's grave.

Thinking of this, Angel frowned and asked cautiously:

“Speaking of which, can you confirm that Emperor Roselle is still alive? It has been 152 years since he was assassinated in the White Maple Palace. Assuming... he really became the ‘Black Emperor’ before his death, and the mausoleum was not completely destroyed, then he should have used the remaining mausoleum to revive. It wouldn’t have taken so long, right?”

She wanted to be more tactful in order not to irritate the two women in front of her who looked young but actually had an intimate relationship with Roselle. However, if she didn't clarify this key issue, the subsequent exploration of the "Mirror World" and the "Ghost Empire" would be out of the question, so she could only ask more pointedly.

“No, I can’t be sure,” Bernadette answered first. She showed a rare hesitation on her face that shouldn’t appear on a High-Sequence Beyonder. “My Sequence is ‘Master of Prophecy’, which gives me the ability to obtain ‘revelation’ and peek into the ending of things, but this does not include his fate… Whether the ending is good or bad, I don’t have an answer. But I can feel that he hasn’t fallen completely yet.”

That is to say, even you cannot be sure whether Emperor Roselle is dead or alive, but in your heart you hope that he is alive... Angel pondered, not satisfied with this answer, so he turned to the silent Anne and continued to ask:
"Did Emperor Roselle use the power of the Queen Anne's Revenge when he built those mausoleums?"

"He became a little crazy and radical at the time, constantly dismissing his subordinates who had been with him for many years, giving people the impression that he had no regard for their old friendships... But in fact, these subordinates accepted orders and went to various parts of the world to secretly recruit workers to build mausoleums disguised as ruins and hidden in mountains and valleys. His crazy and suspicious behavior, including his sudden declaration of emperor despite the opposition of the church, was only to paralyze the church that had gradually become estranged from him and to deceive the nobles of the previous dynasty who were trying to take action against him."

Anne sat up straight, answering with an expression that was half reminiscing and half thinking.

"But unlike his knights, I was excluded from the 'plan' from the very beginning. Before the construction of the mausoleum was launched, he gave me the order to leave the army and return to the sea. After that, I haven't seen him since."

Order... Angel immediately thought of the desolate expression on the other party's face when he asked to "kill me" when he first met Annie and her ghost ship hidden in the spirit world.

Roselle was unwilling to tell Anne, who was so close to him, the location of the two mausoleums, and even wanted to drive her out of the army in advance, away from the mainland, and back to the sea?

It seems that this secret only remains in Russell’s mind, or perhaps in his diary written in Chinese... I’m afraid that only when Bernadette gets the last diary and gives it to Mr. Fool to decrypt it, will others have a chance to know...

Thoughts flashed through Angel's mind, including what Anne said about the workers being secretly summoned, the mausoleum disguised as other buildings, and Roselle's sudden change in behavior. Gradually, an idea was formed that was about to come out, but he couldn't grasp the key point.

"So, what's your decision?"

Anne's gentle question interrupted Angel's thoughts, causing her to raise her head again and answer carefully:
"I agree to participate in the exploration of the 'Ghost Empire', but just like going to Trier to investigate the 'Mirror World', I need to wait until Backlund's matter is over... And I'm a little curious, how are you going to deal with the extraordinary characteristics of that ghost ship?"

At this point, she remembered something and continued with a frown:

"Can the Queen Anne's Revenge accommodate the Sequence 1 'Hand of Order' Beyonder characteristic, allowing you to advance to the next sequence, just like Beyonders advance through potions?"

"At the beginning of the design, the Angel-class ghost ship did not have this function, because the Beyonder characteristics of Sequence 1 belonged to the Night Emperor, and there was no possibility for me to be promoted... But I think that with the help of the ability of the Craftsman, I might be able to accommodate Beyonder characteristics and display some of the abilities of the Hand of Order. This is similar to holding a sealed object instead of taking a potion."

Craftsman... Angel had just made a guess when Bernadette said:

"That person will provide corresponding assistance. This is something that Steam tacitly agrees to."

That person… Thinking of the “craftsman” and the person Bernadette knew, a name immediately popped up in Angel’s mind: Benoit Gustave.

It seems that during her trip to Intis with Annie, she might have contacted Emperor Roselle's second son, Bonova, who had become an angel of the Steam Church, and even improved the relationship with the Steam Church and obtained a certain degree of help from them?
Thinking of this, Angel took out the "Angelica's Blade" that he had commissioned "Hermit" Cattleya to make from the mirror space, placed the straight sword on the table, and asked:
"Is this magical item also made by that 'craftsman'?"

"Yes, he appreciates everything you did in Trier."

Sure enough, it was that angel with a rather indifferent expression, as lifeless as a puppet. To be honest, I was actually defending him from a conspiracy against him at that time... Angel nodded in understanding and put away his straight sword.

Then, the three of them had a detailed discussion about the future cooperation. Angel was responsible for contacting Nast, the "King of the Five Seas", and agreed to explore the Ghost Empire in the name of the "Golden Queen". Bernadette was responsible for the preliminary preparations for Trier, but she also had to go to Backlund recently to complete an important task. Both parties had reasons to postpone the cooperation, so the contract was not signed on the spot with Anne as a witness.

"Complete important tasks in Backlund?" Angel asked doubtfully.

She always felt that the city had recently taken on too many forces that should not be touched by it. Various angels and even higher-level forces appeared one after another, like a riot before something big was about to happen.

“This involves the key to my advancement to Sequence 2. You don’t need to know too much… But if this can be accomplished, our chances of success in finding the real ruins will increase.”

Bernadette's answer was a little vague, but it was not difficult to guess that it was related to the "Sequence 2" ritual, so Angel did not continue to ask, but just said with emotion:

"It sounds easier than the witches' promotion ceremony."

At least Angel believed that if Bernadette's promotion involved some danger or would cause damage to the surrounding environment, she would not choose a large city with a large population.

"Compared to the exact goal, the Sage's promotion ceremony is even more illusory, ethereal, and elusive. I made arrangements in Backlund many years in advance just for this one opportunity."

Bernadette answered slowly, looked at Angel again, and continued:
"Since you have already learned the rule of 'replacing quantity with high status' when you were promoted to 'Despair', and completed the ritual in a tricky way, then you can also adopt a similar method in the promotion ceremony of the 'Disaster' witch."

The "Mysterious Queen" is very familiar with the witch's promotion ceremony... and the method she described sounds like another way of saying "quality instead of quantity". I have also considered this, but the disaster that the ritual requires to affect the "entire region" cannot be solved. A demigod is equivalent to tens of thousands of ordinary people, but the concept of "region"...

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning exploded in Angel's mind, and he instantly understood why Bernadette mentioned this matter at this time.

She was hinting that the tomb of the "Black Emperor" could be used as a "complete area" in the occult concept!
As the pinnacle of the "lawyer" path, the Black Emperor must have the power to "twist the rules", which means that the mausoleum he built is very likely to have a completely different "order" from the outside world, and is a "complete area" isolated from the outside world!
Moreover, taking the mausoleum of the gods as the target is like replacing ordinary people of low status with extraordinary people of high status. It has an incomparable advantage in "quality". Perhaps only one mausoleum and one angel are needed to endure the "disaster" caused by Angel to meet the requirements of the ritual.

An angel...

Angel felt a bitter taste in her mouth. She simply didn't know where to find such an obedient angel who would stay in the small mausoleum and wait quietly for the disaster she caused to come.

It sounds easier than launching a terrible plague in a kingdom...

----

Backlund East District, Broken Axe Alley.

Sherman declined the shabby cloak handed to him by the masked servant, tightened the hood on his head, and walked into the noisy reception room.

This is a recently established gathering place for Extraordinary People, which is held irregularly every week. Sherman recently obtained the qualifications from a subordinate who participated in the gathering and was allowed to join them.

There were already seven or eight partygoers in the dim room, each sitting on a chair. Some wore hooded cloaks like Sherman, some covered their faces with metal masks, and two showed their true faces, attracting the attention of others.

This kind of person might be the strongest and not afraid of being recognized... She thought secretly, using dark vision to memorize everyone's characteristics in her mind, then found a sofa in the corner and sat down, quietly listening to the whispered conversations of others.

About ten minutes later, after several more partygoers entered the reception room, the door to the outside was closed, and the side door at the other end opened. A man wearing a black wizard robe and a huge hood covering his entire head walked in accompanied by two waiters. The waiter brought over a blackboard and began to write the transaction requirements for this party on it. The hooded man sat on the single sofa in the center of the venue, facing Sherman, with his head down and no expression could be seen.

“Is this the person who organized the party?”

Sherman heard a masked man next to her, who was obviously attending the party for the first time like her, asking his companion excitedly.

"That's right, keep your voice down so Mr. K doesn't hear you."

His companion replied in a low voice.

(This volume is halfway through, I need to sort out the outline, I'm going to take a day off tomorrow, sorry (づ￣ 3￣)づ~☆)
(End of this chapter)