Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 917: Doubts about the Fool
"An old friend comes to visit" sounds like it has a double meaning.

For ordinary people, it is a reunion moment worth celebrating, but for a Beyonder detective who has many friends and enemies, it may be a life-threatening "friend" coming to seek revenge.

The young man who seemed to be Isengard Stanton's new assistant had obviously thought of this as well. His expression changed slightly, and he loosened his hand holding the door, touched his belt, and said cautiously:
"I don't recall you having an appointment."

"I just wanted to visit him when I was passing by. He still owes me at least 1000 pounds."

Angel showed a hint of deliberate dissatisfaction, which startled the young man for a moment. Then he blurted out as if he had thought of something:

"Are you Miss Irene Watson?"

He should have come here after the big smog, how could he know me? It seems that Isengard often mentioned me, maybe the case of the Apostle of Desire also left a deep impression in his mind... Angel complained in his heart, nodded slightly and acknowledged his identity.

She also noticed that the man with gray-blue eyes, high cheekbones, and very typical characteristics of Lunburg did not have a pistol hidden on his waist. She guessed that he was about to touch the talisman and judged that he was also a Beyonder, but his Sequence should not be high.

It is very likely that they are from the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom. Considering Isengard's experience in Renburg in those years, the Church of Knowledge, which does not allow churches and related institutions to be set up in Loen, may have regarded this place as a secret base, continuously sending believers to Backlund...

While thinking, the assistant who confirmed Angel's identity relaxed, made way for him at the door, and made a "please" gesture.

Angel entered the foyer and came to the living room, which had poor lighting. Familiar memories immediately came to him.

The sofas that formed a semicircle, the dining table where she had enjoyed Klein's soft-boiled eggs, the dark corner where the poor assistant had been chopped into pieces, and the stairs leading to the second floor...

He also admitted that he actually heard some noise outside the door that day... Angel's cheeks felt a little hot for a moment, but his increasingly thick skin managed to maintain its whiteness.

In a corner of the living room, Isengard Stanton, with gray hair on his temples and a pipe in his hand, had stood up from his armchair. Undisguised surprise appeared in his eyes, and he took a few steps forward to greet Angel:
"Ms. Irene, I didn't expect... to see you again."

As he spoke, he waved to his assistant, asking him to leave the living room and close the door. He then led Angel to sit on another single sofa, leaned back in the easy chair, and said in a low voice:
"After the great smog, I didn't get to see you, so I went to ask the butler of the Mechanical Heart who often appeared with the question-and-answer mirror. He said that you... died in that horrible disaster."

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and pointed toward the southeast, indicating the horrific smog that claimed more than 100,000 lives at the end of last year.

"Four months ago, Sherlock Moriarty returned to Backlund. When he came to see me, I also asked about your whereabouts, but he also said that you died in the smog... What's going on? Did you use that opportunity to fake your death and escape, or is the rumor wrong?"

This can make the well-informed believer of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom scratch his head. It seems that my "resurrection" has indeed caused him a lot of trouble. In order to conceal the whereabouts of Irene Watson and avoid being discovered by Ince, Sherlock-Klein deliberately said that my identity was dead... Angel smiled secretly and said mysteriously:

"I did die in the fog at that time. After all, a witch of despair who spread plague was not something I could deal with at that time... But praise the goddess, I was resurrected not long after."

When mentioning the goddess, Angel tapped his chest four times, drawing a crimson moon, implying that his reappearance was related to the goddess.

Immediately, under the other party's surprised gaze, she felt that the remaining undigested part of the "Immortality" potion had loosened a little.

This is the normal digestion rate, not the horrible progress after praying to the goddess in Saint Samuel Church... Angel realized that the main purpose of coming here had been achieved, and muttered in joy and fear, and quickly changed the subject:

"Loen and Feysac have started a war. Have you received any relevant news?"

She was referring, of course, to Lenburg and the Church of Knowledge there.

Ever since the witch Tia, who escaped with a lot of key information, came to her door, she began to suspect that the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, which seemed independent and did not have much contact with the churches of the four major countries, actually had a lot of actions in secret. When she met their believers now, she naturally had to ask them clearly.

Isengard shook his head, raised his pipe, looked at Angel, put it down again, and said:
"There is not much news. Feysac's undeclared war was beyond everyone's expectations. Before this, most people believed that Loen would provoke a war at the end of this year or early next year to divert internal conflicts and take revenge for the defeat in the last war. In this way, the scale of the war would not be too large and it would most likely be limited to overseas colonies. Unexpectedly...

"No one can predict what will happen next. The military strength of Loen and Feysac is not much different, so there will probably be a stalemate for a while. However, the Feynaport Kingdom has hated Loen since the 'War of Forsaken Oath', and it is very likely that they will join the war at the right time and join forces with Feysac to deal with Loen. Of course, their targets should be Lenburg, Masi and Segar first."

The War of Oath Breaking was a war that split the religious beliefs within the Feynaporte Kingdom more than 600 years ago, and eventually led to the independence of three small countries sandwiched between Intis, Loen and Feynaporte, who believed in the God of Knowledge and Wisdom. Feynaporte expelled these believers, leaving only the Church of Mother Earth.

In that war, Intis and Loen joined forces to fight Feynaport, while Feysac tried to thwart the conspiracy of the two countries, and stood with Feynaport. Therefore, if the scale of this war expands, Feynaport is likely to stand on Feysac's side. Not only that, Angel also considered the information obtained in "Groselle's Travels", knowing that in the Fourth Epoch, the gods were also wary of each other and even hated each other. He was not sure what position the Mother Earth, the God of Wisdom, the Eternal Sun, and even the God of Steam would take after the war expanded.

This is the chaotic world that Adam had been waiting for... Could it be that He already has the magic potion in His hand, ready to drink it all at the right time? This might be even earlier than when George III started the promotion ceremony to the "Black Emperor"...

Angel sighed and continued to discuss the next situation with the detective who was also a believer of the God of Wisdom and a Loenese. Although Isengard could not access the deeper secrets of the world of mysticism, he had a unique perspective on the world of "ordinary people". His analysis of the direction of the war gave Angel a lot of benefits.

Gradually, she turned the topic to the hunting of the "Apostle of Desire" before the big smog, which made Isengard aware of it. He chuckled and took the initiative to mention it:
"I remember that after that case, a portion of your reward was left with me. It was more than I expected at the time, a full 1400 pounds."

If she had heard this news half a year ago, Angel would have been ecstatic and would have thought about how to spend the money three times in her mind. But now that her savings have reached six figures, she no longer has any more emotional fluctuations about this. She just said calmly:
"Please donate it to Backlund's charity, as a contribution to the upcoming world war."

"Don't you need it?"

Isengard was a little surprised and even put down the pipe in his hand.

He originally thought that this woman, who in his memory always talked about money, took the initiative to visit him this time to "collect debts", but he didn't expect that the other party would easily give up thousands of pounds in cash.

"I don't have any use for it now."

Angel smiled and replied, then he stood up and left Isengard's house.

The latter sat quietly in the living room for a while, and suddenly realized something. He looked down at the coffee table and found that a flyer for the "Loen Charity Student Aid Fund" had appeared there at some point.

Looking at the contact information above, he seemed to be thinking about something.

----

At three o'clock on Monday afternoon, as crimson rays of light emerged from the gray fog and condensed into human figures of different shapes, the communication between the Tarot Club members began.

Audrey, who had adjusted her mood through the ability of the "audience", still greeted everyone first as before, but she noticed that more than half of the members were in a low mood, so that the already gloomy gray fog was shrouded in an indescribable shadow.

Except for Mr. "Sun", most of the members were related to the Kingdom of Loen and were inevitably affected by the shadow of war... Her eyes stopped at "Moon", "Star", "World", "Judgment", and "Magician" in turn, and finally returned to the "Queen" beside her. Audrey sighed in her heart.

These were the members who lived in Backlund, only a stone's throw away from her, "Queen" Angel... Christine had even rushed forward to stop the invasion of the Feysac airship. Her angelic figure, who had fought bloody battles and was covered in scars, would appear in Audrey's dreams from time to time.

This is the scene I have always dreamed of after becoming an Extraordinary Person. Unfortunately, I am not the protagonist, I am just a spectator... Slightly frustrated, she decided to use the ability of "Dream Walker" to go to the dreams of those who suffered losses in the air raids every night to comfort them and make them forget their pain.

This is also a chance to digest the potion...

While she was thinking, the Hermit on the lady’s side had already turned to Mr. Fool at the head of the long table and bowed his head respectfully and said:
"Great Mr. Fool, I brought a whole diary of Roselle this time."

A whole book, at least dozens of pages, has the Tarot Club finally come to this point... The other people looked at the "Hermit" who was wearing thick glasses and bearing everyone's gaze calmly, and they felt a little emotional in their hearts.

Of course, it was just a few regrets. Although the number of diaries contributed this time was more than the total number contributed by most people since joining the Tarot Club, considering the other party's connection with Roselle's eldest daughter, the "Mysterious Queen", this matter could barely be considered normal.

They were just curious, if there was a whole diary, why not present it in parts and ask for more rewards, but hand it in all at once?

Did anything happen over there with the “Queen of Mystery”?
Angel, who also frowned and looked at Cattleya, was thinking more in his heart.

As for the Hermit's gift of an entire diary, she quickly realized that it might be because of the connection between the Mysterious Queen and Crane, and the agreement to work together to stop George III. She was eager to know everything about Russell's life, so she handed over all the remaining diaries in one go.

On the one hand, she was delighted that Mr. Fool had obtained more diaries, and thought that she might have a chance to borrow them from Him in the future. On the other hand, this incident also made her think of a new question:
Why does Mr. Fool understand Chinese, which has long been unknown to everyone and even the information in the spiritual world has been completely destroyed and cannot be used for divination?
(End of this chapter)