Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 923 Leonard's Eastern District Experience (Two in One)

"Extra! Extra! The Jianhai Fleet defeated the Feysac Navy, and the defeated general committed suicide out of fear of punishment after being captured!"

Leonard walked out of St. Samuel's Church under the rare scorching sun and was about to take a carriage to inspect the churches in the East District when he heard the newsboy's call. He took out a coin with his red-gloved hand, stopped the newsboy and asked for a reprint of the Backlund Morning Post.

He got into the carriage and closed the doors and windows, then spread out the newspaper, turned over the front page that denounced the Feysac Empire, and looked at the war report on the second page.

"...Last night, there was a great victory in the naval battle along the coast of Constanton. More than half of Feysac's naval fleet was destroyed, including a general named Einhorn... All the shells were intercepted with new weapons, and no civilians cried... Ha, this kind of news is probably mixed with a lot of water, even the remaining Nighthawks or Punishers who should also be from Constanton..."

After a moment, Leonard closed the newspaper and put it aside, muttering to himself in a low voice with a sneer on his face.

He didn't believe that the Loen army, which had achieved nothing in last week's air strikes, had suddenly invented some new weapon. It was most likely that the interception of all the shells fired at the city was done by official Beyonders to protect civilians.

Coincidentally, a team of Red Gloves set out from Backlund yesterday to Constanton to retrieve two important seals. One of the "1" level seals, if used properly, in conjunction with the local archbishop and other night watchmen, or in conjunction with the Mandated Punishers, would be enough to defend against the artillery fire attacking Constanton.

But Leonard knew the discipline of the "Red Gloves". Unless the Feysac Navy directly attacked the church and the surrounding area, they would not be able to use the "1" level seals whose side effects were difficult to control. And it was impossible for the team with only Sequence 5 to intercept almost all the shells.

At least he couldn't do it himself.

And the general who was killed was most likely a demigod. He alone could destroy half of the city... Leonard was thinking, and suddenly he heard the old voice of Pales:

"You have to learn to see the essence of things from this public information."

"Are you saying that Loen was actually defeated, but the battle report was false?"

Leonard lowered his voice so that only he could hear it and asked back.

“Of course not,” Pales scolded unhappily, “It’s only the early stages of the war, they won’t go that far, they should have exaggerated the results, but they definitely won… Of course, the excuse of using new weapons to intercept artillery shells is too lame, which means the results are not the military’s, and Constantine’s church can’t easily kill an invading demigod… Maybe it was done by a wild Beyonder in that city, but he didn’t want to show up, so the credit went to the military…”

Leonard nodded repeatedly at the analysis of this "parasite", but in the end, he did not wait for "Him" to say who it was. He frowned and asked:
"So who could have done it?"

“How do I know… maybe there was a saint who lived in seclusion there, or even an angel… He had a strong sense of justice, and Feysac’s fleet ran into him. Or maybe due to the law of aggregation, a high-sequence Beyonder happened to pass by Constanton…”

"Saints with a strong sense of justice...gathering..."

Leonard muttered, and a familiar figure appeared in his mind. He couldn't help but turn his head to look to the side of the carriage - that was the direction of Backlund University of Technology, which had been bombed by the Feysac airship last week and was just beginning to be rebuilt.

He had just learned about the "aggregation" effect between adjacent paths at the Tarot Club this week, and that witch and Einhorn, who was almost all from the "Hunter" path, happened to be adjacent paths!

After a moment, he retracted his gaze, shook his head, and changed the subject:

"Old man, speaking of convergence...Is it because of this reason that I was left in Backlund, because of Zaratul hiding in the dark?"

Nearly a week after the start of the war, most of the Red Gloves teams were transferred back to the temple in Wintershire, preparing to participate in the defense of the Andaman Mountains and stop the Feysac army heading south. The few who remained in Backlund were also very busy, just like the team heading to Constanton.

Leonard, who had just been promoted to captain and had a small team of new members, was arranged to be the mobile force of the Backlund Diocese. He patrolled the churches in the city every day and solved some problems that were difficult for the night watchmen to handle. It was as if he had been forgotten by the upper echelons.

When he heard his question, Pales didn't answer for a while.

It was not until Leonard tilted his head in confusion and was about to repeat the question that he heard the old voice again:

"Who told you?"

"Can't I just think of it myself?"

He tugged at his collar and answered, his voice rising a few notches.

"If you can think of it yourself, and you thought of it after attending that party on Monday... Did the conversation just now give you some inspiration? That's not bad..."

Pales sighed twice, and then continued:

"I think so too. Little Zaratul has come to Backlund, and Amon's clones have all disappeared. They may have been attracted here. With me, we have formed a stable triangle..."

"Little Zarathu?"

Leonard interjected upon hearing this strange title.

Pales chuckled and answered in a low, old voice:

"The Zarathu of my generation met Antigonus, who was called 'Half Fool', in the 'Four Emperors War'. He has already fallen... His characteristics should have been acquired by this descendant in the end, but for a long time, little Zarathu was only Sequence 2, until his disappearance more than a hundred years ago...

"No matter what, anyone who dares to come to Backlund must be a Sequence 1 angel. Don't have any fluke mentality."

What's the difference between Sequence 2 and Sequence 1 to me? I'm not even a demigod... Leonard thought for a moment and continued:
"One Angel King and two Sequence 1 angels. If there is a conflict, Backlund will probably be destroyed... In this case, shouldn't I leave the big city as soon as possible and return to the temple?"

“Heh, you got on the train at Backlund Station, and when you got off at Wintershire, you might have been wearing a monocle, or you might have become a puppet being pulled by a string,” Pales sneered unceremoniously. “Of course, I have the strength to fight, but the best way is to do it like this now. With Dark Night unable to intervene, let the main body hide, and only send out Amon, who is afraid to take action easily, and Zaratul, who is afraid to take action easily, form a fragile balance with me, whose strength has not yet fully recovered…”

A fragile balance... Leonard straightened up, his expression suddenly changed, and he asked hurriedly:
"The goddess can't intervene? Has something happened to Him?"

"There's a high probability that something will happen, but it won't necessarily be a bad thing..." Pales answered mysteriously, "In short, the church's arrangement means that your secret is no longer a secret in their eyes. As long as you don't go too far, many things can be easily covered up."

I've realized this a long time ago... Leonard sighed and continued to ask about "aggregation". It was not until the carriage arrived at the Church of the Night in the East District that he got off and entered the underground area of ​​the church. He took away a list of difficult cases and extraordinary events in the East District recently, preparing to solve those events that were extremely difficult for ordinary people and low-sequence extraordinary people, but were easy for Sequence 5 "Spirit Witches".

Most of these accumulated incidents are considered "haunted" by the public, but in fact they are ghosts created by the victims who were not buried in time. The fragile ones naturally dissipate when exposed to sunlight, and those that remain are the more difficult to deal with.

"It's several times more than last month...Are they people who died in the bombing and whose bodies were not found in time, or are they people who could no longer make a living because of rising prices?"

Looking at the case list that might take a whole day to solve, Leonard pressed his temples with a headache, regretting not bringing his teammates over to handle it together.

After planning today's itinerary in his mind, he left the church and first headed to White Whale Street where the East District factory area was located. This was the area that was heavily bombed by the Feysac airship last week. One third of the factories were damaged and the casualties were mainly concentrated here.

Before he even walked into the street, Leonard noticed a four-wheeled carriage with a black bear paw printed on it slowly driving out. The rich caramel smell that had not yet dissipated hit his nose, and he couldn't help but take a deep breath of the sweet air. Then he shifted his gaze and noticed that the carriage was driving out of a factory that was not damaged in the bombing.

"Black Bear Cannery...it turns out that the drink called Coke is made here..."

Leonard was thoughtful as he watched someone on the street pushing a small two-wheeled cart, selling bottles of carbonated drinks that were popular in Backlund recently.

This "Black Bear Cola" is cheaper than beer, rich in sugar and non-alcoholic, and is very popular among workers, but is regarded as an indecent drink by the middle and wealthy classes because they often cannot help but burp after taking a sip, which ruins their image.

Rather than looking presentable, the refreshing feeling of a sip of iced beverage is the most important thing... Leonard, who had already tasted this drink, fixed his eyes on the color-printed advertisement hanging on the cart.

The advertisement depicting the ferocious-looking northern soldiers publicized the barbaric invasion of Loen by the Feysac Empire, and promised that for every bottle of "Black Bear Coke" sold, 1/4 penny would be donated to help orphans created during the war.

Seeing this, Leonard had an idea. He took out three pence, bought a bottle of iced cola, unscrewed the metal cap with his bare hands, and followed the other buyers' example of tilting his head back and pouring the drink down his throat. The muscles of his whole body tensed up at the stimulation of the bubbles, as if he had drunk a magic potion to achieve a promotion.

Then he opened his mouth and uttered an undisguised voice:
"belch--"

This is the happiness that those who call themselves middle class cannot enjoy... Leonard muttered to himself, and suddenly thought of Angel and Klein who were still in the city. The two of them had transformed into "rich people" who could easily donate thousands of pounds and even bought a manor in the suburbs. They probably also sneered at this kind of drink...

Collecting his thoughts, Leonard noticed that a half-grown boy beside him, wearing tattered clothes and obviously malnourished, was staring at the half-full bottle of Coke in his hand. After hesitating for a moment, he handed the bottle to the other party and took out three pence from his pocket, intending to buy another bottle for the child.

But as soon as he reached into his pocket, the child who had taken the Coke happily ran away from him, poured the unfinished Coke onto the street, held the empty glass bottle in his arms, and in the blink of an eye ran into the alley and disappeared.

He just wanted to sell the empty bottles for money... Leonard's action of taking out the money and the expression on his face froze, and he suddenly realized that there was a difference in thinking between himself and these real poor people.

After a moment, he calmed down and was about to head to the nearby "haunted" place when he suddenly discovered that another figure had appeared in the alley where the child had just escaped. The other person jumped out of the window on the high warehouse wall and landed lightly. Between the black cloak and hood, a touch of white skin that did not look like that of a person from the East District was faintly visible.

Wasn't it said that the law and order in the East District had improved due to the issuance of various bans? How come there were people stealing in broad daylight... Leonard, who had just lamented the hard life of the people in the East District, was unable to think for a moment. His eyes lingered on the back of the hooded thief for a moment before he noticed that the figure looked familiar.

It was the witch who took the Minor Arcana card "Queen of Pentacles"...

Leonard struggled to reconcile the sneaky figure with the sweet-looking witch with outstanding temperament in his mind. His expression changed, but he finally took another route and quickly stopped the other party.

"The church only promises to endorse your illegal actions when investigating extraordinary events. Theft is not included in that."

Leonard ran ahead of the other party, held his breath and leaned against the wall, forcing a relaxed expression. He waited for the "Queen of Pentacles" to come in front of him before speaking in a low voice.

"Ah."

Pales in his mind sneered at the same time.

The Queen of Pentacles Sherman was not as surprised or even panicked as he expected. Instead, she took off her hood and revealed a puzzled expression:

"So it's you, Mr. 'Star'. I almost did it...but you said stealing?"

"If you don't think jumping out of that warehouse window is stealing, I can wait for your other explanation."

Leonard ignored the old man's laughter and said seriously, "Warehouse...you mean just now?"

She murmured, and after a moment she looked back in realization and almost laughed out loud:
“That’s my warehouse, my factory… to be exact, part of the shares belong to me.

"I went through the back door just because it was convenient. For an 'assassin', jumping down from the third floor is much faster than taking the stairs."

Sherman gestured and spoke while looking at Leonard with calm eyes. The look, which was as if he was looking at a fool but was not expressed because of superficial respect, made the latter feel a little embarrassed.

"I thought you changed to the 'Thief' route..." He defended himself with a wandering gaze, and suddenly caught the key point in the other party's words, "Wait, you said that the 'Black Bear Cannery' belongs to you?"

"A small portion, the majority of the shares belong to Miss 'Queen'."

Sherman nodded first, then corrected.

The "Queen" is Angelica, Angel, the actual owner of the factory? I just doubted that she would drink such cheap drinks...

Leonard's expression kept changing. After a moment, he asked as if to confirm:

"How many bottles of 'Coke' can that factory produce and sell in a week?"

He estimated that about 10,000 or 20,000 bottles would be enough.

"One week... Our production capacity is calculated on a daily basis. Now that the war has begun, Bayam's syrup supply may decrease, and our production capacity will drop... About 30,000 bottles a day."

Sherman answered carefully.

Thirty thousand bottles a day...if you can make a penny a bottle, that's...over 40,000 pounds a year?

At the Tarot Club, even the extraordinary characteristics of a demigod cannot be sold at this price!

Even if she only owned a quarter of the shares, the Queen of Pentacles would earn £10,000 a year from the factory.

Leonard's brain was shocked by this number. He fell into a daze for a moment, and his body leaning against the wall straightened up involuntarily.

He had spent almost all of his savings to buy the "Word of the Sea" and he could never have imagined that the "Queen of Coins" who had just sneaked out of the warehouse was actually a "rich man" who was much richer than himself.

"Is that so...it doesn't sound like much."

After a long while, Leonard squeezed out a word.

"That's true," Sherman replied seriously. "After the war, Miss Queen asked the factory to gradually shift its production capacity to canned food in order to accept orders from the army and to prepare for possible price increases. The production of Coke is now only one-third of what it was before..."

And canned food... Leonard said "Ah" subconsciously, then he remembered that the name of the factory just now was called "Black Bear Cannery".

He suddenly felt that the slightly sour sweet taste of cola that had just lingered in his mouth turned a little bitter.

----

In the evening, Leonard, who was physically exhausted and mentally even more tired after a day of hard work, got off the carriage and stepped into St. Samuel's Church, where the prayer hall was overwhelmed by the increasing number of believers.

Before he could even enter the underground area, he met three members of the "Red Gloves" team returning to Backlund from Constanton.

Their captain, Demel, held a heavy wooden box against his chest with both hands, his expression painful, as if he was under extremely exaggerated pressure. He didn't walk far before handing the wooden box to another team member, who took it with a solemn expression and immediately became the same as his captain.

This should be the "1" level sealed item... Leonard seemed to understand something. He took advantage of Demel's hands being freed and his red face quickly returning to normal and leaned forward to ask in a low voice:

"Is Conston's mission going well?"

Because they were worried about not getting timely support in the event of an accident, the different Red Gloves teams would inform each other of their tasks. Therefore, Demel was not surprised and also lowered his voice and said:

"It went very smoothly. We arrived there yesterday evening, rested for a night, and set out this morning with the seal. No other accidents occurred during this period...except for Feysac's fleet last night."

This is what I want to hear... Leonard was delighted and commented casually:

"I saw in the newspaper that Loen's navy won a great victory and captured Einhorn."

"Captured? That's what the newspaper said?" Demel sneered, subconsciously turned his head to look around, and found that the believers in the prayer hall were praying devoutly. Then he continued, "When the local Nighthawks walked out of the church, the general's body was thrown at the door. Like the people in the North District who were blown to death by them, there was not a single intact piece of skin on his body... Until then, there was no Loen ship on the sea!"

Sure enough, it was pretty much what the old man guessed... Leonard showed a hint of doubt and asked in a low voice:

"Who did it?"

"No one knows. Some people witnessed golden flashes in the sky. Most of the shells were intercepted because of this. The rest were also strangely deflected and fell into the suburbs or uninhabited areas. When the commander of Feysac was thrown out, someone saw a figure in the sky. It seemed to be a woman with black hair... With this kind of characteristics, a lot of targets can be found at random. It is impossible to confirm. The divination also showed that it was interfered..."

Demel kept talking, and then, as his teammates called out to him, he took the box containing the Level 1 Sealed Artifact and walked forward slowly, his voice becoming intermittent:

"Anyway, I wrote a report and prepared to give it to the archbishop. He might report it to the cathedral... But I think she should be a demigod who is relatively friendly to Rune. According to the current situation, it is highly likely that she will not be investigated further."

If it is true as the old man said, that the goddess is unable to actively respond to believers for some reason, I am afraid that the church really does not have the ability to track down such a harmless target. Moreover, she is very likely...

Thinking of the nickname that the pirates had passed down before she became the "Golden Queen", Leonard stopped and looked at the door of the prayer hall that had not yet been closed.

A black shadow flashed by on the glass next to the door, which had turned deep red due to the crimson moon shining outside the window.

----

On Saturday night, Angel went to Serenzo's restaurant in the West End, which is famous for its authentic Intis cuisine.

Of course, there was no reservation, and it came in the form of a "mirror world".

Standing behind the glass window in front of the Golden Theater box, Angel quietly waited for 7 o'clock in the evening.

Tonight, she will meet with several "rebels" to confirm each other's attitudes and level of preparation, and discuss how to stop George III's plot next.

This was equivalent to a pre-war mobilization meeting. After this, including him, no one would have the chance to meet again until the day of action... The thought flashed through Angel's mind, and he suddenly felt that there were some changes inside the mirror world.

She looked in the direction of her spiritual perception, and in another nearby "passageway", a blurry figure approached quickly and stayed behind the glass window like her, observing the movements outside.

The new witch obviously didn't notice Angel. After observing for a moment, she left the mirror and her figure was outlined in the corridor that was luxuriously decorated with Intis' exaggerated artistic style.

She wore a ubiquitous women's hood that covered her smooth black hair and most of her face, leaving only her slightly round chin and dimples on both sides of her cheeks. Her extremely seductive figure was hidden under the wide skirt.

This is Triss Chick, who is wanted by all of Loen, but whose whereabouts have yet to be found.

Seeing that there was no one in the corridor, she came to the door of the "Golden Theater" box and stretched out her hand hesitantly, but did not knock on the door. Instead, she kept looking around like a vigilant rabbit, with strange light flashing in her eyes, obviously doing a quick divination.

Angel chuckled and returned to the real world from behind the mirror. Triss, who was looking around, turned around suddenly and breathed a sigh of relief when she found it was her.

"Why meet here? Isn't the East District safer?"

She said half in confusion and half in complaint.

"The one inside requested this place to have special meaning to her."

Angel explained, walked past Triss who was standing at the door, and knocked on the door.

"Please come in."

There was a response from inside the door.

Angel pushed open the door and entered the room which was decorated with lots of golden wallpaper, tassels and edges of tables and chairs. As expected, he found two guests already sitting at the dining table.

The man at the top, wearing a white shirt and slim-fitting beige trousers, with long chestnut hair hanging behind his head, sat in a high-back chair in a relaxed posture, his blue eyes looking towards the door, and nodded to Angel.

Sitting farther away from her was a young man wearing a black windbreaker with his top hat removed and placed beside him, revealing short black hair and a thin face. His gaze from behind his gold-rimmed glasses lingered briefly on Triss by the door, and then he looked at Angel.

"Good evening, 'Mysterious Queen'. Gehrman, long time no see."

Angel greeted everyone in turn and found a chair to sit down. Behind her, Triss followed her somewhat stiffly and sat on the chair next to her, like a follower.

She probably didn't divine what was going on inside when she was outside the door... Angel was just laughing in his heart at Triss's expression which was completely different from when she was complaining outside the door, when he noticed that Klein, who was dressed as a crazy adventurer opposite him, smiled exaggeratedly and reached into his pocket.

Then, under the gaze of the other three, he blew on the crystal monocle he took out and put it on his left eye socket.

(Two-in-one, no today, just in time to restore the even-numbered chapters.)
(End of this chapter)