Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 931: The Phantom Within Reach

After leading his "Red Gloves" team to escort the two suspects back to St. Samuel's Church and watching them enter the "Chaness Gate", Leonard returned to his office with the newspaper he had just bought, took off his police uniform and hat used to disguise his identity, unbuttoned his shirt, and vigilantly locked the door.

"Old man, what does it mean that the king sent the eldest prince to the front line of the battlefield at this time?"

he asked in a low voice.

"Why do you care about these things?" In his mind, the old, ethereal voice of Pales Zoroast asked back, "Isn't it all written in the newspaper? Currently, Loen and Feysac are in a stalemate. If a prince can go to the front line in person, it will greatly boost morale."

"I want to hear your opinion, not this useless stuff in the newspaper."

Leonard said as he glanced at the newspaper he had just bought. On it was a photo of Covington Augustus leading a new army corps on a steam train to the front. The prince, who was over 30 years old and a little fat, and who did not match the straight military uniform he was wearing, was forcing a very ugly smile.

"My opinion... Normally, sending the eldest prince who may inherit the throne to the battlefield means weakening the royal family itself. Whether he accidentally dies on the battlefield or has to be promoted for some reason and loses the opportunity to inherit the throne under the supervision of the three major churches, it is not a good thing for Augustus and it is easy to cause dissatisfaction in the military... They are very likely to deliberately show goodwill to the church."

Pales replied with a smile in his voice.

"What if it's not normal?" Leonard asked.

"That means your king, George III, thinks he doesn't need so many heirs after this war..."

Leonard's feet, which were about to put on the table, froze in the air at the words that came to his ears.

----

Looking at the sumptuous food on the table, most of which he had swept away like a whirlwind, Angel breathed a sigh of satisfaction. He looked at the crew member serving him and subconsciously wanted to take out a 1-sol note as a tip, but suddenly remembered that this was in the restaurant of the "Black Emperor", so he did not make any strange movements.

"Tell the chef here that I really like the Intis meal he made."

Wiping his mouth with a napkin, Angel turned to the young crew member who had been so respectful like a real restaurant waiter.

Angel was pleasantly surprised to be able to enjoy dishes on the sea that were no less delicious than those in the special Intis restaurant, and the ingredients were very fresh. He also became more interested in the food on the ship.

"What do you usually eat? Is it Intis style cuisine as well, or is it like most pirate ships, relying mainly on fishing and some storable foods?"

She glanced at the dinner on the table, which was clearly not part of the Black Emperor's daily diet, and asked curiously.

"When we first leave the port, we will eat fresh but difficult-to-store meat, then vegetables and fruits, and finally various fish. If there is a new harvest, the Earl will not keep it to himself, and each of us can have an additional meal."

The young man, who was a part-time waiter but actually a pirate, answered.

New harvest, it means looting other ships... Although "King of the Five Seas" Nast idolizes Emperor Roselle and has made many rules, such as only robbing money and not kidnapping people, and trying not to kill passengers, he is still a pirate after all. Not to mention the food I eat, maybe even the chef who cooks Intis dishes was robbed from other ships... Angel suddenly felt a little embarrassed and stopped talking to the other party. He finished dinner and left the restaurant, returned to his room, and looked at the sunset outside the porthole.

“Once we confirm that the route of the Ghost Empire calculated by Nestor is accurate, I can work with Klein and Anne to open the passage to the ghost ship on my own without actually cooperating with Nestor…”

She muttered silently, thinking back to the points drawn on the nautical chart she had seen yesterday. She felt that the circles formed by the irregularly distributed positions had a strange sense of disharmony, just like the style of the Solomon period.

But the Trunsoste Empire is ruled by the "Night Emperor" who is at the pinnacle of order, so it should not have inherited the bad habits of the Solomon Empire. The "Ghost Empire" was also built through the characteristics of the "Hand of Order". If it really has a fixed route, it should be a perfect circle... The more Angel thought about it, the weirder it seemed. He simply used the water vapor in the air to condense an ice ball as big as his head and let it float in front of him. Tiny black flames as small as needles splashed on the surface of the sphere, like a paintbrush drawing a pattern.

A moment later, the "Earth" with the northern and southern continents, the Sea of ​​​​Turbulence and the Sea of ​​​​Sonia appeared before her.

Afterwards, based on her memory, Angel pointed out the possible locations of the "Ghost Empire" in the depths of the Sonia Sea. This time, the nearly circular shape that was smaller on the south side and convex on the north side formed a perfect circle on the surface of the sphere, which made her feel extremely comfortable.

It turned out that the previous markings on the flat map were distorted. In fact, the route of the "Ghost Empire" was close to the colony of the White Whale Sea in the west and the ruins of the God War in the east. It was indeed a perfect circle... Angel suddenly realized it, and felt that Nestor, as the "King of the Five Seas" and his father was also a senior pirate and explorer, could not be unaware that the popular map drawing method in this world would be distorted in places far away from the equator.

Then the only possibility is that Nast did not intend to tell Angel the true route of the "Ghost Empire", and revealed a few of the nearest locations just to gain her trust temporarily.

Fortunately, I never planned to really cooperate with him from the beginning... After finding out the other party's intentions, Angel felt at ease. At least before opening the "Ghost Empire" and entering it, Nast was unlikely to turn against him.

Watching the dim sunlight gradually disappear from the sea level, Angel closed his eyes and waited quietly for the night to fall.

----

Late at night, Angel, who had been staying in the guest room, suddenly sensed a twisted, evil force surging from the deck.

It was Nast Solomon... She casually touched the shiny glass of the porthole, and her figure disappeared in the room decorated in Intis style, and was outlined on the deck the next second.

Compared to when she arrived here yesterday, there were much fewer pirates on the deck, and the Black Emperor had lowered its sails and was floating freely with the waves, seemingly not intending to "chase" any targets.

This means that the location where the "Ghost Empire" approaches the real world at night is fixed every time, instead of traveling at high speed like other ghost ships... Angel made some guesses and looked at Nast, who was nearly two meters tall, with a crown on his head pointing straight to the sky and deep red light in his eyes, but did not make a sound to disturb him.

The few pirates still on the deck either hid in the corners in fear or stared at the "Golden Queen" in a light-colored long dress, whose silhouette was fatally attractive in the moonlight. No one dared to look directly at the Earl Bai Feng, who exuded an evil aura. Time passed second by second, until the half-full crimson moon rose to the sky and gradually came to the top of the "Black Emperor", casting strange moonlight on the sea, making the quiet black stained with a hint of enchanting red.

Suddenly, something seemed to be flying across the calm sea. Angel turned her head sharply, but with her outstanding vision she could not find anything.

Angel used his eyes as a mirror to do a simple divination, but found nothing. He looked at Nast and found that the latter was also staring in that direction, with the dark red in his eyes becoming more and more obvious.

"Did you see it too?"

His deep voice came from the shadows beneath the crown.

Without waiting for Angel to answer, he stretched out his hands which were folded in his robe, clasped his left hand in front of his chest, and stretched out his right hand, as if trying to grab something, pointing at the sea where the shadow had just flown over.

The "twist" of the Mad Mage!
The shadow that had just quickly passed through the side of the "Black Emperor" flew back at the same speed, and only slowed down when it approached the side of the ship.

This time Angel saw the object clearly. It was slightly smaller than the Black Emperor, and was a strange dark red in the moonlight. Its appearance was difficult to distinguish, and its outline was blurred. It was close to the sea surface, as if it was floating not far away underwater.

That is the "Ghost Empire"?
Angel subconsciously felt that it would not be that simple, but then he thought that it might just be a projection of a ghost ship hidden in another world on the real sea surface. Otherwise, with the "distortion" of Nestor Sequence 3, it would be impossible to change its direction and make it return along the original path.

In this case, the "Ghost Empire" is very likely to be in the corresponding position in the mirror world... She realized something, and seeing that Nestor was just silently maintaining the "distortion", allowing the dark red phantom to float not far away, she simply jumped off the side of the ship. Before her body fell to the sea, she used the power of ice to condense a crystal clear ice mirror that reflected her reflection. She fell into it and instantly came to a mirror world that overlapped with the reality but was independent of each other.

The sea surface beside her suddenly became illusory and dim. Gray mirror passages extended in different directions with her as the center. The rest of the place was as dark as a lightless forest. Only a few spots of light were twinkling, representing the "mirrors" nearby that could be used for entry and exit.

Among them, there was no huge figure of the "Ghost Empire", and even the dark red shadow reflected on the sea surface disappeared without a trace.

Did it leave the moment I entered the mirror world?
Angel looked around, carefully distinguishing the directions of the channels in the mirrors, and did not find anything unusual.

But she could vaguely feel a weak gravitational force attracting herself floating in the mirror world, and the force seemed to come from beside her, not far away.

Perhaps the "Ghost Empire" is just hiding between reality and illusion with the help of the "rules" of the mirror world, but has not completely entered this world. Therefore, I can only have a certain sense of the "disaster" witch characteristics in it, but cannot see the body of this ghost ship... Next time, I can bring the "Witch" card, which should be able to better utilize the power of the Beyonder characteristics... Well, it seems that the "Black Emperor" card and the "Judgment" card also have a certain effect, but Nast will definitely covet these two "blasphemous cards" that are useful to him...

Angel frowned and thought for a moment, then used the ice to return to reality and stepped onto the deck of the Black Emperor.

Nast immediately looked at her, with undisguised hope in his eyes.

"Did you find anything?"

Angel nodded and told the other party everything she sensed after entering the "mirror world" without hiding anything. Of course, she did not mention the use of the "blasphemy card" to enhance her perception as she guessed.

The "King of the Five Seas" was very satisfied with this result, which was not really a result:
"It seems that my speculation is completely correct. The Ghost Empire has distorted space with the help of these extraordinary properties that make up it. It has achieved a certain balance between reality, the spirit world, and the mirror world, hiding in the cracks. It is not enough to rely on the power of any one of us to find it..."

"Is that why you need Annie's strength?"

Angel asked back.

Nast chuckled and did not answer directly, but said:

"...Five days later, the 'Ghost Empire' will appear at the next location, and after that, it will enter the chaotic and dangerous waters to the east, until it leaves from further north in early November."

This means that if you don’t try to enter the “Ghost Empire” after five days, you will have to wait a month... Angel nodded silently, took out a small and exquisite mirror, handed it to the other party, and said:
"That night, contact me through it."

The black eyes with dark red light stared at Angel for a few seconds, then Nast took the dressing mirror, put it in the pocket of his robe, and said in a low voice:

“I don’t want more people to know about this.”

"Of course, I don't want anyone to share the spoils."

Angel replied with a smile, looking sincere.

----

In the palace shrouded in gray fog, two deep red lights emerged, and the figures of "Queen" Angel and "World" Klein appeared in their respective seats.

This was an impromptu meeting requested by Angel, with only himself and Klein participating. On the one hand, this was to avoid Zaratul's tracking of the two of them, and on the other hand, the matter to be discussed next was very important.

Glancing at the head of the long table, Angel saw that Mr. Fool was not listening. He turned to look at Klein and said excitedly:

"'King of the Five Seas' Nast has found clues to the 'Ghost Empire'."

(End of this chapter)