Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 932: Conversation at Sefirah Castle

Completely ignoring the verbal agreement with Nast, Angel quickly told him everything that had happened in the past two days.

"No wonder I seemed to see you when I went to pick up Miss Magician..."

Klein muttered, sensing the other party's strange gaze, and quickly changed the subject:

"Are you sure that it was the 'Ghost Empire' that appeared tonight, and not some other spiritual creature or magical object?"

"It is basically certain that it is not in the mirror world, but it can make me feel something and attract me to get closer. It is at least a characteristic of Sequence 2 of the Witch Path... and as a 'Frenzy Mage', Nast is also very sure of his guess. I think he also has a similar feeling for the extraordinary characteristics of the same path."

Angel replied.

"But if it's so easy to find the 'Ghost Empire', why hasn't anyone been able to board this ghost ship and obtain the treasure inside in the more than a thousand years since the fall of the Trunsoste Empire? Although it's difficult to gather demigods from the three paths, it's not impossible."

As Angel expected, Klein also raised similar questions as when she first learned about this.

"It seems simple to gather the conditions to open the Ghost Empire, but it is actually very difficult... The paths of order and distortion can be transformed into each other, so there will naturally be opposition between the two, and it is difficult to put them together. The witch path has been in the hands of the Witch Family since the Fourth Epoch. They may have secretly cooperated with certain empires, but they definitely do not include the Loen and Feynapotter royal families who control the Arbitrator until recent years..."

Angel explained patiently.

"It's useless to just gather these three keys. We also need to figure out the route of the 'Ghost Empire' and the time and place close to the real world to have a chance to find its trace. Finally, the method of using these three forces to push open the last door is still hidden in Nast's mind...

"I think he must have received information from his father, the great pirate Savini Solomon, which allowed him to take the first and most difficult step. Otherwise, even if the three demigods gathered together and stood on the path where the Ghost Empire passed, it would be almost impossible to find any clues.

"Over a hundred years before this, Nast had not yet been promoted to a high-sequence, and did not have enough strength to explore the Ghost Empire. Then, he could not find a 'arbitrator' demigod or a high-ranking witch to cooperate with. This is why it has been delayed until now, to the point where he had to be promoted to an angel to fight aging..."

Klein nodded after listening to it, agreeing with Angel's inference, but he immediately frowned and said to himself:
"If Savini knew so much about the operation of the Ghost Empire, it means that Emperor Roselle at that time was also capable of finding the ghost ship of Trunsoest. Would he have already broken into it and plundered all the treasures? When we entered with high hopes, we could only find a few pages of notes written in Chinese?"

This is quite consistent with the style of the time traveler emperor. He might leave a golden crown in a mocking manner to congratulate the latecomer, "You have found the 'Ghost Empire'. Next, put on the crown and become the emperor of this empty ship"... A strange thought flashed through Angel's mind. After a moment, he shook his head and said:
"The ghost ship is still functioning normally, which at least means that the main features contained in it have not been lost. As for the other treasures, they seem less important when compared with a Sequence 1 'Hand of Order' feature."

"If that's the case, then I think it's worth taking the risk of cooperating with Nast to go in and find out. This will make the royal family who also covet that characteristic go there in vain, and it will also give the Queen Anne's Revenge a chance to advance to Sequence 1. If Anne can become the 'Hand of Order', it will be of great help to our next actions. She alone can pin down at least one of the royal angels, and even attract the main defense force, exposing the flaws of other mausoleums..."

Klein said carefully, tapping his right index finger on the table twice, then suddenly stopped.

He still has this habit when thinking... Angel chuckled and then asked:
"Besides 'Ghost Empire', how are the other preparations going?"

Retracting his hands from the bronze table, Klein replied:

"Most of the blood from the 22 Beyonders used in the 'Opening the Door' ritual has already been obtained. I will ask Mr. Fool to perform a thorough quarantine to prevent the ritual from harming the blood providers... The only thing left is the blood from the criminals, or the blood from the demonic pathways. We have to wait until Mr. 'Sun' finishes exploring the Giant King's Court and returns to the City of Silver to obtain it."

At the Tarot Club this week, "Sun" Derrick, who was in the God-Forsaken Land, reported to everyone that he would go out with the Chief, Elder Lovia and other strongest fighters of Silver City to explore the ruins of the Giant King's Court along the safe route obtained by Angel and others in "Groselle's Travels". This operation was not only dangerous, but also took a lot of time, so the matter of obtaining the "devil" blood had to be put on hold for the time being.

Fortunately, judging from the current war situation between Loen and Feysac, even if George III wanted to hold a national sacrifice, he did not have many excuses.

This matter had a lot to do with Angel's "efforts". The Feysac airship force that invaded the northern area was almost stopped by her alone, and most of the conquest fleet that bombarded Constanton was destroyed by the hands of this "immortal" witch. In addition, the ground forces that invaded Winter County from the north encountered fierce resistance. After two weeks of the war, Loen miraculously did not suffer too much loss except for soaring prices and panic among the people.

If possible, George III should be willing to give me a ten-ton medallion and give it to me by smashing it on my head... Angel laughed secretly and was about to continue to comment on the situation, but Klein looked thoughtful and said slowly:
"So it seems that yesterday's news mentioned that the eldest prince of the Loen royal family, Gwenton Augustus, was going to the front line of the Winter County to participate in the war. This might also be a plan of George III..."

The eldest prince is joining the war at this time? Isn't he afraid of being beheaded by Feysac's "hunter" or "warrior" demigod? As far as I know, the crown prince should abide by the contract of the three major churches and cannot become a demigod, which means that he is equivalent to a living target on the front line... Hearing this news, Angel was stunned for a moment, but immediately understood what Klein meant.

"Are you saying that George III deliberately intended to send Covington to his death in order to change the stalemate of the war and even get an excuse for national mourning?"

She murmured, not even daring to believe such a conclusion.

But she immediately thought that in order to get rid of the suspicion of collusion with the "Witch Cult", the king could let Prince Edessak "commit suicide" without any psychological burden, and sending another prince to the front line did not seem to be a big deal. Moreover, in the eyes of this king who was only one step away from the "Black Emperor", since he was about to ascend the throne, what was the point of having so many heirs to inherit the throne? They who had gradually gained power would only become a hidden danger to the subsequent rule of the country. It would be better to solve them in a reasonable way and give birth to some "obedient" and "useful" offspring, just like Mr. Azik, the offspring of the god of death Salinger...

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this explanation was very close to the truth. Angel couldn't help but look at Klein and found that he also gave him a somewhat shocked look.

Judging from the fact that he never treated others as human beings, George III really treated his descendants and subjects equally, without making any distinction...

"So, I agree with what the Red Angel said," Angel said after a moment, "A rubbish like him can become the Black Emperor. It's really an insult to Solomon and Roselle who were at the top of the same path before."

After a few sharp comments, the two returned to the key issue of stopping George III's plan.

Klein first reported the progress of his role. After intimidating Angel and Bernadette last time, Klein's role as the "weird wizard" was nearing its end. In order to prevent Zaratul from tracking the clues, he no longer frequently used "Creeping Hunger" to travel around the world to create more "weird stories". Instead, he waited for the short stories of "magician" Fors describing these experiences to be published in the newspaper, so that he could digest the last bit of magic potion with the feedback of a large number of people.

"In addition, I also need to prepare the potion materials for the Ancient Scholar. Arrodes told me that items related to the Mist Wolf can be obtained from the Church of the Night. I plan to perform a sacrifice ceremony to the goddess in the near future to exchange for these materials, and then use the aggregation of Beyonder characteristics to fish out the Sefirah Castle Guardian in the spirit world..."

Sefirah Castle Guardian... Oh, that's another name for the Dog of Fulgrim in the "Ancient Scholar" material. I remember Arrodes once said that Sefirah Castle was one of the nine Sefirahs. When I was promoted to "Immortal", I saw a clip of the Goddess talking to Adam. The Goddess once said that she wanted to hide it from Sefirah Castle and tamper with my memory. Based on this, I concluded that Mr. Fool's gray fog was Sefirah Castle... These fragments in Angel's memory suddenly came out, making her look around, trying to find the figures of those "Hounds of Fulgrim" in the diffuse gray fog.

Immediately, another thought came to her mind:
Why would a Sequence 3 potion be related to the Essence... Could it be that the path Mr. Fool is on is the Sequence 0 of the Fortune Teller?

Angel's pupils shrank slightly, and he felt that this guess was more and more likely.

If the connection between Sefirah Castle and the Seer's Path is so close, then...

...Is there a possibility that the "time travel" that Klein experienced, that is, being wrapped in a cocoon and returning to reality after thousands of years or even longer, was done by Mr. Fool who was hidden in the gray fog and controlled the "Source Castle"?
For some purpose, He imprisoned three "travelers" including Klein in cocoons before the old world was destroyed, and released them one by one after the new civilization emerged.

And Klein chose to be the "Fortune Teller" and became the follower of the Fool. Was it the influence of "Source Castle" on him, just like when I fell asleep in the "City of Disaster" and then resurrected in the body of the "Witch" Cole Granger?
Or, going a step further, everything Klein experienced was under the control and surveillance of Mr. Fool, and was it all arranged by Him?

Thinking of this, Angel couldn't help but shudder. He felt that the gray fog around him, which had seemed extremely safe, had become cold, damp, and even a little chilly.

"…If the goddess is not pleased with the sacrifice, I may need a little help from you…Angel?"

Klein's shouting brought Angel back to reality, and her confused thoughts gradually calmed down. She remembered that the other party was talking about making a "sacrifice" to the Goddess of Night and obtaining some materials.

"Okay, after I killed the commander of the Feysac fleet last time, I got his 'Iron Knight' attribute. Together with the 'Trickster' and 'Despair' that I haven't sold yet, I have a total of three demigod attributes. It should be enough to exchange for what you need."

She replied with a firm nod to dispel the fear that was building up within her.

At this time, let alone discussing with Klein the topic of Mr. Fool's arrangement of him, she didn't even dare to think about it, for fear of angering this being above the gray fog.

Seeing that Angel quickly recovered after a brief daze, Klein didn't think about it too much. The two discussed for a while about exploring the "Ghost Empire" in a few days and ended the night's business.

Angel was hesitating whether to ask Mr. Fool to send her back to reality, but she heard Klein's words with a hint of smile:

"I'll send you the remaining 'learning materials' tomorrow... By the way, now that we've finished our work, why don't you take this opportunity to learn some Chinese?"

Learning Chinese here? I remember Mr. Fool also knows this language... Angel was startled again, as if she saw this mysterious god hiding in the gray fog and smiling at her. She subconsciously shook her head to refuse.

……

A moment later, Angel was enveloped in a crimson glow and returned to her Iris Winery in the suburbs of Backlund. Her stiff body trembled, and she collapsed on the single sofa in the study, staring blankly at the ceiling for a long time without recovering.

Until the personal maid came over curiously to check, Angel's mind kept echoing the "lesson" that Klein had crammed into her:
"Remember, caffeine comes from coffee beans, putting out a fire is actually putting it out, sashimi is dead fish, and waiting for a red light is actually waiting for a green light..."

(End of this chapter)