Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1319: Would you consider becoming a witch?
In the western district of Backlund, a magnificent and majestic church stood on the side of Edward Street near the royal palace. Its main structure was a four-story building with a bell tower, buttresses, and huge stained glass windows. It was decorated with natural, undecorated obsidian, and its surface was covered with jagged textures, like solidified lava, shining with a psychedelic color in the sun.

This is the only church of the "Witch Church" in the northern continent, St. Therese Church.

It was completed half a month ago, but now its doors were closed and no believers were received. Only a few servants with features of the Rorsted Islands were cleaning and wiping the windows, which were already as bright as new.

After a routine inspection, Triss, wearing the archbishop's robe with a black base and embroidered flames of the same black color with subtle unevenness, returned to the empty prayer hall and sat on a bench in the first row, facing the holy emblem of the "Witch Church". She lowered her head as if she was asleep and closed her eyes.

The interior of the church had been renovated long ago, and some believers were dispatched from other parishes in the Rorsted Islands to carry out daily work, but the prayer hall was not open, and no missionary activities were carried out. Therefore, as the archbishop, Triss could only stay in the church with nothing to do every day, feeling that she was about to molder.

Of course, she knew that in Backlund, where the three major churches were already deeply rooted and the "believers" were almost completely divided up, it was already difficult to build a church. Orthodox beliefs like the Earth Mother Church only had a small church in this city, which retained a small-scale Beyonder armed force and was not allowed to actively preach outside the church. They could only accept believers who already believed in the Earth Mother, not to mention the Witch Church, which was established less than a year ago and most people had never heard of it, let alone the belief in "disaster".

And I don't know when that guy... that sir will change his doctrine again, or even change his name to something nicer. How can I preach now... But the current situation is very good. The witch sect has been destroyed, the "original witch" has fallen, and I borrowed the power of that evil god, but now I don't have to pay the price... Looking up at the huge holy emblem that replaced the statue behind the altar, Triss muttered silently. The surface of the holy emblem is gold-plated, but it seems to be burned by flames and is partially black. The upper part is a distorted and disordered but extremely oppressive color block, like an impending storm, and the lower part is a symmetrical simple line, like a city facing disaster.

It is quite consistent with the temperament of a witch... Triss smiled, and suddenly felt something, and turned back to look at the closed door of the prayer hall.

The heavy iron-clad double doors were pushed open a crack at some point, and a black figure appeared at the door.

She had a round face, narrow eyes, and long black hair draped behind her. She wore a black evening dress with the hem almost dragging on the ground, outlining her slender waist and disproportionately plump breasts. Except for the gold badge on her waist, there was no other decoration on her body. She was the saint of the Loen royal family, Georgina Augustus.

Triss, who had seen this "Law Mage" many times in Sodrak Palace, stood up calmly, put away her lazy expression, and returned to the official appearance of the Archbishop, and greeted him softly:

"Ms. Georgina."

“I am here to bear witness to what happened today.”

The lady in the evening gown said this coldly, then leaned against the door, looked at the empty prayer hall, and said no more.

Triss didn't care about the other party's attitude. Instead, she hoped that the other party would remain silent instead of chatting with her like the other saints of the royal family did, constantly asking her what she thought of King Edessak II.

What can I think? If it weren't for him, I would have returned to the "City of Dreams" long ago... She complained in her heart, and subconsciously looked towards the west wall, as if she was looking at the location of the Sodrak Palace through the thick obsidian.

Suddenly, the stained glass on the wall flickered, barely perceptible to the naked eye, and a figure walked out of the mirror world.

Triss immediately stepped forward, bowed her head respectfully, and said:
"Miss Angelica."

She was not sure how to address the new leader of the witches. After all, in the scriptures of the major churches, the angels under the throne of the gods were usually called "Your Highness", and each god had his own honorific title. Therefore, she had to use the name she had used when she worked under him before.

Fortunately, the other party did not care. He just glanced at Georgina at the door indifferently, and took out a vertical eye-shaped forehead ornament tied with an exquisite chain from the mirror space. A perfectly cut diamond was inlaid in the brass base, which continuously refracted the sunlight coming through the glass window and the swaying candlelight of the surrounding candles, emitting a dazzling brilliance.

This is actually a level 0 sealed object... Triss looked at the forehead ornament in surprise, and carefully took it at the other party's signal.

At the same time, a message entered her mind just like the gift she received when she prayed before:

"'Eye of God', tentatively numbered 0-70, corresponding to the extraordinary characteristics of the White Tower Path Sequence 2 'Angel of Wisdom'..."

Soon, Triss understood the usage, function and corresponding negative effects of this seal.

Then, more information flooded into her mind, making her a little dazed for a moment.

"0-63 'Sword of Glory'...

"0-65 'Pale Crown'...

"0-66 'Harsh Stone Pillar'..."

……

The Witch Church actually possesses ten level 0 sealed objects!

Triss sorted out the complicated information in her head, and her breathing became heavier. As far as she knew, except for the Church of Darkness that defeated the Church of the God of War, the other churches of the God of God had five to eight Level 0 Sealed Artifacts, and the "Witch Church" actually had ten, more than the church... She was a little speechless, not knowing what to say.

When she returned to the Dream City not long ago to meet Angelica Thatch, who killed the "Original Witch" Chick, Triss already knew that the entire Witch Cult would fall under the control of the Angel King, and she was mentally prepared for her own forces to possess many powerful seals. But it was not until this moment that she truly understood what the "Witch Church" meant.

"This is the only one of the ten Level 0 seals owned by the church that St. Triss Church can safely preserve. If you need to use other seals temporarily, you can pray to me at any time."

Looking at the stunned Triss, Angel could hardly conceal his inner pride, and gave instructions to her in a tone that Georgina could barely hear.

Sure enough, Georgina, who had been watching the "handover of the sealed object", straightened up while leaning against the wall. Her expression froze, as if she couldn't believe what she heard.

This is why I asked the royal family to witness this... It's a pity that William I was not present in person, but I guess he would not dare to show up now. After the return of the "Black Emperor" Roselle, the most nervous ones should be him and the other "Hand of Order" of the Feynaport Kingdom. They know that in addition to the Brass Book of Trunsost, the "Old Ones" also need a Sequence 1 characteristic... Thoughts kept flashing through Angel's mind, but he maintained a calm expression on his face. He handed over the other two Level 1 Sealed Artifacts and some low-sequence characteristics confiscated from the Witch Cult headquarters to Triss to enrich the inventory of this church.

After all, this is the face of the Witch Church in Backlund. Even though they are limited by the fact that they don't have real gods yet and can only arrange for saints instead of angels to be stationed here, they can't be without level 0 seals.

Only when a truly extraordinary army is formed can the Witch Church reach the power level of the Earth Mother Church in Backlund. This can only be achieved by relying on Triss to develop slowly... She watched Triss command several believers to preserve the seal in the basement of the church, turned her head to look at Georgina, and found that she was staring at her blankly.

I wonder if he’s still obsessed with “Christine Theresa”… Angel chuckled secretly, quickly restraining his charm and instead exuding an aura that came from being a “conqueror”, causing Georgina to pale and quickly look away.

----

After seeing off Georgina, who represented the royal family and came to witness a Level 0 Sealed Artifact entering Backlund but left in a daze, Angel came to the basement and found Triss who was busy.

"It seems like you're doing pretty well in Backlund?" Angel said leisurely in the dim underground corridor. "You still have one last chance to choose. If you choose to accompany the king, you will not be able to advance to Sequence 3 before he dies. Although a saint's life is longer than that of an ordinary person, once the body's functions decline, taking the potion will be extremely dangerous for you."

"I understand." Triss raised her head and answered without hesitation.

Angel nodded slightly and turned away.

She had anticipated Triss's choice and was just asking as a matter of routine.

Although the contract between the three major churches and the royal family at the beginning of the Fifth Era was in name only, the most critical parts, such as the restriction that the king must not exceed Sequence 5, were still valid. Edessac Augustus's extraordinary journey would end at "Punishment Knight" and he was unlikely to live past years old. Once promoted to "Immortal", Triss's life span would be calculated in thousands of years. She would rather give up everything and grow old with her lover... Angel's mouth curled up slightly, not knowing whether he was laughing at the other's stupidity or lamenting the witch's persistence in love.

Angel walked slowly out of the basement and was about to go for a stroll in the North District, but he found that there were two more visitors in the originally empty church.

"Miss Angelica!"

Sherman, who was dressed rather simply in a simple light gray dress that looked like ordinary linen, stood up from the bench in surprise and greeted Angel.

Leonard Mitchell, who was sitting next to her, was wearing a dark black windbreaker with a slightly open collar and unbuttoned hem. He deliberately used a half-worn black hat to cover his signature messy hair and green eyes. He exuded an air of someone trying hard to hide his physical features.

Like a high-ranking deacon of the Church of Night who went to the Witch Church to have an affair... No, he is simply... Angel complained in his heart and walked towards the two of them with a smile.

She just happened to have something to ask the "new couple".

……

After some pleasantries, Angel learned that Sherman had chosen today to come to the only church of the Witch Church in Backlund to hand over to Triss the assets that belonged to herself, Angel, and the church.

With Angel's continuous huge capital injection, the sharp fluctuations in asset prices caused by war and material shortages, and Sherman's shrewd business skills, the beverage processing plants, canning plants, machinery manufacturing plants, and pharmaceutical companies in which she holds shares are worth more than 200 million pounds, bringing in nearly 30 pounds in profits each year. Even as a pure "rich man", she is enough to enter the top social circle in the Kingdom of Loen. You know, even if Sinderas, who directly bought the baronial title and caused a sensation in Backlund, has a total net worth of only 1000 million pounds. This is already one of the richest people in the Kingdom of Loen. Above him are the hereditary nobles who control the entire family industry, such as Earl Hall and Duke Negan...

Angel and Sherman both understood that if they continued like this, their industries would inevitably be targeted by others. Sherman, who openly held a large number of shares, was neither a believer of the three major churches nor a member of any conservative aristocracy or emerging capital group. Lacking strong secular protection, it would be difficult for her to resist overt or covert attacks.

Therefore, Sherman planned to "sell" most of the shares to the Witch Church, and together with Angel's shares, the Church would have complete control over these core industries. She herself would quietly withdraw from the front stage and continue to be responsible for the management behind the scenes.

This essentially shifted the target to the church, which had extraordinary power as its backing, just like when Klein chose to donate the disputed shares after being targeted by Baron Syndras... Angel thought for a moment and agreed to the proposal. After all, the transfer of shares from herself and Sherman to the church was just a transfer from one hand to the other.

"Triss is in the basement. Go find her directly. I'll talk to Leonard."

She gave Sherman instructions, and then naturally sat down next to Leonard, not hiding the fact that they had known each other for a long time.

Watching Sherman leave from the side door behind the prayer hall, Angel said softly with a hint of amusement in his tone:

"She trusts you enough to not worry about you being alone with another witch?"

"Oh, how could that be?" Leonard laughed and said in a poetic tone, "She just knows that if something happens, your 'German' will hang me first."

As he spoke, he tilted his head and imitated the funny look of having his neck strangled by an invisible thread with his tongue sticking out.

Klein might really do this... Angel nodded in agreement, put away his joking expression, and said in a deep voice:
"The Hidden Sage has fallen, and the Moss Ascetic Order has been completely destroyed... From now on, the Secret Peer will no longer be troubled by the evil god's whispers, nor will it lose control because of the knowledge he instilled."

"Hidden Sage"... Old Neil... Leonard was visibly stunned, as if he had returned to the basement of St. Selina's Church, to the narrow but warm room behind the iron door.

He leaned against the hard backrest of the bench, raised the brim of his hat that covered his bangs and eyes, and said in a hoarse voice:

"I'll find time to go back to Tingen."

"Klein and I have already visited him," Angel said softly. "You can tell the Church of Evernight about this matter and ask them to search for the wizards hiding outside the Moss Ascetic Order and the Ten Pillars. Their own power may not be a threat, but the knowledge in their heads is the source of danger."

"Ah."

Leonard nodded, his eyes became a little vague, and he stayed on the holy emblem deep in the prayer hall, and said no more.

After a moment, Angel broke the silence.

"When are you and Sherman going to get married? Do you want to have children?"

Leonard was startled by the sudden change of topic. He looked at Angel with confusion, as if he was trying to confirm whether the other party was joking or really asking this question.

“Sherman wants to choose the summer… She said she wants a ceremonial wedding, preferably in another city, with just the two of us. As for children…” He replied hesitantly, “…We haven’t made any plans yet. She knows that Beyonder traits will be passed on to offspring, causing them to have certain Beyonder abilities, and since the path is fixed, she decided to consider this matter after being promoted to a high sequence…”

The rule for passing on extraordinary characteristics to offspring is related to the sequences of the parents. Parents with sequences 7 or lower usually do not pass on the characteristics, while parents with sequences 6 or 5 will naturally inherit a portion of them, and this cannot be controlled. Only by becoming a demigod can one control one's own extraordinary characteristics and choose whether and how much to pass on to offspring.

Now that Leonard has been promoted to Sequence 4 "Night Watcher", if Sherman, the "Pain" Witch, gets pregnant with their child, the child will inevitably inherit some of the extraordinary characteristics of the "Witch" path. As for whether the child will be a natural "Assassin" or a "witch" who is directly fixed as a female, it all depends on luck.

Sherman's Sequence 5 potion was derived from the characteristics of a certain witch of pain. It was normal for some of it to be excreted due to pregnancy. No wonder she hesitated. Was it because she didn't want her and Leonard's child to face the choice of changing gender when it was born, or was it because she was worried that mastering extraordinary powers too early would be detrimental to his development... Angel thought about it, and seeing that Leonard was also distressed, he comforted him:

"The Witch Church lacks everything except Beyonder characteristics. Sherman's contribution to the Witch Church, especially in terms of economy, is huge. I will prepare a potion for her to advance to Sequence 4... Although the ritual is a bit troublesome, it is not a difficult task."

At this point, she remembered the path corresponding to the "Fourth Pillar", and suddenly an absurd idea came to her mind, and she couldn't help but ask:
“Speaking of which, the Sequence 3 traits of the Church of Evernight are in short supply… Have you ever considered switching paths and joining the Witch Church? Then you and Sherman would be colleagues, and everything would be much more convenient.”

Jump path? Leonard was still immersed in the topic of "marriage". Hearing this, his expression was a little dull and he frowned and said:

"In addition to witches, do you also accept Beyonders from the 'Twilight Giant' and 'Death God' paths?"

"Of course not. We are the Witch Church, not some hodgepodge." Angel shook his head and then smiled mysteriously. "But you can jump to become an 'immortal' witch. Not only can you gain a lifespan of a thousand years, but you can also get a face and figure that is no less than Sherman's. You will just lose something insignificant..."

"As for Sherman, if you think the two 'Witches' don't match well, she can jump to the 'Iron Knight' to complement you."

what?
Leonard's expression was a mixture of surprise and panic, and he almost jumped up from the bench.

He said in a hurried tone:
"Why does she want to become the 'Iron Knight'? Wouldn't that mean... she would become a man? No, what I mean is, how can the 'Darkness' path jump to the 'Witch' path? These are clearly non-adjacent paths. According to the church's records, the only outcome of doing so is loss of control and death!"

You actually only considered the problem of non-adjacent paths, and the ending where Sherman becomes a man instead of yourself becoming a "witch"... Sherman wouldn't do anything strange to him... Angel looked at Leonard curiously and explained patiently:
"In fact, the two paths of Witch and Red Priest, and the three paths of Darkness, Death, and Dusk Giant can jump to each other at the demigod stage. As for the specific reasons, it involves a certain secret at the bottom of these paths. You can only understand it safely when you become an angel."

Hearing her solemn words, Leonard's expression changed. He tilted his head slightly, apparently listening to the words of the "grandfather" Pales Zoroast in his body. After a while, he shook his head and said:

"The old man said he didn't know about this matter, but if it was what you said, he thought it was very credible... No, it has nothing to do with whether it's true or not. I can't become a witch!"

At the end, he became a little excited again.

It seems that Pales knows that I possess the power of "Source" and may know the underlying rules that others don't know... But I was just joking. If I turn Leonard into a witch, Klein might blame me. No, he might just laugh at the joke... Thinking of this, Angel was actually eager to try.

I am essentially helping the goddess save her high-sequence Beyonder characteristics. I'm sure "She" won't have any objections... The more I thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. Angel was about to continue "instructing" the other party, but Leonard had already stood up from the bench, quickly walked over to Sherman, who had just walked out of the basement, and hugged her.

"Sherman, let's go."

"Wait, Miss Angelica and I..."

The latter said, looking at Leonard with a puzzled look.

"He said everything and asked when you plan to get married. I think June is a good time to go to Dixie Bay..."

Leonard explained in a low voice, half dragging Sherman, who was confused, out of the church quickly.

Looking from the side, his face looked a little pale.

Haha... Angel chuckled, which made Leonard quicken his pace. He almost trotted out of the church door.

----

"Leonard turned into a witch? Didn't he just refuse?"

Above the gray fog, Klein smiled as he saw the feminine figure of Leonard, who was incredibly tall, had slender limbs, black hair and blue eyes, and was wearing a windbreaker. He seemed to hear the poetry she recited in her magnetic voice.

It's a bit strange... Let's take another look... He shook his head, drove the illusion out of his mind, subconsciously knocked on the bronze table, and commented:
“It was the right choice for them to wait until they became demigods before giving birth to offspring. Roselle had suffered this loss before. His eldest daughter, Bernadette, was born when “He” was only a low-sequence and did not inherit any extraordinary characteristics. However, his eldest son, Charles, had some characteristics of a ‘universalist’ and therefore could not choose his own path.

"With your help, it won't be difficult for Sherman to become a demigod. Besides, she is a big money sponsor of the Witch Church and has handed over most of her shares."

"Yeah, I thought so too. I hope to see little Leonard or little Sherman as soon as possible." Angel nodded, glanced at Klein, opened his mouth, and seemed to want to say something, but finally smiled and changed the subject. "What about you? I mean the characteristics of the second copy of 'Mysterious Waiter'."

PS: It’s not easy to split the chapters, so I combined them into two. There will be no more in the evening…

(End of this chapter)