Mystery: Good Witch

Interlude 1426 "Hidden Blade" Franka
Franka Roland once thought she was from another world, but came to this world by some strange encounter and some peculiar reason, possessing the body of a newly deceased person in the form of a "spirit," so that she and this unfortunate man could be reborn together.

She initially struggled and suffered, feeling that she had not only abandoned her original family, friends, and social relationships to come to a strange world, but also occupied the body of a stranger and become another person. On the one hand, she was an innocent victim, and on the other hand, she was like a thief who had stolen someone else's identity and social relationships.

This led her through a period of confusion and helplessness.

Fortunately, Franka soon discovered that she was not alone. There were many other "transmigrators" like her active on this world stage, some of whom even became emperors or gods.

One of them was "Julius Caesar" Rossel Gustav. Two hundred years ago, he overthrew the rule of the Kingdom of Intis and established the Republic of Intis, where Franka was after her time travel. However, he eventually changed the Republic back into an empire and proclaimed himself emperor.

During this period, he invented the steam engine, ushered in the colonial era of the southern continent, created countless literary works, and put forward many scientific theories that have not been proven until now, making him seem like a polymath who was proficient in all fields.

But Franka knew that all of this came from "Earth," from the world she had traveled to before.

Because Russell could speak Chinese, he wrote countless diaries in that language!

When she discovered this, Franka almost cried tears of joy. She frantically collected the manuscripts and notes of this fellow villager named "Huang Tao." On the one hand, she wanted to see if he had finally found a way back to his hometown. On the other hand, this kind fellow villager had left a lot of knowledge about occultism in his diary, which benefited her greatly and gave her more resources to make a living in this strange world.

Unfortunately, this fellow countryman had been dead for over a hundred years, and was assassinated in his own palace, not vanished instantly through time travel. Although there have been recent rumors that Emperor Roselle has been resurrected in another form, no one can truly confirm this.

Fortunately, Roselle wasn't the only time traveler in history. Franka had always suspected that the ancient "sun god" was one of them. He established the religious system that has been passed down to the present day. The churches of major churches that resemble those on Earth, as well as the Western religious scriptures and masses, all originated from the faith in this god. Like Roselle, he also mysteriously perished in the long river of history, but recently suddenly returned, which gave Franka many guesses.

Aside from the two "time travelers" who have made their mark on history, the names of the famous and mad adventurer Gehrman Sparrow and the "Golden Queen" Angelica Sachs also made her initially suspect that they were related to Earth or that there were time travelers around them. There was also the Black Bear Cola, which tasted similar to Coca-Cola, and the civil service exam that was suddenly implemented in the Kingdom of Rune and quickly adopted by various countries. All of these seemed to be orchestrated by some time travelers.

Most importantly, she found an organization that truly belonged to time travelers, the "Curly-haired Baboon Research Society," which was full of unfortunate souls like her, who had been resurrected in the bodies of recently deceased people in spirit form—a total of over a hundred people.

They were men and women, and their ages, identities, and even nationalities and skin colors before they traveled through time were all different. The only thing they had in common was that they had "traveled through time".

According to statistics, these people, along with Russell and other suspected time travelers hidden in history, all traveled on the same day.

June 2, 1354, a day that on the surface does not seem particularly special.

Of course, after these time travelers carefully studied and compiled their findings, that day did indeed reveal many special characteristics.

For example, the blood moon shone brightly for the last time on that day, and then gradually transformed into the bright silver moon that everyone is familiar with today; for example, after that day, the world's religions and political systems underwent tremendous changes; after that day, the Eastern Continent, shrouded in darkness, regained its light; after that, the Western Continent, separated by mist, re-established contact with the outside world...

All evidence points to that it was a special day, and that this world has extraordinary powers and gods. Therefore, many members of the Curly-haired Baboon Research Society believe that their time travel was a cruel joke by some great being, a blessing and a curse.

But this also gave them a sliver of hope. Since the gods could bring hundreds of people from Earth to this world, they must also have a way to send them back. Whether it was pleasing the gods, making achievements in religion, technology, or other fields, or exchanging benefits, they might be able to find their way home.

Franka initially shared the same idea. After resolving her identity and self-identity issues, she quickly immersed herself in the world of mysticism. With the help of Roselle's notes and the mutual assistance of the research group members, she gained the opportunity to take a potion and become an extraordinary being.

Because of her experiences in her previous life and her preferences in many games, movies, and novels, she chose the path of an "assassin."

Just as she had guessed, the extraordinary individuals on this path possessed the skills to hide in the shadows, could leap from great heights in a "leap of faith" style without injury, could see clearly everything around them in the pitch-black night, and could concentrate all their strength into a single strike to instantly kill their enemies, fulfilling all her beautiful fantasies about assassins lurking in the shadows.

Until her identity was exposed by chance in a supernatural event, she joined the "Church of the End Times", worshipped the Goddess of Calamity, and became a member of the extraordinary armed force "Messenger of Calamity", which gave her the opportunity to continue to advance and take the "Witch" potion.

It was then that she learned that the Assassin pathway was also known as the "Witch" pathway, and that regardless of whether one's original gender was male or female, at Sequence 7 one would be forcibly transformed into a female, becoming a "witch".

That's right, Franka was male before and for a period of time after her time travel.

At that moment, Franka felt both frustrated and desperate. On one hand, she hated the gods who had thrown her into this choice, and on the other hand, she regretted not having carefully inquired about the potion's aftermath before impulsively becoming an assassin.

She had considered staying at Sequence 8 "Instigator," since not every Extraordinary in the church wanted to keep advancing to the middle or high sequences. There were many survivors of extraordinary events who accidentally came into contact with Extraordinary characteristics, were lucky enough not to die, and became Extraordinary, or ordinary members like her who did not want to face change and danger. They stopped taking risks after advancing to a certain sequence and stayed in the same position until they grew old and died.

But Franka didn't want to stop there. She still wanted to find a way back to her homeland, back to Earth. Even if she couldn't go back, in this dangerous world, Sequence 8 was a position where even self-preservation was difficult and she was stuck in the middle.

Only by becoming a high-sequence extraordinary individual can she take control of her own destiny!

Driven by this idea, and persuaded by a member of a curly-haired baboon research society with the advice "Life is short, why not give it a try," Franco transformed into Franka.

She still remembers the shock she felt when she got up from the floor, walked to the full-length mirror, and saw her new image: her short hair had grown long, her features were delicate and soft, her flaxen hair was longer than her shoulders, and her body was curvaceous, wearing men's clothes that no longer fit her...

...and a hint of secret joy.

Of course, she became a celebrity within the research association afterward. Her codename, "Hidden Blade," which she had specifically chosen because she was an assassin, became a source of amusement for all the transmigrators. After learning she was the first, and most likely the only, "assassin" among the transmigrators, she experienced a period of depression and confusion. She frequently neglected her work, frequenting bars and nightclubs, indulging herself under her new identity, and even nearly slept with some men, transforming herself both physically and mentally into a true woman. Fortunately, during that time, Franka met Jenna.

Jenna's real name is Celia Bello. She is the lead actress at the "Old Pigeon Cage" theater in the Trier Market District. Of course, when she met Franka, she was just a newcomer who had just joined the theater and was learning at her own expense.

On her way to perform at the "Breeze Ballroom," Jenna encountered Franka, a drunk man hiding in a corner, chatting idly with several ill-intentioned customers. After angrily rebuking Franka's behavior and chasing the men away, Jenna learned that Franka was in a particularly bad mood that day. She had originally planned to lure a few men to an alley and legally beat them up to vent her anger, but Jenna ruined her "good deed."

Of course, this was just Franka's explanation to Jenna; only she knew the real reason.

That day, struggling with identity issues since becoming a woman, she was instigated by the "April Fools' Day" group within the research association to drown her sorrows at a dance hall, intending to use alcohol to embolden herself and truly become a woman, saying goodbye to her male self. However, she encountered the kind-hearted Janna.

The effects of alcohol, lingering male identity, and gratitude led Franka to develop an unusual fondness for the girl who was diligently studying drama and dance, hoping to change her fate.

She stopped spending her days in bars and nightclubs indulging herself and returned to a normal routine. She started paying attention to her work and image again and began to notice everything about Cheryl Bello, buying tickets to the old pigeonhole theater and watching every performance of Jenna, even if she only had a small role that lasted a few minutes.

Franka, whose body was transformed by the "witch" potion, quickly caught Janna's attention. Janna gradually developed a liking for this woman who was surrounded by a mysterious aura and whose appearance surpassed all the actresses in the old pigeonhole, yet who always focused her attention on her.

After winning Janna's favor, Franka fell hopelessly in love with her in the following days. Of course, unlike Janna's "sisterly" attachment to her, it was the kind of love that the male part of her heart felt for a woman.

At the same time, Franka received an important message from within the "Church of the End": when the Assassin path is promoted from Sequence 5 to Sequence 4, one can choose to switch to the adjacent Hunter path and, with the help of a potion, revert to being male!
In that instant, she even thought of a name for her and Janna's third child.

Unfortunately, turning back into a man is something she can only dream of. Although she is aware that Sequence 5 has the opportunity to jump to the adjacent Sequence 4, within the End Church, a Saint is qualified to serve as the archbishop of a church or as a high-ranking deacon who travels to various places and has the authority to independently handle extraordinary events. This is not a power that an ordinary "Messenger of Calamity" like her can easily obtain.

With the help of the Curly-haired Baboon Research Society and the guidance of Emperor Roselle's diary, she could only strive to improve her sequence, complete the church's tasks, accumulate merits, and exchange them for potion recipes and materials, slowly but surely embarking on the path to Sequence 4 "Iron Knight".

During this time, she had to stay by Janna's side at all times to prevent her from being kidnapped by some country boy who might suddenly appear out of nowhere. After all, although Janna was not young, her posture and demeanor, honed by years of theatrical and dance performances, made her resemble a delicate and beautiful rose. There were definitely many men waiting to pluck this flower, especially after Franka secretly revealed the existence of the occult world to Janna in order to give her the ability to protect herself, leading her to gradually take potions and become a "witch".

Of course, the reason why Franka wanted to "find a partner" and set her sights solely on Jenna was not because of their drunken encounter or the warm moments they shared in their daily lives. After all, she still longed for her "homeland" and never gave up hope of returning to Earth.

Until that day arrived, a member of the Curly-haired Baboon Research Society revealed an important piece of information at a routine gathering:

This world... is Earth, Earth ten thousand years in the future, where civilization has been wiped out and rebuilt!
All the "time travelers" never left their hometowns, but they can never go back.

This naturally aroused skepticism within the research group, with almost everyone, including Franka, believing it to be a bad joke, until the member, along with a few other "curly-haired baboons," produced more evidence.

There's a star map comparing Earth and this world, provided by an astronomy enthusiast from a previous life; a world map that's remarkably similar to Earth, pieced together from the missing map obtained from a member who transmigrated to the Western Continent; concrete debris salvaged from the deep sea by a member who woke up as a pirate; and many fundamental physical parameters found in the laboratory that are completely identical to those on Earth...

The final piece of the story came from the remnants found in the inland wasteland of the Eastern Continent by a member codenamed "Adam"—documents written in Earth's language that belonged to "Chernobyl."

This shattered the dreams of all the time travelers to return to Earth, and plunged Franka into pain and despair.

The Sequence 5 "Pain" potion she had just taken had been mostly digested during that long gathering, and when she returned to reality from the dream, she was even spiritually unstable and on the verge of losing control.

Fortunately, Jenna saved Franka once again, and her close friends, such as "007" Ungraeme, "Muggle" Aurora, and "Iron Man" Tony, also comforted their friend who was suffering a great blow because she had invested so much and even changed her gender.

……

Collecting her thoughts, Franka looked at Jenna, who was half-squatting beside a street stall. Jenna was watching a woman with an Asian face skillfully draw sugar figurines on a stone slab with her nimble hands. Her long, brownish-yellow hair was half-tied up at the back of her head, revealing half of her fair and slender neck.

Franka secretly breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that there was finally a snack that had piqued the other party's interest.

"After we finish eating the sugar figurines, let's go check out the nearby 'Giant's Court.' I heard that there's a sun that never sets there, so it's always shrouded in twilight. It's most beautiful to see it at night."

She came up to Janna from behind, put her arm around Janna's waist under her long dress, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the other woman did not resist.

There's hope... Just as she was feeling a surge of joy, a soft voice came from behind her, speaking in Rune, a language she had only recently learned:

"Hello, are you planning to go to the 'Giant's Court'?"

Franka frowned and turned around, only to find a pair of deep purple eyes looking at her expectantly.

Her eyes seemed to resemble those of the "Chariot" lady... She paused, her gaze finally settling on the other woman's face, noticing her long, light blonde hair and delicate features.

(End of this chapter)