From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 530 The Witch and the Half-Demon

When she could find no trace of Ivy's wicked thoughts, and saw Yingxin, looking refreshed and radiant with a rosy complexion, leaning on Ivy's shoulder as they emerged from the bathroom, she was immediately caught in a huge emotional conflict, feeling a mix of envy, jealousy, and other emotions.

"You...you..." The evil thought pointed wildly at the couple who reeked of lavender, and blurted out, "It's still daytime! How shameless!"

Yingxin revealed a victor's smile: "Is that so? Vampires dislike the sun, which means this palace needs artificial lighting at all times. It seems our entertainment today is a bit early, my dear?"

Ivy wisely didn't respond. He didn't intend to further provoke evil thoughts. The hideous woman opposite him had almost overturned the entire Sword Bay. If it weren't for her sister's betrayal, perhaps the entire Baldur's Gate would have been reduced to ashes by now.

Evil Thoughts possessed extraordinary agility, a fact Ivy knew well. So he changed the subject, asking, "Floric's back too? How did your mission go?"

"That's all? I thought you'd care about me a bit more?" Xie Nian's lips curled into an alluring smile; she knew exactly what her advantages were.

"I believe that with your skills, you will definitely not disappoint me," Ivy reassured her.

"You pass." Xie Nian shook his head, gave Ying Xin a look, and then answered Ai Wei's first question.

“That Flame Fist woman was indeed controlled by magic, and more than one person did it to her.” Evil Thought followed Ivy upstairs.

Liana Porter is stationed at the Flamefist Camp near the Petrified Lizard Gate.

As the main gateway to the outer city of Baldur's Gate, the area around the Petrified Lizard Gate is a gathering place for a large number of refugees fleeing from all over the country. The Flamefist soldiers responsible for maintaining order must not only verify identities but also prevent any potential conflicts.

Establishing the command post near the Petrified Lizard Gate not only demonstrates Liana Porter's determination to inherit the position of Marshal of the Flame Fist, but also declares to the citizens of the entire Baldur's Gate Lower City that the Flame Fist Mercenary Group will not become a mere echo of the Upper City's elites because of Duke Ravengard's resignation, and will always fulfill its duties.

Liana Porter's intentions were good, but the area around the Petrified Lizard Gate was not just home to refugees and struggling downtown residents; it was a melting pot of all sorts of people, including all kinds of supernatural beings.

The entrance to Baal's Murder Tribunal is just two streets away from the Flamefist Camp, and the Shield Knights' secret stronghold is located below the Elf Song Inn.

The conflicts and disputes that erupted due to the influx of refugees into the city consumed Liana Porter's energy every day. Although she was hands-on and willing to receive every troubled citizen of the lower city, this also gave ambitious individuals hiding in every corner of Baldur's Gate an opportunity to take advantage of her.

"A witch? A devil? And a necromancer?" Ivy asked, frowning in confirmation.

The evil thought sitting opposite him nodded: "Your ring worked very well; it brought her back to her senses immediately. This is what she told us herself."

“Those who tried to manipulate Liana were very confident, and they revealed their true colors as soon as they entered Flame Fist’s office.” Evil Thought also felt sympathy for Liana Porter’s plight, but there was still a hint of schadenfreude in his tone. “So when we removed the mind control magic from her, she was able to remember who had attacked her.”

"You would never guess that the hag Ethel, whom we killed in her home, has come back to life! And Baldur's Gate is actually her stronghold!" The evil thought began to introduce the extraordinary creatures that were trying to control the Flamefist Commander in the lower city.

Ethel the Witch lives in the swamps near the lush woodland, always disguising herself as a harmless old woman to lure travelers passing by.

In his quest to find the vampire clone Asdalon, the Gur's monster hunter had considered seeking help from the witch Ethel. However, before he could make up his mind, Ivy and her group, who had returned from the Underdark to the surface, easily killed the witch.

Witches come in many different subspecies, but they all look equally twisted and ugly. These tormenting monsters originated from the Fairy Wilderness and are true spirits, thus possessing many magical abilities innately linked to the Fairy Wilderness, often displaying a wild side without reason.

Almost all witches are evil and cruel. They disguise themselves as emaciated old women, but in reality, they have huge hooked noses, rough skin covered with moles and tumors, and fingertips that are as long as withered tree branches with sharp claws that can easily tear flesh apart.

In order to reproduce, hags need to devour human infants. They steal babies from cradles or even from the mother's womb and then absorb the poor little ones completely.

When Ivy and her companions first encountered the witch Ethel, she was already preparing to reproduce. She lured a pregnant woman whose husband had just died, promising to resurrect him, but in reality, she had only prepared a rather rudimentary necromancy to manipulate her husband's corpse.

Ivy hasn't forgotten that silly woman's name yet, Melina.

“You’ll never guess who we met! Melina, the one who left with her husband’s body!” Evil Thought’s expression was very rich; even she was very surprised by this fact. “She arrived at Baldur’s Gate before we did! I really don’t know how she got through the Cursed Lands of Shadows.”

"No matter how she did it, she must have put in unimaginable effort." Yingxin was also interested in this topic, took a sip of the wine in her glass, and continued to listen to Xie Nian's story.

"Melina said that the witch Ethel had been lurking in Baldur's Gate for a long time, and the city was full of her victims. So as soon as she arrived in Baldur's Gate, she formed an 'Anti-Witch Mutual Aid Group'."

Ivy remembered the organization's name; they posted notices throughout the streets and alleys of the lower town, almost as ubiquitous as the official posters for the Gotash coronation ceremony.

"You found her?" Shadow asked expectantly. "That's right." Evil nodded. "She's a qualified warrior now! Although her weapons and equipment are very old, I admire her spirit. She's in an old house near Grey Harbor in the East District, Old Gallo's House. The Anti-Ghost Witch Mutual Aid Group has quite a few people, and the members are a mixed bag, just like us."

"However, the witch Ethel also noticed Melina. She sent a spy to infiltrate the Anti-Witch Mutual Aid Group's stronghold, cursed Melina with a straw doll, and turned her into a sheep."

"Oh...tell me you successfully saved her," Yingxin said expectantly.

“I did it.” Evil thought puffed out his chest and said triumphantly, “I could tell at a glance that the straw doll was no good. So I set it on fire and burned it, Melina regained her human form, and the witch’s spy also showed up on his own.”

"He summoned a whole bunch of giant crabs, intending to wipe out the entire Anti-Ghost Mutual Aid Group. Those crabs' pincers were as big as plates, capable of easily snapping a human's thigh bone!" The evil thought tried its best to exaggerate the crisis at the time, hoping to see a hint of worry on Ivy's face.

"It's bound to be a tough battle, but I know you'll handle it perfectly," Ivy affirmed before Xie Nian could even boast. Xie Nian, reborn, always acted like a child craving attention. However, considering her life had only just begun when she fell from the shell ship, her mental age might not even qualify her as a loli; she was probably just a toddler.

"Of course!" Evil Thought proudly raised his nose. "I just clapped my hands and got everything done, without even breaking a sweat!"

“Melina has been studying witches for some time now. They even set up a safe to store their research materials. Ethel sent spies to infiltrate the anti-witch mutual aid group to find Melina’s research materials. I brought them all back. Here.” The evil thought pointed to the extra book on Ivy’s desk, “Inside is a recipe for an alchemical item, which is said to make a witch in a reproductive state vomit up the child she has swallowed.”

“Oh, there’s one more thing I forgot to mention.” Evil Thought slapped his forehead. “Witch Ethel has found a new victim, the daughter of a female drunkard. She was there when Floric first went to see Liana this morning. Based on the information from Melina and the female drunkard, I believe Witch Ethel’s stronghold is at Blushing Mermaid, a small tavern near Grey Harbor, frequented by many sailors and residents. After confirming this, I came back.”

“Very good, you are very cautious, which is a very rare quality.” Ivy nodded in satisfaction. His worst fears had not come true; his evil intentions had not alerted the witches who had rashly entered the witches' lair. “I found many letters in Ethel’s lair in the woodland swamp, which mentioned a name, ‘The All-Seeing Pearl Sisterhood.’ I suspect this is the self-proclaimed name of a witch gathering. Perhaps Ethel’s mysterious resurrection was achieved with the help of other witches.”

Although witches tend to live in seclusion, they do have social needs. Because of their innate magic and long lifespan, witches are often very proud and arrogant, believing that they are the most intelligent people in the world, and may even despise the gods.

In this way, the only ones who can coexist peacefully with the witch are other witches. They share knowledge with each other and carefully form gatherings.

The Witches' Gathering is a very special monster organization. All the witches within not only share knowledge but can also connect with each other through spirit magic, sharing spellcasting abilities. However, due to their jealousy, witches are also prone to forming cliques within the group. Therefore, a Witches' Gathering usually cannot exceed three witches, as triangular relationships offer stability.

If the Sisterhood of the All-Seeing Pearls of Ethel can revive it, it means that there is at least one powerful witch in the gathering.

With just evil thoughts and Florick, they might not be a match for them.

After explaining the details of the witch gathering to the two, Ivy said, "A single witch might be relatively easy to deal with, but when they gather together, things become tricky, not to mention we know nothing about the other two possible witches. In short, we need to assemble a larger force before I can feel comfortable letting you eliminate this threat."

Ivy sighed. The gathering of hags, which had been lurking for who knows how long, only reinforced his stereotype that Baldur's Gate was a huge cesspool: "This is just one guy trying to control the Flamefist Commander... What about the others? Demons and necromancers."

“The devil is an acquaintance of ours.” Evil Thoughts shrugged. “Raphael has been renting a suite in Sharis’s Ambition for a long time. He’s trying to gather intelligence on Baldur’s Gate through Liana and sends a letter out of the city every three days.”

Hiding outside the city, yet still thinking about monitoring everything inside, Raphael perfectly embodies both the devil's caution and arrogance.

Ivy had long considered killing or capturing Raphael in the Prime Material Plane, but this half-demon had a Grand Duke father with whom he didn't have a good relationship, and the most valuable thing Raphael had was the hammer that could break through the Astral Prism.

Without knowing the hammer's location and security measures, Ivy's only option was to capture Raphael, not kill him. However, assessing the strength of this thousand-year-old Cambion remained a significant challenge.

Ivy was confident she could kill Raphael by surprise, but obtaining the Hammer of Orpheus was a major problem. Planning a capture operation without knowing Raphael's strength was highly likely to fail, and as for using her expertise in soul-binding magic to torture him after the kill—Ivy didn't even know if Cambyon had a soul.

“Perhaps we could consider sneaking into Raphael’s residence in Avernas and stealing that hammer,” the evil thought suggested.

“The problem is, I don’t know exactly where that Mansion of Hope is.” Ivy rubbed his forehead. A mere Flame Fist commander from the lower city had somehow gotten involved with so many troublesome guys. “You can’t expect me to accurately teleport everyone to a specific location in Hell just based on names and descriptions.”

"I have experience!" The evil thought patted its chest, and the abundant fruit of reproduction, personally created by Baal, trembled. "Have you forgotten how I sneaked into old man Raphael's treasury and stole the Crown of Karthus?"

This is indeed a blind spot.

If evil intentions can succeed once, they can certainly succeed a second time. Not to mention that the target is merely a half-demon.

"By the way... I've never asked this question in detail before—how did you manage to do it back then?" Ivy's eyebrows relaxed. He got a divine artifact like the Crown of Karthus from just one visit to the Demon Grand Duke's treasury; if he did it a few more times...

“Hersik in the lower city, the owner of the devil’s tip shop,” the evil thought introduced. “He’s been doing business with Gotash for a long time, and he’s the one who got us into Mephisto’s treasury. You don’t need to sell your soul, just give him money and he’ll help you.”

(End of this chapter)