My dear witch, please turn evil according to the script!

Chapter 162 Demon King: You humans are so rude!

When she watched as Odmeyer signed the documents and handed the check to Cellinina, Cellinina was still completely stunned.

Six thousand Golden Eagle coins...

Cellina began to calculate whether she had earned a total of six thousand Golden Eagle Coins over the years since she began her life on the run.

She quickly came to a conclusion.

No!

Cellina felt her hands trembling slightly.

She only managed to calm down after Roland led her out of the colonel's office and into the conference room.

It wasn't until Roland took the documents that Delan had prepared beforehand and was preparing to find a quiet room to review them that Cellina asked tremblingly, "This... so much money... it's all mine?"

"Yes, they're all yours. Didn't you hear what the colonel said? The starting price for an eighth-ring expert is three thousand gold eagle coins. Here you go."

"But I'm not an eighth-ringer either..."

Roland didn't say anything more, he just smiled and patted Cellina on the shoulder.

The two were quickly led into an empty conference room by the accompanying soldiers. Roland then laid out all the documents he had on hand and categorized them.

First and foremost is the most important part – namely, the records of the Mainland History Society.

Judging from Mashu's tone and the completely different account of events, this may be the true story of the ship named Iris.

It may have sunk, and there may have been some strange disaster on board, but none of this happened in July 999, and it certainly didn't happen in the waters near Riskan!

Mashu provided a lot of materials, including the crew list of the Iris and the registered cargo names.

The ship was carrying a total of 314 people at the time.

For a passenger and cargo ship, this is already a remarkable passenger capacity.

At first glance, Roland couldn't see anything wrong with the names of these 314 people, but with the list, he could further confirm their identities and experiences.

The reason this shipwreck is difficult to investigate is largely due to the incomplete or missing list of people involved.

The Bureau of Inspection is unable to deduce the occurrence of the incident based on the interpersonal relationships of the relevant passengers.

The same goes for cargo records. Although these records may not contain many truthful statements, they can still indirectly corroborate something.

Roland, after a quick glance, already knew that, at least nominally, the Iris was carrying a batch of magical crystals.

But what exactly it was, was beyond Roland's knowledge.

In addition to these two lists, the materials provided by Mash even included the ship's blueprints, specific information about the shipyard, the ship's past owners, and all port entry and exit records that the Society could collect up to the time the Iris disappeared.

It can be said that it covers every detail, no matter how small.

And some of them are too detailed.

Such a vast amount of information is beyond the capacity of one person to compile.

Reluctantly setting aside the data from the control group, Roland began to peruse the official investigation records of the capital, the empire.

Although, as Delan said, the original files stored in the Governor's Palace had disappeared, fortunately, copies were kept in the City Hall.

However, Delan also indicated that there might be incorrect information in the city hall's copy, which Roland needed to verify.

Of course, Roland wouldn't care about the difference between the original and the copy.

After all, if things go as expected, neither the original nor the copy should contain any useful information.

Or rather... the people who wrote these reports were already experiencing cognitive interference when they were writing them, just like their own fathers.

He simply wanted to find out what was wrong with the imperial records by making comparisons.

Of course, Roland didn't forget Cellina either.

He remembered that Cellina had said she had a friend on that ship.

He is the only person Roland knows who is directly related to the shipwreck.

“Celina, take a look at this list. Are there any names that seem familiar to you?”

Roland handed the crew list recorded by the Society to Cellina, asking her to carefully review it.

Cellina took the list and examined it very carefully.

Roland didn't disturb the other person, but continued to sort the documents on the table, while looking for any other clues.

"It seems... there's a name that looks familiar."

Cellina quickly found the name that felt somewhat familiar to her.

But it's only familiarity.

Just as she had said before, the name and image of her friend had disappeared from her mind due to unknown interference.

The last remaining sense... wasn't enough for her to completely pinpoint the names on the list.

"Which one?"

"I'm not sure..."

"It's okay, just tell me your name first?"

"this."

Cellina pointed to a name on the list, Natalia, and said, "I have a feeling this name... I've mentioned it or heard it before."

"But that's all. I'm not sure if this is my friend."

"Yeah……"

Roland stared at Natalia's name in deep thought, for there was a distinctive cross symbol following her name.

These are symbols used to identify members of the society. The fact that this notebook was found in the society's knowledge base further convinced Roland of his conjecture: "Cellina, does your friend belong to any organization?"

“…I don’t remember.” Cherlinina shook her head.

Roland sighed. Fortunately, the information Mashu provided also included detailed information about the crew.

It will take a while to turn things around.

Fortunately, this information is not hard to find.

Roland quickly found the personnel information record for Natalia Kiris from more than 300 personnel files.

"Kiris? What a strange surname... So she really is a member of the Society? Wait, she's not a member of the Riskan branch, but an armed explorer dispatched by the headquarters?"

After just a few glances, Roland realized that this person was no ordinary individual.

The Armed Explorers of the Continental History Society... This is almost equivalent to the position of the Grand Inquisitor of the Inquisition of the Holy See or a high-ranking paladin!

In fact, their strength must be above the seventh ring extraordinary level, and while possessing a certain level of academic research ability, their combat ability must not be lacking.

They are usually the vanguard when learning to explore unknown lands.

But as far as Roland knew, the Society's exploration of the Storm Ocean had been suspended for centuries.

Currently, the researchers at the Riskan branch are only collecting parameters of the magical storm at sea and drawing nautical charts as much as possible to ensure the safest navigation of ships.

My daily work mainly involves data observation.

Why would the Society send an armed explorer to Riskan thirty years ago?
Was it just a coincidence that I was passing by, and I was only planning to catch a boat to my destination, or...?

At this moment, regardless of whether this Ms. Natalia was Cellina's close friend, her appearance was enough to spark the imagination.

Roland then quickly looked through the remaining personnel list, and after a simple screening, he found that the people on this ship were indeed extraordinary.

The Society has sent an armed explorer, and the Vatican also has members on board!

A Grand Inquisitor named Havers was also on board!
The Empire also sent people, and... it was the same squad that Willins belonged to.

Roland identified the target by looking at the photos in the documents and the photos tucked in old Lancelot's booklet.

That's right, the Empire dispatched a small team from the Bureau of Surveillance to this ship back then!
Except for Willins, all the team members are on the ship!
Headache! Roland's head suddenly hurts terribly!
But it didn't hurt that much... at least he understood one thing.

There must be Chaos cultists on board.

This information came from the squad's mission briefing.

They boarded the ship to capture the Chaos Cultists.

But compared to the Papacy and the Society... the Empire's manpower and strength are obviously much weaker.

The strongest among them is only at the sixth ring, and the rest are only at the fourth or fifth ring.

Although they were already considered elite, it was clear that their strength was insufficient on this ship where even seventh and eighth-level experts had met with unknown fates.

Empire, Papacy, Society, and even the Chaos Brotherhood... this ship truly is a gathering of heroes.

However, it is clear that the Empire only viewed this operation as a simple arrest of cult members.

On the contrary, the Papacy and the Society seemed to know some other information and did not inform the Empire.

Otherwise, the empire wouldn't have only sent such a small number of people.

And how did this ship get to sea?
Roland rubbed his temples, suddenly remembering the Demon King's advice.

Let's forget about that shipwreck...

Roland, who was trying to glean some insight from this sentence, did not have a sudden flash of inspiration like Conan and figure everything out.

He just grew increasingly disgusted with these riddle-makers.

He removed the gauntlets from his waist and then shook them violently: "Hey! Wake up! Stop pretending to be asleep! Get up! Or I'll throw you into the stormy ocean!"

"...You rude human brat. Aren't you humans supposed to be the most respectful of elders and children?"

"Counting the hundreds of years since I died, I'm three thousand years old!"

The gauntlet floated up from Roland's hand with a hint of resentment, its entire body emanating a black aura filled with grudges.

Yes, there really is black energy.

The lights in the room were dimmed considerably.

"Speak your mind. I'm not so exhausted that I need to sleep, but that doesn't mean I'm not tired."

The Demon King's voice did sound weary, and Roland continued, "You told me before to forget about that shipwreck, why? Don't play riddles, or I'll shake you awake again!"

“…Alas, how foolish.”

The gauntlet shook itself helplessly from side to side, seemingly mimicking a head-shaking motion, before the Demon King said directly, "I've made myself perfectly clear."

"The curse originates from an evil god. But the evil god cannot directly descend to the mortal world, nor can he even reveal his power."

"The believers can only be developed through delirium."

"What you need to investigate is the divine descent ritual that summons an evil god, and... which evil god it is."

"Then go find those guys in the Vatican and have them expel the corresponding evil god's corruption."

After saying that, the Demon King glanced at the documents on the table: "However, your direction of investigation is not wrong."

"The shipwreck itself is not important, but what happened on board is important."

"As expected, the divine descent ceremony took place on this ship."

"In other words, the people who held the ceremony were also on this ship."

"That's all I have to say. I need to rest now."

(End of this chapter)