Miss Witch's Forbidden Book Secret

Where did you buy this cheap toy from...?

Vanessa instinctively inquired, "Is this Silver Castle's new style? It's a bit... a bit quirky..."

"No, I bought it to play with. Its name is Pink Fluffy Rabbit. What do you think?"

"Good......."

Vanessa was speechless.

Tia didn't want to dwell on the topic any longer, and said, "I'm going to Silver Fortress next month, so I'll leave the matters here with you. If anyone tries to bribe me, remember to leave their name."

"This is not good, it's not in accordance with procedure."

Vanessa has a certain respect for the law. She might skirt the edge of legality occasionally, but she doesn't like to constantly push the boundaries. Ansu is a land of order.

Tia stood up, preparing to leave, and casually said, "No, I don't have much money left."

"That's even worse! Can't I report you?"

"I mean, leave a name, and we'll arrest them all at the end of the year. The bribe money will be confiscated and turned into public funds, and then I'll give our entire bureau a bonus... um, proportionally—you'll get a share too."

Vanessa was satisfied now; she was also short of money, and she was now working four jobs a day.

......................

After finishing her business at the police station, Tia took the train to Silver Castle.

As a result, the train was under maintenance, so Tia had to take a boat, which was very slow because the passenger boat didn't travel in a straight line.

Tia arrived at Fog Harbor in the evening. As soon as she disembarked, she ran into the priests of the Fog Harbor diocese on patrol.

—It's Fog Harbor Parish, and it's getting late; Silver Castle is probably already closed.

With that thought in mind, Tia went to church for Mass, received a free loaf of bread, and took the opportunity to flirt with Vera.

As Tia munched on her bread while patrolling the streets with Vera, she asked, "I'm about to advance to Sequence 7 soon, can you keep up?"

Tia had reported her promotion to Sequence 7 to the Anti-Extermination Bureau in advance, and Roman arranged for her to handle the manpower and material collection. Of course, this wasn't without its costs; for example, the material collection itself was essentially handing over the ritual to the Anti-Extermination Bureau.

However, this is an unspoken understanding; people feel indebted to those who accept gifts, and no one will publicly condemn it.

Vera couldn't help but glance at Tia a few times, snatched her bread away, and without caring about the drool, took a few bites enviously, mumbling, "I'm following your lead! It hasn't even been half a year, and I haven't fully grasped the knowledge at this stage yet."

Patrolling is physically demanding, and Tia reached out and tried to grab it a few times, but couldn't catch it.

The main reason is that I'm used to using Funina, and I'm actually quite comfortable with my short stature. I'm still not used to controlling my real body.

Vera added enviously, "Besides, I'm in the parish now, not like you. You just need to report to the Anti-Corruption Bureau when you get promoted, but if I get promoted directly, I'll probably be expelled from the church."

That's true—the fact that Vera uses alchemy is not publicly known within the church, and nobody knows about it.

If they had just gone for the promotion fairly and honestly, they would have been in big trouble.

Seeing that things weren't going to work out, Tia didn't dwell on it. She snatched the bread from Vera's mouth and stuffed it into her own.

Vera: ? ? ?

Tia changed the subject again, saying, "Annie has been working for so long, she should be advancing to Sequence 8 soon, right? I remember she has a family heirloom, so she should advance even faster."

Family tradition was secondary; the main reason was that Anne, because she "couldn't sleep too much," spent almost every night studying in the Upside-Down Temple.

It would be strange if this kind of speed wasn't fast.

Vera's attention was immediately diverted, and she said, "She is indeed close, but Annie mentioned before that she has family members helping her."

"Mmm. I see."

Tia walked around the streets with Vera for a while and suggested, "In that case, I'll have a small gadget made for Annie to restore her spirit. If she succeeds in advancing, she can wear it to recover her spirit a little, and if she fails, it can also reduce the cost of failure."

"Pretty good."

Vera had no objections, but Tia said, "Hmm. Then Vera, could you carve one for me?"

"Wait, why me? And this is the thing you were going to give away, why should I be the one carving it...?"

"Because I like you."

"impossible."

"Then you like me."

"Shut up!"

"The most important thing is that it's free."

"roll!"

Chapter 185 The Obstructed Promotion

After Vera finished her patrol that evening, Tia went back to Crown Street with her.

However, she returned quite late, and by the time Tia opened the door, Annie was already fast asleep. Tia didn't want to disturb her, so Annie didn't see the black-haired girl eating breakfast until the next morning.

Anne rubbed her eyes and yawned, saying, "Um... I didn't even know you were back, Tia, until I called. Where's Vera?"

"She's still sleeping. She doesn't have classes or work today."

Tia remembered Anne's routine and had already heated up the bread, spread jam, and fried some sausages and eggs in the kitchen.

Anne sat at the dining table and didn't see Eleanor, feeling a mix of joy and disappointment.

The joy was self-evident, but the disappointment stemmed mainly from the fact that she hadn't seen Eleanor for a long time and was a little worried about her—although His Highness Albert had said there was no need to worry, considering Eleanor's health condition, it was hard for her to put her mind at ease.

After all, she's still living in someone else's house...

Anne inquired, "Eleanor must be quite lonely all alone in Iris, unfamiliar with the place. Should we write her a letter?"

Tia paused in her chewing of bread.

If she remembered correctly, Eleanor had made a harassing phone call to her last night, and had Tia control a doll to bring her a towel in the bathroom!

She'd never be lonely!

But this couldn't be said outright. Tia thought for a moment and said, "I could easily write a letter. But it's hard to guarantee that the letter will arrive. The Iris Flower area has been in turmoil for a long time. Ms. Bernice is there with the Iris Flower area. I heard that she is Eleanor's elder, so she should be able to protect her."

"Too......"

Annie didn't think much of it, but she didn't say she wouldn't write it either. Whether it would be delivered or not, she'd just write it first; if it wasn't delivered, it wouldn't matter.

The topic ended quickly, and after breakfast, Tia and Annie went to Saint Laurent.

Although Tia has a long-term leave slip stamped with the academy's seal, there are so many elderly people in the school, and she needs to maintain those relationships with them all the time.

It's all about relationships. Especially with these elderly professors and mentors, some of whom rarely see their children for various reasons, Tia had an opportunity to exploit them, much like her scheme to defraud the elderly by selling them health products.

But it did work.

Tia strolled around the school in the morning, and at noon she received a bunch of snacks from her newly adopted grandparents. As she left, she passed by the Holy See Square of St. Simon's Cathedral.

The Place de la Paix is ​​very close to Saint Laurent. Walking east from the Place de la Paix across a garden and green space, you'll find Saint Laurent's seminary. Because it has no walls, seminary students in a hurry for Mass sometimes even run across the green space to the cathedral; this behavior usually incurs a fine of 5 shillings.

However, the cathedral priests later discovered that three crowned bishops had brazenly crossed the garden and green space in order to get to class on time, and the matter of fines was never mentioned again.

As Tia passed by, she saw an uninvited guest emerge from under the giant archway of the Holy See Square ahead.

He was a gentleman dressed in a dark blue tailcoat, dark gray riding boots, long, white trousers with a leather belt, and a harmless walking stick at his waist.

That is, Sir Roman, the Honorable Lord of the Kingdom of Ansu, an outstanding graduate of the Department of Classical Literature of the National University, a tax thief in the Grand Police Department, the undisputed sugar thief of the Anti-Suppression Bureau, and the most diligent public servant in the Silver Fortress Diplomatic Office.

Roman was in such a hurry that he didn't even see Tia, who was eating an ice cream cone with her mouth full of cream, by the roadside.

— Prior to this, Tia's unrestrained image had already attracted a lot of attention. She was far too unladylike, too unnoble, and too unlike Silver Castle. She was a country bumpkin among country bumpkins, a country bumpkin among country bumpkins.

Only after Tia quickly licked the ice cream clean did she call out, "Sir!"

Roman paused, glanced in the direction of the voice, and exclaimed as if granted a pardon, "Your Majesty, I was just thinking about you at the Apostolic Palace! And here we are! Sulph, don't go to the Grand Police Headquarters yet, come with me to the Foreign Affairs Office first."

Tia exclaimed in surprise, "Something happened?"

"There is something I need to discuss! Anyway, come with me first. I can't really say whether this is good or bad."

Roman didn't explain clearly either, and hurriedly flagged down a public carriage, let Tia get on, and went to Silver Castle together.

Tia pondered for a while.

Roman told her not to go to the police station—this was probably about her promotion to Sequence 7. To get promoted to Sequence 7, she had to go to the police station to find the relevant officials from the Anti-Suppression Bureau, and then the Anti-Suppression Bureau would assign someone to protect her.

How did this get involved with the church?

Tia couldn't figure it out no matter how much she thought about it. She followed Roman into his office and saw him take out a bag of white crystalline substance and pour it into the teapot.

This tactic resembles something often seen in certain drug enforcement films...

Roman said, "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Then forget it, I'm afraid I'll get poisoned and have to be carried to the hospital..."

"What nonsense are you talking about, Sulph? This isn't a hallucinogen! It's just saccharin!"

"So much saccharin is practically poison! Please get to the point!"

“…Forget it, I won’t argue with a kid like you.” Roman paused for a moment, then said, “Your application for Sequence 7 promotion has been rejected.”

Tia was sitting on the sofa, casually grabbing a newspaper, when she froze before even finishing reading the headlines.

"Rejected? Why? Did I break the law again?"

"Why?! How would I know!" Roman said speechlessly, "This is a suggestion from the Papal Palace. Although it's called a suggestion, it's actually a demand, you understand? In Ansu's extraordinary world, the Moen family is the first mountain, and the Papal Palace is the second mountain."

"That's why I went to the Apostolic Palace today to ask what was going on, but that old man Peter locked the door and wouldn't see anyone."

Tia said, "Since it's been rejected, so be it. I can still sneak in a promotion."

"You've come to deliver my sales targets?"

"Then you need to have evidence."

Tia looked at the newspaper with complete indifference and said, "But this is indeed a big deal. I'll think of a solution later."

Roman's eyelids twitched, sensing that this guy was about to cause trouble again. He took a few sips of tea to calm himself and said meaningfully:

"Then you'd better be careful not to get caught by the church."

"I accept your good words."

Tia spread her hands to get away with it, then asked knowingly, "By the way, didn't I ask Bishop Famas about the potions before? Has there been any progress?"

"Potion..."

Roman suddenly put down the teapot in his hand and said quietly, "I almost forgot about this if you hadn't mentioned it. This is a big deal. You know Scarlett, right? She's the one you almost ruined back then."

Chapter 186 Inviting the Enemy into the Trap

“Scarlett Lane was recently transferred to the Department of Combat and Suppression, and then she was transferred to the Iris to carry out missions.”

"Whoa whoa."

Tia pretended to be completely clueless, picked up a cookie from the table, put it in her mouth for less than a second, and quickly threw it back.

—This stuff is terribly sweet!

She even suspected that Roman might not have a sense of taste.

Roman, oblivious to Tia's subtle movements, continued, "You deserve credit for this. Just today, Scarlett brought back some major news to the Anti-Eradication Bureau: she discovered a group of Arabian merchants who had delivered the so-called 'resurrection' ritual to Iris, and they even found the same potion you sent there."

"The simultaneous appearance of the potion and the ritual in Silver Keep and Mistmoon City—if nothing unexpected happens, this must be the Empire's doing. The purpose is probably to revive something. But we still haven't been able to decipher the ritual."

Tia nodded; she knew about it, but hadn't told Scarlett.

Firstly, according to Abdullah, this resurrection ritual was used by Rexar, the "Black Robe," a giant of the Hand of Transformation, to resurrect King Rudd. But this news was too explosive. Moreover, how come Scarlett hadn't obtained such confidential information herself?

It was difficult to fabricate, so Tia simply didn't tell Scarlett.

Secondly, Abdullah mentioned that Reksha had put multiple layers of encryption on the ritual, which Scarlett could not possibly crack with her abilities.

Furthermore, how did Abdullah know the true information of this multi-layered encrypted ritual?

Tia was also worried that the information was inaccurate.

Tia pretended not to understand at this moment and said, "But it's always better to be careful. I saw that ritual you mentioned in Saint Laurent's underground society a while ago, so it's probably been circulating for some time now."

After finishing his tea, Roman picked up his pipe but didn't light it, just held it in his mouth, and said speechlessly:

"This has been monitored by the Avalon system for a long time. Those kids have no idea what a country with order is!"