Miss Witch's Forbidden Book Secret

But it wasn't fear or disgust.

It's a strange yet very approachable force that makes you want to get closer, like snuggling into a warm room with a crackling fireplace in the dead of winter, giving you a comfortable shiver.

This is thanks to Tia's "light in the blood".

Holly had spent a lot of time with spirit beings like the big dog, and having lost her mother at a young age, she was practically raised by them. It was hard for her not to have some of their characteristics. Not to mention, she was a Sequence 7, and the warm touch made her instinctively want to snuggle into Tia's arms.

Speaking like a human, it tastes just like mom's cooking.

It's really strange.

Holly thought for a moment; she didn't even know what her mother tasted like...

However, Tia enjoyed touching him.

Holly's hair looked dry, but it was actually a disguise. A Sequence 7 superhuman might go hungry, but they would never be emaciated and malnourished. Parting that small tuft revealed smooth, silky hair, and even a hint of bread aroma.

—This is because the long loaf of bread is so sturdy; Holly used to like to put a cloth bag over it and use it as a pillow...

The young girl asked frankly, "Witch, are you here to see Master Baihu?"

White Oak was the only remaining master in the monastery of the Aristotelian sect, whose full name was "Ba.Tel White Oak". He was later invited by Holly to the Iris Flower Garden.

That's right.

--invite.

These words would sound outrageous coming from anyone else—Holly's invitation meant that some audacious son of a bitch conspired with vicious dogs to set fire to the woods outside the monastery, thereby forcing the master to back down and willingly surrender.

They were completely forced into this situation.

If you changed your worldview, Holly would have to sit on a chair on the mountain...

Holly explained casually, “My lady, this is actually the most efficient way. The Holy Grail’s extraordinary beings are generally inclined towards mercy and protection. Even if I plunged a dagger into his chest, he might not necessarily submit, but threatening him like this will usually make him comply. And no one will get hurt.”

That's true.

Tia shook her head and said, "I don't really care about that. As long as the person is there, that's fine."

"The white oak is still on the ship, right?"

"Yes, Master Baihu cannot disembark; there will be guards at the dock. And..."

Holly said with distress, "Actually, I don't really know where to hide the master. It's very comfortable here, but it's not safe. There are church pastors everywhere, and many superhumans that I don't know."

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it. Holly, are you going to stay here?"

"I will obey your command, Lady Witch!"

"Tsk... It's not very safe to stay here. I'll pay you in full later, and you can choose where you like to stay. It's fine if you want to stay here; I'll pay you even if Ansu doesn't."

"Thank you! Lady Witch!"

"Ah. We're doing this as equals, so there's no need to call me 'Witch' or anything like that. Besides, that title is too easy to misunderstand. You can call me Funina, and in private you can call me Tia."

Tia doesn't care much about age.

But Holly felt uncomfortable. "No! You paid too much, not to mention you're a great being. That's going too far!"

"Then just call me sister."

"Then, then... Sister Witch?"

"Shouldn't we leave out the witch part?"

"...Big sister?"

"Never mind, Holly, do whatever you want."

Chapter 203 The Triple Greatness of Sulph

Tia settled Holly's bill, then said goodbye and left.

But for some reason, the child seemed inexplicably reluctant to leave...

Leaving Holly aside, Tia had only gone a short distance when silvery-white raven feathers began to fall from the shadows beneath the tall buildings on the street.

This is the arrival of the shrike.

The shrike had played a crucial role in dealing with Abdullah, and since Tia was in Silver Castle at the time and Avalon was monitoring her closely, Tia didn't send her back to Ansu, but instead sent her back to Iris to roam freely.

As a result, this silly bird plunged headlong into a wine estate on the Politics Coast, where it drank for almost three or four days, startling the estate owner, who then invited priests, imams, sorcerers, and witches to exorcise the evil spirits overnight.

As luck would have it, the manor owner had invited the right person. Because of the Iris Flower's efforts to rebuild the church, Saint Enggard had dispatched another squad of knights to provide support. Wave Coast was the largest port on the Iris Flower's southwestern coast, and that's where they landed. The Shrike was immediately confronted head-on by a Sequence 4 Silver Knight...

It was so frightened that it fled in the night. Even the knight was startled; as Tia left the grand hotel, she overheard priests discussing the rumored emergence of a Dionysian cult near Ansu Sea...

Tia sent Shrike back to Ansu to get some things.

—A copy of a secret manual.

The shrike burrowed into the wall, its head peeking out from the red brick, cawing loudly, "It stinks! It stinks so bad! Who pooped on the wall like that!"

"My God! Who sprayed perfume? What kind of awful place is this? It smells both stinky and perfumed! Ugh, it smells even worse!"

"What kind of outfit is this? Who would wear bird feathers in their hair! Are they peacocks?! Can't they wear something a little looser? It's almost June, you're going to die of heat like this, buddy. My ouroboros, how come there isn't even a wine bottle in this trash can... Ugh ugh ugh—who threw up in there?"

"The Shrike—"

Upon hearing Tia call him, the shrike immediately turned its head and took flight with a whoosh, circling above Tia's head.

Tia asked, "Did you bring the things?"

"As for the copy, I've already copied it for you. Here it is."

The shrike stretched out its paws, and a thick, thread-bound book landed in Tia's hands. The shrike then landed on Tia's shoulder and said, "This is the book you got in exchange for forging it. I copied another one. The half-copy I copied is with Professor Bernard. He's in Saint Laurent, and I didn't dare go there."

"This is enough. I really have to thank you."

"Oh! Tia, my good friend, why are you being so polite with me? I'm a spirit, I live to have fun! If you let me go to the Poliu Coast for a few more days, we'll be the best of friends, no, you can even be my best master!"

"You have no idea how happy I was on the shores of Boliu. It was like I was about to go to hell and return to the embrace of the snake. It was so much fun! So awesome!"

"Seriously, this is the first time I've ever been this happy in all my years of life, sob sob sob! This is even happier than when I followed Princess Rosalind into Solomon's City and picked up so much of Solomon's wine!"

"Tia, I am no longer Your Majesty, you are Your Majesty, you are Rosalind, no, you are even greater than Rosalind! Homage! Tia Sulph! Tia Sulph! Tia Sulph! The triple-great Tia Sulph!"

Tia saw the shrike's tail wagging and was certain the raven was really having a good time...

Considering two thousand years of brewing techniques, this raven was truly having an absolute blast this time...

The shrike calmed down for a moment and said cheerfully, "So why did you want me to deliver the copy to you?"

"We need to find Master Baihu to decipher the text."

"Huh? Are you out of your mind?"

This raven immediately revealed its true form...

Tia shrugged, ruthlessly tossing the shrike down, and said, "How dare you speak to the Triple Great Sulph?"

"Hey, don't go. I'm serious." Shrike followed behind Tia, hopping along, reminding her, "Holly burned down their temple, so she probably wouldn't be happy to be invited here. How could she possibly decipher the secret text for you?"

"Of course there is a way. Even the ascetics of the Holy Grail cannot mold themselves into being without desires. Such a spirit, completely detached from humanity, is either like a stone ouroboros or an infinite creator."

"Although the Yale sect was valued by Emperor Pinnock because of its extraordinary abilities, the sect's doctrines themselves destined it to never truly flourish within the empire."

"You know about this?" Although Shrike had signed a contract with Saint Vincent, he was only knowledgeable and didn't understand the differences between the factions of the Holy Grail.

Tia didn't really understand it either, but Annie knew a lot about it. She specifically asked teacher Annie to teach her for a long time.

Tia said, "The Aristocracy were originally supporters of the Church's universal salvation theory, advocating absolute spiritual freedom. Because of spiritual freedom, humans can directly communicate with the Father of All Things and receive salvation. And the Father of All Things has this universal love, so they do not believe in the existence of a so-called afterlife hell. Everyone, regardless of status, faith, or whether they believe or not, will be saved."

Shrike clicked his tongue and said, "I've heard this is quite interesting. It seems to be a fusion of some forging hammer or oak."

The shrike's main point concerns spiritual freedom. Traditional Grail War beliefs hold that the spirit needs to be confined while knowledge needs to be widely disseminated, manifested through study and asceticism. This idea originates from the reflections of church saints on the prophetic era, who believed that the prophets allowed the spirit to become too active and the supernatural to go uncontrolled, leading to numerous disasters.

The doctrines of the Yale sect are undoubtedly heretical, but the church itself is quite diverse, and a large number of different sects even hold regular debates on the holy mountain of the church. Therefore, heresy is commonplace in the church.

How free? As long as it doesn't go as far as promoting the idea that portraying the Father of All Things as a large-breasted beauty and praying to him regularly can purify the soul, theocrats generally recognize the legitimacy of their beliefs...

However, the Aristotelian doctrine, which was considered relatively normal, was somewhat unacceptable to the Empire—absolute spiritual freedom implied absolute spiritual equality, meaning there was no need for various priests and highly functional churches. Universal salvation, in turn, meant supporting freedom of religion, which rendered the existence of the Inquisition illegitimate.

Meanwhile, the Empire firmly controls the Church and the Inquisition to govern and govern the lower classes, and the supporters of the Universal Salvation Wheel often have a strong messianic sentiment. The two sides are irreconcilable.

Tia explained to Shrew and concluded, "That's why I say the Yale School could never possibly prosper in the Empire. In fact, the Yale School's very existence is thanks to their ability to decipher the value of the classics."

The shrike felt dizzy listening to this and clucked twice, saying, "Birds can't understand this!"

"Even if they can't make it in the Empire, there's nothing you can do to help them! So what exactly are you planning to do?"

Tia looked up at the sky; the gray mist was dissipating, and the midday sun was bright and gentle.

She slightly raised her hand to cover her eyebrows and smiled cheerfully, "If you can't make it here, you can always go somewhere else. There's plenty of room for you to grow!"

Chapter 204 The Evil Little Girl and Her Parents

The ship that took Holly back to Iris was called the "Oleander," a military fast sailing ship, the kind used for transporting cargo, and equipped with two purely decorative antique cannons.

This thing was generously lent to Holly by an officer of the Silvermist Clan when she left the Empire with Master White Oak and ventured into the Silvermist Valley.

Also on the ship was a young man from the Silver Mist Clan named Nofis. Although he was an officer in the border region, he looked like a scholar, very bookish and also quite naive.

Tia had only vaguely heard of the Silver Mist Clan before, knowing that they were an iris-themed minority, extremely cold-resistant, and skilled in naval warfare—this clan was said to have ancestors who were barbarians who hunted whales along the coast of the Great Ice Plains, so they ate and slept on boats.

But once she boarded the ship, she felt a little disoriented, and immediately thought of Branna and Freya.

These are elves! Except those two elves have black hair, while Lord Nophis in front of us has silver hair.

To be honest, it's just that the varieties are different.

There wasn't much to see on the ship; the six or seven sailors were busy with their own things. When Holly and Marn left Silvermist Valley earlier, they used the name of Governor Durant. When Nofis heard that Tia was introduced by Holly, he subconsciously assumed that Tia was from the city hall and quickly invited her onto the ship.

As soon as they reached the deck, a gentle and kind voice rang out from afar.

"Is he a pastor from the Holy Church?"

Not far from the mast, an old man in a drab gray robe leaned on a cane; his eyes were entirely white, which looked rather frightening.

He looked at Tia's position and repeated, "Is it a priest of the Holy Church, or a knight of Saint Engard?"

Tia looked towards the source of the sound before walking over. The old man, leaning on a cane with one hand, stretched out his other hand towards Tia, saying in surprise:

"Miss Priest, you're very young, but you're almost Sequence 7, aren't you? Are you the capital priest of the Holy Church?"

Tia grasped the other's hand and whispered, "Master White Oak, you've guessed wrong. I'm neither a priest nor a knight."

“You may call me Furna. Furna Bonaparte.”

Bai Hu's aged and wrinkled face suddenly changed slightly.

Although he didn't know who this Miss Bonaparte was, White Oak knew one thing very well—since he came to the Iris, no one knew his identity except for that wicked little girl.

They're accomplices of the evil little girl!

Bai Hu's expression was not good. He said in a deep voice, "Child, did the Holy Church do this? Forgive my bluntness, but I will not do anything for the Church! Your actions are utterly despicable and hateful, and you have already betrayed the teachings of the Holy Grail!"

“Children, ask yourselves honestly! Do your actions contain even a trace of the unconditional love of the Father of all things?”

Tia smiled and said, "You're right. But I'm neither a priest nor a knight. But Master White Oak, the Yale School has been dormant for a long time, hasn't it?"

The blind monk couldn't actually see what Tia looked like.

If he could see clearly, he would know that Tia was not a priest at all, but at this moment he couldn't make up his mind.

"If you have something to say, feel free to speak frankly and openly."

Before Tia could finish speaking, the shrike's head popped out of the ground, and its cry echoed in Tia's head.

"Witch! I told you! You burned down that monastery, how could you possibly help you! I suggest you get the diligent, capable, kind and reliable Shrike to help you capture all his students and followers, so you can threaten him at will, hehehe!"

When Tia heard this, she felt it made a lot of sense, but the problem was, didn't she know what kind of person the shrike was?

The Imperials are certainly alarmed and have strengthened their defenses. The Shrike wouldn't last ten rounds against the Inquisition...

So Tia said directly to Bai Hu, "Master, the Church of the Iris is being rebuilt. And it's not being led by any one party, but by several parties working together, even the Alchemy Society is involved."

Bai Hu shook his head and said, "What does this have to do with me?"

"What does this have to do with you, Master! The Yale sect has no future in the empire, and what about you, who worships Saint Yale? You're going to spend your whole life deciphering the secret scriptures for His Majesty Pinnock XI, and then go and entertain His Majesty Pinnock XII?"

"Or should we recite scriptures for the emperor and ministers in the Glass Palace, and then persuade them to reform the church and abolish the Tribunal, which has dominated the empire's supernatural power for nearly five hundred years?"

"Stop dreaming! Master! There is no future in the Imperial Yale Sect, and neither is there for you!"