Miss Witch's Forbidden Book Secret

Vera immediately felt guilty and raised her hand, saying, "Can I borrow it?"

"Call me Mom."

"Mother."

Vera was still not satisfied.

Tia continued to stare at the little redhead with the same disdainful look she'd given him, and said ruthlessly, "Ha. You're even calling your mother over money now?"

Vera said unhappily, "Get lost, are you going to lend it to me or not?"

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

"I'm short of money!"

Tia crossed her arms and said calmly, "What exactly do you want?"

"Buy explosives. Buy weapons. Hire men."

"Are you going to buy intelligence or to fight?"

"I feel insecure."

Vera's face hardened, and she pressed her hand on the table, unusually serious, and said, "I'm not kidding. I took a nap tonight and had a wet dream where I was on top of you and I made you unable to get an erection. How is that possible! Something's definitely up—Golden City must have something going on."

Tia was speechless at Vera's bizarre intuition, but she could understand it. After all, she made her fortune in explosives, and Vera was from the same lineage, a fellow student and teacher.

Moreover, Vera is a legitimate Sequence 5; although her dreams may be bizarre, her spirituality is genuine.

"Buy things under the name of the Anti-Suppression Bureau. If anything happens, don't mention my name."

"okk~"

Chapter 465 Gem Island Chain

Having received confirmation from Tia, Vera happily spent most of the night in the temple reading adult comics and watching all sorts of strange anime and movies—all ages, including restricted content. Tia's temple was overflowing with this kind of stuff; Vera was used to it.

Ansu's film technology was still in its infancy; New Orleans had only one cinema, and Silverburg didn't even have one. But Vera didn't stay in New Orleans for more than a few days, and given her lingering social anxiety, she didn't go despite her curiosity.

Now we can feast our eyes on this feast.

Vera didn't surface and return to the material world until late at night. She slept for three hours before getting up to wash and get ready.

As dawn broke, Xia Mi and Sif were already dining in the restaurant. The mercenaries hired by Vera, weary from their journey, were chatting and laughing as they ate and drank.

Many waiters dressed in black tailcoats walked through the crowd, and several solemn-looking silver knights escorted an old gentleman with white hair and beard and a straight back to the restaurant.

The old gentleman looked to be in his sixties, with clear wrinkles on his face, but he was still very energetic, with white hair, prominent cheekbones, and bright, piercing eyes.

"Xia Mi! Sif!"

He burst in with a loud shout, startling Xia Mi, who was stuffing soup-soaked bread into her mouth.

Even Sif, upon hearing this voice, slightly restrained herself, took a deep breath, and said, "Teacher Carter..."

"Alright! And you too, Sif! Don't play dumb with me, what's going on with you two! You left without saying goodbye and went to Iris, do you know how worried I was! You're still two children!"

“My brother and I depend on each other for survival, but our father doesn’t approve. Especially our brother, who sent a lot of pursuers. Fortunately, my brother has His Majesty the Shrike’s protection and is safe.”

Sif was about to speak with her head down when Shami cautiously stepped in front of her and said, "Teacher Carter, please tell me what's on your mind."

"What exactly did you go there for?!"

"We...we met a friend during the nightmare of the ascension ceremony. She lived in Nuremberg, Ansu. She told us we could leave the Land of the Seven Seas and accept her protection, so we set sail..."

"Shami, according to the code of knighthood, you must not lie in your conversation with me."

"Our elder brother, Bell Langhilde, at last year's Holy Festival—beep beep beep beep!"

Before Shami could finish speaking, she was silenced by Sif's ritual. But Carter recognized what Shami was saying immediately by the change in her lips.

—Their brother, Bell Langhilde, tried to kill them during last year's Holy Festival.

Carter's face immediately turned furious.

Other ordinary superhumans might not be able to see it, but Vera, who had just brought out pumpkin soup from the kitchen and was not far from Shami, could see it very clearly.

In no time, the pumpkin soup was almost spilled, and the red-haired nun sat in her chair, enthusiastically eating melon seeds.

Carter—that must be the Holy Festival Observer from Engard, the Grand Knight Commander of Sequence Four, who was traveling with them.

But Vera never expected that this Mr. Carter would have a connection with Shami and Sif.

And there are also the issues with Ansu and New York City...

Vera remained silent, observing the situation.

But the farce came and went quickly. Vera found her druid sister Herlan and reminded her, "Herlan, please arrange for someone to take our two ships to the other city-states of the Seven Seas."

Herlan asked in surprise, "Miss Vera, you mean...?"

“Hire another four or six Sequence 5s. I have a feeling this trip to the Golden City won’t go smoothly.”

"clear."

While Vera was arranging the transfer, Xia Mi, who was far away, was already weak all over. She was being roused by the shrike flapping its big wings and slapping her face, while Sifra was comforting her in her arms.

When the clock struck eight in the morning, Druid Herlan returned on time, and a Silver Knight came to invite Vera to the port to board a ship and head to the Golden City.

I just got onto the deck.

The silver knight leading Vera cautiously reminded her, "Your Excellency Vera, once you arrive in the Golden City, you must not reveal your identity as foreigners. You can use your identity as a priest of Saint Engard as a cover. As for your companions, it is recommended that they do not leave the Knights' headquarters as much as possible."

"At the same time, the Holy Festival is highly valued in the Golden City, much like your country's Queen's celebration. You may participate if you are interested. This festival has become largely secularized. However, please do not interfere with the transfer ceremony held by the City Hall at the official residence. There is still a high probability that the false gods will notice there. And please do not disrupt the celebration."

Vera nodded and said, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I know that. But I need to go to the United Guild to buy some special intelligence, the kind involving supernatural organizations in the various countries of the continent."

"Grand Knight Carter will escort you there, please rest assured."

Vera finally breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this and thanked them again, saying, "Thank you, Sir Carter, and Grand Master Sig, for your generosity."

The Silver Knight smiled, made the sign of the cross on his chest, and led Vera and her companions to the cabin.

It's not far to the Golden City. If you leave St. Engadine at eight in the morning and follow the sea breeze, you can see the coast and port by four in the afternoon.

Vera had nothing to do on the ship, so she simply stayed in the temple and continued watching erotic anime.

One is a reclusive girl in the temple, the other is addicted to the internet in Iris Flower. Tia is sometimes in the temple and sometimes in reality, as if she has come back from the dead. She is copying the manuscript of Rexar that the world-famous thief Eleanor stole (forcibly took) from the archives of the Iris Flower's internal affairs department.

Meanwhile, Anne was in the study with fruit, sometimes lying on the chair reading, sometimes picking up a fork, getting up, sticking a piece of watermelon into Tia's mouth.

Then she saw the girl was diving deep, still asleep, her hair disheveled and looking adorable. Annie pressed down on her shoulders and pried open her mouth with her little tongue, like eating jelly, nodding in satisfaction as she continued to stuff fruit into her mouth.

Everyone has a bright future.

An hour before the Saint Enggard observation team arrived in the Golden City, on the south bank of the Golden City's Gilded Square, a group of Tianfang people wearing white robes and headscarves, with deep-set eyes and sculpted features, were entering the four-story building with white walls and blue tiles—the location of the "Gem Island Chain Merchants' Guild."

They were greeted by the acting president of the United Guild, a middle-aged man with a large belly who looked like a shrewd businessman.

In the office, the acting president said with a troubled expression, "Gentlemen, I replied to you two weeks ago. We are an absolutely neutral and free organization, and we will not sign any confidentiality agreements with you to keep your information secret. Our president, Ms. Werner, who is currently in the deep sea, has already conveyed her message on this matter."

"Openness, freedom, and trade are the foundation of our Gem Island Chain and the key to Ms. Wona's ability to maintain her sanctuary. We will never compromise on these principles."

Several people from Tianfang bowed again and said, "President Jin, we are not here to force you to cover up our secrets."

"How about this? Please increase the price of all information related to the Wisdom Palace by 1000%."

The acting chairman, named Jin, hesitated, "This..."

“This is not just our demand. It is also Speaker Allen’s demand. He has taken a lot from us, and although we do not appreciate his greed, his behavior is dangerous. Please remind Ms. Werner to pay attention to the situation and not let this disaster escalate.”

“You all knew perfectly well that you were doing it, Ms. Vona…”

"The wheel of fate turns, with both inevitability and chance. Even if we weren't here, someone else would have, so we are willing to be the inevitable villains in this accidental turn. Please forgive us."

After the few Tianfang people left, Jin murmured:

"As expected of a prophet, spouting utter nonsense."

Chapter 466 Using one tiger to devour another

Not long after the group of Arabians left, the somewhat portly acting chairman went out and called two waiters.

Upon hearing Jin's request, a male and a female waiter dressed in black short tailcoats exclaimed in surprise, "President, are you really going to raise the price of all information related to the Wisdom Palace? Doesn't that go against our principles?"

Chairman Kim nodded and said, "That's true, but don't worry about it for now. Just say so if someone comes to buy."

"But Ms. Werner..."

“I will go and inform Ms. Werner.”

Seeing this, the two waiters looked at each other and led Jin through the corridor and stairs to the guild hall on the first floor, where they opened an inconspicuous small door in the corner.

The door was inscribed with two rituals using alchemical techniques, densely covered with words. The technique itself was not complex; it was simply that the massive accumulation of extraordinary knowledge caused deep-sea pollution, making it impossible for those at Sequence Seven and below to "notice" the existence of the door with their naked eyes.

Behind the door is a steam-powered hinged lift, which is essentially a steam-powered elevator.

But after Jin entered the elevator and pressed the button for the -1 floor, the elevator descended for more than half an hour without reaching its destination. Instead, Jin became drowsy, as if his soul had left his body.

The seawater surged in, assaulting Jin's mind and carrying his soul to the guild's main office on the -1 floor—the residence of Ms. Vona, the true master of the Gem Island Chain Guild.

A loud rumbling sound followed.

The copper railing in front of the elevator slowly opened, revealing a typical office scene.

Ms. Werner was sitting behind her desk, turning the pages of a book on microeconomics with her white-gloved left hand.

She had short, fiery red hair that reached her shoulders, with the ends slightly curled, and a smile graced her mature face.

In terms of appearance, he is somewhat similar to Vera, but he lacks Vera's liveliness and gentleness. He looks more like he is in his early thirties, and he is not an ignorant and weakling like Vera. Wearing glasses, he has a scholarly air about him.

In terms of physique, she resembled Lady Edwina, but her light brown eyes were more aggressive, completely lacking Lady Edwina's gentle temperament.

Upon seeing Jin's arrival, Werner adjusted her glasses and said, "There's a prophet's scent on the surface. My dear acting chairman, do you have any leads?"

Jin respectfully said, "Madam, the prophet from the Palace of Wisdom has come to renegotiate the previous deal."

"You agreed?"

"Yes. They backed down and asked us to raise the price of the relevant intelligence for them, offering a large sum of money."

"Interesting. Did you know that a saint has come to the Golden City?"

Jin was startled and quickly said, "How could this be! Could it be Grand Commander Sig...?"

Vona slammed her hand on the table, interrupting, "It's not Sig."

"It's a scent I've never smelled before. And it belongs to an alchemist—either Rexar in black robes, or the monk Sazdive, or Tia Surf."

"Whichever it is, their relationship with the Palace of Wisdom isn't good. And they're still on Saint Enggard's ship. Which one do you think it is?"

Jin wiped the sweat from his brow and asked doubtfully, "Do you mean they want to buy information about the Wisdom Palace?"

Wona said, "Don't sell it to them."

"what?"

Jin didn't understand at all.

The relationship between the Gem Island Chain Guild and the prophets isn't exactly good—today, when those prophets came over, Jin almost thought the two sides were about to fight!

At this point, directly sending the intelligence to these foreigners would obviously be a way to trick the Wisdom Palace!

Vona chuckled and said, "Trade and contracts are the unshakable foundation of my Gem Island Chain. Since we agreed to raise prices with those prophets, we will raise prices. However, Allen and the Council of Six borrowed power from the Palace of Wisdom, wanting to bring that mad god up as a treasure. This was done without my consent."

“When they come to you, tell them that Gem Island Chain can pay them the same amount they would pay for information, and ask them to investigate the ‘abnormal’ situation of the Holy Festival.”

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

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

"Ms. Wona?"

Upon arriving at the guild hall of the Golden City Knights' headquarters, Vera was asking Shami and Sif about the Gem Island Chain when she heard this unfamiliar name.

When she left Newport, Tia told her that the current chairman of the Gem Island Chain was a fat man named "Jin".

But Sif insisted that the owner of the Jewel Island Chain was Vona.

Druid Herlan and several hired superhuman mercenaries were all there. Vera asked them one by one, but they were all clueless.

Sif explained, "It's actually about the relationship between Your Majesty the Queen and the Prime Minister. Vona is actually a spirit from the deep sea, and it's said that the underground of the Gem Island Chain Guild leads to her sanctuary. She just doesn't usually get involved."

Vera disagreed, saying, "Queen Elizabeth is very involved, and she's very nosy. She doesn't even allow us to eat the geese in Swan Lake. She even interferes with church affairs. A couple of years ago, she demanded that the church increase daily attendance, so I have to go to church for morning prayers at eight o'clock."