Witch, don't be so lazy

The hotel was not far from the police station, so they responded very quickly.

"Just now, five or six minutes before you arrived, I walked in with my things, and then I saw this scene in front of me."

The waitress had a look of fear on her face and was stuttering. Her clothes were stained with jam and fragrant coffee. Trays were scattered at her feet, and bread had fallen beside them. It was obvious that she had dropped everything out of fright.

Through questions and answers, everyone gradually pieced together the full picture of the incident.

The cause is very simple.

Because the female guest had been feeling unwell and had been lying in the room without eating, she was hungry at night, so she asked the waiter to come to her house and ordered some filling food that did not require special cooking. As a result, in this short period of time when the food was delivered and the half-open door was opened, she was already dead.

"This, this must have been done by a monster. It killed the person and then escaped through the window."

The waiter pointed tremblingly at the open window. The bright moonlight poured into the room, and the shadows on the window sill were stretched out long.

Everyone couldn't help but feel scared, and they could almost imagine the corresponding scene in their minds.

In the dead of night, the evil dark creature locked onto its prey with its scarlet eyes, sneaked into the room silently, and stretched out its terrible claws. It was brutal and swift. The poor woman couldn't even utter a word to cry for help before a young life was lost and it then walked away.

Is he really gone? Could the monster still be lurking in the dark corners?

Almost all the passengers wanted to talk about this issue, and then they began to panic, and the scene became a mess in an instant.

While the police officers were working hard to maintain order, An Ke was quietly thinking beside them.

She was one of the first people to rush to the scene after hearing the screams, and she observed the situation the earliest. Because she used the clairvoyance technique, she saw more.

It did leave through the window, and I could even see fresh footprints in the dust. They weren't big, and it felt like they were from a small to medium-sized monster.

As for the wounds on the deceased, they looked like they were caused by sharp weapons like spears. Even though Anke was not an expert on dark creatures, several monsters that matched the description came to his mind. The most typical one was the weapon monster, whose heads and arms were specially customized weapons.

Of course, the most important discovery was that Anke noticed the police officers' small movements.

Judging from the eye contact between them, and the fact that although they looked worried, they were not overly surprised, I'm afraid this is not the first time they have seen this.

Tsk tsk.

As expected, Hongyan Town is far from being as safe as it seems. Otherwise, why would it say "successfully survive for five days" as a necessary task? This means that there must be risks that cannot be easily avoided.

A series of messy and hurried footsteps.

Everyone turned around.

She found that the people who came were several white-robed priests and the witcher Anke had seen before. They were the same people she saw on the street in the evening.

They first quickly observed the crime scene, then exchanged a few words in a low voice with the police officer. The leading priest then asked the waiter:

"You said this lady was feeling unwell earlier. Could you give a brief description?"

"Uh, when she first arrived at the hotel, she looked groggy, her eyes were glazed over, and her movements were rather strange. It felt, uh, like she had taken illegal substances..."

The waiter's words were very tactful. "Of course, after she rested for a while, she seemed much more normal. At least there was no problem with the order."

As soon as the words fell, the priests showed an expression of "as expected". Seeing their reaction, An Ke next to him also raised his eyebrows.

Without wasting too much time, the leading priest arranged for police officers and priests to calm the frightened crowd, and at the same time had the bodies taken away.

After arranging these things, he finally turned his attention to An Ke.

After all, it was hard not to notice a cute little girl dressed as a witcher, who was not afraid of the bloody scene in the house at all, and would stick her head out to look around from time to time.

The most important thing is that one can indeed sense some magic in her, without any concealment.

"I haven't seen you before. Are you a new witcher in town?"

The priest didn't hesitate. Seeing An Ke nod, he spoke directly, "I'm the pharmacist of the Red Rock Town Church. If you're here to resolve the incident, then come with us."

"Okay."

An Ke agreed readily. She did not hide herself, but instead deliberately highlighted her presence in order to establish a connection with the church.

Because they obviously have information far beyond that of ordinary townspeople, and after Anke's simple observation, it seems that the church is not playing the villain role in this parade incident.

If they wanted to stir up trouble, using the power of the church to do some shady things on their own territory, there would definitely be ten thousand different ways to suppress it.

Of course, we still need to be vigilant.

"Let's go then."

……

It was already late at night and everyone was asleep.

But the lights were still on in the church, and the priests and nuns walked hurriedly with solemn expressions.

Walk through the hall and reach the courtyard at the back.

What caught my eye were the dozen or so hospital beds and the people wailing on them. Well, at least they were still human for now, but it would be unclear what would happen after a while.

An Ke could see it clearly: the scales on the arms, the hair on the face, and even one of the feet had turned into cow hooves...

"Is this a disease that can turn people into monsters?"

She asked directly, "Is this the cause of the sudden change in Hongyan Town? Can it be cured?"

"Yes, we discovered it recently. Unfortunately, we haven't found a cure yet."

The pharmacist nodded first, then sighed and shook his head. "We can only give them some analgesics and sleeping pills to help them relieve the pain, but we can't stop the transformation into a monster."

He paused and began to explain the whole story.

"At first, everyone thought the town's barrier had weakened, allowing monsters to sneak in. But when the priest led us to reinforce the barrier, the number of monsters not only didn't decrease, but actually increased over time."

"So everyone naturally realized that this wasn't caused by external factors, but was clearly someone in Hongyan Town deliberately creating monsters."

"At first, we thought it was some necromancer mages playing with negative energy. But after extensive statistics and investigation, especially taking the risk of visiting the lower city where monsters frequently appear, we finally discovered their conspiracy. They were mass-producing dark creatures by spreading disease!"

"An incurable disease..."

An Ke blinked, then quietly moved her feet, putting some distance between herself and the center of the courtyard.

"Could it be an evil mage from the School of Nature? I heard they are the best at these operations."

"It's possible, but the problem is that this disease is too strange."

The pharmacist sighed, "At least so far we haven't figured out the cause of the disease, nor do we understand how it spreads."

"Can't find it?"

"Well, we conducted a comprehensive study on the patients: their blood, muscles, bones, brain... We even dissected the transformed monsters, but everything was perfectly normal. We found nothing unusual, and we couldn't find the route of transmission."

The pharmacist's face was heavy, filled with sadness, self-blame, and confusion.

"There were even priests willing to sacrifice themselves for Dawn, willingly exposing themselves to prolonged, unprotected contact with patients, yet they remained uninfected. Thinking it might be the Lord's protection, we paid a large sum of money to recruit civilians from the town, but they also didn't contract the strange disease."

No wonder the priests and nuns around them, although equipped with simple protective gear, were not equipped to handle the plague.

"Huh? How come this completely defies the normal laws of infectious diseases? Could it be that the enemy has a way to manipulate it as they wish?"

An Ke was stunned for a moment, but she felt it was unlikely.

"From what I know, if the other party possesses such terrifying abilities, then he must be at least a rank three mage. There's absolutely no need to be secretive. He can just go for it. After all, the whole town is just his plaything."

The pharmacist nodded, and then someone interrupted.

"Actually, it's not completely without patterns. We've discovered that the farther away from the Upper City—no, to be more precise, the farther away from the Holy Temple—the more likely they are to develop diseases and transform into monsters."

The one who spoke was the witcher man. He folded his arms and said in a deep voice,

"The reason the priests didn't immediately detect this strange disease was because the lower town was too far from the temple. The townspeople became ill too quickly. Once the corresponding symptoms appeared, they would completely transform into monsters within a few hours."

"The speed was so exaggerated that even some people, after witnessing it with their own eyes, refused to believe their friends and family had transformed into monsters. They simply believed that these monsters had deliberately infiltrated, killed people, and then disguised themselves as replacements. That's what they reported."

"But the situation in the Upper City is different. Not only are there fewer people who are sick, but it often takes several days from the onset of symptoms to their complete demonic transformation. The longest recorded survival in the church is even two weeks."

...The difference between the upper and lower urban areas is really big.

This was the first thought that flashed through Anke's mind. The masters were indeed masters. They ate well, used things well, lived next to the church, and even lived longer than the poor.

Then, another idea naturally came to her.

"Why does this sound so fitting for a curse?"

think carefully.

If it is a strange and terrifying curse, then everything will make sense.

Since it is not a disease, there is naturally no so-called source of infection or route of transmission.

Because it relies on a curse, the enemy may have a way to launch it freely.

In order to avoid attracting the attention of the church, and because the curse would be weakened if it was too close to the temple, they started to make trouble in the lower city.

"That makes sense. We thought so before."

The pharmacist nodded, then changed the subject, "But we really can't find any signs of a curse. You know, everyone admits that the evil Old Empire is the best at curses, but they also admit that the Church is no slouch in this regard, especially when it comes to breaking curses."

This is true.

The people who know you best, besides yourself, are your mortal enemies.

The Old Empire and the Church have been fighting for so many years. The former is certainly good at using curses, but the latter is no less capable.

According to the background of this parade, since it was the 240th year of the new calendar, it meant that the old empire had long since collapsed. Then, apart from the remnants of the empire, the person who understood curses best in the world must be the church.

If they can't find any signs of a curse, then ninety-nine percent of the time it's not a curse.

"That being said, we are just ordinary priests. If the other party's curse is extremely sophisticated, we really won't be able to detect it."

The pharmacist sighed.

"But it could also be a completely new lesion, or a combination of the two."

The witcher man added from the side.

...After all this fuss, you guys are still not sure.

An Ke sighed, but then she changed her mind and realized that if everything had been settled early on, the parade would not have started at all.

"I roughly understand the unusual events in Hongyan Town. So, why did you call me here so late at night? Besides this, is there anything else you want to talk about?"

An Ke raised her little face.

Her original intention was to ask whether the church should provide some welfare. Forget about mundane things like gold coins. Miss Anke has always regarded money as dirt. Just give some holy water, precious equipment, or even some scrolls.

pity.

The pharmacist slapped his forehead and said, "Oh, I almost forgot something important. We can't keep the Reverend priest waiting too long!"

He glared at the witcher next to him and said, "Droker, why didn't you remind me?"

"Can you blame me for this? Weren't you the one who was talking the whole time?"

The man from "Droker" shrugged.

The two of them walked in front.

Anke followed behind, thinking as he walked, the coachman he met at the beginning, his nephew was called Droke.

Eh, could this be the person you are referring to?

……

Walk into the hall.

Hearing the noise, eight pairs of eyes in the field looked over.

An Ke looked back.

The old priest standing in the middle had wrinkles all over his face, but his back was straight and he looked very energetic. His magic power was very abundant, exceeding the first level.

Next to him stood a swordsman, uh, should be a witcher, but he looked more like a ronin, with a cocky look on his face, a piece of grass in his mouth, and the demeanor of a master.

However, his magic level is really not good enough to sit at the same table with Mars' sister Sally.

There was also a charming woman with purple-red eye makeup, wearing a black cloak, with her arms crossed over her chest. She even gave An Ke a wink after their eyes met.

A dangerous guy, from the School of Shadows, with short arrows hidden in his sleeves and a scimitar behind his waist, covered with shadow energy.

An Ke took a quick look and found that although the opponent's magic tricks were well practiced, they still couldn't be hidden from her.

As for the remaining man, well, he also seemed to be a witcher, but he was not wearing a round hat, but a wrapped turban, and he was wearing a white robe. No matter how you looked at him, he looked like an Indian in his previous life.

I just happened to have a flute on my waist, and it felt like the only thing missing was a twisting snake.

"My lord, this is the new witcher. I already told her about the strange events in town on the way."