Witch, don't be so lazy

An Ke nodded, but unlike usual, she didn't have the patience to explain, instead she changed the subject.

"It just needs to be confirmed. Oh, speaking of which, Droke, I heard you bragging about your witcher career in the tavern last time. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear the whole thing. Could you elaborate on it now?"

"Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

Droke scratched his head, feeling a little confused.

While it was nice to have a cute little girl willing to listen to his boasts, everyone was exhausted from fighting monsters. Even if they wanted to chat, they could at least go back to the tavern and sit down, then drink and chat, right?!

"I'm just curious. The townspeople say you've been away from Red Rock for over a decade, working as a witcher. You must have a lot of experience and have seen many monsters. Maybe you could be of help to us in solving the unusual incident."

...It's a far-fetched reason, but the attitude is quite tough.

There's nothing I can do about it. He's very capable and has made great contributions. Just ask if you want to.

Droke shrugged, then pulled out a few shiny bullets from his pocket:

"Here, the pale one is made from the skull of the bone monster I killed in the cave five years ago. The dark green one is made from the fangs of the blue water serpent in the swamp four years ago..."

"Don't talk about this. I want to ask for more details."

An Ke interrupted him mercilessly, "For example, what villages and towns did you visit? Describe the local customs and people. Also, what memorable people did you meet? What memorable things happened?"

"Well, you asked me that so suddenly that I can't answer it right away."

Droke spread his hands helplessly, but seeing Anke's expression of "it's ok until you recall everything and organize your words", he could only scratch his head and start racking his brains.

"There's really not much to talk about. Deserts, swamps, jungles, nothing special to remember. The people are pretty much the same. Since I'm a witcher, if there's one thing I remember vividly, it's definitely the battles with monsters!"

"It's my job after all. I could talk about this for three days and three nights. There are quite a few that left a deep impression on me: the yellow mud frog that can discharge electricity, the Gorgon that seems to have the blood of Medusa, the Ukback with its strange strength... Uh, do you really want me to elaborate?"

"……No."

An Ke looked at him steadily, shook her head, and said softly,

"Do you remember when we first met, we went digging and found your childhood birthday present, the picture book of Van Helsing's Chronicles of the Demon Hunter?"

"Of course I remember."

"And do you know who Van Helsing is?"

"You're right. Even if he's not my idol, as a renowned legendary hunter, any witcher would definitely know his name."

Droke was very dissatisfied with Encore's question, but since he mentioned his idol, he still started to introduce him.

"Van Helsing, legendary hunter, master of both the School of the Sun and the School of the Shadow, once one of the five golden names of the Adventurer's Guild, founder of the Demon Hunters. His famous deeds and brilliant achievements cannot be fully explained in a few words. We can only point out his most distinctive characteristics—

He was clearly a prince of the vampire clan, and some legends even said that he had come into contact with the Holy Grail of Blood bestowed by the demon god Helsingdi. However, Van Helsing did not corrupt and degenerate into a lackey of the abyss. On the contrary, he broke free from the shackles through his own efforts and will, and played an unparalleled role in the subsequent siege of Helsingdi.

Until his death, Van Helsing was active in the forefront of the fight against dark creatures. He was a true, great witcher!"

After a passionate speech, Droke proudly raised his eyebrows at Anke, meaning clearly that don't question his admiration for his idol.

Anko was silent for a moment.

“…You’re right, but you didn’t tell the whole story.”

Facing Droke's surprised gaze, she whispered, "There have always been voices saying that Van Helsing is actually a puppet of the Church, a tool created to encircle and kill the demon god Helsindi, and also a nail driven into the Adventurer's Guild..."

"Hey, hey, wait a minute, it's generally acknowledged that Van Helsing collaborated with the Vatican, but what you're saying is nothing more than a pure conspiracy theory!"

Perhaps because he felt his idol was being insulted, Droke's voice rose two degrees.

"For example, when you mention the Abyss and demons, you subconsciously think of the Old Empire, and when you mention the Solari School and Witchers, you have to bring up the Church. This is completely simple and mindless labeling!"

An Ke smiled helplessly.

"Perhaps you're right, but I just want to say that 'Van Helsing's Notes' is indeed a reminder from the spirit world. The problem is that this reminder is too obscure, and it's hard for a normal person to think of it."

An Ke sighed and turned to look at Celine Weier, "We've been standing here for so long, shouldn't we set off? Where should we go first?"

The black-haired girl thought for a moment and said, "A cemetery?"

"Cemetery, okay, who can lead the way?"

An Ke looked at the confused pharmacist and Droke and said casually, "Well, the cemetery is where corpses are buried. It often gathers a lot of negative energy. Many monsters like negative energy. Let's go there and see if we can find some clues."

"What you said does make sense, but the problem is that our custom in Hongyan Town is sand burial. Ashes to ashes, earth to earth. We don't have a cemetery, so there's no need to worry about that."

The pharmacist waved his hand.

"..."

Anke spread her hands helplessly towards Celine Weier, then she thought about it again: "Then let's go to the mining area."

The reason given is quite reasonable.

"Because the old empire established Hongyan Town for the treasure mine, there might be clues there. At the very least, we should go over there and see if there's any useful equipment... uh, metals and minerals, because there's probably going to be a major war later."

Everyone nodded.

……

mine.

The people I was traveling with had changed.

Because traces of monsters were found in the town again, the pharmacist and Drake took the priests to encircle and suppress them, but Anke and Celine Weir did not go.

They were led by two acquaintances.

One is a little newspaper boy.

An Ke was also quite surprised when she saw the dusty little creature in the mine tunnel: "Why are you here instead of selling newspapers in front of the hotel?"

When the latter saw Anke and his group, he was in disbelief, and after hearing Anke's questions, he burst into tears.

To sum up, because Encore treated him to dinner that night, he ate and drank well and slept soundly. He didn't even react when the sheriff searched the streets. In the end, he was caught and sent to the mines to do hard labor.

Enke was a little amused, but before she could say anything, Ms. Ellie beside her relieved the little newspaper boy of his job of ringing the bell, letting him go free again.

Well, Ms. Ellie is the Ripper, a former teammate, a seductive woman holding a machete.

Although she didn't play much of a role in the battle at that time, she was a prominent figure in Hongyan Town, in charge of many industries in the lower city. Not to mention the black and gray ones, there were a lot of white ones, including minerals.

She is now responsible for giving directions and introductions from the perspective of a senior official; while the little newsboy supplements the information from the perspective of a laborer.

It took quite some time to take a quick look.

Anke didn't care about all that mess, she just wanted to confirm one thing with her own eyes:

"There aren't many treasure mines here. Not even ordinary iron ore and stone are left. There's no black copper or earth crystals to be found, and there's no hidden equipment to be found. Sigh, how can we fight..."

The Ripper didn't understand the second half of the sentence, but she understood the first half.

She explained with a smile, "Hongyan Town has existed for over six hundred years. Even if the treasure mines below were rich, they would have been mined out long ago. Now there are still some common minerals left, which is a very good reserve."

An Ke shrugged. "If that's the case, then what's the point of Red Rock Town, which was built because of the mine, continuing to exist?"

The Ripper was stunned for a moment, then replied with a smile, "Because the town's location is pretty good."

An Ke was too lazy to pay attention to her.

Celine Weier said softly, "It's precisely because it lost its original value that it became a testing ground."

"Ah."

An Ke took a sip, then glanced at the two people in front of him and said half-jokingly, "What do you think they will be?"

"It feels like a spider monster and a rat monster?"

Celine Weier couldn't make a clear judgment, and Anke just asked casually, not caring about it, then said hello casually and left.

……

Sunset

The familiar rooftop and tower top.

An Ke looked at the corpses of monsters in front of him and counted on his fingers:

"Leafy slugs, sand worms, swamp frogs, algae murlocs... Uh, why are there snow wolves? No wonder that old man looks so sick. Who came up with the idea of ​​dumping this monster into the desert? Aren't they afraid it'll die?"

After complaining, Anke sighed again:

"Actually, I should have thought of it earlier. How could this small town have such a powerful disease and curse that can actually turn normal people into different monsters, and they even have names."

"But if you put yourself in their shoes, making a weak person instantly strong is difficult, but making a strong person weak, well, I think we should make them mistakenly think we are ordinary people. That's completely doable."

"Looking back now, I even hinted at it from the very beginning. The witcher caravan that perished wasn't fighting because of the Bewitching Demon. Instead, someone simply broke free from control and revealed their true form as a demon."

"And the coachman, Elian, Droke's uncle. Well, at least in the arranged role, he was his uncle. He said at the time that there were no ghouls, he was just injured. I thought he was just afraid to face the truth, but I never expected that he was a ghoul from the beginning."

Having said that, the facts are already very clear.

There is no such thing as humans turning into monsters, there are only monsters revealing their original forms.

This is the truth behind the incident.

There are no people in the entire Hongyan Town, only monsters.

"And the priests, too?"

"Ah."

Celine Weier, who was drawing the magic circle, said softly, "My Holy Flame can detect dark creatures and filth, so I sensed something was wrong from the beginning and didn't come into contact with them."

“But they are not necessarily heretical.”

"...I knew it the moment I saw the holy water. Although it's extremely rare, it's not unprecedented in the Church. Van Helsing, the Succubus Paladin... They're considered lucky. After all, mountain deermen and flaming horses are both gentle monsters."

Anko went to the church's warehouse and found a lot of materials for Yamaga and Flame Horse.

"But there are still many things we don't understand. Further following the black fog will probably lead to no results. We should go find the real culprit."

Anke paused and looked at the magnificent church in the town, especially the tall bell tower.

It always releases bright and gentle morning light.

Indeed, the light did not affect Anko, because the light could soothe the caster's mind, maintain calmness, and dispel negative energy.

But the prerequisite is that An Ke is a normal person and an outsider.

Considering that the closer those "patients" are to the church, the less likely they are to "fall ill," and that the useful medicines are all sedative and soothing... I was quite confused before, but now I can understand it.

[Fake Gospel], the Gospel, everything is probably related to this thing.

"You're okay, right? It's a church after all."

"...It's okay. There are many factions within the church, and as a member of the witch-hunting group, I've heard some less-than-positive rumors from my predecessors."

"That's good. Once you finish the ceremony, we'll set off."

"Ah."

Chapter 61 Transition

Top of the tower.

The magic circle lit up, and the dark golden flames engulfed everything, and the corpses of the monsters quickly disappeared.

An Ke was stealing glances from the side, no, she was looking openly.

Every time Celine Weil performed a ceremony, Encore found it magical, yet also outrageous.

Rituals, especially sacrificial rituals, may seem very common in the magical world. In fact, except for those wizards on the path of resonance, other spellcasters may only encounter them a few times in their lifetime.

This is not something that can be accomplished by simply drawing a magic circle, placing offerings inside, and then making prayer movements while muttering a few words like "God, help me."

Even the simplest sacrifice, whether the object of worship is a god or a demon, at least a qualified medium is required.

To make an analogy that is not entirely appropriate, it is like making a phone call. Even if we don't consider the signal issue, you first need a phone number and someone willing to answer it.

The former is easier to do, because in many cases a specific magic circle acts as a phone number. Although it is not easy to get a magic circle without any traps, as long as there is a suitable channel, it can be done eventually.

But the latter is more difficult.

Although in theory, if the scale of the sacrifice is large enough and the offerings are precious enough, the other party will respond as long as conditions permit.

But this is just typical correct bullshit.

You should know that any existence that can achieve long-distance response is almost non-weak, and generally starts from the legendary level. What they really value is almost impossible for low-level magicians to obtain.

Therefore, in many cases, relying solely on sacrifices is not enough, it also depends on the person presiding over the ceremony - in other words, it depends on the person's face.

When they all go to the big boss to do something, some will be turned away even if they bring enough gifts, some give the things but the request is not met or only partially met, while others can get things done smoothly and successfully.