Witch Troupe and the Undead

Roach and his group were assigned to the fourth floor, not the best room. The best rooms are not given to them even if they are empty, unless they are booked in advance. If a big shot suddenly arrives, it is easy to cause conflicts if the room is vacated at the last minute. If such a farce occurs, it means that their hotel's century-old reputation in the entire aristocratic and high society circle will be ruined.

If you book in advance, they will spread the word beforehand, and basically no important person with any standing will make a fuss about it. Moreover, the people who can get the best rooms here are not ordinary people. Even if ordinary rural nobles can afford it, they can't book it.

Those who could book were all prominent figures, and by making prior arrangements, any unexpected situations could be minimized. The room was covered with thick blankets, and instead of a fireplace, there was a magical version of a radiator that Roach was familiar with.

Each room is less a room and more a separate residence, with a separate bedroom, a reception room, a small dining room, and a bathroom. The huge floor-to-ceiling windows are draped with blood-red curtains with gold trim, instantly creating a palatial and luxurious atmosphere.

"Slap~ Ah, I'm satisfied for the rest of my life!" Leslie lay down on the "princess bed" and the whole fish sank into it.

"Get out of the way!" Alessina grabbed her, pulled her up, and threw her aside. Roach had a private room, Livia and Vivi shared a room, while Alessina shared a room with Leslie. As for the two Thunderbird Knights, they were in a less desirable room on the third floor.

Would you like dinner, miss?

"Hmm!" Livia also felt a little hungry and nodded immediately. Roach, Vivi, and the others did not object. After all, it was impossible for her to be poisoned. Even if she were poisoned... you're serious about poisoning a potions master?

You might not even know as many poisons as she does. As for Rocchi, who doesn't know any poisons—poison him however you want, it's fine. The goddess has an upgraded immortal body, so you can poison him however you want. If he dies, the witch will take care of rescuing him.

Chapter 179 Freya's Octagonal Cage Trial Method

Sleeping in the luxurious bed didn't bother the little witch much; she snuggled into bed early and fell fast asleep. Livia was a very well-behaved child when it came to her daily routine, but it was a different story for others.

Luo Qi was fine. After all, modern hotels might not be as luxurious in terms of decoration, but the mattresses equipped with modern technology are much more comfortable. So, he got used to it very well. After all, business trips are common for archaeological work, and if he were unable to sleep in a new bed, he would have died of overwork long ago.

Leslie and Alessina both suffered from insomnia. Leslie managed to fall asleep only in the latter half of the night, while Alessina, after waking up in the middle of the night, was unable to fall back asleep. As for Vivi... she suffered from insomnia from beginning to end.

“You all look like you haven’t had a proper rest. I recommend you go to the bathhouse at St. Church Bridge to relax.” St. Church Bridge is a bridge connecting two hilltops, and the bathhouse is built on the side below the bridge.

It must be said that Kabel is indeed very different from border cities. Many living facilities and amenities are complete. There are public bathhouses and bathhouses for the wealthy and powerful. Even the hotels have elevators, of course, they are animal-powered winches. When riding one, the attendant inside will swing a long rope and tell the people in the power room which floor to go to by the number of times a bell is rung.

Are there still bathhouses?

"Of course, if you're not in a hurry, you can have breakfast first, and then we will arrange a special VIP passage for you." The deacon said with a smile. He had already found out some information about these people through certain "channels." The Thunderbird Knights were very tight-lipped, but the others were not so tight-lipped, such as the dwarf girl named Jasmine.

"Well... thank you," Alessina said awkwardly after a moment of hesitation, as she was not quite used to this kind of treatment as a beast-human.

"No need to thank me. Since you are VIP guests, you should naturally enjoy the services you deserve. Otherwise, it would be too easy to earn these gold coins." The butler's words made Alessina feel much more relaxed. It has to be said that he was quite skilled at speaking to people in a way that suited them.

The restaurant is located on the second and first floors. The second floor is a small restaurant that serves only VIP guests, while the first floor is a large restaurant that provides complimentary hotel breakfast. Of course, the one on the second floor costs money, but Rhine has already explained the details, so Roach and his group don't need to pay for it separately.

"The girl with light blonde hair is a potion master; the man with black hair is her companion and also an alchemy master; of the remaining three, the beastman is their personal guard, probably at the bodyguard level; the one with dark green hair is a maid, and the last one with white hair is probably an apprentice, don't get them mixed up."

The steward grabbed a waiter next to him and whispered instructions: the identities of these five people are quite complex, so it is necessary to pay close attention to their differences and distinctions when serving and arranging meals.

"Okay," the waiter nodded repeatedly, memorizing the identities of the five people. The restaurant on the second floor was large, but had only eight tables, all located by the windows, offering views of the street and the city skyline. In the center of the restaurant was a small stage, where, it was said, there would be bands and singers performing at dinner, and other programs at lunch. However, breakfast was simply a buffet.

"It's done quite professionally." Alessina and the others had never seen such a scene before, but it was very familiar to Roach. Most slightly upscale hotels were like this. However, due to the level of logistics and the abundance of local products, the menu was about half that on Earth.

Fortunately, in addition to the self-service buffet, there was also a separate ordering service. However, Roach and his companions didn't need to worry about it. As honored guests, the butler had already inquired about their dietary restrictions and preferences and recommended several suitable set menus.

Of the five people, only Vivi chose the very appetizing steak set meal because of her large appetite; the rest were all quite normal, even the beastman Alessina chose the locally recommended set meal.

Smoked salmon salad, pastry bread, hot milk, egg pudding, and a small piece of fruit cake were Livia's breakfast. It was mainly sweet and not too spicy or salty, which suited the little girl's taste and the needs of a potion master. After all, potion making required using the tongue and sense of smell to judge the condition of the ingredients, and eating too spicy food would make the tongue dull.

Therefore, potion makers tend to eat light meals to preserve their sense of taste and smell. However... Livia is clearly not one of them. She doesn't rely on her five senses to judge the properties of medicinal herbs. She just grabs them and interrogates the herbs to find out.

Roach, being a well-rounded alchemist, perhaps more skilled in construct and refining, tended to have a diet rich in flavor and high in calories. Construct alchemists often deal with heavy objects and therefore require a significant amount of calories to sustain their bodies and minds.

The soft, fluffy custard was served inside a crispy egg roll, sprinkled with spices and garnished with a touch of strawberry jam. Then came a bowl of hot, thick soup in a small silver bowl. There was also a pasta dish similar to spaghetti wrapped inside the omelet, and something else that Roach couldn't quite identify—a milky white, twisted concoction filled with minced meat and drizzled with sauce. It tasted a bit strange, but not bad.

As for Alessina, it consisted of large chunks of stewed meat broth paired with fried fish favored by the beastmen, plus a large glass of butterbeer, perfectly suited to the needs of a guard. Finally, Leslie's breakfast was... an empty plate and a stack of crispy, honey-drizzled pancakes. The rest was self-service. Who do you think you are? Behave yourself!

"The taste is a bit... weird..." Luo Qi ate a piece of egg roll-like food and felt that the salty and sweet taste had a bit of sourness, which was very strange. But if he had to say, it was okay. As for the pancake roll with noodles, he found that it was not noodles, but some kind of thick shredded meat, similar to the taste of a meat roll.

All of these dishes contain a lot of salt and spices, except for the little witch's portion, since that's for the wealthy. The nobles and rich people in this world haven't developed to the point of specializing in natural ingredients. Of course, it's also possible that spices in this world aren't cheap enough for ordinary people to afford. So, the more spices, salt, and sugar a dish contains, the higher its cost and the more expensive it is.

"It tastes good, but..." Alessina glanced at the little witch but said nothing. She seemed to be eating very well. Although she actually had similar tastes to Roach, she liked strong flavors. After all, she had been eating bland food for too long, and even if she wasn't picky, she would get tired of it.

"..." Roach looked at Livia, who was staring at him, and then instantly understood what she meant. He put a meat-filled wrap on her plate, and the witch smiled with satisfaction. She reached out her little hand to pat Roach's head. This action made the waiter who was on the side, who was always ready to add drinks and serve everyone, pause for a moment. Could it still be that kind of relationship?

"Smoke is rising!" Alessina smiled and was about to continue eating when her expression suddenly froze. From her position and angle, she could see thick smoke billowing from the manor in the distance, and the fire was very large.

At the manor gate, the guards tried to rush in, but were driven back by someone. The road from the manor entrance to the main building was full of the corpses of patrolmen wearing dark blue uniforms and metal breastplates.

"Holy crap!" Roach put down his cutlery, and everyone stared blankly at the distant manor. "Master Roach, Miss Livia, something terrible has happened! Earl Warren and Sir Rhine are under attack! We must move to a safe place immediately!" A Thunderbird Knight rushed in and shouted, "Weren't we going to provide support?"

“No, you are worth more than Sir Rhine. We must go to a safe place.”

“Let’s go! Let’s go over there~” Livia patted her skirt and stood up, her expression unusually calm, her emerald green eyes fixed on the smoke, lost in thought.

The entrance to the manor. "No, we can't get in at all!" The manor was ablaze with fire, and the thick smoke made it almost impossible to move. Not to mention the presence of a group of mysterious attackers inside, it was driving everyone crazy.

"Whoosh~" A gust of wind pushed the smoke to both sides, forcibly creating a fairly wide path between the fire and the thick smoke. The flames burning on the wood and buildings froze in an instant, and then obediently crawled under a pair of fair little feet wearing transparent sandals.

Livia walked slowly towards us, holding her cane upside down in one hand and pressing her hat, which was about to fly away in the wind, with the other hand. Her skirt and cloak fluttered in the wind, with sparks of fire even appearing at their edges.

However, this air of a master's arrival lasted for less than a minute before she started yelling and slapping her skirt, because the edge of the skirt had been scorched by sparks.

"Bang!" The water-attribute magic bullet struck the main building, which was burning the most fiercely. In an instant, a window that was still frantically spewing flames out was reduced to only smoke.

"No, the fire is too big." "Hmm~" Livia raised her staff, and as she moved, all the flames spontaneously drifted toward her, forming a fire tornado with her as the eye of the storm.

"Whoosh!" "Clang!" The arrow inlaid with the magic-breaking stone bounced high into the air. Alessina gripped the greatsword in his hand with a solemn expression, while Roach also gripped the hand cannon and the glowing fragment. There were still 5 rounds of ammunition in the hand cannon, but the charging time for the next round would take about 2 seconds. His current rune disk required 3 seconds to charge one magic bullet, and at most 6 seconds to reach the power of overload firing.

"What...is the attacker?" The black horse peered out from the doorway, but it couldn't find any trace of the attacker, which was quite alarming for a great demon.

“Hmm… an elf.” Livia gripped her staff tightly. She hadn’t explained why she reacted with such near-hostility towards elves, and Black Horse wasn’t quite sure either. However, he was certain that it was no ordinary elf, because ordinary elves wouldn’t provoke such a hostile reaction from the little witch.

"Whoosh!" More arrows flew out from the smoke, passing through the fire tornado and shooting towards the little witch. "Bang!" "Boom!" A magnificent spire shattered with a crash, and wood and stones rained down. The entire spire broke in half, and the upper half collapsed, which slightly reduced the fire.

“It’s the Mad Elves…” Cold sweat began to seep down Alessina’s back. Mad Elves were the human name for them. Among the elves, they were called “Lost Elves.” Because of the fall of their kingdom, they were consumed by uncontrollable hatred and rage. They would indiscriminately attack the cities and inhabitants of dwarves and humans. Massacres were nothing to them.

Even for elves, they are extremely... unwelcome. Due to their large population, the remaining elven kingdoms will not hunt them down, but they also will not provide them with supplies or shelter, because they have drawn too much hatred.

"So, the madmen and mentally ill among the elves?"

“A madman who is anti-human or anti-all non-elf races,” Alessina said, and the two Thunderbird Knights reacted, raising their shields to cover Livia as she further manipulated the fire tornado.

"Roar!" The fiery tornado slowly dispersed, turning into countless fiery meteors that nimbly weaved between buildings and windows, each one locking onto a lithe and agile figure, but leaving almost no corpses behind.

The fact that these wild elves have been able to remain active until now speaks volumes about their combat experience and skill level. Not to mention, these guys have inherited the most secret arts and techniques from the ancient elven kingdom.

"Extinguish!" The little witch pressed down with her hand, and the fire that covered most of the manor was forcibly extinguished by some mysterious force. However, this was not extinguishing, but rather preparing for another explosion. As she released her hand, the fierce flames reignited.

Almost everyone in the city of Cabel saw the Earl's Manor in the distance being lifted up by a cloud of fire, at least fifty or sixty meters away. Whatever was inside was now just ashes.

"Phew~" Livia let out a long breath, her forehead covered in sweat. Although she could manipulate fire and wind, she couldn't shield herself from the high temperature of the flames. She looked as red as a boiled shrimp and had to drink several cups of liquor to catch her breath.

"Clatter~" In the ruins that had been completely burned to ashes, a scorching hot iron door was pushed open from below, and Rhine helped Count Warren out. "Thank you so much, Princess Livia." He nodded slightly.

He was initially angry that the other party hadn't gone to take refuge as he had arranged, but given the other party's strength, he had to address her as "Your Highness," a title of respect for any witch or sage with an official title.

Their status in any country is roughly equivalent to that of a "prince," but this is merely an honorary title and does not represent power or fiefdom.

“Hmm, you crazy elf, you’re bad!” Livia said, puffing out her cheeks.

“It is indeed very bad, but we need to find another place to discuss this matter concerning the Mad Elves.” Rhine said, supporting Earl Warren. “Fortunately, there is a palace here that His Majesty once built. Although it has been abandoned for a long time, it can still serve as a temporary place to stay.”

The reason for not staying at the hotel was to avoid the possibility of another attack. After all, the palace had a dedicated shelter and fortifications, and there were few people around. If Livia's fire tornado and explosion caused a ruckus on the main city's bustling streets, Cabel City could practically be declared abandoned.

The palace is located at the highest point of Cabel City. However, it has been abandoned for many years and many buildings have been demolished. The furniture and furnishings inside have been almost all sold off. The palace was built by the old emperor a long time ago and then neglected. Under such circumstances, it is normal for the administrators to handle this asset.

"Thanks to Princess Freya, we don't have to sleep in a leaky, dilapidated house tonight."

The palace had recently undergone renovations, and scaffolding and repair marks could be seen everywhere. This was because it was clear to everyone in the empire that, regardless of whether the old emperor's curse was cured, Princess Freya was destined to be the next emperor or empress. Her vase-like personality, with her fondness for beautiful clothes, hunting, luxurious rooms, and various jewels, was also well-known to everyone in the empire.

The old emperor might never visit this palace in his entire life, letting these stewards run rampant. But Princess Freya... no one had any hope for her integrity, character, conscience, or political acumen. Well, the last one was left to be questioned after the unexpected results of her recent big projects.

However, because of these big events, especially the new parliamentary duel policy of "I'm bored, I want to see bloodshed," everyone was convinced of one thing: whether Princess Freya was mentally challenged or not was hard to say, but she was definitely a bloodthirsty spectator and a heartless bastard.

And now this unruly and wicked person is about to take the throne—can you imagine how panicked the person in charge of this palace is?

Nobody wants to fight in the princess's council octagon. Her recent new policy was proposed because some people suggested that those who are greedy for money are not all incompetent or deserving of death, and should be treated differently. So Freya, that wicked thing, came up with a bad idea: to let the greedy people and those affected by their greed fight in the octagon.

If the bureaucrat wins, she won't pursue the matter, which means the other party's hatred isn't great; if the bureaucrat loses, she won't pursue the matter either—they've already been killed, so what's the point of pursuing it?

Well, the unique feature of this duel is that it is not one-on-one. So, I had the good fortune to go to the capital and witness how the stonemasons' guild, whose wages were withheld, beat the project manager who had embezzled their money to death. After returning, the manager fell seriously ill and then decisively returned a portion of the money to work overtime to repair the palace.

Roach's assessment of this was that it was slightly cruel and inhumane compared to the traditional soybean execution method, but in terms of actual effect, it was really good, and the atmosphere of officialdom in the capital was cleaned up!

Although these phenomena have not been completely eradicated, at least the methods that drive people to the brink of despair have quickly disappeared, or perhaps they have evolved to the point of killing all the victims.

However, from the ruler's perspective, it's actually the same: either you silence all the aggrieved parties and make it all clean, so that what no one knows doesn't exist; or after you incite public anger, you go to the arena to fight the angry party. If you are killed, the resentment will dissipate. Of course, if you kill someone, that's also equivalent to the resentment dissipating.

Chapter 180 The Attacker's Purpose

The palace. Although called a palace, it is not very large, because this palace was actually converted from the old residence of the royal family. After the current emperor became emperor, he spent money to expand it a little, but in essence it is still an ordinary earl's manor.

The entire palace was roughly the size of Central Park, which Roach had seen on Earth. Compared to the European manors he had occasionally encountered in his previous life, it could even be described as cramped and small, not even big enough to accommodate a horse farm.

The buildings are arranged very compactly and connected by skywalks. Both the exterior walls and the buildings are constructed from a locally sourced indigo-colored rock.

This gave the entire palace complex a sky-blue hue. Previously known as Sapphire Manor, Cabel City was not called by this name, but rather Twin Moon City. After the Storrel family unified the entire empire from a corner of the land and built the new capital and the Giant Rock Palace, it was renamed Cabel, Ruby City.

Since the largest and most complete main house is still under renovation, they are currently living in a side hall, which is where their children live. The entire complex is connected to each other, like mountains standing side by side, so the houses are named after the mountains.

The place where Roach and his companions lived was called "Tanator's Tower," a three-story rectangular building. On the first floor, there was a small dining room for family gatherings on one side. The floor-to-ceiling windows facing the courtyard had been boarded up haphazardly, but through the gaps, one could still see the metal window frames, their original black color revealed after the gold leaf had been peeled off.

Even in this side hall, there are not many usable rooms. Although the roof and floor have been repaired, the windows have not yet been fixed, and the furniture has not been purchased and delivered in time. In the entire building, only this small dining room, the kitchen connected to the dining room, and the reception room are habitable and have relatively complete furniture.

The restaurant walls are covered with dark holes, where oil paintings used to hang. Most of the artworks were sold off by successive managers, but some particularly troublesome items remained, such as a giant oil painting at least three meters wide.

"Tanator, the snow-capped mountain in the northern border of the empire, means 'Sleeping Giant.' Legend has it that it was formed from the remains of a dead giant god, and the red color of the mountain is said to be the flesh and blood of the giant god. Strangely enough, the rocks really do look like muscle texture, and there are even white fat..."

Rhein noticed that Roach was staring at the oil painting, seemingly quite interested.

“Those are the patterns formed by the compression of rock layers, just like the age of a tree. You can read the history of a tree from its growth rings, and you can naturally see the history of the earth from these patterns. However, I only know a general idea about this kind of knowledge.”

It is used to determine the approximate age. Although archaeology and geology are not particularly closely related, it is hard to say in practice. The former needs the latter to provide some reference and help from time to time, while the latter will also dig up some strange things from time to time when working.

However, in general, Roach had not specifically studied the relevant knowledge, or at least not in depth, because human history, compared to the history of the Earth as read by geologists, is hardly worthy of leaving much of a mark on this history book composed of rocks.

"However, that mountain..." Roach roughly knew what that mountain was all about. If it weren't for the history revealed by a certain lonely old god and Vivi, he would also be curious about what kind of geological movement could create a structure as fine as muscle texture.

Now it's clear that some great force rammed the tectonic plates together with a bang, then forcibly pinched them together in a short time, causing the impact point to arch upwards, forming this strange mountain range that looks like a lying corpse, and that... scarlet rock layer structure mixed with white marble and limestone, as fine as muscle fat.

"It seems those in charge do have some brains; they didn't try to sell this famous painting too." A Thunderbird Knight walked in carrying a tray and placed the food on the table. This was made by Alessina using the small kitchen. They were staying here temporarily, which didn't mean they couldn't buy ingredients. It wasn't the wilderness; it was just that the defenses here were stronger than those of inns and manors burned to the ground.

"If this 'Dawn of Thanatos' were to be sold, it would be worth at least the equivalent of an entire street in the capital, provided that a collector dares to buy it." There have been many cases throughout history and across the world of stealing things from the imperial palace and imperial residences to sell, but I have never heard of anyone daring to steal the dragon throne to sell, because someone has to be willing to buy it and keep it at home.

Although Roach and his companions lived in a side hall, a campfire and tents were set up in the courtyard, and some knights and soldiers serving the Warren family were summoned to guard the palace or fortress.

"How is Earl Warren?" a Warren family knight asked as he entered. "Not well. The healer is treating him." Sir Rhine shook his head. "What about your investigation? How did those mad elves get into the city?"

"We've come up empty-handed. The masterminds cleaned up the mess perfectly, and we caught nothing," the knight said with a wry smile. With so many wild elves attacking the count in the city, no one was going to have an easy time, especially since they hadn't found anything yet.

How did they get in? How were their weapons and armor transported? Of course, the difficulty in investigating also includes the fact that all the Berserkers who failed to escape in time were burned to ashes by Livia.

“They probably infiltrated through the mine tunnels,” Aaron said as he walked in, still looking the same, but now carrying a burlap sack that looked like it contained some kind of living creature. “And their target isn't us, it's Lord Warren.”

“Warren? What did he do?” Rhine looked at the bag in the other person’s hand. “This is…”

“I re-examined the situation at the manor and found this… The reason those mad elves didn’t evacuate in time was because of this.” He shook the bag open, and a white thing rolled out.

"An elf?" To be precise, it was an elf girl with short black hair, wearing only a thin white dress that barely covered her private parts, and a bright diamond-shaped mark on her left arm. Judging from the large bump on her forehead, everyone knew how Aaron had captured her.

"A Mad Elf!?"

“No, not a Mad Elf,” Aaron crouched down and even flipped the girl over, revealing her face. “Mad Elves get tattoos on their faces to show they haven’t forgotten past shame and hatred, but her face is clean.”

“Not an elf~” Livia, who had somehow crouched down beside her, reached out her small hand and gently pried open her eyelids. “Not a half-elf either.”

"what is that?"

"I don't know~" She didn't know what it was either, but it was definitely not an elf. The color of an elf's soul was completely different from hers.

"Those crazy elves were after this... girl?" Rhine asked curiously.

“Hmm, I found a dungeon. That’s where she found it. It seems that Lord Warren has some unusual hobbies.” Aaron shrugged. “That must be the rescue or revenge launched by those mad elves who thought the count had captured some elven noble or important person.”

While everyone was talking, Livia took out a small bottle and carefully poured the liquid inside into the girl's mouth. She quickly coughed and woke up, looking at Livia and the others. Her eyes changed slightly when she saw Roach, and then she jumped up and rushed towards Roach.

"Stop her!" The knight had just drawn his sword when a bare foot stepped on the blade and used it to propel him up, flipping him over and kicking him towards Livia. The little witch quickly covered her head and crouched down.

"Alessina!" The moment the greatsword was swung, the girl had already rushed in front of Roach, and before he could even raise his sword, she grabbed his wrist.

"..." The girl opened her mouth and spoke a long string of words that no one could understand, then pulled Roach and tried to rush out. "Wait, what's going on?" Roach had not expected the other party to be so strong, and was almost pulled away. The girl also turned back to look at him in surprise, said something, and then showed hostile eyes to the knights.

"Hmm~~~~" Livia seemed to be thinking. She slapped her palm, raised her cane, and a whirlwind like shackles locked the girl's limbs, fixing her in place again. Then she rummaged in the bag for a while before pulling out a bar of soap-like stuff and stuffing it into her mouth.

"What...are you doing?" The girl's voice was emphasized, but it was still understandable enough for people to barely comprehend her meaning.

"What the hell, Aaron, how did you catch her?"

“Taking him by surprise,” Aaron said with a wry smile. At the time, this guy was very weak, and he didn’t know what Livia had given him to drink that made him recover so well. Moreover, he wondered how Count Warren had captured him.