Miss Witch, please don't leave your fragrance everywhere

Of course, a self-disciplined master would not be bewitched by a maid who wanted to train her to be useless, but Angelica was definitely not that type of master. Quite the opposite...

She really hopes to be raised as a useless person!

Angelica even wanted to say that if one could live a good life as a useless person, there really wouldn't be that many people who would want to keep working hard, so she always wanted a perfect maid who could train her into a useless person.

The captain looked around the deck of the Mary Celeste. It was filled with an empty silence.

The first mate and the magic guard were still in shock, but they finally let their hearts return from their throats to their permanent positions, and stood up while rubbing their weak legs.

After Angelica and Anna got on board, they completely ignored everyone and showed their affection as if no one was around. Only the captain was looking for the figure on the Mary Celeste.

The sneaky figure did not hide himself at all.

A ghost figure was floating on the wooden handrail on the second floor of the deck, covered by a tattered cloak. It was impossible to sense whether there was any trace of life under the cloak, but apart from it, there was no other figure on the deck.

"It's not the best way to be a host if you snub your guests, man."

"……what."

"what?"

“Hmmmm~ Hmmmm~”

There was a strange shout from beneath the cloak; it seemed as if the person hadn't spoken in a while and was getting used to speaking again.

"Oh...I'm so sorry, the last time we had guests was ten years ago?"

"Why don't you introduce yourself first?"

"No problem. My name is Tahir, or what it used to be when I was a human. A cursed evil spirit doesn't need a name."

"Evil spirit?!"

Hearing the other party call himself that, the first mate and the magic guard officer were full of vigilance.

The so-called evil spirits are a general term for souls that are cursed and cannot be recovered by the God of the Underworld. They often lose their reason, crave disorderly madness and destruction, and are one of the worst monsters.

The captain was also a little surprised.

"An evil spirit? But you seem quite rational. Is that just an act?"

"Who knows? Anyway, that's not the point. I command the ghost fleet, but I can't leave the Mary Celeste. I can only invite you aboard in this way."

The captain had sailed this route several times and encountered ghost ships more than once, but he had never been invited by the evil spirit calling himself Tahir. They didn't even know that there was an evil spirit on the Mary Celeste.

If I had to say what was the difference between this voyage and previous ones...

Tahir continued.

"There's a great magician among you, right?"

161 There Must Be a Lich King

"That's right, the genius beautiful magician is me."

Without waiting for the captain to reply, Angelica admitted her identity first.

It's not that Angelica has no sense of security, but rather that she doesn't think it will cause any harm to her.

"Hmm... He is indeed a powerful magician."

It seems that Tahir can judge the strength by the magic power.

"Then I have a favor to ask of you. I hope you can defeat me."

Tahir made a shocking statement.

Not everyone can defeat evil spirits. Judging from the fact that Tahir can command the ghost ships in the entire R'lyeh Sea, he is undoubtedly a powerful evil spirit. The captain and magic guard of the Black Rose do not have the strength to defeat evil spirits. Only Angelica can deal with it.

Angelica tilted her head.

"why?"

"I don't have the motivation to continue living, although I don't know if my current state can be considered alive."

Then, in order to gain Angelica's trust, the evil spirit Tahir began to tell the story of his life.

"Do you know the story of the Mary Celeste? It was originally a holiday boat."

“Something.”

"I once had a lover who worked as a cook on the Mary Celeste. I was originally a member of an organization called Assassins, doing some...shady work. We were far apart but still loved each other sincerely, and longed to achieve success and get married one day."

However, the fate of the Mary Celeste did not give the lovers a happy ending.

"Later, the Mary Celeste was targeted by pirates, and my lover was captured by them. You can use your imagination...what would happen to a woman who fell into the hands of pirates without any identity or background to protect her."

"..."

"When I found her, she had been hanged on the mast, her body unrecognizable. I sneaked into the Mary Celeste alone, vowing to avenge her. Soon the pirate group was forced into the waters of R'lyeh, and I realized that my chance had come. I killed a pirate every day, torturing them and letting them die in fear and despair. Finally, I killed all the pirates, leaving no one alive."

The Assassins were originally an assassination organization, and Tahir used the expertise he learned to the fullest extent.

"I lost my lover, and also the reason to live. I decided to be buried with her in the sea, so I chose to commit suicide... Strangely, I did not die. When I noticed the vicious curses and resentment of the person wandering around my ears, I realized that I was cursed and turned into an evil spirit. The one who cursed me was the pirate I killed."

"Uh... why is this?"

The first mate could not help but feel surprised and interrupted the story that he was listening to so intently.

"Maybe it's because the way I killed them was a bit cruel. Do you want me to tell you in detail how I did it?"

"That's not necessary. I'm just surprised that the pirates had the nerve to curse you. They deserve it."

The pirates plundered the Mary Celeste and committed all sorts of atrocities, but from their own perspective, they had done nothing wrong.

These hopeless bastards who have no intention of repenting are naturally full of hatred towards Tahir who brutally killed them. They don't think Tahir is a messenger of justice, but probably think that they are the victims.

"Mr. First Mate, curses never distinguish between good and evil. Hatred and obsession... when they reach a certain level and are combined with certain opportunities, they will give rise to vengeful spirits and evil spirits. As for whether this obsession is correct, it is actually not important."

The pirates are a group of scum and villains who deserve to go to hell. Their deaths are entirely their own fault. However, the curse never cares who is right or wrong. It will be triggered when the conditions are met.

Angelica knew the principle of the curse very well. Ordinary people would think that the curse was the last resistance of good people after being framed, and it was the mercy and justice of the gods who watched the world. In fact, the curse was always ruthless, and the gods never watched the world. The evil people who died with resentment would also curse the good people who punished them.

"The R'lyeh Sea is a sea full of magical power. I don't think there are any powerful magicians among those pirates. It's just that their obsession is strong enough, combined with the magic in the fog, to hate Tahir and curse him into an evil spirit."

Angelica's analysis was all correct. Tahir was filled with resentment from the pirates before they died, and the magic of the R'lyeh Sea triggered a curse that continued to torture Tahir, who wanted to die.

"My soul was confined to the Mary Celeste, and I could never leave. Having said that, I found that after I became a ghost, I gained the ability to control the magic on the ghost ships, so I used my own power to integrate all the ghost ships and formed a huge fleet in this sea. Except for the pirate ships that strayed into the sea, I have never harmed anyone."

At this point, the captain and others finally understood why the originally dangerous ghost ships no longer hurt people after they gathered into a ghost ship fleet. It turned out that the ghost ship fleet had always had a commander-in-chief.

The captain made no effort to conceal his admiration.

"The ghost fleet has been around for fifty years, and there have been almost no shipwrecks caused by ghost ships in the past fifty years. I think I need to thank you on behalf of everyone who has been sailing in the R'lyeh Sea for many years."

"I accept your gratitude. But my wish from the beginning was to die and be buried at sea with my lover. Integrating the ghost ship is more about me having nothing else to do."

The captain's point is that actions should be judged rather than intentions. No matter what Tahir's real thoughts were, it is a fact that he ruled the ghost ship to prevent the tragedy of ghost ships colliding with merchant ships from happening again.

"I have found many magicians who have entered the R'lyeh Sea, but none of them have the ability to defeat me. This time is different. Your magic power is the strongest among all the magicians I have ever seen. I think you can do it."

Tahir smiled with relief. His fifty years of suffering had finally come to an end.

Now is the time to liberate this poor man.

"Wait a moment, can we discuss this?"

The first mate suddenly said this, and Tahir naturally agreed. He had finally waited for Angelica, and he didn't want to anger the great magician who could purify him.

Everyone came to the other side of the Mary Celeste.

The atmosphere became somewhat solemn. After confirming that Tahir was not eavesdropping, the first mate's face turned very ugly. He was also tortured in his heart, but there was something he had to confess.

"Listen to me...we can't purify him."

"...?"

Seeing Anna's puzzled expression, the magic guard sighed. He supported and understood the first mate.

"Ma'am, Tahir is the leader of the Ghost Fleet. Once he is purified, the Ghost Fleet will once again return to being leaderless."

162 Miss Witch's Ghost Ship Puzzle

The ghost fleet was restrained by Tahir and did not attack ships entering the waters of R'lyeh.

If Tahir is cleansed, the Ghost Ship will once again become a threat.

Anna came to the side of the ship and glanced down. Despite the thick fog, she could still see that the ghost ship near the Black Rose was slowly disappearing.

"The ghost ships that besieged the Black Rose have all left. He did not lie. He only invited the master to come aboard in this way so that the master could defeat him."

"..."

"If you really mind... we can destroy these ghost ships first."

Anna made a new suggestion. The magic attached to the ghost ship itself has the properties of a gunpowder barrel, so it can be destroyed by magic. Although in general, the ghost ship will quickly approach the ship when it triggers attraction, reaching a speed that is difficult for the merchant ship's firepower to concentrate fire and sink in a short period of time, but now with Tahir's auxiliary control, they can minimize the risk and destroy the ghost ship.

However, the magic guard shook his head.

"We can indeed sink the ghost fleet, but new ghost ships will still appear. By then, when Tahir is gone, the ghost ships will threaten the ships entering the R'lyeh Sea."

"The situation in the R'lyeh Sea is worse than in other seas. The probability of shipwrecks is already high, and the ghost ship phenomenon is also common. We can sink all the ghost ships in the ghost fleet here, but ghost ships will still appear."

At that time, without Tahir as its commander, the Ghost Ship will return to being an uncertain factor at sea.

It is better to say that the environment in the R'lyeh Sea is more serious than other places, because there is fog here, and the magic prop virtual sea chart is expensive, and not every ship can afford it. When a merchant ship without the magic prop virtual sea chart notices the ghost ship approaching, it will definitely not have enough time to sink the ghost ship.

Angelica understood the opinions of the first mate and the magic guard.

For the future safety of the R'lyeh Sea, Tahir must be kept and allowed to continue commanding the ghost fleet.

The appearance of ghost ships is more of a natural phenomenon. If you want to eliminate them artificially, the only option is to never set sail. Otherwise, there will always be shipwrecks in the R'lyeh Sea, and ghost ships will always exist.

"This is not fair to Tahir. Tahir was cursed and degenerated into an evil spirit, but he has never done anything evil. Tahir was able to maintain his self-awareness because of the special environment of the R'lyeh Sea, the occasional attack on pirates who strayed into the R'lyeh Sea to relieve mental fatigue, and most importantly - his own strong mental strength."

Tahir was born into an organization that specializes in assassinations, but he does not have a bloodthirsty habit. On the contrary, the training he received in the organization on mental toughness enabled him to maintain a normal state in the magical environment of the R'lyeh Sea even after turning into an evil spirit.

The evil spirits attack humans because they themselves have fallen into madness, and on the other hand they need to kill people to seize magic power in order to maintain their own existence. However, in Tahir, neither condition is met.

"Tahir has no obligation to protect every merchant ship entering the R'lyeh Sea. He does this only out of his own moral values. Now, Tahir, the evil spirit who has devoted himself to the R'lyeh Sea for fifty years, longs for liberation. I think his request should be granted."

"I admit that Tahir is undoubtedly a great man...but please think about it from our perspective. No one can replace Tahir. Everyone who goes out to sea longs to return to land and to their families. We need to reduce any risks as much as possible. Tahir...is dead, and we are all living people."

Anna understood what they meant.

Tahir could sacrifice for them.

Anna had no intention of reprimanding the first mate and the magic guard. Tahir was not someone she related to. Anna would express her opinions, but if it was someone who had little to do with her master, Anna had no reason to insist.

The scene reached a deadlock for a while.

Anna advocated that Tahir should be released, but the first mate and the magic guard were inclined to consider the safety of the route.

"Ahem. I'm telling you—"

The captain spoke. The survival of the ghost fleet was also closely related to him, but the captain's attitude was still as if it was none of his business.

"You've been arguing for so long, but it doesn't really make much sense."

"what?"

"There's only one person who can liberate Tahir, and her opinion is the most important, isn't it?"

Tahir, who has the ability to control the entire ghost fleet, is a powerful evil spirit. Even Anna does not have the ability to purify Tahir. Among everyone, only the person invited by Tahir: Angelica has the ability to liberate him.

Angelica puffed out her chest proudly.

"That's right. Don't forget that I'm the protagonist. I'm the one who decides how the plot branches."

Although they didn't quite understand what Angelica meant by the choice branch, the first mate and the magic guard also realized that they should try to persuade the witch who really has the ability to change the status quo.

"So what is your opinion...?"

"Generally speaking, I don't interfere."

The first mate and the magic guard were delighted. Angelica's refusal to change the status quo was equivalent to standing on their side.

If she receives a commission, Angelica will make some changes, otherwise Angelica will basically just regard it as the scenery along the way.

Besides, Angelica didn't want to take a clear side as to whether the ghost fleet should exist. Tahir was a great and innocent man, but the claims of the first mate and the magic guard were not unreasonable. Besides, even the witch did not have the ability to prevent the ghost ships from continuing to appear.