Oops, I became the witch's substitute

Fili had no intention of using these people as a shield, so she actively used her remaining energy to help the witch and Marian. Her principle was that those who do not work shall not eat.

Marian was also very curious about witches. "What era is it now? Witch hunting should have stopped long ago. My country has banned it openly. It's just the Inquisition that messed things up. But there are many poor people in the Inquisition. It's all the fault of the Black Witch. In the end, innocent witches were burned to death, and innocent believers were killed. If things continue to develop, both sides will not care about anything else and will just fight to the death. As for me, I plan to establish a new Inquisition. After all, the Black Witch still needs to be captured, but the corresponding laws will be stricter."

Hecate raised an eyebrow, "I thought you gods were more into the holy scriptures."

Marian scratched her head. "It was that old man's suggestion. He said that if the scriptures were written over and over again, they would eventually become as thick as the law, so it would be better to do it all at once. I see that Miriam has a relatively complete law. We can copy it first, and then make some modifications according to the national conditions, and then pilot and promote it, and finally reorganize the court."

Hecate looked at Marian seriously for a while. She also admired this girl. She looked out of tune, but her mind was full of ideas. She was not the god of absurdity. She invited Fili and Hecate to sit down and discuss the witch's banquet. "Let's talk about the process of the banquet. You are the guest of honor this year. What kind of tea do you like to drink?"

Marian pricked up her ears. "I've heard that Miriam's witch knows a lot about mushrooms. I've always wanted to try the mushroom delicacies here. This is my first time."

As soon as she finished speaking, Fili looked at Marian fiercely, her whole face twisted into a black question mark, and Marian felt frightened by the stare.

"Why are you looking at me? What's the problem?"

"nothing."

Fili was about to say something, but when she saw Hecate going to make tea, she was about to say something again and rolled up her hair in distress. When Hecate brought the mushroom tea, it was too late to stop her.

To be honest, in this world, there seems to be nothing wrong with mentioning mushrooms or witches separately, but if they are combined into 'witch formula mushrooms', it seems that a strange chemical reaction will occur.

"Mushroom tea, you can't even drink it in Arius. Most people don't dare to pick these foods casually. The ones that can be eaten in the tribute are all artificially cultivated, which always lacks the wild flavor of your legend, hehe." Marian happily took Hecate's mushroom tea and took a sip immediately. The strange taste spread on the tip of her tongue, making her wings tremble. "It tastes strange, but it's not unpalatable. This must be a carefully processed mushroom, right?"

Hecate also smiled and said, "Of course. The mushroom tea we store is very special. Every year you come to drink it, the taste is different. These are the mushrooms we collect during our travels and adventures. Most of the mushrooms may be new species that have evolved naturally. After they are picked, they may no longer exist. There are more than a dozen new mushrooms discovered every year, which can bring surprises to our long life."

Fili smiled but said nothing. Indeed, the natural world is so vast, and the energy and environment of this world are very complex. Except for artificially cultivated mushrooms, mushrooms in the wild are almost randomly refreshed. New varieties bred under special conditions may not be of much use. They may not look good or taste good, and they cannot be used to refine secret medicines. But it is a new variety, and there is no second one in the world.

So there is also a kind of mushroom collector among witches, just like those who like to collect stamps and buy antiques in previous lives.

"There are new mushrooms discovered every year? How do you determine their toxicity? What will happen if you eat them?" Marian looked down at the mushrooms floating in the teacup. "But I haven't heard of witches dying from eating mushrooms. No matter how strange the mushrooms are, they are gifts from nature to you, right? Well, of course, I'm not afraid."

Fili took a small sip of mushroom tea, accurately and clearly feeling the magic in her body.

It is daytime now, and the main body is Philin, so there is no problem drinking mushroom tea. I don't know if it is because he is affected by the Fraud when he plays Philly, or because he has become immune to the toxicity of mushrooms. In short, there is no danger in this mushroom tea.

Fili has drunk Hecate's mushroom tea more than once, so it shouldn't be dangerous.

At this time, Marian and Hecate were talking happily. Marian was full of curiosity about Miriam's witch circle, and Hecate also played the role of an elder, but gradually something began to go wrong.

Fili's sight moved to Marian's wings. Her wings turned white from the ends and spread rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye. Marian, who originally had black wings, turned white and faded in just two minutes.

"... Never mind. It's not a big deal." Fili pretended not to see it.

Then Fili mentioned the budget, venue, and opening show for the Witch Banquet. The invited guests would be three or four elves plus Marian. The relationship between the witches and the elves was pretty good.

Fili found a pen and paper and wrote a list: "I also want more people to know me. I want to prepare a piano and sing hymns on the spot. In addition to livening up the atmosphere and blessing, it will also allow young witches to learn. Learning some hymns will also help everyone."

Hecate looked at the list and said that money was not a problem. If the budget was really insufficient, they could just borrow from Miriam Royal Family: "Sure, Dorothy would be happy too."

For this year's banquet, Fili's original intention was to let everyone eat and drink well and taste more delicious food.

Of course, after completing the plan, Hecate still has a reserved program.

"The mushroom merchant is in Miriam. You can go meet her. Maybe she can bring you the mushrooms you want this year."

Fili nodded and expressed her gratitude after getting the address. She didn't have all the materials for the mushroom formula that could suppress the imprint, and since it was rare for this fox person to come, she went to try her luck with her.

Just as she thought of this, Fili suddenly felt a weight on her shoulder, and found that Marian was "drunk" and lying on her, making meaningless giggles and poking Fili's face.

"Give me another cup of mushroom tea~"

Holy crap, is this a drunken mushroom?

Chapter 152 Seeds of Deception

Marian was already drifting, and after drinking twice the amount of mushroom tea she felt like she was drunk, which made Fili suspect that the mushroom tea she drank was fake. Fili tasted the mushroom tea again, and it still tasted the same. She looked at Hecate and saw that she was as confused as she was, and she felt relieved.

"It looks like poisoning, but luckily it's just the feeling of being drunk." Fili now felt like she was holding down a big fluttering pigeon. Marian's wings flapped hard against her face, and her feathers fluttered off. Fortunately, she was a goddess. If she were an ordinary winged person, all her feathers would probably have fallen off.

Hecate calmly drank her tea and found Marian's expression amusing: "Her wings... Is this little girl a fake goddess? She became like this just by drinking mushroom tea."

Even Luna regained consciousness briefly: "Are the witch's mushrooms so magical? Count me in as one of the guests at the banquet. No need to mention me specifically. I will sneak in quietly."

Fili thought that some of it could be used against Count Crumbs as well.

Fili stroked her chin and said, "The mushrooms we collected are indeed too dangerous. In the future, let our compatriots keep an eye on the warehouse and don't let ordinary people steal them, especially the mushrooms drying in the yard... Maybe they will be stolen by thieves, and then they will eat the dead and blame us for being black witches."

Even though the witches have a lot of say in Miriam, public opinion still has to be taken seriously. From Fili's perspective, the current balance between the Miriam royal family and the witches will be broken sooner or later. From a long-term perspective, reform and progress are imperative. If the law cannot keep up, it is only a matter of time before conflicts break out between witches and humans.

Hecate looked at Marian's dead fish state and said: "The Witch Night Banquet should hurry up. If you have any plans for the venue, please give us the drawings as soon as possible. Dorothy will be in charge of the renovation and construction this year. You can bring forward any ideas you have."

Fili nodded, followed Hecate into her workshop, found the tools and began drawing, "Then I won't hesitate. Marian is still drunk anyway, so let's talk about what's next."

Having attended the banquet once last year, Fili had some understanding of the needs and styles of witches. Of course, the more lively the annual gathering was, the better. However, after the two discussed it, they soon discovered something embarrassing: the number of witches this time could not be counted.

In the past few years, they were all familiar faces. This year, because of Fili's fame and Miriam's good environment, many new witches came here. If we don't know the number of people, the reception at the banquet will inevitably be inadequate, and we must have as much food and seats as possible.

Hecate said she would do some astrology for a while, and the two of them used magic together and roughly came up with the number of witches to be entertained, which was more than 700. Hecate was very confident that according to this standard, Fili chose to believe her.

In the second half of the night, Fili handed the site design to Hecate, and then left with Marian on her back. As Marian was now in a deep sleep, it seemed that it would be no problem to sell her off.

Ever since she drank the mushroom tea, Marian's wings turned white. In the second half of the night, when the "toxicity" gradually weakened, her wings slowly recovered. To be honest, after being used to Marian's black wings, she was not used to her sudden change to be so holy. Her bad girl temperament had already left a stereotype in Fili's mind.

What Fili didn't expect was that when she returned to the hotel late at night, the light in Carol's room was on. When they walked to a relatively close distance, they sensed each other's breath, and Carol jumped directly out of the window.

She looked at Marian, then at Fili, frowned, and then pointed in the direction of the yard: "You stood me up, forget it, the storage equipment you asked for is ready, it can be used to seal the moon dew and sunset glow you mentioned, but can these really be used to cook?"

Fili shook her head slightly. "These two are more like energy than food. The taste is not that great, but what I want is mysticism and something classy. I want to show the witches what kind of banquet Fili hosts. As for the dishes, they must be innovative. I'll talk to Nishinoka, Charlotte, and the others about this."

Carol looked away and sighed, "Okay, you decide. By the way, aren't you inviting me to the banquet? Even though it's your witches' banquet, I'm a little curious. If it doesn't work out, forget it."

Fili smiled gently: "You have also contributed to the night banquet, I think there will be no problem, Hecate and Dorothy will definitely welcome you, with your alchemy skills, in the future, your technology will be able to play a lot of roles when it is invested in our witches, and everyone will worship you as a master."

Carol snorted. "I want to travel around. I've almost finished studying Bahamut's star core. It's a bit of a waste of time to stay here. After I help Filin solve his problem, I plan to continue traveling and collecting natural gold."

All good things must come to an end. Fili also understood Carol's character. Carol wanted to collect gold, which must be the golden magic device she imagined.

Fili thought for a moment and said, "Although I don't know how much gold you need, I think it will be too slow for you to collect it by yourself. It would be better for you to stay in Miriam and do business."

Carol frowned. "Do business? You want me to do business as an alchemist?"

Fili spread her hands and said, "Drifting around and collecting knowledge is too slow in my opinion. Besides, there are many areas in the existing alchemy discipline that are worth studying and making breakthroughs. Instead of traveling around, you should build an alchemy research institute and organize more manpower and resources. Besides, how long will it take you to collect the gold you envisioned, with so much natural gold?"

Carol turned around and was thinking about Fili's opinion: "What you said makes sense, but I prefer to decipher unknown technologies and ancient documents..."

Fili answered immediately, "Then go buy it. Post a bounty and commission. If there are special circumstances, it's not too late for you to go there yourself. Although traveling is romantic and free, exploring the truth also requires racing against time. You decide for yourself. By the way, we haven't seen the sales of the video recorder and record player that I commissioned you to make before. I'll ask the succubus in a few days to see how much money I can get."

Last year, it was proposed that the succubi form an idol group in the magic world. They first tried it out in a border city, and made a name for themselves with their singing and dancing. They opened up a huge gap in realm between themselves and the nightmares, and they were far behind others. The two alchemical machines made by Carol were commissioned to them to operate, and Fili planned to take time to share the dividends.

Carol may have become stupid because of reading too much, or she may have been a lone wolf hero for too long. I don’t know if it’s because she can make gold at will that she doesn’t pay much attention to the power of capital.

Fili suddenly showed off the little cutie on her back: "Um, this is Jasmine, you should know her."

Carol then noticed that it was an acquaintance. She thought Fili was having an affair outside. "Hey? That silly bird... cough, silly child? Ahem, the goddess of the Arian Church next door? How did you seduce the goddess here? No, why are her wings white? Although she looks holy as described in the church propaganda, when did she learn her lesson?"

Fili briefly recounted the experience of drinking mushroom tea at Hecate's house today. Carol was also stunned. You know, gods and other beings are not considered living beings in theory, and it seems strange to talk about the digestive system with them. Generally speaking, the toxicity of ordinary things has no effect on them. Being immune to all poisons is a basic element of being a god. It is outrageous that Marian can get drunk, and it is even more weird that the characteristics of mushrooms affect her wings.

Carol swallowed her saliva, but avoided Fili's gaze and quickly approached Marian: "White feathers, witch mushrooms, um, very valuable for research, I'll pick a few."

Fili didn't care: "Go ahead and grab her, but be gentle. Her old father was injured and in a deep sleep, so he entrusted the child to me. Otherwise, I'll leave her to you to take care of today. I have to go collect moon dew now."

Carol was slightly stunned: "Can your body bear it? It seems that you have been working non-stop for the past 24 hours."

A hero's body is still half mortal. In terms of mental strength, he can endure not sleeping for several days and nights, but he will definitely be tired if he doesn't rest. There have been heroes in history who died suddenly from staying up late. Carol was worried because she saw that Fili was always working.

Fili waved her hand and said, "You must rest when you need to, but aren't you busy recently? Okay, Carol, take Marian back to her room."

Carol shook her head and said, "You deserve to be busy with so many things. Leave the child to me. Go away."

After leaving Marian in the hands of someone she could trust, Fili stopped wasting time in the inn and went to the backyard to take a look at the alchemical storage tank made by Carol. It was actually quite large, with enough space for twenty Fili to fit in it, but this did not affect Fili much.

Fili was able to pull a giant flying dragon down from the city wall, so what was a mere storage tank? She immediately wrapped the tank with a thin line and headed to the nearby forest, waiting for the early morning to collect the moon dew.

While waiting, Fili left two fake clones in the city. The purpose of the two clones was to approach a few ordinary families and then invade the dream world.

Fili secretly apologized to the ordinary people, and separated part of her spirit to enter their dreams, changing the target every few minutes. The dreams of these people were different, some were ordinary and warm, some were operatic fantasies, some were horror nightmares and erotic dreams.

When Fili sees someone having a nightmare, she sees that this is a rare opportunity and starts to invade the other person's dream.

This man was a traveling merchant who rushed to the city from other places in the middle of the night. The reason why he was delayed in entering the city at night was that he encountered a strange incident on the road. The specific reason was unclear. It seemed that he was attacked by ghost creatures. Although the guards protected him, he still felt that he was cursed by some kind of curse. Those ghosts were here to take his life, so he dreamed of meeting ghosts.

Humans are really good at scaring themselves. This businessman dreamed that he was reading a newspaper next to a fireplace by the window. As he was looking, he heard a sound coming from the window. Just as he got closer to take a look, a female ghost in red jumped on the window. Not to mention the businessman himself was scared, even Philly was scared. The abruptness of the dream was like stomping your feet, it would make you numb.

However, when ordinary people see a ghost, their subconscious instinct is to run away in fear. But when a hero like Fili encounters a ghost, even if he is scared, he will kill the other party while screaming.

"I didn't expect that people in the magic world are also used to matching red clothes with female ghosts..." Fili followed the induction of the false clone and began to create lies in the dream, forcing the businessman not to wake up from the nightmare. Then, after the female ghost appeared, she added drama by filling the room with bloody handprints. Then the door of the room opened, and the businessman watched the bloody footprints approaching him step by step and could only scream.

Then the scene changed, it was daybreak, the sky was clear, the nightmare of the previous moment disappeared, and the merchant had a dream within a dream, that is, he fell asleep and woke up in a dream with residual memory of the nightmare. So, under inexplicable guidance, he went to the guild to commission an investigation into what happened to him.

Coincidentally, a witch happened to appear and took over his commission.

"Sir, have you encountered a vengeful spirit?" Fili introduced herself. "I am the Witch of Falsehood, Fili. You seem confused. Maybe I can help you."

Soon, the dream progressed, and Fili came to the merchant's residence to help him find the dirty things.

During this process of spreading lies, Fili felt a slight fluctuation in the power of deception. Generally speaking, the businessman knew the existence of "Fili" and recognized her identity as a witch. However, the feedback from her was minimal.

Dreams are an illusory space and a spiritual world. Although they cannot directly affect reality, they are also an important field in mysticism that cannot be ignored. Fili feels very satisfied that she can get some benefits from an ordinary person.

As the dream progressed, Fili tried to popularize knowledge to the merchant, such as what it meant to achieve the path of success, to let the merchant have a certain understanding of the power system of the strong, to instill the concept of Fili as a deity, and finally to help him clear the vengeful spirits, so that the nightmare had a peaceful and beautiful ending.

After it was over, only an hour in reality, Fili discovered that her talent for deception had only been slightly enhanced.

"This enhancement fluctuates. It increases when inducing deception and weakens when stating facts. Moreover, his dream is a complete story without suspense..." Fili thought about it, and then took the time to continue looking for the next victim.

After finding a dozen more ordinary people and observing their dreams, Fili began to feel a little guilty. This was the same as peeping into other people's privacy. And taking the businessman as an example, maintaining his dreams and scaring him were a bit too hurtful and teasing to ordinary people.

"Aha... sorry." While saying sorry, Fili later drew secret barriers for these people's homes that could resist many evils and purify diseases, as a form of compensation.

After searching for another hour, dawn was about to arrive. Fili then manipulated some dreams, all of which were interesting fairy tales. Among them, a little child brought Fili a surprise.

Fili originally wanted to give it a try, so she played the game of the Lady of the Lake with the children. She asked the children to drop their axes when crossing the bridge, and she came out with an iron pot on her head with the axe stuck in the pot, starting the game of the golden and silver axes.

But the children's focus was not on the honest game, but on their great curiosity about Fili herself.

"Is Onee-sama a goddess?"

"Yes, yes, I can make any wish of yours come true."

“Wow! That’s great!”

This child has a pure mind, and his so-called wish is just to have endless candies. But the magical thing is that he really believes that Fili is the goddess who can grant wishes. This memory seems to be implanted in his mind, just like a person can recall some dream experiences after waking up.

After leaving the child's dream, Fili discovered that the deceptive power he brought was actually more than the previous test subjects combined.

"Is it because of innocence?"

Fili recalled the dream she had as a child. Compared to the previous dream of exorcising evil spirits for merchants, the direction of the deception this time was that she could do anything. There was no need for explanation or description. She only needed some simple coaxing to make the child believe that she could do anything.

"The people I met tonight don't have any lofty ideals or urgent goals in their current lives, um..."

Fili had some ideas. She asked her deceptive clone to go to the city prison to find those prisoners who should be executed. There was no burden in spying on their dreams. The dreams used for testing were also very simple. She let them experience their own execution process repeatedly, and even let them appreciate their own death from a third-person perspective. Finally, Fili appeared in front of them without a face, pardoned their crimes, and planted a seed of hope in the hearts of the death row prisoners, making them believe that they would be pardoned tomorrow.

"They believed me. I deceived the dying and harvested their hopes. Could it be that the power of deception is harvesting negative emotions?"

After completing the task, Fili removed the false clone and began to collect moon dew. After the execution tomorrow, these death row prisoners might be able to provide some answers.

"No, the pure happiness of the children also has an impact on the power of deception. In this case, the people on Kalan's side need a savior more, right? Yes, a savior... If it is a savior, he must be very strong."

Chapter 153: Jasmine tries the amnesia mushroom again, Luna is defeated again and fights in vain

"How can you not invite me to play at a banquet?"

The next morning, Fili began to prepare the ingredients, and at noon, the wild Gem Witch Irene came to the inn.

"You didn't even tell me you were back."

"I've only been back for two days and haven't had time to rest yet, but Hecate has been dragging me into organizing a night banquet."

"Then you have to call me, I can help, more people means more effort."

"what can you do?"

"Provide any support other than funding, and I want to play piano music with you."

Irene joined the team.

More and more witches gathered in Miriam. As time went by, the witches' consumption level began to increase. Irene gradually started a gem business among the witches, often promoting her carefully designed jewelry.

Irene's main business is the gemstone ornaments, which can be used for decoration and can be thrown out to bomb people. They also have the function of monitoring forest mushrooms. If mushrooms appear within a hundred meters, they will make a beeping sound. They are inexpensive and functional, and have gradually opened up the witch market.

Both Nishinoka and Charlotte bought it, but Fili didn't.