Chapter 820 Preparations before departure
On Sunday afternoon, Angel, who was ready to leave, entered the "mirror world" in his bedroom, followed the familiar deep passages throughout the city to the East District, and stopped at a dusty glass window.
"Thousands of years ago, before humans learned to make glass, wasn't the scale of the 'witches' mirror worlds far smaller than it is now?"
Angel muttered, looking outside, searching for Sherman.
She had gone to Klein's house in the same way that morning, lifted him out of bed, and said a warm, brief goodbye. The "gift" he left behind was now kept close to her body, still retaining his body temperature.
It was a "Luck Stealer" charm that had been improved upon Will Auceptin's suggestion and tailored for Angel.
Compared to the original spell that requires visual sight of the enemy to hit and has a limited effective range, this spell consumes two "Time Worms" and gains the ability to steal the enemy's fate through mirrors, curses, and other means. Even if Angel is extremely far away from the opponent and cannot find the real target, as long as the enemy is infected by the disease, his fate can be swapped with another target, causing huge damage unexpectedly.
This also gave Angel a new idea: she could try to make a remote version of her "Disaster" and other spells. Klein had already opened up the path, and as long as she kept trying, she might succeed.
Unfortunately, I can only wait until I find the "Fountain of Youth" and come back to try again... She muttered, her eyes fixed on the two figures near the glass window.
One of them was Sherman, who was wearing a gray-white long dress, a cloak on her upper body, and the hood hanging behind her. She looked down at a child and was arguing with her.
"Sherman, I've seen you next to Stratford three times. You should know that he has many secret spies around him... Don't go to him next time!"
The child's voice had a sense of oppression that was inconsistent with his age. The familiar tone made Angel lower his head in shame.
It turned out to be the "Trial" of Miss Hugh Dilchar...
Sherman was not overwhelmed by Hugh's increased authority after his promotion to Interrogator. His soft but firm voice reached Angel's ears:
"This is just my mission. Besides, I know that the Viscount has Beyonders like you protecting and monitoring him. However, I'm just an ordinary woman who happened to meet him. It was the Viscount who took the initiative to contact me. There's no reason for these people to stop me."
"you……"
Xio paced back and forth in the office of Black Bear Cannery in a somewhat angry manner. After a moment, he put his hands on his hips and looked up at his friend and said:
"You should know that he has a very special identity, right?"
"Of course, otherwise why would I get close to him? He's hiding the secrets I need... that we need." Sherman replied calmly, then changed the subject and asked, "What about you? Why are you protecting him? And why are you investigating him?"
This counterattack successfully made Xio stop and her expression changed. From Angel's perspective, she seemed a little anxious and resistant, but more worried about her friend.
"Anyway, you'd better not get close to him. Just because I didn't include you in the report doesn't mean others won't..."
After a moment, the short bounty hunter still did not say the reason why he was paying attention to Viscount Stratford. Instead, he left a harsh remark, climbed out of the window, jumped from the third floor, landed in the alley behind the warehouse, and hurried away.
Coincidentally, she pushed open the glass window where Angel was hiding, which made the "mirror world" inside less stable. Angel had to leave, and his figure appeared in front of Sherman, just avoiding Hugh Dilcha who landed steadily on the ground.
"Miss Irene!"
Sherman saw who was coming and exclaimed in surprise. She turned her neck and blinked rapidly.
The tears in her eyes did not escape Angel's sight, but the latter did not expose her. He just waited for Sherman to adjust her mood and took the initiative to speak:
"If you find this mission too difficult for you, you can withdraw. I will explain to Triss."
After meeting Georgina Augustus at midnight last night, Angel was no longer so anxious about the clues from Stratford. After all, the Duchess had openly expressed her interest in the "Red-haired Lady" and the "Golden Queen" behind her. Angel believed that as long as he continued to contact this royal force, he would be able to understand their true purpose, which might include the truth about the smog.
"No, it's okay, Miss Irene... I'll have a good talk with Xio after we complete the mission."
Sherman replied with an ugly smile.
Angel sighed and stopped talking about this topic. Instead, he talked to the witch about the operation of the "Black Bear Cannery" under his feet in the past month and her share of the profits.
This cannery, which was purchased by Sherman and Hugh Dilchar, who were both men at the time, was converted to producing canned fruit in glass jars. This was entirely Angel's suggestion with a vision ahead of its time. She also contributed some gold pounds as start-up capital and obtained a total of 35% of the shares.
Hugh recruited many skilled workers from the East District, often came to maintain order in the factory, and promoted many transactions through his own information channels, so he also held a 10% stake.
The remaining 55% all belonged to Sherman. After he became "Sherman", the procedures for transferring to a new identity were too complicated, so it was temporarily managed by Hugh.
The factory's current profits were low, primarily due to limited production due to issues with the supply of raw materials. Therefore, after a discussion, Angel decided to take advantage of this opportunity to search for the Fountain of Youth. He would have Elaine contact Bayam to source some inexpensive local fruit, which would be shipped directly to the docks in Backlund via the Tussock River. The fruit would then be processed and canned at the factory, fully leveraging her advantage of having partners in both locations.
This can reduce a lot of costs, and I can also produce several kinds of canned fish and meat that are unique to the Rorsted Islands. If the sales are good, I estimate that by next year, my shares will be able to provide me with thousands of pounds of income every month... Angel thought happily, and introduced Sherman to her partner, the red-haired Elaine, whom she had never met before.
"Captain of the 'Redhead'... Miss Irene, I heard that this ship belongs to the king of the five seas, the 'Golden Queen' Angelica Thatch. Is this true? Do you and I also accept her command..."
Instead of being happy about the cannery's upcoming supply of cheap fruit and meat, Sherman hesitantly asked another question.
Why does she seem a little excited... Well, compared to being an outlier in the "Witch Sect" or being offline as a suspected official Beyonder, perhaps accepting the command of the legendary Pirate King is more desirable... Angel muttered, shaking his head at Sherman's expectant gaze. After the word "disappointment" was written all over her face, he took off the "Hypocrisy" ring and was satisfied to see that her eyes widened and her gaze became obsessed, as if she had fallen into a dream that was difficult to wake up from.
"Actually, I'm Angelica Sage."
She said with a chuckle, then pretended to be serious and put on the expression on the wanted poster, asking the stunned Sherman to confirm again.
"I..." Sherman muttered, struggling to look away and to the side, finally freeing herself from the natural allure of the Witch of Despair. "At first, I thought you were a member of the 'Witch Cult,' then I felt you looked a bit like an official Beyonder, but I also thought you were one of those wild Beyonders who punish evil and promote good... I didn't expect you to be the 'Golden Queen' who's been appearing frequently in newspapers and novels lately!"
Actually, these are all facts, but what about novels... Angel muttered to himself, putting away his charm, making himself appear bright and attractive, but not causing people of the same sex to fall into obsession, and then continued:
"I'm revealing my identity not to make you proud, but to hope that you can establish your own power in the East District... not a gang like the Black Claw Gang, but a true Beyonder organization."
As she spoke, she waved her right hand lightly, and a piece of parchment appeared in her palm. Sherman took it and found that it contained two potion recipes that were completely unfamiliar to her.
"Hunter", and "Pharmacist".
This is the starting sequence for the two potion paths, and both are very suitable for developing offline in the East District. The former can provide good melee capabilities, lay traps, tracking and counter-tracking, while the latter can make various medicines and enhance the team's capabilities.
Of course, Angel also had the "Fortune Teller" of the same starting sequence, but this was a formula she learned while observing Klein becoming a Beyonder in the church, and she was unwilling to disclose it without the church's consent.
For similar reasons, Angel did not give the "Sailor" recorded on the "Tyrant" card to Sherman.
After seeing Sherman burn the parchment after writing down the formula, Angel continued to tell her some precautions, such as the criteria for screening members, such as this team mainly collects intelligence about cults such as the "Aurora Society", but not to provoke the other party, and such as paying attention to the recent hunt for the "Nighthawks".
Finally, after leaving behind a few practical talismans, Angel walked towards the glass window on the wall with satisfaction, ready to leave.
"Oh, right," she suddenly turned around, as if remembering something, and pulled out a deck of tarot cards from her pocket with all the major cards removed. She said with a mysterious smile, "Pick one from here. This will be your code name from now on."
Tarot cards, as a code name?
Several rumors that had appeared in the East District came to Sherman's mind, and she couldn't help but feel excited. She took the tarot cards, spread them out on the desk, and her eyes kept scanning the fifty-six Minor Arcana cards.
"Actually, there aren't that many symbols... Just pick one you like."
Angel, knowing that the witch must be constantly interpreting and divination in her mind, chuckled and reminded her.
"Erin... Miss Angelica, do you have a card representing yourself?"
Sherman suddenly asked.
"This is confidential for now."
Angel shook his head and rejected the other party's temptation.
After all, the Tarot Club hasn't passed this resolution yet, and Mr. Fool has also forbidden us from leaking relevant information... She muttered, watching Sherman hesitantly picking, and finally simply turned the cards face down, shuffled the order, pulled out a card at random, and turned it over.
It was the Queen of Pentacles.
————
Angel leisurely walked through the "mirror world" and returned to his study at home, humming a cheerful tune. He picked out a few novels to read and threw them into his "mirror space". He placed them together with travel supplies such as spare clothes and snacks. Feeling ready, he was about to head directly to Bayam in the Rorsted Archipelago, but when he stood in front of the full-length mirror, he changed his mind.
Frost formed from her fingertips, drawing a mixture of secret and voyeuristic symbols on the mirror.
After waiting for a long time, just when Angel thought he had drawn the wrong symbol and was about to redraw it, the surface of the mirror suddenly turned dark, and then a bright red light emerged, causing Angel to subconsciously take two steps back. He was about to draw out "Angelica's Blade" from his "mirror space" and enter combat state.
But then, the red light outlined a series of Rune words of varying sizes, written in sloppy strokes, as if dripping with blood:
"Beautiful mistress, Arrods, exhausted both physically and mentally but still responding to your call, would like to know if the Amons are still in this city?"
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