Mystery: But the Witch's Path

Chapter 84 Russell's Diary

When Altair turned her gaze back to the blackboard, she saw the information the waiter had just written, which made her feel that the trip had not been in vain.

"Russell's Mysterious Notebook, two pages, 20 gold pounds"

Altair glanced at Amos and gestured for him to buy back Rosell's diary.

Upon learning of her needs, Amos did not offer the usual advice that "Roselle's writings are undecipherable," but instead immediately rose to find a servant and proceeded to make the transaction.

Before long, Altair received the diary pages, but the crooked and messy handwriting made her frown. She thought to herself, "The person who copied this is really irresponsible. The handwriting is copied like this. How can it be deciphered?"

"March 6th, damn it, the food here is making me constipated!"

"Are all the ladies in Intis this open on March 17th? Did I sleep with her, or did she sleep with me? Something feels a little strange."

"March 22nd, the time has come to choose a faith: the Church of the Eternal Sun or the Church of the Craftsmen."

"My choice is without question. Praise be to you, God of Machines!"

"One day, I will transform the Craftsmen's Church into the Cult of Machines."

After painstakingly deciphering a completely worthless passage, Altair was speechless at his own wisdom. The most useful part of the entire text was merely the question, "Did she sleep with me, or did I sleep with her?"

That's a decent remark; I can joke about it with him in the future.

But I feel like I've seen this passage somewhere before; it should have appeared in the original text.

"On May 21st, the Church of the God of Craftsmen gave me two choices, the beginnings of two sequence paths: one is the 'Generalist,' which belongs to the complete sequence chain they themselves have mastered, and the other is the 'Secret Seeker,' which comes from the Morse Ascetic Order and lacks a higher sequence."

"On May 22nd, my choice was simple: a 'Generalist'! A 'Generalist' with a complete sequence! Although mastering more occult knowledge would help me find a way home, the problem is that without sufficient strength, such a journey would inevitably require external assistance. Whether that assistance is good or bad, benevolent or malevolent, is uncontrollable and extremely dangerous. Therefore, it's better to become stronger and return on my own. Thus, a complete sequence is my primary consideration!"

"On May 23rd, I became a 'Generalist'. Thanks to the power of the potion, I was able to completely recall all the knowledge I had learned before, such as physics, chemistry, and so on."

........

This is yet another worthless diary entry. These two pages were probably written not long after Roselle "transmigrated," and Altair basically knows everything contained in them.

But it's alright, since Altair bought Rosell's notebook mainly to pass the time. If he finds anything useful, great; if not, he'll just treat it as entertainment.

After Altair finished his deciphering, Amos leaned closer and whispered, "Altair, you don't need to be upset. As far as I know, even the Church of Steam and Machinery hasn't been able to decipher the script created by Emperor Roselle."

"You've bought these papers before too," Altair asked, seeing how clearly Amos knew.

Amos nodded and said, "Of course, after all, I idolized Emperor Roselle when I was a child."

"Your childhood idol, and now?" Altair pressed.

"Now," Amos shook his head and said, "As you know, wealthy people like us would never use the church's 'distorted' textbooks, so I still admire him to some extent."

"But sometimes I also feel that some of his actions back then were foolish and not decisive enough. I believe that since we have become mortal enemies, we should go all the way and nip any threat in the bud."

After hearing Amos's words, Altair nodded instinctively. Although she knew very well that Rosell's death was his own doing, using those assassins to utilize the characteristics of the "Black Emperor" to complete his advancement and attempt to refresh his status and escape the corruption of the Fallen Mother Goddess.

But she still didn't understand why Roselle didn't thoroughly purge the Soren royal family and nobles after overthrowing the Intis Empire. Was it intentional, or was this whole mess you created?

Altair and Amos left together only after the black-robed waiter announced the end of the party. However, they did not choose to return to the town of Morse, but instead stayed in Tingen and moved into a villa in Sheffield.

..............

The next morning, Altair took a carriage to Red Moon Street in the North District and St. Serena's Church. After attending the service, he did not see the person he wanted to see, so he left the church directly.

She was about to head to Vlad Street to see if the pharmacist had come to Tingen.

Before long, she saw that shop number 18 had already put up a sign that read "Lawson's Folk Herbal Shop".

As soon as Altair arrived at the shop entrance, he smelled a strange odor filled with mixed herbal scents.

Upon entering the shop, one sees "Rosen Darkweed" standing in front of the counter. This plump "pharmacist" is wearing a dark robe embroidered with various strange symbols, making him look every bit the part of a rural witch doctor.

When he noticed Altair enter, he instinctively began to scrutinize her, but after a quarter of an hour, he still couldn't find anything "special" about her. So he stepped forward and asked, "Miss, what kind of medicine do you need? Just describe your symptoms, and I'm sure I can provide the corresponding medicine."

"Or perhaps you want some special medications, such as skin whitening or skin tightening..."

The first half of his statement was normal, but what did the second half mean? Whitening was understandable, but what did he mean by skin tightening? Altair couldn't help but roll his eyes at him, then tempted him further:

Do you think I'm not beautiful now?

"Beautiful, hehe." After saying this, Rosen Darkweed stared straight at Altair, at the jeweled necklace around his neck.

Regarding the behavior of this "fatso," Altair thought to himself, "If I didn't know your cautious and prudent nature, I might have actually been fooled by him."

After realizing his teasing had failed, Altair asked, "Besides these common materials, do you have any spiritual materials here, such as spirit world mist mushroom spores, dragon blood grass, or human face rose petals...?"

Upon hearing the information Altair revealed, Rosen's eyes flashed with shock, but he calmly said, "What are you talking about, miss? I've never even heard of these things before. This shop doesn't have anything like what you're talking about."

After saying these words, he acted as if he had encountered a lunatic and prepared to kick Altair out.

In order not to affect the future plot, Altair explained to him, "Don't worry, I don't belong to any official or church faction. I just did a divination in advance and knew that I could buy these things from you, so I came here specifically."

He then added, "After all, 'pharmacists' are quite rare, aren't they?"

After hearing Altair's explanation, Rosen still asked warily, "Are you a fortune teller? Or a monster?"

"A fortune teller," Altair said without batting an eye.

After listening, the latter nodded and said, "Sometimes, I really envy the abilities of you diviners. I've only been here a short time, and you've already come looking for me."

To his rambling, Altair could only smile and reply, "Do you have the materials I just mentioned?"