Mystery: But the Witch's Path

Altair and Hermes became increasingly familiar with each other as their conversations went on. In terms of demeanor, he was a kind and gentle old man.

At first, Altair was quite resistant because of the 'audience' ability. After all, how disgusting would it be if your opponent knew your actions in advance?

But as they chatted, the strange feeling completely disappeared. If Adam hadn't been watching, Altair would have thought he was hypnotized.

After an unknown amount of time, Adam, sitting beneath the giant cross, finally spoke and announced the official start of the gathering.

Adam's voice echoed in Altair's mind again: "As a newcomer, you should give an introduction, you can have a code name."

"My suggestion is for the Queen."

Altair, the person involved, thought about Adam's suggestion briefly and did not refuse.

After Hermes finished her greetings, he stood up abruptly, lifted his skirt with both hands, spread it to the sides, slightly bent his knees, smiled, and bowed his head in a standard curtsy. A second later, he rose, looked up, and said:

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. You may address me as the Queen."

After Altair finished his introduction, the crowd did not cause a commotion due to the bold code name. He then nodded to everyone in greeting and took his seat.

This is, after all, a world with a Western cultural background. In most cases, as long as the title of "Empress" is not used in public, no one will bother to cause trouble.

Listening to everyone's explanations, Altair noticed that most people were using code names. As for the few who mentioned their names, he couldn't verify their authenticity.

Looking at the crowd still greeting people, he thought, 'There are just too many people! If I introduce them one by one, when will it ever end?'

While he was still wondering, Hermes, who was beside him, casually said, "The reason they introduced you one by one this time is because you've just joined, and everyone is just giving you a brief introduction. It won't be like this at the next gathering."

Altair turned around, looking at the old man with an expression of utter disbelief. Perhaps it was his strange gaze that prompted Hermes to chuckle softly:

"I don't read minds. This is a question every newcomer has. I'm just giving you an answer in advance."

Altair dared not completely believe Hermes's words.

The best you can do is try to relax and avoid thinking about random things. After all, Adam's experience has already served as a cautionary tale, so it's better to be careful.

Moreover, this place can be considered the audience's headquarters, with countless channels for audience engagement, which can be summarized in a single sentence.

"I hate audiences, especially surviving ones."

After everyone finished introducing themselves, the gathering officially began. A middle-aged man opposite Altair, dressed in traditional Southern Continent attire and with a serious expression, spoke:

"This morning, in the Southern Continent, the colonial legions of the Fusak Empire suddenly launched a large-scale war against the colonies of the Kingdom of Rune."

"Before I joined the meeting, there was no sign of it ending. I'd like to know if anyone here is involved in this matter. If so, could you please tell me why the Fussac Empire suddenly started the war and when they plan to end it?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a man answered his question: "The decision to wage war was made suddenly by the Fussac royal family."

"The reason is that intelligence agents in Backlund have reported that the army of Rune is preparing to equip itself with a large number of new weapons, which are extremely powerful and will be used in the southern continent."

"So they want to eliminate Rune's forces in the Southern Continent in advance in order to reduce subsequent losses."

After obtaining the information he needed, the middle-aged man sighed, "To put it bluntly, it's still about weapons. Hasn't the Fusak Empire ever considered solving the problem at its source? For example, assassinating weapon manufacturers, destroying factories, or stealing formulas to manufacture them themselves."

Altair wanted to curse after hearing this. What did he mean by solving the problem at its root? What good would killing me do?

Practice makes perfect; shortcuts and unorthodox methods are not advisable.

The first half of the discussion revolved around the war in the southern continent. The middle-aged man wanted to resolve it as quickly as possible because it had disrupted his plans. His advice was consistently to have Fussak deal with Altair.

Altair himself, sitting there listening to his remarks, grew increasingly angry, wanting nothing more than to jump up and slap him. This guy not only instigated Fursak's people to deal with him, but also wanted his technology, constantly urging a craftsman to speed up the deciphering process.

This close-quarters attack infuriated Altair, who cursed inwardly, "Don't let me find out your real-world identity, or I'll put a hefty bounty on your head!"

But in order to conceal her identity, she endured and listened to his advice.

Fortunately, the craftsman had no clue about the new type of gunpowder, only saying that the process was complex and that reverse engineering would be extremely difficult.

Altair would give him a thumbs up for that statement. He was also glad that Russell hadn't spread his knowledge of chemistry.

Because the later stages of gunpowder technology started with chemical synthesis, it is impossible to produce new types of gunpowder without complete chemical knowledge, let alone to do "reverse engineering" to fully analyze the components.

Even if the analysis is completed using the skills of a craftsman, specialized equipment still needs to be manufactured, and then the product needs to be made according to the proportions.

While the basic formula for gunpowder from World War II wasn't difficult to decipher, replicating its original performance and achieving mass production was a challenge even for industrialized nations, and virtually impossible for those with weaker industrial capabilities. Moreover, we're still in the era of manual production.

However, the middle-aged man still provided Altair with some useful information. For example, the indulgent members of the "Rose School" had begun a full-scale hunt for the temperance members, and Sequence 2 Renette Tinicol did not show up to stop it.

Altair considered the original timeline based on his words. Chronologically, 'Shea' ascended to become a true 'divine abomination' at the end of 1340, allowing the indulgent faction to control the mainstream of the school, and then launched a campaign to hunt down the temperance faction.

That means that Exeggutor may have perished, and Sharon and Marich may have escaped the Southern Continent and sailed to Backlund.

Should I try to buy at rock-bottom prices? Even though I'm unlikely to get any high-sequence extraordinary traits, I'm sure I'll find potion recipes, advancement knowledge, and manuscripts of the school's secret codes from the Rose School and Temperance School. This is a rare opportunity!

After the Southern Continent's affairs were discussed, the Northern Continent members began to speak.

The Kingdom of Fenneport is a large agricultural country with a backward industrial sector, which led to its defeat in the colonial wars. Furthermore, it worships the Earth Mother Goddess, so the people of the entire country are not keen on waging war.

However, due to border issues, there are frequent clashes with Intis, and of course, Intis is the one being thoroughly defeated, with its domestic army almost completely worn down.

Although the news was novel, it had little effect on him, which made Altair, who had been unable to participate in the exchange, feel sleepy and want to go to sleep.