Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

"She's dead."

Grace shut Novi up with just one sentence.

……

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497. It was Aisha who ordered it

Novi's little trick of covering her voice with magic was completely useless in front of Elsa - if they were communicating purely with magic, Elsa might not understand, because that would be another language based on magic, but Novi's method of simply using magic to hide the original voice was completely useless in front of Elsa.

But Elsa didn't say a word the whole time. She just sat aside, as if it had nothing to do with her.

"Sorry, I don't sell it."

Grace once again decisively rejected Novi's proposal.

"I can pay, ten—no, twenty gold coins! This is all I have to offer..."

Novi spoke anxiously—her thoughts were written all over her face, as if she had no intention of bargaining. This was all she could offer, even though it was already a significant sum. Elsa had no doubt that in a different scenario, a more shrewd, less ruthless businessman would easily have swindled her out of everything.

"No."

"Isn't it enough? But I can't afford more money... Or, what do you want? As long as I have it, as long as I can do it, I'm willing to do my best!"

Novi bit her lip and spoke hesitantly, but Grace remained indifferent.

"I'm not interested in money. I won't sell it no matter how much you offer me—and the same goes for everything else."

Accustomed to wandering, she had long lost the desire for wealth. Even if she really needed it, mortgaging a little money for emergency relief was her bottom line.

She would never sell it.

As Grace spoke, she crossed her fingers and placed them in front of her lips seemingly casually. Without Novi noticing, Grace's palms had already woven a small hypnotic spell - although Grace was not proficient in the spiritual field, it was still possible for her to do it if it was just to induce during the conversation.

She spoke slowly, her hoarse voice seemed to become turbid, filled with some indescribable feeling.

"I'm more curious, what do you want these books for? They're nothing more than some vintage collectibles. Even beginner magic apprentices wouldn't use such outdated materials as references these days."

"How can you say that? It's..."

Novi subconsciously wanted to refute, but she seemed to have thought of something and swallowed the words back.

She was uncharacteristically silent, pursing her lips slightly, then stood up with a disappointed expression on her fair face. It seemed that she had given up the idea of ​​buying and was about to leave.

"I understand that those books are very important to you. It seems that they don't belong to me... Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. As you can see, I can't force you to sell the books to me. Farewell."

Novi said, turning and walking away.

Not until Novi's figure disappeared from Aisha and Grace's sight did Grace turn her head to look at Aisha.

"Huh, her spiritual realm is much more resilient than the average person's. Hypnosis didn't work—but is it really okay for us to just let her go? She has the aura of the Abyss. I suspect she might have practiced Abyssal magic. That's not a good sign."

Grace frowned slightly with some worry.

Considering what happened at the antique dealer today, she roughly guessed that the books Novi was talking about were the ones she had just redeemed. However, what made her feel a little unusual was that Novi could actually identify that they were the witch's things.

Although these books were indeed written by the witch, they did not contain any content related to the abyss. It was not easy to extract information about the "witch" from those irrelevant texts. At least in Grace's opinion, even those famous magicians might not be able to do it.

Obviously, either there is someone behind Novi who knows Grace's identity and is secretly directing her, or Novi has a deep understanding of witches. After the test just now, Novi's identity as a mage was discovered, so the aura of the abyss on her body is not difficult to explain.

Of course, there is also a very small possibility -

"She's a witch."

A figure suddenly appeared beside Grace without any warning and said, this sudden scene almost scared Grace. She looked closely and found that it was Tricia - the diners around seemed to have not seen Tricia at all, and were indifferent to the sudden appearance of a living person. Obviously, this was Tricia's trick.

But Grace still wanted to ask Aisha and Tricia: Why are you two like ghosts?

Grace swallowed hard, burying her complaints deep in her heart, but then she heard a childish voice: "She said you two are like ghosts."

The source of the sound was under the wooden table, or to be more precise, from the black sword at Elsa's waist.

"No? Elsa, you brought this guy here?" Grace was stunned at first, then she glared at Elsa belatedly, "When did this happen?"

"I've been carrying her with me. Yes, that's right. Tricia and I were communicating through Adele while you were talking to Novi."

Aisha covered her mouth and smiled, saying.

Grace didn't know if it was an illusion, but she felt that Elsa's smile was charming, as if she was teasing her - she pinched Elsa's arm hard, but unfortunately, it was useless. Elsa's arm flesh was very soft and elastic, and felt great to the touch. Unfortunately, with Grace's hand strength, she could only give Elsa a massage.

Grace felt offended at the thought.

"Elsa told me to do it. If you want to blame someone, blame her." At this time, the black sword began to jump and the sound appeared directly in Grace's heart. Grace felt offended again - she knew that there was a little girl named "Adele" living in the black sword who could read people's hearts, but when Grace experienced this feeling personally, she was still a little bit nervous. After all, no one likes their inner thoughts to be peeped by outsiders, and Grace was even more so when facing Elsa.

"It's precisely because Novi is a witch that we didn't tell you in advance. We hope you can have a normal conversation with her and not let her affect your judgment."

Tricia, the only normal person in Grace's eyes, explained.

After all, the Witch Society and witches have almost become Grace's obsession.

……

At this time, Novi had already left the tavern, looking back every step of the way. She had been walking for a long time but did not see Elsa and Grace.

"Strange, why didn't they catch up?"

She couldn't help but mutter under her breath.

"Miss, how are you?" Ya Bo walked over quickly with his old but powerful steps. Seeing Nuo Wei's strange expression, he asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Uncle Ya, you taught me to try bargaining more often. I just tried, but it didn't seem to work..."

Novi said with a frustrated look.

"Oh?" Ya Bo was not surprised, but rather delighted. After all, this was the young lady, and the family's decline was definitely due to a reason. "Haha, it's okay. Take your time. You'll get the hang of it slowly after you gain experience."

Ya Bo said, and asked patiently: "Can you tell me how you did it?"

"Well... I told her I didn't want it anymore, and then pretended to leave," Novi paused and looked back, "but she doesn't seem to be chasing me now."

Well, that's good. Although there is still a long way to go, it is at least a good start. With the lady's intelligence and cleverness, she will become a wealthy merchant sooner or later.

Ya Bo has always been full of confidence in Novi.

"Don't worry, miss," Ya Bo consoled with a smile. "I've already inquired about it. She just checked out and canceled her guild commission. Plus, she happened to go redeem those books today. I think she might be planning to leave here. If all goes well, I think we can contact her on the way."

"Huh? Really? That's great! — Just now there were so many people around, it was hard to say much. She must not have understood yet, but next time I will definitely explain it to her properly!"

Ya Bo opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but finally closed it.

If it were just him and the young lady here, then everything would probably go as the young lady wished. Even if the other party had ill intentions, he would protect the young lady. But now, it's not just the young lady who wants to get those books, there are also those guys that the young lady invited from the Red Star Society.

Ya Bo could almost guess what they would do.

This world is very cruel. Sooner or later, the young lady will understand this truth and abandon her naive ideas as soon as possible.

……

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498. She is scolding you (3K5)

After Novi left, the three returned to the room.

Grace wanted to ask something several times, but after hesitating for a moment she remained silent.

Since Tricia, the sage of the arcane arts, had said that the girl named "Novi" was a witch, then she must be a witch. Tricia couldn't have been wrong, and that was why Grace was worried—why was Novi here? Was she not under the Church's supervision? Or, like herself, had she not signed a contract with the Church?

Ultimately, Grace was very worried about that aura of the abyss.

Witches, especially those with the power of the abyss, are always in danger because of their connection with the abyss. Such witches themselves are like an extremely unstable magic furnace, bringing hidden dangers to those around them.

She must be made aware of this, if possible...

Grace subconsciously looked at Elsa, only to find that Elsa had been staring at her without her knowing when—her gaze was clear and gentle, with an indescribable smile.

"Why are you staring at me?"

Grace couldn't help but ask, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"That girl, are you worried about her?"

What made Grace feel a little uncomfortable was that Aisha naturally sat down next to her. Grace glanced at her and unceremoniously moved a fist distance away in protest.

"You read my mind again?"

"Don't bother. It's written all over your face."

Elsa smiled, and Grace unconsciously touched her face, feeling depressed. No way? Did she really look so easy to understand? Wait, this guy couldn't have been looking at me the whole time?

"Don't think of anything strange," Aisha said with a smile on her face. "Don't worry, Tricia's familiar is following her, and if nothing unexpected happens, we'll see her again soon—oh, do you know the 'Red Star Society'?"

"I've never heard of that... What is that?"

"I don't know either. Adele extracted it through her mind reading during your conversation. Unfortunately, it's unclear and there's no more detailed information."

"Why do you make it sound like I'm useless..." The black sword hummed, and Adele felt aggrieved.

Mind reading is not a universal key, nor can it directly read a person's memory. To put it bluntly, the so-called mind reading is just a small trick to judge the inner thoughts of the person through the mental fragments that the person inadvertently releases.

Therefore, the object of mind reading must "cooperate". If the object of mind reading completely empties his mind or keeps thinking about random things, this little trick will also lose its effect. When Adele uses mind reading, she always "chat" with the other party in order to get some information. As long as she guides the other party's thinking in a certain direction, she can get the information she wants.

Unfortunately, this conversation was too short, and Novi's brain was so stubborn that the clues Adele could only read were limited.

Elsa ignored Adele's protests.

"Tricia and I haven't heard of it either, but it's interesting that this organization seems to be collecting the 'legacy of the Witch Society', and that's why they're targeting you."

"Every time they arrive in a city, they search the streets and alleys for all kinds of old things, looking for any 'Witch Society heritage' that might have been missed. In the process, they stumbled upon your book. So, for the time being, we can assume that all of this is a coincidence, and there's no one behind it."

Grace frowned slightly when she heard that, then looked up at Elsa's eyes and said, "The legacy of the Witch Society?"

To her, everything about the Witch Society was undoubtedly a scar that could never be unsealed, and the appearance of this word here was definitely not happy news for her.

"Those are your books," Adele said. Some things still needed to be explained by her as a mind reader. "The 'Red Star Society' calls things like this, related to people like you, the 'Witch Society's Legacy.'"

"What?" Grace suddenly frowned and stared at Black Sword, asking, "Are they collecting witches' belongings?"

"Well, that's understandable."

"What do they collect these things for?"

Adele murmured, "If I understand correctly, it seems to be to prevent the 'witch's disaster' from reappearing and spreading again - well, at least that's what the little guy imagined."

The witch's disaster...prevent...it from spreading?

Grace pursed her lips and said nothing, but her eyes sank.

She suddenly felt it was ridiculous, absurd—why had the Witches' Guild been established? Wasn't it to rescue as many witches as possible, to prevent them from going berserk and harming others? They had endured hardships and pain, fighting their fate with all their might, but in the end, what had they gained?

There were so many companions, each one was a kind person, each one was full of expectations, longing for miracles and hope. Grace still remembers their names to this day, but in the end, less than ten of them survived.

The Red Star Society, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, boasted about such rhetoric and even dared to secretly search for witch-related items... Damn it, wasn't the destruction of the Witch Society a lesson enough? One of the hidden dangers of the Abyss is mass assimilation, a bloody example that the Red Star Society treated as a joke.

Isn't this ridiculous?

Who knew how much "heritage" the Red Star Society had amassed? Back then, the Church destroyed a vast number of witch relics, so who knew if any had been overlooked? If it were just those grimoires she possessed, which had nothing to do with Abyssal magic, it would be fine. But if there truly were items imbued with the aura of the Abyss, gathered in such large quantities...

Will the disaster of that year happen again?

A bunch of stupid guys!

Grace almost wanted to burst into a curse. She thought of many things at once, and her hands clenched unconsciously until her knuckles turned white. When it came to the Witches' Guild, she subconsciously thought of the worst, feeling impatient and unwilling. After so many years of wandering alone and suffering from countless nightmares, this had almost become her instinct.

At this moment, she suddenly felt her hand being held. She turned her head and met Elsa's gaze. She felt a soft touch on her hand. It was Elsa's palm.

"Relax, if the Red Star Society really had any major gains, there wouldn't be any noise at all, and the Church wouldn't turn a blind eye to it, so you don't have to worry too much."

Aisha saw through it again.

But this time Grace did not refute, she knew that what she had just said was probably very easy to understand.

She sighed, "I'm just worried that the tragedy of twenty years ago will happen again..."

"We will meet with them soon, and we will know when we ask them."

Aisha said, looking seriously at Grace.

"If the Red Star Society truly is motivated by goodwill and morality, and for the purpose of protection and management, I will hand over their work to the Holy See. I believe they will be happy to contribute their strength to the Goddess. However, if they have other evil intentions that are hidden from the public, as a Holy Sister of the Church, I have the obligation and the right to punish them accordingly."

Grace blinked.

Is Elsa...trying to comfort her? Honestly, only someone like Elsa could say something like that without feeling awkward.